ROYAL ARMOURIES MUSEUM – OBJECTS IN CONTEXT SHEET 1
THE ENGLISH CIVIL WARS
A SOLDIER’S LIFE
Fig. 1: Harquebusier
from John Cruso,
Militaire Instructions for
the Cavallrie, 1632
PEACE AND WAR
In 1628 Sir Edward Cecil said “This kingdom hath been too long at peace.” England was not officially involved in
continental wars in the early 17th century as Charles I continued his father’s foreign policy. England had been at peace
for longer than anyone could remember. In Henry VIII’s reign every able–bodied peer had experience of war; in the
1620s only one in five peers had fought in battle. Even in 1640, on the eve of the Civil War, England was described in a
Twelfth Night masque, Salmacida Spolia as “overgrown with peace”.
THIRTY YEARS WAR (1618–48)
Although England was not directly involved in external wars, individuals had participated in the Thirty Years War.
From 1624–37 about 10–15,000 Englishmen and 25,000 Scots took continental service abroad. News of the war soon
was being reported in England. In 1638 woodcuts (A True Representation of the Miserable Estate of Germany) showed
brutalities from the war, including babies torn from mothers’ breasts and caught on a pike and men’s guts being pulled
through their own mouths. In the Manifold Miseries of Civil War, 1642, there were also stories of starvation, cannibalism
and torture from the continent.These were seen as warnings of the consequences of a civil war. Sydenham Poyntz was
an eyewitness at the capture of Wurzburg by the Swedes; “The whole army in a fury breaking in the Town and pillaging it,
cloisters and abbeys, committing great disorders, using such tyranny towards the clergymen, cutting off their members and deflowering
the nuns.”
IRELAND
On 23 October 1641 the Irish revolt heightened fears of an Irish invasion. In England stories of Irish atrocities were
illustrated by woodcuts of babies being speared on spits and pikes, daughters being raped, women hung by their hair and
Irish rebels boiling maidservants alive in beer.The rebellion was brutally suppressed; the excesses of the King’s soldiers in
Ireland frightening even veterans of the Thirty Years War.The Irish were seen by the English as inferior due to their
Catholic religion and the fact that Irish women went bareheaded like English prostitutes.The Irish rebellion pushed the
English moderates over to the King’s camp which gave him reassurance and led to his attempted capture of the five
members of parliament. Six days later Charles I left London. On 23 April 1642 Charles I went to the Royal Arsenal at
Hull and the governor, Sir John Hotham, refused him entry.
CHOOSING SIDES
Bulstrode Whitelocke M.P. wrote to his wife in July 1642; “It is strange to note how we have insensibly slid into the
beginnings of a civil war, by one unexpected accident after another, as waves of the sea... from paper combats..., we are now come to
the question of raising forces and naiming a general and officers of an army...What the issues of it will be, no man alive can tell.
Probably few of us now here may live to see the end of it.”
There were many ways how people chose which side to fight on. Some consulted astrologers or prayed. Household
servants, estate workers, children and family generally fought for their masters. Others joined because of a feeling of
loyalty or duty such as Verney who said “I have eaten his (the king’s) bread and served him near 30 years and will not
do so base a thing as to forsake him.” He held the royal standard at Edgehill and it had to be prised from his hand
when he was killed in the battle. His son Ralph was a parliamentarian supporter. Many people tried to remain neutral
but Charles I sent out commissions of array to all gentry and to shift waverers. Some escaped abroad e.g. John Evelyn
went on a grand tour of Europe. In Lincolnshire cavalry was raised to keep the peace in the county. In 1643 Devon
royalists and roundhead gentry agreed to join together against all forces entering the county. However this soon broke
down under pressure.
CAVALIERS
Cavalier was a name derived from “Cavaliero” which referred to the horse soldiers of Spain who had plundered Europe
in theThirty Years War. Cavaliers had a reputation for whoreing, looting and drinking; “When they are in their cups they
swagger, roar, swear and domineer, plundering, pillaging and doing all the other kind of wrong.” However, Sir Francis Wortley held
that a true cavalier believed “The king to be the head of the church...dares call his sovereign the annointed of god...He conceives
passive obedience always due to the power of the king.” The cavalier ethos appealed to gentlemen and helped them to raise
cavalry regiments.The crown also gained support from the Celtic provinces such as Wales and Cornwall. However, at
least one soldier, Captain Fenwick, deserted to the parliamentarians because he could not stomach the Catholics in the
royalist ranks. Honour was an important concept; following the royalist defeat at the Battle of Marston Moor, the Duke
of Newcastle went into exile rather than face the king.
