Battle of Hexham
May 14, 1464
The Battle of Hexham
Both sides were short of cash. Edward had been granted subsidies to prosecute the war in the north, Norham had been relieved but beyond that little achieved bar Montagu’s notable success in the field. Parliament’s subsidies and a further grant from convocation had been gobbled up by existing commitments, particularly the garrison at Calais [27]. The Yorkist administration was surviving on loans and was substantively in the red, raising taxes built resentment in all quarters, and this was exacerbated when there was no tangible gain. So vociferous was this dissatisfaction that the King felt constrained, in November 1463, to remit some £6,000 of the subsidy granted in the summer [28]. Somerset was under even greater pressure, he had no taxation revenue, no grants nor other subsidies, he was obliged to beg, borrow and steal, even when monies could be scraped together, these could disappear through defalcation. When captured, hiding in a coalpit, after the final defeat at Hexham, Lord Tailboys was loaded with pilfered funds:
‘He hadde moch money with hym, both golde and sylvyr, that shulde hav gon unto King Harry; and yf it had come to Harry, lat kynge of Ingelonde, hyt wolde have causyd moche sore sorowe, for he had ordynyd harneys and ordenance i-nowe, but the men wolde not go one fote with hym tylle they had mony’ [29].
Henry now appears to have moved his lodgings to Bywell Castle, where he was in residence by the latter part of April. After the rout to come the victors found evidence of a hurried departure, the King’s helmet or ‘bycoket’ (a coroneted cap), ‘richly garnysshed wt ij crownys, and his followers trapped wt blew velvet’ [30]. There was a suggestion that the Lancastrians might have been bolstered by ‘a great power out of Scotlade’ [31], more likely these were riders from Liddesdale and Teviotdale, drawn by the scent of booty. Bywell was not a significant castle and possessed no strategic value [32]. Both Tynedale and Redesdale were administered as ‘Liberties’ – franchises where the crown sub-contracted the business of local government to franchisees, which led to a fair measure of autonomy. The Lanastrians still had a foothold in Tynedale [33], holding Hexham, Prudhoe and possibly other centres [34].
How much local support the Lancastrian cause enjoyed in questionable. The northern lords, Percy, Dacre and Clifford had all bled freely, their affinities thinned and leaderless. Much had changed since the halcyon days of 1459 – 1460; even then Queen Margaret had offered free quarter and plunder as incentives, now her cause was depleted by the disaster at Towton and three more years of attrition [35].
There is no indication of how long King Henry remained at Bywel,l in all probability he shifted westwards to Hexham, the fled deeper, he was likely gone before the battle and, therefore, the story of a precipitate flight from Bywell is almost certainly fanciful. Somerset would have been a fool to leave the king so exposed, Henry, however diminished, was his only trump. Montagu left Bywell undisturbed on his approach march, he would not have done so had he entertained any notion of Henry’s presence there. Hexham was a larger castle and further west, in the fifteenth century the enceinte comprised the Moot Hall and Gaol, linked by a strong curtain wall [36].
Montagu, by the end of the first week in May, had returned from York to Newcastle, and being aware, through scouts and agents, of Lancastrian activity in Tynedale resolved to take the offensive. On this occasion he would not be hamstrung by diplomatic duties and could concentrate his considerable abilities toward achieving a decisive outcome. Thus: ‘on xiii of May, my lorde Mountague toke his jornaye toward Hexham from Newcastelle’ [37].
Advancing with his forces strung along the north bank of the Tyne, Hexham was his immediate tactical objective; his strategy being to expunge the Lancastrian presence, once and for all. Somerset would have been aware of this and though some Tudor chroniclers assert King Henry was present on the field, this is clearly fanciful. Gregory avers he fled north back into Scotland but, as this was no longer safe, it is more probable he slipped further into the west, to Lancashire. Montagu crossed the Tyne either at Bywell or Corbridge; only the line of the Devil’s Water now stood between him and the Lancastrian base of Hexham [38]. Devil’s Water follows a meandering course from the high ground of the Shire toward the Tyne. From Hexham the ground shelves markedly toward the crossing at Linnels Bridge, some two miles distant, then, on the south side, rises steeply in the direction of Slaley. The traditional site for the battle of Hexham, challenged by Dorothy Charlesworth, lies south of the present B6306, on low ground by the banks of the stream and as featured on the OS 1:25000 map.
