attacking his failure to prevent the loss of the "two so noble Duchies of Normandy and Guyenne" in France. Somerset was imprisoned in the Tower for the next year. In April 1454, Mowbray was asked to join the York's regency council, and although he swore loyalty to York's government, claimed to be too ill to attend. The King recovered his health early in 1455 and the protectorate came to an end. Somerset was released from the Tower and as a result, according to historian Ralph Griffiths, Mowbray may have ("quite rightly" he says) feared for his own safety. Wars of the Roses Following the collapse of the 1454–55 protectorate, the Yorkist lords retreated to their estates, and Mowbray distanced himself from factional politics. An uneasy peace existed between the court and the Yorkists until April 1455, when the King summoned a Great Council to meet at Leicester the following month. The Duke of York feared that the purpose of this council was to destroy him; several chroniclers of the day suggest that Somerset was poisoning the King's mind against York. The duke and his Neville allies proceeded to raise an army from their northern estates. The King and a small force left London on 20 May; the Yorkists approached from the north with a speed calculated to surprise. In a pre-emptive strike, York and his allies intercepted the King at the first Battle of St Albans. Mowbray managed to avoid involvement in the fighting, even though, as Earl Marshal, his heralds were used during negotiations between the two camps. It is uncertain at what point Mowbray joined the battle, or if he even reached the King in time to take part. The fighting lasted only a short time, and though there were very few fatalities among the soldiery, Henry Percy, the 2nd Earl of Northumberland, (father of the 3rd Earl of Northumberland), the Duke of Somerset and Lord Clifford were killed. They were not the only three of the King's most loyal supporters, but Percy and Somerset at least were bitter enemies of the Nevilles and York. After the battle, Mowbray threatened to hang the Royal Standard bearer, Sir Philip Wentworth, on hearing that Wentworth "cast it down and fled" the battlefield. Whatever part, if any, Mowbray played in the fighting, by now contemporaries viewed him as being sympathetic to York. It is likely that Mowbray was deliberately vacillating. He