The Battle of Blore Heath was a battle in the English

Wars of the Roses The Wars of the Roses (1455–1487), known at the time and for more than a century after as the Civil Wars, were a series of civil wars fought over control of the throne of England, English throne in the mid-to-late fifteenth century. These w ...

. It was fought on 23 September 1459, at Blore Heath in

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands C ...

. Blore Heath is a sparsely populated area of farmland, two miles east of the town of

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as " ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

, and close to the village of

Loggerheads, Staffordshire Loggerheads is a village and civil parish in north-west Staffordshire, England, on the A53 between Market Drayton and Newcastle-under-Lyme. Name The village takes its name from that of the public house, which used to be known as The Three Logg ...

Background

After the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, an uneasy peace held in England. Attempts at reconciliation between the houses of Lancaster and

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

enjoyed marginal success. However, both sides became increasingly wary of each other and by 1459 were actively recruiting armed supporters. Queen Margaret of Anjou continued to raise support for King Henry VI amongst noblemen, distributing an emblem of a silver swan to knights and squires enlisted by her personally, whilst the Yorkist command under the Duke of York was finding plenty of anti-royal support despite the severe punishment for raising arms against the king. The Yorkist force based at

Middleham Castle Middleham Castle is a ruined castle in Middleham in Wensleydale, in the county of North Yorkshire, England. It was built by Robert Fitzrandolph, 3rd Lord of Middleham and Spennithorne, commencing in 1190. The castle was the childhood home of ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

(led by the Earl of Salisbury) needed to link up with the main Yorkist army at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire. As Salisbury marched south-west through the Midlands the queen ordered

Lord Audley Baron Audley is a title in the Peerage of England first created in 1313, by writ to the Parliament of England, for Sir Nicholas Audley of Heighley Castle, a member of the Anglo-Norman Audley family of Staffordshire. The third Baron, the last ...

to intercept them.

The battle

Audley chose the barren heathland of Blore Heath to set up an ambush. On the morning of 23 September 1459 (

Saint Thecla Thecla ( grc, Θέκλα, ) was a saint of the early Christian Church, and a reported follower of Paul the Apostle. The earliest record of her life comes from the ancient apocryphal ''Acts of Paul and Thecla''. Church tradition The ''Acts ...

's day), a force of some 10,000 men took up a defensive position behind a 'great

hedge A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoi ...

' on the south-western edge of Blore Heath facing the direction of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the north-east, the direction from which Salisbury was approaching. Yorkist scouts spotted Lancastrian banners over the top of a hedge and immediately warned Salisbury. As they emerged from the woodland, the Yorkist force of some 5,000 men realized that a much larger enemy force was awaiting their arrival. Salisbury, instead of disbanding or withdrawing his army, Michael Hicks, ''The Wars of the Roses'', 143. immediately arranged his troops into battle order, just out of range of the Lancastrian archers. To secure his right flank, he arranged the supply wagons in a defensive

laager A wagon fort, wagon fortress, or corral, often referred to as circling the wagons, is a temporary fortification made of wagons arranged into a rectangle, circle, or other shape and possibly joined with each other to produce an improvised milita ...

, a circular formation to provide cover to the men. Fearing a rout, Yorkist soldiers are reported to have kissed the ground beneath them, supposing that this would be the ground on which they would meet their deaths. The two armies were separated by about 300 metres on the barren heathland. A steep-sided, wide and fast-flowing brook ran between them. The brook made Audley's position seemingly impenetrable. Initially, both leaders sought unsuccessfully to parley in an attempt to avoid bloodshed. In keeping with many late medieval battles, the conflict opened with an archery duel between the longbows of both armies. At Blore Heath, this proved inconclusive because of the distance between the two sides. Salisbury, aware that any attack across the brook would be suicidal, employed a ruse to encourage the enemy to attack him. He withdrew some of his middle-order just far enough that the Lancastrians believed them to be retreating. The Lancastrians launched a cavalry charge. After they had committed themselves, Salisbury ordered his men to turn back and catch the Lancastrians as they attempted to cross the brook. It is possible that the order for this Lancastrian charge was not given by Audley but it had the effect of turning the balance in favour of Salisbury. The charge resulted in heavy casualties for the Lancastrians. The Lancastrians withdrew, and then made a second assault, possibly attempting to rescue casualties. This second attack was more successful with many Lancastrians crossing the brook. This led to a period of intense fighting in which Audley himself was killed, possibly by Sir Roger Kynaston of

Myddle Myddle—also formerly known as Mydle, Middle, , M'dle, Meadley and Medle—is a small village in Shropshire, England, about 10 miles north of Shrewsbury, the county town of Shropshire. Myddle lies in the parish of Myddle, Broughton and Harmer ...

and

Hordley Hordley is a small and rural village and civil parish in North Shropshire, Shropshire, England. The population of this Civil Parish at the 2011 census was 292. It lies a few miles south of Ellesmere Within reach of this village are many other ...

