In
the Civil
War,
religion was an important factor in deciding which side to support.
The government's persecution of Puritans
meant that the vast majority of this religious group supports Parliament,
whereas most Anglicans
and
Catholics
tended
to favour the royalists.
Workers and tenants of
large landowners who supports the royalist cause were often obliged
to follow their master's example. Richard Vaughan, the Earl of Carbery,
an Anglican, who owned land in Cardiganshire and Pembrokeshire managed
to persuade large numbers of his tenants to join the royalist army.
Whereas Lord Dacres of Hereford recruited soldiers for the royalists
from his estates in Radnorshire.
The Marquis of Worcester,
the Roman Catholic owner of Raglan Castle, also supported Charles
I. The Marquis
feared that if the Puritans
won power they would persecute
people who shared his religious beliefs.
The king was unwilling
to appoint the Marquis of Worcester or his son. Lord Herbert, to senior
positions in his army as he was aware of the strong prejudice most
people in Britain had against Roman Catholics.
However, the Marquis, who owned large areas of Monmouthshire, and
was one of the richest men in Britain, did provide the king with considerable
amount of money to pay for his armed forces.
In some cases, families
were divided on who they should support. William
Feilding, Earl of Denbigh, and a member of the Council of Wales,
joined the king's army soon after war was declared. However, his son,
Basil, refused to follow his father's example and eventually decided
to fight for Parliament.
Husbands and wives did
not necessary support the same side. Although John Bodvile of Anglesey
became a colonel in the king's army, his wife Anne supported parliament.
Afraid that his wife would influence the religious and political views
of his three children, John Bodvile had them taken away from her and
placed in the care of his mother.
Although most of the large
landowners in Wales supported the king, some very influential figures
in the country favoured Parliament. Thomas
Myddelton, MP
for Denbighshire, and owner of a considerable amount of land surrounding
his castle at Chirk, was a devout Puritan.
Robert
Devereux, Earl
of Essex, who owned large estates in Carmarthenshire, was a strong
opponent of Charles
I. At the beginning
of the Civil War, the Earl of Essex
was appointed General-in-Chief of the parliamentary army.
The most important supporter
of Parliament in South Wales was Philip
Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke, the largest landowner in Glamorgan.
Herbert's Cardiff Castle provided an important base for Parliamentary
forces in South Wales.
The Parliamentarians produced
thousands of pamphlets in an attempt to persuade people to support
their cause. Although some of these were distributed in Wales they
had very little impact on the Welsh people. The main problem was that
these pamphlets were in English, a language that large numbers of
the population did not understand.
People's business interests
also affected their political allegiance. To obtain money the king
had sold monopoly rights to businessmen. This meant that only one
person had the right to distribute certain goods such as bricks, salt
and soap. Those men who had profited from these monopoly rights supported
the king, whereas those
who had been denied the opportunity of trading in these goods often
supported parliament.
People who lived and worked
in the more economically advanced areas in Wales tended to favour
parliament. This was especially true of towns such as Haverfordwest,
Pembroke and Tenby, which were involved in a great deal of trade with
the Puritan
dominated port of Bristol.
People living in the rural
areas of Wales, knew very little about the political disagreements
between the king and parliament. They were also unlikely to have had
any contact with Puritan preachers. These people were strongly under
the influence of the local clergy and gentry, who were in most cases
extremely hostile to Puritanism. As a result, people living in rural
areas tended to support the king.
The vast majority of people
in Wales did not hold strong views on the dispute between the king
and parliament and tried as hard as possible to stay out of the conflict.
It was only when they came under considerable pressure from their
landlord or from a visiting army regiment, that they usually agreed
to join one side or the other.
On 27th September, 1642,
Charles
I left his headquarters
at Shrewsbury and travelled
to Wrexham, the chief town of North Wales. Messages were sent out
to the people living in Flintshire and Denbighshire to assemble at
Wrexham so they could hear their king explain the reasons for the
conflict with parliament. The king was pleased with the reception
he received and his speech resulted in a large number of men agreeing
to fight for the royalist army.
When the king returned
to Shrewsbury he was soon joined by his nephew. Prince
Rupert, who had also been busy recruiting men from North Wales.
