Once I was a clever boy learning the arts of Oxford... is a quotation from the verses written by Bishop Richard Fleming (c.1385-1431) for his tomb in Lincoln Cathedral. Fleming, the founder of Lincoln College in Oxford, is the subject of my research for a D. Phil., and, like me, a son of the West Riding. I have remarked in the past that I have a deeply meaningful on-going relationship with a dead fifteenth century bishop... it was Fleming who, in effect, enabled me to come to Oxford and to learn its arts, and for that I am immensely grateful.


Monday, 30 March 2026

The Battle of Towton 565


Yesterday, Oalm Sunday, was the 565th anniversary of the battle of Towton, fought in the date and feast day in 1461, and hence its fifteenth century name of Palm Sunday Field. It is normally accounted the bloodiest battle in English history, and one of the more momentous.

I have posted about Towton before, as a search on the blog will reveal.

Over the weekend the historian David Grummitt had two open access articles on SubStack about his latest research into the contemporary sources we have for the battles of the Wars of the Roses, and in this case, Towton.


His articles are well worth signing up to, and his book on the earlier battles of the Wars one I must get round to reading.

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