THE CIVIL WAR - GENERAL OVERVIEW

Nick Allen, the Secretary of the Banbury Historical Society, was the spy in the audience at a talk I was giving at Hook Norton in November 2000. He telephoned my wife the next morning, as by then I had departed for my office in London, with the words “I have never heard the Civil War covered in 45 minutes before, please could your husband ring me” With slight fear and trepidation I duly telephoned him, not knowing whether he was going to give me a rocket for having totally failed or what! Obviously the subject is vast and I can only skim over parts of it very briefly within the timeframe, providing of course I discipline myself to keeping strictly to my script and not wandering from it in any way!

This year is the 356^th Anniversary of the Death of Charles the 1^st and also the 406^th Anniversary of the birth of Oliver Cromwell.

The first major battle of the 1^st Civil War was fought not all that far from here at Edgehill in Warwickshire and the last battle of all was at Worcester. The most crucial battle, Naseby, which saw the appearance of what is today our Regular Army, was fought again in the Midlands in Northamptonshire and the area in general was crossed continually by armies from both sides en-route from A to B throughout the period. Oxford was the Royalist HQ during the war and Warwickshire was the scene of bitter rivalry between the Northampton family of Compton Wynyates and the Brooke family of Warwick.

11% of the population of Britain were killed during the period 1642 - 1651, which is 5 times more than that killed during the 1^st World War, 1914 - 1918.

The Civil War started in 1642 only 7 men or generations before me, if you think of an average life span being some 50 years, so it really doesn’t seem so long ago. There were more than 50 battles, sieges and skirmishes of major note - there were thousands of minor ones of course and indeed the excuse for lawlessness against the backdrop of the war was used on many occasions, as local differences and general scores were settled.

There was a complete breakdown of law and order throughout the length and breadth of the land during this period. No courts sat, no discipline reigned, certainly in this part of the Midlands, for 5 years; Large armies from both sides were continuously moving up and down the Fosse Way and from Gloucester to London and life for the locals, farmers and villagers must have been complete hell as their livestock, chickens, horses and everything else they owned was plundered by both sides. Indeed the word “plunder” originates from this period. How could a landlord get in his rents and pay his retainers under these circumstances and how could a farmer harvest his crops if his horse had been stolen? Everyday life as we know it must have been quite impossible.

To give you an example Long Compton our next door village in the north Cotswolds was pillaged no less than 3 times; firstly by the Earl of Essex’s men after Edgehill in 1642 when the house at Weston, belonging to the Sheldon family, (a great Catholic family) was severely damaged (King Charles himself had stayed there in 1636). Secondly the village was plundered again by the Parliamentarians, this time under Sir William Waller en route for the battle of Cropredy Bridge near Banbury in 1644, and finally in 1645 the Sheldon abode was attacked again this time by Lord Grey, another Parliamentarian General en route to lay siege to Worcester.

Not only was Oxford the Royalist HQ during the first Civil War, but also the King’s Court was in being there where of course foreign dignitaries were entertained. There were many battles and skirmishes around the area, which I will highlight briefly later, as Oxford was strategically placed and was an excellent centre of communications. Banbury features many times also, as without it the Royalist HQ at Oxford would have been permanently under threat and it allowed the Earl of Northampton’s writ to run far and wide throughout south Warwickshire, north Gloucestershire to Worcestershire and the Welsh Marches, and throughout Northamptonshire and well beyond for the duration of the first Civil War.

The Civil wars of 1642-1646, 1648 and 1650-1651 were nationwide and affected most areas of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. They were the first of their kind and totally different to the Wars of the Roses, which only affected particular areas of the country and certain high - ranking families. The Civil Wars were complete and the most modern tactics and weapons of the period were used. In short it was the first modern war ever seen by this country and our Regular Army of today came into being from that period of our history.

