Battle of Edgcote

The Battle of Edgcote was fought near Banbury on 24 July 1469 during a rebellion against Edward IV. A royal army led by William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, encountered forces raised under the name Robin of Redesdale and associated with Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick.

The royal army was defeated, and William Herbert and his brother Richard were captured and executed. Edward IV was subsequently placed under Warwick’s control, although the earl could not establish a stable government through the king.

This context supports fiction about the Midlands rising of 1469, Warwick’s break with Edward IV, local loyalties during the Wars of the Roses and families drawn into rebellion before the Readeption crisis.