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EAST ANGLIA 
 
 AND THE 
 
 GREAT CIVIL WAR 
 
 THE RISING OF CROMWELL'S IRONSIDES IN THE ASSOCIATED 
 
 COUNTIES OF CAMBRIDGE, HUNTINGDON, LINCOLN, NORFOLK, 
 
 SUFFOLK, ESSEX, AND HERTFORD. 
 
 raitfi ^ppcntiices antJ Kllugtrations. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALFRED KINGSTON, F.R.HiST.S, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 Hertfordshire during the Great Civil IVar," ^^ Fragments of Two Centuries^'' ^c. 
 
 LONDON: 
 ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. 
 
 1897. 
 

 HERTFORD 
 PRINTED BY STEPHEN AUSTIN AND SONS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 IN the following pages I have endeavoured to show, 
 not so much what was the part of each individual 
 member of the Eastern Counties Association in 
 the Civil War, as what was their general contribution to 
 the War, and what were the temper and the experience 
 of the people of these Eastern Counties. To have told 
 the story of each of the seven counties separately would 
 have required as many volumes, and, besides, would have 
 been inconsistent with the unity of this famous area of East 
 Anglia, which, stirred by one common impulse, and 
 having sufficient in common in situation and surroundings, 
 assumed a distinctive character of its own, such as no 
 individual county and no other part of the country could 
 show. Nor will the reader find any attempt to compile 
 a history of families and places concerned in the Civil 
 War within the Eastern Counties. Frequent references of 
 this character there will be, but my aim has been rather to 
 present, in as interesting a form as a regard for historical 
 accuracy of detail will allow, the main features of the 
 remarkable story of that East Anglian unity which gave 
 so sturdy an account of itself in the great Puritan Revolution 
 under Cromwell. If, as I believe to be the case, something 
 of that unity still survives in the feeling which prompts 
 
 M87829 
 
iv Preface, 
 
 old East Anglians, wherever they may be, to cherish, like 
 • brither Scots,' the traditions of their . clan, then perhaps 
 this chapter in their past history, which is here placed 
 on record for the first time, may have an interest 
 both for present inhabitants of, and for those who may be 
 otherwise connected with, these counties which played so 
 famous a part in a great crisis of our history. Whether 
 there may be the like interest in the book for those not 
 so connected with these Associated Counties, will depend 
 upon the degree of success which has attended the author's 
 efforts. Nothing short of failure on his part in telling 
 the story can limit its interest to the counties which gave 
 it birth, for Oliver Cromwell and his Ironsides and East 
 Anglia with its Puritan protest are vital and inseparable 
 parts of the history of England. 
 
 The materials for this book are derived almost exclusively 
 from contemporary sources. Among the chief authorities 
 consulted have been the State Papers in the Public 
 Record Office ; various manuscript collections and the famous 
 collection of King's Pamphlets, and Civil War Tracts, in the 
 British Museum Library ; manuscript and other collections in 
 the University Library, Cambridge, the Bodleian, Oxford, and 
 other Libraries ; the Historical MSS. Commission Reports, 
 the Journals of Pariiament, and numerous contemporary 
 authorities referred to in the text. 
 
 For courteous assistance and facilities for research amongst 
 College papers, and for valuable suggestions, my thanks 
 are especially due to members of the University and the 
 principal Colleges of Cambridge— to Mr. W. Aldis Wright 
 (Vice-Master) and the Rev. Dr. Sinker (Librarian), of Trinity ; 
 to Mr. J. Bass Mullinger (Librarian), Mr. Scott (Bursar), and 
 to the Library Committee of St. John's; to Mr. Oscar 
 Browning and Mr. W. H. Macaulay (Bursar), of King's ; 
 to Dr. Courtney Kenny, of Downing; and to Mr. Jenkinson 
 
Preface. v 
 
 and staff at the University Library. To Mr. W. M. Palmer 
 I am especially indebted for much valuable assistance in 
 connection with Puritanism in Cambridgeshire, as well as 
 for the list of ejected Royalist clergy in that county, the 
 result of much labour and research, which appears as 
 Appendix IV. My thanks are also due to Mr. Hamon le 
 Strange, of Hunstanton Hall, Norfolk ; to Mr. Alexander 
 Peckover, Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire; to the Rev. 
 Canon Raven, of Fressingfield, Suffolk ; to the Rev. C. H. 
 Evelyn White, Editor of East Angliatt Notes ajid Queries ; the 
 Rev. W. D. Sweeting, Editor of Fenland Notes and Queries ; to 
 the Ven. Archdeacon Vesey, of Huntingdon ; the Rev. W. M. 
 Noble, Rector of Wistow, Hunts ; to Mr. W. B. Redfern, 
 Mr. Robert Bowes, and Mr. T. D. Atkinson, of Cambridge ; 
 to Mr. Joseph Phillips, of Stamford ; Dr. Perry, President of 
 the Spalding Gentlemen's Society; Mr. C. P. Tebbutt, of 
 Bluntisham, St. Ives ; and other correspondents whose kind 
 interest is none the less valued though not individually 
 mentioned. While I am conscious that so much good-will 
 deserved a better return than that which is here presented, 
 I venture to hope that the result, such as it is, may not 
 be altogether without interest for the general reader, or some 
 small claim upon the indulgence of those who best know 
 the nature of my task. 
 
 ALFRED KINGSTON. 
 RoYSTON, Herts. 
 
 September^ iSgy. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER. PAGE 
 
 I. — INTRODUCTION — CROMWELL AND HIS NEIGHBOURS AT HUNT- 
 INGDON, ST. IVES, AND ELY I 
 
 II.— SHIP-MONEY RIOTS— STRANGE SCENES IN THE CHURCHES- 
 PETITIONS AND PROTESTATIONS 1 8 
 
 III.— THE KING DEPARTING FROM HIS PARLIAMENT — RIVAL 
 
 PROCLAMATIONS 33 
 
 IV.— CROMWELL AND THE COLLEGE PLATE — RAISING THE KING'S 
 STANDARD— TUMULTS IN EAST ANGLIA — THE BATTLE OF 
 EDGEHILL 55 
 
 V. — A GREAT HISTORIC UNITY — THE EAST ANGLIAN COMPACT- 
 CROMWELL AND THE ROYALISTS — THE FORTIFICATION OF 
 CAMBRIDGE 76 
 
 VI. — THE FIRST SIEGE OF CROWLAND — THE BATTLE OF THE 
 
 PARSONS— CROMWELL AND THE PENMEN . . . lOI 
 
 VIL— A PURITAN COMMANDER — HOW THE ESSEX MEN CAME IN — 
 
 THE SIEGE OF KING'S LYNN I23 
 
 VIII.— THROUGH LINCOLNSHIRE TO MARSTON MOOR . . . 140 
 
 IX. — QUARREL OF MANCHESTER AND CROMWELL— CROWLAND 
 
 AND NEWPORT— SIR HUDIBRAS AND SIR ROGER . . 166 
 
 X. — CROMWELL AND THE NEW MODEL ARMY— RECRUITING FOR 
 
 NASEBY— THE HOUR AND THE MAN . . . . 188 
 
 XI. — THE LAST RALLY OF THE KING— THE FIGHT AT HUNTING- 
 DON—THE KING'S FLIGHT THROUGH THE FENS IN 
 DISGUISE 210 
 
 XII.— THE ARMY, THE PARLIAMENT, AND THE KING . . .233 
 
 XIII. — THE SECOND CIVIL WAR — RISINGS ALL OVER EAST 
 ANGLIA— FIGHTING AT NORWICH, BURY ST. EDMUNDS, 
 STAMFORD, CAMBRIDGE, LINTON, AND ST. NEOTS— THE 
 SIEGE OF COLCHESTER— THE EXECUTION OF THE KING 252 
 
viii Contents, 
 
 CHAPTER. ' PAGE 
 
 XIV.— TAXING THE ROYALISTS — THE FORTUNES OF COM- 
 POUNDERS—SEQUESTRATORS AND THEIR WAYS . . 290 
 
 XV.— A RELIGIOUS REVOLT— THE PURITANS AND THE CLERGY — 
 
 UNHAPPY RURAL ENGLAND 3 12 
 
 XVI. — CROMVVELLIANA AND BIOGRAPHY — EVOLUTION OF THE 
 
 IRONSIDES— CONCLUSION 333 
 
 APPENDICES. 
 
 I. — SOCIAL AND PUBLIC LIFE DURING THE CIVIL WAR 
 IL— PAYING AND FEEDING THE ARMY .... 
 III. — THE EASTERN ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES 
 IV. — DEPRIVED ROYALIST CLERGY IN CAMBRIDGESHIRE 
 v.— THE " FIRST CENTURY OF MALIGNANT PRIESTS " . 
 
 363 
 
 373 
 
 382 
 390 
 396 
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 I. — CROMWELL'S HOUSE AT ELY 12 
 
 IL — PART OF THE KING'S PALACE AT ROYSTON .... 35 
 
 III. — CROMWELL ARRESTING THE SHERIFF AT ST. ALBANS . . 86 
 
 IV.— RUINS OF CROWLAND ABBEY I08 
 
 V. — FACSIMILE TITLE-PAGE OF THE " SOULDIERS POCKET BIBLE " 12/ 
 
 VI. — PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER 280 
 
 VII. — "NORBOROUGH house, the seat of THE CLAYPOOLES" . 337 
 
 VIII. — BRIDGET (IRETON) FLEETWOOD ...... 338 
 
EAST ANGLIA AND THE GREAT 
 CIVIL WAR. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION— CROMWELL AND HIS NEIGHBOURS 
 AT HUNTINGDON, ST. IVES, AND ELY. 
 
 BEHIND the pageant of history, in which fame has 
 too often been restricted to placing its seal upon 
 great issues which have ended in signal triumph or 
 defeat, there have been fruitful causes and arduous pioneer 
 work which have not always had their due. Marston Moor, 
 Naseby, Dunbar, and Worcester, historic names which have 
 cast a glamour over the turmoil of the Puritan revolution, 
 are often but the convenient labels which get tacked on to 
 the name of Oliver Cromwell as a means of remembering 
 his place in history, with too little regard for the toilsome 
 and thorny pathway, and the intensely human trials and 
 difficulties, which the hero of the Commonwealth had to 
 travel and to face before he reached those giddy heights' 
 which have caught the light of history. There remains, 
 therefore, the opportunity of exploring the humbler but not 
 less interesting field in which arose some of the peculiar 
 difficulties and the remarkable successes of his work, and of 
 tracing those fruitful streams which fed the irresistible torrent 
 of Cromwell's genius. 
 
East Anglia and the 
 
 In the Great Civil War between Charles I and his Parlia- 
 ment the Eastern Counties of England earned the distinction 
 of presenting the one great historic unity, which enabled 
 these "eourfties fco'l^Qld ;th«ir own, and, whether for good or 
 ill, to practically 'determine, the fate of the rest of the kingdom 
 in tiie'st^-lig^lp.; 'Her^ the essential elements of the Puritan 
 revolution — the revolt against abuse of human authority 
 in religion and of Royal prerogative in the State — came 
 into sharpest conflict. In these counties arose the one man 
 whose acts were destined to colour all our subsequent history ; 
 and here arose, too, the ever-victorious Ironsides, who with 
 the * Soldier's Pocket Bible ' in their knapsacks, went forth 
 with sturdy purpose and resistless valour, to roll back the 
 tide of war from their own borders, and to carry the 
 Parliamentary cause to victory at Marston Moor and Naseby. 
 It would, therefore, be no undue straining of comparisons 
 to assign an almost unique position in the Civil War to 
 the counties and people of East Anglia — to that famous 
 Eastern Counties' Association which, with its headquarters at 
 Cambridge, became, under the controlling power of the one man 
 Oliver Cromwell, the great Parliamentary recruiting-ground 
 ground whose forces were destined to turn the scale in favour 
 of the popular cause at more than one critical point in the War. 
 
 The issue between King and Parliament, as it presented 
 itself in the first instance to the men of the Fens, was one 
 upon which there was little room for mere chauvinism. These 
 men of the Fenlands, while they were loyal to the principle 
 of kingship, w^ere prepared to judge the King, or rather 
 his ministers, by principles of government ; and, as those 
 principles were thought to be subversive of the true Protestant 
 religion, in which and in the God of Heaven they did verily 
 believe, it is not surprising to find that the bulk of the 
 people in these Eastern Counties were emphatically against 
 the King and the Bishops. 
 
 In East Anglia there were two dominant factors which 
 seem to suggest a possible explanation for the prominence 
 which the Eastern Counties assumed as the great recruiting- 
 ground for Parliament, and the sturdy yeomen's service which 
 its inhabitants gave to the cause for which Parliament took 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 up arms. One of these factors was the comparatively limited 
 number, within part of that region, of courtly or titled families 
 likely to have attachments to the King's person and his 
 Court ; the other and more potent factor was the sharp 
 contrast which the dominant Puritan faith of this region 
 presented to the ecclesiastical tendency of the times in 
 high places. Yet in no case in those momentous months 
 for the counties of England, can it be said that the people, 
 even with such a pronounced Puritanism as that which 
 prevailed in East Anglia, ever thought of directing their 
 protestations against the King as the personal head of the 
 nation, but simply against the principles which those in high 
 places were urging the King to adopt. This is a distinction 
 which it is always necessary to bear clearly in mind in order 
 to understand how it was that the voice of the people was so 
 overwhelmingly against the King when the quarrel began, and 
 yet that some of these same people were found fighting for the 
 King when the quarrel had reached the stage of actual war. 
 
 But with this kind of secession from the logical effect of 
 their protestations, of which the county of Hertford and other 
 counties with numerous courtly families presented some 
 notable examples, the Fenmen, and for the most part Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, and Essex, were but little troubled after the first 
 tug was over. With the exception of the part of the Fens 
 bordering upon the sphere of the Earl of Newcastle's Army, 
 these counties also felt less of the misery of civil war than 
 fell upon the horries of the inhabitants in many quarters 
 elsewhere. If, as I believe to be the case, this peculiar 
 experience was due less to their geographical position than 
 to the sturdy united purpose with which they kept their own 
 borders clear of the immediate horrors of war, and contributed 
 in a memorable degree to its prosecution, in other fields, then 
 some record, however imperfect, of their share in an eventful 
 time should not be without interest. Here, if anywhere, was 
 to be found in a pre-eminent degree that ' depository of the 
 sacred fire of liberty' which history has justly credited to' 
 the old Puritan stock, and it would have been strange indeed 
 if in the great struggle between King and Parliament this 
 region had not played a conspicuous part. 
 
East Aug Ha and the 
 
 With the old pamphleteers, and with some even of the 
 more dignified historians of the time whose example has 
 not been entirely lost upon modern writers, it was the fashion 
 to paint the chief men among the Puritans and the Ironsides 
 as men of mean origin, of little education, and a disregard 
 for all the gentler courtesies of life — a set of men united only 
 by one fanatical purpose of usurping all authority in religion 
 and morals. There may have been such men attracted to 
 the Parliamentary cause, as events unfolded ; but it is not 
 necessary to follow these men and approve of everything 
 that was done in the name of Parliament when, at a later 
 period of the struggle, the Army became the dominant factor 
 in the nation, to recognize that in that sturdy ' No ! ' which 
 came thundering up from the counties of England, and from 
 nowhere more sturdily than from the Eastern Counties, 
 against the abuse of Royal prerogative when the struggle 
 began, the men by whom the cause of Parliament was being 
 first set in motion, were, for the most part, men who stood 
 for all that was best in the character of the nation. Then, 
 if not later, the Parliamentary cause was the popular cause — 
 The people's prayer, the glad diviner's theme, 
 The young men's vision and the old men's dream. 
 
 The leaders of the hard-handed men of the Fens will very 
 well bear looking at for a moment as we find them in their 
 daily duties when the times were calling them to exchange the 
 homely occupation of husbandry for the sterner business of war. 
 Of chivalry such as was shown to the King in a losing 
 cause, and devotion to old institutions without regard to 
 their uses, it may be we shall find little among these sturdy 
 Puritan folk of East Anglia ; but of the true chivalry of 
 a band of men united for the assertion of great principles, 
 we shall see a fine spirit of comradeship, in striking contrast 
 with that morose and hypocritical view of life which historical 
 caricature has too often fixed, rather indiscriminately, upon 
 the Puritans. Indeed, one of the most interesting and 
 -remarkable things about the attitude of these Eastern 
 Counties, out of which was to arise a sort of Pride's Purge 
 of the Royal mismanagement of the nation's affairs, was 
 the way in which a number of comparatively young men 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 of character and position, united by ties of family life or 
 neighbourhood, and animated by firm religious conviction, 
 banded themselves together to resist the abuses which had 
 spoilt for them the meaning of Church and State ; or, failing 
 this, to make their home in a freer country beyond the seas, 
 as so many earnest men had already done. A few of these 
 individuals stand out with sufficient clearness, during the 
 years before the War began, to be worthy of notice, and by 
 public acts as well as position, Oliver Cromwell was already at 
 the head of the group. For the purpose of fixing his local 
 connection with persons and places in Huntingdonshire and 
 Cambridgeshire, rather than as a matter of general history, 
 it is necessary to state very briefly what that position was. 
 
 When Sir Henry Cromwell, of Hinchinbrook, whose splendid 
 and sumptuous style of living had earned for him the name 
 of the ' Golden Knight,' passed away in 1603, his son Oliver 
 (not the Oliver, but his uncle) entertained King James at 
 Hinchinbrook on the occasion of that magnificent royal 
 progress of the King from Scotland to the English throne. 
 This Oliver Cromwell, the King's host, was then knighted ; 
 but in 1627 there was a change at Hinchinbrook, which 
 Sir Oliver sold to the Montagues (in later times the Earls 
 of Sandwich), and Hinchinbrook passed out of the Cromwell 
 family. While the above was being enacted a much more 
 interesting event was happening in the same family in a 
 quieter way. Robert Cromwell, brother of this Sir Oliver, 
 had married Elizabeth, the young widow of William Lynne, 
 of Bassingbourn, Cambs. Elizabeth Lynne had lost her 
 husband and one child within a year of her marriage. ^ Her 
 maiden name was Steward, and she was a daughter of William 
 Steward, farmer of the tithes at Ely. About the year 1591 
 Robert Cromwell and his wife settled down in the town of 
 Huntingdon to farm his portion of the family estate left to 
 
 ^ William Lynne and their infant child, apparently by the wish of Mrs. Lynne, 
 were buried in Ely Cathedral. This William Lynne came of a family of note, as 
 the monumental brasses formerly in Bassinglxjurn Church testified — " Pray for 
 the soule of Richard Lynne, Esq., and Alice his wife, wch Richard was vice 
 chamberlayne to the excellent Princess Margaret (mother to the redoubted King 
 Henry the Seventh), Countess of Richmond and Derby. Wch Richard deceased 
 3 Jan. 1509, 8 sonnes and 3 daughters." — Cole MSS. Brit. Mus. 
 
East Anglia and the 
 
 him, and in a substantial house, between the market-place 
 and the river Ouse. Whether Robert Cromwell brewed beer 
 from the brook, or only made malt from the produce of his 
 lands, is of little consequence ; brewing of beer was not in 
 those days so much of a trade as it is now. But in this 
 house Oliver Cromwell was born on April 25, 1599, the 
 fifth child of a family of ten. 
 
 The idea sometimes expressed attributing a mean origin 
 to Oliver Cromwell loses its force when it is remembered 
 that at this time nearly half the gentry of Huntingdonshire 
 bore the name of Cromwell. Young Oliver, therefore, had 
 a large number of influential relations in the county — Uncle 
 Sir Oliver, of Ramsey ; Uncle Henry, of Upwood, near 
 Ramsey mere; Uncle Sir Richard, who had been member 
 for Huntingdon in Queen Elizabeth's reign ; and Uncle Sir 
 Philip, of Biggin House ; to say nothing of multiplied relation- 
 ships of the degree of cousins, in which degree through his 
 aunt Elizabeth he became related to Cousin Hampden of 
 Ship-money fame. 
 
 Educated at the Huntingdon Grammar School under 
 Dr. Beard, young Oliver came over to Cambridge in 161 6 
 and entered at Sidney Sussex College. Here he remained 
 only for a year, and then went up to London for a time, it 
 is supposed to study law, returning, after his marriage to 
 a daughter of Sir James Bourchier, an Essex magistrate, to 
 live at Huntingdon the life of an ordinary country gentleman. 
 In 1628 he was returned as a Member of Parliament for 
 Huntingdon, and sat there amidst the stormy scenes when 
 Speaker Finch was held down in the chair while the Remon- 
 strance was being passed ; and, when Parliament was dissolved, 
 to be summoned no more for eleven years, he returned to 
 Huntingdon, but lived there for only a short time. 
 
 In May, 1631, Oliver Cromwell sold the estates at 
 Huntingdon and at Hartford close by, and left his old 
 home and the place of his birth,^ which he had represented in 
 
 «' At Huntingdon the site of the house in the High Street in which Cromwell 
 was born, is still identified by the house which stands upon it—" Cromwell House" 
 —the residence until recent years of Captain Bernard, and now of Mrs. Bernard, 
 his widow. 
 
Great Civil War, 
 
 Parliament. Why he left the county town, in which the gentry 
 of those times liked to have their town-house, as wealthy men 
 do in London to-day, and selected the neighbouring town 
 of St. Ives, and what he did there, have been left in a great 
 deal of obscurity. Yet the solution is probably not far to seek. 
 
 At this time Cromwell had come under the influence of 
 profound religious conviction, and nothing could be more 
 natural than that he should turn to kindred spirits in seeking 
 advice in his worldly affairs. At St. Ives the Slepe Hall 
 estate had come by inheritance to Henry Lawrence, eldest 
 son of Sir John Lawrence of St. Ives, who had taken his 
 M. A. degree at the Puritan College of Emmanuel in Cambridge, 
 and had recently married Amy, daughter of Sir Edward 
 Peyton, of Isleham, Cambs, a 'Puritan like her father and 
 a woman remarkable for her piety. To this friend and 
 relative Cromwell seems to have turned, and the two sturdy 
 Puritans, Cromwell being then thirty-two years of age and 
 Lawrence thirty, who were destined to come together again so 
 strangely in exalted stations, of which neither of them could 
 have dreamed, took up the relationship of landlord and tenant 
 by Cromwell's hiring part of the Slepe Hall estate.^ 
 
 To these lands Cromwell, with his wife and five young 
 children, came, and stocked them with the ;^,i,8oo realized 
 from the sale of the Huntingdon estates. Here, in the 
 character of grazing-land farmer, on the flat, moist meadows 
 saturated by the Ouse and its overflowings, Cromwell made 
 his home for five years — 1631-1636. Here in the ancient 
 cattle market of St. Ives, on the cobble-stone paving now 
 called the Broadway, Oliver Cromwell mingled with the 
 yeomen of the Fens and bought and sold cattle. In the 
 old sheep market in the High Street, his ewes, tups, and 
 wethers were known by the letters " O. C." marked in reddle 
 on their backs ; letters which were so soon to convey a very 
 different meaning to other folk than farmers and yeomen. 
 Every Sunday, down the old Market Place from Slepe Hall 
 one sees, through the medium of other eyes — Noble's, the old 
 parish clerk's, and certain 'vague old persons' who remembered 
 
 ' See Gentleman^ s Magazine for July, 1815, in which appears a lucid account 
 of the Lawrences and their relation to St. Ives and to CromwelL 
 
8 East Anglia and the 
 
 him — Oliver Cromwell, * wearing a piece of red flannel round 
 his throat owing to inflammation from which he suffered,' 
 passing along to the Parish Church, a fine building on the 
 banks of the Ouse, still pretty much as Cromwell saw and 
 worshipped in it, excepting the fine modern spire. Under 
 the very wall of the churchyard, with tombstones built into 
 it, flow the dark waters of the Ouse. Here Oliver Cromwell 
 passed moodily along with his neighbours as the bell * tolled 
 in' for service, and looked out across the great stretch of 
 waters at flood-time. ^ Here, ' with thoughts bounded by the 
 Ouse river and thoughts that go beyond eternity,* Cromwell 
 listened to Mr. Downhall, the minister, who was ejected when 
 the troubles came over the land. In the daily affairs of his 
 neighbours Cromwell took an active interest, and attended 
 parish meetings, even for so small a business as the appoint- 
 ment of road surveyors, as the St.* Ives parish books still testify. 
 
 In January, 1636, his uncle. Sir Thomas Steward, died at 
 Ely and left Cromwell his estates there ; the Slepe Hall lands 
 were given up, and Oliver left St. Ives and went to live at 
 Ely, though not without leaving behind him evidence of his 
 attachment to Puritan institutions, in the letter addressed 
 from St. Ives 'to my very loving friend, Mr. Storie, at the 
 sign of the Dog, Royal Exchange, London,' and appealing 
 for his continued support of the Weekly Lecture at St. Ives 
 or Huntingdon. 
 
 The letter to Mr. Storie, the entries of Cromwell's name 
 in the parish book, one of which has been cut out, and that 
 dim little vision of a piece of red flannel round his neck as 
 he walked to church on Sundays, are all that remain of local 
 colour respecting Cromwell's life at St. Ives ; though when 
 Noble wrote his book on the House of Cromwell^ he spoke 
 of "a great number of swords which have the initials of 
 Oliver upon them" being dispersed in the town, and that 
 "the farmer who now rents the estate he occupied, marks 
 his sheep with the identical marking-irons which Oliver 
 
 * Here at a later date another great man looked over the wall into the dark 
 waters and gave us this little word-picture : "The Ouse flows here, fringed with 
 gross, reedy herbage and bushes, and is of the blackness of Acheron, streaked 
 with foul metallic glitterings and plays of colour."— Carlyle, "Letters and 
 Speeches of Cromwell," i, 67. 
 
Great Civil War, 
 
 used, and which have * O. C* upon them." The lands which 
 Cromwell farmed, seem to be identified with reasonable 
 certainty as lying somewhere between the present new 
 Cattle Market, the Railway Station, and the River Ouse ; 
 lands to which the old Slepe Hall would have a not 
 unpleasant outlook. The house in which Cromwell lived 
 had, in Noble's time, disappeared ; and Mr. Atkins, an 
 attorney, had built *a handsome one' upon the site. It 
 was this house of Mr. Atkins, the attorney, which Carlyle 
 saw in use as a boarding-school ; and this has now dis- 
 appeared, and a new ' Slepe Hall ' has been set up for the 
 school, at some distance from the town, to further confuse 
 the future historian perchance. The site of the Slepe 
 Hall of Cromwell's time is now marked by modern houses 
 standing behind the new Cattle Market, known as " Cromwell 
 Terrace " and " Cromwell Place." 
 
 The only structural relic remaining in St. Ives directly 
 associated with the name of Cromwell, is the rather notable 
 ruin of what is known as Cromwell's Barn ; standing on 
 the right of the road leading from the High Street towards 
 the river. One end, a side, and part of the other end of 
 the massive walls of this once spacious * barn ' now form 
 boundaries of a garden to a modern house.' Noble says 
 Cromwell ' built ' this barn, but under what ancient Agri- 
 cultural Holdings Act any sane man with only ^i,8oo to 
 stock his farm with, would have found it possible to erect 
 such a very massive structure for a tenancy which could 
 be determined as this was, I do not know. It was probably 
 in existence long before Cromwell came to St. Ives ; may 
 very well have been used by him as a convenience for the 
 land upon or near to which it was situated, and so obtained 
 the name of Cromwell's Barn. The ruins have rather an 
 ecclesiastical appearance, and it is sometimes called the 
 Priory Barn. 
 
 Leaving St. Ives, Cromwell took up his abode in Ely, 
 taking with him his wife and children and his widowed mother 
 from Huntingdon. At Ely he succeeded to the office of 
 
 * Now occupied by Mr. Warren. 
 
lo East Anglia and the 
 
 farmer of the tithes, vacant by the death of his uncle Sir 
 Thomas Steward, and lived in the Glebe House set apart 
 for the person who held the office of tithe-farmer. 
 
 During those quiet years at St. Ives and the first years 
 of his residence at Ely, Cromwell was no idle spectator of 
 the stirring events in the life of the nation, or of life in 
 the Fens. The writ for Ship-money had come out while 
 he was at St. Ives ; and upon the very day he was writing 
 that letter to Mr. Storie in support of the Puritan lecture, 
 his cousin John Hampden was standing up at the head of 
 his neighbours in the parish church of Great Kimble, in 
 Buckinghamshire, and refusing to pay Ship-money. Prynne, 
 Bastwick, and Burton had had their ears cut off in Palace 
 Yard, and Jennie Geddes had hurled her stool at the Dean's 
 head in Edinburgh about the Bishops. Then there came 
 the excitement all over England about the Ship-money trial, 
 which lasted three weeks, and made Mr. Hampden *the 
 most famous man in England.' Cromwell himself had 
 continued his public activity in Ely, had become one of 
 the trustees of Parson's Charity ; and had gained notoriety 
 over the great work of draining the Fens, not so much 
 against its actual accomplishment as against injustice to 
 his neighbours over the manner of doing it. The scheme 
 was ' extremely unpopular,' and ' particularly amongst the 
 commonalty, who had a custom of commoning and fishing 
 in dry times ' ; and Cromwell at a great meeting at Hunting- 
 don had so actively opposed it, that it was dropped for 
 a time. His action gained him * great accession of friends,' 
 and procured for him the title of ' Lord of the Fens.* ^ 
 
 To this period of his residence in Ely belongs the most 
 direct connecting link between Oliver Cromwell's life in the 
 Fens and the present time which now exists. Taking it 
 altogether, with its associations and its present suggestive 
 condition, there is, perhaps, no more interesting house in 
 England than the modest structure still known as Cromwell's 
 house in Ely. Overshadowed almost by the Cathedral and 
 the Bishop's Palace hard by, this plain, substantial house 
 
 1 Noble, i, 187-8. 
 
Great Civil War. ii 
 
 became the rooftree of the man whose indomitable spirit 
 dared to assert, against all ' innovations ' to the contrary, 
 the principle that cathedrals and bishops are only of value 
 in proportion as they help to build up the spiritual life 
 of the people : ' they that build up spiritual temples, they 
 are the men truly charitable, truly pious,' were the words 
 with which Cromwell had taken farewell of St. Ives. In 
 these two almost contiguous houses, the Bishop's Palace, ift 
 which Matthew Wren, Bishop of Ely, was concerning himself 
 with the outward performances and ceremonials of public 
 worship, and the tithe-farmer's house, where Oliver Cromwell 
 concerned himself with the management of the tithes on week- 
 days, and from which he walked along Palace Green to the 
 Church or Cathedral on Sundays — in these two houses, con- 
 sidering the character of the two men who inhabited them 
 and the causes for which they stood, there was an epitome 
 of the Puritan revolution of the deepest significance, in view 
 of what was so soon coming to pass. 
 
 The house in which Oliver Cromwell, his wife, his 
 mother, and his children took up their abode in Ely, during 
 several eventful years, was built at the west or north-west 
 corner of St. Mary's Churchyard, with the great tithe-barn — 
 ' the biggest barn but one in England ' ^ — on one side and 
 the churchyard on the other. It is still standing almost in 
 every respect as when occupied by Cromwell, excepting 
 for a piece of new brickwork which closes up the end wall 
 where the great tithe barn has disappeared. It is a square, 
 substantial two-story house, with reception rooms on either 
 side of the modest entrance hall, and has the appearance 
 of being likely to stand a long time yet. On the left as 
 you enter is the commodious panelled reception room, in 
 which Cromwell doubtless received his guests, while on the 
 right is a room in which he probably transacted his business 
 about the tithes. In the rear are the domestic offices, and 
 on every hand are curious recesses and cupboards, let into 
 
 * The Great Tithe Barn at Ely, which was demolished by order of the Dean 
 and Chapter in 1843, was 219 ft. 6 in. long by 39 ft. 5 in. wide, and with walls 
 four feet thick, appears to have somewhat resembled the lesser structure at 
 St. Ives. See Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society. 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 13 
 
 the massive walls, in which young Dick, Oliver, and Henry 
 may have put fish hooks and other juvenile belongings. 
 Opposite the entrance is the ancient spiral staircase, a 
 curiosity in itself, up which Cromwell and his family ascended 
 to bedrooms, for the most part remaining just as when he 
 and his family slept in them. Upon the ground floor in 
 the rear, with an outlook into the churchyard, is the old 
 kitchen with its ancient floorbricks, gnarled, cracked, and 
 worn by generations of footfalls, carrying you back to the 
 old domestic scene in which Mrs. Cromwell and her maids 
 bore the ordeal common in so many homes at that time, 
 of taking up the daily round of duty and suspense while 
 their lord and master went forth, with fiery speech and 
 doughty sword, to rouse his neighbours and lead them to 
 victory. In these old rooms the Cromwells had three more 
 children born to them — Mary, afterwards Lady Fauconberg ; 
 Frances, whom Charles II was said to have had thoughts of 
 marrying ; and a son who died in infancy. The house is 
 still maintained in tenantable repair, and is in private 
 occupation. In the rooms in which Oliver Cromwell brooded 
 over the private sorrows and heroic public necessities of his 
 time, men and women in this highly civilized age resort with 
 their smaller temporary anguish to which the dentist ministers. 
 The homes of men play many parts ! * 
 
 It was during his residence at Ely that the letter was 
 written to his cousin, Mrs. St. John, containing Cromwell's 
 reference to his early life — " Oh I lived in and loved darkness 
 and hated light ; I was a chief, a chief of sinners " — which 
 some of our historians have taken too literally, for their own 
 credit as well as for that of Cromwell. Half an hour spent 
 in the vestry of some little Calvinistic meeting-house, even in 
 this nineteenth century, would have modified a great deal that 
 has been written as to the supposed wickedness of the early 
 life of Cromwell, and perhaps of Bunyan also, in so far as it 
 
 ^ Is it too much to hope that this house, still remaining in all the essential 
 features which made it a home for a great Englishman, should be placed under 
 some kind of public trust in the nation's keeping? At any rate, it is some little 
 satisfaction to be able to present in these pages a picture of the house of which 
 Carlyle hoped, "for Oliver's sake some painter will, perhaps, yet take a correct 
 likeness." 
 
14 East Anglia and the 
 
 rests upon their own confessions. Cromwell's self-abasement, 
 in his letter to Mrs. St. John, was simply a phase of the 
 Calvinism of the time. A narrow creed, a self-deceiving 
 creed, it may perhaps be called, but its language of self- 
 condemnation cannot, unless supported . by independent 
 evidence, bear the essentially vulgar construction that it 
 indicates any exceptional depravity in secular life. 
 
 With these local reflections, we come to the point at which 
 Oliver Cromwell was brought into intimate contact with 
 other members of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire 
 families, besides his sympathetic young Puritan landlord of 
 St. Ives — young men of like sympathies with himself and 
 with the courage of their convictions. Many a yeoman's son 
 from these Fenlands and elsewhere had already followed the 
 men of the ' Mayflower ' ; and when Hampden's trial was 
 decided against the champion of popular rights, Cromwell, 
 with characteristic promptitude, decided with Hampden and 
 others to ' leave his native country to enjoy liberty of 
 conscience which was denied them in it.' But just as the 
 parochial clergy were jealous of and resented the Puritan 
 habit of going out of the parish to hear sermons elsewhere, 
 so the King became jealous of this growing tendency of 
 influential young men going out and founding settlements 
 beyond the seas. In the month of April, 1638, only 
 two years before the summoning of the famous Short 
 Parliament, eight ships were lying in the Thames with 
 passengers on board bound for New England. Charles I, 
 little knowing what the act meant for himself and his throne, 
 gave orders for staying of the ships and likewise for the 
 * putting on land of all passengers and provisions therein 
 intended for the voyage.' In those ships were John Hampden 
 and Oliver Cromwell, upon whose departure or detention was 
 hanging one of the greatest ' ifs ' of history of ancient or 
 modern times. Twelve months later two young men of 
 influential families in Cambs and Hunts departed for New 
 England. These were Samuel Desborough, of Eltisley, 
 brother of the famous Major-General who married Cromwell's 
 sister, and William Leete, son of John Leete, of Doddington. 
 Leete was a clerk in the Bishop's Court at Cambridge, but 
 
Great Civil War, 15 
 
 being impressed with the * oppressions and cruelties then 
 practised on the conscientious and virtuous Puritans/ he 
 examined their doctrines and became a Puritan himself. 
 Joining with young Desborough and with a party of about 
 forty under Mr. Whitfield, a minister, the two young men 
 sailed for Newhaven, and, like Lawrence and Cromwell, will 
 be met with again in exalted stations of life. Other intimate 
 friends of Cromwell whom we shall meet again in more 
 stirring scenes, were Valentine Walton or Wauton, of Great 
 Staughton, near St. Neots,' already married to Cromwell's 
 sister Margaret, and the Russells of Chippenham, near New- 
 market. Among Cromwell's early neighbours at Huntingdon 
 there were also young Edward Montague, of Hinchinbrook, 
 and Viscount Mandeville, of Kimbolton, the future Earl of 
 Manchester, ready to come out on the popular side ; and 
 Stephen Marshall, son of a glover at Godmanchester, who had, 
 as a boy, gleaned over the Cromwell lands. Having graduated 
 at the Puritan College of Emmanuel, Marshall will likewise 
 be found in high places fighting for Parliament with unrivalled 
 eloquence of speech, if not with the sword. It is time, however, 
 that we turned from the ' searchings of heart ' of these Puritan 
 folk to their causes in the events which were happening 
 around them. 
 
 When, at last, a Parliament was again to be called, some 
 of Oliver Cromwell's friends conceived the idea of his 
 standing for the town of Cambridge, of which he was not 
 yet even a freeman. According to one authority,^ Cromwell's 
 friends recommended him so highly to the Mayor of Cam- 
 bridge that the latter, though a Royalist, exercised his right 
 of conferring the freedom of the borough of Cambridge 
 upon Cromwell. He was sent for by the mayor, and 
 
 ^ It is an interesting coincidence that Sir Oliver Cromwell, of Ramsey, and 
 George Walton, of Great Staughton, were the captains who marched at the head 
 of the Huntingdonshire forces to Tilbury to repel the Spanish Armada, and that 
 another Captain Oliver Cromwell and another Captain Walton, relatives of the 
 former, should command the Huntingdonshire forces raised by Parliament. Some 
 of the speeches of old Sir Henry Cromwell, the ' Golden Knight ' of Hinchinbrook, 
 rousing his neighbours in Huntingdonshire to fight for the defence of their religion, 
 threatened by Spain, might also have been made by the more famous Oliver 
 Cromwell, his grandson, fifty years later. See *' Huntingdonshire and the 
 Spanish Armada," by the Rev. W. M. Noble. 
 
 » Heath's "Flagellum." 
 
1 6 East Anglia and the 
 
 there, on January 7, 1640, a few weeks before the opening 
 of the Short Parliament, OHver Cromwell appears visibly in 
 the Town House at Cambridge, before the Court, ' arrayed 
 in a scarlet coat, layed with a broad gold lace, and was 
 sworn and saluted by the mayor.' According to custom, 
 Cromwell had, it seems, 'caused a good quantity of wine 
 to be brought into the Town House, with some confectionery 
 stuffe, which was liberally filled out, and as liberally taken 
 off, to the warming of most of their noddles.' It is further 
 suggested, that while in this mood those in the secret 
 design, hinted, at an opportune moment, that * Mr. Cromwell 
 would make a brave burgess,' and that, as a result, Mr. 
 Cromwell was returned for the town of Cambridge. 
 
 All this may be substantially true as a record of what 
 happened, and yet the reason assigned for it and the motive 
 be utterly unnecessary and absurd, considering that Oliver 
 Cromwell had already sat in Parliament for Huntingdon, 
 and was well known throughout both counties. Cromwell 
 could have had, even at this time, no need of any doubtful 
 or designing recommendation of this kind. The point of 
 importance is, that shortly after this, Oliver Cromwell became 
 Member of Parliament for Cambridge, and had come fairly 
 into the stream where- great events were to centre in the 
 years that were coming. In that famous Short Parliament, 
 which sat only for three weeks, Cromwell's colleague in the 
 representation of Cambridge was Mr. Thomas Meauties. 
 In October of the same year, in the election for the more 
 famous Long Parliament, the contest for the Borough of 
 Cambridge is said to have been so close, that Oliver 
 Cromwell was returned by only one vote ; and with him 
 was returned (in place of Thomas Meauties) John Lowry, 
 a man of some note in the next ten years. 
 
 There are glimpses of Cromwell upon his first appearance 
 in the Long Parliament in November, 1640, which are 
 enough to show what kind of man the town of Cambridge 
 had chosen. The first glimpse shows us Cromwell in his 
 plain and ill-fitting suit addressing the House to such pur- 
 pose as to astonish the courtly young Sir Philip Warwick, 
 and lessen his reverence for the great Council's listening 
 
Great Civil War, 17 
 
 so to what Oliver had to say. There is another even more 
 interesting glimpse of Cromwell, in a story told by Clarendon 
 which has a local bearing. It shows us Cromwell sitting 
 as a member of a Committee of the House upon a question 
 of an enclosure of waste land, enclosed without the consent 
 of the tenants, and sold to the Earl of Manchester, of 
 Kimbolton, believed to have been the Soke of Somersham, 
 near St. Ives. The Penmen appeared before the Committee, 
 and * Cromwell appeared much concerned to countenance 
 the petitioners, who were numerous, together with their 
 witnesses .... and seconded and enlarged upon what 
 they said with great passion'; and when Lord Mandeville, on 
 behalf of his father the Earl of Manchester, desired to be 
 heard, and * with great modesty related what had been done,' 
 it is further alleged by Clarendon (who was presiding) that 
 Cromwell replied to him so rudely and in such language 
 that " every man would have thought, that as their natures 
 and their manners were as opposite as possible, so their 
 interest could never have been the same." 
 
 This reference to ' their interest ' means the side they were 
 taking in the quarrel with the King, and it is a striking 
 testimony to the strength of conviction of the justice of 
 their cause, entertained by so many of the young men of 
 the time, that this young Lord Mandeville is the same 
 man whom we shall meet with Cromwell, leading the Fen- 
 men to victory at Marston Moor. Hampden's prophetic 
 remark upon Cromwell's speech at the opening of the Long 
 Parliament is more significant still. Descending the stairs 
 with Lord Digby, with Cromwell below them, Digby said : 
 " Pray, Mr. Hampden, who is the sloven who spoke to-day? 
 for I see he is on our side by his speaking warmly." " That 
 sloven you see before you," Hampden replied, "hath no 
 ornament in his speech ; but if we should ever come to 
 a breach with the King — which God forbid! — that sloven 
 will be the greatest man in England." 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 SHIP-MONEY RIOTS— STRANGE SCENES IN THE CHURCHES — 
 
 PETITIONS AND PROTESTATIONS. 
 
 {1640-41.) 
 
 THE causes of the Civil War are too well known to 
 the most casual reader of general history to need 
 particular mention here ; but among the grievances 
 of the people there was one which brought the official life of 
 the counties — from the High Sheriff down to the petty con- 
 stables — into such frequent and unpleasant conflict with the 
 people in almost every parish, that an exception must be made 
 with regard to it. I refer to the objectionable impost of Ship- 
 money. By none of the people of England was Hampden's 
 trial more keenly watched than by the inhabitants of the 
 Eastern Counties, and though the law went against them, 
 the tax was still regarded as an Injustice. They might not 
 be able to lawfully refuse to pay, but there was one thing 
 that they could do — they could leave the initiative for its 
 local enforcement severely alone ; and this they did until 
 the levying and collecting of the offensive tax came to 
 almost a deadlock ; and the Sheriff in many cases was left 
 alone to do the work. 
 
 The precept or writ for Ship-money upon a county was 
 addressed to the Sheriff of that county, and he in his turn 
 had to call upon the chief constables of every hundred to 
 apportion the amount; the chief constables had to call 
 upon the petty constables and overseers and further apportion 
 the sums fixed upon the hundreds in*"*^ ^o much upon each 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 19 
 
 parish, and it was then further assessed upon the inhabitants 
 of such parish. The inevitable result was, that if the chief 
 constables ever called the petty constables together — some 
 did in a half-hearted kind of way, and some did not — it 
 was only to find that the petty constable reported too often 
 that if he called a meeting in the parish for the purpose 
 of assessing the tax no one would attend it. This state 
 of things placed the Sheriff in an awkward predicament : 
 if, as in some cases, he did the work of apportioning, 
 assessing, and collecting the tax by his own officers, he soon 
 became the most unpopular man in the county ; if he did not 
 do so, he was liable to be sent for to the Star Chamber. 
 
 In Hertfordshire Thomas Coningsby, and in Cambridgeshire 
 Thomas Pychard, were examples of the former, and ih 
 Huntingdonshire Sir William Armyne came perilously near 
 the latter. In adjoining counties there were many other 
 cases of resistance to the tax, which will show what was the 
 temper of the people of these Eastern Counties during the 
 first half of the memorable year of 1640. 
 
 On the 20th of February, 1640,^ Thomas Pychard, Sheriff 
 for Cambridgeshire, certified that " the assessment of the 
 ;^3.500 ship-money charged on that county he cannot get in 
 as commanded, by reason of the neglect of some of the chief 
 constables and the refractoriness of others." In Huntingdon- 
 shire the state of things was even worse, for Sir William 
 Armyne had certified " in obedience to your commands I 
 have used all diligence in assessing and collecting ship-money 
 for this county, but as yet have not received a single penny 
 of it ; so soon, however, as any shall come to my hands, I 
 will not fail to pay it into the Treasurer of the Navy." 
 
 About five weeks after this, March 20, 1640, Sir William 
 writes again to the Council these interesting particulars : — 
 
 " I received the writ and instructions for levying ;^2,CX)0 
 ship-money on this county the 27th December last, and 
 proceeded to distribute the charge upon every town and 
 
 ^ According to the old style of reckoning the year, which ended on March 24, 
 this would have been 1639 ; but to save confusion I have thought it best to adopt 
 the modern style of commencing the year on January i, unless a date occurs in an 
 actual quotation. 
 
20 East Anglia and the 
 
 parish with all possible diligence, but cannot prevail with the 
 inhabitants to make their particular assessments; though 
 I have issued out sundry writs to that effect." 
 
 The same difficulty occurred in Bedfordshire, where Mr. 
 Richard Child, the Sheriff, pleaded that he did try to do 
 his best and made twenty-four distresses, but he could not 
 get anybody to buy the goods seized. Essex, Suffolk, 
 and Norfolk were no more forward in the business than 
 their neighbours. 
 
 In Norfolk, Thomas Windham, the Sheriff, complained, 
 in the month of April, he could get but little money in, 
 and that he had himself made up for the defects of some 
 of his neighbours. At last, by May 28, he was able to 
 report the sum of ^1,000 got in with 'inexpressible difficulty,' 
 and by distresses at which there were few buyers. The 
 Suffolk people were still more ' abounding in their remissness 
 and obstinacy,' for Sir Simonds D'Ewes, the Sheriff, was 
 obliged to report that upon April 21, the day upon which 
 ;^8,ooo was to be paid in for the whole county, he had 
 expected to get ;^i,ooo; 'but now fears he shall not get 
 in ;^200.' He asks what he is to do, and says that ' innumer- 
 able groans and sighs are the daily returns he receives instead 
 of payment' 
 
 Seven days after the Short Parliament was dismissed the 
 Sheriff of Essex was sent for and examined for having 
 collected very little Ship-money and not distrained upon 
 the refusers^; and the Sheriff of Hunts was still making 
 equally small progress. 
 
 Thomas Pychard, of Trumpington, Sheriff of Cambridge- 
 shire, who, upon his own acknowledgment, was not a man 
 of any great influence in the public affairs of the county, 
 meeting with almost uniform refusals to pay, took his bailiffs 
 to seize defaulters' cattle, with, in some cases, disastrous results 
 to the bailiffs. At Babraham, one Giles Jocelyn was alleged 
 
 ' In the trial of Archbishop Laud, one of the witnesses, Samuel Sherman, 
 stated that he and the other two collectors were fetched up from Dedham and 
 brought before the Council to answer their pretended offence for refusing to 
 <:ollect the tax. He was sent to the Fleet, where he lay three weeks, and in his 
 absence his silver spoons were distrained for his own subsidy. — Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War. 21 
 
 to have used 'unlawful weapons' and prevented the levying 
 of Ship-money ; but it was at Melbourn, near Royston, and 
 other places in that neighbourhood, that the most determined 
 resistance was made. Here is the account in the Sheriff's 
 certificate : — 
 
 " The humble certificate of Thomas Pychard, Esq^% Sheriffe of 
 the County of Cambridge, unto the Right Honourable the Lords 
 of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Counsell, 
 
 " Sheweth that in the execution of his Majesty's writ touching the 
 business of shipmoney, the persons hereunder named, together with 
 above 100 more of the inhabitants of Melbourne (whereof the 
 collectors of Shipmoney for that town were present), upon Friday 
 the twelfth of June instant, did grievously wound and beat five or six 
 of the Sheriffs bayliffs and servants, they hardly escapinge with 
 their lives, and they and others have since used many threatening 
 speeches towards them, insomuch as they dare not go about that 
 nor any other service for his Majesty." 
 
 The parties complained of were John Pettitt, Edmond 
 Wood, collectors ; John Neale, Benjamin Medcalfe, Leonard 
 Evens, Edmond Jefferson, Roger Andrewes, Nathaniel 
 Andrewes, John Thurgood, John Hitch, William Wood, all 
 of Melbourne in com' cant'.^ 
 
 The bailiffs sent by the Sheriff state in their depositions 
 that they " were sent by Thomas Pychard, Esq , High Sheriff 
 of the County of Cambridge, to certain towns ^ to gather up 
 ship-money upon the 12th day of June last, and as they came 
 homeward they called at Melborne, and demanded of the 
 collectors, Edmond Wood and John Pettitt, the ship-money, 
 who answered they had some of the poor men's money, but 
 the rich men had not paid, nor could they get them to pay 
 it. Whereupon the bailiffs demanded of the said collectors 
 the rates for the ship-money, and they would see if they 
 could make them to pay it, but the collectors refused to show 
 them the rates . . . whereupon the said bailiffs . . . 
 attached the bodies of the said collectors to have brought 
 them before the High Sheriff, and instantly thereupon John 
 
 * State Papers, Charles I, vol. cccclvii, No. 55. 
 
 * Other places which resisted the tax were : East Hatley, Shingay, Litlington, 
 Croyden, Westwick, Caxton, St. George Hatley, Croxton, Papworth Agnes, 
 Knapwell, Boxworth, Gravely, Ockington, Longstanton, Rampton, Wisbech, 
 Tidd St. Giles, Chatteris, March, Wimblington, Doddington. — Ibid. 
 
2 2 East Anglia and the 
 
 Neale, Benjamin Medcalfe, Leonard Evens, Edmond Jefferson, 
 Roger Andrews, Nathaniel Andrews, John Thurgood, John 
 Hitch, brother of William Hitch, and William French, the 
 elder, with the number of a hundred more men, women, 
 and children, assembled together against the said bailiffs, 
 who sought for the constables and desired their aid to keep 
 the peace, which was denied, and ill words given, and an 
 assault threatened, and then the said bailiffs and sheriffs 
 men, fearing some hurt would be done, made a proclamation 
 that all should depart only the collectors who were attached, 
 and then showed them the writ of assistance, which notwith- 
 standing, the whole multitude rescued the said collectors 
 and fell upon the said bailiffs and sheriffs men with stones 
 and staves, and hedge staves and forks, and beat them and 
 wounded divers of them, and did drive them out of the 
 highway, into a woman's yard, and into her house for their 
 safeguard, and were forced for safeguard of their lives to 
 get out of the town a back way, which notwithstanding, some 
 thirty or forty able men and boys pursued them above a quarter 
 of a mile, stoning them and driving the bailiffs into a ditch, 
 where some of their horses stuck fast, and the said multitude 
 gott some of the bailiffs horses and carried them away." 
 
 The Melbourn offenders were proceeded against, but a jury 
 refused to find them guilty. Easy-going Sir William Armyne, 
 Sheriff for Hunts, had despatched to the Council on June 
 24 one of those well-meaning letters telling how affairs 
 were looking in his county :— 
 
 '* I have employed my best endeavours to assess and 
 collect the ship-money in Huntingdonshire ; but have met 
 with so many difficulties and found such a general back- 
 wardness that I thought it my duty to acquaint you therewith, 
 that further order may be taken as to you may seem meet. 
 The Mayor of Huntingdon and the Bailiff of Godmanchester, 
 I have called upon them divers times and acquainted their 
 town clerk with his Majesty's pleasure, and hope they will 
 speedily pay in the money. The chief constables for the 
 rest of the county have received four-and-twenty warrants 
 since January last under my hand for the assessing . . . . 
 1 myself have had divers meetings, with the chief constables, 
 
Great Civil War. 23 
 
 petty constables, and others, who say they are unable to 
 pay by reason of so many taxes lately imposed upon them." 
 
 This placid communication, with its four-and-twenty paper 
 warnings from Sir William's armchair, ended by his asking 
 if he shall 'send forth warrants to distrain their goods.' 
 No wonder that this old document is to be found with this 
 characteristic endorsement upon it — "The Sheriff is to be 
 quickened to execute the writ at his peril, and the Lords 
 marvel that he should write such a letter after so many 
 directions from his Majesty and the Board " ! Poor Sir 
 William ! But he was between two fires, and that of the 
 Fenmen was so powerful, that the four-and-twenty warrants 
 with which he relieved his ofificial conscience, and the resolve 
 of the Lords in Council that he be ' quickened,' do not seem 
 to have had any very notable effect by the time the next 
 return of Ship-money paid in was made. 
 
 The dissolution of that famous Short Parliament, which 
 did at least show what was the common sentiment of the 
 people of England, marks the beginning of the conflict 
 between King and Parliament, in other ways besides the 
 collection of Ship-money. 
 
 The ceremonial of public worship in the parish churches 
 was reversing the simple habits to which old men and 
 women were accustomed, in a direction which was especially 
 repugnant to many, and * put upon the churches the shape 
 and face of Popery.' These things, in an age when any 
 move in the direction of Popery roused bitter memories, 
 made the coming struggle turn largely upon religious con- 
 victions. When, therefore, the King sought to impose this 
 ecclesiastical system upon Scotland, to march against the 
 Scottish Covenanters was regarded as fighting against the 
 Gospel and in favour of the Pope, and some remarkable 
 scenes among the soldiers required to march northward in 
 the Summer of 1640 were witnessed. In Hertfordshire, 
 Bedfordshire, and Essex, the men drafted for the service 
 refused to march, and became mutinous ; and the trouble 
 spread into other counties. 
 
 The County of Cambridge had to impress and forward 
 three hundred of these unwilling soldiers to repel the Scottish 
 
24 East Anglia and the 
 
 army, but unfortunately, just as they were being got together 
 the Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Suffolk, of Audley End, 
 died, and the deputy-lieutenants were in a difficulty about 
 warrants, etc. At last the three hundred men were got 
 together at Cambridge, but seemed likely to be more trouble 
 to the deputy-lieutenants than to the Scots ! There at the 
 Cambridge market in the month of June, they are creating 
 no little stir about the service. 
 
 " Saturday last the three hundred pressed soldiers in 
 Cambridgeshire fell into great disorder in Cambridge. They 
 pressed the deputy-lieutenants for somewhat, which was 
 granted them, and when they saw they got their desire so 
 easily they pressed for somewhat else, which the deputy- 
 lieutenants neither might nor could grant." ^ The soldiers 
 then threatened the deputy-lieutenants, and ' fifty men with 
 halberts' were called out to be their guards, but the three 
 hundred pressed men set upon the fifty and soon disarmed 
 them. Then some of the trained soldiers were called 
 together with their arms, but these were also disarmed by 
 the mutinous soldiers. By this time a new Lord Lieutenant 
 had been appointed in Lord Maynard (who was also Lord 
 Lieutenant for Essex), and he was sent down to Cambridge 
 to examine into the disorder, with unpleasant results to 
 himself.^ 
 
 In Suffolk there was a similar state of things, and Sir 
 Thomas Jermyn was ordered to go down and punish the 
 like disorders. At Beccles the mutinous soldiers played 
 high games, held a mock court of justice upon ' a man and 
 a wench ' for some laches, and * many mad pranks they have 
 played which are not fit to be written.' In Essex the 
 pressed men were equally troublesome, and Lord Maynard 
 begged that they might be allowed to march northward, 
 
 ^ Letter of June 23, 1640, in State Papers. 
 
 ' There is, in the Carew Transcripts, in the Public Record Office, a petition 
 from Lady Maynard in the year following, which refers to the injuries his Lordship 
 received in this mutiny of * the barbarous souldiers, ' having ' kindled all the 
 summer in his blood,' and been the cause of ' his violent fever and consequently of 
 his soddaine death, ' His Lordship appears to have made his last will and testa- 
 ment just before going to suppress the tumult, which implored the King * in case 
 he should be slaine in the mutiny of the souldiers in Cambs ' for the favour of his 
 son's wardship. 
 
Great Civil War, 25 
 
 for ' they are obstinately resolved to die rather than go by sea.' 
 The Norfolk men had a similar dread of a sea-voyage, and 
 refused to stir that way. The following graphic account of the 
 Essex and Cambridgeshire men's conduct is furnished by a 
 letter from Lord Maynard, Lord Lieutenant, dated July 27 : — 
 
 " I am ashamed that I have to trouble you so often about 
 the same thing, but the insolencies of the soldiers billetted 
 in Essex are every day increased by new attempts, insomuch 
 as they have now, within these few days, taken upon them 
 to reform churches ; and even in the time of divine service 
 to pull down the rails about the Communion Tables, and in 
 Icklinton [Ickleton, near Royston], in Cambridgeshire, to 
 force the minister to run over a river, and the minister at 
 Panfield, near Braintree, to forsake his charge and family 
 to save his life." The Earl of Warwick, writing on the same 
 day, supplements this with another characteristic incident 
 concerning Captain Rolleston's soldiers billeted about 
 Braintree — 
 
 "The soldiers had been reasonably quiet of late until this 
 last occasion, which was caused by a barrel of beer and fifty 
 shillings in money sent them by Dr. Barkham, of Bocking, 
 of whose kindness it seems they took too much, for I found 
 them much disordered by drink that day, and they went to 
 his church and pulled up the rails about the Communion 
 Table and burnt them before their Captain's lodgings ; the 
 like they did at another town near. The ringleaders I have 
 sent to the house of correction at Chelmsford." 
 
 In the hundred of Broadwater in Hertfordshire,^ after the 
 impressed soldiers had been disbanded, five of them went 
 to a gentleman's house where Captain Brockett was, and 
 pretending the captain had detained their wages, threatened 
 to have their money or his blood ; but the captain met them 
 
 * In Hertfordshire nearly a score of churches were entered and the rails round 
 the communion table were pulled down by the soldiers. At King's Walden 
 twenty-four soldiers entered the church on Sunday morning, and passing up the 
 aisle took their seats in the chancel, and at the close of the service they ' before 
 all the congregation tore down the rails and defaced the wainscot,' and then 
 coolly invited themselves to dine with the churchwarden ! Sir John Jennings, 
 member for St. Albans, was sent to the Fleet prison for being remiss in not 
 punishing the offenders ; in fact, like the Melbourn jury and Ship-money, the jury 
 in this case had declared that they found the churches had been entered, but the 
 names and habitations of the rioters they knew not. 
 
26 East Anglia and the 
 
 on their own ground and 'wounded one of them with his 
 sword, whereof he died next day.' ^ In Suffolk there 
 were disorderly scenes. At Ipswich the rails around the 
 communion table in St. Lawrence Church were burned down 
 with broom faggots. 
 
 Under such omens the ' Bishops' War,' as it was called, 
 was not likely to succeed. The Scots crossed the border, 
 took Newcastle, the King returned to York, and the post 
 travelling by way of Huntingdon ruffled Dr. Rowe of Trinity 
 Hall and other College Dons of Cambridge with the ' sad 
 Northern news.' But to the common people it was good 
 news, and the newsmongers in the street sang ' Gramercy, 
 good Master Scot'! The summoning of the Long Par- 
 liament in November was the beginning of the period of 
 petitions and protestations which now only stood between 
 the country and civil war. 
 
 The attempted * Bishops' War ' had been sufficient to turn 
 the current of men's thoughts from Ship-money and things 
 civil to things ecclesiastical. The whole country was ringing 
 with protestations, and in Puritan East Anglia the Bishop 
 of Ely was considered, next to Archbishop Laud, the head 
 and front of offence. So, as early as December 19, 1640, 
 Parliament received information of * a very high nature 
 against Matthew Wren, lord Bishop of Elie, for setting up 
 idolatry and superstition in divers places, and exercising and 
 acting some things of that nature in his own person ; and 
 because they hear the Bishop of Elie endeavours to make 
 escape out of the Kingdom,' the House desired their Lordships 
 of the Upper House to 'think of some course to put him 
 in security.' This they proceeded to do effectually by 
 requiring the Bishop to find bail for his appearance to 
 answer the 'censure of Parliament ' in the sum of ;^ 10,000, 
 which the Bishop consented to and hoped to get friends to 
 be bound for him, but the respite was a short one. 
 
 The intensity of feeling which the impending struggle 
 called forth can only be understood by reference to the 
 religious aspect of the quarrel. Where the squire, the 
 
 ^ '* Hertfordshire during the Great Civil War." 
 
Great Civil War, 27 
 
 maltster, and the yeoman assembled, in court house, tavern, 
 or market-place, the maintenance of the reformed religion 
 was always the crowning point contended for ; while for the 
 toiler in the Fen, on the lea, or in the village malting, the 
 whole issue of the coming conflict was summed up in 
 the rousing words * No Popery ! ' The Gunpowder Plot was 
 fresh in the recollection of all excepting the children, and 
 the King's marriage to a Catholic increased the dread of 
 a reversion to the old supremacy. 
 
 With the Hertfordshire petition against grievances, sup- 
 ported by Mr. Capel, their member and future Royalist 
 hero, and by Sir Harbottle Grimstone, an Essex member 
 who declared that "they begin to say in town that the 
 Judges have overthrown the law and the Bishops the Gospel," 
 the year 1640 left a strange heritage to 1641 and to the 
 country, of grievances to be redressed and protestations to 
 enforce. In May, 1641, the famous Protestation was sent 
 down into the shires ; to Cambridge in particular by Mr. 
 Oliver Cromwell and Mr. Lowry, the town members, and 
 upon being laid before the Corporation there was 'signed 
 by nine of the Aldermen and most of the commonalty.' ^ 
 Strafford, ' the one supremely able man the King had,' was 
 sacrificed in the tumult ; and the country folks who went up 
 to see the execution * rode back in triumph waving their 
 hatts, and with all expressions of joy' ; through every town 
 they went crying, ' his head is off! his head is off ! ' ^ Already 
 strange dividing influences were at work, and the religious 
 side of the quarrel intruded into official life. Mr. Foxley, 
 * an antient man,' preaching before the Judge at the Hertford 
 Assizes, is alleged to have declared that ' none could be saved 
 but a Puritan.'^ 
 
 At St. George's Church, Norwich, a Mr. Whale, curate, 
 " upon going into the pulpit to preach took the hymn and 
 service book, and stamped it under his feet, saying that he 
 
 * The Protestation signed was in these words: "I, A B, do, in the presence 
 of Almighty God, promise, vow, and protest to maintain and defend, as far as 
 lawfully I may, with my life, power, and estate, the true reformed Protestant 
 religion expressed in the doctrines of the Church of England, against all Popery 
 and Popish innovations within this realm," etc 
 
 2 Warwick's " Memoirs," p. 164. ' Baker MSS., xxxiv, 31. 
 
2 8 East Anglia and the 
 
 came not there by any prelaticall popish imposition of hands ; 
 he was sent from God." 
 
 At Hingham, Norfolk, Mr. Violet, " in his prayer before 
 the sermon, confessed that ' wee have offended Thee in wearing 
 the surplisse, in signing with the crosse, and using the ring 
 of marriage.' " The communion rails in Hingham Church 
 were pulled down ' by some of ye zealots of that parish,' and 
 ** they report that they intend to rayle about the common 
 horse pond with them, next the highway, commonly called 
 the * Parson's Pond.' The young ruffians (who did ye feat) 
 were hired with half a barrel of bear." 
 
 Mr. James Willett, of Little Cheshall, Essex, said that "if 
 there were no superstitions here [meaning the Church of 
 England] then there were none at Rome" ; and a curate at 
 Witham, in the same county, was beaten in church for crossing 
 a child in baptism.^ 
 
 The other extreme was represented by a petition out of 
 Huntingdonshire — a long controversial document about 
 schismatics and sectaries, and disavowing other petitions 
 against the Book of Common Prayer, complaining of the 
 many conventicles, of the way in which ' at all public 
 functions, as assizes, sessions, fairs, and markets,' they were 
 * earnestly labouring to draw the people to them ' ; by 
 which 'it was feared they were aiming at some great 
 change and mutation in the present state of the Church 
 government.' If the Protestation meant anything, this was 
 undoubtedly true, and even these Laudian petitioners of 
 Huntingdonshire were sensible of the ' common grievances 
 of the kingdom,' and acknowledged the efforts of Parliament 
 for ' the suppression of Popery.' 
 
 In July, Dr. Holdsworth, Vice-Chancellor of the Cambridge 
 University, was called to account for an oration containing 
 some reflections upon the proceedings of Parliament, and 
 was sent for to Parliament a second time for approving of 
 the action of the Vicar of St. Ives (Cromwell's old minister), 
 in refusing to give the communion to those who ' out of 
 stubborness refused to come up to ye table.' 
 
 1 Baker MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 29 
 
 By November the news of the massacre of the Protestants 
 in Ireland had added fuel to the flame, and there is recorded 
 that significant utterance of Oliver Cromwell, when, at 
 the close of a memorable debate, lasting till two o'clock 
 in the morning, the Grand Remonstrance passed by only 
 nine votes, he whispered in the ear of Falkland that * if the 
 Remonstrance had been rejected, he would have sold all he 
 had next morning, and never have seen England more, and 
 he knew that there were many other honest men of the 
 same resolution.* Clarendon's comment upon this, 'so near 
 was the poor Kingdom at that time to its deliverance,* will 
 always be variously interpreted. 
 
 But none of these protestations were directed against the 
 King personally, who on his return from Scotland was 
 received with flattering speeches. The Mayor of York 
 embodied the joyfulness of the hour in fine poetical imagery, 
 bringing in the tunefulness of the bells, the flowers of Spring 
 (in November), and the citizens* wives and their little ones. 
 Arriving at Stamford, His Majesty was met by the Mayor, 
 Mr. Richard Langton, who, after describing himself as the 
 King's ' abject lieutenant,' enlarged upon the loyalty of his 
 fellow-citizens, and proudly declared that ' each would have 
 bin glad to have entertained the place of speaker.' At 
 Huntingdon the courtly strain swelled into greater volume, 
 both municipal and academic, for the University of Cam- 
 bridge sent over its members primed with eulogistic Latin 
 verse; and the Mayor of Huntingdon, in his speech to the 
 King, boasted that * although Rome's hens should daily hatch 
 of its preposterous eggs crocodilicall chickens, yet, under 
 the shield of faith, by you our most Royal Sovereign 
 defended, and by the King of Heaven as 1 stand, and your 
 most medicable counsell, would v/e not be fearful to with- 
 stand them.' ^ 
 
 There are glimpses in old parochial accounts of money 
 spent in bonfires at Cambridge ; and King's College had 
 a bonfire of its own, for which a dignified Latin entry of 
 
 ^ * Five most noble speeches,' etc. Nicholas' Correspondence, Evelyn's Diary, 
 iv, 134- 
 
30 East Anglia and the 
 
 half a crown appears in the Bursar's accounts. But the 
 courtly manifestations were not in all cases spontaneous, 
 for even the churchwardens of St. Edward's, in Cambridge, 
 acquit themselves of a perfunctory service in these terms : 
 ' For ringing and a bonfire at the King's returne out of the 
 north, we being commanded therto by the Justices, i^-. ^d! ^ 
 
 As the King drew nearer to London, his politic behaviour 
 towards his subjects became a matter of concern to Secretary 
 Nicholas, who, writing to His Majesty of ' diverse principall 
 gent, of Hertfordsh : who were desirous to tender their duty 
 at Ware,' added this astute piece of advice : ** I humbly 
 conceave it would not be amisse for your Majestic in these 
 times to accept grac'ously ye affec'ons of your subjects in 
 that kinde, whereby you will have opportunity to show 
 yourself grac'ous to your people as your Majestie passeth, 
 and to speake a few good words to them, which will gaine 
 ye affons (especially of ye vulgar) more then anything that 
 hath bene donne for them this Parliamt." ^ 
 
 In a second letter to His Majesty, before he had reached 
 Ware, Sir Edward Nicholas urged the policy of stopping 
 at Ware " that ye better sorte may there kisse your Royall 
 hand, and ye rest be spoken to by your Majestie, it will 
 give them very great contentmt .... and that county 
 being soe neere a neighbour to London, it wilbe a good 
 encouragemt and comfort to your well affected people here 
 [in London] to understand that they have neighbours that 
 have ye like dutifull affec'ons to your Majestie's person and 
 governmt." 
 
 In a few short weeks the rejoicings over the King's return 
 were forgotten, and interest again centred in the subject-matter 
 of the Protestation. On December 30, the Bishop of Ely was 
 arrested and sent to the Tower. The charges against him 
 included the common one of ordering the communion table 
 in churches to be removed into the chancel and set altarwise, 
 and that when the people were enjoined by him to come 
 up to the rails to receive the communion, and they, ' for 
 fear of idolatry and superstition,' dare not come up, he 
 
 ^ " Church Bells of Cambridgeshire," by Canon Raven, p. 47. 
 * Nicholas' Correspondence in Evelyn's Diary. 
 
Great Civil War, 31 
 
 excommunicated them, and they left England and travelled 
 into Holland.^ 
 
 Among other charges against Bishop Wren was this 
 curious one. It had been the custom in the Diocese of Ely 
 to adopt a different style of ringing the bells when there 
 were to be prayers only, to that adopted when there was to 
 be a sermon. The result was, that the Puritan folk listened 
 for those bells which summoned them both to a sermon and 
 to prayers, and not much to those which signalled prayers 
 only. So the Bishop commanded that there should be no 
 difference in the ringing of the bells for the two different 
 kinds of service. He ordered prayers to be read in hood 
 and surplice ; and in one parish the clergyman not having 
 any, the Bishop ordered that no prayers should be said in 
 the church until the articles were provided, and as it took 
 a fortnight to get them, the parishioners went without 
 any service for two Sundays. Whitelock says that when 
 the Bishop was committed to the Tower, he was 'by few 
 pittied.' 
 
 The impeachment by the King of the Five Members and 
 of Lord Kimbolton set all England aflame. The people 
 of the shires went up in their thousands carrying petitions 
 to Parliament against things amiss. 
 
 On Tuesday, January 11, an impressive cavalcade of 
 horsemen crowded the great highways converging upon the 
 Metropolis. The 4,000 Buckinghamshire men came up with 
 the Protestation stuck in their hats,^ and ' mightie multitudes ' 
 out of Essex, Hertfordshire, and other counties ; and the 
 
 * "The Wren's Nest defiled, or Bishop Wren anatomized," etc., 1104, b. 53, 
 Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 "^ *' Nay, yet, to make the beautie and brightnesse of that foresaid Tewsday's 
 sunshine of comfort yet more glorious to our eyes and hearts ; that very same 
 nth Jan., I say, being Tewsday, came a numerous multitude of Buckingham- 
 shire men on horsl)ack, in very fair and orderly manner, with the Protestation 
 in their hats and hands ; and since which time, even immediately after, mightie 
 multitudes out of Essex, divers thousands out of Hertfordshire, Berkshire, Surrey, 
 and other counties of the Kingdom, in brief from all Shires and Counties of the 
 whole Realm, came still one alter another to London to exhibit their petitions 
 to the Parliament in the causes aforesaid ; from all parts swelling in the stream 
 of affections and petitions, all having one desire, all I say as one man unanimously 
 consenting in this one thing, namely, a serious and settled resolution to petition 
 and pray a speedie refining and reforming of persons and things amisse among 
 us." — Vicars, "God iu the Mount." 
 
32 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 Bedfordshire men, above two thousand in number, were seen 
 riding through Finsbury Fields 'four in a rank with their 
 protestations in their hats.' 
 
 In Hertfordshire a petition carried up by 4,000 knights, 
 gentlemen, and freeholders eloquently expressed the burdens 
 of all the rest. Of the House of Lords they asked that 
 * the voting of Popish Lords and Bishops ' might be removed 
 out of that house, and that * evil councillors may be taken 
 from about his Majesty.' To the House of Commons they 
 were more emphatic — 
 
 " That this Church and Kingdom, being by the prelates, 
 those multitudes of corrupt and scandalous ministers (their 
 creatures) and Popish party .... evil ministers of state, 
 and great swarms of projectors .... brought to a sad 
 and almost desperate condition, and thereby the splendour 
 of His Majesty's Crown and dignity dangerously weakened and 
 eclipsed .... the petitioners take upon them the humble 
 boldness to declare their readinesse and great engagements 
 according to their Protestation to stand to, and defend, 
 to the utmost peril of their lives and estates, the King's 
 Majestie and High Court of Parliament, with all the power 
 and privileges of the same .... against all Popish and 
 other malignant opposers, who endeavour, either by evil 
 counsell, secret plots, or open force, to hurt or prejudice the 
 same, or to make divisions betweene his Majesty and the 
 Parliament." 
 
 On January 25, Pym delivered these petitions at 
 a conference of Lords and Commons, and in an eloquent 
 speech told them that " their lordships might in these 
 petitions hear the voice, or rather the cry, of all England ; 
 the groans and miserable complaints of all." 
 
 During January and February the stream of petitioners 
 continued citywards, Essex, Colchester, King's Lynn, Cam- 
 bridge town and county sending in their petitions. So 
 numerous, says Rushworth, were the complaints and petitions 
 touching grievances, that the whole House was divided and 
 subdivided into above forty Committees to hear and 
 examine them. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE KING. DEPARTING FROM HIS PARLIAMENT — RIVAL 
 
 PROCLAMATIONS. 
 
 (1642.) 
 
 THE year 1642 opened with a remarkable instance of 
 the way in which the people of East Anglia regarded 
 the issue in the coming struggle. The Epiphany 
 Quarter Sessions at Cambridge were made remarkable for 
 a gathering such as the County had hardly ever witnessed 
 upon any similar occasion ; all present being animated with 
 a resolute purpose to have the County put into a position of 
 defence when, as now seemed inevitable, the quarrel com- 
 menced with pike and gun. The scene is so well described 
 in the letter addressed to Lord North, the Lord Lieutenant 
 of the County, that the required space may very well be given 
 to it here — 
 
 "Letter to Dudley, Lord North, Lord Lieutenant of Cam- 
 bridgeshire, read in the House of Lords, Feb. 25'^ 1641-2. 
 
 " Right Honourable, — 
 
 " We have received a public request at our last general 
 Quarter Sessions in open Court, from the better sort of the 
 inhabitants of our country [county] that were there (and 
 a greater Sessions for the appearance we never saw, beyond 
 the assembly of any Assizes if we shall respect only the 
 country people). Their earnest desire was, that we would 
 move your lordship to make use of your authority to your 
 Captains for a present muster ; that the arms we have may 
 be dressed and viewed, their defects supplied, and our soldiers 
 
34 East Anglia and the 
 
 often drilled and exercised as is frequently done in many 
 countries [counties] about them. Another request they made 
 at that time, which was, that their money in Mr. Crane's 
 hand may be put into arms, which we also allowed unto, 
 but would not conclude upon it before we had first acquainted 
 your lordship with their motion. The imminent dangers we 
 may expect from these miserable times, and the great care 
 we hear every country [county] takes to prepare themselves 
 for their own defence, invites us to do the same ; and there- 
 fore, with our neighbours, humbly request your lordship to 
 grant their desires, that there may be a present muster to 
 make good their arms, and a frequent exercise of their 
 soldiers, which will (as we conceive) encourage them to stand 
 better to them when any occasion shall require. 
 " Thus humbly taking our leaves, we rest 
 Your lordship's humble 
 
 and faithful servants, 
 Jo. Cutts, Tho. Symons, 
 
 Dudley Pope, Tho. Duckett.^ 
 
 On the other hand, some students of the Cambridge 
 University sent up a petition to 'shoot back those arrows 
 of suspicion newly cast upon us by seducers. To be seducers 
 is an easy matter you'll say if sophistry with her fallacies 
 may entitle us, but we have sucked better milk from the 
 tears of our mother — our mother who never yet was more 
 dejected, yet from the dust may ride upon the clouds and 
 in her due time shine.' 
 
