Editing Margaret of Anjou (section)

=== Leader of Lancastrian faction ===
Hostilities between the rival Yorkist and Lancastrian factions soon flared into armed conflict. In May 1455, just over five months after Henry VI recovered from a bout of mental illness and Richard of York's protectorship had ended, Margaret and Henry called for a [[Magnum Concilium|Great Council]] from which the Yorkists were excluded. The Council called for an assemblage of the peers at [[Leicester]] with the stated purpose to protect the king from his enemies.<ref name=":4" /> York, fearing that the purpose of the council was to destroy him, prepared for battle and soon was marching south to meet the Lancastrian army marching north.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Griffiths |first=Ralph Alan |title=The reign of King Henry VI: the exercise of royal authority, 1422–1461 |date=1981 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04372-5 |location=Berkeley |pages=742}}</ref> The Lancastrians suffered a crushing defeat at the [[First Battle of St Albans]] on 22 May 1455.<ref name=":4" /> Edmund Beaufort, the Earl of Northumberland and Lord Clifford were killed, Wiltshire fled the battlefield, and King Henry was taken prisoner by the victorious Duke of York.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodman |first=Anthony |title=The Wars of the Roses: military activity and English society, 1452-1497 |date=1981 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |isbn=978-0-7100-0728-5 |location=London |pages=24}}</ref> In March 1458, along with her husband and leading nobles of the warring factions, she took part in [[The Love Day]] procession in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Maurer |first=Helen |title=Margaret of Anjou: queenship and power in late medieval England |date=2003 |publisher=Boydell Press |isbn=978-1-84383-104-4 |location=Woodbridge |pages=147}}</ref>

In 1459, hostilities resumed at the [[Battle of Blore Heath]], where [[James Tuchet, 5th Baron Audley]], was defeated and killed<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Michael |date=2012-02-06 |title=Wars of the Roses |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0066 |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets |page=143 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0066}}</ref> by the Yorkist army under the command of [[Richard Neville, 5th Earl of Salisbury]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hicks |first=Michael |date=2012-02-06 |title="Chapter 9: The First War (1459-1461)" Wars of the Roses |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0066 |access-date=2023-12-18 |website=Oxford Bibliographies Online Datasets |pages=137–164 |doi=10.1093/obo/9780199791279-0066}}</ref> The battle had only just begun.