Battle of Towton: Uncovering The Secrets Of England's Bloodiest Battle | Medieval Dead | Chronicle 

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Imma keep you yyyy

@@reginacarpenter5649 ll

M.

People were tougher back then than the sheltered cattle we are now.

No one DID make it through the Middle Ages. They all died.

@@nycbearff 🙄 They lived long enough to pass their genes along so that we can all be here today.

It’s actually surprising the human race is not extinct

@@turgidbananaspeak for your own line..😂..where I’m from in southern Mississippi if you aren’t tough you die. The poor working class can’t afford any medical care nor can we afford to sit around on our asses..

He who lives by the sword dies by the sword

Remember the possibilities to take over farmland for cheap. One's death is under man's bread. In a rather stagnant society war was a big mover of opportunities

Maybe they ate something that made them crazy

@@johnanita9251 sad but true. But I also imagine, so many men died that entire generations were gone in the areas they were from. I'm assuming men from other lands had to come in and take over, if the women and younger children were too vulnerable to keep their properties. So sad.

@@ChristianAuditore14 these people would probably rather not have been there. It’s a bunch of jumped up “royals” squabbling over which of them was the top dog.

It seems they were not the same people in england

These medieval folk cared not a straw for any idea of nation, country, or patriotism; their loyalties were tied solely to their feudal lords - both “temporal” and “spiritual”.

It's the same with the United States' bloodiest war.

You don't sound like a Scotsman. Liar.

@@NoNoseProduction oooooohhh! snap! calling BUSH!

This is very interesting to me would love to know more

I’m very into world history and history of Europe

You got to go back 600 years?! That is awesome! It seems my family consists of some Dutch ninja’s or something, I cannot go further back than 150 years. But maybe that is a difference between our two countries. Hoping you can find out even more!

If all the descendants of the men who died at Towton were gathered together they would make up a formidable army ....

@@praetorian3959 viva la Dutch ninjas...me too

Ychvijjj name he can lmk be here by noon in kkjjkkkl you kkippol ok lppppp poop ppjnjkkkkkkmmlllloi kill my book killing is lettermen's Shenandoah men hehehehe amendment it how okkooppppp

@@tashben128 Did you type this like this on purpose? I really hope not.

@@patriciajrs46 looks like word salad.

I'm like "where is Richard's Chapel" and I'm yelling at the screen...."behind you! It's right there!" haven't seen the rest of the video yet.....hope I'm right!

@@driftwoodkitty Oh, we were right 😊

@@driftwoodkitty sure they need the amazing astounding help of you 2…..are you serious?? 🙄🤣🤣🤣🤣😂😂🤣🤣 Now why didn’t they come to YT to ask all the normally ignorant and stoooopid morons comment where to find it…..strange. Didn’t occur to you that they do that for DRAMATIC EFFECT with these shows??? Only someone suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect would think they didn’t know what they’re doing and needed you’re help.

@Hallands - I watched the entire"Time Team" series and the Reuse of Holy sites you describe was shown time and again. American lands are devoid of this. We had so few people in a Much larger area that there is a very thin occupancy layers in the ground to begin with and the people were much more mobile. We also went from wood houses/stone tools directly to bricks/gunpowder that it obscures much. Western Europe seems to be a series of invasions that Kept most of the people alive and just changed who was in charge, absorbing the previous occupants in to the new where in the USA the invaders tried to erase the old society instead.

@@pillager6190 Spot on! But the native Americans were also warring among each other before the europeans began to arrive in larger numbers than the native chieftains could fathom. I suppose the main difference was agricultural development giving basis for raising many more children per family than the American Indians would ever dream of. Even as early as the viking age, this tendency to produce so much offspring they had to seek their fortune elsewhere was established. Only one son or daughter could inherit the farm, lest it would diminish in size with every generation. So the daughters got their dowry and the sons a fully equipped ship or part in a ship or cargo and off they went to make their fortune. After 5.5 centuries there was no more land to take in Europe, and the ships were more suited for long hauls, so next stop: America, I guess…

Good grief you've never heard of it. I'm not even British, I'm Australian and I'd heard of it. I've heard of all these things. I amazes me how just how unaware of their own history some people are.

