Battle of Hedgeley Moor – 25 April 1464

Despite a resounding victory at Towton, King Edward still faced Lancastrian opposition during the early years of his reign, see Lancastrian Resistance. In 1462 the duke of Somerset was pardoned and his estates restored but at the end of the following year he turned traitor and made for the north-east where the die-hard Lancastrians held the Northumbrian castles of Alnwick, Bamburgh, and Dunstanborough. In the spring of 1464 King Edward was negotiating with the Scots and Lord Montagu was escorting a party of ambassadors from Norham to York when he was ambushed near Newcastle. The attack was a failure but Somerset’s army met with Montagu at Hedgeley on 25 April. However, before the engagement became a reality Lords Roos and Hungerford left the field and were soon to be followed by Somerset, leaving only one division to fight under the command of Sir Ralph Percy. It was destroyed by Montagu.

Further Reading:

‘The Battle of Hexham 1464’ by Dorothy Charlesworth from Archaeologia Aeliana, 4th Series, Vol 30 1952.  The course of the battle, and the events leading up to it.