Battle on 12 March 1470, during the Wars of the Roses
The
Battle of Losecoat Field
(also known as the
Battle of Empingham
) was fought on 12 March 1470, during the
Wars of the Roses
. Spellings of "Losecoat" vary, with "Losecote" and "Loose-coat" also seen.
The battle secured the defeat of the poorly organised Welles Uprising against
King Edward IV
, but ultimately led to the defection of
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
and the king's brother
George, Duke of Clarence
to the Lancastrian cause after they were forced to flee the country having been implicated in the rebellion.
Background
[
edit
]
Almost a year earlier, in July 1469, an army loyal to the
Yorkist king
,
King Edward IV
was defeated at the
Battle of Edgcote
by
Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick
, his disaffected former supporter; Edward himself was subsequently captured in
Olney, Buckinghamshire
.
[1]
However, with the help and support of his brother
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
, he had by now regained power. Despite the nominal reconciliation of Warwick and the king, by March 1470 Warwick found himself in a similar position to that which he had been in before the battle of Edgcote. He was unable to exercise any control over, or influence, Edward's policies. Warwick wanted to place another of the king's brothers,
George, Duke of Clarence
, on the throne so that he could regain his influence. To do so, he called on former supporters of the defeated
House of Lancaster
.
The rebellion was initiated in 1470 by
Sir Robert Welles
, son of
Richard Welles, 7th Baron Welles
, a former Lancastrian, when his family fell foul of Edward. Sir Robert turned to Warwick for help. Warwick judged the time was ripe for another coup d'etat, to kill Edward or remove him from the throne.
Welles started gathering troops at his base in
Lincolnshire
, ready for a show of arms against the king. The unrest in Lincolnshire prompted the king to act, and he started gathering men for his army on 4 March. The news of the king's intention to march to Lincolnshire quickly spread panic among people there. Due to Welles' deliberate misinterpretation, rumours were quickly spread that the king was coming to try the previously pardoned rebels from Edgcote, and that he would "hang and draw a great number" of them.
With the encouragement of Warwick and Clarence, Welles set himself up as a "great captain" of the people of Lincolnshire. On 4 March summons were sent to all the surrounding estates requesting every able man to join him in resisting the king. On the 7th the king heard that the rebels were marching towards
Stamford
with an army of 100,000 men, having recruited many men from nearby counties, especially from Yorkshire.
The king later received letters from Clarence and Warwick stating they were marching North with all their men to support the king. The king then unsuspectingly issued commissions of array which included Warwick's name, authorising him to raise his own army of professional soldiers. Edward then received news that the rebels had changed course for
Leicester
, as had Warwick and Clarence, which revealed their intentions.
Welles received a letter from the King telling him to disband his rebel army, or his father Lord Welles (previously taken prisoner by Edward) would be executed. Welles quickly turned back with his army to Stamford. Edward's confidence grew when Welles failed to rendezvous with Warwick and his experienced forces.
[2]
Battle
[
edit
]
Edward's scouts informed him that the rebel army was some five miles (8 km) from Stamford, arrayed for battle beside the
Great North Road
to the north of
Tickencote
Warren near
Empingham
in Rutland.
Edward positioned his men in a battle line to the north of Welles' army, and then, in the space separating the two forces, had Lord Welles executed in sight of both armies.
This action set the rebels advancing with cries of
a Warwick
and
a Clarence
. A single barrage of cannonballs was fired and then Edward had his men charge towards the enemy. Before the leaders of this attack could even come to blows with the rebel front line the battle was over. The rebels broke and fled rather than face the king's highly trained men.
Both captains, Sir Robert Welles and his commander of foot Richard Warren were captured during the rout and were executed a week later on 19 March. Welles confessed his treason, and named Warwick and Clarence as the "partners and chief provokers" of the rebellion.
[3]
Documents were also found proving the complicity of Warwick and Clarence, who were forced to flee the country.
[3]
Name
[
edit
]
According to
popular etymology
, the name of the battle is explained in this way; many of Welles' men were wearing jackets displaying Warwick's and Clarence's livery, and when the rout began, not wanting to be caught wearing such identification, many discarded their garments. The battle was thus called "Lose-coat". This story does not appear to have any historical basis, being first recorded in the 19th century.
[4]
Contemporary accounts refer to the battle site as "Hornfield" (
Horn
was an adjacent parish), and do not use the name Losecoat or anything comparable.
[4]
The name is probably derived from an
Old English
phrase
hlose-cot
meaning "pigsty cottage". Forms of Losecote also appear as field names in other parishes in Rutland. A field at the site of the battle seems to have acquired that name, which later generated the imaginary "lose coat" etymology which was linked to the battle.
[4]
An adjacent woodland is now called Bloody Oaks and
Bloody Oaks Quarry
is a 1.3-hectare biological
Site of Special Scientific Interest
,
[5]
owned and managed by the
Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
.
[6]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Ross, C.,
Edward IV
, Trowbridge 1975, p. 132
- ^
Ross, C.,
Edward IV
, Trowbridge 1975, p. 141
- ^
a
b
John A. Wagner, "Welles Uprising (1470)", Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses, ABC-CLIO, 2001, p.296.
- ^
a
b
c
Dunn, Diana,
War and Society in Medieval and Early Modern Britain
, Liverpool University Press, 2000, p.41.
- ^
"Map of Bloody Oaks Quarry"
. Sites of Special Scientific Interest. Natural England
. Retrieved
10 August
2017
.
- ^
"Bloody Oaks Quarry"
. Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust
. Retrieved
10 August
2017
.
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Key figures
| Monarchs
| |
---|
Lancaster
Tudor
|
- Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England
- Elizabeth Woodville, Queen of England
4
- Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales
- Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
- Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset
- John Beaumont, Viscount Beaumont
- Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset
- John Sutton, 1st Baron Dudley
- James Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Butler, Earl of Ormond
- John Clifford, Baron Clifford
- John Courtenay, Earl of Devon
- Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter
- John Neville, Baron Neville
2
- John Neville, Marquess of Montagu
3
- Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick
3
- Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg
3
- Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
- Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland
- Thomas Ros, Baron Ros
- Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
4
- Humphrey Stafford, Duke of Buckingham
- Thomas Stanley, Earl of Derby
- George Stanley, Baron Strange
- William Stanley
4
- George Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- John Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury
- Andrew Trollope
- Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford
- James Tuchet, Baron Audley
- Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond
- Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke
5
- Margaret Beaufort
- Owen Tudor
- Edward Woodville, Lord Scales
|
---|
York
|
- Anne Neville, Queen of England
- John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln
- Thomas FitzGerald, Earl of Desmond
- William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke
- William Hastings, Baron Hastings
- John Howard, Duke of Norfolk
- Francis Lovell, Viscount Lovell
- John Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk
- Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury
- Sir Thomas Neville
- William Neville, Earl of Kent
- Sir Richard Herbert
- Edmund Plantagenet, Earl of Rutland
- George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence
1
- Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon
- Margaret of York
- Richard of York
|
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Events
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See also
| |
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1
Briefly joined the Lancastrians.
2
Briefly joined the Yorkists.
3
Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause.
4
Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim.
5
Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.
|