Warwick had for many years been a loyal supporter of Edward IV. His daughters were married to Edward's two younger brothers, George of Clarence and Richard of Gloucester. He'd invested his own men and resources in fighting for Edward to take the throne in 1460. Over the years, he'd soured on his allegiance to Edward for the some of the same reasons that others soured on Edward. Edward had married a common, Elizabeth Woodville, against the protestations of his entire council. Warwick in particular was offended. He'd personally put a lot of effort into securing a French alliance for Edward. Edward favored Burgundy over France, and his new wife and her relatives over everyone else. When Elizabeth became Queen her relatives flocked to court in droves, particularly her brother Anthony, Earl Rivers, who set himself up as a rival to Warwick.
Warwick had enough, as had George of Clarence. In their minds, Henry VI was far better than Edward. He was married to a French princess, Margaret of Anjou. Because of his mental condition, he was malleable, and he had a young son who would depend on somebody like Warwick for a number of years. In 1470, Warwick and Clarence deserted Edward, began raising an army, and brought Henry back from exile in France. With Warwick's cunning in battle, they soon claimed London and Edward had no choice but to flee to Burgundy, where his sister Margaret was Duchess. Edward IV persuaded his brother-in-law Charles of Burgundy to back him in an effort to win his kingdom and landed in England in March. Barons loyal to Edward began summoning their levies, basically homegrown armies made of men at arms, archers, and even farmers and laborers with improvised weapons. As men flocked to Edward, Warwick scrambled to raise an army to defend Henry VI and play for time until Margaret of Anjou could arrive with her son and reinforcements from France. Edward, meanwhile, had captured Henry VI, who was a prisoner in Edward's army.
In early April, 1471, these two forces converged on the town of Barnet, in Hertfordshire north of London. On Edward IV's side were his brother, Richard of Gloucester, and his cousin and best friend, William, Baron Hastings. On Warwick's side were his brother, John Neville, Marquess of Montague, Henry Holland, Duke of Exeter, and John de Vere, Earl of Oxford. The morning of April 14, 1471 dawn with a heavy fog. The armies, which had been maneuvering close to one another, faced each other with their placement off. Richard of Gloucester should have been facing the Duke of Exeter, on Edward's right wing. Instead, he was facing thin air, in a position to wind around Exeter in a flank maneuver. The left wing was also crooked, Oxford in a great position to swoop around Hastings. Edward and Richard quickly pressed their advantage, taking on Montague, in the center and Exeter. Oxford quickly rushed at Hastings, and broke Edward's line.
Hastings' men broke and fled back to Barnet with Oxford in hot pursuit. Once in Barnet, Oxford's men decided to loot the town. Oxford finally scraped his men together and marched them back to the battlefield, where some uniform red and white rose banners would've come in handy. Instead, Montague's men mistook De Vere's star emblem for Edward's own Sun in Splendor banner. Believing they had Edward at bay, Montague's men attacked Oxford. Oxford's men believed that Montague had deserted to Edward, and attacked back. Warwick, in reserve, tried to straighten out this mess, but it was too late. One by one, his commanders broke ranks and fled, leaving Warwick to chase down his own army. In the ensuing confused retreat, Warwick was killed. In two or three hours, it was over. Edward was King, Warwick was dead, Henry VI was a prisoner, and George of Clarence, who hadn't been at the battle, was in serious trouble.
John Neville, Marquess of Montague, was also killed. Rather than have him and Warwick disemboweled and quartered as traitors, Edward brought them back to London. They lay in repose at Old St. Paul's so that the populace would know that these two legendary leaders had died. Then Edward sent them to be buried in their family vaults at Bisham Abbey. Margaret of Anjou landed at Weymouth with her French army and began attracting leftover Lancastrians to her forces. Edward would have to defeat them at Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, with Clarence, who had rejoined his brothers. Exeter, who'd been left for the dead on the battlefield, recovered and was imprisoned for four years before being pardoned by Edward. Oxford would later escape from prison and join Henry Tudor, commanding a force at Bosworth in 1485. Henry VI was killed in the Wakefield Tower in May, 1471.
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