For the storming of Wakefield by a Roundhead force in 1643, see Capture of Wakefield.
Battle of Wakefield
Part of the Wars of the Roses
Date
30 December 1460
Location
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England
Result
Lancastrian victory
Belligerents
House of Lancaster Supported by: Kingdom of Scotland
House of York
Commanders and leaders
Duke of Somerset
Earl of Northumberland
Earl of Devon
Baron Clifford
Baron Neville
Baron Ros
Andrew Trollope
Duke of York †
Earl of Rutland
Earl of Salisbury
Strength
18,000
9,000
Casualties and losses
200
700–2,500
v
t
e
Wars of the Roses
1st St Albans
Blore Heath
Ludford Bridge
Sandwich
London (1460)
Northampton
Worksop
Wakefield
Mortimer's Cross
2nd St Albans
Ferrybridge
Towton
Piltown
Hedgeley Moor
Hexham
Edgcote
Losecoat Field
Barnet
Tewkesbury
London (1471)
Buckingham's rebellion
Bosworth Field
Stafford's & Lovell's rebellion
Stoke Field
Wakefield
St. Albans
Ludford Bridge
Mortimer's Cross
Northampton
London
Harlech
Kingston upon Hull
Berwick upon Tweed
Worksop
York
Calais
Coventry
Chester
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Locations:
– Battle of Wakefield; – other battles; – other places
The Battle of Wakefield took place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. It was a major battle of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing forces were an army led by nobles loyal to the captive King Henry VI of the House of Lancaster and his Queen Margaret of Anjou on one side, and the army of Richard, Duke of York, the rival claimant to the throne, on the other.
For several years before the battle, the Duke of York had become increasingly opposed to the weak King Henry's court. 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's and Margaret's 7-year-old son Edward, Prince of Wales. Margaret of Anjou and several prominent nobles were irreconcilably opposed to this accord, and massed their armies in the north. Richard of York marched north to deal with them, but found he was outnumbered.
Although he occupied Sandal Castle, York sortied from the castle on 30 December. His reasons for doing so have been variously ascribed to deception by the Lancastrian armies, or treachery by some nobles and Lancastrian officers who York thought were his allies, or simple rashness or miscalculation by York. He was killed and his army was destroyed. Many of the prominent Yorkist leaders and their family members died in the battle or were captured and executed.
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Global Information
House of Lancaster
House of York
– Battle of Wakefield; 
– other battles; 
– other places