ABSTRACT
While the parliamentarians publicly lacerated and privately plotted against one another for their recent humiliations on the battlefield, the royalists soberly reckoned the far-reaching consequences of Marston Moor. When Newcastle finally capitulated before a Scottish assault in October, the whole of the north, a few small garrisons excepted, lay at parliament's feet. With few encouraging prospects in England, Charles looked again to his other two kingdoms for something that might kindle a flicker of hope. The one-year truce with the Irish Catholic Confederacy had been extended by three months, during which time Charles urged his lord lieutenant, Ormond, to negotiate a peace, no matter what the cost so long as it produced more troops to come and fight for him in England. The Catholic Irish, who had felt themselves stalemated by the signing of the 1643 truce, now saw their opportunity to profit from the king's weakness.
