Product Description

The Lancastrian army was conducting a triumphant march on the capital, having defeated Warwick at the Second Battle of St. Albans, when on 4 March, Edward of York was proclaimed king in London. The Lancastrians withdrew northwards and Edward followed in pursuit. The two armies met at the village of Towton on 29 March 1461. This long and bitter battle began early as the two armies advanced towards each other, raging all day with the Lancastrians seeming to have the better of it, until the Duke of Norfolk arrived with several thousand Yorkist reinforcements., resulting in what is known as 'Bloody Meadow'. This book reveals how Towton marked the resurgence of the Yorkist cause and established Edward IV as king.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95939 in Books
• Published on: 2003-04-16
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
Christopher Gravett is Senior Curator of armour at the Tower Armouries, and a recognised authority on the arms, armour and warfare of the medieval world. His previous Osprey titles include Landmarks: The Norman Conquest, Warrior 1: 'Norman Knight 950-1204 AD' and Campaign 66: 'Bosworth 1485'. Graham Turner was born in Harrow in 1964, the son of the respected aviation artist Michael Turner. Graham has been a freelance artist since 1984, specialising in historical and military subjects, particularly of the medieval period, and has illustrated numerous Osprey titles.

Customer Reviews

Bloody Meadow
I live not much more than a stone throw away from the battlefield of Towton and I don't know whether it is this fact or something else that has meant that I have always been fascinated by this battle above all others in the campaign called the War of the Roses. The area of the battlefield is relatively large and in the present day there is a cross at the side of the road that runs across the battlefield.

The Battle of Towton has been given the title of the Bloodiest Battle ever fought on English soil and there is no reason to doubt this. It was fought in atrocious conditions, in fact in the middle of a snow storm on palm Sunday and when the Yorkists finally routed the Ancestries a wave of slaughter spread over many miles. The beaten Lancastrians were followed back towards Tadcaster and York and many of them died in the `Cock beck' that bordered the battlefield.

The book is full of all the information necessesary to be able to get a vivid picture of what the battlefield was like at the time and to show how the opposing armies lined up their troops. It gives a detailed account of the battle, a battle that the Lancastrians appeared to winning until the Yorkists were re-inforced by more troops arriving and then the brutal and bloody rout that followed as the Lancastrians were chased from the field. The fighting was brutal and after the archers had done their bit, mainly hand to hand. There have been many skeletons unearthed from the many mass graves that littered the battlefield and some of the skulls have a square hole in them, a shape that suggests they had been pole axed. For anyone interested in battles in general and the battle of Towton in particular, it is a must read.

flawed research
It would be good to praise this book, as the battle of Towton is still one of the bloodiest fought on English soil during the troubled years of the Wars of the Roses, but I went to the book researching the life of Antony Woodville, wnd Earl Rivers, and found errors.
Rivers is mentioned 3 times in the book, all 3 are wrong. All 3 should refer to his father, Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers.
These are basic errors and very disappointing in what could have been an excellent book on the battle.
Unfortunately, Osprey are not alone in perpetuating errors on the life of Antony Woodville, 2nd Earl Rivers. You will find them in most books of the period...