Little more than a month had passed after his departure when Henry of Lancaster entered the Humber and landed at Ravenspur.

He came, he said, to claim his heritage; and three of his Yorkshire castles at once threw open their gates.

The two great houses of the north joined him at once.

Ralph Neville, the Earl of Westmoreland, had married his half-sister; the Percies came from their exile over the Scottish border.

As he pushed quickly to the south all resistance broke down.