The Beaufort Coat of Arms
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.
When his mother died in 1438 he inherited her
lands, tripling his income at a stroke, and the title of Earl of Buckingham. He
was now one of the richest and most noble men in England. As such he was made a
Knight of the Garter and entrusted with a string of diplomatic missions. His
military experience was broadened by being made Captain of Calais, effectively
commander of the English forces in northern France, as well as Warden of the
Cinque Ports (a naval command) and Constable of Dover Castle.
When the disputes between Somerset and York broke
out in earnest, Buckingham played the role of peace-keeper between his two
truculent cousins. By way of family links, Buckingham had a foot in both camps.
His daughter was married to Somerset’s son while he himself was married to a
cousin of Warwick. Buckingham declared himself to be a firm supporter of Henry
VI, and sought constantly to push for good government and impartial justice. He
quarrelled constantly with Somerset, but refused to accept the more radical
solutions of York.
At the Battle of St Albans in 1455 he had
commanded King Henry’s bodyguard. He was slightly wounded and captured by the
Earl of Warwick. Buckingham continued to try to find common ground between the
two sides, expressing shock that the dispute had come to blows and seeking to
bring people to their senses. Finally realising that Margaret and York were
unwilling to find any sort of compromise deal, Buckingham decided to remain
loyal to King Henry, even though that meant siding with Margaret.
In October 1459 he led a Lancastrian army to
Ludford Bridge in Shropshire, where his friendship with several of the lesser
nobles in York’s army persuaded them to change sides or slip away in the night.
As a result Buckingham was able to drive York into exile in France almost
without striking a blow. He took the Duchess of York and her three youngest
children into his own care, being careful not to pass them on to the vengeful
Queen Margaret. Henry VI rewarded Buckingham with estates confiscated from
those who had gone into exile with York. He was in London through the winter of
1459-60 trying to muster men and money for the cause of King Henry, but finding
his efforts largely thwarted by the unpopularity of Queen Margaret. He had
nevertheless mustered a reasonably large army by the standards of the day, and
marched it north away from pro-York London two or three weeks before Warwick
and Edward Earl of March got to the city.
Serving under Buckingham was Lord Edmund Grey
of Ruthin. By his family links Grey was firmly linked to the Lancastrian cause.
By his mother he was a great grandson of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and
therefore a cousin to Henry VI. He married Lady Katherine Percy, daughter of
Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland. The Percys had a long running feud with
the Nevilles, the family of the Earl of Warwick. However, Grey had got involved
in a bitter dispute with Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter and a key supporter of
Queen Margaret. Exeter was bad tempered and particularly rapacious when it came
to exploiting contacts at court for his own benefit. Exeter had made a bid to
seize control of the wealthy manor of Ampthill, Bedfordshire, from Grey on
rather dubious grounds and was busily using bribery and pressure to get his
way. Nevertheless, Grey had remained a staunch supporter of Buckingham in his
efforts to find a compromise peace and to be loyal to the anointed King, Henry
VI, come what may.
Grey, like Buckingham, had seen extensive
service in the French wars. He had fought in the Aquitaine campaigns of 1438-40
and been knighted as a consequence. He sat on the Council of Regency from 1456
to 1458 and was notable for his refusal to get dragged into supporting either
York or Queen Margaret. At the time of the Battle of Northampton he was 44
years old.
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