Civil War

From Chester Wiki

Map

Information

[edit] An Outline of the Civil War

The Civil War lasted from 1642 until 1651, although Charles I, one of the initial protagonists, was executed in 1649.

Depending which side you support, it is known as the "Great Rebellion" or the "English Revolution". The two sides were the Royalists and the Parliamentarians: the terms Cavalier and Roundhead being derogatory terms used by the opposing side.

It forms part of the Wars of Three Kingdoms, fought between 1639 and 1651. The first (1642–1645) and second (1648–1649) civil wars engaged supporters of King Charles I against those of the Long Parliament, while the third war (1649–1651) had supporters of Charles II opposing those of the Rump Parliament. The Parliamentary victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651 ended the third and last civil war.

Estimates suggest that around 10 per cent of the three kingdoms' population may have died during the civil wars, mostly of disease.

At roughly the same time as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms, a number of similar conflicts broke out in Europe (Fronde in France, and rebellions in the Netherlands, Catalonia and Portugal against Spain). This period was characterised by a "General Crisis" in Europe, involving the rebellion of bourgeois societies against absolutist monarchs.

In the period prior to the civil war - known either as the "Eleven Years Tyranny" or the king's time of "Personal Rule" - the king and his parliament had many disputes over taxation, military spending and the manner in which the country was to be governed. Charles was a pious and unambitious man, but his fatal flaw was that he demanded unquestioning obedience from his subjects, especially the middle classes who were unhappy to be taxed. Charles was inflexible rather than despotic. Further strains arose from attempts by the king to impose religious uniformity.

It would be too strong a statement to say simply that prior to the civil war the country was feudal and afterwards democratic, but the civil war does mark a shift from the former to the latter, as afterwards no English monarch could ever consider absolutism to be a safe course of action. On the other hand, Oliver Cromwell's government had many of the features of a military dictatorship and Cromwell, having himself cancelled elections, sought to have his ineffective son, Richard Cromwell, succeed him. Richard did not have much support and to prevent anarchy, what government there was decided that the restoration of Charles II was the only practical course of action.

While Charles II pardoned most of those involved in the civil war, this was not to be the case for those who had been involved in the execution of Charles I. In the ensuing trials, twelve of those found guilty were hanged, drawn and quartered, the full penalty for treason. The leading prosecutor at the trial of King Charles I, John Cooke, was executed in a similar manner. The bodies of the regicides Cromwell, Bradshaw and Ireton, which had been buried in Westminster Abbey, were exhumed and hanged. The trial of the "Regicides" was presided over by Orlando Bridgeman, son of the Bishop of Chester, who lived in Chester during the civil war.

[edit] The Civil War and Chester

Chester is a good place to stay if visiting the civil war sites in the area. The battlefields of Nantwich, Middlewich, Rowton Heath, and skirmish sites of Holt Bridge, Hoole and Delamere are all close by, as are the castles of Chirk and Beeston. A very detailed history of Chester in the civil war can be found at British History Online.

The then-port of Chester was the site of important events in September 1645 in the latter part of the first civil war. Curiously, while Chester was previously a defensive bastion of the English against the Welsh, the Civil War saw Chester guarding the approaches to the Royalist stronghold of North Wales from the English Parliamentarians: whoever controlled Cheshire controlled the north–south corridor. For Parliament, in the first civil war, the control of Cheshire would mean separating the King's northern (particularly Scottish) supporters from the King and his army, initially at Oxford. It could also stop the King bringing in reinforcements from his Irish army through the port of Chester. Consequently, Cheshire saw considerable fighting during the war and, eventually, Chester itself was besieged.

