First English Civil War, 1646

1646 was the fifth and final year of the First English Civil War. By the beginning of 1646 military victory for the Parliamentary forces was in sight. The last Royalist army was defeated in the field at the Battle of Torrington. From then on the New Model Army mopped up the remaining Royalist strongholds. The politics moved into a post war phase with all major the factions in England and Scotland, trying to reach an accommodation with King Charles that would further their own particular interests.

1646 end of the war

The only field army remaining to the King was Goring's, and though Hopton, who sorrowfully accepted the command after Goring's departure, tried at the last moment to revive the memories and the local patriotism of 1643, it was of no use to fight against the New Model with the armed rabble that Goring turned over to him. Dartmouth surrendered on 18 January 1646, Hopton was defeated at the Battle of Torrington on 16 February, and surrendered the remnant of his worthless army on 14 March. Exeter fell on 13 April. Elsewhere, Hereford was taken on 17 December 1645, and the Battle of Stow-on-the-Wold, the last pitched battle of the war, was fought and lost at by Lord Astley on 21 March 1646.^[1]

Newark fell on 6 May and the third siege of Oxford ended with the signing of a treaty on 24 June, the keys of the City were formally handed over to Fairfax the next day.^[2] Wallingford Castle, the last English royalist stronghold, fell after a 65-day siege on 27 July. On 31 August Montrose escaped from the Highlands. On the 19th of the same month Raglan Castle surrendered, and the last Royalist post of all, Harlech Castle, maintained the useless struggle until 13 March 1647. Charles himself, after leaving Newark in November 1645, had spent the winter in and around Oxford, whence, after an adventurous journey, he came to the camp of the Scottish army at Southwell on 5 May 1646.^[1]

Aftermath

The close of the First Civil War left England and Scotland in the hands potentially of any one of the four parties or any combination of two or more that should prove strong enough to dominate the rest. Armed political Royalism was indeed at an end, but Charles, though practically a prisoner, considered himself and was, almost to the last, considered by the rest as necessary to ensure the success of whichever amongst the other three parties could come to terms with him. Thus he passed successively into the hands of the Scots, Parliament and the New Model, trying to reverse the verdict of arms by coquetting with each in turn. The Presbyterians and the Scots, after, Cornet George Joyce of Fairfax's horse seized upon the person of the King for the army (3 June 1647), began at once to prepare for a fresh civil war, this time against Independency, as embodied in the New Model Army and after making use of its sword, its opponents attempted to disband it, to send it on foreign service, to cut off its arrears of pay, with the result that it was exasperated beyond control, and, remembering not merely its grievances but also the principle for which it had fought, soon became the most powerful political party in the realm. From 1646 to 1648 the breach between the New Model Army and Parliament widened day by day until finally the Presbyterian party, combined with the Scots and the remaining Royalists, felt itself strong enough to begin a second civil war.^[3]

Notes

1. Atkinson 1911, 44. End of the First War.
2. Varley 1932, The Siege of Oxford....
3. Atkinson 1911, 45. Second Civil War (1648-52).

References

• Varley, Frederick John (1932), The Siege of Oxford: An Account of Oxford during the Civil War, 1642-1646, Oxford University Press

Attribution

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Atkinson, Charles Francis (1911). "Great Rebellion". In Chisholm, Hugh. Encyclopædia Britannica 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 403–421.

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