The Battles on British Soil Trivia Quiz

Answer: Wars of Roses

There were two Battles of St Albans, one in 1455 and the second in 1461, both during the Wars of the Roses, the struggle between the houses of York and Lancaster for control of the English throne. By tradition, the 1455 battle is classed as the first of the Wars of the Roses and took place in the streets of the town rather than on a traditional battlefield.

The Yorkists were led by Richard, Duke of York, while King Edward VI, the Lancastrian, was present although incapacitated by his poor mental health, leaving the troops in the command of the Duke of Somerset. The Yorkist faction prevailed, the King was captured and Somerset killed as a result of the battle.

Answer: Wars of Roses

Fought in July 1460, in the midlands of England, this battle between the Lancastrians and Yorkists led to victory for the white rose of York. The forces of the Lancaster faction were led by the Duke of Buckingham while the Yorkists had the Earl of Warwick and Edward, the Earl of March (the future Edward IV) in charge.

The battle was the first in which artillery was used, although heavy rain during the fighting meant the cannons weren't much of an advantage to the Lancastrians who were defending their encampment. The battle was a short one, lasting only thirty minutes or so, but led to the deaths of Buckingham and other Lancastrian nobles and was a major victory for the House of York. King Henry VI was taken prisoner again.

Answer: Wars of Roses

Taking place near Ludlow, Shropshire, close to the border with Wales, this 1461 battle pitted the Lancastrians, led by Jasper Tudor, the Earl of Pembroke, against the Yorkist Earl of March, who would later become Edward IV. The Lancastrian invasion came from Wales but was met by their opponents near the River Lugg, which they needed to cross.

Details of the battle have been lost, but victory went to the Yorkist faction, with several of the Lancastrians executed at Hereford - they included Owen Tudor, father of Jasper. What is notable about the battle is the appearance of a parhelion, making it seem that there were three suns in the sky. The Earl of March quelled the fears of his troops by claiming it to be a symbol of the Holy Trinity and a lucky omen. Shakespeare incorporated this rare event into his play Henry VI Part 3.

Answer: Wars of Roses

This 1471 battle brought some peace, for a while at least, to England. Henry VI (a Lancastrian) had been restored to the throne in October 1470, but Edward IV (Yorkist) also wished to reclaim the monarchy. The armies met at Tewksbury, in Gloucestershire, in May, with Edward IV and Richard, Duke of Gloucester, leading the York army and the Duke of Somerset with Edward, Prince of Wales (son of Henry VI) commanding the Lancastrians.

The battle ended with victory for the Yorkists and the death of the seventeen year old Prince Edward. Henry VI was imprisoned in the Tower of London, where he died, most likely murdered to prevent another uprising. Edward IV was restored as king and remained so until his death in 1483, an event which caused more mayhem.

Answer: Wars of Roses

This is the pivotal battle which changed English history. The young Edward V had succeeded his father in 1483 but was soon usurped by his uncle the Duke of Gloucester, who was meant to be his protector, as King Richard III. Edward, who was never crowned, and his young brother, another Richard, were imprisoned in the Tower of London and never seen again.

This gave the Lancastrians an opportunity to restate their claim, with Henry Tudor the leading candidate. His mother, Margaret Beaufort, was descended from John of Gaunt, son of Edward III and his uncle, Jasper Tudor, had already been involved in battles on the Lancastrian side. In 1485 Henry returned from exile, landing in Wales and increasing his army as he progressed towards England. Richard's army met them near Market Bosworth, in Leicestershire - Richard III died on the battlefield, making him the last English king to die in battle.

Henry took the throne, as Henry VII, establishing the Tudor dynasty which would last until 1603 when Elizabeth I died without a direct heir. Henry made the astute decision to marry Elizabeth of York, uniting the Houses of Lancaster and York , bringing the Wars of the Roses to an end.

Answer: Civil War

This battle, the first of the Civil War, took place in October 1642 in Warwickshire, near the border with Oxfordshire. The forces of Charles I were met by a Parliamentary army led by the Earl of Essex with the battle itself being inconclusive.

Charles took the opportunity to capture Banbury (Oxfordshire) which gave Essex time to reach London, the target for the Royalists, and organise defences of the city. By the time Charles's army reached London, the forces against him were formidable and he withdrew to Oxford. The war might have turned out very differently had he pressed forward immediately after Edgehill.

Answer: Civil War

There were actually two battles near Newbury, one in 1643 and a second one the following year. The first has the distinction of being the last major battle to be fought by English soldiers on each side - by the time of the second battle the forces of Charles I had been bolstered by soldiers from Ireland and Scotland.

The first battle had the Royalists led by Prince Rupert while the Earl of Essex led the Parliamentarians. The battle itself ended in something of a stalemate with both armies disengaging, although the Parliamentary army achieved their objective of travelling on to Reading and then London. The second battle was also inconclusive, with Charles I again forced into a retreat but with the Parliamentary forces gaining nothing of any significance from the fight.

Answer: Civil War

Fought in Yorkshire in 1644 the Battle of Marston Moor led to the Royalists losing control of the north of England and suffering a major defeat. The Parliamentarians were led by the Earl of Manchester, Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell while Prince Rupert was again the commander of the Royalist army. The battle is accepted to be one of the largest, maybe the biggest, fought on English soil with around 17,000 Royalists and about 22,000 Parliamentarians, including the Scottish troops - some sources place the numbers even higher.