As the best contemporary source the Year Book describes the actual field as ‘un lieu appelle Livels sur le ewe Devyls’ [39]. Worcester says a hill one mile from Hexham [40]. Ramsay, who had visited the location or talked to someone who had, observes tellingly that ‘[the site] is a nice, sheltered camping ground … but a very bad battlefield’ [41]. The year Book, which also states the fight occurred on 15th May, merely points to Linnels as a general area. Worcester refers to a hill, suggesting, quite pointedly, rising ground and Dorothy Charlesworth observes that the low ground is indeed most unsuitable [42]. It appears clear from a perambulation that the traditional location for the battle is badly flawed. To the rear it is hemmed by the water and, to the front, by steeply rising ground which impedes visibility and inhibits manoeuvre, making a gift of the heights above to the attacker.
Later writers have accepted this view [43] without re-examining the topography and considering the implications. Ms. Charlesworth argues, compellingly, that whilst Somerset may have camped on the Levels he did not deploy for battle there rather, on the morning of the 15th, he draw up his forces on the higher ground along the crest of Swallowship Hill. Had he not done so, Montagu could have outflanked him and gained Hexham from the ford over the Devil’s Water directly below the hill. The chroniclers do not really give us any assistance here [44], we are in the area of ‘inherent military probability’ as advanced by Colonel Burne. If, as Dorothy Charlesworth supposes, the defenders occupied the rise of Swallowship Hill, no such outflanking move would have been possible, with the stream circling the base, the crest of the hill commands all of the viable crossings. As the ground, on both elevations, drops quite sharply toward the Devil’s Water, it would be possible for Somerset to refuse both flanks and channel the attacking Yorkists against his centre. It may therefore be that his line was curved to conform to the contours, Grey and Neville commanded on the left, Hungerford and Roos the right.
The Lancastrian left thus dominated the ford which lay below them and that to the north by Earl’s Bridge; from the right it was possible to cover Linnels and the more southerly ford by Newbiggin. This is conjecture, but the nature of the ground clearly favours Dr. Charlesworth’s view. This was the deployment which confronted Lord Montagu, who then made his own dispositions accordingly. Whilst he probably fielded more troops, with higher morale, both his flank commanders, Lords Greystoke and Willoughby, were former Lancastrians. The former, on the left, had fought at 2nd St. Albans, where the latter, now on the right had served with him, losing his father Lord Welles in the wrack of Towton. Willoughby had made his peace with Edward at Gloucester in September 1461, and had done good service since [45].
Whether this fight began with a duel of arrows is not recorded, the Yorkists may have advanced swiftly to contact and the melee was both swift and certain of outcome. Hungerford and Roos, on the Lancastrian right, were the first to give ground, and the line dissolved in precipitate rout. Somerset may have tried to cling to the crest and rally but he was swept away in the confusion of panic; the fords soon choked with fleeing men. With the brief fight over, only the business of pursuit remained [46]. Casualties in the combat were most likely very light, the chroniclers do not mention any knights killed on the field, more gentle blood by far was spilt by the executioners in the killing spree which followed. Worcester arguesthat Montagu fielded 10,000 men against Somerset’s 500 [47] but no commander would accept battle against such odds, perhaps the Duke could count on no more than half a thousand retainers of his own immediate affinity.
Conversely, Warkworth argues that the Lancastrians had ‘gathered a great people in the north country’ and that the Yorkists were outnumbered, having no more than 4,000 [48]. Looking at the ground, the position on Swallowship Hill covers a front of around 1,000 yards, allowing one man per yard and a gap between divisions, a force of at least 4,000 would be needed to give substance to the deployment. For his part, Montagu would surely have been less enthusiastic to engage had not his army been equal to or greater than that of his opponent.
Unlike the immediate aftermath of his previous victory Montagu was not encumbered by distractions and was fully able to harry the fleeing Lancastrians, Somerset, Hungerford and Roos were all taken, captured ‘in a wood faste by’ [49]. Henry Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset could not anticipate any further clemency, Montagu, like his brother was not interested in reconciliation. It was now time for retribution and the Duke was executed the following day in Hexham, Hungerford and Roos were conveyed to Newcastle where they too faced the axe ‘behedid at Newcastle’ [50].
Others, including Sir Philip Wentworth, Sir Edmund Fitzhugh, John Bryce, Thomas Hunt and a reiver called ‘Black Iaquys’ (‘Black John’ or ‘Black Jack’), were given appointments with the headsman at either Hexham, or perhaps Middleham, ‘after some writers’ [51]. At least one captive, Sir Thomas Hussey, was executed at York, (see appendix 1)
The Siege of Bamburgh
Lancaster in the north was ruined; Somerset and the rebel lords hunted out, their retainers scattered. Humprey Neville managed to escape the hounds, like Beaufort his attainder had followed on from Towton but he, too, had been subsequently pardoned. Previously he’d escaped from the Tower and possessed a genius for survival, with Sir Ralph Grey and the odd remnant he regained Bamburgh, where the reduced garrison maintained a show of defiance. The embezzling Lord Tailboys was also netted and his hoard provided a handy bonus for Montagu’s soldiery: ‘.. the sum of 3,000 mark. And the lord’s meinie of Montagu were sore hurt and sick, and many of him men were slain before in the great journeys, but this money was departed among them, and was a very wholesome salve for them’ [52]. Tailboys was killed at Newcastle on 20th July, the last of the crop of prisoners to face the axe.