The main battle at Chester itself was Rowton Heath, which occurred towards the end of the first civil war and is described in further detail below. After the battle, the siege of Chester continued in a highly destructive manner:

"The Talbott, an house adjoining to the Eastgate, flames outright; our hands are busy quenching this, while the law of nature bids us leave and seek our own security. Being thus distracted another Thunder-crack invites our eye to the most miserable spectacle spite could possibly present us with - two houses in the Watergate skippe joynt from joynt, the main posts josell each other, while the frightened casements (windows) fly for fear. In a word the whole fabrick is a perfect chaos.... The grandmother and three children are struck stark dead in the ruins of this humble edifice, a sepulcher well worth the enemies remembrance"

[edit] Places to see in Chester

[edit] Around the City

Gamul House - once home to the Mayor of Chester (Francis Gamull) and the place where Charles I slept before and after the Battle of Rowton Heath. Gamul House on Virtual Chester

Chester Cathedral - one of the places that Charles watched the battle from and where he was nearly killed by a sniper's bullet

Phoenix Tower - another place from where Charles watched the battle

St Johns - used by the besiegers as a gun platform

The repaired wall breach

Chester Castle - site of the surrender of the city

[edit] North and West

Flookersbrook Hall - the original was destroyed during the civil war

Prince Rupert's trench - a portway for moving guns around the earthworks

[edit] South and East

Boughton Turnpike and St Giles Cemetery - a much-contested strip of land during the siege and the battle

[edit] The Battle of Rowton Heath

To set the scene, in mid-1645 the Royalist troops had been badly mauled at Naseby (14 June) and Langport (10 July). Charles maintained a stronghold in Wales and had retreated from most of England, but still hoped to link up with his allies in the north, bring in troops from Ireland and then perhaps drag victory from the jaws of defeat. Bristol had fallen (10 September) and so the King's only port was Chester, then besieged by Parliamentary forces after much fighting for strategic control of Cheshire. Charles gathered what men he could and marched north along the Welsh border in the hope of relieving Chester and consolidating his forces with those of his supporters in Scotland, particularly Montrose. His course northward was paralleled by parliamentary forces under Sydenham Poyntz who had been instructed to prevent Charles from breaking out into the Midlands. At Chirk Castle, Charles, learning that Boughton had been overrun and that Chester itself (whose walls had been breached) might soon fall, hastened northward to the beleaguered city, arriving on 23 September 1645.

Military tactics in the civil war were based on cavalry, artillery and a combination of pikemen and musketeers (known as 'pike and shot'). Before the bayonet had been invented pikemen and musketeers fought in mixed formations with the former protecting the latter. These were known as "Tercio" (later to evolve into the British infantry square as used at Waterloo). A cavalry charge at a facing block of pike was suicidal, so cavalry either discharged pistols when close to the pikemen, or tried to take them in the flank. Massed bodies of pikemen could not manoeuvre quickly (the 12-14 foot pike also slowed the rate at which armies could move), so cavalry could have the advantage on open ground. Artillery was mostly used for siege purposes and was improving to the point where the stone walls of castles and cities were being replaced by earthwork defences. In later years, improved firearms and the bayonet led to much more mobile infantry tactics.

The events around Chester of 24 September 1645 were one of the last major battles of the first civil war and ended all hope of a Royalist victory.

At dawn, Sir Marmaduke Langdale brought his scratch army of 3,000 Royalist horse across the Dee at Holt Bridge. His plan was to concentrate near the city and fall upon the rear of the Parliamentarians besieging Chester, crushing them between his Royalist cavalry and the Chester garrison.

An intercepted message reveals that Poyntz is also marching on Chester and Langdale deploys to the east to intercept Poyntz. Instead of trapping the besiegers against the walls, Langdale is about to be trapped between the besiegers and their support.

At Rowton Heath Langdale clashed with Roundhead Colonel-General Sydenham Poyntz who had made a night march from Whitchurch with around 3,000 horse in the hope of intercepting the Royalist army. At first the battle was a stalemate, the hedged land being unsuitable for a cavalry engagement and with neither side wanting to advance on Chester and expose its rear to the other.

Parliamentary Colonel Michael Jones detached 500 horsemen and musketeers from the force besieging Chester to support Poyntz.

