Battle of Wakefield 1460
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Marker: recorded battle location (no official boundary).
Key facts
| Date (year) | 1460 | Wikidata P585 point in time |
|---|---|---|
| Century | 15th century | derived |
| Period | Wars of the Roses & late medieval | derived |
| Country | England | derived |
| War / conflict | Wars of the Roses | Wikidata |
About the battle
The 'Battle' of Wakefield has traditionally been said to have taken place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. Recent research demonstrates that it was not a battle in the proper sense of a word, but a small-scale skirmish that resulted in the capture and subsequent deaths of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury.
For several years before the battle, the Duke of York – a descendant of two (both the second and fourth) of Edward III's surviving sons – had become increasingly opposed to the court of the mentally incapacitated Lancastrian King Henry VI (descended from Edward III's third surviving son) and his Queen, the formidable Margaret of Anjou. After open warfare broke out between the factions and Henry became his prisoner, he laid claim to the throne, but lacked sufficient support. Instead, in an agreement known as the Act of Accord, he was made Henry's heir to the throne, displacing from the succession Henry and Margaret's 7-year-old son Edward, Prince of Wales.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 53.6801, -1.4922
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Wakefield (revision 1370786203), 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
- Capture of Wakefield 1643 · 0 km
- Battle of Leeds 1643 · 13 km
- Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643 · 15 km
- Battle of Ferrybridge 1461 · 15 km
- Battle of Seacroft Moor 1643 · 20 km
- Battle of the Trent 679 · 20 km
Other battles of the Wars of the Roses
- First Battle of St Albans 1455
- Battle of Blore Heath 1459
- Battle of Ludford Bridge 1459
- Battle of Northampton 1460
- Battle of Worksop 1460
- Battle of Ferrybridge 1461
- Battle of Mortimer's Cross 1461
- Battle of Towton, 1461
- Second Battle of St Albans 1461
- Battle of Piltown 1462
All battles of the Wars of the Roses →
Browse more: battles in England · Wars of the Roses & late medieval · 15th century battles