Westmoreland,
Kinderton, and Vernon were at once executed on the field of battle, as
rebels; but Douglas, as a foreign knight, was simply viewed as a
prisoner of war, and was kindly treated.
Glendower took no advantage of the opportunity for striking a blow at
the royal army; and instead of attacking it, when spent by fatigue and
encumbered with wounds, retired at once to Wales. Had he, instead of
doing this, marched to meet Sir Edmund Mortimer, who was hurrying
forward with a powerful array, the united force would have been fully
double the strength of the English army; and a great commander would,
at once, have fought a battle that would probably have altered the
whole course of events in England. Glendower's conduct here showed
that, although an able partisan leader in an irregular warfare, he had
no claim whatever to be considered a great general.
Travelling rapidly, Oswald and his party crossed the Tyne; and hearing
that the earl, now recovered from his illness, was marching down with
his army to join his son, they rode to meet him. It was a painful duty
that Oswald had to discharge, and the old earl, when he heard of the
defeat of the army, the death of the son to whom he was deeply
attached, and the capture of his brother, the Earl of Westmoreland,
gave way to despair, dismissed his army to their homes at once, and
retired, completely broken down in body and spirit, to his castle at
Warkworth.
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