| Battle of Chesterfield | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Second Barons' War | |||||||
 Commemoration stone in Chesterfield | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| Royal forces | Baronial forces | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Henry of Almain John de Warenne | Robert de Ferrers (POW) Baldwin Wake John d'Ayville | ||||||
The Battle of Chesterfield was a minor skirmish in the latter stages of 13th-century England's Second Barons' War. [1]
The battle was part of the "mopping up" of baronial opposition that resisted Henry III following the Battle of Evesham. The fighting took place in, and around, Chesterfield, Derbyshire on 15 May 1266. [2] The leaders of the barons were Robert Ferrers, Earl of Derby; Baldwin Wake, Lord of Chesterfield; and John d'Ayville. The royalist forces were led by Henry of Almain, nephew to Henry III.
There are several references to aspects of the battle in chronicles from the period. Thomas Wykes, in his "Chronicon Thomae Wykes" [3] mentions the royalist forces using covered wagons to gain entry to the town. A reference also exists to explain how "the men of Brampton" (a suburb of Chesterfield) rushed to the church at the time of the battle and defended that part of the wall for which they were responsible. Presumably, it would fall to them to repair any damage and they were keen to avoid such costs.
Wykes also explains how Ferrers was stricken by gout at the time of the battle and that the barons' leader was "taken ignobly". It is likely that he was captured in the church. [4] Legend has it that he was betrayed by a woman of the town but there is no contemporary documentary evidence for this claim, nor is there contemporary evidence for the assertion that Ferrers was hiding under sacks of wool stored in the church. According to the chronicles of Walter of Guisborough, [5] John d'Ayville forced his way through the enemy and unhorsed Sir Gilbert Haunsard with his lance, before wounding several others and making his escape.
Following his capture, Robert Ferrers was taken "in irons" [3] to London and, at the Westminster parliament later that year, was "totally disinherited". [2] John d'Ayville was later at the Siege of Kenilworth before surrendering. Baldwin Wake also escaped the fighting and joined with other disinherited barons at the Isle of Axholme [5] before eventually surrendering to Prince Edward, the future Edward I.
The Dictum of Kenilworth, issued on 31 October 1266, was a pronouncement designed to reconcile the rebels of the Second Barons' War with the royal government of England. After the baronial victory at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, Simon de Montfort took control of royal government, but at the Battle of Evesham the next year Montfort was killed, and King Henry III restored to power. A group of rebels held out in the stronghold of Kenilworth Castle, however, and their resistance proved difficult to crush.
Year 1266 (MCCLXVI) was a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar.
The Battle of Evesham was one of the two main battles of 13th century England's Second Barons' War. It marked the defeat of Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, and the rebellious barons by the future King Edward I, who led the forces of his father, King Henry III. It took place on 4 August 1265, near the town of Evesham, Worcestershire.
Earl of Derby is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the end of the reign of Henry III and died in 1279. Most of the Ferrers property and the Derby title were then held by the family of Henry III. The title merged in the Crown upon Henry IV's accession to the throne in 1399.
John de Warenne, 6th Earl of Surrey was a prominent English nobleman and military commander during the reigns of Henry III of England and Edward I of England. During the Second Barons' War he switched sides twice, ending up in support of the king, for whose capture he was present at Lewes in 1264. Warenne was later appointed as "warden of the kingdom and land of Scotland" and featured prominently in Edward I's wars in Scotland.
The Second Barons' War (1264–1267) was a civil war in England between the forces of a number of barons led by Simon de Montfort against the royalist forces of King Henry III, led initially by the king himself and later by his son, the future King Edward I. The barons sought to force the king to rule with a council of barons, rather than through his favourites. The war also involved a series of massacres of Jews by de Montfort's supporters, including his sons Henry and Simon, in attacks aimed at seizing and destroying evidence of baronial debts. To bolster the initial success of his baronial regime, de Montfort sought to broaden the social foundations of parliament by extending the franchise to the commons for the first time. However, after a rule of just over a year, de Montfort was killed by forces loyal to the king at the Battle of Evesham.
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Walter of Guisborough was a canon regular of the Augustinian Gisborough Priory, Yorkshire and English chronicler of the 14th century. His chronicle has historical importance.
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Philip Stanhope, 1st Earl of Chesterfield was an English nobleman, aristocrat and royalist, who was created the first Earl of Chesterfield by King Charles I in 1628.
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Henry de Beaumont, jure uxoris 4th Earl of Buchan and suo jure 1st Baron Beaumont, was a key figure in the Anglo-Scots wars of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, known as the Wars of Scottish Independence.
Robert de Ferrers, 6th Earl of Derby (1239–1279) was an English nobleman.
Events from the 1260s in England.
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