John Graham-Leigh is the Editor of Slingshot, the magazine of the Society of Ancients.  One of his many good ideas is to arrange for the same historical battle to be re-fought using as many different rule systems as possible.  Each re-fight is written up and printed in the same issue, allowing readers to compare and contrast the way in which the various systems coped with re-creating the encounter.  Following on from Cynocephalae and Gaugamela (c.f.), is Barnet.

A Description of the Battle of Barnet

The Battle of Barnet was one of the key engagements of the Wars of the Roses, resulting in the removal from the scene of one leading character, Warwick the Kingmaker, and the establishment of another, Edward IV, firmly on the throne of England.  It followed a complicated series of political events and a lightning campaign by Edward of York to retake London. 

One side in the battle was a loose Lancastrian alliance led by the Earl of Warwick, comprising his own Neville retainers, his brother the Marquess Montague (who had recently changed sides) and the “old Lancastrian” Duke of Exeter and Earl of Oxford.  None of these leaders can have trusted the others. 

On the Yorkist side, Edward IV could rely on his old friend Lord Hastings and his youngest brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, but scarcely on his other brother George, Duke of Clarence, who was Warwick’s son-in-law, had changed sides twice in the previous two years and had only recently rejoined the Yorkist cause.

The Yorkists advanced northwards from London and encountered Warwick’s army just north of Barnet in Hertfordshire, 10 miles from London.  The armies arrayed during the evening, ready for battle at first light; the morning of Easter Sunday, 14 April, started with thick fog obscuring the armies from each other. 

There is broad agreement on where the battle was fought – on an area of gently rolling heathland then known as Gladsmuir Heath and around the hamlet of Monken Hadley, astride the Great North Road.  Most historians of the battle also agree on approximate numbers – 9,000 to 12,000 men in the Yorkist army, 12,000 to 15,000 for the Lancastrians. 

The Yorkists deployed with Hastings commanding the left, Edward and Clarence in the centre and Gloucester on the right; Oxford led the Lancastrian right, Warwick and Montague the centre and Exeter the left. 

Each “battle” or division would have had a substantial proportion of archers, probably 30%-50%, and a much smaller proportion (perhaps 10%) of fully armoured men-at-arms with the rest being billmen.  Both armies contained a core of professional “retainers” and a larger number of recently-raised levies.  Given the amount of fighting during the previous 15 years, many even of the levies would have had some campaigning experience.  There is no mention of any cavalry taking part in this battle and probably all the men-at-arms fought on foot.

Because the armies deployed in the dark and advanced in thick fog, the lines were not directly opposite one another.  On the Yorkist right, Hastings’ men were overlapped by Oxford’s, while Gloucester similarly overlapped Exeter on the other flank.  Oxford’s attack routed part of Hastings’ division and the Earl then pursued fleeing Yorkists as far as Chipping Barnet (some of the fugitives reached London, announcing that the King was slain and all was lost).  Gloucester less dramatically drove back Exeter and the centre divisions locked in indecisive combat. 

Then Oxford’s men returned and were shot at by some of Montague’s men, who mistook their silver star badge in the fog for the sun badge of York.  When the mistake was realised, the cry of “Treason!” went up, and a large number of Lancastrian troops (including Oxford) fled the field.  The Yorkists pressed forward, Montague was killed, Exeter was desperately wounded and left for dead, the Lancastrian line dissolved and Warwick was killed in the pursuit.  Edward IV had won a complete victory.