 About the same time Lady Sussex at Gorham Bury, near 
 St. Albans, was despatching one of her characteristic letters 
 to Sir Ralph Verney, member for Aylesbury — " These 
 distracted times put us all in great disorders, but I hope we 
 shall not be killed yet. Your Parliament flies high, but 
 truly it is a happy thing, I think, they have so much courage 
 to stand to maintain their rights." ^ 
 
 Through the County of Hertford, King Charles I, having 
 sent the Queen, with the Crown jewels to pawn, to a place 
 
 * Lords' Journals, Feb. 25, 1641-2. 
 
 2 Verney MSS., Hist. MSS., Com. Reps. 
 
Great Civil War. 35 
 
 of safety in Holland, set out upon that eventful march away 
 from his Parliament, and there commenced what Fairfax 
 afterwards described as * the first incident of the drama which 
 soon afterwards filled the stage with the thunder of drums 
 and trumpets.' On March 3, His Majesty, with the Prince 
 of Wales and a train of noblemen, had reached the royal 
 house of his father. King James I, at Royston, and here he 
 lingered as if reluctant to take the fatal step of refusing 
 Parliament its desires respecting the Militia. On the first 
 day at Royston His Majesty yielded a point as to the 
 impeachment of the Five Members and Lord Kimbolton, 
 by issuing a declaration instructing his Attorney-General 
 'wholly to desist further proceeding against the persons 
 accused.' ^ For four days the negotiations at Royston went 
 on over the Militia, His Majesty returning * most polite 
 declarations,' but yielding nothing ; and on the 7th he went 
 on to Newmarket, leaving the young Prince at the old 
 country house of his fathers. 
 
 From this scene in the old Palace at Royston, there is 
 an interesting glimpse afforded of how the burden of the 
 nation's affairs weighed upon the 
 Royal temper, and how doubtful 
 the outlook already appeared even 
 to the young Prince, afterwards 
 Charles H, now a boy of twelve 
 years of age. Writing from Royston, 
 two days after the King had gone 
 on to Newmarket, to the ' Lady 
 Marie,' his ' most Royal sister,' the 
 young boy Prince expressed himself p^,rt of the old i>aiace at 
 in this frank and sensible fashion J^oyston. where Charles i re- 
 
 fused to give up the Mihtia. 
 
 upon the Royal outlook : — 
 
 " My father is very disconsolate and troubled, partly for 
 my Royal mother's and your absence, and partly for the 
 disturbances of the kingdome. I could wish and daily pray 
 that there might be a conjunct and perfect uniting between 
 my father's Majesty and his Parliament ; that there might 
 be a perfect concordance with them in the subject of the 
 
 ^ Broadsheet in Trinity College Library, Cambridge. 
 
36 East Anglia and the 
 
 removal of the grievances of the country and the ruining of 
 our decayed joys. We are as much we may merrie, and 
 more than we wood sad, in respect we cannot alter the 
 present distempers of these turbulent times. My father's 
 resolution is now for York, where he intends to reside to see 
 the event or sequell of these bad, unpropitious beginnings, 
 where you may direct your letter to 
 
 Your loving brother, 
 
 Caroli Princeps. 
 Royston, March 9, 1641-2." ^ 
 
 While the King was at Newmarket, moody and troubled 
 with the tendency of 'these bad, unpropitious beginnings,' 
 the young boy Prince Charles, accompanied by the Duke 
 of Buckingham and other nobles, left Royston in his coach 
 on Saturday, March 12, for Cambridge, there to meet the 
 King and other noble lords from Newmarket, to renew the 
 eventful journey Northward on the Monday. There, at 
 Cambridge, on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday morning, 
 a characteristic scene was enacted. Remembering the 
 gathering at the Quarter Sessions, it is not surprising that 
 the county people were very little in evidence to show their 
 loyalty to the young Prince, and that the townspeople 
 were moved with pity for the unfortunate position of the 
 King rather than with resolution to stand by His Majesty. 
 But the University was more faithful to old traditions, and 
 upon the arrival of the Prince turned out its ' young schollers 
 and Baccs. of Arts ' in brave array. Forming up in a line 
 for the Prince to pass through, they " did stand in the street 
 from Eman : Coll : gate to the west doore of St. Mary's in 
 y' formality, and as the Prince passed by them in his coach 
 they said with a loude voice, 'vivat Princeps,' etc. The 
 Vice chancellor met the Prince, welcomed him with an 
 oration and the presentation of a pair of gloves, which the 
 Prince did wear during the time of his stay." 
 
 The Prince visited King's College Chapel, where another 
 speech and the presentation of a Bible took place,^ and 
 
 » E. 140 (16), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 * The Bursar's accounts of King's College show that /"s os. 6d. was expended 
 upon this present. 
 
Great Civil War. 2>7 
 
 thence to the Regent House, where he received the degree 
 of Master of Arts. At Trinity College he was received 
 with more orations, and more gloves were presented and 
 wine was drunk. After this the Prince witnessed at Trinity 
 Hall, the performance of an * English Comedy,' * with which 
 he was ' very well pleased.' 
 
 After these ceremonies the Prince took coach for Newmarket 
 to join the King. There the Parliamentary Commissioners, 
 Pembroke and others, asked his Majesty once more ' whether 
 the Militia might not be granted as was desired by Parliament, 
 for a time/ to which his Majesty "swore by God, not for 
 a single houre ; you have askt that of me in this was never 
 askt of a King, and with which I will not trust my wife and 
 children." Having thus replied with the emphatic last word 
 between the country and civil war, His Majesty left his tennis- 
 courts at Newmarket to renew his journey Northwards. But 
 the good will of a wealthy University may be of great value 
 in these times, and so his Majesty, encouraged by the Prince's 
 reception at the University, decided to pay a flying visit 
 himself to Cambridge. 
 
 On Monday, March 14, both the King and the Prince, 
 with the noble lords in their train, had reached Cambridge, 
 and again the University made up for lack of enthusiasm 
 from the town and county. As the King came into the 
 town from Newmarket way, to make ' but a short stay in 
 regard they had to go to Huntingdon that night,' there was 
 a demonstration of the ' young schollers and Baccs, etc.,' 
 who stood in the street " from Jesus Coll : to Trin : Coll : 
 gate, and as his maj''® and the Prince passed, said ' Vivat 
 Rex ! Vivat Princeps ! ' " They left their coach * at the end 
 of the rayles,' and came to King's gate, where the Vice- 
 Chancellor and heads of Colleges met them and presented 
 the King 'with a fair Bible.' From King's College they 
 went to Trinity College Chapel and thence to St. John's, 
 where they were entertained by Dr. Beale, the Master, with 
 a * travelling banquet,' of which His Majesty " eate a little 
 
 ^ Cowley's "The Guardian," afterwards known as "The Cutter of Coleman 
 Street." In the Bursar's accounts of Trinity College for this year there is an 
 item for * Dr. Cooley's Comedy.' There is also an entry of £/[ i^s. \od. for 
 ' wine for ye King's entertainment. ' 
 
38 East Anglia and the 
 
 and gave the Prince a good store to put in his pocket, and 
 then the noblemen and the rest of his followers made quick 
 despatch of the remainder." ^ After a valedictory speech from 
 the Public Orator the King and the Prince were conducted 
 'to their coach, and again ' The schollers shouted Vivat Rex."^ 
 
 The correspondent of an old contemporary newspaper 
 adds to this that the University saluted the King "with 
 such vehement acclamacions of * Vivat Rex ! ' as I never heard 
 ye like noise heer before upon any occasion. At his parting 
 one tells me that he [the King] thus spake to ye Vice chan : 
 * Mr. Vice chanc : whatsoever becomes of me I will charge 
 my sonn, upon my blessing, to respect ye University.' " 
 
 And so His Majesty, disconsolate and troubled about 
 ' these bad, unpropitious beginnings,' leaves Cambridge for 
 Huntingdon in a melancholy mood, flattered by the attentions 
 of the University, yet weighed down and ' much discontented 
 that neither the Sheriff nor any gentlemen of Cambridgeshire 
 did meet him.' The fact was, that the gentlemen of Cam- 
 bridgeshire had just then a demonstration of quite an 
 opposite kind in hand ; and Sir John Cotton, of Landwade, 
 near Newmarket, knowing their temper, thought it best to 
 keep out of the way. For Cambridgeshire the King's journey 
 was received with a silence which meant much more than 
 words ; a silence only broken by ' the women and others 
 in the town of Cambridge,' who followed the King's coach 
 and 'humbly and earnestly entreated the King that he 
 would return to his Parliament, or they should be undone.' 
 
 One little glimpse such as this of the women of Cambridge 
 besieging the King's coach with their tears, enables us, 
 better than acres of formal parchment history could do, 
 to realize the infinite pity and sadness of it all, as the people 
 witnessed the widening breach in the Constitution by the 
 drifting apart of the King and Parliament. Here in the 
 
 rl c" ^^^ ^ banquet and wine for ye entertainment of His matie and ye Prince, 
 >Co 8x. od. For or Coll. share of His maties and ye Prince's entertainment in ye 
 University, ^21 it,s. 8^. "—Bursar's accounts, St. John's College, Cambridge, 164^. 
 King s College seems to have been more especially concerned with the reception 
 of the Pnnce, for which the Bursar credits himself with this item : " Solut. pro 
 expensis in receptione Principis, £^2 los. 8^. "—Bursar's accounts, King's 
 College, 1642. 
 » Baker MSS., vol. xxxiii, 235-6. Camb. Univ. Lib. 
 
Great Civil War. 39 
 
 heart of Puritan East Anglia, whatever it might be among 
 the people in the City, the struggle was not to be entered 
 upon with a light heart, but as a serious business. The die 
 was cast, however, and the coach with the King and his 
 melancholy, and the boy Prince with his pockets full of 
 cakes, rolled on towards Huntingdon, with this little con- 
 solation, that the Sheriff of Huntingdonshire, Richard Stone, 
 of Stukeley, had ventured to Cambridge to meet His Majesty, 
 and got knighted for his pains. For the temper of Huntingdon- 
 shire did not come out quite so emphatically for Parliament 
 as did that of Cambridgeshire. As an instance of the appre- 
 hension of coming trouble, it is related that a fish, brought 
 from the sea to Cambridge market, being cut up, a book 
 was found in the bowels of the fish, which, 'being a new 
 way of sending books to Cambridge, gave some amount of 
 curiosity.' Upon looking into the contents of the book it 
 was found to be *' A Preparation to the Cross," a book written 
 in the reign of Henry VHI ; and its coming to Cambridge 
 in this strange way 'alarmed good men,' and it was looked 
 upon as an admonition to 'prepare for sufferings.' ^ 
 
 There is a letter in the "Squire Papers" which, whether 
 authentic or not, may very well stand for CromwelPs activity 
 at this juncture — 
 
 " Dear Friends, 
 
 " It is not improbable that the King may go through 
 Huntingdon on his way to Stamford. Pray keep all steady 
 and let no peace be broken. Beg of all to be silent ; or it 
 may mar our peaceable settling this sad business. Such 
 as are in the County Array bid go ; all of you protect, at 
 cost of life, the King from harm, or foul usage by word or 
 deed, as you love the cause. — From, 
 " Your faithful 
 
 " Oliver Cromwell." ^ 
 
 I have found no trace of any disturbance at Huntingdon. 
 On the contrary, the King appears to have slept at Hunt- 
 ingdon that night ; and before resuming his journey on the 
 
 ' Baker's Hist, of St. John's College, Cambridge. 
 
 * App. to Carlyle's *' Letters and Speeches of Cromwell." 
 
40 
 
 East Anzlici ccnd the 
 
 %*> 
 
 following morning despatched a letter to Parliament about 
 Ireland, and declaring against the validity of any Act or 
 Ordinance that had not received the Royal Assent, and with 
 it this letter to Lord Littleton, Keeper of the Great Seal : — 
 
 " Charles R. 
 
 " Right trusty and well beloved Counsellor, we greet 
 you well. Our will and command is, that at the next sitting 
 of the House of Peers (after your receipt of these) you deliver 
 our message (sent enclosed) to be read at our said House, 
 and afterwards communicated to our House of Commons. 
 For which they shall be your warrant. 
 
 "Given at our Court at Huntingdon on this 15th of March, 
 1641 [2]." 1 
 
 Clarendon says that when the message and letter from the 
 King at Huntingdon reached the Houses of Parliament — 
 " I have not known both Houses in more choler and rage 
 than upon the receiving this message, which came early 
 to them on Wednesday the sixteenth of March." He adds 
 that the day before had been spent in preparing all things 
 ready for the execution of the Ordinance of the Militia, and 
 that " when the King's message from Huntingdon was read 
 the next morning, and seemed to be against their votes of 
 the day before, they concluded that it could not be sent 
 from the King, but had been inserted in blanks left in the 
 town for such purposes," until the messenger declared that 
 he received it from the King's own hand. On the same 
 subject, Whitelock says that upon the receipt of the King's 
 message from Huntingdon, Parliament were "the more ex- 
 asperated by the report from the Lords who were sent to him 
 [the King] unto Royston ; that at the reading of that part 
 of the message [from Parliament] concerning Mr. Jermyn, 
 the King had said, ' it is false ! ' and when they read that of 
 Captain Legg, the King said, ' that 's a lie ! ' " 2 
 
 The House sent back their reply to the King's message 
 in these words : — 
 
 " Resolved, etc., that this House shall insist upon their 
 former votes concerning the Militia ; and that those persons 
 
 * Lords' Journals. 2 « Memorials," i, 165. 
 
Great Civil War, 41 
 
 that advised his Majesty to 'absent himself from the Par- 
 liament are the enemies of the Peace of this Kingdom." 
 
 That emphatic last word having been said by King and 
 Parliament, it may be of interest to see what was the temper of 
 Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and other Eastern Counties 
 in the conflict which was now inevitable. The very next 
 day after those academic ' Vivats ' and women's tears had 
 moved the King, now to cheerfulness, now to melancholy, 
 in Cambridge, the knights, esquires, and freeholders of the 
 county were riding in, amidst other ' Vivats ' doubtless, from 
 all parts of the Fens, until an imposing array of horsemen 
 was ready to set out for the Metropolis. At Cambridge 
 they were joined by an organized party representing the town, 
 and while the King rode on to Peterborough and Stamford, 
 the great procession moved on with increasing numbers 
 through the South of the county towards London. There, 
 on Wednesday, March 16, they were crowding around the 
 doors at Westminster for the opportunity of adding their 
 voice to the great volume of popular opinion on the side 
 of Parliament. As many as could squeeze into the House 
 did so — into both Houses, in fact — and this is the petition 
 which they presented : — 
 
 " To the Right Honourable the Lords in Parliament 
 assembled. The humble petition of the Knights, Esquires, 
 gentlemen, and commoners of the County of Cambridge and 
 the Isle of Elie. 
 
 " Sheweth 
 "That the many pressures and heavy grievances which 
 we for years past have groaned under, have of late, by 
 your pious and noble endeavours, received comfortable relief 
 in part, and your petitioners much cheered with the good 
 hopes conceived of your lordships' further care and zeal 
 for a perfect cure for the future, most graciously manifested 
 to all by your lordships' late happy concurrence with the 
 honourable House of Commons, who (to the great joy of us) 
 have hereby hitherto gone on in a blessed progress towards 
 a thorough reformation in Church and State ; the serious 
 consideration whereof, and all that great blessing and benefit 
 
42 East Anglia and the 
 
 we receive thereby, your petitioners, in the duty of their 
 gratitude, humbly present themselves, their lives, and their 
 fortunes, in the defence of your noble persons. 
 
 "May it therefore please your lordships to accept this, 
 though thus long delayed, as the resolved assurance of our 
 fidelities to your lordships, proceeding in a happy concurrence, 
 for the glory of God and the public good ; which your 
 petitioners in all humility conceive will not be a little 
 advanced if your lordships please to speed a settling of 
 God's worship according to His Word, the blessing of a 
 religious ministry, removing of unwarranted orders and 
 dignities, the steps unto popery, purging the Universities, 
 banishing all popish clergy, excluding ill councillors, 
 punishing delinquents, relieving our distressed brothers 
 abroad and fortifying ourselves at home. Wherein we 
 beseech your lordships to go on with as much zeal and 
 speed as the pressing necessities of the times require. 
 
 " So shall we, as we are bound, pray for the increase of 
 your lordships' happiness here, and in the fruition thereof 
 hereafter." ^ 
 
 A similar petition was presented to the Commons, and 
 the Houses ' did give them thanks.' 
 
 On March 25, the knights, gentlemen, and freeholders of 
 Huntingdonshire followed the example of Cambridgeshire 
 and drew up their petition, but instead of going up to 
 deliver it in person entrusted it to one of the members for 
 the county. 
 
 In this petition the knights, gentlemen, and freeholders 
 of Hunts put in a special plea and justification of "the 
 religious members of the House of Peers," their neighbour, 
 " the Lord Kimbolton of our shire," who had been impeached 
 with the Five Members, but of whom they added : " we are 
 confident of his loyalty, and have so absolute an opinion of 
 him that he is not guilty of the least of these articles 
 wherein he is arraigned." 
 
 Similar petitions had, some few weeks before, been pre- 
 sented by the county of Essex, complaining of the effect of 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War, 43 
 
 the ' unparalleled breaches upon the liberties of Parliament,' 
 upon the ' cloathing and farming, the two trades of our country 
 [county], whereby multitudes of our people have lived,' and 
 adding that the petitioners ' tremble to think what may follow 
 thereupon.' 
 
 The Suffolk people also sent up their petitions deploring 
 the innovations in the Church and ' multitudes of monopolies ' 
 and public grievances in the State ; and also the decay of 
 the clothing trade, 'upon which the livelihoods of many 
 thousands do depend.' The Norfolk people in their petition, 
 after urging the deposition of the Bishops and Popish lords, 
 waxed eloquent over ' multiplicity of grievances which have 
 disturbed our county,' and prayed that 'the clear spring 
 of your sacred and unanimous resolutions may run like 
 a pure fountain of justice, without either the hindrance or 
 let of any/ ^ 
 
 In the words of Carlyle — " The question puts itself to 
 every English soul, which of these will you obey? In every 
 shire, in every parish, in court houses, ale houses, churches, 
 markets, wherever men were gathered together, England, 
 with sorrowful confusion in every fibre, is tearing itself into 
 hostile halves, to carry on the voting by pike and bullet 
 henceforth." 
 
 Throughout the shires of East Anglia the great issue was 
 dividing men everywhere and cutting with 'sorrowful con- 
 fusion ' into the ties of family life, until ' they of the same 
 household were found in hostile camps.' 
 
 In Cambridgeshire the two county members took opposite 
 sides — Sir Dudley North for Parliament, and Mr. Thomas 
 Chichely, of Wimpole Hall, for the King. In Huntingdonshire 
 there were divisions going to the roots of family life. In three 
 of the leading Huntingdonshire families there were strange 
 searchings of heart over the conduct of younger members of 
 old Royalist families, and speculation among the public upon 
 which side the great houses of Kimbolton and Hinchinbrook 
 would go. Kimbolton Castle had, in these stormy times, 
 meant for the Huntingdonshire people an embodiment of 
 
 * E. 132 (20), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
44 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 the Star Chamber, Ship-money, and the ' Bishops' War,' which 
 the Earl of Manchester had supported with his influence and 
 his money. But there was a strange pathos in the fact 
 that the old Earl had, so to speak, one foot in the grave, 
 and that his son Edward Montague, the young Viscount 
 Mandeville and the future Earl, was, by the irony of events, 
 to be the leader of the Puritan party in the House of Lords, 
 and destined to reverse all the late traditions of his house 
 in a few short months. At Hinchinbrook there was 
 a similar conflict of natural ties and public duty. Here 
 Sir Sidney Montague, brother of the old Earl over at 
 Kimbolton, and member for Huntingdon, was standing out 
 for the King, while his son Edward Montague we shall soon 
 see in command of forces for Parliament. 
 
 With the former possessors of Hinchinbrook it was the 
 same. Sir Oliver Cromwell, now of Ramsey, son of the 
 ' Golden Knight,' and his son John, were on the side of 
 the King, while of the families of his brothers, Robert 
 of Huntingdon, and Sir Philip, of Biggin House, there were 
 strange contrasts, this son for King, that for Parliament ; 
 with this curious result, that four Oliver Cromwells were 
 taking sides in the fray — Sir Oliver of Ramsey for the King, 
 the Oliver and his son Oliver, of Ely, and Sir Philip's son 
 Oliver, of Biggin, for Parliament. This, briefly, was the 
 state of things in the two great Huntingdonshire families 
 of the Montagues and the Cromwells — the two branches 
 of the Montagues at Kimbolton and Hinchinbrook, the 
 Cromwells now somewhat scattered. Similar divisions in 
 official and private life were taking place all through the 
 Eastern Counties as elsewhere. Parliament sent down its 
 members to see that the control of the Militia was secured, 
 and Oliver Cromwell was among the most active of these. 
 
 When, at last, the Proclamation of Parliament for putting 
 into execution the Ordinance for the Militia in the several 
 counties had been practically settled, there was a strange 
 conflict of authorities. Side by side almost with the 
 Proclamation of Parliament there was that of the King— 
 the one commanding the officials to act for putting the 
 Militia in training, the other forbidding them ; and so, says 
 
Great Civil War, 45 
 
 Sir Dudley North, ' this war first began in paper by manifestoes 
 and declarations.' ^ The dilemma was a most crucial one — 
 on the one side, all the strength and promise of a great 
 popular cause impelling forward ; on the other, all the force 
 and respect for old associations and oaths of allegiance 
 holding back. The ' sorrowful confusion ' was all the greater 
 by reason of the old use of names and things being almost 
 identical on both sides; for both sides were drifting into 
 a war in which each was to fight for the defence of ' King 
 and Parliament,' but with a difference wide enough to make 
 war inevitable. 
 
 As early as May 10, Major-General Skippon had appeared 
 in Finsbury Fields with the trained bands of London, con- 
 sisting of above 8,000 soldiers, and the Members of Parliament 
 were entertained by the City ; " all men," says Clarendon, 
 " presuming that the example of London with such ceremony 
 and solemnity would be easily followed throughout the 
 kingdom." The first notable instance of this, but with 
 a strange conflict of rival proclamations, occurred in Lincoln- 
 shire. Lord Willoughby of Parham summoned the chief 
 constables to a meeting at Lincoln to give an account of the 
 arms, etc., in their respective hundreds. "They assembled 
 with all alacrity, even beyond expectations, there being 
 the fullest appearance of them that we have observed upon 
 any occasion heretofore, so as out of about four score in 
 this great county not above two or three of them were 
 absent. Neither did the King's Proclamation (published on 
 purpose, as we conceive, throughout the county, and which 
 some had officiously fixed upon the gates of the inn where 
 we met) .... as we are informed, any whit deter or 
 hinder them." ^ 
 
 At one of the musters of the Militia which followed, at 
 Caistor, Lincolnshire, Captain William Booth, a Royalist, armed 
 with the King's proclamation forbidding their assembling, 
 read it to such company as were assembled in a tavern, 
 * thereby endeavouring to dissuade many of the soldiers from 
 
 * Passages relating to the Long Parliament, Somers' Tracts, vi, 565. 
 ' Letter from Committee at Lincoln in Lords' Journals. 
 
46 East Anglia and the 
 
 shewing their arms.' He added sarcastic remarks upon the 
 small muster at Lincoln, that ' there was a brave appearance 
 at Lincoln of some fifteen or sixteen men.' For these words 
 the Captain had to answer to Parliament. The King wrote 
 to Lord Willoughby informing him that for mustering the 
 trained bands of the County he would be called to account, 
 and would be esteemed and proceeded against as ' a disturber 
 of the peace of our kingdom,' to which his Lordship deprecated 
 commands 'which must needs make him false to those that 
 rely upon him.' 
 
 The temper of Essex is shown by the " Petition and 
 Resolution of the captains of hundreds and other inhabitants 
 of the County of Essex," in which, on June 8, they say : — 
 
 "Thus, with our hands upon our swords we stand ready 
 at your command to perform our vows to God and oaths 
 of fidelity to his Majesty in taking up arms against these 
 false flatterers and traitors who abuse his Royal favour, 
 intending under the glorious title of his name and standard 
 to fight against the peace and honour of their Sovereign, 
 against religion and the laws, and to make a prey and spoil 
 of three flourishing kingdoms at once ; and so spend our 
 dearest blood in the defence of the lives and liberties of 
 our countrymen ; the laws which are the life of our liberty 
 and peace, religion more precious than both ; and the King 
 and Parliament, in whose rights lieth bound up the life of 
 all the rest." ^ 
 
 The dilemma did, however, weigh heavily upon the 
 conscience of many, and Mr. Robert Smith, the High 
 Sheriff for Essex, having received the King's proclamation 
 forbidding the trained bands to muster or exercise, appealed 
 to Parliament to know what he was to do; to which 
 Parliament replied by declaring the King's writ to be illegal, 
 and directed that " Mr. Smith and all other Sheriffs shall be 
 protected in whatever they do in the service and by authority 
 of Parliament." 
 
 In Cambridgeshire, on June 14, Roger Daniel, the 
 University printer at Cambridge, was issuing copies of a 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War, 47 
 
 printed paper, headed, " By the King, a Proclamation," 
 which forbade ' All levies of forces without his Majesty's 
 expressed pleasure signified under his great seal, and all 
 contributions or assistance to any such levies,' which 
 proclamation 'all sheriffs, justices, mayors, bailiffs, and 
 constables ' were required to publish.^ Parliament then sent 
 down the members for the Cambridge University to see 
 that its own proclamations were read in the Colleges, and 
 to obtain certificates from the masters and heads of Colleges 
 that they were duly read. 
 
 The propositions of Parliament for raising sinews of war, 
 money and plate, to be advanced with the security of the 
 public faith with 8 per cent, interest, gave a serious air of 
 business to warlike preparations. Away over at Cratfield, 
 in Suffolk, Mr. Eland, the vicar, entered in his accounts, the 
 like of which was happening in all shires and villages of 
 East Anglia, the cost of four men's dinners with their 
 horses for going to Yoxford to pay in * the money and plate 
 lent to the parliament upon the propositions,' and for 'two 
 nags and a mare lent the parliament upon the propositions.* ^ 
 
 The King at the same time came forward with an offer 
 of 8 per cent, interest for loans advanced to himself, 
 addressed to the University of Cambridge, from York, 
 June 29, 1642. In this letter he complained that, notwith- 
 standing his proclamations declaring that it had not been 
 his intention to make war upon Parliament, 'horse is still 
 levied and plate and money brought in against us.' He 
 instanced his ' perpetual care and protection of such nurseries 
 of learning,' as a ground for expecting their extraordinary 
 assistance, and assured them that whatever was paid to 
 the bearer, John Poley (proctor and Fellow of Pembroke 
 Hall),' 'shall be received by us as a very acceptable service.' 
 
 There is good reason to believe that Mr. Poley took back 
 a substantial sum to the King from the various Colleges, 
 for, three weeks afterwards, Secretary Nicholas writes that 
 
 ^ Broadside in Trinity College Library, Cambridge, 
 ' Cratfield Parish Papers, per Rev. Canon Raven. 
 3 Cambridge Portfolio. 
 
48 East Anglia and the 
 
 *the University of Oxford has voluntarily sent in ;^io,ooo 
 to the King, and that of Cambridge a fair proportion 
 also.' 
 
 Meanwhile the efforts of Lord Willoughby to secure the 
 Militia in Lincolnshire, had provoked a remarkable 
 demonstration for the King. The Earl of Lindsay, Sir 
 Edmund Heron (the High Sheriff), Sir Jervase Scroope, 
 Sir Charles Dallison (the Recorder of Lincoln), and 
 other Royalist gentry, were making a brave bid for 
 the King to come amongst them. Like His Majesty, 
 these gentlemen had been staggered by Sir John Hotham's 
 shutting the gates of Hull against the King, and they 
 now appealed to the fears of the country people, declaring 
 that 'their county was likely to prove the seat of some 
 dismal tragedy, the seat of a deplored War,' and they 
 conceived the idea that to bring His Majesty to Lincoln 
 would be 'a helpful means of preventing that misery.' The 
 King accepted their invitation, and for the time being he 
 came, he saw, he conquered ! The people of Lincoln and 
 of all the country-side assembled in their thousands. In 
 their wild enthusiasm they lost, for the moment, all idea 
 of the true proportion of things ; and only saw in the 
 King's coming amongst them an event which could be 
 summed up as being 'to the glory of God, the honour of 
 His Anointed, the credit of religion, and proof of our loyalty.' 
 The 'joyful, unanimous, orderly confluence' of people 
 assembled, 'yielded not much in number and nothing in 
 weight' to the much-talked-of 60,000 who met the King 
 at York. For four miles 'the way was a throng,' and the 
 air resounded with their 'peals of shouts and vocal 
 acclamations.' The great crowd shouted, " A King ! A King ! 
 A King ! " The gentry, ' not satisfied with sounds,' drew 
 their swords ; and the clergy, between 200 and 300 in 
 number, ' echoed and redoubled their gratulatory salutations ' 
 with the more classic * Vivat Rex ! ' The city of Lincoln, 
 forgetting the excuse of the Plague, which had hindered 
 obedience to the call of the Parliamentary Lord Lieutenant, 
 and, 'pregnant with alike joyful conception/ came forth 
 in brave array, with their Recorder, Mayor, and Corporation, 
 
Great Civil War, 49 
 
 and trained bands ; ' in so much that many think 
 Wednesday was the funeral of the new Militia.' ^ 
 
 Sir Charles Dallison, the Recorder, having persuaded 
 himself that the people were living under the best possible 
 government, in his flattering speech of welcome to the King, 
 had the boldness to declare that 'the people of this nation 
 have been most happily governed under your Majesty.' For 
 his own part, he added the assurance, ' prostrating himself 
 at his Majesty's feet,* he offered * himself, estate and fortune,' 
 to His Majesty, and made the same offer for the Mayor and 
 Corporation of Lincoln. The King's reply to this speech 
 was a frank admission of open war between himself and 
 Parliament. The Militia Ordinance of Parliament he de- 
 clared to be against the known laws, imposed upon them 
 against his express consent, and in contempt of his regal 
 authority ; and that whoever presumed to execute or obey 
 the same he should proceed against, as against those who 
 actually levied war against him. He urged them not " to be 
 frighted with apprehensions that this country [county] is 
 like to be the seat of war ; the seat of war will be only 
 where persons rise in rebellion against me ; that will not, 
 I hope, be here." ^ Having assured them, ' upon the faith and 
 honour of a Christian King,' of his intention to live and die 
 in their defence, and to be 'as tender of the Protestant 
 religion, the laws of the land, and the privilege of Parlia- 
 ment as of his own life and crown,' the King departed, and 
 returned by way of Beverley. 
 
 The Royalist cause had gained some acclaim, and con- 
 siderable promises of support ; but behind all sentimental 
 attachments, even Lincolnshire was haunted with the trouble- 
 some question of ' What was now to be done ? ' The King 
 had come and gone ; the * new Militia ' was not ' buried,' and 
 in his own admission that there was going to be war, His 
 Majesty was a better prophet than in his forecast of the seat 
 of war, by which, of all the Eastern Counties, Lincolnshire 
 was destined to suffer most. 
 
 * *' A true relation of his Majesty's reception and Royal entertainment at Lincoln, 
 etc." : Brit. Mus. Lib., E. io8 (27). 
 2 Rushworth's Historical Collections for June 15, 1642. 
 
^o East Anglia and the 
 
 In town and village men were bracing themselves for the 
 conflict ; private families looked forward with dread to the 
 extreme pass to which things were tending, and began to 
 think of retreats for themselves and possessions. From 
 Gorhambury, near St. Albans, garrulous old Lady Sussex, 
 the ' old men's wife,' who married four husbands, writes : 
 
 " I hope in God we shall have no fighting I am 
 
 loth to eat in pewter yet, but truly I have put up my plate, 
 and say it is sold." 
 
 Out of the growing confusion and distressful omens, 
 Mr. Cromwell, member for Cambridge, is discernible ; as, 
 impelled by hot zeal for the cause of Parliament, he is 
 getting arms for his neighbours, of which the first authori- 
 tative evidence is afforded in this entry in the Commons' 
 Journals : " Whereas Mr. Cromwell hath sent down arms 
 into the County of Cambridge for the defence of that 
 county; it is this day ordered that Sir Dudley North shall 
 forthwith pay to Mr. Cromwell one hundred pounds which 
 he hath received from Mr. Crane, late High Sheriff of the 
 County of Cambridge, which said hundred pounds the said 
 Mr. Crane had remaining in his hands for coat and conduct 
 money." ^ 
 
 As soon as the townspeople of Cambridge had got 
 hold of their muskets, it is alleged that some of the more 
 forward actually began to fire into the windows of certain 
 scholars, and the members of the University found it necessary 
 to purchase arms for their own defence.^ In fact, arms had 
 been secretly coming into Cambridge as into other places : 
 * fifteen chests full of arms had been conveyed from London 
 to Cambridge'^; but upon their arrival in Cambridge, the 
 Mayor got wind of it and seized upon ten chests, which he 
 
 * In the Public Record Office, preserved among the State Papers, is an 
 interesting memorandum certifying the paying over of this ;^ioo from Mr. Crane 
 the late High Sheriff to Sir Dudley North ; the paying of it by the latter to 
 Mr. Cromwell, and Cromwell's receipt for the same. Mr, Cromwell had, 
 according to D'Ewes, moved for an order to allow the townsmen of Cambridge 
 to raise two companies of Volunteers, and to appoint captains over them, and 
 the House on the same date made order for moving the Lord Lieutenant to 
 that end. 
 
 ^ " Querela Cantabrigiensis." 
 
 3 Diurnal of Occurrences in Parliament. 
 
Great Civil War, 51 
 
 was ordered by Parliament to 'keep for the peace and 
 safeguard of the said town of Cambridge.' But the scholars 
 of Trinity College had succeeded in getting the other chests 
 into the College before the Mayor could prevent it. One 
 of the chests of arms which came down to the University 
 was addressed to Dr. Wiseman, of Trinity Hall, who paid 
 for the same and for their carriage to the Bull HoteV but 
 afterwards had them seized by Mr. Oliver Cromwell, * pre- 
 tending the authority of Parliament.' 
 
 The same kind of thing was going on in towns all over 
 the Fens, and, what is more, the Militia and Volunteers were 
 gathering on village greens and in the fields near towns in 
 response to the rousing call of drum and trumpet. 
 
 On July 21, the Volunteers of Boston, Lincolnshire, and 
 divers well-affected persons were ' training themselves in 
 fields near the said town ' ; at Bury St. Edmunds the people 
 were training in the use of arms under Robert Chaplin, also 
 * in the fields near the said town ' ; at King's Lynn they were 
 training under Captain Slaney, and Parliament, foreseeing 
 the strategic importance of the place, ordered special care 
 to be taken of the town and of the powder magazine. 
 Meanwhile, through the month of July, the conflict of 
 proclamations continued by every means available — by 
 carriers, by special messengers, and by the post. In the 
 parish churches on Sunday, the unfortunate clergyman was 
 between Scylla and Charybdis ; from the Parliament he 
 received a proclamation respecting the Militia, which he was 
 commanded to read to his congregation ; from the King 
 he received a proclamation denouncing the proclamation of 
 Parliament, and appealing to his allegiance not to obey the 
 orders of Parliament ; and a third proclamation he received 
 from Parliament forbidding him at his peril to read that of 
 the King. The result was, that before the parson had dis- 
 posed of these rival proclamations, to his own satisfaction 
 or that of his congregation, he had openly committed himself 
 to one side or the other, and had to take the consequences. 
 
 ' In the papers in the College Library there is preserved the bill of Dr. 
 Wiseman's chest of arms, as printed in Cooper's *' Annals of Cambridge." 
 
52 East Anglia and the 
 
 In the Eastern Counties the Puritan element was generally 
 strong enough to make the Parliamentary proclamation the 
 safer one to handle ; and where a clergyman had the courage 
 to defy this element, some strange scenes occurred, of which 
 the following are typical. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. George, Vicar of Cople, Beds, standing up 
 before his congregation with copies of the three proclamations 
 in his hand, spoke thus : — "Judge whether I am to obey God 
 or man ! By God's word I am commanded to obey the King. 
 I find no such command for the Parliament " ; and he ' threw 
 away the two declarations of Parliament scornfully,' read the 
 King's proclamation, and in the end was sent for to London, 
 committed to prison, and fined i^ioo by Parliament. In the 
 parish church of Hartist, in Suffolk, Mr. Gibb, the parson, 
 was asking his parishioners ' to give attention to one of His 
 Majesty's declarations,' whereupon ' one Master Coleman, 
 a parishioner, openly replied that he might be ashamed of 
 himself to read His Majesty's declaration, and therefore he 
 would fetch the Parliament's declaration, which was a great 
 deal better, to be published unto them.' Some wrangling in 
 the church followed, and Mr. Gibb, the parson, used some 
 words for which he was sent up to Parliament to answer. 
 Daniel Chandler, of Oakington, in Cambridgeshire, before 
 leaving his parishioners to go to the King, read in church 
 a proclamation from Parliament, as far as ' Lords and Peers in 
 Parliament' ; but when he came to ' the House of Commons ' 
 he threw it away, saying, " What had he to do with the House 
 of Commons?" 
 
 In Huntingdonshire Lewis Phillips, under-sheriff, and 
 Henry Burnaby, bailiff of the hundred of Toseland, had to 
 answer for publishing the King's proclamation, and Burnaby 
 also for 'unseemly speeches' about Sir Samuel Luke, 
 member for Bedford, and was afterwards indebted to the 
 magnanimity of the old knight in supporting his plea for 
 release. In the Eastern Counties, wherever the gentry 
 sought to execute the King's commands, they were, says 
 Rushworth, 'as oft as they attempted to show themselves,' 
 crushed, and their endeavours defeated by the freeholders 
 and yeomen. The Mayors of Hertford and St. Albans, for 
 
Great Civil War, 53 
 
 publishing the King's proclamation, were summoned to the 
 bar of the House and committed to prison. Upon his return 
 when liberated, the Mayor of Hertford had his personal 
 expenses allowed by the Corporation, but at St. Albans they 
 disallowed the expenses of their Mayor, even his coach hire 
 down to St. Albans on his release. 
 
 When, in the Summer months of 1642, members had 
 been sent down into the shires at Quarter Sessions or 
 Assizes to advance the cause of Parliament, the Royalist 
 justices and clergy would also assemble to advance the 
 interests of the King, and some stirring scenes ensued of 
 which the city of Ely was a witness. The Bishop had been 
 released from his imprisonment in May and was again using 
 his influence in the Isle for the King. There, while the 
 magistrates were sitting in the Shire Hall at the Quarter 
 Sessions or Assizes, a memorable gathering was crowding 
 into the market-place. In the midst of a knot of Royalists 
 was Dr. Hill, parson of Coveney and Manea, 'very earnest 
 to have the Earl of Essex proclaimed a traitor in the 
 marketstead in the face of the court.' In due course Mr. 
 Hollman, the under-sheriff, Mr. Cutler, bailiff of the Liberty, 
 the Bishop's crier, Mr. Andrews, a barrister, and an official 
 retinue appeared upon the scene armed with the King's 
 proclamation. The strident tones of the herald brought out 
 Parliamentary Major Dodson and othei^ from the Dolphin, 
 and 'seeing the Bishop's crier, about to publish the pro- 
 clamation,' Dodson asked him ' who set him at work ? ' He 
 replied, ' What have you to do withall ? ' to which Dodson 
 replied, 'Whoever read it would have his hand cut off'! 
 'Whereupon there was like to be a mutiny.' Dr. Hill rushed 
 into the Shire Hall, and complained to the magistrates that 
 * he had been hindered from reading the King's proclamation.' 
 Captain Humberstone March and another magistrate went 
 down into the market-place to make peace, and, dissuading 
 Dodson from further resistance, got him out of the way. 
 In the meantime Dr. Hill had seized his opportunity, and 
 *did charge with halberts and had the proclamation read.' 
 Dodson was dissuaded from resistance lest he should have 
 
54 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 'articles brought against him' and get some damage, 'the 
 Bishop and his friends being too powerful. ' ^ 
 
 This reference to the power of the Bishop and his party 
 was probably true, but in his next endeavour for the King 
 the Bishop came in conflict with his powerful neighbour, 
 Mr. Cromwell, the tithe farmer. 
 
 ^ Depositions in the case of Dr. Hill, parson of Coveney and Manea, Minutes 
 of Committee for Scandalous Ministers, Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CROMWELL AND THE COLLEGE PLATE— RAISING THE 
 
 king's STANDARD— tumults IN EAST ANGLIA — THE 
 
 BATTLE OF EDGEHILL. 
 
 (1642.) 
 
 IF the power of the Bishop was, for the moment, too 
 much at Ely, the power of the University might be 
 expected to be greater still at Cambridge ; and it is 
 significant that while the King saw the importance of 
 obtaining contributions from the University, Cromwell was 
 equally alive to the importance of preventing it, and securing 
 this key to the Eastern Counties. Clarendon says that 
 * some eminent governors in the University gave the King 
 notice that all the Colleges were very plentifully supplied 
 with plate,' and that the King, * in that melancholic season 
 at Nottingham,* despatched two gentlemen to Oxford and 
 Cambridge. These gentlemen were the bearers of a letter 
 in which the King, on July 24, wrote to the Vice-Chancellor — 
 "Trusty and well-beloved, we greet you well. Whereas 
 we have great reason to acknowledge the willing expressions 
 of the affections of both our Universities in the late supply 
 afforded to us in this time of necessity ; and particularly 
 being informed of the further readiness of all or most of our 
 Colleges in Cambridge to make offer of depositing their plate 
 into our hands for the better security and safety thereof; 
 we have .... thought good to will and require you 
 to signify to that our University, that what College plate 
 soever any of the Colleges in the same shall resolve to commit 
 
c6 East Anglia and the 
 
 into our custody .... we shall receive it as further 
 testimony of their loyal affections to us ; and faithfully promise 
 to restore it again to them to the utmost value when our 
 propositions for the peace of this kingdom shall be hearkened 
 unto .... 
 
 But College plate was worth looking after for Parliament, 
 as well as for the King ; and in the scramble for its possession 
 there occurred in these old historic halls strange scenes of 
 bustle and confusion, and outside them, exciting incidents 
 of yeomen riding to and fro through the ripening cornfields 
 of the Fens. To the King's appeal, the Colleges responded 
 by voting and packing up their plate. On August 8, 
 St. John's College agreed to send off its plate to the King : 
 2,o65joz., 'packed in 2 fir- boxes,' marked with the letters 
 'S. J. C At Trinity, soldiers were guarding the treasure, 
 but they were equally in danger of other soldiers.^ 
 
 Parliament authorized Mr. Cromwell, member for Cam- 
 bridge, and Mr. Valentine Walton, member for Hunting- 
 donshire, to go down and intercept the carrying off of the 
 treasure. Mr. Cromwell got together some troops from 
 the western parts of Cambridgeshire, and took up a 
 post of observation at Lowler Hedges, between Cambridge 
 and Huntingdon ; while his brother-in-law, Mr. Walton, tried 
 with indifferent success to get men together for the like 
 purpose, in and about Huntingdon. To get away the plate 
 from the Colleges could only be done by eluding Cromwell 
 at Lowler Hedges. The task was entrusted to Mr. Barnabus 
 Oley, Vicar of Gransden and President of Clare Hall, who 
 'was acquainted with all the byeways through which they 
 were to pass ' ; and so, ' passing through byepaths in the 
 night, that very night in which Cromwell with his foot beset 
 the common road,'^ he had the honour of laying a part of 
 the treasure at His Majesty's feet. 
 
 But the plate which Mr. Barnabus Oley got away with in 
 the night-time represented only a part of the hurried packing 
 up of College treasure intended for the King, and for those 
 
 * * Bestowed on the souldiers and those that watched ye plate in ye New Court. ' 
 —Bursar's Accounts, Trinity College. 
 2 Baker MSS., x, 368. 
 
Great Civil War, 57 
 
 who deferred the work until next morning there would be the 
 member for Cambridge to reckon with. 
 
 Cromwell's next move was to go straight to the point by 
 marching his men, or some of them, boldly up to the Colleges 
 in Cambridge, to stop the flow of treasure at the fountain- 
 head. The whole of this incident of getting away the 
 College plate was, in itself, a remarkable prelude to actual 
 war. Though Cromwell and Walton were acting under 
 orders of Parliament, it was a veritable Gordian knot ; for 
 even the Sheriffs of Hunts and Cambs, though ostensibly 
 present, with the posse coniitatus^ to * keep the peace,' were 
 really there to facilitate the task of the Colleges — Sir Richard 
 Stone, Sheriff of Hunts, by active assistance, and Sir John 
 Cotton, Sheriff of Cambs, by a more passive attitude. What 
 it was that induced Cromwell to leave his post in the corn- 
 fields and march his men up to King's College, is disclosed 
 by the depositions of witnesses, taken at a later date, 
 concerning Captain Docwra, of Fulbourn. The first is 
 a certificate of the Cambridge Committee : — 
 
 " We humblie certify that Captain James Docwra his 
 offence is this, that upon a letter from S'' John Cotton, 
 Knight, for raising of the trayned band, whereof he was then 
 Captaine, and bringing them to Cambridge, pretending to 
 keepe the peace .... at such time as Lieutenant 
 General Cromwell raised a force in the west side of Cam- 
 bridgeshire to withstand the carrying away of the said plate." 
 
 John Linsey, of Cambridge, gent, sworn, said that " Capt. 
 James Docwra did march into ye towne of Cambr. with his 
 company for ye conveying away of ye plate .... to 
 ye King. Notwithstanding an order that was shown him from 
 ye House of Commons that he should desist from ye busines, 
 he denied to yield obedience to ye said order and answered 
 yt he had a warrant from ye King for what he did. Then 
 , . . . ye said James Docwra did march away with his 
 company into King's Colledg, where ye plate was loaden and 
 readie to be conveyed to ye King, with his colours flieing and 
 drums beating." 
 
 " Stephen ffortune of Cambr., gent., sworne. That James 
 Docwra of ffulborne Esquire, and his sonn went into the 
 
58 East Anglia and the 
 
 Towne out of the chappell yard, but newes comeing that 
 Collonel Cromwell was at hand, then he with others did run 
 w''' a pistoll in his hand as for life and shut up ye gates ^ 
 and sent out a drume with one Capt. Briscoe, who was 
 accompanied w*^ ye said Capt. Docwra's sonn, he being then 
 Ensigne to his father, and one or two more with them, and 
 made proclamation whoer was for ye King should come to 
 ye King's Colledg, there they should have armes and pay, but 
 those yt were not for ye King should get them out of ye 
 Towne. Whatsoer is above written I sweare to be true."^ 
 
 In the county of Huntingdon a number of Royalist gentry 
 had been trying to divert Cromwell's attention, while the 
 party in charge of part of the treasure had eluded his 
 vigilance. Some gentry of Huntingdonshire were placing 
 difficulties in the way of Mr. Walton, their member. On 
 August 8, John Merrill wrote from Huntingdon to Lord 
 Mandeville, son of the Earl of Manchester : — 
 
 " Ordinances of Parliament are little regarded, good people 
 openly reviled and threatened, the town of Huntingdon so 
 disaffected to Capt. Walton, that when he sent out his 
 warrants to raise two hundred of the train bands to resist 
 the force that would have carried Cambridge plate into the 
 North, some others did send out and employ their strength 
 the other way, and very few of the train men would come 
 at time. The Mayor and some other inhabitants had left 
 the town. Mr. Henry Cromwell [Sir Oliver's son, of 
 Ramsey] came with 50 men armed, and with horse and 
 muskets, through Huntingdon on Saturday morning last, 
 to help, as some think, to conduct the plate against Capt. 
 Walton's Ordinance and force, the country nothing persuaded 
 to accommodate the Parliament either with horse, arms, 
 plate, or monies. ... If your lordship yield not your 
 present assistance you will assuredly find that nothing will 
 be done. ... I know no way at this present to fetch up 
 the spirits of our freeholders, but either to appear in your 
 
 ^ At this time King's College buildings were to the north of the Chapel on the 
 site of the University Library, the present entrance to which, opposite Great 
 St. Mary's, was the old King's College gate here referred to, and consequently 
 at a point where the excited crowd would assemble. 
 
 ' State Papers, Interregnum, G., vol. Ixxxviii, pp. 649-655. 
 
Great Civil War. 59 
 
 person, or send someone among them whereby they may 
 receive encouragement. Oh ! the base and cowardly spirits 
 of men that may prove the ParHament's desertion and their 
 own destruction ! The corrupt clergy and gentry are raging 
 mad with us, especially against myself, which makes me 
 think we are now come to ripeness and that the Lord hath 
 decreed to afflict and scourge this nation for the manifold 
 crying sins thereof." ^ 
 
 This affair of getting off the Cambridge plate had interested 
 the whole country-side. In fact, a great crowd had gathered 
 somewhere on the Huntingdon road leading out of Cam- 
 bridge. Some of them could not refrain from taking sides ; 
 for afterwards, in the day of reckoning for * compounders,' 
 Richard Langley, of Hemingford Grey, Hunts, an old man 
 seventy-six years of age, pleaded that his only delinquency 
 consisted in * being a spectator, with hundreds more, when the 
 University plate of Cambridge was intended to be carried 
 through the county.' Sir Capel Bedle, Sir Robert Osborne, 
 Mr. Ringstead, and other private individuals were called to 
 account over the incident. 
 
 In Cambridge, Mr. Cromwell was also turning his attention 
 to securing the place itself for Parliament, and on August 15, 
 there was carried up to Parliament this significant piece 
 of intelligence : " Mr. Cromwell, in Cambridgeshire, has 
 seized the magazine in the Castle at Cambridge, and hath 
 hindered the carrying of the plate from that University ; 
 which, as some report, was to the value of ;^20,ooo or 
 thereabouts."^ Parliament hastened to pass an Ordinance 
 indemnifying Mr. Cromwell, Mr. Walton, and 'divers 
 inhabitants and well affected persons in the counties of 
 Huntingdon, Cambridge, and elsewhere' for their action as 
 an acceptable service to the Commonwealth, for which they 
 were to be ' protected and saved harmless by the authority 
 and power of Parliament.' 
 
 ' Duke of Manchester's Papers, 503. 
 
 2 Commons' Journal, ii, 720. That Magdalene College was one of the 
 Colleges which packed up its plate for the King and had it taken for Parliament, 
 is clear from a later order of the House of Commons — '* that the plate belonging 
 to Maudlyn College in Cambridge .... shall be forthwith brought to 
 London." 
 
6o East Anglia and the 
 
 At a time when good horsemanship was universal and 
 long, hard riding a necessity, the patrolling of the great 
 highways, and attempts to get to the King at York before 
 the storm of war burst upon the nation, were productive 
 of some heroic adventures and memorable rides. In the 
 hot Summer days of August, with the plague scattered here 
 and there, and soldiers in ambush in the cornfields, belated 
 followers of the King down the North Road to York were hard 
 put to it. Of this class was Sir John Bramston, the Ship- 
 money Judge, of Skreenes, near Chelmsford. The King 
 had summoned him to York, but he was old and infirm 
 and 'can only travel in a coach,' and 'the dangers of the 
 North Road were great.' As an alternative he sent off 
 his two sons, John, a lawyer like his father — until *the 
 drums and trumpets blew his gown over his ears' — and 
 Francis, on horseback to the King at York, to give an 
 account 'how his case stood.' From Chelmsford to 
 Cambridge, from Cambridge to Stamford, and from 
 Stamford to York, they rode, completing the journey in 
 three days 'on the same horses.' They presented their 
 father's case to the King, who replied— "Why should your 
 father ask leave.? .... Your father is not soe old 
 but he may endure the journey .... his presence 
 is necessary for my service." After one day's rest they 
 remounted their horses and rode back to Skreenes in three 
 days more, but not without incident. At Stamford, John, 
 the narrator, states that his brother Francis "grew faint 
 with the length of the journey and the heat of the weather." 
 Instead of finding a welcome at an inn at Stamford they 
 encountered the watchman of the town, who directed them 
 a way to avoid the town, the plague being there. " What to 
 doe I could not tell ; he could ride no farther. We alighted 
 and layd him downe upon our coates and cloathes, and 
 I made one of the men [their servants] ride to some mowers 
 that I espied at a distance cutting barlie, to buy some drinke. 
 The fellow caught up their botle and came right away, and 
 the men came running after him. Wee gave him some of their 
 drinke, which refreshed him somethinge. We satisfied the 
 laborer, and sent to the next village, where we gotte some- 
 
Great Civil War, 6i 
 
 thing to eate, and soe rode on our journey In 
 
 our return on Sunday neer Huntingdon, betweene that and 
 Cambridge, certain musketeers start out of the corne [some 
 of Cromwell's men lying in wait for the College plate] 
 and command us to stand ; tellinge vs wee must be searched, 
 and to that end wee must goe before Mr. Cromwell, and 
 give account from whence wee came and whither we were 
 going. I askt where Mr. Cromwell was ? A soldier told vs 
 he was 4 miles off. I said it was unreasonable to carrie 
 us out of our way ; if Mr. Cromwell had binn there I should 
 have willingly giuen him all the satisfaction he could desire, 
 and putting my hand into my pocket gaue one of them 1 2^., 
 whoe sayd wee might pass. By this I saw plainly that it 
 would not be possible for my father to gett to the Kinge 
 with his coach, and he could goe in no other way." ^ 
 
 On August 17, Parliament committed the care of the 
 town of Cambridge to Mr. Oliver Cromwell, the Mayor, and 
 three Aldermen, with these emphatic instructions : — 
 
 "You are required and authorized to exercise and train 
 the Train Bands and Volunteers in the town of Cambridge, 
 and shall lead and conduct them against all forces that 
 attempt to seize upon that town, or to disturb the peace 
 of it ; and you are authorized to fight with all such 
 persons, to kill and slay them, and by all means to defend 
 your town from all hostile attempts there. You are likewise 
 authorized to disarm all Popish recusants, and all other 
 dangerous and ill affected persons who have opposed the 
 orders and proceedings of Parliament, or endeavour to 
 oppose by the Commission of Array or otherwise."^ 
 
 In similar fashion the city of Norwich was in the grip 
 of Parliament. The constables were to lock the gates at 
 nine o'clock at night and allow no one in or out until next 
 morning ; the Corporation sent up its old stock of gun- 
 powder to London to be exchanged ' for some of the best 
 sort,' and sent over to King's Lynn — which had got itself 
 behind some brass cannon from London — for Mr. Christian, 
 
 * Autobiography of Sir John Bramston, Knt. (Camden Society), pp. 85-6. 
 ' Lords' Journals. 
 
62 East Anglia and the 
 
 the engineer, to advise about the defences of the City, for 
 which his fee still figures in the old books. 
 
 The Cambridge University did not like the control set 
 up around it, and petitioned Parliament, pleading that the 
 sending of the plate from some of the Colleges to the King 
 had been ' not at all to foment any war.' They complained 
 that 'certain men' had commenced to sequestrate the 
 libraries and goods of some of the masters^ and begged 
 that the actions of 'some few particular men, some of 
 whom were obliged to the King as their royall founder, 
 might not redound to the depriving of several colleges of 
 all possibility to continue in the University.' ^ 
 
 With the actual raising of the King's standard at 
 Nottingham on August 22, about six o'clock in the 
 evening of a very stormy and tempestuous day, and with 
 little other ceremony than the sound of drums and trumpets, 
 all the pent-up excitement of the last few months broke 
 forth. Along the hill-tops of the eastern arm of the 
 Chilterns, the old beacon fires flashed the tidings over East 
 Anglia — 
 
 Till broad and fierce the star came forth on Ely's stately fane, 
 And town and hamlet rose in arms o'er all the boundless plain. 
 
 On every hand the air was full of the incessant beating of 
 drums, the drilling of Volunteers for Parliament being varied 
 by attempts to execute the King's Commission of Array, 
 with strange conflicts of authorities. In Huntingdonshire, 
 Mr. Valentine Walton ' sent out his warrants to summon in 
 some of the Trained Bands,' when Mr. Heyton, one of the 
 Chief Constables, caused the chain to be chained up and 
 would not suffer them to go, and said " he would not obey 
 the Parliament, for he had received a warrant from the King." 
 The King sent out batches of proclamations in all 
 directions with Commissions of Array addressed to well- 
 known men in each county. The messenger who was 
 carrying these documents into Norfolk was intercepted. Mr. 
 Cromwell and others were directed to set strong watches, 
 
 ^ Papers relating to Trinity College, vol. iii, in the Muniment Room, Trinity 
 College. 
 
Great Civil War, 63 
 
 sufficiently armed day and night, upon the several bridges 
 of Germanes, Maudlyn, Soame, Stow, Downham, and all 
 other bridges and ferries between the town of Cambridge 
 and King's Lynn, for the apprehending of all horses of 
 service for the wars, arms, ammunition, or plate sent to His 
 Majesty,^ and also to prevent persons coming from the 
 North into these counties for the purpose of executing the 
 King's Commission of Array. 
 
 Sir John Hobart, of Blickling, * with five cases of pistols, 
 three carabines, and two little short pieces of brass,' hurried 
 down from London into Norfolk with a pass from Parliament ; 
 and everywhere men were arming themselves, their houses, 
 and their servants. The bailiffs of Great Yarmouth were 
 empowered to ' cause the saide towne to be fortified,' their 
 ordnance to be mounted, the town to be put into a posture 
 of defence, and to do 'divers other things for keeping 
 the town faithful to the Parliament.'^ 
 
 While the King's standard was being raised at Nottingham, 
 a characteristic scene was being witnessed at Colchester, where 
 Sir John Lucas had been preparing to set out from his house 
 there, with horse and arms towards the King. Unfortunately 
 Sir John, like Bramston, had delayed his start a little too long, 
 and found it necessary to keep his movements secret and 
 set out in the night-time. Everything was in readiness at 
 midnight on Sunday for a start at one or two o'clock on 
 Monday morning. But one of Sir John's servants betrayed 
 the secret to the captain of the Parliamentary Trained Bands. 
 When Sir John and his followers were about to march from 
 his house, at one or two o'clock in the morning, by the back 
 gate, he found 'a strong guard sprung up from under the 
 hedge,' a gun was fired as a signal to the town, where ' drums 
 struck up, and the whole town was raised.' Four or five . 
 hundred Volunteers were soon on the spot, the beacons were 
 fired, and horsemen were sent forth into all the country-side 
 'to call in the country against the Cavaliers in Sir John 
 Lucas's house.' A rush was made for the house, which was 
 speedily entered. Here the first man they encountered was 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
 2 Yarmouth Corporation Records, Hist. MSS., Rep. 9. 
 
64 East Anglia and the 
 
 Mr. Newcomin, parson of Trinity Church, Colchester. It is 
 alleged that they ' tore his clothes off his back, beat him with 
 cudgels and halberts, and with infinite exclamation carried 
 him in triumph through the chief streets of the town.' 
 Having lodged parson Newcomin in the Common Gaol, the 
 party returned to Sir John Lucas's house. Entering the 
 ladies' chamber and meeting Lady Lucas, they ' set a sword 
 to her breast and required her to tell where the arms and 
 the Cavaliers were.' These arms were soon found and carried 
 to the Town Hall ; Sir John, his lady, his sister, and his 
 mother were carried off to the Moot Hall. The house was 
 plundered, the servants were made prisoners, and one of the 
 oldest was tied to a tree, with a sword placed to his throat 
 and lighted matches between his fingers, ' while one Joe 
 Furly, a pragmatical boy, examined him concerning his 
 master's intentions.' Wild rumours flew about the town of 
 Cavaliers being concealed, and Sir John's house was then 
 * battered down,' the deer killed in his park ; and it is alleged 
 that St. Giles' Church was broken into and the Lucas family 
 vault, and that with pistols, swords, and halberts they trans- 
 fixed the coffins of the dead.^ The Mayor interfered ; Sir 
 Thomas Barrington and Mr. Harbottle Grimston (Member 
 and Recorder for Colchester respectively) were sent down 
 to * discountenance such plunder ' ; but at the same time 
 they issued a proclamation declaring Sir John guilty of 
 treason.^ Major Thomas Wade gives some further particulars, 
 stating that " the rude people are come to such a head, being 
 a mixed company of town and country, that we know not how 
 to quiet them. Believe we could not repress them if we had 
 five trained bands, unless they were killed. We feel they will 
 not stay here, for they say they will go to Lady Savage's at 
 St. Osyth, and some other places about the town." ^ 
 
 The unruly mob made their way to St. Osyth, the residence 
 of the Countess Rivers, who being a Catholic was not likely 
 to find much favour. Aware of her danger, Lady Rivers and 
 
 * Mercurius Rusticus. 
 
 * wSir John was taken up to London, but afterwards released on bail of ;i^40,ooo. 
 Mr. Newcomin, the parson, was kept in the Fleet Prison for about a month, and 
 then, • being never called for,' was discharged.— Ibid. 
 
 3 Hist. MSS., Com. Rep., x, App. vi, p. 147. 
 
Great Civil War. 65 
 
 her family had escaped, and she was making her way to her 
 house at Long Melford, Suffolk. St. Osyth was plundered, 
 and some of the party pursued her Ladyship towards Long 
 Melford. The fate of Lady Rivers caused some anxiety 
 among the gentry on the Parliament side as well as amongst 
 the Royalists, and Parliament issued a declaration that " no 
 soldier should pillage any Papist's house without the command 
 of his captain." ^ 
 
 The Earl of Warwick, of Leigh's Park, near Braintree, was 
 away at sea ; but his steward, Arthur Wilson, a Great Yarmouth 
 man, was sent off with some few men and a coach and six 
 horses to fetch the Lady Rivers to Leigh's Park for safety, 
 little dreaming how difficult would be the enterprise. Coming 
 to Sudbury, the sight of a coach and six brought crowds of 
 people about them before they could reach the market-place. 
 The horses' heads were seized, the coach surrounded by 
 a furious mob, and all hope of getting the next three miles 
 to Melford in time to be of assistance to Lady Rivers was 
 lost. The people declared it was Lady Rivers' coach, some 
 declared Wilson was Lord Rivers himself, and he adds — 
 " They swarm'd about mee, and were so kind as to lay hold 
 of mee." He appealed to them to hear him speak, and then 
 told them he was steward to the Earl of Warwick, " a lover 
 of his countrie & now in the Parliament's employment," and 
 said he had letters in his pocket if they would let the 
 magistrates see them. At this time the ' tops of the trees 
 and all the windows were thronged with people,' who took 
 up the cry of the crowd, ' letters ! letters ! ' The Mayor of 
 Sudbury handled the letters, while the crowd of people 
 manifested ' an ytching desire after the coach horses.' 
 At last Mr. Mann, the Town Clerk, was able to recognize 
 Wilson as the Earl of Warwick's steward, and he was rescued 
 from the mob. Hearing of alarming rumours from Long 
 Melford, he left his coach behind at Sudbury, and he and 
 his party mounted the horses and rode out by a by-way 
 towards Melford ' to listen after the Countess.' Upon 
 reaching Sir Robert Crane's house near Melford, he found 
 
 ^ Husband's Collection, p. 590. 
 
56 East Anglia and the 
 
 that Lady Rivers had ' in her owne person escaped to Bury.' 
 Sir Robert Crane informed him that, although a ParHament 
 man, he had himself been obliged " to keep a train band 
 in his own house to secure himself from the fury of the rabble, 
 who threatened him for being assistant to her ladyship's 
 escape." ^ 
 
 At Melford the crowd set upon her Ladyship's house and 
 pillaged it ; dug up all likely places ' where money might be 
 hidden,' drank the wine and beer and ' let it out to knee deep 
 in the cellar.' ^ 
 
 From Long Melford the Countess made her escape to 
 Bury St. Edmund's, where the townspeople refused to admit 
 her, and 'the gates were shut against her for an hour or 
 more.' At last she was allowed to lodge in the town for the 
 night, and next morning 'with a strong guard' she was 
 conveyed out of the town, and 'keeping herself as private 
 as she could the Countess made her way to London and so 
 escaped molestation.'^ These Essex rioters also threatened 
 to march to the Earl of Suffolk's house at Audley End, 
 but prompt action was taken by the Essex magistrates to 
 restore order. 
 
 Both in Essex and in Cambridgeshire the Militia Ordinance 
 had been delayed by the absence of lord-lieutenants, and on 
 Monday, August 29, Sir Dudley North and Sir John Cutts, 
 of Childerley, were ordered to go down from London into 
 Cambridgeshire for putting the Ordinance in execution. At 
 this time Cromwell's hands were full of affairs concerning his 
 neighbour. Bishop Wren of Ely, and college dons in Cam- 
 bridge, from which the reader may see how bitter was the 
 feeling against such as got the name of Papists. On the 
 same Monday, August 29, there is, for instance, this glimpse 
 of ' a troop of well affected horsemen,' meeting together near 
 Cherryhinton, Cambridge, 'with the intent of searching 
 Papists' houses.' Being disappointed at the small store of 
 arms and ammunition they found, one of their number 
 suddenly remembered that they had ' missed one of 
 
 » Wilson's Narrative in Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa," lib. ix, pp. 23-5. 
 2 Diary of John Rous (Camd. Soc). 
 * Mercurius Rusticus. 
 
Great Civil War, 67 
 
 rfr- 
 
 the greatest Papists in the whole kingdom,' Dr. Wren, 
 Bishop of Ely, and declared that it was * not improbable 
 that the Papists had made his house their magazine, he 
 being the chief author of these troubles in this kingdom.* 
 So, furnishing themselves with powder and shot, they 
 marched for the Bishop's Palace, at Downham, to ' search 
 his treasury withall, promising to clip his wings' if they 
 could catch him.' Their zeal was fanned by stories that the 
 Bishop's steward had beaten a man's brains out for asking 
 for his wages, and that the Bishop himself ' entertained the 
 deboist Cavaliers'; that his power in the Island had been 
 great and uncontrollable ; and, on the other hand, encouraged 
 by the fact that the Isle ' had a store of good horses and able 
 men, though very rude in their discipline, for want of expert 
 commanders.' This was the testimony of George Hubbard, 
 of Downham.2 When the troopers reached the Bishop's 
 Palace at Downham, they found the Wren had flown ; or, 
 rather, that he was busy with a nest elsewhere — at the Cam- 
 bridge Colleges — and so they had the run of the place. 
 From the Palace they brought away ' a great trunk full of 
 marvellous rich silver and guilt plate, and money, as some 
 report on credible information, to the value of at least 
 £\,QOO, together with a great piece of ordnance and 
 ammunition, all of which were found in the said Wren's 
 house.' ^ 
 
 While this was happening at Downham, the Bishop appears 
 to have reached Cambridge, where an attempt was being 
 made to execute the King's Commission of Array. Mr. 
 Russell, of Shingay, Cambs, brother of the Earl of Bedford, 
 and the Earl of Carlisle, were assisted in this enterprise ' by 
 the said Bishop Wren and the other doctors ' * ; by the Masters 
 of St. John's, Queen's, and Jesus Colleges, in fact. Their 
 
 ^ The origin of this phrase, put into the mouth of Cromwell by the writer of 
 the "Squire Papers," respecting Royalists, there can be no doubt is to be found 
 in the punning use made of Bishop Wren's name. See " The Wren's Nest 
 Defiled," p. 31. 
 
 2 "Joyful Newes from the Isle of Ely," E. 115 (9), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 ^ Vicars' Parliamentary Chronicle. 
 
 * This account [E. 115 (14), King's Pamphlets], contrary to the accepted 
 account of the Bishop's arrest at Downham, seems to suggest that he was arrested 
 with the heads of Colleges at Cambridge. 
 
68 East Anglia and the 
 
 arrest by Cromwell's prompt appearance upon the scene is 
 thus described : — 
 
 " Down he [Cromwell] comes again in a terrible manner, 
 with what force he could draw together, and surrounds divers 
 Colleges, while we were at our devotions in our several 
 chapels ; taking away prisoners several doctors of divinity, 
 heads of Colleges, viz., Dr. Beale, Master of St. John's College, 
 Dr. Martin, Master of Queen's College, and Dr. Sterne, 
 Master of Jesus College, and these he carries with him to 
 
 London in triumph They were led captive 
 
 through Bartholomew Fair and so far as Temple Bar, and 
 back through the City to prison in the Tower, on purpose 
 that they might be houted at or stoned by the rabble rout." ^ 
 
 Other Royah'st accounts speak of the heads of Colleges 
 and a cartload of treasure being brought up ' guarded with 
 500 horse,' and that their captors ' made of them a show 
 to entertain the people,' and that ' in the villages through 
 which they passed, the people were called by some of their 
 agenjts to come and abuse and revile them.' ^ 
 
 While Mr. Russell, of Shingay, was appearing with the 
 King's Commission of Array in Cambridge, his brother, the 
 Earl of Bedford, was marching from London with a Par- 
 liamentary troop against the Cavaliers under Sir John Watts, 
 of Mardocks, near Ware. At Hoddesdon they were met 
 by Sir Thomas Dacres, member for the County, who told 
 them *he feared they should have a battel betwixt that 
 and Hartford .... withal encouraging them to 
 proceed valiantly, intimating the justnesse of the cause 
 and many noble encouragements.' Near Ware the troops 
 prepared for the expected battle, charging with bullet and 
 marching bravely forward in the darkness until they found 
 themselves face to face with what appeared to be a hostile 
 camp, but which was in reality the Parliamentary force 
 guarding the town of Hertford, and here they were joyfully 
 received by their friends. On Monday, August 29, they 
 marched to Hadham Hall, the seat of Lord Capel, searched 
 
 * " Querela Cantabrigiensis. " 
 
 * News from Cambridge in E. 115 ; also in Mercurius Rusticus. 
 
Great Civil War. 69 
 
 the place, and found arms sufficient to arm about a thousand 
 men, with ten horses, great saddles, pistols, and carbines.^ 
 Lady Capel ' used them with much respect, much lamenting 
 the unfortunateness of her husband.' ^ At Sir Thomas 
 Fanshaw's at Ware Park, where two gunsmiths had been 
 employed for three months repairing armour, they found 
 * 2 pieces of ordnance, several barrels of powder, musket 
 and pike. ' 
 
 On that stirring August 29 there is a glimpse of a ship 
 landing in a creek near Skegness bringing twelve heavily-laden 
 trunks from Holland. This, and Sir William Ballingdon, 
 with two officers and eight cavaliers, were seized, together with 
 a 'canonical parson' and a servant of the Earl of Lindsey 
 who had been free with their speech. The Cavaliers 
 threatened revenge upon Boston, and King's Lynn sent 
 over five pieces of ordnance and 1,000 Volunteers well 
 armed. . The cannon were placed in the passages into the 
 town, and scouts sent out, but the Cavaliers thought better 
 of it than to appear. 
 
 It was amidst such scenes as these that the great conflict 
 began in which the King was drawing around him the sons 
 of gentlemen, and Parliament had to make a beginning 
 with a large proportion of undisciplined men, many of 
 whom were those 'tapsters and decayed serving men' who 
 sorely vexed the heart of Cromwell. 
 
 One of the most notable things about the great struggle 
 upon which the King and Parliament were openly launched 
 by the end of August, 1642, was the entire absence in the 
 public mind of any idea tliat the rival forces were entering 
 upon what might be a long campaign. On every hand 
 the idea prevailed that one great battle would decide the 
 quarrel. There was, therefore, a most intense feeling of 
 eager anticipation and of fearful looking forward to the 
 first shock of arms, the prospect of which weighed heavily 
 upon the public mind. The Earl of Essex received his 
 appointment as Lord General ' for King and Parliament ' 
 in melancholy mood, and the members themselves were 
 
 * A Perfect Diurnal. * Special Passages in E. 115. 
 
70 East Anglia and the 
 
 reluctant to see him set off, as D'Ewes says, ' against his dis- 
 tressed sovereign, being now reduced to the greatest calamity 
 of any person living,' his messages to the two Houses having 
 been ' rejected with infinite scorn and contempt.' 
 
 But there was now no drawing back, and the opening 
 days of September saw the first great army of the Parlia- 
 ment marching through Hertfordshire with the confidence 
 of the City behind it, that * it would make short work with 
 the King and his supporters.' Along Watling Street, on the 
 track of the soldiers of ancient Rome, the City troops 
 marched, regiment after regiment, in their many-coloured 
 coats — grey, green, blue, red, and even white — as was the 
 custom on both sides, wearing only their orange sashes to 
 distinguish them from the red-sashed Royalists. The sight 
 of the Parliamentary colours bearing the brief but eloquent 
 motto " God with us," and on the reverse " Cave^ adsum" 
 aroused the enthusiasm of the people as the soldiers, passed 
 along. When the Earl of Essex followed with his brilliant 
 staff, his features, grave and melancholy, expressed the 
 sense of a terrible responsibility, while his impedimenta 
 contained the family escutcheon, his coffin and his shroud 
 ready for his funeral, should fate so ordain 1 The scene was 
 an impressive one, yet not lacking in stimulus and hope, 
 for when the Earl set out from London to St. Albans his 
 march commenced " in a way of triumph .... waited 
 on by Parliament, and millions of people lined the highways 
 . . . . the multitude crying out ' Hosanna ! '" ^ On 
 every hand were to be seen the orange colours among the 
 people, worn by women as well as men, "until," says the 
 Royalist Saunderson, " every citizen's dame, to the draggle-tail 
 of her kitchen, had got up that colour of the cause." How 
 the tramp of armed men impressed the inhabitants is reflected 
 in one of those characteristic epistles of Lady Sussex of 
 Gorhambury, written when the soldiers were passing almost 
 in sight of her Ladyship's windows : — 
 
 "We have a great store of sogers at Sentabornes came 
 to-night. They say three score carts of ammunition and 
 things for that use, and ten great pieces [artillery] drawn 
 
 ^ Warburton's Memoirs. 
 
Great Civil War, yi 
 
 upon wheels, and the Inns of Court gentlemen to guard 
 my Lord's person has come too, they say very fine and 
 
 well horsed They talk strange things of my 
 
 Lord of Essex, that he will fetch the King to London dead 
 or alive ; this is high, methinks, for people to talk so. 
 If these sogers be passed I hope we shall have no more to 
 frighten us." 
 
 Everywhere drums were beating, trumpets sounding, and 
 men were marching to their colours ; parish constables were 
 running to and fro with their warrants for bringing in the 
 men, each with his month's pay.^ From Fenland and from 
 the Eastern Counties, troops of horse and companies of foot 
 came pouring in to join the main body at Bedford and other 
 centres. Oliver Cromwell is among them as captain of a 
 troop of horse, and his boy, young Oliver, is there as a cornet. 
 Cromwell's neighbours, too, are there — his brother-in-law, 
 Walton, member for Huntingdonshire, and his boy, Valentine, 
 who was to meet his fate at Marston Moor ; the Desboroughs, 
 too, and young Edward Montague, of Hinchinbrook, who, 
 according to Noble, " when a little more than eighteen years 
 old, by virtue of a commission, raised a thousand men in 
 Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely." 
 
 At Northampton the Earl of Essex had got together an 
 army of 20,000 men, and his speech to the soldiers shows 
 that beneath his melancholy there was a fine, generous 
 sympathy with the men. Addressing his army, 'assembled 
 for the defence of His Majesty and the maintenance of the 
 true Protestant religion,' he declared his intention to ' stand 
 by the soldiers, that even the poorest soldier should have 
 justice '; and he added : " Neither will I engage any of you 
 unto danger ; but I will, in my own person, run equal hazard 
 with you, and either bring you off with honour, or (if God so 
 decreed) fall with you, and willingly become a sacrifice for 
 the preservation of my country." On the other hand, the 
 King, now drawing across England, addressing his soldiers, 
 declared to them : " You shall meet with no enemies but 
 
 ^ '* On sight, bring to us one month's pay for your dragoons and foot ; if any 
 refuse to pay the tax, seize all his horse, arms, plate, etc. " — Warrants of Sir Samuel 
 Luke and others in Orlebar Papers, Hist. MSS., Com. Rep. 
 
7 2 East Anglia and the 
 
 traitors, and most of them Brownists, anabaptists, and 
 atheists, such as desire to destroy both Church and State. 
 . . You cannot fight in a better quarrel, in which 
 I promise to Hve and die with you." ^ 
 
 Complaints of the King's favouring Catholics, the arrival 
 and capture, at Yarmouth, of the ' Queene's Shipp ' ^ from 
 Holland, with 1 40 officers and men and 300 barrels of 
 powder, with the Queen's letters on board, and the King's 
 description of the soldiers of Parliament, all helped to fire 
 the resolution of those marching against His Majesty, at 
 a time when, as Gardiner says, " to thousands of Englishmen 
 Puritanism was the very Gospel itself; the voice of God 
 speaking to a careless generation." 
 
