Lancastrians & Yorkists – A Background to the Battle of Towton
The Right to the Throne is in dispute
In 1385 Richard II named Roger Mortimer as heir presumptive. Roger died in 1398 and the title passed to his son, Edmund.
Antagonism between the House of York and the House of Lancaster started in 1399 with the overthrow of Richard II by his cousin, Henry, the Duke of Lancaster.
Henry died in 1413 and his son became king, Henry V.
Henry VI was only 9 months old when his father died in 1422, so, until the king came of age, a Regency Council was formed with the Duke of Gloucester named Protector and Defender of the Realm and the Church.
Henry VI was crowned King of England in 1429 but did not assume the reins of Government until he was declared of age in 1437.
Lancastrian kings were plagued by questions of legitimacy with many of York’s supporters spreading rumours that the Henry VI’s child was not his, but that of the Duke of Somerset.
The House of York believed it had a stronger claim to the throne, through Edward III’s son Edmund, the heir presumptive, Edmund Mortimer and Philippa, grand-daughter of Edward III.
The Hundred Year War with France has gone badly
In 1437, Henry VI assumed control as King but was surrounded by unpopular regents and advisors who favoured an end to the hostilities with the French. 
Their opposition, led by Richard, Duke of York, and the Duke of Gloucester wanted the war to continue.
The Dukes of Somerset and Suffolk finally persuaded the King to marry Margaret of Anjou (King Charles II’s Niece) in order to pursue peace with the French. They were married in 1445.
Due to unpopularity in the parliament, Suffolk was exiled, his ship was intercepted and he was murdered.
Accused of mismanagement in the government, poorly executing the continuing Hundred Years War with France, 1447 the king, the Queen and their group summoned Gloucester on treason and he died in captivity. This left York as Henry’s heir presumptive but was banished to govern Ireland. Somerset was sent to France to lead the war.
In 1450, the Duchy of Aquitaine, held since Henry II’s time, was also lost, leaving Calais as England’s only remaining territory in France. The English were defeated at the Battle of Castillon in 1453, considered the last battle of the Hundred Years War.
The King is not well
Henry VI suffered from episodes of mental illness. However on hearing the news of the English defeat in August 1453, Henry slipped into a mental breakdown and became completely unaware of anything that was going on around him. A Council of Regency was setup and Richard, Duke of York and head of the House of York, was persuaded to return from exile in Ireland, to head the council and was named as Lord Protector of the Realm in 1454.
Richard soon asserted his power with ever-greater boldness. He finally had the position of influence he had wanted, the Queen was excluded completely, and Somerset was detained in the Tower of London. He imprisoned Somerset and backed his allies, Salisbury and Warwick, in a series of minor conflicts with powerful supporters of Henry, such as the Duke of Northumberland.
In 1453 the queen announced that she was pregnant, but Henry VI’s breakdown was to last for more than a year, and he failed even to respond to the birth of his own son and heir, who was christened Edward.
Henry regained his senses and, on Christmas Day 1454, he thwarted Richard’s ambitions, and the Duke of York was forced out of the royal court by Henry’s Queen, Margaret of Anjou.
Since Henry was an ineffectual leader, the powerful and aggressive Queen Margaret emerged as the de facto leader of the Lancastrians. Margaret built up an alliance against Richard and conspired with other nobles to reduce his influence.
Civil War
The Scene is Set
An increasingly thwarted Richard finally resorted to armed hostilities and, on May 22 1455, led a small force toward London and was met by Henry’s forces at St Albans, north of London.
The relatively small First Battle of St Albans was the first open conflict of the civil war. Richard’s aim was ostensibly to remove “poor advisors” from King Henry’s side. The result was a Lancastrian defeat. Several prominent Lancastrian leaders, including Somerset, were lost.
York and his allies regained their position of influence, and for a while both sides seemed shocked that an actual battle had been fought and did their best to reconcile their differences.
