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Wars of the Roses · 1471 Locked

Barnet, 14 April 1471

On Easter Sunday, 14 April 1471, Edward IV, back from exile, met the army of his former ally Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, the 'Kingmaker', who had restored Henry VI, just north of Barnet, about ten miles from London. The armies deployed in the dark too close and offset, and fought at dawn in thick fog. The Earl of Oxford's wing routed Lord Hastings and chased it through Barnet, but on its return it was attacked by Montagu's men — by Warkworth's account because Oxford's star badge was taken for Edward's sun — and the cry of treason broke the Lancastrian army. Warwick and his brother Montagu were killed. Strengths are uncertain: Historic England's report gives roughly 15,000 Lancastrians against 10,000–12,000 Yorkists, while chronicle figures range from about 7,000 to 30,000. Where the battle was fought is also debated: the traditional site on Hadley Green is drawn here, while the Barnet Battlefield Project (2015–18), reading the primary accounts against the historic landscape, argues for ground up to a kilometer farther north, around the lost hamlet of Kitts End, though its fieldwork found no definite battle evidence.

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The Battle of Barnet (Ghent manuscript)
The Battle of Barnet (Ghent manuscript) — Unknown artist — public domain

The battle, stage by stage

  1. 13 April 1471, evening

    Warwick waits north of Barnet

    In October 1470 Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, restored Henry VI and drove Edward IV into exile. Edward landed in Yorkshire in March 1471, won back his brother Clarence near Banbury, and entered London on 11 April. Warwick, following him south from Coventry with the Lancastrian lords, took up a position north of Barnet, about ten miles from London, astride the road to St Albans. On the afternoon of Easter Saturday, 13 April, Edward marched out of London, bringing the captive Henry VI with him; his foreriders chased Warwick's scouts out of Barnet. In the traditional reading drawn here (Historic England's battlefield report, after Burne and Hammond) Warwick's three battles stood across the plateau of Hadley Green: the Earl of Oxford on the right, his brother John Neville, Marquess Montagu, in the center, the Duke of Exeter on the left, with Warwick and a reserve behind. The lines are conjectural.

  2. 13–14 April, night

    Too close in the dark

    Edward pushed through Barnet after dark and drew up for battle without seeing the enemy. The Yorkist Arrivall says he lodged 'much nearer' Warwick than he supposed, and not squarely opposite: each army's right reached beyond the other's left. Warwick's guns fired through the night but, by the Arrivall's account, 'always overshot' the King's host; Edward kept his own guns silent so as not to give away his position. Gloucester, aged 18, led the Yorkist right, Edward and Clarence the center, Lord Hastings the left. Gerhard von Wesel's newsletter places Edward's men 'in a hollow and marsh' across the highway.

  3. 14 April, about 4–5 a.m.

    Battle in the fog

    At first light, between about 4 and 5 a.m., Edward advanced in a thick mist; Warkworth says 'neither of them might see the other perfectly'. The overlaps now told. On the Lancastrian right, Oxford's wing outflanked and broke Hastings' battle and drove it back through Barnet; some fugitives ran on to London with news of a Yorkist defeat. Hidden by the fog, the rest of Edward's army did not see the rout. On the other wing, Gloucester found the ground in front of him empty, turned in on Exeter's flank and fought his way uphill, across the ground south of Monken Hadley church in Historic England's reading. In the center Edward's and Montagu's battles fought hand to hand.

  4. 14 April, morning

    The star and the sun

    Oxford rallied part of his men, some of whom had stopped to plunder Barnet, and led them back toward the fighting. In the mist they came up on the flank and rear of their own center. Warkworth explains what followed: Oxford's men wore their lord's badge, 'a star with streams', and Edward's men his 'sun with streams', and the Earl of Warwick's men, taking the one for the other, shot at them (Historic England's report, following later writers, makes them Montagu's men in the center). Oxford's men cried 'Treason! Treason!' The Great Chronicle says only that Oxford 'had erred of his way'. The badge story is attributed to Warkworth; how much it caused, and the exact ground, are uncertain.

  5. 14 April, morning

    Treason!

    Oxford left the field with about 800 men, by Warkworth's count. In an army that had only lately joined former enemies — Warwick, the Yorkist Nevilles, Oxford and Exeter — the cry of treason spread through the center, where Montagu, who had changed sides the year before, was suspected. Edward threw in his reserve, and after a short, hard fight the Lancastrian line gave way. Montagu was killed: the Arrivall says in plain battle, while Warkworth tells that he had secretly come to terms with Edward and put on his livery, and that one of Warwick's own men saw it and killed him. Exeter was badly wounded and left for dead, but survived and later reached sanctuary at Westminster. The Arrivall says the fighting lasted about three hours; Warkworth says from 4 to 10 in the morning.