@@PetroicaRodinogaster264 What? Want a pat on the back?

@@gandalfthegrey yes, but not from idiots who don't know their own (tawdry) history.

@@PetroicaRodinogaster264 Many people don't know their local history. It's too close.

@Poppy Petals - You're a real Karen aren't ya? 😅 Whatever blows your hair back I guess....

So today is no different. There just isn't the hand to hand combat like there was then. Religion is the primary reason for war between man. Kind of crazy since religion is supposed to teach people to love one another. Instead it kills one another. Where is the love in that?

Ya and it’s sooooooo peaceful now 🙄

@@terim.0404 Religion? Religion is just an excuse.

@ Marcus Carter And frequently in the name of God.

Capitalism with a side of tightly concentrated wealth combined religious bodies all to willing to endorse "crusades" or "Jihad" both aka genocide leading to a brutal shameful exploitation of the common man/have-nots

😂

What amazes me is how many items such as coins, combs, and jewelry were lost in the dirt waiting for an archaeologist to them a thousand years later. It seems as if our ancestors were particularly bad at keeping track of their possessions. Didn't they notice when a belt buckle or button came off? Also the people of antiquity must have been especially careless with their pottery because shards of it keep turning up. d

A century later

@@josetomas2233 oops. Yes, that’s right.

@@erichimes3062 But isn't this about the time that the "sweating sickness" afflicted England? I'm not sure of the date but the 1460s sound familiar.

Medieval era in Europe often comes up in conversations about the most horrifying periods of history to live in

What about records of building Towton Hall? Is there nothing that would indicate the hall was built using part of the chapel?

It would be interesting! I imagine the pandemic put a halt on a lot of archaeological research.

I don't think anyone would be happy to have their living spaces dug up over years for anything , even history . Maybe 1 part / room of the building the owners might agree to have excavated , but it would probably have to be in the center where the old chapel most likely stood . Still a major inconvenience .

Why?

Lol every single battle ever taught?

My ancestors were conquistadors. I do not honor their cruelty.

@@chino3796 And you cannot judge them either because the conscious level was different then. In addition you cannot honour the cruelty of the natives towards one another. Think about it.

@Skydaddy Myth-Busters I'm not talking about sex with children. That's a different conversation. Manning up on a battlefield is different from hurting a child. Nothing wrong with honouring courage, right, or wrong. Bravery does not align with molesting children. Humanity still fights today. Keep your canard!

Edward IV's banner was the three suns, and Richard III's was a white boar. Who used the white rose?

And don't forget, there's precedent: Shakespeare was working under the Tudors and worked hard to legitimise them and paint the Yorkists (especially RIII) in the worst possible light.

@@adamjd7645 You also have to remember Henry VII married the Yorkist Elizabeth of York in an attempt to legitimize his reign.

@@lesleeherschfus707 Yep... Never said he wasn't a shrewd operator. But he needed at least a drop of royal blood associated with him to maintain control. But... if Edward IV was a bastard, then so was Elizabeth.

@@adamjd7645 He had that thru his mother Margret Beaufort. If anything she was the ambitious one

@@lesleeherschfus707 But the Beaufort claim was thin & they were forbidden from assuming the throne.

I wondered if I was the only one with this problem. Thanks.

I couldn't hear, so stopped watching.

The knights on foot weapon of choice was the Pole Axe. It acted as a mace and an armour piercing pike all in one. Look it up. It was great for smashing into armour and breaking the bones beneath with blunt trauma and the reverse side with penetrating weak spots. Since it was 2 handed they got great leverage with it and it landed blows with great force.

Such a disgusting waste of human life. Those poor men and boys.

Sadly, the urge of Rulers to establish Hegemony over the people & resources of other nations poses an even greater threat of existential carnage today. I.e., USA vs. nations with resources, particularly, gas/oil, it craves. Obama loved telling the annual UN congress that the US is the world’s “sole indispensable nation.” Even worse is the US attempt to dominate Russia by sponsoring a Nazi powered coup in Ukraine & it’s endless lies re Russia and threats of war that we’ve had to endure in the run-up to Christmas & the New Year. The US hasn’t won any war since WW2 (excepting the Iraq Wars, with the 2d hardly accomplishing any victory other than mass casualties & torture and reconciliation of Iraq and Iran). WW2 vs. Germany was only “won” with the tremendous blood sacrifice of the Russians who defeated the Nazis & it’s cruel/barbaric use of horrific weapons vs. Japan, even though Japan was already suing for peace.

