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Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century: to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects — John Shaqi

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

Name: Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century: to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects
Author: Brooke, Richard

Brooke, Richard

Battlefields -- England; Great Britain -- History -- Wars of the Roses, 1455-1485

Here the traveller finds himself in a district upon the borders of Wales,
which in a remote age, and when the principality was considered as a
hostile country, was a part of the Welsh marches, and the personages in
command there, were designated Lords Marchers. {78a}  They were so
called, from the word _marche_, or limit.  They had Courts of Marche, in
which they tried causes of different kinds, and especially offences
against the public peace, which went by the name of Marche Treason. {78b}
The Mortimers often held that important office upon the borders of Wales.

There were in Wales, and the borders of England, adjoining the
principality, 141 manors, of large extent, possessed by the Lords
Marchers, who enjoyed almost regal rights upon their lands, and
administered justice within their several districts, without the
intervention of the King’s judges. {79a}  The excessive authority and
local jurisdictions of the Lords Marchers, in this debatable land, were
abolished by an act of Parliament, in the time of Henry VIII. {79b}

The drive from Leominster to Wigmore is interesting and pleasant.  The
view from Wigmore Castle is extensive and beautiful; an amphitheatre of
mountains forms a background, between which and the castle, is a very
extensive plain, over which, in days of yore, the powerful Mortimers
could survey, from the towers and battlements, their vast possessions,
and, as mighty feudal lords, they also could despotically command the
property, services, and even the lives of nearly all who resided within
the district.

The pedestal or monument before noticed, erected near the fifth milestone
of the turnpike road, to commemorate the battle of Mortimer’s Cross,
contains the following inscription:—

              THIS PEDESTAL IS ERECTED TO PERPETUATE THE MEMORY
           OF AN OBSTINATE BLOODY AND DECISIVE BATTLE, FOUGHT NEAR
          THIS SPOT, IN THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN THE AMBITIOUS HOUSES
         OF YORK AND LANCASTER, ON THE 2ND DAY OF FEBRUARY 1460 {80a}
                BETWEEN THE FORCES OF EDWARD MORTIMER EARL OF
             MARCH (AFTERWARDS EDWARD THE FOURTH) ON THE SIDE OF
              YORK, AND THOSE OF HENRY THE SIXTH ON THE SIDE OF
                                  LANCASTER.

               THE KING’S TROOPS WERE COMMANDED BY JASPER EARL
              OF PEMBOKE; EDWARD COMMANDED HIS OWN IN PERSON AND
            WAS VICTORIOUS: THE SLAUGHTER WAS GREAT ON BOTH SIDES
             FOUR THOUSAND BEING LEFT DEAD ON THE FIELD, AND MANY
         WELSH PERSONS OF THE FIRST DISTINCTION WERE TAKEN PRISONERS,
               AMONG WHOM WAS OWEN TUDOR (GREAT-GRANDFATHER TO
            HENRY THE EIGHTH, AND A DESCENDANT OF THE ILLUSTRIOUS
            CADWALLADER) WHO WAS AFTERWARDS BEHEADED AT HEREFORD:
             THIS WAS THE DECISIVE BATTLE WHICH FIXED EDWARD THE
          FOURTH ON THE THRONE OF ENGLAND, {80b} WHO WAS PROCLAIMED
               KING IN LONDON ON THE FIFTH OF MARCH FOLLOWING.

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century: to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects

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