1. Naseby in 1645 – Campaign Roots
The reason:
“For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he, and therefore truly, sir, I think it’s clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government, and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under.”
Thomas Rainsborough (or Rainborowe), of the Massachusetts Rainsborough family and Colonel, New Model Army, at the Putney Debates, October 28, 1647
“Kings are justly called gods for that they exercise a manner or resemblance of divine power on earth… God hath power to create or destroy; make or unmake at his pleasure; to give life or to send death; to judge all and to be judged nor accountable to none; to raise low things and to make high things low at his pleasure. And the like power have kings.”
James 1 in a speech to Parliament, March 21, 1610
In January of 1642 king Charles the 1st fled London in spite of an insurrection by Parliamentarian forces. In October of the same year, the royalist forces of Charles the 1st clashed with the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Edgehill in Warwickshire. The aim of the Royalist forces was to defeat the Parliamentarian forces at Warwickshire so they could march on and swiftly take back London, although since the battle ended up in a stalemate, the Royalist forces were forced to retreat to Oxford and recuperate there during the subsequent winter.
In the subsequent spring, the forces of Charles saw victories and retaking of territories in the North, West and managed to seize Bristol, but with the unsuccessful siege at Gloucester the strength of his forces waned, and they were eventually defeated at Newbury on September 20, 1643. Following this defeat, the Parliamentarians gained an equal footing yet again over the Royalists in terms of military strength.
In 1644, what had been transpiring in Scotland and Ireland eventually came into play, and Scotland decided to support the Parliamentarian forces while the Irish for some reason decided to support the Royalists. On June 1644, Sir William Waller’s Parliamentarian forces managed to get a lock onto Charles the 1st’s forces and began to chase them down at Cropredy Bridge, near Banbury, although it ended unsuccessfully with Charles the 1st’s escape. It was at Towcester that Wallet wrote a letter to the Committee of Both Kingdoms describing the Parliamentarian army’s disappointing performance:
“My Lords, I write these particulars of disaffection and desertion to let you know an army compounded of these men will never go through with their service, and till you have an army merely your own that you may command it is in a manner impossible to do anything of importance.”
The Royalists’ control over the North was severed when the Scottish and Parliamentarian armies launched a joint offensive at Marston Moor on July 2, but Weller was still discontent with the results, as they were not able to defeat the Royalist forces at Newbury the prior fall. The Earl of Manchester and the Earl of Essex both suffered as a result, with the Earl of Essex being defeated at Lostwithiel. These defeats and poor performance led to the design and inception of the New Model Army, which was to decide how 1645 would go, due to it being designed in a way that drew it’s effectiveness in the mobility and training of the high command as well as the lower echelons, as generals and officers needed to quickly be replaced, as well as the timeframe in which new units could be sufficiently trained and operational for battle.
Although the victory at Lostwithiel and the successful retreat at Newbury was seen through a triumphant lens by the Royalist forces, the leadership of the Royalists still considered losing the North to be a worrisome and grave defeat. With the Scots occupying the North, to take back the region would prove to be a costly endeavor for the Royalists, both in terms of supplies as well as manpower.
The Queen was in Europe attempting to muster reinforcements and supplies, but would have difficulty transporting them to the British Isles due to the presence of the Parliamentarian navy in the English channel. Attempts to gather reinforcements from South Wales was also proving to be futile as the defeat of Royalist forces at Montegomery had complicated things. Sir William Bereton was quoted as saying on September 18, 1644: