Wars of the Roses: Battle of Towton

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Past Towton, the land rises gently to a low plateau. The climb is barely perceptible except in the west, where there is a sharp fall toward the Cock Burn. The valley below was more densely forested in the 15th century than it is today with scrub, alder and birch, and was less well drained than it is now. To the south, west up beyond Bloody Meadow, the rise is more noticeable, still topped by a stand of trees at Castle Hill Wood.

The rise is neatly bisected by a lateral depression known as Towton Dale, which falls to what was then a marshy gully in the west. The generally accepted position for the Lancastrian line is along the crown of the ridge north of the dale, immediately to the south of the present marker. The Yorkists inevitably came to deploy over the higher ground to the south. It has been suggested that the Lancastrians might in fact have been positioned some 300 yards farther south, with Towton Dale to their rear. In any event, Somerset was too bright to neglect the possibilities of Castle Hill Wood, and he is credited with concealing a strong command party there.

Edward was in no hurry to begin the fight. His forces may still have been in disarray, and he lacked Norfolk’s division, leaving him at a distinct numerical disadvantage. It was March 29, Palm Sunday, and the chaplains would have been busy on both sides. Religion and superstition were important in the medieval mind, and the imminent prospect of battle tended to concentrate men’s thoughts on the question of whose side God favored.

It is possible that Fauconberg commanded the Yorkist van, with Edward on the left and Warwick on the right. For Lancaster, Somerset and Exeter led the right battle, Northumberland — who carried King Henry’s banner — and Trollope commanded the vanguard, and Dacre the left. As the Yorkist battles jostled along the ridge, at about 10 a.m. a strong southerly wind brought the first of several brisk showers of snow and sleet, driven over the exposed heath into the faces of the waiting Lancastrians. Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, wrote that the outcome remained long in doubt.

The veteran Fauconberg was quick to discern the advantage that the elements had conferred. He advanced his archers from their usual position on the flanks of his column to the fore. They loosed their arrows at extreme range to spit their wind-assisted shafts into the enemy flanks, then fell back. The ruse worked, as the Lancastrians responded with a volley of their own, unaware that they were out of effective range. That error was compounded by a lack of discipline, as Somerset’s archers kept shooting, their arrows falling 40 yards short of the Yorkist line, until their quivers were empty.

Again Fauconberg advanced his bowmen, whose next volley struck with lethal effect. Many Lancastrians fell to their own arrows, which had been retrieved by the Yorkist archers. The deluge of missiles proved unbearable, and Somerset saw no choice but to close with the enemy or lose the battle before it had rightly begun. With a cry of ‘King Henry!’ the Lancastrian line surged forward. Although the Yorkist arrows continued to exact a toll, the Lancastrians crashed into their opponents’ ranks. Fauconberg ordered his archers to fall back behind the foot soldiers, where they exchanged their bows for swords or axes and formed a reserve. With his own division bearing the brunt of Somerset’s charge, King Edward dismounted and told his men that he would live or die fighting at their side. At some point thereafter Somerset’s ambush party sprang from Castle Wood, and Edward had to commit his reserves to prevent it from rolling up his beleaguered left flank.

Step by step the Lancastrians pushed their foes back up the northern slope of the southern plateau. Edward’s division was near collapse, but the young king was everywhere, his great height a noticeable advantage and his conspicuous valor an inspiration as he rode along the lines extolling his men to fight, occasionally dismounting to join the battle. At one point, Welshman Davydd ap Mathew saved Edward’s life. After the battle, the king appointed him standard bearer of England and gave him a land grant, and the word ‘Towton’ was added to the ap Mathew family crest.

Tags: Ancient-Medieval, Historical Conflicts

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