Battle of Clyst Heath 1455
Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1455 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 15th century | derived |
| Period | Wars of the Roses & late medieval | derived |
| Country | England | derived |
| War / conflict | Bonville–Courtenay feud | Wikidata |
About the battle
The Bonville–Courtenay feud of 1455 engendered a series of raids, sieges, and attacks between two major Devon families, the Courtenays and the Bonvilles, in south west England, in the mid-fifteenth century. One of many such aristocratic feuds of the time, it became entwined with national politics due to the political weight of the protagonists. The Courtenay earls of Devon were the traditional powerbrokers in the region, but by this time a local baronial family, the Bonvilles, had become more powerful and rivalled the Courtenays for royal patronage. Eventually this rivalry spilled over into physical violence, including social disorder, murder, and siege.
The Bonville–Courtenay feud is often given as an example of the degree to which law and order and respect for the king had broken down in the provinces. As a result, modern historians have often considered it a cause of the later Wars of the Roses; and indeed, the course of the feud often closely followed the sectarian politics of the day. The feud is perhaps most well known for culminating in an armed encounter at Clyst (called the fight, or sometimes the battle, of Clyst), near Exeter, which resulted in loss of life.
The events at Clyst resulted in government intervention in the politics of the West Country.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Approximate location: the point for Clyst Heath, the place Wikidata gives as the battle’s location: 50.7115, -3.4745
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Bonville–Courtenay feud (revision 1369917358), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs and trimming at sentence boundaries; citations removed. No text added.
Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby battlefields
- Battle of Pinhoe 1001 · 4 km
- Siege of Exeter 1642 · 4 km
- Siege of Exeter 630 · 4 km
- Siege of Exeter 1068 · 4 km
- Battle of Bovey Heath 1646 · 20 km
- Siege of Tiverton 1645 · 21 km
Browse more: battles in Devon · battles in England · Wars of the Roses & late medieval · 15th century battles
Further reading
- Battle of Clyst Heath on Battlefields of the World (the battle in world context, with others of its war worldwide)
- Wikipedia: Bonville–Courtenay feud
- Wikidata Q19871087