First Battle of St Albans

The First Battle of St Albans, fought on 22 May 1455 at St Albans, 22 miles (35 km) north of London, traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses. Richard, Duke of York and his ally, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, defeated the Lancastrians under Edmund, Duke of Somerset, who was killed. With King Henry VI captured, the parliament appointed Richard, Duke of York, Lord Protector.

Background
By Christmas of 1454, King Henry had recovered from his illness, which was quickly followed by the Duke of York's resignation of his protectorate. The Duke of Somerset was restored to his former position and given York's former post as the Captaincy of Calais. With his court reconvened at Westminster by mid April 1455, Henry and a select council of nobles, minus York and Warwick, decided to hold a great council at Leicester. Both York and Warwick, believing this council would question their loyalty, gathered their retinue and marched to stop Henry from reaching Leicester. Their forces met at St Albans.

Fighting
The Lancastrian army of 2,000 troops arrived at St Albans first, with Buckingham in command, and proceeded to defend it by placing troops along the Tonman Ditch and at the bars in Sopwell Lane and Shropshire Lane. The 7,000-strong Yorkist army arrived and camped in Keyfield to the east. Lengthy negotiations ensued with heralds moving back and forth between the rival commanders. After a few hours, it was believed in the Yorkist camp that King Henry VI knew nothing of the letters of negotiation.

After several hours, Richard, despairing of a peaceful solution, decided to attack. The bulk of Henry's forces were surprised by the speed of Richard's attack; most of the army was expecting a peaceful resolution similar to the one at Blackheath in 1452. However, two Yorkist frontal assaults down the narrow streets against the barricades near St Peter's Church, which were command by Lord de Clifford, made no headway and resulted in heavy casualties for the Yorkists.

Warwick took his reserve troops through an unguarded part of the town's defences, through back lanes and gardens. Suddenly the earl appeared in the market square where the main body of Henry's troops were talking and resting. There is evidence they were not yet expecting to be involved in the fighting, as many were not even wearing their helmets. Warwick charged instantly with his force, routing the Lancastrians and killing the Duke of Somerset.

On the earl's orders, his archers then shot at the men surrounding the king, killing several and injuring the king and the Duke of Buckingham. The Lancastrians manning the barricades realised the Yorkists had ouflanked them and, fearing an attack from behind, abandoned their positions and fled the town.

Result
The first battle of St Albans was relatively minor in military terms, but politically was a complete victory for York and Warwick: York had captured the king and restored himself to complete power, while his rivals Somerset and Warwick's arch-enemies Henry Percy, Second Earl of Northumberland, and Lord de Clifford both fell during the rout. Among the wounded were Buckingham, Thomas, Earl of Devon and Somerset's son Henry Beaufort, the Earl of Dorset.

The next day, York and Warwick escorted King Henry back to London. The Duke of York was restored as Protector of England by the parliament a few months later.

In literature
Shakespeare's historic play Henry VI, Part 2 ends with the conclusion of this battle.