Page 30 - A Knight of the White Cross

wheeling his men round fell upon the Duke of Gloucester's division, and
was equally successful in his attack upon it. Had the centre, under Lord

Wenlock, moved forward at once to his support, the victory would have
been assured; but Wenlock lay inactive, and Somerset was now engaged in

conflict with the whole of Edward's force. But even under these
circumstances he still gained ground, when suddenly the whole aspect of
the battle was changed.

Before it began Edward had sent two hundred spearmen to watch a wood

near the defenders' lines, as he thought that the Lancastrians might place a
force there to take him in flank as he attacked their front. He ordered them,
if they found the wood unoccupied, to join in the fight as opportunity might

offer. The wood was unoccupied, and the spearmen, seeing the two
divisions of their army driven backwards, and being thereby cut off from

their friends, issued from the wood and, charging down in a body, fell
suddenly upon Somerset's rear.

Astounded and confused by an attack from such a quarter, and believing
that it was an act of treachery by one of their own commanders, Somerset's

men, who had hitherto been fighting with the greatest bravery, fell into
confusion. Edward's quick eye soon grasped the opportunity, and rallying
his troops he charged impetuously down upon the Lancastrians, seconded

hotly by Gloucester and his division.

The disorder in Somerset's lines speedily grew into a panic, and the division
broke up and fled through the lanes to the right and left. Somerset, after in
vain trying to stop the panic, rode furiously back into the camp, followed

by his principal officers, and riding up to Lord Wenlock he cleft his head in
two with a battleaxe. His resentment, although justified by the inactivity of

this nobleman at such a crisis, was yet disastrous, as it left the centre
without a leader, and threw it into a state of disorganization, as many must
have supposed that Somerset had turned traitor and gone over to the enemy.

Before any disposition could be made, Edward and Gloucester poured their
forces into the camp, and the Lancastrians at once broke and fled. Many of

their leaders took refuge in the church, an asylum which they deemed
inviolable, and which the Lancastrians had honourably respected in their