ABSTRACT
Following upon the battle of Edgehill, and then made for Oxford, which became the royal headquarters. From Oxford, the army moved to Reading on 4 November, whilst Essex’s army entered London four days later to bolster resistance. On 12 November Prince Rupert attacked Brentford, took the town and inflicted heavy losses on its garrison. London armed rapidly, and the next day 24,000 men under Philip Skippon were drawn up at Turnham Green. The King declined to fight and withdrew to Hounslow, thence to Oxford, occupying neighbouring counties. The university town was extensively fortified, and garrisons set up at Reading, Wallingford, Abingdon, Banbury, Brill, Faringdon and Burford. Both armies appear to have anticipated a quiet winter, but on 5 December Wilmot took Marlborough from the parliamentarians, and the latter under Waller stormed Winchester on the 12th. Essex controlled the Thames valley. Early in 1643 both sides won victories: Rupert took Cirencester on 2 February, Waller seized Arundel and Chichester, becoming commander of the Western Association formed on 11 February. The royalists appeared on the defensive, threatened by Essex from Windsor, with Waller to the west who had taken Malmesbury and broken the marquess of Worcester’s small personal army at Highnam on 24 March. The first major action, however, was fought at Hopton Heath on 19 March, where the earl of Northampton, en route to relieve Lichfield, confronted parliamentarian forces under Sir John Gell and Sir William Brereton. The parliamentary troops advanced on Stafford, where the earl hastily prepared to receive them. The battle, although it cost the earl of Northampton his life, was a royalist victory, largely due to ineptitude on the part of Gell and Brereton. Prince Rupert hastily sought to repair the damage of the earl’s death, taking Birmingham on 3 April and capturing Lichfield on 21 April, removing a threat to Oxford’s communications. Rupert’s brother Maurice, however, sought to break Waller’s army, which was enjoying successes in South Wales: he failed to do so at Little Dean, and Waller joined Edward Massey, governor of Gloucester, in time to take Tewkesbury on 12 April. Prince Maurice pursued, crossed the Severn, and took up position at Ripple on 13 April, blocking Waller’s advance to Worcester. Although cautious, Maurice was an able tactician, and when Waller began to withdraw, delivered a mighty blow as the parliamentarian force moved along a narrow lane. Waller’s men fled almost to Tewkesbury, where fresh troops halted royalist pursuit. Maurice then marched to Oxford, to assist in saving Reading from the earl of Essex, who nevertheless took the crucial town on 25 April. Thereafter, Maurice and the marquess of Hertford were despatched to the West Country, and Waller with his army also shifted that way, relieving pressure on Oxford.
