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The Winners and Losers Of The English Civil War | History Of Warfare | Timeline — Transcript

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0:09Throughout the quiet shires and peaceful
0:11towns of 17th century England, a long
0:14period of blissful prosperity had
0:16stretched unbroken from the time of
0:18Henry the VIII through Queen Elizabeth's
0:20long rule and throughout the reign of
0:23King James I.
0:24But in the year of our Lord 1639,
0:27there began an unparalleled series of
0:29events which led to an armed conflict in
0:32the three kingdoms of Britain.
0:35Although it is generally known as the
0:37English Civil War, the causes lay in
0:39Scotland and by the time the wars ended
0:4220 years later, men had died on
0:45battlefields as far apart as Caithness
0:47and Cornwall and from Flanders to
0:50Virginia.
1:32When asked to describe the sequence of
1:34events on the battlefield at Waterloo,
1:36the Duke of Wellington remarked that one
1:38could no more chronicle all of the
1:40events of a battle than one could hope
1:41to record all the events at a ball.
1:45Although the Duke was referring to the
1:46difficulty in pinpointing the interplay
1:48of cause and effect among thousands of
1:50men on a single field, he could easily
1:53have been referring to the complex
1:54interaction of the various factors which
1:57lead to war itself.
1:59Seldom, if ever, can the outbreak of war
2:02be ascribed to a single cause.
2:05Despite the seemingly endless list of
2:07conflicts throughout history,
2:09the decision to take up arms against
2:11another country is not one made lightly.
2:14To fight against one's fellow countrymen
2:17is an even more tragic act which needs
2:19greater provocation than a simple call
2:22to arms against a foreign foe.
2:25The causes of the war which led
2:27Englishmen to take up arms against other
2:29Englishmen in a bitter conflict in 1642
2:32stemmed from the disruptive process of
2:34evolution.
2:36In this case, the evolution of the
2:38church and constitution
2:41from a medieval society to one more
2:43suited to a modern nation-state.
2:48The pace of progress during the long
2:50peace of the 17th century had imposed
2:52intolerable strains on the feudal
2:54structures by which the people were
2:56governed and their religious worship
2:58controlled.
3:00In the fields of art, science, theology
3:02and commerce, old boundaries were
3:04constantly being pushed back.
3:07The process of Renaissance, the
3:08rediscovery which had dragged Europe out
3:11of the Middle Ages, was by now complete
3:14and England was a peaceful, prosperous
3:16nation.
3:18More new discoveries and advances in
3:20trade created an increasingly successful
3:23and sophisticated society and many
3:25Englishmen felt this new society needed
3:28new forms of government and religious
3:30worship.
3:32Among those who sought change, the
3:34precise nature of what this new society
3:36needed had yet to be defined.
3:39Throughout the nation, there was a
3:40heated debate on matters of government
3:42and religion which would eventually
3:44polarize into two distinct parties.
3:47But as yet, that process was still in
3:49its infancy.
3:51For some Englishmen, constitutional
3:53change was uppermost.
3:55For the mass of the population,
3:56religious reform mattered most.
3:59To others, greater freedom of trade was
4:01the great issue of the day.
4:04The issues which concerned each of these
4:06groups were not entirely separate
4:08matters and there was some overlap
4:09between them. But any move towards
4:12reform would inevitably come into
4:13collision with the person of the king,
4:16Charles I.
4:18King Charles was a man of great
4:20principle and conviction, but he was a
4:22man totally opposed to the kind of
4:24change to which large sections of his
4:26people were gravitating.
4:28Charles' father, James VI of Scotland,
4:31had ascended the empty throne of England
4:33left by the childless Elizabeth I
4:35and so became both James VI of Scotland
4:38and James I of England.
4:41Charles was therefore the second king to
4:42rule both kingdoms of Scotland and
4:44England,
4:45which were still separate countries in
4:47every legal and economic sense.
4:50Although he was born in Scotland and
4:52spoke with a trace of the Scots accent
4:54which he had inherited from his father,
4:56Charles largely turned his back on that
4:58country.
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5:37His slight speech impediment meant that
5:39he lacked a certain presence,
5:41but this was more than made up for by
5:43his earnest, sincere faith and the
5:45serious manner in which he accepted the
5:47burden of kingship.
5:50Charles was studious, dedicated and
5:53absolutely resolute in any cause in
5:55which he firmly believed.
5:57He was particularly staunch in his
5:59desire to uphold the ancient laws and
6:01structures of England as he interpreted
6:04them.
6:06Charles distrusted parliaments
6:08absolutely
6:10and had in fact governed the country for
6:11long periods without recourse to a
6:13parliament.
6:15At that time, parliament was not an
6:17essential requirement for the government
6:19of England.
6:20However, Charles' failure to call one
6:22meant that there was no effective
6:24platform for national debate. So the
6:26unrest fermenting beneath the surface of
6:29English society had no real outlet.
6:32This was to have disastrous consequences
6:34for Charles when he was eventually
6:36forced by events to recall parliament.
6:39A good king acknowledges himself
6:43ordained by God for his people.
6:47He receives from God the burden of
6:50government for which he must be
6:52accountable.
6:54But a king must rule his people like a
6:57father and like a father, his authority
7:01is founded on the immutable decree of
7:04almighty God.
7:06His subjects must therefore respect the
7:08sovereign like a father.
7:11I alone must answer to
7:14God for our exercise of the authority he
7:17has vested in me.
7:19It is for me to decide how our nation is
7:22to be
7:22governed, how my subjects are to be
7:25ruled and above all, how the church
7:29shall be established under the rule of
7:31law.
7:33These are the divine rights of kings and
7:35are ordained by the almighty.
7:38It is not the place of the subject to
7:40question the royal prerogative.
7:43I shall endeavor to uphold the liberties
7:45of the country, but my authority is
7:47absolute and may not be questioned.
7:51You may rest assured that I have no
7:53other intention but to honor
7:55God and procure the
7:57good of my people.
8:00Because the king and his party
8:02represented a common obstacle to change
8:04in the main spheres where many of his
8:06subjects demanded reform, inevitably,
8:09the king's supporters would come to be
8:10viewed as the common enemy for those who
8:12sought to change society in some way or
8:15another.
8:16Even his severest opponents stopped
8:18short of actual hostility to the king's
8:20person.
8:21They were in dispute not with the king,
8:23but with his evil counselors.
8:26Chief among them was Charles' close
8:28friend and confidant, Thomas Wentworth,
8:31Earl of Strafford.
8:34Eventually, the various groups seeking
8:35change would coalesce from a range of
8:37separate interests into a single party
8:39directly opposed to the king's party,
8:42but this process took some time and in
8:44order to understand how the
8:45parliamentarians, as they would later be
8:47known, could draw a unified strength
8:50from a range of disparate groups, one
8:52would first need to look closer at the
8:54great issues of the day.
8:58Viewed from an increasingly secular
9:00society where the influence of the
9:01church wanes with every year that
9:03passes, it is barely possible for us to
9:05understand the fundamental role which
9:08religion occupied in 17th century life.
9:12English society at that time was
9:13profoundly and sincerely religious.
9:16People attended church and felt the
9:18influence of God in everyday events.
9:21They were also intensely concerned with
9:23the form and manner in which his worship
9:26was observed.
9:28The English were overwhelmingly
9:30Protestant. They accepted the reformed
9:32Protestant doctrine which Martin Luther
9:34had eloquently expounded at the dawn of
9:37the Reformation.
9:39As there was no reference in the Bible
9:40to a pope, most Englishmen would not
9:43therefore recognize papal authority, nor
9:45would they indulge in the more elaborate
9:47Catholic rituals for which there was no
9:49apparent justification in the Bible.
9:53The predominance of ritual was and still
9:55is an intrinsic part of the Catholic
9:58religion, which was vilified and loathed
10:01with an unforgiving passion in 17th
10:03century England.
10:06However, if the English people were
10:07agreed on the aspects of religion which
10:09they would not accept, there was still
10:11considerable discussion as to what was
10:13the correct form of worship in a
10:14reformed Protestant church.
10:18Many Englishmen favored the adoption of
10:20the Scottish Presbyterian system, which
10:22was based on the Calvinist model of a
10:24reformed church organized into
10:26presbyteries with each parish controlled
10:28by elders and the clergy working
10:30together.
10:32Others were Baptists who sought the
10:35freedom to worship God in the manner
10:36they saw fit.
10:38Others still felt that a Protestant
10:40church had no place for bishops or
10:42archbishops and clamored for their
10:44removal.
10:46Supporters of these and a number of
10:48other groups became generally known as
10:50Puritans
10:51and despite their many differences, they
10:53did share one thing in common.
10:56King Charles would not yield to any of
10:59their requests for change unless they
11:01fitted precisely with his own view of
11:03how the church should be governed.
11:07The Church of England as presided over
11:08by Charles was rigidly and efficiently
11:11organized, but under Archbishop William
11:14Laud, many practices were reintroduced
11:17which the people associated with
11:18Catholicism.
11:20The lighting of candles, the burning of
11:22incense, making the sign of the cross,
11:25bowing at the name of Jesus, images of
11:27the Virgin Mary, surplices and vestments
11:30for the clergy had all made a return to
11:32the Anglican church during Charles's
11:34reign.
11:36Many were now officially recognized as a
11:38part of the prescribed service for the
11:40Church of England.
11:42Naturally, the Puritans with their
11:44desire for an even more stern form of
11:46Protestant worship were outraged by
11:48these changes.
