The royalists had one united aim, to regain the king back to power and keep complete control over all areas of state. This gave the royalists an added strength as they all worked towards the same aims and their intentions were clear from the beginning of the war. This contrasted harshly to the parliamentarians, whose main downfall in 1642/3 was the indecision in which they faced at a victory. John Pym wished to keep a loose settlement to the 19 propositions, but faced opposition from Simon d’Ewes and Denzil Holles who desired the king back on less ‘stringent’ terms.
At the beginning the royalists also had great financial aid, with Charles’s wife Henrietta Maria raising money and military power from the continent, and the continued financial input from the nobility of which supported Charles. It is possible too that Charles had money left over from his excessive taxes of the people and his ship tax of which he imposed, before the long parliament had disallowed Charles to impose his own taxes. At the beginning of the war Parliament had lost a lot of support by what was considered as their increased radicalism in the form of the 19 propositions – A set of demands which were intended to limit the powers of the crown and gained the king a lot of sympathy.
At the beginning of the war parliament did not excel and consecutively lost battle after battle including the capture of Cirencester, Hopton Heath, Lichfield, Stratton and probably most importantly Bristol. They gained a couple of small victories during 1643 such as Caversham Bridge and Gainsborough. In 1644, things began to brighten for parliament as some drastic changes took place on their side.
In February of 1643, a tax called the weekly assessment came in and was a direct hit on wealth and property, the tax was frequently renewed but became monthly in 1645, giving parliament a steady and regular income. Parliament imposed more taxes on alcohol and luxury goods, ordinances were passed on royalist’s estates and a large sum from the Eastern association of £21,000 went to the aid of the Scottish invasion. All this boosted parliament’s funds and was an added advantage to owning the support of the wealthier areas of the country. With the extra money they could afford to get and build weapons, and also pay their army which was a great incentive.
On the 19th December 1644 a law was passed that stipulated that no member of the house of commons of the House of Lords could hold a position in the army or the navy. This meant that the weaker leaders such as the Earl of Essex, Earl of Manchester and the Earl of Warwick who had been holding the parliamentarians back lost their commands in the navy and army. Only Cromwell remained and this was the gateway to the formation of the New Model Army.
Parliament at the beginning of the war had weak and inexperienced leaders such as the Earl of Essex, who earned his position alone on social status. At the age of 51 he was considered too old, but gained the continual support of John Pym for whom he had worked loyally for in the lords. Williams Waller was probably their second strongest commander with a stint of service in the thirty year war, but a strong opposition to the downfall of the king. Lord Ferdinando Fairfax was perhaps the best general of the parliamentarians. He possessed international military experience and had the characteristics of an honest, decent and principled man. Cromwell only became involved with the military towards the end of the war; he proved to be a good horseman, though he had no military experience he became to be considered an outstanding general and never lost a battle. The self denying ordinance and the development of the new model army soon put a stop to the weak leaders.
Probably one of the main influences that clinched parliament’s success was the creation of the New Model Army. The New Model Army was created in February of 1645 in a bid to raise a professional organized and controlled army constituting of well behaved, paid and uniformed men. Fairfax put a stop to the tradition of plundering towns and villages, by heading it as a hanging offence. Men were encouraged to develop a sense of pride in their actions, appearance and behaviour. The aim of the army was to be based on the idea that this military force was based on individual ability rather than positions in society, which appealed to many men. The infantry wore red coats, knee length stockings, breeches and shoes and the cavalry wore expensive buff coats of leather. The army adapted completely new military techniques to match its superior appearance. The tactics were adapted from Gustavus Adolphus and it included the cavalry being drawn up into three ranks alone and charging swiftly, swords in hands. The point was to reserve fire until in the middle of the enemy. Cromwell especially developed a sense of fighting for the lord, giving the men a purpose and a reason. Ministers were called to preach on the eve of battles, and the religious morale was from then on withheld. Though Cromwell had a great success at Marston Moor the first major success for the parliamentarians, he had not yet used the new model army; the first test of The New Model Army was the battle of Naseby in June 1645. Nearly 1,000 Royalist soldiers were killed at and 4,500 were taken prisoner. At the end of the battle, the Parliamentarians had captured most of the king’s guns and ammunition by storming the king’s carriages. The Royalists never recovered from this defeat and after Naseby, was always on the retreat. Their future victories included Langport, Bristol and Basing house.
