Atlas of Battles

battle, major, medieval

Battle of Northampton

Battle of Northampton was a battle fought on 10 July 1460 at Northampton, 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. Recorded strength: Unknown against 5,000.

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Map for the Battle of Northampton
Map for the Battle of Northampton. James Henry Ramsay (1859–1925)[1], Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
Fought10 July 1460
WhereNorthampton, United Kingdom52.223N, 0.884W
OutcomeYorkist victory
BelligerentsHouse of YorkagainstHouse of Lancaster
Casualties and lossesUnknownand300 killed
Battlefield todayBattle of Northampton battlefieldHistoric England entry 1000028, 188 ha
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, 148714551487Battle of Northampton, 1460
22 placed engagements of the Wars of the Roses in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date10 July 1460
PlaceNorthampton, United Kingdom
52.223N, 0.884W
KindBattle, medieval
StrengthUnknown5,000
Casualties and lossesUnknown300 killed
Commanders
  • Henry VI of England
  • Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham
  • John Talbot, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury
  • John Beaumont, 1st Viscount Beaumont
  • Thomas Percy, 1st Baron Egremont
  • Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent
Battle of NorthamptonBattle of NorthamptonBattle of NorthamptonBattle of Northampton5 km52.223N, 0.884W
The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. The dashed outline is the registered battlefield area (Historic England). Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

The ground today

Relief of the ground around the site of Battle of Northampton
Relief within about 10.0 km of the site, contours every 10 m. Copernicus DEM GLO-30, ESA.
Satellite view of the site of Battle of Northampton today
The same ground from Sentinel-2 on 2024-01-19. Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2024.

The recorded site stands at about 66 m; within 10.0 km the ground runs from 46 to 136 m, 90 m of relief, gently rolling country and today it is 41% built-up, 31% tree cover, 20% grassland.

built-up: 41%tree cover: 31%grassland: 20%cropland: 6%built-up 41%tree cover 31%grassland 20%cropland 6%
west to east, 10.0 km56 to 100 mnorth to south, 10.0 km57 to 110 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 1460

Historic England registers this as the Battle of Northampton battlefield (entry 1000028), 188 hectares, under the Open Government Licence.

Battle of Northampton 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 Q916295, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Battle of Northampton (1460), revision 1370451883, 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. Battlefield boundary and area from Historic England (Open Government Licence). Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.