@@levity90 Was it? War brings progress, this enabled england to rise to the great power it became in the 1500s and beyond

@@jordanhicks5131 England was a minor power until the Elizabethan age. This battle just thinned out a male population already 5x lower than France's and 7x less than the Holy Roman Empire.

@@stephenhill545 and what brought on the Elizabethan period? The rise of the Tudors. Which wouldn't have happened without the war of the roses.

Glad you enjoyed it!

I am pretty sure these are old tv documentaries, stripped of their credits, and uploaded by the person/people who run this channel. Not content actually written, filmed and produced by them. Not saying that’s a bad thing, just that your questions might be better asked elsewhere 🙏🏽

National Heritage Trust? What might that be?

At least you put "War of the Roses" in quotes, since no such thing happened, and it's been well established that the whole name and narrative was invented whole cloth by Tudor propagandists a generation later. Except for a few factual tidbits, this video is complete BS from beginning to end.

Search for Dr. Toby/Tobias Capwell he’s probably the world authority right now on armour from this period there are numerous programs & lectures he’s given available here on RU-vid.

ArchEnema 67 please post info on this cover up

We don't owe them anything. It was purely a dynastic struggle brought about by a mad king, and couple of plausible claims to the throne, an unfortunate state of affairs.

Archaeology is a thankless task...no one ever irons our shirts.

Usually is… (I’ll get me coat)

Keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the series!

@@ChronicleMedieval More? Fantastic! I look forward to it 😊

I always hope that when bones are found DNA is analyzed.

I suppose with modern dna studies, each skeleton could be associated with a family and returned to his home town. 30,000 + or - would be overwhelming. Perhaps some could be returned, otherwise, give them all a decent burial, with a commemorative plaque. This would be for ancestors way down the line, us!

To keep them and study them IS treating them with respect - it is recovering information about their lives that would otherwise be lost forever.

They're dead. They don't care.

Don’t you think it’s interesting that they made it a priority to give the mRNA shots to Native Americans and Native Canadians?

@@LilyGazou and just how many schools do they have to dig around 500 or so. That is about the normal answer for areas in north America.

@@LilyGazou they're dying of SARS-COV2 in numbers far higher than other POC in the US and Canada, the highest of any ethnic group.

It was also called The Cousins War.

They know which Lords and knights were present, and how many of them died. From that they guestimated the number of soldiers present. Around 5% of the male population of England, Wales and Scotland was there, so you will have a drop of blood from someone who was there.

@@stephenhill545 Thank you for that. 5% is a lot of affected families.

I believe they found his skeleton in a parking lot recently. As I recall they confirmed it by forensically 'refleshing' his skull and by DNA research.

where have you been? his reburial and memorial ceremony is on youtube even

teebes2009 - Wasn’t that recent.

@@triciasomogyi5431 recent ....given the context that it had been there since 1485. Recent.....a few years ago.

They found Richard III several years ago! Plenty of docs about that on RU-vid!

My thoughts at first view of the current structure was that since they couldn't find remnants of King Richards chapel anywhere else, it must be that it was hidden inside or under the current structure. Just logic I guess.

😀 Always the last place you look.

If they were on the losing side it was even worse.

Nothing has changed

I wouldn't be so certain that a lot of them weren't willing and enthusiastic fighters

Same thing happens today. Nothing has changed

A tale as old as human civilization.

I'm surprised the team didn't start analyzing the walls of the current building to see if any come from the original chapel's structure. The show ended in an anticlimactic way.

