Battle of Mortimer's Cross
Battle of Mortimer's Cross | |||||||
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Part of the Wars of the Roses | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
House of York | House of Lancaster | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
5,000 | unknown | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
unknown | 4,000 |
The Battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought on 2 February 1461 near
Background
In 1460, with King
With York's death, his titles and claim to the throne descended to Edward of March, now 4th duke of York.[4] He sought to prevent Lancastrian forces from Wales, led by Owen Tudor and his son Jasper, Earl of Pembroke, from joining the main body of the Lancastrian army. The elder Tudor had been second husband to Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V; their sons (Jasper and Edmund Tudor), as Henry VI's half-brothers, had been made earls, and the family was a major power in South Wales. His army included Welshmen, drawn especially from the Tudor lands in Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire, along with French and Breton mercenaries and Irish troops led by James Butler, Earl of Wiltshire and Ormond.[5] Edward, based at Wigmore Castle had gathered his army from the English border counties and from Wales. Among his leading supporters present were Lord Audley, Lord Grey of Wilton, Sir William Herbert of Raglan, Sir Walter Devereux and Humphrey Stafford.[6] After spending Christmas in Gloucester, he began to prepare to return to London. However, Jasper Tudor's army was approaching and he changed his plan; to block Tudor from joining the main Lancastrian force which was approaching London, Edward moved north with an army of approximately five thousand men to Mortimer's Cross.
Parhelion
As dawn broke, the meteorological phenomenon known as
Battle
One of York's advisers,
Aftermath
The battle having intruded on York's plans to march to the
Alignment controversy
Conventional sketch maps of Mortimer's Cross show the armies facing each other across the valley with the River Lugg at the rear of Edward's Yorkist army. This almost east/west alignment is partly based on the supposed approach routes of both armies. It has been pointed out that this would mean that Yorkist Edward had the river at his back, an obstacle which would invite disaster if the Yorkists were either pushed back or routed. His fleeing men would be cut down from behind while trying to wade the shallows. Edward was known to be militarily astute (or at least well advised) and he is likely to have been well aware of this risk. Writing for Hobilar, the Journal of the Lance and Longbow Society [8] Andy Lamkowski suggests that a second battlefield alignment is quite plausible; that Edward drew up across the valley with the River Lugg on his left (with the Yorkists facing almost south) and the Lancastrians drew up facing almost north with the river on their right. The narrowness of the valley close to the bridge would probably mean that the two armies each drew up in a column of three divisions—if they fought close to the river crossing—but the ground widens significantly towards the present Battle Acre Cottage and Drybridge House. At that point a traditional 'three units' battle line[9] is possible. Author Andrew Boardman [10] also suggests that an alternative interpretation is possible saying: "It may be safe to assume that the battle was fought somewhere in the vicinity, possibly with the river securing the flanks of both armies and the hills the other". Andrew Boardman also quotes William Gregory (Gregory's Chronicle)[11] saying that Edward: "Met his enemies on a fair plain near to Mortimer's Cross, not far from Hereford East". The usual placing of the battle in the valley beside the bridge is not 'a fair plain' but the area around Battle Acre Cottage or Drybridge House—to the south-south-east—meets that description. Andy Lamkowski also makes the point that if the Lancastrian force approached from the south rather than the west then a north/south alignment is more likely, Edward would be deploying across the valley width to prevent them moving north and would have the advantage of anchoring his flanks on the slopes of the narrowing valley and/or the River Lugg itself.
In Shakespeare
Shakespeare described this parhelion phenomenon and its portentous symbolism in Act Two Scene One of Henry VI, Part 3:
- Three glorious suns, each one a perfect sun;
- Not separated with the racking clouds,
- But sever'd in a pale clear-shining sky.
- See, see! they join, embrace, and seem to kiss,
- As if they vow'd some league inviolable:
- Now are they but one lamp, one light, one sun.
- In this the heaven figures some event.
Shakespeare omits mention of the battle.
References
- ^ Michael Hicks, The Wars of the Roses, (Yale University Press, 2012), 161.
- ^ BBC - Mortimer's Cross Battlefield. Accessed 30 December 2012
- ^ UK Battlefields Resource Centre. Accessed 30 December 2012
- ^ Battle for Mortimer's Cross: History. Accessed 30 December 2012
- ^ a b The Battlefields of Britain, Kincross, J., London 1988, p.84
- ^ a b Charles Ross, Edward IV, (University of California Press, 1974), 31.
- ^ "The Mortimer's Cross Parhelion: How a Meteorological Phenomenon Changed English History". Archived from the original on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ^ Lance and Longbow Society, Hobilar 23, February 1997
- ^ varward (right) main guard (centre) and rear guard (left)
- ^ The Battle of Towton, Boardman, 1994
- ^ The Battle of Towton page 37