The Battle of Naseby

The charge that won and lost

At about ten in the morning of 14 June 1645, on a ridge of open moorland a mile north of the village of Naseby in Northamptonshire, Prince Rupert led the Royalist cavalry of the right wing down the slope and into the Parliamentary horse under Henry Ireton. He broke them in minutes. Then, as he had at Edgehill three years earlier, he kept going, a mile and more to the Parliamentary baggage train, and spent the next hour trying to capture it. On the other wing Oliver Cromwell did the same thing and then the opposite. His troopers broke the Royalist Northern Horse under Langdale, and then, instead of pursuing, wheeled left and fell on the flank of the Royalist infantry in the centre. By the time Rupert returned, the foot of the king, around 4,500 men, were surrounded by cavalry on three sides and the New Model infantry in front, and were laying down their arms. The king tried to lead a counter-charge, was stopped by a courtier, and rode off the field. Every Royalist gun, the whole baggage train, and the private correspondence of Charles I were left behind. Naseby lasted about three hours and decided the war. The exam asks why Parliament won it, what part the New Model Army played, and how far the battle mattered. This module gives you the numbers, the dates and the shapes.

Five words the examiners use

Each definition ends with the moment it mattered, because a bare definition earns nothing in a 12-mark answer.

The campaign and the battle, in order

Put these six events in the order they happened.

• The Royalist army storms Leicester, and Fairfax is ordered to abandon the siege of Oxford and hunt it
• The two armies draw up on the ridges north of Naseby and Okey places his dragoons in the Sulby hedges
• Rupert charges and breaks Ireton on the Parliamentary left, then rides on to the baggage train
• Cromwell breaks Langdale on the Parliamentary right and wheels onto the Royalist infantry
• The surrounded Royalist foot surrender and the king leaves the field
• Parliament publishes the captured letters of the king as The Kings Cabinet Opened

Why did Parliament win at Naseby?

The Royalist cavalry won its own fight and the Royalist infantry were veterans. Which explanation best accounts for the result?

• Parliament had the numbers, around 14,000 against around 9,000, because the New Model Army was a single national force while the king had left half his cavalry in the west; the New Model horse under Cromwell were disciplined to rally after a charge and Rupert was not, so one wing came back into the battle and the other did not; Okey and the dragoons and the reserve infantry under Fairfax held the centre when the front line gave way; and the Royalist decision to fight at all, against advice, with a smaller army on open ground, threw away the one advantage the king had, which was time.
• Parliament had far more artillery and blew the Royalist army apart.
• Rain soaked the Royalist gunpowder.
• A Royalist commander changed sides during the battle.

Two cavalry wings, two results

The grade-9 point at Naseby is on this card: both wings charged and both broke their opponents, and the battle was decided by what each did next.

Consequences of the battle

Five statements about June 1645 and after. Tap the TWO that give evidence of the consequences of Naseby, as opposed to describing the battle itself.

• The king lost his veteran infantry, around 4,500 captured and around 1,000 killed, every one of his guns and his baggage train, and never again put a comparable army in the field.
• Okey and around 1,000 dragoons lined the Sulby hedges on the Parliamentary left and fired into the flank of the Royalist charge.
• The publication of the captured royal letters in July 1645 showed that Charles had been negotiating for Irish Catholic and foreign troops, and moderate opinion turned against him.
• Ireton was wounded and briefly captured when Rupert broke the Parliamentary left wing.
• Charles I tried to lead his lifeguard in a last charge and was turned aside by the Earl of Carnwath, who seized his bridle.

The New Model Army at Naseby

Select the THREE statements that correctly describe the part the New Model Army played in the victory.

• It gave Parliament the numbers: as a national army of 22,000 that would march anywhere, it could bring around 14,000 men to Naseby, whereas the county armies of 1644 had refused to leave their regions.
• Its cavalry were drilled to rally after a charge, because they were paid, disciplined and largely the old Eastern Association horse Cromwell had trained since 1643, which is why the right wing came back into the battle and the Royalist right did not.
• Its infantry had a second line: when the veteran Royalist foot pushed the New Model front line back up the slope, Fairfax fed in reserve regiments and the line held until the cavalry arrived on the Royalist flank.
• Its artillery destroyed the Royalist cavalry before they could charge.
• Its infantry were all veterans who had fought since 1642.
• Cromwell commanded the whole army.

How far was Naseby a turning point?

The 16-mark question on this case study usually asks how far Naseby was the turning point of the Civil War, or how far the New Model Army explains it. The strong answer sets the battle in the war on either side of it. The case for the turning point. Before Naseby the war had lasted three years and Marston Moor in 1644 had cost the king the north without ending the fighting. After Naseby the king had no field army: Langport on 10 July destroyed the western one, Bristol fell to Fairfax on 10 September, and Charles surrendered to the Scots at Newark on 5 May 1646. The letters made the political recovery he had always counted on impossible. Everything from 14 June 1645 followed from the battle. The case against. Parliament already held London, the navy, the richer counties and the money; the Scots had been in the war since 1644; and the New Model Army, the instrument that won at Naseby, had been created in February, so that the battle was the first proof of a change that had already happened. This meant that Naseby was the point at which a war Parliament was likely to win became a war it had won, and a judgement that makes that distinction, with the dates on both sides, reaches the top level.