11:50In an age where a man's religious
11:51conscience could lead him to endure any
11:53form of suffering
11:55to defend the particular religion which
11:56he believed in,
11:57there were many who were prepared to die
11:59in the fight against what they saw as
12:01the return of papacy.
12:05When the time did eventually come to
12:06fight, more than half of the king's
12:08subjects could be said to be of a
12:09Puritan persuasion to some degree or
12:11other.
12:13But although religion was a major factor
12:15in the escalation of national unrest, it
12:17was economic issues which would finally
12:20plunge the country into civil war.
12:22Once again, however, religion would play
12:25its part.
12:28Not content with imposing a rigid form
12:30of worship on the Church of England,
12:32Charles wished to extend this to the
12:34Church of Scotland.
12:36In doing so, he committed a fatal error.
12:38Charles attempted to impose a new Book
12:40of Common Prayer on the Church of
12:42Scotland.
12:44From its first introduction, there were
12:45riots and unrest culminating in the
12:48famous incident where a stool was thrown
12:50at the first bishop to introduce the new
12:52form of worship.
12:54It seemed as if the whole Scots nation
12:56was incensed and they signed a national
12:59covenant in defense of their own
13:00fiercely Protestant religion, which led
13:03them into open conflict with the king.
13:07The wars of 1639 and 1640 became known
13:10as the Bishops' War as the Scots had
13:12once again thrown out the bishops who
13:14had been reimposed upon them by James I
13:17using great skill 30 years before.
13:21The outcome of these two short and
13:23relatively bloodless wars proved to be
13:25an unmitigated military disaster for
13:27King Charles.
13:29The victorious Scots army easily
13:30defeated the English forces hastily
13:32thrown against them at the Battle of
13:34Newburn and then marched on to occupy
13:36Newcastle.
13:39Militarily, the Bishops' War had been a
13:41shambles, but worse still for Charles
13:44was the economic cost of waging war.
13:47For 11 years, he had been governing the
13:49country without recourse to Parliament.
13:52Charles mistrusted Parliament and
13:54whenever possible sought to rule the
13:55country without one.
13:57In order to raise the money to govern
13:58the country, he had twisted and
14:00manipulated the laws governing taxation
14:03and the sovereign's right to grant
14:04monopolies.
14:06In so doing, he had created huge unrest
14:08among the merchant classes.
14:10They objected to royal monopolies being
14:12granted on, among other things, the
14:15manufacture of soap and salt.
14:17The reintroduction and extension of
14:19dormant taxes like ship money
14:21further fanned the flames of revolt.
14:24Forced to call a Parliament so that it
14:27could vote him the funds to finance his
14:28Scottish wars, Charles found that he had
14:30unleashed a pent-up force which would
14:33not easily be contained.
14:36The Parliament of 1639 refused to vote
14:38Charles any funds until its own
14:41grievances had first been dealt with.
14:44In a fury, Charles dismissed this
14:46short-lived Parliament.
14:48However, he was soon forced to call
14:49another, the so-called Long Parliament
14:52of 1640, which was even more hostile in
14:55its demands.
14:58Parliament presented King Charles with a
14:59list of grievances which became known as
15:01the Grand Remonstrance
15:03and further challenged the authority of
15:05royal control by claiming that
15:06Parliament, not the king, should have
15:09the right to raise and control the army.
15:12In 1641, Ireland had exploded into
15:15rebellion,
15:16so the question of who controlled the
15:17armed forces was more pressing than
15:19ever.
15:23Under the able leadership of John Pym,
15:25the Long Parliament increasingly used
15:27this and other arguments to bring into
15:29question Charles's right and his
15:31personal suitability to govern.
15:34Using great political skill, Pym had
15:37Charles's great friend and adviser
15:39Strafford tried and executed.
15:42Charles, always hostile towards his
15:44parliaments, gradually lost patience and
15:47decided to act with force if necessary.
15:51The two factions finally came to an
15:53all-out declaration of war
15:55after a failed attempt by Charles to
15:57seize the leaders of the party acting in
15:59opposition to him.
16:01With his failure to arrest the five
16:03members, Pym, Hollis, Hampden, Haselrig,
16:07and Strode, the king had played his last
16:09card.
16:11He had attempted to overrule the rights
16:13and privileges of Parliament by a coup
16:15d'état.
16:16The London mob took to the streets
16:18backing Parliament and there was no
16:20turning back.
16:23Unrest in society now took the form of
16:26increasingly open conflict.
16:29Soon, riots and brawls became more
16:31serious and the first shots were fired
16:33in anger.
16:35Faced with the outright hostility of the
16:37Commons and the populace of London, the
16:40king fled north to York.
16:42From there, he attempted to seize arms
16:44and ammunition stored at Hull, but was
16:46refused entry on St. George's Day, 1642.
16:51Desperately short of arms and
16:53ammunition, Charles spent the next four
16:55months gathering the beginnings of an
16:56army.
16:58When he felt strong enough, he raised
17:00his standard at Nottingham and the
17:01genteel pretenses were cast aside.
17:05Civil war had begun in earnest.
17:09There's no doubt that the
17:10parliamentarian Earl of Essex began the
17:12recruiting game much earlier than the
17:14king.
17:15Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, went
17:17into the Eastern Association counties to
17:19the east and south of London and began
17:21to build quite a substantial army.
17:24And when the king began to take this
17:25seriously in August, really Parliament
17:27had a great considerable head start in
17:29that in the numbers game anyway.
17:32Even when he did begin to recruit,
17:34having raised his standard at Nottingham
17:36in late August of 1642,
17:38the king was very disappointed by the
17:40initial reaction there.
17:423,000 militia had been paraded for his
17:45delectation on that occasion, but
17:47despite the best harangues of the king
17:49and his ministers and friends and so
17:50forth, only 300 agreed to take service.
17:54And the king had to be content with
17:55this, disarmed the remainder, and put
17:57all their weapons into his wagons, and
17:59moved away hoping to get a bigger army
18:01somewhere else. But at the very start,
18:03there's no doubt some parliamentarians
18:05were discussing whether the king would
18:07have the ability to raise an army
18:09considering the feeling in the country
18:11as a whole. But in fact, he was going to
18:12do so.
18:15Parliament had easily managed to raise
18:17the more sizable army.
18:19A large part of these men were drawn
18:21from the regiments which had been
18:22recruited to suppress the rebellion in
18:24Ireland.
18:25London was then a hotbed of Puritanism
18:28and large numbers of Londoners therefore
18:30joined the army and the popular Earl of
18:32Essex was appointed to command it.
18:35Unfortunately, he was to prove a more
18:37able politician than a soldier.
18:41The king's army was always smaller than
18:43that of Parliament and many were very
18:45poorly armed being described by one
18:47contemporary as poor Welsh vermin.
18:52The infantry regiments of both sides
18:54were made up of two quite different
18:56types of soldier,
18:57musketeers and pikemen.
19:00In action, the pikemen were grouped
19:01together in the center of each battalion
19:04forming a forest of pike shafts with a
19:06wing of musketeers on each side.
19:10The musketeers were mainly armed with
19:11matchlock muskets.
19:14These were simple muzzle-loading weapons
19:16with a slow-burning fuse or match which
19:18was used to fire them.
19:20An experienced soldier could load and
19:22fire within 30 seconds, but there were
19:24few enough of those when the war began.
19:28In order to load his musket, the soldier
19:30had first to level it waist high and
19:33pour some gunpowder into the flash pan
19:35at the bottom of the barrel.
19:37He then placed the butt of his musket on
19:39the ground and poured the main powder
19:41charge down it
19:43followed by the musket ball and some
19:44wadding.
19:46After ramming down with his scouring
19:48stick, the soldier had to look to his
19:50match.
19:51At this time, the widespread
19:53introduction of the flintlock still lay
19:55in the future, and muskets were actually
19:57fired by a lighted match being plunged
20:00into the gunpowder in the pan.
20:03Once loaded, the musketeer therefore
20:05needed to fix his match to the lock of
20:07his musket
20:08and make sure that it was burning
20:10properly.
20:11He was now ready to fire.
20:17Because it took so long to fire and
20:19reload a musket,
20:20regiments were drawn up six deep, and
20:23only one rank fired at a time.
20:25The first rank would fire their
20:27inaccurate muskets in the general
20:28direction of the enemy, aiming as best
20:30they could,
20:31then move smartly to the rear to reload,
20:34while the second rank moved up into
20:35their place.
20:37By the time all the ranks had fired, the
20:39first one would have finished the
20:40cumbersome reloading process and would
20:43have moved back up to the front, ready
20:44to start the cycle afresh.
20:48For every two musketeers in the
20:50regiment, there would ideally be one
20:52pikeman.
20:53The pikemen had once been the more
20:55important element of an infantry
20:56regiment and had formed 2/3 of the
20:59regiments in Elizabeth's time,
21:01but by the time of the Civil War, they
21:02were in decline, eclipsed by the more
21:05versatile and deadly musketeers.
21:09Fewer and fewer of them now wore the
21:11armor shown in the elegantly illustrated
21:13drill books, but they still had an
21:15important role to play, especially in
21:17using their long pikes to fend off enemy
21:19cavalry.
21:21They could also be called upon to
21:23deliver the decisive blow by moving
21:25forward with their pikes leveled at the
21:27charge.
21:28Usually, the threat of coming to grips
21:30with the pike was enough to cause one
21:32side or the other to break and run.
21:34But if both parties were resolute, it
21:36came to push of pike, with both parties
21:39contending locked in mortal combat, as
21:42one observer put it, like bulls trying
21:44to bear each other down.
