A Knight of the White Cross | Page 8

came into contact Hastings found himself nearly
surrounded by a vastly superior force. His wing fought valiantly, but
was at length broken by Oxford's superior numbers, and driven out of
the field. The mist prevented the rest of the armies from knowing what
had happened on the king's left. Edward himself led the charge on

Warwick's centre, and having his best troops under his command,
pressed forward with such force and vehemence that he pierced
Somerset's lines and threw them into confusion.
Just as Warwick's right had outflanked the king's left, so his own left
was outflanked by Gloucester. Warwick's troops fought with great
bravery, and, in spite of the disaster to his centre, were holding their
ground until Oxford, returning from his pursuit of the king's left, came
back through the mist. The king's emblem was a sun, that of Oxford a
star with streaming rays. In the dim light this was mistaken by
Warwick's men for the king's device, and believing that Oxford was far
away on the right, they received him with a discharge of arrows. This
was at once returned, and a conflict took place. At last the mistake was
discovered, but the confusion caused was irreparable. Warwick and
Oxford each suspected the other of treachery, and the king's right still
pressing on, the confusion increased, and the battle, which had been so
nearly won by the Earl, soon became a complete defeat, and by ten in
the morning Warwick's army was in full flight.
Accounts differ as to the strength of the forces engaged, but it is
probable that there was no great inequality, and that each party brought
some fifteen thousand men into the field. The number of slain is also
very uncertain, some historians placing the total at ten thousand, others
as low as one thousand; but from the number of nobles who fell, the
former computation is probably nearest to the truth. Warwick, his
brother Montague, and many other nobles and gentlemen, were killed,
the only great nobles on his side who escaped being the Earls of
Somerset and Oxford; many were also killed on Edward's side, and the
slaughter among the ordinary fighting men was greater than usual.
Hitherto in the battles that had been fought during the civil war; while
the leaders taken on the field were frequently executed, the common
soldiers were permitted to return to their homes, as they had only been
acting under the orders of their feudal superiors, and were not
considered responsible for their acts. At Barnet, however, Edward,
smarting from the humiliation he had suffered by his enforced flight
from England, owing to the whole country declaring for his rival, gave

orders that no quarter was to be granted. It was an anxious day at St.
Albans, where many ladies whose husbands were with Warwick's army
had, like Dame Tresham, taken up their quarters. It was but a few miles
from the field of battle. In the event of victory they could at once join
their husbands, while in case of defeat they could take refuge in the
sanctuary of the abbey. Messengers the night before had brought the
news that the battle would begin at the dawn of day, and with intense
anxiety they waited for the news.
Dame Tresham and her son attended early mass at the abbey, and had
returned to their lodgings, when Sir Thomas rode up at full speed. His
armour was dinted and his plume shorn away from his helmet. As he
entered the house he was met by his wife, who had run downstairs as
she heard his horse stop at the door. A glance at his face was sufficient
to tell the news.
"We have lost the day," he said. "Warwick and Montague are both
killed. All is lost here for the present. Which will you do, my love, ride
with me to the West, where Queen Margaret will speedily land, if
indeed she has not landed already, or take sanctuary here with the
boy?"
"I will go with you," she said. "I would vastly rather do so."
"I will tell you more on the road," he said. "There is no time to be lost
now."
The woman of the house was called, and at once set her son to saddle
the other horse and to give a feed to that of the knight. Dame Tresham
busied herself with packing the saddlebags while her husband partook
of a hasty meal; and ten minutes after his arrival they set off, Gervaise
riding behind his father, while the latter led the horse on which his wife
was mounted. A thick mist hung over the country.
"This mist told against us in the battle, wife, for as we advanced our
forces fell into confusion, and more than once friend attacked friend,