View across the site of the Battle of Losecoat, near Empingham in Rutland, England, UK.
The Battle of Losecoat took place on 12 March 1470, part of the Wars of the Roses. "Edward's (King Edward IV) scouts informed him that the rebel army was some five miles from Stamford, arrayed for battle beside the Great North Road to the north of Tickencote Warren near Empingham in Rutland. Edward positioned his men in a battle line to the north of Welles' army (Sir Robert Welles), and then, in the space separating the two forces, had Lord Welles executed in view of both armies. This action set off the rebels (currently numbering 30,000), advancing with cries of ‘a’Warwick’ and ‘a’Clarence'. A single barrage of cannon balls was fired and then Edward had his men charge towards the enemy. Before the leaders of this attack could even come to blows with the rebel front line the battle was over. The rebels broke and fled rather than face the King's highly-trained men. Both captains, Sir Robert Welles and his commander of foot Richard Warren were captured during the rout and were executed a week later on 19 March. According to popular etymology, the name of the battle is explained in this way: many of Welles’ men were wearing jackets displaying Warwick’s and Clarence’s livery. Not wanting to be caught wearing such identification when the rout began, many of them discarded their garments. The battle was thus called ‘Lose-coat’. However the name is probably derived from the more mundane Old English hlose-cot meaning 'pigsty cottage'. Forms of Losecote also appear as field names in other parishes in Rutland. Contemporary accounts refer to the battle site as Hornfield (Horn is an adjacent parish). An adjacent woodland is now called Bloody Oaks." Wikipedia
Size: 3624px × 2415px
Location: near Empingham, Rutland, England, UK.
Photo credit: © Maurice Savage / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: battle, battlefield, britain, british, clouds, cloudy, england, english, house, lancaster, line, lose-coat, losecoat, overcast, robert, roses, sir, sky, tractor, uk, war, welles, wheatfield, york, yorkist
