Battle of Ludford Bridge - Battle

Battle

Even after this defeat, the forces available to Henry and Margaret outnumbered York's, Salisbury's and Warwick's combined armies by two to one. The Yorkist army tried to move towards London, but found their path blocked by the Lancastrian army with King Henry himself nominally at its head, and fell back to Worcester. Here, Richard attended mass in the cathedral before sending written protestations of his loyalty to Henry. These were ignored.

Richard retreated towards Ludlow, before making a stand at a fortified position near Ludford, Shropshire on 12 October. His troops excavated a defensive ditch in a field on the opposite side of the River Teme from Ludlow, near the bridge which gave the battle its name. They also constructed barricades of carts in which cannon were emplaced. However, morale was low, not least because the royal standard could be seen flying in the Lancastrian army, and it was known that King Henry himself was present, in full armour. For much of his reign, Henry had been regarded as an ineffectual ruler, and he had even lapsed into madness for periods of several months at a time. Richard of York and his supporters had maintained that they were opposed only to Henry's "evil counsellors". Now they realised that their army would probably refuse to fight against Henry himself.

Among the troops brought by Warwick from Calais were 600 men led by Andrew Trollope, an experienced soldier. During the night, Trollope and his men defected to the Lancastrians. On hearing this, York, Salisbury and Warwick crossed the bridge and went at midnight into Ludlow, ostensibly for refreshment. They then abandoned their armies and fled. York, with his second son Edmund, Earl of Rutland, fled into Wales, and from there to Ireland. Salisbury, Warwick and York's eldest son Edward, Earl of March went to the West Country where a supporter, Sir John Dynham, loaned them a boat which took them to Calais, where the garrison still supported Warwick.

At dawn on 13 October, the leaderless Yorkist troops knelt in submission before Henry, and were pardoned. York had abandoned not only his troops but also his wife Cecily Neville, Duchess of York, his two younger sons and his daughter, who were found standing at the Ludlow Market Cross when the Lancastrians arrived. They were placed in the care of the Duchess's sister Anne, wife of Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham, one of Margaret's supporters. The Lancastrian troops proceeded to plunder Ludlow, becoming drunk on looted wine and committing many outrages.