  6. 14 April, late morning

    The death of the Kingmaker

    Warwick, who had fought on foot, made for the horses at the rear. Warkworth says he fled 'to a wood by the field of Barnet, from which there was no road', where one of Edward's men caught and killed him and stripped the body; the Arrivall says he was slain 'somewhat flying'. Burne (1950) named the wood Wrotham Wood, north of the Highstone; Historic England's report suggests he died possibly near the Highstone, and the Barnet Battlefield Project report doubts that Burne's wood existed. Both places are approximate. Fugitives were cut down in the pursuit, by tradition across the valley later called Dead Man's Bottom. Warwick's and Montagu's bodies were shown in St Paul's in London before burial at Bisham Priory (later Bisham Abbey).

Forces

Warwick probably had the larger army, roughly 15,000 against Edward's 10,000–12,000 by Historic England's estimate, but chronicle figures range from 7,000 to 30,000 and modern totals are guesses.

Lancastrian army (Warwick)

Present (modern estimate)Historic England's battlefield report and Hammond give about 15,000; BritishBattles.com about 10,000. English Heritage battlefield report, Barnet 1471 (1995); Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (citing Hammond); BritishBattles.com, Battle of Barnetabout 15,000 (10,000–15,000)
Present (chronicle claims)Warkworth gives Warwick 20,000 and the Yorkist Arrivall 30,000; both are generally thought inflated, and Cass (1882) judged the lower estimates the more probable. Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (Foard, Partida and Wilson); F. C. Cass, 'The Battle of Barnet', Trans. LAMAS 6 (1882)20,000–30,000

Yorkist army (Edward IV)

Present (modern estimate)Historic England's report gives roughly 10,000–12,000 and Hammond about 12,000; BritishBattles.com about 8,000. English Heritage battlefield report, Barnet 1471 (1995); Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (citing Hammond); BritishBattles.com, Battle of Barnet10,000–12,000 (8,000–12,000)
Present (chronicle claims)The Arrivall says no more than about 9,000 and Warkworth 7,000 ('vij. Ml.'); Gerhard von Wesel reported about 20,000 at Edward's muster. Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (Foard, Partida and Wilson)7,000–20,000

Casualties

Perhaps 1,500 to 3,000 men died in all, most of them Lancastrians, among them Warwick and Montagu; contemporary figures range from about 1,000 to 4,000, and the mass graves have never been found, so the numbers cannot be checked. Certainty: poor.

Lancastrian army (Warwick)

KilledHistoric England's battlefield report gives Lancastrian losses as over 1,000; BritishBattles.com puts Lancastrian dead in the battle and pursuit at about 2,000. No reliable count exists. English Heritage battlefield report, Barnet 1471 (1995); BritishBattles.com, Battle of Barnetover 1,000 (1,000–2,000 (modern estimates))
Killed, both armies (contemporary claims)Sir John Paston wrote of more than 1,000 dead and Gerhard von Wesel about 1,500; the Great Chronicle of London says 3,000 and Warkworth 4,000 (as compiled in the Barnet Battlefield Project report). Tudor writers went higher: Hall says over 10,000 (Cass). Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (Foard, Partida and Wilson); F. C. Cass, 'The Battle of Barnet', Trans. LAMAS 6 (1882)1,000–4,000 (about 1,000 to 4,000)
Leaders killedWarkworth names the Earl of Warwick and his brother the Marquess Montagu among the slain; the Duke of Exeter was badly wounded and left for dead but survived. Warkworth's Chronicle, Barnet extract; BritishBattles.com, Battle of BarnetWarwick and Montagu

Yorkist army (Edward IV)

KilledHistoric England's report puts Yorkist losses at probably about half the Lancastrian figure, and BritishBattles.com at about 500; Philippe de Commines claimed 1,500 dead on the King's side alone (as quoted in the Barnet Battlefield Project report). English Heritage battlefield report, Barnet 1471 (1995); BritishBattles.com, Battle of Barnet; Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 (Foard, Partida and Wilson)about 500 (about 500 (modern) to 1,500 (Commines))
Leaders killedWarkworth names Lord Cromwell, Sir Humphrey Bourchier (son and heir of Lord Berners) and Lord Say among Edward's dead; BritishBattles.com adds Sir John Lisle and Sir Thomas Parr. Historic England notes that several of Edward's most loyal supporters died. Warkworth's Chronicle, Barnet extract; BritishBattles.com, Battle of Barnet; English Heritage battlefield report, Barnet 1471 (1995)several lords and knights

Then and now: how the ground has changed

The open heaths and commons north of Barnet have become golf courses, Wrotham Park's enclosed parkland and the northern streets of High Barnet, but Hadley Green survives largely open and the broad relief and drainage are little changed, so the ground can still be read even though the battle's exact site is unknown.