@@oahuhawaii2141 I'm actually relieved to read your comment. I hav for a long time followed this Team's digs: several at Towton, of course; but also a long, drawn-out one at Agincourt;

@@katharper655: I'm the type of person who feels the team had an inkling of where the chapel is, but decided to map out the whole area, just to consume the full budget for the search. So rather than be done in a month or two, they stretched out the project for many years to burn through the money. A friend of mine was a facility and maintenance director at a major base in Hawaii. He always had to deal with the archaeological specialist, and tell her there's nothing to study, despite her loud objections. For example, when he had to replace a street light, she wanted to supervise the dig, and hire her pals at a local museum to excavate the area. He told her he's just replacing the base, pole, lamp fixture, and lights, and adding a solar backup module. She threatened that the commander will get in legal trouble if they disturb *iwi* (ancient Hawaiian bones); she must conduct a survey of the area. He said he'll contact the commander, and tell him that's he's just going to dig out the existing base, and put in a new one, so he won't find anything, since the area had already been checked decades ago, when the lights were originally installed. He doesn't want the street light to take a year to replace and cost $2M, and then end up with a 100-page report about chicken bones and trash left buried by the previous work crew.

@@oahuhawaii2141 You strike me as a person who, if you're not of Hawaiian extraction, you have studied the culture and have great respect for them.I have Deepest Respect for people who reverence the rights and traditions of indigenous Peoples. For a few years, I lived in Northern Idaho...my brother had been a music teacher in the High school on the Nex Perce Reservation surrounding Lapwai; when he accepted another position in Northwest Washington State, his eldest daughter remained with me. She was engaged to a young Nez Perce man, who was a lineal descendant of Chief Joseph, the Great Chief who said, when the Pony Soldiers had fought his forces to a standstill: ".....my heart is sick and sad. From where the Sun now stands, I shall fight no more forever." I fell in love with the people, traditions, and spiritual practices of the Nez Perce; and participated in inipi (sweatlodge) ceremonies, Pow Wows, learned brain tanning, beading and how to smoke jerk elk and venison. My soon-to-be nephew-by-marriage watched me very closely...talked with me about their legends..watched my face as he talked. Finally...one day he loaded me in his pickup..a council elder went with us..and a few miles out, the old man blindfolded me and we drove for a while. They guided me on foot over rocky terrain for several hundred yards, then took off the blindfold. We were in a small box canyon..the walls were covered with petroglyphs...wonderful images of birds, people, deer...and what could only have been a woolly mammoth. I can only say I was so moved by their trust I wept like a baby...We burnt silver sage and sweetgrass, the elder sang a chant and we left a gift of tobacco and food for the Old Ones. That was the most wonderful experience Ive ever had. Thank you for sharing your story with me. Kat

Alan Coe - you could be right

So, *@Alan Coe,* was your purpose in watching the video in order to critique the contents? Since you seem to know something about the battle, why did you not list your sources when critiquing the contents, as any historian would do? Or do people really believe that simply stating their opinion makes their comments true? While more contemporary historians dispute the death and casualty estimates given in primary sources, that doesn’t mean that they are putting those vitally important sources in the trash...they have to cite their sources when asserting *THEIR OPINIONS, NOT FACTS,* and, if you’re asserting legitimacy as a historian, then you must cite your sources, bc *NOBODY KNOWS FOR SURE* what happened on that battleground.

Any idea how many skeletons have already been found?

@@voraciousreader3341 I did cite the few sources that are available, for the very purpose of criticizing them. The weaknesses of relying on Bishop Neville's letter to the papal legate Coppini are as stated earlier.

@@martywanlass4774 40 in the latest pit excavated in 1996, but there has been a battle survey since then. So far, no where near 28,000. They would have needed the whole plateau for that.

Richard the turd was a murderer most foul

@@randomvintagefilm273 The Plantagenets were an ill-tempered lot

@@randomvintagefilm273 well, that is a solid argument, for a 5 year old. act your age, delbert!

Declared for the kin slayer have you? The foul brute murdered his own Nephews! I hope to meet you on the field of battle soon!

@@archclement2902 there is no evidence he killed his nephews. i think it is highly unlikely. do you often try to duel with old ladies? make you feel macho? you have no sense and you are cruel to the elderly. shame on you!

It’s because you’re old

I always put on captions. That way I don’t miss anything. Just know that sometimes there will be an incorrect word here or there.

@@kanegarvey3188 well, I'm old,(ish) but I can hear it really well, watching it on my phone

Poor people were for all intents and purpose, slaves. They had no say against anything a nobleman wanted them to do.

