ABSTRACT
The battle of Worcester marked the end of royalist hopes of success through a Scottish alliance. The Gerard Plot, or Ship Tavern Conspiracy, had North Welsh overtones and was broken by good government espionage. The Swordsmens' precipitate action drove the Sealed Knot into temporary withdrawal, and the Action Party appeared, extremely militant and hoping for alliance with Presbyterians and disgruntled New Model commanders. In the North-East, plots to seize York, Hull and Newcastle upon Tyne were laid, but the real royalist authority in the area, that of Marmaduke Langdale, was absent with Langdale in Europe. The royalist plan to take Newcastle petered out with a muster at nearby Duddoe, whilst Warwick and Worcester further south and west were untroubled. In February a royalist muster there at Salisbury had dispersed and led to a wave of arrests, but the conspirators intended to strike at Salisbury on 12 March where the judges of assize were to sit.
