Summary
Edgcote Battlefield 26th July 1469.
Reasons for Designation
The site of the Battle of Edgcote in 1469 is Registered as a Historic Battlefield for the following principal reasons:
Historical importance: Edgcote was an important and decisive engagement in the War of the Roses, resulting in the temporary fall from power of Edward IV and the deaths of many Yorkist nobles. A major set-back for the House of York, it marked the high-point of Warwick the Kingmaker's power;
Location: close analysis of the contemporary sources with the evidence of place-names and the landscape itself allows the site of the battlefield to be securely located;
Topographical integrity: while agricultural land management has changed since the battle, the battlefield remains largely undeveloped and permits the site of encampments and the course of the battle to be appreciated;
Archaeological potential: comparisons with other War of the Roses sites indicates that a high order of archaeological potential can be anticipated here, which may shed further light on the focus, military strategy, tactics and weaponry used by the opposing sides. That is especially so as in recent decades landowners have refused access to metal detectorists. Periodic water logging in the lower lying areas close to the stream offers highly favourable conditions for the survival of organic materials and historical environmental data.
History
The Wars of the Roses were caused by the protracted struggle for power between the reigning dynasty of the House of Lancaster and the competing House of York.
Following the battle of Towton in 1461, the Yorkist Edward, Earl of March, took the throne as Edward IV. However, during 1469-70 several rebellions took place, a continuation of the Wars of the Roses, when Edward IV came under threat from disaffected supporters. Most notable amongst these was the Earl of Warwick, the ‘Kingmaker’, who originally had been Edward’s strongest supporter. Warwick in particular felt threatened by the rise of the Woodville family, which received both political and financial advancement following Edward’s marriage to Elizabeth Woodville. Moreover, Edward was increasingly taking independent control of the reins of power, which Warwick had come to treat as his own. Edward took political decisions which conflicted with Warwick’s actions, notably allying with the Duke of Burgundy against the French: as Edward’s popularity grew so Warwick’s declined.
Warwick was sent to Calais, then an English territory, in an attempt to weaken his ability to undermine the King. But already, with other disaffected Yorkists, Warwick had planned to re-ignite the dynastic conflict and intended to replace Edward with the latter’s brother, George, Duke of Clarence. In early June 1469, with Warwick’s support, there was a rebellion in the north. The initial rebellion was ill timed and easily put down. But in late June, again in the north, Sir William Conyers, probably under the name Robin of Redesdale, raised another rebellion, which soon received Warwick’s open support. The latter now crossed back into England to raise forces. Edward, who had marched north, found the uprising to be on a far larger scale than expected and thus called for further forces to assemble at Nottingham, where he waited for the rebels, who were marching south.
Redesdale marched south to join Warwick’s forces, bypassing the King at Nottingham. Meanwhile, the Earls of Pembroke and Devon marched north-east with thousands of troops to join the King, but before the respective forces could unite, Redesdale’s and Pembroke’s armies encountered each other in Northamptonshire. The first encounter was on the edge of woodland near Northampton, where the rebels were attacked in line of march by a large detachment of Pembroke’s cavalry. But the rebels beat off the attack, forcing the cavalry to retreat to the main army, which had by then reached the Banbury area.
The two armies were clearly manoeuvring in south and west Northamptonshire but it is unclear from the primary sources exactly which routes they followed. By the night of 25 July 1469 the Earls of Pembroke and Devon were in Banbury, while the majority of the forces seem to have been several miles to the north-east. They had probably advanced along the road towards Daventry, en-route for Nottingham. Meanwhile it seems likely that the rebel army was marching south-west from Northampton, possibly along the Banbury Lane, though some commentators have suggested an approach via Daventry and then south-west towards Banbury. That night the two armies, each aware of the other, lay in close proximity, near Edgcote. After a skirmish took place close to Pembroke’s camp, battle became almost inevitable.
The battle of Edgcote was the first major action in the campaigns of 1469-71, the second major period of unrest in the Wars of the Roses.
DESCRIPTION OF MILITARY ACTION
While there are a number of sources which recount the course of the battle, these are of varying reliability and can be contradictory. However, critical consideration of the sources in the early C21 does indicate the core of the battle lies within Danes Moor. While this recent research has strengthened the clarity regarding the location of the battle, any description of the detailed movements of the day remains provisional. The description of the course of the battle is based on the most up-to-date research (Rayner and Foard 2011).
