page_title: John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk
section_title: Wars of the Roses
hierarchical_section_title: John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk / Later career and political crisis / Wars of the Roses
caption_attribution_description: Der White Tower des Tower von London, 1078 von Wilhelm dem Eroberer errichtet.
context_page_description: John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, KG, Earl Marshal was a fifteenth-century English magnate who, despite having a relatively short political career, played a significant role in the early years of the Wars of the Roses. Mowbray was born in 1415, the only son and heir of John de Mowbray, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, and Katherine Neville. He inherited his titles upon his father's death in 1432. As a minor he became a ward of King Henry VI and was placed under the protection of Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, alongside whom Mowbray would later campaign in France. He seems to have had an unruly and rebellious youth. Although the details of his misconducts are unknown, they were severe enough for the King to place strictures upon him and separate him from his followers. Mowbray's early career was spent in the military, where he held the wartime office of Earl Marshal. Later he led the defence of England's possessions in Normandy during the Hundred Years' War. He fought in Calais in 1436, and during 1437–38 served as warden of the east march on the Anglo-Scottish border, before returning to Calais.
context_section_description: Following the collapse of the 1454–55 protectorate, the Yorkist lords retreated to their estates, and Mowbray distanced himself from factional politics. An uneasy peace existed between the court and the Yorkists until April 1455, when the King summoned a Great Council to meet at Leicester the following month. The Duke of York feared that the purpose of this council was to destroy him; several chroniclers of the day suggest that Somerset was poisoning the King's mind against York. The duke and his Neville allies proceeded to raise an army from their northern estates. The King and a small force left London on 20 May; the Yorkists approached from the north with a speed calculated to surprise. In a pre-emptive strike, York and his allies intercepted the King at the first Battle of St Albans. Mowbray managed to avoid involvement in the fighting, even though, as Earl Marshal, his heralds were used during negotiations between the two camps. It is uncertain at what point Mowbray joined the battle, or if he even reached the King in time to take part. The fighting lasted only a short time, and though there were very few fatalities among the soldiery, the Earl of Northumberland, the Duke of Somerset and Lord Clifford were killed. They were not the only three of the King's most loyal supporters, but Percy and Somerset at least were bitter enemies of the Nevilles and York.
  After the battle, Mowbray threatened to hang the Royal Standard bearer, Sir Philip Wentworth, on hearing that Wentworth "cast it down and fled" the battlefield. Whatever part, if any, Mowbray played in the fighting, by now contemporaries viewed him as being sympathetic to York. It is likely that Mowbray was deliberately vacillating. He did not attend York's victory parliament in 1455, and might have gone on pilgrimage: he is known to have walked to Walsingham in 1456, and over the next two years may have travelled to Amiens, Rome or even Jerusalem.
  After four years'  peace, civil war resumed in September 1459 when the Yorkist Earl of Salisbury fought off a royal ambush at the Battle of Blore Heath. Salisbury won that battle but was defeated soon after with the Duke of York at the Battle of Ludford. The Yorkists escaped into exile. Mowbray had taken neither side, but with the Yorkists exiled, when a parliament was called at Coventry, Mowbray attended. Here the Yorkists were attainted,  and on 11 December 1459 Mowbray took an oath of loyalty to keep Henry VI on the throne. He received several royal commissions in the final months of Lancastrian rule.
  The Nevilles and Earl of March spent their exile in Calais, while York and his other son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, retired to Dublin. The Nevilles returned to England in June 1460. They were admitted into London, where they could plan an assault on the King's army, then based in Northampton. On 10 July the Yorkist army under Warwick and March defeated the royalist army at the Battle of Northampton, and once again the King was captured. Colin Richmond describes Mowbray as "more likely to have observed from a safe distance than participated" in it.
  York returned from exile in October 1460, and much to the frustration of his allies, made claim to the throne. Mowbray's reaction is uncertain as the chroniclers omit mention of him, but some historians note how Mowbray sided with them during the Yorkists' return from exile. The exact cause of his change of loyalty is unknown. Colin Richmond argues that the Lancastrian defeat at Northampton in June 1460 was fundamental, and Mowbray lost friends and colleagues. It is possible that King Henry's capture there encouraged him to desert the King. Christine Carpenter puts it down almost solely to Mowbray's failure to improve his position in Norfolk under Henry, while Castor points to the October 1460 Yorkist parliament being the turning point for Mowbray: possibly he believed that the attempted settlement contained in the Act of Accord was the best possible outcome.
  The King and Queen still had the support of much of the nobility and withdrew to the north to commence a campaign of rava
caption: The Tower of London; both Mowbray and his arch-enemy Suffolk were imprisoned here at different stages of their careers.
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