No evidence of the Holy Hand Grenade being used.

it's tattooed on the back of their necks.

😅

Right! One!... Two!... Five!

@@TheDogPa three, sir!

It’s good that you admit to being ignorant about a video’s contents, bc it’s very easy for me to spot the people who are self proclaimed “RU-vid PhDs” from watching a few videos about a certain subject. But, you don’t have to “armchair” anything....get a book and read it (or listen to it being read) and, if you’re like most extremely curious people, the reference section in that book will lead you to read more books. If you do read any of the books listed there, you’ll find that each of the authors have their own interpretation of the subject, even though they used the same primary sources....without the examination of primary sources, the book and video are worthless. To me, watching videos (however well researched) only gives a person one meager university lecture in terms of time spent engaging with a subject, which is nothing at all where knowledge building is concerned, and guessing is a meager shadow compared to active learning.

The people in this grave had been stripped before being executed. Armour was booty.

In medieval times people prayed with their hands up and separated. Some priests (for example in Mexico) still do it nowadays. The joined hand gesture for praying came later.

@@maudyg_22 thank you so much!!!that makes sense. Reminiscent of evangelical praise gesture it’s probably more intuitive

Words almost fail me. Almost, but not quite. The British people broke free from servitude at all levels, and it involved battles like this. The barons who forced King John to sign Magna Carta were of this breed of men. Without them, you would not be able to read, you would be tugging your forelock to your superiors, and you would bring your livestock into your hovel during winter for extra warmth.

A dysfunctional system. The landowners appeared with their followers because you could be disinherited if you didn't show up, and win. They were governed by the fear of losing everything. They had to pick a side, and hope they won. This also made Towton so awful. Losing wasnt an option, which made the battle long.

The usual practice at this time was thst the Lord fought his opposite Lord, and his retainers tried to pull him away if he got in trouble, and finished off his opponent if he fell. The people without proper armour usually hid behind the line and just pushed. They were called the naked men.

@@stephenhill545 Interesting! Wish I could go back in time to observe

You had more than one there if your ancestors are from these Isles. 4 male great grandparents from 100 years ago, they all had 4 from 100 years before that, and so it goes on. I was born in 1966, 500 years after Towton, so I should have 1,024, call it a round 1,000 great grandfathers 16 times removed from 1461. They think 4 % of the male population was there, so all else being equal 40 of my distant relatives were at Towton. Quite a thought. 13 of them would have died unfortunately, 9 of which would have been fighting for the house of Lancaster and 4 for the house of York if indeed 8,000 yorkists died, and 20,000 lancastrians fell. 5 of them woukd have died in thd rout, hunted down, drowned or most likely crushed in the press that was bloody meadow. :)

A dire warning about civil war, with that user name? Holy irony, Batman.

With a username like that you’re clearly apart of the problem

@@OhyesSofresh Think so you mouthy degenerate? Stand by, just wait and you are PERSONALLY going to find out what your kind of indifferent, leftist insanity is going to cause. With a comment like that, YOU are more than part of the problem. YOU degenerates are who have reduced society to the levels of putrid behavior we see on the news every night. There is NOTHING redeeming about you, your actions, your rhetoric nor even the diseased air you cough up. In short, YOUR KIND is nothing less than the humous that makes up the best quality gardening dirt. THAT is where we are going to put you come hell or high water.... in the fk'n ground!

The problem at Towton, and what made it particularly cruel, was that local rival warlords and their retinues literslly lined up oppodite each other with a view to destroying each other any way they could. .

It seems more likely the chapel was commenced by Ed 4 rather than R3 .Edward had plenty of reason to build it, as he became king after the battle

Kill the Lords and spare the commons was Edwards usual order. But at Towton Edward raised the dragon, which meant give no quarter.

I have read in histories of Richard III, that after he was killed in battle, his naked body was slung over a horse and more wounds were inflicted on it as they transported him into the town, with no dignity due to him as a fallen King, but a King nonetheless.. I wonder if the shocking condition of the remains of the soldiers is the result of hacking and slashing at the dead and wounded on the battlefield? This lack of Chivalry by the victors could be because the army the Tudor brought from France was mostly hired thugs and mercenaries as mentioned in the histories.?