When Henry suffered another bout of mental illness, York was again appointed Protector, and Margaret was shunted aside, charged with the king’s care.
After the first Battle of St Albans, the compromise of 1455 enjoyed some success, with York remaining the dominant voice on the Council even after Henry’s recovery. The problems which had caused conflict soon re-emerged, particularly the issue of whether the Duke of York, or Henry and Margaret’s infant son, Edward, would succeed to the throne. Margaret refused to accept any solution that would disinherit her son, and it became clear that she would only tolerate the situation for as long as the Duke of York and his allies retained the military ascendancy.
Henry went on royal progress in the Midlands in 1456, and Margaret did not allow him to return to London – the king and queen were popular in the Midlands but becoming ever more unpopular in London where merchants were angry at the decline in trade and widespread disorder. The king’s court set up at Coventry. By then, the new Duke of Somerset was emerging as a favourite of the royal court, filling his father’s shoes. Margaret also persuaded Henry to dismiss the appointments York had made as Protector, while York himself was made to return to his post in Ireland. Disorder in the capital and piracy on the south coast were growing, but the king and queen remained intent on protecting their own positions, with the queen introducing conscription for the first time in England. Meanwhile, York’s ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (later dubbed “The Kingmaker”), was growing in popularity in London as the champion of the merchant classes.
York returns to England
Following York’s return from Ireland, hostilities resumed on September 23, 1459, at the Battle of Blore Heath in Staffordshire, when a large Lancastrian army failed to prevent a Yorkist force under Lord Salisbury from marching from Middleham Castle in Yorkshire and linking up with York at Ludlow Castle. After a Lancastrian victory at the Battle of Ludford Bridge, Edward, Earl of March (York’s eldest son, later Edward IV of England), Salisbury, and Warwick fled to Calais. The Lancastrians were now back in total control, and Somerset was sent off to be Governor of Calais. His attempts to evict Warwick were easily repulsed, and the Yorkists even began to launch raids on the English coast from Calais in 1459-60, adding to the sense of chaos and disorder.
In 1460, Warwick and the others launched an invasion of England, and rapidly established themselves in Kent and London, where they enjoyed wide support. Backed by a papal emissary who had taken their side, they marched north. Henry led an army south to meet them while Margaret remained in the north with Prince Edward. The Battle of Northampton, on July 10, 1460, proved disastrous for the Lancastrians. The Yorkist army under the Earl of Warwick, aided by treachery in the Lancastrian ranks, was able to capture King Henry and take him prisoner to London.
The Act of Accord
In the light of this military success, York now moved to press his claim to the throne based on the illegitimacy of the Lancastrian line. Landing in north Wales, he and his wife Cecily entered London with all the ceremony usually reserved for a monarch. Parliament was assembled, and when York entered he made straight for the throne, which he may have been expecting the Lords to encourage him to take for himself as they had Henry IV in 1399. Instead, there was stunned silence. He announced his claim to the throne, but the Lords, even Warwick and Salisbury, were shocked by his presumption; they had no desire at this stage to overthrow King Henry. Their ambition was still limited to the removal of his bad councillors.
The next day, York produced detailed genealogies to support his claim based on his descent from Lionel of Antwerp and was met with more understanding. Parliament agreed to consider the matter and accepted that York’s claim was better; but, by a majority of five, they voted that Henry should remain as king. A compromise was struck in October 1460 with the Act of Accord, which recognised York as Henry’s successor, disinheriting Henry’s six year old son, Edward. York accepted this compromise as the best on offer; it gave him much of what he wanted, particularly since he was also made Protector of the Realm and was able to govern in Henry’s name. Margaret was ordered out of London with Prince Edward. The Act of Accord proved unacceptable to the Lancastrians, who rallied to Margaret, forming a large army in the north.
