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  FOR KATTY

  Grace under pressure

  Contents

  * * *

  Cover

  Welcome Page

  Dedication

  List of Maps

  List of Tables and Family Trees

  Protagonists and Marriages

  Maps

  Princes of the Blood Family Tree

  Preface

  Prologue · Passionate Princesses

  Chapter I · House of Lancaster

  Chapter II · House of Beaufort

  Chapter III · House of Valois-Anjou

  Chapter IV · House of York

  Chapter V · Faction and Feud

  Chapter VI · Defeat and Humiliation

  Chapter VII · Henry and Richard

  Chapter VIII · House of Neville

  Chapter IX · Marguerite

  Chapter X · Mitre and Crown

  Chapter XI · Richard

  Chapter XII · Henry

  Chapter XIII · Coup d’état

  Chapter XIV · Marguerite’s Counter-coup

  Chapter XV · Lord of Calais

  Chapter XVI · Here be Dragons

  Chapter XVII · Marguerite and Henry

  Entr’acte · The English Way of War

  Chapter XVIII · Marguerite’s Army

  Chapter XIX · Lancaster Resurgent

  Chapter XX · Warwick’s Apotheosis

  Chapter XXI · Betrayal

  Chapter XXII · Marguerite and Son

  Chapter XXIII · Richard’s Humiliation

  Chapter XXIV · Edward of March

  Chapter XXV · The Bubble Reputation

  Chapter XXVI · Two Kings

  Chapter XXVII · Knight’s Gambit

  Chapter XXVIII · Endgame

  Coda · Checkmate

  Plate Section

  Appendix A · English Peerage 1440−62, by date of creation

  Appendix B · English Peerage 1440−62, alphabetical

  Appendix C · Archbishops and Bishops 1440−62

  Appendix D · Beauchamp Inheritance

  Works Consulted

  Acknowledgements

  Image Credits

  Index

  About Battle Royal

  Reviews

  About Hugh Bicheno

  An Invitation from the Publisher

  Copyright

  List of Maps

  * * *

  1. Historic Counties of England and Wales

  2. Principal Estates of the Crown and Leading Magnates c. 1455

  3. Roads, Rivers, Sieges and Battlefields

  4. Great North Road and Western Spur

  5. Half-conquered France, c. 1429

  6. Fall of Normandy 1449−50

  7. Archdioceses and Dioceses of England & Wales

  8. The North: Neville and Percy

  9. Approach to St Albans, May 1455

  10. Battle of St Albans, 22 May 1455

  11. Medieval Calais

  12. Wales and the Marches: Royal Domains outlined

  13. The Approaches to Blore Heath

  14. Close Approach to Blore Heath

  15. Blore Heath, 23 September 1459

  16. Ludford Campaign, South and Central Welsh Marches

  17. Battlefield of Northampton

  18. Battlefield of Wakefield

  19. Mortimer’s Cross Campaign, Jan−Feb 1460

  20. Battle of Mortimer’s Cross, 2 February 1461

  21. Approach to St Albans, February 1461

  22. Battle of St Albans, First Phase, 17 February 1461

  23. Battle of St Albans, Second Phase, 17 February 1461

  24. Approach to Towton, March 1461

  25. Road Distances and Marching Times

  26. Towton Artefacts

  27. Battle of Towton, 29 March 1461

  Tables

  * * *

  Peerage Participation in Selected Campaigns 1415–53

  Partisan Peers in 1461

  Timings of dawn and nightfall in Yorkshire, 6 April 2014

  Family Trees

  * * *

  Princes of the Blood

  House of Lancaster

  House of Beaufort

  House of Valois-Anjou

  House of York

  House of Neville

  Houses of Stafford and Bourchier

  Protagonists and Marriages

  * * *

  With few exceptions, mainly titles held by elderly or ill men, single women or minors, the entire peerage was drawn into the first phase of the conflict.

  PRECURSORS

  Beauchamp, Richard (1382–1439), 13th Earl of Warwick. Dominant lord in south Wales and west Midlands. Married (1st) Elizabeth Berkeley and (both 2nd) Isabel Despenser.

  Beauchamp, Richard (d.1422), 1st Earl of Worcester and 2nd Baron Bergavenny. Welsh Marcher lord. First husband of Isabel Despenser. Sole heir married Edward Neville (see Yorkists).

  Beaufort, Henry (d.1447), Cardinal Archbishop of Winchester.

  Beaufort, Joan (d.1440). Her marriage to Ralph Neville created much of the tinder for the Wars of the Roses.

  Beaufort, John (1404–44), 1st Duke of Somerset. Married Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe.

  Bedford, John (1389–1435), Duke of. Brother of Henry V. Heirless.