The Royalists in the city saw Jones' movements and sent out a force of around 1,000 horse and foot under Lieutenant-General Gerard to attack the rear of Jones' troops. Gerard could not march out through Boughton because of the besieging army and had to manoeuvre through Hoole.

At Hoole Heath, Gerard was attacked by units of the besieging Parliamentarian army under Colonel Lothian. Thus engaged, Gerard was unable either to attack Jones or support Langdale.

Jones joined up with Poyntz and together they advanced on Langdale. After fierce fighting, Langdale's army was broken and split, with a part retreating back towards Farndon and a further part trying to reach the safety of Chester.

The Royalist troops heading towards Chester to rejoin with the King ran into the ongoing fight between Gerard and Lothian at Hoole and even more troops were sent out from Chester to assist. In the confused fighting which followed "as much dispersed as the greatest rout could produce...", Bernard Stuart was killed. It was this last stage of the battle that King Charles watched from the Phoenix Tower.

The next day, with the last of his cavalry gone, King Charles left Chester for Denbigh in a retreat that was to end in capture and imprisonment. After the second civil war was started by his supporters, Charles faced execution.

Further Information on the battle with many detailed maps and photographs (UK battlefield resource centre).

Clarendon (impeached by the House of Commons, and forced to flee to France in November, 1667) summarises the battle in his History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England as follows:

"Sir Marmaduke Langdale was sent, with most of the horse, over Holt Bridge, that he might be on the east side of the river Dee, and the king, with his guards, the Lord Gerrard and the rest of the horse, marched directly into Chester, with a resolution that, early the day following, Sir Marmaduke Langdale should have fallen on their backs,and should assail the besiegers in the rear, when all the force of the town should have sallied forth and enclosed them. But Sir Marmaduke Langdale being that night drawn on a heath two miles from Chester, had intercepted a letter from Pointz to the commander who was before Chester, telling him that he was come to their rescue, and desiring to have some foot sent to him to assist him against the king's horse. The besiegers began to draw out of the suburbs with such haste that it was believed in Chester they were upon their flight; and so most of the horse and foot in the town had orders to pursue them. But the others' haste was to join with Pointz, which they quickly did; and then they charged Sir Marmaduke Langdale, who, being overpowered, was routed and put to flight, and pursued by Pointz even to the walls of Chester. There the Earl of Lichfield, with the king's guards, and the Lord Gerrard, with the rest of the horse, were drawn up, and charged Pointz and forced him to retire. But the disorder of those horse that first fled had so filled the narrow ways, which were unfit for horse to fight in, that at last the enemy's musketeers compelled the king's horse to turn, and to rout one another, and to overbear their own officers who would have restrained them. Here fell many gentlemen and officers of name, with the brave Earl of Lichfield, who was the third brother of that illustrious family that sacrificed his life in this quarrel. He was a very faultless young man, of a most gentle, courteous, and affable nature, and of a spirit and courage invincible, whose loss was by all men exceedingly lamented, and the king bore it with extraordinary grief."

[edit] What If? A "counterfactual" history

What if Poyntz has not made his night march...
What if Jones had been prevented from coming to his aid...

...and the siege of Chester had been lifted?

Could Charles have brought in his Irish Army, linked up with his remaining forces and established his base at Chester for a victorious campaign against the Parliamentarians?

[edit] A Civil War Timeline for Chester (includes nearby events and major war events)

For a more complete timeline see Wikipedia's Civil War timeline. Much happened in the rest of the country (including many battles not mentioned here) and this section concentrates on the events involving Cheshire and Chester.

[edit] 1642

22 Aug Charles raises his standard at Nottingham and the 'first' civil war begins. Sir William Brereton in Chester trying to drum up recruits for the Parliamentary Army - citizens of Royalist Chester chased him out of the city.

26 Sep Thomas Aston issues an order at Chester for the seizure of arms and horses from those who had joined Parliament's Militia in Cheshire.

