6 – Battle of Tewkesbury – 1471
Edward didn’t have much of a chance to savour his win at Barnet as Queen Margaret had arrived at Weymouth on the day of the battle and quickly increased the size of her army. She was dismayed to learn of Warwick’s death but the queen elected to march north to Wales in order to augment her army with the aid of Jasper Tudor.
Edward learned of his enemy’s plans and quickly moved to intercept them before they could cross the Severn at Gloucester. The Duke of Somerset was in command of the Lancastrian army and was forced to stop for supplies in Bristol; this turned out to be a mistake as it enabled Edward to catch up. Somerset arrived at Gloucester only to find the gates were closed. The exhausted Lancastrians limped on towards Tewkesbury and realised they had to stand and fight.
While Somerset had a slight advantage in manpower (6,000 to approximately 4,000-5,000), his tired troops failed to succeed in a flanking manoeuvre which demoralised them. Once Edward led his men in a charge down the centre of the enemy lines, the Lancastrians offered only token resistance. The Lancastrians were pushed back to the river and hundreds drowned as they looked to escape. Up to 2,000 of Somerset’s men died whereas only 500 or so Yorkists perished.
Somerset and Edward, Prince of Wales were executed after the battle while Margaret also surrendered and was ultimately imprisoned. Soon after Tewkesbury, Edward put down a Lancastrian force commanded by the gloriously named Bastard of Fauconberg and on 21 May 1471, Henry VI was executed in the Tower of London. This marked the end of the Lancastrian royal family but crucially, Henry Tudor was able flee to France. He was the leading male Lancastrian claimant left and while his claims to the throne may have been reasonably tenuous, he was able to make a case for the crown and was destined to change the course of British history.