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Death of Ralph Percy at Hedgeley Moor

25/4/2017

25th April 1464: Death of Lancastrian Ralph Percy, grandson of Henry Hotspur at Hedgeley Moor.

A Yorkist army, under the command of John Neville, where intercepted by a Lancastrian army led by the Duke of Somerset whilst they were heading north to attend meetings with Scottish envoys in Newcastle.

"As his aristocratic colleagues fled the field in the midst of their ignominious defeat, Percy carved a name for himself in history by refusing to join them. He and his men fought to the death in a brave show of loyalty to the Lancastrian cause. Surrounded, his horse stumbled and he was overpowered by the enemy. His last words were said to have been...."

“I have saved the bird in my bosom."

Stone cross carved in honour of Sir Ralph Percy on the spot where he fell. Image Credit: David Clark

northeasthistorytour.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/percys-cross-bird-in-thy-bosom-nu053193.html

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Death of John Clifford according to Shakespeare

20/4/2017

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John, Lord Clifford is Margaret of Anjou's most ardent supporter, his sole aim is to revenge the death of his father and kill all members of the House of York. Clifford finds and kills Edmund, York's second son, this is witnessed by Richard, Duke of Gloucester.

During a battle Richard faces Clifford and fatally wounds him, but ignores his pleas to finish him off. Later however, Edward notices Clifford, and in the hope that he is not dead the sons of York mock him as he and the queen had their father. Once they realise that he is indeed dead, they have his head decapitated and placed on the pike replacing that of the Duke of York.

WARWICK
They mock thee, Clifford: swear as thou wast wont.

RICHARD
What, not an oath? nay, then the world goes hard
When Clifford cannot spare his friends an oath.
I know by that he's dead; and, by my soul,
If this right hand would buy two hour's life,
That I in all despite might rail at him,
This hand should chop it off, and with the
issuing blood
Stifle the villain whose unstanched thirst
York and young Rutland could not satisfy.

WARWICK
Ay, but he's dead: off with the traitor's head,
And rear it in the place your father's stands.
And now to London with triumphant march,
There to be crowned England's royal king:

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Death of Edward of Middleham

9/4/2017

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Richard III and his son Edward of Middleham can be seen below praying in this lovely window of St Mary & St Alkelda Church Middleham in Yorkshire. We can imagine that Richard used the church as a place for contemplation and to give thanks for being blessed with a son.

Edward was born at Middleham's Castle, but within ten years the poor child would die there, an event that it is often thought to have occurred on the 9th of April 1484 - a strange date since it was the exact date of the death of his paternal uncle Edward IV the year before, and a date you might consider Richard's troubles began.

In 1485 it was written in the Crowland Chronicles

‘In the following April, on a day not far off King Edward’s anniversary, this only son, on whom ... all hope of the royal succession rested, died in Middleham castle after a short illness’.

History tells us it was in the second week of April that his parents received the tragic news, while they were in Nottingham, that Edward had died.

Sadly, there is no reference to where Richard had his son laid to rest.

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The Arrivall: 10th April to 13th April 1471

7/4/2017

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The second reign of King Henry VI began on the 3rd October 1470, it lasted six months. Richard Neville, Henry's champion had played the game and lost and Edward IV had all the assistance he needed to win back his throne by force. Edward returned to England from exile arriving at the beginning of March accompanied by William Hastings and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, they disembarked onto English soil at Ravenspur on the east coast of England, the very port Henry IV had landed seventy years before to claim the English throne, Edward's desire was no only to reclaim his crown but deal with Neville.

Spurn Head Yorkshire - looking towards the now lost village of Ravenspur

After leaving Humberside, Edward made his way to London via Beverly, Wakefield, Nottingham and Leicester and with no obvious Lancastrian force to oppose him he arrived in the city on the 10/11th April 1471 where he would stay until the 13th. It was here in London that Edward was proclaimed England's king once more.

The Arrivall by Graham Turner http://www.studio88.co.uk/index.html

In the two days Edward spent in London he visited St Paul's Cathedral for prayers and to give thanks, he was reunited with his wife who presented him with his six month old son who had been born while his mother was in sanctuary at Westminster Abbey. Following discussions with his councilors Edward spent his last night at his mother's home of Baynard's Castle, the next morning his troops were armed and departed heading north along Watling Street.

By the 13th the Yorkist forces had arrived at Monken Hadley, a small village just twelve miles from London. Edward made his camp next to the village church on a hill that overlooked the town of Barnet, that night Edward placed his troops in their battle positions, the following morning he would find that they were very close to Richard Neville's lines.

The king's force at Barnet, according to the unknown writer of The Arrivall, numbered nine thousand, but it is thought there were far more than this, Edward himself had landed in England with about two thousand, six thousand men joined his army at Nottingham, three thousand at Leicester, the Duke of Clarence now reconciled with Edward, brought around seven thousand, however Warwick commanded many more.

It was on Easter morning, the 14th April, that had dawned grey and foggy, that the Battle of Barnet took place.

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Death of Ralph Percy at Hedgeley Moor

Death of John Clifford according to Shakespeare

Death of Edward of Middleham

The Arrivall: 10th April to 13th April 1471

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