PARLIAMENT
The nickname roundhead derived from the short haircuts of London Apprentices.Their aim was to “...recover the King
out of the hands of the ‘Popish Malignant Company’, that have seduced his majesty with their wicked counsels and have withdrawn
him from his parliament...” The Souldiers Catechisms, 1644.The Earls of Manchester and Essex were appointed as
commanders, to gain respectability and show that Parliament had a legimate cause. Most parliamentary support was from
preachers and tradesmen. At the beginning of the civil war the parliamentarian armies had the higher level of soldiers
changing sides to the royalists. However, in 1645–6 when the tide began to turn most turncoats then joined the
parliamentarians.
RECRUITMENT
a) CONSCRIPTS
The first to be drafted by the county authorities and village constables were the unemployed, misfits, vagrants and
thieves. Parliament exempted clergy, students, sons of esquires and those with property worth more than £5 in goods or
£3 in land per year. Conscription was not popular; during the Bishops Wars some conscripts in Essex and Lincolnshire
cut off their big toes so that they could not march north. Some attempts to recruit men were doomed to failure; on
9 August 1642 Captain John Smith led a troop of royalist cavalry to the village of Kilsby in Northamptonshire and met a
crowd armed with muskets and pitchforks that prevented recruitment. In August 1643 the draft caused riots in London.
About one third of the infantry of both armies deserted.The punishment for desertion was hanging. However, both
Charles I and the parliamentarians needed infantry so deserters often escaped execution if they were caught. Articles of
war were not rigidly enforced, but soldiers were hung for rape or murder.
b) MILITIA
As the Tudor militia legislation had been repealed in 1603, the muster rested on custom and prerogative, not on
statute law. The London Trained Bands, however, had permanent paid officers and the men marched on the weekends.
They had grown out of Henry VIII’s Honourable Artillery Company which was made up from dyers, butchers,
weavers, tanners and shoemakers.Their commander had also fought in the Thirty Years War. In 1625 Charles I sent
89 veterans of the 30 Years War to the counties to train the militia. The cavalry, usually richer yeomen who provided
their own horses, resented the veterans and the muster for the cavalry was cancelled in 1630.The militia was not
highly thought of, as John Dryden said, they were “Stout once a month they march, a blustering band, And ever, but in
times of need at hand.”
c) MERCENARIES
Most of the field commanders were veterans of the foreign wars except Charles I, Cromwell, and the Earls of Newcastle
and Manchester. At first, parliament was against using mercenaries but realised that their experience was needed, so they
distributed the veterans through the companies. Parliament and the crown employed Dutch, German and French
professional soldiers.
LEADERS
Charles I was the Commander in Chief of the royalists and at Edgehill he stayed in the field all night, nominally sharing
conditions with his troops. Prince Rupert, was a veteran of the Thirty Years War. His cavalry charge at Powick Bridge gave
him the reputation of a hero and his dog Boy was seen as a magical familiar. After Marston Moor though, Rupert hid in a
bean field and Boy was shot. In 1642 Charles I had issued commissions of array to colonels. If the regiment lost men
through battle, he issued another commission to another colonel, which resulted in too many officers and not enough
footsoldiers. Later in the second Civil War, Cromwell chose godly honest men as captains, insisted his men were paid and
was firm but fair in discipline. However, on both sides by 1644 there was a surplus of officers due to men deserting.
PAY AND REWARDS
Pay varied in different armies at different times during the wars. If officers provided their own horse they were paid
more; if there was a shortage of potential soldiers the officers were paid less. In Oxford an infantry private earned six
shillings a week, the wage of an agricultural labourer. Sometimes officers advanced extra money to their troops before an
action took place, as in Bristol in 1645 when Fairfax gave his troops six shillings as an encouragement to storm the
town. Charles I also had gold coins struck to reward those in dangerous assaults, and created 37 new peers and 66 new
knights by 1649. Cambridge also awarded 140 MAs on the King’s orders. John Smith, who rescued the royal standard at
Edgehill, was knighted by Charles I, made a baronet and given a medal with the King’s portrait on.