As I have already intimated it is impossible to go into the detail of the battles for obvious reasons, or indeed scratch much below the surface in covering such a vast subject. My talk will therefore be broken down as follows:

1 A brief resume on the reasons and events leading up to the Civil War.

2. The organization and recruiting of both armies.

3. A very brief addendum to the handout on equipment, arms and pay of the armies during the war.

4. An overview of the conduct of the war, with particular emphasis on what happened here in the Midlands.

5. The part played by women in the war.

6. The history of a rhyme.

Reasons and Events leading up to the War

The Stuarts inherited high inflation and an unfinished Reformation. Charles 1^st ruled without Parliament for 11 years from 1629 and he believed in the Divine Right of Kings. There were religious differences and the King never had enough money to finance either military adventures in France, his frivolous ideas, or the Court. Things were brought to a head with his idea of Ship Money – a tax as a levy on counties to pay for the Navy, which proved to be highly unpopular.

The introduction of the New Prayer Book in Scotland led to the Bishops War of 1639 and 40. The Scots under Leslie and Montrose defeated the English at Newburn in 1640. This and the subsequent occupation of the north by the Scots cost money and the only way the King could get this was through Parliament. The Earl of Strafford, the King’s loyal supporter, believed he could influence Parliament enough to produce the necessary money and be pliable at the same time, but this failed and ended with him being impeached and then executed; the King proved powerless to save him. You will remember his famous words “Put not your trust in Princes”.

Things finally got out of hand when Parliament, under the leadership of Pym, challenged the King’s right of his control of the Armed Forces in October 1641. They also threatened to impeach the Queen over her religion (she was a catholic). In January 1642 the King descended on Parliament with some 300 troopers to arrest the ringleaders, who had been tipped off in the nick of time – you will remember the words “The birds have flown” which Charles 1^st uttered.

Following this dramatic event the King and Queen moved out of Whitehall, first to Hampton Court then to Windsor and finally to York. By now the King was taking active steps to raise an army and secure the ports. Queen Henrietta went over to France and Holland with the crown jewels to buy foreign aid.

Charles had always stood for Divine Right of Kings and he had firmly defied any interference or advance of democracy. Had he accepted what Parliament wanted he would have been little better than their puppet, he had therefore to surrender to this or to fight; he chose the latter.

On 22^nd August 1642 the King unfurled his standard at Nottingham. Ominously it was blown down in the wind the next day!

The Organization and Recruiting of both Armies

It is important here to realize that the Civil War was not a class war. Please look at your handout where I have listed some of the commanders on both sides. The gentry were split as indeed families were; ordinary folk really didn’t care one way or the other, they simply followed their local squire or Lord. If they weren’t paid they plundered!

As a rule of thumb the King’s influence ran in the north, Wales and the SW while Parliament controlled the East, South and SE and most of the ports. However this did not mean that gentry who came from these geographical areas were strictly loyal to the King or Parliament. It must be said though that many a Lord or squire loyal to the King for instance, who might come from an area of Parliamentary influence, found that after 1644 it was difficult for him to get back to his home area and raise the necessary finance to support the regiment or troop he had initially raised. This was particularly important for the Royalist cause because it was declining numbers of soldiers and the wherewithal to pay them, which brought the King finally to his knees; not his being overwhelmed by his enemies in the field of battle. In the Parliament’s case it was not the same problem, with their access to the enormous money supplies in London.

The campaigning areas of the Midlands and the South West produced forces and supporters for both sides; and when the numbers of men available to the King declined as the war went on and the Royalist cause suffered reverses, some sort of balance was maintained by the overall quality of the Royalist commanders in the field who, man for man, were probably better at their jobs than their opponents. The first Civil War lasted for 4 years, and that it lasted so long must be taken as evidence of the widespread support that both sides enjoyed. It was never a case of an unpopular royalist faction trying to overcome a populist parliamentarian movement, for if it had been, the war would have gone against the King from the outset.

The manpower for the armies of both sides initially came from the County Trained Bands, which varied considerably in efficiency and could encompass anyone aged between 16 and 60. Parliament recruited by Military Ordinance i.e. by calling up these Trained Bands, while the King countered this with Commissions of Array, by-passing the Lord Lieutenant, who was responsible for them, if he was unreliable and giving instructions direct to the County Sheriffs. These Commissions of Array also empowered the raising of volunteer regiments and it was with these basically that the Civil War was fought.

