Battle of Boroughbridge (1322)
Who Fought
Royalists: approximately 4,000; Rebels: sources vary, cited as roughly 700 knights and men-at-arms (Wikipedia) or circa 1,000 (DB record) - exact rebel numbers not precisely fixed across sources
History & Significance
The Battle of Boroughbridge was fought on 16 March 1322 in England between a group of rebellious barons and the forces of King Edward II, near Boroughbridge, north-west of York. The culmination of a long period of antagonism between the King and Thomas, Earl of Lancaster, his most powerful subject, it resulted in Lancaster's defeat and execution, ending the Despenser War. This allowed Edward to re-establish royal authority and hold on to power for almost five more years.
Though not a part of the Wars of Scottish Independence, the battle is significant for its employment of tactics learned in the Scottish wars in a domestic, English conflict. Both the extensive use of foot soldiers rather than cavalry and the heavy impact caused by the longbow represented significant steps in military developments.
Edward II was a weak and ineffectual king (made to look the more so by comparison with his father and son, Edward I and Edward III), and his reign was marked by military failure and internal strife. A great number of the barons turned against the King and Thomas of Lancaster eventually became the leader of the opposition. Lancaster was Edward's cousin and next to the King was the richest man in the country. Through a set of regulations known as the Ordinances, Lancaster and his associates had been trying to put restrictions on royal authority, but by the late 1310s Edward was again in full control of central government. The situation was aggravated by the King's ostentatious patronage of his favourite, Hugh Despenser, and Hugh's father by the same name.
In 1319 the King and Lancaster fell out during a failed campaign against Scotland. The next year Lancaster refused to attend a parliament summoned by the King, and later the same year Edward obtained papal absolution from his oath to follow the Ordinances. Meanwhile an inheritance dispute had broken out in the Welsh Marches between the Despensers and certain marcher lords, including Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. Lancaster now took the initiative with the discontented. In 1321 he summoned two meetings of magnates, one at Lancaster's residence of Pontefract in March and the other at Sherburn in June. The meetings consisted of northern and marcher lords as well as Lancaster's own retainers, but little assistance was forthcoming from the northerners. The marcher rebellion and the threat of civil war forced the King to exile the younger Despenser, but the favourite was recalled within weeks.
Edward now seized the initiative and moved northwards. Lancaster convened one final meeting at Doncaster in November and also entered into an alliance with Robert I of Scotland to strengthen his hand against the King. In January 1322 Edward crossed the River Severn and secured the surrender of several of the marcher lords while Lancaster remained passive. As the royal army crossed the River Trent after the Battle of Burton Bridge Lancaster was forced to flee north. On 16 March Lancaster and his army had reached Boroughbridge by the River Ure, where they were joined by the Earl's Secretary, Sir Robert de Holland, and the force he had raised in Lancashire. There they were cut off by the forces of Sir Andrew Harclay, a veteran of the Scottish wars, who had gathered the levies from the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland.
The ground they fought on
The site of Battle of Boroughbridge (1322) lies on Triassic Rocks (Undifferentiated), bedrock that formed in the Triassic. The rock here is sandstone and conglomerate, interbedded.
This battlefield is listed on the Register of Historic Battlefields — a national designation identifying Britain's most significant battle sites for protection and further research. Reference: NHLE 1000003.
Frequently Asked Questions
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- Battle of Boroughbridge 1322 · Historic England
- Battle of Boroughbridge · Wikidata
- Battle_of_Boroughbridge · Wikipedia
- Battle of Boroughbridge · Battlefields Trust