ABSTRACT
Parliament’s generals should have forced the king’s forces out of the Thames valley area in the spring of 1643, as military resources were once more heavily weighted in their favour. During the winter months the king had raised a number of new cavalry regiments in the Oxford area but had been joined by only a single infantry brigade from the regions, about 1,000 strong. Another, larger contingent had been destroyed near Gloucester in March, whereas conditions in Yorkshire and in the far southwest made it impossible for other bodies of foot to make their way to Oxford. To make matters worse, gunpowder was in exceedingly short supply in the Thames valley theatre of war. However, there were large quantities of powder in the north of England following the safe arrival of a convoy from the Continent in January, which ships from the navy had failed to intercept. Initially, the king’s advisers were not unduly worried about the shortage of munitions. They trusted that the Earl of Essex’s lethargy would give them time to bring gunpowder to Oxford before the start of the new campaigning season.
