page_title: Battle of Burton Bridge (1322)
section_title: Aftermath
hierarchical_section_title: Battle of Burton Bridge (1322) / Aftermath
caption_attribution_description: English: 15th-century manuscript illustration of Isabella of France with Roger Mortimer. The original manuscript is now in the collections of the British Library. Español: Manuscrito del siglo XIV que ilustra a Isabel de Francia junto a Roger Mortimer
context_page_description: The 1322 Battle of Burton Bridge was fought between Thomas, 2nd Earl of Lancaster and his cousin Edward II of England during the Despenser War. Edward's army was proceeding northwards to engage Lancaster, having defeated his Marcher Lord allies in Wales. Lancaster fortified the bridge at Burton upon Trent, an important crossing of the River Trent, in an attempt to prevent the King from proceeding. Edward arrived at nearby Cauldwell on 7 March 1322 and intended to use the ford at Walton-on-Trent to cross the river and outflank Lancaster. Edward was delayed for three days by floodwaters, during which time some of his force was deployed opposite Lancaster's men at the bridge.
  On 10 March 1322 Edward's main force crossed the river at Walton and proceeded to the south side of Burton. Lancaster moved his men outside the town, intending to face the King in open battle, but withdrew northwards when he saw that he was heavily outnumbered. Lancaster was pursued closely by the King's men and eventually captured at the Battle of Boroughbridge; he was later executed on the King's orders.
context_section_description: The King's troops, led by John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey and Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, chased Lancaster to Tutbury and Kenilworth, capturing both towns and devastating the counties of Staffordshire and Derbyshire.  Holland, seeing the outcome of the battle and knowing that the King had recently imprisoned his daughter at the Tower of London, openly acted against Lancaster. Holland's men attacked and robbed various supporters of Lancaster at Windley including Hugh de Audley and Lancaster's wife Alice de Lacy to the value of £1,000.  He also ordered the men raised in Cheshire to march towards Burton and prevent the escape of Lancaster's troops to the River Mersey.  Holland turned his troops over to the King at Derby on 13 March but was coldly received, his past alliance with Lancaster condemning him to imprisonment at Dover Castle and the loss of his estates.  He was beheaded by an unknown gang in 1328 and his head was given to Thomas Lancaster's brother Henry, 3rd Earl of Lancaster.
  Lancaster was able to flee Tutbury Castle under cover of darkness and, with much of his army, evaded Edward's patrols to cross the flooded River Dove and make his way northwards.   Upon taking Tutbury, Edward ordered D'Amory's corpse to be posthumously executed for treason.  Lancaster fled north where Sir Andrew Harclay, having heard of the King's victory at Burton, moved to engage him at the Battle of Boroughbridge.  Lancaster was defeated and captured by Harclay and later executed at Pontefract.  Edward ordered a chapel constructed on the Burton bridge in commemoration of his victory there.
  Lancaster had finally been dealt with, but Edward continued to upset his barons, reneging upon his previously agreed limitations to royal power, continuing to promote Despenser and losing key battles against the Scots.  With Edward's reign becoming more unpopular, Lancaster's grave became a site of pilgrimage for those who opposed him. Edward's own queen, Isabella of France, sided with her lover, the Marcher Lord Roger Mortimer, and in 1327 forced Edward to abdicate in favour of his son who became Edward III.
  In the aftermath of the battle, the Audley family claimed to have lost £300 of goods: seven cartloads of gold cloth, silver vessels and chapel ornaments from Heleigh Castle.  These had been ordered to be removed to Tutbury Priory by Peter de Lymesey, but according to the prior they never arrived and were taken to Tutbury Castle and subsequently lost in the retreat of the Lancastrians from Burton.  Burton Abbey also suffered damage at the hands of the Lancastrian forces.
  The Abbot of Burton was charged with concealing goods from the king after it was claimed he had taken the Earl of Lancaster's money and goods left behind after the battle, to the value of £200.  The abbot claimed that all he had found was a single silver cup which he subsequently gave to the king.  The finding in 1831 of a large quantity of silver coins, suspected to be part of Lancaster's treasure, in the River Dove, near Tutbury may support the abbot's case.  In either case, the next year Edward felt able to award Burton Abbey the advowsons of Tatenhill and Hanbury, which had previously belonged to Lancaster, in "perpetual memory of the glorious victory which God gave to the King over his enemies and the rebels near Burton-on-Trent, and also to relieve the condition of the Abbey".
  The battle gave rise to a tradition at nearby Chartley Park, a holding of John de Ferrers, 2nd Baron Ferrers of Chartley.  The baron maintained a herd of white cattle with black ears, descended from wild specimens found when the park was formed from part of the ancient Needwood Forest. In 1322 an unusual black calf was born in the herd that was said to have foretold the Battle of Burton Bridge and the subsequent downfall of the de Ferrers house (who were supporters of Lancaster).  Subsequently it was said that the birth of a dark-hued or part-coloured calf in the herd would foretell a death in the de Ferrers family within the year.  Such omens were said to have preceded the deaths of, amo
caption: Isabella and Mortimer at the head of their army
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "599", "Image YResolution": "599", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Elements 9.0 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2011:06:26 16:39:58", "Image Copyright": "\u00a9The British Library Board", "Image ExifOffset": "212", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "350", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9072", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "791", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "920"}