Page 52 - All About History - Issue 27-15

Greatest Battles

Battle formation
The two armies were each split into separate
sections, or ‘battles’. The king’s main force,
or vanguard, under the command of the Earl
of Norfolk, was positioned on the right flank.
Richard commanded a smaller force mainly
consisting of his household cavalry slightly to the
rear and centre, while the Earl of Northumberland
commanded his own men on the left flank.

Billmen
The late-Medieval melee was a mess affair,
with commoner and noblemen alike n the thick
of it together. Billmen, with their lon , heavy
poleaxes, roamed the field in search f armoured
targets, mountedornot,toknocktot e floor and
dispatch. Thehookedbladestheywielded were
ideal for catching on suits of steel, unbalancing Richard’s charge
the wearer and bringing them down. As the king charged towards them,
Henry’s small bodyguard unit had to rush
to protect their leader. Though the battle-
hardened Plantagenet managed to cut
down his foe’s standard-bearer, William
Brandon, who held Henry’s red dragon
sigil, he could not reach the young Tudor.
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