SIZE OF FORCES
The royal army was commanded by the Earl of Pembroke and the Earl of Devon, but it is believed that following an argument between the two over accommodation in Banbury, Devon withdrew his forces, perhaps 7-8000 men, the night before and took no part in the action. Devon's forces included the only substantial body of archers in the royal army, though according to Edward Hall (1548) these archers numbered just 800. The loss of the archers in particular placed Pembroke at a great disadvantage in the opening stages of the battle, when in all probably he had between 5000 – 6000 Welsh infantry and cavalry. Just one of the primary accounts of the battle suggests a very different situation, for Waurin (writing before 1474, in Hardy and Hardy (eds) 1891) claims that Devon’s troops fought in the early stages of the battle but then retreated or fled when rebel reinforcements arrived.
Haigh (1997) suggests that the royal and the rebel armies both numbered some 20,000 troops when the battle began. Medieval chronicles are notorious for their inability to handle large numbers: at Edgcote in particular, 20,000 seems a very large number for an action which involved only a part of the two armies being assembled by the King and Warwick respectively.
The rebel army was commanded by Robin of Redesdale, probably a pseudonym for Sir John Conyers. It is unclear how many troops were under his command, but they certainly included a significant number of archers. In addition, towards the end of the battle reinforcements arrived under the command of John Clapham. Edward Hall’s figure of 500 men seems a more realistic number for these reserves compared to the 15,000 listed in ‘Hearne’s fragment' (1719).
Edward Hall’s figure of ‘above’ 5000 Welsh troops of the Earl of Pembroke killed in the battle is undoubtedly an exaggeration. Warkworth offers a more believable 2000 men, and indeed there do appear to have been heavy losses, particularly on the royal side, for the contemporary chronicles name a substantial number of prominent figures killed in the action.
LOCATION OF CAMPS
According to Waurin, that night the two armies were camped on either side of a stream and the rebels made an attack on Pembroke’s camp that night. There are doubts as to how close the camps actually were. Some would place the royal army much closer to Banbury, especially as Pembroke and Devon are said to have argued over quarters in Banbury. However what is certain is that the two armies were already well aware of each other by that evening. The battle of Edgcote was not a chance encounter.
PHASES OF BATTLE
According to Waurin, on the morning of the 26th the two forces fought for the crossing. Pembroke at first had only men at arms, but when reinforced by his infantry he gained the crossing, only for the rebels to rally and regain it. Waurin claims that it was actually at this point that Devon withdrew from the field, not the night before. If Waurin's sometimes dubious topographical detail is accepted, then the crossing may be identified with Trafford Bridge over the river Cherwell, just to the east of Edgcote.
Edward Hall, however, gives a rather different description of the action, and one that is difficult to combine with Waurin’s. He claims that the two armies met in a ‘fair plain’ between three hills which lay ‘not fully triangle’, a plain that was called Danes Moor according to Stow. The battle started when the rebel force descended from the southern hill and their archers attacked Pembroke’s army, which was deployed on the western of the three hills. Unable to respond with his own arrow storm, because Devon had departed with all the archers, Pembroke was forced to descend from the hill and engage in hand to hand fighting in the plain below.
After this initial setback, Pembroke’s knights and men at arms, fighting on foot, had considerable success. In the action it seems that Sir William Conyers was killed. The rebel army appears to have been about to collapse. According to Haigh this middle phase of the battle ended with the rebel forces withdrawing over the Cherwell and then regrouping and attacking once more.
It was at this critical stage that rebel reinforcements arrived. According to Hall (1548) they appeared over a hill immediately to the east. Mistaking their livery for that of the Earl of Warwick, Pembroke’s men broke and ran, not realizing that there were no more than perhaps 500 troops, not Warwick’s whole army. In the ensuing rout large numbers of the fleeing troops were killed. Pembroke himself was captured and, with other prominent figures, was taken to Northampton where he was executed the next day.
