Henry Percy 
Henry was born on July 25th, 1421 in Leckonfield, Yorkshire, England.1 Henry's father was Henry Percy and his mother was Eleanor Neville. His paternal grandparents were Henry (Hotspur) Percy and Lady Elizabeth Mortimer; his maternal grandparents were 1st Earl of Westmoreland, 6th Baron Raby, K.G. Ralph de Neville and Queen Joan de Beaufort of Scotland. He had six brothers and four sisters, named John, Thomas, George, Richard, William, Ralph, Eleanor, Catherine, Anne and Joan. He died due to battle of Towtown, Yorkshire, England at the age of 39 on March 29th, 1461 in Towtown, Yorkshire, England.1 General Notes
Baron Poynings
Henry Percy (1421 - 1461), 2nd Earl of Northumberland, was the son of the 1st earl (of the second creation). He fought on the Lancastrian side at the Battle of Wakefield, and commanded the Lancastrian van at the Battle of Towton, where he was killed.
The Battle of Wakefield took place at Wakefield, in Yorkshire, on December 30, 1460, and was one of the major actions of the Wars of the Roses. The opposing factions were a royal army, nominally commanded by Margaret of Anjou, and the supporters of Richard, Duke of York, rival claimant to the throne.
York had already succeeded in obtaining a promise from King Henry VI of England that, on Henry's death, the crown would pass to him and his heirs. Queen Margaret was unwilling to accept this promise, which had been obtained by force, and was determined to protect the inheritance of her only son, Edward, Prince of Wales, then aged about six. With a force outnumbering that of the Yorkists, she marched north to confront the Duke. The details of what ensued are not entirely clear, and most people are more familiar with William Shakespeare's melodramatic version of events, notably the "murder" of York's second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland.
In Shakespeare's play, Edmund is depicted as a small child, and, following his unnecessary slaughter, Margaret torments his father, York, before murdering him also. In fact, the Duke of York was killed during the battle, and his son, Edmund, at seventeen, was more than old enough to be an active participant in the fighting. York's defeat was probably the result of his own over-confidence, as he apparently refused to wait for reinforcements to arrive before leaving his stronghold at Sandal Castle to meet the Lancastrians.
The outcome was important mainly because it left York's eldest son, Edward, as the Yorkist pretender to the throne. Edward, though young, would prove an outstanding battle commander and a consummate politician, and would eventually reign as King Edward IV of England
The Battle of Towton, one of the most decisive of the Wars of the Roses, is remembered as the bloodiest ever fought on British soil, with casualties believed to have been in excess of 20,000. The battle took place on March 29 - Palm Sunday, 1461, between the villages of Towton and Saxton in Yorkshire (about 20 km south-west of York and about 4 km south of Tadcaster).
At this point in the civil war, the Lancastrians were on equal terms with the Yorkists, having eliminated the Duke of York from the scene at the Battle of Wakefield and been victorious at the second Battle of St Alban's. However, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, "the Kingmaker", controlled London and had proclaimed the eldest of York's sons as King Edward IV of England. It was Edward himself who decided to take the initiative and march north in the hope of inflicting a final defeat on his rival, King Henry VI of England. Henry, a pious and peace-loving man, took no part in any military decisions, but allowed his queen, Margaret of Anjou, complete freedom to employ her battle commanders, chief of whom was Lord Clifford, on his behalf.
It is thought that 50,000, or perhaps even 80,000 men fought, including 28 Lords (almost half the peerage).
The battle was long and hard-fought, made no easier for either side by the blizzard conditions which prevailed. The decisive moment came in the middle of the day, when the Yorkist reinforcements arrived, led by the John Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. The Lancastrians retreated in disarray, resulting in a near-massacre. The death in battle of Lord Clifford, Queen Margaret's most experienced commander and right-hand man, was a serious blow from which the Lancastrians would take years to recover. Margaret and Henry fled north to Scotland, while those Lancastrian lords who were not killed or dispossesed were forced to make peace with Edward.
