As the Civil War is the central fact in the history of the Stuart family, it is worth while trying to understand how it was fought. A number of questions arise. Who fought for the king? Who for the Parliament? Which parts of England did each party occupy? Did the war consist of a few big battles, or was it raging everywhere at once? Was it fought by professional soldiers? What part did the ordinary citizens and peasants play?

First, then, who fought for the king? It was the attacks of the Puritans on the Church and the bishops that drove over to the king's side nearly all those who wished to preserve the Church of England. It was as the defender of the Church that Charles gained his best supporters. This is the clearest division of all. The Anglicans were, almost to a man, on the Royalist side. Of the members of the House of Commons, about 175 joined the king. The great majority, about 300, remained at Westminster, or took part in the war on the Parliamentary side.

The Catholics all joined the king, and the reason must be evident to those who have read the preceding chapters. The greater number of the peers, some eighty or more, also joined the king, and so did the bulk of the country squires, except in the Eastern and in some of the Southern counties.

Who fought for the Parliament? First, the Puritans. These were of all ranks, but chiefly from the middle classes both in town and country. There were amongst them a few peers: the Earls of Essex, Manchester, Warwick, Denbigh; Lords Brooke and Fairfax, and some others, in all about thirty. Large numbers of the most prominent citizens in London and the large towns, large numbers of freeholders and yeomen (especially in the Eastern counties), merchants and manufacturers, the corporations of Puritan towns even in the West of England: all these supported the Parliament.

How was England divided geographically between the two parties? Speaking quite generally, a line drawn from Scarborough to Southampton represents the main Geographical division. Parliament held nearly all to the east and south of this line, and so they had what was in those days by far the richer and more thickly peopled half of the country. Until after the end of the First Civil War, the Parliamentary army never got firm hold of the country north and west of that line.

But it must not be overlooked that there were many Royalists in the East and South, and many Puritans in the West and in Yorkshire. Even in Puritan London there was a king's party, and even in Charles's headquarters at Oxford and York there was a Puritan party. There were Puritan towns such as Plymouth, Bath, Gloucester, Dorchester, Nottingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Hull, Scarborough, and others, surrounded by districts in the Royalists' hands; and Royalist towns in Sussex, Hampshire, Berkshire, and Buckinghamshire, surrounded by the Parliamentary forces. Parliament held nearly all the ports, and thus with its hold on the navy and its possession of the chief seat of government, it had an immense advantage.

How was the war fought? A mere list of the great battles gives little idea of what really happened. In nearly every part of England there stands some castle or manor house; which has its story of fighting in the Civil War: Basing House in Hampshire; Lathom House in Lancashire; Wardour Castle in Wiltshire; Cawood, Pontefract, and Scarborough Castles in Yorkshire; Sherborne Castle in Dorset; Pendennis Castle in Cornwall; Beeston Castle in Cheshire; Raglan Castle in Monmouth; Flint, Denbigh, Conway, Chirk, Harlech, Pembroke, and Montgomery, in Wales; these are but a few of the isolated strongholds that stood sieges and assaults in the Civil War. Again, hardly a town in England failed to witness some incident that helped to decide the issue. London, Colchester, Gloucester, Exeter, Oxford, York, Nottingham, Hull, Leicester, Manchester, Liverpool, Stockport, Bolton, Coventry, Bristol, Reading, and many others, saw active fighting, whilst some underwent regular sieges.

In most of the great battles there were from 10,000 to 20,000 engaged on each side; but at the same time, in bands and small garrisons all over the country, there were several times this number under arms. For if the Roundheads (Puritans) withdrew their forces from Lincolnshire or Wiltshire, the Royalists would step in and occupy the district; or if the Royalists relaxed their hold of Somerset or Warwickshire, the Roundheads immediately rushed in.

Alongside of the great campaigns there went on, in half the counties, hundreds of local skirmishes and assaults on houses and castles.

If we take as the opening of the war the setting up of the Royal Standard at Nottingham on August 22nd, 1642, we find that the first nine weeks were spent by each side in marching and counter-marching.

Charles stayed until September 13th at Nottingham. Prince Rupert, the dashing cavalry leader, whose soldiers from the first gained a bad name for plundering and riotous behaviour, levied a contribution of £500 from Puritan Leicester. Then Charles fell back through South Derbyshire and Staffordshire to Shrewsbury, gathering troops and money. Meanwhile Essex, with the Parliamentary army, was in Northamptonshire, but he moved westward to keep a check on the king.

From Shrewsbury, Rupert made a dash on Worcester, and at Powicke Bridge, in a slight skirmish, he proved the superiority of the Royalist horsemen over the Roundheads. This had the effect of giving the Cavaliers greater confidence when they met the Roundheads a month later at Edgehill. By this time Charles had about 15,000 men round him, and thought himself strong enough to march straight for London.

