[99c] Sir Andrew Trollop, as he is called by several writers, but called Andrew Trollop, only, by others, was a military commander of considerable repute, and had served in France. He had originally joined the Duke of York, but seceded with some forces to Henry VI., from the encampment of the Yorkists, at Ludford, near Ludlow, in 1459. The act of attainder of 1st Edward IV., does not notice his having been engaged at the battle of Towton, but includes in the list of Lancastrians, who had taken a part at the battle of Wakefield, “Andrew Trollop late of Guysnes Squier,” whom we may fairly conclude, was the same person, and who, in the interval between the two battles, may possibly have received the honour of knighthood.
[100a] Sir John Wenlock was originally a supporter of the Lancastrian party, fought, and was severely wounded, at the first battle of St. Alban’s, on the 22nd of May (called by some historical writers, the 23rd of May), 1455. He was appointed to several offices of distinction, and was made a Knight of the Garter by Henry VI.; but afterwards, going over to the Yorkists, he was in arms for that party at the encampment at Ludford, near Ludlow, in 1459, for which, he was attainted by the Parliament held at Coventry, in the thirty-eighth year of Henry VI. However, he lost little by that; for having accompanied Edward IV., and distinguished himself at the battle of Towton, in 1461, he obtained the office of Chief Butler of England, and the stewardship of the castle and lordship of Berkhampsted, in Hertfordshire; he was created Baron Wenlock, in the first year of Edward IV., and also made one of the Privy Council. He afterwards again changed sides, and appeared in arms for Henry VI., at the battle of Tewkesbury, on the 4th of May, 1471; when, in consequence of his not having with his troops supported the Duke of Somerset, the duke, with his axe, beat out Lord Wenlock’s brains. He seems not to have left any issue. He had considerable possessions in the neighbourhood of Luton, in Bedfordshire; and the Wenlock Chapel in Luton Church, which is a very beautiful structure and well worth visiting, is said to have been erected by him.
[100b] Sir John Dinham or Denham, was a distinguished military commander, and a decided partisan of the Yorkists; and in the thirty-eighth year of Henry VI., being at Calais, he proceeded suddenly, by the direction of the Earl of Warwick, to Sandwich, and there surprised Lord Rivers, and his son Lord Scales, of the opposite party, and took several King’s ships lying in the harbour, and brought them to Calais. After Edward IV. had obtained the crown, Sir John Denham was so much esteemed by him, that in the sixth year of that King’s reign, he was summoned to Parliament as Baron Denham; he had several grants of valuable offices, and also of considerable possessions, then in the crown, by reason of the death of Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devonshire, without issue, and of the forfeiture of Thomas Courtenay, late Earl of Devonshire. After having been made a Knight of the Garter, he died in the seventeenth year of Henry VII. He is called “John Lord Dynham” in Rot. Parl. 12 and 13 Edward IV. vol. vi. fo. 16.
[100c] “Towton Village is a mile from Saxton, wher is a great Chapell begon by Richard III. but not finishid. Syr John Multon’s lather layid the first stone of it. In this Chappelle were buried also many of the men slayn at Palme Sunday Feeld.”—Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 47 [44].
[101a] Communicated by John Kendall, Esq., of Towton Hall.
[101b] There is a statement in Thomas Sprott’s Fragment, printed by Hearne, that the battle commenced at four o’clock in the afternoon, continued all night, and terminated on the following afternoon, which is quoted in Turner’s History of England, vol. iii. p. 229; but that statement, which seems to be only the tale of an anonymous writer, is not entitled to any weight, when put into the scale, against the accounts given by the old historians, respecting the commencement and termination of the battle. Mr. Turner has even improved upon the statement, and says that the armies fought by the light of fire and torches. Armies in those days did not usually fight by torch or fire light. When did any old historical writer mention such an event occurring in any of the wars of the English, of that century? The statement seems to be completely erroneous; and the mistake has perhaps arisen from confounding the engagement which took place at Dintingdale, on the 28th of March (and possibly at four o’clock in the afternoon), with the great battle on the 29th of March. It is, however, not unlikely, that each army endeavoured to harass the other, by frequent discharges of cannon, during the night before the battle. As some proof of the probability of such an occurrence, we are expressly told in Holinshed’s Chronicles, p. 684, that during the night before the battle of Barnet, the Lancastrians continually discharged cannons at the camp of Edward IV., and by Leland (see 1 Lel. Coll. fo. 504), that they fired guns at each other all the night.
[103a] Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter. See Chap. IV.
[103b] Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. See Chaps. III. and IV.
[103c] Thomas Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. See Chap. IV.
[103d] Sir John Heron of the Ford, was of an ancient and influential Border family; and for many generations the members of the family enjoyed considerable landed possessions in Northumberland, and often signalised their valour in the wars of the Borders. He fought on the Lancastrian side at the battles of Wakefield [see Chap. IV. p. [60]] and Towton, and was attainted by the act of 1st Edward IV.; but his son, Roger Heron, obtained a reversal of the attainder by an act of Parliament of 12th and 13th Edward IV., Rot. Parl. 1472–3, vol. vi. fo. 47.