Category: Wars Of The Roses

The Murder of Adam Moleyns

28/12/2022

Adam Moleyns was the Bishop of Chichester and Lord Privy Seal he rose to prominence under the Beaufort family at the time when Henry VI was a minor. He was murdered on the 9th January in 1450, the very day that he had arrived in the Hampshire town of Portsmouth.

Moleyns was dragged from what is now the Garrison Church onto the beach where the square tower now stands and killed.

There are those who like to link Moleyns murder to Richard, Duke of York, suggesting that he paid local sailors to kill him because of his part in the loss of the French territories of Maine and Anjou. These lands formed part of the marriage contract of Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou that had been arranged by William de la Pole, the Duke of Suffolk. Moleyns, it is said, made some attempt to save his life by accusing William de la Pole of being solely responsible for their loss. Pole was forced to deny the ensuing rumours in Parliament.

How convenient for those who hated the Duke of York to use these rumours to their advantage? Indeed, some five months later, William de la Pole was found murdered on a beach near Dover!

So why was Molyens killed?

What is more likely is that he was killed by sailors, not on the order of the Duke of York, but when they discovered that he, as Keeper of the Privy Seal, was in town to make reduced payments to the sailors due to their behaviour during church services.

Following this incident, inhabitants of Portsmouth were excommunicated for fifty years.

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John Morton - Archbishop of Canterbury

14/9/2022

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The 15th September 1500 saw the death of John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, Lord Chancellor of England and Cardinal.

Morton passed through the Wars of the Roses unscathed whereas those of whom he was of service and were of a higher rank perished, those such as Margaret of Anjou, Richard Neville, Edward IV and Richard III.

Morton encouraged Buckingham in his rebellion against the Richard III, and it is he who is considered to be the source of much of what was written about the king - the murder of his brother George, Duke of Clarence and the murder of the Princes in the Tower are but two. Thomas More's 'History of Richard III' was based on Morton's account of the time.

However, Morton was a survivor who knew how to take care of himself, he died an old man at Knole House in Kent, a property that had been granted to the See of Canterbury on the death of Thomas Bourchier in 1486, his political machinations continuing under the new Tudor king.

He was buried at Canterbury Cathedral.

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The Turncoat

29/9/2017

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There are a number of men who fought in the Wars of the Roses who defected from one side to another, Andrew Trollope changed his allegiance from the Yorkists to the Lancastrians after the standoff at Ludlow Bridge in 1459 is one notable traitor, another John Wenlock did the same in 1471 following Richard Neville from the Yorkist camp to assist Margaret of Anjou in her quest.

Changing sides didn't affect Trollope, although he was considered a traitor and had a price placed on his head, Edward IV offered a £100 reward to anyone who killed "certain named enemies of the House of York", which included Trollope. Andrew Trollope died in battle at Towton in 1461 and Wenlock died at Tewkesbury, supposedly at the hand of Edmund Beaufort punished for a mistake that cost many Lancastrian soldiers their lives. I wonder did these men expect to feel the sharpness of a blade on their necks, not in the name of justice but in revenge. John Wenlock is forever labeled Wenlock the Prince of Turncoats because of the number of times he defected.

Sometimes however there are those who changed sides and did well for themselves, one of them was Sir John Sutton, a long-time supporter of the Lancastrians. Sutton had accompanied the body of Henry V from France to England and was chief mourner and standard bearer at his funeral. He held a number of positions under Henry VI. At Blore Heath, along with his son Edmund, had commanded a wing of the Lancastrian army and had survived despite the battle being a Yorkist victory. Sutton was taken prisoner and later released. He fought at Northampton for Henry, but following the king's capture, he switched sides. Despite all this, John Sutton climbed the ladder to success under Edward IV and Richard III, fighting for the last Yorkist banner at Bosworth.

William Dugdale wrote of John Sutton

"he was faithful to King Henry VI, yet he did so comply with King Edward IV, when he obtained the crown, that he received many great favours and rewards from that new Sovereign."