  Gloucester, Humphrey (1390–1447), Duke of. Brother of Henry V. Heirless.

  Montacute, Thomas (1388–1428), 4th Earl of Salisbury. Sole heir Alice married Richard Neville (see Yorkists).

  Mowbray, John (1415–61), 3rd Duke of Norfolk, also Earl of Nottingham and Surrey. Nationwide landowner, main holdings in East Anglia diluted by the dower of his mother Katherine née Neville. Married Eleanor, sister of Henry, John, Thomas and William Bourchier.

  Neville, Ralph (1364–1425), 1st Earl of Westmorland. His second marriage to Joan Beaufort created much of the tinder for the Wars of the Roses.

  Pole, William de la (1396–1450), 1st Duke of Suffolk. East Anglian and, through marriage to Alice Chaucer, Oxfordshire lord. Chief minister of Henry VI until 1450.

  Valois, Catherine de (1401–37), dowager queen. Henry VI’s mother. Lover of Owen Tudor.

  LANCASTRIANS

  Henry VI, King of England (1421–71) (r. 1422–61; 1470–71).

  Marguerite d’Anjou (1430–82), Henry VI’s queen.

  Edward of Westminster (1453–71), Prince of Wales.

  Audley – see Tuchet, James.

  Beauchamp, Alice – see Yorkists.

  Beauchamp, Eleanor (1408–67). Daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Berkeley. Dowager Baroness Roos, mother of Thomas, 9th Baron Roos. Married (2nd) Edmund Beaufort. See Appendix D.

  Beauchamp, Elizabeth (1415–48), 3rd Baroness Bergavenny by right. Sole heir of Richard and Isabel Despenser. Married Edward Neville. See Appendix D.

  Beauchamp, Elizabeth (1417–80). Daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Berkeley. Married George, dubious Baron Latimer, son of Ralph Neville and Joan Beaufort. See Appendix D.

  Beauchamp, Margaret (1404–67). Daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Berkeley. Married John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury.

  See Appendix D.

  Beauchamp of Bletsoe, Margaret (1405–82). Wealthy Bedfordshire, Wiltshire and Dorset landowner. Married (2nd) John Beaufort, by whom Margaret Beaufort, and (3rd) Lionel, 6th Baron Welles.

  Beaufort, Edmund (1406–55), 2nd Duke of Somerset. Lieutenant of Normandy. Younger brother and heir of John. Added estates in Gloucestershire, Denbigh and Isle of Wight. Married Eleanor Beauchamp.

  Beaufort, Henry (1436–64), 3rd Duke of Somerset. Eldest son of Edmund and Eleanor Beauchamp.

&nb
sp; Beaufort, Margaret (1443–1509). Daughter of John. Married (1st) Edmund Tudor, by whom the future Henry VII, and (2nd) Henry Stafford, younger son of the Duke of Buckingham.

  Beaumont, John (1410–60), 1st Viscount. East Midlands and East Anglian lord. Lifelong friend of Henry VI. Married (2nd) Katherine Neville, dowager Duchess of Norfolk.

  Beaumont, William (1438–1507), 2nd Viscount. Son of John’s first marriage.

  Boteler/Butler, Ralph (1394–1473), 1st Baron Sudeley. Lord Treasurer 1443–6. Gloucestershire lord. Member of William de la Pole’s affinity. His only son Thomas, who predeceased him, was married to Eleanor, daughter of John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, who was later betrothed to Edward IV.

  Bromflete, Henry (1412–69), 1st Baron Vescy. Father-in-law of Thomas, 8th Baron Clifford.

  Buckingham – see Stafford, Humphrey.

  Butler, James (1420–61), 1st Earl of Wiltshire, later 5th Earl of Ormonde. Estates in the West Country, Gloucestershire, Staffordshire, Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire. Close friend of Henry VI. Married Eleanor, daughter of Edmund Beaufort and Eleanor Beauchamp.

  Chaucer, Alice (1404–75), dowager Duchess of Salisbury. East Anglian and Oxfordshire landowner. Married William de la Pole. Their son first betrothed to John Beaufort’s daughter Margaret, later married Elizabeth, Richard of York’s second daughter.

  Clifford, Thomas (1414–55), 8th Baron. Northern lord. Married Joan, daughter of 6th Baron Dacre.

  Clifford, John (1435–61), 9th Baron. Married Margaret, sole heir of Lord Vescy.

  Courtenay, Thomas (1432–61), 14th Earl of Devon. West Country magnate. See entry for his namesake father under Yorkists. Married Marie of Anjou, illegitimate daughter of Charles, Count of Maine, Queen Marguerite’s uncle.