The interactive map can show the period landscape (2 shapes: Northern High Barnet (built over since 1471), New St Albans road (A1081)) under the units. Open the map.

Weapons

Lancastrian army (Warwick)

Early cannon (pot-de-fer and ribalds)

Early cannon (pot-de-fer and ribalds)

Gunpowder artillery · from the 1320s

At Barnet: Warwick's guns fired through the night, but by the Arrivall's account always overshot the Yorkists, who had lodged closer than Warwick supposed.

The earliest European guns were small cast vessels firing bolts or balls. The Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani says the English fired guns at Crécy, frightening the horses; English royal accounts show guns were later sent to the siege of Calais, and historians still argue over whether any fired on 26 August 1346. The illustration, from Walter de Milemete's treatise of 1326, is one of the oldest pictures of a gun.

Projectile
iron or lead balls, or large bolts
Charge
black powder
Effect
more noise and shock than killing power
Photo: Walter de Milemete, 1326 · public domain
English longbow

English longbow

Self bow of yew · about 1250–1550

At Barnet: By Warkworth's account Warwick's men (Montagu's, in Historic England's reading) shot at Oxford's returning wing in the fog, mistaking his star badge for Edward's sun.

A single stave of yew, as tall as a man, that took years of practice to draw. Massed in thousands behind stakes or hedges, English archers broke French charges at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt by killing and maddening the horses and pinning men-at-arms in the crush. Bows recovered from the Mary Rose (sunk 1545) show how heavy the draw weights were. In the Wars of the Roses both sides fielded massed longbowmen, as at Towton in 1461.

Draw weight
commonly about 100–150 lb (Mary Rose bows)
Range
about 250–300 yd for volleys with light arrows
Rate
up to 10–12 arrows a minute for a trained archer
Photo: Archer's kit and longbow from the Mary Rose · Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 4.0
Poleaxe

Poleaxe

Staff weapon · about 1400–1550

At Barnet: Warwick fought on foot, by tradition to show he would not desert his men, and was killed making for his horse.

The armored man-at-arms' weapon for fighting on foot: an axe or hammer head with spikes on a long haft, built to crush and pierce plate. At Agincourt dismounted men-at-arms on both sides fought with poleaxes, swords and lances cut down to a manageable length.

Length
about 1.5–2 m
Head
axe or hammer, with a top spike and often a back spike
Use
two-handed, by armored men on foot
Photo: Italian poleaxe, Metropolitan Museum of Art · CC0
Plate armor

Plate armor

Full harness of steel plates · about 1400–1600 (transitional mail and plate earlier)

At Barnet: The Duke of Exeter was badly wounded and left for dead in his armor, but survived.

By 1415 a man-at-arms could be enclosed head to foot in steel. It kept most arrows out, but at Agincourt the French men-at-arms advanced across soaked, plowed ground under arrow fire and arrived exhausted, packed so tightly that many could not lift their weapons. At Poitiers in 1356 armor was still transitional: mail, coats of plates and growing plate limb defenses.

Weight
about 20–30 kg, spread over the body
Protection
proof against most arrows except at short range or weak points
Weakness
heat, exhaustion and mud
Photo: Gothic plate armour · Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr

Yorkist army (Edward IV)

Early cannon (pot-de-fer and ribalds)

Early cannon (pot-de-fer and ribalds)

Gunpowder artillery · from the 1320s

At Barnet: Edward kept his guns silent through the night so as not to reveal how close he lay; the Yorkists also brought Flemish handgunners, whose lead shot the 2015-18 survey hoped to find.

The earliest European guns were small cast vessels firing bolts or balls. The Italian chronicler Giovanni Villani says the English fired guns at Crécy, frightening the horses; English royal accounts show guns were later sent to the siege of Calais, and historians still argue over whether any fired on 26 August 1346. The illustration, from Walter de Milemete's treatise of 1326, is one of the oldest pictures of a gun.

Projectile
iron or lead balls, or large bolts
Charge
black powder
Effect
more noise and shock than killing power
Photo: Walter de Milemete, 1326 · public domain
English bill

English bill

Polearm · 14th–16th century

At Barnet: The fighting in the fog was hand to hand for about three hours by the Arrivall's account.

A farm billhook on a long shaft, the standard weapon of English infantry in the Wars of the Roses alongside the longbow. Its hook could pull armored men down and its spike and blade finish them.

Length
about 1.8–2.4 m
Head
hooked blade with spike
Users
English foot soldiers
Photo: Monstrelet · CC BY-SA 3.0
English longbow

English longbow

Self bow of yew · about 1250–1550

At Barnet: Archers on both sides shot blind into the mist.

