The Battles of the Wars of the Roses
1st St.Albans, Blore Heath, Ludford Bridge, Northampton, Wakefield, Mortimer's Cross, 2nd St.Albans, Towton, Hedgeley Moor, Hexham, Edgecote, Losecote Field, Barnet, Tewkesbury, Bosworth.
The Court met the Yorkists under the Duke of York and the earls of Salisbury and Warwick at a town just north of London. The Court dug-in inside the town. When negotiations broke down, York and Salisbury led the assault upon the barricades in two main streets. The defenders held the barricades and the Yorkists made no progress until Warwick led his reserves through some gardens and broke down the walls of some houses. He broke into the Lancastrians in the middle of the street and their position collapsed. Casualties included the Duke of Somerset, Earl of Northumberland and Lord Clifford killed, King Henry wounded and "captured". Numbers involved were small, probably a few thousand on each side.
Blore Heath - September 1459
Lords Audley and Dudley with a larger force of inferior troops, intercepted the Earl of Salisbury near Market Drayton in Shropshire. Both sides initially dug-in. Audley became impatient and ordered an attack upon Salisbury's position. There followed a long, bloody fight in which Audley was killed and Dudley captured. [He turned Yorkist after this battle.] Salisbury led his troops away in a night march, leaving his cannon to fool another Lancastrian force into thinking he'd stayed put. A couple of thousand on each side.
Ludford Bridge - September 1459
After pussyfooting around, the two sides met not far from York's castle of Ludlow. The Lancastrians clearly outnumbered the Yorkists, possibly by 2:1. The Yorkists parleyed but, in the night, the Calais garrison under Anthony Trollope defected to the Lancastrians. Realising their battle plans were revealed to the enemy, the Yorkist leaders dismissed their troops and fled abroad. There was no true battle but the Lancastrians sacked Ludlow. 10-20 000 Yorkists and a lot more Lancastrians.
The Yorkists approached a dug-in Lancastrian force outside the town. York's son, Edward, Earl of March led his men in column straight at the Lancastrian left flank. There, Lord Grey de Ruthyn's troops, [nominally Lancastrians], put down their weapons and helped them over the barricades. Then both contingents attacked the Lancastrians' central position. In the face of this treachery, the Lancastrians collapsed and it became a massacre. The noble dead included the Duke of Buckingham, Earl of Shrewsbury and Viscount Beaumont. The Yorkists recaptured King Henry. Up to 20000 Lancastrians and a few more Yorkists.
The Duke of York and Earl of Salisbury spent Christmas at the Duke's castle of Sandal outside Wakefield in Yorkshire. The Lancastrians moved into the area and began despoiling York's estate. On spying a moderate Lancastrian force near the castle, York, [against the advice of Salisbury and others], ordered a direct attack. As he made contact, two previously concealed Lancastrian forces emerged from nearby woods and surrounded the Yorkists. Those not slain in battle were murdered as they fled, including York's 17-year-old son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. A couple of thousand Yorkists and 2-3 times as many Lancastrians.
Mortimer's Cross - February 1461
March, recruiting near Wales, heard of the disaster at Wakefield and then that the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire were recruiting in Wales, themselves. He met them in a small market town in Herefordshire. A vision of three suns in the sky inspired the Yorkists and March positioned his troops with great tactical sense. Wiltshire led his men against the Yorkist right flank, which broke and was pursued. But in the middle, Pembroke was repelled by March's centre and surrounded. Wiltshire returned to succour Pembroke and managed to ford the river. The Yorkist left flank beat back Sir Owen Tudor, [father of Pembroke], and he was captured as the Lancastrians fled; Pembroke and Wiltshire escaped. Sir Owen was beheaded. 4000 Lancastrians, 5000 Yorkists: the Yorkist troops were probably of higher quality than the Lancastrians, too.