21:48Cavalry were of two kinds,
21:50the heavy cuirassier, clad in armor from
21:52head to toe like medieval knights,
21:55and the light cavalryman called
21:56arquebusier, who wore only helmets and
21:59either a breastplate or a heavy buff
22:02leather coat.
22:04The cuirassier were intended to charge
22:05home,
22:06while the arquebusier were skirmishers,
22:09trained to fight with firearms rather
22:11than close with the sword.
22:14In the England of 1642, both the armor
22:17for cuirassier and horses fit to bear
22:19them were hard to find.
22:21But Prince Rupert, the king's flamboyant
22:23young nephew, appointed to command the
22:25Royalist company, ignored convention and
22:28trained his lightly armed troopers to
22:30charge home as if they were cuirassier.
22:34No such stroke of imagination was to be
22:36seen on the other side.
22:38Parliament could muster only three
22:40troops of cuirassier,
22:41but the rest of her cavalry were trained
22:43to rely on their firearms rather than
22:45the sword.
22:48Artillery was invaluable in sieges, but
22:51seldom played a decisive part in the
22:53battles, since cannon were generally too
22:55heavy to move easily and too slow to
22:57reload.
22:59The cannon of the period fired
23:01cannonballs, smooth projectiles, which
23:04were not designed to explode, but rather
23:06to cause horrific injury by the violence
23:08of their passage, tearing off arms and
23:10legs as they passed through the massed
23:12ranks of men.
23:14Although they were cumbersome and
23:15inefficient, no army of the period was
23:18considered complete without at least a
23:19few guns.
23:24On the 23rd of September, detachments of
23:26both armies met each other by accident
23:28at Powick Bridge, outside Worcester.
23:31Neither side had realized that the other
23:33was close at hand,
23:34but the Royalists were the first to
23:36recover from the shock of discovery, and
23:38in the short fight which followed,
23:40Prince Rupert's Cavaliers were
23:41victorious.
23:43Of itself, the skirmish was
23:44insignificant,
23:46but it began the myth that the Cavalier
23:48horse were invincible,
23:50a myth which the Parliamentarians would
23:51need some time to destroy.
23:55A month later at Edgehill, in the Vale
23:57of the Red Horse in Warwickshire, the
23:59first major battle of the Civil War was
24:01fought.
24:03As the Roundheads could not be tempted
24:04to attack the favorable Royalist
24:06positions on the hill itself, the king's
24:08men moved off the hill and were drawn up
24:10on the forward slope looking from Radway
24:13towards the village of Kineton.
24:16The king's nephew, Prince Rupert,
24:17commanded the cavalry on the right wing,
24:20and Lord Wilmot, a professional soldier
24:22turned courtier, commanded the left.
24:25In the center, the infantry formed five
24:27brigades, with three in the front line
24:30and the two others in support.
24:32The dragoons were deployed on the flanks
24:33of the cavalry.
24:36In total, the Royalists fielded nearly
24:383,000 cavalry, 1,000 dragoons, and just
24:41over 10,000 infantry.
24:44The Earl of Essex's army, waiting for
24:47them at the foot of the hill, was drawn
24:48up in much the same way.
24:51The Parliamentarians had 12,000
24:53infantry, but less than 3,000 cavalry
24:56and dragoons.
24:58As a commander, Essex was to develop an
24:59unfortunate reputation for allowing his
25:01opponent to interpose between him and
25:03his home base.
25:05The Edgehill campaign was the first
25:07example of this dangerous tendency.
25:10Essex's army therefore formed up with
25:13the Royalist army between him and his
25:15base at London.
25:18A major defeat in the battle would
25:19therefore have been doubly disastrous.
25:22A battle had not been expected, and many
25:24of Essex's soldiers were scattered in
25:26farms and villages where they had been
25:28finding shelter from the cold October
25:30nights.
25:32At first, it looked as though the
25:33Cavaliers might end the war in an
25:34afternoon.
25:36Led by the fiery Prince Rupert, the
25:38Royalist cavalry swept all before them.
25:41As the Royalists advanced upon the
25:42Parliamentary cavalry, the Roundheads
25:45who opened fire with their carbines
25:47expected the Royalists to respond in
25:48kind.
25:50Instead, the Cavaliers came on at a
25:52furious charge, and the
25:53Parliamentarians, panicking, fled away,
25:56pursued clear of the battlefield by the
25:58jubilant Cavaliers who thought they won.
26:02Rupert's men cut down the fugitives,
26:04many of whom they pursued for 7 miles,
26:07and then began plundering the
26:08Parliamentary baggage train.
26:11Had the victorious Cavaliers returned to
26:13the field, they would have seen the
26:14Parliamentary infantry rally and hold
26:17the king's army to a bloody stalemate on
26:19the battlefield.
26:21The presence of the Royalist cavalry
26:22would have won the day,
26:24but their indiscipline in pursuing the
26:26fleeing Parliamentary cavalry too far
26:28allowed the infantry of Parliament to
26:30save the day.
26:31By their dogged persistence, they were
26:33able to hold the Royalists to a draw,
26:36but at a very high cost.
26:39After a bitterly cold night, Essex
26:41abandoned the battlefield to the king
26:43and retired northwards to the safety of
26:45Warwick Castle,
26:46leaving the way clear for the king to
26:48march on London.
26:50The impetuous Prince Rupert was all for
26:51making a dash with his cavalry to occupy
26:53London before Essex could reach the city
26:55with the battered remains of his army.
26:58However, the king prevaricated in the
27:00hope of a peaceful settlement, and the
27:02greatest opportunity of the war to
27:04capture the Parliamentary stronghold was
27:06lost.
27:09By November, Essex had regained London,
27:11and the forces of the king and
27:12Parliament were joined in some
27:14indecisive fighting around Brentford and
27:16Hounslow to the west of London.
27:19One of those who joined the king's
27:21forces at this time was a young Welshman
27:23named John Gwyn.
27:27Myself and five comrades repaired from
27:29the court of Richmond to the king's
27:31royal army, which we met accidentally
27:33that morning upon Hounslow Heath.
27:35We had no sooner joined with that old
27:37acquaintance, Sir George Boothby, but we
27:39marched up to the enemy, engaged them,
27:41and made them retreat into Brentford,
27:44and from thence to the open fields.
27:46After fighting, we advanced up to push
27:48of pike and the butt end of musket,
27:50which proved so fatal to Hollis and his
27:52butchers and dyers that day,
27:54that a great abundance of them were
27:55killed and taken prisoner, besides those
27:57drowned in their attempt to escape by
27:59leaping into the river.
28:01No soldier or an impartial man could say
28:04that we could have advanced further
28:06towards London than we did,
28:08because of the thick enclosures with
28:10strong hedges and ditches which were
28:11lined with men standing shoulder to
28:14shoulder by one another.
28:16On the common road were planted their
28:17artillery with defensible works about
28:19them,
28:20so that we could not approach any
28:22nearer.
28:23As we were at such a great disadvantage,
28:25the king withdrew and marched from
28:27Hampton Court, where, for my further
28:29encouragement, I had the care of the
28:32regiment's colors conferred upon me in
28:34the hope that I would go on with as much
28:36resolution as I had begun.
28:40The Parliamentarians mustered at Turnham
28:42Green to defend London were too numerous
28:44for his exhausted army, and the king
28:46reluctantly withdrew to Oxford for the
28:48winter, there to establish his court.
28:51For the next 4 years, the university
28:53city was to be the Royalist capital.
28:58As luck would have it, the winters of
29:00the early 1640s were particularly
29:02severe, with unnaturally heavy and
29:04prolonged falls of snow.
29:07With a sudden thaw, the primitive roads
29:10of 17th century England quickly turned
29:12into muddy quagmires, which made
29:14movement impossible.
29:16Winter was therefore a time for small
29:18engagements between detachments and
29:20garrisons, while the main field armies
29:22waited for the spring and dry roads.
29:26All around the country, garrisons were
29:28attacked, convoys were ambushed, and
29:31there was a constant seesaw of raid and
29:33counter-raid.
29:36As the two sides sought to improve their
29:38positions for the coming campaign
29:39season, Northumberland and Durham were
29:42already held for the king, and the
29:44Royalists were pushing southwards into
29:45the Vale of York.
29:47On the other side of the Pennines,
29:49Cumberland and Westmorland were for the
29:51King, but in Lancashire, the issue was
29:53still in some doubt.
29:55Wales was dominated by Royalists, and
29:58most of East Anglia was Parliamentarian.
30:01In the south, Sir William Waller
30:02captured Winchester from its Cavalier
30:04garrison shortly before Christmas, while
30:06in the West Country, his old friend and
30:09future opponent, Sir Ralph Hopton, had
30:11secured Cornwall and the southwest for
30:13King Charles.
30:16In the all-important Thames Valley and
30:18in the Midlands, there was some
30:19jockeying for position as both sides
30:21prepared for the real war in the spring.
30:25There is some contention amongst serious
30:27historians on the Civil War as to
30:29whether you can speak of a Royal
30:30strategy for the year 1642 at all.
30:34Some like to mention the famous triple
30:36advance upon London.
30:38Newcastle's army from the north,
30:41Hopton's from the southwest, and of
30:43course the King's from the Midlands.
30:44Three prongs descending upon the center
30:47of parliamentary control, and of course
30:49had London been taken out at that time
30:51and Parliament with it, there is no
30:53doubt the war would have come to an end
30:54in 1642.