In the south of Wales, the Marquis of Hertford had also been successfully
persuading men to join the royalist cause. By the 3rd October, the
royalist army was strong enough to seize Cardiff Castle from South
Wales' chief parliamentary supporter, the Earl
of Pembroke.
Charles
I now had an
army of about 24,000 men. Whereas most of the footsoldiers were from
Wales, the officers were members of the English nobility. In the 17th
century upper-class men were trained at a young age to ride horses.
This gave Charles the advantage of having a good cavalry.
On 12 October, the king's
army marched on London. Eleven days later the royalist forces were
intercepted by the Earl of
Essex's troops at Edgehill. Prince Rupert
decided to try 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.
Rupert's charge was successful
and for the next hour his cavaliers pursued members of the parliamentary
cavalry who
had ran from the battlefield. The poorly armed royalist foot soldiers
relied on the cavalry for support. When Rupert returned he discovered
that his foot soldiers had suffered very heavy casualties. One eyewitness
claimed that nearly 1,000 Welsh royalist soldiers were killed at Edgehill.
This was followed by another
1,500 Welsh soldiers killed at Tewkesbury on 16th November and 2,000
at Hereford on 27th November. Royalist military commanders accused
the Welsh of fleeing from the battlefield. Some historians have justified
the soldiers actions by claiming that the Welsh were poorly armed
and were always placed at the front of the royalist forces where they
took the brunt of the charging parliamentary army.
The royalist army continued
its march on London and by November reached
the outskirts of the city. At Turnham Green, Charles found his way
blocked by a parliamentary army of about 24,000 men. Heavily outnumbered,
Charles decided to retreat to Oxford.
At the outbreak of the
Civil War Pembroke was the only town
in Wales that declared support for Parliament. When he heard the news
Charles gave orders for the town to be attacked. Richard Vaughan,
the Earl of Carbery, lieutenant-general of the king's army in south-west
Wales, decided to make sure that other towns in this region were secure
before dealing with Pembroke.
The Earl of Carbery did
not begin his assault on Pembroke until the beginning of 1644. However,
before he could capture the town, parliamentary reinforcements arrived
by sea from England. The Earl of Carbery now decided that he was not
strong enough to capture Pembroke, and withdrew his forces.
Rowland
Laugharne, the parliamentary commander of Pembroke, took this
opportunity to go on the offensive. His troops soon gained control
of Haverfordwest, Tenby and Carew Castle. His forces then marched
east and it was not long before Carmarthen and Cardiff were also captured
by the parliamentary army.
Charles
I was furious
when he heard what had happened and sacked the Earl of Carbery as
commander of his troops in southwest Wales. Carbery was replaced by
Colonel Charles
Gerard, an experienced
military commander from England. Gerard's royalist forces soon won
back the territory that had been lost and by the summer of 1644 Laugharne
and his soldiers had been forced to return to Pembroke.
The Parliamentary forces
also had short-term success in the north of the country. Thomas
Myddelton, M.P. for Denbighshire, and whose Chirk Castle
had been captured by royalist forces in January 1643, was put in charge
of the parliamentary military campaign in North Wales.
Major-General Myddelton's
main strategy was to cut off the king's military supplies that were
arriving in North Wales from the continent. After capturing Wrexham
in November 1643, his army headed for the ports of Wales' northern
coast. Conwy, Bangor and Caernarvon were well defended and after 2,500
royalist troops arrived from Ireland, Myddelton
was forced to withdraw.
Myddelton now turned his
attention to mid Wales. In the summer of 1644 he captured Welshpool
and Newtown and on 18th September the first major battle of the Civil
War in Wales took place at Montgomery. The royalists suffered a heavy
defeat and over 2,000 of their men were either killed, wounded or
captured.
Myddelton's troops headed
north and in October they were able to capture Powis Castle. However,
despite strenuous efforts, Myddelton was unable to win back control
of his own castle at Chirk. After failing to persuade Parliament to
supply him with any more troops, Myddelton once again had to
abandon his plan to try
to win control of Wales' northern ports.
