Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century: to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjectsBrooke, Richard
History
Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century: to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects
Brooke, Richard
Battlefields -- England; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485
{56a} James Boteler or Butler, the son and heir of James, fourth Earl of
Ormond, was created Earl of Wiltshire in the 27th of Henry VI. In the
30th of Henry VI., by the death of his father, he also became Earl of
Ormond. He was a staunch Lancastrian, and fought for that party at the
first battle of St. Alban’s, in 1455; also at the battle of Wakefield,
and again at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross. He appears also to have
been at the battle of Towton. (See Dugdale’s _Baronage_, vol. iii. p.
235.) After that battle he was captured by the Yorkists, and was
beheaded upon the 1st of May, 1461, at Newcastle. It is very remarkable,
that although historians state that he fought on the Lancastrian side at
the battle of Wakefield, and although he was attainted by the act 1st
Edward IV. (1461), his name is not included amongst those of the noblemen
and others, who were attainted for taking a part in the battle of
Wakefield. His attainder was, ostensibly at least, for a different
offence; viz., for inducing the enemies of the King to enter the realm,
and make war against him. {56d} The fact of the Earl of Wiltshire having
fought at the battle of Mortimer’s Cross, is mentioned not only by the
old historians, but also in _Rot. Parl._ 1 Edward IV. vol. v. p. 462; but
that is not alleged in the act, as the reason for his attainder. It does
not seem easy to understand how he could be engaged at the battle of
Wakefield, and be so soon afterwards at the head of forces fighting at
Mortimer’s Cross. See, however, Dugdale’s _Baronage_, vol. ii. p. 235;
Stow’s _Annals_, fo. 412; and Speed’s _History_, fo. 847.
{56b} John Lord Clifford (son of Thomas Clifford, Lord Clifford, by Joan
his wife, daughter of Thomas Lord Dacre of Gillesland, who took part with
Henry VI., and was slain at the first battle of St. Alban’s, on the 22nd
{56e} of May, 1455) fought at the battle of Wakefield for the Lancastrian
party, and was slain at the engagement at Dintingdale (between
Ferrybridge and Towton, and near the latter place), on the 28th of March,
1461, being the day before the battle of Towton. He left by Margaret his
wife, daughter and heiress of Henry Bromflete Lord Vesci, Henry his son
and heir, who, when a little child, was placed with a shepherd in the
north of England, and brought up as a poor boy, in careful concealment,
for fear of the enemies of his family, and could not read or write; he
remained in obscurity, until the first year of Henry VII., when he was
restored to his rank and possessions.
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