The Battle of Naseby was fought on 14 June 1645 during the First English Civil War. The Parliamentarian army of Thomas Fairfax lifted its siege of the Royalist capital at Oxford in order to bring King Charles I's main army to battle shortly after its storming of Leicester, and the ensuing battle at Naseby in Northamptonshire saw the annihilation of the King's army, which lost 7,000 of its 7,400 troops. Charles lost the bulk of his army and officers in the battle, and he also lost all of his artillery and stores and all of his personal baggage, preventing the Royalists from forming another fieldworthy army.
Background[]
In 1644, Oliver Cromwell spearheaded the formation of the New Model Army, a national Parliamentarian fighting force which would be led by qualified generals instead of members of the House of Commons or the House of Lords. The result was the creation of a modern and unified army which was capable of fighting against the royalist supporters of King Charles I of England as the First English Civil War reached its third year. In 1645, the Parliamentarian commander Thomas Fairfax besieged the Royalist capital of Oxford, but King Charles took advantage of this by moving his army north in an attempt to recover northern England and join forces with James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose and his Scottish Royalist army. By 13 June 1645, the Royalists had encamped at Market Harborough in Leicestershire during their march to Newark in Nottinghamshire, and Fairfax ordered his general Oliver Cromwell to pursue the Royalists. Cromwell marched to Naseby, 6 miles south of Charles' army, and, on 14 June 1645, King Charles decided to give battle rather than retreat with Fairfax in close pursuit.
Battle[]
The Royalist center under Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading was the first unit to attack, and Prince Rupert of the Rhine and his cavalry attacked simultaneously. Philip Skippon's Parliamentarian force was fiercely attacked and pushed back, with Skippon being critically wounded by a bullet which struck him in the ribs. On the Parliamentarian left, Henry Ireton's cavalry held back the Royalist cavalry attack until Ireton was wounded and captured, and the Parliamentarian cavalry - which was now facing the entirety of Charles' cavalry force, was forced to retreat. The Parliamentarians routed Marmaduke Langdale, 1st Baron Langdale of Holme's attack on their right flank, but Cromwell committed only a few divisions to the pursuit of Langdale, instead turning the rest of his army to attack the Royalist right and center. The Royalists were now trapped between two Parliamentarian forces, and, while Prince Rupert's Blue Regiment repulsed several attacks, many other Royalist regiments either surrendered or attempted a fighting retreat. Robert Dalzell, 1st Earl of Carnwath prevented the King from riding out to rally his men, fearing that he would die in the process, but, upon seeing the King swerve away from the battle, much of the Royalist army began to rout as well. This decisively turned the tide of the battle, and Rupert and his cavalry - who had advanced to the Parliamentarian camp - were forced to retreat with the rest of the army. Several Royalists, including 100 Welsh female camp-followers, were massacred as they fled to Leicester, and the Parliamentarian victory was decisive; the King's army had been annihilated, losing all of its supplies, artillery, and baggage in the process.
Aftermath[]
The Battle of Naseby effectively destroyed the last powerful Royalist field army, and Leicester fell to Fairfax on 18 June, allowing for Fairfax to relieve Taunton and invade the staunchly-Royalist West Country. The Parliamentarians wiped out the last pockets of Royalist resistance, fighting the war to a finish after being inspired by the capture and leaking of some of King Charles' letters, which revealed that a desperate Charles planned to turn to Irish Catholic rebels and European mercenaries for support. Within a year, the war was over, and Parliament forced King Charles to surrender.
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