Page 54 - All About History - Issue 11-14

Towton was not only the most brutal battle of the War of the Roses
but also one of the most decisive. These are its climactic events:

7. Rivers run red 6. Lancastrian collapse
The victorious Yorkists chase down and Slowly, despite fierce resistance in
kill any fleeing Lancastrians. As many of which thousands of Yorkist soldiers
the Lancastrian soldiers had removed their are cut down, the Lancastrian lines
armour and helmets in order to run faster, begin to disintegrate. Eventually,
they are picked off by archers, while those Somerset’s left flank collapses and
who escape the arrows are checked by the a rout begins, with the remaining
Crooked Billet once-protective marshes and River Cock. Lancastrian men turning and fleeing.
Public House
O Towton

River Cock
Blore Heath
Stoke Saxton
Tewkesbury
Bosworth Towton
Wakefield
Edgecote
St Albans
Lancastrians

5. Norfolk rides to the rescue
Just as the Yorkists are about to be defeated
and King Edward IV lost in battle, the Duke
of Norfolk John de Mowbray rides onto
the plateau with his troops, reinforcing the
Yorkists and preventing their collapse. Soon
the Lancastrian forces are driven backward.
Yorkists

1. Old London Road
The Yorkist and Lancastrian forces deploy
themselves on a plateau, with the road that
connects Towton to London stretching from
north to south throughout the battlefield. 2. Opening barrage
The Lancastrian flanks are protected by As the Lancastrian forces of Henry Beaufort 4. Meat grinder
marshes, while the Yorkist troops assemble are in a sound defensive position, he gives The two sides keep pushing into each
on a ridge to the south.
the order to hold position. The first move of other in a melee that continues for over
the battle is ordered by the Yorkist leader three hours, with thousands of soldiers cut
Lord Fauconberg, as their longbowmen to down, their bodies littering the battlefield.
step forward and unleash a volley of arrows. Gradually, the outnumbered Yorkist lines are
The Lancastrians return their own volley, overwhelmed, with the balance of power
but the wind direction causes it to fall short. falling in Somerset’s favour.
“ Edward joined forces once
more with his father’s
old ally, ‘the Kingmaker’

Warwick, and rode forth
toward the north armed

with a deadly army of over
A depiction of the bloody
and fateful Battle of Towton 30,000 men”

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