| |||||
МЕНЮ
| The war of the rosesp> The first years of Edward's reign were pro-occupied with stamping out all remaining Lancastrian opposition. Pembroke and Exeter remained at large in Wales, but the Earl of Oxford was executed in 1462 for an attempted landing on the cast coast. The bulk of the surviving Lancastrians retired to the Scots border with Margaret and Henry, seeking support from Scotland and holding the powerful border castles. In April 1464 a Yorkist force under Lord Montagu, Warwick's younger brother and Edward's lieutenant in the north, clashed with a Lancastrian force under the Duke of Somerset at Hedgeley Moor. The two Lancastrian wings, commanded by Lords Hungerford and Roos, promptly fled, but the men under Sir Ralph Percy stood fast and were annihilated. Montagu was unable to pursue, as he was escorting a Scottish delegation to York to discuss a peace. Somerset led his forces to Hexham and made camp two miles south of that town. As soon as Montagu had carried out his mission, he moved southwards to confront the Lancastrians again. Early on the morning of 15 May 1464 Montagu attacked the Lancastrian
camp, smashing through Somerset's center with a rapid downhill charge. Once
again the two wings broke and fled. Somerset was captured and executed,
along with Hungerford and Roos, among others. These executions almost
completed the extinction of the old Lancastrian faction, and virtually
ended Lancastrian resistance; and even the queen gave up, and fled to 1469-1471 Barnet and Tewkesbury. The great northern strongholds of the Lancastrians – Ainwick, Norham, In November 1464 Edward secretly married Elizabeth Woodville, without
the consent and against the wishes of Warwick (who was engaged at the time
in trying to arrange a French marriage for the king). Warwick, trying to
assume dictatorial powers over the new king, fell from favor, and At about this time Warwick engineered a Neville rising in the north, which began with the so-called rebellion of Robin of Redesdale. When the rising was well under way Warwick landed in Kent with a force from Calais but, before he could reach the scene of operations, the royal army was defeated at Edgecotc in Northamptonshire (6 July 1469). Edward was captured and handed over to Warwick, who executed many of Edward's leading supporters, including Queen Elizabeth's father, her brother John, and the newly created Earls of Pembroke and Devon. Edward was confined for some weeks in Middleham Castle, but was released
when he agreed to accept new ministers nominated by Warwick. But at the
first opportunity Edward took his revenge. In March 1470 a Lancastrian
uprising occurred in Lincolnshire. Edward gathered a force to suppress the
rising, carefully calling to his standard all those peers with grudges
against Warwick or who were not tied to him by family alliances. Edward
defeated the rebels at the battle of Lose-Coat Field and the rebels'
leader, Sir Robert Welles, confessed the rising was part of a plot by In September Warwick arranged a rising in Yorkshire and, as soon as Edward, returning south in a hurry, found himself caught between Henry VI was released and restored to the throne, but Margaret did not trust her old enemy Warwick, and refused to leave France: Prince Edward remained with her. Meanwhile, Clarence began to seek reconciliation with Edward; and on 15 Edward reached London on 11 April, closely followed by the now united armies of Oxford, Northumberland and Warwick, and on 14 April 1471 was fought the battle of Barnet (see map). The battle began at dawn in a heavy fog, with the right wing of each
army overlapping the left wing of the other. Both the Yorkist and On the same day Queen Margaret and Prince Edward landed at Weymouth. Gloucester, with its crucial first bridge over the Severn, closed its gates to the queen at Edward's request, and Margaret had no option but to bypass the city and move further up river to Tewkesbury. Here Edward caught up with her on 3 May after a series of forced marches. The next day – 4 May 1471 – the outnumbered Lancastrians took up a
strong position on a slope between two brooks (see map). The Yorkists
deployed some 400 yards away, with their left flank under Richard of Richard turned to face Somerset, who was now faced by the entire Yorkist left; and at the same time some 200 spearmen, placed on the extreme flank by Edward to guard against such a move, advanced to attack Somerset in the flank. Somerset's force gave ground, then broke and fled. Somerset escaped to confront Wenlock, and in a rage slew him with his battleaxe. The 'main battle' now began to give ground, and when Edward's center began a general advance the Lancastrian army broke and ran. Most of the Lancastrian nobles were captured and slaughtered, among them Edward proclaimed his seven-month-old son Edward Prince of Wales and
sent Hastings with a strong force to take possession of Calais. Richard of 1483-1487 Bosworth, Stoke, Blackheath and Exeter Edward IV died in April 1483 when his son and heir, Edward V, was only twelve. Inevitably rival factions immediately emerged – the boy king and the court controlled by the queen mother and her relations, and Edward's favorites Lord Hastings and Thomas Lord Stanley, opposed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester, now the most powerful man in the kingdom, whom Edward IV had intended should be regent. Richard acted swiftly. Moving south, he joined forces with Henry In June Hastings was suddenly arrested and executed. Two weeks later That autumn there was a revolt in the West Country, led by Buckingham,
apparently in conspiracy with the exiled Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond and
now head of the House of Lancaster. (Henry could claim the throne, in right
