The battle of Towton, fought in a blizzard on Palm Sunday, 29 March 1461, with massive loss of life among the combatants, effectively brought an end to the long and increasingly troubled reign of Henry VI. With the decisive defeat of the Lancastrian army, the crown of England was now firmly in the hands of the Yorkist contender, the newly-acclaimed Edward IV. The story is well known of how, in the aftermath of the battle, King Henry, together with his wife Margaret of Anjou and their seven-year-old son Edward, fled for refuge to the Scottish court; of how, in the summer of 1462, Queen Margaret journeyed to her home territory in the Loire valley and personally secured a treaty of alliance with Louis XI of France; and of how, when an invasion mounted with Louis' help came to nothing, the queen embarked again for the continent at the end of July 1463, this time taking her son with her and making a desperate bid to gain the support of Philip the Good, duke of Burgundy. Failing in this, Margaret shortly afterwards took up residence in Lorraine, in a castle belonging to her father, at Koeur, near St-Mihiel-en-Bar. Here she established a Lancastrian court in exile and, with all the extraordinary determination for which she was renowned, continued to make contact with any ruler who might be persuaded to support the cause of her husband and son.