|
The Yorkist Earl of Warwick re-took London in 1460 and captured Henry VI. Subsequently the Duke of York returned to claim the throne in Parliament but was recognised only as Protector and heir to the throne. Weeks later he marched north to enforce this settlement, but was killed at Wakefield. A large Lancastrian army swarmed south, overwhelming Warwick at Northampton and liberating the mad-again Henry. Fearful Londoners would not admit the Lancastrian troops, and the Duke of York\'s son, Edward, earl of March, arrived to support the capital just in time. With littleto lose, the Yorkists acclaimed March as Edward IV (1461-83), and he cemented his accession by annihilating the Lancastrian army at Towton (outside York) in April 1461 - perhaps the most vicious battle ever fought on English soil.
Henry VI and the other Lancastrian leaders were fugitives.
|