In the days and weeks following Edgcote, various of Edward IV’s chosen advisors were captured and key figures executed or killed. Earl Rivers, the father of the queen, and his son John Woodville were captured and executed. The Earl of Devon was killed in Somerset. The King himself, his forces having melted away at the news of the defeat at Edgcote, was taken and placed under the Earl of Warwick’s ‘protection’ - effectively imprisoned, first at Warwick and then at Middleham.
The Earl had thus achieved all his objectives, removing the King’s chosen advisers and regaining the reins of power. But the King was not to remain under Warwick's control and within a few months there would be further unrest and open warfare, first in the battle of Losecote Field and then in 1471, culminating in the battles at Barnet and Tewkesbury.
Details
TOPOGRAPHY
The modern landscape differs markedly in appearance from that of 1469; the former open fields were partly enclosed in 1502 and then again between 1596-1625, resulting in large fields with linear boundaries. The tree coverage is also likely to have altered if not increased. That said, the entire area remains rural in character and the overall relief remains unaltered apart from the former Eydon branch railway linking Banbury to the Great Central Railway to the south. Recent documentary research and topographical analysis has enhanced our understanding of the medieval landscape and as such show the localised alterations are peripheral to the course of the battle and do not prevent an appreciation of the military action.
FEATURES
There are no known features associated with the battle although Trafford Bridge, which is listed Grade II (NHLE 1040482), is thought to represent a crossing point for the River Cherwell used by troops during the battle, although the current bridge is C18 in date. There are no known buildings mentioned in accounts. An information board positioned close to Trafford Bridge explains the significance of the site.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL
There have been no systematic archaeological investigations of Edgcote battlefield but finds possibly relating to the battle have been found in close proximity. In the early C19, burials were discovered to the south of the church at Chipping Warden, including a large pit full of human bones and a quantity of spurs. There were also a number of single interments laid out in lines. These burials are thought to be associated with the Battle of Edgcote, representing royal troops caught and killed during the rout as they tried to escape through the streets and enclosures of Chipping Warden village. However, the excavation records do not provide accurate information about the location or discovery and without a modern re-excavation of the site, it is difficult to determine the true relevance of the burials to the Battle of Edgcote.
In addition to further burial pits, the battlefield is likely to contain unstratified archaeological remains which could be vital in understanding the finer details of the Battle of Edgcote but also the development of warfare generally between the medieval and early modern periods. Strutt in 'Edgcote a brief history' (2008) states that there have been 'modern-day finds of .... pieces of shot'. Although no further details are given these finds do emphasise the potential for the site to produce further archaeological material.
Despite later agricultural drainage there is the possibility that items lost in the C15 may be preserved in anaerobic conditions particularly in the lower lying areas close to the stream, and may include organic materials and historical environmental data. No finds of this type have been found but the potential remains.
DEFINITION OF AREA
The battlefield area is understood to have been focused in the valley bottom known as Danes Moor, which is noted in several early sources and can be located here by place-name and other evidence. The rebel force moved in from the southern hill and Pembroke’s army, which was forced to descend from the western hill, (believed to be Edgcote Hill) engaged in hand-to-hand fighting in the plain below. Rebel reinforcements are also believed to have appeared over a hill immediately to the east, possibly that west of Culworth, but the focus of the Registered Battlefield is Danes Moor and the hills to the south and west.
The area is set out on the attached plan and defined by modern field boundaries to provide an easily recognisable limit to the Registered Battlefield. The site lies approximately 1km south east of Chipping Warden, 1.6km north east of Wardington, 1.8km west of Culworth village and encompasses the majority of the parish of Edgecote and the western edge of Culworth parish. The Battlefield encompasses a number of currently listed buildings including Edgcote House (NHLE 1041170) and Church of St James (NHLE 1041169) both of which are listed at Grade I. Grade II listed buildings include the service wing (NHLE 1293810) stables (NHLE 1041172) kitchen walls (NHLE 1041171), dovecote (NHLE 1190435), dam (NHLE 1371487) Brockhouse and Keepers Cottage (NHLE 1041168), all associated with Edgecote House. The Old Rectory (NHLE 1190468), Mill (NHLE 1041173) and bridges (NHLE 1293780 and 1041174), Trafford Bridge Farm (NHLE 1041176), outbuildings (NHLE 1190492), barns and pigsties (NHLE 1371486) and stables (NHLE 1041177) are also Grade II listed and lie within the registered area.
