From Wakefield Towton by Philip A. Haigh

Author:Philip A. Haigh
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781473820395
Publisher: Pen & Sword

It appears that the commanders on both sides were not so religiously inclined as their king – preparations for battle on both sides continued apace. We know that Henry VI and his wife Margaret of Anjou were left in York, and no doubt Henry spent the early hours of the morning in prayer. As to Margaret’s activities at this time, they go unrecorded.

The Lancastrian army, as at Wakefield the previous December, was once again placed under the command of the 24 year old Duke of Somerset, Henry Beaufort, but again, as at Wakefield, the actual tactical decisions were no doubt left to Sir Andrew Trollope whose control of the Lancastrian forces during the Wakefield campaign had led to a most successful outcome for the Lancastrians. Indeed, the Lancastrians – in gratitude for his military abilities – after the second battle of St. Albans, had Trollope knighted. In the Lancastrian ranks, no doubt the many nobles who were present spent the early hours of the morning being dressed in their fine armour and travelling to the battlefield from where they had billeted the previous night, to join their soldiers on the high ground south of Towton. As for the Yorkists’ nobles, they too would have been dressed by their attendants and gathered their forces also in readiness to march and confront the enemy.

It is clear that Edward and the Yorkist commanders, and for that matter the Lancastrian command, were well

aware of the close proximity of the opposing forces. John de Waurin tells us in his account of how the reports of the Lancastrian muster to the south of Towton was brought to Edward’s attention, he writes:

‘When the Earl of March, and his lords were told that King Henry was nearby in the fields they rejoiced, for they wished for nothing more but to fight him. The earl called for his captains and told them to put their men in formation and to take their positions before the enemy came too close. And so it was he organised his battles, and he sent some men to look around the area because they were only four miles from the enemy. They did not go very far before they spotted the reconnaissance party of the enemy, and they very quickly returned to the Earl of March to tell him that they had seen large numbers of men at arms in the fields and the banners of King Henry.

‘They told him how the enemy was manoeuvring and their position, and when the earl was warned of this he went to his cavalry, which he positioned on the wing, and said to them, “My children, I pray today that we shall be good and loyal to each other because we are fighting for a good cause!” After they had all echoed this thought a messenger came to the earl that the vaward [vanguard] troops of the King [Henry] had started to move forward and the earl went back to place himself behind his banners…’2

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