Marston Moor was fought in the third year of the first
of the two great struggles between Parliament and the
Crown, which ended in the execution of Charles I and the
permanent broadening of the Constitutional Government of
our country. From 1642 the bitter contest which
involved the flower of British manhood - noble, citizen
and peasant - had raged, and in 1644 there were two
distinct theatres of war in England. It was in one
of these that Marston Moor was decided, and with it the
North of England was forever lost to the King. The
city of York, held by the Royalists under the Marquis of
Newcastle, was seriously endangered by the Parliamentary
forces, the Prince Rupert - "Rupert of the
Rhine" - was despatched by Charles in hot haste to
its relief. The siege was raised on the approach of
the Prince, who, despite the cautious counsel of
Newcastle, insisted on taking the field against the
retiring enemy. Finding the impetuous Rupert on
their heels the Parliamentary Army turned to fight on the
rising ground that lies between Long Marston and Tockwith.
The two Fairfaxes, Manchester and Cromwell, commanded some
14,000 foot and 9,000 horse and dragoons, their line
extending for a mile and a half. The Royal army was
of about equal strength. "Fifty thousand
British troops were led to mutual slaughter."
On each side the horse were massed on the wings, the
infantry holding the centre. The action opened with
a two hours' cannonade, after which a "general
silence" fell on the field, each waiting for the
other to move, an interposing ditch and bank rendering
advance dangerous. It was not until seven in the
evening that Cromwell led the left of the line and drove
the Royalists in retreat. The King's left repulsed a
charge under Sir Thomas Fairfax, and, pressing on, threw
the right wing and centre of the Roundheads into
confusion. Both armies claimed the victory. At
this juncture the military genius and commanding
personality of Cromwell became manifest. Gathering
his grim and triumphant Ironsides, he fell again on the
Royalists with the result that, after a fierce struggle,
Rupert and his army were "pushed off the field of
battle". No fewer than 4,150 slain lay that
night on Marston Moor.
Naseby
Though
Command-in0Chief of the King’s army, the Marquis of
Newcastle had served as a volunteer under Prince Rupert at
Marstonm Moor. Considerable recrimination took place between them, and the
Prince also used strong language to Sir John Urie. He joined the Parliamentary side and the Lord Newcastle,
mortified to find that all his labour in the Royal cause
was abortive, left England and landed at Hamburg with his
whole family and some eighty more exiles.
Prince Rupert retreated to Lancashire.
York fell; and now another Scottish army, nearly
10,000 strong, under Lieutenant-General the Earl of
Callander, invaded England on August 10th, and,
blockading Newcastle, carried it by storm after a ten week
siege.
The Roundhead Armies
Before narrating the King’s last battle, at
Naseby, it may be necessary to glance at the remodelling
which the armies of the Roundheads underwent about this
time.
When hostilities first broke out between these two
factions, England was unprepared for war.
In the south each party was on fair terms; at first
the undisciplined troops of the King met the equally
undisciplined troops of the parliament; but the
parliamentarians rapidly improved into disciplined troops.
Had there been on either side, at the beginning of
the war, any considerable force of regular troops, such as
then existed in France and Spain, the contest must soon
have been decided.
The independents, an offshoot of the Puritan party,
had been for some time gathering strength in England.
Of these Cromwell was the recognised chief.
In religion they held that every congregation
formed an independent church of its own, owing obedience
to no synod or assembly.
In polo tics they were Republicans, and an Act
promoted by them, called the “Self-Denying Ordinance,”
passed in April 1645, forbade all members of parliament to
hold any command in the army.
Accordingly, the Earls of Essex and Manchester were
removed.
Sir Thomas Fairfax,
afterwards third Lord Fairfax of Cameron, was appointed
Commander-in-Chief, while Cromwell was soon called, with
the rank of Lieutenant-General, to lead the cavalry, and
became, even prior to 1650, in reality, though not in
name, General of the entire English army; and organised
that remarkable force by which he achieved all his
victories.
He recruited it from a superior class, condemning
the admission of “tapsters and serving-men,” into the
ranks, and urged his officers to engage none but “honest
and God-fearing men.”
There were, no doubt, hypocrites in his ranks; but
a spirit of religion pervaded every regiment.
In their tents and barracks officers and men met
regularly to pray; they both neither gambled, drank, nor
swore. They
sang hymns as they marched into action.
Rupert and the People
Prince Rupert, fond of splendid apparel and of the
soldiery, despised the people.
When Charles I appointed Sir Thomas Lunsford
Lieutenant of the Tower of London, the notorious John
Lilburn took to himself the credit of exciting public
hatred against him and Lord Digby, as bravoes of the most
pit less description.
