Editing Battle of Barnet (section)

==Fighting in the mist==
[[File:Battle of Barnet, early-battle.svg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Map of the battlefield: in the middle, four red boxes, depicting the Lancastrians, are above four white boxes, denoting the Yorkists. Arrows extend from the boxes on the right flanks of each force, showing their movements.|Early battle: Oxford led the Lancastrian (red) right wing to outflank the Yorkists' (white) left and routed it southwards. Gloucester, likewise, advanced through [[Monken Hadley]] to attack the Lancastrians' left.]]

On 14 April 1471, at around 4&nbsp;o'clock in the morning, both armies woke. Edward had planned for an early attack, however, and quickly roused his men to engage the Lancastrians.{{Sfn|Goodman|1990|p=79}} Both sides fired their cannon and arrows before laying into each other with polearms. The morning fog was thick and the night movements of the two forces had displaced them laterally with each other. Neither group was facing the other; each was offset slightly to the right. This displacement meant that the right end of either army could outflank the other by wrapping around the opposing left end. The Lancastrians were the first to exploit this advantage; Oxford's group quickly overwhelmed Hastings'. Yorkist soldiers fled towards Barnet, chased by the Lancastrians. Some of Hastings' men even reached London, spreading tales of the fall of York and a Lancastrian victory. Oxford's group disintegrated as they split off to loot the fallen enemies and plunder Barnet.{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|pp=121–122}} Yelling and chasing after his men, Oxford rallied 800 of them and led them back to the battle.{{Sfn|Goodman|1990|p=79}}

Due to the fog, visibility was low and the two main forces failed to notice Oxford's victory over Hastings. Accordingly, the collapse of the Yorkist left wing had little (if any) effect on morale of either side.{{Sfn|Goodman|1990|p=79}} The fighting between Montagu's and Edward's groups was evenly matched and intense. The Lancastrian left wing, however, was suffering treatment similar to that Oxford had inflicted on its counterpart; Gloucester exploited the misaligned forces and beat Exeter back.{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|p=121}} Progress for Edward's brother was slow because his group was fighting up a slight slope.{{Sfn|Seymour|1997|p=158}} Nonetheless, the pressure he exerted on the Lancastrian left wing rotated the entire battle line. Warwick, seeing the shift, ordered most of his reserves to help ease the pressure on Exeter, and took the rest into fighting at the centre.{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|p=121}} Gradually, the battle line settled to an orientation that slanted north-east to south-west.{{Sfn|Gravett|2003|p=41}}

Oxford retraced his steps through the fog back to the fight. His group arrived, unexpectedly, at Montagu's rear.{{Sfn|Gravett|2003|p=40}} Obscured by the fog, Oxford's "[[Star (heraldry)|star with rays]]" badge was mistaken by Montagu's men for Edward's "[[sun in splendour]]".{{Sfn|Brooke|1857|p=208}} They assumed their allies were Edward's reserves and unleashed a volley of arrows. Oxford and his men immediately cried treachery; as staunch Lancastrians, they were wary of Montagu's recent defection. They struck back and began withdrawing from the battle. Their shouts of treason were taken up and spread quickly throughout the Lancastrian line, breaking it apart as men fled in anger, panic and confusion. As the fog started to dissipate, Edward saw the Lancastrian centre in disarray and sent in his reserves, hastening its collapse. Cries of Exeter's demise from a Yorkist axe resounded across the battlefield from the Lancastrian left, and amidst the confusion, Montagu was struck in his back and killed by either a Yorkist or one of Oxford's men.{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|p=122}}

[[File:Battle of Barnet, late-battle.svg|thumb|upright|right|alt=Map of the battlefield in the late stage: the boxes that represent Hastings' and Oxford's forces are at the bottom. Their arrows show Hasting's retreat and Oxford's return to the main battle just above the middle of the map.|Late battle: as the fighting continued, the battle line rotated and Oxford returned to a line that was oriented mostly northeast to southwest.]]

Witnessing his brother's death, Warwick knew the battle was lost. He made for the horses in an attempt to retreat. Edward recognised his victory was at hand, and—deciding that Warwick was more valuable alive than dead—sent the order and dispatched his guards to bring back the earl alive.{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|pp=122–123}} Several chroniclers have suggested that the king thought Warwick would again be a valuable ally if persuaded back to the Yorkist cause. Historian [[Michael Hicks (historian)|Michael Hicks]], in contrast, suggests that Edward wanted to capture the earl for public execution rather than as a gesture of mercy. Regardless of the king's intent, Warwick died in the Lancastrian rout: when fleeing the field he was struck off his horse and killed.{{Sfn|Hicks|2002|p=310}} 

A miniature model reproduction of the Battle of Barnet can be found at the Battle's natural interpretive centre, [[Barnet Museum#Collections|The Barnet Museum]].{{Sfn|Haigh|1995|p=123}}