The deal struck between the Covenanters and Charles brought an invasion from the Commonwealth that faced annihalation at Dunbar in September 1650. Exactly a year later, the end game of Charles’ attempt to detroy the Republic came to a head outside Worcester – which John Adams wouild call the ‘Ground of Liberty’.

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Transcript

Last time, we heard the story of Cromwell in Ireland; how the ground had been prepared for him at Rathmines by Michael Jones, the slaughter at Drogheda and Wexford, the more traditional progression through towns held by a fractured and fractious Confederate association. By April 1650, after 9 months, Cromwell had captured Leinster, and many of the towns of Munster had come over to the English, often through the work of his colleague and friend, Lord Broghill.  Resistance remained in Waterford, Limerick and Galway, but the writing on the wall was so clear that not even Nebuchadnezzar could miss it. Parliament had now called their general home to a new crisis, and a new threat from Scotland. It would be up to Henry Ireton to carry on his boss’s work in Ireland.

Cromwell returned home to rapturous applause in May 1650, and everyone was really really pleased with him for scotching the body politic of fear of invasion from the west, and avenging the atrocities of 1641. Never mind that new atrocities had been committed in their name. Andrew Marvell, the now famous metaphysical Poet, was living at Nun Appleton with Thomas Fairfax, as tutor to his daughter. He wrote an Horatian Ode, whatever that is; tinged with regret for the past death of the king, but only praise for the conquering hero. Marchmont Needham had a field day, pushing the literary boat out for

The wisest and most accomplished of leaders

No mention now of the Big Nosed Bull of Ely. Pah, the press eh? Can’t trust ‘em an inch! Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em.

Now parliament had called Cromwell home because the news from their spymaster general, Thomas Scot, suggested that an invasion from north of the wall could be expected sooner rather than later. And to understand why, we had better talk Charles the Pretender again.

Obviously, when the English had rather provocatively killed their king, the Scots had equally provocatively declared Chales king Charles II of Britian. That includes, Scotland as was their right, and King of Ireland and England which really was not their right. Oh, and France which is totally fair. But whatever. To begin with, Bradshaw and the Commonwealth Council weren’t really worried. Despite the announcement, the Covenanter regime up there spoke their language and surely wouldn’t follow through against their old muckers.

So, just to summarise who’s in and who’s out north of the wall. You will remember the Engagement with Charles I which had led to the Hamilton’s invasion to try to abnd put him back where he belonged. Hamilton and friends had been called the engagers, for engaging with his madge. Those royalists, the Engagers – well they were out. Right out. Either hiding their faces in shame, or in exile with Charles the Lesser. They were actually banned from public office. And they couldn’t just say sorry and be forgiven either; in the world of Johnston of Wariston and the fierce Covenanters, they had to prove they were really really sorry to their soul and wash their souls in tears in public, in a way that has shades of the Chinese Cultural Revolution or game of Thrones. So, the holders of power after the failure of the Engagement were The kirk party – covenanters, Argyll’s party, radical protestants who were no one’s party and why are people allowed to go to all these parties anyway I hope they are not drinking alcohol? Anyway Argyll and the kirk party they were in.

The Commonwealth were relieved to see that whether the Kirk party had really meant to make Charles king of England, Charles has seemed very disinclined to encourage them; as we heard last time, in March 1649 when they came to see him in exile he had politely sent them away. He had considered their offer, which was that

1. He must sign the Covenant which among other things meant he had no say whatsoever in God’s kingdom, i.e. religious affairs, no royal governor of the church thank you very much
2. Establish Presbyterianism in two of his other realms; to be fair no one mentioned France at this point
3. Dismiss and forget entirely any Scottish royalists at his court, except for a chosen few of course, fair’s fair. Those chosen ones he should hand over for execution like Montrose so he could be sent to the special place in Hell the covenanters had set aside for him.

Charles said he loved the offer, except all of it, so thanks but no thanks, hop off to Ethiopia because abysinnia. Instead he commissioned the great Montrose to go and make Scotland Great again, and declared him Lieutenant General of Scotland. Montrose set off, with £10,000 the Danes had given him. And Charles set off to Ireland to lead the Confederate Association to victory.

