There is a passage in Biondi’s work, upon the wars of the Houses of York and Lancaster, written in old Italian, which tends to confirm the idea that there was not, at the period of the battle, any bridge there, but that the river was usually forded; the passage, however, is not conclusive, because, whether there was a bridge or not, a vast number of the fugitives would naturally attempt to ford the little river. [112]
“Those who remained alive, took the road for the bridge of Tadcaster, but being unable to reach it, and believing a small river called Cock to be fordable, the greater part were drowned therein. It is constantly affirmed, that those who survived, passed over, by treading on the dead bodies of the sufferers; the water of this stream, and of the river Wharfe, into which it empties itself, were coloured in a manner to appear as pure blood.”
I have several times descended to and visited the river Cock, in two places—one after passing through the large meadow and valley before mentioned, and the other after descending from the village of Towton, by the old road already described; and whilst I drank of its pure and cool waters, at each place, I could not avoid reflecting upon the lamentable fact, that after the battle, this interesting stream flowed stained with human gore; and that both the Cock, and the large river the Wharfe, into which it flows, were discoloured with it, so as to appear like rivers of blood. Doubtless very much of that shocking discoloration was produced both by the wounded, in their endeavours to cross the Cock, and by the men slain in its bed or on its banks, in their flight; besides which, a portion of the field of battle near the public road dips towards the westward, and the melted snow mixed with blood would naturally drain through the large meadow and valley before mentioned, towards the Cock; and we learn from history, that the blood of the slain lay caked with the snow, which at that time covered the face of the ground, and afterwards dissolving with it, ran down in a most horrible manner the furrows and ditches of the fields, for two or three miles together. [113]
However well selected the position of the Lancastrians was for fighting a battle, it was a most dangerous one for defeated forces to retreat from, because the contiguity of the river Wharfe, which was only from two to three miles distant on the eastward and north-eastward, prevented their escape from the field in that direction, and the eminence or cliff prevented it on the westward; whilst towards the northward the declivities and river Cock in their rear, were almost certain to cause, to an undisciplined army, the disorganization and loss of life which ensued.
There is a point of some historical moment connected with the action at Dintingdale which is worth notice. Edward IV. was at Pontefract on the 27th of March, and prepared to pass the Aire at Ferrybridge, or both at that place and at Castleford. Lord Clifford, with a body of light cavalry under his command, [114a] left the main army of Lancastrians, either on the night of the 27th, or sufficiently early on the morning of the 28th, to surprise and defeat the body of Yorkists posted under the command of Lord Fitzwalter [114b] at Ferrybridge, at daybreak; and Lord Fitzwalter, unaware of the approach of the enemy, hearing a disturbance and uproar, went from his bed armed only with a poleaxe, and lost his life [115a] in the conflict. The Yorkists then passed the Aire at Castleford (only three miles distant) in great force, in hopes of cutting off the troops under Lord Clifford, who then retreated from Ferrybridge; and the Yorkists either intercepted or overtook him, slew him, and defeated and destroyed nearly all his forces, at Dintingdale. As Dintingdale is only one mile and a half from Towton, and little more than half a mile from Saxton, the Yorkists would never have hazarded an action with so large a body of cavalry as we must suppose that Lord Clifford had with him, in a place so close to the main army of the Lancastrians, unless the Yorkists were in great force there, or were within reach of certain support from their advancing main army. From those circumstances, and from the fact of the distance from Castleford to Saxton being but short, it appears very probable that by the middle or early in the afternoon of the 28th, the Yorkists had advanced to the village of Saxton, and perhaps to Dintingdale, and occupied the neighbourhood of those places in considerable force.
Dr. Whitaker states [115b] that Lord Clifford, according to the tradition of the family, was tumbled into a pit, with a promiscuous heap of dead bodies.
From the appearance of the road and the neighbouring country, it seems almost certain that, in 1461, the great north road from Ferrybridge to Tadcaster, turned off from the present Ferrybridge road, [116a] and passed through the village of Saxton, and then proceeded by the public road before mentioned through Towton; and if so, when the Yorkists advanced towards Towton, they would find the Lancastrian army lying like a lion in their path.
It is well known, that cannons and other firearms were used in the wars of York and Lancaster; and there is not any reason to doubt that they were used at the battle of Towton; yet it is remarkable that the fact is not noticed by any ancient writer. Guns of some kind or other, appear to have been used in the following instances in the field (exclusive of sieges) during those wars: viz., in 1455, at the first battle of St. Alban’s; [116b] in 1459, at the encampment of the Yorkists at Ludford in Herefordshire; [a/][116b] in 1460, at the battle of Northampton; [116c] in 1469, at the battle near Hornfield, Lincolnshire, often called the Battle of Lose Coat Field; [116d] in 1471, on the landing of Edward IV. at Ravenspur; [116e] in 1471, at the battle of Barnet; [116f] again in 1471, at the battle of Tewkesbury; [116g] in 1485, at the battle of Bosworth; [116h] and in 1487, at the battle of Stoke. [116i] It can scarcely excite surprise, at the chroniclers and annalists not having mentioned cannons, as having been used at the battle of Towton, when it is borne in mind, that they do not make the slightest mention of cavalry having been employed there; although it is certain, that in both armies there must have been large bodies of cavalry engaged at that battle.
The honour of bearing Edward IV.’s standard, of the Black Bull, at the battle of Towton, devolved upon Ralph Vestynden, afterwards one of the yeomen of the chamber, who had for his services, at the battle, an annuity of £10, granted to him “yerely unto the tyme he be rewarded by us of an office.” [117a] Besides having been borne upon Edward’s standard at that battle, “the Bull sable, corned and hoofed, or,” was also used on other occasions by Edward IV., and others of the House of York, in consequence of its having been a cognizance or device of the Clares (Earls of Gloucester), from whom the House of York was descended. [117b]
Henry VI., Queen Margaret, and Edward Prince of Wales, were at York during the battle of Towton; and on hearing of its disastrous result, they fled northward with the Duke of Exeter, the Duke of Somerset, Lord Roos, and Lord Hungerford, [118a] and at first repaired to Berwick, and from thence to Scotland, where Henry purchased the protection and assistance of the King of Scotland, by the surrender of Berwick. Edward IV. was received on the day after the battle into York, with processions and great solemnity, the mayor and commonalty having sued for grace, and having obtained it from the King, through the mediation [118b] of Lord Montague [118c] and Lord Berners. [118d]