 The first great shock of arms, to which everybody had 
 looked forward to settle the quarrel, which took place at 
 Edgehill, on Sunday, October 23, was one full of strangely 
 pathetic incidents. Beginning with the old Norfolk Royalist, 
 Sir Jacob Astley's historic prayer and command : " O Lord ! 
 Thou knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget 
 Thee, do not Thou forget me. — March on, boys ! " — and varied 
 by the King's despairing appeal to Lindsey : "Go, in the name 
 of God, and I '11 lay my bones by yours." The first conflict 
 was but a mad rush at each other, without method, without 
 organization ; with plenty of valour, but little generalship. 
 The result was a strange confusion of issues — half victory, 
 half defeat on both sides ; but this one great fact remained, 
 that the Puritan soldiers of the Eastern Counties and of 
 London had held their part of the field with Cromwell at 
 the head of an unbroken troop of horse. For the rest, the 
 King's Standard had been wrested from the hands of his 
 Standard-bearer, Sir Edmund Verney, the ' stainless knight,' 
 who was among the slain.^ Sir Jervase Scroope, the old 
 
 ^ Somers' Tracts. 
 
 ^ In the Yarmouth Corporation Records is an Order of Parliament declaring 
 the lawfulness of the action by the bailiffs in seizing this ship from Rotterdam, 
 "driven by stress of weather into that [Yarmouth] port." 
 
 * A pathetic comment upon his own frank admission to his son, Sir Ralph 
 Verney : " I have eaten his [the King's] bread, and served him near thirty years, 
 and will not do so base a thing as to forsake him, and choose rather to lose my 
 life— which I am sure to do — to preserve and defend those things which are 
 against my conscience .... for I have no reverence for Bishops for whom 
 this quarrel subsists." 
 
Great Civil War, 72> 
 
 Lincolnshire Royalist, who had opposed Lord Willoughby 
 over the Militia of his county, was found by his own 
 son, lying on the battlefield, among the dead and wounded, 
 stripped, and with seventeen wounds in his body. The ex- 
 posure to the cold of a frosty night staunched the flow of 
 blood from his wounds, and he was carefully tended, carried 
 off the field and taken to Oxford, where, says Clarendon, he 
 ' wonderfully recovered.' On the other hand. Parliament lost 
 one troop of horse, which, at the first charge, went over to 
 Prince Rupert ; but failing to throw away their * orange tawny 
 scarfs,' seventeen of them got killed by mistake by their 
 Royalist friends to whom they went over. 
 
 The most conflicting and sensational rumours of the result 
 of the battle spread towards London, and into the Eastern 
 Counties. One man * proffered to pawn his life that the King 
 was taken ' ; and another said that ' the Earl of Essex was 
 slain ; that it was a bloody battle, four thousand men slain 
 on each side, and neither King nor Prince within three miles 
 of the armies when they fought.^ Others, says Clarendon, 
 " who fled from the field, reported all for lost, and the King's 
 Army so terrible that it could not be encountered. Some 
 had seen the Earl of Essex slain, and heard his dying words, 
 ' that everyone should shift for himself, for all resistance was 
 to no purpose.' " 
 
 The King sent out his account of the battle, enjoining its 
 publication in all churches and chapels. This gave many 
 a Royalist clergyman the opportunity of saying a word 
 for the King ; as at Furneaux Pelham, in the north of 
 Hertfordshire where Mr. Hancock, the vicar, who, havmg 
 distinguished himself by walking up and down the churchyard 
 in the night-time armed with his sword, when his communion 
 rails were threatened, now came out boldly by declaring 
 in his sermon that he was "overjoyed to thinke that God 
 should put it into the heart of the King to fight the Lord's 
 battel on the Lord's day to uphould the ould antient Catholic 
 faith." Parliament, finding His Majesty's declaration to 
 be ' full of scandals and invectives against the Parliament,' 
 issued a lengthy proclamation of its own. 
 
 1 Hist. MSS., Com. Rep., v, i6i. 
 
74 East Anglia and the 
 
 The fact that the great issue was not to be decided by 
 the first shock of arms was not the only discovery made at 
 Edgehill. It was also found at the very outset that the 
 Parliamentary Army, even in the zealous Eastern Counties, 
 needed men who could bring the discipline and habits of 
 the trained soldier into every company. The attempt to 
 remedy this caused a little soreness in the Puritan ranks, 
 for when the necessity arose for bringing up reinforcements 
 to meet the King at Brentford, Captain Farre, ' in the behalf 
 of the county of Essex,' made a very free, plain speech to the 
 Earl of Warwick on the policy of changing captains. " Our 
 Essex soldiers," he said, " are all men of able estates, whose 
 zealous affections to their King and country had thus led 
 them forth to give a clear testimony of love and valour." The 
 Earl commended him for his free, soldierly speech, but said : 
 — " If your Essex soldiers be offended at the election of other 
 captains let them consider that the present occasion doth 
 require men bred in warre, and experienced in those affairs. 
 In Holland they have hazarded their lives and spent some 
 blood to gain a perfect knowledge in all warlike discipline. 
 Yet I prefer them not as men of greater ability, much less 
 loyalty, than the other captains. Yet, as they cannot both 
 serve in the same places, let them not think it any dishonour 
 in point of war to suffer the Commonwealth to be served 
 by others as well as themselves." 
 
 ' To prevent the King's Army coming to London ' was the 
 great object of Parliament when it was known that the two 
 shattered armies were marching by two different routes 
 towards the City. To this end the counties of Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, Cambs, Hunts, Herts, and Beds were directed to 
 raise 7,000 foot and 600 horse, and there was equal anxiety 
 about the contributions. When Sir Dudley North and Sir 
 John Cutts were sent down into Cambridgeshire for the 
 advancement of this business, they called a meeting at 
 Bottisham for the East of the County, and there is a glimpse 
 of one, Mr. Munday, parson of Wilbraham, standing at the 
 door of the inn where the Commis^oners were sitting, and 
 as the people came up with their offerings, doing his best to 
 dissuade them, declaring "tis treason to lend or give.' In 
 
Great Civil War, 75 
 
 Norfolk, contributions came in handsomely for Parliament, 
 ;^40,ooo in the hands of Sir John Potts and others, for 
 which the Committee for the Advance of Money offered to 
 furnish a guard for its safe convoy up to the Guildhall. 
 
 With the renewal of hostilities so near as Brentford, and 
 the turning out of all London with the marching of trained 
 bands to the rendezvous at Turnham Green, the war began 
 to be looked upon as a reality, and personal and domestic 
 life was already feeling the stress in the counties near. Lady 
 Sussex, writing from Gorhambury, expressed this in one 
 of her ill-spelled missives, which is worth giving in its 
 native dress : — 
 
 "My fear is most of prince ropperte [Rupert], for tho say 
 he hath littill mercy when he comes. I am hear in as sade 
 a condisyon as may bee, i have made up some of th dors 
 and pilede them up so with wode that i belive my hose is able 
 to keep out a good many now ; if wee escape plonderinge 
 i shall account it a great marsy of god ; the are all about us 
 hear in such grivus fears that if they see but a gentellman 
 ridinge, they think it is to robe them." ^ 
 
 Two little incidents connecting the county of Huntingdon 
 with Parliament marked the close of the first act of the great 
 drama. The old Earl of Manchester had died and was 
 buried at Kimbolton, while Rupert's artillery was thundering 
 through the streets of Brentford, and his son Viscount 
 Mandeville, the new Earl, had, in the House of Lords, with 
 Pym in the House of Commons, to announce the new War 
 Tax. The new Earl's relative. Sir Sidney Montague^ of 
 Hinchinbrook, member for Huntingdonshire, appeared in 
 the House a few days afterwards, on December 3, and was 
 offered, and refused to take, the Protestation * to live and die 
 with the Earl of Essex,' giving as a reason that *he had 
 a proclamation of the King's in his pocket, proclaiming them 
 traitors who should take it.'^ For this, Sir Sidney was 
 straightway committed to the Tower and Huntingdonshire 
 deprived of one of its members, though still claiming his 
 son as one of the bravest of its soldiers. 
 
 * These interesting letters of Lady Sussex are preserved in the Verney MSS. 
 at Clayden House : see " Memoirs of the Verney P'amily," by Lady Verney. 
 2 Perfect Diurnal. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 A GREAT HISTORIC UNITY— THE EAST ANGLIAN COMPACT 
 
 — CROMWELL AND THE ROYALISTS — THE FORTIFICATION 
 
 OF CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 (1642-3.) 
 
 All the past of time reveals 
 A bridal dawn of thunder-peals 
 Whenever faith has wedded fact. 
 
 Tennyson* 
 
 WHILE the King appealed to the virtue of 
 a chivalrous devotion to his person as King 
 for a common bond of association amongst his 
 followers, Parliament sought for a bond of association in 
 a new principle in the history and government of the 
 English nation. It was a bond, not for the defence of this 
 or that person's pre-eminence, as all the hostile background 
 of feudal England had been, but for the principle of religion 
 — religion without * Popery ' — in the government of a nation. 
 It was a strange parting of the ways, and nowhere did the 
 new principle find a more uniform and determined assent 
 than in the Eastern Counties. To this principle and the 
 need for it the neighbouring counties of Cambridge, 
 Hertford, Bedford, and Buckingham, on December 19, set 
 their hands in the following vigorous protestation : — 
 
 " It is notoriously known to all men how great the violence, 
 oppressions, and plunderings of those wicked men, forrainers, 
 Papists, malignants, and traytours, which call themselves 
 the King's Army, have and doe daily exercise in this 
 kingdom, and that commissions for raising of more forces 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, yy 
 
 are daily issued to Papists, whereby our religion is like 
 to be altered to Popery and our just privileges overthrown. 
 . . . . They therefore .... solemnly protest and 
 covenant before God and one another that they will willingly 
 and resolutely sacrifice their lives in this religious and just 
 quarrel, and that they will never lay down their arms till 
 this which is called the King's Army be dissolved .... 
 unless they be commanded by both Houses to the contrary, 
 which they hope they never shall." ^ 
 
 At first the Association principle of defensive action was 
 taken up by resolution at market ordinaries, by which 
 contiguous towns and districts, finding themselves threatened 
 by a common danger, resolved to associate themselves together 
 for the security of their homes and kindred. But the very 
 uncertainty which brought such compacts into existence was 
 fatal to their permanence, and they were shattered by the 
 altered demands for meeting the first danger which had 
 called them forth. In the association of counties the same 
 fluctuating character was equally fatal to permanence in 
 cases where the feeling was at all evenly divided, or where 
 the associated counties became involved as the theatre 
 of war. 
 
 In the history of the Civil War there was only one 
 Association having within it the requisite elements of 
 permanence — a favourable situation of the counties forming 
 it, the character of the people dwelling within its borders, 
 and the leaders, or rather the one man able to weld together 
 its factors into an irresistible whole. That Association was 
 the famous Eastern Counties Association, composed at first 
 of the 'frontier' counties of Hertfordshire and Cambridge- 
 shire, and the seaward counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and 
 Essex, to which were afterwards added Huntingdonshire 
 and, as soon as the Penmen got a sufficient grip of it, 
 Lincolnshire. 
 
 Parliament commenced the organization by requiring all 
 the deputy-lieutenants of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Hertford 
 Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely, to summon together at 
 
 * Diurnal of Occurrences in Parliament. 
 
78 East Anglia and the 
 
 convenient centres the freeholders and other inhabitants 
 to a sort of wapentake, at which all arms and likely forces 
 to be raised were to be surveyed and reported. The deputy- 
 lieutenants were further enjoined to explain to the inhabitants 
 at such meetings 'what present and imminent danger and 
 necessity the whole kingdom is now reduced unto by the 
 •wicked advice, attempts, and conspiracies of papists and 
 other persons now about His Majesty.' They were also 
 authorized to fortify or destroy, in case of the fear of invasion 
 by the King's Army, all bridges, etc., along the principal 
 passages into the several counties. Out of this effort there 
 arose at the end of 1642 the germ of th:it famous Eastern 
 Association, the one great historic unity which was destined 
 to keep its own borders free from the worst evils of civil war, 
 and to furnish those stout sinews of war which carried the 
 Parliamentary cause to victory on other fields. The Ordinance 
 for the Association passed the Commons on December 10, 
 1642, and here is the resolution of the sturdy yeomen who 
 adopted it and silenced the few Royalist gentry of East 
 Anglia: — 
 
 " Whereas the Lords and Commons now assembled in 
 Parliament have taken into their consideration that in these 
 times, so full of division and danger as these are, an union 
 of our hearts and forces is most conducive to the public 
 good and safety of the whole kingdom, and have therefore 
 ordained that the inhabitants of the counties of Essex, 
 Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Hertfordshire, together 
 with the Isle of Ely and the county of the city of Norwich, 
 should enter into an Association with one another for the 
 maintenance and preservation of the peace of the said counties : 
 therefore, in pursuance of the said order and the better to 
 form a mutual confidence in one another, we whose names 
 are hereunto subscribed do hereby promise, testify, and 
 declare to maintain and defend, with our lives, powers, and 
 estates, the peace of the said counties, and to aid and assist 
 .one another under the command and conduct of such person 
 as now hath, or hereafter shall have, by the authority of both 
 Houses of Parliament, the command in chief of all the forces 
 of the said counties, according to the true intent and meaning 
 
Great Civil War, 79 
 
 of the said Order of the Association, whereunto we do most 
 willingly give our assents, and neither for hope, fear, or 
 other respect shall we relinquish this promise." ^ 
 
 But it was not enough that the counties through their 
 deputy-lieutenants should pledge themselves ; the bond of 
 unity, to be effectual, must rest upon the common sentiment 
 of the people. Parliament, having an immense regard for 
 that fine phrase the 'well affected inhabitants,* set about 
 influencing public opinion with some of the resources, and 
 probably some of the wiles, of a modern general election. 
 The printers were set to work, and ' Association ' books 
 were turned out by the thousand and sent down into the 
 shires, to all market towns and to places where the hundreds 
 centred. Meetings were summoned in moot halls, market 
 houses, and churches, where, in eloquent speeches, members 
 and others sent down for the purpose descanted upon the 
 * justnesse of the cause,' and roused the enthusiasm of 
 the meeting until the Royalist who wanted to know more 
 about the Association before he joined it, was silenced. 
 The resolution of Association passed, and then came the 
 'collection.' 'Having associated yourselves, what will you 
 do to make your association effectual ? ' The answer to 
 that question was such a ' collection ' as had never been 
 made in East Anglia since the people rose to repel the 
 Spanish Armada. The leading man present would offer 
 to find ' a musket and a month's pay ' ; another man would 
 follow with the offer of a musket, and a neighbour would 
 step in and guarantee the pay. Smaller men would unite 
 and furnish a man and pay between three or four of them. 
 Others came forward with old pieces of armour, and then 
 there was the widow's mite and the small contributions of 
 a shilling and upwards ; and so the collection of men, money, 
 and arms accumulated from all quarters of the shires. 
 
 History has been silent about the small beginnings 
 of this famous East Anglian compact, which meant so much 
 for Parliament and for England in the days which were 
 to follow ; but there are a few welcome traces of here and 
 
 ^ Tanner MSS., cclxxxiv, t. 44 ; also printed in Rushworth. 
 
8o East Anglia and the 
 
 there a footprint of the old Puritan folk wending their way 
 to the trysting-places in the county of Suffolk. Some of 
 the old documents containing them are here printed for 
 the first time. They are taken from the Tanner MSS. in 
 the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The first is an example 
 of the letter and supplies of books sent down into each 
 county, and is addressed to Norfolk Committee-men by 
 Sir William Heveningham — 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I send you here foweir score Bookes of the Assotiation 
 and Instrutions all Printed togeither, and also a Copie of 
 a Letteir, and warrant written into Essex, which you may 
 make vse of if you please, which Letteir and warrant is sent 
 alreadey into Essex as I am Informed ; and They call all 
 the Contrey in to fiue places and goe all togeither, I meane 
 Membeirs of the House and the Deputie Leiftenantes of the 
 Contie of Essex ; and all those that were assistants in 
 the Propotitions, are also to assiste in euery of those Deuisions 
 which are deuided in to fiue deuisions. They begine their 
 worke the day afteir New Yere. Sir Thomas Woodhouse, 
 Sir John Holland, Sir John Poottes [Potts], and Mr. 
 Framingham Gaudey are to assiste the Deputie Leiftenantes 
 and Commissioners for the propotitions att the Committe 
 of the fiue Conties and I thinke reported to the House and 
 approued of. My respects and seruice from 
 
 " Your assured louing frend 
 to serue you 
 
 W. Heueningham. 
 " To my Honored Frend 
 Sir John Hubbartt 
 and to the rest of the 
 Deputie Leiftenants 
 these 
 Norwich. 
 " These Bookes are to be sent only to all the citteys and 
 Markett Townes if you will haue any more I pray Lett me 
 receiue your furtheir Directions ; but these I haue aduentured 
 to try and send downe to you." ^ 
 
 ^ Tanner MSS., cxiv, f. 98. 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 8i 
 
 From the other documents preserved in the Tanner MSS , 
 we obtain interesting examples from three Suffolk parishes 
 of what was being done with these letters and books all 
 over East Anglia. From Lavenham, a village lying between 
 Sudbury and Bury St. Edmund's, the most complete exarnpic 
 is afforded. The first of the Lavenham documents sets forth 
 the full resolution of Parliament just given, which, having 
 been passed by the meeting, was attested by a long array 
 of signatures and ' marks' of various kinds — altogether ninety 
 names, leading off with Francis Copinger. But of more 
 significance than this overwhelming response of the Lavenham 
 folk to stand together, is the evidence of the volunteer spirit 
 which animated individuals and families. Here is the record 
 of those who needed no eloquent speeches to fire their zeal : — > 
 
 " Lauenham 
 
 in Suffolke. 
 
 "Herein is Subscribed the names of those that Find 
 Voluntarie Armes and who Serue in the Same. All which 
 are all redy Sentt to Cambridge with a month's pay 
 acorrding to the Ordenance of Both houses of Parlamentt for 
 the defence of the Fiue Counties as Expressed in the Asso- 
 ciation 
 
 " they went vnder Captaine Richerson of Hadely. 
 
 FiNDE. Serue. 
 
 " Mr. Doctour Copinger, a Coslett — x — 
 Mr. Henry Copinger, sen., and 
 
 Richard Pecocke, a muskett ... — X — 
 Mr. Frances Copinger, a Coslett 
 
 and muskett — X — X — 
 
 Mr. Isaacc Creme and 
 
 Gilbertt Wells, a muskett ; m ; — X — 
 Mr. James Allington John 
 
 Browne, 1 1 J., a muskett — X — 
 
 Mr. Thomas Browne, a muskett — X — 
 Roger Kerington and 
 
 Lionell Mills, a muskett ... — X — 
 
 Soldiers. 
 John Sare. 
 
 John Rooff. 
 
 John Huntt and 
 Robert Warrin. 
 
 Edward King. 
 
 George Beamon. 
 EdmundRandall 
 
 Daniell Eldered. 
 6 
 
8:1 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 FiNDE. 
 
 Mr. John C. (? ) and Richard 
 
 Paine, a muskett 
 
 Arthir Buttcher and Thomas 
 
 Vnderwood, a coslett 
 
 John Hilton, Frances Pinchbeck 
 
 Georg Hamond and Andrew 
 
 Brownsmith, a coslett .. ... 
 William Wiles and Nicholas 
 
 Wells, a coslett 
 
 John Pinchbeck and John 
 
 Boyden, a. m 
 
 William Plaistoe, William Boswell 
 
 and Robert King, am 
 
 Samuell Dansdie, Henry Rudland 
 
 and John Lingwood, am 
 Isaac Lomeley, William Russell, 
 
 and Thomas Kentt, am 
 Edward Browne,Lionell mills jun. 
 
 and natham Lambin, am 
 Abraham Gurling Georg Frost 
 
 and John Ankle, am 
 
 Dauie Wilding Raphe Blise and 
 
 John Gipson, am 
 
 Richard Palmer Thomas Gutter- 
 
 edg Raphe Ferier and Peter 
 
 Salter, am 
 
 John Lomeley and Jossua 
 
 Blower, am: 
 
 Serue. 
 
 Soldiers. 
 
 — X — 
 
 Thomas King. 
 
 — X — 
 
 William Simons. 
 
 — X — 
 
 John Moutten. 
 
 — X — 
 
 John Buttcher. 
 
 -X- 
 
 James Steuens. 
 
 — X — 
 
 Robert Reson. 
 
 — X — 
 
 William Huntt. 
 
 -X- 
 
 Thomas Skinner. 
 
 — X — 
 
 William Settins. 
 
 — X — 
 
 Richard More. 
 
 — x-— 
 
 Robertt Deacon. 
 
 X — James Gladmell. 
 X — Robertt Aston.''^ 
 
 Then, beside the above volunteering, the Lavenham folk 
 put their hands, to the number of about forty, to the 
 following document, as a result of the meetings : — 
 
 " Lavenham in Suffolk. 
 
 " Wee whose names are hereunder written doe hereby 
 engage our selues to prouide Horses and Armes and to 
 maintaine and Finde att our owne proper Costs and Charges 
 and att all times to haue in a Readinesse for the seruice of 
 
 * Tanner MSS., cclxxxiv, f. 43. 
 
Great Civil War. '^'^ 
 
 this and those Other counties now Associated together by 
 the Authority of Both Hovvses of Parliamentt : soe many men 
 Compleately Armed and Furnished, and such Horses, 
 geldings, naggs and mares as we have Seurally and 
 Respectiuely Subscribed, to be Comanded, led and con- 
 ducted in to any partes and places within the said Countyes 
 by such person as now hath or hereafter shall haue Comand 
 in cheiff of all the Forces of the said Counties 
 
 "vid. of Essex Suffolke, Norffolke 
 Cambredgsheir and Herteforde Sheir 
 together with the Isle of Ely and 
 Cittie of Norwich : 
 " Henry Copinger, senior, Francis Copinger hath already 
 sent at his owne charges one compleate Coslett and one 
 muskett, and hath giuen them three poundes in mony 
 fr one moneths paye." ^ 
 
 [Here follow the other signatures, many of which have 
 already been mentioned in the Volunteer list.] 
 
 Lavenham was only one place. Four or five miles to the 
 north-west of Lavenham and nearer Bury St. Edmund's 
 is the village of Shimpling. The Shimpling document is 
 even more interesting than those of Lavenham, as evidence 
 of what a small place could do, and of the zeal which 
 prompted the smaller folks to contribute. It belongs to 
 a little later date than the others, but can best be intro- 
 duced here. 
 
 " Shimplinge These whose names by vs are heir 
 
 the eight Daie under written haue giuen ther 
 
 of March Anno Dom. Consents to Joine in th asotiacion 
 
 1642 [3] accordinge toth Booke of Directions 
 
 and what Armes they will Finde as 
 
 Followethe. 
 
 "John Weeles, clarke, will finde a muskete compleat : but 
 no paie. 
 
 Widowe Coppinge will contribute \os. 
 
 George Causon will Contribute \os. for the paie of Mr. 
 Welles musket. 
 
 * Tanner MSS., cclxxxiv, f. 41. 
 
84 East Anglia and the 
 
 Thomas Gardner will finde a muskete Compleat and twenty- 
 shillings of money. 
 
 William Gallante, widowe Hammond, Thomas Coe and 
 John Smythe, will Finde a muskete Compleate and twenty 
 shillings of money. 
 
 Henry Garner, John Pavvsey, Thomas Halstead, John Coe, 
 Thomas Causon and Thomas Game will finde a muskete 
 compleate and twenty shillings of money. 
 
 Rychard Pawsey will finde an ould head pece and a sword. 
 
 "They that did Joine befor the commicions was John 
 Plampin, to finde a musket and 20s. Frauncis Johnson and 
 John Johnson his sonn to find a muskete and 20s. 
 
 These are all that will find armes, the reste haue Consented 
 to asotiate as followethe." ^ 
 
 Twenty-six names are attached, including ' widowe Game,' 
 making the third widow in the lists. Shimpling was happy 
 in its Parish Constables, whose names also appear, John 
 Plampin finding a 'musket compleate.' The five 'trained 
 men' whom Shimpling fitted out are deserving of mention — 
 " Edmund Smythe, Geiles Hammond [the widow's son ?] 
 Roger Coe, James Corder, and George Johnson" — all honest 
 Shimpling family names, who may, for aught anyone knows, 
 have lived to figure in the muster roll of the Ironsides. 
 
 Alpheton, another parish in the same district, referred to in 
 the same class of documents, passed a similar resolution 
 to have ' in a readinesse for the seruice of this and those 
 other counties now associated,' so many men 'compleately 
 armed and furnished ' and its promised quota of ' horses, 
 geldings, naggs, and mares,' and added these interesting 
 particulars : — 
 
 "The names of those that will finde armes and ioyne in 
 the assotiation. 
 
 John Wine jun., Nicholas Hayward, John Lister and 
 Richard Michell will finde a muskett. Volunteere Kidson. 
 
 Steuen Coe will contribute \s. 
 
 John Wine sen. will contribute \os. 
 
 Dauid Turner will contribute lO^. 
 
 ^ Tanner MSS., cclxxxiv, f. 45. 
 
Great Civil War, 85 
 
 James Hibble will contribute \os. 
 
 William Baldin will contribute lOx. 
 
 Josuah Comsbie, Roger Caman, Simon Game. Volunteere, 
 a muskett, Watesam." 
 
 Twenty-six names are added as ' those that did onely 
 consent to the assotiation.* ^ 
 
 In the foregoing transcripts the reader has typical examples 
 of what was going on all over East Anglia. Multiply one 
 of these parishes by four or five hundred for the one county of 
 Suffolk, and again by four or five, for the Associated Counties, 
 and one has some idea of what the common sentiment 
 of East Anglia was doing for Parliament with this bond of 
 association. Multiply in a similar way these contributions of 
 a parish — its corslets, its muskets, trained men and volunteers, 
 *ould head peces,' swords and money — and one has an 
 idea of how the sinews of war came in, and may imagine, too, 
 the growing force of armed men marching in from the broad 
 acres of Norfolk and Suffolk, from the far-away corners 
 of Essex, from the stagnant Fens, and from the hills of 
 Hertfordshire, to the rendezvous at Cambridge, when, as 
 we shall see presently, that town was in danger of falling 
 into the hands of the Royalists. 
 
 The year 1643 opened with these two other notable facts. 
 The King had got himself established at Oxford, in a strange 
 compound of University, city, camp, and Court, to which 
 Royalist gentry were flocking in with all speed ; Parliament was 
 concentrating its efforts upon securing the sister University 
 town of Cambridge. These two centres, the one in touch 
 with the Royalism of the Western Counties and the other 
 with the Puritanism of the Eastern Counties, were destined 
 to become permanently associated with the rival parties in 
 the struggle. Yet the distinction of Oxford for King and 
 Cambridge for Parliament was not quite true in the academic' 
 sense, for the University of Cambridge never took kindly to 
 the presence of the Parliamentary soldiers, and at this date 
 was showing a degree of interest the other way which 
 made vigorous measures necessary for securing the town of 
 Cambridge itself. 
 
 ^ Tanner MSS., cclxxxiv, f. 42. 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 87 
 
 In those defensive measures, Oliver Cromwell, member for 
 Cambridge, captain of a troop of horse, and shortly to be 
 a colonel, was taking an energetic part, and yet finding time 
 to ride in hot haste, now here, now there, wherever a firm 
 hand was needed for nipping some Royalist movement in the 
 bud. The first of these adventures took place in Hertford- 
 shire, where, in St. Albans market-place on market-day, 
 Mr. Thomas Coningsby, High Sheriff, had on January 14, 
 1643, surrounded himself with his posse comitatus^ and, 
 accompanied by Dr. Seaton, rector of Bushey, and other 
 Royalists, was at the Market Cross about to read the King's 
 proclamation, virtually aiming at getting the Trained Bands 
 of the County out of the hands of Parliament, and to lay 
 down their arras. Mr. Coningsby had succeeded in posting 
 the proclamation * upon several places in the market,' when 
 
 * Captaine Cromwell,' who was on the march with his troop 
 of horse into Cambridgeshire, by direction of Parliament, 
 
 * to secure that towne and county, and to raise more forces 
 there for that purpose,' had somehow got to hear of the High 
 Sheriff's proceedings. Riding into St. Albans, his troops 
 formed up around the excited market crowd. Six of the 
 troopers were deputed to arrest the Sheriff, but Mr. Coningsby's 
 supporters rallied around him in such force that the sadly 
 ruffled person of the Sheriff was released from the grip of 
 the troopers, ' whereupon the High Sheriffe went again to the 
 Market-Crosse, where the said confused multitude proclaimed 
 him their lawful High Sheriffe.' Calling for more of his 
 troopers, Cromwell renewed the struggle, and ' some twenty 
 more of the said troopers, being well horsed and armed,* 
 followed the Sheriff and his friends as they retired into ' the 
 inn yard where he abode.' 
 
 The struggle was renewed, the gates closed and ' barri- 
 cadoed ' against the multitude, and Mr. Coningsby and his 
 Royalist friends ^ were secured and sent up to London to 
 answer for their adventure.^ 
 
 * One of them, named John Thomas, a saddler, two years afterwards petitioned 
 the King at Oxford, on the strength of his share in the exploit, for the appointment 
 of saddler to His Majesty, and obtained the post. — Carew Transcripts, P.R.O. 
 
 * Vicars' Parliamentary Chronicle, p. 256. 
 
85 East Anglia and the 
 
 Elsewhere it was the same— here and there a Royalist 
 official, rather than the common people, standing in the way 
 of Parliament. Getting back to Huntingdon, Cromwell had to 
 reprove a former fellow-magistrate, Mr. Barnard, who had been 
 * wary in his carriage ' — * Be not too confident ; subtlety may 
 deceive you, integrity never will.' In Cambridgeshire there 
 was a difficulty with the Sheriff. The old arrangement of 
 one Sheriff for Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire had 
 been renewed after a few years' interruption, and Sir Robert 
 Coke was taken in custody by Parliament. Then his suc- 
 cessor, Mr. Rose, with Mr. Playter and Sir Benjamin Ayloffe, 
 Sheriffs for Suffolk and Essex respectively, were sent for to 
 produce their commissions of Shrievalty. Meanwhile towns 
 were getting fortified — King's Lynn, which had contributed 
 liberally to Parliament, being allowed to spend ^400 of its 
 contributions upon its own fortifications, and Yarmouth, in 
 a similar way, i^ 1,000. 
 
 The chief event in the months of January and February 
 for the Eastern Counties was the rallying of their forces to 
 repel a threatened attack upon Cambridge, which^ by common 
 consent, was looked upon as a place which must be held for 
 Parliament at all hazards, as the headquarters of the new 
 Association movement. Lord Capel had returned to his 
 county to find his store of arms carried off from Hadham 
 Hall ; and, getting together a strong force of his neighbours 
 and others, he was hanging around ready to fall upon 
 Cambridge upon one side, while some of Rupert's forces were 
 reported to be marching towards it on the other. 
 
 It was under these circumstances, and to avert a threatened 
 disaster to the Parliamentary cause at the outset, that the 
 Counties of East Anglia came out so bravely with the first- 
 fruits of the Association principle. In every centre, in which 
 those zealous offerings of ' compleat cosletts,' ' muskets,' 
 swords, and ' ould head peces ' had been so freely made, the 
 trained men were hurrying in at the beat of drum, and falling 
 into line ready to march under appointed commanders for the 
 rendezvous at Cambridge for the expected attack upon that 
 place, tidings of which were ringing all over the Eastern 
 Counties. The Volunteers of Norwich and Yarmouth, before 
 
Great Civil War. 89 
 
 starting for Cambridge at the end of January, were stimulated 
 by Mr. Bridge, * preacher of God's word,' who, in a sermon 
 before them upon the text " Be of good courage, and let us 
 play the men for our people and for the cities of our God " 
 (2 Sam. X, 12), urged upon his hearers that good courage 
 was requisite ' for magistrates, for ministers, and for these 
 gentlemen that have listed their names for this great service 
 for God and their country/^ The threatened danger appealed 
 to the people of London as well, as appears by this passage 
 in the newspapers : — 
 
 " Letters are come from Stony Stratford which inform to 
 this effect. That forces above 1,500 are come thither for new 
 quarters, and it is conceived will possess themselves either of 
 both the roads of St. Albans and Hatfield, and so keep all 
 manner of provisions of cattell from us, or else go to 
 Cambridge and possesse themselves of that, and so wholly 
 spoil the association of those parts, who this week offered to 
 bring 40,000 right men into the field, had they but Arms. 
 . . . . The great feares that the Counties East from 
 London are in caused them to send in many thousands to 
 Cambridge, both horse and foote ; they accounting that place 
 a Bulwarke to the rest ; these men come to Cambridge, are 
 very couragious, and desire to goe and see their King, and 
 destroy his and their enimies."^ 
 
 In this temper, towards the end of February, they marched 
 their Volunteers, without much regard to uniforms, and with 
 such arms as could be had, from the remotest parishes in 
 Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk, all meeting at Cambridge, 
 where, with other regiments from London, the classic 
 atmosphere of the University was sadly ruffled with the roll 
 of drums and the blare of trumpets, and the clamour and 
 the clatter of a huge Volunteer Army variously estimated at 
 from 1 5,000 to 30,000. 
 
 Two important facts emerge from the hurly-burly and the 
 cramming of soldiers into the College Halls at Cambridge. 
 Lord Capel, thinking it ' more policy to dispense with honour 
 
 * Pamphlets in St. John's Coll. Lib., Cambridge. 
 
 * Special Passages. 
 
90 East Anglia ana the 
 
 in that service than purchase it at so dear a rate/ retired 
 from the unequal contest and marched Westward. Oliver 
 Cromwell had become Colonel of a regiment, and a man of no 
 mean authority in Cambridge and the neighbouring counties. 
 A Royalist print states that " Mr. Cromwell, one of the 
 burgesses of the town of Cambridge, calling himself a Colonel, 
 summoned before him divers of the commonalty of the 
 counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, and Hertford, 
 and spreading the report amongst them that Prince Rupert 
 and his forces was at hand, urged them to join together to 
 repulse the common enemy, 'that united forces were more 
 proper for these times than distracted mindes.' " ^ 
 
 When the great muster of horse and foot thus suddenly 
 called together found themselves with no adequate purpose 
 to serve, most of them were sent back to their homes, and 
 it is said that 23,000 of those who were disbanded engaged 
 to be ready to march to Cambridge again at three days' 
 notice. A thousand men were retained at Cambridge as 
 a garrison for that place, which was to be henceforth the 
 seat of this new-found power of numbers in the Eastern 
 Association and an uncongenial home for the University 
 and its traditions. 
 
 Colonel Cromwell, now in possession of Cambridge * for 
 King and Parliament,' with * 800 horse and foot raised in 
 the Association,' had four pieces of ordnance sent down 
 to him by Parliament, and in the opening days of March 
 town and University were being turned almost inside out 
 by operations for securing the place against attack in the 
 future. For necessary works at the Castle, and at various 
 points along the river, the fortification of Cambridge was 
 made the subject of an appeal to all the surrounding villages 
 in which Cromwell's strength lay. In all parish churches 
 around Cambridge on Sunday, March 12, there was delivered 
 by the constables to the churchwardens, and by them to the 
 minister, an interesting document issued from the old 
 Committee rooms of Cambridge, which shows how strangely 
 the duties of the clergyman and the sympathies of his 
 
 ^ Mercurius Aulicus, March, 1643. 
 
Great Civil War, 91 
 
 congregation in the village church on Sunday were mixed 
 up with the reading of warrants, appeals, ordinances, and 
 proclamations arising from the stress of war. How this 
 appeal was presented and responded to, is known in, at least, 
 one instance. At Fen Drayton, near St. Ives, Constable 
 Norris delivered the warrant from Cambridge to the 
 * churchwardings,' and here it is : — 
 
 " Com. Cant. (Cambridgeshire to wit). To all ajid every 
 the Inhabitajtts of Fen Draytoyi in the Hundred of Papworth. 
 
 " Whereas we have been enforced, by apparent grounds 
 of approaching danger, to begin to fortify the town of 
 Cambridge, for preventing the Enemy's inroad, and the 
 better to maintain the peace of this County : 
 
 " Having in part seen your good affections to the Cause, and 
 now standing in need of your further assistance to the 
 perfecting of the said fortifications, which will cost at least 
 Two Thousand Pounds, We are encouraged as well as 
 necessitated to desire a Free will Offering of a Liberal 
 Contribution from you, for the better enabling of us to 
 attain to our desired ends — viz. the Preservation of our 
 County — knowing that every honest and well affected man, 
 considering the vast expenses we have already been at, and 
 our willingness to do according to our ability, will be ready 
 to contribute his best assistance to a work of so high a con- 
 cernment and so good an end. 
 
 " We do therefore desire that what shall be by you freely 
 given and collected, may with all convenient speed be sent 
 to the Commissioners at Cambridge, to be employed to the 
 use aforesaid. And so you shall further engage us to be 
 
 Yours ready to serve, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell Robert Twells, maior 
 
 Thomas Martyn Tho. Atkinson 
 
 Terrell Jocelyn Saml Spalding 
 
 Tho. Duckett Robt. Robson 
 
 Robt Castell Edward Almond 
 
 Robt Clarke Willm. Grayve 
 
92 East Aiiglia and the 
 
 Edward Clenche James Blackley 
 
 James Thompson William Welbore 
 
 Thomas Buckley- 
 Stephen Fortune 
 Nicholas West 
 Robert Ibbett 
 Rich. Pettit 
 Richard Timbs 
 George Felsteed 
 Tho. Bert 
 Willm Burton 
 
 Cambridge, this 8th March, 1642 [3]. 
 
 " Note — what shall be by you gathred deliver it to Tho. 
 Noris, this bearer." 
 
 This interesting document was further endorsed apparently 
 by Mr. Norris in true Dogberry fashion : — 
 
 " Deliver this wrighting to the Church Wardings, who are 
 to deliver the same unto the minister or curate, to be published 
 in the Parish Church the next Sunday after the receipt thereof, 
 and what shal be by you collected lett it be endorced on 
 the backside heerof, together with a declaration what is 
 given by every partickular person, and then delivered unto 
 Thomas Norris the bearer heirof." ^ 
 
 Whether the minister at the close of the service improved 
 the occasion is not known, but, fortunately, at Fen Drayton 
 the record is complete, for the endorsement shows that ' fifteen 
 persons ' out of the congregation contributed between them 
 the sum oi £\ 19^. 2d., which was duly paid over to William 
 Welbore, one of those whose names are appended to the 
 document. 
 
 The expense of fortifications was not the only care, for 
 that 'month's pay' which the villages of East Anglia had 
 sent with their men to Cambridge had got exhausted, and 
 Captain Nelson, in charge of the Suffolk men, had no money 
 left to pay for the billet of his soldiers, and Cromwell had 
 to write to the deputy-lieutenants of Suffolk : *' Truly he hath 
 
 1 Bowtell MSS., ii, 123. 
 
Great Civil War, 93 
 
 borrowed from me, else he could not have paid to discharge 
 this town at his departure." Colonel Cromwell was eager 
 to be off into Norfolk for pressing business there, and added 
 this postscript to his letter : " I hope to serve you on my 
 return ; with your conjunction we shall quickly put an end 
 to these businesses, the Lord assisting." 
 
 While the Cambridge proclamation was being read in 
 the parish churches on Sunday, March 12, Cromwell was 
 making a forced march into Norfolk, intelligence having come 
 in that the ' King's good subjects in Norfolk and Suffolk 
 . . . . had drawn themselves together into a body.'^ 
 Cromwell, at the head of 1,000 horse, marched away from 
 Cambridge to Norwich, ' having notice of a great confederacy 
 held amongst the malignants of a town called Lowestoft, 
 being a place of great consequence.' After sending out 
 parties to Royalist houses in the neighbourhood — * returning 
 with old Mr. Castle, of Raveningham, and some arms of his, 
 and of others' — Cromwell, hearing that Sir John Wentworth 
 and Captain Allen had been captured at Yarmouth on 
 coming over from Lowestoft to change dollars, and that 
 the town of Lowestoft was fortifying itself, he, between five 
 and six o'clock next morning, with five troops and eighty 
 Norwich Volunteers, marched towards Lowestoft. Near 
 Yarmouth he was met by the Volunteers of that town, 
 'who brought four or five pieces of ordnance'; and here 
 is the record of what happened at Lowestoft : — 
 
 " The town had blocked themselves up, all except where 
 they had placed their ordnance, which were three pieces ; 
 before which a chain was drawn to keep off the horse. The 
 Colonel summoned the town and demanded if they would 
 deliver up their strangers, the Town, and their Army ? — 
 promising them ther favour if so ; if not, none. They yielded 
 to deliver up their strangers, but not to the rest. Whereupon 
 our Norwich dragoons crept under the chain before mentioned ; 
 and came within pistol-shot of their ordnance, proffering to 
 fire upon their cannoneer, who fled ; so they gained the two 
 pieces of ordnance and broke the chain ; and they and the 
 
 1 Perfect Diurnal. 
 
94 East Anglia and the 
 
 horse entered the Town without more resistance. When 
 presently eighteen strangers yielded themselves, among 
 whom were, of Suffolk men. Sir T. Barker, Sir John Pettus ; 
 of Norfolk, Mr. Knyvett of Ashwellthorpe, Mr. Richard 
 Catlyn's son . . . Mr. F. Cory. ... Mr. Brooke, 
 the sometime minister of Yarmouth, and some others escaped 
 over the river. There was good store of pistols and other 
 arms ; I hear above fifty cases of pistols. The Colonel 
 stayed there Tuesday and Wednesday night." ^ 
 
 On Friday, March 17, Colonel Cromwell, with the prisoners, 
 and Mr. Trott, of Beccles, reached Norwich, and on Saturday 
 the prisoners were sent off to Cambridge. Vicars says that 
 " had this business been delayed but one day longer it would 
 have cost a good deal of hot blood ere the town could 
 possibly have been taken, for there were listed to have met 
 them .... as many more knights and gentlemen." ^ 
 Parliament thanked Colonel Cromwell * for this great service,' 
 and authorized him to dispose of the prisoners at such places 
 as he thought fit. 
 
 The secret of Cromwell's triumphs was thus early manifest 
 in the effectiveness of his intelligence department, the 
 promptness of his decisions, the rapidity of his movements, 
 and the power with which he struck home. No sooner had 
 the Lowestoft prisoners been sent off in charge of a troop of 
 horse to Cambridge than Cromwell, after one night's rest and 
 a few hours for attending service at Norwich, set out on 
 Sunday night for King's Lynn, ' because the malevolents 
 in that town began to raise combustions there, and to declare 
 themselves against Parliament.'^ Riding hard all night, 
 Cromwell and his troopers entered the town on Monday 
 morning ; and here, as at St. Albans and at Lowestoft, promptly 
 * did a good service in freeing them from the danger of their 
 Malignants by disarming them and securing the town, and 
 
 * Letter from John Cory to Sir John Potts, of Mannington, printed by Carlyle, 
 ** Letters and Speeches," i, 109. 
 
 ^ •' God in the Mount," ii, 265. See the reference in the "Squire 
 Papers " that intelHgence of the affair was brought to Cambridge ' by the man 
 that sold fish.' ^ ^ ^ 
 
 ' Certain Informations. 
 
Great Civil War, 95 
 
 also seized upon a small barque with arms coming from 
 Dunkirk.' ^ 
 
 By Wednesday, March 22, Cromwell had marched back 
 to Cambridge, having since Sunday week ridden from 
 Cambridge to Norwich, from Norwich to Yarmouth and 
 Lowestoft, from Lowestoft back to Norwich, and thence to 
 King's Lynn and back to Cambridge, besides crushing 
 Royalist risings, and brought in Royalist gentry prisoners 
 from various parts of the two counties.^ Finding on his 
 return to Cambridge some of the Essex men from Colchester 
 ready to disband and go home for want of pay, Cromwell 
 despatched a letter to the Mayor of Colchester, urging upon 
 them that ' one month's pay may prove all your trouble. 
 I speak to wise men — God direct you.' 
 
 For the necessary works at the Castle at Cambridge, 
 houses were pulled down ; and at the river bridges it was 
 a part of the " University's Complaint " that the soldiers 
 " have seized and taken away materials of our intended 
 buildings of the worth of three or four hundred pounds in 
 timber .... conferred towards re-edifying of an 
 ancient college [Clare Hall], and have pulled down, 
 demolished, and defaced five or six fair bridges of stone and 
 timber [St. John's,^ Trin., King's, Garret Hostel, and Queen's] 
 and have spoiled a goodly walk with a new gate pertaining 
 to one of our colleges [King's Coll.] upon pretence of keeping 
 out the Cavaliers. " The works at the Castle included 
 ' rampants with three irregular bastions, and, as measured 
 in 1802, had a height of 16 yards and a diameter of 70 feet ; 
 the whole of the earth works had acquired great solidity by 
 means of a strong course of retentive gault and firm white 
 clay.' On the south the entrenchment was strengthened by 
 the great hill, and on the north was a part of the old Castle 
 
 * Perfect Diurnal. 
 
 * In these efforts to free the Association of its chief Royalists, Mr. Walgrave, 
 Sheriff of Suffolk, Mr. Gosllin, Mayor of Norwich, and others were secured ; 
 and in some of the demonstrations one of the cannon in the Norwich Market 
 Place burst and killed and wounded seventeen persons. — Bowtell MSS., ii, 126; 
 Blomfield's "Norfolk." ^ 
 
 ' " H. paid to P H aij|G others for helping about the Bridge when it was 
 
 taken down by violence of t^r souldiers, and laying up the timber.'' — Bursar's 
 Accounts, St. John's Coll., 1643. 
 
96 East Anglia and the 
 
 trench, and brick buildings were erected as barracks for the 
 soldiers.^ 
 
 The troubles of the University did not end with the 
 imprisonment of their dons ; for since that event Dr. 
 Holdsworth, the Vice-Chancellor, for setting Roger Daniel, 
 the University printer, to work printing the King's Pro- 
 clamations, hadbeen sent up to the Tower ; and the writers 
 of the " Un iversity's Complaint," a Cambridge book, though 
 published at Oxford,^ take up the tale of what was happening 
 upon Cromwell's return from Norwich and King's Lynn. 
 They quote the protection orders of the House of Lords, " that 
 no person shall presume to offer any outrage or violence to 
 the colleges or other buildings of the University," ; the similar 
 order of the Earl of Essex, and then complain that these 
 protections were * blasted in the bud ' by the warrant of 
 Lord Grey of Wark, commander of the Association forces, 
 authorizing entry into the houses of malignants, or of those 
 that refused to contribute, and to seize upon horses, arms, 
 etc. Of their experiences during the progress of the 
 fortifications, they give these particulars, for which the 
 impartial reader will make some small allowance for 
 the source. 
 
 " Instead of carrying us all to London goals (thanks to 
 our multitude and not to their mercy), they found a device 
 to convey a prison to us, and under colour of fortification 
 confined us only in a larger enclosure, not suffering any 
 scholars to pass out of the town, unless some townsman of 
 this tribe would promise for him that he was a confider, as 
 they called it. And with this entrenchment for almost two 
 years together (we are forced with unspeakable grief of 
 mind to think), what profanations, violence, outrages, and 
 wrongs our Chapels, Colleges, and persons have suffered 
 by the unparalleled fury of rude soldiers " 
 
 The narrative proceeds to recount what happened on 
 March 23, and on Good Friday. "The whole Senate (the 
 
 ^ Bowtell MSS., ii, 126 to 129, where a plan of the works is given. 
 
 * "Querela Cantabrigiensis, or a Remonstrance by way of apologie for the 
 banished members of the late flourishing University of Cambridge, by some 
 of the said Sufferers : Oxioniae Anno Dom. 1646." 
 
Great Civil War, 97 
 
 representative body of it), being solemnly assembled in 
 the Regent House, were there violently environed with 
 great bands of armed soldiers, who wanted nothing but 
 a word to despatch us because we would not vote in a 
 matter as they would have us, though that matter did not 
 any what concern them or their cause more than the con- 
 ferring of a degree upon such a man as the whole University 
 in their conscience judged unworthy of it. Then sundry 
 members of the Senate were forthwith seized and imprisoned 
 by the Committee in no better lodgings than the common 
 Court of Guard." 
 
 It is further stated that " as Dr. Power, the Lady Margaret 
 Public Preacher, was making his way across the Market 
 Place he was pursued by a confused number of soldiers 
 shouting ' A Pope ! A Pope 1 ' and vowing high vengeance 
 if he offered to go into the pulpit, whereupon the church was 
 straitway filled with great multitudes ; and when some . . . . 
 told them it was a University exercise and to be by Statute 
 performed in Latin, they replied they knew no reason why all 
 sermons should not be performed in English that all might 
 be edified, threatening withal to tear the hoods and habits 
 which graduates then wore according to the University 
 Statute." 
 
 Complaint was made to Lord Grey of Wark, the Com- 
 mander of the Parliamentary forces, but it is alleged that 
 " no course was taken to prevent these growing mischiefs, 
 and so the divine appointed by statute to preach ad cleriiuL 
 was enforced to return re i7ifecta, and glad to escape so." 
 
 "And that religion might fare no better than learning in 
 the University Church .... our Common Prayer Book 
 was torn before our faces, notwithstanding our protection 
 from the House of Peers for the free use of it ; some now 
 great one * encouraging them in it, and openly rebuking the 
 University clerk who complained of it before his soldiers."^ 
 
 Another Royalist account ^ says that " Lord Grey of Wark 
 and Master Cromwell did .... deal very earnestly 
 
 ' Cromwell is indicated in the margin. 
 * ** Querela Cantabrigiensis." 
 ' Mercurius Aulicus. 
 
98 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 with the heads of Colleges to lend i^6,ooo for the public use, 
 and that the motion not being hearkened unto they kept them 
 all in custody till midnight." The writer adds that when 
 Cromwell found them to stick to their resolution he said to 
 a friend : " They would have been content with i^ 1,000 or less 
 . . . . that the people might have thought that one of 
 the two Universities had been on their side." 
 
 As the work of defence proceeded, the scheme was 
 enlarged so as to embrace the bridges across the Ouse in 
 Huntingdonshire, and to raise the cost from i^2,ooo to 
 ;^5,ooo. The Grand Committee for the Association sitting 
 at Cambridge, with Cromwell foremost among them, drew 
 up a second proclamation, and sent it out to be i'ead in the 
 churches on April 7. It differed in some respects from 
 that issued a month earlier. In this later appeal it was 
 urged that the fortification of Cambridge was ' of great 
 concernment for a place of retreat and rendezvous in any 
 pressing danger.' Further provision was to be made for 
 securing the bridges across the Ouse at Huntingdon, 
 St. Ives, Offord Mills, and some others. Upon these grounds 
 they appealed for a liberal contribution, and the appeal was 
 again signed by Oliver Cromwell, the Mayor of Cambridge, 
 and others. The postscript in this case contained similar 
 directions to the parish constable, churchwardens, and 
 minister, as in the Fen Drayton document, with this 
 significant, addition : " To return unto us the names of all 
 them that are rated to the poor that refuse or do not 
 give towards so good a work." ^ The signatories include 
 Association Committeemen not on the other — T. Barnardiston, 
 Matthew Peckover, Maurice Barrow, Ad. Washington, 
 Jo. Raven, and other Association men. 
 
 All this indicated the growing importance attached to 
 Cambridge as the headquarters of the Association, and the 
 Association Committee had their hands so full that a Sub- 
 Committee had to be appointed to deal with affairs of 
 
 1 Stowe MSS., 807, ff. 204-5, Brit. Mus. Lib, V^hen the Assessment order 
 for contributions towards the fortification of Cambridge was delivered at Norwich, 
 " they gathered from house to house, the well affected (as they termed them) 
 givmg treely, and the rest out of fear. "- Blomfield, " History of Norfolk." 
 
Great Civil War. 99 
 
 lesser moment, consisting chiefly of Cambridge men. 
 Stringent orders were issued against soldiers dealing with 
 or pawning their accoutrements, against tippling in taverns, 
 inns, and alehouses, or in Courts of Guard. The Grand 
 Committee sat at the Bear next Sidney Street, and the 
 Sub-Committee in a room 'next the Grand Committee 
 Chamber.' ^ As for civilians, no one was allowed to go 
 above the Great Bridge after eight o'clock in the evening 
 or before five o'clock in the morning, and boatmen 
 could not convey anyone by river without a ticket from 
 the Commissioners, and without such a ticket no one could 
 pass through a Court of Guard. 
 
 But outside the town of Cambridge stirring events were 
 drawing Cromwell away. The Queen, returning from 
 Holland with money from pawning the Crown jewels, had 
 reached York, though she had on landing at Bridlington 
 to take refuge in a ditch from the fire of the Parliamentary 
 ships ; and that association of the Catholic influence 
 of the Queen with the * Papists Army' under Newcastle, 
 had begun in earnest against which the Puritans of East 
 Anglia were destined to come into sharp conflict. Viscount 
 Camden, another of the Cavendishes, with his headquarters 
 at Stamford, was alarming all the Fens, and events were 
 pointing to the great work of Cromwell in that quarter. 
 To Sir John Burgoyne, of Potton, Beds, Cromwell wrote 
 from Huntingdon, on April 10, this stirring appeal respecting 
 the 'Camdeners': — "These Plunderers draw near. I think 
 it will do well if you can afford us any assistance^ of 
 Dragooners, to help in this great Exigence. We have here 
 about six or seven Troops of Horse ; such, I hope, as will 
 fight. It's happy to resist such beginnings betimes." ^ 
 
 Alarms were coming in from all sides, of an advance of 
 Royalists eastward towards the Associated Counties, now 
 from Huntingdonshire, now in Hertfordshire, where 'every 
 hose they say bought armies and gons to defend them.' 
 The Associated Counties again rose as one man, and marched 
 
 * Printed papers in Bowtell Collection, ii, 129. 
 
 * Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 113. 
 
lOO East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 in thousands to Cambridge, the town of Sudbury distinguish- 
 ing itself by sending two pieces of ordnance. Earl Grey of 
 Wark marched away from Cambridge across Hertfordshire 
 at the head of 4,000 foot and 1,500 horse, and joined the 
 Earl of Essex before Reading in time to secure that 
 stronghold before the King, with Prince Rupert fresh from 
 the taking of Birmingham, arrived to bring it relief. To 
 Cromwell was left the task of dealing with the ' Camdeners,' 
 who were striking terror into the people of South Lincoln- 
 shire, 'fetching in horses and provisions for fifteen miles 
 round.' The forces marching against them from Cambridge, 
 'who will make them runne in all likelihood,' and the regiment 
 of ' stout Norfolk blades ' marching by way of Wisbech and 
 Crowland, the reader will have an opportunity of following 
 in the next chapter. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FIRST SIEGE OF CROWLAND— THE BATTLE OF THE 
 PARSONS — CROMWELL AND THE FENMEN. 
 
 (1643.) 
 
 The farmers gave them ball for ball 
 
 From behind each fence and farmyard wall. 
 
 Longfellow. 
 
 AROUND Crowland, or Croyland, the quaint little 
 citadel of the Northern Fens, the tide of the 
 Penmen's valour broke again and again upon the 
 fringe of the army of ' white coats ' under the Earl of Newcastle 
 and the Royalists of Lincolnshire. Standing in the heart 
 of ' the deepest fennes and water stagnating off muddy 
 lands/ a Venice in miniature with its waterways and pile- 
 driven causeways, yet full of inhabitants, and the ruins of 
 the Abbey dominating all the rest, Crowland was in these 
 troublous times a sad little idyll in grey, a citadel in the 
 silent marshes. Its situation in the midst of the waters 
 justified the proverb that 'all the carts that go to Crowland 
 are shod with silver,' and the comparison by Fuller between 
 Venice and Crowland — "that being cited in the sea, this in 
 a morass and fenny ground, so that a horse can hardly 
 come to it." 
 
 Here, again and again, the Cavaliers out of Lincolnshire 
 gathered in defiant strength, drawing around the spot the 
 noisy current of the war, as by boats and other marshland 
 contrivances the siege was pressed up the crooked waterways 
 
I02 East Anglia and the 
 
 and along causeways, up to within gunshot of the embrasured 
 outline of the fortified Abbey itself. Clumsy drake and 
 saJ<:er^^poui"^de,cl .avyay^at the old venerable pile, beautiful still 
 in':ik-' ruio^,' ainji lajribn, troopers fought their way over the 
 qugiu>t'^rian^ular bridge which still spans the site of the 
 tegdndlry' pobi -oi .'m'ingled waters ; wild fowl rose in swarms 
 for miles around, stirring with restless, vagrant wings the 
 ' moist dark vapours ' which brooded over the Fens. Again 
 and again the old Abbey walls echoed the cannonade until 
 the echoes must have stirred in their graves those venerable 
 monks whom Turketul found here in the dark ages, and 
 others, too, with uneasy memories of that dire vision of the 
 evil spirits of the Fens which so sorely beset St. Guthlach ^ 
 Avhen he first penetrated this solitary fastness. 
 
 Out of the shadowy background of Crowland tradition, 
 an event of intensely human and dramatic interest was 
 shaping itself in the month of April, 1643, which probably 
 had few parallels in the Civil War. It came about in this 
 way. The parsons of Crowland and Spalding, like many 
 others, took opposite sides in the strife ; Mr. Styles, the 
 parson of Crowland, being as pronounced a Royalist as 
 Mr. Ram, of Spalding, was a Puritan. In a moment of 
 extreme zeal, in January, 1643, Mr. Ram, seeing his neighbours 
 of Crowland actually cutting off approaches and throwing 
 up earthworks around their stout little citadel in the waters, 
 ventured to remonstrate with them in a letter dated Spalding, 
 January 31, 164I. In this letter Mr. Ram entreated the 
 Croylanders to accept the advice of a friend, who, " though 
 but a stander by, perhaps sees more than you that play 
 the game." Further he appealed to their reason. 
 
 "• Do you think that to take up arms, to make bulwarks 
 and fortifications without commissions, to disobey all warrants 
 and commands, are not very high contempt } Can you imagine 
 that the Parliament or Committee of Lincoln will endure 
 such affronts, or can you hope to defend yourselves against 
 such forces as may easily and speedily be raised against you ? 
 
 ^ See Du^dale's " History of the Fens" and Heathcote's " Reminiscences of Fen 
 and Mere." 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 Surely your numbers and your preparations are not so 
 great but that a small power may prevail against you ! 
 Neither is your town so inaccessible but that it may be 
 approached many wayes : a piece of ordnance will soon 
 command and batter down your houses, at two or three 
 miles distance ; besides, it is possible in a very short time 
 to famish your town by cutting off all supplies of corn and 
 
 other provisions If others came to your aid 
 
 Croyland is not able to receive a considerable number of 
 
 men Good neighbours ! think seriously upon 
 
 these things, and do not desperately ruin yourselves and 
 your posterity, but hearken timely to the counsel of peace. 
 . . . . Assure yourselves that if the forces at Lynn, 
 Cambridge, Northampton, Nottingham, Lincoln, Boston, and 
 Spalding be able to reduce to the Parliament's obedience 
 • . . . you will not long escape them : my counsel 
 therefore is that you will play the parts of wise men ; lay 
 down your arms and submit yourselves." 
 
 But sturdy little Crowland, confident in its strength, turned 
 a deaf ear to Mr. Ram's counsel, while Mr. Styles, their 
 parson, master of his little island, became more determined 
 for the King and sought the first opportunity of repaying 
 the parson of Spalding for his interference. The fortifications 
 were pushed on, and parson Styles was joined by Captain 
 Welby and by Captain Cromwell, one of the numerous 
 cousins of Oliver, and either of Ramsey or Biggin, Hunts. 
 Under these leaders a body of * Croylanders ' sallied out to 
 the neighbouring town of Spalding, which was comparatively 
 undefended ; and they turned the tables upon Mr. Ram to 
 some purpose! The story of the little drama is graphically 
 described by Vicars and to some extent in the old news-letters, 
 but these are second-hand compared with the narrative of 
 Mr. Ram and his fellow prisoners, whose plain, unvarnished 
 account of a singular episode in the war is as follows : — 
 
 " Upon Saturday, 25th March, being Lady Day, early in 
 the morning Captaine Tho. Stiles, and Capt. Cromwell, 
 Mr. Wil. Styles, minister of Croyland, with about 80 or 
 90 men, came to the town of Spalding, which at that 
 time was utterly unfurnished with men and arms, whereof 
 
I04 East Anglia and the 
 
 they had intelh'gence the evening before by some of our 
 mah'gnant and treacherous neighbours ; near break of day 
 they beset the house of Mr. Ram, minister of the town, where 
 they took J. Harrington, Esq., and the said Mr. Ram, and 
 in a violent and uncivil manner carried them away to 
 Croyland, at the entering whereof all the people of the 
 town [of Croyland] generally were gathered together to see 
 the triumph over the prisoners ; which put us in mind 
 of Sampson's entertainment when he was taken by the 
 Philistines. Some others of our town they took the same 
 time, but released all save Edw^ Home, one of Capt 
 Escort's sergeants ; so we three were left together under 
 strong guard, and about ten days after Mr. Wil. Slater of 
 Spalding, a man 66 years of age, was taken by some 
 of their scouts and made prisoner with us. Our usage for 
 dyet and lodging was indifferent good all the time of our 
 imprisonment, which was five weeks, but some insolencies 
 we were forced now and then to endure. Capt. Styles one 
 day quarrelled with us for praying together, and forbade 
 us doing so, saying we should pray every man for himself ; 
 threatening to take away the Bible from us ... . and 
 by no means would permit us to have pen, ink, or paper, 
 though Mr. Ram did earnestly sue to him for them, and 
 protested that he would write nothing but what they should 
 see or hear if they pleased. 
 
 " After we had been there near three weeks, on Thursday, 
 13 April, some companies of our friends advanced towards 
 our relief, whereupon about eight o'clock that night we 
 were carried down to the bulwark on the north side of the 
 town, where we continued amongst the rude soldiers and 
 townsmen till after midnight. But by reason that our forces 
 fell not on that night we were carried into an alehouse, where 
 
 we continued till daylight When our companies 
 
 approached nearer to the town, then we were brought forth 
 again, and another prisoner, Daniel Pegg, of Deeping, added 
 to us, and carried to that part of the town where the first 
 onset was given, being all of us fast pinioned and made to 
 stand in an open place where the cannon began to play, 
 while we were all five of us set upon the top of the breastwork 
 
Great Civil War. 105 
 
 . . . . where we stood by the space of three hours, 
 our friends shooting fiercely at us for a great part of that 
 time before they knew us. Capt. Harrington [with the 
 attacking party from Spalding] took one of his soldier's 
 muskets, charging with pistol powder, and himself made 
 three shots at his own father ; he and all the rest of the 
 soldiers from that side supposing we had been Croylanders 
 that stood there to brave them. Their works were very 
 strong, and well lined with musketeers who were backed 
 with store of hassock knives, long scyethes, and such like 
 fennish weapons, and, besides, without their works was 
 a great water, broad and deep, which encompassed all that 
 side of the town. 
 
 "The minister of the town, Mr. $tiles, was very active all 
 the time of the fight on the west side of the town, where he 
 commanded in chief, running from place to place, and if 
 fearful oaths be the character of a good soldier he may well 
 pass muster, which made us not so much marvel at the 
 abominable swearing which we continually heard from every 
 mouth ; yea, even when the bullets flew the thickest. But 
 as the fury of the assault began to abate in those parts, so 
 did it increase on the north side, whither presently Mr. Ram 
 and Sergeant Home were posted, and there set upon the 
 bulwark, for our friends on that side to play upon, who 
 plied us with great and small shot for a great while together, 
 supposing Mr. Ram had been the vapouring parson of the 
 town. Many of our dear and worthy friends [the Spalding 
 friends who came to their relief] have told us since how 
 many times they shot at us with their own hands, and how 
 heartily they desired to despatch us, but the Lord of Hosts, 
 that remembereth the hairs of our heads, so guided the 
 bullets that of the multitude that flew about our ears 
 . . . . not one of them had power to touch us, blessed 
 be the name of our God ! 
 
 " After we had continued three hours more upon the 
 north work our forces began to retreat, and then we were 
 taken down [from the bulwarks] and guarded to our 
 
 lodgings Upon this great victory, as the 
 
 Croylanders vaunted, one Mr. Jackson, a minister in the 
 
io6 East Anglia and the 
 
 town, drew the people into the Church, where he read 
 certain collects by way of thankfulness for their good success,^ 
 and most part of the night following was spent in drinking, 
 revelling, and rayling upon the Parlianaent and Roundheads 
 . . . . insomuch that there was scarce a sober man 
 to be found amongst them. The last Sabbath that we were 
 prisoners he [Mr. Jackson] preached, and in his sermon 
 did mightily encourage the people to play the men .... 
 saying that the cause was God's .... that all good 
 people of the land prayed for them .... that ' these 
 holy stones pray for you, these holy books pray for you 
 . . . . the holy vestments pray for you, that holy table 
 prays for you,' etc." 
 
 Just when the prospects of Mr. Ram and his friends were 
 the darkest, relief was at hand from forces under Colonel 
 Cromwell, who had marched from Huntingdon to Peterborough 
 with a regiment of horse, and with him was his son young 
 Oliver, already a captain of a company though only twenty 
 years of age ; while Colonel Hobart had marched across 
 from Wisbech way with a regiment of foot — ' stout Norfolk 
 blades.' On appearing before Crowland a drummer was sent 
 in by Captain Dodson, but was detained, and the spirit 
 in which the reinforcements continued the siege is shown 
 in a letter which Colonel Sir Miles Hobart somehow got into 
 the hands of Mr. Ram : — 
 
 " It is one of our principal ends to relieve you, and by 
 God's assistance we will doe it or die, but He make your 
 Captain speak your language and deliver you whom he so 
 basely surprised, and if he forthwith doe it not ile spare 
 neither man, woman, nor child ; the unworthy detection [sic] 
 of Captain Dodson's drummer, contrary to the laws of arms, 
 deserves no mercy, but if you well refer yourselves to me 
 lie doe that which befits a Christian and a gentleman ; 
 otherwise there is nothing to be expected but the total ruin 
 of town and people." 
 
 ^ Or, as Vicars has it—" Now this the wicked Croylanders took as a victory, 
 and one Jackson, a Balaam's priest in the town, a right son of Belial, brought 
 the Croylanders to Church and read certain collects (out of his idol service book) 
 by way of thanksgiving for their good success, as they impiously called it." 
 
 — "Jehovah-Jireh, God in the Mount." 
 
Great Civil War. 107 
 
 But the task of reducing the little stronghold was not 
 an easy one, and it was rendered the more difficult by the 
 heavy rains which were adding to the natural protection 
 of deep waters around the place. How the attempt fared 
 will be gathered from the continued narrative of Mr. Ram 
 and his friends. 
 
 '* We heard no niore of our [Spalding] friends coming to 
 relieve us till Tuesday the 25th of April, and then the town 
 was assaulted on three sides by part of the regiments of 
 those noble gentlemen Col. Sir Miles Hobart, Col. Sir 
 Anthony Irby, and Col. Cromwell. When the forces 
 advanced somewhat near the town Master Ram was again 
 called for, and brought out of his lodgings and carried with 
 all speed to the north bulwark, and there being very 
 straitly pinioned, but was laid within the work upon the 
 wet ground, where he lay for the space of five hours, often 
 entreating that he might be set upon the bulwark by reason 
 of the extreme numbness of his limbs .... but they 
 would not suffer him. That Tuesday proved a very wet 
 and windy day, and so continued till Thursday morning, 
 that most of our companies were forced to quit their moorish 
 
 rotten quarters and to retreat On Thursday in 
 
 the afternoon all the companies were drawn down upon 
 the three approaches or banks, by which the town only 
 is accessible by land, who so plied the Croylanders upon 
 every quarter that their hearts began to fail, divers of 
 them stealing away into the coverts and moorish ground 
 on the East of the town, which they called Poron,' so famous 
 for fish and fowl ; and many more that night followed their 
 fellows. On Friday morning those that remained set the 
 best face they could upon a bad business, and seemed as if 
 they would fight it out to a man, but before daylight they 
 moved for a treaty, which being granted they sent their 
 unreasonable propositions, which being torn asunder and 
 scorned, our men advanced and entered the town without 
 opposition ; some of the chief actors got away, yet some 
 
 ^ The Great Porsand, which drains the North Level, in the region of 
 Morris Fen. 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 109 
 
 were taken in the town ^ — Capt Styles and Master Jackson 
 minister of Fleet. Of Croyland, only one was slain and one 
 hurt. Of our men were killed five and some 18 or 20 wounded, 
 whereof some are since dead, their wounds being incurable 
 
 by reason of their poisoned bullets Thus it 
 
 pleased the Lord to deliver us out of our imprisonment, and 
 miraculously to preserve those that were appointed to die."^ 
 
 This account is signed by Mr. John Harrington, Mr. Ram, 
 Mr. Slater, and Mr. Home, the four imprisoned Spalding 
 men whose capture and release led to this little siege of 
 Troy in the heart of the Fens. The Royalists captured in 
 Crowland were 'clapped in prison at Colchester, Ipswich, 
 and other places.' Colonel Edward King, of Ashby, High 
 Sheriff of Lincolnshire, appears to have been in command 
 of the relieving force from Spalding. It happened that 
 Mr. Styles, the parson of Crowland, was amongst those who 
 escaped. The parson of Spalding and his fellow prisoners, 
 after all their hard usage, found their way back to their 
 neighbours at Spalding. Mr. Ram, the Puritan minister of 
 Spalding, appears to have remained undisturbed afterwards.^ 
 
 The headquarters of the Parliamentary forces which came 
 to the siege of Crowland were at Peterborough, only a few 
 miles away. While at Peterborough the soldiers laid rough 
 hands upon the Cathedral,* and Cromwell himself paid 
 visits to his native county to some purpose. According 
 to a contemporary account Cromwell's soldiers made their 
 first breach upon the great west window of the Cathedral, 
 
 ^ When the garrison was taken, either at this or one of its sieges, it is said '* one 
 of the town soldiers, affrighted, got up to the top of the church, above the wood 
 wherewith it was covered, and walked along till he came to a place where 
 wanted a board ; there, whether casually stepping down (or being admonished 
 by the soldiers calling upon him to come down) he hung a long time by the arms, 
 till at last being a weary he fell into the Church, which is of a great height ; but 
 yet was not so dashed to pieces by the fall, but that he lived a day or two. " — 
 Gunton, " Hist. Peterborough," p. 92. 
 
 2 Divers Remarkable Passages, etc., King's Pamphlets, Brit. Mus. Lib., 
 E. 104 (34). 
 
 ' Under the Act for appointing Parish Registrars in 1653, Mr. Ram was 
 appointed for Spalding, Cowbit, and Weston ; and the certificate of his appointment 
 was signed by Mr. John Harrington, the 'religious gent ' who suffered with him 
 on the bulwarks of Crowland, and who had then become a justice of the peace. 
 Mr. Ram was buried amongst his own people in 1656. (Extract from Spalding 
 Parish Register, per Dr. Perry, of Spalding.) 
 
 * See Mercurius Rusticus. 
 
I lo East Anglia and the 
 
 and spoilt its 'variety of ecclesiastical history.' It is said 
 that a {^\N days after the despoiling- of the Cathedral 
 
 "a finger of divine vengeance touched Cromwell 
 
 For, being at that time quartered in the house of Mr. 
 Cervington, commonly called the Vineyard, at the east 
 end of the Cathedral, out of the court of which dwelling 
 there was a passage into the churchyard, ascending by three 
 or four stone steps, Cromwell, as others did, riding up those 
 steps his horse fell under him, and rising suddenly under 
 the lintels of the door, dashed his head against the lintels, 
 so that he fell to the ground as dead, was so carried into 
 the house, and it was about a fortnight ere he could be 
 recovered ; those who were eye-witnesses affirmed that the 
 blow raised splinters in his scalp near a finger's length."^ 
 
 While engaged in this business of 'eating up the fat 
 clergy of Peterborough,' as a news-letter described it, 
 Colonel Cromwell paid visits to various parts of his native 
 county and to his former neighbours. The glimpses we get 
 show him in the exercise of a Spartan discipline towards 
 his future Ironsides, and a rigid distinction between private 
 inclination and public duty. 
 
 ** Colonel Cromwell is for the present at Huntingdon with 
 some fine troops, to which are added some countrymen of 
 Huntingdonshire and other Counties ; the Enemy fled, as 
 is conceived to Newarke, upon the noyse of him. The 
 Colonel exercises strict discipline, for when two troopers 
 would have escapt, he sent for them back, caused them to 
 be whipt at the Market Place in Huntingdon, and, being 
 before dismounted and disarmed, he turned them off as 
 Renegadoes. The motion of my Lord Grayes is of like 
 eminence, for when at Cambridge the troope of one Captain 
 Riches would not advance upon command, he caused them 
 all to be environed, and commanded them to dismount, 
 otherwise they should be shot, which they did, and then 
 being disarmed they were discharged as refractories, and 
 other more right to the cause mounted in their roomes. 
 - ... As for Cromwell he hath 2,000 brave men, well 
 
 ' Gunton's "Peterborough,'' p. 92. 
 
Great Civil War, 1 1 1 
 
 disciplined : no man swears but he pays his twelve pence ; 
 if he be drunk he is set in the stocks, or worse, if one calls 
 the other * Roundhead ' he is cashiered ; insomuch that the 
 countries where they come leap for joy of them, and come 
 in and join with them. How happy were it if all the forces 
 were thus disciplined." ^ 
 
 A serious reflection upon Cromwell's humanity while in 
 Huntingdonshire, if it were supported by any less partizan 
 authority than the ultra-Royalist print in which it appeared, 
 was the following : — 
 
 " It was this day advertised by letters out of Huntingdon- 
 shire that Colonel Cromwell hath committed many barbarous 
 outrages in several parts of that county, robbing and spoiling 
 all men of what sort soever whom he was pleased to style 
 malignants ; and in particular, that having made great havoc 
 among the orthodox clergy of those parts, he came at last 
 to the house of one Master Wilson, an ancient and painful 
 minister, whom he handled in so rough and rude a manner 
 that a son of his, being then in the house (who also was in 
 holy orders), was forced according to his natural duty to 
 make intercession for his father, and amongst other motives 
 which he laid before him told Cromwell that the wheel might 
 turn, and he might stand in need of that mercy which now 
 was in his power to show. At which Cromwell became so 
 furious and impatient that he told him he would spoil his 
 preaching, and presently caused him to be hanged up and 
 bored his tongue through with an hot iron." ^ I have found 
 no confirmation of this improbable story in other Royalist 
 prints of the time. 
 
 Of more personal interest than the foregoing was Cromwell's 
 visit to Sir Oliver Cromwell, his Royalist uncle at Ramsey, 
 as described by Sir Philip Warwick, who visited the old knight 
 some time afterwards. Sir Oliver told him that when his 
 nephew Oliver visited him with a good strong party of 
 horse he asked him his blessing, and that the few hours he 
 was there " he would not keep on his hatt in his presence ; 
 
 * Special Passages, April and May, 1643. 
 ' Mercurius Aulicus, May 7, 1643. 
 
112 East Anglia and the 
 
 but at the same time he not only disarmed but plundered 
 him, for he took away all his plate," ^ 
 
 With his 2,000 well-disciplined, brave men, the beginning 
 of the famous Ironsides, Cromwell, on May 12, was ' marching 
 against Newark ' ; or rather for the general rendezvous at 
 Grantham, lor which the 'stout Norfolk blades' who came 
 to the relief of Crowland had been lying ' conveniently at 
 Spalding.' On May 13, in the evening, occurred that skirmish 
 before Grantham, so graphically described by Cromwell 
 himself: — 
 
 " It was late in the evening when we drew out ; they came 
 and faced us within two miles of the town. So soon as we 
 had the alarm we drew out our forces, consisting of about 
 twelve troops — whereof some of them so poor and broken, 
 that you shall seldom see worse ; with this handful it pleased 
 
 God to cast the scale After many shots on 
 
 both sides we came on with our troops a pretty round trot, 
 they standing firm to receive us ; and our men charging 
 fiercely upon them by God's providence they were immediately 
 routed and ran all away, and we had the execution of them 
 two or three miles. I believe some of our soldiers did kill 
 two or three men apiece in the pursuit." ^ 
 
 " The whole fortune of the Civil War," says Gardiner, 
 " was in that nameless skirmish " in which " a body of Puritan 
 horsemen had driven twice their number before them as chaff 
 before the wind." 
 
 While Cromwell was leading his Puritan horsemen in 
 that first victorious charge, efforts were being made to 
 maintain the supremacy of Parliament in his native county, 
 in the Isle of Ely, and at King's Lynn. In the latter town 
 the Mayor was struggling with desperate odds against the 
 overwhelming influence of Royalist neighbours by inviting 
 the deputy-lieutenants ''one day in a weeke to dinner at 
 the towne charge." ^ 
 
 The Royalist gentry who were troubling the town were 
 Sir Hamon le Strange and his sons, of Hunstanton Hall, 
 
 * Warwick's Memoirs, pp. 251-2. 
 
