April 29th 1471: A brief affair with Cirencester
Cirencester Market Place
On Monday 29th, Edward arrived at Cirencester, where he proposed to station himself to cover the Margaret’s possible routes. With the Fosse Way giving a fast route south and Ermine Street giving the same to the west, he could cover the options.
It was a short rest, though. No sooner had his men settled to recover from a week on the road than news of Margaret arrived. They must have been very unhappy about what happened next, as the ‘Arrivall’ describes it:
…. on the Monday, at Cicestre where he had certain tidings that they would, on Tuesday next, [be] at Bath, as so they were; and that on the morne next, the Wednesday, they would come on straight towards the Kings’ battle [army]. For which cause, and for that he would see and set his people in array, he drove all the people out of the town, and lodged him, and his host, that night in the field, iij miles out of the town.
There seemed to be no danger of Margaret’s army catching them unawares in Cirencester, and the threatened battle was not imminent, so moving the weary troops out into a field was probably to stop them getting used to the pleasures of a life in town, coupled with Edward’s natural impatience to meet the Lancastrians on the field of battle.
Meanwhile, Margaret’s army was indeed travelling across Somerset and approaching the City of Bath.