The Battle of Northampton 1460 - did King Henry command?

The Lancastrian forces at Northampton were nominally under the command of King Henry VI. Henry had been born the son of King Henry V in 1421, which made him 39 at the time of the battle. He was only nine months old when he inherited the crown of England from his father. He grew up to be a kindly and devout man, but his childish nature and simple mind made him a weak king. Henry slipped into periodic bouts of insanity which made his grip on government even less secure.
Henry was no more fit to lead an army than to rule a kingdom, so real command fell to Humphrey Stafford Duke of Buckingham, the most experienced diplomat and commander at the battle. Born in 1402, Buckingham was 58 when he drew up his men outside Northampton. Through his mother, Buckingham was a great grandson of King Edward III, yet another royal relative active in the Wars of the Roses. His father had died when he was barely a year old, leaving him the title of Earl of Stafford and a handsome income of £1260 a year, not bad when the average worker would get a penny a day. He was knighted in 1421 and became a Privy Councillor to the infant Henry VI in 1424. In 1430 he went to Normandy to take part in the fighting against the French and although he did not have an independent command, he did gain valuable experience of the business of war.

from "The Battle of Northampton" by Rupert Matthews.

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A book dedicated to the Battle of Northampton, fought as part of the Wars of the Roses in 1460. In 1460 the Yorkist faction in the Wars of the Roses seemed doomed. The Duke of York was dead, his sons in exile, his friends in hiding and his army scattered. Then Edward, the dashing new Duke of York, returned to England from Ireland and summoned his supporters to join him. Among those heading to support Edward was the Earl of Warwick, but at Northampton Warwick encountered a powerful Lancastrian army under the Duke of Buckingham. The four hours of savage fighting that followed changed the situation entirely and gave the Yorkists the upper hand. This book follows the standard pattern set by others in the Bretwalda Battles series. The reasons for and course of the war in question are outlined, then detailed analyses of weapons, tactics and strategies are given with particular reference to this battle. The course of the battleis then followed, with comment on what there is to see at the site today. Short biographies of the commanders are also given. The aftermath of the battle, its effects and importance to the progress of the war are then described. The "Bretwalda Battles" series has been running with increasing success as ebooks for some time. Now the first books in the series are being published in print format.