Battle of Naseby

Background

By the spring of 1645 the English Civil War between King Charles I and Parliament had lasted nearly three years without a decisive result. Over the winter Parliament reorganized its main forces into a single national army, the New Model Army, established by ordinance in February 1645 with a planned strength of about 22,000 men under Sir Thomas Fairfax. The Self-Denying Ordinance removed members of Parliament from military command, but Oliver Cromwell was given a series of exemptions and was appointed lieutenant-general of the horse shortly before the battle. In May the king left Oxford with his field army and on 30-31 May stormed Leicester. Fairfax abandoned his siege of Oxford and marched north to find him. Cromwell joined him on 13 June. The king, near Market Harborough, decided to stand and fight rather than retreat.

The Battle

On the morning of 14 June the two armies drew up on low ridges north of the village of Naseby in England, facing each other across the open ground of Broad Moor. Estimates vary, but the New Model Army probably numbered about 13,000 to 15,000 men and the Royalists perhaps 9,000 to 12,000. Fairfax placed Philip Skippon's infantry in the center, Henry Ireton's horse on the left and Cromwell's horse on the right. Colonel John Okey's dragoons lined the Sulby hedges on the far left, where they could fire into the flank of any attack. On the Royalist side Prince Rupert and his brother Maurice led the horse on the right, Lord Astley the infantry in the center, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale's Northern Horse the left, with the king and a small reserve behind.

Rupert's cavalry charged first and broke much of Ireton's wing. Ireton was wounded and briefly captured. Instead of rallying, most of Rupert's horse pursued as far as the Parliamentarian baggage near Naseby, where they were driven off by its guards and lost valuable time. In the center Astley's outnumbered but veteran infantry drove back Skippon's first line in hard fighting, and Skippon was badly wounded. On the right, however, Cromwell's horse routed Langdale's men. Cromwell sent only part of his force in pursuit and turned the rest against the flank and rear of the Royalist infantry. Okey's dragoons mounted and attacked from the other side. According to Clarendon, the king was about to lead his reserve forward when the Earl of Carnwath seized his bridle and turned him away. The Royalist foot was surrounded and most of it surrendered, though one regiment, probably Rupert's own bluecoats, fought on until it was broken. When Rupert's horse returned they could not restore the battle, and the Royalist army fled toward Leicester.

Weapons

The infantry of both armies were musketeers and pikemen. The New Model Army aimed for two muskets to every pike. Musketeers carried the Matchlock Musket, fired in ranks, and in close combat turned their muskets round and used them as clubs. Pikemen carried the Pike, nominally 18 feet long though often cut shorter, and protected the musketeers from cavalry. The cavalry were mostly harquebusiers, wearing a buff coat, a breastplate and backplate and the Lobster-Pot Helmet. Each trooper carried a sword and a pair of pistols, some of them wheellocks like the Wheellock Pistol and more of them flintlocks by this date. Full Cuirassier Armor had become rare. Both armies had artillery, but it seems to have played little part in the result.

Aftermath

The Royalists lost perhaps 1,000 men killed and some 4,000 to 5,000 taken prisoner, along with their artillery, baggage and the king's private correspondence. Parliament published the letters as The King's Cabinet Opened, revealing Charles's efforts to bring Irish and foreign troops into England. After the battle Parliamentarian soldiers killed or mutilated a number of women in the Royalist baggage train, probably around a hundred, though figures vary. Fairfax retook Leicester on 18 June, beat Lord Goring at Langport on 10 July, and took Bristol in September. Charles surrendered to the Scottish army in May 1646, and Oxford fell in June. Naseby had effectively ended the First Civil War, and the New Model Army became the most powerful force in English politics.