30:57But in fact, after the Battle of
30:58Edgehill, the King who combined
31:00indecisiveness in his character with a
31:03great deal of stubbornness, a fatal
31:05combination as it was going to prove
31:07before the end of the First Civil War,
31:09the King would not release Prince Rupert
31:11and his cavalry for a dash on London,
31:14although in fact there was very little
31:15between them and the capital, perhaps a
31:17few trained bands, but as they would
31:19find at Turnham Green, that was nothing
31:21to be worrying about. But the
31:23opportunity was lost and with it
31:25effectively, Charles's chance of winning
31:27the war.
31:29As the campaign season of 1643 opened,
31:32the King at first appeared to have the
31:34initiative, but his army was crippled by
31:36a serious shortage of arms and
31:37ammunition.
31:39In some regiments, there were actually
31:40more pikemen than musketeers, which
31:42meant that the Royalists would have to
31:44rely on brute strength rather than
31:46firepower in battle.
31:48At the end of February, the Queen, who
31:50had gone to Holland to pawn the Crown
31:52Jewels and buy arms with the proceeds,
31:54landed at Bridlington in Yorkshire and
31:56prepared a great convoy to convey the
31:58arms to Oxford.
32:01To cover this vital arms shipment,
32:03Prince Rupert moved into the Midlands
32:05and stormed the defenses of Birmingham
32:07on the 3rd of April and took Lichfield
32:10after a short siege on the 21st.
32:13Emboldened by his absence, however,
32:15Essex struck west and laid siege to
32:17Reading.
32:19Rupert returned in great haste, but both
32:21he and the King were powerless to
32:23prevent the garrison surrender on the
32:2527th of April.
32:27Sir Arthur Aston, the governor, received
32:29a letter upon the castle hill guard.
32:31Looking about him, said, "Are there none
32:34that I may safely communicate the
32:36contents of my letter unto?"
32:38Then arose from his chair, opened his
32:40letter, and went out of door to peruse
32:43it. When, as his history fate would have
32:45it, it scarce a minute to look it over
32:48before a cannon shot came through the
32:50guardhouse and knocked off the tiles
32:52from the roof.
32:53One fell upon his head and sunk him
32:55almost through the ground before Colonel
32:57Lunsford and another officer caught him
33:00by both hands,
33:01held him up, brought him into the
33:03guardhouse, put him into his chair, and
33:06presently he laid his hand upon his head
33:08under his cap, and faintly said, "My
33:11head's whole, I thank God."
33:14And spoke no more thereat that time, but
33:17immediately was carried away to his
33:18house in the town, where during the rest
33:21of the siege, he was speechless.
33:23A short time after, the garrison was
33:25surrendered,
33:27but they broke their conditions with us
33:28and plundered us sorely.
33:31Now that the issue of Reading had been
33:33decided, the two main field armies
33:36withdrew to their old positions,
33:38watching each other warily.
33:40The Roundhead army was crippled by a
33:42typhus epidemic, the first of many to
33:44sweep the three kingdoms in the army's
33:46wake.
33:50To break the deadlock, a major victory
33:52was required, which could alter the
33:54delicate balance in favor of one side or
33:56the other.
33:57The main chance fell to the Royalists.
34:00Sir Ralph Hopton, the Royalist leader in
34:03the west, defeated Sir William Waller,
34:05who in former days had been a close
34:07friend, at Lansdown Hill outside Bath on
34:10the 5th of July.
34:13Hopton's victorious western Cavaliers
34:15then moved to finally destroy Waller's
34:17army on Roundway Down on the 13th of
34:20July, 1643.
34:24The tragedy of a civil war can be
34:25clearly seen in the surviving letters
34:27between Hopton and Waller when two old
34:30friends found themselves on different
34:32sides of a bitter conflict.
34:39To my noble friend, Sir Ralph Hopton.
34:43My affections to you are so unchangeable
34:46that hostility itself cannot violate my
34:48friendship to your person.
34:50That great God, the searcher of my
34:53heart, knows with what a sad sense I go
34:56up to this service
34:57and with what perfect hatred I go upon
35:00this war without an enemy.
35:03We are both upon the stage and must act
35:06those parts that are assigned to us in
35:07this tragedy.
35:09Let us do it in a way of honor
35:12without personal animosity.
35:15Your affectionate friend, William
35:17Waller.
35:20Despite the friendship between their
35:21leaders, the war between the two armies
35:23in the west was vigorously pursued.
35:27Buoyed up by Hopton's success, the
35:29Royalists moved swiftly.
35:31A second arms convoy arrived in Oxford 2
35:33days later,
35:34leaving a scattering of garrisons to
35:36mask the main Roundhead army, the
35:38Royalists marched on Bristol.
35:42The city's hastily constructed earth
35:44defenses were rather too extensive for
35:46the small garrison, and they proved
35:48incapable of repelling a furious
35:50Royalist assault on the 26th of July.
35:54The storming of the defenses of the city
35:55of Bristol was to prove one of the most
35:57savage days fighting of the whole war.
36:08Royalist casualties were high.
36:14The dead lay piled high on the ramparts.
36:18As gallant gentlemen as ever drew sword
36:21lay upon that ground
36:23like so many rotten sheep.
36:27Although the losses were high, the gain
36:30to the Royalist cause, however, was
36:31incalculable.
36:33Bristol was the second city in the
36:35kingdom,
36:36a major port with sufficient ships in it
36:38to form the nucleus of a Royalist fleet.
36:41Less spectacularly, but no less
36:43importantly, the city also had factories
36:46capable of turning out hundreds of
36:48muskets a week, which were greatly
36:50welcomed by the undersupplied Royalists.
36:53By the end of the war, most Royalist
36:55infantry regiments were wholly armed
36:57with muskets and had abandoned pikes
36:59entirely.
37:03With Bristol secure, some of the King's
37:05advisers advocated turning back on
37:07London.
37:08If the city fell, it would mean the end
37:10of the war, but Charles again hesitated,
37:13and instead it was decided to first
37:15capture Gloucester, the last remaining
37:17major parliamentary stronghold in the
37:19west.
37:20It was unlikely to be able to hold out
37:22for very long, and in the meantime, the
37:24King's shattered western army could be
37:26reorganized and refitted at Bristol.
37:29The combined Royalist armies would then
37:31advance on London with their rear
37:33secure.
37:36The governor, Colonel Massey, confounded
37:38the King's army by holding out.
37:41Sickened by the losses at Bristol,
37:43Charles would not permit the city to be
37:45stormed,
37:46preferring instead to starve the
37:48defenders into submission.
37:50The Earl of Essex was therefore able to
37:52assemble a relief force from London
37:54by filling out his typhus-ravaged ranks
37:57with several regiments of militia from
37:59the London trained bands.
38:02On the 4th of September, with the
38:03garrison down to a single barrel of
38:05powder, Essex raised the siege of
38:08Gloucester.
38:09But once again, the Earl allowed the
38:10Royalist army to get between him and his
38:12base of London.
38:14The King was able to force Essex to
38:15fight him on ground of his choosing.
38:18The two forces met at Newbury.
38:20John Gwyn was present at the battle.
38:24It was at the siege of Gloucester where
38:25we would probably have captured the
38:27town, but a great glut of rain fell,
38:29flooding our works, and we were forced
38:31to remove the next day. When we drew
38:34off, it proved to be a most miserable,
38:36tempestuous, rainy weather, so few could
38:39take rest on the hills where they were.
38:42At Newbury, we beat the enemy from the
38:44town's end to the top of the hill by the
38:46heath. A wing of Essex, his horse moving
38:49gently towards us, made us leave our
38:51execution upon the enemy and retreat
38:54into the next field. There were several
38:56gaps to get to it, but not near my way.
38:59With the colors in my hand, I jumped
39:01over the hedge and the ditch, otherwise
39:04I would have died by a multitude of
39:05hands. We kept this field until midnight
39:08and until some intelligence came that
39:10Essex was marching away with a great
39:12part of his army and that he would bury
39:15a great many of his great guns.
39:17Near unto this field upon the heath lay
39:19a whole file of men six deep with their
39:22heads all struck off with one cannon
39:24shot of ours.
39:27With Reading recaptured and an
39:29indecisive outcome from the Newbury
39:31battle,
39:32the winter of 1643 closed in on another
39:35stalemate.
39:36Neither side, it seemed, was strong
39:38enough to win the war without outside
39:40help.
39:41So both parties earnestly set about the
39:43business of securing outside
39:45intervention.
39:48Frustrated in his attempts to bring in a
39:50French army, a ceasefire with the Irish
39:52rebels allowed the king to ship home
39:54thousands of troops and to form a new
39:57army in Cheshire and North Wales.
40:00But, it was to prove a short-lived hope.
40:02This new army was defeated and dispersed
40:05at Nantwich in January 1644.
40:10The parliamentarians were to be more
40:11successful in their search for help.
40:13A few days before the battle at
40:15Nantwich, the Scots had come to
40:17Parliament's aid and crossed the border
40:19near Berwick with a mighty army of some
40:2120,000 men.
40:23Suddenly, the whole complexion of the
40:25war was altered.
40:27Well, I think there's no doubt that had
40:28the Scots 20,000 men which they brought
40:31over into England at this juncture been
40:33put straight into effective action, it
40:36would have been very hard for the king's
40:37cause to survive in the north of
40:39England.
40:41As it was, however, the 7,000 or so
40:43troops of the Newcastle were reinforced
40:46by 5,000 more a little later on from
40:49Ireland and the Lord Byron.
40:51Now, this added a new context to the
40:53war, in fact. We have the first
40:55massacres taking place now because many
40:57of these troops from Ireland were
41:00Catholics and you had the
41:01straightforward confrontation therefore
41:04between Catholicism on the one hand and
41:06the Presbyterians and Puritan parties on
41:08the other. And it was not going to have
41:10an ameliorating effect on the war.