Lords of the Manor and squires raised bodies of men for both armies; on the whole however discipline was rife and they plundered everywhere. There was certainly a strong feeling in the Parliamentarian Army of 1642/3 that they were all rebels together and they proved difficult to control. Their favourite pastimes appeared to be tormenting catholic priests, burning altar rails, breaking stained glass windows, killing deer and plundering papists!

Training. Prior to Edgehill in 1642 the Roundhead Army was not familiar with its weapons. They used to drill every morning and they achieved a lot in the 5 weeks prior to the battle; they also had the advantage over the Royalists in that they could concentrate quicker initially.

The King’s Army, certainly among the infantry, had had certain experience in the campaign against the Scots in 1640. In his nephew, Rupert, of course the King had a brilliant tactician and leader of cavalry. He had learnt under Gustavus Adolphus on the Continent to use cavalry as “shock action” and he constantly exercised his men and learnt from his mistakes. His own Lifeguard, a proportion of whom had been trained by him on the Continent, were a superb outfit.

In fact it was due to his brilliance that Parliament later made that all important decision to raise a truly regular Army; they had to find some means to counter him and The New Model Army was the tool to do this.

Arms, Equipment and Other Details

You will see on your handout various details, which I haven’t time to go into now. Please raise any questions or points afterwards should you wish to do so.

I would just like to amplify that under clothing and uniform (paragraph 4) infantry regiments initially wore red, blue or white (witness Newcastle’s famous White Coats at Marston Moor). In the cavalry, certainly on the Royalist side, gentlemen and their grooms wore normal clothes i.e. buff coats with breastplates and back armour. Prince Rupert’s Lifeguard wore scarlet. At Edgehill officers in the Royalist Army wore crimson scarves in their hats while the Roundheads wore orange or tawny ones; recognition of friend and foe was therefore very difficult!

Colours were used as rallying points and it is interesting to note that the Ceremony of lodging the Colour at night dates from this period. One standard of religious significance I have always liked read “Lex suprema salus patriae” which means: He who is not suitable today will be less so tomorrow!

Conduct of the War

1642

The Midlands became the key area. The two opposing local commanders were deadly rivals; the Earl of Northampton from Compton Wynyates, near Banbury, was a fat and jolly man while Lord Brooke for Parliament was lean and mean and keen, both were killed in the Civil War.

Skirmishing took place in and around Warwick and Southam, with the first major cavalry clash occurring at Powick Bridge near Worcester, where Rupert’s cavalry saw off the Roundhead horse in no mean fashion and where his excellent military reputation was first noticed.

The two main armies began to manoeuvre around the Midlands meeting at Edgehill on October 23^rd; this battlefield incidently is the most haunted in England and ghosts have been seen frequently.

Strengths: Royalists 14,300 (2800 cavalry, 10500 infantry, 20 guns), the infantry were mostly Welsh.

Roundheads 14,870 (2,150 cavalry, 12,000 infantry, 50 guns) – commanded by the Earl of Essex.

Cavalry on wings/Roundhead Counterattack/2^nd Royalist cavalry line indisciplined; Rupert and Lucas’ actions. Sir Jacob Astley, who was i/c Royalist infantry “Oh Lord thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not forget me”.

Result: Strategic Royalist victory, Essex withdrew the next day to Warwick leaving the road to London open; Banbury captured by the Royalists, with Earl of Northampton left in charge, but great chance lost by the Royalists not to have marched immediately on London and finished the war there and then. The King dallied – differing advice – Rupert wanted to push on immediately with his cavalry but he was overruled. Oxford then became the Royalist HQ and thereafter remained so for the whole of the 1^st Civil War.

