Battle of Edgcote

Battle of Edgcote
Part of the Wars of the Roses
Danes Moor, site of the battle
Date 24 July 1469 Location Danes Moor, Northamptonshire, England Result Rebel victory
Belligerents
House of York (royal)	House of York (rebel)
Commanders and leaders
Earl of Pembroke  Earl of Devon	Robin of Redesdale † Sir William Conyers Sir Geoffrey Gate Sir William Parr
Strength
Pembroke; estimated 3,000 - 5,000 Devon; estimated 800 - 1,500[1]	Estimated 3,000 - 5,000
Casualties and losses
168 knights and gentry, c. 2,000 others[2]	Unknown

The Battle of Edgcote (also known as the Battle of Banbury or the Battle of Danes Moor) took place on 24 July 1469,^[3] during the Wars of the Roses. It was fought between a royal army, commanded by the earls of Pembroke and Devon, and a rebel force led by supporters of the Earl of Warwick.

The battle took place 6 miles (9.7 km) northeast of Banbury in Oxfordshire; it resulted in a rebel victory which temporarily handed power over to the Earl of Warwick. By September, though, Edward IV of England was back in control, and Warwick found himself in a situation similar to the one before the battle, prompting him to plan a second rebellion. After Edgcote there was no turning back. Edward could no longer trust him fully and he was inexorably moving towards becoming a Lancastrian.

Edgcote has a reputation for being one of the least well-documented battles of the period, though numerous contemporary, or near contemporary, records and chronicles refer to it.^[4] Details in accounts diverge in terms of numbers, leaders, casualties, and the course of the fighting, but not all of these "divergences" are contradictory. The heavy casualties suffered by Pembroke's Welsh forces made it a popular topic for Welsh poets.