of his mother, Margaret Beaufort, as surviving male representative of the The two main forces drew up facing each other but both Henry Tudor and The battle commenced without the Stanleys, the opposing forces both making a bid for Ambien Hill. Richard's troops reached the ridge first, and his 'vaward battle' deployed on it in a defensive position. The 'main battle' followed, while the 'rearward battle' was ordered to take position on the left of this line as soon as possible, and to face due south. Henry advanced to engage in an archery duel at long range, and Richard looked in vain for his 'rearward battle': the Earl of Northumberland had decided to avoid action until the Stanleys showed their hands. As the archers began to run out of arrows, the two armies advanced to
melee, and only now did the Stanleys move – to attack both flanks of In the early years of his reign Henry VII was in continual danger, and
it is erroneous to regard Bosworth as the end of the Wars of the Roses. The
first of the king's troubles was a rising in 1486 in the North Riding of In May 1487 Lovel landed in Ireland with some 2,000 Swiss and 1,500 The invaders were welcomed by most of the Irish lords and 'Clarence' was
crowned Edward VI at Dublin. Within a few weeks Lincoln had recruited some For the next four years Henry enjoyed a relatively peaceful reign, but
then Yorkist conspiracies began once more to thicken. Ever since 1483 it
had been rumored that one or both of Edward IV's sons had escaped from the He gained some support in Ireland, and was recognized as York by Nevertheless, in July 1495 Warbeck sailed from Flanders with 2,000
exiles and German mercenaries. He attempted to land at Deal, but his
vanguard was destroyed by Kentish levies and he drew off and made for Warbeck landed at Munster, but only the Earl of Desmond came to his
support. Unable to face Poynings' forces, Warbeck sailed to Scotland. With However, discontent over the taxes imposed to pay for the war with Warbeck, hearing of the rising, landed in Devon in August. Gathering
together 8,000 rebels, he marched on Exeter. The city closed its gates
against him and, after an attempt to besiege the city, Warbeck had to march
away to confront a royal army dispatched to relieve Exeter. When he reached The last real fighting of the Wars of the Roses had taken place at Appendix 1 Armies In 1341 Edward III had revolutionized the structure of European armies by instituting in England a system of written indentured contracts between the Crown and prominent military leaders. Under this system the military leaders, or 'captains' and 'lieutenants', contracted with the king to provide an agreed number of men for military service, promising to bring them to a place of assembly by a certain date. The indenture set out precisely how long the men would have to serve, their rate of pay, obligations and privileges. The captains were responsible for paying these men, the king giving securities to repay the money at a later date. These captains raised their companies by making a series of similar contracts with knights and man-at-arms, again stipulating the terms of service and the types of soldiers they would be expected to contribute. The captains usually sought these 'sub-contractors' amongst their friends, kinsmen, tenants and neighbors. These companies, composed entirely of volunteers, created in effect a
royal standing army; for the men were professional soldiers who, although
raised, led and paid by their captains, regarded themselves firstly as Inevitably, many of the most powerful captains were of the nobility, for they had the position at court, the wealth, and the connections to raise large contingents. In order to be able to satisfy at once any request by the king for a company, such lords frequently maintained a permanent force, contracting their sub-contractors for life with annuities. These men often held offices (such as chamberlain or steward) in the magnate's household or on his estates, and probably provided in their turn the key contingents in his company. This system was introduced to deal with the demand for expeditionary forces to invade France during the Hundred Years' War, and the need to maintain permanent royal garrisons in the castles and towns across the channel. But it had the effect of creating large forces commanded by the great barons, and during the course of the Hundred Years' War these magnates became virtually petty kings within their own domains: the great northern families of Percy and Neville, for example, fought each other in the Wars of the Roses as much for supremacy in the North as for who should control the government of all England. The three greatest landowners of the second half of Henry VI's reign
were the Earl of Warwick and the Dukes of Buckingham and York. Humphrey These knights and esquires were the subcontractors, and each would have
provided a contingent of archers and men-at-arms. When their contingents
were amalgamated, considerable armies could be gathered. For example, in Note the predominance of archers. The contemporary Paston letters give a
good idea of the value of the longbowman during the Wars of the Roses. When These were ordinary archers, as opposed to an elite or 'de maison'
archer who would serve permanently in the household troop of a great lord. Edward IV's leading captains for his 1475 expedition to France had the
following retinues: This contract system still existed in the mid-15th century, and the end
of the Hundred Years' War in 1453 flooded England with large numbers of men
who had no trade other than that of soldier. Returning to England, these