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John of Gaunt

6/3/2017

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On the 6th March in 1340 John of Gaunt was born at the Abbey of St Bavon in Ghent in modern day Belgium. He was the son of Edward III and Philippa of Hainault, and at the height of his career he was the most powerful man in the kingdom. He became Duke of Lancaster on the death of Henry of Grosmont in 1361.

He was married three times, firstly in 1359 to Blanche of Lancaster, the daughter of the aforementioned Henry of Grosmont, secondly in 1371 to Constance of Castile, and thirdly in 1396 to Kathryn Swynsford.

Gaunt's marriage to Blanche of Lancaster resulted in the birth of Henry of Bolingbroke, later Henry IV. Henry of course would force the abdication of his cousin Richard II, and in doing so usurp the throne in 1399. Gaunt's marriage to Constance of Castile is written about less, but it is played out in the descent of the kings of Castile. During his marriage to Constance, by whom he had a daughter Catherine, Gaunt would spend twenty year attempting to claim the throne of Castile, he would ultimately succeed if only via the marriage of Catherine to Henry a prince of Castle, who would become king in 1390.

It is Gaunt's relationship, and eventual marriage to Kathryn Swynsford that he is mostly remembered. This relationship resulted in four children who would bear the name of Beaufort. These children and their descendants would be prominent players in the Wars of the Roses.

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Richard Duke of York

21/9/2016

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On the 21st September 1411 Richard, Duke of York, the second son of Richard of Conisbrough and Anne Mortimer was born.

Matthew Lewis in his much needed biography of the Duke of York shows us, what history has failed to do,
a real man who

"harboured dreams, desires, fears, insecurities, love and hated as any real person today"

P A Johnson in his 1988 biography of the duke writes he turned from politics to violence, but I ask what other option was
there, all the talking had been done.

York was a man who was prepared to stand up and fight for what he believed in, a man loyal to his king but who had
been pushed too far, he was not, as he has been called,

‘the most successful failure of the middle ages.’

Richard, Duke of York did not deserve to end up wearing a paper crown.

Matthew Lewis's Richard Duke of York: King by Right is available here:
www.amazon.co.uk/Richard-Duke-York-King-Right/dp/1445647443

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Battle of Ferrybridge

12/3/2016

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28th March 1461

In the early months of 1461, Edward IV captured the hearts of the people of London, but the city wasn’t England and to win the counties hearts he would have to defeat the Lancastrians once and for all, and at Towton Edward would show no mercy.

Battle of Ferrybridge by Graham Turner. http://www.studio88.co.uk/acatalog/medieval_prints.html

Edward had left London and had reached the Yorkshire town of Pontefract fourteen days later. At this point in time the main Lancastrian army was probably at York, this meant that they were separated by two rivers, the Wharf in the north and more importantly, the Aire in the south.

The crossing on the river Aire at Ferrybridge was to play host to an event that would eventually lead to the more famous Battle of Towton a day later. By the time dusk had arrived on the 27th, Richard Earl of Warwick, had reached Ferrybridge and found the Lancastrian forces on the Aires other bank had made a good job of destroying the bridge, this had the effect of cutting off Warwick’s vanguard. A small Yorkist force had left while Warwick’s men had made another ‘bridge’ out of planks of wood. Edward was still south of the river had recently received word of the arrival of a large number of Lancastrian soldiers under the command of the Duke of Somerset who had set up camp between the villages of Towton and Saxton.

The morning of the 28th of March saw Warwick’s army taken by surprise by Lancastrian soldiers and in the confusion and panic many of Warwick's troops lost their lives, and it was at this point, that Richard Neville had been hit in the leg by an archers arrow. Edward Hall, the fifteenth century chronicler, does write of Warwick’s leg wound, but has him heroically riding to inform the king of the battle and then has him nobly cutting the throat of his horse to prove his commitment. It is unlikely that Warwick did such a thing, but it does show how committed these men were to a cause.

Edwards forces succeeded in taking possession of the bridge, and once this was done the king moved his army across the river and prepared to take on the Lancastrian forces the following day.

