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The Battle of Blore Heath
In February 1456 King Henry recovered from his second bout of incapacity and York was again removed from power. With the birth of a son, Henry now had an heir and Lancaster had a rallying point. Queen Margaret, in order to protect her son's birthright, now became more involved in political matters, and for the next two years, systematically removed all Yorkist sympathisers from royal office. York went to his estate at Ludlow, Salisbury went to Middleham in North Yorkshire and Warwick returned to his position as captain of Calais. When royal funds to pay the Calais garrison ceased in May 1458, Warwick began a series of raids on Spanish and Hanseatic ports to raise money. These escapades increased Warwick's standing among the soldiers and the common people of England, but in October 1458 he was summoned to England on a charge of treason for his piratical acts. On arriving in England Warwick was attacked by a contingent of the royal guard. He escaped unhamred and returned immediately to Calais. With York and Salisbury away from the centre of power and Warwick disgraced, Margaret decided to make her move. She summoned a council meeting for all the great nobles, excluding York, Salisbury and Warwick, to meet in Coventry in June 1459. At this council, charges of treason were brought against the three men. It was expected that this would remove York's power. York immediately contacted his allies, and they planned to meet at Ludlow, Salisbury with an army of northerners and Warwick with a contingent of the Calais garrison, and attempt to seize the king. At the same time that Salisbury left Middleham, Margaret travelled north to join James, Lord Audley's royal army, which was now nearing Market Drayton. Margaret attempted to intercept Salisbury's force to prevent it joining with York's and Warwick's troops. On the morning of 23 September the two armies met a mile north of the village of Blore Heath. The two sides squared up on the heath, the Yorkists on the south and the Lancastrians on the north, both parallel to Wemberton Brook. Salisbury realised that he was outnumbered, and so ordered his centre to withdraw beyond the woods. The Lancastrian cavalry, believing this to be a total withdrawal, charged across the brook towards the Yorkist centre, but were repelled. A second similar attack was also repelled, and Lord Audley was killed. Lord Dudley now took leadership of the Lancastrian forces, and ordered a large proporation of the cavalry to dismount. There now ensued several hours of fierce hand to hand combat, but the remaining Lancastrain cavalry, realising the skirmish was not advancing well, left the field. With the expected cavalry support not arriving, the Lancastrians began to give way, with as many as five hundred deserting to the Yorkist side. The Lancastrian line soon broke and the battle was lost. The pursuit of fleeing Lancastrians lastid until the early hours of the next morning, with Lancastrian casualties being close on two thousand, while the Yorkists lost very few men.
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