[edit] 1643

15 Jan Chirk Castle "taken and plundred by Colonell Ellis"

?? Jan Sir Thomas Aston, on a recuiting tour, had sent to Chester for a hundred and fifty musketeers to be recruited for the Royalists, so his expedition rode up to the town's defences expecting a friendly greeting. However what they received was powder and shot. Orlando Bridgeman, the royalist controller of Chester had not sent a man.

20 Feb Beeston Castle taken by parliamentary forces commanded by Sir William Brereton. The defences of Beeston were quickly repaired as it was expected that Charles would attempt to land parts of his Irish army at Chester. Beeston provided an important impediment to the army marching southward.

13 Mar First Battle of Middlewich the Parliamentarians, under Sir William Brereton, defeat the Royalists under Sir Thomas Aston.

9 Nov Grenades used at Holt Bridge at Farndon - William Brereton, attacking the bridge for the Parliamentarians stated: "for which end they had also made a towre and drawbridge and strong gates upon the bridge soe as they and wee coceived it difficult if not altogether ympossible to make way for our passage". Despite this he, Thomas Middelton and their forces took the bridge when they cast "some grenados amongst the Welshmen".

13 Dec Captain Thomas Sandford and eight Royalist soldiers sneak into Beeston Castle at night and persuade the much larger parliamentary force commanded by Captain Thomas Steele to surrender.

26 Dec Second Battle of Middlewich 200 Parliamentarians killed, along with a much smaller number of Royalists under the command of Lord Byron, Governor of Chester. This small battle was Brereton's only real defeat.

[edit] 1644

24/26 Jan (Sources vary) Battle of Nantwich. The Parliamentarian Major General of Cheshire, Sir William Brereton, was besieged in Nantwich by Lord Byron, Governor of Chester, when 2,500 men under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax attacked, defeating Byron and raising the six-week siege.

2 Jul Royalists defeated at Marston Moor - the largest battle of the Civil War.

?? Nov Parliamentary forces lay siege to Beeston Castle.

[edit] 1645

?? Feb William Brereton's forces attack Chester and fail in their attempt to scale the walls near the Northgate. In the same month, the New Model Army was formed of 22,000 men, divided into twelve foot regiments of 1,200 men each, eleven horse regiments of 600 men each, one dragoon regiment of 1,000 men, and the artillery with 50 guns. The infantry regiments wore red coats with white facings. The original intention was to use blue uniforms, but red was cheaper. The English would fight in red coats until 1885, but it was not until the 1880s that the term "redcoat" as a commonplace name for the British soldier appears in literary sources such as Kipling's poem, "Tommy".

?? March Chester royalist (and mayor) Sir Francis Gamull was commissioned to raise a regiment of foot to defend the city. Prince Rupert appointed as Commander-in-Chief of Cheshire.

20 March "Prince Robert (Rupert) cam to Chirk Castle, and so went to Chester". His engineers set to work fortifying the city. Work begins (under Colonel Robert Ellis) on earthworks stretching from Boughton, through Hoole to the Watertower.

9 May The King and his troops head north on the first relief expedition to Chester, a proposal of Prince Rupert. The expedition is abandoned before reaching Chester.

14 June Battle of Naseby - Royalists badly beaten. Parliamentarian troops hack to death over 100 camp-followers in the belief they were Irish (they were probably Welsh whose language was mistaken for Irish). The massacre was widely celebrated by the Parliamentarians.

10 July Battle of Langport - at Langport and Naseby, King Charles's armies were effectively destroyed. King Charles made several unsuccessful attempts to break through the Parliamentarian and Covenanter armies into the north of England.

10 Sept Prince Rupert surrendered at Bristol, ending the siege and depriving Charles of one of his major ports for reinforcement from Ireland. The petulant King sacked Prince Rupert (who demanded, and got, a Court Marshall to clear his name).

