As the sun beat down on the thatched roofs of the city of St Albans, it’s small streets and alleyways echoed with the sound of war. Men clad in armour marched through these narrowing streets as they looked to bear down on their target - the Duke of Somerset.
With Somerset was the king of England, Henry VI, who himself was unusually dressed in armour. The sweat dripped from his helm as the crossed arms of England and France fluttered in the wind, waiting for the forces of the Earl of Warwick to destroy the hastily built barricade protecting the royal army.
The King and the Duke’s of Somerset and Buckingham as well the Lancastrian forces braced themselves as Warwick’s men as well as those of the House of York tore through the barricades and started the attack. Brutal hand to hand combat soon commenced as swords were stabbed slashed, and thrusted with Warwick’s forces soon gaining the upper hand in the struggle.
The Yorkists closed in for the kill in this political assassination as the Duke of Somerset and his badly injured son, Henry Beaufort, retreated into the Castle Inn. There the duke awaited his fate as opposing soldiers soon circled the building, cutting off all exits. As the walls closed in on Somerset he decided to go out fighting, bursting out of the door and slaying four men before he himself was cut down.
Alongside Somerset’s murder, old family blood feuds were settled as Warwick and his father the Earl of Salisbury killed their arch - enemy, Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland as he looked for shelter. The 8th Baron Clifford was also hacked to pieces in the middle of the street, his blood and that of many others mixed with mud and stone.
As for the king, he was taken to shelter with blood pouring profusely from his face from an arrow strike, his army had been routed within half an hour.
Though Warwick had led the charge, it was Richard, Duke of York’s victory, his mortal enemy, Somerset lay dead in the straw and mud like a dog, whilst he took the reins of control.
Unknowingly this skirmish would ignite one of the fiercest conflicts in British history, a 30 year civil war for the throne of England that would change hands several times and see the destruction of the Plantagenets and the rise of the Tudor Dynasty.
That however was a long way off for England in the 1450s.
For over three decades, England had been ruled by a weak and ineffectual king, Henry VI. His notoriously warrioral father, Henry V had famously won the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 and had come agonisingly close to uniting the thrones of England and France, dying only months before he could see the job through. The English crowned passed to his nine month year old son Henry.
Unlike his father, this king had never even seen conflict and his council was riveted will ill feeling and factions. His marriage to the Frenchwoman Margaret of Anjou in a hope of settling a peace only worsened matters especially as Henry agreed to cede the territories of Maine and Anjou to the French.
The factions of Henry’s court was headed by two influential noblemen. On one side was Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset, one of the kings closest relatives as well as councillors. Somerset had garnered the support of the Queen as a result rumours spread they were in fact sleeping together, it was even rumoured that the kings future son, Edward of Westminster had been fathered by Somerset. The Duke was no doubt influential however was also loathed due to his loss of Rouen as lieutenant of France in August 1449.
On the other side was Richard, 3rd Duke of York, who many thought to be the kings successor if he was to die without issue. Richard was also one of 15th century England’s greatest and richest magnates with vast lands sprawling across England and Wales. York cut some what of an arrogant figure, he also felt hard done by with many lucrative positions being passed over him in favour of Somerset. York was placed in the position of Lieutenant of Ireland however returned when news reached him that England was in disarray.
With nobles murdered, peasants in revolt and judicial murders taking place, York looked to step in and bring back control over the kingdom. He was however met with deafening silence from the king.
Tensions heated between Somerset and York with the former being sent to the Tower of London for his own safety as disappointment as well as angst reached fever pitch. The Duke had even been attacked by some of Yorks men who would have surely killed him had not escaped by boat. Somerset was later released from the Tower and controversially named Captain of Calais, York frustrated at once again being looked over retired to one of his principal seats at Ludlow Castle, bordering Wales. There York stewed and concocted a plan to grasp the reins of government, he’d force the king to name him his successor as well as to take Somerset out of the equation.
