199 
Edward, seeing the Park on the Lancastrian right, sent 
200 spear-men to occupy it, if they could, and lie there in 
ambuscade until they could be of service. 
Then the fight commenced. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, 
made a fierce attack on the Lancastrian position, plying them 
with cannon balls and arrows, but was unable to come to close 
quarters. Then he made a feint of retreat, and Somerset rashly 
quitted his entrenchment, and led his men down the slope into 
an open meadow. Richard quickly rallied his division and 
attacked Somerset, while the spear-men lying in ambush in the 
Park attacked him in the flank. Somerset retreated up the 
hill, closely pursued by the van and centre of the Yorkist army, 
and re-entered the entrenchments in confusion. Lord Wenlock 
had remained stationary, instead of coming to the help of the 
van, and Somerset, riding up to him, beat out his brains with 
his battle-axe. 
Then the rout became general, and the camp being forced, 
all who stood their ground were slain. The remainder fled, 
some into the Park, some towards the Lower Lode, and were 
slain in a little field near Lower Lode Lane, now called the 
Bloody Meadow. Some, attempting to cross the Abbey mill 
dam in the Ham, with a view to escape by the Upper Lode, 
were drowned in the Avon, and the rest sought sanctuary 
in the Abbey Church. The Earl of Devonshire, Lord John 
Beaufort, and Lord Wenlock were among the leaders slain on 
the field. 
The Duke of Somerset and the Prior of St. John took refuge 
in the Church, whither they were followed by the King with 
drawn sword; buta priest, holding up the Host, forbad his 
defiling the sacred place with blood. A few days later these 
noblemen were taken from the Church, tried before the Duke 
of Gloucester as High Constable, and the Duke of Norfolk, as 
Marshal of England, condemned, and: beheaded in the Market 
Place. 
Queen Margaret had crossed the river before the battle 
commenced, and took refuge at Payne’s Place, in the parish of 
Bushley; on the Sunday she fled to a religious house near 
Worcester, where she was discovered on the Tuesday following, 