18 Sept King Charles (then at Raglan in Monmouthshire) set out to the north. His objective was to relieve Chester and link up with his remaining allies.

20 Sept Parliamentarian Colonel Michael Jones led a determined assault on Chester's outer defences with 700 infantry and 700 horse and dragoons and stormed the eastern suburbs of Boughton. Many of the dead from this skirmish and are buried in St Giles Cemetery. The "mayor's house" in Foregate Street was captured (and with it the civic sword and mace) and became Brereton's headquarters (who is this mayor Gamull or Holmes?). Following this, cannon are set up near St Johns (including in the tower) and a steady pounding of the walls begins.

22 Sept A breach some 25 feet wide was made near the Roman amphitheatre with thirty-two cannon shot. The subsequent Parliamentary assault on the city walls repulsed by Lord Byron. Charles, then at Chirk Castle, learned that Chester might soon fall and led his army north on a relief mission.

23 Sept Charles entered Chester with his "Lifeguard of Horse". On the same day, 1,500 Royalist cavalry arrived at Rowton Heath.

24 Sept At dawn the main Royalist force crossed Holt Bridge. By nightfall, the Royalists were defeated before the walls of Chester in what was to be one of the last battles of the first civil war. Charles spent the night at Gamul House.

25 Sept Charles left Chester in retreat to Denbigh, accompanied by only 500 horse.

?? Nov Royalist garrison at Beeston Castle surrendered (after a year of siege) due to lack of food.

[edit] 1646

3 Feb Lord Byron at Chester finally surrendered.

23 Feb the Montgomeryshire forces (parliamentary) began to "fortifie Llansilin churche, for the straightninge and keeping-inn of Chirk Castle men, where Sir John Watts was governor, who shortly after deserted the castle."

5 May Charles I surrenders, first civil war ends.

[edit] 1647

? ?? The plague visits Chester.

[edit] People who had something to do with Chester and the Civil War

[edit] The Royalists

King Charles I watched his army defeated, then left Chester. When Charles was beheaded on 30 January 1649, it is reputed that he wore a heavy cotton shirt so as to prevent the cold January weather causing any noticeable shivers that the crowd could have mistaken for fear or weakness.

Sir Thomas Aston

Colonel Robert Ellis

Marmaduke Langdale, commander of the "Northern Horse" cavalry unit, was defeated at Rowton Heath by Parliamentarian cavalry under Major-General Sydnam Poyntz. At the Restoration, he was created Baron Langdale.

Thomas Sandford, Captain of Firelocks, captured Beeston for the Royalists with eight men, a poker face and a ruse.

Charles Gerard campaigned with Prince Rupert in Shropshire and Cheshire. Led his troops from the city to provide support at Rowton Moor. Went abroad with Prince Rupert and Prince Maurice after Rupert's Court Marshal. Intrigued against Cromwell from the continent and returned at the head of the King's Horse Guards at the restoration. Went abroad again after being suspected of complicity in Monmouth's Rebellion. Returned again with William of Orange in 1688 at the head of the new King's Lifeguard.

The Earl of Derby was tried in Chester on the charge that "James, Earl of Derby, had traitorously borne arms for Charles Stuart, against the Parliament ; that he was guilty of a breach of an Act of Parliament of the 12th August, 1651 , prohibiting all correspondence with Charles Stuart, or any of his party; that he had fortified his house at Lathom against the Parliament". Executed in Bolton outside the Man and Scythe public house.

Lord Byron was commander of Royalist forces in Cheshire, Lancashire and North Wales, with responsibility for securing the route for troops released from service in Ireland to fight for the King. He died, childless, in exile in Paris and was succeeded by his brother, ancestor of the later Lord Byron famously described by Lady Caroline Lamb as "mad, bad, and dangerous to know."

Orlando Bridgeman, son of the Bishop of Chester. Initially refused to provide troops to the Royalist army, chasing off the recruiters with gunshots. Presided over the trial of the Regicides and invented the rule against perpetuities. A Puritan viewpoint states ‘he was a very base corrupt man & a very knave in matters of Judicature’.