 * Carl vie, Letters and Speeches, i, 1 18-9. 
 ' Lynn Corporation Records. 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 Sir Charles Mordaunt, Lord Allinfrton, Sir Robert de Gray, 
 and others, whom Parliament authorized the Mayor and 
 Justices to search for and apprehend and convey them to 
 Parliament, or to the Castle at Wisbech. In the Isle 
 of Ely, where the future Ironsides, Captains Fleetwood, 
 Whalley, and Desborough, had been empowered to seize 
 malignants* horses and arms, etc., there was a little 
 adventure in the city of Ely on a Sunday which is thus 
 described by the Association Committee sitting at Cam- 
 bridge, writing to the deputy-lieutenants of Essex : " On 
 last Sabbath they sent a troop of the Lord General's 
 horse and two companies of foot of their own volunteers, 
 with four of their own commissioners, to Ely, whither they 
 put down some disturbances." The vigorous measures of 
 Cromwell before marching into Lincolnshire, and the needs 
 of the county, resulted, a few days later, on May 26, in the 
 County of Huntingdon being added to the Eastern Asso- 
 ciation. Henceforth the great task for the Association and 
 its forces was to secure the County of Lincoln by sweeping 
 the Camdeners from the Fens, crushing the whitecoats 
 under Newcastle, and co-operating with Fairfax in the north. 
 Cromwell, still in Lincolnshire, was bent upon the great work 
 of securing that county, now fighting, now writing urgent 
 appeals for money — one of them to far-away Essex, to send 
 more men to check the Marquis of Newcastle and his six 
 thousand foot and sixty troops of horse, and money. " Lay 
 not too much upon the back of a poor gentleman who 
 desires, without much noise, to lay down his life and bleed 
 the last drop to serve the cause and you." Cromwell's 
 appeal to Essex was supported by the Association Committee 
 at Cambridge, on the ground that three Companies had been 
 taken away from Cambridge, that Cromwell wanted Sir John 
 Palgrave's regiment from Wisbech, but more especially 
 because the Queen was on her march with 1,200 horse 
 and 3,000 foot, and if reinforcements were not sent the 
 Cambridge garrison might mutiny and disband, and ' ten 
 brave pieces of ordnance, almost mounted for service, besides 
 a good fort .... be a prey to the enemy. ^ 
 
 * Barrington MSS. 
 
 8 
 
114 East Anglia and the 
 
 This was at the end of May and the beginning of June, 
 when the Parliament's outlook began to be depressing, for 
 a temporary advantage of Fairfax at Wakefield was followed 
 by the tidings of Chalgrove Field. Here ' the Roundheads 
 fought as they had never fought before,' but against superior 
 numbers. On June i8, the great warrior patriot, John 
 Hampden, is riding off the field 'with his head bowed 
 low over his horse's neck,' and bearing in his shoulder the 
 wound which England will feel to-morrow. After six days' 
 suffering at Thame he breathed out his patriotic soul in the 
 prayer — " Save my bleeding country .... let the King 
 see his error. O Lord, save my country ! " The shock of 
 that event vibrates in ever-widening circles, far into the 
 Eastern Association, where men speak with bated breath 
 on the one side and ill-concealed triumph on the other. 
 In the parsonage house at Cheveley, near Newmarket, for 
 instance, Robert Levett, the Royalist parson, greets John 
 Raby, of Newmarket, as he enters the room, with a knowing 
 accent in the usual query of the times, "What news?" to 
 which Mr. Raby replies, " We hear there is a lord or great 
 commander slain," and Parson Levett rejoins, "He is a 
 Roundhead ; 't is well he is slain, thereby he hath escaped 
 a hanging." 1 Into Essex the tidings spread with increasing 
 interest, for Anthony NicoU writes to Sir Thomas Barrington, 
 of the Essex Committee : — " Poor Hampden is dead, and 
 I profess to you I have scarce strength to pronounce 
 that word. Never kingdom received a greater loss in one 
 subject ; never man a truer and faithfuller friend ! " ^ 
 Hampden himself, in one of the last letters he ever wrote, 
 had written to Sir Thomas, appealing through him for the 
 support of the Essex people : — " The power of Essex is 
 great, a place of most life of religion in the land ; and 
 your power in the country is great, too. The difficulties 
 of this war need the utmost of both." Truly a great leader 
 had fallen in this famous cousin of Cromwell, to whom even 
 Clarendon gives this handsome testimony : — " When this 
 Parliament began the eyes of all men were fixed upon 
 
 * Minutes of the Committee for Scandalous Ministers. 
 
 * Barrington MSb. 
 
Great Civil War. 1 1 5 
 
 him, as their Patriae Pater, and the pilot that must steer 
 the vessel through the tempest and rocks which threatened 
 it ; and I am persuaded his power and interest at that time 
 was greater to do good or hurt than any man's in the 
 kingdom, or than any man of his rank hath had in any 
 time, for his reputation for honesty was universal." 
 
 The depressing effect of Hampden's death was increased 
 by other circumstances. The Earl of Essex, Lord General 
 for Parliament, wanted to resign, and Sir Thomas Fairfax, 
 shut up in Bradford, had to cut his way out, and after a weary 
 march, wounded and sore, reached Hull, his own wife being 
 left a prisoner with the army of Newcastle, and his own 
 child being left behind dying, as was believed, by the 
 wayside, though afterwards recovered. The Marquis of 
 Newcastle now had nothing but Hull and Cromwell's 
 flying squadrons between him and his design upon the 
 Eastern Association ; the Queen was marching from Newark, 
 Sir William Waller had been beaten in the West, and 
 the Earl of Essex was hanging along the borders of 
 Bedfordshire, with Prince Rupert threatening, and his own 
 resolution wavering, until Londoners raised the taunting 
 query whether he was afraid to fight the Queen as well as 
 the King! In despair Parliament sent Commissioners to 
 the Scots for aid, and it seemed for the moment as if 
 everything was hanging upon what could be done in the 
 Fens by the small handful under Cromwell. 
 
 By the middle of July the town of Cambridge was able 
 to report, " our town and Castle are now very strongly 
 fortified, being encompassed with breastworks and bulwarks,"^ 
 and all passes through the Fens were being watched and 
 strengthened. From Ely, demi-culverin were being dragged 
 across the Fens to Wisbech to fortify the Horseshoe Pass ; 
 and at the Hermitage Pass, near Earith, where the Ouse 
 enters Cambridgeshire, Tyrrell Jocelyn, a member of the 
 Hunts Committee, surrounded by alarms, bravely held out 
 hopes of being able to keep the post * for a week.' Thus 
 far Huntingdonshire had had enough to do to defend itself, 
 
 1 Bowtell MSS., ii, 135. 
 
ii6 East Anglia and the 
 
 without contributing much to the Association, and Parlia- 
 ment, recognizing that the county ' now become the frontier 
 of the Associated Counties,' was enforced to make extra- 
 ordinary provision of horse and foot to safeguard itself, 
 'against the incursions of the plundering enemy,' allowed 
 the county to collect its weekly assessments, and, for the 
 time being, apply the same to the defence of the county. 
 
 It was on July i8, that intelligence came to Huntingdon 
 and Cambridge of the hot work upon which Cromwell 
 was entering around Stamford, with the ' Ca'ndishers,' or 
 Camdeners, under the Hon. Charles Cavendish, Viscount 
 Camden. The Huntingdonshire scouts came riding in hot 
 haste to the Committee at Huntingdon acquainting them 
 that *this night at two o'clock they received intelligence 
 from Peterborough that the King's forces, 400 in number, 
 appeared before that town.' It is to this incident that the 
 stirring letter, attributed to Henry Cromwell, son of Colonel 
 Cromwell, in the " Squire Papers " refers. Colonel Cromwell 
 was on the borders of Northamptonshire ready to fall back 
 upon Stamford ; Colonel Palgrave's regiment was lying about 
 Whittlesea, ready to defend Peterborough. 
 
 "To Captain Berry at his Quarters, Whittlesea. These, 
 in all haste. i8th July, 1643. 
 
 *' There is great news just come in by one of our men who 
 has been home on leave. The Ca'ndishers are coming on hot. 
 Some say 80 troops, others 50 troops. Be it as it may we 
 must go on. Vermuyden has sent his son on to say we had 
 better push on three troops as scouts, as far as Stamford ; 
 and hold Peterborough at all costs, as it is the Key to the 
 Fen, which if lost much ill may ensue. Our news sa3/s 
 Ca'ndish has sworn to sweep the Fens clear of us How 
 he handles his broom we will see when we meet ; he may 
 find else than dirt to try his hand on, I think ! Last night 
 came in letters from the Lord General, also money, and 
 ammunition a good store. 
 
 " Our men being ready we shall ride in and join your 
 troop at dawn. Therefore send out scouts to see, also good 
 intelligencers on foot had better be sent after ; they are best, 
 I find, on all occasions. Hold the Town secure ; none go 
 
Great Civil War. 117 
 
 in or out on pain of law of arms and war. — Sharman is come 
 in from Thrapston ; there was a troop of the King's men 
 driving, but got cut down to a man — not far from Kettering 
 by the Bedford Horse, and no quarter given, I hear. 
 
 " Sir, this is all the news I have. My Father desires me to 
 say pray be careful ! Sir, I rest 
 
 Your humble Servant, 
 
 Henry Cromwell." ^ 
 
 The Cavaliers, * from Bever [Belvoir] Castle and Newark,' 
 were driven from Peterborough by Colonel Palgrave, and 
 retired to Stamford, * whither they called in the country and 
 began to fortify apace; but it pleased God to send Colonel 
 Cromwell to them from Northampton side, or Rockingham, 
 with six or seven troops and some foot.' 
 
 Of the proceedings before Burghley House, the Committee 
 at Huntingdon, writing to the Essex Committee on July 19, 
 with a pardonable pride in their distinguished neighbour, 
 say : — 
 
 " Our scout now returned from Stamford tells us that this 
 morning early noble Colonel Cromwell, Col. Hobart, with 
 Col. Palgrave, set down before Burleigh House by Stamford 
 (wherein was 2 colonels, 6 captains, with about 200 honse 
 and 3CX) foot). At the first setting down Cromwell sent 
 a trumpet to summon the Cavaliers with offer of free quarter, 
 to leave only the place and their arms. Thereto the 
 Cavaliers returned they would neither give nor take quarter, 
 but would fight it out to the last man. Whereupon the 
 Colonel caused the ordnance to play upon the House, but 
 a few hours proved no good would be done that way. 
 Whereupon our Colonels caused their musketeers in three 
 squadrons to draw up to the House ; that in a little time 
 the Cavaliers sounded a parley. Whereupon the Colonel 
 
 sent to the not to kill a man more upon pain of 
 
 death. In this manner the house, all the commanders and 
 soldiers, were taken with all arms and whatever else, and 
 
 • Carlyle's ** Letters and Speeches of Cromwell," i. Unless Noble and otherrs 
 are wrong about the respective ages of Cromwell's children, this letter, with its 
 ather stilted language, from a beardless youth of fifteen, tells rather against the 
 authenticity of the bquire Papers. 
 
Ti8 East Anglia and the 
 
 not above 6 men slain on both sides. And while this 
 was doing the Colonel sent out Captains Dodson, Wanton, and 
 Disbrow, to meet with 400 of the enemy, and had notice 
 were going to assist the Cavaliers. Captain Dodson being 
 first in with them was wounded and beaten from his horse, 
 but rescued by Captain Wauton, and then together falling 
 upon the rabble slew above 50 of them and wholly dispersed 
 and routed the rest." ^ 
 
 There is, I am told, a tradition at Stamford that when 
 Cromwell was about this stirring business of the storming 
 of Burghley House, he stayed with a Miss Wingfield, a 
 relative of his, and on her entreaty did not destroy the 
 house. It is also related, as an instance of Cromwell's 
 gallantry to Royalist ladies, that in connection with the taking 
 of Burghley House, he presented a painting of himself, by 
 Walker, to the widowed Countess of Exeter, which is still 
 preserved at Burghley. ^ 
 
 The majority of the prisoners taken at Burghley were sent 
 to Cambridge, where during this Summer the University had 
 lamented "how our scholars daily grow desolate . . . • 
 how in our colleges our numbers grow thin and our revenues 
 short .... how, frighted by the neighbouring noise of war, 
 our students either fled their gowns, or abandoned their 
 studies, how our degrees lie disesteemed." ^ But if they 
 neglected their studies, the scholars, at any rate, interested 
 themselves in the Royalist prisoners, and added to the troubles 
 of the Committeemen, as the following letters will show : — 
 
 "Cambridge Committee to Sir Roger North and the rest 
 of the Committee of the Associated Counties : — 
 
 "Noble Gent, 
 
 " Colonel Cromwell having sent about 200 Cavaliers 
 into Cambridge, taken at Burghley House, we thought 
 fit to send them to London to be disposed of by your ap- 
 probation and wisdom, either by land or sea, because it is 
 not unknown to you that the town of Cambridge is malignant 
 
 * Barrington MSS. 
 
 2 Fenland Notes and Queries. 
 
 2 Petition of University, Lords' Journals, vol. vi, pp. 80- 1 
 
Great Civil War. 1 1 9 
 
 enough, and we fear the sickness has much dispersed about 
 the Spittle House end, and our garrison weak, so as to con- 
 tinue them here would be both a danger and charge to the 
 town and consequently to the whole Association. 
 " Cambridge the 27'** of July, 1643." 
 
 The Committee for the Associated Counties also wrote to 
 the Speaker in a similar strain, and complaining of the 
 commanders among the prisoners holding correspondence 
 with the scholars, and growing ' bold and insolent.' 
 
 They sent up 224 prisoners to London, and among them 
 the Sheriff of Rutland, and also Captain Welby, of Gedney, 
 one of the leaders in the night surprise and capture of the 
 parson of Spalding. Welby was committed to the King's 
 Bench, and, in 1649, was pleading that he had been in the 
 King's Bench six years, 'in great want' In that year he 
 was allowed to compound, and pay a fine oi £\QO. 
 
 From Stamford Cromwell and his forces marched towards 
 Gainsborough, and near that place he met the handsome 
 young General, Lord Cavendish, at the head of an advanced 
 part of Newcastle's army. A sharp engagement ensued, of 
 which Cromwell, having got back to Huntingdon, on July 31, 
 gave these graphic particulars to the Suffolk Committee : — 
 
 " When we all recovered the top of the hill we saw a great 
 body of the enemy's horse facing us, at about a musket 
 shot or less distance, and a good Reserve of a full regiment 
 of horse behind it. We endeavoured to put our men into as 
 good order as we could. The enemy in the meantime 
 advanced towards us, to take us at disadvantage, but in 
 such order as we were, we charged their great body, I having 
 the right wing. We came up horse to horse, where we 
 disputed it with our swords and pistols a pretty time, all 
 keeping close order, so that one could not break the other. 
 At last they, a little shrinking, our men perceiving it, pressed 
 in upon them, and immediately routed this whole body, 
 some flying on one side and others on the other of the 
 enemy's Reserve ; and our men pursuing them had chase 
 and execution about five or six miles. 
 
 " I perceiving this body, which was the Reserve, standing 
 
I20 East Anglia and the 
 
 still unbroken, kept back my Major, Walley, from the chase ; 
 and with my own troops, and the other of my regiment, in 
 all being three troops, we got into a body. In this Reserve 
 stood General Cavendish, who one while faced me, another 
 while faced four of the Lincoln troops, which was all of ours 
 that stood upon the place, the next being engaged in the 
 chase. At last General Cavendish charged the Lincolners, 
 and routed them. Immediately I fell on his rear with my 
 three troops ; which did so astonish him that he gave over 
 the chase, and would fain have delivered himself from 
 me. But I, pressing on, forced them down a hill, having 
 good execution of them ; and, below the hill, drove the 
 General with some of his soldiers into a quagmire, where 
 my Captain-lieutenant slew him with a thrust under his 
 short ribs. The rest of the body was wholly routed, not 
 one man staying upon the place." ^ 
 
 But this event only brought the victorious troopers in 
 sight of the main army under Newcastle, lying regiment 
 behind regiment, in formidable array. There was nothing 
 for it but to retire; Gainsborough could not be held, and 
 the task of freeing Lincolnshire of the Cavaliers seemed as 
 far off as ever. Lord Willoughby was obliged to give up 
 Lincoln, and, having got into Boston, wrote to Cromwell at 
 Huntingdon these despairing words : — 
 
 " Since the business of Gainsborough the hearts of our 
 men have been so deaded that we have lost most of them 
 
 by running away So that now I am at Boston, 
 
 where we are very poor in strength, so that without some 
 speedy supply, I fear we shall not hold this long neither. 
 .... If you will endeavour to stop my Lord of Newcastle, 
 you must presently draw them [the forces] to him and fight 
 him. For without we be masters of the field we shall be 
 pulled out by the ears one after another." He urges 
 Cromwell to hasten the foot to Boston, " for if the enemy 
 get that Town, which is now very weak for defence for want 
 of men, I believe they will not be long out of Norfolk and 
 Suffolk." 
 
 ^ Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 124. 
 
Great Civil War. 121 
 
 From Huntingdon Cromwell, on the receipt of the above, 
 immediately sent off to the Committee at Cambridge the 
 following rousing epistle : — 
 
 " Huntingdon, August 6th, 1643. 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " You see by this enclosed how sadly your affairs stand. 
 It 's no longer Disputing, but out instantly all you can ! 
 Raise all your Bands [Trained Bands], send them to 
 Huntingdon ; get up what volunteers you can ; hasten 
 your Horses. 
 
 " Send these Letters to Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex without 
 delay. I beseech you spare not, but be expeditious and 
 industrious ! Almost all our Foot have quitted Stamford : 
 there is nothing to interrupt an Enemy but our Horse, that 
 is considerable. You must act lively; do it without dis- 
 traction. Neglect no means. I am 
 
 Your faithful servant, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell." ^ 
 
 Cromwell, in his letter to Essex, whence the men had 
 refused to march to Cambridge, ' some because it is harvest 
 and some desiring more pa}',' wrote " hast, hast, post hast ! " 
 as follows : — 
 
 " You see by this enclosed the necessitye of goinge out of 
 our old pace. You sent indeed your part of the 2000 foote, 
 but when they came they as soon returned. Is this the 
 way to save a Kingdom ? Where is the doctereine of some 
 of your countye concerninge the trayned bands and other 
 forces not goinge out of the Association, I wish your force 
 may bee ready to meete with the enemie when hee is in 
 the Association. Hast what you can ; not your part only 
 of 2000 foote but I hope 3000 foote att least. Lord Newcastle 
 will advance into your bowells. Better joyne when others 
 will joyne and joyne with you then stay till all be lost ; 
 hasten to our helpe. The enemie in all probability wil be 
 in our bowells else in ten dayes ; his armie is powerfull. 
 See your men come and some of your gentlemen and 
 ministers come along with them that so they may be 
 
 ^ Baker MSS., xxxiv, 429. 
 
122 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 delivered over to those shall command them, otherwise 
 they will returne at pleasure. If we have them att our 
 armie wee can keepe them. From your faithful servant." ^ 
 
 Two days later Cromwell was at Peterborough sending all 
 available Foot to Spalding, and again appealing to the 
 Committee at Cambridge to send on more Horse to 
 Huntingdon and to him — "gentlemen, make them able to 
 live and subsist that are willing to spend their blood 
 for you ! " 
 
 With the powerful army under Newcastle still unbroken, 
 with King's Lynn ready to declare for the King, with the 
 fall of Bristol and Parliamentary reverses in the West, with 
 caricatures of the inactive Earl of Essex and his pipe and 
 his glass, chalked on the walls in London ; and women 
 wearing white ribbon pelting the soldiers and clamouring 
 for peace at the door of Parliament, it seemed as if there 
 were nothing left to sustain the popular cause but the Puritan 
 pulpits and Cromwell's cavalry charges. Almost the only 
 thing in which Parliament could take comfort was in 
 thanking Colonel Cromwell for his ' faithful endeavours to 
 God and the Kingdom ' ; and, unless this small leaven of 
 valour in the Fens could be spread over a wider area, there 
 seemed little hope of greater success in the future. 
 
 ^ Barrington MSS. 
 

 CHAPTER VIL 
 
 A PURITAN COMMANDER— HOW THE ESSEX MEN CAME 
 IN — THE SIEGE OF KING'S LYNN. 
 
 (I643-) 
 
 " When thou goest out with the host against thine enemies, keepe thee 
 
 then from all wickednesse Be valiant and fight the 
 
 Lord's battelis."— 7;^<? Souldiers Pocket Bible. 
 
 T 
 
 HE loth of August, 1643, marked a new departure 
 in the prosecution of the War for Parliament, 
 which now began to turn its attention to the one 
 part of its forces whose valour had known no defeat, and 
 to the lesson which Cromwell's successes were teaching. 
 It was not to this date that we must look for any actual 
 enrolment of the Ironsides. They had been emerging from 
 the * sorrowful confusion' of the times with every step in 
 Cromwell's method of rejecting * the tapsters and decayed 
 serving men ' in favour of men having a conscience in their 
 work. But it was the first broad recognition of the valour of 
 a few men who were the salt of what now seemed every- 
 where else to be a losing cause. It was, therefore, a time 
 for heroic measures, and the act of the Earl of Manchester 
 in stepping down from the dignified position of Speaker 
 of the House of Lords into the thick of the campaign at 
 such a critical juncture was one of those personal sacrifices 
 which give a crowning touch to the heroic principle where- 
 ever it is struggling for dear life, as it was just then in the 
 Fens. A Puritan of the Puritans, and yet a nobleman of 
 great territorial influence, when the Earl of Manchester took 
 
124 East Anglia and the 
 
 up his commission ^ as commander of the Association forces 
 it gave something of an eclat to the measures which were 
 to follow. 
 
 To make the new arrangement more significant, Cromwell, 
 one of the four Colonels under the Earl, was given the 
 command of the Horse in the counties of Huntingdon, 
 Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely ; and, with Manchester 
 at last coming down amongst his own people, there was 
 a degree of confidence and resolution which promised to 
 bear fruit in the impending crisis. But commanders were 
 of little use without men, and Parliament added ordinance 
 to ordinance until the levies upon the Associated Counties 
 called for 10,000 men to defend ' the true Protestant Religion,' 
 against ' idolatry/ Papists, and * other dangerous persons.' 
 
 For the better ordering and disposition of men and money 
 coming in from the Eastern Counties, there was a fresh 
 appointment of Committeemen to sit upon the Grand Council 
 for the Association at Cambridge. Most of the members 
 appointed had done similar duty before ; but the appoint- 
 ment of trusty men in place of the wavering made a new 
 departure. The rules and instructions laid down for their 
 guidance also bring into clearer view the functions of this 
 Grand C'ouncil of War than is done by any previous order. 
 Seven of the Council were to form a quorum, providing there 
 was one present from each of the Associated Counties. The 
 delegates came up to Cambridge by turns, two from each 
 county, for a period of fourteen days' duty, receiving 35^". 
 per week for the service. If more than the two appointed 
 from each county were present they had power to vote, 
 though it was not their turn ; and Members of Parliament 
 for the Associated Counties had a seat on the Committee 
 ex officio. The instructions provided that the Grand Com- 
 mittee were to assemble at Cambridge, and, ' in these times 
 of imminent danger, to use all diligence to promote the 
 service they were entrusted withalL' They were further 
 enjoined : — 
 
 ^ The old Parchment granting the Earl his 'commission as Major-General of 
 the Association Forces ' is still preserved in the Manchester Papers in the Record 
 Office. 
 
Great Civil War. 125 
 
 " That they have a special care of all the frontiers, that 
 the Isle of Ely be supplied with fitting forces to resist all 
 sudden surprizes and invasions, and shall from time to time 
 send out scouts to discover in what manner any enemy 
 approacheth near to the frontiers. That the said Committee 
 shall order and dispose of all the Associated Forces .... 
 and, if more forces are wanted, to give notice to the deputy- 
 lieutenants, and that every County may see their forces paid, 
 and that a Register be kept of all the proceedings of the 
 Committee." ^ 
 
 They had also to see that no stranger entered Cambridge 
 or the Isle of Ely without a certificate of good affection from 
 four of the deputy-lieutenants of the County whence they 
 came. They had also to see that the Committees of indi- 
 vidual counties did their work in sequestering estates of 
 * malignants.' They commenced their duties under special 
 difficulties, owing to the demand for labour in the harvest 
 field ; but the approach of Newcastle's army, with all the 
 hurly-burly of actual war in the Fens, was a more pressing 
 evil than the delay of harvest work. 
 
 On August 14, the Earl of Manchester sat as Speaker 
 in the House of Lords, and then, having obtained leave to 
 take Mr. Ashe, a member of the Westminster Assembly of 
 Divines, with him as his chaplain, he departed for Cambridge 
 to take up his duties as Commander of the Association Army, 
 leaving to Lord Grey of Wark, the former commander, to 
 take up his place as Speaker in the House of Lords. 
 
 The new Association Committee lost no time in getting 
 to work, and their first act was to welcome the new Com- 
 mander of their forces by this resolution : " That the Earl 
 of Manchester shall have as great entertainment as Major- 
 General of this Brigade of the Associated Counties as any 
 Major-General hath that is at this present in the service of 
 Parliament." 
 
 While Parliament, with the assistance of the counties of 
 the Association, was organizing the material power and 
 resources of the Eastern Counties, there was another kind of 
 
 * Lords' Journals, vi, 176-7. 
 
126 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 weapon being prepared in some obscure alley in the city of 
 London, which was destined to have an immortal share in 
 the valour of the Ironsides. The efficient service of sword, 
 musket, and pike in the sinewy arms of the Fenmen 
 meant a great deal if their region was to be kept clear of 
 the " Papists " under Newcastle, but no Puritan armour would 
 be complete which took no account of the "sword of the 
 Spirit," for those select men under Cromwell who were to 
 know no fear but the fear of God. The tradition that every 
 man in Cromwell's Ironsides was provided with a pocket 
 Bible, which has come down to us as an accompaniment of 
 Puritan valour, is now a matter of definite history. Mr. 
 George Livermore, of Cambridgeport, Massachusetts, was, 
 it appears, the first to discover the fact that the Bible, which 
 every man in Cromwell's army ' carried in his knapsack, and 
 daily read and sang praises to God,' was not the whole 
 Bible, but "the Souldiers Pocket Bible," consisting of ap- 
 propriate quotations from the Scriptures, ' printed in pocket 
 form, which was generally buttoned between the coat and 
 the waistcoat next the heart.' 
 
 Exactly one week before Parliament introduced the great 
 movement for the organization of the Eastern Counties, this 
 famous "Souldiers Pocket Bible" was issued in readiness for 
 serving out to every man in the legions who were going 
 forth under Manchester and Cromwell. The " Souldiers 
 Pocket Bible " was edited by Edmund Calamy, a noted 
 Puritan, minister of St. Mary, Aldermanbury. A facsimile 
 of the title-page is given on the opposite page. 
 
 There are only two copies of this famous little book now 
 known to be in existence. One of these is preserved in 
 the British Museum and the other is in the United States 
 of America. The former bears the endorsement by Thomason, 
 the collector of the King's Pamphlets, next the printed year 
 1643, of "Aug. 3rd," apparently as the date of publication, 
 which brings us actually to within seven days of the great 
 scheme for placing the East Anglian forces under the new 
 Puritan Commander and the special appointment of the 
 grand council at Cambridge. The book is a small octavo 
 of sixteen pages, including the title-page. All the texts are 
 
^ THE g; 
 
 |SOULDIERS| 
 
 ^1 Poeket Bible : ^ 
 
 ^ Containing the moft(if not all)thofc f» 
 
 ^ places coniamcd in holy Scripture, ^ 
 
 ^ which doc Hiewthe qualifications of his |a» 
 
 ^ inner man, that is a fit Sculdicr to fight g®* 
 
 ^ the Lords Battels, both before he fight, ^ 
 
 ^ in the fight, and after the fight j |^ 
 
 Which ScriDturesare reduced to fe- ^ 
 
 veraJl hieads, and fitly applyed to the |^ 
 1^ Souldicrs fcvcrall occafion?, and fo may ^ 
 *e% Supply the wane of the whole Bible, ^ 
 ^^, which a Souldier cannot conveniently W* 
 ^ carry about him : ff^ 
 
 •©I And may bee alio ufefull for any %^ 
 
 «g- Cbriftian to meditate upon, now in ^ 
 <;§. this miferablc time of Wiarrc. W^ 
 
 ^ Imprimatur, Edm. Calamy: §^ 
 
 <^ S'o/'.iS. This Book of theLtiw (Inll not depait out ^ 
 ^ of thy mouthjbut thou fimlt meditate theiein day ff^ 
 ^ and ni^ht, thit thou nuift obfcrve to^loe accor- ^^ 
 ^g ding to all that is written therein, for then thou &> 
 ^% (bale make thy way pro(pcrous, and have good a-. 
 
 4 - — 1* 
 
 •A Printed at ZoWw by GJB, and iLW'. for ^ 
 3 %.-?^^-^- ^^43. ^ 
 
128 East Anglia and the 
 
 selected, with the exception of two, from the Old Testament, 
 and are such as refer generally to battle and victory, and 
 intended to nerve the soldiers for the strife. The texts are 
 arranged in groups, with appropriate headings by the Editor, 
 such as — "The Souldier must not doe wickedly," "The 
 Souldier must pray before he goe to fight," " The Souldier 
 must be valiant for God's cause," etc., etc. 
 
 Of this famous little book a modern soldier has said : — 
 
 " In my humble opinion the soldier who carries this Bible 
 in his pack possesses what is of far higher value to him than 
 the proverbial marshal's baton, for if he carries its teaching 
 in his head and lets it rule his heart and conduct he 
 will certainly be happy and most probably eminently 
 successful." ^ 
 
 If this can be said of it from the modern point of view, 
 it is not difficult to realize how powerfully the terse, pointed 
 commands, prophesies, and promises in the book, influenced 
 those men of stern Puritan mould who were being raised 
 in these harvest months of 1643 for the great effort to thrust 
 back the tide of hostile forces which were steadily flowing 
 into the Association under the Catholic Queen's favourite 
 commander, the Marquis of Newcastle. 
 
 By the side of this equipment of Scripture text and pike 
 and gun, Parliament sent down into the counties of the 
 Association some of the most doughty champions among 
 the Westminster Assembly of Divines, to 'stir up the people 
 to rise for their defence.' In trumpet tones these famous 
 Puritan preachers fanned the enthusiasm of East Anglians to 
 enrol themselves under the banner of Parliament. That the 
 '* Souldiers Pocket Bible " and the discourses of the orators from 
 the Westminster Assembly of Divines were charged to the 
 full with the battlecries of the Old Testament, with but little 
 of the spirit of the New, does not, I think, warrant the 
 suggestion that this supreme effort to rouse the Eastern 
 Counties against a 'Popish Army' was a mere seventeenth- 
 century proclamation of the Gospel of hate. At any rate, the 
 
 ^ Lord Wolseley in the Preface to the Facsimile of the book published by 
 Mr. EUiot Stock. 
 
Great Civil War, 129 
 
 " Souldiers Pocket Bible " was a special compilation for 
 a special purpose. 
 
 " A souldier must not doe wickedly ; doe violence to no 
 man ; nether accuse any falsely, and be content with your 
 wages ; lean not to thine own wisdom ; a souldier must crie 
 unto God in the very instant of the battell ; fear ye not them 
 which kill the body ; when thou shalt go forth to war against 
 thine enemies and shall see horses and chariots moe than 
 thou, be not afraid of them, for the Lord thy God is with 
 thee." 
 
 These were the commands and marching orders, and these 
 the principles of conduct, which were to hold so sternly and 
 influence so mightily the men of East Anglia in that wider 
 organization of their forces which now seemed imperatively 
 necessary if the Cavaliers were to be kept any longer out of 
 their borders. With this Soldiers' Pocket Bible in their knap- 
 sacks the rude yeomen of the Fens went forth in the spirit of 
 the old Maccabaean epic, responding to ' the pleasing dreadful 
 call,' and believing verily that it was 'the cause of Heaven, 
 a noble cause,' in which 'justice with courage is a thousand 
 men.' 
 
 How the position of affairs moved the people is shown 
 by the voluntary efforts of those who were exempt from 
 assessments, the young men and maidens whose zeal had 
 been acknowledged by Cromwell a week before this memor- 
 able loth of August. They had evidently conceived the 
 idea of raising a company of foot of their own, but Cromwell, 
 knowing the need for cavalry, suggested raising a troop 
 instead. 
 
 " Huntingdon, 2nd August, 
 1643. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " I understand by these Gentlemen the good affections of 
 your young men and maids ; for which God is to be praised. 
 I approve of the business : only I desire to advise you that your 
 * foot company ' may be turned into a troop of horse ; which 
 indeed will, by God's blessing, far more advantage the Cause 
 than two or three companies of foot ; especially if your men 
 be honest, godly men, which by all means I desire. I thank 
 
East Anglia and the 
 
 God for stirring up the youth to cast in their mite, which 
 I desire may be employed to the best advantage ; therefore, 
 my advice is that you would employ your Twelve-score 
 Pounds to buy pistols and saddles, and I will provide four- 
 score horses ; for ;^400 more will not raise a troop of horse. 
 As for the muskets that are bought, I think, the country 
 [county] will take them of you. Pray raise honest, godly 
 men, and I will have them of my regiment. As for your 
 Officers I leave it as God shall or hath directed to choose ; 
 and rest, 
 
 " Your loving friend, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell." ^ 
 
 About the same time the City of Norwich afforded a some- 
 what similar instance of the raising of a ' Maidens' Troop,' 
 thus referred to by Wallington : *' The virgins of Norwich, 
 hearing of the Cavaliers' violent outrages committed upon 
 their sex wheresoever they get the victory, are so sensible 
 of their reputations that they have readily contributed so 
 much money as hath raised a goodly troop of horse for their 
 defence, which is called * the Maidens' Troop.' " ^ 
 
 The motive for extraordinary exertions was ever present 
 in this month of August, on the nth of which the Committee 
 of Cambridge was urging "the approach of the northern 
 forces so near threatening to all that ought to be dear unto 
 us " as a reason for a full meeting of the deputy-lieutenants of 
 the Association at Bury St. Edmunds, to resolve upon means 
 " to stop, if not repel, so formidable, yet Popish enemy." 
 Ships laden with Danes were reported off the Norfolk and 
 Suffolk coast, and Parliament raised its demand for levies 
 from the Associated Counties to 20,000 men, *with gunners, 
 trumpeters, and chirurgeons.' 
 
 By August 16, the Earl of Manchester had got to Cambridge, 
 and was receiving a presentation of fish from the Corporation. 
 He was in command of 4,000 foot and 1,500 horse, already 
 come in from the Association. Towards the latter end of 
 August the Huntingdonshire Committee were in terror about 
 a report of Cromwell and his forces being required to march 
 
 ' Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 127-8. 
 * Historical Notices, ii, 171. 
 
Great Civil War, 131 
 
 westwards, and urged the Earl of Manchester to " have a care 
 of many thousands of souls that if the forces be gone are 
 likely to perish by the 30 troops of horse that the Earl of 
 Newcastle hath in Lincolnshire." Cromwell was about 
 Peterborough and Boston, and the Earl of Manchester was 
 at Norwich, and the Associated Counties had "already com- 
 pleted an army of about 8000 horse and foot, and so soon 
 as their harvest is once over (which for the present much 
 retardeth their proceedings), the Earl of Manchester will 
 doubtless have a very brave and considerable army as any 
 in the kingdom, to be a terror to the northern Popish army 
 if they march southward." ^ Out of Norwich they are 
 limbering up their old demi-culverin and fauconets — a brass 
 demi-culverin weighing 4,800 lbs., one of iron weighing 
 3,400 lbs., and fauconets of lesser weights — and hauling 
 them across to King's Lynn,^ where Sir Hamon le Strange 
 has got the upper hand of Mayor and Corporation, and 
 himself installed governor, with Lady Alice keeping him 
 company, promising to advance thousands of pounds, and 
 that twenty others shall raise as much more. Captain Poe, 
 skirmishing around with some Essex troops, wrote home that, 
 " if relief from the sea can be prevented, they cannot hold 
 out more than five days, altho' they have 40 pieces of 
 ordnance, and can get more from their ships. He is informed 
 that the enemy in Lynn have 1200 muskets, and 500 barrels 
 of gunpowder."^ 
 
 The way in which some of the Essex men came in for this 
 service at the siege of Lynn and in Lincolnshire preserves 
 something of the distinction, even in the Association forces, 
 between the men after Cromwell's own heart deserving the 
 name of Ironsides and the miscellaneous levies pressed into 
 the service in a great emergency. The result of the extra- 
 ordinary demand for men in harvest-time is well illustrated 
 by the response made by the county of Essex. A Puritan 
 county, it had sent out men of a fine stamp as volunteers, 
 but when it came to pressing men, on such a large scale, for 
 
 * Perfect Diurnal. 
 
 » Blomfield's " Hist. Norfolk." 
 
 * Letter in Barrington MSS. 
 
132 East Anglia and the 
 
 service at the farthest corner of the Association, with the 
 influence of the Lucas family of Colchester still operative, 
 and Sir Charles fighting with Newcastle for the King in 
 Lincolnshire, Essex recruiting and the Essex men sent in 
 were of an indifferent character. The particulars which 
 follow are to be found chiefly in the Reports of the 
 Historical MSS. Commission — Report No. 7 — dealing with 
 the MSS. now in the possession of the Lowndes family at 
 Barrington Hall, Essex. 
 
 The Essex men were coming in in driblets and in a 
 ragged and tattered condition, which led to some interesting 
 correspondence between the Association Committee at 
 Cambridge and the Essex Committee. 
 
 "Cambridge, Aug. 31. — The Association Committee to Sir 
 Thomas Barrington and the rest of the deputy-lieutenants 
 of Essex : — Some companies of foot are sent hither from you, 
 but in so naked a posture that to employ them were to 
 murder them. Their demands are arms, coats, clothes, and 
 shoes, wherein how far you are engaged to them by promise, 
 or how far by the common use and custom, we do not 
 certainly know ; but things of necessity, as weapons, arms, 
 drums, and colours, must be had, and that at the charge of 
 your county. If not sent at once there will be a mutiny. 
 The magazine at Cambridge affords them not .... 
 The future rendezvous of all Essex foot is to be at Chesterton 
 (a small mile wide of Cambridge), with direction to send to 
 the writers |the Association Committee at Cambridge] for 
 further order to march." 
 
 Another letter adds — " We have provided red coats for 
 such as we have sent away of yours ; we shall trust to you 
 to furnish the rest and to send them with arms, drums 
 and colours, and other accutrements." 
 
 A few days later Sir William Harlackenden writes to Sir 
 Thomas Barrington from Cambridge :—" There is great stir 
 among the soldiers for coats and shoes and money. Sir W. 
 Rowe has persuaded me to let them have coats and some shoes, 
 and he has bespoken 200 coats, which will cost \2s. each. 
 I never saw worse tattered soldiers for the General. Many 
 foot captains are so poor they are forced to have money. The 
 
Great Civil War, 133 
 
 treasury is very low : be pleased to send a supply, and so every 
 week. I was yesterday with Col. Cromwell at Ely, at dinner, 
 to let him know Lord Manchester's pleasure by word of mouth, 
 that Essex forces shall come up, horse and foot, towards 
 Lincolnshire. Col. Cromwell told me yesterday he sent away 
 all his forces towards Lincoln, and his self would march 
 this day. For his scouts brought word of 8000 of the Earl 
 of Newcastle's forces appeared. I pray God it be not true." 
 
 Edward Berkhead, writing to Cambridge from the " Dra- 
 goon's Den," at Romford, of the desperate efforts he had 
 made to get the Essex men off, frankly says, " if fair-play 
 will not force the malignants, foul will," and he adds that 
 he has "crowded through all difficulties to send away the 
 forces." Writing to Sir Thomas Barrington, he declared that 
 "It took a saddler ten days to mend the old saddles. The 
 country brought in such trash that two-thirds were unfit 
 
 for service I never saw such indisposition in 
 
 men to the service in my life I think we must 
 
 have another troop to force these out, but I hope this day 
 to send them packing." 
 
 Sir Thomas Nightingale to Mr. Middleton at his house 
 at Stansted writes that " he has received warrant that this 
 small town shall find three nags with muskets and able 
 
 riders Besides, we are to find men well affected 
 
 to the Parliament, but where we shall find them God in 
 Heaven knows; for we do not. As for the men . . . . 
 if my life lay on it I know not where to get one, much less 
 the town three. So this piece of a town must find four, and 
 Clavering, which is three times as great a parish, find but four." * 
 
 The Earl of Manchester, having 'gotten within musket 
 shot of the town of Lynn,' wrote concerning the Essex forces 
 
 * There are glimpses in the MSS. at Barrington Hall of three poor constables 
 in Essex who complain '* that altho' they have impressed men the men will 
 not obey the warrants, the constables being poor men ; they ask for authority 
 to charge persons better than themselves to assist them." But the constable, 
 as the visible authority of Parliament within the parish, must be taught that -the 
 warrant of Parliament must l>e supreme, and so the pathetic little document is 
 endorsed—' The constables fined zS. £102, piece.' Yet the constables had real 
 obstacles to contend with, as in the father of one Christopher Jellson in the same 
 county, "who did resist us [the constables], and said he 'should not com exsept 
 th depty leaftennants came and fetcht him themselves. ' " 
 
134 East Anglia and the 
 
 which had reached him : — " I have here divers men sent out 
 of Essex, and as many of them I believe are run away as are 
 come ; and those whom you have sent have no arms, clothes, 
 nor colours, nor drums, I earnestly entreat you to send 
 arms and other provisions with those men you send, or else 
 
 I pray send no more Hasten hither all the 
 
 force you can with money and arms, for otherwise they are 
 by far more dreadful to me than any enemy." 
 
 Harlackenden sits down again with his pen and writes home 
 to his neighbours in Essex, winding up with this eloquent 
 appeal : — " Your labours I doubt not shall be rewarded from 
 Heaven, your names clothed with honour on earth, and your 
 
 posterity receive eternal mercy There are 200 
 
 coats ready for the soldiers. The poor soldiers long for them, 
 and the time of year calls for them." 
 
 At the same time Cromwell was urging his select method 
 in a letter to Suffolk : — " I beseech you be careful what 
 Captains of Horse you choose .... a few honest men 
 
 are better than numbers If you choose godly, 
 
 honest men to be Captains of Horse, honest men will follow 
 
 them, and they will be careful to mount such 
 
 I had rather have a plain russet-coated Captain that knows 
 what he fights for, and loves what he knows, than that which 
 you call ' a gentleman ' and is nothing else. I honour 
 a gentleman that is so indeed." 
 
 Meanwhile affairs in King's Lynn had come to a head, 
 and the Earl of Manchester, with 3,000 horse and 1,500 foot, 
 * blocked up the passages to the town by land, and the Earl 
 of Warwick did the like by sea.' The members for the town, 
 Mr. Toll and Mr. Percival, were imprisoned, or confined to 
 their own houses with soldiers guarding them. A Royalist 
 newspaper^ commended the inhabitants of the town of 
 Lynn, who " like honest subjects and true Englishmen have 
 kept his lordship out of their town, telling him flatly they 
 kept the town for his Majesty, and by the help of God would 
 so keep it against whomsoever, which they are able to do 
 being so strongly fortified that Kimbolton may as soon raise 
 
 * Mercurius Aulicus. 
 
Great Civil War. 135 
 
 his good father from the dead as force his entrance into 
 Lynn." The same writer in the next issue adds the assurance 
 that " his lordship has as much hope of Heaven's gates as to 
 enter into Lynn." 
 
 With the Earl of Manchester, Colonel Cromwell and Sir 
 Miles Hobart had 'gone to sit down before it,' Captain Poe 
 having previously taken possession of all the bridges between 
 Downham and Lynn. " It was much disputed whether it were 
 not better to proceed by blocking up rather than to take it by 
 force, the town being of that strength that no ordinary power 
 could take it had they that which was fit for defence;. but it 
 was at last resolved to take it by force, and for that purpose 
 it was thought good to seize the town of Old Lynn, which is 
 in Marshland, which by a party of my Lord's force was 
 securely taken and ordnance planted, which kept the town 
 in continual alarm and did so terrify the people with their 
 shot and granadoes that they durst hardly abide in any of 
 their houses that were towards that side ; the shot flying 
 daily into the houses in the Tuesday market-place and other 
 places. The town was approached in several other places, 
 two of which were on the side next to the moat, the one 
 by the Causey \} causeway] that leads to the south, the other 
 to the East Gate." ^ • An alarming incident in these operations 
 is thus recorded : — 
 
 " On Sunday the 3''*^ of September in the afternoon, and in 
 the middle of the sermon, came a shot of 18 lbs. weight in at 
 the window over the west door of St. Margaret's Church and 
 took the middle pillar a great part off and broke it in many 
 hundred pieces, dispersing them in all directions all over the 
 church. One piece of the stone fell into a seat at the lower end 
 of the church, where five men set, split the board before them, 
 on which they laid their books ; but no harm was done to 
 them. The preacher, a reverend divine named Mr. Hinson, 
 left his sermon and came out of the church, and all the people 
 departed in a most confused manner; some leaving their 
 hatts, some their books, and some their scarves ; but, praised 
 be God, no further hurt was done to any person." ^ 
 
 » A Brief and True Relation, E. 67 (28). 
 
 * Richard's " History of Lynn," vol. iii, pp. 758-9. 
 
136 East Anglia and the 
 
 The news-letter already quoted continues : — " We resolved 
 upon storming the town on Saturday morning, and to that 
 purpose had called in many boats, with which we intended 
 to take it by water, and many cartloads of ladders, which 
 
 we intended for the land side During this hot 
 
 service we lost four men One lieutenant had 
 
 his arm shot off. . . . . It was with a cannon shot 
 through the porthole ; so skilful were they that they would 
 shoot three times into one porthole. In this violent playing 
 with cannon and small shot we believe above 80 lost their 
 lives on both sides." ^ 
 
 Another account says that " Colonel Cromwell hath bat- 
 tered them sorely from Old Lynn, the shooting of whose 
 ordnance hath slain divers men, women, and children, and 
 that the lamentable shrieks and cries of women and children 
 are heard a great way out of the town, and yet the towns- 
 men are so cruel and hard-hearted to them that they will 
 not suffer them to depart the town ; that the Army's forces 
 have cut off their fresh water, and that the townsmen have 
 felled all the trees about this town to bereave the Earl's 
 Army of approach and shelter ; that the Lynn ships are in 
 league with Newcastle."^ On the same date Mercitrius 
 Civicus writes of Colonel Cromwell having " battered down 
 part of the market place, and some houses in New Lynn." 
 
 Finding that the storming of the place was to take place 
 on the Saturday morning, and that the Earl had advised 
 them to send the women and children out of the town, 
 a treaty was accepted. The town demanded that it should 
 be left with its own government as hitherto ; that the forti- 
 fications should be demolished, and that ' malignancy ' should 
 be pardoned. The Earl replied by reminding them that 
 they had received the disaffected, disarmed and imprisoned 
 the well-affected, including members of the House of Com- 
 mons, and had used money and arms collected for Parliament 
 to defend the town against the Parliament. " Yet, to prevent 
 effusion of blood, if they will deliver the town by Saturday 
 nine in the morning, they shall have privilege and freedom ; 
 
 ' E. 67 (28). 
 
 "^ Certain Informations, Sept. 7. 
 
Great Civil War. 137 
 
 as for freedom from Ordinances of Parliament, they must 
 expect no such thing." 
 
 While the conditions of surrender were being debated from 
 seven at night till eight the next night, * a dinner time only 
 excepted/ the town, ' or rather the unruly soldiers,' shot at the 
 besieging forces, * contrary to accord, and fell to work upon 
 their works.' One account says that " some of the townsmen 
 issued out and begun to cut the banks to let out the water, 
 whereof seven were slain by the besiegers and set up naked 
 against the gate near the town, whom the Lynners may see, 
 but dare not come out to bury them."^ The result of the 
 twenty-four hours' debate was carried to the Mayor, when 
 there were some 'explainary exceptions' and debating as 
 to throwing open the gates. During this parleying the 
 Parliamentary Horse and Foot were drawn out in imposing 
 array into the meadows, and ' put into such posture as might 
 be most terrible to the enemy, making a large front when 
 God knows what depth they stood ! ' Then, ' with beating 
 drums and sounding trumpets, as if we had been presently to 
 march into the town,' Colonel Russell, who had the van, 
 with Colonel Walton in the rear, marched on foot to the East 
 Gate, when he was informed that the season of the night 
 would not permit the opening of the Great Gate, and they 
 'must therefore be content to march one by one at the 
 wicket.* 
 
 As the conquerors were about to enter, the Commissioner 
 came back to the wicket and told them that " there was a rude 
 multitude .... that swore none should enter there, 
 and if any did they would be the death of them . . . ." 
 There was a parley of nearly two hours, " some saying articles 
 must be performed, others that they would not condescend 
 nor obey, nor should the Mayor and Commissioners' acts bind 
 them, crying ' shoote ! shoote ! * and one cannoneer they 
 turned out because he would not give fire upon us. At last 
 one of them cried * give fire ! ' which being in the dead of 
 night made some of the countrymen and others on horseback 
 [spectators riding by the side of the foot soldiers] to fall off 
 
 ^ Certain Informations. 
 
138 East Anglia and the 
 
 their horses, and some into the ditch, so terrible was the word 
 ' give fire ! ' " 
 
 At last they were allowed to enter, and in their passage 
 through the town to the Tuesday market-place " not one 
 man appeared, only the women who for the General cried 
 * God bless us ! ' whether for fear or love you may guess." 
 Next morning the Earl of Manchester marched from his 
 headquarters, 'with his life-guard, a brave troop' and 'did 
 repair to the sermon, where one of his chaplains [ Mr. Ashe] 
 preached to give God thanks for his happy and peaceable 
 entry.' The Earl, says the account I have quoted, " made 
 his headquarters at the house of Alderman Toll, the member 
 of the House of Commons, who was so roughly dealt with 
 in the time of the siege that he was constrained to make 
 an escape out of a window into the arm of the sea, his house 
 
 being guarded in all parts by musketiers Colonel 
 
 Walton hath for the present the government of the town : 
 thus we see how Providence orders ; he that was lately locked 
 up three days and three nights at Oxford in a poor chamber 
 without food, is now governor of as great and strong a town 
 as Oxford." 1 
 
 The conditions for the surrender of the town were agreed 
 to between the following Commissioners : for the Earl of 
 Manchester— Sir John Palgrave, Colonel Russell, Colonel 
 Walton, Mr. Philip Calthrop, Mr. John Pickering, Mr. 
 Gregory Gawsell, Mr. John Spilman, and Mr. William Good ; 
 for the town — Sir Hamon le Strange, Sir Richard Hovell, 
 Mr. Clench, Mr. Dereham, Mr. Pallet (Recorder), Mr. Hudson 
 (Mayor), Mr. Leek, and Mr. Kirby, who were to remain as 
 hostages until the conditions were performed,^ 
 
 Cromwell's share in the siege of Lynn was confined to 
 the earlier stages, and before it ended he marched away 
 with his Horse for pressing service in Lincolnshire. It is 
 apparently to this period that the tradition belongs which 
 is recorded in Watson's '* History of Wisbech," published in 
 1827 :— " At Needham Hall, the residence of Mr. William Dow, 
 
 * " A Brief and True Relation of the Siege and Surrendering of King's Lyn, 
 etc.": King's Pamphlet, Brit. Mus., E. 67 (28). 
 ^ Rushworth, v, 283. 
 
Great Civil War. 139 
 
 at Elm, three miles distant from Wisbech, is preserved an 
 ancient table of oak (entirely of one solid piece) which is 
 rendered remarkable by the circumstances of Oliver Cromwell 
 having reposed on it one night ; and there is now living in 
 the parish of Elm a person far advanced in years who well 
 remembers his grandfather saying that, when he was a boy, 
 he saw Oliver Cromwell and his troops pass by the avenue 
 leading to this hall ; and that the person then inhabiting the 
 mansion offered to Cromwell his best bed, which he declined, 
 observing that perhaps the next day he should have to 
 sleep in the open field, therefore, in preference, he chose 
 to pass the night on this very table. Such of his officers as 
 could be accommodated were supplied with beds, and the 
 rest of his troops took shelter in the outbuildings and 
 premises. The term the old man used was that this occurred 
 during the time Cromwell was 'ransacking the Fens,' and 
 that he made a building called the Nine-Chimney House, 
 at Emneth, the adjoining village to Elm, his headquarters, 
 which spot is now in the occupation of Mr. John Graham Dow, 
 whose house stands near the site of the old building." 
 
 Cromwell had at this time almost completed his regiment 
 of 1,000 horse, which he raised *in and about Cambridge' 
 (Bowtell MSS.), and what use he made of them will be seen 
 presently. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THROUGH LINCOLNSHIRE TO MARSTON MOOR. 
 (1643-4.) 
 
 THE capture of King's Lynn removed a thorn from 
 the Parliament's side, but there still remained the 
 formidable task of driving back Newcastle's legions 
 out of Lincolnshire, completing the strategy upon which 
 Cromwell was bent, of uniting with Fairfax in Hull, and 
 thus bar further advance of the Cavaliers from that quarter. 
 The letters of the Queen to Newcastle show clearly that 
 the King desired him to lead his army southward through 
 the Associated Counties, and that he was only restrained 
 by the fact that Hull and Fairfax could not be left 
 unheeded.^ In support of this Fairfax himself says that 
 " his [Newcastle's] orders (which I have seen) were to go 
 into Essex and block up London on that side." ^ This, 
 again, is confirmed by a curious story told by one of Sir 
 Samuel Luke's scouts, who, taken prisoner in Windsor 
 Forest, was carried off to Oxford. Here he heard that the 
 King's commission had been given to go into Essex with 
 8,000 foot, ten troops of horse, and 1,200 dragoons, with 
 Sir John and Sir Charles Lucas as generals of Horse. He 
 also heard that " 10,000 hands in Essex were ready to stand 
 with them when they marched " ; that they had men come 
 every week out of Essex informing them how every man 
 
 ^ Firth's Lives of the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. 
 ' Short Memorials. 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 141 
 
 stood affected, one of whom came in the guise of a pedlar 
 and brought horse-hair and tobacco on his back. ^ That 
 the Marquis of Newcastle was expected, by the people in the 
 Fens, to perform his part of the design, is clear from this 
 certificate of Captain Dodson, of Wisbech : — 
 
 " To whom this may concern : The information of Richard 
 Rose, given to me at Wisbech immediately after the siege 
 of Lynn at my coming from thence to my only quarters 
 at Wisbech as followeth : — 
 
 " Mr. Wilson and Mr. Lee being in discourse near Rose's 
 shop, there came to them John Riches [or Richards], an 
 apothecary, who, seeing Captain Dodson coming into the 
 town, said : * Look, yonder comes that rogue Dodson. I could 
 find it [in] my heart to knock his brains out ; he will never 
 be killed else'; and Mr. Lee did reply wishing him to be 
 patient awhile : ' there was one a coming, a doctor, who 
 would let them all bleed in good, and he would do it to the 
 
 purpose He meant Newcastle, who would be 
 
 here and let them bleed in the right vein.' Upon the advance 
 of the Enemy I did secure the person of this John Riches 
 and some ill-affected persons in Wisbech Church, until the 
 danger of fight was passed, which God blessed with the 
 victory, whereupon I released the said John Riches, and 
 
 he confessed he said the aforesaid words Thus 
 
 far I can say in this business and no further. Witness 
 my hand, March 12th, 1643 [4]. 
 
 "William Dodson." 2 
 
 This gossip of the Wisbech shopkeepers helps us to realize 
 how the expected march of Newcastle's forces impressed the 
 Fenmen. While the business of Lynn had been in hand, the 
 Lord-General, the Earl of Essex, had made his notable 
 march, at the head of 15,000 men, to the relief of Gloucester. 
 Returning towards London, with the King's army hanging 
 on his rear, he had to fight the Battle of Newbury on 
 September 20, with doubtful success. In this engagement 
 
 * Barrington MSS. 
 
 * Minutes of Committee for Scandalous Ministers, in the case of Thomas Lee, 
 rector of Newton, near Wisbech, Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 15,672. 
 
142 East Anglia and the 
 
 the great Lord Falkland fell, with the cry of " peace ! peace ! " 
 on his lips. The removal within three months of two men 
 like Hampden on the side of Parliament and Falkland on the 
 side of the King was indeed a great national loss. But while 
 p'alkland's pathetic cry of peace died on the wind, Hampden's 
 fall had left behind a heritage like that of Harper's Ferry and 
 the consciousness among his followers that " his soul goes 
 marching on." 
 
 On September 11, Cromwell, just after leaving his home 
 at Ely, with the Earl of Manchester still before Lynn, had 
 written to Oliver St. John respecting his troops and his 
 difficulties : — 
 
 " I am now ready for my march towards the Enemy ; who 
 
 hath entrenched himself over against Hull Many 
 
 of my Lord of Manchester's Troops are come to me ; very 
 bad and mutinous .... they paid to a week almost ; 
 mine noways provided for to support them, except by the 
 poor Sequestrations of the county of Huntingdon. My 
 troops increase. I have a lovely company ; you would 
 respect them did you know them. They are no Ana- 
 baptists ; they are honest sober Christians ; they expect to 
 be used as men !....! desire not to seek myself 
 . . . . I tell you the business of Ireland and England 
 hath had of me, in money, between eleven and twelve 
 
 hundred pounds You have had my money : I hope 
 
 in God I desire to venture my skin. So do mine. Lay weight 
 upon their patience, but break it not ! Think of that which 
 may be a real help. I believe £^000 is due. If you lay 
 aside the thought of me and my letter, I expect no help 
 . . . . all will be lost if God help not ! Remember 
 who tells you." 
 
 By September 26, two notable events had happened. 
 Cromwell had joined Fairfax in Hull, and was assisting in 
 getting his twenty-one troops of horse across the Humber 
 into Lincolnshire, where they could be of service. Parliament 
 had taken the solemn League and Covenant — 220 of them — 
 and the Scotch condition of assistance being complied with, 
 they were raising another expedition to march into England. 
 Cromwell and Sir Thomas P'airfax, after a perilous march 
 
Great Civil War. 143 
 
 across Lincolnshire, began that companionship in arms which 
 was to alter the face of the war. ^ In this march they were 
 hard beset by the forces of Newcastle ; but in the end 
 Cromwell was able to write to the Suffolk Committee on 
 September 28 : — " If God had not been merciful [the enemy] 
 
 had ruined us before we had known of it But we 
 
 got to horse, and retreated in good order, with the safety of 
 
 all our Horse of the Association And for this 
 
 we are exceedingly bound to the goodness of God, who 
 brought our troops off with so little loss." A junction of 
 the forces of the Earl of Manchester from Lynn with 
 Cromwell and Fairfax's Horse, and the force under Lord 
 Willoughby of Parham, now made up a very considerable 
 army in readiness for the conflict which was inevitable. 
 
 But the condition of the Foot under the Earl of Manchester 
 was far from satisfactory. The Essex men were still a cause 
 of trouble, and those about King's Lynn and Boston were in 
 a sorry plight. On October 2, Harlackenden, their treasurer, 
 had got as far as Lynn to see for himself what their condition 
 was, and he writes thus : — 
 
 " The Captains here are in great want of money. Colonel 
 Cromwell tells me he wept when he came to Boston and 
 found no moneys for him from Essex and other counties ; he 
 says he regards money as little as any man, but for his troops 
 if they have not money speedily they are in an undone 
 condition. He says he wonders how I will be able to see 
 the troops of horse and dragoons and have no money for 
 them." 
 
 In another letter he mentions the need of coats for the 
 men, 2,100 in number, and that they must be 'of green cloth 
 lined with red.' 
 
 At last the county of Lincoln had been formally joined to 
 the six other associated counties (September 20), but the 
 question of making the union a reality depended upon the 
 two armies now drawing near to each other along the river 
 
 ^ Harlackenden, the Essex treasurer, says that the messenger that brought the 
 news of Fairfax getting his Horse out of Hull and joining with Cromwell, 
 " received it at the hand of Lady Fairfax in a favour, the motto * rather dye than 
 truth deny.'" — Barrington MSS. 
 
144 East Anglia and the 
 
 Witham between Boston and Horncastle, The Earl of 
 Manchester, Willoughby, and Cromwell met with Fairfax 
 at Horncastle, a few miles off, and the forces were soon face to 
 face with the Cavaliers under Sir John Henderson in the 
 battle of Winceby, near Horncastle, which is thus described 
 by Vicars : — 
 
 "All that night [Tuesday, October lo] we were drawing 
 our horse to the appointed rendezvous, and next morning 
 being Wednesday, my Lord Manchester gave order that the 
 whole force, both of Horse and Foot, should be drawn up to 
 
 Bolingbroke Hill The Enemy also drew .... 
 
 their whole body of Horse and Dragooners into the field, 
 being 74 colours of Horse and 21 colours of Dragoons, in 
 all 95 colours. We had not many more than half so many 
 colours of Horse and Dragooners ; but I believe we had as 
 
 many men The Enemy's word was ' Cavendish,' 
 
 and ours was ' Religion.' ^ .... So soon as our men 
 had knowledge of the Enemy's coming they were very full 
 
 of joy and resolution Our men went on in several 
 
 bodies singing Psalms Colonel Cromwell fell 
 
 with brave resolution upon the Enemy, immediately after 
 Dragooners had given him the first volley, yet they were so 
 nimble as that within half pistol shot they gave him another. 
 His horse was killed under him at the first charge and fell 
 down upon him ; and, as he rose up, he was knocked down 
 again .... but afterwards he recovered a poor horse 
 in a soldier's hands, and bravely mounted himself again. 
 Truly, this first charge was so home-given and performed 
 with so much admirable courage and resolution by our troops 
 that the Enemy stood not another .... and thus, in 
 less than half an hour's fighting, they were all quite routed." ^ 
 
 About 600 were slain, and ' many drowned in the chase ; 
 1 14 were found in the water and mires next day ; also 
 about 7 or 800 taken prisoners.' ^ 
 
 On the same day the forces in Hull had sallied out. There 
 was a tough fight over the trenches, men and arms were lost 
 
 1 Rushworth says the words were " Newcastle " and " Peace and Truth." 
 * " God's Ark overtopping the World's Waves," p. 45. 
 3 " The Scottish Dove," Oct. 3-20. - 
 
Great Civil War. 145 
 
 by Newcastle, including the twin cannon " Gog and Magog," 
 also known as the " Queen's Pocket pistols " ; and Newcastle 
 marched away in the night-time and abandoned the siege. 
 
 Meanwhile the state of things at the headquarters at 
 Cambridge was disheartening enough. The garrison had 
 been depleted for the service in Lincolnshire, the delegates from 
 the various counties were neglecting to attend the Association 
 Committee, and, to crow^n all, Prince Rupert's horse were 
 riding into Bedfordshire and threatening Cambridge itself. 
 Captain Jordan, governor of the Castle, declared that fifty 
 barrels of powder were required, for the store ' would not 
 last above three hours' fighting.' The ditch about the Castle 
 was going on slowly, and without it the place would be of 
 * little value,' but with it ' impregnable.' With the Oxford 
 forces within a few miles, plundering at their pleasure, and 
 the number of malignant scholars and others in Cambridge, 
 Captain Jordan declared ' as a soldier' that if the enemy made 
 a breach in there, all the Associated Counties and London 
 itself would be endangered. ^ 
 
 The Cavalier forces had captured and begun to fortify 
 Newport Pagnell, had carried off two of the Bedfordshire 
 Committee from their meeting-place at Ampthill, and 
 captured the town of Bedford. Sir John Norris had sent 
 out his warrants for the Trained Bands to come in to defend 
 Bedford, but ' as not above 18 men' came in he was obliged 
 to give up the town. Sir John was taken prisoner, but made 
 his escape, which was accompanied by this curious incident. 
 Marching towards Hitchin with some of his force, a rumour 
 spread into the town that the Cavaliers were coming, * which 
 put them all in alarm as far as Hartford, but they were only 
 Sir John's troops bringing him home.' ^ Rumours spread 
 into the Associated Counties that the King had captured 
 Huntingdon. 
 
 In Cambridge the Royalists grew bold, and the Association 
 Committee's members remaining sent despairing appeals to 
 their respective counties for help. Sir William Rowe, the 
 only member from Essex in attendance, prepared himself for 
 the worst, and on October 18 wrote these heroic appeals: — 
 
 ^ Portland MSS. "^ Parliament Scout, October 20, 1643. 
 
146 East Anglia and the 
 
 " This morning we hear from Sir John Norwedge, by our 
 scouts, that the Enemy entered Bedford betwixt three and 
 four yesterday afternoon, and by night at Potton, within 
 twelve miles of this place ; so that your forces must march 
 night and day to get into the town to relieve it. As you 
 love religion, the laws, your country, the Church of God, 
 and your true friend, W. Rowe. P.S. — We have certain 
 intelligence that the design is for this place. And that 
 there is no probability of their intent for Huntingdon, tho' 
 the gentlemen and Committee there have given them a fair 
 invitement by leaving it and quitting their guards ; so that 
 I think it is needless to send this message thither." 
 
 Later in the day, as the fears in Cambridge increased with 
 the tidings coming in. Sir William sends off this eloquent 
 dispatch to Sir Thomas Barrington : — 
 
 " If you would do a seasonable service to the State [not 
 to speak of your friend, who is a lone and naked man here], 
 let what help you can be instantly sent in hither. Alarums 
 come thick and very near us, and a show would now do that 
 which will not be redeemed but at an infinite charge. And 
 how much the loss of this place may shake the country we 
 love so well, and the whole Association, I appeal to you, 
 and so throw myself and all into the arms of my Lord and 
 Saviour; intending to live and die His servant. 
 
 "P.S.— Sending to the Officer of the Castle for some 
 drakes to flanker our works along the river, I received this 
 answer ; that he would send, none, that I had fooled him long 
 enough, and bid the gentlemen take heed I did not fool them 
 at the last. Judge upon these disobedient terms how I should 
 serve you, or add any security to this place. Yet to leave it 
 I am loath. Hoping you will not forget me." ^ 
 
 Before any help could arrive the Royalists in Cambridge 
 were getting the upper hand ; and when an attempt was 
 made to make up a troop of horse in the town, they ' so 
 cunningly plotted the business' that it was prevented by 
 guarding the stable doors. Thereupon ensued a hurly-burly 
 between townsmen on this side and on that. " Some of them 
 
 ^ Barrington MSS., Hist. MSS. Com. Fep , vii. 
 
Great Civil War, 147 
 
 having got arms fell upon the prison, pulled it down, and 
 let loose all the delinquent prisoners, and then fell upon the 
 houses of the townsmen, crying, * We are for the King, and 
 for him we will fight and none other ! ' But at last the 
 townsmen on the Parliament side prevailed, having killed 
 some and wounded others." ^ 
 
 To meet the advance of the Cavaliers the Earl of Essex 
 crossed over from Windsor to St. Albans, called out the 
 Hertfordshire Trained Bands ; the whole county rose with 
 'wondrous great alacrity,' and between three and four 
 thousand met at Hitchin. They marched to Bedford, 
 recaptured that town, drove out the Cavaliers from Newport 
 Pagnell, and caused them to ' run away in a panic fear 
 towards Oxford.' ^ From the Associated Counties the alarm 
 was effectual in bringing into Cambridge a great muster 
 of many thousands of the Trained Bands. But the service 
 was only a temporary one, and two or three weeks later 
 when the Earl of Manchester came back from Lincolnshire 
 to Cambridge he dismissed 6,000 of them to their homes, 
 leaving 500 or 600 in the garrison. Winter set in early,* and 
 by the end of October, Captain Rich, describing the fortunes 
 of the Essex men serving in Lincolnshire, wrote to Sir 
 Thomas Barrington : — 
 
 "The winter is already come, and our lying in the field 
 hath lost us more men than have been taken away either 
 by the sword or bullet, notwithstanding which we are 
 ready to persist, and unwilling to wait any opportunity of 
 doing God honour and our country service." He adds that 
 all the money he had he gave to the soldiers but thirty odd 
 pounds for his own necessities in case of being sick or the 
 like distress, and that was stolen off his horse when they 
 lay in the field before Lincoln, and at the time of writing 
 he had only 2J., and his troop without money, even for 
 shoeing their horses and repairing saddles, etc. He begs 
 that the common soldiers may be constantly paid, * though 
 the ofificers go without money at all.' ^ 
 
 ^ The Parliament Scout. ^ The True Informer, Perfect Diurnal, etc. 
 
 ' " Nov. 6th, a hideous storm. Then snowy and untoward weather." — Evelyn's 
 Diary. * Barrington MSS. 
 
148 East Anglia and the 
 
 The Earl of Essex remained at St. Albans for his winter 
 quarters with a vast army to feed ; more or less in a mutinous 
 state for want of pay. In December 400 of the soldiers 
 gathered together and threatened to pillage the town, and 
 were only pacified by the presence of the sympathetic 
 commander for whom they had thrown up their hats with 
 an * Eh for old Robin ! ' after Brentford fight. The Earl 
 pleads hard for the men with the Committee of Safety — " My 
 humble desire is that if there be no pay like to come by 
 the latter end of this week, that I may know, I not being 
 able to stay amongst them to hear the crying necessity 
 of the hungry soldiers." 
 
 During the month of December the Earl of Manchester 
 remained at Cambridge ^ with part of his army away in 
 the snow about Gainsborough, 600 of his Foot sent into 
 Newport Pagnell Garrison, and the rest ' at this present do 
 guard St. Needs and Huntingdon and this town of 
 Cambridge.' A glimpse of the landing of 800 Danes on 
 the Lincolnshire coast, attacked and about fifty of them 
 killed by the Train Bands, and the sending down of expert 
 commanders to oppose them,^ was the closing incident of 
 a hostile kind for 1643. The Countess of Manchester was 
 in Cambridge with the Earl, and a Christmas present of 
 the value of £a^ 4^-. from the Corporation to her Ladyship, 
 was a reminder that amidst all the unnatural strife that 
 golden thread which the season of peace and good-will has 
 ever run through the home life of Christian England was 
 not entirely broken when this lamentable year of 1643 came 
 to its close. 
 
 Through the depressing months of the closing year, with 
 soldiers billetted in the Colleges,^ the University had been 
 
 * Matthew Peckover, alderman of Norwich, wrote from Cambridge on i6th 
 November, 1643, to the Mayor of Norwich: " After my service presented these 
 are to give you notice that the Earle of Manchester cam upon fryday night to 
 Cambridge, and intends to quarter all this wynter at ye Mr [Master's] lodgings 
 in Trynity Colledge."— MSS. Collections relating to Norwich, Add. MSS. 22,619, 
 f. 137, Brit. Mus, Lib. 
 
 2 A True Information, etc., E. 83 (8). 
 
 '^ The billetting of soldiers appears to have been general in the Colleges, of 
 which the Audit Books of Jesus College contain entries. There are also entries 
 in the Parish Registers of the burial of soldiers at this time, as at St. Edward's 9, 
 at Little St. Mary's 5, at St. Benedict's 5, at All Saints' 2, and 5 at St. Clement's, 
 besides " many others deposited in the Castle yard,"— Bowtell MSS., ii, 136. 
 
Great Civil War. 149 
 
 chafing against its fetters. Petitions went up to Parliament 
 to be freed from sequestration ; and one contemporary writer 
 actually suggested, as a remedy for the distractions which 
 kept the students away from Cambridge, that a place of 
 study * in a collegiate way ' should be established in London. 
 Trinity College petitioned the House of Lords urging that 
 by reason of their estates being scattered in distant and 
 remote counties they had been " bereaved of their rents," 
 and in some cases sequestrators had distrained upon their 
 Michaelmas rent and driven away their cattle, "albeit some 
 of the said tenants had before that paid the same unto us." ^ 
 
 The Earl of Manchester supported these petitions by a 
 friendly letter addressed to the Speaker in the Lords : — 
 
 " By virtue of the Ordinance of Sequestration, the Seques- 
 trators for the town of Cambridge have sequestered all the 
 lands and profits belonging to those Colleges which did 
 convey their plate to the King. This is likely to breed 
 a great distraction in the University, by reason that the 
 Fellows and Scholars of those Colleges must be driven to 
 very great extremities, having no other livelihood or sub- 
 sistence. I shall not take the boldness to offer anything of 
 my own sense to your Lordships, for I doubt not your Lord- 
 ships, in your wisdoms, will think it better to endeavour the 
 reforming of the University, rather than to hazzard the dis- 
 solving of it." 2 
 
 Parliament at last issued orders protecting the University 
 and Colleges from the sequestration of property held by 
 them as corporate bodies, but set the Earl of Manchester 
 the task of making them orthodox. 
 
 Colonel Cromwell, in the lull which a snowy Winter im- 
 posed, spent some time with his wife and family at Ely, and 
 in his position as Governor of the Isle, turned his attention 
 to the ceremonial still retained in the Cathedral services, 
 though the Bishop was away in the Tower. Having a force 
 of soldiers ready to obey his behests, he, on January 10, 
 
 ^ The College accounts for these years, which I have seen, afford evidence of 
 considerable arrears of rents, and also of conflicts between the claims of the 
 sequestrators and the College as to rents. 
 
 '^ Lords' Journals, v, 327. 
 
150 East Anglia and the 
 
 gave expression to his views of the choir-service still kept 
 up at the Cathedral, in the following characteristic letter 
 addressed to Mr. Hitch, one of the Canons : — 
 
 " Ely, 
 " loth January, 1643. 
 " Mr. Hitch, 
 
 " Lest the Soldiers should in any tumultuary or dis- 
 orderly way attempt the reformation of the Cathedral Church, 
 I require you to forbear altogether your Choir-service, so 
 unedifying and offensive — and this as you shall answer it, 
 if any disorder should arise thereupon. 
 
 '* I advise you to catechise, and read and expound the 
 Scripture to the people ; not doubting but the Parliament, 
 with the advice of the Assembly of Divines, will direct you 
 further. I desire your sermons, too, where usually they have 
 been, but more frequent. 
 
 Your loving friend, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell." ^ 
 
 But Mr. Hitch did not feel inclined to give up, at the 
 bidding of his powerful neighbour, his choir-service in favour 
 of the joint product of Parliament and the Westminster 
 Assembly of Divines ; and so the visit of the soldiers, plainly 
 hinted at by Cromwell, took place. 
 
 The effect of the visit, as recorded by Walker, shows the 
 commanding influence which Cromwell was able, as citizen 
 and soldier, to bring to bear upon his neighbours. " Not- 
 withstanding this letter, Mr. Hitch continued to officiate as 
 before. Upon which Cromwell, with a party of soldiers, 
 attended by the rabble, came into the church in time of 
 divine service, with his hat on, and, directing himself to 
 Mr. Hitch, said : ' I am a man under authority, and am com- 
 manded to dismiss this assembly'; upon which Mr. Hitch 
 made a pause ; but Cromwell ancl the rabble, passing up 
 towards the communion table, Mr. Hitch proceeded with the 
 service : at which Cromwell returned, and, laying his hand 
 upon his sword in a passion, bade Mr. Hitch to 'leave off 
 
 ^ Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 145. 
 
Great Civil War, 151 
 
 his fooling and come down,' and so drove out the whole 
 congregation." ^ 
 
 The passing of the strictly disciplined troops of Manchester 
 and Cromwell into Lincolnshire had brought out by contrast the 
 more lax conduct of the forces there under Lord Willoughby of 
 Parham, whom Cromwell accused of dereliction of duty and of 
 encouraging the bringing in of young women as camp-followers. 
 Sir Christopher Wray, a Lincolnshire Committeeman, defended 
 Lord Willoughby, and three of Wray's sons inflicted a good 
 cudgelling on one of Manchester's officers, and Willoughby 
 himself actually challenged the Earl to fight a duel. Colonel 
 Boynton and Colonel Pickering carried a message to the 
 Bar of the House of Lords, who acted the part of peacemakers 
 between the parties, and, enjoining them not to prosecute 
 their differences any further, released Lord Willoughby from 
 temporary custody.^ 
 
 On January 3 1, a " remonstrance " was sent from Newark to 
 the King on the condition of Lincolnshire. " All that county 
 (excepting the little garrison of Belvoir) is now in possession 
 of the Rebels, where they hold Lincoln, Gainsborough, Brigg, 
 Tatshall, and Bolingbrook Castles, and that seditious town of 
 Boston, as garrisons well fortified ; and are able to draw 
 together out of these garrisons above 5, 000 armed foot, 
 
 besides twenty troops of horse And we cannot 
 
 but expect that the whole confluence of Manchester and 
 Cromwell's forces, and what can be raised from the 
 Associated Counties, will be poured down more upon us 
 if not otherwise diverted by other forces from your Majesty." 
 
