The Red Rose and the White: The Wars of the Roses, 1453-1487

362 Pages·2013·7.937 MB·English

by  John Sadler

The Red Rose and the White
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The Red Rose and the White
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The Wars of the Roses, 1453–1487
John Sadler
First published 2010 by Pearson Education Limited
Published 2013 by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© John Sadler 2010
The right of John Sadler to be identified as author of this work has been asserted
by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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ISBN: 978-1-4058-2360-9 (hbk)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book can be obtained from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Sadler, John, 1953–
The red rose and the white : the Wars of the Roses, 1453–1487 / John Sadler.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4058-2360-9 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Great Britain—History—
Wars of the Roses, 1455–1485. 2. Great Britain—History—Wars of the Roses,
1455–1885—Campaigns. 3. Great Britain—History—Lancaster and York,
1399–1485. 4. Great Britain—History, Military—1066–1485. 5. Lancaster,
House of. 6. York, House of. I. Title.
DA250.S23 2009
942.04—dc22
2009029004
Typeset in 10/14 pt Galliard
Contents
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Acknowledgements vii
Publisher’s Acknowledgements ix
List of Illustrations x
List of Maps xi
Abbreviations xii
Timeline xiv
Dramatis Personae xvi
Maps xxv
Being Introductory xxxv
Chapter 1 The Art of War in the Fifteenth Century 1
Chapter 2 The Nature of Kingship and the House of Lancaster 18
Chapter 3 The Path to Conflict 1453–1455 41
Chapter 4 First Blood – First St Albans 22 May 1455 54
Chapter 5 Blore Heath 23 September 1459 and the
Rout of Ludford Bridge 12/13 October 1459 64
Chapter 6 Northampton 10 July 1460 and Wakefield
30 December 1460 79
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CONTENTS
Chapter 7 Mortimer’s Cross 2 February 1461;
Second St Albans 17 February 1461 98
Chapter 8 ‘Palmsunday Field’ – Towton 29 March 1461 116
Chapter 9 War in the North 1461–1463 133
Chapter 10 Hedgeley Moor 25 April 1464 and
Hexham 14 May 1464 144
Chapter 11 The Overmighty Subject – Warwick the Kingmaker
1464–1469; the Battles of Edgecote (26 July 1469)
andEmpingham (12 March 1470) 158
Chapter 12 The Road to Barnet 14 April 1471 180
Chapter 13 Tewkesbury 4 May 1471 199
Chapter 14 ‘This Sunne of York’: the Yorkist Age 1471–1483 217
Chapter 15 ‘Under the Hog’ – Richard IIIand Bosworth
22 August 1485 233
Chapter 16 Stoke Field 16 June 1487 262
Postscript The Military Legacy 276
Glossary 278
Appendices 282
1 Executions Following the Battle of Hexham 282
2 Who were Robin of Redesdale
and Robin of Holderness? 284
3 The Princes in the Tower 287
Bibliography 292
Primary sources 292
Secondary sources 294
Index 299
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Acknowledgements
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The author’s particular fascination with the Wars of the Roses can be traced
back to afternoons of black-and-white television in the early 1960s, and the
BBC’s Age of Kings– Shakespeare’s History Plays, subsequently and still in
black and white, interpreted in Wars of the Roses, which I think was shown in
three episodes on Thursday evenings. Both of these landmark series were
based on Henry VIParts I, IIand III, together with Richard III. That Shake-
speare could be enjoyable, indeed rivetingly so, came as something of a rev-
elation to one reared on the standard (as it then was) GCE diet of the Bard
as purely exam fodder, presented with painstaking dullness. An immediate
debt of gratitude is therefore due to the producers and cast.
As a young lad I found the frequent, virtually non-stop, bloodletting
particularly appealing if, sequentially, rather hard to follow. Who was killing
who this time, and why? The search for answers has occupied a considerable
amount of my time since. What follows is therefore a military study, rather
than a full political and social history; the wider context has been covered by
a number of distinguished authors, and the present writer would not attempt
to improve upon their many excellent studies.
Thanks are due first to my agent Duncan McAra and to my editors at
Pearsons, Christina Wipf-Perry, Mary-Clare Conellan and Mari Shullaw –
this book owes a great deal to all. I am also very grateful to Dr Maureen
Meikle of Sunderland University, Dr Richard Britnell of Durham University,
Professor Tony Pollard of the University of Teesside, Professor Gordon
Batho, to Chloe Rodham for producing the maps and battle plans, Adam
Barr for the photographs, Richard Groocock of the National Archives, Dr Joan
Harvey of the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, DrConstance Fraser, the
late Professor George Jobey, Jennifer Gill and Liz Bregazzi of County Durham
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Record Office, Joe Ann Ricca of the Richard III Foundation Inc., Philip
Albert of Royal Armouries, Nicola Waghorn of the National Gallery,
Matthew Bailey of the National Portrait Gallery, the staff of the ‘Lit. &
Phil.’ in Newcastle upon Tyne, Adrian Waite of the Red Wyverns, Duncan
Brown of EH Photo Library, Anthea Boylston and JoBuckberry of Bradford
University,WinnieTyrellofGlasgowMuseums,RosieSerdivilleoftheSociety
of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne.
Lastly, and as ever, thanks are due to my wife Ruth for her unfailing
patience and support. Any errors and omissions remain entirely the responsi-
bilityof the author.
John Sadler, Belsay, Northumberland
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