The Lancastrian survivors thereafter fled back to West Wales pursued by the Yorkists.Ĭasualties at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: It seems clear that a substantial portion of the Lancastrian army fought its way back a half mile to their wagon lager, where they were again overwhelmed in the area known as ‘Battle Acre’. Memorial to the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 3rd February 1461 in the Wars of the Roses Many of the Lancastrian troops, attempting to escape across the River Lugg at a point where there was no ford or bridge, will have been dragged under by their heavy fighting gear and drowned. ![]() The Lancastrian army was pushed against the bank of the River Lugg and there annihilated by the Yorkist charge. Such a discharge at a relatively short range is likely to have inflicted heavy casualties on the Lancastrian order of battle and caused a sudden swerve towards the centre of the army by the left wing, which in turn will have thrown the Lancastrian battle into confusion.Īt this point, the Earl of March committed the rest of his army to an attack on the disordered Lancastrians, the Buzzard valley force taking the Lancastrians in the left rear. It is likely that the battle began with a heavy discharge of arrows by the concealed Yorkist archers on the bank. The Earl of March probably also concealed a squadron of mounted men in the small Buzzard valley on his right, beyond the archers. Yorkist archers occupied the wooded bank, forward of the main line, forming an ambush to catch the left wing of the approaching Lancastrians. On hearing of the approach of Jasper Tudor’s and Wiltshire’s army, March moved forward to intercept the Lancastrians at Mortimer’s Cross some 8 miles to the south-west of Ludlow on the River Lugg, at the point where the road from Ludlow crosses the river.ġ5th Century Armour from the Wallace Collecction: Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 3rd February 1461 in the Wars of the Roses In the expectation that the winter weather would dictate the route the Welsh Lancastrian army would be forced to take, the Earl of March awaited the Lancastrians at Ludlow. The wealthier English and Welsh nobles were able to recruit companies of disciplined armed retainers from these veterans, forming the backbone of their field armies.īackground to the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: Following the death of his father, the Duke of Gloucester, at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 th December 1460, Edward, Earl of March, now the Duke of Gloucester, waited at Ludlow in expectation of an incursion from the Welsh port of Milford Haven by Jasper Tudor, Earl of Shrewsbury, with his retainers from West Wales and mercenaries brought from France by the Earl of Wiltshire and a body of Irishmen commanded by the Earl of Ormonde. The end of the Hundred Years War caused numbers of English and Welsh men-at-arms and archers to return to their home countries from France. There is no indication that either side at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross possessed firearms. Handheld firearms were beginning to appear on the battlefield but were still unreliable and dangerous to discharge.Īrtillery, although widely used in warfare, was heavy, cumbersome and difficult to move and fire. Jasper Tudor, Lancastrian commander at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 3rd February 1461 in the Wars of the Roses Their immediate entourage comprised mounted men-at-arms, in armour and armed with sword, lance and shield, although often fighting on foot.īoth armies relied upon strong forces of longbowmen. Uniforms, arms and equipment at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: The commanders and their noble supporters and knights rode to battle on horseback, in armour, with sword, lance and shield. ![]() Winner of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: The Earl of March’s Yorkists, decisively. Size of the armies at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: The Lancastrian army probably comprised some 6,000 men the Yorkist army some 5,000 men. Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, commanded the Lancastrian army, with the Earl of Wiltshire. The Earl of March (elevated to the Duchy of Gloucester through the death of his father at the Battle of Wakefield and later in 1461 King Edward IV of England) commanded the Yorkist army. Place of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: South-west of the Welsh/English Border town of LudlowĬombatants at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: Lancastrians against the YorkistsĬommanders at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: Edward, Earl of March, Yorkist commander at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 3rd February 1461 in the Wars of the Rosesĭate of the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross: 3 rd February 1461
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