Battle of Barnet

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Battle of Barnet

Cavalry during the battle

Date	April 14, 1471
Location	Near Barnet, England
Result	Yorkist victory

Combatants

House of York

House of Lancaster

Commanders

Edward IV of England

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick†,

Strength

9000

12000

Casualties

Unknown

Wars of the Roses
1st St Albans – Blore Heath – Ludford Bridge – Northampton – Wakefield – Mortimer's Cross – 2nd St Albans – Ferrybridge – Towton – Hedgeley Moor – Hexham – Edgecote Moor – Lose-coat Field – Barnet – Tewkesbury – Bosworth Field – Stoke Field

The Battle of Barnet, which took place on April 14, 1471, was a decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, near the town of Barnet, 10 miles north of London.

[edit] Background

The main protagonists were King Edward IV of England and Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, former friends and allies who had fallen out as a result of Edward's tendency to favour the relatives of his queen, Elizabeth Woodville. In October of the previous year, Warwick "the Kingmaker" had driven Edward out of the country, replacing his Lancastrian predecessor, King Henry VI of England, on the throne. Warwick then made the mistake of agreeing to assist King Louis XI of France in his conflict with the Duke of Burgundy. This prompted the Burgundians to offer military aid to Edward, who returned to England on March 14, 1471. The two armies were evenly matched in numbers, but Warwick was expecting support from his son-in-law, George, Duke of Clarence, who happened to be Edward's brother and hurried to make his peace with the latter.

Edward marched to London while Warwick remained in Coventry where he had been raising troops. Having taken back his capital, Edward then moved to meet Warwick at Barnet.

[edit] The Death of the Earl of Warwick

On the Lancastrian side, the Earl of Oxford commanded the right flank, the Marquess of Montagu the center, and the Duke of Exeter the left. These were arrayed offset from the road to Barnet, with the left flank on the road. The Earl of Warwick was with the reserves.

The Yorkists were set up centered on the road to London, with Edward commanding the center, his brother Richard (later Richard III) on the right, and Lord Hastings the left.

According to the author of the Historie of the Arrivall of King Edward IV, Edward deployed his men close to the Lancastrians during the night, which meant that Warwick's artillery, keeping up a bombardment during the night, continuously overshot the Yorkist army.

Despite thick fog, Oxford's troops attacked first and, helped by their initial flanking position, made an early impact on the Yorkist left under Hastings. However, this was compensated for by the foggy conditions which made it difficult for Warwick and Exeter to push home their advantage. The two sides ended up shifting so that the battle lines were parallel to the highway rather than at right angles to it. Edward himself was in the thick of the fighting in the centre. Oxford's troops, returning from their victorious pursuit of Hastings' men, therefore arrived on the flank of their own allies and were mistaken for Yorkists in the ensuing confusion, possibly aided by the similarities between Oxford's banner (a streaming star) and Edward's own banner (a sun in splendour). Morale began to crumble on this flank, and as the mist cleared Edward committed his reserves into the fray and the Duke of Exeter went down badly wounded, to be captured later. Warwick, unable to rally his wavering army, recognised defeat and fled, but was cut down while trying to reach his horse, having ordered all horses to the rear to lift the morale of his troops by proving that he did not intend to flee. His younger brother, the Marquess of Montagu, was also killed, possibly by some of Oxford's troops when the cry of treachery went up.

The same day as the battle Queen Margaret landed at Weymouth and began gathering troops from Wales and the Welsh Marches. Had she been able to join forces with Warwick matters might have ended very differently. Instead, Edward's victory enabled him to consolidate and prepare himself for the final confrontation against the Lancastrian royal family - the Battle of Tewkesbury.