Which he had to get to via France. So off he went, and on the way he met Mum and the French Queen regent and they entertained him. He was a bit of a Brit abroad by the sounds of things; the Queen regent laid on a magnificent banquet with all the finest delicacies, including a dish of little birdies called ortolans, which you eat whole apparently, like a cat eating a mouse, with the custom that you cover their tiny heads with a napkin so you can’t see their reproachful little eyes. Not sure if you leave the entrails lying around like the cat, but either way Charles ignored those, ate vast quantities of roast beef instead and pretended not to speak French when Queen Regent asked him difficult questions. Presumably he spoke louder in English though to make himself understood, always works I find.

Anyway the long and short is that despite heading off for Ireland he never got there, because letters from Ormonde made it clear things were going pear shaped and he’d better not come for the moment until he’d got Cromwell sorted out, and had he mentioned that Rathmines didn’t go well? We get a reference, incidentally to one of Charles’ famously plural mistresses, the Welsh Lucy Walters who came from a broken home and charmed Charles; and rather crucially had a baby with him. Said baby, to be called James, was looked after by Henrietta Maria. Something to remember  is that before she died in 1658 at the age of 28, Lucy claimed she had papers proving she’d got married to Charles and therefore baby James was legit. You are going to immediately forget this little story whatever I say, but know, gentle listeners, that one day it will be relevant. Also that there’s a theme here as far as Charles is concerned, there will not only be hanky, there will also be plenty of panky.

In late September, Charles was on Jersey in the Channel Islands, the only bit of Normandy that John Lackland had not lost to Philip Augustus, being wined and dined by the locals; except for the ones that wanted to kill him on behalf of parliament. He’s running out of money, so patronage is tricky for his courtiers, but he handed out free stuff like Orders of the Garter to folks including one childhood companion George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. You will  forget this fact, just like Lucy Walters, but one day I will remind you.

Anyway, moving on. In Scotland Argyll had persuaded the Kirk Party to go back and make a new offer to Charles. They met him half way; they did agree to make an new offer to Charles, but there was nothing improved about it. A feature of the Covenanters is that they don’t do improved offers unless they consider God has given them a direct order, but by now Charles is in a jam, his negotiating position has weakened, because the Ireland flush is busted so he returns to the Netherlands and a town called Breda and talks turkey with the Scots.

In April 1650 it’s all agreed, and the Covenanters invite Charles to come over to Scotland and claim his throne. It is an agreement formed on sleights of hand and downright fibs. Charles was forced to declare approval of the covenant, to the separation of powers between king and kirk, to persecute Catholics and condemn Montrose. Edward Hyde who is with him at this stage is absolutely horrified at the cut of this jib; even HM, who had advocated the alliance on the basis that they are all heretics anyway so whatever, just get an army – even she’s horrified at this deal. But look, Charles thinks he’ll not actually have to swear to this darned Covenant thing, and once he has his army and his English throne back, at the head of a Scottish army, it’ll be fine, it’ll come out in the wash, how bad can it be. So, he now writes to English Presbyterians and Royalists telling them to buff their coats and muskets and to English Catholics promising them liberty of conscience if they rise up against the hand of the Commonwealth, he’s sure the Covenanters don’t really want to persecute them.

The worst thing was his treatment of Montrose; Charles starts off dithering, then he ducks and weaves and then he dissembles and then the matter is taken out of his hands. First he writes to Montrose telling him it’s off, then he writes telling him to keep going ‘cos it’ll give him a bargaining chip against the Kirk party, then he publicly disowns him. Seriously, to give his dad his due, the first Charles would have been having a crisis of conscience of nuclear proportions. Not so his son.

Anyway, it’s all taken out of his hands, because Montrose very quickly came a cropper, was taken to Edinburgh and executed in the traditional manner in May 1650 and parts of him distributed liberally around the kingdom in the fine tradition of sharing good things. Charles will see various pieces; his head in Edinburgh, and an arm in Aberdeen, each saying silently ‘thanks a bunch boss’. As you would expect, Montrose died with magnificent dignity, composure and a deal of bad poetry.

