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a great deal of difficulty in getting them back into line. He then rode back to the battlefield, he and his men wearing the blazing star badge of the de Veres. In the dark and mist, Montague’s soldiers, who saw them coming first, mistook it for the King’s ‘Sun in Splendour’ badge, and fired several volleys of arrows, at which Oxford and his force of 800 men fled from the field, crying ‘Treason! Treason!’ The word ‘treason’ spread like wildfire through the Lancastrian centre and shattered morale, and it was clearly this that turned the tide of the battle. Men panicked and began to run away from the fighting. Even when Montague’s men realised what had happened, they thought that Oxford and his troops had gone over to the Yorkists and pursued and fell on them in anger. Some cried that Warwick was planning to halt the battle and come to terms with the King, which many regarded as a betrayal. There was chaos in the Lancastrian ranks, and the King took full advantage of it, leading in his reserve to attack Warwick’s centre. A furious mêlée ensued, which broke the Lancastrian line. Montague was killed, possibly by one of Oxford’s men.

Hard-pressed in the thick of the mêlée, Warwick tried to rally his men to fill in the gap left by Montague, but failed. The panic manifested by his soldiers was infectious, and he could not prevent the increasing surge of terrified men from fleeing the battle. In desperation, he dismounted and, gathering his best knights together, cried, ‘If we withstand this one charge, the field will be ours!’ As the Yorkist cavalry came up at full speed, the Earl wielded his sword to great effect and fought bravely, as did his household knights and retainers, but most of them were cut down by mounted Yorkist knights in armour, who galloped on, leaving behind them a scene of carnage.

Warwick, realising at this point that the day was lost, decided on flight, and made his way on foot towards Wrotham Wood where his horse was tethered. The King, knowing that victory was his, had sent a messenger cantering across the field to shout out the order that Warwick’s life was to be spared, but a group of Yorkist soldiers, who had seen the Earl making his escape, either ignored the order or did not hear it, for they bore down on him and killed him, stripping his body of its armour and leaving it lying there naked. As news of his death spread, the remnants of his army lost heart and fled.

There were heavy casualties on both sides. The King, unusually, had not instructed his men to spare the common foot soldiers, and at least 1000 Lancastrians lay dead on the field. Yorkist losses amounted to about 500, among them many of Edward’s most faithful adherents – Lord Cromwell, Lord Say, Lord Berners’ son Humphrey Bourchier, Sir John Paston and many members of the Yorkist royal household. Thomas Howard was ‘sore hurt’, while on the Lancastrian side Exeter was ‘greatly despoiled and wounded’, according to Warkworth, and left for dead on the field. Only later did he manage to make his escape. Oxford and a small band of retainers likewise fled, taking refuge in Scotland.

John Paston, whose father had died in the battle fighting for the Yorkists, had himself fought for Warwick and fled wounded from the field with the rest of the Earl’s army. He now went into hiding, desperate with anxiety as to what might happen to him, and praying that the King would proclaim a general pardon. Edward was markedly lenient with men of the gentry class who had fought for the enemy, being concerned only to bring the magnates to justice, but John Paston did not know that. For two weeks he lay low until his money ran out. Unable to obtain credit, he wrote to his mother asking for help to pay for ‘leech craft and physic and rewards to them that have kept me and conducted me to London, and hath cost me since Easter Day more than £5, and now I have neither meat, drink, clothes, leechcraft nor money’. John Paston did in the end secure a royal pardon, as did his younger brother who had also fought for Warwick.

The battle lasted between two and three hours and