ORDER OF BATTLE // May 31, 1455
First Battle of St Albans
Estimated force strength by side, with confidence labels per surviving record.
Forces engaged
2 sides catalogued · combined 5,000–9,000 estimated
House of York
3,000–7,000
Medium-confidence figure
House of Lancaster
2,000
Medium-confidence figure
Battle context
The First Battle of St Albans, fought at St Albans some 22 miles north of London, traditionally marks the opening engagement of the Wars of the Roses. Richard, Duke of York, allied with the Neville Earls of Salisbury and Warwick, defeated a royal Lancastrian army that was numerically inferior, with Yorkist forces numbering between 3,000 and 7,000 against approximately 2,000 Lancastrian troops. The battle carried immediate political consequences: Edmund Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was killed in the fighting, and King Henry VI was captured. These outcomes directly cleared the way for a subsequent parliament to appoint Richard of York Lord Protector, representing a decisive shift in the balance of power between the two rival factions at the outset of the conflict.
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