William Lawes, Charles I's personal minstrel, died at Rowton Heath or possibly later in the fighting around Chester - "Will. Lawes was slain by such whose wills were laws".

Bernard Stewart died outside the walls of Chester. Lord Bernard was to be created Earl of Lichfield by King Charles I for his actions at the battles of Newbury and Naseby but died (aged 23) of injuries received leading a sortie from Chester, before the patent could be implemented.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine commander of the Royalist cavalry during the civil war. He was sacked after the loss of Bristol and later banished. After the restoration he became an admiral (he wasn't very good at this - so he was made First Lord of the Admiralty). Following retirement from the active military in around 1674, he engaged in scientific research. He invented the "rocker", a wide curved tool with teeth, used to roughen a mezzotint plate. He is credited with the invention of a form of gunpowder and a "fake gold" alloy is named "Prince's metal" in his honour. He is also credited with the invention of 'Prince Rupert's Drops', glass teardrops which explode when the tail is cracked - they are made by the same process that was used at the Lead Shot Tower to make shot.

[edit] The Parliamentarians

Sydnam Poyntz, ex-mercenary Major-General, commanded the Roundhead cavalry at Rowton Heath. By 1647, Poyntz was drawn onto Parliament's side of the dispute between it and Oliver Cromwell's New Model Army. New Model Army commander Fairfax mistrusted Poyntz and placed spies in Poyntz's camp to foment distrust. Poyntz fled the country when London fell to Army troops.

William Brereton, Commander-in-Chief for Parliament's army in Cheshire, played an important role in the first civil war's final major pitched battle at Stow-on-the-Wold, but thereafter faded into the background vis-a-vis military matters. After the first civil war, Brereton was rewarded by Parliament; he gained Eccleshall Castle in Staffordshire and Croydon Palace, previously the home of the Archbishop of Canterbury. He later argued that the Earl of Derby should not be executed.

Colonel Michael Jones commanded the besiegers of Chester. By 1647, his reputation was such that he was chosen to lead the Parliamentary expedition to Ireland. His old commander the Royalist Earl of Ormonde surrendered Dublin to him without a fight in June 1647 saying that he "preferred English rebels to Irish ones". Died of fever at the Siege of Waterford in December 1649 trying to take the city "by hook or by crook". Hook is the headland on the Wexford side and Crook is the name of the Waterford side.

Thomas Middleton was a parliamentarian soldier who helped take Holt Bridge at Farndon - with grenades.

Thomas Fairfax, general of the Parliamentary forces in the north, fought at the siege of Nantwich. Prior to the Restoration, Fairfax was put at the head of the commission appointed by the House of Commons to wait upon Charles II at The Hague and urge his speedy return. Fairfax provided the horse on which Charles II rode at his coronation.

Thomas Steele, commander of the garrison of Beeston Castle, was tried and shot after losing the castle to nine men of the Royalist Army.

and finally...

“mr lely, i desire you would use all your skill to paint your picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all; but remark all these roughness, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me; otherwise i will never pay a farthing for it.”

Oliver Cromwell (who never set foot in Chester) on having his portrait painted - "warts and all".

[edit] Others

Randle Holme III Painter and author of "The Academy of Armory" (1688), said to be the first book printed in the city. The book is subtitled "A storehouse of armory and blazon microform : containing the several variety of created beings, and how born in coats of arms, both foreign and domestick : with the instruments used in all trades and sciences, together with their terms of art : also the etymologies, definitions, and historical observations on the same, explicated and explained according to our modern language : very usefel (sic) for all gentlemen, scholars, divines, and all such as desire any knowledge in arts and sciences". His father (Randal Holme II) was a royalist Alderman of Chester during the Civil War siege and the book also records the devastation of the city. Randal Holme was "Made a mason" at Chester in the 1670's.