Battle of Wakefield - Background

Background

The House of Lancaster was established on the throne of England in 1399, when Henry Bolingbroke, the Duke of Lancaster, deposed his unpopular cousin King Richard II, and was crowned Henry IV. Throughout his reign, he was troubled by doubts over the legitimacy of his rule, and there were several revolts against him. His son, Henry V inherited the throne after these had been suppressed, and he enhanced the prestige of the dynasty by good government and victories over the French, notably at Agincourt.

However, Henry V died in 1422 and his only son became King Henry VI when only nine months old. He grew up to be an ineffective king, and prone to spells of mental illness. There were increasingly bitter divisions among the regents and councillors who governed in Henry's name, mainly over the conduct of the Hundred Years' War with France. By the late 1440s, two opposing factions had formed behind Edmund Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset, and Richard of York. York was Lieutenant in France for several years and resented being supplanted in that office by Somerset, who had then failed to defend Normandy against French armies.

Richard of York was not only the wealthiest magnate in the land, but was also descended from King Edward III's third son Lionel of Antwerp and fifth son Edmund of Langley, leading to calls that he be recognised as successor to the childless King Henry. His rival, Somerset, belonged to the Beaufort family who, like Henry, were descended from John of Gaunt, Edward III's fourth son, though by his former mistress, Katherine Swynford. Although the Beauforts were supposedly barred from succeeding to the crown by the Act of Parliament which made the children of Gaunt and Katherine legitimate after their marriage, their line eventually produced King Henry VII and the Tudor dynasty.

In 1452, Richard led a small army to Blackheath near London in an attempt to force Henry to dismiss Somerset from the government, but at this stage he lacked support and was forced to submit to arrest and take an oath of allegiance to the King at Old St Paul's Cathedral. Then in 1453, Henry VI suffered a complete mental breakdown. The peers appointed Richard Lord Protector and he governed the country responsibly, but Henry recovered his sanity after eighteen months and restored Somerset to favour. During Henry's madness his Queen, Margaret of Anjou, had given birth to a son, which dashed Richard's hopes of becoming king on Henry's death.

Fearing arrest for treason, York and his most prominent allies, the Nevilles (York's brother in law, the Earl of Salisbury and his son, the Earl of Warwick, later known as the "Kingmaker"), finally resorted to armed force in 1455. At the First Battle of St Albans, many of York's and Salisbury's rivals and enemies were killed, including Somerset, the Earl of Northumberland (whose family had been involved in a long-running feud with the Nevilles) and Lord Clifford.

After the battle, York reaffirmed his loyalty to King Henry, and was reappointed Lord Protector and Lieutenant of Ireland. Queen Margaret nevertheless suspected York of wishing to supplant her infant son, Edward, as Henry's successor, and the heirs of the Lancastrian nobles who were killed at St Albans remained at deadly feud with York.