Battle of Barnet 1471
Outline: officially registered battlefield boundary. Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1471 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Wars of the Roses | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | House of Lancaster, House of York | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.6658, -0.1989 | Wikidata P625 |
| Official record | Historic England list entry 1000001 | OGL v3 |
| Registered area | 112.1 ha | OGL v3 |
About the battle
The Battle of Barnet was a decisive Yorkist victory in the Wars of the Roses, a dynastic conflict of 15th-century England. The military action, along with the subsequent Battle of Tewkesbury, secured the throne for Edward IV.
On Sunday 14 April 1471, Easter Day, near Barnet, then a small Hertfordshire town north of London, Edward led the House of York in a fight against the House of Lancaster, which backed Henry VI for the throne. Leading the Lancastrian army was Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, who played a crucial role in the fate of each king. Historians regard the battle as one of the most important clashes in the Wars of the Roses, since it brought about a decisive turn in the fortunes of the two houses. Edward's victory was followed by 14 years of Yorkist rule over England.
Formerly a key figure in the Yorkist cause, Warwick defected to the Lancastrians over disagreements about Edward's nepotism, secret marriage, and foreign policy. Leading a Lancastrian army, the earl defeated his former allies, forcing Edward to flee to Burgundy in October 1470. The Yorkist king persuaded his host, Charles the Bold, the Duke of Burgundy, to help him regain the English throne.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Barnet (revision 1370107495), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Battlefield boundary © Historic England 2026. Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. See also this battlefield on Battlefields of Britain.
Nearby battles
- Second Battle of St Albans 1461 · 14 km
- Iranian Embassy siege 1980 · 18 km
- Siege of Sidney Street 1911 · 19 km
- Siege of the Tower of London (1460) 1460 · 19 km
- Battle of Turnham Green 1642 · 20 km
- Battle of Brentford (1016) 1016 · 22 km
Other battles of the Wars of the Roses
- Battle of Piltown 1462
- Battle of Hedgeley Moor 1464
- Battle of Hexham 1464
- Battle of Edgcote 1469
- Battle of Losecoat Field 1470
- Battle of Tewkesbury 1471
- Battle of Bosworth Field 1485
- Battle of Stoke Field 1487
All 20 battles of the Wars of the Roses →
Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Medieval battles