The Battle of Selby was a battle of the First English Civil War which was fought on 11 April 1644 between Ferdinando Fairfax and Thomas Fairfax's Parliamentarian army and John Belasyse's Royalist garrison of Selby in Yorkshire.
Background[]
During the opening months of 1644, the Royalist Governor of Yorkshire, John Belasyse, was forced to move south from York to Selby to better guard the southern approach to York from Parliamentarian raids, which had already reached Whitby in the East Riding of Yorkshire and Bradford in West Yorkshire. On 25 March, Belasyse failed to retake Bradford from the Parliamentarians, and the Parliamentarian general Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron and his son Thomas Fairfax led an army from Hull to take advantage of the Royalists' momentary weakness.
Battle[]
On 11 April 1644, the Parliamentarian army reached Selby, which was surrounded by flooded fields and the River Ouse. The Royalists erected and manned barricades on the four roads into the otherwise unfortified town, and the Parliamentarians came under musket fire as they approached the barricades. After a series of attacks and counterattacks, the Parliamentarians overwhelmed the barricades, and the Parliamentarian cavalry repelled the Royalist cavalry who attempted to protect their retreating infantry. Belasyse was unhorsed and captured during a failed counterattack, and 1,600 Royalist soldiers capitulated after being trapped in the town. Selby's fall was a disaster for the Royalist cause in Northern England, as York was only weakly defended. Eleven days later, the Parliamentarians began their Siege of York, which led to a decisive Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Marston Moor.