Battle of Edgecote – 26 July 1469

There was peace for five years but civil strife erupted again in 1469 as the King and the earl of Warwick became estranged and hostilities once again broke out with a series of rebellions in Yorkshire .  The Yorkshire rebel army led by ‘Robin of Redesdale’ was sufficiently large to cause the king, who had gone north to resist the rebels, to retire to Nottingham and to await reinforcements from Wales and the west country that were being recruited by the earls of Pembroke and Devon.  The rebel army, meanwhile, was also wary of a confrontation with the king so they marched south to rendezvous with the earl of Warwick. Unfortunately for all concerned the rebel army and royal  reinforcements crossed each other’s paths near Banbury.

There appears to have been a skirmish on the 25th which resulted in the death of Warwick’s cousin Sir Henry Neville, but it is unclear where such an action took place. During the evening of the same day an argument appears to have occurred between the royalist commanders about where they should each lodge and the earl of Devon withdrew and encamped elsewhere, although one account (de Waurin) maintains that Devon withdrew during the fighting. This was to prove disastrous for the royalists as all the archers were under his command.

The following day the battle was joined at Danes Moor, south-east of Edgecote and about three miles from Banbury. Pembroke took up a position on high ground, but without archers he decided to take the offensive and descended towards the rebels. The battle was hard-fought and although Sir William Conyers was killed the day fell to the rebels, leaving about 4,000 royalists dead on the field. Pembroke and his brother, Sir Richard Herbert, were captured and executed along with the queen’s father and brother, Earl Rivers and Sir John Woodville. The earl of Devon was taken in August and executed in Bridgwater. A few days later King Edward was captured by Warwick’s brother, and the earl, for the moment, had control of the kingdom. The rebel army now retired to their homes in the north.

Shields of some of the participants

Link:

The Battlefield Trust Resource Centre Website

Contemporary Sources:

‘Hearne’s Fragment’ in The Chronicles of the White Rose, edited by JC Giles, 1843

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

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

Further Reading:

‘… Where both the hosts fought…’ - The Rebellion of 1469-1470 and the Battles of Edgecote and Lose-Coat Field by PA Haigh. Battlefield Press, Heckmondwike, West Yorks 1997.