 Meanwhile the Scots had crossed the border, ' up to their 
 knees in snow.' The Solemn League and Covenant was 
 being taken in the parish churches of East Anglia by the 
 parishioners — standing up in the church uncovered, ' lifting 
 up their right hands bare,' and then signing the same— and 
 
 * " Sufferings of the Clergy," part ii, p. 23. See the letter in the ** Squire Papers " 
 in which Cromwell, on a backwardness of some in the ' reforming ' business, is 
 represented as saying : "I heed God's House as much as any man ; but vanities 
 and trumpery give no honour to God, nor idols serve Him, neither do painted 
 windows make man more pious. Let them do as ParUament bid them, or else go 
 home." 
 
 ' Lords' Journals, vi, 415. 
 
152 East Anglia and the 
 
 in place of the old Committee of Safety a Committee was 
 formed for both kingdoms, with powers and a responsibility 
 to Parliament akin to the modern Cabinet. The King had 
 summoned his Parliament at Oxford, and many members 
 of Lords and Commons at Westminster had joined it, some 
 to remain and others to come back repentant. Royalist 
 families were leaving their ancestral homes and crowding 
 into Oxford, living in mean apartments, and brightening up 
 their straitened situation with splendid acts of devotion and 
 romantic vicissitudes. Cromwell had taken the Covenant 
 on February 5, and at the beginning of March was again 
 in the saddle marching across Buckinghamshire, capturing 
 RoyaHst houses, including Hilsden House, and many 
 prisoners, some of whom were sent to Cambridge. Con- 
 cerning the reception of these troops at Cambridge, the old 
 Royalist " Querela" furnishes these indications : — 
 
 " When the King's prisoners, taken at Hilsden House, were 
 brought, famished and naked, in triumph by Cambridge to 
 London, some of our scholars were knocked down in the streets 
 only for offering them a cup of small beer to sustain nature, 
 and the drink thrown into the kennel, rather than the famished 
 and parched throats of the wicked, as they termed them, 
 should usurp one drop of the creature ; and it is much to 
 be feared they would have starved them in prison there if 
 a valiant chambermaid (Mistress Cumber's maid) had not 
 relieved them by force, trampled under her feet, in 
 the kennel, their great persecutor, a lubberly Scotch 
 major." ^ 
 
 By the loth of March Cromwell, ' having driven the 
 Cavaliers into Banbury Castle,' and brought the sound of 
 his trumpets within hearing of Oxford itself,^ was back again 
 at Cambridge, defending Lieutenant-Colonel Packer against 
 complaints of his Major-General Crawford. " Sir, the State, 
 in choosing men to serve it, takes no notice of their opinions ; 
 if they be willing faithfully to serve it, that satisfies." In 
 
 * "Querela Cantabrigiensis." 
 
 ^ "One of Cromwell's trumpeters blew so hard that he put old Duppa into 
 a fit ol the cholick," is the irreverent remark of one of the Parliamentary news- 
 papers ; the allusion being to Bishop Duppa of Chichester, who had retired into 
 Oxford, and was ' very much with the King till his execution. ' 
 
Great Civil War. 153 
 
 these and similars words, Cromwell thus early showed his 
 tolerance of views already objectionable to those with leanings 
 to Presbyterian ism — the Earl of Manchester and his Major- 
 General Crawford among the number. 
 
 When, by the month of March, the movement of troops 
 became practicable there was issued from Cambridge a stimu- 
 lating pamphlet, " A Catalogue of remarkable mercies con- 
 ferred upon the Associated Counties." ^ This was appointed 
 to be read in the churches within the Associated Counties 
 as a thanksgiving and means of stimulating the zeal of the 
 inhabitants. This 'Catalogue' includes the 'quenching of 
 the fire at Lowestoft ' ; ' the reducing of Croyland, which was 
 a place strong by situation, and which had a professed Papist 
 Governor ' ; the taking of Burghley House ; the taking of 
 Lynn, the victory at Winceby, and the taking of Lincoln 
 and Gainsborough. For all these ' mercies' the thanks of the 
 people were called for, " not for vain ostentation, nor that 
 any honour should be given to any person, but that by com- 
 memorating these particulars your hearts may be enlarged 
 and quickened in sincerity, to give God the glory due alone to 
 Him" ; and "when we again go out we desire your prayers 
 to the Lord, professing our trust to be in His name, and 
 our rejoicing in hope that we shall have His presence to go 
 along with us." 
 
 A few days before this the Hertfordshire people had 
 petitioned Parliament against ' the intolerable burden of 
 free quarter' of the Earl of Essex's huge army, seventeen 
 weeks in their midst without pay ; and there were signs of 
 tiring of the burdens. Peace overtures were brought forward, 
 but like other attempts nothing came of them, and the Spring 
 opened with the prospect of renewed hostilities on a larger 
 and more decisive scale than had hitherto been possible. 
 The Eastern Counties men, united with Fairfax, and with 
 Leslie marching southward with the Scots,, were now first 
 in the public mind. The Earl of Manchester's army was 
 reported to be 15,000 strong. "Neither is his Army so 
 formidable in number as exact in discipline ; and that they 
 
 ^ E. 39 (13), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
154 East Anglia and the 
 
 might be all of one mind in religion as of resolution in the 
 field, with a severe eye he hath looked into the manners of 
 those who are his officers, and cashiered those whom he found 
 to be in any way irregular in their lives or disaffected to the 
 cause. This brave Army is our violets and primroses, the 
 first fruits of the spring, which the Parliament sends forth 
 this year for the growth of our religion and the re- implanting 
 of this kingdom in the garden of peace and truth." ^ 
 
 Before these preparations for the great crisis in the War 
 had been completed, Cromwell had sustained a bitter loss in 
 the death of young Oliver, who had served with him for 
 eighteen months. The exact circumstances of his death are 
 not known ; but there is very good reason to believe that he 
 died of small-pox, and probably while on those marches into 
 Buckinghamshire which resulted in the taking of Hilsden 
 House. " Col Cromwell has gone .... from Bucking- 
 hamshire to Stony Stratford and Brickhill, and begins 
 to increase in power. He hath lost his eldest son, who is 
 dead of the small-pox in Newport, a civill young gentleman 
 and the joy of his father."^ The other reference to the same 
 event is in the "Squire Papers" — "Meeting Cromwell again 
 after some absence, just on the edge of Marston Battle, 
 I thought he looked sad and wearied, for he had had a sad 
 loss ; young Oliver got killed to death not long before 
 I heard ; it was near Knaresborough and 30 more got killed." 
 Considering the ease with which direct intelligence could be 
 obtained in London from Newport Pagnell, and that the 
 reference in the " Squire Papers " is three or four months 
 later than the news-letter, and only hearsay at that, I think 
 the first account quoted is to be preferred. 
 
 One of the first effects of the method of Manchester and 
 Cromwell in securing the survival of the fittest to fight in 
 the Association Army, and of the successes already achieved 
 by Cromwell, was to arouse a spirit of jealousy in other 
 quarters. The Earl of Essex, although nominally the com- 
 mander of all the forces for Parliament, saw his army drifting 
 into a second place. The Parliamentary cause in the West 
 
 1 Weekly Account. 2 The Parliamentary Scout. 
 
Great Civil War. 155 
 
 was in such a bad way that the Earl declared : " Last week 
 there was but a step between us and death, and (what is 
 worse) slavery." Sir William Waller's victory at Cheriton 
 at the end of March bridged over that one step. Essex, 
 though complaining, was not selfish, but declared that, although 
 the Earl of Manchester was allowed an army of 14,000 while 
 his own army was reduced in numbers, yet if it were the 
 pleasure of Parliament he would again venture his life for the 
 cause. Parliament was obliged to pay considerable regard 
 to accomplished facts ; and although the Lords favoured the 
 idea of a superior command for Essex, which should include 
 the Association Army, the Commons were able to urge that 
 the Association Army was not raised by a general tax, but 
 by a particular charge on the Association. But the Gordian 
 knot was cut by the sword, for Manchester was already in 
 action in Lincolnshire, and as some continued authority was 
 necessary the Lords gave way. The great rendezvous of the 
 armies under Essex and Manchester, fixed for April 19, at 
 Aylesbury, did not take place, but Essex marched westwards 
 alone to disaster and defeat at Lostwithiel, and the Associa- 
 tion Army under Manchester and Cromwell was on the high 
 road to fame at Marston Moor. 
 
 On April 11, Fairfax defeated the Royalists at Selby, 
 taking 3,000 prisoners, and the Marquis of Newcastle ^ drew 
 off from facing the Scots into York ; the Scots followed him, 
 and on the 20th effected a junction with the Fairfaxes. On 
 the other hand. Royalists had swarmed into Lincolnshire 
 again from Newark, to Lincoln, Sleaford, and even as far 
 as Crowland. 
 
 On the 3rd of May, the Earl of Manchester sat down 
 before Lincoln in a pouring rain, while Cromwell, with 2,000 
 horse, held a relieving force in check. *At the signal of 
 the great ordnance going off, the guns began to play upon 
 the town of Lincoln,' at three o'clock in the morning, and 
 frightened the people out of their beds. The Fenmen jumped 
 into the works, set up their scaling ladders, " whereupon," 
 says Rushworth, "the defenders left off firing, threw down 
 
 * Newcastle had been made a Marquis in the previous year. 
 
156 East Anglia and the 
 
 mighty stones from over their works, which did the assailants 
 more prejudice than their shot ; yet at last, up they got, 
 and slew about fifty in the works, and the rest cried for 
 quarter, which was given them." The Governor, Sir Francis 
 Fane, and a large number of other prisoners and arms, were 
 taken, and " all the pillage of the upper town, which was 
 taken by storm, was given to the soldiers." 
 
 A few days later the Earl of Manchester marched towards 
 York, and Cromwell's Horse joined with those of Fairfax and 
 the Scotch ; " so that," writes a chronicler of the time, " they 
 now have a brave body of Horse, 8,000 complete ; they would 
 be joyful to wait upon F, Rupert to York, and will endeavour 
 to find him out. But it is thought the Prince .... will 
 
 decline to meet He loves not to meet a P'airfax 
 
 nor a Cromwell, nor any of those men that have so much 
 religion and valour in them." ^ The City of York, which 
 had been already blocked up on two sides, was, by the arrival 
 of the Earl of Manchester's Foot, surrounded on all sides, 
 and its Governor, Sir Thomas Glemham, of Glemham, 
 Suffolk, found himself shut in by his own neighbours, the 
 ' Norfolk men. '2 
 
 With the Earl of Essex away in the West, and the 
 Association Army before York, held there by the expected 
 march of Rupert to its relief, the King found the Associated 
 Counties and London practically undefended. Had His 
 Majesty been blessed with good generalship instead of 
 divided counsels, the last fortnight of June, 1644, would 
 certainly have been the most critical period of the War for 
 the Associated Counties, and the story of Marston Moor 
 itself might have been very different. At the head of 
 a powerful army, variously estimated at from 10,000 to 
 12,000, including 4,000 horse and fourteen pieces of artillery, 
 the King, 'being in good condition to fight,' resolved 'no 
 longer to live upon his own quarters, but to visit the enemy's 
 country.' There were three courses open to His Majesty, each 
 of which was debated at a council of war held on June 22 — to 
 march into the North, and join with Prince Rupert in relieving 
 
 ^ Mercurius Britannicus in " Cromwelliana." 
 * Slingsby's Diary, pp. 107-8. 
 
Great Civil War, 157 
 
 York ; to march into the Associated Counties, and draw off 
 the Association Army under Manchester before York ; or 
 to march on London. Without committing himself definitely 
 to any one of these courses, the Kinj^ commenced an aimless 
 march with his army across Buckinghamshire into Bedford- 
 shire, feeding his army rather than fighting, and getting into 
 a position which alarmed both the City and the Associated 
 Counties, each fearing that it was the object of attack. 
 
 The Committee for both kingdoms in London wrote 
 endless letters to various County Committees, towns, and 
 garrisons — to Cambridge advising them to * look to them- 
 selves,' assuring them for their encouragement that Sir 
 William Waller had orders to march after the King ; to 
 King's Lynn urging Colonel Walton, the governor, to take 
 measures for its defence ; and to Ireton, Cromwell's deputy 
 in the governorship of the Isle of Ely, urging him to look to 
 and strengthen the passes through the Fens, to prevent the 
 * enriching and recruiting of the enemy in these counties 
 which have been hitherto unplundered.' ^ To the Committee 
 for the Associated Counties at Cambridge, the Committee 
 wrote requiring them to summon 3,000 men out of Suffolk 
 and adjoining parts to secure the town of Cambridge. 
 
 Meanwhile the King's army was marching either for the 
 City or the Associated Counties ; and nearing Newport 
 Pagnell, Sir Samuel Luke ' let fly two or three of his great 
 pieces, which set them packing.' They were soon over- 
 running South Beds and North Herts, with both Cambridge 
 and London lying at their mercy. A party of the Cavaliers 
 created a great sensation by riding into Dunstable, entering 
 the Priory Church during service, ' cutting and slashing the 
 people in Church and firing a case of pistols at the 
 minister in the pulpit.' The Hertfordshire Committee wrote 
 despairing letters for the recall of their forces serving out of 
 the county to defend their borders ; but there was no time for 
 this, and the yeomen around Hitchin rose in their thousands 
 with such weapons as they could find. To Major-General 
 Brown was entrusted the command of such forces as could 
 
 ^ Committees' Letter-book in State Papers. 
 
158 East Anglia and the 
 
 be got together — the red, white, and blue regiments of 
 London and the Herts and Essex Trained Bands. On 
 June 24, he had got to Barnet in a sorry plight, with only 
 part of the red and white regiments come in ; the blue 
 regiment refusing to march without a month's pay ! ^ 
 
 The first contact of the Royal Army with the unarmed 
 yeomen about Hitchin scattered them ; most of them ran 
 away at the first alarm. Major-General Brown wrote in 
 despair : — " I cannot imagine what we shall do to secure 
 
 ourselves, having no horse Your pleasure I shall 
 
 humbly await, and your orders obey, though to our utter 
 ruin." Finding that the plot for securing the Isle of Ely 
 was known, the King became greatly dispirited, and declined 
 for the present advancing further towards the Association, 
 but turned and played 'his great guns against the town of 
 Aylesbury,' as the Hertfordshire scouts reported. These 
 altered tactics weakened the zeal of County Committees, and 
 Major- General Brown was obliged, after riding to and fro 
 between Hitchin and St. Albans, to send out his own 
 warrants in express term. By the 28th he had got together 
 at Dunstable 4,000 foot, 1,000 from the City regiments and 
 5,000 from Herts and Essex, which marched to Berkhamsted 
 to meet a convoy of 500 horse. At his headquarters at 
 St. Albans, Brown heard of the King's defeating Sir William 
 Waller at Croprcdy Bridge, and at once commenced a forced 
 march to join him on the borders of Northamptonshire. 
 The junction was a source of weakness rather than strength, 
 for those who had not already deserted Brown on the march, 
 became so mutinous and * uncommandable ' that Waller 
 confessed that such men were " only fit for the gallows here 
 and hell hereafter." 
 
 The danger of attack from outside had thus passed away 
 without drawing away or weakening the powerful Association 
 Army under Manchester and Cromwell, now shaping them- 
 selves for the great battle of Marston Moor. Prince Rupert 
 was marching thither out of Lancashire at the head of an 
 army 20,000 strong, to the relief of Newcastle and his 6,000 
 
 ^ Perfect Diurnal. 
 
Great Civil War, 159 
 
 men shut up in York. The Parh'amentary commanders raised 
 the siege, and drew out to meet the Prince on Marston Moor. 
 Rupert avoided the challenge by crossing the Ouse ; but, 
 having accomplished his object of relieving Newcastle, on 
 Monday, July I, he drew out his army to meet the Parlia- 
 mentary forces. On Tuesday evening, July 2, the two 
 great armies came into conflict, and the result was the battle 
 of Marston Moor, in which for three hours, on a sultry 
 Summer's night, from seven to ten o'clock, were combined 
 an awful carnage and an impressive spectacle unmatched 
 by any event in the Civil War ; or perhaps in the military 
 annals of England. 
 
 The two armies were drawn up facing each other on 
 the Moor, with only a ditch between them. There was 
 desultory firing from two to five o'clock in the afternoon, 
 and then all seemed over for that day, but it was only ' the 
 lull before the bursting of the storm.' During the pause 
 a prisoner released by Prince Rupert came into his comrades, 
 in the left wing. He was called before Cromwell, and stated 
 how eagerly the Prince had asked whether Cromwell was in 
 this wing, and whether they would fight, " because if they 
 would they should have their belly full," to which Cromwell 
 replied, " and, please God, so shall he ! " 
 
 Cromwell, on seeing a battery placed over against him, 
 ordered two guns forward ; this caused the men in the ditch 
 to fire some shots, which brought on the main battle. By 
 one of these shots Cromwell was wounded in the neck 
 slightly, but to prevent alarm called out cheerfully to his 
 men — * a miss is as good as a mile.' Cromwell's Horse on 
 the left wing then charged the right wing of the Royalists, 
 and the Eastern Counties Foot under Crawford went at the 
 double and kept by the side of Cromwell's Horse as far as 
 they could. The field-word given was for Parliament 
 ' God with us,' and the word given by Rupert was ' For God 
 and the King.' Watson, Cromwell's scoutmaster, gives this 
 glowing account of the share of the Association forces : — 
 " The signal being given, we marched on to the charge, in 
 which you might have seen the bravest sight in the whole 
 world ; such disciplined armies marching to a charge came 
 
i6o East Aug Ha and the 
 
 down the hill in the bravest order and in the greatest 
 resolution that ever was seen ; I mean the left wing of our 
 horse, led on by Lieutenant-General Cromwell, which was 
 to charge their right wing, led by Rupert, in which were all 
 their gallant men, they being resolved that if they could 
 scatter Cromwell, all was their own. h\\ the Earl of 
 Manchester's foot, being three brigades, began the charge 
 with their bodies against the Marquis of Newcastle's foot 
 and Prince Rupert's bravest foot. In a moment we were 
 past the ditch upon the Moor on equal ground with the 
 
 enemy, our men going on a running march 
 
 Lieutenant-General Cromwell's own division had a handful 
 of it ; for they were charged by Rupert's bravest men both 
 in front and flanks. They stood at the sword point a pretty 
 while hacking one another. But at last it pleased God he 
 brake through them, and scattered them before him like 
 dust. At the same instant the rest of our horse of that 
 wing had wholly broken all Rupert's horse on the right 
 wing, and was in the chase of them beyond their left wing. 
 Our foot of the right hand, being only the Earl of 
 Manchester's foot, went on by our side, dispersing the 
 enemy's foot almost as fast as they charged them, still going 
 on by our side, cutting them down, that we carried the 
 whole field before us." 
 
 The Marquis of Newcastle's regiment of white coats ' were 
 almost entirely cut off, for they scorned to fly and were 
 slain in rank and file, and the rest of that part of their army 
 which escaped killing or being taken prisoners fled in con- 
 fusion towards York.' In this pursuit the victorious Iron- 
 sides had got in the rear of the main battle and could not 
 see what had happened. Returning from the pursuit, they 
 were astonished to find that while Cromwell had swept the 
 left wing of the Royalists from the field, Rupert had routed 
 the Parliamentary right wing, who gave out as they fled that 
 ' all was lost' Among the stragglers met with was Fairfax 
 himself, with blood streaming from his face and riding a 
 wounded horse. He had got mixed up in the Royalist forces, 
 was mistaken for the moment for a Royalist officer, and so 
 escaped and was able to rejoin Cromwell. Then followed 
 
Great Civil War. i6i 
 
 one of the most remarkable incidents in the history of the 
 War. Cromwell's Horse and the Earl of Manchester's Foot, 
 with the Scots under Leslie, gathered the stragglers from the 
 broken centre and right wing to their own victorious phalanx, 
 and advanced in good order to a second charge. Rupert, later 
 than Cromwell in discovering what had happened in the part 
 of the field each had left behind, returned to face Cromwell 
 a second time ; * both sides being not a little surprized to 
 see they must fight it over again.* The Royalists marched 
 down the cornfields with great resolution, 'the face of the 
 battle being exactly counterchanged.' The carnage was 
 awful, but the better generalship prevailed ; by ten o'clock 
 the Parliamentary forces had cleared the field, recovered 
 the ordnance and transport waggons taken by Rupert in his 
 first success, taken the Prince's own artillery, and pursued 
 the fugitive Royalists with great slaughter within a mile 
 of York. 
 
 In order to form an elementary conception of the great 
 battles of the Civil War, it is necessary to remember that 
 these old Ironsides and Cavaliers were engaged, not in 
 shooting each other from a distance, but for the most part 
 at close quarters, literally hacking one another in pieces. 
 This element in the fight enables one the better to realize 
 something of the awfulness of the spectacle of that clash of 
 arms during three hours of a sultry Summer's night on the 
 Yorkshire moors, when the heavens above and the earth 
 beneath were shaking with the artillery of God and of men. 
 
 "Just as both armies were joined in battle, and began 
 a first encounter or assault of each other, it pleased the Lord 
 that a sudden and mighty great storm of rain and hail and 
 terrible claps of thunder were heard and seen from the clouds, 
 as if heaven had resolved to second the assault with a fierce 
 alarm from above." ^ 
 
 " Still darker and gloomier fell the evening, and closer and 
 murkier was the air, as the thunder of the skies was more and 
 more frequently echoed by the artillerj^ where Cromwell was 
 among the far left among the guns. At length the whole 
 
 * Vicars. 
 
 II 
 
1 62 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 dark masses on either side seemed to catch fire from that 
 flame, and bright and loud the artillery flashed and the 
 musketry sparkled along those formidable ranks." ^ 
 
 In the lurid chiaroscuro of lightnings flashing from the 
 heavy skies and of cannon belching fire along the hills, 
 the images of Fairfax and Cromwell, riding now here, now 
 there, through the blinding glare, loom large and Homeric 
 in outline. But war is war in all times, and out of the awful 
 carnage there comes, for us who are interested in the East- 
 men's valour, one personal incident of a peculiarly human 
 interest, when it is found that Cromwell's neighbour's son, in 
 fact, his own sister's son, the promising young Captain Walton, 
 of St. Neots, is hors de combat, with a leg shattered by 
 a cannon-ball. It was upon this incident that Cromwell 
 wrote the characteristic letter of sympathy to his brother- 
 in-law of St. Neots, and colleague in Parliament and in 
 arms : — 
 
 " To my loving Brother, Colonel Valentine Walton : These 
 Leaguer before York, 5th July, 1644. 
 
 " Dear Sir, 
 
 "It's our duty to sympathise in all mercies; and to 
 praise the Lord together in chastisements or trials, that 
 so we may sorrow together. 
 
 " Truly England and the Church of God hath had a great 
 favour from the Lord, in this great victory given unto us, 
 such as the like never was since this War began. It had 
 all the evidences of an absolute victory, obtained by the 
 Lord's blessing upon the Godly Party principally. We never 
 charged but we routed the enemy. The left wing, which 
 I commanded, being our own horse, saving a few Scots in 
 our rear, beat all the Prince's horse. God made them as 
 stubble to our swords. We charged their regiments of foot 
 with our horse, and routed all we charged. The particulars 
 I cannot relate now ; but I believe, of Twenty-thousand the 
 Prince hath not Four-thousand left. Give glory, all the 
 glory, to God. 
 
 * Warburton, ii, 457. 
 
Great Civil War. 163 
 
 " Sir, God hath taken away your eldest son by a cannon- 
 shot. It brake his leg. We were necessitate to have it 
 cut off, whereof he died. 
 
 " Sir, you know my own trials this way,* but the Lord 
 supported me with this, that the Lord took him into the 
 happiness we all pant for and live for. There is your 
 precious child full of glory, never to know sin or sorrow 
 any more. He was a gallant young man, exceedingly 
 gracious. God give you His comfort. Before his death he 
 was so full of comfort that to Frank Russell and myself he 
 could not express it, * it was so great above his pain.' This 
 he said to us. Indeed, it was admirable. A little after he 
 said one thing lay upon his spirit. I asked him what that 
 was ? He told me it was that God had not suffered him 
 to be any more the executioner of his enemies. At his fall, 
 his horse being killed with the bullet, and, as I am inforn^ed, 
 three horses more, I am told he bid them open to the right 
 and left that he might see the rogues run. Truly he was 
 exceedingly beloved in the Army of all that knew him. But 
 few knew him ; for he was a precious young man, fit for God. 
 You have cause to bless the Lord. He is a glorious Saint in 
 Heaven ; wherein you ought exceedingly to rejoice. Let 
 this drink up your sorrow ; seeing these are not feigned 
 words to comfort you, but the thing is so real and 
 undoubted a truth. You may do all things by the strength 
 of Christ. Seek that, and you shall easily bear your trial. 
 Let this public mercy to the Church of God make you to 
 forget your private sorrow. The Lord be your strength. 
 So prays 
 
 " Your truly faithful and loving brother, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell."^ 
 
 As to the number of the slain, ' the countrymen (who were 
 commanded to bury the corpses) gave out that they interred 
 4,150 bodies.' About 100 Royalist colours, ' enough to make 
 surplices for all the Cathedrals in England,' were taken, most 
 of which the soldiers tore in pieces, ' delighted to wear the 
 
 ^ The trial was the loss of his own son Oliver : see ante, p. 154. 
 2 Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, L, 152-3. 
 
164 East Anglia and the 
 
 shreds in their hats.' Of his defeat Prince Rupert was 
 reported to have said : " I am sure my men fought well, and 
 know no reason of our rout but this, because the Devil did 
 help his servants." As for the Marquis of Newcastle, he and 
 his whitecoats, who had vowed to dye their coats in the blood 
 of their enemies, will trouble the Fenmen no more with that 
 old nightmare of a '' Papists' Army " ; for, the very next 
 morning after the battle, the Marquis, with most of his valiant 
 whitecoats left dead on the field, resolved to leave the country, 
 took leave of Prince Rupert, and, conducted by a troop of 
 horse and dragoons to Scarborough, set sail for and arrived 
 at Hamburg four days later, and ' returned to England no 
 more till the miraculous restoration of King Charles the 
 Second.' 
 
 The Earl of Manchester sent off after the battle a brief 
 dispatch, in which he says that " Prince Rupert saved him- 
 self by ye goodness of his horse ; we took all his ordnance, 
 his ammunition, and baggage. We took about 6,000 armes, 
 and yet I believe there are some thousands left in the 
 
 woods We began our fight on Tuesday in ye 
 
 evening, and it was very hot for two hours." ^ 
 
 To the fame already obtained and the valour displayed 
 by the men from East Anglia, the Royalist writer Heath 
 pays this tribute : — " The Earl of Manchester's Horse were 
 on the left wing of their Army. These were raised out of 
 the Associated Counties .... commonly called the 
 Eastern Association, and both for arms, men, and horses 
 the completest regiments in England ; they were more 
 absolutely at the command of Colonel Cromwell, Lieut- 
 General to Manchester, an indefatigable soldier and of good 
 courage and conduct." ^ 
 
 While the clash of arms was ringing on Marston Moor, 
 the Constables of East Anglia were pushing on the recruiting ; 
 and when the news of victory came to hand, the Committee 
 for both Kingdoms wrote in flattering terms to each county 
 in the Association, thanking them for the service rendered 
 
 1 Hist. MSS., Com. Rep., No. 7. 
 
 * "Chronicles of the late Intestine War," etc. 
 
Great Civil War, 165 
 
 by their soldiers, "which hath been a special means under 
 God of bringing our affairs into that prosperous condition in 
 which they now are." 
 
 Two things of interest had come out of the great conflict 
 at Marston Moor, and the lessons of the war during these 
 Summer months of 1644. One was that Cromwell had 
 gained, from Prince Rupert himself, that name of Ironsides 
 which was also to be applied with equal fitness to the valiant 
 men who had fought under him. The other was that the 
 issue of the war must now be left more to the trained 
 soldiers, and less to county trained bands, concerned mainly 
 with the defence of particular areas. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 QUARREL OF MANCHESTER AND CROMWELL— CROWLAND 
 
 AND NEWPORT— SIR HUDIBRAS AND SIR ROGER. 
 
 (1644.) 
 
 IT has been pointed out by more than one writer that 
 the splendid success achieved by the Parliamentary 
 forces at Marston Moor, induced in the minds of 
 Manchester and other aristocratic commanders a misgiving 
 whether it would not be possible to * beat the King too well ' ; 
 whether, after all, they could face the logical issue, so long 
 as the King remained obdurate, upon which the struggle 
 of the Civil War had launched them. At more than one 
 time during the Civil War the old feeling and the old hope 
 which had eagerly looked to some decisive action to put an end 
 to the unnatural conflict, made themselves felt among the 
 people. When the tension created by some great emergency 
 had become relaxed, it was hard to get the counties to 
 rise to the occasion for a further sustained effort beyond 
 their borders, and especially if the men were wanted for 
 harvest work. It was hard to make the counties accept the 
 situation that war was to be so long a permanent factor 
 in their midst ; and they were ever looking for relief to the 
 next great event. 
 
 The army of the Earl of Manchester, after the fatigues 
 of Marston Moor, had become a prey to internal jealousies. 
 Wearied and in want of pay and recruiting, when the army 
 began to move slowly from Yorkshire towards Lincoln, it 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 167 
 
 was alleged that Manchester refused to summon Royalist 
 houses on the march. In passing Welbeck Abbey, Cromwell 
 says the Earl * was very backward and could hardly be 
 persuaded to march for Welbeck.* But was there not, at 
 least in this case, an excuse of chivalry? The Earl knew 
 that in the chambers of Welbeck were * the daughters and 
 the rest of the children and family' of his old enemy, the 
 Marquis of Newcastle, now fled beyond the sea. But 
 Welbeck was summoned, and no sooner summoned than it 
 surrendered. The Earl allowed the soldiers even the liberty 
 to march away with their arms ; but they, to the number 
 of 350, preferred to lay down their arms and asked for 
 tickets to go to their own homes, which the Earl granted, 
 and then engaged himself for the protection and maintenance 
 at Welbeck of Newcastle's children. 
 
 At Lincoln nearly a month was occupied, from August 6 
 to September 4, in negotiating about sending a part of 
 the army into Cheshire against Rupert. On September 5 
 the army, having left 3,000 foot for the siege of Newark, 
 reached Bourne. From Sleaford, Cromwell wrote to his 
 brother-in-law. Colonel Valentine Walton, expressing a 
 longing to get away to remedy the sad condition of the 
 army in the West — " truly had we wings we would fly 
 thither." "We have some amongst us much slow in 
 action — if we could all intend our own ends less, and our 
 ease too, our business in this Kingdom would go on 
 wheels for expedition. But because some of us are enemies 
 to rapine and other wickednesses we are said to be 'factious,' 
 to * seek to maintain our opinion in religion by force ' — 
 which we detest and abhor. I profess I could never satisfy 
 myself of the justness of this war, but from the Authority 
 of Parliament to maintain itself in its rights ; and in this 
 cause I hope to approve myself an honest man and single- 
 hearted." 
 
 Proceeding slowly towards Peterborough and Huntingdon, 
 the Earl of Manchester was being urged into opposite courses 
 by the Derby House Committee in London, to hasten his 
 march into the West to the assistance of the Earl of Essex 
 and Sir William Waller; and, by his strong attachment to 
 
1.68 East Anglia and the 
 
 constitutional methods, not to take an army raised and paid 
 by the Association away from that part of the country which 
 it was especially intended to protect. His chief officers, 
 including Cromwell, were impatient and clamorous over 
 the delay, with increasing divisions on religious systems — 
 the Earl and his Major-General Crawford for Presbyterianism, 
 and Cromwell and other officers for Independency. 
 
 Just as the harvest of the Fens was being finished, there 
 was a remarkable gathering of the Association Army and 
 its officers around that old cradle of the Ironsides about 
 Huntingdon, where the heroes of Marston Moor had arrived 
 in unhappy mood after slow marches and many halts. While 
 at Huntingdon, on September 8, the Earl received the intelli- 
 gence of the defeat of the Earl of Essex at Lostwithiel, in 
 Cornwall.^ Some of his officers, it is alleged, showed signs of 
 rejoicing at the news; and if, on the one hand, the event 
 seemed to confirm the arguments for a more rapid advance 
 and the folly of delay, there was something to be said for the 
 Earl's attitude from the point of view of the Associated 
 Counties. Upon the receipt of the news the Earl wrote the 
 following letter : — 
 
 " For the Committee of both Kingdoms. My Lords and 
 Gentlemen. 
 
 " I received this morning your Lop^ lettre, together with 
 a copy of my Lord Generall's lettre, which gives a very sad 
 account of his present condition, of the which I have a very 
 deepe sense. The Lord's arme is not shortned, though wee be 
 much weakned. I trust he will give us a happy recovery. 
 I shall, with all the speed I can, march in observance of your 
 former orders. I cannot expect to have any recreutes, being 
 I am to march soe sudden from these partes, which will be 
 a great disappointing to me, considering the weaknes of 
 these forces. I shall from tyme to tyme acquaint your 
 LoP^ with my marches. Concerning those differences which 
 
 ^ Of the Earl of Essex's unfortunate march from St. Albans into the West, 
 a brief diary was found in the pocket of a soldier after the defeat at Lostwithiel, 
 which briefly runs thus : " From St. Albans to Beaconsfield, from B. to Henly, 
 from H. to," etc. ; "from Bodmin to Lostwithiel, and thence, like rogues, to ye 
 divell."— Harl. MSS., 934, f. 64. 
 
Great Civil War. 169 
 
 your LoP« take notice to be amongst some of this army, 
 I hope your Lop^ shall finde that I shall take such care as, 
 by the blessing of God, nothing of the publique service shall 
 be retarded. 
 
 " My Lords and Gentlemen, I am 
 
 your LoP' most humble servant, 
 
 Manchester. 
 " Huntingdon, Sep. 8, 1644." ^ 
 
 The personnel of the body of officers gave a peculiar 
 interest to this halt of the Association Army at Huntingdon. 
 The Earl was close to Kimbolton, Cromwell was at his 
 birthplace, Edward Montague was at home at Hinchinbrook, 
 Desborough was within a few miles of his birthplace at 
 Eltisley, Pickering was near his relatives, if not his own 
 home, at Whaddon ; to say nothing of Frank Russell, of 
 Chippenham, and of Ireton, future relations of Cromwell. It 
 was a remarkable meeting-place, instinct with the pulses we 
 associate with " auld lang syne " and touched with degrees of 
 sadness. For the Earl there was the silent rebuke of the old 
 Royalist Earl, scarce two years in his grave at Kimbolton. 
 Young Edward Montague had seen his father go over to the 
 King ; Cromwell had lost his own son Oliver — a loss which 
 on his deathbed still * went to his heart ' ; and eye-witnesses 
 were going over to Great Staughton, near St. Neots, to tell 
 the tale to Margaret Cromwell (now Mrs. Walton) how nobly 
 her boy, young Walton, had died amid the smoke of battle 
 at Marston Moor. Cromwell had written that touching 
 brotherly letter to Colonel Walton ; and the two men who, 
 as member for Cambridge and member for Huntingdon, had 
 dared to face the ordeal of seizing the magazine and Castle 
 at Cambridge before any blow had been struck, were sharing 
 a common sorrow. These were sacred but stirring memories 
 to the men who now found themselves hampered by a com- 
 mander unwilling to move forward, yet impelled to vindicate 
 the cause for which they had taken up arms and made great 
 sacrifices. 
 
 ^ •* Manchester's Quarrel with Cromwell," by Piofessor Masson, p. 25. 
 
170 East Anglia and the 
 
 When, some time afterwards, affairs drifted into open quarrel 
 between Manchester and Cromwell, and the charges formed 
 the subject of examinations, the depositions of this group of 
 stout fighting-men of the Association Army were taken ; and 
 so far as they related to the scene at Huntingdon may be 
 here given as recorded in the State Papers. 
 
 Cromwell in his first examination stated that, while at 
 Huntingdon, " Lieutenant-General Hammond with examinant 
 [Cromwell] came to the Earl to desire his lordship that he 
 would hasten his march in obedience to the commands he had 
 received ; he replied that ' he w^ould hang him or them that 
 should advise him to march with his own army into the 
 West,' or words to that effect." 
 
 Colonel Pickering in his examination said that when the 
 Earl came to Huntingdon the next day "he received intelli- 
 gence of the great blow the Parliamentary Army had received 
 in the West .... the Earl expressed his unwillingness 
 to march more than ever." He had often heard the Earl 
 protest that " he never liked this War, and was against it 
 from the beginning, saying ' it was easy to begin a war, 
 but no man knew when it would end, and that this was 
 not the way to advance religion.' " 
 
 Quarter-Master General Ireton in his deposition said, that 
 the Earl at Huntingdon ''spoke with much contempt and 
 indignation against the commands received at Huntingdon to 
 march to Abingdon." 
 
 That the Earl had grown apathetic in the War, appears 
 from other sources. There was, for instance, a certain 
 ' Letter written out of Bedfordshire unto the Earl of 
 Manchester and intercepted by one of his Majesty's scouts,' 
 in which the writer urges their sad conditions, which are 
 * no romances,' but ' sad truths, as in good faith if they wake 
 you not now from your lethargic dream, I think you must 
 sleep till the last trumpet.' ^ On the other hand, the Earl 
 had his difficulties to contend with. His victorious army 
 had been reduced to 6,000 and was sadly in need of 
 reinforcement ; and of the plight in which the backwardness 
 
 > Brit. Mus. Lib., 669, f. 8 (13). 
 
Great Civil War. 171 
 
 of County Committees left them he writes : — " The Treasurers, 
 which are two gentlemen of good credit, doe assure mee 
 that within these few days there was yet unpaid ;^30,c>oo 
 of the former 3 moneths assessments ; and of these last 
 4 moneths which is almost illapsed, there is nothing yet 
 
 brought in I must confesse, and I doe acknowledge 
 
 it as a blessing from God, that both officers and soldiers have 
 never yet refused any marching or duty for want of pay, 
 and I hope they never will." 
 
 The Horse was indeed in a sorry plight, and upon reaching 
 Hitchin Ireton wrote to the Earl, then in London, " having 
 at several rendezvous taken special notice of the condition 
 of the horse, I find, my Lord, that it is very miserable. Of 
 divers troops the officers soberly and calmly profess that, 
 having lent their own and borrowed all they could find 
 in their troops to supply them that have wanted for mere 
 necessaries (as shoeing horses, etc.), they had at the present 
 many horses marching back for want of money to shoe 
 them." 1 
 
 Besides these purely military matters, however, there 
 were, as usual, matters of religious scruple at issue, and the 
 Independents were already beginning to assert themselves 
 in a manner likely to create divisions. Cromwell spent some 
 of the time while the army was hanging about Huntingdon 
 by riding up to Westminster and having a hand in shaping 
 the proceedings of the House of Commons, and getting in 
 at the right moment a plea for * tender consciences ' and 
 toleration. 
 
 Meanwhile the King's army had begun to move eastward 
 again, and with Essex beaten it was necessary for Manchester 
 and Sir William Waller to join their forces ; and so at last 
 the Earl of Manchester got on his way with his army across 
 Hertfordshire. After the halt of many days around St. 
 Albans and Watford, the half-hearted Earl and his impatient 
 colleagues at last got as far as Reading and into the neigh- 
 bourhood of stirring events once more. The attitude of the 
 
 * Manchester Papers, 545, Public Record Office ; see also 543, the Letter from 
 Mr. Crewe to the Earl. 
 
172 East Anglia and the 
 
 Earl was being supported by the Associated Counties them- 
 selves, as the further examination of the officers, to be referred 
 to presently, will show. Norfolk was especially backward in 
 sending its forces away to the West, and the Committee of 
 the Association sitting at Trinity College, Cambridge, made 
 this urgent appeal :— "The extreame push of affaires that the 
 Associated Countyes are now put to by the emptying there 
 fource into the West doe ernestly styr us up .... in 
 your diligence the safety of your county resteth .... 
 we see very playnely that matters will be brought very soon 
 to such an adventure as to be prepared for the worst 
 . . . . and this we do give you to take into your con- 
 sideration as we have importuned other countyes to the like."^ 
 
 The Lincolnshire people also heard with dismay of the 
 Earl's directions to march to the West, and their sorrow 
 ' was not to be expressed ' when it was understood he was 
 to depart Some crying, "what will become of us within 
 this half-an-hour after my Lord's forces are gone ; the King's 
 forces will come cursing and swearing, setting their pistols 
 to our breasts, extorting money at their pleasure and plun- 
 dering of others. What ! will my lord leave us now and not 
 first destroy our enemies ? All our love and respect to my 
 lord's army will now be requited upon us ; there are so many 
 among us that observe our smiles, which our enemies will 
 turn into tears by blows and other cruelties ; what shall we 
 do? Better set fire to all we have and be gone than suffer 
 what we are like to do. These, with many more of like 
 nature, took great impression upon the Army in so much 
 that tears fell plenty on both sides." ^ 
 
 A fortnight afterwards Norfolk sent up a petition to Par- 
 liament : " Whereas we have binn at greate charge to range 
 and mayntayne the armye now under the command of the 
 Earle of Manchester, which by God's blessing hath hetherto 
 kept out the enimy from amungst us, etc., doe humbly desire 
 that the sayd army may be imployed neere the confines of 
 our Association." ^ 
 
 * L'Estrange Papers. 
 
 * Wallington, Historical Notices, ii, 233-4. 
 ^ L'Estrange Papers. 
 
Great Civil War, 173 
 
 The Committee of both Kingdoms wrote thus, with Essex's 
 defeat fresh in their minds, to the Committee of the Asso- 
 ciation at Cambridge, and to the Committee of Norfolk : — 
 
 "You now see the sad effects of delay in executing the 
 ordinance of 12th of July for raising requisite forces. If the 
 directions and orders of Parliament and of this Committee 
 had been expeditiously put in execution we had been nearer 
 the end of our troubles than we are. We supposed your 
 Foot had been with the Earl of Manchester long since. The 
 Earl, who is now on the march, will by this slackness want 
 a considerable part of the Army that was to have marched 
 with him. We desire you to cause your contingent to march 
 with all expedition." 
 
 The situation was a critical one from the Parliamentary 
 point of view. The King had ordered Prince Rupert to 
 join him in his march, and having gained a victory over 
 Manchester's army of the Association as he had done over 
 that of the Earl of Essex, the Royalist plan of campaign 
 was to march against the Eastern Association and ' winter 
 in Norfolk.' 
 
 At Reading the Earl of Manchester was repeatedly 
 reminded by letters from the Counties of the Association 
 of their concern at the distance of their forces and tlie 
 doings of the Newarkers on the Lincolnshire side of the 
 Fens. Even Suffolk wrote to the Earl "some reasons 
 why they conceive the distance of their force might be a sad 
 consequence to them." 
 
 The conflict with the King around Donnington Castle 
 and the Second Battle of Newbury are matters of general 
 history ; but in order to follow the fortunes of the Fenmen 
 and those of the Associated Counties, it is necessary to 
 quote further from the interesting depositions of the officers 
 whose names have already been mentioned, especially as 
 they disclose the Earl's defence. In these it was alleged 
 that the Earl declared — " My Army was raised by the 
 Association and was for the guard of the Association. It 
 cannot be commanded by a Parliament without their 
 consents " ; and he often expressed " an exceeding inclination 
 to return with his Army into the Association, seeing that 
 
174 East Anglia and the 
 
 Cambridge must be our winter quarters." ^ The Earl himself 
 wrote to the Derby House Committee thus : — " Your 
 lordships very well know the obligacions I have to these 
 counlyes who have as farre as in them lay put this trust 
 upon mee. I receive from them dayly letters expressing 
 their great trouble that their forces are drawne soe farre 
 from them " ; and he reminds them that by ordinance these 
 forces are not to be commanded any whether but with the 
 consent of the Committees of the Association." - 
 
 Sir Arthur Haselrigg in his examination stated that the 
 Earl declared that " if we beat the King 99 times, yet he is 
 King still and so will his posterity be after him ; but if the 
 King beat us once we shall be all hanged and our posterity 
 be made slaves." 
 
 Cromwell in his second examination, after giving a similar 
 version, says he replied, " if this principle were true it 
 condemned all our former fighting as foolish, and was an 
 argument against fighting for the future, and a ground for 
 making peace how dishonourable soever." 
 
 Major John Desborough said: — "I heard Mr. GosselP 
 at Newbury say to many of the soldiers who asked him 
 for money that he had none for them till they should come 
 into the Association, and when we can get thither 'you 
 shall have all new coats and shoes besides money enough, 
 but not a penny till then ' ; and he heard the Earl say about 
 five days after Donnington was relieved that if the Committee 
 of the [Eastern] Association did but write to him to come 
 back to them he would march with his Army the next day, 
 though the Parliament hanged him for so doing." 
 
 Colonel Pickering, in his further examination, says that 
 the Earl said : " It is a pity we should leave those Counties 
 who have paid us and parted with their money so willingly 
 to us all this while and now by our absence be exposed to 
 the incursions of an enemy." 
 
 Colonel Edward Montague, relative of the Earl, said that 
 
 ^ Scout-Master Watson's Examination. 
 
 ^ "Cromwell and Manchester's Quarrel." 
 
 ^ Mr. Gawsell, one of the Treasurers of the Association. 
 
Great Civil War. 175 
 
 he heard the latter say "he was against this War in the 
 beginning of it, and that if those who began it had to do 
 it again they would be twice advised," or to that effect. 
 
 On the other hand, it was alleged against Cromwell in the 
 narrative of " the Earl of Manchester's Campaign," written 
 by his Major-General Crawford, the Scotch Presbyterian, that 
 he (Cromwell) encouraged the Army to disobey Crawford's 
 orders, that he favoured Independents as against others, and 
 fomented mischief in the Army " all the way betweene 
 Lincolne and Huntingdon," and that advantages over the 
 Enemy were lost through Cromwell's inaction at Newbury. 
 There are similar accusations in the anonymous statement 
 by an opponent of Cromwell, which contains the following 
 items of personal interest : — 
 
 " Colonel Cromwell, perceiving what might be done in the 
 He by a small party, at my coming to him at Cambridge he 
 told me he would make the He of Ely the strongest place 
 in the world, and that he would out with all the wretches 
 and ungodly men, and he would place in it godly and 
 precious pcopell, and he would make it a place for God to 
 
 dwell in ^ Yett at this day the He is ... . 
 
 become a meere Amsterdam, for in the chefest churches 
 on the Sabbath day the souldiers have gonn up into the 
 pulpitts both in the forenoone and the afternone and 
 preached to the whole parish, and our ministers have satt 
 in their seatt in the church, and durst not attempt to preach, 
 it being a common thinge to preach in private houses night 
 and day, they having gott whole famalyes as Independents 
 
 into that He from London At the springe, I being 
 
 at Camebridge, .... I walking over the market hill 
 there with Collonell Cromwell, I speak to him thus : ' Sir, if 
 you would march up to Newarke with but 1500 of your horse 
 you would spoyle Prince Rupert's market' He said again, 
 • there is Sir John Meldrum and the rest would take the town 
 for all the Prince.' I sayd to him againe, ' it ware as cheape 
 
 * Compare Walker, who says : *' It is a plentefull and strong fastnesse, able to 
 
 feed 40,000 men besides the ordinary inhabitants Here (when all 
 
 other helps fail) the Godly mean to take Sanctuary ; this shall be their last retreat 
 from whence they will draw the whole Kingdome to parley upon articles of treaty 
 and enforce their peace from them at last "— '* History of Independency," p 147. 
 
176 East Anglia and the 
 
 for our horse to march as to ly still in the stables'; where- 
 upon he was angry and bid me holld my tounge, I spoke 
 I knew not what ; yett he had then gallant horse, and I have 
 heard him say that he had more horse in his troope that was 
 at Edg hill then the Earle of Essex had in his whole armie." 
 The writer adds that when the news of the rout of the Earl 
 of Essex in the West reached the army at Huntingdon, 
 " many of the Independents appeared soe joyful as though 
 it had been a victory new gained to themselves." ^ 
 
 There is other evidence of a seriously divided feeling 
 amongst the troops themselves, for a few weeks after that 
 dilatory march Westwards, there is this little glimpse of an 
 incident before Newport Pagnell. Sir Samuel Luke writes 
 to the Herts Committee : — " I must confess it one of ye 
 greatest mercyes that I have received of late that the towne 
 was preserved when his Majesty's forces were last before it ; 
 for at that very time 2 of ye E. of Manchester's companies 
 drew up one against another, and much hurt was done, and 
 had I not interfered myself amongst them I do not know 
 what ill consequences might not have followed." ^ 
 
 The essential point in the Manchester and Cromwell 
 quarrel lay in the difference of point of view from which 
 the two men regarded the ultimate purpose of the War. 
 Manchester, like many others, never got beyond the idea 
 that the War was an armed protestation ; Cromwell regarded 
 it as a means of compelling a settlement of the nation's 
 affairs ; — the one saw no finality in the further use of the 
 sword, the other saw none without it. Cromwell's idea that 
 the Earl's apathy sprang from a fear lest they should beat 
 the King too well, and that he was yielding to reasons 
 which would have been fatal to taking up arms at all, 
 therefore went to the root of the matter. Where it was 
 not just to Manchester was, that it did not sufficiently 
 recognize the force of obligation which the Earl felt was 
 pressing upon him in regard to the Association Army, by 
 the conditions under which the War had been hitherto 
 
 ^ *' Manchester's Quarrel with Cromwell," pp. 73-6. 
 * Luke's Letter-book in Stowe MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 177 
 
 carried on. The fact was, that a point had been reached 
 at which fighting by County Committees must give place 
 to broader and more effective methods of warfare, and 
 Cromwell saw this and the Earl did not. Out of these 
 differences was to arise the famous New Model Army, to 
 be referred to presently. 
 
 With these glimpses of the difficulties of commanding 
 an army to suit so many parties, we may return to the 
 region of the Fens and the Eastern Counties, and see how 
 affairs stood with the counties the Earl had been so reluctant 
 to leave. 
 
 One effect of the absence of the Association forces in the 
 West was to bring once more the Cavaliers from Newark 
 quarter swarming up into the Fens during October. In 
 September there had come a 'terrible allarum' of an attack 
 upon Sir Robert Carr's fortified house at Sleaford, in which 
 the Parliamentary force was outnumbered and obliged to 
 retire to Lincoln. On Saturday, October 5, another alarm 
 came to Huntingdon of five or six hundred Cavaliers having 
 taken and taxed the town of Stamford, and about the same 
 time they seized their favourite stronghold of Crowland once 
 more, and another party marched towards Peterborough. 
 
 The seizure of Crowland aroused all the Fens, but the 
 garrisons of Lynn and Boston were in this peculiar position, 
 that each had 1,000 men besides officers seventeen weeks in 
 arrear with their pay, and all warrants for raising money had 
 to be signed by the Earl of Manchester and two of the 
 Committee sitting at Cambridge ; and to get over the diffi- 
 culty Parliament empowered any two members of the Com- 
 mittee to sign warrants in the absence of the Earl. For 
 Crowland itself immediate action was necessary, and on 
 October 7, the Committee for both Kingdoms ordered 300 
 men to be sent from the Cambridge garrison to hold ' Horsey 
 Bridge pass ' ; to call in the Trained Bands, troops out of 
 Suffolk to join Fleetwood and Fairfax, and to send forces 
 from Lincoln way to oppose the enemy, who had * surprized 
 Crowland ' and got together 2^000 forces. Again the local 
 and national ideas of the War came in conflict : the Cambridge 
 Committee were uneasy about the Earl of Manchester's 
 
 12 
 
178 East Anglia and the 
 
 absence in the West, and the Committee for both Kingdoms 
 assured them that their own safety was to be found in 
 ' a happy ending of the war,' to which his Lordship's service 
 in the West was likely to contribute. 
 
 The Counties responded to the fresh call upon them by 
 sending their Trained Bands trooping through the Fens 
 to Crowland ; and by October 12, with Fleetwood's 
 regiment and other horse, there were ' 4,000 at least ' before 
 Crowland. There in the heavy pouring rain the 4,000 did 
 their best to get at the small band of 250 Cavaliers, 
 with 25 horse, within the little citadel upon the waters, but 
 the prospect was not hopeful even with such a force. " By 
 the accession of Sir Thomas Fairfax and Colonel Rossiter, 
 with the Trained Bands of Cambs and Hunts before Crow- 
 land, we were in a fair way to have regained it, did not 
 the weather prevent us." So wrote Sir Samuel Luke, and 
 on October 17 he was writing again that on the previous 
 day he heard the weather had forced them to raise the siege, 
 send back the Trained Bands to their own counties, while 
 the Horse drew off to Stamford and Lincoln. The Trained 
 Bands were not apparently dismissed to their homes, but 
 drawn off for a time to convenient centres. Cambridge, for 
 instance, was full of them, of which the old " Querela " writes : — 
 " And when their ragged regiments, which had been louzing 
 before Crowland nigh a fortnight, were commanded to 
 Cambridge, forthwith the Colleges are appointed their 
 kennels ; and four score were turned loose into one of the 
 least halls [Pembroke] in the University, and charged by 
 their officers to shift for themselves, who without more ado 
 broke open the Fellows and Scholars Chambers and took 
 their beds from under them." ^ 
 
 But if the Cavaliers could not be ousted from Crowland ' by 
 a soddaine storming ' as had been hoped, it was possible to 
 guard the approaches and prevent relief coming to them. 
 This kind of service was being performed around Peterborough 
 by Captain Middleton and some Parliamentary Horse from 
 Huntingdon under conditions- which might have taken the 
 
 ^ '* Querela Cantabrigiensis. " 
 
Great Civil War, 179 
 
 heart out of less hardy men. Yet on October 24, the Captain 
 wrote cheerfully : — " We are yet masters of the field, and 
 
 are blocking up ye den of theeves, ye Croylanders 
 
 Captain Redman, my bedfellow under a hedge, desireth his 
 humble service may be presented to your honour." ^ Fleet- 
 wood wrote about the same time that "ye unhappy losse 
 of Crowland hath much endangered these parts, but I hope 
 we have so blocked it up as to prevent that misery which 
 would otherwise follow." Sir Henry Mildmay, writing from 
 Cambridge, informed Sir Samuel Luke that "we have some 
 men upon all ye banks of Crowland, not intended offensive, 
 only to prevent ye adjacent parts from being plundered." 
 
 By Monday, October 29, the rains had abated, and the 
 waters subsided, allowing a closer investment of Crowland. 
 At the same time the Royalists from Newark, Belvoir, and 
 other garrisons marched by way of Grantham, with 1,200 
 horse and 200 foot, intending the relief of Crowland. But 
 the Association forces under Colonel Hacker went out to 
 meet them, and, coming up with them at Denton, fell upon 
 them with a ' mighty shout' after the manner of the Ironsides. 
 " As soon as we came in view of the enemy our soldiers did 
 abound that they shouted as if the skies would have fallen, 
 and would scarce stay to be drawn up, so eager were they 
 to fall on. Their courage seemed to daunt the enemy ; for 
 they fled, about 600 horse taken and 4C0 prisoners." ^ But 
 the end of the siege was not yet, and, on November 6, the 
 Commons passed an ordinance, which throws an interesting 
 light upon the amphibious plans found necessary by the 
 besieging party. 
 
 " An ordinance to prevent the excursions to Crowland 
 garrison, lately taken by the King's forces. 
 
 " Whereas the late surprisal of the garrison of Crowland 
 in the county of Lincolne by forces raised in opposition 
 to the King and Parliament is very prejudicial and of 
 ill consequence to the several counties associated under 
 the command of the Earl of Manchester, as also to 
 
 * Luke's Letter-books. 
 
 ' Hacker to Luke, Stowe MSS., Brit. Mus. Lib, 
 
i8o East Anglia and the 
 
 a great part of the county of Northampton next adjoining 
 to the same, and by reason of the unseasonable weather 
 the approaches to the said garrison are become so 
 unaccessible, that though forces were drawn down to 
 reduce the same, it cannot now possibly be done without 
 much charge and difficulty, and whereas the best means 
 to prevent these inroads, plunderings and other outrages 
 of the said garrison, and also to Jiinder the same from 
 provisions of corn and other supplies, is advised to be by 
 erecting and furnishing of three several forts or sconces, 
 the charge whereof will amount to near about ;^6oo, one 
 near the place called Brother House in the county of 
 Lincoln, another upon Dowesdale Banck in the said 
 county, and the third upon Barrow Banck in the county 
 of Northampton, each of which is to be manned with 50 
 men or thereabout, and to have attending to the same 
 
 one boat of defence It was therefore ordered 
 
 that the forts be built and equipped and full power was 
 given to rate and tax the county for the purpose, and that 
 six score horse be sent by the Association for securing the 
 county and blocking up of the said garrison of Crowland." ^ 
 
 The siege was continued during November, and, on the 
 19th, news reached the Association Committee sitting at 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, 'by a letter taken in ye collar 
 of a messenger's doublet,' of a design to relieve the besieged 
 within fourteen days. There had, in fact, been another 
 encounter with the Cavaliers in Lincolnshire on the previous 
 day, who would have relieved Crowland, but the success of 
 the Parliamentary forces inspired one, Jo. Archer, to write 
 from Grantham : — " Had you stayed two hours longer you 
 might have seen our soldiers return with increase of honour. 
 . . . . They took many prisoners .... and arms. 
 The malignant Queanes of Grantham spake it (that Col. 
 Rainborow might heare it) ' they were as handsome men as 
 any in ye towne before them.' " 
 
 Inside the little fortress of Crowland the defending force 
 were beginning to 'suffer extremities for want of bread.' 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War, i8i 
 
 The besieging force had the great advantage in this respect 
 of a plentiful supply of fish and fowl in the surrounding 
 waters, as appears by this testimony : — " It would vex your 
 understanding unto wonder and unbelief to consider what 
 shoals of fish, what flocks of fowl, have been accustomed 
 
 to frequent and delight in that fenny place It is 
 
 a good sign that our boats, who are floating there to keep 
 relief from coming into Crowland, do want for no varieties 
 which the elements either of air or water can afford them." ^ 
 
 At last the unequal contest ended, in the first week in 
 December, and the beleaguered garrison, finding the besiegers 
 about to storm the place, surrendered on conditions. The 
 Horse, being twenty-five, were allowed to march with their 
 swords and pistols; and the Foot, being 250, had to leave 
 their arms behind and march away to Newark. The 
 Huntingdonshire people rejoiced in being " freed of our ill 
 neighbours " ; but Crowland had been lost and won so often 
 that the London "diurnals" added cautiously: — "Crowland 
 has been twice lost to us. I hope it shall not the third time ; 
 rather abolish that old abbot's seate, which would be a kind 
 of Dunkirk by land and by water if the enemy had continued 
 in it." 2 
 
 The fall of Crowland checked other Royalist expeditions 
 into the Fens, including a band of eighteen officers from 
 Newark, who had marched as far as St. Ives for the purpose 
 of falling upon some treasure, ';^3,c>00, coming to Cambridge,' 
 and of whom eleven were carried off" prisoners to Cambridge, 
 the rest escaping. 
 
 Just as Crowland was the point of contact of the Asso- 
 ciation forces and the Royalists from Newark, so Newport 
 Pagnell, the strategic outpost and bulwark of the Association, 
 was the point of contact with the King's forces from Oxford. 
 The Governor of Newport Pagnell was Sir Samuel Luke, 
 member for Bedford, and the original of Butler's " Hudibras." 
 Through his hands, as Scout-master-General, had passed 
 a great deal of information from scouts, messengers, and 
 
 * The I^ondon Post, December 10, 1644. 
 
 * The Kingdom's Weekly Intelligencer. 
 
1 82 East Anglia and the 
 
 spies sent out 'to feel ye pulse of ye Cavaliers'; and his 
 letters throw an interesting light upon the relation of New- 
 port to the Association. The letters to and from Sir Samuel 
 Luke for this period are preserved in the Stowe MSS. 190, 
 apd his Scout Reports, etc., in the Egerton MSS. 785-7, 
 both in the British Museum Library. The letters include 
 two from Oliver Cromwell, of little interest, not in Carlyle's 
 list. If Sir Samuel Luke's letters are to be read literally it 
 is wonderful that the garrison was ever kept together at all. 
 In them we see that the bluff old knight had a characteristic 
 way of saying what at the moment needed to be said ; that 
 he did not hesitate to give them point by cracking a joke or 
 quoting a proverb ; and that he generally put some point 
 into his postscripts. 
 
 The view the Eastern Counties took of this stubborn 
 outpost in their defences is reflected in their letters to 
 Luke. Thus, the Association Committee write from Trinity 
 College, Cambridge : " We are not ignorant how much it 
 concerns us to have that garrison maintayned, but yourself 
 cannot but take notice of the heavy payments that have 
 fallen upon us." As to individual counties, the Cambs Com- 
 mittee wrote : — " We are not a little troubled by ye pressing 
 occasion for money lying upon our counties ; will do our 
 best." The Huntingdonshire Committee wrote : — " The 
 garrison of Newport being partly withdrawn and fighting 
 elsewhere, they consider they ought not to pay the amount 
 proportioned to them when the garrison was complete." The 
 Herts Committee wrote from St. Albans : — " If Manchester 
 cannot give you reinforcements, and a large body of the 
 enemy approach, we will send you a company or two of 
 foot. We have already vented so much money and men 
 that we know not how to answer future ordinances." Essex 
 acknowledged the importance of the garrison, but thought 
 they had done their share, for maintaining the forces at 
 Abingdon cost them ;^io,ooo at least.^ 
 
 But Sir Samuel Luke continued his eloquent appeals, 
 highly coloured with hints at the danger to the Association 
 
 * These were the men who caused such trouble to Browne and Waller. 
 
Great Civil War, 183 
 
 if he were not supported, and declared that he had " none but 
 raw men, and neither victual, ammunition, nor anything else 
 to hold out four days, and all the complaints and petitions 
 I have poured out would neither procure me money to buy 
 nor order to take up anything." He winds up with a reference 
 to the King's desire to * winter in Norfolk,' and, writing to 
 the Herts Committee, declared that " his Majesty hath promised 
 to lead his army into quarters yet untouched, where they can 
 get plenty of plunder, to wit, the Eastern Association." In 
 another letter he declares that if arrears are not paid he will 
 resign his charge, as the troops are ready to mutiny. Three 
 days later, on November 28, the old knight wrote to Sir 
 Oliver Luke : — " I am not very well yet. Ye very sitting in 
 ye church one sermon tyme, makes me ill two or 3 days 
 after." ^ He was further worried about his scouts, and from 
 a letter to his deputy, Samuel Bedford, it appears he had to 
 rebuke the latter for employing the son of the Town Clerk of 
 Stamford, a Royalist, as a scout. On December 29, some 
 precise directions given for a surprise party show that even 
 Sir Hudibras was obliged under stress of war to adopt the 
 tactics of the Cavaliers. 
 
 " I would have you very careful to apprehend the Earl of 
 Lindsey or the Earl of Peterboro, if you can meet with them, 
 and be sure to see them safely brought hither. Whatever 
 men you see, be they but serving men, bring them hither, and 
 be as careful as you can that no man deceive you in woman's 
 habit. Make sure of the stables, and presse the servants to 
 as much discovery as you can .... if you can light of 
 any fat Beasts and can drive them along with you with safety, 
 do so, whosesoever they are. The Lady Love's house is not far 
 
 out of your way, who married Commissary Willmott 
 
 Whatever venyson you meet with or find in the lodge make 
 the keeper bring it along with you. You shall not fail to have 
 40 horse to-morrow at Buckingham by 4 o'clock in the 
 morning." 
 
 The astute diplomacy of the old knight was reflected 
 
 ^ A wag has endorsed the letter ** Hudibras at sermon ! " but there was nothing 
 strange in this. Even Butler does not suggest that he was not a consistent 
 Puritan. 
 
184 East Anglia and the 
 
 in his subordinates. On December 14, Captain Pinkney, 
 a paid canvasser employed to whip up the contributions 
 from the Associated Counties for the Newport Pagnell 
 garrison, was artfully insinuating to the Cambridge Com- 
 mittee that " the enemy doth bend towards the Association," 
 and that " in their way, and not far from them, is the garrison 
 of Newport Pagnell, which is ye bulwark of the Association ; 
 ready every day to be deserted of ye soldiers for want of 
 wherewith to subsist — the worthy governor having done 
 his utmost to prevent it, cannot longer perform without 
 speedy supply, of which if ye enemy should have knowledge 
 (as they seldome want intelligencers), and should in its 
 weakness surprise, then would not the bordering counties 
 be subject to their barbarous insolence " ? 
 
 In the month of December the town of King's Lynn 
 became once more the scene of a Royalist adventure, and 
 of a curious little comedy which added another short 
 chapter to the already romantic career of Roger Le Strange, 
 of Hunstanton Hall, whose father Sir Hamon had surrendered 
 the town of Lynn to the Earl of Manchester after the siege. 
 Favoured by the recent seizure of Crowland, and the 
 invitation of Norfolk friends, it is said, Roger conceived 
 the idea of the recapture of Lynn. This scheme he laid 
 before the King at Oxford, and made it appear so plausible 
 that the King handed Roger, on November 28, the following 
 commission : — 
 
 " Charles R. 
 
 "We having received from our trusty and well-beloved 
 Roger Le Strange declaration of the good affection of 
 divers of our well-affected subjects of our counties of Norfolk 
 and Suffolk, particularly of our town of Lynne, as also some 
 overtures concerning the reducing of our said town of 
 Linne, we have thought fit hereby to return our Royal 
 thanks unto our said well-affected subjects, and particularly 
 to give our said trusty and well-beloved Roger Le Strange 
 this encouragement to proceed in our service principally in 
 the work of reducing the said town of Linne : 
 
 "First that, in case that attempt shall be gone through 
 
Great Civil War, 185 
 
 withall, the said Roger Le Strange shall have the government 
 of that place. 
 
 " Secondly, that what engagement shall be made unto the 
 inhabitants of the said place, or any other person capable 
 of contributing effectually to that service, by way of reward, 
 either any employment in His Majesty's Navy or forts, or 
 in money not exceeding the sum of ;^5,CXX), the service being 
 performed shall be punctually made good unto them. 
 
 " Thirdly, that they shall in this work receive what 
 assistance may be given them from any of our nearest 
 garrisons. 
 
 " And lastly, that whenever our said town shall be reduced 
 unto our obedience we shall forthwith send thither such 
 a considerable force as shall be sufficient to relieve and 
 preserve them ; we being at the present even without this ; 
 fully resolved to send a considerable power, to encourage 
 our faithful subjects in those parts, and to regain our rights 
 and interests there. 
 
 "Given at our court at Oxford this 28 November, 1644, 
 By his Majesty's command, 
 
 "George Digby.''^ 
 
 Armed with this document, which Mr. Micawber himself 
 might have written, and elated with the prospect of the 
 honours to be showered upon him, Roger made his way 
 towards his old home. Had he been a more practical-minded 
 man he might have felt some concern about the means of 
 carrying out his design, but as a romantic dreamer, the piece 
 of paper in his pocket was all-powerful. Making his way 
 to Mr. Paston's house at Appleton Hall, * within six miles of 
 Lynne, which he made choice of in regard of the solitariness 
 of the place,' he sent a note to an old sea captain in Lynn 
 named Thomas Leman, requesting him to meet him at 
 Appleton Hall. Captain Leman kept the appointment, and 
 Le Strange acquainted him with the business, and, showing 
 him his commission, said, 'in case the work succeeded it 
 should be worth to him a thousand pounds.' Promising 
 
 * Lords* Joumak. 
 
1 86 East Anglia and the 
 
 to * bring another with him next day to assist in the design,' 
 the captain went back to Lynn, and told Colonel Walton, 
 the Parliamentary Governor of Lynn, of the little plot. 
 Colonel Walton advised him to keep his appointment and 
 take a corporal of his with him. Returning to Appleton 
 Hall with a corporal of the name of Hagger, dressed up as 
 an old seaman, the captain had another interview with 
 Le Strange, who questioned Hagger, the corporal, as to 
 who he was, to which Hagger replied that "he was a poor 
 man, living in Fishers End, in Lynn, and kept an alehouse, 
 and was £^o the worse for the Roundheads." This was 
 eminently satisfactory to Roger, who ' fetched out the King's 
 commission from a hole under the canopy of his bed, read 
 it to them, and put it in his pocket again ' ; and, having 
 exchanged promises of secrecy with Hagger, offered the 
 latter ^lOO and a cannonier's place if the design succeeded. 
 Hagger played his part by proposing the manner in which 
 the town of Lynn should be surprised, and suggested that 
 Mr. Le Strange should provide 200 men ; but in reply to 
 this practical view of things, Mr. Le Strange * acknowledged 
 he knew not where to get the men.' 
 
 When the interview had gone thus far, a comical incident 
 was happening in the courtyard below, where half a dozen 
 other * poor old seamen ' had managed to gain admission on 
 the plea of begging alms. ' The gentlewoman of the house ran 
 up to Mr. Le Strange, and told him there were six or seven 
 poor soldiers come from Lynn abegging, and he sent them 
 down \2d. and wished them to be gone.' But Lieutenant 
 Stubbings and his five soldiers, who were the six poor old 
 seamen come from Lynn, to 'assist in the design,' rushed 
 upstairs, and Corporal Hagger, the other old seaman, seized 
 Mr. Le Strange, who, however, managed to pass the King's 
 commission to Captain Leman, thinking he, at any rate, was 
 to be trusted ! 
 
 One other amusing turn in the comedy remains to be 
 told. Lieutenant Stubbings knew his own man Hagger, but 
 did not know the old sea captain Leman ; and, demanding 
 'what he did there consulting against the State,' searched 
 him ; and, finding the King's commission upon him, carried 
 
Great Civil War. 187 
 
 him off in custody with Le Strange to Lynn. Here they 
 were brought before the Governor, Colonel Walton, and 
 Leman was at once discharged, ' having acted by order of 
 the Governor.' ^ 
 
 Le Strange, in his defence at his trial, stated that he 
 went from Newark to Oxford, " being a listed soldier in 
 Major Cartwright's troop in the garrison of Newark, and 
 that he was always of the King's party, and so declared 
 himself, and conceived that Leman and Hagger were likewise 
 of the same party." He was charged with having " come 
 from the enemy within the quarters of the Parliament as 
 a spy, and had plotted, contrived, and endeavoured the 
 betraying of the town of Lynne, in the power of the Parliament, 
 to the enemy " ; he was found guilty, and * sentence of 
 execution was ordered accordingly.' But Roger escaped 
 with his life, and was destined to turn up again in later 
 risings for the King. 
 
 ^ Particulars of this incident may be found in Rushworth and also in the 
 Lords' Journals. The two accounts supplement each other. The Lords' Journals 
 account makes Captain Leman go to Appleton Hall twice, once alone and once 
 with Hagger, but Rushworth treats it as one interview. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 CROMWELL AND THE NEW MODEL ARMY—RECRUITING 
 FOR NASEBY — THE HOUR AND THE MAN. 
 
 (1644-45.) 
 
 We wanted one that felt all Chief 
 From roots o' hair to sole o' stockin', 
 Square-sot with thousan'-ton belief 
 Inhim an' us, ef earth went rockin' ! 
 
 J. R. Lowell : The Biglow Papers. 
 
 I 
 
 '^ T is now a time to speak, or for ever hold the tongue. 
 The important occasion now is no less than to save 
 a nation out of a bleeding, nay, almost dying, condition. 
 . . . . I do conceive that if the Army be not put into 
 another method and the War more rigorously prosecuted, the 
 people can bear the War no longer, and will force you to 
 a dishonourable peace." 
 
 In these memorable words Cromwell, on December 9, 1644, 
 spoke in the House of Commons, and in his characteristic 
 fashion with Gordian knots, ended the unfortunate quarrel 
 which was dragging down the Parliamentary cause. Admitting 
 that he might himself have been guilty of oversights, which 
 'can rarely be avoided in military affairs,' Cromwell, with 
 the instinctive perception of the important thing to do at the 
 moment, asked the House to waive 'strict inquiry into the 
 causes, and apply themselves to the remedy which is most 
 necessary.' He appealed to the patriotism of both Houses 
 not to scruple to deny themselves and their own private 
 interests for the public good, 'nor account it a dishonour 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 189 
 
 done to them whatever Parliament shall resolve upon in this 
 weighty matter.' 
 
 From the Earl of Essex and the Earl of Manchester 
 downwards, including Cromwell himself, the Self-denying 
 Ordinance foreshadowed in this speech meant the giving up 
 of military commands and betaking themselves to their duties 
 in Parliament. Cromwell could have scarcely expected at 
 that stage, from a House in which Presbyterianism was in 
 the majority, that any exception would be made in his 
 favour alone. But his immediate duty was clear, and that 
 was ever the guiding star of Cromwell's public life. The 
 Self-denying Ordinance was passed the same day, depriving 
 members of both Houses of any office in command, military 
 or civil, during the continuance of the War. The Lords 
 stood out for a time, but eventually the Ordinance with the 
 scheme for remodelling the Army became law, and henceforth 
 the War was to be the affair of professional soldiers. In 
 the end the necessity for Cromwell's presence in the Army 
 was grudgingly acknowledged by Parliament, and he gained 
 all that he could have desired. 
 
 The attempt at a treaty with the King at Uxbridge failed, 
 and the year 1645 opened with the prospect of renewed 
 war and of a severe test for the new order of things which 
 the New Model was to bring. If Presbyterianism were the 
 stronger in Parliament and the Church, Independency was 
 destined to prevail in the Army, and the parting of the ways 
 begun at Huntingdon was only the commencement of wider 
 issues, in which the quondam neighbours of Kimbolton and 
 Huntingdon were to go different ways — the Earl as Presby- 
 terian speaker, back to the House of Lords, and Cromwell 
 as the head of the growing power of the Army. 
 
 The point of practical irriportance both for Cromwell and 
 the Army, which remained to be proved, was whether the 
 Self-denying Ordinance and the New Model would work 
 smoothly, whether the soldiers would serve faithfully under 
 new commanders. Upon this point Cromwell had spoken 
 freely in the House for his own men. " I am not of the 
 mind that the calling of the members to sit in Parliament 
 will break or scatter our Armies. I can speak this for my 
 
190 East Anglia and the 
 
 own soldiers, that they look not upon me but upon you, and 
 for you they will fight and live and die in your cause ; 
 . . . . they do not idolize me, but look upon the cause 
 they fight for ; you may lay upon them what commands you 
 please, they will obey your commands in that cause they 
 fight for." 
 
 Manchester, as we have seen, looked upon the Association 
 forces as territorial regiments in name and purpose, and 
 sought to maintain an esprit de corps by drafting men from 
 each county to keep up the regiment of that county — ' I find 
 this way to give the best satisfaction to the counties and made 
 the soldiers more united amongst themselves.' ^ Cromwell 
 took the broad national view, not merely of what was good 
 for the Association and its integrity, but what was good for 
 the country and most likely to make the War effectual. As 
 for unity among the men, he sought this in unity of purpose 
 and spirit rather than in unity of local interest, admirable 
 as far as it went ; but it was none the less true that the esprit 
 de corps of the old order seemed likely to rebel against the 
 changes involved in the new. In fact, those serving under 
 Cromwell were among the first to protest against the 
 expected loss of their leader. On January 12, Sir Samuel 
 Luke, then in London, received this letter from his deputy, 
 R. Cockayne, at Newport Pagnell : — 
 
 " I hard that there was a great mutinie at Camb'^ by 
 Col. Cromwell's Regiment, who was to be put under 
 another Col. & w^ was a Scotchman ; but they have 
 resolved not to lay down their arms until, as they say, they 
 have vindicated Col. Cromwell." ^ 
 
 The condition of the soldiers under arms at this time 
 was not very favourable for imposing new and unpopular 
 conditions. Sir Samuel Luke, governor of Newport Pagnell, 
 was harassed for means of quartering the soldiers, but had 
 still an eye for the humorous side of things. The men were 
 already as thick in their quarters that they had 'to lie 2 
 or 3 in a bedd.' But this was not the worst of it, for 
 
 ^ Letter to Derby House Committee. 
 ' Luke's Letter-book, Stowe MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 191 
 
 they had got into such straits for clothing that two of the 
 soldiers had but one pair of breeches between them, and 
 one of these had to remain in bed while the other wore 
 the breeches and went on garrison duty ! ^ 
 
 In Hertfordshire there was disorderly conduct amongst 
 the soldiers. Twelve of them werebrought up at St. Albans 
 and two of them sentenced to death.^ 
 
 To the men of the Eastern Counties the new modelling 
 of the Army was a matter of great concern. The principle 
 of a national standing army, separating the bearing of arms 
 from the functions of civil life, was one which threatened 
 the very existence of the Association on its original lines. 
 These men of the Eastern Counties had banded themselves 
 together in solemn * protest and covenant before God and 
 one another that they will willingly and resolutely sacrifice 
 their lives in this religious and just quarrel.' They had 
 placed themselves under a commander of great territorial 
 influence and position ; for eighteen months they had held 
 together the most powerful counties in England for Parlia- 
 ment. On the military side they had swept the King's 
 forces from their borders, and placed on the battlefield at 
 Marston Moor * the completest regiments in England.' They 
 had vanquished and driven beyond the seas their dreaded 
 enemy, the Marquis of Newcastle, and with him had departed, 
 like their own marshland mists before the sun, that old 
 nightmare of a * Papist Army,' which had hung for so 
 long over these Puritan Counties of East Anglia. They 
 had earned for themselves special privileges and a distinct 
 territorial army in which they took a natural pride. This 
 was their strength, but it was also their weakness, as 
 tending to set up a provincial view of the War. During 
 these Winter months, with the apathy of their commander 
 and the habit of the soldiers of looking for pay and clothing 
 only when they got back to their native counties, the 
 
 ^ ** The wants of the soldiery are such that they are not fitting to be put to 
 paper, only I shall beg your Excellency's pardon if I acquaint you with one 
 particular. There were 2 in my Company that had but one payre of Britches 
 betweene them, soe that when one was up the other must upon necessity be 
 in his bed." — Luke's Letter-book, f. 236, Stowe MSS., Brit. Mus. 
 
 * •' Hertfordshire during the Great Civil War," p. 57. 
 
192 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 Association had come perilously near the selfish position 
 of fighting chiefly for its own little kingdom. 
 
 Though the system of warfare by County Committees had 
 almost broken down where least expected, yet the Eastern 
 Counties still clung to the Association principle, and at least 
 one of their captains was at this time refusing to march with 
 his Horse, having 'promised he would not stir out of ye 
 county ' ^ which had raised them. What the counties did not 
 yet see was, that the man who had been mainly instrumental 
 in bringing their Army into the foremost place, the man who 
 put men of religion and conscience into his troops, was 
 evolving for them a force which could not remain a purely 
 defensive weapon. It was the strength of Cromwell, that, 
 though a county man himself, he took a broad national view, 
 while some of his neighbours were looking too much to them- 
 selves, and could see that this select weapon, welded together 
 by the Association principle, had other work to do if the 
 great cause of the people's liberties was to finally triumph. 
 
 On January 30, the Counties of the Association took 
 into serious consideration, at a great Conference at Bury 
 St. Edmunds, this question of the effect of the New 
 Model upon the continued existence of the Association. 
 The Conference was attended by the Deputy-Lieutenants 
 and Committeemen 'selected and deputed from the Com- 
 mittees of the several Associated Counties of Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, Essex, Hertford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and 
 Lincolnshire,' touching the relation of the Army of the 
 Associated Counties to Parliament, and the danger that 
 the inhabitants and the Association would suffer if the 
 proposed New Model for the Army were adopted. There 
 were present : — 
 
 Out of Norfolk — Sir John Palgrave, Sir Edward Ashby, 
 Mr. Sotherton, Mr. Jeremy, Mr. Wood, Mr. John Spelman, 
 Mr. Tobias Fryer (or Frere) ; and of the city of Norwich, 
 Mr. Greenwood. 
 
 Out of Suffolk— Mr. Barrow (High Sheriff), Sir William 
 Spring, Sir John Wentworth, Mr. Henry North, the elder, 
 
 ^ Luke's Letter-book, Egerton MSS., 787, f. 60. 
 
Great Civil War. 193 
 
 Mr. Francis Bacon, Mr. Tirrell, Mr. Thomas Bacon, Mr. Lucas, 
 Mr. ChampUn, Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Brampton-Gurdon, jun., and 
 Mr. Nathaniel Bacon. 
 
 Out of Essex — Colonel Sir Henry Mildmay, Mr. Raymond, 
 Mr. Eldred, and Mr. Sorrell. 
 
 Out of Hertfordshire— Colonel Alban Coxe and Mr. Daughs. 
 
 Out of Cambs— Mr. Clench, Mr. Thompson, and Mr. Parker. 
 
 Out of Hunts— Mr. William Drury. 
 
 Out of Lincolnshire — Sir William Brownlow, Sir Thomas 
 Trollop, and Mr. Montague Cholmley. 
 
 The choice of a chairman fell upon one of the Suffolk 
 delegates, who reminded them that the occasion of their 
 coming together was that the Association was in danger 
 of disturbance ; and, in order to place the debate upon 
 a right footing, he read out the original " Foundation of the 
 Association " — the declaration of Parliament, the resolution 
 banding themselves together as an Association, and the 
 resolutions of the Counties to aid and assist one another. 
 It was then laid down that they must still have * a body of 
 an Army by the joining together of the Counties, that that 
 Army must be under one head and must serve for the 
 mutual defence of the Associated Counties' — in short, 
 that the Association must not be given up. The Conference 
 then fell to debating ' whether the New Model would impair 
 the Association in this mutual succor of the Counties,' to 
 which one of the Hertfordshire gentlemen ventured to remark 
 that it might not do so " inasmuch as it would be for the 
 safety of the kingdom." In other words, that the safety of 
 the greater included that of the less. The Conference, how- 
 ever, agreed that the Association * would be impaired in its 
 succor of the individual Counties by the New Model ' ; and 
 as to how far the Association itself would be impaired by 
 the incorporation of its Army into the New Model Army, 
 the Conference agreed that ' the ends and purposes thereof 
 would be abrogated.* 
 
 Upon the discussion of the point whether they should 
 endeavour to preserve the Association, 'the affirmation 
 passed current until it came to the Hertfordshire gent,' 
 who insisted upon a contrary view * that it might be 
 
 n 
 
194 East Anglia and the 
 
 beneficial for the kingdom and for the counties.' The 
 Conference was now getting on dangerous ground, and it 
 was necessary to resort to the old formula of a protestation, 
 disclaiming any wish to go ' contrary to the way of Parlia- 
 ment' With this reservation a vote was passed to endeavour 
 to preserve the Association. Thus far, 'the Conference 
 proceeded in the forenoon.' Assembling again in the 
 afternoon, the chairman brought in the draft of a letter 
 which, 'being first read throughout, all keeping silence, 
 was read the second time, every period thereof being debated 
 aparte.' Mr. Sotherton, of Norfolk, 'brought in the 
 instructions,' the discussion of which and the appointment 
 of gentlemen to carry the letter and instructions to London, 
 kept the five-and-thirty gentlemen together well into the 
 night. The Conference was then dismissed *by a Suffolk 
 gent'; and " soe the meeting," says the old record, "which 
 began with devotion and continued in unity, and finished 
 in love, ended worthy of an Association, unhappy only in 
 this that it was cut off by midnight." ^ 
 
 In the letter which was carried up to London it was 
 submitted that "the sad apprehension had by the people 
 of these counties of the alteration of the Army now in 
 agitation in Parliament, as that which will take away from 
 them not only the head and body of their strength, .... 
 but also deprive them of means of future subsistence and 
 confidence, and so render their promise of Association 
 ineffectual which God Almighty hath hitherto graciously 
 honoured by witness of his concurrence with success of 
 victory to the Army and general peace for the most part 
 even to their borders, to the wonderment of all observers 
 and envy of the Enemy " ; and they therefore asked " not 
 to be left naked to the secret malignants at home nor to 
 the watchful enraged enemy abroad," and pointed out how 
 difficult it would be to raise recruits, especially under 
 unknown captains and commanders. Nevertheless, they 
 promised that "none of these discouragements or any 
 
 1 Papers of the Duke of Manchester, No. 565. These and other important 
 papers at Kimbolton have been handed over, by the late Duke of Manchester, 
 to the Public Record Ofi&ce. 
 
Great Civil War, 195 
 
 private regard shall withdraw our zeal from the service 
 of your honours the Parliament and the Kingdom." They 
 ask that for the encouragement of the soldiers each county 
 may have power to pay their own men, and that "our 
 brothers the Scots may be speeded down to Newark to 
 besiege that place, which hath been a sore to the Association 
 from the beginning of these Wars." 
 
 This document was signed by thirty-five of the deputy- 
 lieutenants and committeemen, chiefly from Norfolk, Suffolk, 
 and Essex, the three counties having, by their comparatively 
 isolated position, behind the frontier counties of Cambs, 
 Hunts, and Herts, the strongest interest in the old system 
 of raising local forces for the primary service of defending 
 their own homes. 
 
 Meanwhile, Parliament had ordained that ' for new modelling 
 it,' the army should consist of 6,600 horse, to be distributed 
 into eleven regiments ; 1,000 dragooners, to be distributed 
 into ten companies ; and 14,400 foot to be distributed into 
 twelve regiments, each regiment of foot to consist of 1,200, 
 to be under the command in chief of Sir Thomas Fairfax. 
 
 The crowning point was reached in this dignified scene in 
 the House of Commons on February 19 — 
 
 " Sir Thomas Fairfax was called in, and had a chair set 
 for him, and the Sergeant stood by with his mace ; and 
 Mr. Speaker, by command of the House, acquainted him : 
 *That the Parliament of England hath commanded up your 
 service hither from the northern parts ; they have heard of 
 your valour, and have had experience thereof, for their safety, 
 and have now thought fit to put upon you the greatest trust 
 and confidence, for the security of the Kingdom, this House, 
 religion, and liberty, as was ever put into the hands of 
 a subject. They have resolved to put a trust upon you, 
 the command of a very great army, which they do not 
 intend to employ you in for a matter of discouragement, 
 but will take care such provisions be made to enable you 
 to go on in this great business ; that your thoughts shall 
 be solely on action : and they are confident of your fidelity, 
 care, and diligence in this cause of God, and the Kingdom, 
 that lie at stake. And for the faithful services you have done 
 
196 East Anglia and the 
 
 for the public, I am commanded by the House to return 
 their hearty thanks ; and, under God, hope you may be a 
 means to preserve this Kingdom ; and if you have any 
 propositions to make now, or hereafter, concerning the 
 Army, the House will take them into speedy consideration.'"^ 
 
 Amidst universal drilling for the New Model Army, 
 and the pressing of young recruits, two things of general 
 historical interest had been happening. Archbishop Laud, 
 who, with the Bishop of Ely, had been regarded as the 
 head and front of those " Popish innovations " against which 
 the Puritanism of East Anglia had risen in revolt, had, in 
 January, 1645, passed beyond the strife, from the hands 
 of the executioner ; while a young Puritan, who was to 
 gain immortal fame of another kind, had entered the arena. 
 Into the garrison of Newport Pagnell, with its chronic 
 empty stomachs and two men in one pair of breeches, 
 had come with the Bedfordshire recruits, a raw youth from 
 Elstow, who was destined to shed an undying lustre upon 
 English literature and the Christian life. 
 
 John Bunyan had reached the age of sixteen, the limit 
 for compulsory service, and was about this time prest into 
 the Army. He served, it is now proved beyond a doubt, 
 on the side of Parliament in the garrison of Newport 
 Pagnell.2 Here he entered about the time when some 
 forty of the soldiers were petitioning ' for ten weeks' pay, 
 at least,' and asking with characteristic bluntness ' that they 
 may not be put off this time with y® cocking of y® pistoll, 
 or stearne threatening as formerly.' ^ 
 
 Sir " Hudibras " himself wrote : " The cryes and 
 lamentations of the soldiers here are so great through 
 misery and want that my pen is not able to express them." 
 Yet all through these spring months of 1645, a year in 
 which the air was *so infectious that dogs, cats, mice, and 
 
 ^ Commons' Journal. 
 
 2 Since writing upon this point in my «* Hertfordshire during the Great Civil 
 War," in which reference was made to the impossibility of such Royalist recruiting 
 in Beds at the beginning of 1645 ^s could have brought young Bunyan into the 
 Royalist ranks, the question lias been definitely settled by Mr. Atkinson's 
 discovery at the Record Office of the Muster Rolls of the Newport Pagnell 
 garrison, in which Bunyan's name appears. 
 
 ^ Luke's Letter- book, Lgerton MSS., 877, f. 49. 
 
Great Civil War, 197 
 
 rats died,' and birds dropped dead in their flight, recruiting 
 went on vigorously by ordinances of Parliament and by 
 innumerable letters from the Committee for both Kingdoms 
 to the County Committees. Now the Governor of Lynn 
 was ordered to send as many men as he could spare to 
 secure the passes around Wisbech ; now the fears of 
 Suffolk, some of whose old soldiers had run home and 
 created a disturbance, were reassured by the order to 
 bring Manchester's regiments of foot to Huntingdon to 
 protect the passes into the Association, and the arrival 
 of Captain Axtell and another officer to deal with the 
 runaways; and, again, the Committee had under con- 
 sideration a petition from Colonel Dodson, Governor of 
 Crowland, for its pay and maintenance, and were ordering 
 600 foot and 120 dragoons ^^300 a week for the defence 
 of the Isle of Ely, and £a^qo for fortifications of * Croyland 
 Church.' 
 
 In this way recruiting and the New Modelling went on, 
 while Cromwell and others were in the West ready to lay 
 down their commissions under the Self-denying Ordinance. 
 The Earl of Manchester had resigned his commission, and on 
 April 22, Cromwell had actually arrived at Windsor to kiss 
 the General's (Fairfax's) hands, and take leave of him ; but 
 there came to London rumours of a movement of the King 
 and his artillery from Oxford to Rupert at Worcester. The 
 Committee for both Kingdoms recognized that the man to 
 attack the convoy was Cromwell, and when he rose next 
 morning to take his departure from Fairfax, he was con- 
 fronted with the Committee's order, 'ere he was come forth 
 of his chamber.* Joyfully he marched away at the head of 
 his old regiment, now Fairfax's, and fell upon the enemy 
 near Oxford, *part of the King's horse and part of the 
 Queen's regiment,' routed them, and ' had the chase of them 
 for three or four miles,' taking 200 prisoners, 4CX) horse, the 
 Queen's own colours, and pursued the rest into Bletchington 
 House, which he captured. 
 
 At the beginning of May, the Committee for both 
 Kingdoms, as a central intelligence department, was re- 
 ceiving and sending out reports of the King's movements, 
 
198 East Anglia and the 
 
 and whenever these indicated a junction of the King and 
 Princes, warnincfs were sent to the Associated Counties. 
 The Committee were distressed to learn that the Castle in 
 Cambridge " is not provided with one day's victuals if an 
 enemy should approach," and they backed it up with this 
 CromwelHan sentiment : — " We conceive you might as well 
 have no fortifications as no victuals. We recommend you to 
 look to it that an enemy may not have it for the looking on." 
 
 Committeemen accustomed to fall back upon their own 
 homes did not always see things from a military point of 
 view, and in this respect their garrisons sometimes presented 
 a marked contrast with the enormous stores of provisions 
 found within some of the Royalist strongholds. What the 
 Eastern Counties Committees could, and generally did do, 
 was to have their Trained Bands in readiness to march to 
 Cambridge, or to the borders of their shires, to repel a 
 threatened incursion ; and this they were required to do in 
 May. One of the King's captains came to the Committee 
 at Cambridge, protested ' to live and die with them,' but 
 sought to betray the Isle of Ely to the King. The design 
 was discovered and prevented, but it set Parliament debating 
 over means for the defence of the Isle, and voting 1,000 
 foot, a troop of horse, and of dragoons, and i^ 1,000 for this 
 purpose. 
 
 At last the Cambridge Castle was getting within a stout 
 fringe of fortifications — iJ^300 voted for perfecting the works, 
 ;^200 for victualling, and i^2O0 for arrears for officers and 
 soldiers. A similar vote of ^^300 was made for the garrison 
 of King's Lynn ; and County Committees were strengthened 
 by the addition of men likely to put a little reality and 
 earnestness into the business of preparing for the crisis. 
 
 Notwithstanding Self-denying Ordinances, Cromwell could 
 not be spared from the Fen country, whose people he knew 
 so well, and Parliament ordered him to take charge of the 
 Isle of Ely. To the Grand Committee at Cambridge they 
 wrote : " We hope his coming will be a good use for putting 
 things there into a secure posture." 
 
 Cromwell was the last man to need the commonplace 
 reminders of the Committee for both Kingdoms, and his 
 
I 
 
 Great Civil War, 199 
 
 first act was to require money and ammunition to be sent.^ 
 On May 29, with Naseby but little more than a fortnight 
 ahead, there came a response in twenty barrels of powder, 
 bullet, and match, £2fyoo in money, and two sakers and four 
 drakes — names for artillery, which may sound strangely to 
 modern ears. The Committee for both Kingdoms appealed 
 to the Associated Counties to bring in their forces to the 
 rendezvous, encouraging them with the Hibernian assurance 
 that Lieutenant-General Cromwell '' will be in the Isle 
 before this comes to you." ^ "I cannot but relate how 
 sensible he was, and how he grieved to see the too much 
 neglect of so important a place ; which he did express fully 
 before the Committees at Cambridge. He did give order 
 for contriving better and more serviceable fortifications." 
 
 At the end of May there came a rumour to Cambridge 
 that the King was at Peterborough ; the six pieces of 
 artillery had got into position in the Isle of Ely, and 
 Cromwell was directing operations by summoning a meeting 
 of ' inhabitants of these parts ' at his old home of St. Ives 
 * for the prevention of the King's forces from invading the 
 Association ' ^ Vermuyden, by a forced march with his 
 regiment from Grantham, came to join Cromwell, taking 
 up a position around Peterborough with instructions to 
 keep a sharp eye upon the movements of the King's forces, 
 who were in reality then storming Leicester, and sending 
 off 140 cart-loads of plunder to Newark. It was fortunate 
 for the Associated Counties and for Parliament that 
 Cromwell was once more appearing in person amongst the 
 Fenmen. On June 4, he had ridden over from St. Ives 
 to Huntingdon, whence he wrote to Fairfax concerning his 
 work in the Isle : — *' Since my coming into these parts I have 
 been busied to secure that part of the Isle of Ely where 
 I conceived most danger to be. Truly I found it in a very 
 ill posture : and it is yet weak ; without works, ammunition 
 or men considerable, — and of money least ; and then, I hope, 
 
 * Exchange Intelligencer, Brit. Mus., E. 288 (3). 
 
 * The Letter-books of the Committee for both Kingdoms are preserved in 
 the State Papers, the excellent Calendars to which aiford a ready means of 
 tracing the letters quoted. 
 
 * Mercurius Civicus, May 29 to June 6. 
 
200 East Anglia and the 
 
 you will easily conceive of the defence : and God has 
 preserved us all this while to a miracle. The party under 
 Vermuyden awaits the King's Army and is about Deeping, 
 has a command to join with Sir John Gell if he commands 
 him. So, 'too,' the Nottingham Horse. I shall be bold 
 to present you with intelligence as it comes to me." ^ On 
 the same day the Committee for both Kingdoms wrote to the 
 Committee at Cambridge warning them against disaffected 
 persons who had invited the enemy with a promise to 
 deliver up the town to them. Cromwell rode over from 
 Huntingdon to investigate, and was present in the old 
 Committee-room there and signed the following document, 
 drawn up by the Association Committee there on June 6, 
 and sent off to the deputy-lieutenants of Suffolk ^ : — 
 
 "Cambridge, 6th June, 1645. 
 
 " Gentlemen, 
 
 " The cloud of the Enemy's Army hanging still upon 
 the borders, and drawing towards Harborough, make some 
 supposals that they aim at the Association. In regard 
 whereof, we have information that the Army about Oxford 
 was not yesterday advanced, albeit it was ordered so to 
 do, we thought meet to give you intelligence thereof, and 
 therewith earnestly to propound to your consideration, that 
 you will have in readiness what Horse and Foot may be had, 
 that so a proportion may be drawn forth for this service, 
 such as may be expedient. 
 
 " And because we conceive that the exigence may require 
 Horse and Dragoons, we desire that all your Horse and 
 Dragoons may hasten to Newmarket ; where they will receive 
 orders for farther advance, according as the motion of the 
 Enemy and of our Army shall require. And to allow both 
 the several Troops of Dragoons and Horse one week's pay, 
 
 ^ Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 170. 
 _ ' *' There were 53 of our men surprised in their quarters and carried prisoners 
 into Oxford, and as they went to prison the cruel enemy did cut and hacked 
 and wounded our men most cruelly ; and these 53 men Sir Thomas Fairfax hath 
 exchanged and sent up to London in carts, and some of them are in hospital 
 and are very honest and religious men, that are Suffolk men (some came from 
 Sudbury)."— Wallington, ii, 261. 
 
Great Civil War, 201 
 
 to be laid down by the owner, which shall be repaid out of 
 the public money out of the County ; the pay of each trooper 
 being 14 shillings per week, and of a Dragoon 10/6 per week. 
 " Your servants, 
 H. Mildmay W. Spring 
 
 W. Heveningham Maurice Barrow 
 
 Ti. Midlton (sic) Nathaniel Bacon 
 
 P.S. The place of Rendezvous for Francis Russell 
 
 the Horse and Dragoons to be Oliver Cromwell 
 
 at Newmarket ; and for the Foot Hum. Walcot 
 
 Bury. Since the writing hereof, Isaak Puller 
 
 we received intelligence that the Ed . . . (illegible) 
 
 Enemy's Body with 60 carriages was upon his march towards 
 the Association, 3 miles on this side Harborough, last night 
 at 4 of the clock." ^ 
 
 Of this letter Carlyle says : " The original — a hasty, blotted 
 paper, with the signatures in two unequal columns [as imitated 
 here], and with the postscript crammed hurriedly to the corner, 
 and written from another inkbottle, as is still apparent — 
 represents to us an agitated scene in the old Committee 
 rooms at Cambridge that Friday," 
 
 This letter was backed up by one from the Committee 
 in London, who asked the Committeemen of Suffolk not 
 to look so much upon what they had to pay, with these 
 alarms lying heavy upon them, as to consider what they 
 might lose if the enemy prevailed ' to the plunder and spoil 
 of all.' Suffolk, like the other counties, everywhere in such 
 a ferment of agitation and suspense, responded by sending 
 forth Colonel Brampton Gurdon, member for Sudbury, with 
 his regiment of Suffolk horse, not only for the safety of 
 the county but for the rendezvous for Naseby.^ 
 
 Once more the town and neighbourhood of Cambridge 
 witnessed the mustering of the forces of East Anglia to 
 meet the demand for sending 3,coo foot and 1,000 horse 
 
 * Carlyle, Letters and Speeches, i, 172. 
 
 * " Reed. 16 days pay as Collonneli to Nasbe at 39J." — Entry in Gurdon Papers 
 at Repton HalL 
 
202 East Anglia and the 
 
 to such place as Cromwell should appoint, and so great 
 was the zeal that the Committee in London for once left 
 it to the counties to fix their own proportion ; for there 
 was now no jealousy excepting for the honour of doing 
 most, and the supply of men seemed likely to far exceed 
 the demand. Cromwell himself was in no fixed quarters 
 for many hours, but was riding all over the Fens, now 
 looking to the passes and fortified places, now pushing 
 forward the recruiting. Never since the summer of 1642, 
 with its rival proclamations and the 'clipping the wings' 
 of 'malignant' Bishops, Sheriffs, and Mayors, had the effect 
 of Cromwell's indomitable energy and incessant riding 
 to and fro been more marked, amongst his own people, 
 than in this one supreme effort to rouse and weld together 
 the forces and powers of the Associated Counties for the 
 last great struggle with the King around Harborough. 
 
 There is every reason to believe that the evasion of the 
 Self-denying Ordinance involved in keeping Cromwell in the 
 field was not only popular in the Army, but throughout 
 the Eastern Counties, if we may judge from the response 
 made to the trumpet-calls of Cromwell. ' It was no sooner 
 noised that Lieutenant-Colonel Cromwell was to be sent into 
 the Isle of Ely, but the courage of the Association began 
 to be high with hope and the City to be full of joy. You 
 will find this commander within these few days to have 
 a gallant army to join him about Cambridge.' ^ All over 
 the Eastern Counties, the villages and towns sent in their 
 
 men 'with incredible speed and alacrity Three 
 
 score men out of one poore petty village in Cambridgeshire 
 in which to see it, none would have thought that there had 
 been fifty fighting men in it' Four brothers out of one 
 family marched away from an east coast village to fight 
 with Cromwell in the impending battle.'-^ Hopes ran high 
 with the assurance that ' our armies have shown themselves 
 extraordinary swift in their motions to their rendezvous to 
 
 ^ A Diary, E. 288 (5). 
 
 ^ "There is a tradition in my family that four brothers Flaxman, from East 
 Ruston, a village near Great Yarmouth, joined Cromwell's forces and fought 
 under him at Naseby."— Letter to the author from Mr. Arthur J. Flaxman, New 
 Court, Temple, London. 
 
Great Civil War, 203 
 
 pursue the King's Army to some purpose, and to make 
 the Royal pipe to play a new song.' ^ 
 
 At last the blind chess-board policy of the Committee for 
 both Kingdoms, in seeking to checkmate every Royalist 
 move, or hold or take some garrison, instead of preparing for 
 a decisive battle, was improved upon by Fairfax marching, 
 on June 5, from before Oxford, and coming into line with 
 the other forces. Cromwell was still about Huntingdon and 
 Cambridge, where " great numbers of the Associated Counties 
 
 do daily join themselves with him Some of 
 
 them are but raw soldiers, yet a little exercise will make 
 them expert ; indeed, we have seldom cause to find fault 
 with our new raised soldiers, especially out of that Asso- 
 ciation. A good cause and a good heart are two good 
 prognostics of success." " Col. Cromwell increases more and 
 
 more Ely is reasonable strong, Peterborough 
 
 hath divers troops and companies of dragoons who will be 
 able to make that good." So wrote the garrulous old news- 
 papers in those exciting days on the eve of Naseby fight. 
 
 It was quite clear on all hands that Cromwell's presence 
 was indispensable, and yet he was only riding to and fro 
 as a volunteer worker. " At such a moment the name 
 of the man whose courage and conduct had scattered the 
 army of Rupert and Newcastle at Marston Moor could not 
 fail to be on every lip." 2 " To speak truth," wrote one of 
 the old newspapers, "at this instance it were to be wished 
 he were in the Army, for it is conceived by some the King 
 will fight, and fighting he [Cromwell] might put more 
 courage into his friends." 
 
 Fairfax and his officers brought matters to a climax by 
 addressing a letter to the House of Commons urging the 
 necessity of a Commander-in-Chief for the Horse, and 
 "withal desiring that the valliant Cromwell might be the 
 man." '^ In this letter they spoke of Cromwell in these 
 terms : " The general esteem and affection which he hath, 
 both of the officers and soldiers of this Army, his own 
 
 * Exchange Intelligencer, Brit. Mus. Lib. , E. 388. 
 
 ' Gardiner, ii, 200. 
 
 ' Newspapers in " Cromwelliana. " 
 
204 East Anglia and the 
 
 personal worth and ability for the employment ; his great 
 care, diligence, courage, and faithfulness in the service you 
 have already employed him, with the constant presence 
 and blessing of God that have accompanied him, make us 
 look upon it as a duty we owe to you and the public 
 to make it our earnest and humble suit .... to 
 appoint him unto this employment, which shall be received 
 by us with that thankfulness and acknowledgment of your 
 favour which may best express how sensible we are of so 
 great an obligation," etc.^ 
 
 The Commons promptly assented to the proposal, and this 
 was as promptly accepted by Fairfax, who without waiting for 
 the consent of the Lords, acquainted Cromwell of the decision 
 of the Commons in these terms : — " You cannot expect but 
 that I make use of so good an advantage as I apprehend this 
 to be to the public good. Therefore I desire you to make 
 speedy repair to this Army." He adds that " the enemy are 
 as we hear, more horse than foot, and make their horse their 
 confidence. Ours shall be in God. I pray make all possible 
 haste towards your affectionate friend to serve you. — Tho. 
 Fairfax." 
 
 Meanwhile, on June lO, the King's Councillors were 
 meeting at Oxford, and warmly supporting a direct march 
 upon the Associated Counties, and approached both the King 
 and Rupert urging this policy. The King and the Prince, 
 strong in everything but in united counsels, neither accepted 
 this nor the. alternative of a march against the Scots in 
 Yorkshire, but drifted between the two with indifferent 
 results hereafter. Fairfax had by this time got as far as 
 Newport Pagnell, commanding "the bravest bodies of men, 
 horse, and arms, so far as ye common soldiers, as ere I saw 
 in my life .... the number is 8,000 Foot and 5,000 
 or 6,000 Horse." So wrote Sir Samuel Luke ; and when 
 Fairfax came into the garrison of Newport, the bluff old 
 Governor excused himself from ' feasting ' the General on 
 the ground of his quarters lacking accommodation, and seems 
 to have limited his hospitality to showing him round the 
 
 * Newspapers in "Cromwelliana." 
 
Great Civil War. 205 
 
 works of the garrison, giving him * a peak of ordinance ' and 
 providing him and his followers with wine.^ 
 
 Among the hills around Market Harborough, where 
 Fairfax's and the King's armies were drawing nearer and 
 nearer together, and throughout the towns and villages of 
 East Anglia, an immense amount of interest was taken in 
 the question of whether Cromwell with his 1,000 horse and 
 3,000 foot would arrive in time for the impending battle. 
 In the City men were discussing the question with equal 
 interest, and the newspapers were expressing the hope that 
 " he will come in time enough for a reserve, if not for the main 
 battle." The Royalist Army gathering around Harborough 
 were also interested in the question, and on Wednesday 
 evening, June 11, a letter was sent off stating that the King's 
 Army were much impressed by the news that " Ironsides " 
 was coming to join with the Parliament's Army. On the 
 same night Cromwell was getting together his forces 'about 
 Bedford, Hitchin, and Royston ; and are expected to come 
 to him [Fairfax] this [Thursday] night.' ^ 
 
 Cromwell's place was in the van and not in the reserve ; 
 and, with the soldier's instinct for the time for decisive 
 action, he, with part of the history of England hanging 
 upon the issue, left behind the bulk of his newly raised 
 men, advanced rapidly at the head of 600 horse, and at 
 daybreak on June 13 came in sight of Fairfax's army, with 
 this result : — " On Friday morning came Lieutenant General 
 Cromwell to the Army as they were drawing to march 
 after the King's Army towards Leicester. The Horse, at 
 the appearing of the Lieutenant General, gave a mighty 
 shout for joy of his coming to them." ' 
 
 Fairfax had just returned from a midnight ride to an 
 outpost, where, forgetting the password, he was detained 
 by one of his own sentries ; a Council of Officers was held 
 which soon broke up, and "orders, were for drums to 
 beat and trumpets to sound ' to horse ! ' and all their army 
 to draw to a rendezvous." The evidence of activity spread 
 
 ' Luke's Letter-book, Egerton MSS., 786. 
 
 ' Mercurius Civicus, June 12. 
 
 * A more Exact and Perfect Relation, E. 288 {28). 
 
2o6 East Anglia and the 
 
 to the Royalist camp, where it was instinctively known 
 that " Ironsides " had come. The King was summoned from 
 the chase and his army hurriedly drawn up in a strong 
 position on Borough Hill, the Parliamentary Army being 
 at Kisslingbury. The Parliamentary Army outnumbered 
 that of the King in the proportion of 13,600 to 8,000, and 
 were eager to revenge the ' plundering' of the Cavaliers.^ 
 
 " Amongst the fierce Puritans of the Parliamentary horse 
 there was stern joy at the arrival of the long-wished-for time 
 when through their arms the cause of God was to be put to 
 the test of battle," ^ and the veterans of Marston Moor gave 
 courage to the New Modellers from the Associated Counties, 
 who had never yet been in battle. With the word " God is 
 our strength " on the ParHament side and " Queen Mary " on 
 that of the King, the two armies charged, one down the hill 
 into the " valley of death " in Broad Moor, and the other up 
 the hill, until the crash came. Then the Marston Moor tactics 
 were repeated. Rupert broke through and routed the Parlia- 
 mentary left wing, and Cromwell broke through and routed 
 the Royalist left wing. Again Cromwell restrained his horse 
 in the pursuit, and returned to the battle ; Rupert again went 
 too far to recover lost ground. ^ But the story is familiar : How 
 Fairfax, with his helmet shot off, rode to and fro bareheaded 
 beneath the hot June sun with bullets flying about him ; 
 how Skippon, the veteran soldier, dangerously wounded, 
 declared that he would not stir from the field so long as 
 a man would stand ; how the King's carriage was captured, 
 and his cabinet with the compromising letters — all these are 
 familiar parts of the tragic story of Naseby field, which we 
 
 * " We cannot choose but fight with extraordinary courage, for every foot 
 soldier that we have taken has 20J. or 30J. a man in his pockets ; there was 
 a sergeant taken that had £,2.0 in his pocket, which will make men fight if they 
 
 intend to fight The soldiers that are taken are very full of money 
 
 and plunder."— Luke's Letter-book, Egerton MSS., 786. 
 
 ^ Gardiner, ii, 211. 
 
 ' Commenting upon the Parliamentary forces rallying again after a repulse, 
 Clarendon says : "That difference was observed all along in the discipline of the 
 King's troops, and of those which marched under the command of Fairfax and 
 Cromwell .... that though the King's troops prevailed in the charge, and 
 routed those they charged, they seldom rallied themselves again in order .... 
 whereas the other troops if they prevailed, or though they were beaten and routed, 
 presently rallied again and stood in good order till they received new orders. " 
 
Great Civil War. 207 
 
 may leave to their places in the history of England, and 
 follow Cromwell and his Ironsides, who more especially 
 belong to East Anglia as well as to England. 
 
 In the gloaming of this memorable Summer's day, on 
 his return from the hot pursuit of the Cavaliers towards 
 Leicester, the sturdy old Ironsides sat down on the field 
 at Harborough, with the smell of powder in the air, and the 
 havoc of war all around ; and taking up the pen for the 
 sword wrote on a sheet with two leaves — now faded and 
 held together with paste in the repositories at the British 
 Museum, in the following terms : — 
 
 " Harborough, 14 June, 1645. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Being commanded by you to this service, I think 
 myself bound to acquaint you with the good hand of 
 God towards you and us. 
 
 " We marched yesterday after the King, who went 
 before us from Daventry to Harborough, and quartered 
 about six miles from him. This day we marched towards 
 him. He drew out to meet us ; both Armies engaged. 
 We, after three hours fight very doubtful, at last routed 
 his Army; killed and took about 5,000 — very many officers, 
 but of what quality we yet know not. We took also 
 about 200 carriages, all he had ; and all his guns, being 
 
 12 in number We pursued the Enemy from 
 
 three miles short of Harborough to nine beyond, even to 
 the sight of Leicester, whither the King fled. 
 
 " Sir, this is none other but the hand of God ; and to 
 Him alone belongs the glory, wherein none are to share 
 with Him. The General served you with all faithfulness 
 and honour ; and the best commendation I can give him 
 is, that I daresay he attributes all to God, and would 
 rather perish than assume to himself. Which is an honest 
 and a thriving way : and yet as much for bravery may 
 be given to him, in this action as to a man. Honest men 
 served you faithfully in this action. Sir, they are trusty; 
 I beseech you, in the name of God, not to discourage them. 
 I wish this action may beget thankfulness and humility 
 
2o8 East Anglia and the 
 
 in all that are concerned in it. He that ventures his life 
 for the liberty of his country, I wish he trust God for the 
 liberty of his conscience, and you for the liberty he fights 
 for. In this he rests, who is 
 
 " Your most humble servant, 
 
 Oliver Cromwell." 
 
 History has very properly taken note of that ' mighty 
 shout ' which welcomed ' Old Ironsides' and his 6oo horse 
 on the field of Naseby and of their doughty deeds, but has 
 done less than justice to the large body of men in reserve 
 which Cromwell left behind in that hurried march— a second 
 line of defence, had the issue of Naseby failed, which had 
 mustered all along the borders of the Eastern Counties. 
 Take a single instance of what these Eastern Counties were 
 doing to roll back the tide of war which threatened their 
 borders. The county of Essex, although the most remote 
 from the danger, was sending three regiments, marching 
 for Cambridge by way of Saffron Walden. The Committee 
 for both Kingdoms, finding that the army of Fairfax 
 and Cromwell had got between the King's army and the 
 Association, advised the Association Committee at Cam- 
 bridge that these Essex regiments, excepting the horse, 
 might be sent back to their homes. But the Committee 
 at Cambridge knew better than send men home at such 
 a crisis, which would just then have been as unpopular as 
 it would have been foolish ; and the regiments were kept 
 at Cambridge, and the Committee in London shortly after- 
 wards commended the Cambridge Committee in flattering 
 terms for their prudence ! 
 
 Taking the 3,400 which Cromwell himself had left behind 
 in his forced march, the regiments which other counties 
 of the Association as well as Essex were sending in, and 
 those in the garrisons, there must have been a reserve of 
 15,000 men under arms along the borders of the Associated 
 Counties in readiness to defend them from the contemplated 
 attack had the issue of Naseby been unfavourable to the 
 Parliamentary arms. Such a reserve could not have 
 replaced the defeated army of Fairfax and Cromwell, but 
 
Great Civil War, 209 
 
 it was an eloquent answer to the resolution of the King's 
 Council at Oxford, and as eloquent a testimony to the 
 spirit and resources of East Anglia. The Association 
 Committee at Cambridge had also shown a grip of the 
 situation, set aside the convenience of its civil life, and 
 out-generalled the fussy Committee in London, by keeping 
 well in hand a sufficient military force to show a bold front 
 for the Associated Counties whatever might befall. 
 
 The Association system of uniting for the defence of home, 
 as well as fighting for a great principle in the field, was put 
 upon its trial for the last time in its fluctuating history, and 
 it came out of the ordeal, both at the headquarters at 
 Cambridge and in the field at Naseby, with lasting honour 
 which will never fade from the memory of East Anglia ; 
 and, whatever view may be held of the rival policies, with 
 an ^clat which will live in the history of England as the 
 chief determining factor in the greatest conflict of ancient 
 or modern times. 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE LAST RALLY OF THE KING — THE FIGHT AT 
 HUNTINGDON — THE KING'S FLIGHT THROUGH THE 
 FENS IN DISGUISE. 
 
 (1645-6.) 
 
 FOR the Eastern Counties, as for England, the victory 
 at Naseby was the greatest event in the War, by 
 reason of its nearness to their borders. In that 
 event these counties had a vital interest ; for that event they 
 had made extraordinary exertions, and when the tidings of 
 victory came there were thanksgivings and rejoicings in all 
 the towns and villages of East Anglia. Cambridge spent 
 money on wine, and voted money for the soldiers in garrison 
 ' on Thanksgiving day in June.' ^ 
 
 Parliament voted Cromwell the pay of a Lieutenant- 
 General of Horse from the commencement of the New 
 Model Army, and another three months' exemption from 
 the Self-denying Ordinance, an exemption which practically 
 became permanent. The King was still fairly strong in 
 numbers, and with the expected assistance of an army 
 from France and Ireland, the papers concerning which, found 
 in his cabinet at Naseby, had aroused indignation in the 
 country, he was hoping to retrieve his fortunes. The West 
 of England was almost the only English soil, with the 
 exception of Newark, Oxford, and other garrisons, now 
 
 ^ Corporation Accounts, printed in Cooper's " Annals of Cambridge." 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 2 1 1 
 
 held for the King, and thither Fairfax and Cromwell marched 
 against Lord Goring. 
 
 When the great crisis at Naseby had passed, recruiting in 
 the Associated Counties raised the old feeling of repugnance 
 to marching away into the west. An ordinance was passed 
 for punishing runaways with death. Watch was directed 
 to be kept at places through which the recruits passed on 
 their way to the rendezvous at Reading, and, as example, 
 the deputy-lieutenants were directed to deal with offenders 
 in the several market towns, ' in some public place, and 
 there openly, and not in private, examine and determine 
 such offences, and upon proof to proceed to condemnation 
 and execution of the offenders.* ^ The Constables having 
 a disagreeable duty to perform, often took men of least use 
 in the parish, and sometimes were ordered to take ' idle 
 serving and such other able persons as live dissolutely or 
 idly without employment.' ^ It was not from such men that 
 the Ironsides sprang. 
 
 Parliament had by this time a sufficient grip even of 
 the Cambridge University for wine to be drunk in College 
 halls to celebrate the victory of Fairfax and Cromwell over 
 Goring.^ But the end of the conflict in the Fens was not 
 yet. On the edge of harvest Lincolnshire was alarmed by 
 the growing strength of the Newark garrison, and the 
 Counties were urged to renewed efforts to get * that thorn 
 taken out of your sides.' 
 
 These fears were soon verified, for at the beginning of 
 August the Cavaliers from Newark marched up to their 
 old friends in Stamford ; and while attempting to gather 
 taxes and * plundering the country,' Captain Allan rode out 
 with about i(X) of the Parliamentary Horse, fell upon them 
 and routed them, taking 51 prisoners and fourscore horse 
 and arms, and " besides five slain upon the place," says the 
 narrative, "divers crept into the woods. They also rescued 
 
 * Lords' Journals. 
 
 * Warrant to the Constable of East Barsham, Norfolk, Le Strange Papers, 
 
 ' " For six quarts of clarett wine in the Hall at dinner upon the day of 
 thanksgiving for the rowting of Lord Goring's forces at Langport." — Bursar's 
 Accounts, St. John's College, July 22, 1645. 
 
212 East Anglia and the 
 
 the Alderman of Stamford with fifteen considerable country- 
 men whom the enemy had taken prisoners." ^ 
 
 Two or three weeks later the Cavaliers came again, taxed 
 the town of Stamford, from which they obtained ;^200, 
 and for the non-payment of the full sum demanded they 
 again carried off the unfortunate Alderman ' and some others 
 of the best affected persons there.' Colonel Dodson, governor 
 of Crowland garrison, was directed to retaliate by taking 
 ' the like course with some of their party .... that 
 there may be means for the recovery of these prisoners.' 
 This had the desired effect, but a few weeks later down 
 came the Cavaliers upon the town, carried off the Alderman 
 and his friends again, and this time he was detained for 
 three months, when Colonel Dodson was again ordered to 
 take into custody the same persons he had attached before, 
 in order to procure the exchange and liberty of the Alderman 
 and his friends. 
 
 These daring adventures of the Cavaliers brought down 
 Parliamentary ordinances for securing Crowland and the 
 Isle of Ely — 500 foot, 100 dragoons, and ;^250 weekly for 
 the Isle under the command of Colonel Russell as Governor, 
 and 100 foot, 20 dragoons, and ^50 a week for Crowland 
 under Colonel Dodson as Governor.^ King's Lynn was also 
 getting uneasy about its defences ; for the garrison having 
 had no pay for a long time, ' a quarrel between them and the 
 townsmen ' was expected daily .^ 
 
 While those famous captains of Ironsides, who had left 
 their homes on the banks of the Ouse and the Cam — 
 Oliver Cromwell, Edward Montague, John Desborough, 
 Henry Cromwell, son of Sir Philip of Biggin — while this 
 interesting group was engaged in operations in the west, 
 leading up to the storming of Bristol, at which Henry 
 Cromwell was dangerously wounded, and Montague and 
 Desborough performed prodigies of valour, their neighbours 
 about Huntingdon were for a time in the grip of the King's 
 army. His Majesty, 'hugely revived,' since his overthrow 
 
 ' Letter in Commons' Journals, 
 "^ Lords' Journals. 
 3 Portland MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 
 
 at Naseby, by the propositions of his friends * to raise a well- 
 disciplined army .... and to lead their [his enemies] 
 such a dance as to make them lose all the summer in 
 following us/ was, in these sultry days of harvest, drawing 
 round again towards the Associated Counties, with no con- 
 siderable force to oppose him. 
 
 The Association Committee wrote, on August 15, from 
 Trinity College, Cambridge, a despairing letter to the Speaker 
 of the extremity of the soldiers in the garrison there, and the 
 lamentable cries continually made by the poorer inhabitants 
 of the town, for monies due to them for quartering the 
 soldiers, and they add : — 
 
 " A castle there is, very considerable in Strength, allarms 
 come both of the Enemy's strength, not farre from us, but 
 what acompt is likely to be given or can be expected of 
 a place where the Soldier is not inabled for Service, but 
 discontented with Apprehensions of neglect, and being 
 among a People prepared by Poverty for any mischiefe, 
 wee humbly leave to your Honorable House to consider. 
 Sir, the Officers and Soldiers are forty Weeks' pay in 
 Arreares, above ;^3,ooo is due for Quarter to the Towne 
 for the soldiers of the Earle of Manchester's Army, and the 
 Castle. Wee beseeche you. Sir, acquaint your Honourable 
 Howse with it, and our humble Desires, that they please to 
 order some reasonable Pay, for the Officers and Soldiers, 
 to relieve their necessitys, and that they please to order out 
 of what monies they think fitt, for the present Payment of 
 the Quarters, all which is of much concernment to the Safety 
 and Quiet of this place." ^ 
 
 Three days later the King, in his journey southwards, 
 wrote from Doncaster to Secretary Nicholas, in the best of 
 spirits, giving an account of his condition, " which considering 
 what it was at the beginning of this monthe is now (thank 
 God) miraculously good." The gentlemen of those parts 
 were joining with him and hoped that the recruiting would 
 make up ' a lusty stocke for the next year's Army.' But with 
 Poyntz behind him in Yorkshire, the King's policy was to 
 
 * Printed in Cooper's "Annals of Cambridge," and by Neal ("Hist, of 
 Puritans "). 
 
214 Easi Anglia and the 
 
 keep moving, and so he advanced to Newark, Belvoir, and 
 towards Stamford, causing much concern about the Boston 
 garrison, the fortifications of which were so large and irregular 
 as to require a large force to defend them, and it was resolved 
 to employ ' some skilful engineer ' to bring them into a more 
 regular state. 
 
 With no force to oppose his march, the King could easily 
 hold his own in the field, while among the civil population 
 the presence of His Majesty for the first time since the War 
 began aroused the enthusiasm of the Royalists, and, for the 
 time being, quieted the weaker Parliamentarians ; with the 
 result that the Cavaliers simply over-ran South Lincolnshire 
 and Huntingdonshire. Near Stamford a force from Burghley 
 House and Leicester fell upon the King's rear, and took 
 80 horse, colours, and prisoners, an act which could have 
 been easily avenged had the King been in a mood to retrace 
 his steps, for his army, according to Symonds, included 
 2,200 horse. 
 
 Entering Stamford suddenly on Saturday, August 23, the 
 King made his quarters at the George HoteV and his soldiers 
 made free of the town. 
 
 On Sunday morning, August 24, the King and his army 
 resumed their march for Huntingdon about the same time 
 that a force of 400 horse, raised in Essex and Suffolk, 
 were marching from Huntingdon under Lieutenant-Colonel 
 Le Hunt, Major Gibbs, and Captain Poe. Near Stilton the 
 two forces met ; a skirmish ensued with the advanced 
 guards, in which the Cavaliers ' killed divers ' of the Parlia- 
 mentary force, and took Major Gibb prisoner.^ In the face 
 of superior numbers the Parliamentary Horse retired to 
 Huntingdon, where the King's forces accordingly expected 
 some little resistance, ' for it was made a kind of garrison, 
 with some traverses and light works about it. ^ 
 
 With the Huntingdon people all atremble with excitement, 
 about two o'clock on Sunday afternoon the King's army 
 
 * The George Hotel still exists in St. Martin's, Stamford, bearing on its front, 
 carved in stone, the arms of Lord Treasurer Burghley, by whom it was built 
 or re-edified. 
 
 2 Symonds says the Major and lOO were taken. 
 
 3 Slingsby's Diary. 
 
Great Civil War, 215 
 
 drew in sight of the town and of the light earthworks behind 
 which a small force of Parliamentary Foot, under Captain 
 Bennett, had taken up a position with but little hope of 
 anything but a temporary resistance. The King's forces 
 drew up at the Bridge,^ a short resistance was made in which 
 Captain Bennett stuck bravely to his post, where * he and his 
 lieutenant and many of his men were slain/ and the King 
 and his army entered the town. The actual resistance 
 is thus described by Symonds : — " They a little disputed 
 Huntingdon, but wee entered notwithstanding a large ditch 
 encompassed it, lately scowered and cast up, and a breastc 
 work and gate in the roade. Theese rebells ran away to 
 Cambridge : all of them back and breast, headpiece, brace 
 of pistolls ; officers more. Every troop consisted of 100." ^ 
 
 At the King's entry, in a kind of triumph, those in the 
 town who were for the King lost their heads with enthusiasm, 
 and those who were for Parliament lost their hearts ; and 
 His Majesty passed along through the streets amidst a 
 reception in striking contrast with the resistance at the 
 Bridge, the Mayor of the town and the Bailiffs of God- 
 manchester leading the acclaim, and getting much com- 
 plimentary bowing from His Majesty in return. The King 
 made his quarters at the George Hotel — of which old inn, 
 only a portion, a picturesque bit of staircase and balcony 
 in the stableyard, now remains — while his soldiers repeated 
 the Stamford tactics at the expense of the townspeople. 
 
 The news of the King's taking possession of Huntingdon 
 spread to Cambridge, and threw the Associated Counties 
 into the greatest alarm. To the Committee for both 
 Kingdoms in London the news spread and letters were 
 despatched, haste, post haste, to Fairfax in the west, and 
 to the Associated Counties— now urging Norfolk to furnish 
 provisions and forces for Lynn ; to Suffolk and Essex to 
 
 * The skirmish probably extended across Godmanchester Common, which lies 
 to the south of the Bridge. The Bridge itself, a fine structure dating from 
 Edward I's reign, is still in almost its original state, and was described by the 
 late Sir Gilbert Scott as certainly one of the finest in England. — Note to the 
 author from the Ven. Archdeacon Vesey. 
 
 •» Marchings of the Royal Army, etc., HarL MSS., 944; also in Symonds' 
 Diary, Camd. Soc. 
 
2i6 East Anglia and the 
 
 get their horse and foot together to a rendezvous, spicing 
 their letter with the item, " the King with 4,000 Horse hath 
 taken Huntingdon" ; and promising that the City Militia 
 would march out as far as Barnet. 
 
 On Monday morning, August 25, the King sat down 
 at his inn for reflection, and for the writing of dispatches 
 concerning his affairs. On the Sunday evening news had 
 reached him at Huntingdon of the success of his cause in 
 the North, which had made Montrose 'master of all 
 Scotland ' ; but this did not blind him to the fact that his 
 position in England was deplorable enough. To his Secretary 
 Nicholas he despatched this letter : — 
 
 " Huntingtoune, 25 Aug. 1645. 
 "Nicholas, I haue this morning receaued yours of the 13 : 
 Aug: with fower printed Oxford Papers concerning my 
 published letters, & am glad to fynde that you there make 
 so faire (indeed just as concerning my religion kingdome 
 and frends) an interpretation of them, & particularly that 
 you haue so great a confidence in my constansy to my 
 just cause : and now me thinkes I wer too blame if I did 
 not justifie the trewth of your opinions concerning me, by 
 my own declaration w'^^ is this, that let my condition be 
 neuer so low, my successes neuer so ill, I resolue (by God's 
 grace) neuer to yealed up this Church to the Gouernment 
 of Papists ; nor to injure my successors, by lessening the 
 Crowen of that ecclesiasticall & military power w^^ my 
 predecessors left me, nor forsake my frends, much lesse to 
 lett them suffer when I doe not, for theire faithfulnesse 
 to me, resoluing soone to Hue as miserable as the violent 
 rage of successfull, insulting Rebells can make me (w^^ 
 I esteme far worse than death) rather then not to be 
 exactly constant to these grounds, from w^*' whosoeur, upon 
 whatsoeur occasion shall persuade me to receade in the 
 least title, I shall esteame him ether a foole or a knaue ; but 
 you will aske me, Quorsum hoc} Yes, for without this 
 warning the tender personall affection of some might giue 
 me troblesome aduyce, & yet not blameable considering 
 the present condition of my affaires, not knowing this 
 
Great Civil War, 217 
 
 my resolution, w*=^ I command you to publishe to all whom 
 their quality or judgement makes fitt for such discourses, 
 & so I rest, 
 
 " Your most asseured frend, 
 
 Charles R. 
 " You may say confidently & giue me for author that the 
 peace of Irland is concluded, not yet knowing the particular 
 conditions." ^ 
 
 Turning to his immediate necessities, His Majesty issued 
 an order bearing his sign manual directed to Colonel Henry 
 Cromwell — 'kinsmen of ye other' — High Sheriff of Hunts, 
 requiring him to issue warrants requiring all the inhabitants 
 of Huntingdon, " between the ages of sixteen and three 
 score to appear at the .... Huntingdon tomorrow 
 morning, being the 26th present, by 10 of the clock, and to 
 bring with them all the arms they have, where they shall 
 understand our further pleasure. This they and every 
 of them are to perform upon their allegiance, and as they 
 will answere the same at theire perills. Given at our Court 
 at Huntingdon this 25th of August, 1645." 2 
 
 While these documents were being drawn up at the 
 "George" in Huntingdon, His Majesty's forces were riding 
 all over the surrounding country to the terror and ruin of 
 the inhabitants ; and it may be convenient here to let the 
 old chronicles speak for themselves, with such allowance 
 as may be necessary for their authors. 
 
 " It was particularly advertised that His Majesty, the 
 Lord's Day before, entered the town of Huntingdon, and 
 with much complimental bowing saluting of his good friends, 
 as he passed through the streets, and was entertained with 
 expressions of joy and acclamation as had not been heard 
 there. The Mayor of Huntingdon and two bailiffs of 
 Godmanchester and their brethren, as a further acknowledge- 
 ment of their delight to see him, taxed the said town 5i-., ioj., 
 
 * The letter is endorsed by Nicholas — "The King to me from Huntingdon, 
 containing his resoluc'on neuer to quit ye Church gouernement, his friends, or 
 diminishe the Crowne of that military or eccl'all power w<=*> was left him by his 
 p«decessors. " — Nicholas Correspondence, in Evelyn's Diary, vol. iv, pp. 159-60. 
 
 » Add. MSS. B.M., 34,465, f. iia 
 
2i8 East Anglia and the 
 
 and 155-. a man (mean men) and others at far higher rates, 
 and presented His Majesty therewith in lump, which 
 mayor, bailiffs and 43 others of his brethren (most royalists) 
 for their loving expressions were carried away prisoners 
 with the Army ; and many others of the town and other 
 places known friends of them, carried away and forced to 
 ransom themselves by money. 
 
 " Presently after the king came in, proclamation was 
 made that, on pain of death, no soldier should plunder, and 
 that full satisfaction should be made to any who complained 
 of such grievances. No sooner was it made but they fell 
 to plundering, carrying out of divers shops & houses 
 3 or 4 loads of goods and ware apiece. Amongst many 
 Mr. Fulwood, apothecary, and the two king's woollen drapers 
 can witness its truth, not leaving them one bit of household 
 stuff in their houses, or wares in their shops. Every house 
 was billited, though never so poor, some 20 or 30 in 
 a house, who were by special order to provide both horse 
 meat and man's meat, and \2s. a day to each soldier to 
 spend, which was duly paid them, though they were forced 
 to borrow it. In many quarters the soldiers fetched in sheep 
 of other mens and the landlord paid them four or five 
 shillings apiece for them, to dress them for their use, or 
 else swore they would spit their children. Many houses 
 were plundered to nothing, so that tables, stools, bedsteads 
 and other combustible things lie broken in every room, 
 after the bedding linen, pewter, and portable things are 
 carried out. Very many people are left not worth one penny. 
 
 " At their parting they drove away both Huntingdon & 
 Godmanchester herds of kine about 6 or 7 hundred and 
 made them pay a mark a piece for them before they had 
 them again. They left scarce a horse in either town nor 
 in any other they marched through, so that the country 
 knew not how to get in their corn yet out. The injuries 
 on some particular men are many, and their cruelties inflicted 
 upon some by tying lighted matches between their fingers 
 and burning them are too many. They knocked off the 
 irons of all the felons and other prisoners in Huntingdon 
 jail, which were many, and condemned men in law for gross 
 
Great Civil War. 219 
 
 robberies and murders, who have all taken up arms for 
 His Majesty. 
 
 "The King, to please the country, after many thousand 
 pounds worth of goods sent away without any check, and 
 many men undone, caused lots to be cast between four 
 who had pilleged a poor glover (one Gumber) of about five 
 shillings, and one to be hanged therefore, and at his departure 
 gave the town and county thanks for their kind entertainment 
 of him. One providence is observable that divers of the 
 best affected to the Parliament have escaped with the least 
 loss, and many of the King's best friends have suffered most 
 in their persons and estates. Many of the Huntingdonshire 
 malignants are convinced of their errors in supposing the 
 King's Army saints, but find them more like devils. Some 
 of our London malignants are changed in judgment being 
 at Huntingdon and eye witnesses of what was performed." ^ 
 
 Another correspondent, writing apparently of the King's 
 progress through Lincolnshire into Huntingdonshire, says : — 
 " It hath pleased God to cast us into a very sad condition, 
 the King's army coming through our country hath seized 
 upon all the men they could find and have taken away my 
 master. They have at least a thousand of our countrymen 
 prisoners with them and at least 3000 horses out of our 
 county and Huntingdonshire. My master hath paid them 
 down three score pounds on his own table before they carried 
 away his person, no man knows where, nor what hardship 
 he endures which is a great grief to us. The King hath 
 enriched himself more than at least tenfold ; 2000 resolved 
 men would have beat him utterly, his men are so drunken 
 and so earnest for plundering." ^ 
 
 The indiscriminate plunderings of Huntingdon and 
 neighbouring towns is frankly admitted by Royalists. 
 Slingsby says : " Here ye solgiers got some plunder, and 
 among other things a long scrole of ye names of such as 
 had taken ye Covenant with some letters, one whereof was 
 given to ye King to read, which I saw, attaining the great 
 
 * Wallington's Historical Notices, vol. ii, pp. 266-70. 
 » Ibid. 
 
2 20 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 dislike the men had to see how much ye people were 
 adicted to adolize ye King, with many quotations and 
 texts of Scripture."^ 
 
 The Cavaliers during that Monday 'faced the town and 
 University of Cambridge, and the fright of his [the King's] 
 coming had driven the most factious out of the Colleges in 
 the town/ As to Colonel Henry Cromwell of Ramsey, and 
 his warrants, when the King was getting ready to leave 
 Huntingdon on Tuesday morning for Woburn, there appeared 
 at Godmanchester a body of the countrymen to the number 
 of 400, to whom the King gave thanks and told them that 
 he should not need them at that time.^ 
 
 During that Sunday evening and all day on Monday drums 
 were beating and trumpets were blowing all over East Anglia, 
 and before Monday evening men were leaving the harvest 
 fields and marching to the rendezvous once more at Cam- 
 bridge. In Essex the rumour went that Cambridge itself 
 had fallen into the King's hands, and so they thought it of 
 no use to send their men ; but made up for it as soon as the 
 truth reached them. Of the use made of available forces, 
 Mr. Lowry, member for Cambridge, wrote to Parliament in 
 the morning that the King was leaving Huntingdon for 
 St. Neots and Woburn. " I have been drawing all our forces 
 these three nights into the fields .... which, I believe, 
 standing upon our guard, both in town and field, hath 
 hindered the King of his design [upon Cambridge]. The 
 King marched from Huntingdon yesterday unto St. Eoates 
 
 [St. Neots] We have sent six troops of our 
 
 horse in pursuit of the King this morning."^ He adds 
 a postscript that the troops had retreated, finding the 
 enemy with a strong party, "which hath put us into 
 new fears, yet are however resolved to stand to it for the 
 safeguard of the town." 
 
 ^ It is interesting to note that amidst all this hurly-burly at Huntingdon, the 
 diarist Richard Symonds, an Essex man, whose antiquarian pursuits amidst the 
 clash of arms form one of the curiosities of the Civil War, had got his sword into 
 its scabbard, and with pencil and notebook in hand, was strolling round the 
 churches. At Huntingdon, as at Stamford, he found that there were four parish 
 churches, and his notes and miniature sketches may still be seen in the British 
 Museum Library.— Harl. MSS., 944. 
 
 2 Slingsby's Diary. 3 Portland MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 221 
 
 Parliament, upon receipt of Mr. Lowry's letter, ordered 
 Colonel Rossiter with his regiment of horse which had followed 
 the King out of Lincolnshire and was now at Stilton, to 
 march in pursuit of the King. 
 
 The alarms had brought a remarkable congestion of troops 
 into Cambridge, and distant Essex, as well as Norfolk and 
 Suffolk, came out handsomely, as appears by letter from 
 the Earl of Warwick. " Upon this alarm of the enemy's 
 coming to Huntingdon, I drew up all the forces of Essex, 
 being 6000 Foot and 900 Horse, as also 4000 Foot and 
 500 Horse came out of Suffolk for the guard of Cambridge 
 and the Isle of Ely." As soon as it was found that the 
 King was marching away, most of this large body of men 
 were dismissed to their homes, excepting 1,100 horse kept 
 in the Fens to keep in the ' Newarkers * in the absence of 
 Colonel Rossiter, who afterwards returned into Lincolnshire. 
 
 Among those who were carried off by the King's party 
 were William Clerk and Trice Heme of Godmanchester. 
 They had neglected to pay the fee farm rents to His 
 Majesty ; had paid them apparently to the Parliamentary 
 sequestrators instead. So when His Majesty came that 
 way he claimed his own, and in default carried off the two 
 farmers prisoners to Oxford, their neighbours promising to 
 relieve them ; but they remained in Oxford for fourteen weeks, 
 when they petitioned the King, setting forth that not only 
 had their townsmen not kept their promise, but that the 
 Huntingdon Committee "being earnestly solicited for your 
 petitioners enlargement, they declare that your petitioners 
 shall rott in prison here in Oxford before they will consent 
 to any proposition for their relief and release, and threatened 
 the messenger that if he came again they would lay him 
 by the heeles. Soe that now your petitioners are in a most 
 miserable condition, being destitute of all means of sub- 
 sistence and present livelihood in regard they are farre 
 remote from friends and acquaintances, besides their own 
 wife and children at home ready to perish by reason of your 
 petitioners long absence." ^ 
 
 * Carew Transcripts, Public Record Office. 
 
222 East Anglia and the 
 
 An interesting sidelight upon the terror which the approach 
 of the King's army occasioned at Cambridge is afforded 
 by the narrative of a University student named Matthew- 
 Robinson, whose adventures were characteristic of the times. 
 At the beginning of June he had started from Hull to 
 make his way to Cambridge. Crossing Lincolnshire, he was 
 pursued, and had a narrow escape from the Newark Cavaliers. 
 He made his way to Spalding, and thence to the garrison 
 of Crowland. Here he was kindly received by the Governor 
 (Colonel Dodson), but was put into mean quarters, in which 
 the gnats and the 'hummers' swarmed, so that he left 
 'thousands of them upon his bed.' Next morning he 
 quitted Crowland for Peterborough, and travelling thence 
 to Huntingdon reached Cambridge on June 9, and was 
 entered at St. John's College. The news of the King's 
 arrival and the fighting at Huntingdon alarmed all Cam- 
 bridge and the University, towards which the King was 
 believed to be marching. In the flight which ensued, 
 members of Colleges could be seen ' two and three on 
 a horse,' and others 'footed it' to places of greater safety 
 with friends. Among them young Robinson and a com- 
 panion took to flight again through the marshes, where 
 even Crowland with its gnats and 'hummers' would have 
 been a welcome refuge. But there had gone forth a summons 
 for all ' the country ' to come in for the defence of Cam- 
 bridge, and the fugitive academicians met the ' rude rabble,' 
 who, taunting them with their cowardice, made some of 
 them turn back. Young Robinson saw his companion beaten, 
 and he himself was taken back to Cambridge. Making the 
 best of it, he offered his services to the Governor of the 
 Castle, who armed him with sword, firelock, and bandoliers. 
 Here he did night duty, and 'in the morning stole into the 
 College with his gown, none knowing his new adventure,' 
 until the King's forces had disappeared. Young Robinson 
 lived to be a Fellow of St. John's.^ 
 
 The bustling incident which had brought from 10,000 to 
 
 * "Life of Matthew Robinson, written by himself"; see "Cambridge in 
 the Seventeenth Century," by Professor Mayor, p. 18 et seq. 
 
Great Civil War. 223 
 
 12,000 men into Cambridge from Suffolk and Essex was 
 a serious demand upon those counties while it lasted. The 
 Suffolk Committee complained to Parliament that they had 
 had to pledge their own individual credit for ;^5,ooo before 
 this, and now by this last alarm it was doubled. 
 
 While this little byplay was being enacted in the Fens 
 the great tragedy of the war was moving on in the West, 
 where Cromwell, Montague, Desborough, Pickering, and the 
 rest of the Ironsides were engaged in storming Royalist 
 strongholds. Bristol was stormed and taken in September, 
 and Prince Rupert marched out under the necessity of 
 asking for the loan of a thousand muskets to assist in 
 escorting and protecting him in his march across country 
 to Oxford. Winchester fell at the beginning of October, 
 and then at last stubborn old Basing House, near Basingstoke, 
 the fortified Royalist stronghold, with a circumvallation 
 of ' above a mile in compass,' the house itself, ' fit to make 
 an Emperor's Court,' and furnished with provisions 'for 
 some years, rather than months ' ; it was a great prize for 
 the Parliamentary soldiers. Other garrisons fell, one after 
 another, until at the end of the year 1645 the King was 
 beaten at all points in the field, whatever might be his 
 prospects with diplomacy and the Church. A few garrisons 
 still held out, including sturdy old Newark, to which the 
 King returned once more. Here, too. Prince Rupert repaired 
 to justify himself to the King over the loss of Bristol ; the 
 ill-feeling between uncle and nephew was patched up ; and 
 the King, amidst divided counsels, was drifting into the 
 perplexing condition of not knowing from day to day with 
 which party in the State and the Church it would be safest 
 to throw in his lot for the future. 
 
 Newark still held out, calling for a levy of 4,500 foot out 
 of the Associated Counties in the month of November for 
 besieging the place. The Huntingdonshire people, learning 
 that the King intended to keep his winter quarters at Newark, 
 were anxious about the constant danger to their county, and 
 set to work making impassable ' all the fords upon the Ouse 
 from Earith to Emsburie [? Eynesbury], and made draw- 
 bridges at St. Ives, Huntingdon, and St. Neots.' 
 
224 East Anglia and the 
 
 December 7 was, by order of Parliament, kept throughout 
 the Eastern Counties as ' a day of Public Thanksgiving unto 
 God for his singular mercies in preserving the said Counties 
 so graciously from the fury and violence of the Enemy.' ^ 
 
 When, in the month of April, 1646, His Majesty was 
 placed in the dilemma at Oxford of almost equal risk of 
 being taken prisoner by the Parliamentary forces whether 
 he stayed or fled, and was sorely beset as to his future 
 movements — whether he should go to London and make 
 peace with the Independents or fly to the Scotch army at 
 Newark and accept Presbyterianism — there began, perhaps, 
 one of the most romantic adventures of a strangely adven- 
 turous time. Twice the King had passed through Cambs 
 and Hunts during the opening months of the strife, and 
 again after his defeat at Naseby, But of all the eventful 
 marches of the King the strangest was that which was to 
 bring him again into the region of the Fens, a fugitive in 
 disguise. 
 
 Starting out of Oxford at three o'clock in the morning 
 on April 27, 1646, to escape from the tightening grip of the 
 armies under Fairfax, Whalley, and Fleetwood, His Majesty, 
 having cut ofl" his hair and beard and assumed the disguise 
 of a servant to his sole companions, John Ashburnham, 
 Groom to his Bedchamber, and Michael Hudson, his " plain 
 dealing chaplain," commenced one of the most humiliating 
 journeys that any king ever had to undertake. Performing 
 the menial office of carrying the cloak bag of his two 
 companions. His Majesty took the risk of facing the decree 
 which had gone forth from Parliament — that " in case the 
 King shall, contrary to the advice of the Houses of Parlia- 
 ment already given to him, come, or attempt to come, within 
 the lines of communication, that then the Committee of the 
 Militia of London shall have power, and are hereby enjoined 
 to ... . apprehend and secure such as shall come with 
 him, and to secure his person." 
 
 Finding no friend to welcome him as he drew near to 
 London, His Majesty, after a three hours' rest, turned into 
 Hertfordshire by way of Harrow-on-the-Hill. 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War. 225 
 
 " About two of the clock we took a guide towards Barnet, 
 resolving to cross the roads into Essex. But after we were 
 past Harrow-on-the-Hill, I told the King, if he were not 
 known much in St. Albans Road it was much the nearer 
 way to go through St. Albans and thence towards Royston, 
 which he approved of. And so we passed through St. Albans, 
 where one old man with an halberd asked us whence we came. 
 I told him from the Parliament, and threw him sixpence, 
 and so passed. After we had rid a mile a gentleman well 
 horsed came galloping after us very fast, which put us in 
 some doubt that we had been discovered in St. Albans. 
 But, they two turning aside, I turned my horse to meet him, 
 and saluting him found him very drunk, and so to avoid 
 his company turned up another way till he was passed ; and 
 after went to Westhampstead, where we lodged that night." ' 
 
 At whose house the disguised King slept at Wheathamp- 
 stead at the end of the weary journey is not very clear. 
 The probability is that it was at Lamer Park, the seat of 
 Sir John Garrard, of which I have written further detail 
 elsewhere.^ In the examination of Michael Hudson, he adds 
 that the " firste nighte when they wente from Oxford and 
 lay at Withamstede the King helde out well .... that 
 the King lay in a grande chamber and Mr. Ashburnham and 
 I lay together." ^ 
 
 " Next morning took horse at day-break and went towards 
 Baldocke, and, as we rid upon the way, it was resolved that 
 I should go directlie away towards Southwell, and the King 
 and Mr. Ashburnham towards Norfolk, and stay at the White 
 Swan at Downham till I came back to them." * 
 
 At Graveley, between Stevenage and Baldock, Dr. Hudson 
 left the King and Mr. Ashburnham to pursue their journey 
 into the Fens, while he went to the French Ambassador at 
 Southwell. After passing through Royston the King and 
 Mr. Ashburnham " took up their residence on Tuesday night 
 at a small village within seven miles of Newmarket, and at 
 
 * Examination of Michael Hudson : Peck's ** Desiderata Curiosa," lib. ix, p. 21. 
 
 * ** Hertfordshire during the Civil War," p. 62. 
 » MSS. at Welbeck Abbey. 
 
 * Peck, •* Desiderata Curiosa," lib. ix, p. 21. 
 
 15 
 
2 26 East Anglia and the 
 
 a common inn (I should rather suppose an alehouse) there. 
 Qr. whether at Botsham ? " ^ 
 
 The next stage of their journey was by way of Brandon 
 to Downham, in Norfolk, where they lodged at the Swan. 
 While the King and Ashburnham were at Downham, Hudson 
 was with the French Ambassador at Southwell. On Friday, 
 May I, he returned to the King and Ashburnham with the 
 proposals from the Scots ; and while the three were hesitating 
 whether to proceed further by sea or by land " the Newes 
 Books," or news-letters, actually arrived in Norfolk, giving 
 accounts of the King's flight from Oxford in the habit of 
 a servant. In order to escape discovery, it therefore became 
 necessary for His Majesty to change his character. So they 
 got him a black cassock, and the King * bought a new hat 
 proper at Downham,' and it was decided that he should 
 assume the guise of a clergyman. Then, going to have his 
 hair trimmed into a little better shape, the King had Mike 
 to be discovered by a barber who said their hayres were cut 
 with a knife,' and that 'the barber who last trimmed him was 
 much to blame for it.' Altogether it was a sorry May-day 
 for the Royal fugitive. 
 
 On Saturday morning,. May 2, they left Downham and 
 went to the adjoining village of Crimplesham, a mile distant, 
 where in a little alehouse the King changed his garb into 
 that of a clergyman. Dr. Hudson rode back to Downham 
 to see if he could find a vessel to carry them by sea north- 
 wards, but he could find none. Having met a Mr. Ralph 
 Skipworth, a Royalist, Hudson exchanged horses with 
 Skipworth, who gave him ' a gray horseman's coat for the 
 doctor, as he called the King,' and directed him the way 
 through the Fens. The party then resumed their journey 
 to Southrie Ferry, and thence to Ely, Erith, Stukely (Hunts), 
 and to the village of Coppingford, near Stilton, where they 
 arrived at ten o'clock on Saturday night, and stayed there 
 
 * MS. narrative in possession of General Cherry- Garrard at Lamer Park, Herts. 
 
 The daily record of the King's journeyings — *' Iter Carolinum, being a succinct 
 relation of the necessitated marches, retreats, and sufferings of his Majesty Charles 
 the First from the loth of January, 1641, until the time of his death, 1648 "—stops 
 short at this interesting journey of the King, and gives no clue to the places at 
 which he stayed. 
 
Great Civil War. 227 
 
 for the night and on Sunday. One of the most interesting 
 glimpses of how the King and his two companions fared in 
 this romantic journey, is afforded by the following local 
 reference to this Sunday spent in concealment at Coppingford, 
 which occurs in Hudson's confessions.^ 
 
 "We lay at Copingforde in Huntingdonshire, one Sunday 
 3 May. Wente not to church, but I reade prayers to the 
 
 King, and at six at nighte we wente to Stamforde 
 
 I writte from Copingforde to Mr. Skipworth for a horse, and 
 he sente me one which was broughte to me at Stamforde. 
 . . . . At Copingforde the King and me with my hoste 
 and hostis and two children, were by the fire in the hall ; 
 there was noe other chimney in the house." ^ 
 
 At Coppingford they were joined by John Brown, a Royalist 
 publican of St. Ives, Hunts, who had already served them 
 at Oxford, and who went on before them to Stamford to 
 arrange for their quarters there. Travelling in the twilight 
 and the darkness on that Sunday evening, the King and his 
 companions reached Stamford at a late hour. Here they 
 stayed for the night, and all the next day, either at Mr. Cave's 
 house, a Royalist, well known to the King, or at the house 
 of Mr. Wolph, a Royalist, formerly an Alderman of Stamford ; 
 for there are two references, each different, which can perhaps 
 only be reconciled by assuming that the King did go to 
 Mr. Cave's house but found reason to shift his quarters to 
 Mr. Wolph's. 
 
 In the further confessions of Michael Hudson, shortly after 
 the King's journey had brought him with the Scots to 
 Newcastle, Hudson says that the King "was at noe gentle- 
 man's house but Mr. Cave's in Stamforde in all his journey. 
 Mr. Cave knew the King and Mr. Ashburnham. He hath 
 been a prisoner most times (?)." ^ 
 
 * Portland MSS., Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., 13, App., pt. i, vol. i, passim. 
 
 * See the confused attempt, as to dates, in Peckard's " Memoirs of Nicholas 
 Ferrar " (p. 277), to show that the King visited Little Gidding. He may have 
 called there the same night, and have been thence directed by Mr. John Ferrar to 
 Coppingford, close by, for better concealment than a Royalist family and a public 
 place like Little Gidding would afford ; but there was no actual stay at the famous 
 ' Nunnery ' which had welcomed the King and irritated the Puritans in other dajrs. 
 
 3 Portland MSS. 
 
228 East Anglia and the 
 
 On the other hand, Stukeley gives a very particular account 
 of the King's arrival and stay at the house of Mr. Wolph, 
 at Barnhill, in Stamford, where Mr. Wolph had been a large 
 farmer. He states that the King and his companions entered 
 by the gate through the wall of the town, and by this means 
 avoided the bridge and the town ; that here the King " lay 
 in the chamber over the Hall, then the best chamber, and his 
 most faithful guard Dr. Hudson lay in a little chamber next 
 it with a stucco floor." Hudson's statement about Mr. Cave's 
 house was not known to Stukeley, for it was lying buried away 
 in a cupboard at Welbeck Abbey in the undeciphered portion 
 of the Nalson Collection at the time Stukeley wrote.^ Still, 
 the narrative of Stukeley rests upon solid ground, for he was 
 at a later time the purchaser of, and lived in. Alderman 
 Wolph's house in Stamford, and received a personal narrative 
 of the King's visit from Mr. Wolph's grandson, " who told 
 him that his father was introduced into the King's presence, 
 and that he had frequently heard his father relate this." 
 The recently discovered statement of Hudson is consistent 
 with the theory that the King may have visited Mr. Cave's 
 but found it safer to go to Mr. Wolph's.^ 
 
 At any rate, at Stamford they stayed for that night, and 
 all day on Monday until eleven o'clock at night, when, 
 travelling again in the darkness to Southwell, they came 
 to the Scots army before Newark on Tuesday morning, 
 May 5, after a strange pilgrimage of nine days, ever at 
 the risk of being discovered. The King stated that he 
 had passed through seven of the Parliament's garrisons and 
 guards .... and was known in several places, 'but 
 by such as he called honest men,' and that at one place 
 he was desired to haste away because a warrant was gone 
 forth to apprehend them. 
 