  Dacre of the North, Randolph (1412–1461), 1st Baron. Scots Marcher lord. Son of 6th Baron Dacre. Henry VI created new title for him after the barony went with his niece to Yorkist Richard Fiennes.

  Devon – see Courtenay, Thomas.

  Dudley – see Sutton, John.

  Exeter – see Holland, Henry.

  Fiennes, James (1390–1450), 1st Baron Saye and Sele. Kent lord. Close friend of Henry VI. Murdered 1450 during Cade’s Rebellion. His son became a Yorkist.

  Grey of Codnor (1435–96), Henry, 7th Baron. Midlands lord.

  Grey of Groby, John (1432–61). Son of Elizabeth, 6th Baroness Ferrers of Groby by right, and Edward Grey. First husband of Elizabeth Woodville, later Edward IV’s queen.

  Holland, Henry (1430–75), 3rd Duke of Exeter and Earl of Huntington. Hereditary Admiral of England, minor landowner. Married Anne, Richard of York’s eldest daughter.

  Hungerford, Robert (1431–64), 2nd Baron, also Lord Moleyns by marriage. Mainly West Country lord.

  Kemp, John, (1380–1454), Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury.

  Lisle – see Talbot, John.

  Lovell, John (d.1465), 8th Baron, plus several other titles. Wealthy Midlands lord. Married Joan, daughter of John, 1st Viscount Beaumont.

  Luxembourg, Jacquetta (1416–72), dowager Duchess of Bedford. Lands in Normandy and Richmondshire. Married (2nd) Richard Woodville.

  Moleyns – see Hungerford, Robert.

  Neville, John (d.1461), 1st Baron. Northern lord. Brother of Ralph, 2nd Earl of Westmorland, acted as his guardian after he became demented.

  Northumberland – see Percy.

  Ormonde – see Butler, James.

  Oxford – see Vere, John.

  Percy, Henry (1394–1455), 2nd Earl of Northumberland (attainted title restored 1416). Dominant lord in Northumberland, major landowner in Cumberland and Yorkshire. Married Eleanor, second daughter of Ralph Neville and Joan Beaufort.

  Percy, Henry (1421–61), 3rd Earl of Northumberland. Through marriage to Eleanor, Baroness Poynings, acquired lands in Sussex and Kent.

  Rivers – see Woodville, Richard.

  Roos, Thomas (1427–64), 9th Baron. East Midlands and Yorkshire lord. Son of Eleanor Beauchamp by her first marriage, half-brother to her sons by Edmund Beaufort. Married Philippa Tiptoft, sister of Yorkist John, 1st Earl of Worcester.

  Rougemont Grey, Thomas (d.1461), 1st Baron. Minor West Country lord. Brother of the Yorkist Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthyn. Married Margaret, daughter of 5th Baron Ferrers of Groby.

  Saye and Sele – see Fiennes, James.

  Scales, Thomas (d.1460), 7th Baron. Mainly Norfolk lord. Leading commander in Normandy. Godfather of Edward, Richard of York’s eldest son. Sole heir Elizabeth married (2nd) Anthony Woodville.

  Shrewsbury – see Talbot, John.

  Stafford, Humphrey (1402–60), 1st Duke of Buckingham. Nationwide landowner. Lieutenant of Calais. Married Anne, daughter of Ralph Neville and Joan Beaufort.

  Stafford, Humphrey (1424–58), courtesy earldom of Stafford. Eldest son of the Duke of Buckingham whom he predeceased. Married Margaret, daughter of Edmund Beaufort and Eleanor Beauchamp.

  Stafford, Henry (1455–83). Younger son of the Duke of Buckingham. Second husband of Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe.

  Stourton, John (1454–85), 3rd Baron. West Country lord.

  Sudeley – see Boteler/Butler, Ralph.

  Sutton, John (1400–87), 1st Baron Dudley. Cheshire lord. Close associate of William de la Pole, changed sides after being severely wounded while fighting for Lancaster.

  Talbot, John (1384–1453), 1st Earl of Shrewsbury. Welsh Marcher lord. Outstanding commander in Normandy. Married (1st) Maud Nevill (sic), Baroness Furnivall, and (2nd) Margaret Beauchamp.

  Talbot, John (1413–60), 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury. Eldest son of 1st Earl and Maud Nevill. Married Elizabeth, daughter of James Butler.

  Talbot, John (d.1453), 1st Viscount Lisle. Gloucestershire lord. Son of 1st Earl of Shrewsbury and Margaret Beauchamp.

  Talbot, Thomas (d.1470), 2nd Viscount Lisle. See Appendix D.

  Trollope, Andrew (d.1461). Talbot and later Somerset retainer. Immensely experienced Normandy veteran.