41:14The appearance of a Scots army in
41:16support of Parliament had been feared by
41:18the Royalist party for some time.
41:21They had long been in discussion on
41:22friendly terms with the parliamentary
41:24commissioners, but it was not until
41:26September 1643 that parliamentarian and
41:29Scots commissioners signed the Solemn
41:31League and Covenant which bound the
41:33Scots to bring in an army on the side of
41:35Parliament.
41:37It also committed both countries to
41:39establishing a common form of worship.
41:42The Scots commissioners assumed from the
41:44discussion that this would be
41:45Presbyterianism
41:47according to the example of the best
41:49reformed churches.
41:51The English, however, added the phrase
41:53"according to the word of God",
41:56thus making the whole agreement a good
41:58deal more ambiguous.
42:00The Scots carelessly assumed that this
42:02meant that the English would adopt a
42:03Presbyterian system of organization of
42:05the church like that of Scotland.
42:07Ultimately, this misunderstanding would
42:10lead to the breakup of their alliance.
42:12But, by then the parliamentary forces
42:15would have had what they needed from
42:16their new allies.
42:21The Scots army entering England was
42:23opposed by the king's northern army
42:25under the fabulously rich Marquess of
42:28Newcastle.
42:29Newcastle, however, could do little to
42:31stop them.
42:33All he could spare was a token force to
42:35protect his rear
42:36while he maintained the fight in
42:38Yorkshire against the parliamentary army
42:40led by Sir Thomas Fairfax.
42:43Only some ill-equipped local militia
42:45regiments were left to watch the border
42:48and these could only fall back before
42:49the invaders.
42:51On hearing of this, the Marquess hurried
42:53north from Yorkshire through a
42:54succession of blizzards and with his
42:56main army flung himself into
42:58Newcastle-upon-Tyne with just 12 hours
43:01to spare before the arrival of the
43:03Scots.
43:06Taking advantage of Newcastle's
43:07difficulties in the north,
43:09Fairfax stormed Selby in Yorkshire on
43:11the 11th of April.
43:14Black Tom, as he was known to his men,
43:17was the eldest son of Lord Fairfax.
43:19He was a talented soldier who had
43:21maintained an unequal fight against
43:22Newcastle and his larger Royalist forces
43:25since the beginning of the war in 1642.
43:29Hearing the news that Fairfax was again
43:32in action, Newcastle rushed southwards
43:34to secure York.
43:36The Scots army left a token force to
43:38blockade the remaining northern
43:39Royalists in Newcastle-upon-Tyne
43:42and moved south to join Fairfax against
43:44the Marquess of Newcastle.
43:46Meanwhile, the Earl of Manchester
43:48brought the Eastern Association army up
43:50from Lincolnshire to tighten the net.
43:53Newcastle was therefore trapped with his
43:55forces in York by three allied armies.
44:00In the south, the war was progressing
44:02equally badly for the king.
44:05Prince Rupert had destroyed a
44:06parliamentarian army in a battle outside
44:09Newark, but on the 29th of March,
44:11Hopton's western Cavaliers were
44:13decisively beaten by Sir William Waller
44:15at Cheriton in Hampshire,
44:18effectively ending any further Royalist
44:20threat to London.
44:22Not without some misgiving on the part
44:24of Charles therefore, Prince Rupert was
44:26dispatched north to try and retrieve the
44:28situation there.
44:31Rupert took few men with him as few
44:34could be spared.
44:35Instead, he stripped every garrison and
44:38press-ganged every stray regiment on the
44:40line of march.
44:41Rupert's men carried out a series of
44:43ferocious attacks on the scattered
44:45parliamentarian strongholds in a short
44:47campaign marked by the bitterness of the
44:49fighting.
44:50On the 25th of May, he stormed Stockport
44:53and two days later, Bolton.
44:56Liverpool was next, stormed on the 11th
44:58of June after a short siege, and there
45:01Rupert received a letter from the king
45:03which he was to carry with him to his
45:04dying day.
45:06The king's letter to modern ears is
45:08confused and unclear.
45:11But, when Sir John Culpepper, a royal
45:13adviser, was shown the letter,
45:15he exclaimed to King Charles,
45:17"Before God, you are undone.
45:20For on this peremptory order, he will
45:22fight whatever comes of it."
45:25"If York be lost, I shall esteem my
45:27crown little less
45:29unless supported by your sudden march to
45:31me and miraculous conquest in the south
45:34before the effects of their northern
45:36power can be found here.
45:38But,
45:39if York be relieved and you beat the
45:42rebels' army of both kingdoms which are
45:44before it, then
45:46but otherwise not,
45:48I may possibly make a shift upon the
45:50defensive
45:51and to spin out time until you come to
45:53assist me.
45:55But, if that be either lost
45:58or have freed themselves from the sieges
46:01or that from want of powder you cannot
46:04undertake that work,
46:05that you immediately march with your
46:07whole strength directly to Worcester and
46:10to assist me and my army.
46:12Without which
46:14or your having relieved York by beating
46:16the Scots,
46:17all the successes you can afterwards
46:19have must infallibly be useless unto
46:22me."
46:23The letter was highly ambiguous, to say
46:26the least.
46:27Was it an order to fight or to avoid
46:29battle?
46:31But, Culpepper was to be proved right.
46:34Rupert interpreted it as the order to
46:36fight.
46:37He decided he must therefore march at
46:39once for York and fight when he got
46:41there.
46:42The allies had warning of his coming and
46:44abandoned their siege lines to wait for
46:46him on Marston Moor.
46:48All day throughout the 1st of July, they
46:50waited and waited in vain.
46:55Instead of marching straight for the
46:57city and engaging an army which
46:59outnumbered his own by two to one,
47:01Rupert circled around them and relieved
47:03York from the north.
47:05It was a long day's march, well over 20
47:08miles, but while his infantry men flung
47:10themselves down exhausted at Tollerton,
47:13his cavalry pushed on to enter York
47:15itself.
47:17Confident of beating Rupert on his own,
47:20the allied generals were less sanguine
47:22of their chances against Rupert's and
47:23Newcastle's armies combined. There was,
47:26it seemed, no alternative but to
47:28retreat.
47:30Despite the weary condition of his men,
47:33from his interpretation of the king's
47:35strange letter, Rupert was determined to
47:37fight.
47:39He understood the letter to mean he was
47:40to bring the allies to battle and
47:42destroy them.
47:44Had he succeeded in doing so, he might
47:46have won the war in a single afternoon.
47:48As it was, he very nearly lost it.
47:52Although Rupert was ready to fight, his
47:55army was certainly not.
47:57Newcastle's army had endured a long
47:59siege on short rations.
48:01His chief of staff, Lord Ethen, argued
48:04that his men needed to rest after the
48:05rigors of the siege.
48:07Rupert's own infantry were equally
48:09wearied by their epic march of the day
48:11before.
48:12But, the prince would not be denied his
48:14chance to come to grips with the three
48:15parliamentary armies which faced him.
48:18The king's nephew, Prince Rupert of the
48:20Rhine, had one great advantage over
48:22probably almost all the other generals
48:24in the Civil War.
48:26And that was he had taken a large part
48:28in the 30 Years' War on the continent.
48:31Rather mixed fortunes, in fact, he'd
48:32been a prisoner of war for 3 years at
48:34one stage, but he had experience and
48:37used that 3 years' incarceration to
48:40study the art of war from all available
48:42books of the period and therefore could
48:44be set up as being something of an
48:46expert.
48:48He also was, of course, a very dashing
48:50commander in the field. Together with
48:53his famous dog Boy, which the
48:55parliamentarians began to believe was a
48:57familiar of the devil who accompanied
48:58him into the field, he cut such a dash
49:01on the battlefield that nobody who saw
49:04it would ever forget it.
49:06But, there was a limitations to the
49:08greatness of Prince Rupert.
49:11Rupert's greatest drawback as a
49:13commander was his total inability to
49:16control his horsemen.
49:18Now, this is surprising given his his
49:20experience on the continent where
49:22certainly Gustavus Adolphus and the
49:23Swedes had laid great amount of
49:25importance on rallying cavalry after the
49:28charge.
49:29On several times, as after Naseby,
49:31you'll find the the Royal cavalry under
49:34Rupert leaving the field having defeated
49:36their enemy for a very important period.
49:39And by the time he had returned to
49:40Naseby, for example, the battle, which
49:43had been going all King's way until that
49:44particular moment, had been lost by the
49:47infantry in the center, and Rupert's
49:49return was far too late to retrieve the
49:50situation.
49:52Effectively, therefore, Rupert, time and
49:54again, threw away all the cavalry
49:56advantage, and the King's army suffered
49:59as a consequence.
50:02So it was that the allied rearguards,
50:04covering the retreat of the
50:05parliamentarians across Marston Moor,
50:08saw royalist cavalry appear in the early
50:11morning haze opposite, and they were
50:13soon followed by further infantry
50:15regiments.
50:16This was clearly no reconnaissance,
50:19but the overture to a pitched battle.
50:23Frantic orders were sent to recall the
50:25retreating allied regiments,
50:27but beyond drawing up in order of
50:29battle, the royalists made no move to
50:31attack.
50:33The trouble lay with Newcastle.
50:36The northern infantry had mutinied,
50:38loudly demanding their arrears of pay,
50:40and it was late in the afternoon before
50:42an impatient Prince Rupert saw them
50:44march onto the moor.
