First year of Civil war

The first years of the English Civil War

Sir John Hotham & Hull

23 April 1642, Charles I arrived at the gates of Hull (with 300 soldiers) and was refused entry to the town and its vital magazine by Sir John Hotham, the governor.

Charles proclaimed Hotham a traitor, but when Charles formally requested Parliament to punish Hotham (a member of the Commons) it simply responded that Charles' request was a breach of its privileges.

In the months that followed, Charles attempted to gather armed forces by issuing "Commissions of Array". Parliament continued to try and enforce the Militia Ordinance. Across the whole country, local officials and notables had to choose whose demands - king's or parliament's - they should respect or ignore.

22 August 1642, Charles I raised the Royal Standard at Nottingham as a formal declaration of war. Most members of the House of Lords and a substantial minority of the House of Commons answered the king's call and left Westminster.
[Map showing how the Commons MPs divided]

In broad terms, the North and West declared for Charles, while the South and East supported Parliament. Some areas tried to avoid the expense and damage of war by remaining neutral but with little success.

Parliament appointed Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex to command its forces. He was the son of the 2nd Earl - executed for treason in 1601 after a failed revolt against Elizabeth. Essex had acquired military knowledge fighting in the Dutch wars, and was politically reliable, being a close ally of Pym. Essex was a sensible choice for Lord General, but not an exciting one; he lacked both charisma and panache.

From Edgehill to Turnham Green

Parliament's main forces were assembled in the area of Coventry and Northampton. When Essex took command in September 1642, he first intended to attack the King's army at Nottingham before it was fully mustered or properly organized.

The Edgehill Campaign
Charles refused to give immediate battle. Instead, he marched west, securing the towns of Derby, Stafford, Shrewsbury and Chester before marching towards London. Essex' forces marched from Northampton towards Worcester and clashed with Royalist cavalry in a brief skirmish just south of the town at Powick Bridge (22 September): This was the first engagement of the Civil War.
During October, Charles began his march southwards. He reached Edgcott 22nd October, just as Essex' forces reached Kineton. Between them stood Edgehill, and Charles drew up his forces on its ridge.
	Each army numbered about 14,000. Charles placed his infantry in the center under the Earl of Lindsey and deployed cavalry on both flanks. After an artillery exchange, it advanced towards Essex' forces drawn up in fixed positions at the bottom of the hill.
Prince Rupert's Cavalry routed the Parliamentarian horse, but could not re-form in time to contribute more to the battle. Lord Wilmot's cavalry also forced back Feilding's, but missed a small detachment under Balfour that hid in an orchard. This made a powerful attack on the Royalist infantry. The Royalist infantry fared worse in the fighting that followed, but the Parliamentary forces became too disorganized to push home their advantage before nightfall, especially as Rupert's troops returned and harassed their lines. The following morning, Essex withdrew to Warwick, and the King continued moving south to Oxford. Both sides lost about the same number of men (c. 1,500) in this battle, and both claimed it as a victory. Charles' army soon resumed its march on London.

Essex marched his men back to London by an easterly route, while Charles' army marched via Reading to the outer western suburbs of London. His rowdy troops looted Brentford, 12 November 1642. Parliament's army and London's "trained bands" (a local militia/home guard) formed up - 24,000 strong - on Turnham Green, 13 November 1642. Charles had only about half this number of soldiers, so he fired a few cannon shots and withdrew to Reading.

Apart from this major campaign, there was also local conflicts between the supporters of King and Parliament. In Yorkshire, Lancashire and the West country, the outcomes favored the King. [Map]

Lack of military success and discontent with the new high taxes for the war strengthened those MPs who wanted to negotiate peace with Charles. Desultory negotiations commenced, but went nowhere as Charles still wanted to defeat the "rebels" militarily.

England' first military decoration

To encourage soldiers to volunteer for dangerous missions, Charles presented the "forlorn hope" medal, bearing a picture of himself on one side and the young Charles Prince of Wales, on the other.

Royalist successes

The half-hearted peace negotiations between King and Parliament finally petered out in April 1643, and both sides resumed active campaigning.

Badge issued by Essex to favored officers

The legend around Essex' portrait reads "The Sword of the Lord and of Gydeon" - a reference to Israel's defeat of the Midianites in Judges 7:20
The words around the picture of parliament run "In the multitude of councellors there is peace". [Proverbs 11:14, "Where no counsel is, the people fall: but in the multitude of counsellers there is safety"].

Essex besieged and took Reading, but was unable to follow up with an attack on Oxford - King Charles' headquarters.

In May, a far smaller Royalist force defeated a parliamentary army at Stratton in Cornwall.

The parliamentary commander, Sir William Waller was obliged to retreat with his army from Hereford.

"That great God who is the searcher of my heart knows with what a sad sense I go upon this service, and with what a perfect hatred I detest this war without an enemy; but I look upon it as sent from God, … We are both upon the stage, and must act such parts as are assigned us in this tragedy. Let us do it in a way of honour and without personal animosities"

(Parliamentary General Sir William Waller to Royalist General Sir Ralph Hopton, June 1643. The two men had fought together in Germany twenty years before.)

Parliament suffered another setback in the Battle of Chalgrove Field (18 June 1643). A strong sortie by Rupert's cavalry defeated a small Parliamentary detachment. The battle was little more than a skirmish, but during its course one of Parliament's most influential members, John Hampden was fatally wounded. (He died six days later).

30 June 1643, Parliament's forces in Yorkshire (under the command of Lord Ferdinando Fairfax and his son, Sir Thomas) were defeated at Adwalton Moor by William Cavendish, Marquis of Newcastle. Hull became the only significant town in Yorkshire under Parliament's control.

More bad news for Parliament followed from the West country, where Sir William Waller's army was virtually wiped out in the Battles of Lansdown (5 July) and Roundway Down (13 July).

Led by Rupert, the Royalists took advantage of these victories to attack and take Bristol (26 July 1643). As well as being an important center of commerce, Bristol was England's second largest port and its seizure was a shot in the arm for the King's finances.