The Battle of Northampton 1460
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About this ebook
A book about the bloody Battle of Northampton, a key turning point in the Wars of the Roses fought in 1460.
In 1460 the Yorkists in the Wars of the Roses seemed doomed. The Duke of York was in exile, his friends in hiding and his army scattered. Then Edward, Yorks dashing son, returned from France and summoned his supporters to join him. With him marched the experienced Earl of Warwick, but at Northampton they encountered a powerful Lancastrian army under the veteran Duke of Buckingham. The savage fighting that followed changed the situation entirely and gave the Yorkists the upper hand.
This book brings an exciting new look to the Wars of the Roses. The course of the war is given, but the emphasis is on the battle and the men who fought there. There are detailed analyses of weapons, tactics and strategies, tactical diagrams explain how the troops formed up and moved, and a study of the commanders. The course of the battle is followed with the aid of maps, relating to the ground today. The aftermath of the battle, its effects and importance to the progress of the war are then described.
The “Bretwalda Battles” series has been running with increasing success as ebooks for some time. Now the first books in the series are being published in print format.
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Wars of the Roses
Chapter 2 Leaders at Northampton
Chapter 3 Men, Weapons and Tactics
Chapter 4 The Battle of Northampton
Chapter 5 Aftermath
About the Author
Rupert Matthews has written over 180 books, mostly on history or military subjects for a wide variety of publishers. He has made a particular study of English battlefields, having walked across dozens of them, handled replica weapons and studied dozens of contemporary accounts.
Rupert Matthews
Rupert Matthews has written over 150 books for different publishers, achieving significant sales in a variety of markets both in the UK and abroad. His works have been translated into 19 languages and have been shortlisted for a number of awards. Rupert has been a freelance writer for 20 years, working in-house at a major book publisher before going freelance.
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Book preview
The Battle of Northampton 1460 - Rupert Matthews
Bretwalda Battles
The Wars of the Roses
The Battle of Northampton 1460
by Rupert Matthews
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Published by Bretwalda Books at Smashwords
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This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
First Published 2013
Copyright © Bretwalda Books 2013
Oliver Hayes asserts his moral rights to be regarded as the author of this work.
ISBN 978-1-909099-56-2
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Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1 The Wars of the Roses
Chapter 2 Leaders at Northampton
Chapter 3 Men, Weapons and Tactics
Chapter 4 The Battle of Northampton
Chapter 5 Aftermath
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Introduction
The Battle of Northampton was one of the first great battles of the Wars of the Roses, and it was a real turning point. For years the disputes between the causes of York and Lancaster had been played out in the political arena but when the Lancastrians turned to violence they surprised and shocked the Yorkists. But not for long.
The Duke of York fled into exile in Ireland with one son, while a second went to France and the others sought sanctuary. It proved to be only a temporary defeat. With his dashing, talented ally the Earl of Warwick, York contacted friends and supporters across England. Word spread that the Yorkists should get ready to support their leader for he was coming home in the summer of 1460.
In the event it was Warwick and York’s son Edward, Earl of March, who reached England first. London welcomed them with open arms and men flocked to join their standard. But lurking in the Midlands was the Duke of Buckingham with King Henry VI and an army of prodigious strength.
Warwick marched north, confronting Buckingham just outside Northampton. The battle was fought to the south of the crossing over the River Nene, in the grounds of Delapre Abbey. The site is now a golf course and - bunkers apart - has not changed much over the years. The battle that followed was savage and murderous. Cannon were present in numbers for the first time in a battle fought on English soil, though the older weapons of bow, sword and lance predominated.
The Wars of the Roses would continue for years after Northampton, but the battle fought here set the tone and the pattern for what was to follow: treachery, ruthless violence, political subterfuge and barbaric slaughter dominated at Northampton and were to become savagely typical of the Wars of the Roses in the decades that followed as England was torn apart in a civil war of unparalleled viciousness.
This book seeks to explain why the Battle of Northampton was fought, how it was fought and what its results turned out to be. So read on and learn how history was made in Northampton.
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Chapter 1
The Wars of the Roses
The vicious dynastic conflict known to us as the Wars of the Roses tore England apart between 1455 and 1497. Although there were prolonged periods of peace within the wars, this was a period of violence, bloodshed and lawlessness such as England had not seen since the reign of King Stephen in the 12th century.
Historians have sought to link the wars to various social trends within England, to underlying economic factors and to religion. However, there can be little doubt that the prime cause of all the trouble was King Henry VI. Not that this was really his fault. Henry was a weak and simple man who suffered bouts of mental incapacity that came and went with startling suddenness. He would sit down to dinner, fall into a trance and not recover his sense for hours, days or weeks on end. Nobody could predict when the next bout would strike nor how long it would last.
What was clear was that there were unscrupulous men and women close to Henry who were only too willing to take advantage of his weakness and bouts of insanity for their own purposes. Contemporaries pinned most of the blame on Henry’s wife, Queen Margaret of Anjou. She was an easy target being both French and a woman, but that does not mean she was blameless. Margaret was undoubtedly a greedy and vengeful woman who found it as hard to forgive a wrong as to remember