The Royalists captured and sacked Brentford, however soon afterwards, they were turned back at Turnham Green by the London Trained Bands on 13^th November. The Royalists had dallied too long, Essex had managed to get to London before them and they were forced, de facto, to retire to Oxford. How different history would have been if the King had gone for London immediately after Edgehill; it showed the weakness of the Royalist command structure, of jealous courtiers offering differing advice. It is also interesting to note that Essex managed to fight this battle on the wrong side of his base, which he succeeded in doing twice more to his cost at Newbury in 1643 and at Lostwithiel in 1644.

1643

This year was overall a successful year for the Royalists. In the West Country under Sir Ralph, later Lord Hopton, they won a string of victories at Braddock Down on 19^th January, Stratton 16^th May, Lansdowne 5^th July and significantly Roundaway Down near Winchester on 13^th July, which led to the fall of Bristol after a siege by Rupert on 6^th August. The down side to this was Hopton was badly wounded at Lansdowne but on the other hand, by capturing Bristol, the Royalists had secured a vital port.

In the central region of operations Rupert took Cirencester on 2^nd February and the Royalists, under Northampton, beat the Roundheads at Hopton Heath near Stafford where he was en route to relieve Lichfield. Sadly for the Royalists Northampton was killed at this battle. Rupert, trying to repair the damage caused by the Earl’s death, captured and sacked Birmingham on 3^rd April and then relieved Lichfield on April 21^st. Prince Maurice, Rupert’s younger brother, defeated Sir William Waller, the Roundhead commander, in the Welsh Marches at Ripple just north of Tewkesbury on the 13^th April. At Chalgrove Field, between Wallingford and Oxford, Rupert soundly defeated Essex’s Army on the 10^th of June, where John Hampden MP, “one of the birds who had flown” was killed.

Amid growing dissatisfaction with his generalship, Essex left London to relieve Gloucester, which was now under siege by the King. Brushing aside an attempt to stop him at Stow on the Wold in late August he forced the King to abandon the siege. Somehow he now had to return his army intact to London; he reached Cirencester on 15^th September and Swindon on the 17^th, the Royalists marching parallel with him. On the 18^th Rupert held him up at Aldbourne Chase and moving very slowly he entered Newbury, where Royalist cavalry at once made a stunning raid on him. On the 20^th September the Battle of Newbury, which was fought on the south of the town, was a stalemate, with the Royalists withdrawing to Oxford as they were short of powder. Essex’s army reached London safely, although Rupert’s cavalry harried them all the way there.

In the north the Earl of Newcastle had had a victory over Lord Fairfax and his brother Sir Thomas at Adwalton Moor on 30^th June bottling them both up in Hull. However Cromwell, having defeated a Royalist force at Winceby in early October, relieved Hull on the 11^th October, forcing Newcastle to withdraw without much loss. Finally Lincoln surrendered to the Roundhead general, the Earl of Manchester on the 20^th October.

These latter minor successes really were the only bright spot for Parliament in 1643, for elsewhere the Royalists had scored major strategic victories and, on paper at least, appeared poised to win the war by a concerted assault on the Home Counties from the North the NW and the West.

1644

A very significant shift in the balance of power now came about. The Scots Army crossed into England on January 19^th under a deal between the Covenanters and Parliament and set to besieging York. In the Midlands Newark was relieved on 22^nd March, in a brilliant tactical manoeuvre by Rupert, totally fooling Sir John Meldrum (one of the Roundhead generals at Edgehill), who left all his siege artillery, muskets, powder and pikes to the victorious Royalists. This was a very important strategic victory as links between the north and south were opened for them.

On March 29^th Sir William Waller with 10,000 men defeated his old adversary and friend Lord Hopton, with around 6,000 men at Cheriton near Winchester. This was an important and decisive Roundhead victory.

At Cropredy Bridge near Banbury on the 29^th June Waller with around 11,000 men attacked the King’s Army of 9,000 men and was firmly repulsed leaving all his cannon and a number of standards behind on his extrication. This Royalist victory totally disrupted Waller’s army, which no longer posed any threat to the Royalists and allowed the King to concentrate solely on defeating Essex in the west.