2nd St. Albans - February 1461
Queen Margaret led a rapacious force of northerners south to be met at St. Albans by Warwick. He dug-in and placed pickets in outlying villages. Alas, some of his pickets slept on the job and the Lancastrians took his position in the flank. In an all-day battle, he fought a rearguard action till nightfall and miraculously withdrew much of his force intact. [The only time a defeated force remained viable.] Treachery may also have played a part in the battle. 9000 Yorkists, 12000 Lancastrians, [though this was but a fraction of the Queen's total force].
The two sides met in Yorkshire on the river Aire, halfway between Doncaster and York. Preliminary skirmishes at Ferrybridge saw the deaths of Lord Fitzwalter for the Yorkists and Lord Clifford for the Lancastrians. Then, at Towton, 15000 Yorkists faced 25000 Lancastrians. As driving snow blinded the Lancastrians, Lord Fauconberg ordered the Yorkist archers to step forward and shoot a single volley at the enemy. When the Lancastrians replied, their arrows fell short but they couldn't know it. The Yorkists then picked up the spent arrows and shot back accurately as the wind carried their arrows further. Stung by the arrow storm, the Lancastrian main force attacked.
Despite the arrows, the Yorkists gave way under the weight of numbers. They were saved from immediate destruction by the late arrival of the Duke of Norfolk. Under his attack on the Lancastrian left, the Lancastrians slowly gave way until they broke in late afternoon and all that evening and night turned into a massacre. King Henry, Queen Margaret and Prince Edward escaped but the Earl of Northumberland died and the Yorkists captured and beheaded the earls of Devon and Wiltshire. The precise numbers involved on either side are very disputable but everyone is agreed that a *very* high fraction of the combatants were killed. In relative terms, it was bloodier than the Somme.
In little more than a skirmish, Lord Montagu surprised Somerset with 500 men near the Scottish border. Several of the Lancastrian captains, realising that they were sure to lose, ran away and the main force scattered. Somerset and the others escaped thanks to Sir Ralph Percy, who refused to flee and died on the battlefield.
Hexham - May 1464
Three weeks later, Montagu and 4000 men again intercepted Somerset with only 500 at another town near the Scots border. Somerset picked what he thought was a good defensive position but which was actually a trap; [all the Beauforts were poor generals]. Montagu blocked the only exit and charged directly. The Lancastrian force broke at the sight of the enemy, most were killed but a few were captured, including Somerset. Montagu ordered his beheading.
The Yorkist earls of Pembroke, [different to that met at Mortimer's Cross - Herbert], and Devon, [likewise not a Courtenay but a Stafford], were outnumbered when they had to face Robin of Redesdale, a few miles from Banbury in Oxfordshire. The battle centred on control of a ford over the Cherwell. Pembroke won the first round and forced the withdrawal of Redesdale but Warwick, [the same as before but now a Lancastrian], appeared with 15000 men. Devon panicked and his men routed but Pembroke fought on and nearly won but a small force of cavalry took his men in the rear. Warwick executed Pembroke and his brother. His Welshmen took 2-4 000 casualties but deaths were high on all sides. Commoners captured Devon at Bridgwater and murdered him for his cowardice.
Edward IV, [last heard of as March], met with rebel sympathisers near Stamford at the Lincolnshire/ Rutland border. Edward had a lot of well-armed and trained troops; the rebels were peasants under Sir Robert Welles. The rebels broke under concentrated artillery bombardment before being engaged hand-to-hand. Edward called off the pursuit to prevent a massacre. The three rebel captains, Sir Robert Welles, Sir Thomas De la Lande and Sir Thomas Dymoke were all beheaded after their confessions had implicated Warwick and Edward's brother, George Duke of Clarence.