He marched from the formidable fortress of Ludlow, gathering men as he went, looking to March south to London. However when he got to the capital city it’s gates were closed to him on the orders of Henry. From London York and his army marched south once again to Dartford where the king was staying at the time. On his was he professed his loyalty to the king and only wanted to replace Somerset at his side. From correspondence it seems as the king agreed. As the bite of the salt watered wind stung York’s face he made his way to the King’s tent… it had been a rouse. Standing beside the king was the Duke of Somerset. For two weeks York remained in virtual house arrest before he was taken to London and was embarrassingly forced to swear an oath of allegiance at St Paul’s Cathedral.
For now Somerset had one the battle to remain as the kings right hand man, and even better for the king, his wife Margaret of Anjou had finally become pregnant after years of marriage. York as well as his allies Warwick and Salisbury started rumours that the child was not the kings but controversially in fact the Duke of Somerset’s. However the wheel of fortune soon turned.
By 1453, the war in France was going horribly wrong, much of the land that Henry V had captured thirty years earlier had mostly reverted back to the king of France, Charles VII (Henry VI though coronated king of France had not stepped foot in the kingdom since that event)). The old Plantagenet land of Gascony alongside the foothold of Calais still held out for the English however on 17 July 1453, the French scored a crushing victory at the Battle of Castillon which saw the end of Plantagenet rule in the region as well as the end of the nearly 120 year struggle for the French crown.
When news reached the fragile king of England he had a complete mental breakdown, falling into a catatonic stupor, one of which would last over a year.
In this power vacuum Somerset, York and the Queen all scrambled for control. Somerset (the Queen’s chief advisor) was however arrested on York’s orders and once again to the Tower. This left only York and the Queen to battle it out for control of the kingdom. The Queen argued as wife of the king and mother of the Princes of Wales, she had full right to govern the kingdom in her husbands stead. However the council pushed her claim away in favour of York, who was formally proclaimed Protector of the Realm and Chief councillor, appointing his allies, most importantly of all the Earl of Salisbury to prominent positions.
As York held the reins of control, his enemy Somerset languished in the Tower however in December 1454, a Christmas miracle occurred. Henry woke up. After 17 months Henry had returned to the land of the living and his first actions were to release his favourite, Somerset and to reverse all appointments and actions taken by York. The Duke, outraged by this stormed back to Ludlow.
By May 1455, a great council was called to be convened at the old Lancastrian city of Leicester. York and his allies Salisbury and Warwick had no doubt that they would be tried for their actions doing the protectorship. Somerset would have his revenge. York and his allies marched from the north, once again started to gather an army. By the time Somerset heard about the marauding army it was too late, and with the king as well as much of the nobility continued their progress to Leicester. York got there first, barring off the city. After this, he and his men continued the march south towards the king. York had ill intent, and would be rid of his enemy, once and for all.
Somerset and the king reached the old cathedral city of St Albans with a rag - tag army of around 2,000 whilst it was rumoured York’s numbered 3,000 - 7,000. The Duke reached the city to find that hastily built defences of benches, chairs and pieces of woods had been put up. On the way there, York had sent messages to the king reinstating his loyalty, it is likely they never reached the kings hand.
After several hours of negotiation, as the two armies baked in the sweltering, late May sun, York ordered the attack. Within half an hour, the Duke’s mortal enemy had been slain, his son, so badly wounded that his was taken from the battlefield in a cart. The old family feud of the Neville’s and Percy’s escalated as the Earl of Northumberland lay face down, dead in the dirt. Henry himself had been wounded, when a stray arrow scratched his throat . He was taken to the nearby church to have his wound treated. Here was met by the Duke of York and the Earl of Warwick, both failing to their knee and swearing loyalty to the king they had just attacked, soon taking him into their protection.
This skirmish would see blood and dynastic feuds start that would last over thirty years.
This was the start of the Wars of the Roses.