After Newark Rupert continued north clearing all before him, brilliantly outmaneuvering the Roundheads and the Scots and finally relieved the Marquis of Newcastle in York on June 1^st. For a reason, which I have only heard about recently, Rupert decided to fight the combined Parliament/Scots Army the next day on June 2^nd. In a postscript to a letter, which is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, the King had urged him to defeat the Scots; Rupert obviously kept this letter to justify his actions, because as it turned out, the joint Parliamentarian/Scots Army were in the act of withdrawal after York had been relieved and there was therefore no need for him to have fought this battle.

He drew up his line of battle at Marston Moor, not far from York, but seeing no move from the Roundheads he stood down his troops at 7pm.

The Allied army under Fairfax, Cromwell and Leslie, who commanded the Scots, numbered 27,000 men including cavalry, dragoons and infantry; they outnumbered the Royalists by 8,000. Suddenly the Roundheads surprised Rupert, who was having his dinner and attacked. The battle was fought partly in a thunderstorm and partly under a harvest moon. Newcastle’s famous White Coats, fighting to the last, were destroyed to a man. The battle was a very close run thing with at one time 6 generals being on the run. SEE VIEWFOIL/VIEWFOIL OF BATTLE

Results: This was the largest battle ever fought on English soil since the battle of Towton in 1461.

It was a total disaster for the Royalists and the north was lost to the King.

Cromwell’s Ironsides came into existence from that day.

Rupert’s legend of invincibility was now shattered.

The Marquis of Montrose’s carefully husbanded reserves for his use in Scotland had to be given up to Rupert.

In August Montrose disguised as a groom, with the King’s standard and commission hidden in his saddlebag, crossed over the border into Scotland and started his lightening campaign in the Highlands. SEE VIEWFOIL/HANDOUT After stunning victories at Tippermuir near Perth, Aberdeen, Inverlochy, Dundee, Auldearn near Nairn, Alford north of Perth and finally at Kilsyth in August 1645 he entered Edinburgh in triumph as the King’s Captain General for Scotland. Sadly, while recruiting in the Borders, his small army was surprised and overpowered at Philiphaugh near Kelso on 13^th September1645.

Meanwhile the King’s Army at Oxford had managed to snatch some success after the crushing defeat of Marston Moor. Essex, having erroneously split his force from Waller’s just prior to Cropredy Bridge, thus giving the King victory there, advanced into Royalist Cornwall with some 10,000 men; the King with 16,000 men pursued him to Lostwithiel and on the 2^nd September entrapped him there. Essex escaped by boat leaving General Skippon to surrender 6,000 men, 40 guns and quantities of muskets and powder. It was a disaster for the Roundheads although the King offered them very generous surrender terms.

On his return to Oxford, the King with 9,000 men, found himself confronted by a blocking army of some 17,000 men near Newbury on the 27^th October under the Earl of Manchester. Having taken up very strong positions north of Newbury near Speen, the Royalists succeeded in holding off the Roundheads despite their attempt at outflanking them; after some very bloody fighting the battle ended indecisively in the dark and the King was able to move on to his base at Oxford. Soon after this the King held a Review of his Army and Rupert was appointed Lieutenant General of all the Royalist Field Armies. The King took Marlborough on 11^th November and relieved the siege of Basing House, a key garrison in Hampshire. It seemed as if the Royalist star was in the ascendancy again as the general incompetence of the Parliamentarian command structure was now too glaring to be ignored.

1645

Under the Self-Denying Ordinance members of the Commons and Lords were required to resign their commands in the Roundhead Army, thus ridding the New Model Army, which was being formed, of men like Essex, Manchester and Waller. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed commanding General with Cromwell as his 2IC and commander of the Cavalry.

Intrigue among the Royalist courtiers was working against Rupert, who believed that the Oxford Army should make a decisive thrust towards Cheshire and link up with Montrose, who was operating most successfully in Scotland. However so much animosity was shown against Rupert that nothing happened to bring this about with any urgency.

