{"id":16478,"date":"2025-03-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/?p=16478"},"modified":"2025-08-19T13:52:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-19T12:52:10","slug":"ludlow-and-the-wars-of-the-roses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/03\/11\/ludlow-and-the-wars-of-the-roses\/","title":{"rendered":"The Making of a Marcher Town: Ludlow and the Wars of the Roses"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dr Simon Payling<\/a>, of our Commons 1461-1504 section<\/a>, explores the crucial role of the Shropshire town of Ludlow during the Wars of the Roses.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Political geography ensured that the town of Ludlow would, for good or ill, play some part in the great civil conflict that began when its lord, Richard, duke of York, moved into active opposition to the government of his cousin, Henry VI. The town was part of the great inheritance that came to the duke on the death of the last Mortimer earl of March in 1425, and, throughout his career, its castle was a favoured residence and a place of refuge in troubled times.  But his interest extended beyond the castle, for he showed a benevolent concern for the town beyond its walls. In the late 1430s he and his wife, Cecily Neville, were admitted to the Palmers\u2019 guild, by far the largest and most prestigious of the town\u2019s fraternities, and the period of his lordship coincided with the major rebuilding, begun in the early 1430s (although not completed until the early 1470s), of the town\u2019s church, of St. Lawrence.  More significantly, in terms of the town\u2019s institutional development, he acknowledged the right of the townsmen to a certain amount of administrative freedom.  In 1449 he allowed that the town councils of 12 and 25 had the right to govern the town in all matters, save those that belonged to his steward \u2018in the holding of our courts\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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St Lawrence’s Church, Ludlow. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons. <\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The escalating political tensions of the following decade, however, revealed a less welcome side to the town\u2019s position as a centre of benevolent lordship. In early 1452, as the duke launched a campaign (the so-called \u2018Dartford rising\u2019) to remove the King\u2019s chief minister, Edmund Beaufort, duke of Somerset, he rallied forces at Ludlow before marching to London, only to submit tamely in face of the King\u2019s superior forces. This humiliation was followed by another in the summer when royal commissioners toured the duke\u2019s estates to investigate the local disturbances that had attended the rising.  Coming to Ludlow in August, they took an indictment that implies that some radical and dangerous political ideas were circulating in the town. Two of its tradesmen were among those indicted for claiming that Henry VI had neither the ability nor the right to rule (\u2018non est habilis nec de potestate gubernare regnum .. nec illud regnum de recto regere debuisset\u2019<\/em>), and that he could be deposed by \u2018a Parliament of the whole community of the realm (\u2018parliamenti tocius communitatis regni\u2019<\/em>) and another elected in his place (TNA, KB9\/103\/1, m. 15).  The rebels then gave active expression to their treasonable designs by participating in the murder of a yeoman of the Crown who had come to the town with a message for the duke.  There is no reason to suppose that the duke himself approved this conspiracy nor that it had the support of any of the leading townsmen, but it provides an indication of the strength of Yorkist feeling there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The strength of that feeling was to be tested seven years later when the duke and his Nevilles allies, feeling themselves endangered by the militant regime of Henry VI\u2019s queen, Margaret of Anjou, brought national conflict to its very gates.  On 12 October 1459 the Lancastrian army, nominally led by the King, confronted an inferior Yorkist force at the bridge over the River Teme on its southern edge. To avoid defeat, the Yorkist lords fled into exile under cover of darkness, the duke leaving his town to face the unhappy consequences. \u2018Gregory\u2019s Chronicle\u2019, in its typically vivid style, describes them: \u2018The mysrewle of the kyngys galentys at Ludlowe, whenn they hadde drokyn i-nowe of wyne that was in tavernys \u2026 robbyd the towne, and bare a-waye beddynge, clothe, and othyr stuffe, and defoulyd many wymmen\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Ludlow Castle. Accessed via Wikimedia Commons<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

