Blore Heath, Battle of

The Battle of Blore Heath is one of the first major battles in the English Wars of the Roses.

It is fought on September 23, 1459, at Blore Heath in Staffordshire, two miles east of the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, England.After the First Battle of St Albans in 1455, an uneasy peace holds in England.

Attempts at reconciliation between the houses of Lancaster and York enjoy but marginal success.

However, both sides become increasingly wary of each other and by 1459 are actively recruiting armed supporters.

Queen Margaret of Anjou, to raise support for King Henry VI among noblemen, distributes an emblem of a silver swan to knights and squires enlisted by her personally, while the Yorkist command, under the Duke of York, is finding plenty of anti-royal support despite the severe punishment for raising arms against the king.The Yorkist force based at Middleham Castle in Yorkshire (led by the Earl of Salisbury) needs to link up with the main Yorkist army at Ludlow Castle in Shropshire.

As Salisbury marches south-west through the Midlands the queen orders Lord Audley to intercept them.

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