John Sadler - Towton: The Battle of Palm Sunday Field 1461

Biographical Notes

Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset (14061455)
Fourth son of John Beaufort, the 1st Earl, Edmund was involved in the French Wars and the recapture of Harfleur. Knight of the Garter (KG hereafter) in 1436, Earl of Dorset 1442 and Marquess a year later. In 1444 Edmund succeeded his father as 4th Earl. After Suffolks removal and murder, Edmund became leader of the Lancastrian faction at court. Handsome and urbane (he was rumoured to have had a clandestine affair with Queen Katherine in 1427) he was, nonetheless, totally unscrupulous. Edmund was killed at the First Battle of St Albans on 22 May 1455.

Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset (14361464)

Previously Earl of Dorset, Henry was wounded at the First Battle of St Albans. A prime mover in the Lancastrian revival after the constitutional settlement of 1460, Henry fought at Wakefield and Second St Albans, where his generalship proved superior. Defeated at Towton, he maintained the war in the north, and although he capitulated in 1463, reverted the following year, and was executed following the debacle at Hexham.

Edmund Beaufort, titular 4th Duke of Somerset (14381471)

Younger brother of the 3rd Duke, Edmund led the Lancastrians in the Tewkesbury campaign. On the day after defeat at Tewkesbury, Edmund was taken from sanctuary and beheaded.

Thomas Bourchier (14041486)

Younger son of William Bourchier, Count of Eu, and Anne of Gloucester (halfbrother to Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham), Thomas was educated at Oxford, before entering the Church, where he rose with dizzying rapidity. He became Bishop of Worcester in 1434, Bishop of Ely in 1443, and finally, Archbishop of Canterbury in 1454. At first, Thomas was neutral in the wars, inclining to the court, though an advocate for peace. After 1459, however, he became a Yorkist partisan, crowning Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville (he became Gloucesters emissary for the surrender of the young Duke of York in 1483). He then crowned the usurping Richard III before an effortless transition to the Tudor camp, crowning Henry VII.

George, Duke of Clarence (14491478)

Sixth son of Richard of York and Cicely Neville one of four to reach maturity George was elevated to his dukedom in 1461. After marrying Warwicks elder daughter, George joined the conspiracies of 14691470. Reverting his allegiance prior to Barnet, he was privately executed in 1478. Brilliant and charismatic, George was also unstable, jealous and treacherous.

John de Clifford, 9th Baron Clifford (14351461)

The Cliffords were a long-established family, holding the lordships of Appleby and Skipton. After his father, Thomas de Clifford, the 8th Baron (14141455) was killed at the First Battle of St Albans, John de Clifford became a savage paladin of the House of Lancaster. He fought at Wakefield and is credited with the slaying of Richard, Duke of Yorks second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland. He was, in turn, killed in the skirmish at Dintingdale prior to the Battle of Towton and his followers, The Flower of Craven were decimated around him.