First Battle of St Albans
First Battle of St. Albans
May 22nd, 1455 A.D.
In the opening battle of the Wars of the Roses, Richard, Duke of York, and his allies the Yorkists attacked King Henry VI's smaller army at the fortified town of St Albans. After fierce street fighting to no avail, the Earl of Warwick took the Yorkist reserve force and found a back-way through the gardens to the town's market place. His unexpected charge broke the shocked Lancastrian army in two and won the day. As the rout started King Henry was taken into the Yorkist lord's custody, to become their puppet.
In the early spring of 1455 the Earl of Warwick received word of a secret conference at Westminster, to which only Somerset's adherents had been invited. This was followed by another report that said a council of peers was to meet at Leicester in late May with the intention of discussing the King's safety. As neither Warwick, nor his father Salisbury, nor the Duke of York had been invited it was quite apparent that the meeting would in fact be, in Somerset's opinion, to falsely condemning the three Yorkist leaders as a direct threat to the King.
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Article added: 2006-03-03 @ 9:44 am | Last Modified: 2006-03-25 @ 1:20 pm
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