Battle of Stoke Field 1487

[carojon]

On a recent trip to Wargames Foundry and the Partizan Show, I and a few friends took time out to make the best of the recent weather to visit the battlefield of Stoke Field.



If you would like to know more then just follow the link to JJ's

https://jjwargames.blogspot.com/2018/06/battle-of-stoke-field-16th-june-1487.html

Jonathan (JJ)

[SirGromit1879]

Interesting reading it is nice to see photos showing various points and locations of the battle, thank you. I was a bit gutted to miss Wargames Foundry's open day for the anniversary of Stoke field. Hopefully next year!

Also , such a facinating thought to think that one of the commanders that walked on that ground had also served under Charles the Bold.

[Gangleri]

What a pleasure it was to read your (quite thorough) description of the battlefield.  Despite my fascination with the battle I have never had the chance to visit the ground on which it was fought.  Your post also gave me an urge to restart my old, incomplete plog of the Yorkist army at Stoke field - maybe I'll get around to that this summer.

[rivers3162]

Thank you very much for such a thorough and detailed post. I had the good fortune to be able to go up to the Foundry Stoke Field event last year and walk the battlefield.

It’s one of the most interesting battles of the Wars of the Roses to me. I still find the logistics of it amazing - to be able to assemble a multinational force from Germany, Burgundy, Ireland and England and March them from Cumbria to Nottinghamshire in so little time is no mean feat.

[Arlequín]

They had to be quick, the expense alone must have been crippling and although the Dowager-Duchess Margaret was wealthy in her own right, the purse wasn't bottomless.

The timing was excellent though, Maximilian had just brought Bruge and Ghent to heel from their most recent rebellion and unemployed mercenaries would have been a problem. As noted above, Schwartz wasn't a nobody, he was a fairly prominent captain in Maximilian's army and within the inner circle enough to carry Max's ceremonial sword on occasion. The Irish lords of the Geraldine faction cheerfully signed up, bringing their own 'private standing armies' with them.

The claimed 200 mile march, from the West Coast, over the Pennines to Tadcaster, in five days would be pretty impressive, if it wasn't actually just 118 miles, or about 24 miles a day. This was roughly the same distance/time taken by Edward IV when he marched to Cirencester from London in 1471, albeit over flatter terrain. Assuming the lead elements set out at dawn and the last elements made camp 12 hours later, they averaged 2 miles per hour.

What I find most interesting (besides the battle itself of course), are the five days of skirmishing that took place after the Pretender's army reached Yorkshire. The Wikipedia article fills in the details.