The Wars of the Roses were caused by the protracted struggle for power between the reigning dynasty of the House of Lancaster (red rose) and the competing House of York (white rose).
Having been scattered a few weeks after the Battle of Blore Heath, the Yorkist leaders soon remounted their campaign against the Lancastrian King Henry VI. On 10 July 1460, a Yorkist army under the Earl of Warwick approached the defensive encampment of the King's army on the southern side of Northampton.
The Yorkists attacked in the early afternoon, and may have not succeeded but for the treachery of Lord Grey and his troops, who helped the attackers into the defended camp. King Henry was captured and a number of the leading Lancastrian noblemen were killed. Many soldiers drowned in the rain-swollen Nene.
Northampton was the only battle of the Wars where a fortified camp was successfully attacked. Richard, Duke of York, returned from Ireland after the battle to press his claim to the throne, after which the Wars of the Roses only intensified.
The battle took place on ploughland south of the Nene and south of Delapre Abbey. Although the Nene has been canalised here, and the northern edge of the battlefield covered by railway sidings, the majority of the battlefield remains open and appreciable.
The Queen Eleanor Cross, from which the Archbishop of Canterbury observed the battle, still stands to the south-west of the battlefield. Between it and Delapre Abbey the landscape has retained a number of features of historical interest. A public footpath gives access to the heart of the battlefield.
Much of the battlefield lies within a Locally Important Landscape Area. To the east of Delapre Abbey, the ornamental garden is a site of Acknowledged Nature Conservation Value, as are the margins of the lake. The old course of the Nene is a Local Nature Reserve.
Davies, J S (ed.), 1856, An English Chronicle of the reigns of Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry VI
Jack, R, 1960, 'A quincentenary: the Battle of Northampton, 1460', in Northamptonshire Past and Present, 3
