Visits to Fields of Battle, in England, of the Fifteenth Century to which are added, some miscellaneous tracts and papers upon archæological subjects

Transcribed from the 1857 John Russell Smith edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org  Many thanks to the Bodleian / British Library for
the scans of the book.

                      [Picture: Battlefield Church]





                                  VISITS
                                    TO
                            FIELDS OF BATTLE,
                                    IN
                                 ENGLAND,
                        OF THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY;


                           TO WHICH ARE ADDED,
                SOME MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS AND PAPERS UPON
                         ARCHÆOLOGICAL SUBJECTS.

                                    BY
                       RICHARD BROOKE, ESQ., F.S.A.

                                * * * * *

                                 LONDON:
                           JOHN RUSSELL SMITH,
                             36, SOHO SQUARE.
                                LIVERPOOL:
                   J. MAWDSLEY AND SON, CASTLE STREET.
                               M DCCC LVII.

                                * * * * *

                                * * * * *

      LONDON; F. PICKTON, Printer, Perry’s Place, 29, Oxford Street




PREFACE.


IN the course of the fifteenth century, England experienced, in a
lamentable degree, the sad effects of internal discord, and the miseries
caused by the conflicts of adverse factions.

It is scarcely possible, for historians to point out, in the annals of
any country in Europe, in the feudal ages, deeds of violence and
bloodshed, of a more appalling nature, than those which the chroniclers
have recorded, as having occurred in England, during the period which
intervened between the years 1400 and 1500—a period memorable for the
sanguinary wars of York and Lancaster.  During the continuance of those
disastrous conflicts, thousands of brave men perished in arms, the axe of
the executioner was seldom idle, great numbers of the nobility and gentry
lost their lives in the field or upon the scaffold, property was usurped
in consequence of wholesale confiscations, numberless innocent lives were
sacrificed, and many happy homes were outraged.

This misery was the result of contests for a crown, which perhaps neither
of the claimants merited, nor does it appear, that it was of great
importance to the nation, which of the rival competitors wore it.

Of those destructive wars, the battle of Shrewsbury in the reign of Henry
IV., in 1403, may be considered in some degree as the first; because it
was the earliest attempt by an appeal to arms, to remove from the throne
a monarch of the House of Lancaster; {v} and the last was the battle of
Stoke, fought in 1487, in the reign of Henry VII.; that of Bosworth, in
which, by the death of Richard III., the Plantagenet dynasty terminated,
being often erroneously called the last; but, although the latter
certainly placed the House of Tudor upon the throne, the crown was
secured to it by the battle of Stoke, when the partisans of the House of
York, under John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln, made their final but
unsuccessful appeal to arms, in hopes of regaining the ascendency, which
that party had formerly enjoyed.

These sanguinary conflicts are usually called the Wars of the Roses, from
the circumstance, that the supporters of the House of York assumed the
badge or device of the White Rose, and those of Lancaster the Red Rose.

It has been remarked with great truth, by Sir John Fenn, the antiquary,
{vi1} in adverting to that disastrous period, “That our own kingdom has
fewer authentic records of the transactions, during the reigns of Henry
VI., Edward IV., and Richard III., than of any other later period of our
history, is a truth known to and lamented by every man of historical
knowledge.”

He ascribes the deficiency of information, amongst other causes, to the
invention of printing; which at first sight appears to be a paradox,
because such an invention seems to be calculated to favour universal
knowledge:—“At the beginning of the art of printing, those who practised
it, were solicitous to perpetuate things already committed to writing,
relative to past times, and past occurrences, not regarding recent
transactions as of equal consequence.  This art likewise probably
prevented the writers of manuscripts from multiplying their copies; they
foreseeing that the new invention would in time, supply a sufficient
number, at a much less price, by which means, the value of their manual
labour would be greatly diminished.” {vi2}

Notwithstanding, however, the scanty nature of the historical accounts
handed down to us, some information of value has reached us; and the
fields of battle, and the positions of the hostile armies, may in several
instances, be clearly identified, after a perusal of the statements of
the old chroniclers, and a comparison of their descriptions with the
present aspec