The Battle of Wakefield - Philip A. Haigh

On December 30th, 1460, the fourth battle of the Wars of the Roses was fought and won at Wakefield in Yorkshire by a Lancastrian force under the command of Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. The most far-reaching consequence of this battle was the death on the field of Richard, Duke of York, whose untimely demise led to the change in the conduct and direction of the Wars.;The Lancastrians may have been the victors of the Battle of Wakefield, but that triumph on that December day ultimately proved a hollow one, for three months later they were virtually annihilated by the Yorkists at the Battle of Towton.;This work draws not only on contemporary, near-contemporary and modern-day accounts of the battle, but also describes the events leading up to the battle, and its aftermath. The author describes in detail the troop movements and offers some explanations as to why the Duke of York left the safety of Sandal Castle and engaged an enemy force which outnumbered his four to one.