Battles -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- History, Military
In September, 1459, the Yorkists were again in arms, and Salisbury,
feigning to fly before Lord Audley and the royalists, turned upon
them as they were crossing a brook on Bloreheath, and bore them down
with lance and bill. The conflict was somewhat desultory, and lasted
five hours, the victory remaining with the Yorkists. Lord Audley was
slain, and with him 2,400 men, including the good knights Thomas
Dutton, John Dunne, Hugh Venables, Richard Molineaux, and John Leigh.
Henry and York met at Ludlow, when Sir Andrew Trollope carried his
command over to the King, and the Yorkists, panic-stricken by this
defection, dispersed.
The Duchess of York, and two of her sons, fell into Henry's hands, and
was sent to her sister, Anne, Duchess of Buckingham. At Coventry,
November 20th, Parliament attainted and confiscated the estates of
"the duke of York, the earl of March, the duke of Rutland, the
earl of Warwick, the earl of Salisbury, the lord Powis, the
lord Clinton, the countess of Salisbury, sir Thomas Neville,
sir John Neville, sir Thomas Harrington, sir Thomas Parr, sir
John Conyers, sir John Wenlock, sir William Oldhall, Edward
Bourchier, sq., and his brother, Thomas Vaughan, Thomas Colt,
Thomas Clay, John Dinham, Thomas Moring, John Otter, Master
Richard Fisher, Hastings, and others."
On the submission of Lord Powis he received the King's grace, but lost
his goods.
Warwick, March, and Salisbury fled to Calais, and Somerset, the
newly-appointed governor, proceeded to attempt the reduction of the
fortress; but, by a clever counter-stroke, Warwick captured the fleet,
Lord Rivers and his son being surprised before they could leave their
bed. Rivers
"was brought to Calais, and before the lords, with eight-score
torches, and there my lord Salisbury rated him, calling him
'knave's son, that he should be so rude to call him and these
other lords traitors; for they should be found the King's true
liege-men, when he would be found a traitor.' And my lord
Warwick rated him, and said, 'that his father was but a squire,
and brought up with King Henry V., and since made himself by
marriage, and also made a lord; and that it was not his part to
hold such a language to lords, being of the king's blood.' And
my lord March rated him likewise. And Sir Anthony was rated for
his language of all the three lords in likewise."
A notable scene, and picturesque: making easy the mental
transition to a later period, when these fierce lords called for
block and headsmen, and their prisoners made short shrift. Indeed the
period was very near. Osbert Mountford, despatched to reinforce
Somerset, was captured at Sandwich, carried to Calais, and beheaded on
the 25th June, 1460.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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