In July 1469, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the 'Kingmaker', one time mentor of Edward IV, rebelled against his protege. An army led by the mysterious 'Robin of Redesdale' marched from the north to engage in battle. Edward sent an army led by the Earls of Pembroke and Devon to meet them. After an initial clash near Daventry, the two sides engaged on 26 July 1469 between the villages of Edgcote and Chipping Warden at a place known as Danesmoor.
Pembroke’s army had been dangerously weakened because the Earl of Devon had withdrawn his troops, leaving Pembroke without archers. The royal army initially held a commanding hilltop position but an attack by the rebel archers forced Pembroke to abandon the position and engage in hand to hand fighting on the valley floor. Pembroke’s army fought back and was on the brink of success when rebel reinforcements arrived from Northampton. Thinking it was Warwick’s whole army, Pembroke’s troops broke and fled, only to be cut down by the rebels. Pembroke himself was captured and then executed then next day at Queen Eleanor's Cross in Northampton.
As it happened another future king, Henry Tudor, only 10 at the time, was also at the battle but managed to escape. He was to become, after the battle of Bosworth, King Henry VII.
