A handgunner at Losecoat Field
It was probably just north of Tickencote Laund
that Edward arrayed his army for battle. This was just over half a mile south
of Welles’s position and on a fairly large area of flat land halfway up the
long slope that led from Great Casterton to the ridge where Welles was. He
would have been out of bowshot range, but within sight. And he wanted Sir
Robert Welles to see what was going to happen next.
At the time nobody recorded how big Edward’s
army was on the day of the Battle of Losecoat Field. It is known that Edward
had fewer men than did Sir Robert Welles, but since we cannot be certain how
many men Welles had that does not help much.
We know that a large part of his cavalry were
off looking for the rebels near Melton Mowbray, but even so Edward had
considerably more horsemen than did the rebels. Most of these men will have
been hobilars, but there would probably have been a small number of more heavily
armoured men.
Edward’s infantry at this battle would have
comprised his own personal retainers, plus those of Arundel, Hastings and the
other noblemen present. These retainers were professional soldiers and while we
don’t know how many of them were present they would have been considered the
heart of the royal army. Edward also had a fair number of militia men with him.
He had called out several county militia and ordered them to meet him on the
road north from London. Ordinarily these commissions of array would have raised
as many as 15,000 men, but given the speed with which Edward was marching it is
unlikely that more than a fraction of this number appeared in time. Certainly
some units were still marching north up the Great North Road hoping to catch up
with Edward while the battle was taking place.
Where Edward undoubtedly had an advantage was
in artillery. He had the royal artillery train, the rebels had no cannon at
all. This may not have been as great an advantage as it might appear to modern readers
since late 15th century artillery was unreliable, inaccurate and of shorter
range than is often realised. Nevertheless these guns could fire cannonballs at
least as far as a longbow could shoot while the noise, fire and smoke they
produced were very impressive to men unaccustomed to them. Nor should the
effect on morale of an incoming cannonball be dismissed. A sword could slice a
man’s head off, an arrow could pierce him from front to back, but only a
cannonball could reduce him in an instant to such a mess of bloody pulp that it
was impossible to see where his head, torso or arms had been. Seeing one’s
comrades destroyed in such grisly fashion was a massive blow to medieval
morale.
But before battle could be joined, Edward had
a task to perform. Lord Welles and Sir Thomas Dymmock were brought forward to
stand in front of his army, facing toward the rebel force. Sir Robert Welles
and Sir Richard Warren could be seen watching. Edward reminded Welles and
Dymmock that in London in February he had generously granted them pardons for
their actions over the winter. But that they had repaid him by helping to
organise the uprising that now saw the men of Lincolnshire arrayed for battle
on the ridge of Tickencote. He declared that he had told Sir Robert Welles that
his father would be held responsible if the uprising did not disband at once.
It had not disbanded, and so Lord Welles was as guilty of treason as was his
son.
Thereupon Edward ordered that the heads of
Wells and Dymmock be sliced off. A burly retainer stepped forward and did the
deed. The severed heads of the two men were picked up by their hair and
displayed first to Edward’s army and then to the rebels.
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