April 13th 1471: War Clouds Darken

The Battle of Barnet

From the Ghent Manuscript

Early on Easter Saturday Warwick’s host rolled through St Albans on the road to Barnet. Word came that Edward was preparing to march out of London. In the late afternoon he drew up his army on high ground about a mile north of Barnet. He had chosen his field for battle.,

Meanwhile, Edward was preparing. The ‘Croyland Chronicle’ explained:

‘For Easter Day was now close at hand, upon which it was conjectured that the king would be attending more to prayers then arms, and it was their design at the moment when he was intent upon the duties of religion, suddenly to surprise him when unattended by any considerable number of people. This prudent prince, however, took due precautions against this stratagem of the enemy, and, paying more attention to urgent necessity than to absurd notions of propriety, on Holy Saturday in Easter week, quitted the city with his army, and passing slowly on, reached the town of Barnet, a place ten miles distant from the city; and there pitched his camp, on the eve of the day of our Lord's Resurrection.’

Numbers must be taken with a pinch of salt, but the Earl of Warwick possibly had a force of 10,000 or so and Edward 2,000 less. Edward took King Henry with him to Barnet. Warwick, always a man to adopt the latest technology, had a large artillery train; many more big guns than Edward could muster.

As darkness fell, Warwick’s scouts were driven out of the town of Barnet by Edward’s advance guard. It became too dark, though, to discover the battle positions the enemies had taken up. That would have to wait until the morning. They prepared for an uneasy night.

In France, the winds at last fell fair for Queen Margaret and Prince Edward. Their fleet at last left the coast and set a course for England to join the Earl of Warwick and King Henry. The die was cast for the next chapter of this adventure.