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[FONT="]I came to recover my father's heritage – A Lancaster Victory Timeline[/FONT] [FONT="]The Battle of Towton – The Exile[/FONT] [FONT="]The Battle of Towton was among the largest and most bloody battles fought on English soil as roughly 50,000 men and ¾ of England’s peers fought to assert their Kings right to rule. Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland commanded the Lancaster Army [1] as Henry VI had refused to leave his wife Margaret alone in York. This stood in stark contrast with the Yorkists, who were commanded by the brave and youthful Edward IV. [/FONT]
(Duke Somerset- Lancaster Commander)
[FONT="]The Battle it can be argued began on March 28th with the skirmish between the Lancaster forces under John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford and the York forces under William Neville, Earl of Kent. This skirmish was a continuation of the battle of Ferrybridge, where John Clifford has inflicted heavy casualties on the York Vanguard. This skirmish eventually turned into a massacre after John Clifford removed his gorget and was struck by an arrow in the throat. The York cavalry then proceeded to butcher the remaining Lancaster forces before the main army could react. This brutality was likely a response by Edward IV to avenge his younger brother Edmunds death at John Clifford’s hands. [/FONT]
[FONT="]The Yorkist Army arrived after their forced march on March 29th and Palm Sunday of all days. This did not dissuade either General from preparing for conflict, which they each knew would decide who remained King. Duke Somerset was confident in his victory due to his larger army being in a more defensive position. Edward IV, ignored the console of Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who urged him to wait for the reinforcements from the Duke of Norfolk. The order was quickly sent through the York Army to prepare to attack. This is when the winds began to pick up and blow toward the Lancaster position almost as if God himself was urging the Yorkist Army forward.[/FONT]
[FONT="]The Battle began when William Neville ordered all Yorkist archers to step forward and unleash a volley of arrows [2] from the maximum range of their Longbows. The winds helped carry these arrows into the Lancaster troops along the slope of the hills. Earl Northumberland ordered the Lancaster Archers to respond but the harsh winds blew snow into their faces making it difficult to pick targets and many of the Lancaster’s Arrows fell short. Duke Somerset ordered the Lancaster’s to retreat out of range of the Yorkist Archers effectively ceding their defensive positions.[/FONT]
(Yorkist Archers)
[FONT="]Now the actually battle began with the Lancaster unable to make effective use of their larger numbers due to the hills on either side. It appeared as if Ralph Darce, Baron de Darce would break the Yorkist left flank until Edward IV himself rallied the Yorkist forces. The battle slowly seemed to be turning in favor of the Lancaster forces when the Duke of Norfolk and his forces arrived and attacked the Lancaster right flank under the command of Lord Thomas de Roos, a major Lancaster general. Thomas de Roos was eventually struck in the chest by an arrow and his death caused panic to spread through the right flank. Duke Somerset ordered what remained of his reserve forces to help stabilize the right flank, while he ordered a retreat. [3] This was merely a stalling move as the Lancaster Army prepared to retreat. The retreat started out in good order but eventually the Lancaster line broke. After roughly 6 hours of fighting, the Lancaster Army had been defeated and Edward IV could rightfully claim his crown. For the Lancaster’s, it was a great defeat as 2/5th of their great supports, John Clifford and Thomas de Roos were dead and a great number of knights killed as well. Yet, the Great Lords of the North, Henry Beaufort, Henry Percy and Ralph Darce remained alive. [/FONT]
[FONT="]*The POD for this TL is the survival of Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Ralph Darce, who were some of the most important Lancaster lords in Northern England. Lancaster power was permanently weakened when these influential Lancaster leaders died.[/FONT] York, England- The Exile
King Henry VI and the Royal Family were in the York Cathedral praying, when news of the defeat at Towton reached them. The whole cathedral remained quite waiting to hear the response of the King. Yet, the King merely said a prayer for Baron Clifford and Lord Roos. That is when Margaret of Anjou ordered a Council Meeting with all major Lancaster leaders in York, while preparations were made to leave York. The Council Meeting was pitifully small as the only major Lord to return to York after Towton was Lord Ralph Darce, who urged the Royal Family to flee North to the court of James III of Scotland. Initially Margaret refused to flee into exile but Lord Dacre convinced her that her supporters were not in a position to continue the fight and that by staying and fighting they only risked the King and the Young Prince’s life. Lord Dacre also urged that the King and Edward of Westminster not travel together. So on April 2nd Queen Margaret and Edward departed for Scotland, while Henry VI departed for Berwick.
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[1] Most of Strategy is believed to have been devised by Sir Andrew Trollope, a former solider under Richard Neville and the major Lancaster strategist.[/FONT]
[FONT="][2] Many of these Arrows bore Bodkin Arrowheads designed to pierce Plate Armor and penetrate the flesh- this contributed to the large number of English Knights killed in this battle[/FONT] [3] In OTL, The Lancaster collapsed rather than attempt a retreat