You should really become a member and sign up for the History of Scotland for all of this because it’s a real hoot. Charles hates hates hates dealing with the Kirk Party. I mean he loves the ordinary people and they love him and cheer him everywhere he goes. But the Covenanters, well. Whatever the Covenanters might be, they do not lack a strong conscience. They were constantly panicked because they began to realise Charles does not believe the Covenant at all, he’s eating porkie pies. They force him to sign it despite the sound of his teeth splintering in his jaws as he grinds them in fury, they banish all his royalist friends, they keep him away as much as they can from any real power. There is a lovely, lovely woodcut from the time of the Covenanters called The Scots holding their young king’s nose to the Grindstone’. It’s a hoot. Charles haaaaates it. Down in London, Marchmont Nedham and Mercurious politicus was having a lot of fun too, with

The famous adventures of the young Tarquin…the baby king

He made the 180 degree wrong claim that they lured him back with

Sugar plums and sweet meats

And then howled with laughter that when he was in their power, treated him as an errant pupil

Down to his breeches if he refused to obey

Which was a good deal less than 180 degrees, wrong, nearer to 360 degrees right.[1]

Later in life Charles is asked if he’d like to go back there to remember the good times and he brusquely and passionately says he’d rather hang first.

But – enough. For our purposes here, from down south, Charles is in Scotland and an invasion is surely imminent to reclaim his British throne.

South of the Wall, the Commonwealth saw what was coming and decided that they must get their retaliation in first. On 20th June 1650 they voted to go to war with Scotland. And of course the right person to lead the army of, um, just retaliation to the taliation that hadn’t happened, yet was the Commander in Chief of the army, Sir Thomas Fairfax. Except Thomas would not do it.

Now there’s a lot of myth about this; there’s the idea that he was pushed roughly aside by the Nose Almighty; they’d fallen out and it was Noll who had always really been the boss in fact.

And art returned Great Noll again

And left Ireland behind

Nay I see God Nose must reign

And tom-asse come behind

Sang a royalist newsbook gleefully.

There’s another that Thomas Fairfax hated the Republic because it had killed the king, and this is the moment he walked out.

Mainly none of this is true. Cromwell most certainly did not thrust Fairfax aside, in fact he and a committee of others earnestly worked on Fairfax to stay and command the army to Scotland. A record remains in Whitlocke’s diary and it’s full of affection from Fairfax and pleadings from Cromwell. Fairfax had been an active member of the Council of State; when the Scots do invade he is there to help rally support, very publicly. But he did not think it right to make war on the Scots before they had invaded. He believed they were in a sacred League and Covenant, and this would bust it, and did not accept the argument that the Scots had already broken it through their invasion of 1648. And there is no doubt he was uncomfortable with the regicide, and Anne Fairfax was utterly opposed to it.

So Thomas Fairfax leaves our story for a while in a very Thomas Fairfax idiom. He goes back to his beloved Yorkshire and Nun Appleton; listens to Andrew Marvell’s love poetry, tended his garden, carried out his role as a JP as the gentry does. He saw his daughter Mary married to the aforementioned George Villiers Duke of Buckingham in 1657. He would not prove a faithful husband, but Mary will have fun with Charles’ queen. Anyway, don’t say goodbye to Thomas, just a bientot, we will see him again before everything is done. For the moment though, his retirement from public life did not help reconcile moderate puritans to the Commonwealth.

By July 1650, Oliver was crossing the border into Scotland at the head of 16,000 men. His adversary was well known to him, a former brother in arms, David Leslie. And David Leslie knew his onions. He commanded an army of 17,000, but he had problems Cromwell did not. The Kirk Party were convinced that victory on the battlefield was as much due to moral and religious rectitude as it was to military skill. They were furious against the Engagers and wouldn’t have anyone who had so much as smelled a royalist within the last decade. So there were purges; purges of the officer corps of those not sufficiently committed to the cause. This cannot have helped military efficiency. Plus Charles kept putting his nose in and trying to be a proper king- turning up at the front one day for example. The troops loved it, they cheered and cheered, and Charles loved it he smiled and waved, smiled and waved. The faces of the Kirk party resembled slapped arses. They banished Charles to Dunfermline far away from the front.

It’s interesting; the Covenanter regime started in 1638 as the most deliciously unified nation, or in the lowland at least; the process of swearing to the Covenant, parish by parish, family by family had built an unrivalled legitimacy and unity which had enabled them to mobilise the full resources of the nation and punch well above their weight. That unity is now seriously shattering. Engagers, magnates and peers are largely excluded. In the South West, Radical Covenanters refuse to take part in this war, taking the same view as Fairfax from the opposite side – that Scotland was breaking the Solemn League and Covenant. The Highlands had an entirely different agenda anyway. It is now a fractured nation.

Anywho, despite all that, David Leslie plays a blinder. He follows an age old strategy of the Scot against the sassenach, on the vanishingly small number of occasions the Sassenach actually invades, vanishingly small I tell you.  Makes the countryside between the Tweed and the Forth South East Scotland, empty of provisions, builds fortifications near Edinburgh and watches. Through July and August Cromwell ebbs and flows around Lothian looking for an entry, Leslie bites at him draws him on then disappears. Cromwell wrote to the Scottish Parliament, begging them to re-consider their alliance with the king – with the famous words ‘I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken’. He received short shift in response

‘would you have us to be skeptics in our religion?

They asked.

Things started going badly for Cromwell; David Leslie’s army bit and harried the Redcoats, then retreated before they could be engaged. By the end of August, Cromwell was in trouble; he was forced once more to retreat to Dunbar, a port on the east coast, where the English navy could resupply him. Cromwell was always very focussed on logistics and supply. But he arrived at Dubar with only 11,000 men now, a ‘poor, shattered, hungry, discouraged army’, according to one of his captains, riddled with disease. Cromwell began to contemplate something new, that he had never faced before – military defeat. And began to withdraw to England, to Berwick. But he found Leslie was ahead of him again – and Copperspath Pass had been blocked. He was trapped, hemmed against the coast, 11,000 moth eaten Redcoats facing now 22,000 pretty confident looking Scots occupying the high ground. And watching.

On 2^nd September, 1650, from Doon Hill, Leslie was watching God’s province working it’s hand against the enemy of the Covenant. And he saw English troops embarking on ships in the port of Dunbar. They were leaving. Now was the chance for complete annihilation of the English, caught as they tried to run for home. An unholy storm had broken on the hills, but in the wind and the rain, Leslie ordered the Covenanter army to move out from the high ground down towards the English, until they faced the redcoats across Brox Burn. On the following day, Leslie would let slips his dogs of war, and eradicate the remnants of the Commonwealth’s army as they tried to flee to their ships, like the Danaans chased from the plains of Troy by the avenging Hector, back to their burning ships. On the broken, rough ground, the Scots took up their new positions while the storm raged. Nothing more could possibly happen tonight, so the Musketeers were ordered to extinguish their matches,  and, you know, snuggle down for a bit of a kip, as warm as bugs in rugs. For tomorrow the English would die.

Also watching were the Generals of the New Model, Cromwell and John Lambert. It is reputedly Lambert who first noticed that in his ambition, Leslie had taken a massive risk. In the deeply broken ground, would might find it hard for his centre to support his right wing, and for his left wing to support their centre. They were no disjointed, disconnected. Cromwell and Lambert roll the dice, and risk all. So, through the night as the rain fell and the Scots snuggled, Redcoats marched and concentrated regiments towards the Right of the Scottish line.

Early doors by 6 am, Cromwell was ready. As infantry regiments began to engage the Scottish centre – Okey’s Dragoons, Infantry regiments under Pride Overton, and George Monck, back from Ireland, while they were putting all the pressure on the centre, Lambert and Fleetwood launched the full weight of their cavalry at the Scottish right. Everywhere the Scots struggled to respond, to redeploy and meet this threat, but Cromwell had understood his ground well, they were too slow. And with superior numbers at the key point of battle, the Scots crumpled. And Lambert moved on to crash against the flank of the Scottish Infantry, regiment by regiment, the Scottish army was rolled up, and the hills were full of fleeing Scottish soldiers and the screams of them dying.

