Battle of Wakefield

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The 'Battle' of Wakefield has traditionally been said to have taken place in Sandal Magna near Wakefield in northern England, on 30 December 1460. Recent research demonstrates that it was not a battle in the proper sense of a word, but a small-scale skirmish that resulted in the capture and subsequent deaths of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York, his second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, and Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury. For several years before the battle, the Duke of York – a descendant of two (both the second and fourth) of Edward III's surviving sons – had become increasingly opposed to the court of the mentally incapacitated Lancastrian King Henry VI (descended from Edward III's third surviving son) and his Queen, the formidable Margaret of Anjou. After open warfare broke out between the factions and Henry became his prisoner, he laid claim to the throne, but lacked sufficient support. Instead, in an agreement known as the Act of Accord, he was made Henry's heir to the throne...

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