ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the measures adopted by the King and his Council of War. Used as the King's headquarters from October 1642 until July 1646, most active period of open conflict in the Civil War, the city of Oxford held a unique position as the centre of the Royalist war effort and was the only possible site for the establishment of semi-permanent hospital facilities. By 22 June disease had struck the King's army in Headington and also forced the withdrawal of all Royalist troops from the area between 'Chistleton' and Abingdon, including any remaining on Culham Hill. By November the Royalist garrisons in Abingdon and Wallingford had been reduced to below 800 by disease and, on 14 December 1643, Oxford's overcrowding was exacerbated by soldiers further arrivals from Bristol and Winchester, the latter having escaped from the fall of Alton to Waller on 13 December.
