Battle of Wakefield: The Trap That Killed the Duke of York

The Act of Accord and Rising Tensions

The Act of Accord, passed by Parliament on 25 October 1460, named Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and his descendants as heirs to the English throne, to succeed King Henry VI. This Act, however, was not accepted by the Lancastrian faction led by Margaret of Anjou, who rallied her armed forces in the north and proceeded to plunder the estates of the Yorkist nobility.

On hearing the news, the Duke of York marched out of London on 9 December with his son Edmund, Earl of Rutland; Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, with his son Sir Thomas Neville; and around 5,000 troops, heading north. The Earl of Warwick was left in London to keep order, while York’s son Edward, Earl of March, was sent to the Welsh Marches to recruit more soldiers.

March North and the Defence of Sandal Castle

On 16 December 1460, at Worksop in Nottinghamshire, York’s vanguard clashed with Lancastrian troops led by the Duke of Somerset, with many Yorkists killed. However, the Duke of York arrived safely with his main force at his fortress in Sandal Castle near Wakefield, Yorkshire, on 21 December. He then ordered his soldiers to dig trenches and set cannons in strong defensive positions.

The Lancastrian forces in the vicinity numbered around 15,000 men, whereas York’s force had increased to only about 6,000.

A Christmas truce was agreed with the Lancastrians, who were led by Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset; Henry Holland, 3rd Duke of Exeter; Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland; and Thomas Courtenay, 14th Earl of Devon.

The Fatal Sortie from Sandal

However, on 30 December 1460, the Duke of York ventured out of his castle with his men for reasons that remain unclear. He may have been coming to the aid of his foraging party, which was being attacked by Lancastrian troops. Alternatively, he may have been riding out to join soldiers led by Lord John Neville, not realising that Neville had defected to the Lancastrian cause. A third possibility is that troops led by Andrew Trollope appeared dressed in the livery of the Earl of Warwick, deceiving York into thinking his reinforcements had arrived.

In any event, the Duke of York’s smaller force was surrounded by a vastly superior Lancastrian army. Chronicler Edward Hall later wrote that:

“But when he was in the plain ground between his castle and the town of Wakefield, he was environed on every side, like a fish in a net or a deer in a buckstall, so that he manfully fighting was within half an hour slain and dead, and his whole army discomfited.”

Deaths, Executions, and Aftermath

York’s son, the seventeen-year-old Edmund, Earl of Rutland, was caught at Wakefield Bridge by Lord John Clifford and killed on the spot. The Earl of Salisbury’s son, Sir Thomas Neville, was also killed in the fighting, along with around 2,000 Yorkist soldiers.

The Earl of Salisbury was captured and taken to Pontefract Castle but was killed the following day by “the common people of the country which loved him not.”

After the battle, the heads of the Duke of York, the Earl of Salisbury, and the Earl of Rutland were severed and placed on pikes atop Micklegate Bar in York, the southern gate to the city.

“The heads of York and his kin stared south from Micklegate Bar, a brutal message to friend and foe alike.”

Edward, Earl of March, had spent the Christmas period in the Welsh Marches. On hearing of the deaths of his father, brother, and uncle, he was consumed with grief and determination to take up the Yorkist cause by force of arms if necessary.