The Battle of Nibley Green was fought near

North Nibley North Nibley is a village in Gloucestershire, England about northwest of Wotton-under-Edge. Name The village is commonly known as ''Nibley'', but the official name distinguishes it from the village of Nibley, just outside Yate, about away i ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of ...

on 20 March 1470, between the troops of

Thomas Talbot, 2nd Viscount Lisle Thomas Talbot, 2nd Baron Lisle and 2nd Viscount Lisle (''c''. 1449 – 20 March 1470), English nobleman, was the son of John Talbot, 1st Viscount Lisle and Joan Cheddar. He married Margaret Herbert, the daughter of William Herbert, 1st Earl of P ...

and William Berkeley, 2nd Baron Berkeley. It is notable for being the last battle fought in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

entirely between the private armies of

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...

magnate The magnate term, from the late Latin ''magnas'', a great man, itself from Latin ''magnus'', "great", means a man from the higher nobility, a man who belongs to the high office-holders, or a man in a high social position, by birth, wealth or ot ...

Prelude

Lisle and Berkeley had long been engaged in a dispute over the inheritance of

Berkeley Castle Berkeley Castle ( ; historically sometimes spelled as ''Berkley Castle'' or ''Barkley Castle'') is a castle in the town of Berkeley, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom. The castle's origins date back to the 11th century, and it has been desi ...

and the other Berkeley lands, Lisle being heir-general to

Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley Thomas de Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley (5 January 1352/53 – 13 July 1417), ''The Magnificent'', of Berkeley Castle and of Wotton-under-Edge in Gloucestershire, was an English peer and an admiral. His epithet, and that of each previous and s ...

and Berkeley heir-male. Lisle impetuously challenged Berkeley to a battle, and the latter agreed, the battle to be fought the next day at Nibley Green. Lisle paid for his rashness with his life. In the little time available, Lisle could only raise a force among his ill-equipped local tenants. Berkeley, however, could draw upon a garrison from Berkeley Castle as well as his local levies, and he was reinforced by men led by his brother Maurice Berkeley, 3rd Baron Berkeley and miners from the

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

. This gave him a considerable advantage in numbers, about 1,000 to 300.

Philip Mede Philip Mede (c. 1415-1475) (''alias'' Meade, Meede, etc.) of Mede's Place in the parish of Wraxall in Somerset and of the parish of Saint Mary Redcliffe in Bristol, was a wealthy merchant at Bristol, then in Gloucestershire, and was twice ele ...

of Wraxall, an alderman and mayor of Bristol in 1459, 1462, and 1469, sent some men on the Berkeley side. Maurice Berkeley, William's younger brother, had married Isabel Mede, Philip's daughter, for which act of marrying beneath his social status he had been disinherited of the Berkeley lands by his elder brother, William.

Battle

Lisle led his men in a charge against Berkeley's troops as they emerged from a stand of woods. Berkeley's archers loosed arrows and broke up the charge. One of the Dean Foresters, an archer named "Black Will", shot Lisle in the left temple through his open visor and unhorsed him. A few dagger-strokes from the archers ensured Lisle's death,Michael Hicks, ''English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century'', (Routledge, 2002), 60. and his leaderless army broke and fled.

Aftermath

As Lisle's army dispersed, Berkeley advanced to Lisle's manor of

Wotton-under-Edge Wotton-under-Edge is a market town within the Stroud district of Gloucestershire, England. Located near the southern fringe of the Cotswolds, the Cotswold Way long-distance footpath passes through the town. Standing on the B4058, Wotton is ab ...

and sacked it.

External links

History of Berkeley

Mead Genealogy

North Nibley website

References

{{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 1470 in England Nibley Green Nibley Green Nibley Green Nibley Green

Prelude

Battle

Aftermath

Further reading

External links

References