Cavalier Generals

King Charles I & His Commanders in the English Civil War 1642-46

John Barratt

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2004
• ISBN:
  9781473813038
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Early Modern History
• Index: History

Previous studies of the Royalist high command have concentrated largely upon a handful of notable individuals such as King Charles himself and Prince Rupert. In this ground-breaking study, John Barratt re-examines these key figures, but he also explores the careers and characters of some of the lesser-known, but equally able Royalist officers. These men played decisive roles in the war, but hitherto they have received little attention.

Contents

	Preface
	Chronology
Chapter One	All the King’s Generals
Chapter Two	Charles I and Lord Forth
		Key Action: The Oxford Campaign, 1644
Chapter Three	Prince Rupert
		Key Action: The Relief of Newark, 21 March 1644
Chapter Four	Jacob, Lord Astley
		Key Action: Naseby, 14 June 1645
Chapter Five	Prince Maurice
		Key Action: Ripple Field, 13 April 1643
Chapter Six	Ralph, Lord Hopton
		Key Action: The Battle of Stratton, 16 May 1643
Chapter Seven	George, Lord Goring
		Key Action: Newbury, 27 October 1644
Chapter Eight	John, Lord Byron
		Key Action: The Defence of Chester
Chapter Nine	Sir Richard Grenville
		Key Action: The Siege of Plymouth, 1644–45
Chapter Ten	William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle
		Key Action: Marston Moor, 2 July 1644
Chapter Eleven	Henry, Lord Wilmot
		Key Action: Roundway Down, 13 July 1643
Chapter Twelve	James Graham, Marquis of Montrose
		Key Action: Kilsyth, 15 August 1645
Chapter Thirteen	Conclusion
	Notes on the text
	Bibliography
	Index

Preface

PERHAPS inevitably, the victors in Britain’s Civil Wars of 1638–1651 have received much greater attention than their defeated opponents. While there have been a number of studies of such luminaries of the Parliamentarian cause as Oliver Cromwell and Sir Thomas Fairfax, Sir William Waller, and Sir William Brereton, the Royalists, with the inevitable exceptions of Charles I, Prince Rupert and Montrose, have been less well served.

This book looks at the careers, personalities and battles of a dozen Royalist commanders during the First Civil War of 1642–46. It attempts to assess their performance and their impact on the Royalist cause, and examines in more detail a key battle of their career.

My selection, while including most of the major commanders and some who are undeservedly less well known, is inevitably a personal one, and I am conscious of the ghosts of omitted Cavaliers such as ‘Blind Harry’ Hastings, Sir William Vaughan – ‘the Devil of Shrawardine’ – and the fearsome Charles Gerard peering angrily over my shoulder. I hope that one day they too will find their chronicler.

Any researcher into seventeenth-century history will be both amused and irritated by the many vagaries of spelling and punctuation in use at the time. For the sake of ease and consistency here, I have, in all but one example, which deserved quoting in its original form, put the words of my commanders and their contemporaries into modern English.

Thanks are due to a large number of individuals and institutions for their unfailing help and advice. The staff of the Sydney Jones Library, University of Liverpool, the British Library and the Bodleian Library, Oxford, have, as ever, been highly efficient in coping with my demands. Rupert Harding and the team at Pen and Sword have helped with ideas and encouragement in putting this book together, while Derek Stone has produced maps to his usual high standard.

Over the years, many researchers into the English Civil War have provided invaluable information and assistance. Among them are Ivor Carr, John Lewis, Les Prince, Stuart Reid, Keith Roberts, Dave Ryan, John Tincey and Alan Turton. Some of their research and discoveries may be found in this book: the inevitable mistakes and omissions are mine.