Dunbar was probably Cromwell’s greatest victory, on 3^rd September, a significant day for Oliver was that. 4,000 Scots died, 10,000 taken prisoner, many to be sent to the Caribbean as indentured servants. It is difficult to overestimate the impact of this extraordinary victorious turn around on Cromwell’s psyche. He was so overwhelmed with emotion, that an eye witness recorded

He did laugh so excessively as if he had been drunk; his eyes sparkled with spirits

When Cromwell wrote that this victory was delivered by God’s divine intervention, it was not just a form of words – he believed it. It was not just a convention, the sort of thing you were supposed to say – he believed it root and branch

We were in the mount, and in the Mount the Lord would be seen…He would find a way out to  deliverance and salvation for us [2]

Ahead everything opened up. The road to Edinburgh was free, and four days later the New Model marched through its street, until outside Stirling Cromwell met the  remnants of Leslie’s army, dug in under the walls and guns of the castle. They had created a defensive line, along the line of the Clyde and Forth.

There is an interesting side note here, which we will come back to in a future episode when we get back to England. Cromwell had been absent from parliament on campaign for most of the time since August 1649, and yet of course was still very much engaged with the health and mission of the new Commonwealth, and the lack of effective reform. So when writing to Speaker Lenthall about Dunbar, he begged the parliament to use this opportunity to take the work of reform forward, to implement social reform, for

If there be anyone that makes many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Commonwealth

There the forward movement paused. For the rest of 1650 Cromwell and Lambert mopped up the castles of the south East, and Charles and the Scots wondered what to do next.

It is an odd period. While military operations continued south of Stirling, there was no major attempt to break that Clyde forth line. And In January 1651 everything went even more quiet. Cromwell fell ill for a very extended period, badly ill; he wrote to Elizabeth

I grow an old man, and feel infirmities of age marvellously stealing upon me

It would be June 1651, six months, before he could really raise his head again.

The reaction to Dunbar amongst the Scots was many and various. It is not impossible that there was a small part of Charles that was really a little chuffed. I mean say small, possibly quite substantial. Because now surely the prestige of Kirk Party had been given a body blow. Now surely Argyll would be forced to pull the nation back together again; everyone was needed to turn this things around. Magnates, peers, royalists, Engagers – they must be brought back into the tent to help the Nation survive.

And indeed the Kirk Party were devastated. What was God up to? He had raised his hand against the most perfect kirk. There can be no other answer – they had sinned in bringing Charles here, and brought God’s wrath down on their heads

We did sinfully both entangle and engage both the nation and ourselves, and that poor prince to whom we were sent; making him sign and swear a covenant which we knew, from clear and demonstrable reasons, that he hated in his heart

Johnston of Waristoun called for a national fast to understand and atone for the sins which had caused God to punish them.

In the South West, the pain of God’s condemnation was even keener. Radical covenanters passed a Resolution declaring the whole war an abomination and withdrawing their support. But at Perth a fractious parliament, with Charles now in attendance, decided that unity was the only way forward. That the Engagers and royalists must be re-admitted to public office,  and military command. I mean they didn’t make it easy. Your engager magnate had to go before the Kirk and express their heartfelt repentance, the worst offenders would be dressed in sackcloth and make their confessions  in the middle of a crowded church. Does sound like a fun watch, I must admit. I could think of a few people I could suggest for a modern version.

In January 1651, Charles was crowned King of Scots. It wasn’t as pleasant an experience for the lad as you might think. Argyll made a point of making it crystal clear who was really boss here, by putting the crown on his head, probably muttering as he did it ‘I hope that isn’t too comfortable, Sire’. Charles then had to listen to a sermon, telling him that he

Hath not absolute power to do what he pleaseth…for he was tied by the conditions of his covenant with his people…

They’d be first up against the wall, brother, come the revolution. Or well, come the Restoration.

None the less, the re-admittance of the Engagers meant that by June 1651 a credible army of 13,000 had been assembled. But in July, Cromwell had recovered from his illness, and at last the redcoats started operations again. Lambert was across the Forth into Fife; Leslie sent a counterforce to hold the line, but at the Battle of Inverkeithing Lambert routed them in a fight lasting only 30 minutes. Cromwell followed with his main army. But rather than making for Stirling, where Charles and Leslie’s main force was dug in, he turned north, on to Perth on the edge of the Central Highlands. On 2^nd August 1651, Perth duly surrendered, on generous terms offered by Cromwell.

Now – that’s interesting. What was Crommers up to? Why did he not attack the main force at Stirling? Well, one reason was straightforward enough – to cut Charles off from his recruiting grounds in the North East, such as traditionally royalist Aberdeen, and the Gordons. The weakness of the plan would seem to be that it left the road to England wide open. A bold and ambitious young king could seize this opportunity, strike south, across the wall, into Cumberland. Faced with the prospect of a proper, fully functional king, you know, one with a head and all, and presumably with the hotline to God a Stuart had, well the English would surely rise up against the miserable Republic and see off that bunch of common charlatans. What a bloomer Oliver was committing!

Well was he?  There is a very strong suggestion that Cromwell knew exactly what he was doing. He was confident no one in England would rebel, because who would want to go through all that again? it meant that the Scots would be in the middle of nowhere, cut off from their source of support, isolated, alone in the woods while the big bad wolves watched with their yellow eyes from the forest, ready to growl and leap and bite and tear.

Charles though, full of youthful enthusiasm and ambition, he thought it was aa golden opportunity. What could go wrong, come on guys, let’s go and win me a throne. When one courtier suggested Charles should cut a deal with Cromwell, renouncing the English and Irish thrones in return for Scotland, Charles’ replied was that said courtier would hang on the same gibbet as Cromwell. This, he said, was a war to the death between them. Which is refreshingly direct.

Also Charles was pleased with his army, which contained many Highlanders this time, who now Charles met for the first time. He heard 80 pipers perform in front of their clansmen, and he loved it, he declared them the best of his soldiers. The lowlanders looked on sourly. And so it was Charles would punish Cromwell for his incompetent howler. March of England, see his subjects rise, and grasp his throne with both hands. Cry Harry!

Well, Charles might have been full of hope, but many around him as the Scottish army set off for England were not quite as bright or indeed bushy tailed. Lord Lanark, who was incidentally the new Marquis of Hamilton after his brother’s execution in 1649, was heard to say

We must either starve, disband, or go with a handful of men into England. This last seems to be the least ill, yet it appears very desperate to me

Off they set in August 1651 and made good time. Within a few days Charles was near Carlisle and demanded they admit their King. They said errr…no don’t think so, thanks for asking though have a good day. Nothing daunted, in front of his men Charles was proclaimed king of England, and swore to reform its church according to the Solemn League and Covenant.

In response to this prospect, as they moved south, royalists flocked to join him. Not. Not only were they not keen on said Covenant,  not only were they tired of war, they were also not keen on the Scots, who had caused cascades of damage and plunder in the north during the wars.

Although there was actually one eager beaver; James Stanley the Earl of Derby was said beaver. He went to war for his king, with 300 men cheered on from their home in the Isle of Man by the redoutable Countess of Derby, Christine de la Tremouille. Unfortunately for Derby, he was met by Robert Lillburne at Wigan, and defeated. He went on the run though, and would make it to Worcester to meet his king.

Cromwell left Perth and followed the Scottish army, and ahead of Charles English forces gathered. At Warrington Bridge in Lancashire, Lambert had enough of a force to made make the king’s  passage difficult, but after a brief engagement, drew aside and waved them through. No one is quite sure why; he had nearly as many men, but it is likely Cromwell wanted the entire army assembled before the last showdown.

Down and down, southwards and southwards went the 13,000, down through western England. Behind them, back in Scotland, George Monck was making hay, left behind by Cromwell with 6,000 men, capturing Stirling and storming Dundee on 1^st September. Charles could expect no more help from home.

By that time, Charles, Leslie and the Scots were in Worcester. Charles hadn’t wanted to stop, he had wanted to crack on to London, but after 330 miles his men were exhausted, and Worcester with its big walls built for the civil wars, seemed like a safe haven. It was also nicely situated so all those keen and enthusiastic royalists who, while not showing themselves yet, could surely no do that flocking thing.

In fact it was Cromwell that flocked, flocking outside Worcester by 28^th August with an army of overwhelming strength, possibly 30,000 men to Charles 120,000 Scots and 2,000 English. By 3^rd September, exactly a year after Dunbar, he was ready, and attacked the royal army dug in outside the city, on two front. The battle would be massively complicated, hard fought, and last all day. Charles fought with panache and ceaseless courage, with the Duke of Buckingham at his side, charging and counter attacking. For Cromwell it was also an exhausting day. He was determined to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, at one point he rode down the lines in front of the Scottish musketeers, at great personal risk, offering terms if they would lay down their arms. They all opened fire, as it happens, which I guess was a no. Cromwell was then personally commanding a force across a pontoon, driving back a Highland brigade sent to stop Fleetwood.

