The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
When they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only half way up
They were neither up nor down
A popular nursery rhyme in England that has been about since 1460 and despite being over five hundred years old is still recited by children today.Who was the Grand old Duke Of York? And if he marched his men up and down the hill, why did he do it?
The nursery rhyme was probably composed to mock Richard Duke of York after his Yorkist army was defeated by the Lancastrian army at the battle of Wakefield.
After his capture at the battle of Northampton, the King, Henry VI was forced to accept the Yorkist Richard and his heirs as successors to the throne, instead of his own son. Being unable to accept this Queen Margaret fled north with her child, where she raised an army. The army twenty thousand strong was commanded by the Duke of Somerset and once assembled marched south.
Leaving the King under the protection the Earl of Warwick, Richard left London at the head of an army of between seven and eight thousand strong and headed north. With him was The Earl of Salisbury, Richard’s own son the Earl of Rutland and Salisbury’s son Sir Thomas.
Reaching Sandal castle in Wakefield on the 21st of December the Duke marched his men up to the top of the hill and into the castle. After improving the defences the army settled in for the winter and to await reinforcements. The duke knew that there were five Lancastrian armies somewhere in the area, but what he did not know was that the main body had set up headquarters in Pontefract castle, which was less than six miles away.
Not that it would have mattered if the Duke had know, he and his army were safe in a heavily fortified castle at the top of a steep hill and it would have been almost impossible for the Lancastrians to force him out. His army however needed to be fed, and foraging parties were sent out daily to secure food and fuel. Each day they had to range further and further a field until the inevitable happened.
On the 29th of December 1460 one of the foraging parties ran into a large force of Lancastrians and were chased back to the castle. The next morning on the 30th of December Duke Richard and the Earl of Salisbury awoke to find a 6000 strong army literally at their door and for some reason decided to march down the hill to do battle.
The battle took place on Sandal Common and Richard soon realised his mistake, while he was engaged in battle with an army commanded the by Duke of Somerset the trap was sprung. Two large forces of Lancastrians – one commanded by the Earl of Wiltshire and the other by Lord Roos – appeared from the woods at either side and attacked his flanks, while Lord Clifford swept around to cut off any retreat. The duke was unhorsed and killed in battle along with three thousand of his men. His son Rutland fled but was killed at Wakefield Bridge. The Earl of Salisbury managed to escape but was captured the next day and executed. It was a great day for Lancaster the Yorkist army was destroyed and the heads of Richard, Salisbury and Rutland were displayed on spikes at Mickelgate Bar, The main gate into the city of York.
