[Archers] Anniversary of Battle of Towton

[Garth G. Groff]

Noble friends,

Today, 29 March, is the 550th anniversary of the Battle of Towton. This 
was one of the pivotal battles in the War of the Roses, and victory gave 
Yorkist Edward IV the throne of England, at least for a while.

This battle saw significant use of archers by both sides, many of them 
former comrades. It was here that during a blinding snow storm with the 
wind at their backs, the Yorkist archers launched their first volley 
into the Lancastrian ranks and then stepped back. The Lancastrians, 
underestimating the distance to their foes and the effect of the wind, 
expended most of their arrows to false screams of the "dying" Yorkists. 
The Yorkists then advanced, plucking arrows from the snow and shot down 
the Lancastrians archers at close range. This wasn't the end of the 
battle by any means, but it was perhaps the largest and bloodiest duel 
between opposing factions of English archers.

For those who are interested, Wikipedia has a very good summary of the 
battle and its consequences: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton .

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot