ABSTRACT
Thomas Fairfax was the architect of the Parliamentarian victory in the Civil Wars; it was he who created and controlled the crucial New Model Army infantry. Often portrayed as somehow rather a simple soul, it was his very simplicity which helped him as a commander. Yet in June 1650, he abruptly resigned his command, refusing to lead an army into Scotland. We also know from a poem he wrote that he was horrified by the execution of Charles I the previous year. He settled into a retirement, an idyllic retirement, a Virgilian dream: writing, building a new house, book-collecting, making a garden. Andrew Marvell stayed at his home Appleton House from late 1650 until 1652, and he was tutor to Fairfax’s daughter, Maria.
