page_title: Battle of Edgecote Moor
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Edgecote Moor / Background
caption_attribution_description: Relief map of England, UK. Equirectangular map projection on WGS 84 datum, with N/S stretched 170% Geographic limits: West: 6.75W East: 2.0E North: 56.0N South: 49.75N
context_page_description: The Battle of Edgecote Moor took place on 26 July 1469, during the Wars of the Roses. It was fought between a Royal army, commanded by the earls of Pembroke and Devon, and a rebel force led by supporters of the Earl of Warwick.
  The battle took place 6 miles northeast of Banbury in Northamptonshire; while it resulted in a rebel victory, it had little impact on the overall political situation. By September, Edward was back in control.
  Edgecote is one of the least well-documented battles of the period; accounts diverge in terms of numbers, leaders, casualties, and the course of the fighting. The heavy casualties suffered by Pembroke's Welsh forces made it a popular topic for Welsh poets.
context_section_description: Close allies in deposing Henry VI in 1461, by 1469 Warwick and Edward IV had fallen out. After marrying Elizabeth Woodville in 1464, Edward increasingly relied on her family, who competed with the Nevilles for lands and positions. Concerned by his close connection with Warwick, Edward blocked a proposed marriage between Clarence, his younger brother and heir, and Warwick's eldest daughter Isabel. For various reasons, Clarence greatly resented this.
  In April 1469, a revolt broke out in Yorkshire, under a leader called Robin of Redesdale. His true identity is unknown, but is thought to have been either Sir John Conyers, steward of Warwick's Middleham Castle, his brother Sir William Conyers of Marske (d. 1469), or both. In May, a second rebellion began, led by a figure known as Robin of Holderness, demanding the restoration of Henry Percy, traditional Earl of Northumberland.
  John Neville, the current Earl, quickly suppressed this and executed its leader, although he made little attempt to intercept Robin of Redesdale. Confident the rebellion was well in hand and accompanied only by his personal household troops, Edward moved slowly north through Lincolnshire, reaching Crowland in early July. On 9 July, he discovered the rebel army was considerably larger than previously advised, followed by even more disturbing news from London.
  Warwick and Clarence spent the summer assembling troops, allegedly to help suppress the revolt; in early July, they traveled to Calais, where Clarence married Isabel in a ceremony conducted by Warwick's brother George, Archbishop of York. The three men then issued a 'remonstrance', listing alleged abuses by the Woodvilles, William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke and Humphrey Stafford, Earl of Devon among others. They entered London on 12 July, and on 18th, marched north with to link up with the Yorkshire rebels. 
  Edward withdrew to Nottingham and sent urgent instructions to Pembroke in Raglan Castle and Devon in Dorchester, ordering them to meet him there with as many men as they could muster. The northern rebels headed for Northampton, intending to link up with Warwick and Clarence and late in the afternoon of 24 July, fought a brief skirmish north of Banbury with the Royal army. Pembroke and Devon withdrew to Banbury, where Sir Henry Neville, captured in the skirmish, was executed that same evening; however, after a quarrel over accommodation, Devon took his troops to Deddington Castle, ten miles away.
caption: Key locations, Edgecote campaign July 1469
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