Background
The Yorkist cause seemed finished after the previous disaster at Ludford Bridge. Some of the Yorkist commanders (the Earl of Warwick, his father the Earl of Salisbury and York's son Edward, Earl of March) reached Calais on 2 November 1459, where Warwick found his uncle Lord Fauconberg. Meanwhile York and his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, retired to the relative safety of Ireland.
On the English mainland, the Lancastrians were quick to exploit the Yorkist flight. The Earl of Wiltshire was appointed Lieutenant of Ireland and the Duke of Somerset became Captain of Calais. Neither however succeeded in occupying their new posts as the Irish refused to dislodge York and the gates of Calais remained firmly closed to their new 'Captain'.
The Lancastrians gave Somerset an army to storm Calais, but first they had to cross the Channel, so the construction of a fleet was started at Sandwich in Kent. No sooner had the ships been finished than Warwick made a raid on Sandwich and stole them. In May 1460, Warwick crossed the channel again and destroyed the new fleet under construction there. Warwick left his uncle in Sandwich with a small force of Yorkists to act as a bridgehead for his planned invasion of England.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Northampton (1460)
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