Civil War
Who Supported who?
Who won & why?
Royalist or Parliamentarian?
Who fought for whom?
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For the King Catholics, most of the Nobles and gentry, about
half of all Members of Parliament, the poorer areas of the North
and West.
Cavaliers The supporters of the King were called Cavaliers
because many of them fought on horseback. The term comes
from the French 'chevalier' meaning 'horse'. Cavaliers had long
hair and wore fancy clothes.
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For Parliament Puritans, the more militant Members of
Parliament, merchants, the richer areas of the South and East.
Roundheads Parliamentarians were nicknamed 'roundheads'
because they cut their hair very short. They also wore very plain
and simple clothes.
Organisation, pay & training
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The 1st battles of the Civil War were more like street fights than
battles. No one expected the war to last long and so no one had
really thought about feeding and paying the soldiers. At Marston
Moor in 1644, Royalist supplies were so low that the soldiers had
to drink water from ditches.
Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax soon realised that if the King
was to be beaten, they would have to form a well trained army. In
1645 they set up the New Model Army. This was really important
in winning the Battle of Naseby in 1645.
Parliament controlled London & the richest parts of England, so
they could afford to pay their soldiers. Charles hoped the kings in
Europe would help, but they never did.
The Main Battles
Although this was a
civil war, and the
whole country was
affected, there were
remarkably few major
battles
Edgehill 23rd October 1642
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Both the Royalist and the Parliamentary armies were on the move. Charles'
army, commanded by the King himself, was marching from Shrewsbury to
London while Cromwell's army, under Robert Devereux, third Earl of Essex was
marching from London to Worcester. When the armies were a few miles apart,
Prince Rupert persuaded Charles to take to the high ground at Edgehill. Essex
realised that the Royalist army was close and formed his men for battle.
The Parliamentary army opened the battle with a volley of cannon fire. Prince
Rupert led a Royalist cavalry charge on the right side of the battlefield and the
Parliamentarians fled. Meanwhile another group of Royalist cavalry charged the
left side of the field and the Parliamentarians fled.
If the Royalist cavalry had rejoined their army it is likely that the Royalists would
have won the battle. However, both cavalry commanders chose to pursue the
fleeing Parliamentarians leaving Charles without a cavalry regiment.
Seeing that he now had an advantage, Essex commanded a general assault on
the Royalists. Although the Royalists held ground for a while many soon decided
to run. However, Essex had thought of this and had sent a cavalry regiment to
the back of the field to cut down any who chose to flee the battlefield. They did
not get the chance to do this as Prince Rupert had returned with his cavalry. The
light was giving way to darkness by now and as both sides were exhausted it
was decided to call the battle a draw.
Marston Moor 2nd July 1644
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Prince Rupert was marching across the North of England to relieve a Royalist
army trapped in York. News of Rupert's position in the North reached Oliver
Cromwell, the Parliamentary Lieutenant General, and an army was sent to meet
the Royalists.
Rupert outmanoeuvred the Parliamentarians by sending a cavalry detachment
south to Marston Moor while taking the rest of the Royalist army to York and then
to Marston Moor by a Northern route. Meanwhile, Rupert sent a message to
William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, to meet him at Marston Moor.
The combined Royalist forces were outnumbered by the Parliamentarians but
decided to fight anyway. They reached their battle positions in the early evening
and assumed that the battle would not begin until the early morning. Unfortunately
for them the Parliamentarians had decided to mount an attack that evening and
the Royalists were totally unprepared for the attack.
For the first time since the Civil War had began. Rupert's cavalry, at one end of the
field, were beaten by a Parliamentarian cavalry charge. Things were better for the
Royalists at the other end of the field where the Parliamentarians had been beaten
back. Having defeated Rupert, the Parliamentarians were feeling optimistic and
successfully defeated the Royalist infantry, killing those who did not flee.
The Battle of Naseby 14th June
1645
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The Parliamentarian, General Fairfax, had laid siege to Oxford in a bid to
lure Charles into battle. Hearing that his Royalist 'capital' had been placed
under siege Charles had immediately marched to Oxford to release the city.
As Charles neared Oxford, Fairfax broke the siege and marched north to
meet Charles. Not wanting to be forced into battle against Fairfax, Charles
turned north. Unfortunately for the Royalists, they could not outmarch the
Parliamentarians and had no choice but to turn and fight.
They took up a good defensive position and waited for word of Fairfax's
position. Prince Rupert discovered that the Parliamentarians were camped
near Naseby and suggested that the Royalists should advance on Fairfax.
The decision to advance was taken and the Royalists left their strong
defensive position to make an attack. This was not a good decision as
Fairfax had deployed his army in a very strong position, going so far as to
hide some of his troops from sight.
The Parliamentarian New Model Army then took to the field concentrating
mainly on the Royalist infantry. Charles' army were unable to withstand this
new attack and many foot soldiers surrendered.
The battle lasted just three hours and in that time most of the Royalist foot
soldiers were killed or taken prisoner. The Royalists also lost all of their
artillery and most of their baggage. Charles fled the battlefield as soon as it
became apparent that he had lost the battle.