In 1645, the king ordered
Colonel Charles
Gerard and 2,700
of his soldiers to go and help the royalist campaign in England. With
the royalist forces weakened in South Wales, Rowland
Laugharne decided to go on the offensive again. After defeating
the royalist army at Colby Moor, Laugharne was able to capture Carmarthen
and by the spring of 1646 the whole of western Wales was under the
control of the parliamentary army.
The royalist army suffered
a bad defeat at Naseby in June 1645. Amongst
those killed in the battle were over 100 Welsh women who had followed
their husbands into battle. Later, the parliamentary army justified
its action by claiming that as the women spoke a language they did
not understand, they assumed they were Irish Catholics.
After the Battle of Naseby
the king withdrew to Raglan Castle. Charles hoped that he would be
able to persuade more Welshmen to join his army. However, Gerard's
treatment of the Welsh after his victories in 1644 had turned them
against the royalist cause.
To protect themselves
against Gerard's royalist troops, men in Glamorgan had formed a 'Peaceable
Army'. Charles
I agreed to meet
representatives of this group at St Fagans on 29 July 1645, to discuss
their grievances.
As a result of this meeting,
Charles agreed to remove Colonel Charles
Gerard as commander
of the royalist forces in South Wales. Despite this action, Charles
still had difficulty recruiting local men into his army. On 14 September
the king left Raglan Castle and headed for North Wales. Soon after
the king left, the castle was captured by the parliamentary army.
Other royal castles at Ruthin, Chirk, Caernarvon, Beaumaris, Rhuddlan,
Flint and Harlech fell one by one to the parliamentarian forces. For
a while, Charles stayed at Denbigh Castle but after Jacob
Astley and his royalist army surrendered on 21 March 1646, Charles
fled to Scotland.
After its successful victory
over the royalist forces in 1647, Parliament began to make plans to
disband its army. This created a great deal of concern as many of
the soldiers had not been paid for several months. Others were worried
about the increase in taxes imposed by the parliamentary government.
On 24th December, Parliament
declared that all soldiers who had enlisted after 6th August, 1647
were to be dismissed without pay. Those that had joined at an earlier
stage of the war were to receive only two months wages.
John
Poyer, the military governor of Pembroke, was furious when he
heard the news and began making speeches to his soldiers attacking
Parliament's decision to disband the army. When Parliament discovered
that Poyer was making hostile speeches they sent Colonel Fleming to
replace him as governor of Pembroke Castle.
Poyer refused to give
up the castle and instead sent a letter to Parliament demanding the
payment of £1,000 in wage arrears for his men. Colonel Fleming
offered £200, but this was rejected. Other soldiers based in
South Wales, who had heard about Poyer's actions, began to head for
Pembroke to give him their assistance. John Poyer's supporters included
the two most senior army officers in South Wales, Major-General Rowland
Laugharne and Colonel Rice Powell.
Parliament now realised
that they had a major rebellion on their hands. The situation became
even worse when news arrived that Charles
I had made an
agreement with the Scots. In return for the support of a Scottish
army, Charles agreed to accept the establishment of the Presbyterian
religion in England.
On 10 April 1648, Colonel
Poyer declared that he now supported the king. Encouraged by Poyer's
declaration for the king, ex-royalist soldiers began joining Poyer
in Pembroke.
When Parliament heard about
Poyer's actions in Pembroke they sent Colonel Thomas
Horton with 3,000 troops to deal with the rebellion. Rowland
Laugharne and nearly 8,000 rebels left Pembroke and engaged Horton's
parliamentary army at St. Fagans
in Glamorgan. Although outnumbered, Horton's experienced and well-disciplined
army was able to defeat Laugharne's poorly armed soldiers. Over 200
of Laugharne's men were killed and another 3,000 were taken prisoner.
Laugharne and what was left of his army, managed to escape back to
Pembroke.
The rebellion now spread
to other parts of Wales. Richard Bulkeley and the people of Anglesey
declared their support for the king and Sir John Owen attempted to
take Denbigh Castle from the parliamentary army. In the south of the
country Rice Powell took control of Tenby and Sir Nicholas Kemeys
and other local royalists captured Chepstow Castle.
Realising that the rebellion
had to be put down quickly, Parliament decided to send Oliver
Cromwell and five regiments to Wales. Cromwell's troops won back
Chepstow Castle on 25th May and six days later Rice Powell was forced
to surrender Tenby.
