Which battle on 17 February 1461 freed Henry VI from Yorkist custody?

The battle on 17 February 1461 that freed Henry VI from Yorkist custody was the Second Battle of St Albans.

Henry VI had been captured by the Yorkists after their victory at the Battle of Northampton in July 1460. The Earl of Warwick held him while trying to defend the Yorkist settlement created by the Act of Accord, which made Richard, Duke of York, heir instead of Henry’s son.

At the Second Battle of St Albans, Queen Margaret of Anjou’s Lancastrian army outflanked Warwick’s position and defeated the Yorkists. Henry was present with Warwick’s forces and was released when the Lancastrians retook the town. Accounts portray the mentally ill king as sitting beneath a tree during the fighting, though details come from later historical narratives.

The victory did not secure the Lancastrian cause. Margaret’s army failed to enter London, and Edward, Earl of March, soon defeated the Lancastrians at Towton, where he became Edward IV. The First Battle of St Albans, fought in 1455, was a separate Yorkist victory.