Wars of the Roses: The Battles of St Albans by Peter Burley & Michael Elliot & Harvey Watson

Author:Peter Burley & Michael Elliot & Harvey Watson [Burley, Peter & Elliot, Michael & Watson, Harvey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781844155699
Google: 43Z-AwAAQBAJ
Amazon: 1844155692
Publisher: Pen & Sword
Published: 2007-09-24T04:00:00+00:00

Detail from the plan presented to Parliament in 1863 with the Midland Railway Bill, showing a profile of Beech Bottom where it would be intersected by the railway. Plan attached to the Midland Railway Bill 1863

Admittedly, there is a degree of conjecture about this theory, but it is far more logical than the oft-quoted suggestion that Warwick’s field defences stretched almost four miles from St Albans to Nomansland Common. Confusion probably arises about the location of the Yorkist defences, because the Yorkist army was encamped along the road from St Albans to Nomansland Common. This would have enabled the Yorkists to spread out to forage in the surrounding area. We need to remember that the Yorkists were camped for four days in cold and wet February conditions, so shelter and firewood were of great importance. We know that Warwick had placed an outpost in Dunstable, twelve miles to the north-west of St Albans on Watling Street. It can be assumed that Warwick would also have placed similar outposts to the north and east of St Albans, ready to give a timely warning of any possible Lancastrian advance. The probability is, therefore, that Warwick’s army were encamped along the road from St Albans and Sandridge, ready to advance north or east if reinforced by March’s army, but also ready to withdraw into their fortified camp on Bernards Heath if their outposts warned of Margaret’s approach.

Yet another of the many mysteries of this campaign is why it took March so long to join forces with Warwick. Two weeks had passed since the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, and if March had moved quickly he could have reinforced Warwick in time for the Second Battle of St Albans. It is a question which has long puzzled historians. The late H. T. Evans in his book, Wales and the Wars of the Roses, even speculated that March may have deliberately delayed joining Warwick in the hope that if Warwick was defeated it would make it easier for March to make himself leader of the Yorkist faction and lay claim to the throne. This theory does not seem very likely – there would have been no way that March could be sure of the exact outcome of the battle. If Warwick had defeated the Lancastrians without March’s assistance, it would have confirmed Warwick’s position as the dominant force in English politics; alternatively, if Warwick had been killed and his army utterly destroyed, it could have been fatal to the Yorkist cause. Neither of these outcomes would have served March’s interests.

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