being contra comite Sarum in campo ('against the earl of Salisbury in the field'). The prospect of Percy manors passing to the Neville family was too much for Lord Egremont, who spent days fiercely recruiting in York and ambushed the Nevilles on their way home to Sheriff Hutton. He no doubt intended to assassinate the Nevilles, but all of the family were there with their own retinues, so they probably had a larger force than Egremont expected (as earls, Salisbury and Warwick were entitled to at least a hundred soldiers each in their retinues). Still, the Percy force was almost certainly larger in size (though 710 names have been preserved, they probably numbered over a thousand). Mutual fear of fighting a pitched battle meant there was little if any bloodshed, and the Nevilles were able to retreat swiftly to their stronghold in Sheriff Hutton. There is an alternative view; the evidence for this is found on legal rolls and nowhere else. As not a soul is recorded as being injured in the skirmish, it is possible that the Nevilles used this incitement of violence as an excuse, an early example of a legal fiction, to take the matter to the royal courts, resolving the legal case and thereby stating whose land this skirmish took place on. This view has been suggested after studying the Kings Bench lists (now withdrawn from the public), where a number of skirmishes such as this are recorded but the only injuries or casualties found are a hen and occasionally a dog. Incidents and chronology 20 Oct 1453: The leaders of both Neville and Percy forces—Thomas and John Neville for the former, Egremont and Sir Richard Percy for the latter—converged respectively on their castles of Topcliffe and Sand Hutton in the North Riding. Significantly, they were, for the first time, accompanied by their fathers and elder brothers—Salisbury and Richard, Earl of Warwick accompanied John and Thomas, whilst the Percy brothers were with Northumberland and his elder brother Henry, Lord Poynings. However, the result of this near-confrontation appears to be unrecorded, says Griffiths. Griffiths has suggested that the conflict intensified after Christmas 1453, compared to the first few months. 6 May 1454: Salisbury's house in York was broken into and his tenants attacked. Those who took part in this attack had mostly been with Egremont at Heworth. These men were also responsible for the sacking of Skipwith's