  Tuchet, James (1398–1459), 5th Baron Audley. East Midlands lord. Married (1st) Margaret, daughter of 6th Baron Roos, and (2nd) Eleanor, daughter of Edmund Holland, 4th Earl of Kent, and Constance of York.

  Tudor, Edmund (d.1456), 1st Earl of Richmond. Eldest son of Owen and Catherine de Valois. Married Margaret, daughter of John Beaufort and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe.

  Tudor, Jasper (1431–95), 1st Earl of Pembroke. Second son of Owen and Catherine de Valois.

  Tudor, Owen (1400–61), Lover of dowager Queen Catherine de Valois.

  Vere, John (1408–62), 12th Earl of Oxford. Mainly Essex lord.

  Vescy – see Bromflete, Henry.

  Welles, Lionel (1406–61), 6th Baron. Lincolnshire lord. Married (2nd) Margaret Beauchamp of Bletsoe.

  Welles, Richard (1428–70), 7th Baron Willoughby by marriage. Also a Lincolnshire lord. Heir to Lionel.

  Willoughby – see Welles, Richard.

  Wiltshire – see Butler, James.

  Woodville, Richard (1405–69), 1st Baron Rivers. Minor Kent lord. Married Jacquetta of Luxembourg. Eldest child Elizabeth married (1st) John Grey of Groby and (2nd) Edward IV.

  YORKISTS

  York, Richard (1411–60), 3rd Duke. Nationwide estates, main concentrations in the Welsh Marches and East Anglia. Lieutenant of Normandy and of Ireland. Married Cecily Neville.

  Neville, Cecily (1415–95), known as ‘Proud Cis’. Youngest daughter of Ralph Neville and Joan Beaufort, sister to Richard, Earl of Salisbury and aunt to Richard, Earl of Warwick.

  March, Edward (1442–83), Earl of. Richard of York’s eldest son. Later King Edward IV.

  Rutland, Edmund (1443–60) Earl of. Richard of York’s second son.

  Arundel – see FitzAlan, William.

  Audley – see Tuchet, John.

  Beauchamp, Anne (1426–92), 16th Countess of Warwick by right. Married Richard Neville. See Appendix D.

  Bergavenny – see Neville, Edward.

  Berners – see Bourchier, John.

  B
onville, William (1392–1461), 1st Baron. West Country magnate. Married (1st) Margaret, sister of Edmund, Lord Grey of Ruthyn, and (2nd) Elizabeth Courtenay, daughter of the 3rd Earl of Devon. Initially Lancastrian, he became Yorkist through alliance with the Nevilles.

  Bonville, William (d.1460), Eldest son of 1st Baron Bonville and Margaret Grey. Married Elizabeth, heir to the barony of Harington in Dorset.

  Bonville, William (1442–60), 6th Baron Harington. Son of William Bonville and Elizabeth Harington. Married Katherine, daughter of Richard Neville and Alice Montacute.

  Bourchier, Henry (1406–83), 1st Viscount. Dominant lord in Essex and Middlesex. Eldest of the Bourchier brothers. Married Isabel, Richard of York’s only sister.

  Bourchier, John (1415–74), 1st Baron Berners. Younger brother of Henry and William, older brother of Thomas and of Eleanor, Duchess of Norfolk.

  Bourchier, Thomas (1413–86), Cardinal Archbishop of Canterbury. Youngest of the Bourchier brothers.

  Bourchier, William (1412–71), 9th Baron FitzWarin by marriage. Devon lord.

  Brooke, Edward (d.1464), 6th Baron Cobham. Kent lord. Married Elizabeth, daughter of James Tuchet.

  Cobham – see Brooke, Edward.

  Clinton, John (1410–64), 5th Baron. Northamptonshire and Staffordshire lord. Married Joan, daughter of 5th Baron Ferrers of Chartley.

  Courtenay, Thomas (1414–58), 13th Earl of Devon. West Country magnate. Married Margaret, sister of John and Edmund Beaufort. Initially strongly Yorkist he became Lancastrian when York allied with the Nevilles, allies of his deadly rival William Bonville.

  Cromwell, Ralph (d.1456), 3rd Baron. Rapacious east Midlands lord.

  Dacre – see Fiennes, Richard.

  Devereux, Walter (1432–85), 7th Baron Ferrers of Chartley by marriage. Lands around Weobley, Herefordshire, and in Staffordshire, Leicestershire and Lincolnshire. York retainer.

  Devon – see Courtenay, Thomas.

  Dudley – see Sutton, John.

  Fauconberg – see Neville, William

  Ferrers of Chartley – see Devereux, Walter and Clinton, John.