Cromwell now marched on
to Pembroke to deal with John Poyer and
Rowland Laugharne. The castle, built
on a great mass of limestone rock and nearly totally surrounded by
the Pembroke River, was considered one of the strongest fortresses
in Britain.
Oliver
Cromwell did not have canons large enough to break through walls
that were in some places 20 foot thick. Nor did he have besiegers'
ladders that could deal with the 80 foot high walls. Attempts at storming
the castle failed and so Cromwell was forced to wait and starve the
rebels into submission.
Cromwell wrote back to
Parliament forecasting that Poyer and his men would be forced to surrender
in about two weeks. However, he was initially unaware that the castle
had its own excellent water supply. Eventually, a local man betrayed
the secret to Cromwell and the besieging army was able to cut the
exposed water pipe on the outskirts of the town.
After a siege of eight
weeks and completely without food and water, the rebel soldiers in
the castle were forced to surrender. Cromwell dealt leniently with
the ex-royalist soldiers. His main anger was directed towards those
who had previously been members of the parliamentary army.
John
Poyer, Rowland Laugharne and Rice
Powell were tried by court-martial in London and after being found
guilty were all sentenced to death. Thomas
Fairfax, the
leader of the armed forces, decided that only one should die. The
three men refused to take part in the lottery to decide who would
be executed. The military authorities chose a young child to draw
the lots. The papers drawn for Laugharne and Powell read: "Life
Given by God". Poyer's paper was blank and he was shot in front
of a large crowd at Covent Garden on 21 April, 1649.
(1)
In June 1642 the Countess of Denbigh wrote to her son Basil Feilding.
Her husband, the Earl
of Denbigh, was a royalist officer
in the war.
I do suffer
more pain for the ways you take... than ever I did to bring you into
the world... I hope you will never take up arms against the king for
that would be too heavy a burden for me to bear.
(2)
Walter
Cradock, speech in Parliament (July, 1646)
Is it not a sad case that
in Wales... there should not be above thirteen conscientious ministers
who in these times expressed themselves... faithful to Parliament.
(3)
Henry Palmer, speech in
Parliament (August, 1646)
Wales... is a howling wilderness...
there has hardly been a sermon preached among them... since the reformation...
Churches will be your strongest castles, if you furnish them well
with ministers.
(4)
J.
Corbet, The Military Government of Gloucester (1645)
The common people addicted
to the King's service have come out of blind Wales and other dark
corners of the land... These miserable Welshmen... took up arms partly
allured with the hope of plunder.
(5)
Report
sent to the House of Commons (5 April,
1644)
We hear that... 6,000 Irish
rebels have landed in Wales... they are exercising horrid and savage
cruelties... Unless some speedy help... is sent to Sir Thomas Myddelton...
the whole country will be destroyed by these bloody Irish.
(6)
Thomas
Myddelton, letter to the House
of Commons (March,
1645)
The great
amount of plundering of the country makes
most people hate the very name of a soldier. A great number of people
in Radnorshire and Montgomeryshire,
who call themselves
neutrals, have armed
themselves to withstand
plundering... The
common people would be
gained to our side, if there
were some severe declaration
by Parliament against
plundering, and against
all commanders who
neglect to punish those
responsible.
(7)
Sir William Brereton, parliamentary officer, letter to Captain Hugh
Cullham (7th April 1645)
Your soldiers have plundered Sir John Trevor's house, Plas
Teg... without any warrant or authority... We therefore require you
to bring before me all such persons under your command as did plunder
or take away any of the goods.
(8)
Decision of a Council of War in Wales (12th April, 1645)
Richard Jones went about a mile out of the camp and took
two sheets from a poor woman, whom he wounded... It was resolved that,
according to the Laws and Orders of War, Richard Jones shall die.
He was executed on 12th April.
(9)
William Brereton, parliamentary commander
in North Wales, letter to Jane Done (13 March, 1645)
Wales is in so impoverished condition that there is no subsistence
for the enemy nor us. Many of their men are dead by eating unwholesome
food... Many of our men are dead, others have run away and those that
remain have little food.
