Edward with his forces courageously attacked {73c} the forces of the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire, and after a severe battle, completely defeated them; and about 3800 of the Lancastrians were slain. The Earls of Pembroke and of Wiltshire escaped by flight; Sir Owen Tudor, {73d} father of the Earl of Pembroke, and second husband of Queen Katherine, the widow of Henry V., and the mother of Henry VI., was taken prisoner, beheaded at Hereford, and was buried in a chapel of the Grey Friars Church; {73e} and Sir John Scudamore and his two sons, David Lloyd, Morgan ap Reuther, Thomas Griffith, John Throckmorton, Thomas Fitzhenry, and other gentlemen of consideration, were also taken and beheaded there: a fearful retaliation for the murder of the young Earl of Rutland, and the execution in cold blood, by the Lancastrians, of some of the prisoners, who had been taken at the battle of Wakefield. {74a} The victorious Edward then proceeded with his army to join the King-making Earl of Warwick, who had recently been defeated by the Lancastrians at the second battle of St. Alban’s. They effected a junction at Chipping Norton, near Cotswold, and, with their united armies, marched towards London, where Edward was proclaimed King by his partisans shortly after his arrival. The field of the battle of Mortimer’s Cross is in the parish of Kingsland, five mile north-west by west from Leominster, close to the fifth milestone of the turnpike road, leading from Leominster to Wigmore and Knighton, at the place where a byroad joins the turnpike road, and where a stone pedestal or monument, which will be more particularly mentioned afterwards, stands at the point of junction of those two roads, which was erected to commemorate the battle. {74b} Mortimer’s Cross is nearly a mile and a quarter further on the turnpike road, leading towards Wigmore. It may perhaps be taken for granted, that the old historical accounts are correct in stating, that previous to the battle, Edward had marched as far as Shrewsbury, had returned to meet the Earls of Pembroke and Wiltshire, and that the two earls had raised a large portion of their forces in Wales; and if so, it is tolerably certain that the Lancastrians advanced from Wales into Herefordshire, towards the Earl of March’s possessions {75a} at Wigmore and on the borders of Wales; consequently the vicinity of Mortimer’s Cross was a very natural spot for the hostile armies to meet. There is a gentle ascent in the road from Mortimer’s Cross to the field of battle, and to the spot where the pedestal stands, consequently the Yorkists had a slight advantage of ground; and they were drawn up facing the westward, whilst the Lancastrian army faced the eastward.