John Clifford , 9th Baron de Clifford John Clifford , 9th Baron de Clifford , also 9th Lord of Skipton ( 8 April 1435 – 28 March 1461 ) , was a Lancastrian military leader during the Wars of the Roses . For a time he was one of the strongest supporters of King Henry VI ' s Queen , Margaret of Anjou . Family . John Clifford was born at Conisborough Castle on 8 April 1435 , the son of Thomas Clifford , 8th Baron Clifford , and Joan Dacre , the daughter of Thomas , 6th Baron Dacre of Gilsland , by Philippa , daughter of Ralph Neville , 1st Earl of Westmorland . He had three younger brothers and five sisters : Clifford was a beneficiary under the will , dated 15 August 1446 , of his godmother and great - aunt , Maud Clifford , the widow of Richard of Conisburgh , 3rd Earl of Cambridge , executed on 5 August 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot . Career . Clifford inherited the barony , the family seat at Skipton Castle , Yorkshire , and the hereditary office of High Sheriff of Westmorland at the age of twenty after his father ' s death at the First Battle of St Albans on 22 May 1455 . Clifford proved his age in order to obtain livery of his lands on 16 June 1456 , and in February 1458 ' with a grete power ' demanded compensation for his father ' s death . He was summoned to Parliament on 30 July 1460 . Perhaps motivated by a desire to avenge his father , Clifford was in the forefront of the Lancastrian cause . He led the Lancastrian right wing at the Battle of Wakefield on 30 December 1460 , and was knighted on 31 December . The battle was a surprise attack on the Yorkist stronghold of Sandal Castle , and was a complete Lancastrian victory . The Yorkists were routed , and their leader , Richard Plantagenet , 3rd Duke of York , slain . York ' s son , Edmund , Earl of Rutland , and York ' s brother - in - law , Richard Neville , 5th Earl of Salisbury , were captured and killed . Clifford ' s name is notorious for the slaying of Rutland following the battle , an act contemporary chroniclers attribute to Clifford personally . Captured sons of noblemen were usually ransomed at the time . Rutland was only 17 , was the second son rather than his father ' s heir , was militarily inexperienced , and was wounded and defenceless when he was killed . His death was thus viewed as murder by the Yorkists , and looked upon with disfavour by his fellow Lancastrian leaders , although Clifford defended the killing as a just execution no different from the beheading of Rutland ' s uncle , Richard Neville , 5th Earl of Salisbury , following the battle . The slaying of Rutland infuriated his elder brother , the future King Edward IV , who was in Wales at the time of the battle , and vowed vengeance . It may have been Edward IV who gave Clifford his nickname , ' the Butcher ' . Clifford was killed at Ferrybridge on 28 March 1461 , struck by an arrow in the throat after having carelessly removed his gorget . He is said to have been buried in a pit , along with others slain there . On 4 November 1461 he was attainted , meaning that his title and estates were forfeited . When Edward IV became King the widowed Lady Clifford , fearing her son , Henry Clifford , 10th Baron Clifford , would be slain in retaliation , is said to have sent him into hiding . The Lancastrian victory at Bosworth on 22 August 1485 ended the Wars of the Roses , and on 9 November 1485 the attainder was reversed , and the family estates restored . Marriage and issue . Clifford married Margaret Bromflete ( 1443 – 12 April 1493 ) , the daughter and heiress of Henry Bromflete , Lord Vescy by his second wife , Eleanor Fitz Hugh , by whom he had two sons and a daughter : Clifford ' s widow , Margaret , married , before 14 May 1467 , Sir Lancelot Threlkeld , by whom she had three sons and four daughters . Shakespeare and John Clifford . According to Shakespeare ' s " Henry VI , Part 3 " , following Hall ' s Chronicle and Holinshed ' s Chronicles , John Clifford , after the Battle of Wakefield , slew in cold blood the young Edmund , Earl of Rutland , son of Richard , 3rd Duke of York , cutting off his head , crowning it with a paper crown , and sending it to Henry VI ' s Queen , Margaret of Anjou , although later authorities state that Rutland was slain during the battle . Further reading . Clifford is depicted in Sharon Kay Penman ' s historical novel , " The Sunne in Splendour " .