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The Battle of Towton occurred on the 29th of March 1461, during the Wars of the Roses between a Lancastrian force under King Henry and Queen Margaret.
After the Second Battle of St Albans King Henry had met up with his Queen, and took command of the Yorkist force, refusing to march on London he took the army northwards. Meanwhile the Lancastrians had crowned Edward King in London, and marched north in pursuit of Henry and the Yorkists, and set up a position on the high ground between the villages of Towton and Saxton. The Yorkists advanced on the Lancastrian positions, meeting them in the large windswept plateau that on the day of the battle was subject to a snowstorm.
The battle involved more than 80,000 troops and lasted most of the day, around midday the Lancastrian Duke of Norfolk arrived with his troops and took position against the Yorkist right flank. This reinforcement gave the Lancastrians under Edward the strength to force the Yorkists back slowly, until eventually they routed and in the stampede to cross the Cock Beck marshes and reach the London road thousands of Lancastrian soldiers were killed.
The Battle of Towton is infamous as having the highest number of casualties of any battle fought on British soil.
 Research Battle of Towton
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Abbreviations
Warfare