On October 21st he reached Southam (in Warwickshire). Essex's army marched in the same direction to prevent the king reaching London. On the 22nd, a Saturday, Charles encamped at Edgecot. If he proceeded further in the same direction he would have to march into what was the enemy's country, with the Puritan army behind him. He therefore decided to turn round and meet Essex, who was now at Kineton (South Warwickshire). By Rupert's advice he took up a strong position at Edgehill, and about one o'clock on Sunday afternoon the battle began.

In most of the pitched battles of this war, the main body of foot-soldiers was placed in the middle, with forces of cavalry on each side. So it was here. Prince Rupert commanded the Royalist right, facing Sir Faithful Fortescue. His dashing Cavaliers carried all before them. Sir Faithful turned traitor and joined Rupert against his own side. On the left wing, too, the Royalist horse had an easy victory. The victorious cavalry rushed on in pursuit for miles, leaving the two bodies of infantry struggling in the middle. Here the slaughter was great, but the Parliament's men held their own.

The result of the whole fighting was a doubtful gain to the king. He was able to resume his march towards London, seize Banbury Castle, and enter Oxford without a blow. But Essex's main army, strengthened by the regiments following from Worcester, was still as strong as the king's, and was following at his heels.

The excitement in the Puritan counties and London was now tremendous. If Charles should enter London all would be lost. Messengers were sent from Parliament to open negotiations with him, but he refused to receive them. Rupert tried to take Windsor Castle by storm, but failed. Already the reputation of his soldiers for plundering, and excesses of other kinds, had alarmed the Londoners, who quickly assembled in thousands to defend their beloved city.

Six thousand new recruits joined Essex, who had managed to reach London before the royal army. On November 11th Rupert was at Brentford, where on the 12th he smashed up two regiments, fell on the town, and sacked it, although many of the inhabitants were Royalists. But the prompt succour sent by the City of London saved the capital and the Parliamentary cause.

On the morning of the 13th November, 24,000 men stood under arms at Turnham Green. Had they all been trained soldiers and led by an enterprising general, the king would have been caught in a trap; for Kingston Bridge was held by 3,000 Parliamentary troops who could have attacked him in flank. But Essex acted with caution, perhaps rightly, and Charles had to withdraw, first to Reading, then to Oxford, leaving garrisons at Reading, Wallingford, and Abingdon.

It was now that Oxford became the king's headquarters, from December, 1642, until June, 1646, and the memory of that occupation is still preserved. The old walls were then complete, and earthworks were thrown up outside from the present Balliol College cricket ground and the "King's Mound" to St. Giles's Church and beyond. The citizens and scholars helped in the work. The waters of the river on the south and east sides could be turned to the defence of the city.

For nearly two years, until Marston Moor, the events of the war are difficult to follow, and we can only see any connection between the different operations if we try to understand Charles's plan. He had his own headquarters at Oxford and held most of the country round it. Another Royalist army, led by the Marquis of Newcastle, held Yorkshire and the North of England. A third under Sir Ralph Hopton occupied Cornwall and the West of England.

Now if Charles could bring these three armies towards London at the same time, he could probably defeat any army of the Parliament and capture London itself. That done, he had little more to fear. His plan, however, never succeeded because, firstly, Newcastle could never shake off the Roundheads under Lord Fairfax and his more famous son, Sir Thomas Fairfax; nor could he break through the Puritan forces of the Eastern Association (Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Cambridge, Herts, Hunts, and Lincoln), led by Cromwell, who was becoming noted as the finest cavalry leader on the Puritan side. Secondly, Hopton could not venture to leave the West whilst strong towns like Bristol, Gloucester, Plymouth, Taunton, and others remained in the hands of the Roundheads. Thirdly, because if the northern and western armies did not act with him, Charles's own forces could never be strong enough. Nevertheless, for most of the time before Marston Moor, the Parliamentary armies were acting on the defensive.

There was a skirmish at Chalgrove (June 18th, 1643), and a Royalist victory at Newbury (September 20th, 1643). Chalgrove had struck down Hampden; Newbury claimed another noble victim, this time from the king's side, the gentle and chivalrous Falkland. Weary of the strife and turmoil of the times, fearing the bigotry of the fanatic Puritans, and mistrustful of the shifty king, he rode gladly to his death, hoping to find peace in a soldier's grave.

Between Newbury in September, 1643, and Marston Moor in July, 1644, several notable events happened. A treaty was patched up with the Irish rebels and the king got some regiments from Ireland. Pym, the great Parliamentary leader of the House of Commons, died in 1643. He was the man who had organised everything from the impeachment of Buckingham, the Petition of Right, and the Attainder of Strafford, down to the alliance with the Scots.

The Scottish Presbyterians now allied themselves to the Parliament by the signing of the Solemn League and Covenant at Westminster, on September 25th, 1643. They sent an army under Alexander Leslie (Lord Leven) and his cousin, the more famous David Leslie, to check Newcastle's forces in the North (January, 1644). Cromwell had already prevented their attack on the Eastern Counties by his victory at Winceby.