(10)
Harry Brych, letter to T. Ormonde (December, 1645)
Thomas Myddelton's men are as contemptible an enemy as ever
we had in Ireland... At Hawarden parish church his men tore up prayer
books, removed the communion rails and dragged the altar into the
centre of the nave.
(11)
Lord John Belasyse was a member of the royalist army that fought at
Naseby
in June,
1645.
All the footsoldiers became
prisoners. The horse soldiers knew how to save themselves, though
not their honour, by a hasty and shameful flight to Leicester... The
king marched to... Raglan Castle to recruit himself a new foot army
in South Wales.
(12)
Richard Symonds, royalist officer, diary entry (30th July, 1645)
In the county of Glamorgan
some propositions were tendered to his Majesty, which if he would
grant, they would continue to defend his Majesty and their country...
The meeting was at Kevenoh,
four miles from Cardiff. The King agreed to their propositions...
They called themselves the Peaceable Army.
(13)
Mercurius Civicus, newspaper (28th August 1645)
The King met 600 men in
Glamorgan... They demanded that the Papists be removed from the country...
and a governor and garrison of their own put in... the removal of
the £7,000 demand from Colonel Gerard... The King left Cardiff
that night... Gerard was put out of command in Wales, it being the
country's demand.
(14)
Earl
of Clarendon, The Civil
Wars in England (1667)
On 25th September, 1645... the King came to Denbigh Castle
in north Wales... he stayed three days to refresh himself and his
broken troops... He had four hundred horse soldiers; but where to
go with them was the difficult question. Some proposed the isle of
Anglesey as a place of safety, and an island fruitful enough to support
his forces... and from where he might be easily transported into Ireland
or Scotland.
(15)
Declaration by Colonel John
Poyer and Colonel Rice Powell (10th
April 1648)
A few men... have already
gotten too much power into their hands, and want to disband us...
So they can enslave the people... and establish taxes. We promise
to protect the people from injury and maintain the Protestant religion...
as established by the law in this land. We therefore crave the assistance
of the whole kingdom.
(16)
Major General Rowland
Laugharne, letter to the Parliamentary
Commissioners (4 May, 1648)
As commander of these counties... I cannot ignore the affronts
put upon my men... Instead of receiving their pay allowed them by
Parliament... they have been disbanded... This happened in my absence,
and to my knowledge, still unrighted... I believe that my past service
for your country... merited much better treatment.
(17)
Colonel Thomas
Horton, letter to Thomas
Fairfax
describing his victory over. Major-General Rowland
Laugharne at the Battle of St Fagans
(8 May, 1648)
On Monday morning... the
enemy advanced towards us... we took the best ground... About sixty
men on horses charged once, but we beat them back, and after that
none of the men on horses appeared again... The enemy tell us they
were 8,000. We had a sharp dispute with them for about two hours.
Our men on horses charged the enemy, who were wholly routed... Many
of the enemy were slain... We have taken 3,000 prisoners... we have
not lost many soldiers and not one of our officers.
(18)
Oliver
Cromwell, letter sent to the Committee of Carmarthen (9 June 1648)
I desire that we have your
assistance in procuring some necessaries to be cast in the iron-furnace
in your county of Carmarthen, which will enable us to reduce the castle
of Pembroke. The principal things we need are mortar shells, the depth
of them being fourteen and three-quarter inches... We also desire
some cannon-shot... This service being done, these poor wasted lands
may be freed from the burden of the army.
(19)
Oliver
Cromwell,
report to Parliament (14 June, 1648)
We have not got our guns
and ammunition yet. We only have two little guns... we made an attempt
to storm the castle but the ladders were too short... so the men could
not get over. We lost a few men but I am confident the enemy lost
more... we hope to take away his water supply in two days.
(20)
Hugh
Peters
was Cromwell's chaplain during the siege of
Pembroke Castle (23 July, 1648)
Pembroke Castle was the
strongest place that we ever saw... We have had many difficulties
in Wales... We have a desperate enemy, and few friends, but a mighty
God.
(21)
Oliver
Cromwell,
letter sent to John
Poyer and
Rowland
Laugharne (11th
July, 1648)
I must tell you that if
this offer is refused... misery and ruin will befall the people with
you, I know where to charge the blood you spill. I expect the answer
within two hours. If this offer be refused, send no more letters to
me on this subject.
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