page_title: Battle of Ludford Bridge
section_title: Battle
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Ludford Bridge / Battle
caption_attribution_description: English: Ludford Bridge Looking across Ludford Bridge with Broad Street beyond, and the tower of St Laurence's Church in the background. Viewed in evening light with snow from a fall two days earlier highlighting the parapets of the bridge. The bridge is grade I listed - for listing particulars see http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=389679&amp;resourceID=5.
context_page_description: The Battle of Ludford Bridge was a largely bloodless confrontation fought in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. It took place on 12 October 1459, and resulted in a setback for the Yorkists. Although this seemed to be a triumph for the rival Lancastrians at the time, they had thrown away their advantage within six months.
context_section_description: Even after this defeat, the forces available to Henry and Margaret outnumbered the Yorkist combined armies by two to one. The Yorkist army tried to move towards London, but found their path blocked by the Lancastrian army with King Henry himself nominally at its head, and fell back to Worcester. Here, the Duke of York attended mass in the cathedral before sending written protestations of his loyalty to Henry. These were ignored.
  The Yorkists retreated towards Ludlow, before making a stand at a fortified position near Ludford, Shropshire on 12 October. Their troops excavated a defensive ditch in a field on the opposite side of the River Teme from Ludlow, near the bridge which gave the battle its name. They also constructed barricades of carts in which cannon were emplaced. However, morale was low, not least because the royal standard could be seen flying in the Lancastrian army, and it was known that King Henry himself was present, in full armour. For much of his reign, Henry had been regarded as an ineffectual ruler, and he had even lapsed into madness for periods of several months at a time. Richard of York and his supporters had maintained that they were opposed only to Henry's "evil counsellors". Now they realised that their army would probably refuse to fight against an army which included Henry himself. Henry and the Duke of Buckingham, in command of the royal army, proclaimed the offer of a pardon to any who would change sides.
  Among the troops brought by Warwick from Calais were 600 men led by Andrew Trollope, an experienced soldier. During the night, Trollope and his men and others from the Yorkist forces defected to the Lancastrians. Faced with certain defeat, York, Salisbury, and Warwick announced that they were returning to Ludlow for the night. They then abandoned their armies and fled into Wales.
  At dawn on 13 October, the leaderless Yorkist troops knelt in submission before Henry, and were pardoned. York had abandoned not only his troops but also his wife Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, his two younger sons George and Richard and his youngest daughter Margaret. By popular account, they were found standing at the Ludlow Market Cross when the Lancastrians arrived. They were placed in the care of the Duchess's sister Anne, wife of the Duke of Buckingham. The Lancastrian troops proceeded to plunder Ludlow, becoming drunk on looted wine and committing many outrages.
caption: Ludford Bridge with Lower Broad Street leading to Ludlow's Broad Gate.
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