Barely two weeks after Hexham, John Neville, Lord Montagu before King and court at York and in the presence of both of his brothers, was elevated to the Earldom of Northumberland. This was the high water mark of his house, the zenith of the Nevilles. Whilst at his northern capital Edward ratified the treaty with the Scots, concluded on 11th June and which secured a truce of 15 years duration. Warwick, as the King’s lieutenant was charged, once again, with the recovery of the three border fortresses. To assist in these operations Edward had assembled a formidable siege train, ‘the great ordnance of England’, the bombards ‘’Edward’, ‘Dijon’, ‘London’, ‘Newcastle’ and ‘Richard Bombartel’ [53]. The sight of these great guns was sufficient to oweraw the shaken defenders at Alnwick, which capitulated on the 23rd June, followed, the following day, by Dunstanburgh. Bates, however, maintains that the latter was, in fact, stormed and that the governor, John Gosse, of Somerset’s affinity was taken and sent southwards to York to face his execution [54].
Bates continues to assert that Warwick maintained the feast of St. John the Baptist at Dunstanburgh while Henry VI was still within the walls of Bamburgh. He further claims that Henry made good his escape with the aid of Sir Henry Bellingham. NCH concurs and suggests Sir Thomas Philip, Wiliam Learmouth, Thomas Elwyk of Bamburgh, John Retford of Lincolnshire, all described as gentlemen, together with John Purcas of London, a yeoman, Philip Castelle of Pembroke, Archibald and Gilbert Ridley, from Langley, Gawen Lampleugh of Warkworth, also a gentleman, John Whynfell of Naworth, yeoman and Alexander Bellingham from Burneside in Westmorland, were all in the King’s reduced household during this episode [55].
This is most certainly inaccurate none of those mentioned appears to have fought at Hexham and, if so, definitely avoided capture. It is more likely that these individuals were in the King’s service before the debacle on Devil’s Water and fled westwards at the same time. Bates, with the NCH, suggests Sir Ralph Grey also escaped back to Bamburgh before the rout, rather than after [56]. Once again this seems unconvincing, Grey and his retainers would be needed on the field. Bamburgh was very much a last resort for a defeated captain who was all too aware that his duplicity excluded him from amnesty.
Though perhaps the greatest of the Northumbrian fortresses Bamburgh was not built to withstand cannon and the deployment of the royal train before the massive walls, gave ample notice of deadly intent. The earl of Warwick dispatched his own and the King’s herald, Chester, to formally demand the garrison’s surrender. Quarter was offered to the commons but both Grey and Neville were excluded from any terms, ‘as out of the King’s grace without any redemption’ [57]. Grey, with nothing to lose, breathed defiance; he had ‘Clearly determined within himself to live or die in the castle’. The heralds responded with a stern rejoinder and one can perhaps hear the words of the Earl of Warwick resonating through the chronicler’s account:
‘The King, our most dread sovereign lord, specially desires to have this jewel whole and unbroken by artillery, particularly because it stands so close to his ancient enemies the Scots, and if you are the cause that great guns have to be fired against its walls, then it will cost you your head, and for every shot that has to be fired another head, down to the humblest person within the place’ [58] (Author’s emphasis).
Thus began the only siege bombardment of the Wars. The bombards ‘Newcastle’ and ‘London’ were emplaced, sighted, loaded and began firing, the crash of the report like the crack of doom, with a great sulphurous cloud of filthy smoke drifting over the embattled ramparts. Whole sections of masonry were blasted by roundshot and crashed into the sea [59] A lighter gun, ‘Dijon’, fired into the chamber wherein Sir Ralph Grey had established his HQ in the eastern gatehouse, he was injured and rendered insensible when one of these rounds brought down part of the roof [60].
Humphrey Neville, ever the survivor, seized the moment of his ally’s fall to seek terms, securing clemency for the garrison and, cleverly, for himself. The dazed Sir Ralph was tied to his horse and dragged as far as Doncaster to be tried by Sir John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester and Constable of England. One of the indictments lodged against him was that he ‘had withstood and made fences against the king’s majesty, and his lieutenant, the worthy lord of Warwick, as appeareth by the strokes of the great guns in the king’s walls of his castle of Bamburgh’ [61]. Grey was executed on 10th July – the war in the north was, at last, over.
