up at Norham, he only avoided an ambush near Newcastle, by a small force of eighty spear and bowmen under Sir Humphrey Neville, by changing his route. The Scottish embassy he eventually collected at Norham had been delayed, and it was on the return journey that the Duke of Somerset with Lords Roos and Hungerford, Sir Richard Turnstall, and Sir Thomas Findern and the bulk of the Lancastrian army (approximately 5,000 men) ambushed Montagu at the Battle of Hedgeley Moor on 25 April 1464. The assault failed, and left Sir Ralph Percy dead on the field. Montagu, having delivered the Scottish embassy to Newcastle, left there on 14 May, either with Lords Greystoke and Willoughby or picking them up en route with other supporters, to seek out the Lancastrians. The next day, at Hexham – having crossed the Tyne "either at Bulwell or Corbridge" – he attacked the rebels in their camp which was on the south side of Devil's Water river. Montagu, his army swelled with new recruits from Newcastle, and men raised by Montagu's brother, the Archbishop of York, may have had up to 10,000 men. Leading his army "forward at the charge," Montagu's attack soon became a rout, with the Lancastrian army dissolving and attempting escape over the bridge. Lords Roos, Hungerford, Findern, and Tallboys survived the battle only to be executed, on Montagu's order – and probably in his presence – with the Duke of Somerset in Newcastle. Following Hexham, Montagu ordered the largest number of beheadings the civil wars had yet seen. Earl of Northumberland In May 1464, Hexham, Langley and Bywell castles surrendered to Montagu. Eight days later, on 27 May, he was created Earl of Northumberland, while Henry Percy was imprisoned in the Tower. The Earldom gave an income of between £700 and £1,000 a year. This, wrote Cora L. Scofield, was his reward for his decisive victories, since the Crown "had played no direct part in them." That summer Montagu recaptured the three Northumberland castles – Dunstanburgh, Alnwick, and Bamburgh – that had been previously lost. Later that year – the "high watermark of his House, the zenith of the Nevilles" – Montagu's brother George was appointed Archbishop of York, with John his Treasurer at his enthronement feast. During the feast, John's wife Isabel, sat at the children's table, supervising Warwick's two daughters and the young Duke of Gloucester. Later years Following