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Plantagenet and Tudor Jellies

2/2/2016

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Who loves jelly?

I know I do, strawberry is my favourite flavour and always in the shape of a rabbit.
During the Wars of the Roses there were no blue plastic moulds like the one from my childhood, only pottery or metal ones.
At Henry VI's coronation in Westminster Hall in 1429, his personal badge of an

'antelope with a crowne about his necke with a chayne of golde'

decorated the top of a white jelly or leach as it was then known.

According to Elias Ashmole's History of the Noble Order of the Garter published in London in 1672, a dinner held at St George's Hall in Windsor Castle, jellies were served at the very end of the meal. Surviving records state that these jellies were in the shape of animals and castles. A lovely gilded rosewater leche, just like the image seen below, was consumed at a Garter Feast in 1520.

In Tudor times another jelly, known as Jely Ypocras was served just before the second course, it is thought that it was made by turning
'the spiced wine hypocras into a jelly with isinglass, hartshorn, calves feet or ivory shavings.'

No recipe has survived, but food historians think that this was how this jelly was made.

I think I will give it a miss thank you!

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Battle of Towton: 29th March 1461

6/10/2015

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The Battle of Towton, cannot be looked at in isolation, writes the Towton Battlefield Society, the conflict was precipitated by events leading up to 1461, which explain why inevitably, it became Britain’s bloodiest battle.

Towton 25 Image by Christopher Maudsley

It is very easy to view the battle-weary knight, riding into the distance on his worn-out steed, scarred and blooded in a romantic light, isn't it? We visualise our armoured hero, victorious, always living to fight another day. But at Towton, on the 29th March 1461, it is said that 28,000 men lost their lives, this should shock us but it doesn't really, does it?

When I think of this, I am guilty of visualising the smokey, body-strewn, blood-soaked battlefield scene of Kenneth Branagh's Henry V. With images like that, it is very hard for us to really understand the extent of these poor men's injuries. Today we have evidence of the wounds the medieval man inflicted on one another and I would like to feature a man who died that day, whose real name we do not know, but who is known as Towton 25. This soldier had survived battle before - at Towton he was not so lucky.

The Opening Barrage, by Graham Turner

A closer look at the wounds this man received that cold Palm Sunday at Towton revealed:

"A healed skull fracture points to previous engagements. He was old enough—somewhere between 36 and 45 when he died—to have gained plenty of experience of fighting. But on March 29th 1461, his luck ran out. Towton 25 suffered eight wounds to his head that day. The precise order can be worked out from the direction of fractures on his skull: when bone breaks, the cracks veer towards existing areas of weakness. The first five blows were delivered by a bladed weapon to the left-hand side of his head, presumably by a right-handed opponent standing in front of him. None is likely to have been lethal.The next one almost certainly was. From behind him someone swung a blade towards his skull, carving a down-to-up trajectory through the air. The blow opened a huge horizontal gash into the back of his head—picture a slit you could post an envelope through. Fractures raced down to the base of his skull and around the sides of his head. Fragments of bone were forced in to Towton 25's brain, felling him. His enemies were not done yet. Another small blow to the right and back of the head may have been enough to turn him over onto his back. Finally another blade arced towards him. This one bisected his face, opening a crevice that ran from his left eye to his right jaw. It cut deep: the edge of the blade reached to the back of his throat."

If the description of how the poor man in the image above met his end doesn't make us think then nothing will, what we really need to realise is just how horrific medieval warfare was without continually looking at it through rose-coloured glasses.

You can read more about this battle on the Towton Battlefield Societies website

www.towton.org.uk/

Also, in the link attached, Christopher Maudsley helps us see the reality of medieval warfare by featuring Towton 25 and his fellow warriors.

www.flickr.com/photos/christopher_maudsley/sets/72157633310702191

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Battle of Bosworth Sand Sculptures

20/9/2015

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The late fourteenth century saw the widespread use of plate armour, this meant that swords changed from a slashing and chopping weapon, to a sword with a sharply pointed blade.