 These sufferings did not deflect the town from support for the house of York. According to the Burgundian chronicler, Jean de Wavrin, when the duke came there on his return from exile in September 1460, the townsmen were among the Shropshire men who went further than the duke himself had yet publicly gone by acclaiming him King. This loyalty was to bring the town considerable rewards when York\u2019s son, Edward, took the Crown in the following March.  Its castle had been his childhood home, and he spent a week there in the autumn after his accession. The burgesses took the opportunity to lobby for the grant of a comprehensive new charter. That charter was granted on the following 7 December (while Parliament was in session), and the townsmen were given extensive powers of self-government under two bailiffs elected annually from among their ranks. With administrative privileges went financial ones. The townsmen were to hold at a favourable annual farm of 37 marks all the royal property in the town, save for the castle; to regulate the town\u2019s trade through a guild merchant; and to levy a sales tax to maintain its bridges, gates and walls. Most important of all, however, at least from the aspect of parliamentary history, was the grant of representation: the burgesses were given the right to elect two MPs \u2018of themselves or others\u2019. This enfranchisement was an important mark of the town\u2019s enhanced status.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The town\u2019s importance was further enhanced in the second half of Edward\u2019s reign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1471, to improve peace-keeping in the Welsh marches, the newly-restored King established a council there for his infant son, Edward, not yet a year old. Some 18 months later, in February 1473, this council was formalised and enlarged, and soon after the infant prince took up residence in the town, which remained his principal home for the rest of his father\u2019s reign. The council came to exercise wide-ranging functions, supervising the administration of the principality of Wales and the marches. The town later became home to Henry VII\u2019s eldest son, Arthur, who lived there from the spring of 1493 until his death in April 1502. This, in the words of Ralph Griffiths, gave the town a \u2018unique profile among England\u2019s provincial centres\u2019, and an importance far beyond its population of about 2,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

S.J.P.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further reading<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

R.A. Griffiths, \u2018Ludlow During the Wars of the Roses\u2019, in Ron Shoesmith and Andy Johnson (eds.), Ludlow Castle: Its History and Buildings <\/em>(Hereford: Longstone Press, 2000), 57-68.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Payling, \u2018Making the most of a parhelion: the earl of March and the battle of Mortimer\u2019s Cross\u2019<\/a>, History of Parliament, 3 February 2020. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simon Payling, \u2018The battle of Ludford Bridge\u2019<\/a>, History of Parliament, 10 October 2019.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the crucial role of the Shropshire town of Ludlow during the Wars of the Roses. Political geography ensured that the town of Ludlow would, for good or ill, play some part in the great civil conflict that began when its lord, Richard, duke of York, moved into active opposition to the government of his cousin, Henry VI. … Continue reading The Making of a Marcher Town: Ludlow and the Wars of the Roses<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":255143695,"featured_media":18432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[687860035,189179080,54004,81480,71470],"tags":[35890,1819684,8676243],"class_list":["post-16478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-commons-in-the-wars-of-the-roses","category-15th-century-history","category-local-history","category-medieval-history","category-military-history","tag-featured","tag-ludlow","tag-richard-duke-of-york"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Ludlow_Castle_at_sunset.jpg?fit=640%2C427&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2QYNW-4hM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3729,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2019\/10\/10\/the-battle-of-ludford-bridge\/","url_meta":{"origin":16478,"position":0},"title":"The battle of Ludford Bridge","author":"Simon Payling","date":"October 10, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Today on our new blog page The Commons in the Wars of the Roses, Dr Simon Payling, Senior Research Fellow for the Commons 1461-1504 project, details the Battle of Ludford Bridge which took place on 12 October 1459... In the autumn of 1459 years of uneasy truce between the factions\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Commons in the Wars of the Roses"","block_context":{"text":"The Commons in the Wars of the Roses","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/the-commons-in-the-wars-of-the-roses\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ludford-bridge.jpg?fit=640%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ludford-bridge.jpg?fit=640%2C430&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/ludford-bridge.jpg?fit=640%2C430&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16071,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/01\/30\/shrewsbury-wars-of-the-roses-1459-1461\/","url_meta":{"origin":16478,"position":1},"title":"The town of Shrewsbury and the Wars of the Roses: The campaigns of 1459-61","author":"Simon Payling","date":"January 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Dr Simon Payling, of our Commons 1461-1504 section, explores the political allegiance of the Shropshire town of Shrewsbury during the Wars of the Roses. While, during the Wars of the Roses, the political allegiances of individual noblemen are relatively easy to determine, those of individual towns are generally obscured. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Commons in the Wars of the Roses"","block_context":{"text":"The Commons in the Wars of the Roses","link":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/category\/sections\/the-commons-in-the-wars-of-the-roses\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/25228329399_94b3db5f92_5k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/25228329399_94b3db5f92_5k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/25228329399_94b3db5f92_5k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/25228329399_94b3db5f92_5k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/historyofparliament.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/25228329399_94b3db5f92_5k.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16152,"url":"https:\/\/historyofparliament.com\/2025\/02\/19\/edward-v-assembly-1483\/","url_meta":{"origin":16478,"position":2},"title":"Almost a Parliament: Edward V’s assembly of 25 June 1483","author":"Hannes Kleineke","date":"February 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The death of Edward IV on 9 April 1483 saw the accession of his son Edward V to the English throne. However, as Dr Hannes Kleineke of our Commons 1461-1504 Section explores, it was only two months later that he would be deposed... 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