On 23^rd April Cromwell crossed the Cherwell and took Bletchingdon House just north of Oxford; he won another victory at Bampton in the Bush just round the corner from here on the 24^th, before getting a bloody nose when he tried to attack Colonel Roger Burgess, the Governor of Faringdon Castle. Cromwell then withdrew to join Fairfax, who was advancing from the west. The Royalists held a Council of War at Stow on the Wold on the 8^th May, where it was decided to split their army, sending Goring to deal with the western threat, while the King and the remainder marched northwards with the general idea of joining up with Montrose; the plan long advocated by Rupert.

Oxford itself was now threatened and Rupert hastily ordered Goring to quit the West Country and rejoin the field army in Leicestershire. Goring chose to disobey, ostensibly coming under the authority of the Prince of Wales, who was now in Bristol. This undoubtedly contributed to the disaster about to befall the Royalists at Naseby on the 14^th June.

The Battle of Naseby was highly significant because:

Last major battle of the 1^st Civil War

First battle fought by the New Model Army, which was the foundation of our regular army of today. It was recruited, paid and equipped properly by Parliament; both cavalry and infantry wore red uniforms and finally Cromwell commanded his 6,500 Ironsides in the battle.

Both the King and Sir Thomas Fairfax, jockeying for position in the Midlands, joined in battle at Naseby in Northamptonshire. The New Model Army comprised 13,000 men, of whom 6,500 were cavalry, was opposed by 7,500 Royalists.

Result the King’s military machine was now finally broken.

After the surrender of Leicester, Fairfax marched to relieve Taunton, but he was delayed by “Club Men” en route, in Dorset and Wiltshire (these were disaffected locals, who were fed up with the war in general and had ganged up to protect their areas against marauding troops from either side). Goring, the Royalist commander, retired to Langport, where his army was routed by Cromwell on the 10^th July. 2,000 Royalist prisoners were taken.

Rupert surrendered Bristol to Fairfax on the 11^th September after a lengthy siege having received generous terms of surrender. The King never forgave Rupert for this.

1646

The Battle of Stow on the Wold - 21^st March. Lord Astley with 3,000 men, whom he had collected from the Welsh Marches, tried to link up with the King; he nearly made it but was defeated by Colonel Morgan and Sir William Brereton on the high ground at Donnington ½ a mile NW of Stow. After the battle Lord Astley sat on his drum in the market square saying “ Gentlemen, you may sit and play for you have done all your work, if you fall not out among yourselves.” A highly prophetic statement as it turned out.

The King surrendered to the Scots Army on May 5^th.

1648 - The 2^nd Civil War

The King signed an Agreement with the Scots over introducing Presbyterianism into England for a period of three years. Royalists and ex Parliamentarians disaffected with the new regime rose in Wales, Essex and Kent but were defeated piecemeal as the Scots had delayed coming south. An English Royalist/Scottish Army, although outnumbering the New Model under Cromwell by two to one, was heavily defeated at Preston on 17^th August. The surrender of Colchester under Sir Charles Lucas on August 28^th marked the end of the 2^nd Civil War.

The King was put on trial for his life. He had been dividing his enemies and had treated independently with the Scots, Parliament and the New Model Army under the old adage of divide and rule. “Charles Stuart that man of blood” was executed outside the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall on 30^th January 1649.

The 3^rd Civil War 1650 – 51

The failure of the 1648 rising was largely due to the inability of the Scots either to act in unison or to act positively. In the attitude to Charles the 2^nd in Scotland there was a three way split: the old Montrose Royalists, the Engagers under the Duke of Hamilton, who had been defeated at Preston in 1648 and the hard line Covenanters under the Duke of Argyle. Both the latter shared a mutual dislike of Montrose.

