Battle of Barnet – 14 April 1471

Challenge in the Mist by Graham Turner
Reproduced by kind permission of the artist
www.studio88.co.uk

King Edward’s ten-year reign was interrupted by the defection of his cousin, the earl of Warwick, which eventually led to the latter giving his allegiance to his erstwhile enemy, the Lancastrian Queen Margaret, and her son. The king was driven into exile on 3 October 1470 but he returned to England on 14 March the following year, landing at Ravenspur in Yorkshire. The city of Hull refused to open its gates to the Yorkists so they marched on to York where they were received with only a little less reluctance. The king’s reception in Yorkshire was generally cool so rather than proclaim that he had returned to reclaim his kingdom, he told the Yorkshiremen that he was only claiming his rights as duke of York, repeating Henry of Bolingbroke’s claim in 1399.

Edward left York on 19 March and marched to Nottingham via Wakefield, all the while being shadowed by Montagu who failed to attack, probably due to lack of resources, whilst the king attracted support. At Leicester a force of 3,000 under the command of Sir William Norris joined him, raised from the estates of William Hastings. Meanwhile the earl of Warwick was frantically recruiting in the midlands but as the king approached he retreated into the city of Coventry and refused Edward’s challenges to meet and fight. The king impatiently by-passed the city and made for the town of Warwick where he proclaimed himself king once again. Clarence, who had been recruiting in the west country, ostensibly for the earl of Warwick, now met with his brother three miles outside the town of Warwick and the two were reconciled.

The Royalist March
Reproduced by kind permission of Peter Hammond and David Scuffam

The king again challenged Wawick to fight, who, although he was now reunited with his brother Montagu and his army, was not happy with the odds; and again refused. Edward then took the decision to leave Coventry in enemy hands and made for London, which he entered on Thursday 10 April. He was briefly reunited with his wife and saw his son and heir for the first time. The next day, Good Friday, fresh support for the king began to arrive and on Saturday Edward’s preparations for the forthcoming military engagement were complete. He left London later that day heading towards St Albans, the last reported sighting of Warwick. Earlier in the day Warwick had reached Barnet and took up a defensive position across the St Albans road, in the area now known as Hadley Green, on the plateau overlooking London. The earl of Oxford led one division, Montagu the centre and the duke of Exeter, the other flank. It was late when Edward reached Barnet but he was determined to end the matter the next day, Easter Sunday. In the dark he deployed his troops, the van led by the young duke of Gloucester, the centre by himself with Clarence, the left by Lord Hastings. Unfortunately, the divisions of the opposing forces were not aligned to the Yorkists which was to the advantage of Gloucester and Oxford but to the disadvantage of Hastings and Exeter. During the night Warwick sought to frighten his opponents by firing volleys but due to the close proximity of the two armies the artillery overshot their marks.

The Battle of Barnet
Reproduced by kind permission of Peter Hammond and David Scuffam

Very early in the morning, as it became light, and in a thick mist, Edward engaged his enemy. Inevitably the misalignment of the wings caused problems for both armies. As Gloucester’s wing moved forward it missed Exeter’s force but by swinging his men around he attacked Exeter’s flank and Gloucester was soon in the thick of the fighting. Warwick may have deployed some of his reserve to support Exeter following the surprise manoeuvre.

At the other end of the field, Oxford had the advantage over Hastings and made short work of the Yorkist division. Hastings’ line broke and his solders ran off, hotly pursued by the Lancastrians who halted their chase to plunder the town. Oxford eventually managed to rally a force of about 800 men and return to the battle but his luck for the day now ran out. The battle lines had shifted and the first men Oxford encountered were those in Montagu’s division. The mist was still lingering and in the poor visibility Montagu’s men mistook Oxford’s estoile badge for King Edward’s Sun in Splendour badge and attacked what was left of Oxford’s division and the earl fled the field. Cries of treason were now heard as the Lancastrian army began to disintegrate. Montagu was killed and with the death of his brother and his army in disarray, Warwick tried to escape. It appears he was taken prisoner, but when a group of soldiers recognised him he was killed.

With the death, defection and wounding of the Lancastrian leaders, the battle was over by 7 or 8 o’clock in the morning. The duke of Exeter was seriously wounded and Gloucester and Clarence may have suffered some minor injuries. Among the nobles dead, apart from the Neville brothers, were the Lords Cromwell and Saye and the heir of Lord Berners, Sir Humprhey Bourchier. Casualties have been put between 1,500 and 3,000. The strength of armies has been estimated at around 15,000 for the Lancastrians and between 10,000 and 12,000 for the Yorkists.

King Edward rested briefly at Barnet before returning to London but unbeknown to him, Queen Margaret with her son and army landed at Weymouth the same day.

Shields of some of the participants

Contemporary Sources:

Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV in England and the Finall Recouerye of his Kingdomes from Henry VI edited by J Bruce, Camden Society, 1838

Mémoires by Philippe de Commines edited by D Godefroy and Llenglet du Fesnoy, 4 vols, Paris, 1747

The Great Chronicle of London edited by AH Thomas and ID Thornley, 1938

A Chronicle of the First Thirteen Years of the Reign of King Edward IV by John Warkworth. Edited by JO Halliwell, 1839.

Edward IV’s Memoir on Paper to Charles, Duke of Burgundy. The so-called ‘short Version of the Arrivall’ edited by Livia Visser-Fuchs, Nottingham Medieval Studies, vol 36, 1992

Anchiennes Croniques d’Engleterre by Jean de Waurin, edited by E Dupont, 3 vols, Société de l’Histoire de France, Paris, 1858-63.

Recueil des Chroniques D’Engleterre by Jean de Waurin edited by W Hardy and E Hardy, 1891

Further Reading:

A Hanseatic merchant’s account of Edward’s campaign to regain the crown, up to the battle of Barnet’ from The Newsletter of Gerhard von Wessel 17 April 1471 by John Adair. From Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 1968. 

‘Chronicles of the Battle of Barnet’ by P Bernard and B Grafton Green. From Hendon & District Archaeological Society Occasional Papers No 1 1971. Description of various chronicles and other original sources of information on the battle.

‘A Review of the Sources for the Battle of Barnet’ by Peter Watson, The Ricardian, June 2000

‘The Battle of Barnet’ by Frederick Charles Cass from Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society  Vol 6 1882.  Account of the battle by the Rector of Monken Hadley.

‘Battle on Easter Day’ by Hubert Collier from Lloyds Log, March and April 1971.  An account of the battle based on an examination of the battlefield.

‘Battle of Barnet Quincentenary Commemorative Brochure’ edited by David Hicks 1971.  Includes short articles on warfare in the late Middle Ages, the Yorkist and Lancastrian claims to the throne, and the battle itself.

The Battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury by PW Hammond, Gloucester 1990.  Definitive work on these two major battles. Review in The Ricardian, December 1990

‘The Battle of Barnet’ by Sheila Hutchison. From The Lady, 8 April 1971.  Short account of the battle.

The Battle of Barnet by Fiona Jones. Barnet Museum. (Barnet and District Local History Society 2004).

‘A Ricardian Riddle: The Casualty List for the Battle of Barnet’ by Livia Visser-Fuchs. The Ricardian, March 1988