Margaret of Anjou England to prove himself before she followed. He did so, restoring Henry VI briefly to the throne on 3 October 1470. By the time Margaret, her son and daughter-in-law (Anne) were ready to follow Warwick back to England, the tables had again turned in favour of the Yorkists, and the Earl was defeated and killed by the returning King Edward IV in the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471. Margaret was forced to lead her own army at the Battle of Tewkesbury on 4 May 1471, at which the Lancastrian forces were defeated and her seventeen-year-old son Edward of
Henry Stafford (c. 1425 – 1471) 12 he made a firm decision to support Edward and to join him, accompanied by his Steward, John Gilpyn, and other retainers. Although ill-prepared, Henry and his men travelled to Barnet, where the Yorkists won a decisive victory on 14 April 1471. The previous day Henry had made a hastily drafted will, in which he referred to Margaret as “my most entire belovyd wyff”. Henry is believed to have suffered from the skin disease erysipelas, also known as “St Anthony’s Fire” and thought at the time to be a form of leprosy. In the last few years of his life,