Initially Charles looked to risings within England and to a resurgent Montrose to achieve his aims but he looked in vain. Montrose landed in the Orkneys and began to raise troops in Sutherland but was defeated by the Covenanters at Carbisdale north of Inverness. Montrose was taken, tried and hanged in Edinburgh on the 21^st May. Charles was therefore forced to turn to the Covenanters, who had barred the Engagers from further involvement and, as the English Royalists lacked the will and the coordination to mount any rising of substance, Charles, much against his personal feelings, was forced to take the Covenant; he arrived in Edinburgh on the 23^rd June. Leslie began to raise an army, which prompted Cromwell, now in charge of the New Model Army, to invade Scotland.

The Battle of Dunbar 3^rd September. Cromwell with 8,000 men very convincingly defeated the Scots (12,000 men) under Leslie. General Monck was left behind to garrison the Lowlands; however Edinburgh held out, allowing the Scots to build up a huge army in the Stirling area.

In July 1651 Charles managed to slip past Cromwell into England, but he received very little Royalist support or indeed sympathy. Bonnie Prince Charlie should have taken a leaf out of his book as the same thing happened to him you will remember in 1745.

At the Battle of Worcester on the 3^rd of September, Cromwell, with 20,000 men completely smashed the Scots Army of 16,000, losing only 200 men in the process. Very few Scotsmen escaped. It was a brilliant campaign by Cromwell, which surely must make him rank among our best military commanders. Charles escaped and hid in an oak tree after the battle. “Oak Apple Day” or Founders Day at the Royal Hospital commemorates this event every year.

Aftermath.

Cromwell sheathed his sword. He became the Lord Protector and died 7 years to the day after the Battle of Worcester on 3^rd September 1658. The population became fed up with martial law and General Monck, sensing the mood, marched south from Coldstream and asked Charles to return.

1660 The Restoration. One of the first things the King did on entering Edinburgh later in the year was to have Montrose’s body taken down and buried with full honours, returning his estates to his family. Argyle, the arch Covenanter and schemer, was executed; the wheel had finally turned.

Women in the Civil War

Cross - dressing. A few women dressed up as men in order to be with their husbands. There is the story of 21 well - armed and bloodthirsty Amazons captured by Fairfax at Acton Church in Cheshire in 1644, who were among 200 Royalist PWs; however this is probably not true as they were more likely to have been camp followers.

Molly, the landlady of the Mad Dog Inn at Blackheath supposedly fought as a man. Jane Engleby, daughter of a Yorkshire yeoman farmer is reputed to have charged with Rupert’s cavalry at Marston Moor where she was wounded but later returned to her father’s farm. There are many other stories but there is no time to tell them. However suffice it to say that the King decreed in July 1643 that the practice of cross - dressing was “pernicious and common, a thing which nature and religion forbids and our souls abhor” and forbade it then and there to continue by proclamation.

Siege Warfare.

A lot of women fought in sieges for they knew only too well what would befall them if the town was taken by storm. There is one story of Lady Jordan who was caught in the siege of Cirencester in 1643; the bombardment, which included shelling by a large mortar, reduced her to behaving like a tiny child, being able only to find happiness by playing with the dolls that were specially made for her.

Women put out fires at the siege of Lyme Regis in 1644 and at Basing House in 1645 they took an active part in its defence by hurling sticks and stones on to the heads of the besieging Roundheads; they reloaded the soldiers’ muskets and also fired at the attackers themselves. During the siege of Worcester in 1645, 400 “ordinary women” worked daily, often under bombardment, on the defences. At the siege of Bristol again in 1645 one Dorothy Hazard (an appropriate name by any standard) and others rushed in to seal a breach in the wall with sandbags. They then stood behind the guns to oversee the soldiers firing grapeshot at any Roundhead who dared to poke his head through the gap.

Defence of London. After the sack of Brentwood in 1642 by the Royalists, details of which grew more horrendous by the day, some 20,000 citizens, largely women, built an earth wall 18 feet high and 11 miles long with a ditch and forts. This certainly helped to deter the King from later marching on London, as many foreign experts thought the capital’s defences were impregnable and told him so on many occasions when they came to the court at Oxford.