The Earl of Salisbury, which knew the sleights, strategies and policies of warlike affairs, suddenly returned, and shortly encountered with the Lord Audley and his chief captains, ere the residue of his army could pass the water. The fight was sore and dreadful. The earl desiring the saving of his life, and his adversaries coveting his destruction, fought sore for the obtaining of their purpose, but in conclusion, the earl's army, as men desperate of aid and succour, so eagerly fought, that they slew the Lord Audley, and all his captains, and discomfited all the remnant of his people...Edward Hall. ''The Union of The Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke'' (1548; reprinted as ''Hall's Chronicle'' 1809; quoted in English Heritage Battlefield Report: Blore Heath 1459)

The death of Audley meant that Lancastrian command fell to the second-in-command, Lord Dudley, who ordered an attack on foot with some 4,000 men. As this attack also failed, some 500 Lancastrians joined the enemy and began attacking their own side. At this point, all remaining Lancastrian resistance collapsed and the Yorkists had only to advance to complete the

rout A rout is a panicked, disorderly and undisciplined retreat of troops from a battlefield, following a collapse in a given unit's command authority, unit cohesion and combat morale (''esprit de corps''). History Historically, lightly-e ...

. The rout continued through the night, with the Yorkists pursuing the fleeing enemy for miles across the countryside. At least 2,000 Lancastrians were killed, with the Yorkists losing nearly 1,000.

Aftermath

Salisbury was concerned that Lancastrian reinforcements were in the vicinity and was keen to press on southwards towards Ludlow. He made his camp on a hillside by Market Drayton that later took the name Salisbury Hill. According to

Gregory's Chronicle ''Gregory's Chronicle'', the ''Chronicle of London'', or MS Edgerton 1995, is the name given to a fifteenth-century English chronicle. It takes its name from its supposed author, William Gregory, who started as a skinner in London and went on ...

, Salisbury employed a local friar to remain on Blore Heath throughout the night and to periodically discharge a cannon in order to deceive any Lancastrians nearby into believing that the fight was continuing. Audley is buried in Darley Abbey in Derbyshire.

Commemorations

Audley's Cross was erected at Blore Heath after the battle to mark the spot where Audley was slain. It was replaced with a stone cross in 1765. The battle was commemorated by a re-enactment each year in September at Blore Heath until 2010.

Bibliography

* Anthony Goodman, ''The Wars of the Roses:Military Activity and English Society, 1452-97'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1981. * Ralph A. Griffiths, ''The Reign of King Henry VI'',

University of California Press The University of California Press, otherwise known as UC Press, is a publishing house associated with the University of California that engages in academic publishing. It was founded in 1893 to publish scholarly and scientific works by facul ...

, 1981. * Edward Hall, ''The Union of The Noble and Illustre Famelies of Lancastre & Yorke'', 1548. * Michael Hicks, ''The Wars of the Roses'',

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

, 2010. * The Blore Heath Heritage Group (BHHG). * Trevor Royle, ''Lancaster Against York: The Wars of the Roses and the Foundation of Modern Britain'',

Palgrave Macmillan Palgrave Macmillan is a British academic and trade publishing company headquartered in the London Borough of Camden. Its programme includes textbooks, journals, monographs, professional and reference works in print and online. It maintains off ...

, 2008. * ''A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East'', Vol. II, ed.

Spencer C. Tucker Spencer C. Tucker is a Fulbright scholar, retired university professor, and author of works on military history. He taught history at Texas Christian University for 30 years and held the John Biggs Chair of Military History at the Virginia Milita ...

, ABC-CLIO, 2010. * Bertram Wolffe, ''Henry VI'', St. Edmundsbury Press, 2001. * John Gillingham, ''The Wars of the Roses: Peace and Conflict in Fifteenth Century England'', Phoenix Press, 2001.

References

External links

* http://www.bloreheath.org * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Battle Of Blore Heath 1459 in England Blore Heath 1459 Blore Heath, Battle Registered historic battlefields in England Conflicts in 1459 Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme