In 1991, Henry Summerson commented that ‘the role of the north of England and the northern lords in the Barons’ Wars has been left largely unresearched’. Despite several recent studies of key northern families, this situation remains essentially unchanged. Such neglect is particularly curious in light of the crucial role of the Northerners in the civil war of 1215–17, the sociological, political and military roots of which were traced in detail in J.C. Holt's seminal study. Keith Stringer notes that although northern nobles ‘did participate prominently in the Barons’ War of 1264–67’, it was ‘not as members of a recognisable northern party opposed to the crown’ as they had done in 1215–17. This essay seeks to address this issue by discussing the nature of the war, and the struggle for control in the region, for the period of 1264–65. While the north of England in administrative terms began on the River Trent's northern bank, thus in essence covering half of England, the focus here will be on events in the counties of Yorkshire, Durham and the border shires of Northumberland, Westmorland and Cumberland. This discussion will be based around three main points: first, the balance of political and military power in the North at the war's commencement; secondly, the nature of the war in the region and the Montfortian efforts to bring the northern royalists to heel between the battles of Lewes and Evesham. Thirdly, it will argue that Robert de Vieuxpont's death had a profound impact on the fortunes of the rebels in the border counties, and is itself indicative of a fundamental problem facing the Montfortian attempts to control the region.

The paucity of narrative material for the region goes far to explain the comparative lack of attention which has been paid to the North in this period. The only contemporary chronicles with a northern focus are the related but very brief Stanley and Furness accounts, the latter being the more complete of the two. Walter of Guisborough's chronicle, despite the location of its writing at Guisborough Abbey around 1300 and its reliance upon an apparently contemporary account of the war, remains resolutely focused on events in the South, while southern chroniclers generally pay scant attention to events in the North.