50:47The delay had given the parliamentarians
50:49the time they needed to recall the three
50:51armies.
50:52Now they could count on a single force
50:54of over 7,000 cavalry and 20,000
50:57infantry.
50:58On the left were the Eastern Association
51:01cavalry, led by one Oliver Cromwell,
51:04a lesser known member of parliament, but
51:06a gifted commander, who, like Rupert,
51:09had grasped that the essence of cavalry
51:11fighting was to charge home at the
51:13gallop.
51:14Although he was not yet the figure he
51:16would later become, Cromwell's
51:18reputation was growing both on and off
51:20the battlefield.
51:22His cavalry were already renowned for
51:23their fierce courage and excellent
51:25discipline.
51:27Behind Cromwell's men were a brigade of
51:29Scots cavalry under a professional
51:31soldier named David Leslie.
51:34These Scots were destined to play a
51:35crucial role in the battle.
51:38In the center stood the combined
51:39infantry of the allied armies, commanded
51:42by two more Scots professionals,
51:44Lawrence Crawford and James Lumsden.
51:48On the right wing were Fairfax's cavalry
51:50and another Scots brigade.
51:53The royalist dispositions left something
51:55to be desired.
51:56Rupert had intended that his own and
51:58Newcastle's army should be drawn up side
52:00by side.
52:02However, the late appearance of the
52:03northern infantry meant that his own men
52:05had to be spread thinly across the
52:07entire front, while the latecomers
52:09eventually grouped together in the rear.
52:13Rupert assumed that it was too late in
52:14the day to fight. The battle would be
52:16fought on the morrow.
52:18But the Earl of Leven had other ideas.
52:21After all, he reasoned, a summer's
52:23evening was as long as a winter's day.
52:26No sooner had the royalists begun to
52:28relax and cook the evening meal, when
52:30under the cover of a brief summer
52:32thunderstorm, the parliamentarians
52:34surged forward and the battle began.
52:37The allies came on at a running march,
52:40and in moments all was confusion.
52:43The cavaliers were taken completely by
52:45surprise.
52:46Cromwell's men scattered the cavalry
52:48opposite, and in the center, the
52:50royalist infantry under Sir Thomas
52:52Tyldesley also began to give way before
52:55the onslaught.
52:56Only Fairfax's cavalry on the right were
52:58checked.
53:00The royalist left wing defeated
53:02Fairfax's northern regiments and carved
53:04their way deep into the allied infantry.
53:07Led by the Earl of Leven himself,
53:09thousands of parliamentarians and Scots
53:11fled the field, spreading the word of a
53:13royalist victory.
53:16At this crucial juncture, Cromwell, too,
53:18left the field to have a minor wound
53:20attended to.
53:22In his absence, the Scots cavalry halted
53:25Rupert's cavaliers, then swung round to
53:28attack the unsupported royalist
53:30infantry.
53:31The battle had been stabilized.
53:34Cromwell returned and resumed command.
53:37But the general allied was to be halted
53:39by a brigade of white-coated royalist
53:41infantry.
53:43Newcastle's northerners had arrived
53:45late, but now they were in a strong
53:47position and determined not to give
53:49ground.
54:12THE WHITE COATS REFUSED TO SURRENDER,
54:14AND THE Scots took no prisoners.
54:17Less than 30 survived.
54:20As the white coats went down in bloody
54:22ruin, Cromwell drove off the last of the
54:24cavaliers, and the day ended with a
54:26complete allied victory.
54:35MARSTON MOOR WAS THE LARGEST BATTLE ever
54:37fought on British soil,
54:39but the allies gained very little from
54:40their famous victory.
54:42York surrendered 2 weeks later, but
54:45Newcastle upon Tyne held out until
54:46October, and Carlisle until the
54:48following June.
54:50Only the Earl of Manchester's Eastern
54:52Association army was free to turn south,
54:55and without it, Parliament might still
54:57have lost the war.
55:01While Rupert was in the north, the King
55:03had been very hard-pressed at Oxford by
55:06the combined armies of Essex and Waller.
55:09Defeat for the King looked imminent, but
55:12then the two generals, who harbored a
55:13personal hatred for each other, suddenly
55:16parted company.
55:18The King at once seized his opportunity
55:20to attack each in turn, and defeated
55:23Waller's army at Cropredy Bridge in
55:24Oxfordshire.
55:26Then he pursued the inept Earl of Essex
55:28into the royalist West Country,
55:30once again interposing his own army
55:33between Essex and London.
55:35This time there would be no mistakes.
55:39In a week-long running battle, the
55:41parliamentarians were harried to
55:42destruction at Lostwithiel in Cornwall.
55:46Most of Essex's cavalry eventually broke
55:48out under cover of rain and darkness,
55:50and he himself fled in a tiny fishing
55:53boat.
55:53But his infantry were forced to
55:55surrender on the 2nd of September.
55:58Marston Moor had been avenged, and no
56:00end to the war was in sight.
56:03On his return to Oxford from the victory
56:05at Lostwithiel, fresh parliamentarian
56:08forces sought to trap the King at
56:09Newbury, but the royalists fought their
56:11way clear in the second battle of
56:13Newbury.
56:14Angry recriminations followed, and the
56:17parliamentarians split into two
56:18factions.
56:21On the one hand were the Presbyterians
56:22and their Scots allies, led by the old
56:24generals Essex, Manchester, and Waller.
56:28They were sickened by the fighting and
56:30ready for peace.
56:31The Presbyterians favored the
56:33reorganization of the Church of England
56:35along the same lines as that of the
56:37Church of Scotland.
56:38They were also more inclined to make
56:40peace with the King.
56:42Manchester was the chief spokesman.
56:46"I beseech you, let us consider what we
56:49do.
56:50The King need not care how often he
56:52fights.
56:53If we fight 100 times and beat him 99,
56:57he will be King still.
56:59But if he beats us but once, or the last
57:02time,
57:02we shall be hanged and all our posterity
57:05undone."
57:09On the other side were the Independents
57:11and their champion, Oliver Cromwell.
57:14To Manchester, Cromwell had the stern
57:16reply,
57:17"If this be so, my Lord, why did we take
57:20up arms in the first?
57:22This is against fighting ever
57:23hereafter."
57:27On one point, both the Independents and
57:29the Presbyterians were agreed.
57:31The parliamentarian forces had to be
57:33remodeled.
57:35The performance of the parliamentary
57:36armies in the field was poor.
57:39There were too many regiments and too
57:40many officers, but all too few soldiers.
57:44The solution was to break up the
57:45existing units and draft the men into
57:47fewer, but larger regiments.
57:51Nomination of officers became a trial of
57:52strength between the two factions.
57:55The Independents won, and Sir Thomas
57:57Fairfax was appointed general.
57:59But the overriding influence in the army
58:02was that of Oliver Cromwell.
58:04It's interesting to compare Prince
58:06Rupert, all dash and feathers, with
58:09Cromwell's attitude to cavalry command.
58:12He was much less experienced than
58:15Rupert, and indeed, in 1642, was only
58:18beginning to raise his very first troop
58:20of cavalry in the Eastern Association.
58:22But he would emerge during these years
58:24as by far the greater cavalry commander
58:26of the two, and on the basis of his
58:28cavalry command, everything else was
58:30going to be built.
58:32Why was this so?
58:34First of all, he believed in total
58:36indoctrination and dedication on the
58:39part, at least of his officers, if not
58:41of his rank and file. Whereas Rupert, on
58:43the other hand, was loyal to his uncle,
58:45King Charles I,
58:47but really couldn't care a damn about
58:48what else was being fought for.
58:51Cromwell, on the other hand, of course,
58:53was absolutely clear from the beginning
58:55what he was after. He'd had this
58:57conversion to low church Calvinistic
59:00type religion in about 1638, it is
59:03thought, and he was ideologically
59:05committed to the struggle, and he looked
59:07for men of the same type.
59:09"Give me a plain fustian captain," he
59:12said, "who knows why he fights and loves
59:14what he knows."
59:16Now, that attitude of dedication to a
59:18cause, whether we happen to agree with
59:20it or not, is immaterial, contrasts so
59:22markedly with the attitude of the
59:24cavaliers, who, after all, the wordy
59:27word has come into the language to mean
59:28somebody who's pretty slap-happy,
59:30devil-may-care, but what the hell.
59:33There's a contrast there.
59:35But passing on from the mere cavalry
59:37commander Cromwell, he then emerges as
59:40an overall commander-in-chief.
59:43This, of course, he owes in large
59:44measure to Fairfax, who undoubtedly
59:47taught him a great deal of the do's and
59:50don'ts of 17th century battlefields.
59:53And so, when we get to the time of the
59:54Battle of Preston against the Scots, we
59:57find that Cromwell, as the overall
59:59commander, very cleverly welding
1:00:01together his guns, his infantry or foot,
1:00:04and his cavalry or horse into a most
1:00:06effective fighting team.
1:00:08And he is becoming a great general.
1:00:11Personally, however, I would not rate
1:00:13him as high as say Marlborough or
1:00:15Wellington in our English military
1:00:17pantheon.
1:00:19Why?
1:00:20Well, first of all, he was dealing with
1:00:22opponents who, on the whole, were
1:00:24second-rate. He never had the challenge
1:00:26of taking on a major continental
1:00:28opponent, for example, brought up in a
1:00:30different military tradition, probably
1:00:32far more efficient, perhaps, than his
1:00:34own army.