 When the news - letters brought into Norfolk the 
 intelligence of the King's escape, there was great activity 
 among the Parliament men, but the King had the start 
 
 ^ Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., 13, App., pt. i, vol. i, Preface. 
 
 * For Stukeley's account see "The Family Memoirs of the Rev. William 
 Stukeley, M.D.,^' vol. iii, App., pp. 456-7. 
 
 Mr. Wolph's house is now owned and occupied by J. E. Atter, Esq., Town 
 Clerk of Stamford. 
 
Great Civil War. 229 
 
 of them, and had left Downham before Colonel Valentine 
 Walton, Governor of King's Lynn, and Mr. Miles Corbett 
 of Yarmouth, now Recorder of Lynn, had got any definite 
 clue. They, however, set to work vigorously examining 
 witnesses. They summoned into Lynn the constables of 
 the surrounding parishes to give in the results of their 
 hue and cry after the fugitive King, and to bring in witnesses 
 from Royalist houses in the neighbourhood.^ The following 
 certificate of their labours was afterwards sent up to 
 Parliament : — 
 
 "Miles Corbet and Valentine Walton to William Lenthall, 
 Esq., touching the adventures of K. Charles I and Dr. Hud.son 
 in Norfolk. 
 
 "To the Honorable William Lenthall, Esq., Speaker of 
 the House of Commons. Haste, Haste, post haste. 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Since our coming to Lynn we have done what service 
 we were able. We have taken some examinations, and it 
 doth appear to us that Mr. Hudson, the person that came 
 from Oxford with the King, was at Downham, in Norfolk, 
 with two other gentlemen, upon Thursday the last of April. 
 We cannot yet learn where they were Friday night, but 
 Saturday morning. May 2, they came to a blind alehouse at 
 Crimplesham, about eight miles from Lynn ; from thence 
 Mr. Hudson did ride on Saturday to Downham again, and 
 there two soldiers met with him, and had private speech with 
 him. Hudson was then in a scarlet coat. There he met with 
 Mr. Ralph Skipwith of his former acquaintance, and with 
 him he did exchange his horse, and Skipwith and the said 
 Hudson did ride to Southrie Ferrie, a private way to go 
 towards Ely, and went by the way to Crimplesham, and 
 there were the other two, one in a parson's habit, which by 
 all description was the King. Hudson procured the said 
 
 * There is a tradition at Hunstanton Hall that the place was searched for the 
 King, and the following entry in Sir Hamon le Strange's household accounts is 
 worth reprixlucing : "June 1646, to Markant and Constable for their charges 
 at Linn when Mr. Miles Corbett did send for my sonnes and them to examine 
 if Kinge Charles had been at our house . . . . 6j. 2</." — Household Accounts 
 at Hunstanton Hall, per Hamon le Strange, Esq. 
 
230 East Anglia and the 
 
 Skipwith to get a gray coat for the Dr. (as he called the 
 King), which he did, and there the King put off his black 
 coat and long cassock, and put on Mr. Skipwith his gray 
 coat. The King bought a new hat at Downham, and on 
 Saturday went into the Isle of Ely. Wherever they came, 
 they were very private, and always writing. Hudson tore 
 some papers when they went out of the house. Hudson did 
 enquire for a ship to go to the north or Newcastle, but could 
 get none. We hear at the same time there were 6 soldiers 
 and officers, as is thought, at Oxborough, at another blind 
 alehouse. 
 
 " Mr. Skipwith hath offered himself freely to us, and made 
 a free discovery to us. We have committed him to the 
 Mayor of this town, and have taken his examination, which 
 is very long ; only thought it fit to give you this short account 
 hereof We find this town and the parts (neighbouring) 
 ready enough to obey your commands." ^ 
 
 John Brown,2 an innkeeper of St. Ives, was one of the 
 witnesses examined. Brown had been in Oxford during 
 the Winter, and on Saturday, May 2, came from Melton 
 to Coppingford. He states that he went on before the King 
 and Mr. Hudson on Sunday evening to Stamford, and lodged 
 at the ' Falcon,' ^ but that the King lodged at a gentleman's 
 house whose name he knew not. He went with the King, 
 carried his linen, and made his bed, and went with His 
 Majesty to Newcastle. 
 
 There is another incident connecting Brown with the 
 service of the King, and also the friendship of Mr. Cave, of 
 Stamford, with the King. In the next year (May, 1647) 
 Brown was again at Stamford, charged with the task of 
 getting to the King at Holmby a letter in cipher from Ash- 
 burnham, who was then at The Hague. Mrs. Mary Cave, 
 daughter of Mr. Cave, of Stamford, undertook the delicate 
 
 ^^ Peck's "Desiderata Curiosa," lib. ix, p. 8. 
 This John Brown was servant to Ashburnham, and states that he had entered 
 his service November 24, 1642, and had been " solely employed in the receipt and 
 payment of such moneys as came to my master's hands for his Majesty's use."— 
 Ashburnham 's Narrative, Appendix, p. 37. 
 
 ^ Now the * Red Lion ' in the High Street. 
 
Great Civil War. 231 
 
 task. By the good offices of a friend living at Holmby, she 
 obtained the interest of the landlady where Captain Abbott, 
 one of the King's guards, lodged, and upon the plea of 
 seeking the honour of kissing the King's hand she thus 
 obtained the assistance of the Captain himself Unfortunately 
 for her sex, the landlady could not keep the secret, but told her 
 husband of the real object ; her husband told Captain Abbott, 
 he told the Commissioners, and the Commissioners arranged 
 for the reception of Mrs. Mary Cave. On the day appointed, 
 she arrived at the King's quarters at Holmby, was ushered 
 into a room, and waited for the honour of seeing the King ! 
 Instead of this some ladies came into the room, and com- 
 menced to search Mrs. Cave, who, however, contrived, while 
 standing back to the wall, to slip the letter behind the 
 hangings. The expected letter could not be found upon 
 her, and she was taken before the Commissioners and 
 examined. She frankly admitted that Brown came to her 
 house at Stamford, " a fortnight or three weeks since," with 
 a petition from Mr. Ashburnham which he desired her to 
 deliver to His Majesty, but not that she consented to do so, 
 or that she had come to Holmby for that purpose.^ A few 
 days afterwards the letter was accidentally discovered behind 
 the hangings, and according to the Perfect Diurnal of the 
 same date, which says it was a letter from the Queen to the 
 King, ' Lady Cave was committed to the care of the Mayor 
 of Northampton.' 
 
 There are other passing references to the straits the 
 King was put to in order to maintain the secrecy of his 
 journey to the Scots army before Newark. Lord Bellasize, 
 who was commanded by the King to give up Newark, says 
 that he knew of the King's intention to come to Newark 
 before he came, and of his coming to Southwell. " A letter 
 of the King's purpos to goe thither came in a man's belly. 
 He swallowed it in a billet and voided it twice." ^ 
 
 Concerning the King's stay in disguise at Downham, 
 Stukeley gives the following in his diary under date 1746: — 
 
 ' Ashburnham's Narrative, vol. ii, pp. 167, 171, 172. 
 2 Portland MSS. 
 
232 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 "The Rev. Mr. Shipley, of Downham, visited me. He 
 says the * White Swan ' Inn remains there, and they have 
 a perfect memory of King Charles I. lying there in 1646 : 
 there is some of the King's handwriting on a quarry of 
 glass remaining in a window ; and a walk by the town side 
 called the * King's Walk,' from his walk from there whilst 
 waiting for Dr. Hudson's return from Southwell, where he 
 went to make a bargain for the King's coming to the Scots." ^ 
 
 * Stukeley Memoirs, iii, 30. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 THE ARMY, THE PARLIAMENT, AND THE KING. 
 
 (1647.) 
 
 THE year 1647 did not commence hopefully. The 
 War had spent itself, garrisons had been 'slighted,' 
 the Scots had been ' paid out ' and crossed the 
 border, but the solution for which peaceable men daily prayed 
 was a long way off. The great unpaid army under Fairfax 
 was in no mood to disband until it got its pay ; and as it drew 
 nearer to the City of London and did not hesitate to organize 
 machinery of its own for making its voice heard, the fears 
 of many that there might be even war between the Parliament 
 and the Army which it had created were not quite groundless. 
 The Army was not needed at home, might be dangerous to 
 keep up, and Parliament suggested the plan of sending 12,000 
 of them to Ireland, and the rest to be disbanded. 
 
 On March 11, the Justices of the Peace and Deputy- 
 Lieutenants of Essex, in a petition to Parliament, represented 
 " how inconvenient it will be for so great an army to lay out 
 their quarters so near the Parliament .... which 
 makes us fear there is some design for an awing influence 
 upon the proceedings of Parliament." They beg, now that 
 God hath delivered them out of the hands of their enemies, 
 that they may not be " eaten up, enslaved, and destroyed by 
 an army raised for our defence, and that the army may be 
 sent to Ireland for the recovery of that Kingdom." ^ 
 
 ^ Lords' Journals. 
 
2 34 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 But the Army clamoured for its pay — "horse and 
 dragooners, forty-three weeks in arrear with their pay ; foot 
 and train, eighteen weeks in arrear." In all, ;^33i,ooo was 
 due to the Army. Parliament's promise to pay by monthly 
 instalments, or by so much cash down, and the rest in 
 debentures, found little acceptance ; and with the head- 
 quarters of the Army as near as Saffron Walden, and the 
 various regiments quartered in various parts of the Eastern 
 Counties on the main roads to London, the outlook, between 
 Presbyterians in the City and Parliament, and Independents 
 in the Army, was ominous. 
 
 On March 12, Fairfax visited Cambridge, and besides being 
 * highly caressed,' and having a * Latin oration made to him 
 by a Fellow of Trinity College who had been a souldier in 
 his regiment,' he was presented with ' a rich Bible,' and with 
 *a sumptuous banquet' He was made a Master of Arts, 
 and the Town also ' entertained him with a stately banquet' ^ 
 
 On Sunday, March 21, the Parliamentary Commissioners, 
 who had been sent down to Saffron Walden to induce the 
 Army to volunteer for service in Ireland, met a conference of 
 forty-three officers in Saffron Walden Church, over which 
 Fairfax presided. The officers, before promising anything, 
 required definite answers to certain questions — what regiments 
 were to remain at home, who were to command those who 
 went, and what security for pay and indemnity for acts done 
 in the war was to be given. A second conference was held 
 next day, Monday, March 22, but, instead of volunteering for 
 Ireland, the Army set about a petition to Parliament The 
 Commissioners took offence, Parliament was shocked by this 
 boldness, and even Cromwell did not approve of dictating 
 to Parliament, whose commands for disbanding he had 
 pledged the Army to obey. Colonel Wogan's narrative in 
 the Clarke Papers gives this account of the Conference : — 
 
 " Our General commanded that all our officers should 
 meete in the greate church at Saffron Walden to hear what 
 the Commissioners had to say unto us. The general with 
 
 ^ *' Item, for six pottles of wine for ye banquet to Sir Tho. Fairfax, ;^oo. 13. 04. 
 Item to Mr. Bryan for a banquet for Sir Thomas Fairfax, £o(). 06. 00."— 
 Cambridge Borough Accounts, 1647. Printed in Cooper's ' ' Annals of Cambridge. " 
 
Great Civil War, 235 
 
 the Commissioners came into the church, which was almost 
 full. The general [Fairfax] made a shorte speech, told 
 us how Parliament and the Kingdom were obliged to us 
 for our faythful services, and desired they that would goe 
 
 for Ireland to give in their names Then Cromwell 
 
 stoode up and made a long grave speech in behalf of 
 Parliament, first to give the Army thanks for their never- 
 to-be-forgotten services .... that he would gladly 
 trayle a picke in that war of Ireland, and therefore desired 
 us to consider what a holy war that was, and that it was 
 a noble thing for us all that were young men to engage 
 for that Kingdom." 
 
 At this point Captain Reynolds, Chairman of the 
 Agitators, stood up for the grievances of the soldiers, upon 
 which the same authority says that " Cromwell took on 
 like a madman, and declared openly in the church that 
 all those that had a hand in that remonstrance were enemies 
 of the Parliament." The author of this partizan account, 
 in fact a hostile witness, suggests that Cromwell's anger 
 was only ' pretended fury,' but the more reasonable assumption 
 is that Cromwell thought it better to accept the terms than 
 run the risk of a new war. 
 
 On April 15 new Commissioners, Sir William Waller 
 and others, were sent down to Saffron Walden to renew the 
 efforts to induce the Army to volunteer for Ireland. Fairfax 
 frankly and honourably declined the suggestion to put any 
 pressure upon the soldiers ; if it were a question of 
 volunteering it was a case for ' free discussion.' In the 
 afternoon the Commissioners met a conference in Saffron 
 Walden Church of 2CO officers, only to meet with the same 
 pertinent questions as before. When the question of officers 
 was being discussed some one in the church blurted out why 
 could not they be allowed to go under their old commanders, 
 and instantly the cry rang round the church, " All ! all ! 
 Fairfax and Cromwell and we all go ! " The meeting broke 
 up with only a few volunteering for Ireland. 
 
 Some of the Essex clergy tried to get up petitions in their 
 parishes in favour of the Army being disbanded, but as a set- 
 off John Lilburne, "free born John," a prisoner in the Tower, 
 
236 East Anglia and the 
 
 who was in sympathy with the fiery spirits in the Army, found 
 means of communicating with them, and there appeared an 
 anonymous pamphlet attributed to Lilburne — " A new found 
 Stratagem, framed in the old forge of mechiavalism, and put 
 upon the inhabitants of the county of Essex." The writer 
 urged that no relief was to be expected from Presbyterianism, 
 and as they must have an army they might have a worse, 
 and asked : " Whose poultry hath this army destroyed ? 
 Whose goods have they spoiled, or whose sheep or calves 
 have they stolen?" 
 
 With the distrust of Parliament which was arising, there 
 were rumours of a movement in the Army towards restoring 
 the King ; that the Army had sent a petition to the King, 
 asking him to come there and 'they would set the crown 
 on his head ' ; and that the servant of the Duke of Buckingham 
 rode post-haste into the north, scattering copies of the alleged 
 papers as he went, and ' desiring the postmasters at Royston 
 and Huntingdon to publish it for the truth.' ^ It was further 
 reported that 'some of the foot about Cambridgeshire give 
 out that they will go for Holmby and fetch the King, which 
 gives much offence and scandal.' 
 
 Mr. S. R. Gardiner ("Civil War," vol. iii, p. 52) quotes the 
 following letter from Suffolk : — " The soldiers both in Norfolk 
 and Suffolk sing one note, namely, that they have fought all 
 this time to bring the King to London, and to London 
 they will bring the King ; some of the soldiers do not stick 
 to call the Parliament men tyrants. Lilburne's books are 
 quoted by them as statute law." 
 
 The Parliamentary newspapers indignantly denied an 
 insinuation that the Army contained 4,000 Cavaliers, and 
 declared that only one of the commissioned officers was 
 ever on the King's side ; and as to the common soldiers, 
 they had fought in desperate engagements for Parliament. 
 On the other hand. Sir William Waller declared that when 
 he and the other Commissioners were at Saffron Walden 
 a 'grave minister' of 'a poor contry village' in Suffolk, on 
 the borders of Cambridgeshire, informed them that of twenty 
 
 * Perfect Diurnal. 
 
Great Civil War, 237 
 
 soldiers quartered in his parish, nineteen had been in actual 
 service against the Parliament* 
 
 On May 7, Skippon, Cromwell, Ireton, and Fleetwood 
 were sent down to quiet the distempers in the Army. A 
 conference of the officers in Saffron Walden Church on that 
 day set in motion a new system of ventilating grievances. 
 The officers were directed to collect the views of the common 
 soldiers. The latter at once set about the business of 
 electing their delegates — ajutators or agitators ^ — two from 
 every troop or company, and out of these a further selection 
 was made, two or more from each regiment as spokesmen 
 to lay their views before the officers. The rank and file 
 of the Army was thus organized on the lines of a modern 
 trades' union. 
 
 On Saturday, May 15, the spacious aisles of the parish 
 church at Saffron Walden once more resounded with the 
 clanking of swords, when upwards of 200 officers and 
 a certain number of representatives of the private soldiers 
 assembled for the convention at which the officers were 
 to report the views of their regiments scattered over the 
 Eastern Counties. The scene must have been a brilliant 
 and impressive one. 
 
 Skippon, the veteran soldier, bearing the scars of Naseby 
 fight, presided, and opened the proceedings in conciliatory 
 tone — " Gentlemen, fellow soldiers, and Christian friends " — 
 and, proceeding, he expressed the hope that the officers had 
 "soe Christian-like, soe judiciously, soe impartially, soe 
 faithfully discharged your duties as wee shall receive a very 
 good account from you in relation to these things." The 
 debate was, however, a stormy one, and did not end that day. 
 
 The great "Convention" reassembled in the church on 
 Sunday. The speeches were sometimes loudly applauded 
 and sometimes provoked angry signs of dissent. The veteran 
 Skippon found it necessary to intervene with such words as — 
 " I am sorry to observe that there should be such disagree- 
 ment between you " — " I pray speake with moderation, or 
 
 > Waller's "Vindication," p. 120. 
 
 * The term should be understood not as incendiaries, but as agents to act 
 for others. 
 
238 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 else be silent!"^ After sitting until a late hour Skippon 
 wound up the stormy debate with a conciliatory speech, 
 and "soe good night." As a result of it all, the next 
 day the " Declaration of the Army " was drawn up and 
 signed by 223 officers and sent up to Parliament. Its 
 main purpose was to ask for more definite proposals for 
 paying arrears. 
 
 The Commissioners reported to Parliament that they found 
 "the Army under a deep sense of some sufferings, and 
 the common soldiers much unsettled." The soldiers were, 
 in fact, now fairly on strike, and the problem for Parliament 
 was, whether it was prepared to redress their grievances or 
 face an open quarrel with armed force. On May 25, the 
 House resolved upon a disbanding of all the forces that 
 would not go to Ireland. Fairfax's own regiment was to 
 disband at Chelmsford on June i ; those who volunteered 
 for Ireland were to march to Ingatestone, and receive two 
 months' arrears of pay and a fortnight's pay in advance ; 
 those who did not volunteer were to deposit their arms in 
 the church, receiving the two months' arrears, and have 
 passes to go to their homes. Similar orders were passed 
 respecting the other regiments, for disbanding at Bishop 
 Stortford, Saffron Walden, Cambridge, Newmarket, Hunting- 
 don, Bedford. 
 
 Simultaneously with these measures there was a movement 
 in the City for organizing its Militia, which increased the 
 ill-feeling of the Army towards Parliament. From Bury St. 
 Edmunds the ' agitators * issued a circular letter to the various 
 regiments—" Fellow souldiers, the summe of all this is, if you 
 doe but stand and not accept of anything, nor doe anything 
 without the concent of the whole army, you will doe good to 
 
 yourselves, your officers, and the whole Kingdom 
 
 Resolve neither to take monie nor march from one another, 
 but lett all your actions be joyn'd ; and if any orders should 
 come to your particular regiments to march from the rest of 
 
 ^ Clarke Papers. — Sir William Waller declares that " the debate grew so high 
 that affronts passed between them, and there was a cry of * withdraw ! ' which 
 if it had taken effect would have produced a bloody issue among them." — 
 " Vindication," p. 1 17. 
 
Great Civil War. 239 
 
 the army, march not while you have consulted the rest of the 
 army."^ 
 
 On Saturday, May 29, a council of war was held at Bury 
 St. Edmunds, at which 200 officers were present. The 
 agitators, speaking for ten regiments of horse and six of foot, 
 presented a petition to Fairfax, begging him to appoint a 
 general rendezvous, and to use his endeavours against 
 disbanding before their grievances were heard and fully 
 redressed, which the Council agreed to do. Another Army 
 news-letter from Bury at the same time declared — "the 
 more they stirre to disunite the more we are cemented. 
 A committee is appointed to come down on Tuesday next 
 to disband the General's regiment. They may as well send 
 them among soe many beares to take away their whelps." ^ 
 
 The Commissioners, however, set out upon their hopeless 
 errand, travelling to Chelmsford on Monday, May 31, with 
 ^7,000, strongly guarded by a convoy of horse, for the 
 appointed disbanding of Fairfax's own regiment. On their 
 arrival they found the soldiers had revolted, and marched 
 away for the general rendezvous at Newmarket appointed 
 by the Council of Officers at Bury. On Tuesday morning 
 Colonel Jackson and Major Gooday were sent after them, 
 and overtaking about 1,000 of them at Braintree, the soldiers 
 greeted them with, " there come our enemies ! " and when 
 the votes of Parliament were read, the soldiers retorted — 
 "What doe you, bringing your twopenny pamphlets to us?" 
 Taking their waggons and ammunition, they ' marched away 
 towards Halstead and Heveningham, where they quartered 
 for the night, and next day were to be at Sudbury and 
 Lavenham.' 
 
 If this were done in the green tree what could be expected 
 in the dry ? If the General's own regiment could not be 
 disbanded, would any attempt at Bishop Stortford, Saffion 
 Walden, Cambridge, and Huntingdon be more likely to 
 succeed ? The Commissioners, finding their first effi)rts fail 
 in attempting to separate the Army by drafting each regiment 
 to a widely distant rendezvous, went back to Parliament, 
 
 1 Clarke Papers, i, 87-8. * Clarke Tapers, i, 108-11. 
 
240 East Anglia and the 
 
 leaving the various regiments of the Army drawing nearer 
 together in spirit and in person. In fact, the state of things 
 was daily getting nearer to two Parliaments —one at West- 
 minster, wrangling with the City Guards and apprentices 
 about its doors, and that of the Army, drawing together in 
 the field, each with an eye upon the other, and the King 
 with an eye upon both, watching to see if they would not 
 extirpate one another. 
 
 In the event of a conflict, Parliament saw the im- 
 portance of securing the train of artillery now for the most 
 part at Oxford, and, while secretly negotiating with France 
 and Scotland and for carrying off the King from Holmby, 
 sent a force to Oxford. But the soldiers on arrival were 
 opposed by the garrison, who fought them in the streets ; 
 and before Parliament knew what was happening, Cornet 
 Joyce, sent down to prevent the seizure of the magazine 
 at Oxford, had got his 500 horse together and marched to 
 Holmby to carry off the King to the Army at Newmarket. 
 
 If Cromwell were responsible for this ^ he probably saw in it 
 a counter-move, the lesser of two evils, and acted accordingly. 
 
 On Friday, June 4, the same day that Cromwell joined 
 the Army at Newmarket, the King came in his coach to 
 Huntingdon, to Hinchinbrook, the residence of Sir Sidney 
 Montague, where His Majesty was 'nobly treated with much 
 honour and affection, as were also the lords and other Com- 
 missioners.' ^ Fairfax, hearing at Newmarket of the King's 
 arrival at Huntingdon, sent Whalley * to induce the King 
 to return.' The King decHned to return, but came to 
 Childerley, * within four miles of Cambridge,' where quarters 
 were taken for him ' at Sir John Cutts his house.' 
 
 The King stayed at Childerley ^ from Saturday, June 5, 
 till Tuesday, June 8, flattered by visits from doctors, scholars, 
 
 * Sir William Waller says : "The egg was laid in Cromwell's own chamber, 
 and brooded between him and Ireton, but they were too wise to cackle," and 
 that "Cornet Joyce was employed as the man to hatch it." — Waller's " Vindica- 
 tion," p. 136. 
 
 * Sir Thomas Herbert's Narrative. — Harl. MSS., 7,396. 
 
 ' There is a tradition handed down at Maddingley Hall that the King while 
 at Childerley escaped and made his way across country to Maddingley, knocked 
 at the door and asked if 'Jack' were in — meaning the then Sir John Cotton — 
 that he was received into the house, wearing over his dress a countryman's 
 
Great Civil War. 241 
 
 and graduates of the Cambridge University, to " most of 
 whom his Majesty was pleased to give his hand to kiss, for 
 which honour they returned humble thanks and * Vivat Rex ! ' " 
 
 In Cambridge, the King's presence so near, and an expected 
 visit from his Majesty, caused great excitement, of which 
 the following news-letter makes graphic note : — 
 
 " Sir, — I believe you are big in expectation of receiving 
 news from these parts. Thus, therefore, the King on 
 Saturday was brought by a very small party, within four 
 miles of this place, and all the noise was that he would 
 be here ; the harbingers in the meantime buying up the 
 whole market. But we (who usually are not taken with 
 the first reports of things) thought not fit to assemble 
 together either in the head or body ; whereas the Mayor 
 and Aldermen (somewhat more credulous) fitted their 
 saddles and foot-cloathes into their horses and had provided 
 a present for his Majesty, which quickly after came as 
 acceptable to his ears as if to his hands. The townfolk 
 in all those streets through which it was conceived he 
 would pass, decked their stalles and windowes with green 
 boughs and whole rosebushes, and the ground all along 
 with rushes and herbs. Rut the King turned aside to my 
 Lady Cutts her house and there yet abides, whither people 
 flow apace to behold him. He is exceeding cheerful, shows 
 himself to all, and commands that no scholler be debarr'd 
 from kissing his hand, and there the Sophs are (as if no 
 further than Barnwell) in their gowns and caps ; it was mirth 
 to see how wett yesterday they were admitted into the 
 presence. .... Then the King had a large table of 
 diet, but this day (I believe) about to have a far greater, for 
 
 smock, and was conducted by a secret staircase to the roofs, when some troopers 
 from Childerley came after him. Before he could escape from the roof he was 
 retaken by the troopers and conveyed back to Childerley. The story, contributed 
 by an esteemed correspondent, Mr. VV. B. Redfein, of Cambridge, seems 
 inconsistent with the condition in which the King was passing his time at 
 Childerley; but it has at least the support of the facts that the King had 
 sympathetic friends at Maddingley, that the tradition has been handed down 
 there to the present time, and that until a few years ago a secret staircase to the 
 roof could still be traced. Possibly the close association of the King with 
 Childerley and the concealment of some Royalist at Maddingley— common 
 incidents of the Civil War -may have got mixed in the tradition. The present 
 Childerley Hall is a modern building, but in rebuilding care was taken to preserve 
 the room in which the King was confined, and a small brass plate records the fact. 
 
 16 
 
242 East Anglia and the 
 
 the General, Lieutenant-General Cromwell and others of the 
 commanders and Council of War are gone to dine with him." ^ 
 
 Fairfax, Cromwell, Ireton, Hammond, Whalley, Rich, 
 and other Officers of the Army went over to Childerley 
 to the King's ' banquet.' There was witnessed the strange 
 scene of the heroes of Marston Moor and Naseby kissing 
 the King's hand ; and the ' King had some discourse with 
 the General, next with Lieut.-General Cromwell, and next 
 with Commissary-General Ireton.' Compliments were passed, 
 and the King * was cares't and everywhere found civility from 
 officers and soldiers.' ^ 
 
 From Childerley the officers returned to Cambridge, all 
 of them highly extolling the .King for his improvement. 
 ' He argues his own and his subjects* case with each of 
 them (one by one) to their no small astonishment' 
 
 The Commissioners refusing to advise either way, and 
 as the King objected to go back to Holmby, but wished to 
 go to Newmarket, Whalley with his two regiments of 
 horse was ordered to accompany His Majesty to New- 
 market ; the rendezvous of the Army being changed to 
 Thriplow Heath, between Cambridge and Royston. The 
 King was not allowed to pass through Cambridge lest the 
 students should cause an uproar, but passed by Trumpington 
 just outside Cambridge, bonfires making up for under- 
 graduates' acclaim. Wednesday, June 9, was kept as a 
 public fast in Cambridge, Fairfax and the officers attending 
 Great St. Mary's Church and hearing four sermons — by 
 Hugh Peters, Dr. Hill, Mr. Saltmarsh, and Mr. Seaman — 
 when ' Providence so ordered it that they all pitcht upon 
 one point, the reconciliation of things in love.' ^ 
 
 Meanwhile new Commissioners, the Earl of Nottingham, 
 Skippon, and others, had been sent down with the votes of 
 Parliament to the Army, and on this June 9 had got as 
 far as Barley, near Royston, whence they wrote ' haste, 
 post haste, with speed ' to the Earl of Manchester, Speaker 
 
 ^ Papers from Cambridge, E. 395 (15), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 2 Sir T. Herbert's Narrative in Harl. MSS. 
 
 ' They did not have the monopoly, however, even with their four sermons, 
 for on the same day ' a fellow preached against Mr. Peters (or else against his 
 way) on the Market Hill. ' 
 
Great Civil War, 243 
 
 of the House of Lords, giving an account of their progress 
 and of letters sent on to the Army, concluding — " to-morrow 
 we propose to make known your resolution to the Army." 
 
 These new Commissioners, sent down to the rendezvous 
 at Thriplow by Parliament to present its votes to the 
 Army — indemnity for acts done in the War and ;^io,ooo 
 more to be added to the sum already voted for arrears 
 — had come from London, the inhabitants of which 
 were on tenterhooks about what was to be expected 
 from this army of 20,000 men ^ plus the King — an army 
 which Carlyle has called " the remarkablest army that ever 
 wore steel in this world ; and an Oliver Cromwell at the 
 head of it, demanding with one voice, as deep as ever spake 
 in England, Justice ! Justice ! under the vault of Heaven." 
 
 On the morning of Thursday, June 10, this remarkable 
 army was drawn up at the rendezvous upon Thriplow Heath 
 — * upon a plain meadow within four miles of Royston ' — and 
 having been warned to be ' very silent and civil ' towards 
 the Commissioners, they listened to the votes of Parliament, 
 read out, first, at the head of Fairfax's regiment of horse. 
 Skippon, one of the Commissioners, ' spake to them to 
 persuade a compliance.' One of the officers asked that the 
 answer might be given after the votes had been perused by 
 the Officers and Agitators chosen by the regiment. When 
 asked if that were the opinion of the whole regiment, they 
 answered with shouts of " All ! All ! " The same answer 
 was given by the other regiments, and the defeated Com- 
 missioners rode away amidst cries of "Justice ! Justice ! " 
 
 The Army, on the same afternoon, moved slowly on to 
 Royston, a movement which filled the City with alarm. The 
 Lord Mayor and Aldermen petitioned Parliament, praying 
 that all honourable means might be used, *to avoid the 
 shedding of more blood, to give just satisfaction to the 
 Army ' ; and the disbanded soldiers in the City took advantage 
 of the tumult to crowd about the doors of Parliament, and 
 *in a sort forced' the House to vote iJ" 10,000 for their arrears. 
 
 ' According to the Clarke Papers, the Army at this time numbered 21,480 
 men ; but as they had not all reached the rendezvous, the actual nuraljcr 
 appearing at Thriplow Heath was probably under 20,000. 
 
244 East Anglia and the 
 
 While these strange ferments were working in London, the 
 Army had encamped for the night around Royston, and 
 Fairfax, Cromwell, and the chief Officers of the Army were 
 sitting in Council at Royston, drawing up a letter, which was 
 despatched the same night, " To the Right Honourable the 
 Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council of the City 
 of London." In this letter, which Carlyle attributes to 
 Cromwell's own pen, the writers claimed ' satisfaction of our 
 undoubted claims as soldiers ' ; reparation upon those who 
 had sought the destruction of this Army, having no other 
 way of escaping punishment themselves but by bringing 
 about a new war. They claimed, not only their rights as 
 soldiers, but as Englishmen who had made sacrifices, the 
 right to ask for a settlement of the peace of the kingdom 
 according to the votes and declarations made by Parliament 
 itself, as inducements and arguments for them and their 
 friends to take up arms, in the first instance. The letter 
 concluded in these emphatic words : — 
 
 " These in brief are our Desires, and the things for which 
 we stand, beyond which we shall not go. And for the 
 obtaining of these things, we are drawing near your City ; 
 professing sincerely from our hearts, that we intend not 
 evil towards you ; declaring with all confidence and 
 assurance, that if you appear not against us in these our 
 just desires, to assist that wicked party which would embroil 
 us and the kingdom, neither we nor cur soldiers shall give 
 you the least offence. We come not to do any act to 
 prejudice the being of Parliaments .... in order 
 to the present Settlement of the Kingdom. We seek the 
 good of all. And we shall wait here, or remove to a farther 
 distance to abide there, if once we be assured that a speedy 
 Settlement of things is in hand — until it be accomplished. 
 Which done, we shall be most ready, either all of us, or so 
 many of the army as the Parliament shall think fit, to 
 disband, or to go for Ireland, and although you may suppose 
 that a rich City may seem an enticing bait to poor hungry 
 Soldiers to venture far to gain the wealth thereof, yet if 
 not provoked by you, we do profess, Rather than any such 
 
Great Civil War. 245 
 
 evil should fall out, the soldiers shall make their way 
 through our blood to effect it. And we can say this for 
 most of them, for your better assurance, that they so little 
 value their pay, in comparison of higher concernments to 
 a Public Good, that rather than they will be unrighted in 
 the matter of their honesty and integrity (which hath suffered 
 by the men they aim at and desire justice upon) or want 
 the settlement of the Kingdom's Peace, and their own 
 and their fellow-subjects* Liberties — they will lose all. 
 Which may be a strong assurance to you that it's not 
 your wealth they seek, but the things tending in common 
 to your and their welfare. That they may attain these 
 you shall do like Fellow-Subjects and Brethren if you 
 solicit the Parliament for them, on their behalf. 
 
 "If after all this, you, or a considerable part of you, be 
 seduced to take up arms in opposition to, or hindrance of, 
 these our just undertakings — we hope we have, by this 
 brotherly premonition, to the sincerity of which we call 
 God to witness, freed ourselves from all that ruin which 
 may befall that. great and populous City; having thereby 
 washed our hands thereof 
 
 " We rest 
 Your affectionate friends to serve you, 
 
 Thomas Fairfax Henry Ireton 
 
 Oliver Cromwell Robert Lilburn 
 
 Robert Hammond John Desborow 
 
 Thomas Hammond Thomas Rainsborow 
 
 Hardress Waller John Lambert 
 
 Nathaniel Rich Thomas Harrison 
 
 Thomas Pride. 
 
 "Royston, loth June, 1647." 
 
 On Friday morning, while the great Army was getting 
 on the move a stage nearer the City, the country-folk came 
 crowding into the small town of Royston from Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, and Essex. Fairfax and the other officers, with the 
 new Parliamentary Commissioners, were returning from a 
 sermon in church, when they were met in the street by " many 
 persons, ministers, and others, about looin number,on horseback, 
 
246 East Anglia and the 
 
 stilinge themselves the peaceable and well affected inhabitants 
 of the county of Norfolk, who meeting the General in the 
 street, one of them after some time spent in a speech pre- 
 sented a petition to his Excellency." ^ The Norfolk men in 
 their petition stated that " there is now an appearance of 
 an abhorred design to ruin the native liberties and privileges 
 of the subjects .... to the imminent danger of 
 embroiling us yet again in blood " ; and they appeal to his 
 Excellency for the removal of all obstructions in the way 
 of a peaceable establishment of "these our native liberties." 
 Similar petitions came in from Suffolk and Essex. 
 
 As for the Parliamentary Commissioners, they had still the 
 Parliamentary votes in their pockets, and promised in the 
 above letter to endeavour to see them distributed amongst 
 the Army, but acknowledged that 'we finde that they go 
 off but slowly.' Finding that the quarters of the Army were 
 to be removed to St. Albans, the Commissioners 'repaired 
 to the General's quarters,' at Royston, and protested that 
 St. Albans would be less than the twenty-five miles radius 
 of the City, to which Fairfax replied that he would give 
 them his reasons in writing, and marched on.^ 
 
 When, on Friday morning, the letter from Fairfax and the 
 Officers at Royston reached the Lord Mayor, the Aldermen 
 and Common Councilmen rushed off with it to Parliament, 
 which was sitting ; they were called in and thanked for their 
 care in * a matter of so great consequence,' and the House at 
 once put itself in communication with the Committee for the 
 City Militia, and instructed Colonel Dalbier, whom we shall 
 meet again, to prepare lists of fighting-men. When later in 
 the day news arrived that the Army had left Royston, the 
 City was thrown into the wildest tumult ; shops were ordered 
 to be closed, the Trained Bands were called out on pain of 
 death to resist the great army believed to be marching on 
 London, but they did not very readily respond. As soon 
 
 ^ Letters from the Commissioners, Royston, June 11, 1647: Add. MSS., 
 34.235, Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 ■■* The reasons given by Fairfax for removing to St. Albans were soldierly and 
 blunt — "for a nearer communication and intercourse with Parliament and the 
 City, the more readily to obtain money for the satisfaction of the soldiers and 
 keeping them under discipline, and to prevent the raising of any new war, and 
 procure the speedy settlement of the Peace of the Kingdom. "—Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War, 247 
 
 as Fairfax and the Officers reached St. Albans, three 
 Guildhall coaches came down with four Aldermen and eight 
 Common Councilmen to deliver ' the desires of the City,' 
 that the Army would forbear quartering within thirty miles 
 of the City ; and having dined with the General and received 
 * infinite satisfaction ' that the Army intended no hurt to 
 the City, they drove back in their coaches to the realms 
 of Gog and Magog, to reassure the citizens. They had 
 scarcely departed when, on the same day, Monday, June 14, 
 a procession of 100 knights, gentlemen, and freeholders 
 on horseback from Buckinghamshire, and behind them 
 a still larger procession of 200 from Hertfordshire, rode up 
 and presented petitions demanding, before the Army disbanded, 
 the condign punishment of the * firebrands and incendaries ' 
 who had sought to create divisions. Fairfax sent up the 
 petition to Parliament, with the assurance that there was 
 nothing to fear if they would only send the Army a month's 
 pay. There was, however, issued the " Grand Declaration 
 of the Army," a sort of political programme recognizing the 
 people as the source of political power. They also impeached 
 eleven members of the House of Commons for defaming 
 the Army, conspiring with the Queen, and seeking to bring 
 the Scotch into the country and bring about a new war. 
 
 Meanwhile the King was spending his time cheerfully 
 at his house at Newmarket, well guarded, yet ' more than 
 regarded,' and waiting the turn of events. Here he was 
 ' sometimes in his coach, other times riding unto ye Heath 
 and taking fresh ayre, which is exceeding good there, and 
 the place, both by the King and King James his father, much 
 delighted in for pleasure.' The King was 'exceeding 
 cheerful,' and during his stay at Newmarket many of the 
 gentry and others, men, women, and children, came from most 
 parts of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and neighbouring counties 
 to see the King ; ' so as the presence chamber was constantly 
 thronged with people .... he never failed to dine in 
 public .... and all of them prayed God to bless and 
 preserve his person. Yet the King still observed his hours 
 of devotion.' ^ 
 
 * Herbert's Narrative in Harl. MSS., 7,396. 
 
248 East Anglia and the 
 
 Even a Parliamentary man like Colonel Russell, of 
 Chippenham, was overcome by ' the splendour of his 
 Majesty,' and other Officers made it their business to *get 
 the good opinion of the King,' ^ until some of the King's 
 party began to think the Army was ' acting their game.' 
 His Majesty, however, considered himself a prisoner, did 
 not like the restraint, and declared that he came with the 
 Army 'rather than be taken by the neck and heels.' 
 
 Parliament sent a request that His Majesty would remove 
 to Richmond ; and as His Majesty had arranged to leave 
 Newmarket on Thursday, June 24, Fairfax sent Whalley 
 instructions to attend him to Royston, where he was to lie 
 that night. From this point. Presbyter, or ' old priest writ 
 large,' and Independent struggled for supremacy in getting 
 the King out of pawn. Respecting the first stage of the 
 journey to Richmond, it is alleged that Cromwell's party 
 came to a resolution that 'if the King would not be diverted 
 by persuasion (to which His Majesty was very opposite) that 
 they would stop him by force at Royston ' ^ ; and iurther, that 
 the King had declared ' if any man should hinder his going, 
 it would be by force, and laying hold of his bridle ; which, 
 if any were so bold to do, he would endeavour to make it 
 his last.' 
 
 The King, in charge of Whalley's regiments of horse, 
 set out from Newmarket to Royston on June 24, and on 
 arriving at Royston a message arrived from Parliament 
 desiring His Majesty ' to make a stay at Royston or go 
 [back] to Newmarket, as he shall think fit, in regard to 
 some things that are lately fallen out'^; and the Com- 
 missioners with the King were warned as to what persons 
 were not to have access to the King. But all the details 
 of His Majesty's journey had been arranged — from Royston 
 to Theobalds, and Theobalds to Richmond ; his belongings 
 had been sent on in advance, and his dinner ordered at 
 Ware.^ So, as an alternative, His Majesty resolved upon 
 going on by way of Hatfield. 
 
 * Ludlow's Memoirs. 
 
 * Major Huntington's Narrative in Thurloe Correspondence. 
 ^ Commons' Journals, June 24, 1647. 
 
 * Commissioners' Letter in Gary Memorials. 
 
Great Civil War. 249 
 
 For two nights and one day His Majesty stayed in the 
 house of King James I, his father, at Royston, and on 
 Saturday, June 26, resumed his journey for Hatfield with 
 something of the royal progress which tempered his condition 
 of restraint. At the entrance to the town of Baldock, Herts, 
 his Majesty met with an incident which deserves to be 
 recorded. 
 
 " At Baldock .... there was at least one sincere 
 friend of the Royal cause in its venerable rector, Josias Byrd 
 [or Bird]. Deeply moved by the misfortunes of the King, 
 the old parson, then in his 70th year or thereabouts, got 
 together his parishioners ; and in full canonicals marched 
 at their head to the town's end, where the two strange 
 processions met ! Armed with the communion cup, from 
 the Parish Church, filled with wine, the old rector saluted 
 the King with a fervent 'May God bless your Majesty!' 
 The King, touched at receiving such a demonstration of 
 loyalty, inquired the name of his loyal subject, to which 
 the old rector proudly replied — ' I am Josias Byrd, the 
 parson of Baldock, and I ofTer you this cup for your refresh- 
 ment.' Whereupon the King drank and replied with ready 
 wit — ' Mr. Byrd, I thank you ; I did not think I had so good 
 a bird in all my kingdom.' " ^ 
 
 The King arrived at St. Albans amid the ringing of bells 
 and throwing up of hats — for it was market-day — and 
 shortly afterwards left for Hatfield, where, for five days and 
 nights. His Majesty was entertained by the Earl of Salisbury, 
 both Army and Parliament keeping a watchful eye upon the 
 ecclesiastical side of His Majesty's conduct, when at Hatfield 
 church next day he attended services conducted according 
 to the Book of Common Prayer, at which Parliament was 
 much shocked and talked loudly of sending His Majesty back 
 to Holmby, and depriving him of his chaplains, but Whalley 
 did not forward these rash proposals. On July i the 
 King left Hatfield for Windsor, and thus ended His Majesty's 
 last progress through the Associated Counties. 
 
 The remainder of the year 1647 was taken up mainly 
 
 * '• Hertfordshire during the Great Civil War," p. 71. 
 
250 East Anglia and the 
 
 with the movements of the Army around London, now 
 drawing off with each move of Parliament on the subject 
 of pay for the soldiers, now drawing nearer and alarming 
 the City. Parliament fell under the rule of the mob ; the 
 Independent members and some Presbyterians, with the 
 Earl of Manchester, Speaker of the Lords, and Lenthall, 
 Speaker of the Commons , left the Houses in disgust, and 
 made their way to the Army at Hounslow Heath, where 
 20,000 soldiers backed them up by throwing up their hats 
 for 'a free Parliament,' and marched towards the City to 
 put things right and remove the 'horrid force' at 
 Westminster. 
 
 With Presbyterians in Parliament, Royalists in the 
 country, Independents and ' Levellers ' ^ in the Army, and 
 the King now a prisoner in the Isle of Wight, the chances 
 of a ' firm and lasting peace ' seemed still remote. Cromwell 
 was suspected by the Royalists because he had not sup- 
 ported the restoration of the King, and by the * Levellers ' 
 because he had done too much. 
 
 On November 15, with plots hanging over them, 
 Cromwell and Fairfax marched from their quarters at 
 Hertford to a rendezvous at Corkbush-field, on the road 
 to Ware. Here the Levellers in the Army met them with 
 papers stuck in their hats, demanding ' England's freedom 
 and soldiers' rights,' and the socialistic gospel of Colonel 
 John Lilburne, or " Freeborn John," the ' stormy petrel of 
 a stormy time,' who was quietly watching events in the 
 neighbouring town of Ware. Fairfax addressed the regiments, 
 and some of them removed the papers from their hats, but 
 others, in Colonel Robert Lilburne's regiment, were obstinate 
 and refused. Cromwell rode along the ranks, gave the 
 order to the men to tear the papers from their hats, but 
 finding no response sternly drew his sword and dashed into 
 the mutineers, who now yielded to the force of military 
 discipline, removed the offensive papers, and begged for 
 mercy. Eleven of the mutineers were tried before a 
 
 ^ ' ^en who declared that all degrees of men should be levelled, and equality 
 established, both in titles and estates, through the kingdom.' 
 
Great Civil War. 251 
 
 Council of War ; three were condemned to death, but were 
 allowed to draw lots for one of them to die, and one Arnald, 
 upon whom the lot fell, was shot to death at the head 
 of the regiment. 
 
 Christmas Day, 1647, was distinguished by a strange 
 conflict of sentiment. Puritans, disregarding the day, kept 
 open their shops ; the Royalists forcibly closed them, and 
 played football in the streets. Even the churches were 
 decorated once more and theatres were reopened, only to be 
 closed again 'under pains and penalties.' With bonfires 
 and cries of " For God and King Charles," both in London 
 and the Associated Counties, the last days of the year gave 
 little hope of peace, and fears of a renewal of war in the 
 year 1648. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE SECOND CIVIL WAR— RISINGS ALL OVER EAST ANGLIA 
 
 — FIGHTING AT NORWICH, BURY ST. EDMUNDS, 
 
 STAMFORD, CAMBRIDGE, LINTON, AND ST. NEOTS— THE 
 
 SIEGE OF COLCHESTER — THE EXECUTION OF THE KING. 
 
 (1648-9.) 
 
 JUST as varying jets of flame sometimes burst forth, 
 under a favouring breeze, and lick up unconsumed 
 bits of the wasted surface after a great conflagration, 
 so during the year 1648 there occurred here and there 
 RoyaHst risings, fanned into flame by local discontent, in 
 those very counties of the Eastern Association in which 
 the Parliamentary cause had been supreme during the great 
 struggle which ended at Naseby. The mismanagement of 
 affairs by County Committees, which, minus the grip of 
 Cromwell's presence, had been weakened by the doings 
 of inferior men, the divisions in the Army, with the King 
 a close prisoner in Carisbrooke Castle — these were not 
 exactly the things for which some of the people of East 
 Anglia had taken up arms. The popular idea with which 
 they entered the War, that by daring to unsheath the sword 
 and meet the King in overwhelming numbers in one great 
 battle, the cause of the people would so impress itself upon 
 the King, that he would yield to better counsel and sanction 
 better laws, had been dissolved in the weary protracted 
 struggle. Even the common people, the last element to be 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 253 
 
 influenced by the original issues at stake, had their instincts. 
 They Hstened over tankards of ale to rumours of harsh 
 treatment, and of attempts to poison the King, and some 
 of these men were found ' not to be trusted,' when next 
 the Trained Bands were called out in Norfolk, Suffolk, and 
 Essex, to suppress ' insurrections,' as the Royalist risings 
 against the now triumphant party were called. 
 
 It is an interesting coincidence that Parliamentary East 
 Anglia had its toughest struggle with the two extremes of 
 its area — with the Lucases of Colchester at the beginning 
 of the fray, and the Earl of Newcastle in the Fens. Margaret 
 Lucas, of Colchester, was the wife of Newcastle, the 
 commander of the " White Coats." Her brother. Sir Charles 
 Lucas, had been Newcastle's Lieutenant-General, and was 
 now in 1648 a force to be reckoned with among his own 
 neighbours about Colchester. 
 
 The Grand Jury at Chelmsford were the first to stir, at 
 the Spring Assizes in March, 1648, and the result was 
 a proposal to hold a great meeting at Stratford Langthorne 
 in the beginning of May, which Parliament declared 
 * prejudicial to the peace of the Kingdom in these distracted 
 and tumultuous times.' 
 
 A tragic incident occurred in the city of Norwich in the 
 early days of April, which ended in an awful disaster. 
 Parliament had sent down its messengers to bring up 
 Mr. Utting, the Mayor, for somewhat done ' against its 
 dignity ' ; ' the disaffected to Parliament opposed his going 
 up, while the well affected endeavoured to further it.' The 
 Royalists locked up the gates, to prevent the Mayor from 
 being taken off in the night-time. Noisy crowds hung about 
 the market-place till past midnight, and in the morning they 
 mustered again in great force, openly shouting " For God and 
 King Charles! " and threatened to " pluck the Roundheads out 
 of the Common Council." ^ The messenger barely escaped with 
 his life, and was glad to get back to Parliament without the 
 Mayor. The city was soon involved in a tumult, shops were 
 plundered, arms seized whenever they could be found, and 
 
 » Blomfield, " History of Norfolk." 
 
2 54 East Anglia and the 
 
 for the moment the attempt to vindicate the Parliamentary 
 cause in Norwich was in a bad way. Dotted over the county 
 were the troops of Colonel Fleetwood's regiment, some as 
 far away as Dereham ; but the ominous news set them all 
 on the move under orders to meet at Norwich. Galloping 
 into the city about four o'clock in the afternoon, the troopers 
 ' fell desperately on several parties of the mutineers, who 
 were most resolute in their engagement.' They had, how- 
 ever, possessed themselves of the Committee House, ' wherein 
 was the great magazine.' ^ In this Committee House with 
 its magazine — where the Hospital now stands — the rioters 
 were scrambling for the possession of gunpowder, of which 
 there were ninety-eight barrels in store. Outside, the 
 troopers were battering the gate, inside loose powder was 
 being spilt all over the place, ready for the inevitable spark.^ 
 With an awful crash, 'which did shake the whole city,' the 
 magazine and the Committee House were blown up, ' ninety- 
 eight barrels of gunpowder going off at one crack'! Forty 
 persons who were inside were 'spoyled by the powder,' 
 and the shock ' threw down part of some churches.' * Not 
 many that were killed as yet found or can be found, for 
 many were torn in pieces, and carried limb from limb, several 
 legs, arms, etc., being found in the streets ; there are already 
 missing and mortally wounded at least one hundred and 
 twenty persons, besides as many more which received slight 
 wounds and hurts.' ^ 
 
 The mutineers, to the number of io8, were brought to trial, 
 and several of them were executed in the Castle Ditches ; 
 Parliament ordered all others who had taken part in the 
 tumult to be disabled from voting in the election, or being 
 elected as Mayor on May-day. Mr. Utting, the Mayor, 'of 
 his own accord,' accompanied by some of his officers and 
 friends, rode to Parliament ; while the following Tuesday 
 was a day of thanksgiving for deliverance from the mutiny, 
 when Mr. Collins had 20s. for preaching in the Cathedral 
 
 ^ Perfect Diurnal. 
 
 ' "One man swore afterwards that he swept up a hatful from the stairs. "- 
 Rye's " History of Norfolk." 
 "* Letter to Fleetwood. 
 
Great Civil War, 255 
 
 to the Aldermen in their scarlet gowns; and ^^250 was 
 afterwards granted to the troopers for their services. 
 
 Parliament having appointed as Deputy-Mayor the vener- 
 able Christopher Barrett, that worthy, with a Pepys-like 
 frankness and simplicity, wrote to the Speaker acknowledging 
 the honour — " I have ever had a young heart, but my great 
 age and many other unfitnesses," etc., etc. But until May-day 
 Mr. Barrett upholds the honour and then tells how, by means 
 of Colonel Fleetwood's troopers drawn up in the Castle-yard, 
 the election of Mayor passed off ' with that quietness and 
 peaceableness as was wonderful.' He adds some graphic 
 details of the late blowing up of the magazine, from which 
 it appears that some adjoining houses were demolished and 
 some of the neighbours buried alive for above four hours, 
 but 'all miraculously preserved.'^ 
 
 On the 3rd of May there was a tumult in Colchester, and 
 on the 4th, the day appointed for the great meeting at 
 Stratford Langthorne, the Grand Jury and the thousands 
 of Essex freeholders, instead of proceeding thither, marched 
 up to Westminster. A cavalcade of 2,000 persons on 
 horseback and on foot, representing thirty thousand of the 
 inhabitants of the country, presented a petition to Parliament 
 praying that *the King might be satisfied, with the Army 
 disbanded.' Mr. Speaker informed them in diplomatic 
 phrases that the House was in debate concerning the 
 settlement of the Kingdom, and ' did not doubt they would 
 give satisfaction to the county and to the rest of the 
 Kingdom.' 2 Parliament, however, found it necessary to 
 advise the Earl of Warwick to be careful in assembling the 
 Trained Bands, so as not to prejudice the peace ot the 
 county * at this juncture of time and of ill-affected humours.' 
 
 The next Royalist rising occurred at Bury St. Edmunds. 
 There, in the ashes of past popular risings, the smouldering 
 fire had kindled around the daring act of setting up of 
 a may-pole, when about 600 got together and cried out, 
 " For God and King Charles ! " They laid hold upon some 
 
 * Letter in Cary Memorials. 
 
 * Commons' Journals. 
 
256 East Anglia and the 
 
 of the Trained Bands, set guards in several places and 
 assembled ' in the church and other strong places,' and were 
 joined by ' divers, from Colchester and those parts.' The 
 House of Commons ordered the County members to go 
 down to Bury ' to use their endeavours to appease the 
 tumult there.' Fairfax was informed of the state of affairs 
 at Bury ' and into what a height of distemper they are 
 grown there. The business may prove of very dangerous 
 consequence if not effectually stopped in the beginning.' 
 Colonel Whalley was ordered to march ' within some few 
 miles of that town with such troops as are most conveniently 
 quartered for that service.' ^ 
 
 On the arrival of Colonel Whalley 's troops near Bury St. 
 Edmunds, a curious conflict arose. The scouts of the Trained 
 Bands came into conflict with the scouts of Whalley's forces, 
 and the outcome was a letter from the Parliamentary 
 Authorities in Bury to the officers in command of the parties 
 lying near their town — " Your party has taken some offence 
 at ours, and our party has been offended by the scouts on 
 both sides." Whalley's forces were blocking up the town, 
 thinking the whole town was against them, and the letter 
 continues — " I beg you will interpret matters fairly and desist 
 from hindering provisions coming to our town till you know 
 the resolution of Parliament." 
 
 Inside the town Sir Thomas Barnardiston and Sir William 
 Playters, who had been sent down by Parliament to Bury 
 St. Edmunds, had instructions to let the leaders of the 
 insurrection know that in case they laid down their arms 
 and restored the powder magazine which they had seized, 
 and submitted themselves to Parliament, they should be 
 indemnified for all acts done in *the late tumult.' The 
 report sent up to Parliament was as follows: — *'We are now 
 in quiet possession of the town. We had the assistance of 
 two troops of my Lord General's Regiment, and three 
 of Colonel Fleetwood's, with three of the Trained Bands of 
 Sir Thomas Barnardiston's regiment. We cannot yet 
 discover the bottom of this design. There was not much 
 
 * State Papers, Charles I. 
 
Great Civil War, 257 
 
 blood-shed, but upon a skirmish in a sally out, there were 
 two of the town killed, and none of ours, only two horses." 
 In the communications which passed between the party 
 outside the town and the Royalists within, it was stipulated 
 that the latter should lay down their arms in the market 
 house. So the arms were laid down, the magazine restored, 
 and Sir Thomas Barnardiston and Major Desborough were 
 allowed to enter the town as described in the report to 
 Parliament. 
 
 But this was not the end of the risings in these parts. 
 At Thetford, in Norfolk, there were 'drums beat up and 
 many tumultuously assembled, but were soon suppressed 
 by the Mayor's power.' A similar state of things arose at 
 Stowmarket, in Suffolk, and Colonel Dodson, Governor of 
 Crowland, was ordered to repair to his post to hold that place 
 against malignants 'secretly lurking' ready to fall upon 
 it, and Colonel Walton, Governor of King's Lynn, was 
 ordered to give his assistance. 
 
 The Jermyns of Rushbrooke Hall kept the spark alive 
 around Bury, and on June 3, Sir Thomas Barnardiston wrote 
 to Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston and other Suffolk Committee- 
 men : — " This enclosed I received just now from the aldermen 
 of Bury St Edmunds, by which you will see there are grounds 
 for fear. The disaffected in these parts keep still their 
 meetings at Newmarkett, under pretence of horse racing, 
 Rushbrooke Hall, near Bury, the place of their general 
 
 rendezvous, and there feasted by the Jermyn family 
 
 This day seven night we are to have a general meeting at 
 
 Stowmarket We are mustering our forces, both 
 
 horse and foot and auxiliaries. Many of them, I fear, are 
 disaffected ; we shall endeavour to mend them by a new 
 modelling of them." 
 
 The letter he enclosed was as follows : — 
 
 " Sir, 
 
 "This morning before I came out I was informed 
 
 that the Duke of Buckingham and divers others came 
 
 yesterday to Rushbrooke Hall, where was a great feast and 
 
 present divers gentlemen, and this day also since I came 
 
 17 
 
258 East Anglia and the 
 
 to Newmarket I understand that all those captains which 
 were at Bury in the time of the mutiny are now at 
 Newmarket, which makes me and others much fear that 
 there is some ill suddenly intended to our town ; how we 
 
 shall oppose them, I know not Yesterday our 
 
 soldiers did muster with us, and we had about seven score 
 that we dare trust, but they want experience. We conceive 
 that horses would be very useful." ^ 
 
 The significance of these doubts concerning the trust- 
 worthiness of the Trained Bands will be understood from 
 what was coming to pass in Essex and the Fens. 
 
 When, at the end of May, the Royalist rising in Kent 
 was coming to a head, it was confidently predicted that 
 the 20,oco Kentish men who were to assemble at Blackheath 
 would be joined by an equal number of men from across the 
 river in Essex. These anticipations were not, however, 
 realized. Fairfax crushed the Kentish rising ; and about 
 500 of the defeated Kentish men crossed the Thames by 
 a bridge of boats into Essex. On June 4 the Essex Com- 
 mittee for Parliament were meeting at Chelmsford for the 
 purpose of ' appeasing and suppressing the ill-affected 
 humours,' when a tumultuous scene occurred. The crowd, 
 at the instigation of Colonel Farr, an officer of the Trained 
 Bands, forcibly entered the Committee-rooms and carried 
 off the members of the Committee as prisoners. News of 
 the event reached Parliament the same night, and next day 
 both Houses in a panic passed an ordinance offering the 
 "white feather," in the form of an indemnity for all the 
 inhabitants of the county for what they had done, providing 
 that all persons should disband and go peaceably to their 
 homes within twelve hours of the publication of the 
 Ordinance at Chelmsford, and the imprisoned Committee- 
 men to be liberated. On June 6 the Ordinance of Indemnity 
 was published at Chelmsford, and most of the people gathered 
 to hear it were willing to accept the offer of Parliament, but 
 the old Earl of Norwich hastened to Chelmsford, where he 
 
 * Lords' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War. 259 
 
 was joined by Sir Charles Lucas, and their influence caused 
 many of the Trained Bands and others to alter their minds 
 and remain in arms. 
 
 By June 9 the united Royalists from Kent and Essex came 
 together at Chelmsford, where they were joined by Lord 
 Capel, who had, much to the concern of Parliament, got 
 together a body of his Hertfordshire neighbours and others. 
 At Chelmsford the Royalist party remained, where supplies 
 came * from all parts of the Kingdom,* until Saturday the loth, 
 when they marched from Chelmsford, in sight of Colonel 
 Whalley. In their march the Royalists entered the Earl 
 of Warwick's house in Leighs' Park, where they took away 
 a quantity of arms and ammunition.^ The same evening 
 (Saturday) the growing force marched to Braintree and 
 there rested for the night, and on Sunday they ' disgested ' 
 the volunteers into several troops under Lord Norwich, Lord 
 Capel, Lord Loughborough, and Sir Charles Lucas. To 
 shape their future movements was not so easy. There is 
 evidence that the intention was to march through and 
 recruit in the Associated Counties as far as the Isle of Ely, 
 and then march up * to the very walls of London,' to be 
 joined by their friends there * in plundering that rebellious 
 city.'^ Indeed, so widespread were the plans for a fresh 
 rising that letters sent out to old East Anglians in Massa- 
 chusetts reflect * the great design of the King's party through- 
 out England to rise together and so seize upon Parliament 
 and the Army.'^ 
 
 Parliament warned Suffolk, the Isle of Ely, and Hunting- 
 donshire to block up the passes, and assured them that 
 Fairfax would follow with the whole force of Parliament 
 in the rear. 
 
 It was fortunate for Parliament that some of the Essex 
 commanders were absent from the Committee meeting at 
 Chelmsford at which their colleagues were taken prisoners 
 — Sir T. Honeywood, Colonel Harlackenden, Colonel Cooke, 
 Colonel Sparrow, ' and other firebrands of that county,' who 
 
 1 Beaufort MSS. 
 
 2 Rushworth, viii, 1160. 
 
 ' '* Life and Letters of John Winlhrop, Governor of Massachusetts," ii, 383-4- 
 
26o East Anglia and the 
 
 got together a regiment of horse and two of foot, had sent 
 over for the magazine at Braintree, before the RoyaHsts got 
 there, and took up their position at Coggeshall ; which, on 
 the direct road to Colchester, the Royalist army would 
 have to pass. On the other hand, Fairfax was hourly 
 expecting to join Whalley in the rear ; and so, "apprehending 
 they might fall on us on both sides of the toune [Braintree], 
 we drew out in the night on the highway towards Suffolke, 
 as if we had designed our march towards the Isle of Elye." 
 After continuing their march some little distance out of the 
 town, they, by a stratagem, returned sharp back into 
 Braintree, turned to the north-east and marched to Halstead, 
 a few miles beyond Coggeshall, round which and its force 
 of Trained Bands they wheeled, and so ' deceived the enemy 
 by this stratagem.' At Halstead they remained until the 
 rear came up, and then marched towards Colchester. 
 Meanwhile, Fairfax, with characteristic swiftness, though 
 tormented with gout to the extent of being described in 
 Royalist prints as " King Gowty-leggs," had crossed the 
 Thames, joined Whalley, and personally rode forward to 
 see how the Essex troops fared at Coggeshall, just as the 
 Royalists were completing the detour in the direction of 
 Colchester. 
 
 Drawing near to Colchester, the Royalists found there 
 a divided sentiment, for while they were met with * neere 
 la thousand of the townsmen' who had broken through their 
 guards to welcome them^ the advanced party were opposed 
 by some horse of the town, and of Bardfold and Dedham, 
 but Sir Charles Lucas rode to the front and counselled his 
 neighbours to admit them. "The gates were opened and 
 wee marched through the towne in greate order, and drew 
 our men into the lower courte of my Lord Lucas his house, 
 which having been formerly an abbey was capable of 
 
 receiving them all But the inhabitants of the 
 
 towne .... were so distracted with the noveltie of 
 their busines — having never seene an army before — that 
 they suffered our souldiers to want, which created soe great 
 a mutinie that it was above the skill and authoritie of the 
 officers to appease Soe we were forst to let 
 
Great Civil War. 261 
 
 them march into the towne before their quarters were made, 
 where wee reposed that night." ^ The Royalist Army was 
 thus installed in quarters which, by the fortunes of war 
 rather than by the choice of the people, became the scene 
 of one of the most terrible experiences of the Civil War. 
 
 The next day, June 13, Fairfax reached Colchester, where 
 Sir T. Honeywood and the Essex Trained Bands had arrived 
 from Coggeshall, making a total force of 5,000 disciplined 
 troops, against about 4,000 new levies only partly armed 
 within and about the town of Colchester. Ireton compared 
 the town and those therein to * a great beehive, and our army 
 to a small swarm of bees sticking on one side of it ' ^ ; 
 while Whalley wrote to Fairfax : " Our friends report the 
 enemy to be 5,000 horse and foot ; and, like a snowball, 
 increasing." ^ 
 
 The Suffolk Trained Bands marched towards Colchester 
 to block up the bridges over the Stour at Nayland, Stratford, 
 and Catawade, but at first showed ' a strange averseness to 
 the service.' Fairfax sent a trumpeter to the Earl of Norwich 
 summoning him and those under his command to lay down 
 their arms in order to prevent 'much blood that is like to 
 be spilt' and 'the town preserved from plunder and ruine.' 
 This summons the Earl slighted by asking the trumpeter 
 * how his general did, telling him that he heard he was ill 
 with the gout, but he could cure him of all diseases.'* This 
 answer highly enraged the soldiers, and both sides prepared 
 for an attack on the outskirts of the town. 
 
 * About two of the clock in the afternoon' the Parliamentary 
 forces were alarmed by the enemy's drummers, and at once 
 drew out, says the writer already quoted, " a considerable 
 partie of our foote and some horse and lyned the hedges." 
 Across the approach to the town by the London Road, Sir 
 Charles Lucas drew up his defending force. Three times the 
 Royalist infantry in the centre repulsed the attack of the 
 Parliamentary foot, but their cavalry routed the right wing of 
 
 * Narrative in the Beaufort MSS., Hist. MSS. Rep., xii., App., pt. ix, p. 24. 
 ' Ludlow's Memoirs, i, 255. 
 
 ' Fairfax Correspondence. 
 
 * Morant, *' Hist. Colchester, " i, 59. 
 
262 East Anglia and the 
 
 the Royalist horse, who were in full gallop for the town, and 
 the whole body were soon forced to retire and get into the 
 town in the best manner they could. At the narrow entrance 
 through the Head Gate of the old Roman walled city there 
 followed an act of valour not unworthy of Macaulay's lines — 
 
 In yon straight path a thousand 
 May well be stopped by three : 
 Now who will stand on either hand 
 And keep the gate with me ? 
 
 "The enemie, advancing boldly upon us, forced our men 
 to retreate and pursued them to Head Gate, where stood 
 the Right Honourable the Lord Capell with a partie of 
 horse to receive the enemie, but justly apprehending that 
 the disorder of our men retreating and the narrowness of 
 the place would render his horse unserviceable — like himselfe, 
 that is a man of incomparable honour and presence of judgment 
 in the greatest danger — hee alighted and tooke a pike, who 
 was presently seconded by Sir Charles Lucas, Sir George 
 Lisle, and two or three others, and there these worthies 
 — like Horatius Codes — oposed themselves to the furie 
 of the enemie, whilst under cover of their courage the 
 remains of our men saved themselves within the porte. 
 Then those bucklers of their partie retreated with their 
 faces to the enemie, selling every foote of the ground they 
 parted with at the price of the invaders' lives : an action 
 without flatterie to the living or the memories of the dead, 
 that would be thought as worthy of place in a chronicle as 
 any that is legible in ancient storie." ^ According to 
 a more definite and slightly different account of the same 
 thing, the front ranks of the Parliamentary infantry were 
 allowed to get inside the gate, and there entrapped, at the 
 bottom of the roadway sloping down from within to the 
 gate, were charged by the Royalist horse, and, taken 
 in flank by Royalist foot coming out of the lane from 
 St. Mary's Church close by, were driven through the Head 
 Gate, ' quite into the street of the suburb, and most of them 
 
 * Narrative of the Siege of Colchester in the Beaufort MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 263 
 
 that had so rashly entered were cut in pieces,* when Lucas 
 ordered the gate to be closed, and fastened the bar with 
 the cane he carried in his hand.^ 
 
 By the hurried closing of the gates, a considerable number 
 of the Royalists were left outside and were made prisoners. 
 The walls * being too high to be stormed,' pieces of ordnance 
 were brought into requisition, and around the angle of the 
 wall near the Head Gate and St. Mary's Church, there were 
 brave deeds performed. The walls were stoutly defended, 
 but taking advantage of some houses near St. Mary's Church, 
 the Parliamentary soldiers leaped from these into the town, 
 *as if . . . . it had been their only business to seek — 
 what they found — their graves in that churchyard.' An 
 attempt was made by Fairfax to fire the gate by setting 
 fire to the houses adjoining, but this failed. From afternoon 
 till night the attempt on the walls continued, and at midnight 
 or soon afterwards the attacking forces drew off, and according 
 to the Royalist version leaving their cannon with their dead, 
 but according to the outside account getting the cannon 
 away * with difficulty and danger.' 
 
 The losses on both sides were considerable ; those of the 
 Royalists before they entered the town, those of Fairfax 
 afterwards. While the forces within and without the walls 
 of Colchester are settling down to a bitter struggle of 
 endurance, we may turn with interest to what was happening 
 elsewhere. 
 
 Once more on the Lincolnshire borders of the Fens, the 
 spirit of Royalism asserted itself, and again Mr. Styles, the 
 parson of Crowland, was a leading spirit. Michael Hudson, 
 rector of Uffington, near Stamford, the King's plain-dealing 
 chaplain, who accompanied His Majesty in disguise through 
 the Fens to Newark, had twice escaped from prison, this 
 time in disguise carrying a basket of apples on his head. 
 After making his way to the King at Hampton Court, he 
 went into Lincolnshire, where he was joined by Mr. Styles, 
 of Crowland. Colonel Wayte came in from Northampton 
 side, and, finding that Hudson and Styles intended to 
 
 Diary in the Round MSS. 
 
264 East Anglia and the 
 
 beat up recruits at Stamford Fair on the Thursday, he 
 marched to Stamford. Here he was joined by Major 
 Underwood with 100 men from Crowland garrison, and 
 next day, June 6, they * fell upon the rogues,' ^ drove them 
 into Woodcroft House, stormed the house, and 'gave no 
 quarter to the better sort' In this adventure Michael 
 Hudson came to a tragic end. The following is the account 
 given by Bishop Kennett : — 
 
 " I have been on the spot and made all possible inquiries, 
 and find that the relation given by Mr. Wood may be 
 a little rectified and supplied. Mr. Hudson and his beaten 
 party did not fly to Woodcroft, but he had quietly taken 
 possession of it and held it for a garrison with a good party of 
 horse, who made a stout defence, and frequent sallies against 
 a party of the Parliament at Stamford, till the Colonel com- 
 manding there sent a stronger detachment under a captain, his 
 own kinsman, who was shot from the house ; upon which the 
 Colonel himself came up to renew the attack and demanded 
 surrender, & brought them to capitulate upon terms of 
 safe quarter. But the Colonel, in base revenge, commanded 
 that they 'should not spare that rogue Hudson.' Upon 
 which Hudson fought his way up to the leads, and when he 
 saw they were pushing in upon him, threw himself over 
 the battlements, and hung by the hands, as intending to 
 fall into the moat beneath, till they cut off his wrists and 
 let him drop, and then ran down to hunt him in the water, 
 where they found him padling with his stumps, and barbarously 
 knocked him on the head." ^ 
 
 Wood, in his " Athenae," states that one Walker, a chandler 
 or grocer of Stamford, cut out Hudson's tongue and carried 
 it about the country as a trophy, but afterwards lost his 
 trade through poverty and 'became a byword to the boys 
 when he passed through the streets of Stamford.' As for 
 Mr Styles, the parson of Crowland, he escaped the fate of 
 Hudson and lived until after the Restoration. 
 
 About the same time there was hard fighting in Cambridge, 
 which is thus recorded by an eye-witness : — " You would not 
 
 ^ Rushworth, vii, 1145. 
 
 * Printed in Peck's *' Desiderata Curiosa," lib. ix, 44. 
 
Great Civil War, 265 
 
 imagine to what a great height we are grown unto here ; 
 we who, upon Httle or no alarms, were used to ride and run 
 are become the sons of Mars. The last week grew a quarrel 
 between the Parliamentiers and Royalists, occasioned by- 
 some disgraceful expressions in the schools against the 
 Parliament and Army, and their friends, not enduring, pull 
 down the Orator and Moderator, there upon fell to blows, 
 both parties increase, the Royal townsmen assisting the 
 schollers of their party which drew into a body, charged 
 with much gallantry, and after a long and hot dispute, the 
 victory first on one side and then on the other, at last the 
 Parliamentiers prevailed, and the other left the field. About 
 which time Captain Pickering came in with a troop of 
 Horse to assist the Parliamentiers, who .... made 
 proclamation, that if any person or persons whatsoever should 
 presume to raise any insurrections or tumults .... he 
 would use his utmost endeavours to suppres's them, and 
 to bring them to condign punishment. 
 
 " Then he marched into the country, where he understood 
 some were, and finding, charged and routed them, killed 
 about nine, and took three or four of the chief actors 
 prisoners. The next day there was another great skirmish 
 near this city, which continued some time in a very hot 
 dispute, divers falling and the number great." ^ 
 
 Another account says that in this action at Cambridge 
 "the schollers of Trinity did gallantly." ^ The College 
 authorities backed them up by purchasing ammunition.'* In 
 this action Mr. John St. George was taken prisoner by 
 Captain Pickering. 
 
 The other 'hot dispute' referred to happened at New- 
 market and at Linton. The meetings at Newmarket ' under 
 the pretence of horse-racing' had already come to a head. 
 Colonel Thornton, of Soham, and two or three other Colonels 
 in the King's Army assembled at the " King's Arms," 
 Newmarket, whence they sent out a proclamation that 'all 
 gentlemen whatsoever that had a desire to serve his Majesty 
 
 ' " An Exact Relation of Another Great Fight in the City of Cambridge, etc." 
 
 ' The Moderate Intelligencer, Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 * '• Spent £,\o : o : o for amunicion. '' — Bursar's Accounts, Trin. Coll., 1648. 
 
266 East Anglia and the 
 
 .... should repair to the King's Arms, there to receive 
 present entertainment and advance money ; whereupon divers 
 resorted thither protesting to live and die in the cause.' But 
 Captain Pickering, fresh from his victory over the ' schollers ' 
 in Cambridge, arrived upon the scene at Newmarket with 
 his troops, and there was a scattering of the crowd of recruits 
 around the door of the " King's Arms." The troops made 
 a rush for the commanders, but they got inside the house 
 and ' maintained the doors,' and ' shot out of the windows.' 
 Captain Pickering, with twelve men, forced an entrance, but 
 the Colonels 'fought it out very resolutely' in the rooms 
 of the inn, and killed one of Captain Pickering's men, but at 
 last ' submitted to mercy.' ^ The four Colonels were made 
 prisoners, including Colonel Sir Bernard Scudamore and 
 Colonel Thornton. 
 
 This was only part of a greater rising of a strong force 
 of men and horse for the purpose of joining the Essex rising. 
 Captain Reynolds, a deputy-lieutenant for Cambs, Captain 
 John Appleyard, and others were entrusted with commissions, 
 and a rendezvous was appointed at Linton between Cam- 
 bridge, Saffron Walden, and Newmarket. Men and horse 
 came in freely from villages ten miles round — from Sir 
 Anthony Cage, of Burrough Green, to the smaller men who 
 joined in the rising. John Curd, or Crudd, of Ickleton, high 
 constable, sent out warrants to the petty constables of his 
 hundred ; Giles Jocelyn, the stout farmer of Babraham, who 
 had resisted Sheriff Pychard's Ship-money collectors, with 
 ' unlawful weapons,' was constable for his parish, and raised 
 men ' by forging their names and his own on the warrants ' ; 
 Francis Frost, of Brinkley, and William Symons, of Ickleton, 
 were other constables who sent out warrants. From New- 
 market, DuUingham, Exning, Sawston, Horseheath, Linton, 
 Saffron Walden, and Bishop Stortford, and all the country 
 round, came in 500 horse and foot, to the rendezvous at 
 Linton, where Barnaby Richmond was appointed Quarter- 
 master. But although Captain Reynolds was in actual 
 command of the ' Linton Insurrection,' as it is styled in the 
 
 * Letter from Newmarket, E. 448 (10), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
Great Civil War, 267 
 
 old documents, the leading man was Mr. John Appleyard, 
 of Dullingham, who entertained some of the officers at his 
 own house, and, assisted with horses and arms, rode over to 
 Stetchworth and to Weston and roused the villagers there ; 
 and, when a considerable body had been got together at 
 the rendezvous, he urged them on with a stirring speech 
 * to play their parts like men ; for if they should lose the 
 day now, they should be overthrown for ever.' 
 
 Hearing of this rising, on his arrival before Colchester, 
 Fairfax despatched two troops of his own horse and three troops 
 of Colonel Harlackenden's regiment in command of Colonel 
 Sparrow. About the same time that the scene at the 
 " King's Arms " at Newmarket occurred, or a day later. Colonel 
 Sparrow's force reached Linton, came in conflict with the 
 Royalists, routed them, and took prisoners * Major Reynolds, 
 a colonel with a wooden leg, and Major Mustamp, and others 
 they killed.' ^ 
 
 The fire still smouldered in Suffolk, where Sir Thomas 
 Peyton, 'a great stickler in the Kentish engagement,' had 
 got back, and, with Mr. Swan and others, was captured at 
 Bury St. Edmunds, and sent a prisoner to Windsor Castle. 
 Fairfax, unable to get away from Colchester, was concerned 
 about the safety of the Isle of Ely, especially the inner 
 parts about Wisbech adjoining ' Marshland.' The result was 
 that Colonel John Hobart, of Outwell, patrolled the Isle 
 with a troop of 50 horse. 
 