LIVING CONDITIONS
In the Bishops Wars the armies had no mobile bakeries or brew–houses.When soldiers’ pay was docked to cover the
costs of repairs to weapons some mutinied and two soldiers were hung.Troops broke open jails in Wakefield, Derby and
London, rioted in Cambridge, and beat up undergraduates at Oxford.They also smashed cathedral altars and some
urinated in the fonts. One soldier, John Livingstone slept undressed one night and the next morning he was not able to
move, he had to ride naked to Dunse where he thawed out in a bed surrounded by pots of boiling water. In Oxford the
cavalry was billeted in the countryside.The townsfolk who didn’t support the king were disarmed and the local MP was
imprisoned.The inhabitants were forced to work from 6am to 6pm to build defences and in 1643 the labour draft
extended to women.They were fined one shilling a day for non compliance. In Oxfordshire the assessments cost
£60,000 per year which was 17 times the amount raised in Ship Money.
a) FOOD
The daily rations of cavaliers were 2 pounds of bread, 1 pound of meat, 2 bottles of beer and two and a half ounces of
cheese. In 1643 Charles I suspended statutes against consuming meat in Lent as parliament controlled the fishing ports.
In winter quarters there was usually enough to eat and men also lived off the land. Essex marched with 1,000 sheep and
60 cattle with his column to Gloucester.
b) CLOTHING
Recruits were kitted out with clothing and a pair of shoes. Infantry shoes were made of cowhide which lasted about
three months on country roads.The shoe supply declined when cobblers from Northampton signed up. Both shoes were
made from the same pattern shape, there was no difference between the left and right foot.The need for clothes meant
that corpses and prisoners were stripped of their clothes. Prince Rupert’s soldiers took 4,000 pairs of shoes at York in
1644. In February 1643 in Cirencester the crown carried off wool to make uniforms for the army.
SIEGES AND SACKING
Nearly a third of the actions were sieges. Disease and hunger ravaged communities. At Scarborough half the soldiers died
from scurvy. It is estimated that of a total of 190,000 civil war casualties 100,000 people died from war-related diseases,
such as typhoid and diarrhoea. Camp fever or typhoid had a 75% death rate.The dead were usually buried where they
were due to the possibility of the spread of disease but the corpses were stripped.There were also other dangers. If a
town surrendered too early, the leader could be court–martialled and shot. Nathaniel Fiennes was court–martialled by
the King for surrendering Bristol but was later pardoned. If the siege went on for too long the besiegers might massacre
the population. It was necessary to surrender after the ultimatum and before the storming. At the siege of Bolton, 1644,
half the population were killed when royalists sacked the town.The sack of Brentford in November 1642 frightened the
citizens of London so badly that they turned the King back at Turnham Green.
ATROCITIES
In the Bishops Wars those captains suspected of being catholic were murdered by the rank and file. At Farringdon,
Lieutenant Eures was attacked by recruits in a tavern, forced to crawl out on a beam of an Inn sign, beaten, stoned and
then tossed in a dung heap as dead. He managed to crawl out and the soldiers then cudgelled his head and stuck his
corpse in a pillory. Each side tried to blame the other for atrocities but both sides committed them. In Bolton in May
1644 Puritan defenders hung an Irish soldier on the walls to celebrate beating back an assault. Rupert then ordered his
men to take the city. At Holt Castle, Derbyshire in February 1644 the parliamentary garrison refused to surrender.They all
had their throats cut and were flung in the ditch. On 24 October 1644 parliament passed ordinances giving no quarter to
the Irish. Later that year 70 Irishmen were captured sailing to Bristol and thrown overboard by Captain Swanley.
PLUNDER
This Swedish word became popular in the civil wars. In the early 1640s captains were against it but by the end of
the civil wars it was commonplace. Most of the deer in Windsor park were eaten by Essex’s soldiers. Royalists rustled
350 sheep and cattle from Portsea Island in 1642 and raided Knole House, Kent taking five wagons of weapons.
In November 1642 Charles I issued a proclamation against plunder to counter the effect on public opinion of the
plunder of Bradford; it had little effect.The sack of Birmingham by Rupert alienated public opinion, but Charles I
was not able to control royalist plundering so some civilians helped parliament with food, lodging and intelligence.