1:00:35Although it is true, of course, that the
1:00:36Battle of the Dunes was fought
1:00:39with by parts of his army very
1:00:40effectively without his presence, yet I
1:00:43feel our first of men, as he is often
1:00:46described as being, was possibly a
1:00:48figure of military importance who might
1:00:51come third after both Marlborough and
1:00:53Wellington, certainly ahead of
1:00:54Montgomery, however, in our military
1:00:57list of great commanders.
1:01:01The cavalry for the New Model Army were
1:01:03easy to find. They were generally better
1:01:06provided for than the infantry, who
1:01:08waded knee-deep through mud and shivered
1:01:10under hedgerows at night.
1:01:12Far fewer cavalrymen deserted or died
1:01:15from the dysentery, exposure, or want,
1:01:18which had so thinned the ranks of the
1:01:20infantry.
1:01:21Most of the old cavalry regiments were
1:01:23simply transferred directly into the New
1:01:25Model Army.
1:01:28The infantry were a different matter.
1:01:30One of their more charitable officers
1:01:32described them as arrant scum.
1:01:36The frequent gaps in the ranks had to be
1:01:37filled with unwilling conscripts, who
1:01:40promptly deserted at the first
1:01:41opportunity.
1:01:43By 1645, the whole country was war-weary
1:01:46and infantry recruits almost impossible
1:01:49to find.
1:01:51On the 30th of May, 1645, the King's
1:01:54last field army, breaking out from
1:01:56Oxford, stormed Leicester, and
1:01:58Parliament sent its New Army northwards
1:02:00to seek the decisive battle, which would
1:02:02end the war.
1:02:05With no clear overall strategy, the
1:02:07Royalists had little option but to
1:02:09oblige, and both armies met at Naseby in
1:02:12Northamptonshire on the 14th of June,
1:02:141645.
1:02:18This surviving contemporary map shows
1:02:20the dispositions of the army. Numbers
1:02:22were unequal. The King's army, commanded
1:02:25by Prince Rupert, had dwindled to 5,500
1:02:28cavalry and about 4,500 infantry.
1:02:32Sir Thomas Fairfax mustered 6,000
1:02:34cavalry, but had no fewer than 6,500
1:02:37infantry and 1,000 dragoons.
1:02:40The disparity of forces should have been
1:02:42enough to ensure a comfortable victory
1:02:44for parliamentary forces.
1:02:47The Royalist army marshaled itself on
1:02:49Dust Hill, 2 miles north of Naseby
1:02:52village.
1:02:53As usual, the infantry stood in the
1:02:55center, flanked by the two wings of
1:02:57cavalry.
1:02:59The New Model Army drew up 1,000 yards
1:03:02to the south, on the other side of the
1:03:03valley.
1:03:05They differed from the Royalists in two
1:03:07respects.
1:03:08Most stood behind the crest of Mill Hill
1:03:11and could not, therefore, be seen by
1:03:12Rupert's men.
1:03:14More importantly, the right wing of the
1:03:16cavalry, led by Oliver Cromwell, had
1:03:19three lines of regiments and very
1:03:21heavily outnumbered the Cavaliers
1:03:23opposite.
1:03:26Confident of his men, Rupert ignored the
1:03:29disparity in numbers and ordered an
1:03:31immediate assault.
1:03:33Rupert's men swept down the hill,
1:03:35ignoring the Parliamentarian dragoons in
1:03:37the hedgerows.
1:03:38First into action was Prince Rupert
1:03:40himself.
1:03:41Leading the Royalist right wing, his men
1:03:44crashed into his opponents' numbers and,
1:03:46after a brief fight, drove them clean
1:03:48off the field.
1:03:50Despite the superior numbers ranged
1:03:52against them, the Royalist infantry,
1:03:54too, came on with great spirit.
1:03:57They mounted the crest of Mill Hill,
1:03:59poured a single volley into the
1:04:00Parliamentarians, and then fell on with
1:04:02swords and musket butts.
1:04:04The Roundheads' first line dissolved
1:04:06into a mass of panic-stricken fugitives
1:04:09and fell back upon the reserves in the
1:04:10second line.
1:04:12Not even a despairing counterattack by
1:04:14the few cavalry squadrons left unscathed
1:04:17by Prince Rupert's charge could stop the
1:04:19Royalists.
1:04:21Fairfax's second line of infantry held
1:04:23on grimly, but Royalist reinforcements
1:04:25were moving up and the Roundhead
1:04:27infantry looked ready to crack.
1:04:30It was Cromwell who saved the day.
1:04:32With the first charge, his division
1:04:33broke the Royalist cavalry opposite him.
1:04:36Unlike Prince Rupert, Oliver Cromwell
1:04:38did not allow his men to waste time in
1:04:40chasing the fugitives.
1:04:42Instead, seeing the disaster looming in
1:04:44the center, he turned his
1:04:46well-disciplined men inwards to attack
1:04:48the Royalist infantry from behind.
1:04:51Now surrounded, most of the Royalist
1:04:53infantry surrendered,
1:04:55though a few held out stoutly for a
1:04:56time.
1:04:58Thinking that the Royalists had gained
1:05:00the victory, Prince Rupert, meanwhile,
1:05:02had pushed as far south as the
1:05:04Parliamentarian baggage train.
1:05:06His men stopped to pillage the train,
1:05:08but were discouraged by Parliamentarian
1:05:10guards.
1:05:11Rupert returned to find the battle over,
1:05:14won not by the Royalists, as he
1:05:16expected, but by the Roundheads,
1:05:18who had captured all of the King's
1:05:20artillery, put his cavalry to route, and
1:05:23destroyed his infantry.
1:05:26In the Royalist camp, the wives and
1:05:28children of the King's Irish and Welsh
1:05:31awaited the outcome of the battle.
1:05:33The first signs of defeat came when the
1:05:36surviving infantry fled through the camp
1:05:38with the victorious Parliamentarians in
1:05:40pursuit.
1:05:41When they reached the Royalist tents, a
1:05:43fearful massacre ensued.
1:05:48Many of the Royalist regiments had
1:05:50served in the Irish wars.
1:05:52The soldiers had Irish wives and
1:05:54girlfriends, and now over 100 women died
1:05:57in a senseless orgy of killing.
1:06:00Afterwards, it was lamely claimed that
1:06:02they were Catholics and that many had
1:06:04long knives.
1:06:07The defeat of the King's army at Naseby
1:06:10signaled the end of the last major
1:06:12Royalist army.
1:06:13In a series of sieges and smaller
1:06:15affairs, the war dragged on for another
1:06:17year after the Battle of Naseby.
1:06:21Fairfax marched next into the West
1:06:23Country and cleared it of Royalists in a
1:06:25brisk campaign.
1:06:27Everywhere, war-weariness was apparent.
1:06:30Many garrisons held out stubbornly.
1:06:33Others surrendered with indecent haste.
1:06:36The King was now powerless.
1:06:38Without the veteran infantry lost at
1:06:40Naseby, he could do nothing.
1:06:43Scotland gave him some cause to hope for
1:06:45a while.
1:06:46The Marquess of Montrose led a Royalist
1:06:48uprising there, which came tantalizingly
1:06:51close to victory, but this brief spark,
1:06:53too, was extinguished.
1:06:55David Leslie utterly destroyed the army
1:06:57of Montrose at Philiphaugh, near
1:06:59Selkirk, on the 12th of September,
1:07:02and the King's last hope was gone.
1:07:06At length, even Charles recognized his
1:07:08plight
1:07:09and surrendered himself to the Scots
1:07:11army besieging outside Newark on the 5th
1:07:13of May, 1646.
1:07:16He seems to have had some thought of
1:07:17persuading them to support him,
1:07:20but their first act was to compel him to
1:07:22order the surrender of his remaining
1:07:23fortresses.
1:07:25With that, the war should have been
1:07:27over,
1:07:28but the King, even now, refused to admit
1:07:30defeat, and the Scots went home, leaving
1:07:33the King in Parliamentarian custody.
1:07:37Two years of intrigue, plots, and
1:07:39counter-intrigue followed.
1:07:42Even although Charles was now
1:07:43effectively a prisoner of Parliament, a
1:07:45settlement was deferred time and time
1:07:47again as the King tried to play one
1:07:50faction off against the other.
1:07:52Charles is shown here in this
1:07:54contemporary pamphlet negotiating with
1:07:56the parliamentary commissioners.
1:08:00His army may have been defeated, but he
1:08:02was King still, even though he was now
1:08:04effectively a prisoner, here with his
1:08:07jailer, Colonel Hammond.
1:08:09The Presbyterians were disposed to
1:08:11accommodate him, but the
1:08:12Independent-dominated army became
1:08:14increasingly impatient with Charles.
1:08:17Concerned over its increasing power,
1:08:19Parliament tried to have the army
1:08:21disbanded, but the move failed.
1:08:23The army, along with its new champion,
1:08:26Oliver Cromwell, would have the last
1:08:28say.
1:08:30Meanwhile, the King had concluded a
1:08:32secret alliance with some of the more
1:08:34moderate Scots.
1:08:36Royalist agents were also secretly
1:08:38prepared for a great uprising in England
1:08:40to coincide with another Scots invasion,
1:08:43this time on the side of the King.
1:08:46On the 23rd of March, 1648, the garrison
1:08:49of Pembroke declared for the King in the
1:08:51rather naive belief that he would settle
1:08:54their arrears of pay.
1:08:57Cromwell was at once sent to deal with
1:08:59them, but a month later, more Royalist
1:09:01rebels seized Berwick and Carlisle,
1:09:04opening the way for the arrival of the
1:09:05Scottish army into England, now marching
1:09:07to the aid of the King.