On January 19th 1644, Parliament had aligned with the Scots, and they invaded northern England to oppose the king. It was the help of the Scots that clinched the battle at Marston Moor and set the ball rolling.
Meanwhile the royalists began to hit serious trouble. Prince Rupert began to alienate his troops with his arrogance and his foreign manners. Rupert’s first crucial mistake was at the battle of Edge hill, by pursuing the opposition too far and leaving the field. He again lost points at his tragic defeat at Marston Moor and Naseby from what he claimed was confused orders. What finally ended Rupert’s stint in the war was the surrender at Bristol, which to Charles was unforgivable. After Naseby Rupert had realised that a royalist victory was highly unlikely, and tried to persuade Charles to seek a treaty with parliament. After his surrender to Fairfax, Charles immediately dismissed him, highly suspicious, but at the same time loosing one of his best generals. Rupert demanded a court martial which cleared his name but he became estranged from the king and after the fall of oxford in 1646, parliament banished Rupert and Maurice from the country. Goring had messed around with his allegiance before the war, and though showed exceptional skill as a soldier, he was not trusted. In the siege of Breda in1637 a musket ball had shattered his ankle and to deal with the reoccurring pain he turned to alcohol and developed a serious problem. His troops became more unruly, and he frequently argued with Rupert, showing none of the original unity. In 1645 Fairfax advanced upon him in west Cornwall which Goring did nothing to prevent. He finally retired to the continent in October 1645 pleading illness. Charles himself had a fatal flaw; indecisiveness that led to many opportunities being missed. He also showed poor judgement by the dismissal of Rupert, and did not keep regular checks on his main commanders; also his lack of support of Montrose’s campaign in Scotland was a grave error to which much could’ve been gained if Charles had provided the required support.
The royalists getting desperately short of money turned to raising funds in a brutal manner. Knocking on peoples doors and using violence to gain money, created a large unpopularity for the royalists and caused many to switch allegiance. Their lack of finance prevented them paying their troops also, which caused more uproar and appalling behaviour.
Charles made a large error by forming an allegiance with the Irish. Not only was it seen as treacherous to appeal for foreign help, but this help was also catholic. Parliament exploited these facts, and used major propaganda to force more men on their side.
At the beginning of the war, it was not just parliament who experienced problems. Both sides had major problems with recruiting troops. The royalists had ordered the conscription of 6,000 men but the end result was a pitiful 600. The same applied to parliament; many men were neutral and had no desire to fight, and needed to tend to their crops as the harvest was commencing. Soldiers also easily transferred their allegiance, depending on the support of their home county but more importantly the pay. We have evidence of this from Maurice’s army which shrank in September 1644 from 4,600 men to 2,000. Also many soldiers developed localism, which meant they were willing to fight for their country but not willing to go further a field than their own county.
Providing accommodation and food for a large army also proved a prominent problem. Many commanders resorted to encouraging their troops to billet towns, which caused massive resentment from the people towards the occupying army. Their behaviour was atrocious including stealing, fighting and the large consumption of alcohol. At the end of the war many counties were owed thousands of pounds of compensation due to the effects of billeting and many men were also expecting a long back payment for their service in the war.
Parliament’s victory in the war rested heavily on the self denying ordinance and the knock on effects of the New Model Army. A pattern with good leadership has also prevailed; once the social status of an individual had been ignored and the focus put on their own ability did the true talent begin to show. This applies to leadership as well as ordinary troops. In conclusion the parliamentarians came through their problems by using a mixture of long term and short term structures, but mainly the remodelling of their army amidst a civil war was a precarious yet very successful strategy.
Abigail Morrish 12A Miss Abbott
