The Rout of the Lanastrians at the Battle of Towton

As the Lancasatrian right wing collapsed into a mass of fleeing fugitives, Faucunberg sought to move his men round to attack the flank of the men commanded by Trollope. Some Yorkists could not resist the temptation to pursue the fleeing Lancastrians, cut them down and rob their bodies, but most followed their banners and put intolerable pressure on to Trollope just as Norfolk’s men smashed into the Lancastrian left wing.


The disintegration of the Lancastrian force gathered pace as the long day started to come to an end. An early dusk settled in as the heavily clouded sky blocked the weak evening sun. As darkness fell the Lancastrian centre gave way and fell back. At this point a Yorkist soldier armed with a crossbow spotted among the retreating Lancastrians the Lord Dacre who had killed his father at an earlier battle. The soldier scrambled into the branches of what was recorded at the time as a “bur tree”, an elder, to get a better shot. The bolt was loosed and at an impressively great range of 300 yards Lord Dacre fell dead. Even at the time the shot was recognised as having been a remarkable one and the elder tree became famous.What followed was not an orderly retreat, but nor was it a total rout. In places Lancastrian units fell apart and the men were cut down by the pursuing Yorkist hobilars. But other retreating units kept their formation well and fought off any effort to intercept them. There was something of a bottleneck where the road to Tadcaster crossed the River Cock, and bloodshed here was particularly savage. “The chase continued all night,” recorded Hall, “and the most part of the next day and every time they [the Lancastrians] perceived any advantage they returned to the battle again and fought with their enemies to the great loss of them all.” The chase went on for many hours, with some Lancastrian fugitives being pursued all the way to the gates of York. The eventual death toll was enormous and effectively settled the dispute between York and Lancaster for a generation. 
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