Battle of Naseby
Part of English Civil War
Date: June 14, 1645 Location: Naseby, near Market Harborough, Northamptonshire Result: Decisive Parliamentarian victory
Combatants
Parliamentarians	Royalists
Commanders
Sir Thomas Fairfax	King Charles I Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Strength
6000 horse 7000 foot	4100 horse 3300 foot
Casualties
unknown	3500

The Battle of Naseby was the key battle of the first English Civil War. On June 14, 1645, the main army of King Charles I was destroyed by the Parliamentarian New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax.

The Campaign

At the start of 1645, most of King Charles's advisers wished to attack the New Model Army while it was still forming. Prince Rupert of the Rhine proposed instead to march north, to recover the north of England and join forces with the Royalists in Scotland under Montrose. This course was adopted, even though the King's army had to be weakened by leaving a detachment under Goring to hold the west country and maintain the Siege of Taunton.

Meanwhile, after an aborted attempt to relieve Taunton, Parliament's Committee of Both Kingdoms had directed Fairfax to besiege the King's wartime capital at Oxford. Initially, Charles welcomed this move, as Fairfax would be unable to interfere with his move north. Then at the end of May he was told that Oxford was short of provisions and could not hold out long. To distract Fairfax, the Royalists stormed the Parliamentarian garrison at Leicester on May 31. Having done so, Prince Rupert and the King's council reversed their former decision and decided to march south to relieve Oxford.

Parliament had indeed been alarmed by the loss of Leicester, and Fairfax was now instructed to engage the King's main army. He accordingly marched north from Oxford on June 5. His leading detachments of horse clashed with Royalist outposts near Daventry on June 12, alerting the King to his presence. On June 13, the Royalists, who were now making for Newark so as to receive reinforcements, were at Market Harborough.

Fairfax was eager to engage them, and held a Council of War, during which Oliver Cromwell, recently re-appointed Lieutenant General, arrived with some cavalry reinforcements. The New Model Army moved in pursuit, and late in the day Henry Ireton attacked a Royalist outpost at Naseby, six miles (10 km) to the south of the royalist army. The King now had to accept battle, or retreat with Fairfax at his heels. On June 14, urged on by Rupert, he took the former course.

The battle

Fairfax had drawn up his army on a ridge a mile north of Naseby, with Ireton's wing of cavalry on the left, Cromwell's cavalry on the right and the infantry (eight large regiments) under Sir Philip Skippon in the centre. Royalist horse under Rupert and his brother Prince Maurice faced Ireton, while 1500 truculent "Northern Horse" under Sir Marmaduke Langdale faced Cromwell. In the centre, the Royalist foot were organised as three "tertias" commanded by Lord Astley. The King commanded a small reserve of infantry and his Lifeguard of Horse.

Battle began when Parliamentarian dragoons under Colonel Okey occupied hedges on the Royalist right flank. They opened fire and goaded Rupert into a charge. Most of Ireton's regiments were broken and put to flight, some not stopping until they reached Northampton. Rupert led his men in all-out pursuit, leaving some of Ireton's men behind them, only temporarily disordered. There followed a general advance of the Royalist infantry. Initially, the Royalist centre and left advanced while the right wing appeared to hesitate due to the Parliamentarian infantry being out of sight behind the crest of the ridge. Suddenly the roundhead infantry moved to the crest of the ridge and both sides fired a volley. With the Parliamentarian centre under pressure from the veteran Royalist foot, Ireton led the remanants of his horse to their support, and was unhorsed, wounded and captured. At this point the whole line of Parliamentary Foot might have crumbled and fled if not for the leadership of Philip Skippon, their General of Foot.

Meanwhile on the Parliamentarian right, Cromwell's Ironsides, possibly commanded by Thomas Fairfax faced the Royalist Northern horse, neither willing to charge to the aid of their infantry while the other could threaten their flank. Eventually after an hour, the Royalist cavalry began to charge and Cromwell's troops moved to meet them. Langdale's men were not only outflanked and outnumbered two to one, but forced to charge up a slope broken up by bushes and a rabbit warren. After a brief contest they were routed. Unlike Rupert, Cromwell sent only two regiments after them, and turned his reserves against the Royalist centre. Oakey's dragoons and some of Ireton's horse also attacked on the other flank. Outnumbered and surrounded, the Royalist foot were killed or forced to retreat after a desperate resistance. One regiment, Prince Rupert's Bluecoats, stood their ground and resisted the victorious Parliamentarian forces in a desperate last stand, but they too eventually succumbed to the sheer weight of numbers. The King attempted to lead his Lifeguard of Horse to their rescue, but was prevented from doing so by the Scottish Earl of Carnwath, who seized his bridle crying, "Would you go on your death so easily?", and forced him to halt.

Rupert's cavalry had galloped two miles and reached the Parliamentarian baggage train, defended only by a small guard. They refused his summons to surrender, and Rupert belatedly led his cavalry back to the battlefield, where they were too late to save the Royalist infantry. They reformed a mile north of their original positions, but would not make another attack. When Fairfax regrouped and advanced, they rode off the field. Fairfax's forces pursued Royalist survivors fleeing north to Leicester in an attempt decisively to destroy their army as a fighting force. Many were butchered when they mistakenly followed what they thought was the main road to Leicester into a church yard, and were unable to escape their pursuers. Parliamentarian troops also hacked to death at least 100 women camp-followers in the apparent belief they were Irish, though they were probably Welsh whose language was mistaken for Irish. The massacre was widely celebrated by the Parliamentarians.

Aftermath

Fairfax recovered Leicester on May 18. Royalist military force had been shattered at Naseby. The King had lost his veteran infantry (including 500 officers), all his artillery, and many arms. He was unable to take the field again until they had been replaced, and he could never again raise an army of similar quality. Within a year, the First Civil War ended in a Parliamentarian military victory.

Images of the Battlefield

Battle of Naseby monument	Plaque	Plaque - Map detail	Central view towards the Royalist positions
Right view towards the Royalist positions	Left view towards the Royalist positions	Historical re-enactment

References

• Naseby 1645: The Campaign and the Battle by Peter Young ISBN 0712604898
• Mark Stoyle, Soldiers and Strangers. An Ethnic History of the English Civil War, Yale: Yale University Press, 2005, ISBN 0300107005
• Battles and Generals of the Civil War, H.C.B. Rogers, Seeley Service & Co.