1:09:10Worse news was to come for Cromwell. At
1:09:12the end of May, a Royalist revolt broke
1:09:14out in Kent, and the navy mutinied and
1:09:17declared for the King.
1:09:19Although the Scots were to support the
1:09:21Royalist uprising and come to the aid of
1:09:23the King, they were delayed by fierce
1:09:25opposition at home until the beginning
1:09:27of July.
1:09:28By that time, it was too late.
1:09:32Fairfax had defeated the Kentish rebels
1:09:34at Maidstone in June 1648, and he
1:09:36pursued the fugitives north across the
1:09:39Thames and besieged them in Colchester.
1:09:42Pembroke surrendered to Cromwell on the
1:09:4411th of August.
1:09:46Only 3 days later, the Scots at last
1:09:48crossed the border.
1:09:50There was not a moment to lose.
1:09:52Marching hard, Cromwell joined General
1:09:54Lambert at Wetherby, then turned
1:09:56westwards again across the Pennines to
1:09:58pursue the Scottish army marching
1:10:00southwards on London.
1:10:03By this time, the Scots had reached
1:10:04Preston, but on the 17th of August,
1:10:07Cromwell's men defeated the English
1:10:09royalist forces allied to the Scots
1:10:11outside the town.
1:10:13Over the next 2 days, the Scots army,
1:10:15now in considerable disorder, continued
1:10:18to push south in driving rain, while
1:10:20Cromwell's men snapped at their heels.
1:10:23On the 19th, abandoned by their cavalry,
1:10:26the Scottish infantry turned at bay
1:10:28outside Warrington.
1:10:31"We held them in some dispute," wrote
1:10:33Cromwell afterwards, "till our army came
1:10:36up,
1:10:36they maintaining the pass with great
1:10:38resolution for many hours.
1:10:41Ours and theirs coming to push of pike
1:10:43and very close charges."
1:10:46Eventually, the Scots ran out of
1:10:48ammunition and fell back into
1:10:49Warrington.
1:10:50There was some talk of fortifying the
1:10:52town, but without ammunition, it was
1:10:54hopeless. Next day, they surrendered.
1:10:58A week later, Fairfax's men flaunted the
1:11:00banners taken from the Scots army before
1:11:02the walls of Colchester.
1:11:04The defenders now realized that no
1:11:06relief could now be expected, so they
1:11:08surrendered on the 28th of August, 1648.
1:11:13The Second Civil War was over,
1:11:15and it was time for a reckoning with the
1:11:17king.
1:11:20The events of Colchester and Preston
1:11:22proved to be Charles's final undoing.
1:11:25It was clear to all that with his
1:11:27various intrigues, the king had played a
1:11:29significant part in plunging the country
1:11:31once more into civil war.
1:11:34But it was what to do now which was the
1:11:36unanswerable question.
1:11:39The role of the king lay at the very
1:11:41heart of the causes of the war, and the
1:11:43dilemma was now greater than ever.
1:11:46The parliamentary party had embarked
1:11:48upon the Civil War earnestly believing
1:11:50that they fought for God and Parliament
1:11:52against the king's evil counselors.
1:11:55They genuinely believed that they were
1:11:57at war not with the king himself, but
1:11:59with the malignant party which advised
1:12:01him.
1:12:02Now, the awful truth was becoming
1:12:04abundantly clear.
1:12:06His armies may have been defeated, but
1:12:08even in defeat, Charles Stuart, the man,
1:12:11was still the king,
1:12:12and he embodied all that went with that
1:12:14office.
1:12:17King Charles was a man who would not
1:12:18yield his personal position.
1:12:20He still clung to principles which he
1:12:22had taken to the field to protect in
1:12:241642.
1:12:27The great constitutional issues,
1:12:29therefore, still remained unsolved. No
1:12:32one had intended that it should end this
1:12:34way, but among the victorious
1:12:36Roundheads, the uncomfortable
1:12:37realization gradually dawned that the
1:12:39only lasting solution lay in the drastic
1:12:42step of abolishing the monarchy and the
1:12:45execution of the sovereign.
1:12:47As yet, no one had dared to voice such a
1:12:49treacherous solution.
1:12:51It fell to Oliver Cromwell to grasp that
1:12:54poisoned chalice.
1:12:57"We shall cut off the head of the king
1:12:59with the crown upon it."
1:13:02But even Cromwell had supported all of
1:13:04the attempts to find a mutually
1:13:06acceptable way forward which would
1:13:07accommodate both the dignity of the
1:13:09king's position and the wishes of
1:13:11Parliament.
1:13:12However, the role of the king in
1:13:14bringing about the Second Civil War
1:13:16convinced that God-fearing man that
1:13:18there was no other solution.
1:13:21Cromwell, therefore, decided that
1:13:23Charles would face trial for his life.
1:13:26Cromwell knew that no lasting peace
1:13:28could be found while Charles Stuart,
1:13:30that man of blood, still lived.
1:13:33However,
1:13:35even the most Puritan lawyers declared
1:13:37the trial illegal.
1:13:39Of the 135 commissioners selected by
1:13:41Cromwell to try Charles, only 68
1:13:44appeared when the trial opened.
1:13:47Turning to consider the whole matter of
1:13:48the trial of King Charles I, we have to
1:13:51establish whether it was legal or not.
1:13:53Well, in a single word, that word is no.
1:13:56It was not legal.
1:13:58There was no precedent whatsoever,
1:14:00either in our unwritten or such parts of
1:14:02our written constitution as then
1:14:03existed, to allow a king to be killed by
1:14:07his subjects for supposed uh
1:14:10uh acts of treason against his own
1:14:12people,
1:14:13as the parliamentary court tried to
1:14:15establish.
1:14:16So, King Charles I was perfectly in
1:14:18order and absolutely correct to first of
1:14:20all deny the charge's legality and
1:14:23secondly to refuse to recognize the
1:14:25court which was setting to try him.
1:14:28But Cromwell, remember, was determined
1:14:29to try to solve the problem of the
1:14:32future of the coal country,
1:14:34and he believed he could not do that
1:14:36while the king still lived. Ironically,
1:14:39Oliver Cromwell became far more of a
1:14:41tyrant in the end than Charles I. He had
1:14:43to rule
1:14:45He had to rule when he had had his big
1:14:47arguments with Parliament through the
1:14:48army, the rule of the major generals and
1:14:51so forth, which had a major effect right
1:14:53down to the present day on the
1:14:55constitutional position of the army
1:14:57within the British realm.
1:14:59He was offered the crown twice, but very
1:15:02wisely refused it. But as Lord
1:15:04Protector, he had in fact far more power
1:15:07than Charles I had ever exerted.
1:15:10All his life, Charles had cut a rather
1:15:11reticent figure, not at all aided by his
1:15:14slight speech impediment.
1:15:16His trial was to be the finest hour of
1:15:18his life.
1:15:19His stammer miraculously left him, and
1:15:22he won new admiration and respect from
1:15:24among even his most bitter opponents by
1:15:26his steadfast and dignified defense of
1:15:29his position.
1:15:31After his first eloquent speech in his
1:15:33own defense, in which he refused to
1:15:35recognize the authority of the court,
1:15:38Charles was not allowed to speak again.
1:15:40And it was soon obvious that the trial
1:15:42was nothing more than a charade by which
1:15:45Cromwell hoped to give the dubious
1:15:46proceedings an air of legality.
1:15:49I would know
1:15:51by what authority,
1:15:53and I mean lawful authority, I am to be
1:15:56tried.
1:15:58There are many unlawful authorities in
1:16:00the world, such as thieves and robbers
1:16:02on the highway, which have the same
1:16:04authority as this assembly.
1:16:08Do not forget that I am your sovereign
1:16:11king, ordained by God to rule his
1:16:14people.
1:16:15By that authority, I stand more for the
1:16:17liberty of my people than any that come
1:16:20here to be my pretended judges.
1:16:24You have shown no lawful authority to
1:16:26satisfy any reasonable man.
1:16:29If I am not suffered to speak, what
1:16:31justice shall my people have?
1:16:34But however eloquent his defense may
1:16:36have been, as Cromwell had intended,
1:16:39Charles was sentenced to death by
1:16:40beheading.
1:16:42In order to prevent any public
1:16:44groundswell of support for Charles, the
1:16:46sentence was to be carried out the day
1:16:48after the signature of his death
1:16:49warrant, January the 30th, 1649.
1:16:55Typically of Charles, that unhappy
1:16:56sovereign went to meet his cruel fate
1:16:59still espousing his unshakeable belief
1:17:01that it was the divine right of kings to
1:17:03rule
1:17:04and that of his subjects to be governed.
1:17:08His implacable adherence to this
1:17:10principle had been the root cause of the
1:17:12wars, and Charles would carry that
1:17:14belief with him to the grave.
1:17:17In his last speech on Earth, he once
1:17:19again returned to the principles for
1:17:21which he had fought
1:17:22and lost.
1:17:24For the people, truly I desire this
1:17:27liberty and freedom as much as anybody,
1:17:30but that freedom and liberty does not
1:17:32extend to them having a share in
1:17:34government.
1:17:36The process of government is not their
1:17:38affair.
1:17:39A subject and sovereign are clearly
1:17:41different things.
1:17:44If I had given way for our ancient laws
1:17:46to be changed in an arbitrary way
1:17:48according to the power of the sword,
1:17:51I need not have come here.
1:17:54I tell you, therefore,
1:17:56I am the martyr of the people.
1:17:59I die a Christian according to the
1:18:01profession of the Church of England as I
1:18:03found it left me by my father.
1:18:07I will say no more.

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