In the shoes of the commanders

Four decisions on and around 14 June 1645. Choose what was actually done, and notice what each choice led to.

• Evening of 13 June. You are Charles I at Market Harborough. Fairfax is a few miles south with an army half again the size of yours, and Rupert advises falling back north to gather the cavalry left in the west. What do you do?
• Morning of 14 June. You are Fairfax. The armies are drawing up on facing ridges and there is a long hedge, the Sulby hedge, running down your left towards the enemy. What do you do with your dragoons?
• Late morning. You are Cromwell. Your right wing has just broken Langdale after a hard fight and his horse are fleeing north. Your troopers want to chase them. What do you order?
• July 1645. You are in Parliament with the captured letters of the king, which show him asking Ireland and France for Catholic troops. Some members say a gentleman does not print private correspondence. What do you do?

From cause to consequence

Because the New Model Army was a single national force, Fairfax could bring around _____ men to Naseby against around 9,000. Because the king chose to fight rather than fall back for his western cavalry, he met that army on open ground with the smaller force. Because the Royalist horse under _____ rode on to the baggage after breaking Ireton, the Royalist foot lost their cavalry when they needed it. Because the Ironsides had been drilled since 1643 to _____ after a charge, Cromwell could turn them onto the Royalist infantry. And because the king lost his guns, his veteran foot and his _____ on one afternoon, he surrendered to the Scots in May _____.

What the king lost

Charles I brought about 9,000 men to Naseby, and about 4,500 of them were captured. What percentage of his army was taken prisoner?

Question 3: similarity or difference

Question 3 reads: Explain one way in which the use of cavalry at Naseby in 1645 was different from its use at Agincourt in 1415. It is marked one point of comparison plus detail from each period. Which answer scores all four marks?

• At Agincourt the French cavalry were armoured knights who charged with the lance straight at the English line and were shot down by longbows in the mud, whereas at Naseby the cavalry of both sides were lightly armoured troopers with pistols and swords who fought each other on the wings, and the battle was decided by whether they rallied afterwards, as Cromwell did and Rupert did not.
• At Naseby the cavalry fought on the wings and Cromwell rallied his.
• Cavalry at Naseby was far more effective than cavalry at Agincourt.
• Cavalry changed because plate armour stopped being worth wearing once pistols could pierce it.

A 12-mark paragraph, marked

Question 4: Explain why the New Model Army won the Battle of Naseby in 1645. One reason the New Model Army won was the discipline of its cavalry after the charge. Both armies opened the battle with a cavalry attack on the right and both attacks succeeded, but the Royalist horse under Rupert, unpaid gentlemen volunteers, rode on past Ireton to the Parliamentary baggage train a mile away and stayed there for the best part of an hour. The New Model horse under Cromwell had been drilled since the Eastern Association days of 1643 to halt and re-form once the enemy broke, and after routing Langdale on the Parliamentary right Cromwell sent only three regiments in pursuit and wheeled the remainder onto the flank of the Royalist infantry. This meant that the Royalist foot, who had been winning the fight in the centre, were attacked from the side and rear by fresh cavalry while their own cavalry were absent, and around 4,500 of them were forced to surrender. The New Model Army won because its horse came back into the battle and the Royalist horse did not. What earned the marks: a cause named in the first sentence; specific support (the baggage train, the hour, 1643, three regiments, 4,500); the link phrase this meant that; and a closing sentence that returns to the question. Two more paragraphs, on the numbers a national army could bring to the field and on the Royalist decision to fight against advice, and the answer reaches the top level.

Write the 12-mark answer

Explain why the New Model Army won the Battle of Naseby in 1645. You may use the following in your answer: the cavalry; the numbers on each side. You must also use information of your own.

• Support that counts: a number, a name, a place on the field or a time
• Causes of your own: the dragoons in the hedges, the reserve infantry, or the Royalist decision to fight

Question 5: how far do you agree?

Question 5 might read: "The Battle of Naseby was the turning point of the English Civil War." How far do you agree? A student has written the case FOR. Which is the strongest point to set AGAINST it?

• Naseby was where the war was won, but the turning point was the decision that made Naseby possible: the creation of the New Model Army in February 1645 gave Parliament, for the first time, a single paid force that could bring 14,000 men wherever the king was, and Parliament already held London, the navy, the money and the Scottish alliance; so the battle proved a change that had already happened, and a judgement should give Naseby the ending of the war and the New Model ordinance the turn.
• Marston Moor in 1644 was a bigger battle.
• The king was not executed until 1649, so the war was not over.
• Rupert was unlucky.