Battle of Tewkesbury 555th anniversary

Today is the 555th anniversary of the battle of Tewkesbury on Saturday May 4th 1471. The comprehensive Yorkist victory cost the lives of many leading Lancastrians and probably led to the death in the Tower of London later that month of King Henry VI. The triumph of the Yorkists seemed virtually unequivocal, and what remained of the Lancastrian faction of relatively little concern in the grand scheme of things.

Nathan Amin, who has written a very readable and balanced account of the Beaufort family, has a post based on part of that book on his Substack site Hiraeth about the battle and the fate of Edmund Beaufort Duke of Somerset. The article which has some fine photographs of the spectacularly beautiful Tewkesbury Abbey, where many of the prominent casualties were buried, and can be seen at The Fall of The Beauforts

As Nathan Amin would be the first to point out, even if the direct male Beaufort line died with Edmund and his younger brother John - they are buried under what is now the Abbey gift shop - their cousin Margaret had a son in Henry, Earl of Richmond whose future and descendants were unimaginable in 1471. In addition their elder brother Henry had left an illegitimate son, Charles Somerset, upon whom fortune also looked kindly. As a result his direct male descendants are the Dukes of Beaufort, and, ironically, provided some of the crucial DNA male-line evidence to help identify King Richard III.

Apart from the Duke of Somerset the single most important casualty of the battle was King Henry VI’s son, Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales. This warlike seventeen year old was a more potent threat than his father, and without the Prince as a potential youthful challenger it was easy for King Edward IV to permanently remove King Henry upon his return to London.

The nearest thing to a contemporary painted portrait of Prince Edward is on the Oliver King panel from 1492-5  in St George’s Windsor. King had been secretary to the Prince, and then, like the future Cardinal Morton, with the seeming obliteration of the Lancastrians at Tewkesbury served King Edward IV, but then was to return to the service of the Lancastrian descended King Henry VII.

Edward Prince of Wales stands on the right hand side of the Oliver King panel in St George’s Windsor

Image: Dean and Canons of Windsor

The seal of Edward Prince of Wales

Image: The Heraldry Society 

In recent decades Tewkesbury has developed its annual Medieval Festival around the re-enactment of the battle into the largest such event in Europe. This year it will be held on July 11th and 12th. The website is accessible at Tewkesbury Medieval Festival

I have been several times and it is very stimulating and good fun. Tewkesbury itself is a delightful town with fine medieval and sixteenth century timber buildings, a good museum, and above all the Abbey. If you have not visited it I do urge you to do so.

Please join me in praying for the repose of those who were killed in the battle, executed afterwards, and all who participated.