Unusually, the battle was contested in the town of St Albans itself, with the bulk of the fighting taking place in the streets and a tavern being used as a redoubt.

Somerset was killed in the battle, and King Henry VI captured, clearing the way for a subsequent parliament to appoint Richard of York Lord Protector.

[5] The incapacitation of Henry VI by mental illness[6] in 1454 led to the recall to court of Richard of York, his closest adult relative.

After the English army, led by Sir John Talbot, 1st Earl of Shrewsbury, was routed in the Battle of Castillon, Henry VI suffered a complete mental breakdown and was unable to perform his royal duties.

They gathered an armed retinue and marched to stop the royal party from reaching Leicester by intercepting it at St Albans.

The Duke of York and the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury authored a letter at Royston on 20 May to insist that they were loyal to the king and had only brought their forces as protection from their enemies.

In a fit of uncharacteristic regency, Henry refused, replying, By the faith that I owe to St. Edward and the crown of England I shall destroy every mother's son and they shall be hanged, and drawn and quartered.

[14] Most of Henry's forces were surprised by the suddenness of Richard's attack, and most of the army was expecting a peaceful resolution similar to that which occurred at Blackheath in 1452.

[1] The Lancastrians still manning the barricades and fighting against York's and Salisbury's men realised the Yorkists had outflanked them and, fearing an attack from behind, abandoned their positions and fled the town.

At the First Battle of St Albans, fewer than sixty were killed of approximately 5,000 combatants,[17] but politically, it was a complete victory for York and the Nevilles.

York had captured the king and restored himself to absolute power, and Somerset and the Nevilles' northern rivals Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland, and Lord Clifford fell during the rout.

[18] The sudden attack by, and bravery of, the 26-year-old Earl of Warwick began to establish his famous military career and his reputation as "the kingmaker".

Trinity (known in the US as Margaret of Anjou), the second book of the Wars of the Roses series by Conn Iggulden, dramatises the battle as a moment of indecision for Richard of York but as a powerful victory for the Neville faction during the Percy–Neville feud.