Warwick, the Duke of Exeter, Earl of Oxford and Montagu with 12000 men faced Edward IV, Richard Duke of Gloucester and Lord Hastings with 9000 men at a village between London and St. Albans. Warwick had a large artillery train but it was useless in the damp, foggy weather. Because of the fog, the armies aligned crookedly. Gloucester overlapped Exeter on the Lancastrian left and on the other flank, Oxford overlapped Hastings. When the two sides came together, this staggering caused the two lines to swing from an East/ West alignment to North/ South. Warwick saved Exeter by leading the reserves to take Gloucester in the flank. On the other side, Oxford pursued Hastings' force when it broke. Things looked very bleak for the Yorkists. Their left flank had broken, their right was giving way and only the reserves had prevented the centre from falling back. Then Oxford managed to rally a few of his troops and came back to take the Yorkists in the rear. However, in the fog and thanks to the turning of the line, he charged into Montagu's men by mistake and they mistook the Oxford emblem of a Star with Streams for Edward's of a Sun in Splendour. Then, when Oxford was recognised, cries of treason went up from the ranks and Montagu's men panicked. When Exeter fell in the fighting, the line broke. Warwick died in the subsequent rout.
After Warwick's death, Edward set about chasing Queen Margaret. Having destroyed the bridges over the Avon and Severn, Edward finally caught up with her army at a town midway between Gloucester and Worcester. Somerset, [brother of the previous], set Lord Wenlock to oversee Edward, Prince of Wales in the centre. Devon, [again a Courtenay], commanded the left, Somerset himself took the right. The Lancastrians numbered 5-6 000. The Yorkists had only 3500 to 5000 but were in much better condition and were better troops. Somerset's battle plan was for Wenlock to attack the centre, holding Edward IV's army while Somerset's division swung around the flank into Gloucester's force. However, Edward had spotted the likelihood of this and protected his flank with a concealed force of 200 spearmen. When these took Somerset in his own flank, his plan fell apart. Contrary to orders, Wenlock held back the centre; Somerset found himself surrounded by Gloucester's men and Edward's reserves. His men were cut to pieces. Somerset himself is said to have fought his way back to the centre, accused Wenlock of treachery and killed him with a poll-axe, but this is almost certainly untrue as the battle collapsed too quickly for this sequence of events. The familiar massacre occurred with Somerset, Wenlock, Prince Edward all dying with many others. There are a lot of stories about how the Prince died but he was probably cut down in the rout. With him died all hope of a Lancastrian recovery. His father died in the Tower shortly after, "of pure melancholy", [yeah - right], and Queen Margaret retired to ignominy in France, a broken woman.
Bosworth - August 1485
Richard III, [Gloucester in the above], had usurped his nephew, Edward V. The Princes in the Tower were almost certainly dead by the time that Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond landed in Wales with a force of French mercenaries. With him was his uncle, Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, [remember Mortimer's Cross?]. People flocked to Richmond's banner as he marched towards London. Richard III met him at a town west of Leicester and north of Coventry. He took a position atop a small hill. With Richard were the Duke of Norfolk, [grandson of the previous], and the Earl of Northumberland, [son of the previous and now a Yorkist]. Richmond led his smaller force to the foot of the hill. Both sides were fairly equal in numbers. To the North and
South were significant forces under Lord Stanley and his brother, William. The battle took only two hours. Richard tried to make the Stanleys join on his side by threatening to kill Stanley's son, Lord Strange. [Richard had asked for a hostage against just this sort of treachery.] Stanley replied, "I have other sons!" Richard and Norfolk engaged but it became clear they were losing. Northumberland refused to support Richard with the reserves and then the Stanleys engaged on Richmond's side. Richard made one last attempt to attack Richmond personally but was cut down on the field. He remains the only English King to have died in battle since the Norman Conquest. Lord Stanley handed the crown to Henry Tudor and he promptly crowned himself Henry VII. Thus, the Tudors replaced the Plantagenet dynasty after 331 years. The people of York lynched Northumberland few years later. His retinue just watched them do it and it's said that Northumberland's treachery to Richard III at Bosworth lost him their loyalty.
There were a few other raids, skirmishes and sieges but that's basically it. You could also include the battle of Stoke June 1487 when Lambert Simnel, pretending to be Edward V met his comeuppance near Newark in Nottinghamshire.
More detailed accounts can be found in any good textbook so check out the bibliography.