men now assumed the aspect of mercenaries, unemployed and troublesome. This weakness in the royal authority led to corruption in high offices, and especially in the judiciary system. Whenever the interests of a landowner were involved in a legal case, rival bodies of armed men, wearing the liveries and badges of the lords who maintained them, would ride into the county town and bribe or intimidate judge and jury. During the regency of Henry VI's reign the legal system finally collapsed, and the barons began to resolve their quarrels over land and inheritances by making war against each other: might was right, and it became commonplace for heiresses to be abducted, minor lords to be imprisoned or even murdered, and for 'evidence' to be procured by bribery or threat. Since justice was no longer obtainable by fair means, many of the yeoman
farmers and smaller landowners of the lesser gentry now turned to the
barons for their personal protection and for the protection of their lands
and rights. This led to the polarization, which is such a feature of the The yeomen and lesser gentry entered into another form of contract,
known as 'livery and maintenance', whereby they undertook to wear the
baron's livery – i.e. a tunic in his colors and bearing his household badge From the above can be seen that an 'army' of the Wars of the Roses might consist of a magnate's personal or household troops (or bodyguard – usually of knights, sergeants and archers), plus his tenants, together with paid mercenaries or contract troops – both English and foreign specialists such as gunners and hand gunners – and 'livery and maintenance' men who were unpaid but who had a personal stake in the fighting. The only forces under the king's personal command were his bodyguard of knights and sergeants and the large, professional body of men who formed the royal garrison at Calais. Edward IV also had a permanent bodyguard of archers, and one of Henry VII's first actions on seizing the throne was to found the Yeomen of the Guard, a body of some 2,000 archers under a captain. These first saw active service in 1486, when they were used in the suppression of northern rebels. Finally, in times of great need, the king might also use Commissions of An example is given in the contemporary Stonor letters and papers for
the Oxfordshire half-hundred of Ewelme, which provided from its 17 villages
a total of 85 soldiers, 17 of whom were archers. Eweime itself produced six
men: 'Richard Slythurst, a harness [i.e. armored] and able to do the king
service with his bow. Thomas Staunton [the constable], John Hoime, whole
harness and both able to do the king service with a bill. John Tanner, a
harness and able to do the king service with a bill. John Pallying, a
harness and not able to wear it [presumably it did not fit him]. Roger Muster rolls are another source of such information. The muster on 4 In May 1455 the mayor of Coventry was ordered by royal signet letter to supply a retinue for the king. The town council decided to supply a hundred men with bows, jacks and sallets, and a captain was elected to lead them. The retinues supplied for Edward IV's expedition to France are divided
into 'lances' in the Continental manner, but it is most unlikely that the
forces engaged in the Wars of the Roses were ever formally divided in this
manner. Rather they were grouped by weapon and armour, by companies and
under the banners of their captains, and grouped into 'vaward', 'main' and Many of the commanders, particularly at company level, were not knights
but experienced soldiers, though many of them were subsequently knighted on
the field of battle. Lovelace was only an esquire, but rose to be Captain
of Kent through his military skills. Trollope was another soldier who rose
to high command, and was rewarded for his services by a knighthood at Although the wars started with small armies of experienced soldiers, as time went on the proportion of veterans diminished and, generally speaking, the armies had insufficient cohesion for elaborate tactics: most battles began with an archery duel, which tended to cancel out the value of the longbow, followed by a vast and contused melee on foot. The commander of an army could do little once the melee commenced, though he might hold back a small mounted reserve under his personal command, or detach a formation prior to the battle to use in an outflanking maneuver. Large numbers of the troops were mounted – not just the knights and esquires, but many of the men-at-arms. Some of these 'mounted infantry' were used as mounted scouts, flank guards and the like, but apart from an occasional mounted reserve of only 100 men or so, the armies dismounted to do battle, all horses being sent to the rear with the baggage. Primarily this was because of the weapons used and the facts that few mounted men were sufficiently experienced to fight effectively on horseback. However, the fact that many men of all arms were mounted did tend to lead to the formation of special vanguards of all-mounted troops, who were used to spearhead movement prior to a battle. Because of the fear of treachery, it was essential that the major
commanders fight on foot to indicate their willingness to stand and die
with their men. It was for this reason that so many of the nobles were so
easily killed or captured once their army was defeated. The mounted
reserves therefore tended to be composed of lesser knights or bodyguards,
and were led by minor commanders, such as Sir John Grey of Codnor, an
experienced soldier but a knight of low rank and position, who led the Appendix 2 Characters. |Richard III, King of England 1483 - 1485 |
The Lancastarian claim to the throne was via Edward III's third son John
of Gaunt. In October 1460, an Act of Accord designated that the royal
succession would move to the house of York after Henry VI's death. The
houses of Lancaster and York were united when Henry VII married the Sons of Edward III (1312-1377)
Страницы: 1, 2 |
ИНТЕРЕСНОЕ | |||
|