The battle secured the defeat of the poorly organised Welles Uprising against King Edward IV, but ultimately led to the defection of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick and the king's brother George, Duke of Clarence to the Lancastrian cause after they were forced to flee the country having been implicated in the rebellion.

Warwick wanted to place another of the king's brothers, George, Duke of Clarence, on the throne so that he could regain his influence.

Warwick judged the time was ripe for another coup d'état, to kill Edward or remove him from the throne.

The unrest in Lincolnshire prompted the king to act, and he started gathering men for his army on 4 March.

Due to Welles' deliberate misinterpretation, rumours were quickly spread that the king was coming to try the previously pardoned rebels from Edgcote, and that he would "hang and draw a great number" of them.

The king then unsuspectingly issued commissions of array which included Warwick's name, authorising him to raise his own army of professional soldiers.

Both captains, Sir Robert Welles and his commander of foot Richard Warren were captured during the rout and were executed a week later on 19 March.

[4] Contemporary accounts refer to the battle site as "Hornfield" (Horn was an adjacent parish), and do not use the name Losecoat or anything comparable.