In the west, where General Gorming commanded, havoc
and rapine were of common occurrence,.
Despoiled of their substance, the country people,
called clubmen, in many paces flocked together, armed with
clubs and stones, and slew the soldiers of both parties.
“Many thousands of these tumultuary peasants were
assembled in different parts of England, who killed all
straggling soldiers.”
Such was the state of the two forces when Charles
committed his fate once again to the issue of a battle.
Parliamentarian
Alarm
In the
midsummer of 1645 the new modelled army of the Parliament,
under Fairfax and Cromwell, was posted at Windsor, 20,000
strong; yet Charles, in spite of them, effected the relief
of Chester, which had been long been blockaded by Sir
William Brereton, and on his return southwards he took
Leicester by storm and there 1,500 prisoners and much
plunder were taken.
Alarmed by this double Royalist success, Fairfax,
who had received orders to besiege Oxford, immediately
left that place and marched to Leicester, intending to
give the Cavaliers battle.
In the meantime, Charles was hastening towards
Oxford, in order to raise the siege and relieve his Royal
city; so that the two armies were placed within a few
miles of each other suddenly.
Charles called a council of war, in which it was
resolved, through the influence of Prince Rupert and the
nobles and gentry, to engage Fairfax immediately, though
the Royalists had the prospect of being soon reinforced by
3,000 horse and 2,000 foot.
They accordingly advanced upon the Parliamentary
army, which of June 14th, they found drawn up
in order of battle, on rising ground, near the village of
Naseby in Northamptonshire.
It is related that “it was like the sudden
bursting of a thunder cloud” to Charles, when
information reached him on the 12th that the
rebels were in full march towards him, and that they were
approaching Northampton with an overwhelming force of
cavalry and infantry to him, as his strength was only
7,400 men of all arms.
At first he had issued orders for a retreat; the
retrogression began at midnight, and by daybreak on the
following morning his advance guard entered Market
Harborough on the southern border of Leicestershire.
Closing up, the whole column was compelled to halt,
in consequence of repeated attacks made by the enemy’s
horse under Ireton, on their rear, cutting off some
prisoners, from whom information relative to the numbers
of the Cavaliers was extorted.
In consequence, it was revolved upon by Fairfax to
bring on a decisive battle on the morrow.
An hour before dawn on the morning of the 14th,
the whole parliamentary army began its march in silence
and in good order. No
hymn or psalm was sung, and no drum or trumpet was heard.
They had proceeded as far as Naseby, when a corps
of cavalry bearing the Royal Standard of Britain was
observed advancing. This
assured them of the vicinity of the king.
Cromwell recommended that advantage should be taken
of favourable ground to the northwest of where they stood,
and that the line should be formed at once.
Sir
Thomas Fairfax immediately adopted the suggestion of his
Lieutenant General, and formed his army along the ridge,
with the infantry in the centre, cavalry on the flanks,
and 20 pieces of cannon posted so as to command and sweep
every avenue of approach.
Disposition of the
Troops
The
right wing he assigned to Cromwell, the left to Ireton;
the centre he reserved for himself, with Major-General
Skippon. All
having sung a psalm, sat composedly down in their ranks,
and awaited the approach of the “Moabites,” as they
named the Cavaliers.
Meanwhile Charles, who had also selected a
favourable position, just in front of Harborough, where he
had established his head quarters, was persuaded by Prince
Rupert to advance under an idea that the enemy were
retreating, and “that one fierce attack would utterly
rout them.”
The King’s troops did not exceed 9,000 men.
His cavalry were formed in two corps on each flank,
and there are the usual discrepancies in detail between
the accounts; but Prince Rupert led the right wing and Sir
M. Langdale the left, and Lord Newcastle the centre.
Sir Jacob Astley, lately created Lord Astley of
Reading, led the main body of infantry; and Charles in
person led a small reserve of horse.
With this feeble array, the monarch was induced to
attack a far superior force, composed of men now inured to
victory, carefully trained to arms, and dogged in their
fierce religious enthusiasm.
Nor was the order in which he began the battle more
to be commended, says a writer, than the precipitancy with
which he cast away the great advantage of fighting on
ground of his own choice; and, it may be added, the
facility with which he permitted himself to fight at all
before the succours under Gerrard joined him, as these
would have made the encounter more equal.
Untaught by his unfortunate experience at Edgehill
and at Marston Moor and elsewhere, the reckless Prince
Rupert, at the head of 2,000 brilliantly accoutred
cavalry, “with slackened reins and spurs plunged in the
horses flanks,” rushed to the charge against the
division of Ireton.
