Battle of Edgecote Moor (actually Danes Moor in Northamptonshire), a battle of the Warwick Rebellion. In the North, one of the captains of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (‘The Kingmaker), calling himself Robin of Redesdale (actually a trusted Neville captain, Sir William Conyers) started a rebellion against Edward IV, which was supported by Warwick and George, Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV and Richard III. Edward IV was at Nottingham, where he hoped to meet up with Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon, and William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. Apparently Devon and Pembroke quarreled on the way, with Pembroke continuing on his own, encountering the rebels near Banbury. Pembroke, his brother Sir Richard Herbert as well as Richard Woodville, Earl Rivers (Elizabeth Woodville’s father), and his son John were taken prisoner and executed on Warwick’s orders without trial.
Richard, Duke of Gloucester, receives all the lands in Yorkshire and Cumberland, which had belonged to Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, from his father’s side.
Bibliography: “Richard of Gloucester’s Rise to Power: Creations, titles, privileges, grants and estates acquired 1461 – 1483“, The Richard III Foundation.
Tags: Nevilles, Richard III
Marriage of George, Duke of Clarence (brother of Edward IV and Richard III), to Isabel Neville, elder daughter of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick (‘The Kingmaker’), and Anne Beauchamp, at Calais. The ceremony took place in secret, as King Edward IV, had explicitly forbidden the marriage. It was conducted by George Neville, Archbishop of York.
Tags: George of Clarence, Nevilles
Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, his son Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, and Edward Earl of March (son of the Duke of York, later Edward IV) return from Calais, where they had fled after the Battle of Ludford Bridge (12 October 1459) to invade England in June 1460. On 2 July they are in control of London, except for the Tower.
The illustration on the left shows Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, as depicted in the Rous Roll.
We may be 550 years late for the Battle of Northampton, fought on 10 July 1460 between the Yorkist forces commanded by the Earl of Warwick and Henry VI’s Lancastrian forces, but this coming weekend there will be lots of action for latecomers like us (and more peaceful, too). A wide variety of Battle related activities will take place at at the original battle site at Delapré Abbey, including a re-enactment of part of the Battle. Other attractions are: Jousting on horseback with full armour, gunpowder and large canon demonstrations, the display of a soldiers’ encampment and music from the period of the Battle. And if all this makes you hungry and thirsty there will also be food stalls offering medieval fare.
This fun weekend will be followed by a conference on the Battle of Northampton on the anniversary itself (10 July) at the Northampton Museum and Art Gallery, organised by The Battlefields Trust. The programme promises to be fascinating with talks on “The Wars of the Roses and the Northampton Campaign”, “Developments in Warfare During the 15th Century”, “The Battle of Northampton”, “Where Is the Battlefield?” and “Finding Medieval Battlefields”.
You can find more information on the weekend at Delapré Abbey here and about the conference at Northampton Museum here.
Illustration: War of the Roses © Andrew Jamieson, www.medieval-arts.co.uk
Tags: Battles, Nevilles, Wars of the Roses
