On the 9th {44b} of July, 1460, the Earls of Warwick and March, accompanied by Viscount Bourchier, Lord Falconberg, and others, advanced with their forces, and the battle commenced about seven o’clock in the morning. According to one account, their van was led by the Earl of Warwick, and after him followed the Earl of March, with the banner of his father; others state that the Earl of March commanded the van, the Earl of Warwick the middle, and Lord Falconberg the rear body. During the battle, Edmund Lord Grey, of Ruthen, {45a} who was in the Lancastrian army, betrayed his trust, and, having a command in a part of the King’s camp, where, in consequence of a deep trench, and of a rampart, fortified with piles and sharp stakes, with which the camp was encompassed, so that the Yorkists could not enter without great danger, he and his men assisted the Yorkists to get within the intrenchments, and greatly conduced to the defeat of the Lancastrians. {45b} Another circumstance occurred which was a great disadvantage to the Lancastrians: there was a considerable fall of rain on that day, and the cannons, with which the camp of the King was in some degree at least, defended, were prevented by the wet, from being of the service that they otherwise might have been. {45c} The battle however lasted some time, with obstinacy and fierceness, the victory being uncertain until nine o’clock, when the King’s army was completely defeated. Many of his forces were slain in the battle and in their flight towards the town, and great numbers were drowned in the river Nen; {46a} for, as before observed, it was in their rear, and consequently between them and Northampton, and it proved a most serious disadvantage to the fugitives, when flying towards the town; so that the Lancastrians felt, to their grievous loss, the impolicy of taking up a position with the river in their rear. The King was left to his fate by the vanquished, and was speedily captured by the victors. {46b} Amongst other persons of distinction on the Lancastrian side, slain in the battle, were the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Shrewsbury, {46c} his brother Sir Christopher Talbot, Viscount Beaumont, {46d} Lord Egremont, {46e} and Sir William Lucy, who hastened to take a part in the fight, and immediately on joining in it, received his death wound, by a blow on the head, with an axe. A considerable slaughter amongst persons of distinction, is said to have been caused by the Yorkist leaders directing their men to spare the common soldiers, but to despatch the noblemen, knights, and gentlemen. Many of the Lancastrians, however, were taken prisoners, in consequence of their having alighted from their horses, to fight on foot; a mode of fighting very likely to be adopted, when it is borne in mind that they were to fight behind intrenchments. The Duke of Somerset and others narrowly escaped, and fled with Queen Margaret, and Edward Prince of Wales, {47a} into the bishopric of Durham.