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Ancestor Pedigree Chart
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*There are earlier generations for the ancestor(s) indicated. See their page(s) for details (click name)
- b.26 Feb 1301 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England d.26 Feb 1352 in Warkworth, England
- b.1321 d.17 Jun 1368
- b.1303 in Clifford, Hereford, England d.24 Aug 1365
- b.10 Nov 1341 in Castle Raby, England d.29 Feb 1408 in Bramham Moor
- b.1281 in Grosmont Castle, Monmouth, Wales d.22 Sep 1345 in Newark Abbey, Leicester, England
- b.1320 in Tutbury Castle, Staffordshire, England d.01 Sep 1362
- b.02 Feb 1282 in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales d.03 Dec 1322 in England
- b.20 May 1364 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England d.21 Jul 1403 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England
- b.18 Oct 1262 in Raby, Durham, England d.18 Apr 1331
- b.1291 in Raby, Durham, England d.05 Aug 1367 in Durham, England
- b.1267 in Warkworth, England d.1329 in Warkworth, England
- b.12 Feb 1341 d.12 May 1372
- b.1304 in Hadley, England d.12 Jan 1373 in Hadley, England
- b.1270 in Wigmore, England d.04 Aug 1338
- b.03 Feb 1393 d.22 May 1455 in St. Albans
- b.1306 in Wigmore, Herefordshire, England d.16 Dec 1351 in Stanton Lacy, England
- b.11 Nov 1328 in Ludlow, Shropshire, England d.26 Feb 1360 in Rouvray, Cote d'Orleans, France
- b.1313 in Castle Badlesmere, Kent, England d.08 Jun 1356 in Richmond Palace, Surrey Co., England
- b.01 Feb 1352 in Langoed, Breconshire, Wales d.27 Dec 1381 in Dominican Priory, Cork
- b.1301 in Cassington, Oxfordshire, England d.30 Jan 1343 in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
- b.1332 in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England d.05 Jan 1381
- b.1304 in Ashford, Hertfordshire, England d.23 Apr 1349 in Bisham, Berkshire, England
- b.12 Feb 1370 in Usk, Monmouthshire, England d.20 Apr 1417 in England
- b.13 Nov 1312 in Windsor Castle, London, England d.21 Jun 1377 in Sheen Palace, Richmond, England
- b.29 Nov 1338 in Antwerp, Belgium d.17 Oct 1368 in Dublin, Ireland
- b.24 Jun 1310 in Valenciennes, France d.15 Aug 1369 in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
- b.16 Aug 1355 in Eltham Palace d.19 Jul 1415
- b.1312
- b.06 Jul 1332 d.10 Dec 1363 in Dublin, Ireland
- b.1310
- b.25 Jul 1421 in Leckonfield, Yorkshire, England d.29 Mar 1461 in Towtown, Yorkshire, England
- b.18 Oct 1262 in Raby, Durham, England d.18 Apr 1331
- b.1291 in Raby, Durham, England d.05 Aug 1367 in Durham, England
- b.1267 in Warkworth, England d.1329 in Warkworth, England
- b.1328 in Castle Raby, Durham, England d.17 Oct 1388 in Newcastle Upon Tyne, England
- b.1304 in Hadley, England d.12 Jan 1373 in Hadley, England
- b.1270 in Wigmore, England d.04 Aug 1338
- b.1364 in Raby Castle, Durham, England d.21 Oct 1425 in Raby Castle, Durham, England
- b.25 Mar 1273 in Petworth, England d.02 Oct 1314 in Alnwick Castle, Northumberland Shire, England
- b.26 Feb 1301 in Alnwick, Northumberland, England d.26 Feb 1352 in Warkworth, England
- b.1287 in Arundel, Essex Co., England d.Jul 1328
- b.1345 in Northumberland, England d.18 Feb 1378
- b.01 Apr 1274 d.24 Jun 1314
- b.1303 in Clifford, Hereford, England d.24 Aug 1365
- b.1276 d.01 Feb 1327
- b.1399 in Raby, Durham, England d.1463
- b.25 Apr 1284 in Carnavon Castle, Carnavon, Caernarvonshire, Wales d.21 Sep 1327 in Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, England
- b.13 Nov 1312 in Windsor Castle, London, England d.21 Jun 1377 in Sheen Palace, Richmond, England
- b.1292 d.1358
- b.Mar 1340 in Abbaye de St. Bavon, Ghent, Belgium d.03 Feb 1398 in Leicester Castle, England
- b.1286 in Avesnes, Pas-de-Calais, France d.07 Jun 1337 in Valenciennes, Nord, France
- b.24 Jun 1310 in Valenciennes, France d.15 Aug 1369 in Windsor Castle, Berkshire, England
- b.1294 in Longpont, Aisen, France d.07 Mar 1342 in Fontenelle, Yonne, France
- b.1379 in Beaufort, Anjou, France d.13 Nov 1440 in Howden, York, England
- b.1275 in Roet, Hainault, Belgium d.1322
- b.1320 d.1370 in Picardy, France
- b.25 Nov 1340 in Picardy Somme, France d.10 May 1403 in Lincolnshire, England
- b.1315 d.1372
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Details of Henry's family with Eleanor Poynings
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