John Barratt
June 2004

Chronology

1639
Charles I defeated in First Bishop’s War with Scotland
1640
Second Bishop’s War
20 August	Scottish Covenanting army invades England
28 August	Covenanting victory at Battle of Newburn
16–26 October	Hostilities ended with Treaty of Ripon
1 November	‘Long Parliament’ meets
11 November	Impeachment of Strafford
1641
15 February	Triennial Parliament Bill calls for a Parliament to be called at least every three years
12 May	Strafford executed
24 June	‘Ten Propositions’ of Parliament propose curbing royal powers
22 October	Outbreak of rebellion in Ireland
1 December	‘Grand Remonstrance’ of Parliament presented to king
1642
January	Attempt by king to arrest ‘Five Members’ fails; Charles leaves London
February	Queen Henrietta Maria goes to Holland to raise munitions and men
5 March	Parliament passes Militia Ordnance to take control of militia from king
18 March	King establishes Court at York
1 June	King presented with Parliament’s ‘Nineteen Propositions’ proposing further drastic curbs on royal powers
18 June	King rejects ‘Nineteen Propositions’
June	First arms and officers from Continent reach Royalists
2–3 July	Navy declares for Parliament
15–27 July	First siege of Hull ends in Royalist failure
2 August	Goring surrenders Portsmouth to Parliament
22 August	King Charles raises standard at Nottingham signalling official outbreak of Civil War
23 September	Prince Rupert defeats Parliamentarians at Powicke Bridge
23 October	Battle of Edgehill; Royalists win marginal victory
12 November	Rupert storms Brentford; advance on London halted at Turnham Green; Royalists retreat to Reading and Oxford
1643
19 January	Hopton repulses Parliamentarian invasion of Cornwall at Braddock Down
February	Queen and munitions land at Bridlington
2 February	Rupert takes Cirencester, clearing communications between Oxford and the West
19 March	Royalist victory at Hopton Heath in Staffordshire
3 April	Rupert storms Birmingham
7–21 April	Rupert takes Lichfield. First mine to be used in England is exploded
25 April	Earl of Essex takes Reading
16 May	Cornish Royalist victory at Stratton
21 May	Goring captured at Wakefield
14 June	Rupert’s Chalgrove raid disrupts Parliamentarian operations in Thames Valley
30 June	Newcastle defeats Northern Parliamentarians at Adwalton Moor
4 July	Battle of Lansdown; Western Royalists fail to defeat Waller in inconclusive action
13 July	Wilmot defeats Waller at Roundway Down
26 July	Rupert storms Bristol
6 August–4 September	Siege of Gloucester
1 September	‘Cessation’ agreed between Ormonde and Irish Confederates frees English troops in Ireland to fight for king
2 September	Earl of Newcastle lays siege to Hull
4 September	Prince Maurice takes Exeter
20 September	First Battle of Newbury; king fails to defeat Earl of Essex
25 September	Solemn League and Covenant signed between English Parliament and Covenanting regime in Scotland
October	Prince Maurice takes Dartmouth
11 October	Royalist defeat at Winceby
12 October	Newcastle raises siege of Hull
13 October	Contingent of English troops from Ireland land in North Wales
13 December	Royalists take Beeston Castle in Cheshire
26 December	Lord Byron lays siege to Nantwich
1644
19 January	Scottish army invades England in support of Parliament
25 January	Sir Thomas Fairfax defeats Byron at Nantwich
3 February	Scots fail to take Newcastle-upon-Tyne
19 February	Action at Corbridge; Langdale raids Scottish horse quarters
4 February	Rupert appointed President of Wales and Captain General in Wales and the Marches
29 February	Parliamentarians under Sir John Meldrum lay siege to Newark
7–8 March	Indecisive action between Newcastle and Scots at Bolden Hills
21 March	Prince Rupert relieves Newark
23 March	Indecisive action between Newcastle and Leven at Penshaw Hill
29 March	Hopton and Firth defeated by Waller at Cheriton
11 April	Belasyse defeated at Selby
22 April	Allied armies lay siege to York
25 May	Rupert storms Stockport
28 May	Rupert storms Bolton
11 June	Rupert takes Liverpool
29 June	Charles I defeats Waller at Cropredy Bridge
1 July	Rupert relieves York
2 July	Battle of Marston Moor; Rupert and Newcastle defeated
16 July	York surrenders
21 August	Royalists defeat Essex at Beacon Hill (Lostwithiel campaign)
31 August	Royalists defeat Essex at Castle Dor (Lostwithiel campaign)
1 September	Montrose defeats Covenanters at Tippermuir
3 September	Skippon and Essex’s foot surrender at Lostwithiel
13 September	Montrose defeats Covenanters at Aberdeen
18 September	Lord Byron defeated at Montgomery
20 October	Newcastle-upon-Tyne falls to Scots
27 October	Second Battle of Newbury; Parliamentarians fail to defeat Charles I
November	‘Leaguer’ of Chester begins
6 November	Prince Rupert appointed Lieutenant General of Royalist forces
9 November	‘Third Battle of Newbury’; Oxford Army relieves Donnington Castle
19 December	House of Commons passes Self-Denying Ordnance to create New Model Army
1645
2 February	Montrose defeats Argyll at Inverlochy
18 February	Grenville fails to take Plymouth
19 February	Maurice relieves Chester
22 February	Parliamentarians take Shrewsbury
2 March	Langdale relieves Pontefract
4 April	New Model Army formed
22 April	Rupert defeats Massey at Ledbury
9 May	Montrose defeats Covenanters at Auldearn
10 May	Royalist Council of War at Stow on the Wold decides strategy for Naseby campaign
30 May	Rupert storms Leicester
14 June	Battle of Naseby; Oxford Army defeated
2 July	Montrose defeats Covenanters at Alford
10 July	Battle of Langport; Goring and Royalist Wester...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents