ABSTRACT
In early August 1453, Henry VI lapsed into a mental stupor at the royal hunting lodge at Clarendon, near Salisbury. By 1459 Margaret, encouraged by her new ally, the Duke of Buckingham, and the sons of the 'victims' of St Albans, had finally convinced Henry VI that York was plotting to take the throne. It was therefore decided at an exclusively Lancastrian great Council meeting held at Coventry in June 1459, to destroy the Yorkists by force. The Lancastrians consolidated their bloodless victory at the notorious 'Parliament of Devils' held at Coventry in November 1459. The Yorkist leaders were attainted for treason and sentenced to death. In December 1460 the Earl of March had gone to Wales, where he had defeated the Lancastrians under Jasper Tudor at the battle of Mortimer's Cross. After a preliminary skirmish with the Lancastrians at Ferrybridge the two armies clashed in a raging snow storm at Towton on Palm Sunday, 29 March.
