Battle of Clyst Heath (1455)
The Battle of Clyst Heath (1455) was fought on Clyst Heath, now a suburb to the south east of Exeter in Devon.
During the Wars of the Roses the mortal enemies of the Courtenay Earls of Devon of Tiverton Castle and Colcombe Castle were the Bonville family of Shute.[1] The earl's cousin Sir Philip II Courtenay (d.1463) of Powderham Castle however sided against him with Bonville and his son Sir William Courtenay (d.1485) of Powderham married Margaret Bonville, daughter of William Bonville, 1st Baron Bonville (1392–1461), which confirmed Powderham as a Bonville stronghold against the Earls of Devon. On 3 November 1455 Thomas de Courtenay, 5th Earl of Devon (1414–1458) at the head of a private army of 1,000 men seized control of Exeter and its royal castle, of which the Earls had for many generations considered themselves custodians as hereditary Sheriffs of Devon,[2] but of which Bonville now also claimed the sheriffdom. The Earl then laid siege to Powderham, a pro-Bonville stronghold, for two months. Lord Bonville attempted to raise the siege and approached from the east, crossing the River Exe, but was unsuccessful and was driven back by the Earl's forces. On 15 December 1455 the Earl of Devon and Lord Bonville met decisively at the Battle of Clyst Heath, where Bonville was defeated and after which the Earl sacked and pillaged Shute.[3]
Sources
- Transactions of the Devonshire Association, Volume 44, Exeter, 1912, pp. 252-265
References
- ↑ Hoskins, p.75: "The Courtenays were pre-eminent in the West until the rise of the Bonvilles in the 15th century"
- ↑ Hoskins, p.75
- ↑ Orme, Nicholas, Representation & Rebellion in the Later Middle Ages, published in Kain, Roger & Ravenhill, William, (eds.) Historical Atlas of South-West England, Exeter, 1999, pp. 141, 144