The Second Battle of St Albans

With Margaret and her army of more than twenty thousand men just a few days away, Warwick finally set out from London with his own smaller army on 12 February 1461. He reached St Albans on the 13^th and spent the next three days laying traps and other defensives devices around the town. Bad intelligence led the Earl to believe Margaret was still some miles away. Unfortunately she was not, and on 17 February, after marching straight through the night, Margaret passed through St Albans’ open gates and attacked Warwick’s archers in the marketplace, taking them completely by surprise. Using the narrow streets to their advantage Warwick’s archers expelled the Lancastrians from the town. After a hurried council of war the Lancastrians returned and trapped the heavily outnumbered archers in a pincer movement, successfully occupying the town. The Lancastrian then took a rest, while Lord Montagu, Warwick’s brother re-deployed his men to the north of St Albans on Barnard’s Heath and prepared to face Margaret.

The whole Lancastrian army joined the assault on Montagu’s men. The bulk of the Yorkists were still to far away to reach Montagu, so Warwick took his cavalry and led a desperate charge across the country in an effort to save him. Before the Earl could reach his brother, a trusted Yorkist captain, Henry Lovelace changed sides leaving a huge gap in the Yorkist line. Defeat ensued and Lord Montagu was captured while Warwick dejectedly turned back the way he came.

Four thousand men lay dead around St Albans, yet Warwick somehow managed to rally a similar number of the living, and marched west through the night hoping to find Edward’s army. After dark King Henry VI was found sitting under an oak tree and taken to the Lancastrian camp to be reunited with his wife and child.