THE CIVIL WAR [ENGLAND]: FIGHTERS AND CONDITIONS

Objectives:

At the end of the lesson, I should be able to:

 give the regions in England that supported whom during the England’s Civil war,

 identify the armoury of the different parties, and

 use sources for supporting the decision.

During the civil war in England, most of the gentry and the ordinary people took no part in the war, but
the remaining set of people participated actively in the war.

Parliament’s Supporters

Support for the Parliament’s soldiers came mostly from:

 big towns except for Oxford.

 Port towns,
 Common people, and
 The poorest and lowest of people.

The King’s Supporters

Support for the royalist soldiers came mostly from:

 Persons of great honour or fortune

 Most of the gentry,
 Oxford, and many countryside.

Geographically, for the whole of England, most east and south east supported the parliament; while the
north and west supported the king.

Armoury of the Different Parties

Though both the parliament’s and the royalist fighters used cavalry, the parliament soldiers dominated
fighting with horses. The fighters for parliament were called roundheads to mock them and also due to
their pot-like helmet.

The royalists were called cavaliers by the parliamentarians because they [royalists] resemble and were
then doing like the Spanish horseman called cavalieros who had been responsible for killing Protestants
in Europe. The royalists were better equipped and used muskets.

During the civil war, there was insecurity due to shootings; hunger, due to destruction of farms by
fighters; separation of families due to captures; etc.
 CIVIL WAR [ENGLAND]: WHY THE ROYALISTS LOST AT MARSTON MOOR

OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson, I should be able

 to give the background of the battle,

 to give its course, and

 use sources to give reasons for the royalists’ lost.

Background of the Battle

By June 1644, the Parliament soldiers were besieging York and York was supporting the Royalists. King
Charles therefore, sent letter to Prince Rupert, one of the major commanders of the Royalists to help
York. Rupert set out. Thomas Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell, the major commanders of the
Parliamentarians, heard this and went out to stop Rupert on the way. They camped at Marston Moor.

Unexpectedly to the Parliamentarians, Prince Rupert avoided them and followed a different route,
crossing three rivers and marching for 22 miles to reach York. He stopped just north of York between the
Parliamentarians and York. So, he had ended the siege without fighting.

He was now confused about what to do; the king’s instruction was not specific. He decided to fight not
minding that he was greatly outnumbered.

The Battle of Marston Moor

By 4:00am of 2nd July, 1644, Prince Rupert surprisingly marched onto Marston Moor and could have
taken the Parliamentarians by surprise, but didn’t. he had to wait for Marquis of New Castle to come out
with his soldiers from York. Marquis of Newcastle was the royalist commander of the soldiers defending
York from the siege. They had been tired due to the 13-week siege. They came out late in the afternoon.
By that time, the parliamentarians had already got themselves ready and could not be taken by surprise
anymore.

Prince Rupert made his soldiers dig a ditch in front of his troops, lined it with musketeers, took his
formation and the battle started around 7pm. Two hours later, the battle was over; the Royalists were
routed, defeated. Oliver Cromwell was very important in this Parliamentarian’s victory that he emerged
the major leader of the Parliamentarians.

Why the Royalists Lost the Battle

1. The 22-mile roundabout march made the Royalists’ troops become tired and must have affected
them negatively. This contributed to them losing the battle.
2. Also, when the Royalists’ reached Marston Moor, they were made to dig a ditch which must have
contributed to their tiredness.
3. The Royalists also lost because the troops under Marquis of Newcastle were already tired due to
the 13-week siege that they had been defending.
 4. They Royalists lost because the lost the element of surprise. Marching onto Marston Moor by
4:00am was very surprising to the Parliamentarians. If the Royalists had attacked immediately,
they would have likely defeated the Parliamentarians because the Parliamentarians were not
ready, but they waited until 7pm to start the battle only when Marquis of Newcastle had come
out. This made them lose that element of surprise.

This battle did not end the war, but it was decisive that the winner maintained the upper hand
throughout the war. In 1469, the Parliamentarians took the king, tried the king and beheaded the king.