We beat the enemy from hedge to hedge until we beat them into Worcester

He wrote afterwards. Charles himself lead a counter attack

His majesty gave an incomparable example of valour to the rest by charging in person, which the Highlanders especially imitated in great measure, fighting with the butt end of their muskets when their ammunition was done[3]

Wrote an eyewitness.

It was all in vain. The outcome, given the disparity in numbers and experience of the soldiers was really never in doubt. Worcester was as complete and utter a defeat as can be imagined really. Virtually the entire royalist army was captured or killed in battle.

However, when it was clear the battle would be lost and the end was near, the aged Earl of Cleveland led a desperate charge to create a diversion. And in the chaos Charles, Buckingham, Derby, and Leslie made a run for it. Of whom only Charles and Buckingham, escaped. Derby, despite Cromwell’s best offices, would be executed after trial, in front of the people of Bolton, the place of the massacre he had perpetrated.

Charles of course went on a right old adventure, from house to house, sheltered by Catholic families at Whiteladies and Boscobel House. We went there on the 2023 History of England Tour and saw the descendant of the Royal Oak in which Charles hid from the Roundheads – I’m absolutely sure there’s a ripping picture in the Ladybird book on Charles II. He finally reached the coast in Dorset, but couldn’t find a ship because they were all full of soldiers about to go and bring Jersey into the Commonwealth where they belonged. Eventually he found a boat and landed at Fecamp in Normandy, after more than a month on the run. Probably it was all very frightening but it really paid dividends. Charles absolutely adored telling everyone about it, over and over, by far his favourite anecdote, and when you are a king presumably no one can say ’shush now’. And although he embellished the story, as did those that wrote about it, there are a couple of things worth noting. Firstly, he was constantly recognised, but never betrayed; in the hearts of most people, there still burned a candle for monarchy. Secondly, what all the accounts have in common was the courage, dignity and sheer politeness and courtesy of the king. Charles could be a class act.

At The Battle of Worcester, Cromwell met the flower of Scotland, and sent them home to think again, arf arf. And in a rather messy way, it brings the Civil wars to an end from an English perspective. I mean – they don’t, it’s a daft statement; there’s war going on in both Ireland and Scotland, the channel islands, the Caribbean – but the immediate internal danger to the Revolution is really over, and the Commonwealth can succeed or fail on its own merits now.

I don’t know how many people see the Battle of Worcester’s significance any more. But let me finish with a story about another revolutionary, John Adams, who was nothing but a damned rebel, no sorry, was a leader of the American revolution and would be the Second President of the United States from 1797 to 1801. He was an Ambassador to Great Britain from 1785 to 1788 and wrote a diary when he went on a bit of a tour, and his tour took him to Worcester.

John Adams was very aware of its significance, and was a bit astounded at what he found. Here is what he wrote.

 

NOTES ON A TOUR OF ENGLISH COUNTRY SEATS, &C., WITH THOMAS JEFFERSON, 4 – 10? APRIL 1786]

Mr. Jefferson and myself, went in a Post Chaise to Woburn Farm, Caversham, Wotton, Stowe, Edghill, Stratford upon Avon, Birmingham, the Leasowes, Hagley, Stourbridge, Worcester, Woodstock, Blenheim, Oxford, High Wycombe, and back to Grosvenor Square.

Edgehill and Worcester were curious and interesting to us, as scenes where Free men had fought for their Rights. The People in the Neighbourhood, appeared so ignorant and careless at Worcester that I was provoked and asked, “And do Englishmen so soon forget the Ground where Liberty was fought for? Tell your Neighbours and your Children that this is holy Ground, much holier than that on which your Churches stand. All England should come in Pilgrimage to this Hill, once a Year.” This animated them, and they seemed much pleased with it.

 

Well done John Adams. A good place to stop, and next week we can go back to the Commonwealth and see how matters domestic have been working out over the last couple of years while we have been in foreign parts, fighting.

[1] Keay, A: ‘Restless Republic’, p128

[2] Lay, p: ‘Providence Lost’, p11

[3] Lipscombe