The Battle of Towton is fought during the English Wars of the Roses on 29 March 1461, near the village of the same name in Yorkshire.

It is the "largest and bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil".

(Gravett, Christopher (2003).

Towton 1461—England's Bloodiest Battle.

Campaign.

120.

Oxford, United Kingdom: Osprey Publishing) According to chroniclers, more than 50,000 soldiers from the Houses of York and Lancaster fought for hours amidst a snowstorm on that day, which was a Palm Sunday.

A newsletter circulated a week after the battle reported that 28,000 died on the battlefield.

The engagement brings about a monarchical change in England—Edward IV displaces Henry VI as King of England, driving the head of the Lancastrians and his key supporters out of the country.Contemporary accounts describe Henry VI as peaceful and pious, not suited for the violent dynastic civil wars, such as the War of the Roses.

He suffers from periods of insanity while his inherent benevolence eventually requires his wife, Margaret of Anjou, to assume control of his kingdom, which contributes to his own downfall.

His ineffectual rule had encouraged the nobles' schemes to establish control over him, and the situation had deteriorated into a civil war between the supporters of his house and those of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York.

After the Yorkists capture Henry in 1460, the English parliament passes an Act of Accord to let York and his line succeed Henry as king.

Henry's consort, Margaret of Anjou, refuses to accept the dispossession of her son's right to the throne and, along with fellow Lancastrian malcontents, raises an army.

Richard of York is killed at the Battle of Wakefield and his titles, including the claim to the throne, pass to his eldest son Edward.

Nobles, who were previously hesitant to support Richard's claim to the throne, regard the Lancastrians to have reneged on the Act—a legal agreement—and Edward finds enough backing to denounce Henry and declare himself king.

The Battle of Towton is to affirm the victor's right to rule over England through force of arms.On reaching the battlefield, the Yorkists find themselves heavily outnumbered.

Part of their force under John de Mowbray, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, has yet to arrive.

The Yorkist leader Lord Fauconberg turns the tables by ordering his archers to take advantage of the strong wind to outrange their enemies.

The one-sided missile exchange—Lancastrian arrows fall short of the Yorkist ranks—provoke the Lancastrians into abandoning their defensive positions.

The ensuing hand-to-hand combat lasts hours, exhausting the combatants.

The arrival of Norfolk's men reinvigorates the Yorkists and, encouraged by Edward, they rout their foes.

Many Lancastrians are killed while fleeing; some trample each other and others drown in the rivers.

Several who are taken as prisoners are executed.The power of the House of Lancaster is severely reduced after this battle.

Henry flees the country, and many of his most powerful followers are dead or in exile after the engagement, letting Edward rule England uninterrupted for nine years, before a brief restoration of Henry to the throne.

Later generations remember the battle as depicted in William Shakespeare's dramatic adaptation of Henry's life—Henry VI, Part 3, Act 2, Scene 5.

In 1929, the Towton Cross is erected on the battlefield to commemorate the event.

Various archaeological remains and mass graves related to the battle are found in the area centuries after the engagement.