[111a] Walter Blount, Lord Montjoy, who was of the family of Sir Walter Blount, slain at the battle of Shrewsbury, died in 1474, leaving Edward Blount, his grandson (the son of William, his son, who died in his father’s lifetime), his next heir.
[111b] Rot. Parl. 38 Henry VI. (1459), vol. v. fo. 349. See Chap. II. and Chap. III.
[111c] Rot. Parl. 39 Henry VI. (1460), vol. v. fo. 374.
[111d] Leland mentions the titles and rank conferred by Edw. IV. upon his friends and adherents, as follows:—
Thomas Blunte made Lord Montejoy
William Hastinges made Lorde Hastinges.“‘Edward at his coronation creatid his brother George Duke of Clarence; and Richard the younger, Duke of Gloucester; the Lord Montacute, the Erle of Warwike’s brother, the Erle of Northumbreland; William Stafford Esquier, Lord Staford of Southwike; Syr [William] Herbart, Lord Herbart; and after Erle of Pembroke; and the saide Lord Staford Erle of Devonshire; the Lord Gray of Ruthine, Erle of Kent; the Lord Bourchier Erle of Essex; the Lord John of Bokingham, [a/][323] Erle of Wyltshire; Syr Thomas Blunt Knight, the Lord Montjoye; Syr John Haward, Lord Haward; William Hastinges, Lord Hastinges and Greate Chambrelayn; and the Lorde Ryvers; Denham Esquyer, Lord Deneham; and worthy as is afore shewid.’—Lel. Collect., vol. ii. p. 715, 716 [449].”
“It is of course admitted, that Edward at his coronation ennobled his brothers the Duke of Clarence and Duke of Gloucester; but Leland appears to have expressed himself either not clearly, or not with his usual accuracy, with respect to the dates of the conferring of the titles upon several of the other personages, before mentioned, as may be easily ascertained by a reference to the works of Ralph Brooke, or Dugdale; from which it plainly appears, that although Edward did not forget eventually to reward many of his supporters and adherents with rank and titles, yet in some instances several years elapsed, after his coronation, before they were ennobled, or, as the case might be, were advanced in the peerage.”
[112] “Quei che restarono vivi presero la strada del ponte di Tadcaster, ma, non potendo arrivarvi, e credendo guadabile un picciolo rio detto Cocke vi s’annegarono la maggior parte: affermatosi costantemente essersi passato sopra il dosso de’ corpi morti, l’acque del detto rio, e del fiume Vuarf in cui eglisgorga, tinte in maniera, che parvero di puro sangue.”—G. F. Biondi, fo. 249.
[113] Hist. Croyl. Continuatio, fo. 533.
[114a] His design was to have dislodged the body of Yorkists under Lord Fitzwalter’s command, posted at Ferrybridge, and to have prevented their army from passing the Aire there. It is remarkable that we do not read of any other forces having been sent to his support, from the main army of the Lancastrians.
[114b] In a note to Rapin’s History of England, translated by Tindal, it is stated, with reference to the engagement at Ferrybridge, “there was at this time no Lord Fitzwalter, for Walter Lord Fitzwalter died in 1432, and Sir John Ratcliffe, son of Ann, daughter of the said Lord Fitzwalter, had not summons to Parliament till the first of Henry VII. This Sir John, or his son, is probably the same whom Rapin, and other of our historians, call by anticipation Lord Fitzwalter. See Dugdale’s Baronage, vol. i. p. 223, and vol. ii. p. 285.” But although it may readily be admitted, that it does not appear from our Baronages, that there was a Lord Fitzwalter in 1461, their silence seems scarcely sufficient to outweigh the clear and unqualified statements, of several of our old annalists and chroniclers, that a Lord Fitzwalter held a command of importance in the Yorkist army, and was slain in the action at Ferrybridge. Stow not only mentions that circumstance, but also states that Lord Fitzwalter was one of the noblemen who, on the 12th of March (before the battle of Towton), left London with Edward, and accompanied him on his march northward. Besides which, in Leland’s Itinerary, vol. i. fo. 105 [99] (see also Camden’s Magna Britannia, vol. iii. p. 49), in noticing Ferrybridge, it is stated, “wher the first Lord Fitzgualter of the Radecliffes was killid, flying from Cok beck Felde;” and, although the last part of the passage is not quite accurate, still the statement is of some value; and in Fenn’s Collection of Original Letters, which are considered authentic records of the respective dates, at which they purport to have been written, Lord Fitzwalter is mentioned, in a letter from Clement Paston to John Paston, of the 23rd of January, 1460 (but, according to our present mode of reckoning, 1461), as having ridden northwards, and is said to have taken two hundred of Sir Andrew Trollop’s men; and the existence of a Lord Fitzwalter seems still more confirmed by another of those letters, which was written by William Paston and Thomas Playter, to John Paston, dated the 4th of April, 1461, giving the contents of a letter of credence from King Edward IV. to the Duchess of York, respecting the battle of Towton, which distinctly mentions that Lord Fitzwalter was slain, and that he had been engaged on Edward’s part. (See Fenn’s Collection of Original Letters, vol. i. pp. 205, 219.) As so many old writers have mentioned the existence of a Lord Fitzwalter at that period, it seems improbable that all of them could have been in error.
[115a] The Bastard of Salisbury, who also held a principal command in the Yorkist forces, was also slain there. Some historians tell us that the Earl of Warwick stabbed his horse on hearing of the disaster at Ferrybridge. It is an improbable tale. We may perhaps safely admit, that he, as a warrior, knew the value of a good horse too well to destroy it wantonly and uselessly.