The Battle of Piltown took place near Piltown, County Kilkenny in 1462 as part of the Wars of the Roses. It was fought between the supporters of the two leading Irish magnates Thomas FitzGerald, 7th Earl of Desmond, head of the government in Dublin and a committed Yorkist, and John Butler, 6th Earl of Ormond who backed the Lancastrian cause. It ended in decisive victory for Desmond and his Yorkists, with Ormond's army suffering more than a thousand casualties. This effectively ended Lancastrian hopes in Ireland and bolstered FitzGerald control for a further half-century.[1] The Ormonds departed into exile, although they were later pardoned by Edward IV.[2]
It was the only major battle to be fought in the Lordship of Ireland during the Wars of the Roses. It is also part of the long-running feud between the FitzGerald dynasty and the Butler dynasty.
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| Key figures | | Monarchs |  | 
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 | Lancaster 
  
 Tudor
 
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Margaret of Anjou, Queen of EnglandElizabeth Woodville, Queen of England4Edward of Westminster, Prince of WalesEdmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of SomersetEdmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of SomersetJohn Beaumont, Viscount BeaumontHenry Beaufort, Duke of SomersetJohn Sutton, 1st Baron DudleyJames Butler, Earl of OrmondJohn Butler, Earl of OrmondJohn Clifford, Baron CliffordJohn Courtenay, Earl of DevonHenry Holland, Duke of ExeterJohn Neville, Baron Neville2John Neville, Marquess of Montagu3Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick3Thomas Neville, Bastard of Fauconberg3Henry Percy, 2nd Earl of NorthumberlandHenry Percy, 3rd Earl of NorthumberlandThomas Ros, Baron RosHenry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham4Humphrey Stafford, Duke of BuckinghamThomas Stanley, Earl of DerbyGeorge Stanley, Baron StrangeWilliam Stanley4George Talbot, Earl of ShrewsburyJohn Talbot, Earl of ShrewsburyAndrew TrollopeThomas Clifford, 8th Baron CliffordJames Tuchet, Baron AudleyEdmund Tudor, Earl of RichmondJasper Tudor, Earl of Pembroke5Margaret BeaufortOwen TudorEdward Woodville, Lord Scales
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 | York 
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Anne Neville, Queen of EnglandJohn de la Pole, Earl of LincolnThomas FitzGerald, Earl of DesmondWilliam Herbert, Earl of PembrokeWilliam Hastings, Baron HastingsJohn Howard, Duke of NorfolkFrancis Lovell, Viscount LovellJohn Mowbray, Duke of NorfolkRichard Neville, Earl of SalisburySir Thomas NevilleWilliam Neville, Earl of KentSir Richard HerbertEdmund Plantagenet, Earl of RutlandGeorge Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence1Humphrey Stafford, Earl of DevonMargaret of YorkRichard of York
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| See also |  | 
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| 1 Briefly joined the Lancastrians. 2  Briefly joined the Yorkists. 3  Defected from the Yorkist to the Lancastrian cause. 4  Initially a Yorkist who later supported the Tudor claim. 5  Initially a Lancastrian who later supported the Tudor claim.
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References
Bibliography
- Jeffrey James. Edward IV: Glorious Son of York. Amberley Publishing, 2015.
- Anthony M. McCormack. The Earldom of Desmond 1463-1583: The Decline and Crisis of a Feudal Lordship. Four Courts Press, 2005.