The Duke, apprehending his chief danger to arise from Queen Margaret, sought a pretence for banishing her the kingdom; he sent her in the King’s name a summons to come immediately to London, intending, in case of her disobedience, to proceed to extremities against her.  But the Queen needed not this menace to excite her activity in defending the rights of her family.  After the defeat of Northampton she had fled with her infant son to Durham, thence to Scotland; but soon returning she applied to the northern barons, and employed every motive to procure their assistance.  Her affability, insinuation, and address—­qualities in which she excelled—­her caresses, her promises, wrought a powerful effect on everyone who approached her; the admiration of her great qualities was succeeded by compassion toward her helpless condition; the nobility of that quarter, who regarded themselves as the most warlike in the kingdom, were moved by indignation to find the southern barons pretend to dispose of the crown and settle the government.  And, that they might allure the people to their standard, they promised them the spoils of all the provinces on the other side of the Trent.  By these means the Queen had collected an army twenty thousand strong, with a celerity which was neither expected by her friends nor apprehended by her enemies.

The Duke of York, informed of her appearance in the north, hastened thither with a body of five thousand men, to suppress, as he imagined, the beginnings of an insurrection; when, on his arrival at Wakefield, he found himself so much outnumbered by the enemy.  He threw himself into Sandal castle, which was situated in the neighborhood; and he was advised by the Earl of Salisbury and other prudent counsellors to remain in that fortress till his son, the Earl of March, who was levying forces in the borders of Wales, could advance to his assistance.  But the Duke, though deficient in political courage, possessed personal bravery in an eminent degree; and notwithstanding his wisdom and experience, he thought that he should be forever disgraced if, by taking shelter behind walls, he should for a moment resign the victory to a woman.  He descended into the plain and offered battle to the enemy, which was instantly accepted.  The great inequality of numbers was sufficient alone to decide the victory; but the Queen, by sending a detachment, who fell on the back of the Duke’s army, rendered her advantage still more certain and undisputed.  The Duke himself was killed in the action; and as his body was found among the slain, the head was cut off by Margaret’s orders and fixed on the gates of York, with a paper crown upon it, in derision of his pretended title.

The Queen, after this important victory, divided her army.  She sent the smaller division, under Jasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke, half brother to the King, against Edward the new Duke of York.  She herself marched with the larger division toward London, where the Earl of Warwick had been left with the command of the Yorkists.  Pembroke was defeated by Edward at Mortimer’s Cross, in Herefordshire, his army was dispersed, and he himself escaped by flight.