Prince Rupert, the third
son of Frederick, the King of Bohemia, was born in Prague in 1619.
The grandson of James I, Prince Rupert
fought for the Dutch army during the Thirty Years War until he was
taken prisoner at Vlotho.
After his father was deposed
he settled in England in 1635. On the outbreak of the Civil
War Prince Rupert was put in charge of the cavalry. He introduced
a new cavalry tactic that he had learnt fighting in Sweden. This involved
charging full speed at the enemy. The horses were kept close together
and just before impact the men fired their pistols.
During the early stages
of the Civil War the parliamentary army
was at a great disadvantage. Most of the soldiers had never used a
sword or musket before. When faced with Prince Rupert's cavalry charging
at full speed, they often turned and ran.
One of the Roundhead
officers who saw Prince Rupert's cavalry in action was Oliver
Cromwell. Although Cromwell had no military training, his experience
as a large landowner gave him a good knowledge of horses. Cromwell
became convinced that if he could produce a well-disciplined army
he could defeat Prince Rupert. He knew that pikemen, armed with sixteen-foot-long
pikes, who stood their ground during a cavalry attack, could do a
tremendous amount of damage.
Oliver
Cromwell also noticed that Prince Rupert's cavalry were not very
well disciplined. After they charged the enemy they went in pursuit
of individual targets. At the first major battle of the civil war
at Edgehill, most of Prince Rupert's
cavalrymen did not return to the battlefield until over an hour after
the initial charge. By this time the
horses were so tired they were unable to mount another attack against
the Roundheads. Cromwell
trained his cavalry to keep together after a charge. In this way his
men could repeatedly charge the Cavaliers.
In 1644 Prince Rupert was
given the title the Duke of Cumberland and was made Commander in Chief
of the Royalist forces. In 1645 Prince Rupert was forced to surrender
Bristol to the Parliamentary army. Charles
I was furious
and dismissed him from office. However, Prince Rupert resumed his
duties after being acquitted at his court martial.
In 1646 Prince Rupert surrendered
at Oxford to General Thomas
Fairfax. Expelled from England by Parliament, Rupert took command
of the Royalist fleet in 1648 and for the next two years attacked
English shipping. After being defeated by Admiral Robert Blake he
escaped to the West Indies. In 1653 he went to live in France.
Prince Rupert returned
to England in 1660 with Charles
II and during
his later years was an active member of the Royal Society and in 1670
helped establish the Hudson's Bay Company. Prince Rupert died in 1682.
Drawing from a pamphlet,
The Cruel
Practices of Prince Rupert (1643)
(1)
Joshua
Sprigge was General Fairfax's chaplain. Later he wrote an account
of the battle at Naseby.
Prince Rupert chased the left-wing almost to Naseby town...
The Prince, probably realising by that time the success of our right-wing
cavalry... he raced to the rescue of the King's army, which he found
in such distress, that instead of attempting to rescue them... he
went to look for the King... The prisoners taken in the field were
about 5,000... The whole booty of the battlefield was given to the
soldiers, which was very rich and considerable... besides the riches
of the court and officers, there was also the goods stolen from Leicester.
(2)
Edward Walker was a member of the Royalist cavalry at Naseby.
The first
charge was by Prince Rupert and his troops... The infantry only made
one volley... they were soon in great disorder.
(3)
Sir Richard Bulstrode served in the Royalist army at Edgehill.
Just before we began our attack, Prince Rupert passed from
one wing to the other, giving orders to the cavalry, to march as close
as possible, to receive the enemy shot, without firing our pistols,
till we broke in amongst the enemy... after a small resistance...
we were masters of their cannon... Prince Rupert... eagerly pursued
the (right-wing of the parliamentary cavalry), who fled... if we had
only kept our ground after we had beaten the enemy, and not left our
foot naked to their cavalry... we might have made an end of the war.
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