As the
Lancasatrian right wing collapsed into a mass of fleeing fugitives, Faucunberg
sought to move his men round to attack the flank of the men commanded by
Trollope. Some Yorkists could not resist the temptation to pursue the fleeing
Lancastrians, cut them down and rob their bodies, but most followed their
banners and put intolerable pressure on to Trollope just as Norfolk’s men
smashed into the Lancastrian left wing.
The disintegration of the Lancastrian force
gathered pace as the long day started to come to an end. An early dusk settled
in as the heavily clouded sky blocked the weak evening sun. As darkness fell
the Lancastrian centre gave way and fell back.
At this point a Yorkist soldier armed with a
crossbow spotted among the retreating Lancastrians the Lord Dacre who had
killed his father at an earlier battle. The soldier scrambled into the branches
of what was recorded at the time as a “bur tree”, an elder, to get a better
shot. The bolt was loosed and at an impressively great range of 300 yards Lord
Dacre fell dead. Even at the time the shot was recognised as having been a
remarkable one and the elder tree became famous.
What followed was not an orderly retreat, but
nor was it a total rout. In places Lancastrian units fell apart and the men
were cut down by the pursuing Yorkist hobilars. But other retreating units kept
their formation well and fought off any effort to intercept them. There was
something of a bottleneck where the road to Tadcaster crossed the River Cock,
and bloodshed here was particularly savage.
“The chase continued all night,” recorded
Hall, “and the most part of the next day and every time they [the Lancastrians]
perceived any advantage they returned to the battle again and fought with their
enemies to the great loss of them all.”
The chase went on for many hours, with some
Lancastrian fugitives being pursued all the way to the gates of York. The
eventual death toll was enormous and effectively settled the dispute between
York and Lancaster for a generation.
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