Lancastrian counter-attack
The Duke of York left London later that year with Lord Salisbury to consolidate his position in the north against Margaret’s army, reported to be massing near the city of York. Richard took up a defensive position at Sandal Castle near Wakefield at Christmas 1460. Although Margaret’s army outnumbered Richard’s by more than two to one, on December 30 York ordered his forces to leave the castle and mount an attack. His army was dealt a devastating defeat at the Battle of Wakefield. Richard was slain in the battle, and Salisbury and Richard’s 17-year-old son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, were captured and beheaded. Margaret ordered the heads of all three placed on the gates of York. This event later inspired the mnemonic “Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain” for the seven colours of the rainbow.
The Act of Accord and the events of Wakefield left the 18-year-old Edward, Earl of March, York’s eldest son, as Duke of York and heir to the throne. Salisbury’s death left Warwick, his heir, as the biggest landowner in England. Margaret travelled to Scotland to negotiate for Scottish assistance. Mary of Gueldres, Queen of Scotland agreed to give Margaret an army on condition that she cede the town of Berwick to Scotland and her daughter be betrothed to Prince Edward. Margaret agreed, although she had no funds to pay her army and could only promise booty from the riches of southern England, as long as no looting took place north of the river Trent. She took her army to Hull, recruiting more men as she went.
Edward of York, meanwhile, met Pembroke’s army, arriving from Wales, and defeated them soundly at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross in Herefordshire. He inspired his men with a “vision” of three suns at dawn (a phenomenon known as “parhelion”), telling them that it was a portent of victory and represented the three surviving York sons – himself, George and Richard. This led to Edward’s later adoption of the sign of the sunne in splendour as his personal emblem.
Margaret was now moving south, wreaking havoc as she progressed, her army supporting itself by looting as it passed through the prosperous south of England.In London, Warwick used this as propaganda to reinforce Yorkist support throughout the south – the town of Coventry switching allegiance to the Yorkists. Warwick failed to start raising an army soon enough and, without Edward’s army to reinforce him, was caught off-guard by the Lancastrians’ early arrival at St Albans.
At the Second Battle of St Albans, the queen won the Lancastrians’ most decisive victory yet, and as the Yorkist forces fled they left behind King Henry, who was found unharmed under a tree. Henry knighted thirty Lancastrian soldiers immediately after the battle.
As the Lancastrian army advanced southwards, a wave of dread swept London, where rumours were rife about savage Northerners intent on plundering the city. The people of London shut the city gates and refused to supply food to the queen’s army, which was looting the surrounding counties of Hertfordshire and Middlesex.
Towton
Meanwhile, Edward was advancing towards London from the west where he had joined forces with Warwick. Coinciding with the northward retreat by the queen to Dunstable, this allowed Edward and Warwick to enter London with their army. They were welcomed with enthusiasm, money and supplies by the largely Yorkist-supporting city. Edward could no longer claim simply to be trying to wrest the king from bad councillors. With his father and brother having been killed at Wakefield, this had become a battle for the crown itself.
Edward now needed authority, and this seemed forthcoming when the Bishop of London asked the people of London their opinion and they replied with shouts of “King Edward”. This was quickly confirmed by Parliament and Edward was unofficially crowned in a hastily arranged ceremony at Westminster Abbey amidst much jubilation. Edward and Warwick thus captured London, although Edward vowed he would not have a formal coronation until Henry and Margaret were executed or exiled. He also announced that Henry had forfeited his right to the crown by allowing his queen to take up arms against his rightful heirs under the Act of Accord; though it was by now becoming widely argued that Edward’s victory was simply a restoration of the rightful heir to the throne, which neither Henry nor his Lancastrian predecessors had been. It was this argument which Parliament had accepted the year before.
Edward and Warwick marched north, gathering a large army as they went, and met an equally impressive Lancastrian army at Towton. The Battle of Towton, near York, was the biggest battle of the Wars of the Roses thus far. Both sides agreed beforehand that the issue was to be settled that day, with no quarter asked or given.