WOUNDS AND SURGEONS
Wounds gained in battle were often just superficial cuts. But when cavalry chased infantry they tried to slice downwards
and sever the neck. If the infantry broke, the cavalry killed more men. Prince Rupert saw the cavalry chase as similar to
hunting and it was difficult to gather the men together after the initial charge. In July 1643 Sir Thomas Fairfax led
cavalry troops ambushing royalists in Selby after the battle of Adwalton Moor. During a fighting withdrawal he was shot
in the wrist. He fell exhausted from his saddle and was patched up by the surgeons after a fifteen minute rest. He then
rode for 20 hours and carried his 6 year old daughter Mary to safety.
From “Mercurius Rusticus” a recollection of Colonel Sandys at Powick Bridge; “In his thigh the flesh did daily rot and
putrefy and was cut away by degrees even to bearing the bone naked, and stunk in so loathsome a manner that he was a burden even
to himself so to his friends too,... so intolerable was the stench, and so offensive.” He spent one month ranting in pain and then
Colonel Sandys died. His son caught smallpox visiting him and also died.
Surgeons were equipped with a medical chest which they bought themselves for £25.They were paid five shillings
a day and were liable to be conscripted, given badges and expected to treat wounded from both sides. Parliament
controlled London and therefore had access to the Barber Surgeons company and the Royal College of Physicians.
Cuts were usually bandaged. Shattered bones usually meant amputation. Gunpowder burns were treated with salve,
quinces and bleeding. Penetration wounds could cause peritonitis. A chest wound could result in asphyxiation in your
own blood. However, Prince Rupert had a musket ball trapped in his head until 1684 when it was operated on.
PENSIONS
Private George Robinson of the Colonel Springet’s parliamentary regiment was hit in the legs in the first battle of
Newbury. He was evacuated to London and spent 6 months at St Bartholomew’s Hospital “lame and some Diseased.”
He had 80 bone splinters taken out of his leg. Eight years later he was given a ten shilling gratuity and a pension of
£4 per year. Private George Jennings was given a pension for his wounds including a broken skull which had been
repaired with a silver plate. He also had a slit ear, cut cheek, broken jawbone, maimed hand and thigh wounds.
PRISONS AND PRISONERS
In August 1642 one of the battle cries was “God save King Charles and hang the roundheads.” Prisoners of war were beaten
up and then stripped.They were usually escorted to the local church before going to prison, or being released.
At Cirencester in 1643, 900 roundheads surrendered. Rupert’s men murdered 2 citizens.The prisoners were left with no
food or water and were eventually bound with match cord and driven like cattle to Oxford.When they reached Oxford
most elected to join the King’s army. Officers were exchanged and let out on parole on the promise never to fight again.
At the end of 1646 so many soldiers surrendered that parliament gave them £1 and food to go home. Richard Lovelace
said “Stone walls do not a prison make, Nor Iron bars a cage.”
WOMEN
In 1643 Charles I forbade women dressed as men from fighting in battle, but it is said that a farmer’s daughter, Jane
Engleby fought at Marston Moor.There were women snipers at Chester, Leicester and Worcester and at the siege of
Bridgwater where Lady Wyndham took a shot at Oliver Cromwell. She missed. At Lyme four hundred parliamentary
women put out incendiary arrow fires and stood guard at night.They reloaded muskets and even fired them.When the
siege was abandoned they levelled the earthworks in three days with picks and shovels. As James Strong said “to most is
known,The weaker vessels are the stronger grown.” In 1641 during the Irish Rebellion Lady Elizabeth Dowdall raised a
company of soldiers in Munster. She seized the rebels’ horses when they attacked and hanged ten men.When
surrounded by the rebels she sent out soldiers with grenades to set fire to the enemy quarters and burn the rebels alive.
ARMS AND ARMOUR
During the Civil War, Parliament gained control of the Tower of London, its arsenal and the important magazines at
Portsmouth and Hull. Most of England’s arms manufacturing industry was based in London, so Parliament seemed to
have the advantage; however, both sides were short of arms.The King’s capture of Newcastle enabled arms and armour
from Holland and France to be brought to England.
Royal Armouries Education Department, Leeds LS10 1LT
© Board of Trustees of the Armouries 2000. TEACHERS MAY PHOTOCOPY THIS SHEET.
4/00