[Archers] Battle of Towton, 29 March 1461

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends,

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Towton, the bloodiest in the 
long struggle known to history as the Wars of the Roses. Edward IV and 
his Yorkist forces gained a crushing victory over the Lancastrian army 
of Henry VI, and allowed Edward to seize the throne of England.

The Battle of Towton opened with a famous archery duel in a blinding 
snowstorm between the bowmen of the two armies. The Yorkists shot their 
short-distance bodkin livery arrows with the wind behind them. The 
fooled the Lancastrians into underestimating the distance to the Yorkist 
lines. Their return volleys into the wind fell short of the Lancastrian 
lines. The blind, though more accurate shooting of the Lancastrian 
archers eventually routed the Yorkists from their defensive position. 
Many of the archers of both sides were former brothers in arms from the 
Hundred Years War in France.

You can read about the battle in a Wikipedia article at: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Towton .

Kind regards,


Lord Mungo Napier, Shire of Isenfir TA Marshal