Battle of Twt Hill
The 2nd Battle of Twthill in Wales, fought on 16 October 1461, designated Saint Michael Day in Monte Tumba in the medieval calendar. A previous battle took place here 60 years earlier as part of Owain Glyndŵr’s rebellion against the English crown.
Context
At the end of March 1461 the Lancastrian cause suffered a calamitous reversal at the Battle of Towton in Yorkshire. On his way south the victorious Edward IV put “Black” William Herbert and his brothers Thomas and John in charge of a campaign to eliminate the remnants of Lancastrian resistance in Wales. To this end he made William Herbert Chief Justice and Chamberlain of South Wales and Steward of Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire.
William Herbert’s Orders
Edward’s commissions dated 9 and 11 May instructed the Herberts to capture:
1. The lordship of the Earl of Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, who was holding out in his estates in West Wales since his defeat at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross on 3 February;
2. The lordship of the Earl of Shrewsbury, John Talbot, who’d probably been on the run since Towton;
3. The lordship of the Earl of Wiltshire, James Butler, who was captured and executed after Towton;
4. Dunster Castle in Somerset, held by the Luttrell family, whose senior landowner Sir James had died of wounds received when he fought for the Lancastrians at the 2nd Battle of St Albans on 17 February.
Prelude to Twthill
Records for July 1461 suggest that the castles of Denbigh, Pembroke and Tenby were still being held by Lancastrians. But by 9 September Edward IV could write confidently from Bristol: ‘As for any grete doing in Wales I trust God we shal not doubte. The Lord Herbert and the Lord Ferrers of Chartley [Sir Walter Devereux] with divers many other gentilmen ben gone afore to clense the countreye afore us.’
Surrender of Pembroke Castle
Mighty Pembroke Castle was held for Jasper Tudor by Sir John Skydmore (or Scudamore), who had fought under him when he was defeated at Mortimer’s Cross. Although the castle was apparently sufficiently supplied to withstand a long siege, Skydmore surrendered to the Yorkists on the last day of September. This was done on the understanding that his life and lands would be spared, a promise backed up by a written guarantee from Lords Herbert and Ferrers. Edward IV still tried to pass a bill of attainder against Skydmore, and when parliament (with Herbert present) rejected it, he waited till most of the lords and knights had left so he could pass a private bill by which Skydmore lost his lands to the crown anyway.
Battle of Twthill / Twt Hill
By October 1461 most of the Lancastrian-held castles across Wales had been captured or surrendered, apart from Denbigh and Carreg Cennen, which surrendered in January and May 1462 respectively, and Harlech, which would resist a Yorkist takeover for another seven long years. Jasper Tudor’s army of North Wales Lancastrians, which included Henry Holland 3rd Duke of Exeter (Edward IV’s brother-in-law) and Thomas Fitzharry (or Fitzhenry) of Hereford, had by this time apparently taken refuge in the Welsh mountains. But on 16 October they were caught by a Yorkist army under Lord Herbert at Twthill, just outside the walls of Caernarfon, and defeated. Very little is known about this battle, but judging from the nobles involved troop numbers could have run into thousands.
Aftermath of Twthill / Twt Hill
Jasper Tudor displayed his usual skills of evading capture after yet another defeat, and fled to Ireland. Henry Holland also escaped, eventually to France, having lost all his lands and titles as the first ‘enemy’ of the king named on Edward IV’s post-Towton Act of Attainder. He returned to England ten years later to fight for Warwick the Kingmaker at the Battle of Barnet. While commanding the left wing of the Kingmaker’s army he was badly wounded and left for dead, but survived, only to drown in 1475 when he fell overboard during the return journey of Edward’s French Expedition. Duke Charles the Bold of Burgundy told a Milanese envoy that he was tossed overboard on the specific orders of Edward IV.
Article written by Tim Upton.
Featured Image
Composite comprising Twthill Castle as the background, an adaptation of a painting of William Herbert to the left, and a stained glass image of Jasper Tudor to the right.