Cavaliers and Roundheads

Cavaliers and Roundheads
Christopher Hibbert

This social as well as a military history recreates the scenes of civil war in England, between 1642 and 1649.The book is enlivened by character sketches not only of the leading participants (Charles I, Prince Rupert, Oliver Cromwell), but also of the numerous lesser characters, male and female, who took part in the desperate conflict. Families and friends were bitterly divided as men left home to fight for King or Parliament. Castles and towns were besieged and sacked. Houses were plundered, churches desecrated and some 200,000 lives were lost.

Caualiers & Roundheads

Christopher Hibbert

Table of Contents

Cover Page (#u5a0511ba-781b-5cf7-a5e5-252e40adc925)

Title Page (#uead8f09b-b090-5fa9-b812-af17f4a1921a)

TABLE OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS (#u57b98523-803d-5697-81e5-06c7d1f698d7)

AUTHOR’S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#u29eed707-a6d4-50d6-b7fc-d92e24888ea9)

PROLOGUE (#u90bd895d-44d8-5b3b-8517-233ad2aa51d7)

PART ONE (#u428a9122-a6d4-5eb3-ad6b-70f76e92774a)

1 THE GATHERING STORM (#u30dcc447-43a7-5427-bb24-d6b9e5b2e6f9)

2 TAKING SIDES (#u3fd4ea7f-e37d-5135-b364-f2da786bc5cb)

3 TRIAL OF STRENGTH (#ud7794e08-a0b4-52c3-b275-9e0cfb424297)

4 THE SPREAD OF WAR (#litres_trial_promo)

5 LONDON AND OXFORD (#litres_trial_promo)

6 FIGHTING IN THE WEST COUNTRY (#litres_trial_promo)

7 BRISTOL AND GLOUCESTER (#litres_trial_promo)

8 COLONEL CROMWELL’S MEN (#litres_trial_promo)

PART TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

9 SWINGS OF FORTUNE (#litres_trial_promo)

10 ROADS TO MARSTON MOOR (#litres_trial_promo)

11 FIGHTING LIKE BEASTS (#litres_trial_promo)

12 THE NEW MODEL ARMY (#litres_trial_promo)

13 LEICESTER AND NASEBY (#litres_trial_promo)

14 DEATH THROES (#litres_trial_promo)

15 OXFORD ABANDONED (#litres_trial_promo)

16 SOLDIERS AND LEVELLERS (#litres_trial_promo)

17 THE SECOND CIVIL WAR (#litres_trial_promo)

18 THE DEATH OF THE KING (#litres_trial_promo)

EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)

The Fate of Characters Whose End is Not Recorded in the Text (#litres_trial_promo)

Some of the Principal Civil War Sites, Buildings, Memorials and Museums in England (#litres_trial_promo)

BIBLIOGRAPHY (#litres_trial_promo)

INDEX (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Author (#litres_trial_promo)

Praise (#litres_trial_promo)

By the same author (#litres_trial_promo)

The English A Social History 1066-1945 (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

About the Publisher (#litres_trial_promo)

TABLE OF PRINCIPAL EVENTS (#ulink_c1497cf6-1b14-509d-9cdc-1a5d84aae9e9)

AUTHOR’S NOTE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (#ulink_d46b5dd7-9a60-5cc4-9558-e0475ea5bdb5)

This is a narrative history of the Civil War in England concentrating upon what happened rather than upon what brought it about, upon the minor engagements and sieges – in which most of the war’s casualties were incurred – rather than upon the major battles, and upon the impact which the fighting had upon the civilian population. I have at the same time introduced as much little-known, curious and illuminating detail as I have been able to find.

It is intended for the general reader not the student, although I hope the student to whom the field is new may perhaps find it a useful introduction to the works of those scholars listed in the bibliography to whom I am myself deeply indebted. No references to sources are given in the text; but, for any readers who might be interested in consulting them, annotated copies of the book have been deposited at the library of the National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea and the Mugar Memorial Library, the University of Boston, Massachusetts.

For their help in a variety of ways I must express my thanks to Margaret Lewendon, Alison Riley, Dr Francis Sheppard and to Dr Peter Boyden who kindly arranged for me to study the Civil War Papers of Brigadier Peter Young in the National Army Museum. I am much indebted also to the staffs of the London Library, the British Library, the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and the County Record Offices of England and Wales, in particular to Michael Farrar, Cambridgeshire County Archivist; Richard Childs, Principal Archivist, Sheffield City Council; Mrs J. Challinor, Derbyshire Library Service; H. A. Hanley, Buckinghamshire County Archivist; the staff of the Surrey Record Office; Miss S. J. Lewin of the Hampshire Record Office; Jim Grisenthwaite and D. M. Bowcock, Assistant County Archivists, Cumbria Record Office; R. P. Jenkins, Senior Assistant Keeper of Archives, Leicestershire Record Office; Mrs Patricia Gill, County Archivist, West Sussex Record Office; Miss Rachel Watson, Northamptonshire County Archivist; Miss Jane E. Isaac, Assistant Archivist, Suffolk Record Office; Miss Monica Ory, Deputy County Archivist, Warwickshire Record Office; Adrian Henstock, Principal Archivist, Nottinghamshire Archives Office; Mrs M. M. Rou, Devon County Archivist; James Collett-White, Bedfordshire County Record Office; Miss Kathleen Topping, Manager, Centre for Kentish Studies, West Kent Archives Office; A. M. Carr, Deputy Head of the Record and Research, Shropshire Cultural Services; and Miss J. T. Smith, Principal Archivist, Essex County Archives; to my agents Bruce Hunter and Claire Smith; to Richard Johnson of HarperCollins and to Charles Scribner’s, Sons, New York.

I am also most grateful to Hamish Francis for reading the proofs, to Katherine Everett for her help in choosing the illustrations, to Robert Lacey, my editor at HarperCollins, and to my wife for having compiled the index.

Finally I want to say how much I am indebted for his generous help to John Morrill, Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge and to Donald Pennington, sometime Fellow of Balliol College, Oxford, for having read the typescript and having given me so much useful advice.

Christopher Hibbert

PROLOGUE (#ulink_5b6491b2-f2f3-5065-9902-684043776dca)