The medieval soldier would have been much practiced at hand to hand combat, he would have known where exactly to place his sword, as seen in the sculpture, for maximum effect. These vulnerable areas were the groin, armpit and the throat, a place uncovered for flexibility
.
The halberd and the poleaxe were also popular, by the fifteenth century the broad axe, a weapon a bit like the Viking axe, were being used too.

All these weapons could be used in a different way against plate armour, to cut through, punch through, or crush the poor medieval soldier.

The lance, as seen here being used by the mounted soldier, were not exactly like the lances used in jousting, they were more like spears, they were long and made to be used with one hand, and of course the ends were sharpened to a point.
Interesting, and I learnt this yesterday, a lance also refers to a unit of soldiers, who would surround a nobleman as he went into battle. The Lance was usually made up of squires, other mounted soldiers and of course the knight himself.

Here's another photograph I took yesterday when we visited the Richard III Visitor Centre in Leicester.

http://www.kriii.com/

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Rhys ap Thomas: Boasting of Killing a King

13/9/2015

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When the remains of Richard III were found in 2012, it was discovered that he had sustained a number of injuries during the Battle of Bosworth in 1485 where he fought for his crown.

On examination, Richard's skull presented a number of wounds, two of which were massive. The first wound examined is consistent with a halberd or something similar being used. The second was a jagged hole where a bladed weapon had been thrust right through the bone, resulting in an indention opposite this wound, showing that the blade had penetrated into the kings head to a depth of 10.5cm.

Both injuries would have ended the kings life, but which came first, and what doe's history tell us?

Death of Richard III. Painting by Graham Turner

Legend has it that the fatal blow was caused by a halberd struck by Welshman Rhys ap Thomas, a man once allied to the Yorkist party who traitorously changed his allegiance. With one swipe of his halberd, it has been said, he took the life of the king who was the last monarch to die in battle.

Of course, we can never know who stuck that last blow, but one intriguing piece of evidence points to the fact that Rhys ap Thomas may have been Richard's nemesis, and very proud he was of it too!

The medieval bed is synonymous with wealth and the social standing of its owner, one bed that shows this quite clearly is a bed that now stands in Rhys ap Thomas's room in Derwydd House in Llandybie, Carmarthenshire.

Made out of Welsh oak, only the three valance's are considered to be from the original bed, it is one of the side valances that may prove that the Rhys ap Thomas legend is true and that this treacherous Welshman did indeed strike the fatal blow against Richard III. A scene carved into the wood, depicts two mounted knights facing one another, between them stands a soldier with a halberd, it is this soldier that is thought to be Rhys Ap Thomas.

The bed is dated to about 1505, the same time that Henry VII appointed the Welshman to his privy council and made him a Knight of the Garter.

There's no better way of boasting how you climbed the ladder of success, never mind that you let the victor of Bosworth walk all over you, than carving your greatest achievement on your most prized possession.

Rhys ap Thomas is said to have been "a man of integrity and honour " and that of course is a matter of opinion.

It has also been suggested, I think wrongly, that the larger soldier behind the mounted knight is Rhys ap Thomas, however either one of these men could depict this Welshman, for the weapons both men are carrying would have caused the fatal injuries that resulted in the death of King Richard III. Of course, which ever one it was depends on how this Welshman saw himself and not necessarily the weapon he used. If Rhys ap Thomas saw himself as the man who brought an end to the Plantagenet dynasty and was reasonable for kick starting the Tudor dynasty then he may choose to place himself in between the two main players, or he may wish to have himself seen as a mighty poleaxe wielding welsh hero Welsh poets like to write so much about.

What ever way Rhys ap Thomas chose to boast of his exploits, or which ever weapon he used I think that we can say that this legend is possibly true.

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The Murder of Adam Moleyns

John Morton - Archbishop of Canterbury

The Turncoat

John of Gaunt

Richard Duke of York

Battle of Ferrybridge

28th March 1461

Plantagenet and Tudor Jellies

Battle of Towton: 29th March 1461

Battle of Bosworth Sand Sculptures

Rhys ap Thomas: Boasting of Killing a King

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