A single stave of yew, as tall as a man, that took years of practice to draw. Massed in thousands behind stakes or hedges, English archers broke French charges at Crécy, Poitiers and Agincourt by killing and maddening the horses and pinning men-at-arms in the crush. Bows recovered from the Mary Rose (sunk 1545) show how heavy the draw weights were. In the Wars of the Roses both sides fielded massed longbowmen, as at Towton in 1461.

Draw weight
commonly about 100–150 lb (Mary Rose bows)
Range
about 250–300 yd for volleys with light arrows
Rate
up to 10–12 arrows a minute for a trained archer
Photo: Archer's kit and longbow from the Mary Rose · Tim Sheerman-Chase · CC BY 4.0
Plate armor

Plate armor

Full harness of steel plates · about 1400–1600 (transitional mail and plate earlier)

At Barnet: Edward IV and Gloucester fought in the front of their battles; several Yorkist lords died.

By 1415 a man-at-arms could be enclosed head to foot in steel. It kept most arrows out, but at Agincourt the French men-at-arms advanced across soaked, plowed ground under arrow fire and arrived exhausted, packed so tightly that many could not lift their weapons. At Poitiers in 1356 armor was still transitional: mail, coats of plates and growing plate limb defenses.

Weight
about 20–30 kg, spread over the body
Protection
proof against most arrows except at short range or weak points
Weakness
heat, exhaustion and mud
Photo: Gothic plate armour · Rama · CC BY-SA 2.0 fr

Paintings and photographs

The Battle of Barnet (Ghent manuscript)
The Battle of Barnet (Ghent manuscript) A late-fifteenth-century miniature of the battle from the Ghent manuscript of the Arrivall. Unknown artist — public domain · source
Hadley Highstone
Hadley Highstone The Hadley Highstone, an eighteenth-century obelisk marking the traditional site of the battle; it was moved about 1840. Jappalang (cropped) — CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley
St Mary the Virgin, Monken Hadley Monken Hadley church, near where Gloucester's attack turned Exeter's flank; the present tower dates from about 1494. N Chadwick — CC BY-SA 2.0 · source

Where was it fought? The Barnet Battlefield Project (2015-18; Foard, Partida and Wilson, University of Huddersfield, for Barnet Museum, the Battlefields Trust and the Barnet Society) found no definite battle evidence in its fieldwork, but its report, reading the primary accounts against the historic landscape, argues that Kicks End common, the heath between the two medieval roads north of Barnet, fits them best; the report says this ground would have let Warwick deploy east-west, with lower, possibly marshy ground toward Monken Mead in front of him. Bruce Watson ('Looking for the site of the Battle of Barnet', London Archaeologist, 2022) puts the best estimate as a circle of 1 km radius centered on Kitt's End. This version shifts the battle lines, Warwick's death and the pursuit about 750 m north of the traditional Hadley Green position; the Yorkist approach and Hastings' flight into Barnet are unchanged. The exact lines are conjectural. Open this version in the map.

Free for everyone every year on its anniversary: April 14.

Accuracy score: 52/100 (limited)

How the accuracy score works

Sources and method

Barnet, 14 April 1471. The registered battlefield is Historic England's Battle of Barnet 1471 (list entry 1000001, NGR TQ 24514 97590); the deployment drawn here follows its 1995 English Heritage battlefield report (after Burne and Hammond): Lancastrians on Hadley Green W–E Oxford, Montagu, Exeter; Yorkists W–E Hastings, Edward, Gloucester; strengths about 15,000 and 10,000–12,000; the Great Chronicle's 'erryd of his waye' is quoted from it. The alternative reading comes from the Barnet Battlefield Project (2015–18; Foard, Partida and Wilson, University of Huddersfield, for Barnet Museum with the Battlefields Trust and the Barnet Society): Barnet Battlefield Project 2015–2018 and its landscape report (Archaeology Data Service), reviewed by Bruce Watson in 'Looking for the site of the Battle of Barnet', London Archaeologist 16.7 (2022) and reported by the Barnet Society (2021, 2015) and Barnet Museum. Contemporary sources: the Yorkist Historie of the Arrivall of Edward IV (1471), John Warkworth's chronicle (modernized extract), the Paston letters and Gerhard von Wesel's newsletter, as quoted in the project report. F. C. Cass, 'The Battle of Barnet', Transactions of the London and Middlesex Archaeological Society 6 (1882), gives the Hadley Green case and Dead Man's Bottom; BritishBattles.com and Encyclopaedia Britannica for the outline. Fixed points from the statutory lists: the Hadley Highstone (1078808), Kitt's End Lodge (1103529), Wrotham Park (1174715), St Mary's, Monken Hadley (1078819), St John the Baptist, Chipping Barnet (1359101), and Old Fold Manor (1064882), with grid references converted to latitude and longitude. Battle lines, the hedge, Wrotham Wood and Dead Man's Bottom are conjectural.

Where the positions come from

Further reading