Atlas of Battles

battle, major, medieval

First Battle of St Albans

First Battle of St Albans was a battle fought on 22 May 1455 at St Albans, in what is now United Kingdom. It was part of the Wars of the Roses, which ran from 1455 to 1487. The recorded result: Yorkist victory; Beginning of the War of the Roses.

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Map for the First Battle of St Albans
Map for the First Battle of St Albans. James Henry Ramsay (1859–1925)[1], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought22 May 1455
WhereSt Albans, United Kingdom51.749N, 0.339E
OutcomeYorkist victory; Beginning of the War of the Roses
BelligerentsHouse of YorkagainstHouse of Lancaster
Part ofWars of the Roses1455 to 1487

Where it sits in the Wars of the Roses

First Battle of St Albans, 1455Battle of Blore Heath, 1459Battle of Ludford Bridge, 1459Battle of Sandwich (1460), 1459Battle of Northampton, 1460Battle of Worksop, 1460Battle of Wakefield, 1460Battle of Mortimer's Cross, 1461Second Battle of St Albans, 1461Battle of Ferrybridge, 1461Battle of Towton, 1461Battle of Tuthill, 1461Battle of Piltown, 1462Battle of Hedgeley Moor, 1464Battle of Hexham, 1464Battle of Edgcote, 1469Battle of Losecoat Field, 1470Battle of Barnet, 1471Battle of Tewkesbury, 1471Siege of London (1471), 1471Battle of Bosworth Field, 1485Battle of Stoke Field, 148714551487First Battle of St Albans, 1455
22 placed engagements of the Wars of the Roses in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date22 May 1455
PlaceSt Albans, United Kingdom
51.749N, 0.339E
KindBattle, medieval
Commanders
  • Henry VI of England
  • Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset
  • Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
  • Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of Northumberland
  • Thomas Clifford, 8th Baron Clifford
First Battle of St AlbansFirst Battle of St AlbansBattle of MaldonBattle of BenfleetBattle of AssandunBattle of Barking CreekSiege of Sidney StreetBattle of MaldonSiege of Sidney StreetBirminghamNottinghamBrightonPortsmouthLutonOxfordNorwichIpswich100 km51.749N, 0.339E
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of First Battle of St Albans
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of First Battle of St Albans today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2025-04-07. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2025.

The recorded site stands at about 76 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 30 to 116 m, 86 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 74% cropland, 15% grassland, 9% tree cover.

cropland: 74%grassland: 15%tree cover: 9%cropland 74%grassland 15%tree cover 9%
west to east, 10.0 km33 to 82 mnorth to south, 10.0 km51 to 91 m
Elevation from the Copernicus DEM GLO-30 (ESA, Airbus); land cover from ESA WorldCover 2021 (CC BY 4.0), within about 5 km of the recorded site. Computed, not recorded.

Nearest engagements

In the same war

Elsewhere in 1455

First Battle of St Albans is one of 720 engagements of the 15th century in the atlas and one of 695 in present-day United Kingdom.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q842796, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article First Battle of St Albans, revision 1372030876, read 2026-11-14, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.