Note 104b — Chapter VI · THE FIELD OF THE BATTLE OF TOWTON. [81a]

According to Dugdale, in his Baronage, vol. ii. pp. 85 and 86, Robert Lord Willoughby of Eresby, a valiant and celebrated commander, distinguished in the French wars, died in the thirtieth year of Henry VI., leaving Joan, the wife of Sir Richard Welles, his daughter and heir; and, the issue male of the principal branch being thus extinct, Sir Robert Willoughby, son of Thomas, a younger brother of the last Robert Lord Willoughby, became the next heir male, and is stated to have died on the 30th of May, in the fifth year of Edward IV. (Quære—Could it have been Thomas, the younger brother, who was called Lord Willoughby, and slain at the battle of Towton?) The death of Lord Willoughby is mentioned in Fenn’s Collection of Original Letters, vol. i. p. 219; and in note 12 at the foot, it is stated that “Richard Welles, a son of Lord Welles, in 1455, was summoned as Lord Willoughby, in right of his wife Joanna, heir of the great warrior, Robert Lord Willoughby.” See note respecting Leo Lord Welles, infra, note 3. Dugdale, however, does not mention Sir Richard Welles or Lord Willoughby, as having been engaged at Towton Field.