An Arquebusier's Recollections of the War of the Roses

 Primary 1. William Gregory, Chronicle of London. (Historical Collections of a Citizen of London in the 15th Century. London: 1876) pp. 212 It’s a 15th Century English chronicle that describes various events that occurred in the War of the Roses. It contains a description of the use of arquebusiers in the second battle of St. Alban’s. Secondary 1. Addie A. Knight. A Study of History --(II). (New England Journal of Education, Vol. 10, No. 11. October 2, 1879) pp.177 The subject of this source is a brief history of England beginning in the 15th Century. It’s the only scholarly article I could find that mentions one of the battles of St. Alban’s. Primary 2. John Warkworth. Chronicle. (London, 1839) It’s a 15th Century English chronicle that describes important events in the War of the Roses. It contains a description of the impact of artillery in the siege of Bamborough. Secondary 2. Cora L. Scofield. The Movements of the Earl of Warwick in the Summer of 1464. (The English Hist...

            My fifth and final battle was many years later at Bosworth Field. ( Yes, the one bards sing of) King Edward had long since died and his younger ( and much less capable ) brother Richard III was King when word reached London that Henry Tudor had returned from France and had landed in South Wales. I was part of the royal artillery though I was getting on in years so when word came to King Richard that Henry Tudor was mustering an army in Wales, we were off to Leicester where the King’s army was being mustered. After the King’s army had been mobilized, we were to meet Henry Tudor’s army to the south near Bosworth Market .       Th e morning of the battle came with both sides arrayed against each other and we began our bombardment. Henry’s forces had guns of their own and we were soon exchanging volleys. So it continued that day for many hours, the ground shaking with each volley and the smoke billowing in great drifts like ...

            The fourth battle I fought in was mere weeks after the third.  It was not two days after the battle at Barnet that word came to our lord King Edward IV that King Henry VI’s wife, Queen Margeret Anjou whose soldiers had nearly done me in at Saint Alban’s all those years ago, was gathering a rebel army in the west.  We had hardly enough time to rest before we were off again, this time to the west to catch the Queen before she and her army could cross into Wales. It was a hard and bitter march from London to the Cotswold's before we finally caught up with the Queen’s forces in the hills below Tewkesbury near where the river Avon meets the river Severn .   When we were arrayed for battle the following morning, we saw that Queen Margeret’s forces were pitched amid a mess of lanes, hedges, and diches, making their position most difficult to approach. The King, however, directed us, his artillery, to fire upon the enemy’s right ...

            Six years and several strange twists of fate later, I took part in my third battle which was at Barnet outside of London. It was spring of 1471, Lord Warwick had driven King Edward IV out of England and King Henry VI was back on the throne. As a northerner and a supporter of King Edward, I was greatly bothered by these circumstances but chose to remain quiet for fear of reprisal and so remained as a gunner in the royal artillery in London. Then one morning in spring while Lord Warwick was in Coventry, who should appear with army but King Edward IV! Soon, he was back on the throne, and we were once again King Edward’s gun. We had little time to celebrate for no sooner had King Edward and his army supped and rested than we marched out to meet Lord Warwick’s forces to the north. We met their army coming in the other direction in the fields north of the town of Barnet but, as it was late, Warwick retreated t...

  My second experience with combat was some years after my first. It was the third year of the reign of King Edward IV, and I had set aside my hand cannon and culverin to be a member of the royal artillery. Lord Warwick had requested the assistance of the King’s gun in his siege of Castle Bamburough , where Sir Ralph Grey had given refuge to Henry VI, and so we went with the King’s great iron guns, London and New-Castle, and his brass gun, Dysyson , of which I was one of the gunners, to the Northumberland. As soon as we arrived and arrayed the guns against the castle, Lord Warwick offered a chance to surrender which Sir Grey unwisely refused, and so our bombardment began.     What a sight ( and sound ) it was! The three great guns fired together, and the thunderclap and billowing smoke made it seem as though a storm had fallen from the sky to settle on the ground. Whole stones were wrenched from the walls and thrown into t...

       I can see by thy parchments and pens thou art a scrivener, and a chronicler thou say .  Now what beings thee, lad, to the finest alehouse in York ?  Thou art writing a chronicle of the civil wars and are searching for an old soldier to tell his tale ?  Well, thou did come to the right place for tis true old soldiers are right fond of ale and telling tales . I will tell thee mine for a pint, for I was a soldier myself and a gunner   at that, which thou might have guessed since we gunners talk louder than most .   I fought for his grace, the Duke of York ( God rest his soul ), his good son King Edward the IV ( God rest him ), and eventually for his other son, King Richard III ( I don't much care whether God rests his soul or not ) .  Now then, I imagine thou’ll be wanting to hear about the diverse battles and combats of the civil wars, so I'll begin with my very first battle .  It was the second battle of Sa...