Saddles were emptied in scores under pistol-shot
and sword-cut; Ireton’s troops were overwhelmed by the
shock, routed, and chased from the field in all
directions. Then
as on previous occasions, Prince Rupert permitted his
troops to disperse over the fields in wild pursuit of the
fugitives till their horses were blown.
Six pieces of cannon were captured.
Ireton had his horse shot under him; he was run
through the thigh by a sword, wounded in the face by a
pike, and taken prisoner, but he afterwards escaped.
Boiling with ardour, Rupert continued the chase of
the Republican right wing close to the town of Naseby.
In his precipitate onslaught he lost a chance for
capturing the whole of Cromwell’s artillery.
Ultimately, in returning to his position, he did
summon to surrender; but the train being then well
protected by a string force of musketeers, he was unable
to capture it.
During this scattered movement a very
different issue occurred on the other flank, where Sir
Marmaduke Langdale, in imitation of Rupert, charged
despite the disadvantage of a hill and a heavy fore of
cannon. So
resolutely did Cromwell and the Ironsides meet him, whose
war cry was “God with us!” that his division recoiled
from the shock. At
his crisis Cromwell who had kept two squadrons in reserve
wheeled them round by a half circular sweep on
Langdales’s left flank. They came on in closed rank, and taking the Royal Horse, who
were already over marched in front, at disadvantage, they
total routed them and drove them back for a quarter of a
mile.
Leaving two squadrons to watch and oppose Langdale
should he return or rally, Cromwell with the rest of the
division rode against the King’s infantry, which was now
warmly engaged with the centre under Fairfax and Skippon,
and which had come on with such spirit with charged pikes
that the Republicans were falling into disorder.
Fairfax had his helmet knocked off, and rode up and
down his lines bareheaded.
General Skippon was wounded in the beginning of the
action, and advised to quit the field; but he replied,
“he would not stir so long as a man would stand!”
Philip Skippon was a rough, blunt veteran of the
low country wars, who had shown great tact and skill in
disciplining the Trained Bands of London.
He had £1,000 per annum settles on him by
Parliament out of the Duke of Buckingham’s forfeited
estate; and it is averred by Walker that in the Low
Countries he had acted as Wagoner to Sir Francis Vere.
Fairfax’s charge in front and rear together with
Cromwell’s movement on the flank, caused the total route
of the king’s infantry, who were cut down like grass the
moment their close ranks were broken by the charging
horse. Multitudes were slain, “and multitudes more cast away their
weapons, calling for quarter,” till they were scattered
beyond all possibility of rallying; and at the head of the
reserve Charles saw the tide of battle turning against
him. “The
King,” says Sanderson, “kept close with his horse,
himself in person rallying them as men use to doe, for
their lives blood”; and Rupert, now sensible of his
errors, on leaving his futile attack on the artillery,
joined him, with all the horse he could collect.
Charles with his sword drawn, exhorted this body of
cavalry not to despair.
“Gentlemen,” he said, “one charge more, and
we recover the day!”
But they could not be persuaded to advance.
Their little force of infantry had been destroyed;
and Fairfax, Skippon, and Cromwell, instead of pursuing
the fugitives, held their men well in hand, dressed their
ranks, and prepared alike to receive or to charge the
remnant of the King’s cavalry.
Then it was that Robert Dalziel, Earl of Carnwath,
a Scottish noble, seeing that Charles was resolved to
charge, rode up to him and said imploringly, “Sire, will
you go upon your death this instant?”
In his loyal anxiety he grasped the bridle of the
King’s horse, and caused the animal to swerve around to
the right. On
perceiving this, his cavalry conceiving it was the first
movement preparatory to flight, broke their ranks and
galloped in all directions.
“They rode on the spur without looking behind
them.”
Never was rout more hopeless or victory more
complete that the battle of Naseby.
Charles had 800 men slain (of whom 150 were
officers), and 5,000 were taken prisoners.
On the battle of Naseby, Lord Clarendon makes the
remark that a difference was always observable in the
discipline of the King’s troops and those under Fairfax
and Cromwell. Even
when the former succeeded in a charge they seldom rallied
again in good order, or could be got to make a second
charge the same day; where as the other troops, even if
beaten, immediately rallied again, and reformed in their
ranks, till they received new orders.
Prince Rupert rode to Bristol to prepare it for a
siege; while the King into Wales, and made some stay at
Raglan Castle, his indomitable courage giving him hope of
being able to form yet another army.
On June 17th, the day after
parliament-received things of the victory, both Houses
were feasted by the City of London in Grocers Hall, where
they sang the 46th Psalm, and then separated.
An oval medal was stuck in commemoration of the
battle. The captured standards were hung in Westminster Hall, and the
prisoners were penned up like sheep in the artillery
ground near Tothill Fields.
