This is the first of a series of posts I have decided to make, addressing claims and myths about Francis, which are often repeated in fiction and non-fiction alike. Since the 530th anniversary of the Battle of Stoke is coming up soon, I have decided to speak about his fighting abilites, or lack thereof, first.
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In several works of fiction and non-fiction, it is postulated that Francis was not much of a fighter, that he was more an administrative type of guy, given to organisation and not fighting. For example, Joe Ann Ricca`s "Francis, Viscount Lovel. Time Reveals All Things." mentions this theory.
While his feelings about the fighting he did are unknowable, there is indeed a small piece of evidence that suggest Francis did not have much of a natural inclination to fight. It is found in one of only two letters he wrote that survive to this day. Writing to William Stonor on the 24th June 1482 from his mother-in-law`s manor of Tanfield, Francis mentioned that he had meant to come back south already but could not due to the rumours of imminent war with the Scots such as had happened in the previous two years, which meant that if he left the north he would be said to have "withdrawn" himself from the fighting. He added that he would return as soon as he could, which suggests he was not particularly happy with the thought of the upcoming conflict.
However, even if so, there is enough evidence that once he did fight, he did it well, and that he did quite a bit of fighting in his life. Claims to the contrary, that he did not fight a lot or deliberately avoided it, are usually "supported" by the fact that Francis did not do much fighting in his life, that he did not fight at Barnet and Tewkesbury.
The latter is a completely correct observation; however, it is often seen in the wrong context, with the underlying assumption that Francis was born in 1454. This would have made him sixteen or possibly just seventeen by the time of the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. However, since Francis was only born in late 1456, he was in reality only fourteen when these battles happened, and therefore too young to get involved in the fighting. This is also noted by J.M.Williams in her essay "The Political Career of Francis Viscount Lovell (1456-?)".
Between the Battle of Tewkesbury until 22nd August 1485, there were no more major battles fought in the conflicts which have become known to history as the Wars of the Roses. Therefore, Francis had obviously no chance to take part in any but the very last stages of these conflicts.
The occasions on which Francis was old enough to be expected to (be ready to) fight were in 1475 when Edward IV raised men to fight in France with him, where a battle, however, never happened, in the series of skirmishes with the Scots 1480 until 1482, the Battle of Bosworth and the Battle of Stoke.
There is no evidence as to whether Francis was present in France in 1475. Aged eighteen, he was still technically the king`s ward and considering that and the fact he was only a baron at that point, he was perhaps thought too insignificant to be mentioned. If he was present, he did not receive any of the presents and annuities given out so lavishly by the French king, though of course, this again would probably be due to his insignificance at the time. It is, however, equally possible that he was not even present in France, for a multitude of possible reasons, such as the fact that he was still not of age and therefore didn`t have the funds for many men of his own to bring, or even that he had made his excuses somehow. Since no evidence exists, the French campaign of 1475 does not disprove the idea that Francis was an administrator rather than a fighter and did not usually fight nor want to. However, nor does it prove it.
Moving on to the next conflicts in which he could have played a part, the skirmishes with the Scots from 1480 to 1482, led by his friend Richard of Gloucester. During these, Francis was definitely present. He was knighted - coincidentally on the 22nd August - in 1481 by Richard during one such campaign, and given the honour of knighting two other men himself immediately afterwards. Though Francis was close to Richard, this honour at such a time suggests that he had comported himself well during the fighting, whatever his opinion on doing it might have been.
Francis was, therefore, not an inexperienced fighter by the time of the Battle of Bosworth. It has often been disputed whether or not Francis was present at the battle, and his clearly faulty inclusion in the first lists of casualties issued after it has sometimes been taken to have been political rather than an honest mistake caused by confusion of who had survived the battle. However, there would have been no obvious benefits to announcing Francis`s death - unlike there were in announcing John de la Pole, Earl of Lincoln,`s death - and there are some other indications he was present, such as the fact he seems to have sought sanctuary afterwards with the brothers Stafford, who definitely did fight at Bosworth.
Even in the unlikely chance he did not fight, in this case we know for a fact that this would have been due to unlucky timing, not reluctance to fight or lack of belief in his fighting prowess. If he did not fight, this would have been because he did not arrive in time from Southampton, where he had been trying to (unsuccessfully) guard the coast against the invader.
He was officially charged with this on 26th June 1485, his tasks including outfitting the ships and doing all that needed to be done for them to be able to engage in battle, as well as actually taking command of the fleet. Since it was expected to possible have to see action, it is most unlikely that this task would have been given to someone who showed no ability to fight. Certainly it was a task that required a great amount of organisatorial skill, but at the same time, it was one that would quite possibly require him to fight. Francis himself was obviously aware of this, for on 10th June 1485, undoubtedly already knowing what he would have to do, he made arrangements for his wife Anne in the event of his death and gave instructions for masses to be read if he died.
Two years later, before and during the Battle of Stoke, Francis showed again that despite quite possibly not by nature being inclined to enjoy fighting, he could and did do it quite well when he had to. He led a successful night raid on the Earl of Oxford`s camp five days before the battle took place, and during the battle itself led part of the army. He was also the only Yorkist of any standing to survive the battle, though naturally if this was due to luck, good personal fighting skills allowing him to defeat enough enemies by himself to run once the battle was lost, or a mixture thereof is impossible to say.
In short, all evidence we have shows that Francis may possibly not have been a particularly delighted fighter, but someone who could fight well when he did and did not hesitate to do so when he thought he had to.
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