Aristocratic Ladies

Better known I suppose are those ladies who openly helped their husbands either in the defence of their homes or for other reasons during the absence of their husbands, who were away fighting with the armies. Again there are many examples but I only have time to give you three. Firstly, the Queen, Henrietta Maria went abroad on the outbreak of war to raise money for the Royalist cause. She suffered many indignities at the hands of the Dutch as she tried to sell the Crown Jewels in return for arms and powder; however she had a certain amount of success and those ships which managed to run the gauntlet of the Parliamentarian blockade brought in quite a lot of arms and equipment. On her initial landing near Hull in 1643 (SEE VIEWFOIL/HANDOUT) - she was subjected to close combat fighting and was plucked out from near disaster only just in the nick of time. She was frequently with her husband during the campaigning season of the 1^st Civil

War.

Lady Derby was holding Lathom House in Lancashire in February 1643 while her husband was away fighting for the King in the Isle of Man. The house was a strong fortress with walls 6ft thick, with 9 towers and a moat 18 yards wide and a fathom deep. The siege proved long and bitter – cannon balls crashed through the window of the Countess’ chamber and the garrison suffered dreadfully from a mortar, which lobbed 80 lb shells. Confident of victory Colonel Rigby, the Roundhead commander, had invited his friends and neighbours to see the fun and demanded Lady Derby’s surrender. The Countess told the herald “That a due reward for his pains is to be hanged at her gates, but thou art a foolish instrument of a treacherous pride”. Summoning the garrison, she vowed to fight to the death rather than surrender; the pep talk worked. Her cheering troops swore “that we’ll die for His Majesty and your honour, God save the King”. Emboldened by the Countess’ defiance they sallied forth 2 days later, captured the mortar and broke the siege.

Finally the Royalists could not understand the defiance of Lady Brilliana Harley ( who refused to surrender Brampton Bryan Castle in Herefordshire in August 1643. The King blamed her defiance on evil councillors who had taken advantage of a woman’s weaker nature. In answer to the summons to surrender Lady Harley replied demurely with fitting female humility that she couldn’t possibly surrender without her husband’s permission!

Lastly I thought you might be amused by the history of the rhyme Humpty Dumpty. There are two stories; in the first one King Charles the 1^st employed a certain Dr Chillingworth at Oxford to invent effective war machines to surprise the enemy. Such tactics were already popular on the Continent. During the siege of Gloucester in 1643 the King asked the gallant Doctor to think of a plan to take the city without much loss of life. Accordingly he invented a huge war machine, which would roll down the steep slope on wheels, bridge the Severn and provide a covered way over the walls of the city. It was modelled on a similar machine used by the Romans called a “Tortoise” – which you may remember was a roof of shields under which the soldiers advanced. The soldiers on both sides called this invention Humpty Dumpty.

Sadly for the Royalists the citizens of Gloucester were informed of this plan before it was put into operation and they took steps to widen the river. As a result the huge war machine was launched with hundreds of soldiers inside, but it didn’t reach the far bank and collapsed in mid-stream, drowning a number of men. The original verse sung in the children’s opera called “All the King’s men” by Richard Rodney Bennett is based on this incident:

Humpty Dumpty lay in the beck,

With all his sinews around his neck;

All the King’s surgeons, and all the King’s wrights,

Could not put humpty Dumpty to rights.

The second story comes from the East Anglian Tourist Board, which states that Humpty Dumpty was a powerful cannon used during the Civil War. It was mounted on top of St Mary’s Church in Colchester by the Royalists under Sir Charles Lucas, the gallant cavalry leader who distinguished himself so well at Edgehill and then later at Marston Moor and the Battle of Stow in the Wold. They were defending the city against the Roundheads in the summer of 1648 during the third Civil War. The church tower was hit by the Parliamentary cannon and the top of the tower was blown off, sending Humpty Dumpty tumbling to the ground. Naturally the King’s men tried to put him together again but in vain. Worse, Sir Charles Lucas was executed by a Parliamentary firing squad.