Prince Rupert had established a reputation as a commander but the aura fell as his cavalrymen were routed. The infantry on the Parliamentary side far outnumbered their opponents and the battle ended in a loss for the Royalists. Rupert was badly affected by the defeat and led his remining troops south to London, abandoning the north to its fate.

Answer: Civil War

This pivotal battle of the Civil War took place in Northamptonshire in 1645. Charles I was still in command with Prince Rupert of the Rhine, the king's nephew, in charge of the cavalry. The king still held the western regions of England while the Parliamentarians had control of London, other parts of the south east and London.

The battle began well for the Royalists, with the cavalry defeating their counterparts but Prince Rupert then turned on the baggage train rather than returning to the main battlefield. By the time he returned with his troops, the infantry had been overcome and the Parliamentarians were the victors. Although Charles escaped, Naseby was the beginning of the end of his reign and is considered the decisive battle of the Civil War.

Answer: Civil War

Taking place in Gloucestershire, in the region of the Cotswolds, the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold in March 1646 was the last of the first phase of the Civil War. Charles had lost much of his army at Naseby and the forces assembled in 1646 were very much the remnants.

The Parliamentary forces were much too strong and the battle lasted only around an hour before the Royalist commander, Sir Jacob Astley, surrendered in the market place of Stow-on-the-Wold. Although Charles I was still at large, by May he could see his cause was lost and surrendered himself at Newark. His execution came in January 1649.

Answer: Other

This very early battle took place in 61 CE when forces led by Boudicca, Queen of the Iceni, fought with the Romans who had invaded Britain. Watling Street is the name of the road running from Dover to London then via St Albans to Wroxeter, near Shrewsbury.

History tells us that Boudicca had been poorly treated by the Romans following the death of her husband and led various skirmishes against them. The Battle of Watling Street was the final battle, although its exact location is unknown. Although heavily outnumbered, the superior tactics of the Romans gave them victory. Boudicca committed suicide rather than surrender.

Answer: Other

The Battle of Maldon took place in 991 CE between the Saxons of East Anglia and an invading force of Vikings. The leader of the Saxons was Byrhtnoth, an Ealdorman (local leader) in Essex while the Vikings were led by Olaf, whose details are unknown. Often, the Vikings were bought off, but on this occasion the Anglo-Saxons decided to fight in the hope of deterring future attacks.

Bryhtnoth was killed during the fighting and his forces mostly fled as soon as they realised. A small group of his closest allies continued the fight with the Vikings losing so many men that they left without continuing their raids. Details of the battle are well known thanks to the poem named 'The Battle of Maldon'.

Answer: Other

This is the other major battle of 1066. The death of Edward the Confessor led to a succession crisis, with several claims to the throne - Harold Godwinson, Harold II was in possession, but faced threats from the north, from the Vikings, and the south, from the Normans.

Led by Harold Hardrada, the Vikings were the first to attack landing in the north of England in September 1066 with an army of over 11,000 men. The Vikings had captured York, but Harold II marched his army north and, with the element of surprise on his side, annihilated the invaders and killing Harold Hardrada. It is said that it took 300 ships to bring the Vikings to England but only 24 to take them back.

If you know your history, you'll know that Harold II was then faced with a southern invasion and had to march back to meet William of Normandy at the Battle of Hastings only a few days later. Harold was killed and William became the first king of the Norman dynasty, widely remembered as William the Conqueror.

Answer: Other

This 1265 battle was part of the Second Barons' War, an uprising against King Henry III led by the Earl of Leicester, Simon de Montfort. The 1215 Magna Carta had tried to lay down 'rules' for monarchs to follow, but neither King John, the monarch who sealed the agreement, nor his son and successor, Henry III, saw any reason to adhere to the details.

The nobles effectively began a civil war, aimed at forcing the king to include the barons in his government rather than a handpicked group of those he favoured. In 1258, Henry was forced to agree to the Provisions of Oxford, giving more power to the barons, but reneged on this, leading to several skirmishes in the Welsh Marches, the border regions between England and Wales. The final battle came in Evesham in Worcestershire when the forces of the king, led by his son (the future Edward I) took on the army led by de Montfort, which was vastly outnumbered. The result was a resounding victory for the royal army with both Simon de Montfort and his son, Henry being killed in the fighting. Many of the Barons were massacred with the battle being described by some as the 'murder of Evesham'.

Answer: Other

In 1685, James II was on the English throne and was not universally popular due to being a Roman Catholic. His nephew, the Duke of Monmouth, decided to claim the throne and began an uprising which became known as the Monmouth Rebellion.

Taking place near Bridgwater, in Somerset, the Battle of Sedgemoor was the final battle of the uprising. Monmouth's forces, mainly poorly trained farmers and farmworkers, were unable to compete with the king's well trained army and the battle ended in a resounding defeat for the rebels. Monmouth was captured and executed by beheading. The Battle of Sedgemoor not only brought the rebellion to an end, it is often referred to as the final major battle to be fought on English (not British) soil.