First Battle of St Albans 1455
![James Henry Ramsay (1859–1925)[1]](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_for_First_Battle_of_St_Alban%27s_by_Ramsay.jpg){kind=link}
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 | Wars of the Roses | Wikidata |
About the battle
The First Battle of St Albans took place on 22 May 1455, at St Albans, 22 miles (35 km) north of London, and traditionally marks the beginning of the Wars of the Roses in England. Richard, Duke of York, and his allies, the Neville Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, defeated a royal army commanded by Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset. Unusually, the battle was contested in the town of St Albans itself, with the bulk of the fighting taking place in
the streets. Somerset was killed in the battle, and King Henry VI captured, clearing the way for a subsequent parliament to appoint Richard of York Lord Protector.
Visiting the battlefield
Location
- Recorded location (Wikidata; may be approximate): 51.7487, 0.3390
Battlefields are often on private farmland: please keep to public rights of way and respect landowners.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article First Battle of St Albans (revision 1372030876), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations removed. No text added.
Battle location from Wikidata (CC0).