Notes:
[1] M. A. Hicks, Edward IV, the Duke of Somerset and Lancastrian Loyalism in the North in ‘Northern History’ vol. xx p. 24.
[2] Ibid., p. 25.
[3] C. Ross, Edward IV (London 1974), p.p. 51 – 52.
[4] Hicks, op. cit., p. 31.
[5] Gregory’s Chronicle p.p. 221 – 223.
[6] Hicks, op. cit., p. 32.
[7] Ibid., p. 33.
[8] Ibid., p. 34.
[9] Fabyan’s Chronicle p. 683.
[10] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 224.
[11] Year Book of Edward IV p. cviii.
[12] Gillingham, op. cit., p. 180.
[13] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 224.
[14] Ibid., p. 224.
[15] Ibid., p. 224.
[16] Ibid. p. 224.
[17] Ibid., p. 224.
[18] Haigh, op. cit., p. 80.
[19] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 224.
[20] Boardman, op. cit., p. 75.
[21] Haigh, op. cit., p. 80.
[22] G. Brenan, The House of Percy (England 1898), vol. 1, p. 93.
[23] Gillingham op. cit. p. 152.
[24] Ross, op. cit., p. 56.
[25] Sir J. H. Ramsay, Lancaster and York (Oxford 1892), vol. II, p. 302
[26] Paston letters no. 252.
[27] Ramsay, op. cit., vol. II p. 302.
[28] Ross, op. cit., p. 55.
[29] Ibid. p. 56.
[30] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 226.
[31] Fabyan’s Chronicle p. 654.
[32] Chronicles of London ed. C.L. Kingsford Oxford 1905 p. 178.
[33] B. Long, The Castles of Northumberland. (Newcastle upon Tyne 1967), p. 76.
[34] Lomas, op. cit., p. 136.
[35] Ibid., p.p. 154 – 155.
[36] Boardman, op. cit., p. 38.
[37] Charlesworth, op. cit., p. p. 62.
[38] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 224.
[39] Ibid., p. 232.
[40] Charlesworth, op. cit., p. 63.
[41] Worcester’s Chronicle p. 779.
[42] Ramsay, op. cit., vol. II, 303.
[43] Charlesworth, op. cit., p. 64.
[44] Haigh, op. cit., p. 84.
[45] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 224.
[46] Ramsay, op. cit., vol. II, p. 303 n.
[47] Ibid., p. 303.
[48] Warkworth’s Chronicle p. 4.
[49] Fabyan’s Chronicle p. 654.
[50] Chronicles of London p. 178.
[51] Fabyan’s Chronicle p. 654.
[52] Gregory’s Chronicle p. 219.
[53] ‘Edward’ is alter listed in an inventory of 1475; the Master of the Ordnance, John Sturgeon, handed into store at Calais, ‘divers parcels of the King’s ordnance and artillery including a bumbartell called “The Edward”’; see Blackmore, op. cit., p. 33.
[54] C. J. Bates, History of Northumberland (London 1895), p. 202.
[55] NCH vol. 1 p. 47.
[56] Worcester’s Chronicle p. 280 n – the assumption may be based on a misreading of the Latin text: ‘Radulfus Gray fugit de Hexham ante bellum inceptum ad castrum Bamburghe et post bellum de Hexham multi ex parte Regis Henrici fugerunt in eodem castro’. It is more probable the chronicler is describing Grey’s flight as the battle opened rather than beforehand.
[57] NCH vol. 1 p. 48.
[58] Warkworth’s Chronicle p.p. 37 – 39.
[59] NCH vol. 1 p. 48.
[60] Warkworth’s Chronicle p. p. 37 – 39.
[61] NCH vol. 1 p. 49.
Sincere thanks to the author John Sadler for his work on the Battles of Hedgeley Moor and Hexham
Yorkists Lancastrians
Ralph Lord Greystoke
Sir Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, executed
Henry Neville of Heversham, Westmoreland
Sir Henry Bellingham
John Neville, Earl of Northumberland
Sir Thomas Finderne, executed
John Scrope of Bolton, Yorkshire Lord Willoughby
Sir Edmund Fish, executed
Richard Tempest of Bracewell, Yorkshire
Sir Ralph Grey, escaped
Henry VI, King of England
Robert Hungerford of Heytesbury, Wiltshire executed
Robert Lord Moleyns, Lord Hungerford, executed
Sir Humphrey Neville, escaped
Thomas Reresby of Thrybergh, Yorkshire executed
Henry Lord Roos, executed
John Tempest of Bracewell, Yorkshire
Sir William Tailboys, executed
Thomas Wentworth of Yorkshire, executed
Philip Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk, executed
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