 1 An Exact Narrative, E. 448 (18). That the actual date of this incident was 
 nearly that which is here assigned, is indicated by entries in the Linton Parish 
 Register, which, under date June 16, 1648, contains these particulars of soldiers' 
 interments : — 
 
 *♦ John Sendall, of Brinkley, gent., slain in a skirmish by the Parliament forces. 
 
 •' Robert Giles, of Newport, slain at the same time & upon the same occasion." 
 — Bowtell MSS., ii, 136. 
 
 Among the active partisans in the rising were :— Edward Bridgeman, Oliver 
 Bridgeman, and H. Morden, of Exning ; — Bridgeman and Edward Galway, of 
 Newmarket ; John Morden (' who entertained Hudson and plotted with him 
 in the last war ') ; Thomas Appleyard of Dullingham, John Crudd of Ickleton, 
 Giles Jocelyn of Babraham, Francis Frost of Brinkley, Lawrence Mynott of 
 liorseheath, Barnaby Richmond of Linton, Wm. Bridge of Weston, Wm. 
 Symons of Ickleton, Thomas Firn of Wood Ditton, Jas. Floyd of Brinkley, John 
 Isatson of Dullingham, — Smith of Whittlesford Bridge, Mich. West wood of 
 Ickleton, Geo. Blundell or Blunden, and John Byatt of Sawston ; John Humphrey, 
 sen., of Brinkley, Widow Trowlesof Hildersham, and others, who all sent men and 
 horses or took part in the rising, and figure in the Royalist Composition Papers. 
 
2 68 East Anglia and the 
 
 On June 21, Colonel Walton informed Parliament of 
 designs to surprise Lynn and Crowland, and that the enemy- 
 had ' an eye especially upon the Isle of Ely.' He adds that 
 he had * spent the last week in putting the Isle of Elye — the 
 south part — into a posture of. defence, caused breastworks 
 to be made upon other places, and all great boats upon the 
 fresh rivers.' He summoned in the auxiliary forces, ' who 
 made a good appearance of about 400 men.' In the north 
 of the Isle he was met with opposition of the disaffected, at 
 Wisbech, March, and Whittlesey, but expressed his intention 
 of disarming them and 'arming honest men if they may 
 be found.' ^ 
 
 But with all their disadvantages the troops of Cambridge- 
 shire and the Isle, and of Lincoln and Northampton, saved 
 the crisis in the Fens for Parliament, just at the time when 
 the arrival of Fairfax in Essex had checked the design of 
 the Royalists to march into the Fens, and back on London. 
 
 Meanwhile, Fairfax, ' weary with last night's work,' on 
 June 14 had settled down before Colchester on the same 
 ground where he had first faced the Royalists, the previous 
 afternoon. All the bridges towards Suffolk were now filled 
 up, and the Suffolk forces were sent over to make good the 
 part of the siege on their side, and Sir Thomas Honeywood 
 and the Essex forces in their part ; ' this way being better 
 than to cast away such excellent men against walls and 
 bulwarks.' The enemy, it was declared, ' must betake them- 
 selves to sea, for there is no escape, and we hear the country 
 will come in very freely to block them up.' ^ 
 
 Inside the walled town, says the Royalist narrative, 
 " like the Jews in Jerusalem, with our swords in one hand 
 and our trowells in the other, began to repaire the mines 
 of our walls, which were many ; this towne being one of the 
 antientest foundations in the kingdome. There were above 
 five hundred places without any fortification at all." As 
 to the other means of defence the writer adds : — 
 
 "Wee looked into the magazine of the towne, where wee 
 found 70 barrells of powder with some match, and in private 
 
 > Letter in Portland MSS., Hist. MSS. Rep., xiii. 
 = Portland MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 269 
 
 houses neare a thousand armes ; then we searched the stores 
 for provision, and at the Hithe, a parte of the east suburbs 
 where a small river runns into a creeke of the sea, wee found 
 two thousand quarters of rye with a greate proportion of 
 
 salte and wine, which wee brought into the towne 
 
 The inhabitants were as much amaz'd at this plenty as our 
 selves, for the market day before wee enter'd the towne 
 the poore were complayning in the streets that they could 
 not gette corne for their money ; those bowell-lesse merchants 
 having ingross'd it to enhanse the price." ^ 
 
 By June 19 the beleaguered Royalists in Colchester 
 received the unwelcome news that their ' friends at Linton 
 were defeated by the enemy, and Major Muschamp, a loyal 
 gentleman, killed,'^ and all hope of the expected support 
 from that quarter was practically cut off. Their hopes of 
 aid from the sea had, however, been rising through the 
 revolt of part of the ships to the King. There was an 
 attempt to force the passage of the Colne by these ships 
 laden with provisions for the beleaguered town, but they 
 were driven back by the garrison on Mersea Island, aided 
 by ships which had come up from Harwich. 
 
 The Suffolk men on the banks of the Stour were still 
 halting between divers opinions, whether to fight for the 
 King, for Parliament, or to block up their own borders. 
 The Royalists were not yet completely cut off on the east 
 and north-east side, and after taking possession of the 
 house of Sir Harbottle Grimston at Bradfield, they sent 
 the following communication to the Suffolk men across 
 the river : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, we are commanded by Sir Charles Lucas, 
 commander in chief of his Majesty's forces in Essex, to 
 desire your positive answer whether you do declare your- 
 selves to be our enemies or no. Likewise, we desire to 
 give you notice that our coming hither is to preserve this 
 hundred from plunder ; nor to act in anything against you 
 in Suffolk, upon your declaring either to be our friends 
 or to stand as neuters, and that your intentions of drawing 
 
 1 Beaufort MSS. 
 
 2 Diary in MSS. of J. H. Round, Esq., M.P. 
 
270 East Anglia and the 
 
 together are only to secure your own county ; hoping you 
 will be so tender of spilling any more blood, especially of 
 your so near neighbours, as we Essex men that have 
 associated with you, as that you will take away all just 
 occasions, by coming no more into our county, and sending 
 back those men, horses, and arms which you have taken 
 from us, or forcing us to declare ourselves to be what we 
 loath to think of, your enemies ; whereas our wishes and 
 studies shall be to subscribe ourselves, gentlemen, your 
 friends and loving neighbours. June 22, 1648."^ 
 
 Two days later, the news-letters were declaring that 
 although the Essex soldiers 'had stood so many cannon 
 shots that they deserved to be called Essex lions,' yet the 
 Suffolk forces were still at their rendezvous. But on June 25, 
 the bridge over the river was finished, and the Suffolk 
 men, consisting of about 2,000 foot and five troops of 
 horse, crossed over, threw in their lot with the besieging 
 army, and entrenched themselves before the East Gate on 
 the Suffolk Road. 2 
 
 In a few days Colonel Barnardiston reported to Parliament 
 that their forces had " behaved themselves so gallantly that 
 after a hot dispute, where some of them lost their lives and 
 many of them much blood, yet in the conclusion they beat 
 the enemy out of their houses in the suburbs .... so 
 far as the East Bridge, which doth much straiten those 
 within the town by hindering their sallies into Tendering 
 Hundred."^ The House thanked them for 'their gallant 
 and valorous service.' 
 
 The share of the Essex men before Colchester is also 
 reflected in letters from their commanders. On June 26 
 Colonel Sparrow wrote to Sir Harbottle Grimston : — "Our 
 country now begins to be so exhausted of provisions that 
 it may well be doubted that the poor will be compelled to 
 
 ^ Rushworth, vii, 1 163. 
 
 "^ "The Suffolk forces under the command of Colonel Barnardiston, Colonel 
 Gourdon, Colonel Fotheringill, Captain Moody, and others, were persuaded to 
 quit their passes at Stratford and liayland, where at first they pretended only 
 the securing of their own county." — Narrative in the MSS. of the Duke of 
 Beaufort. 
 
 3 Letter to the Speaker in the Portland MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 271 
 
 rise for want of bread. And I cannot see any other remedy 
 unless some pay may be advanced for the pay of the General's 
 army ; and .... then we should be supplied by way 
 of markets here, and other countries would readily send 
 in for our money, whereas now all provisions are raised 
 in our country." ^ 
 
 The Suffolk commanders were able to bring provisions 
 for their own men, but Essex, with its County Committee 
 shut up in Colchester, suffered from the hardships of a year 
 of famine. If those within the walls of Colchester were 
 enduring all the horrors of the siege, the besiegers without 
 were suffering the misery of camping on the soddened ground 
 during one of the wettest summers of the century.^ So 
 desperate was the condition of the soldiers from this cause, 
 that Warwick says : " The weather being very rainy, it rotted 
 divers of Fairfax's men, and had cost him more had not 
 the provisions and shelter the country brought in to him 
 made him so well struggle with that difficulty."^ 
 
 The efforts made to secure the release of the Essex 
 Committeemen were continued by Parliament. A temporary 
 committee for the County, made up of members of the 
 Hertfordshire and other Committees, was appointed to look 
 after the affairs of Essex, with power to seize twenty individual 
 Royalists to be sent to the General to have such treatment 
 as the imprisoned Committee had.* One of the persons to 
 be seized was * young Mr. Capell, son and heir-apparent 
 of the Lord Capell,' and * in case of opposition to break open 
 locks and doors to search for the said Mr. Capell,' who was 
 then at Hadham Hall, Herts. The result is reflected in 
 the particulars which follow : — 
 
 "At 16 years of age, in the middle of June, 1648, when 
 his father Lord Capell defended the town of Colchester 
 against the rebels, a seargent with two men came to 
 Hadham to carry him to the General at the league before Col- 
 chester. He was then very sickly and had scarce rid ever on 
 
 » Portland MSS., Hist. MSS. Rep., xiii, pt. i, 467-8. 
 
 * " Mending ye Great Walk, washed down with ye G* Flood." — Bursar's 
 Accounts, St John's College, Cambridge, 1648. 
 
 '^ Memoirs, p. 314. 
 
 * Commons' Journals. 
 
272 East Anglia and the 
 
 horseback, or been out of the family, and from the time that 
 Cromwell took away the horses,^ there never could be one 
 kept, soe that he was forced to hire horses for himself and 
 one man, which was all that would be allowed him, and was 
 soe ill-used that he was forced sometimes to lye in a cabin, 
 and sometimes in a little thatchet house, with two soldiers 
 lying by him in straw, and every day was carried round 
 the works. The first day they sent my Lord word that his 
 son was there and whether he would not surrender, which he 
 answered that ' if his wife and all his children were there 
 he would doe his duty.' However, on the 6th of July he 
 had leave to return." ^ 
 
 It was said in the diary of a lady of the time, that the 
 incident so affected Lady Capel, that she was ' brought 
 abed of a son with the grief of it.' The circumstance is 
 further illustrated by the following letter, from one of the 
 Capels to Mrs. Sadler, of Standon, Herts : — " Noblest Madam 
 Sadler, I humbly thank you for your letter, and for the 
 contents ; wee were acquainted with them before. This day 
 
 they are (by order of ) carrying my young nephewe 
 
 Arthur Capell to the Lo : Fairfax, to the great and extra- 
 ordinary grief of his blessed mother, who was on Monday 
 night delivered of a brave lusty boy, but takes this great 
 iniustice with so deep a rescent [resentment] as I very much 
 fear it will hazard her life. Madam, I am your most 
 humble servant, Arthur Capell. For the most noble Mrs. 
 Sadler." ^ 
 
 Sir Thomas Honeywood, writing to the Speaker from the 
 Leaguer before Colchester, on July 11, says: — "The sad 
 condition of our worthy friends in Colchester . . . . 
 doth every day heighten our compassion .... besides 
 such is the policy, or rather cruelty, of the enemy, that they 
 place them just under the mouth of our only advantageous 
 battery. A bullet within these few hours, notwithstanding 
 all our care, passed through the room where they are all in 
 
 1 See "Hertfordshire during the Civil War," p. 18. 
 
 * Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., xii, App., pt. ii, MSS. of the Duke of Beaufort. 
 3 Collection of letters to and from Mrs. Sadler, of Standon.— MSS. R. 5, 
 Trinity College, Cambridge. 
 
Great Civil War. 273 
 
 durance."^ Fortunately, Parliament had Mr. Ashburnham 
 a prisoner, and he was exchanged for Sir William Masham ; 
 and as to the rest of the Committeemen, the House ordered 
 that " it be referred to the General to make convenient 
 exchanges for all the rest of the Committee of Essex, now 
 in restraint in Colchester." 
 
 With Fairfax unable to move from before the walls of 
 Colchester, and Cromwell away besieging Pembroke Castle 
 in Wales, Royalists had a fair chance of rising wherever 
 commanders could be found to lead them. On July 4 the 
 House wrote to Colonel Rossiter that ' the enemy hath taken 
 Lincoln,' and that adjoining counties had been directed to 
 send in forces to assist him in Lincolnshire. In Huntingdon- 
 shire there were, on July 4, tumultuous meetings, in which 
 Colonel Montague was taken prisoner and carried to 
 Washingley House, and for suppressing which Colonel Walton 
 sent troops out of Norfolk. At Elstree, Herts, there was 
 a skirmish ; but a more important rising was that under the 
 Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Holland, who, after 
 being defeated near Kingston-on-Thames, were driven into 
 Hertfordshire ' into the lion's den,' with Sir Michael Livesey 
 in pursuit. While these Cavaliers, with 400 or 500 horse, 
 were crossing Hertfordshire, the Earl of Holland having 
 ' a bullet in his shoulder,* the news reached Fairfax before 
 Colchester, and he sent off Colonel Adrian Scroope with 
 seven troops of horse upon a forced march to intercept 
 the Royalists, whose presence in the county had so 
 alarmed Hertfordshire that the 'well-affected' mustered in 
 strong force to guard Hatfield House. 
 
 Marching day and night, Colonel Scroope almost came 
 up with the Cavaliers on Sunday, July 9, when a Com- 
 mitteeman from Hertford accompanied him to Hitchin, 
 where * six good guides ' were obtained to direct them in 
 their march during Sunday night to St. Neots, on the 
 borders of Beds and Hunts, towards which the Royalists 
 were known to be marching. Sir Michael Livesey's advanced 
 guard had lost trace of the Cavaliers apparently, though 
 
 1 Portland MSS. 
 
 18 
 
2 74 East Anglia and the 
 
 they had fallen upon a small party of them indulging in 
 a revelry at an inn at Luton, ' with their hats on the table 
 and their swords stuck in the ceiling.' ^ 
 
 On the arrival of Buckingham and the wounded Earl at 
 St. Neots, on the Sunday evening, a council of war was 
 held for the purpose of deciding the line of march for the 
 next day. Dalbier, the old soldier, who * was esteemed an 
 eminent officer amongst them, to whose advice they much 
 adhered,' stoutly maintained that St. Neots itself could be 
 held without the necessity for renewing their march next 
 day. He ' engaged to make good the town of St. Neots 
 against any party that should pursue them, and that he 
 would engage his life, which he would lose rather than see 
 them surprised.' The Council of War having adopted 
 Dalbier's advice to remain at St. Neots, the Duke of 
 Buckingham and the Earl of Holland addressed themselves 
 to the magistrates and principal inhabitants of the town 
 in conciliatory speeches, as they had done in other towns. 
 Here is the speech of the Duke of Buckingham : — 
 
 " Gentlemen, we come not hither to carry anything from 
 you ; but have given strict orders that neither officers nor 
 soldiers carry what is now yours away. Nor are our 
 intentions to make a new war ; but to rescue the kingdom 
 from the arbitrary power of the Committees of the several 
 counties that labour to continue a bloody war to destroy 
 you. Our resolution for peace is by a well-settled govern- 
 ment under our royal King Charles ; and we do bless God 
 that He hath made us instruments to serve the King, the 
 Parliament, and the Kingdom in the way to peace." '^ 
 
 The Earl of Holland also made a speech, 'at which the 
 Earl had a better faculty than at the sword,' in similar terms, 
 and the St. Neots people seem to have accepted the 
 situation without demur. The Duke of Buckingham ' slept 
 at a gentleman's house two or three miles out of the town ' ;» 
 and the Earl of Holland, * so weary and shaken in his 
 joynts that he had better well to his bed than to his 
 horse,' went to one of the inns in the town. 
 
 ^ •' Hertfordshire during the Great Civil War," p. 83. 
 2 " A Great Victory at St. Neots," London, 1648. 
 
Great Civil War. 275 
 
 Just before sunrise on Monday morning, July 10, 100 
 dragoons, forming the forlorn hope of Colonel Scroope's 
 force, arrived at the town end at Eaton Ford. The Royalists 
 on guard cried " To horse ! to horse ! " and those who were 
 already under arms disputed the bridge warmly, but on 
 account of the suddenness of the attack, and the few who 
 had assembled, were * overpowered and driven into the 
 town.' There the Earl of Holland's forces were out of 
 their beds and drawn up in three companies on the Market 
 Hill. The other officers had speedily assembled, but the 
 Earl of Holland, *if the enemy did not slander him, took 
 more deliberation to dresse him.' The main body of 
 Colonel Scroope's force dashed into the town, and *six 
 troops were instantly brought into action.' Dalbier and 
 Colonel Legg fought with great bravery, but the force they 
 commanded was soon overpowered ; and the young Duke 
 of Buckingham, who had got into the saddle and into the 
 town in time to see which way things were going, set off 
 along the Huntingdon road with about sixty of the horse. 
 As for the Earl of Holland, who had taken so much pains 
 about his toilet, he either had not got out of his room, or 
 was forced back partly dressed by his own men, who fell 
 back upon the old inn yard where the Earl had slept. 
 Here a brief, sanguinary conflict ensued ; the great gates 
 of the inn next the street were closed, and the Earl's body- 
 guard sought to defend him by firing pistol shots upon the 
 attacking force in the street. 
 
 But here they were in a trap from which there was no 
 escape ; for in front were troops enough to take a small 
 garrison, and in the rear of the premises flowed the turgid 
 waters of the Ouse. The great gates were forced ; the court- 
 yard swarmed with the Parliamentary troopers, who soon 
 ' made short work ' of the Earl's party, many of whom were 
 drowned in the Ouse in attempting to escape at the rear. 
 A rush was then made for the Earl of Holland's chamber 
 in the inn, the door was broken open, and the fastidious 
 young Cavalier surrendered himself in the following graceful 
 speech : — 
 
 "Gentlemen, souldiers, I am a gentleman and desire you 
 
276 East, Anglia and the 
 
 that I may be used as a gentleman. I pray you let me 
 have quarter for my life ; I am your prisoner and desire that 
 I may be civilly used, and that you will show yourselves 
 souldiers and gentlemen towards me. I offer you no 
 opposition, but freely surrender myself your prisoner." ^ 
 
 The soldiers gave him quarter, used him civilly, and 
 delivered him to Colonel Scroope. 
 
 Dalbier, the former Parliament Quarter-Master-General, 
 although he 'drank sack stiffly,' had done his best to justify 
 his advice to hold the town, by fighting to the death, and 
 the Parliamentary troopers, ' to express their detestation 
 of his treachery, hewed him in pieces.' The Royalists after- 
 wards declared that their assailants at St. Neots ' fought 
 more like devils than men.' 
 
 In a hurried dispatch sent off to the Committee at Derby 
 House, the same day. Colonel Scroope wrote : — 
 
 " The enemy when we entered the town were drawn up 
 into three bodies, which my forlorn hope charged and 
 routed before the rest of my horse entered, but when the 
 rest came up the dispute was quickly at an end, for then 
 they got out at all the passes and ran for it, but divers of 
 them fell, and some of the chief ones, and we have taken 
 
 divers prisoners The Duke of Bucks escaped 
 
 with about three score horse, who is gone, as I understand, 
 towards Lincoln. I had marched all day Saturday and all 
 night that my horse was unable to pursue further than 
 Huntingdon, but I hope if he goes that way that he will 
 be met with by Colonel Rossiter's forces. He is not at all 
 considerable, and unable to do anything." 
 
 He then gives particulars of the prisoners taken, who 
 included the Earl of Holland, and Sir Gilbert Gerard, Colonel 
 Dalbier, and a son of Sir Kenelm Digby being killed. 
 
 More definite particulars which followed showed that the 
 prisoners included 30 officers, 120 troopers, and 200 horse, 
 besides arms ' and of gold and silver clothes a store.' The 
 spoil included the Earl of Holland's white charger, ' with 
 splendid caparison,' £600 in gold taken from the Earl's 
 
 ^ " Bloody Newes from Bedfordshire," E. 452 (32), 
 
Great Civil War. 277 
 
 private chest, and * his blew ribbon and his George taken 
 from his person.' The soldiers declared ' they never met 
 with such golden bootie ; fine cloathes, gallant horses, and 
 bags full of coin.' 
 
 The prisoners were, for greater security, taken into 
 St. Neots church, where they remained well guarded until 
 the following day, when they were sent on to Hitchin, and 
 thence to London. The Earl of Holland was sent off in 
 a coach, and with other officers was secured in Warwick 
 Castle ; the Duke of Buckingham, who had fled towards 
 Lincolnshire, eventually found his way back to London 
 and escaped to France.^ 
 
 Two days before this affair at St. Neots, Hamilton with 
 his Scottish forces had crossed the border and seized Carlisle ; 
 and Cromwell, having taken Pembroke Castle, was, a few 
 days later, marching northwards to meet him. Nearer home 
 Parliament was anxious about the marine population of 
 Yarmouth, who were ready to burst out in sympathy with 
 the crews of the revolted ships, and the Deputy-Lieutenants 
 of Norfolk earned the thanks of the House for promptly 
 sending their forces to Yarmouth. Meanwhile the siege 
 of Colchester was, day by day, becoming more desperate, 
 as the old narratives which have already been quoted clearly 
 indicate. 
 
 On Friday, July 7, about the time that Colonel Scroope 
 set out upon his forced march to St. Neots, there was 
 a 'grand sally upon the east suburbs with 600 foot and 
 150 horse,' which resulted in a severe engagement with the 
 besiegers. Gradually the line of communication was drawn 
 closer, taking in * my Lord Lucas his house' ; then the Hithe 
 church was taken in, and, adds the narrative, " then we were 
 
 * Particulars of this victory at St. Neots are to l>e found scattered over 
 a number of the old newspapers, news-letters, and pamphlets of the period, the 
 principal being : — 
 
 " A Great Victory at St. Neots " : London, 1648. ** A letter from Isaac Puller 
 & William Flomer (Mayor of Hertford), dated Hertford, past five in the morning, 
 July iith, 1648 " (King's Pamphlets, Brit. Mus., E. 452). Mercurius Britanniciis, 
 Moderate Intelligencer ^ Perject Weekly Account^ etc., etc. These are reprinted 
 for the most part in Gorham's " History of F.ynesbury and St. Neots." Other 
 authorities are: Sanderson's "Charles I"; the Welbeck MSS. ; Rushworth ; 
 Whitelock ; the Journals of Parliament, etc. 
 
278 East Anglia and the 
 
 wholly invested. We must needs acknowledge our besiegers 
 wrought hard and not irregularly, but in truth they began 
 at the wrong end ; for had they first possessed St. John's 
 they had cut us off from the Hithe, and that provision 
 which fed 7,000 mouths for 1 1 weeks, & without it we 
 could not have subsisted five days. 
 
 " Being cut off from our forage, and having no provision 
 of hay and oats in the town, on Saturday the fifteenth of 
 July, about ten at night, we attempted to break away with 
 part of our horse, ordering them to march northward, and 
 join with the Scotch Armie, who, as we were informed by 
 private letters, were upon their march to our relief 
 . . . . But the enemy having blocked up all the passes, 
 we failed in our attempt, which upon second thoughts 
 we thankfully acknowledged to Providence preserving us 
 against our design. For had the horse passed we had 
 wanted their flesh, upon which we fed six weeks ; and 
 their riders whom as we ordered, made the strongest part 
 of our defence ; for as their horses were slaughtered for 
 our provision, they were armed with halberds, brown bills, 
 and scythes, straightened and fastened to handles, about 
 six foot long, weapons which the enemy strongly apprehended, 
 but rather of terror than use, for they required such distances 
 to manage them, that they could not be brought to fight 
 in a gross. These were divided into three companies and 
 commanded by my Lord of Norwich, the Lord Capell, 
 and Sir Charles Lucas, who took their posts and hutted 
 themselves upon the line, where they fed and lodged with 
 their souldiers, a wise and worthy undertaking to revive the 
 antient discipline ; for though we humbly confess our sins, 
 the primary cause which hath pulled down these judgments 
 upon us, yet we look upon our luxuries and remissness in 
 discipline as the proximate causes of our ruin. For many 
 of our general ofiiicers in the former wars had such indulgence 
 for their debaucheries that they adopted none to prefer- 
 ments but the companions of their pleasures. 
 
 *^ The enemy began their approaches on the east part 
 of the town, called Berrie fields, which we suffered with great 
 silence from our cannon, for besides our want of ammunition 
 
Great Civil War. 279 
 
 we desired an assault, as the likeliest means of our relief; 
 only to free us from surprise we were forced to fire some 
 of the neighbouring houses of the suburbs, where the enemy 
 might have lodged their whole army within pistol shot 
 of our walls 
 
 " The last month passed quietly, for the enemy knew 
 that we must be reduced by our wants, and we allowed 
 them to make their approaches unchecked for lack of 
 ammunition." 
 
 The besieged were at last compelled to reduce the 
 allowance of bread to seven ounces a day. "It was received 
 without murmuring by the souldiers, though being made 
 of mault, oats, and rye which had taken salt water, it was 
 not only distasteful, but such unwholesome food, that many 
 chose to eat their horse and dog's flesh without it. But 
 the greater suffering was of the poor inhabitants, who were 
 reduced to that extremity that they ate soape and candle, 
 
 which they endured with notable resolution But 
 
 upon review of our magazine and the provisions of private 
 families, we found our store so little, that it was thought 
 fit time to send a letter to Fairfax, wherein we proposed 
 that if he would grant a truce for twenty days, and a pass 
 for a messenger to find out Sir Marmaduke Langdale, if 
 we were informed that in that interim he were not in 
 a condition to relieve us, then we would treat with him 
 upon a surrender. But the insolent enemy refused it, where- 
 upon we resolved to continue our defence, hoping that the 
 justice of our cause and the temper of our proceedings 
 might in some degree make us worthy of the protection of 
 Providence and our friends." ^ 
 
 It was alleged that the soldiers and inhabitants were 
 deliberately deceived by the Royalist commanders as to 
 the chances of relief from outside,- and there can be no 
 doubt that the Royalist prints in London had kept up the 
 delusion. One of them appealed to the Earl of Norwich 
 and Capel "and the rest of the renowned captains in 
 Colchester " — 
 
 > Beaufort MSS. 
 
 * Fairfax Correspondence. 
 
I 5| si's H 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 281 
 
 Shrink not, brave heroes, be you not dismaid ; 
 Things work apace, be patient and ere long 
 Unto your rescue come three armies strong. 
 
 Outside the leaguer this sort of thing fell flat, with the 
 victories at St. Neots and of Cromwell in Wales; and to 
 counteract it, Fairfax shot papers over the wall to undeceive 
 those inside of any false hopes concerning what was 
 happening without. 
 
 At last the situation became too desperate to live on 
 hope : the townspeople and the women with their children 
 appealed to the humanity of Norwich, but the commanders 
 still held on to the hope of Langdale and the Scots reaching 
 them. The Mayor of Colchester appealed to Fairfax to 
 allow civilians to pass the lines of communication, but like 
 Norwich inside, Fairfax without had to set aside private 
 feelings, and while pitying their condition found that *it did 
 not stand with his trust to permit it.' Again a famished 
 crowd of women and children appealed to Norwich, and 
 rather than give way he threw open the gates and told them 
 * to go to the enemy with their complaints.' 
 
 In their dire extremity it is said that a woman and five 
 children, one sucking at her breast, came outside the 
 fortifications. * She fell down at our guards, beseeching 
 them to let her pass beyond the lines; the people in the 
 town were watching to see if the woman and children were 
 allowed to pass, and resolving to follow them. But the 
 guards were necessitated to turn them back, or otherwise 
 hundreds would come out, which would prejudice the 
 service. The woman said that could they but get dogs 
 and cats to eat it were happy for them, but all the dogs 
 and cats and most of the horses are near eaten already.' 
 No wonder the writer adds — " Some sad thing of necessity 
 must befall the town suddenly [presently]."^ 
 
 Towards other women who came out, the sentries could 
 only fire shots over their heads to frighten them back ; and 
 at last were obliged to threaten to strip them of their clothing 
 and send them back naked. In the face of this threat they 
 
 ^ Rushworth. 
 
282 East. Anglia and the 
 
 retired, but huddled themselves together, and took shelter 
 in a mill just outside the walls for the night. 
 
 At last, on August 22, says the Royalist narrative inside 
 the walls, " all hope was cut off by the news of Cromwell's 
 victory over the Scots [at Preston], of which the enemy 
 sent in a printed account by trumpet. At first we refused 
 to believe it, but after two days further news convinced us, 
 and a Council of War was called, which decided that overtures 
 should be made to the enemy." 
 
 Two of the imprisoned Essex Committeemen were induced 
 to address a letter to the Commanding Officer to allow them, 
 • out of their tender bowells to the starving inhabitants of 
 the towne,' to wait upon Fairfax and mediate an accommoda- 
 tion. Fairfax, knowing that it was the defeat of the Scots 
 that had prompted the device, sent back answer that they 
 had held out and defied his summons so long that the 
 best conditions they could expect would be to submit to 
 mercy. Between the cries of the townspeople and the 
 difficulty of keeping the starving soldiers together any 
 longer, the commanders, finding the terms offered would 
 be heaviest upon themselves, in desperation resolved upon 
 an attempt to save themselves by mounting their half- 
 starved horses and breaking through the lines in the night- 
 time. Those having a horse left to mount, fell in with the 
 project; but the common soldiers naturally demurred to 
 a plan which would leave them behind, and, threatening 
 to kill their officers rather than they should go out in this 
 way, declared in favour of giving themselves up to Fairfax 
 rather than continue the hopeless struggle. 
 
 Under these circumstances there was nothing for the 
 Royalist Commanders but to submit, and on August 27 
 terms of capitulation were signed ; a Council of War decided 
 that Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George Lisle should suffer 
 death, and they were led out to be shot. Lucas was the 
 first to fall, justifying his action in his last words by 'all 
 the laws of the kingdom,' and his commission from his 
 sovereign. Lisle caught his body in his arms and 'kissed 
 the dead man's face.' Then, taking his fallen comrade's 
 place, Lisle called to the firing party to come nearer, to 
 
Great Civil War. 28 
 
 o 
 
 which one of the soldiers replied : " I 'U warrant you, Sir, 
 we '11 hit you." " I have been nearer you when you have 
 missed me," Lisle smilingly replied, and then fell as the 
 bullets pierced his body.^ 
 
 Much controversy has been carried on around the question 
 whether the execution of Lucas and Lisle was justifiable 
 or not — whether its inhumanity can be condoned by any 
 question of parole given by compounders, or of the 
 difference between the first and second wars — a controversy 
 into which it would be profitless to enter here. Capel and 
 Norwich, being peers, were left to be dealt with by the 
 civil power. 
 
 From the starved, empty shell of a town now in ruin 
 and in ashes,^ with only * a barrel and a half of powder 
 left in it,' but ' plenty of the enemy's great shot ' in place 
 of food, 65 gentlemen, 72 lieutenants, 69 ensigns and cornets, 
 183 sergeants, and 3,067 private soldiers, with gaunt, hungry 
 looks, filed out in charge of their captors, and on August 28 
 Fairfax was in possession of the town. 
 
 Many of the prisoners were marched across the county 
 into Hertfordshire, and there for a time were accommodated 
 in the churches, revelling in the new-found luxury of the 
 bread and cheese doled out to them,^ but with the harder 
 fate in store for many of them of being shipped off to the 
 West Indies. For the inhabitants of Colchester an equally 
 rigorous punishment was meted out by the victors in the 
 £\2<XiO exacted from them for the soldiers in lieu of plunder, 
 of which ;^2,ooo was returned by Fairfax to be given to 
 the poor. The Essex and Suffolk Trained Bands received 
 £2,000 as their share, the other ;^8,ooo going to Fairfax's 
 soldiers. 
 
 While the tragedy at Colchester was being enacted, 
 
 * There is a belief prevalent in Colchester that around the stone upon which 
 Lucas was shot the grass refuses to grow, upon which Mr. S. R. Gardiner has 
 this comment — " Possibly there are stones from the old walls buried at no 
 great distance from the surface." 
 
 "^ Rushworth says that when riding round about the wall of the town **it was 
 a sad spectacle to see so many fine houses burnt to ashes, and so many inhabitants 
 sickly and weak with living upon horses and dogs." It appears that 800 horses 
 were eaten during the siege, and 300 houses burned. 
 
 ' See •* Hertfordshire during the Civil War," p. 87. 
 
284 East Anglia and the 
 
 a curious little adventure was happening in the corner of 
 Norfolk on the Wash. That threatened irruption into the 
 Isle of Ely and the Fens had actually come to pass on 
 a small scale ; and, out of the mists and shadows which 
 a few small fragments of fact illuminate for us, there is 
 visible to the imagination a short, sharp tussle with some 
 hundreds of the King's men. The outcome of that tussle 
 was one which probably charged the memory of the long- 
 shoremen of the Wash with the material for many a fireside 
 tale, not unworthy of other tales of the sea. The King's 
 men were hustled out of the Fens on to the muddy strand 
 of the Wash about King's Lynn, and there placed on board 
 one of the harbour craft, with directions to the keelman 
 to take his cargo of prisoners across the Wash to Boston. 
 But finding themselves once on the free, tossing waves, the 
 captured , turned upon their captors, after the approved 
 fashion of all sea stories, lay about them in earnest, got 
 the upper hand of the Parliament men in charge of them, 
 bound them hand and foot ; and then, also in the approved 
 manner of fiction, made the keelman their servant, and 
 bade him navigate his vessel according to their own will, 
 which was that he should shape his course for Scarborough, 
 right away from this fighting region of East Anglia and 
 its memories of old " Ironsides." 
 
 The keelman, with his flat-bottomed craft, protested that 
 it was impossible; but he promised them that he could 
 land them on the coast at Heacham, near which place there 
 lived one Sir Hamon Le Strange, a man who after the War 
 began, held the town of Lynn for the King until my lord 
 of Manchester besieged and took it. This they agreed to, 
 and the keelman coasted along the Wash to Heacham, 
 where the party landed, with the Parliament convoy who 
 had now become the prisoners. On a hot day, the thirsty 
 party made their way to Hunstanton Hall, where Sir Hamon 
 Le Strange was pondering over the turn of events. One 
 of his sons, Roger, had escaped hanging for his attempted 
 recapture of Lynn, and had now fled the country after 
 a futile effort in writing proclamations for the Kent and 
 Essex rising of the second Civil War. But Sir Hamon, 
 
Great Civil War. 285 
 
 though he could no longer use his sword as he would like 
 to do, was not the man to see the King's soldiers in want 
 of a stoup of ale, and so they get at least that comfort. 
 Unfortunately, there lived at Hunstanton one Toby Pedder, 
 now chief constable of the hundred, who was too zealous 
 for Parliament to remember that it was through Sir Hamon's 
 influence that he obtained his office : so the affair got wind ; 
 and this is the best face Sir Hamon himself is able to put 
 upon the story, when called upon for an explanation two 
 months later. 
 
 ** Sir Hamon L'Estrange to , understands that Toby 
 
 Pedder, of Hunstanton (whom he made not chief constable 
 to repay him with malice and ingratitude), has given in- 
 formation concerning some clandestine favour shown by 
 him [Sir Hamon] to some soldiers of the King's party 
 lately landed at Heacham. The facts are these. About 
 two months since there came to his house a keelman of 
 Lynn and two gentlemen in the outer court, who wanted 
 to see him. He sent his servant, who was told that many 
 hundred of the King's party had been sent as prisoners 
 from Lynn to Boston. They overmastered their convoy, 
 and wanted the keelman to take them to Scarborough. He 
 said he was not able, but would land them at Heacham, 
 and that Sir Ham. L'Estrange, who lived near, had appeared 
 for the King and would show them favour, and they now 
 desired to speak with Sir Hamon. He refused to see them, 
 and so they departed." He admitted, however, that after- 
 wards " some of the prisoners and their convoy came to 
 his outer court, and the weather being very hot, asked for 
 drink, which his butler gave them without his direction 
 (tho' I might safely justifye that charity to a Turk), and 
 this is the sum of all that buysiness." ^ 
 
 From this point the thirsty Royalists and their convoy 
 vanish completely from our view, like many another frag- 
 ment of a thrilling story. It may be that some of the 
 Norfolk * blades ' came to the rescue of the helpless convoy, 
 and got the original prisoners back across the Wash to 
 Boston after all. 
 
 ^ L'Estrange Papers, Hist. MSS. Com. Reps. 
 
286 East. Anglia and the 
 
 How completely the attempted renewal of the War in 
 East Anglia had failed, before the end of the year 1648, 
 is shown by the Cambridge Colleges returning to their 
 peaceful academic life. At Trinity College the authorities 
 even dared to venture upon a little function of peculiar 
 interest. The College was wealthy, was its own banker, 
 and amid the din of arms the precaution had been taken 
 of hiding away its money until the evil day had passed. 
 As soon as it was considered safe to do so the treasure 
 was taken up, and there was an interesting little ceremony 
 of counting the money which had been hidden, and when 
 the task was finished there was a supper given, apparently, 
 to the workmen.^ The same kind of thing was happening 
 on every hand, in public institutions and in private houses 
 where secret places had been found or made in which to 
 put away such treasure as could be hidden.^ 
 
 At St. John's College, too, there had been a peaceful 
 transformation — sycamore-planting in the " New Walk," the 
 laying out afresh of the Bowling Green, for which the 
 charges for the mole-catcher exceeded all previous records, 
 and plumber's and glazier's work on roofs, leads, and windows 
 swell the Bursar's yearly accounts, both in this and other 
 Colleges. 
 
 The last notable action of the now all-powerful Army 
 within the Associated Counties was the gathering of Fairfax's 
 officers in St. Albans Abbey over the final question of 
 determining the fate of the King. While Parliament was 
 attempting its treaty-making with the King in the Isle 
 of Wight, the officers of the Army, embittered by the 
 experience of the past few months, were engaged in 
 November, 1648, in St. Albans Abbey, drawing up the great 
 Remonstrance, which, though covering the whole field of 
 the War, was yet well summed up in these two paragraphs : — 
 
 "That capitall and grand Author of our troubles, the 
 
 ^ ** Att ye takeing up and telling of ye hid money, 00-14-06 ; Jo. Staggs' bill 
 for ye supper then, 00-15-00."— Bursar's Accounts, Trin. Coll., 1648. 
 
 2 At Gorhambury, near St. Albans, Lady Sussex, having concealed her plate, 
 packed up her ' hangings and best stuffs ' and hid them away in one of the round 
 turrets above her bedchamber, and then had the place walled up.— Verney 
 Papers. 
 
Great Civil War, 287 
 
 person of the King, by whose commissions, commands, or 
 procurement, and in whose behalfc and for whose interest 
 only (of will and power) all our warres and troubles have 
 been (with all the miseries attending them), may be speedily 
 brought to justice for the treason, blood, and mischiefe he 
 is therein guilty of. 
 
 " That for further satisfactions of publique justice. Capitall 
 punishment may be speedily executed upon a competent 
 number of his chiefe instruments also, both in the former 
 and latter warre, and (for that purpose) that some such, 
 of both sorts, may be pitcht upon to be made examples of 
 justice in that kind, as are really in your hands or reach, 
 so as their exception from pardon may not be a mockery 
 of justice in the face of God and men." ^ 
 
 When this emphatic document reached Parliament the 
 House was thrown into great alarm, but after prolonged 
 debating courageously voted, by a majority of 90, that it 
 * will not take the Army's Remonstrance into consideration ' ! 
 So the Army marched to London to enforce its Remon- 
 strance, got rid of the majority of 90, and at the same time 
 brought the King away from the Isle of Wight to London. 
 Cromwell had by this time marched back from the north, 
 and arrived in time to share in the final tragedy of the 
 trial and execution of the King, which closed the year 1648 
 and opened the year 1649. The tragic story needs no 
 retelling in these pages, except to notice presently the 
 consequences to some of the individual actors therein. 
 
 Although the King adhered to the original notion of divine 
 right to the last — " For the people truly I desire their liberty 
 and freedom as much as anybody whatsoever ; it is not their 
 having a share in the Government ; that is nothing apper- 
 taining unto them ; a subject and a sovereign are clean 
 different things " ^ — and * lost his head for his kingcraft,' 
 yet he ' gained the hearts of his people by his bearing as 
 a man.' 
 
 There was a great revulsion of feeling over the execution 
 
 ^ ** A Remonstrance of his Excellency, Thomas Lord Fairfax, and of the 
 Generall Counsell of Officers, held at St. Albans, the i6th of November, 1648." 
 * Speech of Charles I on the scaflfold at Whitehall. 
 
2 88 East. Anglia and the 
 
 of the King. In Hertfordshire a former Parh'ament-man 
 declared that ' it was the most horrid murder that ever any 
 history made mention of/ and ' if he had thought the Par- 
 hament would have gone in that way he would never have 
 drawn his sword for them.' ^ This feeling, increased by the 
 publication of the " Eikon Basilike," detailing the sufferings 
 and fate of the King, was prevalent in other counties of the 
 Association. 
 
 In the Summer months of 1649, there was a remarkable 
 instance of this divided feeling on the borders of Hertford- 
 shire and Cambridgeshire. In July, Commissary-General 
 Ireton's Foot, quartered at Braughing and adjacent villages, 
 sent a recruiting party to Royston fair, with the result 
 which has been thus graphically recorded : — 
 
 " The inhabitants, being somewhat troubled thereat, resolved 
 to make opposition, and immediately gathered to a head, 
 which being done, about 150 marched to the Market Place, 
 fell upon the Parliamentary party, cut and mangled them 
 exceedingly, laid many for dead upon the place, broke 
 their halberts, arms, and drums, wounded Captain Stewart, 
 the commander-in-chief, Lieut. Smith, and some others ; 
 and in a most barbarous and inhumane manner, slit their 
 fingers, the palms of their hands, cut their wrists, and wounded 
 them even from the crown of the head (almost) to the sole 
 of the foot, calling them rebels and traitors for murthering 
 of their King, and saying that they would make rogues 
 of them before they had done with 'em. The conflict being 
 ended, these blood-thirsty villains departed, leaving some 
 gallant spirits gasping on the ground, and their inveteracy 
 was so great that if they did but see any of them stir, 
 presently they made at them again with clubs and other 
 weapons vowing to leave not a man of them alive." ^ 
 
 Captain Steward, in his own dispatch to Ireton, says : " After 
 my drummer had beaten some short time, the townsmen 
 (who are very malignant) and others rose in mutiny about 
 six score of them, fell upon my sergeants and drummer, 
 
 1 Cobb's '* Hist. Berkhamsted," p. 46. 
 
 "^ **A Bloody Fight in Hertfordshire."— King's Pamphlets, E. ^6^ (7^), Brit. 
 Mus. Lib. J o \/o/' 
 
Great Civil War. 289 
 
 broke my drum, and beat my men most lamentably, upon 
 which the Captain, to appease the crowd, told them that 
 * what was done was by authority of Parliament,' and they 
 replied by telling him he was a rebel and a traitor, and 
 fell upon him, cut his hand from the fingers to the wrist, 
 and wounded his head most desperately ; and when they 
 had gone in and we endeavoured to stand on our legs, 
 which we could not do without help, they came again, 
 knocked us down, and thought they had made their intents 
 sure, which Weis to kill us." 
 
 A Royalist print,^ describing the same incident, says : — 
 " The Royston crowes have already taught you the way 
 to take revenge on Prince Ireton's owly birds ; for one 
 Stewart*s son of Braughing, Cromwell's cousin, was beating 
 up drums for recruits, and had gained some loose idle 
 fellows that had rather rob and be hanged than take pains 
 to work and earn their livings, which the loyal-hearted 
 townsmen understanding, seized on them, yet nobly spared 
 their lives, but cut a-too the sinews of their right hands 
 to make them unserviceable for fighting against their King. 
 I would all towns and cities in England would do the like." 
 
 In Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, and Hertfordshire, there are 
 further glimpses of disturbances over the execution of the 
 King, and of an inclination to rise in support of Charles II, 
 afforded by depositions taken at a later date and preserved 
 in the Portland MSS. But in these later developments 
 East Anglia found that that peculiar identity which had given 
 it such a prominence as the one great historic unity of the 
 Civil War, dissolved into the broader issues of the Common- 
 wealth, leaving behind it a harvest of unhappy memories 
 in the religious, social, and family life, the origin of which 
 must be sought, for any clear idea of the full purpose and 
 effect of the great struggle. 
 
 ' "The Man in the Moon; discovering a World of Knavery under the 
 Sunne." — King's Pamphlets. 
 
 19 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 TAXING THE ROYALISTS— THE FORTUNES OF COMPOUNDERS 
 —SEQUESTRATORS AND THEIR WAYS. 
 
 ONE of the most far-reaching effects of the 
 Civil War upon social life was that arising out 
 of the efforts and methods adopted by the 
 respective parties for raising the sinews of war. At the 
 commencement of the strife contributions both to King 
 and Parliament took the form of voluntary acts by the 
 supporters of either side. When the quarrel had reached 
 the stage of actual war, these sources of supply were 
 inadequate, and other measures were of necessity adopted. 
 The King, for whom county families and wealthy corpora- 
 tions like the Universities had in the beginning of the 
 quarrel furnished substantial contributions of plate and 
 arms, found himself obliged when these were exhausted 
 to levy contributions by such means as were open to him ; 
 while Parliament was constrained, through its Committee for 
 the Advance of Money, to convert the system of voluntary 
 contributions into a sort of forced loan, with, at first, the 
 security of the " Public Faith " of the Kingdom for repay- 
 ment with interest at 8 per cent, per annum ; a security 
 which under stress of war soon lost what little value it ever 
 had. For enforcing this new principle of making all 
 contribute alike, willing or unwilling, Parliament had 
 the great advantage of official machinery — from its own 
 votes down to the warrants of the parish constable wherever 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 291 
 
 the baton of that worthy still remained supreme ; and 
 with this, through its Committee, a machinery for dis- 
 tributing the money so raised, in different parts of the 
 field of war according to the necessities of the moment. 
 On the other hand, the King found himself reduced to the 
 necessity of taking supplies wherever they were to be 
 found, and hand them over direct to the officers in the field 
 to meet the needs of the moment. 
 
 Parliament's first assessment of a lump sum was to take 
 one-twentieth of the real estate and one-fifth of the personal 
 estate of each contributor. The exacting of this original 
 assessment was a source of much trouble in many families, 
 those who refused being carried off to prison until the money 
 was paid or security for it provided ; as in the case of Sir 
 William Cowper, of Hertford Castle. As the War proceeded 
 and the demands for money became more pressing, Par- 
 liament ordered weekly assessments from time to time 
 upon the Counties, for which precepts were issued to 
 the chief constable of each hundred, and by him to the 
 parish constables of the hundred. Defaulters in this case 
 were punished by way of distraint made upon their goods 
 and chattels by the collectors, backed up by the parish 
 constable, and if necessary the soldiers of the Trained 
 Bands — a frequent source of irritation in the civil life of 
 non-combatants. The result was a constant stream of 
 traffic in goods and chattels carried up from the Home Counties 
 to the Guildhall in London and sold by auction, * by the 
 candle ' ; an arrangement out of which the fraternity of 
 brokers and dealers made a good harvest. 
 
 History has been careful to record how much the triumph 
 of the Parliamentary cause was due to the valour of 
 Cromwell's Ironsides, and has said less of how much was 
 due to the financial weapon by which Parliament was able 
 to squeeze out its weekly assessments from counties prac- 
 tically untouched by the ravages of the War, and to exact 
 substantial contributions from the very men who hated 
 the name of Parliament. The strength which the Par- 
 liamentary cause derived from the Associated Counties was 
 not confined solely to the forwardness of the people to fight 
 
292 East Anglia and the 
 
 for that cause. The fact that the tide of war flowed, and 
 that its operations were for the most part kept, outside 
 the borders of the Association, had this pecuHar effect, 
 that it drew away every zealous fighting Royalist from his 
 ancestral estates. These were at once sequestrated for 
 Parliament, which took the rents and profits, and, for the 
 necessities of the War, often impoverished the estate of 
 its timber, etc. Where the estates of ' malignants,' as 
 Royalists were called, were sequestrated, their farms were 
 sometimes let, their rents collected by the County Seques- 
 tration Committees ; and where the farms were unlet, or 
 tenants could not be found upon such lease as Parliament 
 and its Committees were justified in giving, the County 
 Committee through an agent would farm the land itself, 
 giving an account to Parliament of the crops, etc. 
 
 If the method of levying contributions adopted by the 
 Cavaliers was, in the hands of unscrupulous agents, known 
 as " plunder," a name which it very often deserved ; the 
 Parliamentary sequestrations were, in the eyes of those who 
 suffered by them, only saved from the same description by the 
 formal procedure which accompanied them. But, allowing 
 for the conditions under which some such pressure became 
 a necessary corollary of war, there was a certain element of 
 judicial fairness, if the word be admissible, in the way 
 Parliament set about its levies, which was absent in the 
 foraging expeditions of the Cavaliers. If Parliament seized 
 the ' delinquent ' Royalist's estate, it did not leave him to 
 starve, but allowed him one-third of it to live upon, or in 
 the case of a clergyman, the sequestration of whose living 
 involved the necessity of finding another man to do the 
 work, the allowance for his wife and family was one-fifth. 
 The family of the Royalist squire or clergyman, if it came to 
 the worst, was thus secured certain rights, under rules which 
 they could demand to have enforced ; and were generally, 
 though not always, safe from the violence of the first 
 marauding troop of soldiers which came along; an exemption 
 which could not always be secured from their friends the 
 Cavaliers, who did not distinguish much between friends 
 and foes. 
 
Great Civil War. 293 
 
 The County Sequestration Committees for Parliament, 
 the members of which were paid for their attendance, and 
 were required to sit two days in each week, combined the 
 work of an assessment committee and of the sheriff and 
 his officers ; and that the functions of both were unpopular 
 with all having the misfortune to come under the rod, 
 goes without saying. Large sums of money were raised, 
 and it was a part of the irony of this old weapon of paradox 
 which Parliament was able to wield, that the counties in 
 which Royalists were the most numerous, contributed most 
 to the ultimate success of the Parliamentary cause, and to 
 the defeat of their own, if only Parliament once got 
 a sufficient hold to keep the constable's head above water. 
 Of the seven counties of the famous Association, Lincoln- 
 shire, which was only won and retained for the Association 
 by repeated engagements and the most obstinate fighting, 
 contributed by far the largest share to the Parliamentary 
 treasury from Royalist estates. Next to Lincolnshire, 
 Cromwell's own county of Huntingdon, for a small county, 
 paid the largest penalties for its divided allegiance. Then 
 came Norfolk, Suffolk, Herts, Essex, and Cambs. 
 
 Wherever detailed accounts of household expenses upon 
 Royalist estates have been preserved, they afford clear 
 testimony to the grip of the Parliamentary tax-gatherer, 
 and show how, after the first flush of excitement of the 
 clash of arms, many a country Royalist was reluctantly 
 contributing with almost prosaic regularity to the defeat 
 of his own cause. The most interesting evidence of this 
 character which has come under my notice from the Eastern 
 Counties, is that afforded by the household accounts of Sir 
 Hamon Le Strange, of Hunstanton Hall, whose attempt to 
 hold the town of Lynn for the King has been already referred 
 to. These accounts have an additional interest from the fact 
 that they were regularly and methodically kept by, and are 
 in the handwriting of. Lady Alice Le Strange, wife of Sir 
 Hamon, a capable woman, whose opinion of men and things, 
 one feels, would have been worth having. The accounts 
 show not only the regular draining of the wealth of the 
 Association for maintaining the War, but also how the process 
 
294 -^^^^ Anglia and the 
 
 of impoverishment of Royalist estates went on, and how 
 
 hard it was when a rich man had once offended against 
 
 Parliament, so openly as Sir Hamon had done, to ' purge ' 
 
 himself and his estate of that offence. After that notable 
 
 attempt at King's Lynn, Sir Hamon went back to Hunstanton 
 
 Hall, and apparently tried hard not to offend Parliament. 
 
 He paid the taxes levied by Parliament, for * S'^ Thomas 
 
 Fayrfaxe,' * for the Eastern Association,' ' to the rate for all 
 
 the garrisons,' 'for the reducing of Newark,' 'money for 
 
 the Skotts,' * for a rate for alarums,' and even * advance money 
 
 for a troop of horse raysed in this hundred ' ; and all these 
 
 as well for Hunstanton as for his estates at Heacham, 
 
 Ringstead, Sedgeford, and elsewhere, with the regularity of 
 
 a law-abiding citizen in a time remote from the distractions 
 
 of war.^ Yet again and again the consequence of that act 
 
 at Lynn overtook him with exhausting effect, from which 
 
 the estate never recovered, and until even Lady Alice lost 
 
 patience and called the Parliament's doings hard names. 
 
 Lady Alice Le Strange, who speaks of her husband, not 
 
 as Sir Hamon, but as ' Mr. Strange,' faithfully records only 
 
 such of their experiences as led to expense, but these were 
 
 frequent enough in all conscience. A very suggestive entry 
 
 is one for July, 1643, when Sir Hamon was getting possession 
 
 of King's Lynn — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 For a barrel of powder which was cast overboard, 
 weight 5olbs 216 
 
 and the next entry is more significant still — 
 
 £ s. d. 
 Layd out as appeareth by a bill of Mr. Strange's, 
 when he travailed to avoid the troopers 5 5 o 
 
 Then there are charges for messengers going to and fro 
 with letters, and others which show that Sir Hamon and 
 his lady managed to get into Lynn despite the troopers. 
 
 ^ Some idea of the cumulative effect of these contributions may be inferred 
 from the fact that for one contribution, ♦ the greate subsidy ' of ;,^400,ooo for 
 Ireland, paid Jan. 4, 1643, Sir Hamon's quota was, for ' Hunstn,' £6 lis. od. ; 
 tor Sedgeford, ;^io 15^. -jd. ; Ringstead, £2 2s. 'jd. ; and Heacham, £() 5^. ^d., 
 or nearly £^0, at one call of the collector. 
 
Great Civil War, 295 
 
 August, 1643. For horse meat at Linne for 6 horses, 
 
 3 weekes and 5 dayes ... ... ... ... ... 316 8 
 
 for our owne dyett for 3 weekes & 5 dayes 8 o o 
 
 for our 3 men for their dyetts for 3 weeks at ioj. ... 4 10 o 
 for washing of our Linnen ...070 
 
 Then the good lady has to lament the loss of household 
 
 stuff —' spiritt of saffron,' 'spiritt of mint,' 'a box of cash 
 
 left to pay workmen * — total, £ 10 8^., which Captain Thomers* 
 
 men *did plunder with other things.' The attempt to hold 
 
 King's Lynn and its failure were only the beginning of Sir 
 
 Hamon's and Lady Alice's monetary troubles, for when 
 
 the bombardment had ceased Parliament fixed upon the 
 
 man who had called the tune to pay the piper. The 
 
 Ordinance passed in December following the siege *' enforced 
 
 malignants to satisfy damage done to the well affected," 
 
 and Sir Hamon, being the chief ' malignant,' the effect of 
 
 the Ordinance is reflected in Lady Alice's accounts, which 
 
 bristle with claims charging Sir Hamon with the damage 
 
 of his fortifications, and possibly by the Parliament's own 
 
 artillery. In April, 1645, Lady Alice makes these entries : — 
 
 • £ s. d. 
 
 April 14, to Mr, May. mayor of Linn, upon an uniust order 
 made by Mr. Miles Corbett, Mr. Valentine Walton, 
 governour of Linne, and Thomas Toll, Alderman of 
 Linne, for the pretended losse sustayned, as they falsely 
 suggest, by the command of S*^ Hamon le Strange 47 13 4 
 April 16. To Bartholomew Wormell upon the same Order 34 17 o 
 to William Johnson, upon the same order, for fyering 
 
 of his mill 37 15 o 
 
 to the towne of Lynne for the towne Houses which were 
 pulled downe & the Governour tooke away all the 
 
 materials: yet by his order wee pay... 95 13 10 
 
 to Mr. Nelston for Sechy Bridg by the same Order ... 2 10 o 
 to others at Lynn 11 o 7 
 
 Four years after the siege, Robert Clarke obtained 
 an execution against Sir Hamon upon which he paid £\o, 
 * upon a pretended fyering of his stacks of hey in the siege 
 of Linn, proved by a false witnesse.* This was followed by 
 a still more serious claim. During the short time Sir Hamon 
 had the upper hand at Lynn, in August, 1643, he seems to 
 have found it necessary to exercise some control over Mr. Toll 
 and Mr. Percivall, the members for the town, for which he had 
 to answer afterwards. In May, 1643, there is this entry : — 
 
296 East Aug Ha and the 
 
 Payd to Mr. Toll and his wife upon a Tryall for their 
 supposed imprisonment, beside ^^40 before deposited 
 in his hand ;^5o o o 
 
 Sir Hamon also had to compensate Mr. Percivall, the 
 
 other member for Lynn, and other persons, upon similar 
 
 claims ; and in less than a year Mr. Toll sought to annul 
 
 his first action in order to claim ' larger damages.' Smaller 
 
 men followed the example, and William Johnson for the firing 
 
 of his mill obtained another £12 \\s. %d. 'upon an uniust 
 
 order, being formerly payd all that he could demand.' In 
 
 F'ebruary, 1649, Sir Hamon was saddled with ;^30 'to John 
 
 Johnson for his house that was taken downe in the Siege 
 
 of Linne.' Finally, Lady Alice sums up the demands made 
 
 upon Sir Hamon and his estate in the following interesting 
 
 particulars entered at the end of her accounts : — 
 
 1643. We payd to the Rebells for our 5th & 20th part li. 
 
 [ordinary assessments for the War] ... 300 o o 
 
 1643. We were plundered by the Rebells of 1600 sheep, 
 
 all our come and divers horses. 
 
 1644. We payd to the advance of the Skottish Rebells ... 200 o o 
 
 1645. Payd to May, Wormell, etc., for their pretended 
 
 losses ... 225 II 2 
 
 1646. Payd to Stileman upon a sute pretending the false 
 
 imprisonment of his Father when he refused to 
 pay the money appoynted for him to pay by my 
 Lord Martiall in the Court of Honour 385 o o 
 
 1647. To Mr. Percivall for pretended 
 
 imprisoning 
 
 to Mr. Toll for the like in part 40 o o J> 334 4 10 
 
 payd for the Almes House \sic\ 
 
 1648. To Mr. Toll upon his pretended 
 
 imprisoning... ... 
 
 to William Johnson upon a second Order... "12 11 8 J- 92 11 8 
 to John Johnson for composition ... 
 
 1649. To Mr. Toll for Mr. Jegon's part, uniustly 
 
 Upon another page are entered, 'among losses in my 
 husband's estate,' this little summary : — 
 
 Payd and spent in sute by the uniust and tirannicall op- 
 pression of Mr. Toll and others of his faction in Linne 
 concerning the seige ... 1088 o o 
 
 Received by Stileman in an Uniust Sute, being overpowered 
 
 by the times 385 o o 
 
 besides our greate losse when we were plundered of all our sheepe 
 and corne.* 
 
 ' Household accounts preserved in the Muniment Room at Hunstanton Hall, 
 trom which the foregoing and other extracts have been courteously furnished by 
 Hamon Le Strange, Esq,, the present representative of a historic house. 
 
 86 
 
 
 
 °) 
 
 
 40 
 
 
 
 ° 
 
 334 
 
 883 
 
 4 
 
 10) 
 
 
 50 
 
 
 
 °] 
 
 
 12 
 
 II 
 
 H 
 
 92 
 
 30 
 
 
 
 0) 
 
 
 5tly. 
 
 
 
 136 
 
Great Civil War. 297 
 
 Powerful though this grip of the Royalist's estate by Par- 
 liament was, as a factor in the struggle, the interest of it 
 centres chiefly in the effects of it upon individual lives and 
 fortunes, in the vicissitudes of families, the humours and 
 the sharp practices of the County Sequestrators themselves, 
 and in the ingenious resorts and excuses of the 'delinquents ' 
 in their desire to get their estates out of the clutches of 
 Parliament on the easiest terms. With little further hope 
 of serving the King with the sword, with their estates in 
 the hands of others, they were ready even to submit to 
 the process of paying a heavy fine, fixed according to scale 
 by Parliament, or even to part with some of their estate 
 to redeem the rest, if they could only get back something 
 to call their own. The fine was assessed by the Committee 
 sitting at Goldsmith's Hall, and was confirmed by Parlia- 
 ment, and a pardon given upon its discharge. The ground 
 of the fine was generally 'for being in arms against the 
 Parliament,' ' for absenting himself from his home and going 
 into the King's quarters,' ' going to the King at Oxford,' etc., 
 etc. ; and the fines varied as much in amount as in the 
 circumstances, often curious and sometimes romantic, under 
 which they were imposed. 
 
 Among the heavy fines imposed upon Royalists of great 
 wealth and position may be mentioned, Viscount Camden, 
 whose exploits about Stamford made the name of the * Cam- 
 deners* a terror in the Spring months of 1643, who was 
 allowed to compound upon a fine of £\Af,QQO ; Sir Edward 
 Hussey, of Honnington, Lincolnshire, who executed the 
 King's Commission of Array for calling his neighbours to 
 arms, fined £^,y^o ; Sir William Thorold, of Lincolnshire, 
 Commissioner of Array, £\,\6o\ John Russell, of Shingay, 
 Cambs, brother of the Earl of Bedford, £y,ooo ; Mr. Thomas 
 Jermyn, of Rushbrooke Hall, Bury St. Edmunds, ;^2,8oo ; 
 Sir John Hewitt, of Waresly, Hunts, ;^3,ooo, reduced to 
 ;^2,I58 ; Sir Anthony Cage, of Burrough Green, Cambs, who 
 was prominent in the Linton Insurrection in the Second 
 Civil War, ;£"2440; John Newton,^ of Haver, Lincolnshire, 
 
 * This was a remarkable case, if his story is to be believed. His offence was 
 for being in the King's quarters ; and his defence, that he was a lad of i6 years 
 
298 East Anglia and the 
 
 £1,000 ; Edward Pelham, of Brockley, Lincolnshire, ;^2,25o ; 
 Edward Aylmer, of Akenham, Norfolk, ;^ 1,900 ; Sir Benjamin 
 Ayloffe, of Essex, ;^2,ooo ; George Newell and his son, Sir 
 Gervase, of Awber, Lincolnshire (' in Newark garrison '), 
 ;^i)737; Sir Sutton Coney, of North Stook, Lincolnshire, 
 £2,6^Z. 
 
 These examples of large fines are, perhaps, more 
 than matched in interest by the smallness of some of the 
 fines, and the peculiar circumstances under which others 
 were exacted. There was a nominal limit of ;^ioo value 
 of estates, below which persons were supposed to be exempt, 
 but this was not always observed, and occasionally the 
 delinquent who had only his hat to throw up for the King, 
 found his wearing apparel assessed and a fine placed upon 
 him. Among the smaller offenders who failed to get through 
 the sequestrators' net, the following examples may be given : — 
 Lionel Walden,^ junior, of Huntingdon, escaped with a fine 
 of £6 ; Edward Whitchcot, of Dunston, Lincolnshire, paid 
 only ^5 ; Anthony Cubbit, of Hobbies, Norfolk, got off 
 with a fine of £2 ; John Smith, of Winford, Cambs, for being 
 in Worcester while it was a garrison for the King, for * only 
 two nights and one day,' paid a fine of £\ \os. od. ; Rob. 
 Turner, of Westley, Cambs, apparently one of Captain 
 Appleyard's men at the Linton Insurrection, was fined £\ ; 
 and a like sum sufficed to purge the delinquency of Anthony 
 Garley, of The Close, Lincoln, assessed upon 'his books 
 and apparel.' Akin to John Smith's fine for spending two 
 nights and a day in Worcester, was that of Sutton Dalton, 
 a Lincolnshire man, who ventured to go into Newark 
 garrison and stayed for two days only, but having some 
 estate was fined ;£"ioo. The most extraordinary fine of 
 this character met with in the Reports of the Committee 
 
 of age at school in the Parliament's quarters, when his mother was plundered by 
 the King's soldiers of ;^4,700 of his money, and she was carried away prisoner. 
 He followed her into Newark and Bel voir garrisons to procure her enlargement 
 and obtain restitution ; but as he appears to have been long enough about it to 
 have come of age, Parliament concluded that he was a voluntary * Newarker, ' and 
 fined him ;^3,ooo. 
 
 ' There is, I am told, still a Walden House in Huntingdon which preserves 
 the connection of this family with the town. 
 
Great Civil War. 299 
 
 for Compounding^ was perhaps that of Henry Docwra, of 
 Pirton, near Hitchin, Herts, concerning whom there is 
 this entry in April, 1649: "Compounds for his delinquency 
 in being twelve hours in company with the forces raised 
 against Parliament last summer, fine £66'^ 
 
 Sometimes the efforts of the compounders to get them- 
 selves and their estates free from the grip of the Sequestrators 
 disclose curious effects and vicissitudes in domestic life. 
 A Royalist might find himself declared a delinquent, and 
 yet had no estate upon which he could raise anything to 
 purge himself In such a case it was a relief to a young 
 impoverished Cavalier to find a wife with some estate and 
 willing to make a sacrifice at the altar of love. A young 
 Cavalier of this type was John Jacklin, of Cambridge, who 
 "confessed that he had taken up arms for the King, but 
 laid them down again, that he had no estate, but a horse, 
 which was sold for the benefit of the Commonwealth, but 
 he had now married and expected to get an estate." A fine 
 of £^0 was imposed upon his improved estate. Sometimes 
 the advice of the elder Mr. Weller in respect to widows, 
 had that been available, would have saved curious com- 
 plications of which the following was one : — 
 
 In the Royalist risings in Essex which led up to the 
 Siege of Colchester, a number of men took up arms from 
 the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden and Bishop's Stortford. 
 Among these one Simon Slaughter, of ' Starford,' had the 
 misfortune to be slain in Colchester. Slaughter, being 
 a man of substance, had, while in Colchester, with death by 
 famine and the sword staring him in the face, settled his 
 estate in lands upon his wife. It so happened that John 
 Cockson, another Stortford man, was also in arms in the 
 Siege of Colchester, and after Slaughter's death Cockson 
 found his way back to Stortford, and, probably knowing 
 of the settlement, married the deceased Slaughter's widow. 
 But as an old soldier he knew that money would be more 
 
 ^ The Reports of the Committee for Compounding, from which the extracts 
 in this chapter are chiefly taken, are preserved at the Public Record Office, and 
 are familiar to the student as State Papers, Interregnum, Series G, or as the 
 Royalist Composition Papers. 
 
300 East- Anglia and the 
 
 valuable than land, and so the dead man Slaughter's lands 
 in Herts and Essex were sold 'at great undervalue' to one 
 Woolley. Information reached the Sequestrators, who came 
 down upon the lands ; and upon the ground that both Mrs. 
 Slaughter's husbands, Slaughter who was slain and Cockson 
 who got possession of the widow and the lands, were 
 delinquents, the lands belonged to the State, and out of 
 them the delinquency of Mrs. Slaughter's two husbands had 
 to be satisfied. 
 
 Thomas Dereham, of Dereham Grange, Norfolk, says 
 that he was obliged * by the sickness of his child ' to go to 
 King's Lynn just at the time when it was held for the 
 King. Here he was detained during the siege. When 
 the town was surrendered the Earl of Manchester gave 
 order that his estate, real and personal, was to be preserved 
 from sequestration, and he had a pass for his protection. 
 The affair was inquired into, and Dereham, who had his 
 horse taken for the King, and yet was called to account 
 for being a Royalist, was able to get his discharge. 
 
 Sir William Clarke, of North Scarle, Lincolnshire, according 
 to his own showing, only went to Newark ' on market days ' 
 while it was the King's quarters. But market-days were 
 notorious occasions for Commissions of Array and for 
 beating up recruits. Parliament took this view of it, Sir 
 William was * imprisoned six months for it,' and having so 
 signally repented of going to Newark market as to after- 
 wards 'take the National Covenant' he was let off with 
 the small fine of ;^2i. John Rous, of Stow, Hunts, went 
 to Oxford, and afterwards pleaded that he was detained 
 there 'by sickness and never took up arms against Par- 
 liament/ But Oxford was the Mecca of Royalism, and 
 a fine of;^i44had to be paid. William Tonge, a Lincoln- 
 shire man, was almost able to plead Hobson's choice for 
 his Royalism, being " forced by Major Kaye either to serve 
 himself or send his servant, which latter he could not do, 
 having but two out of eight left." Richard Wyche, or 
 Weeke, of Crowland, ' was compelled to take up arms against 
 Parliament,' when the enemy possessed Crowland. 
 
 Sometimes the 'unruly member' brought the individual 
 
Great Civil War. 30 
 
 into the clutches of the Sequestrators as much as the sword. 
 Nich. Tabor, of Cambridge, had the temerity to call Mr. 
 John Lowry, member for Cambridge, *an ass and a fool,' 
 and got into prison for it. Captain Anthony Bourne, of 
 Thriplow, Cambs, another old soldier, whose loose Wildrake 
 speech got him into trouble at the beginning of the fray, 
 put in this original plea, that "after being a soldier in 
 Foreign service he refused to take up arms again on either 
 side, but being treated by Parliament as a Malignant 
 [instead of mustering the Horse he had denounced the 
 " infanum Parliameiitum " !], he was forced to leave his home 
 and take refuge in Oxford, where he confesses he bore arms." 
 
 Wheathill Audley, of Woodhurst, near St. Ives, Hunts, 
 on the eve of the War had the curiosity to go with the 
 crowd along the Huntingdon Road towards Cambridge 
 to see the University plate carried off for the King, and 
 though he pleaded he only went with the sheriff 'to the 
 edge of the county,' he was fined ;£"223. As for the sheriffs 
 on that occasion, Sir John Cotton, of Landwade, Sheriff for 
 Cambs, who played the milder part, was let off with £^^0, 
 but Sir Richard Stone, High Sheriff of Hunts, who raised 
 the posse conntatus of his county, to convey the University 
 plate away, was fined ;^ 1,500. Sometimes the ladies were 
 called to account, as in the case of Jane Pritchard, an 
 adventurous lady Royalist of Uffington, near Stamford, who 
 played a conspicuous part in the risings of that neighbour- 
 hood, ' going several times to the Belvoir and Newark 
 garrisons when held for the King.' 
 
 Not unfrequently the Royalist found himself between 
 the Scylla and Charybdis of creditors and Compounding 
 Committee. The case of Lord Rich, son of the Parliamentary 
 Earl of Warwick, of Leighs, Essex, presents a remarkable 
 complication of Royalism, money-lending, imprisonments 
 for debt, and curious turns in the wheel of fortune. Before 
 the war began young Rich had outrun the constable, and 
 mortgaged his annuity, allowed by the Earl, to a City 
 money-lender named Gosse. For a £^Q loan Lord Rich 
 and two sureties gave ;^ 1,000 bonds. Being unable to 
 recover either principal or interest, Gosse, in the time of 
 
302 East Anglia and the 
 
 the War, arrested one of the sureties, who was, however, 
 rescued by Lord Rich and other officers, who beat and 
 wounded Gosse 'to his great damage.' Sticking on like 
 the proverbial leech, Gosse, ' thinking that Lord Rich had 
 not the privilege of a peer,' caused him to be arrested for 
 the debt. But Rich was released by order of the House 
 of Lords, and the unfortunate Shylock, Gosse, was himself 
 cast into the Fleet Prison, and four of the Sheriff's officers 
 into Newgate for causing the arrest ! They were detained 
 fourteen days, and poor Mr. Gosse 'by reason of his ill- 
 accommodation contracted such a weakness that he was 
 constrained to keep his bed,' and died shortly afterwards ; 
 but not without casting up the costs and damages, which by 
 now had swelled the original ;^6oo into £6,iQO ! Rebecca 
 Gosse, his widow, next comes upon the scene, pressing her 
 suit for the debt, and lamenting that "there hath not any 
 progresse beene made, unlesse to ye unhappiness of y"^ pef." 
 Unfortunately, the young Lord Rich had been fined ;^2,ooo 
 for going to the King at Oxford ; and, notwithstanding that 
 the Earl of Warwick, his father, ' believed in the reality 
 of his repentance for his errors,' and pleaded for him, the 
 Committee thought it reasonable that he should pay 
 something out of his annuity to widow Gosse before his 
 fine could be remitted. 
 
 John Pigott, of Morden, and Abington juxta Shingay, 
 Cambridgeshire, pleaded in defence of leaving his home and 
 going into the King's quarters at Oxford, that he went 
 because he was pressed by his creditors. A wife and seven 
 children, with a fine of £^\o to pay out of an estate of ;^203 
 a year, left him little chance of improving his condition. 
 Mr. Thomas Chichley, of Wimpole Hall, Royalist member 
 for Cambridgeshire, who was fined for his delinquency in 
 going to Oxford and sitting in the King's Parliament there, 
 pleaded that his debts amounted to i^5,ooo; and he also 
 complained that he lost ;^3,ooo worth of timber cut down 
 ' since these troubles and by reason thereof,' and his loss in 
 goods was to the value of ^500. 
 
 When after the King's death delinquents were required 
 to compound within a certain time, there were curious 
 
Great Civil War. 303 
 
 searchings of heart among the doubtful ones, who, though 
 they had escaped actual sequestration, were conscious of 
 some little act which might be construed to their dis- 
 advantage. There was an extraordinary rush of small 
 county people up to London, crowding about Goldsmith's 
 Hall to get their cases heard within the specified time, and 
 an amount of 'conscience money' tendered which must 
 have astonished the Committee. Even among the Parlia- 
 mentary Russells of Chippenham, Cambs, Gerard Russell 
 'compounds on his own discovery,' doubting that he may 
 be ' impeached for delinquency ' ; Edward Thompson, of 
 Boothby, Lincolnshire, also 'discovered himself,' and although 
 never sequestered, 'doubts he may be liable for something 
 said and done in the first war,' and pays his £200 conscience 
 money; Henry Huddleston, of Sawston, made a similar 
 discovery, which cost him £\6 ; while the case of Edward 
 Greene, of 'Hoggington' [? Oakington], Cambs, affords 
 a glimpse of a busy scene at Goldsmith's Hall. Mr. Greene 
 did not get in by the time allowed, and urged in extenuation 
 that when he presented his petition there were ' 100 others 
 before him.* 
 
 Curious complications arose sometimes upon the death 
 of a person whose estate was in the hands of the Sequestrators, 
 of which the case of Thomas Lacey, a Suffolk recusant, is 
 an example. He was ' a very antient feeble creature, much 
 given to solitariness, and his abode in no place certain.' 
 He was allowed his one-third of the sequestered estate for 
 his maintenance. For six years he did not apply for it, 
 and his Protestant heir appealed for the discharge of the 
 estate, on the ground that he was believed to be dead. The 
 Sequestrators acknowledged that there was a 'violent pre- 
 sumption ' that Lacey was dead, but there was not sufficient 
 proof of the death. It was two years more before the 
 Protestant heir. to the estate was allowed even his recusant 
 father's third part, and not until four years afterwards, or 
 eleven years from the time when ancient Mr. Lacey was 
 last heard of, that the taint of recusancy got purged from 
 his estate, and his son entered into full possession. 
 
 The difficulties attending the sale and transfer of land 
 
304 East Anglia and the 
 
 which had been seized are illustrated by the case of one 
 Francis Patten, of Barley, Herts, who purchased a farm 
 from a Royalist named Curtis at Bassingbourn, Cambs 
 (where Cromwell's mother's estate lay). Curtis had com- 
 pounded, paid half his fine, and given security for the other 
 half upon the land. Patten bought the farm and ' knew not 
 but that it was absolutely discharged of the sequestration ' ; 
 he placed his cattle on the farm, and the Sequestration 
 Committee for Cambridgeshire seized them for the non- 
 payment of the remaining half of Curtis' fine. 
 
 The burden of sequestrations and the fine were not 
 the only inconveniences which sometimes followed. The 
 County Committees and the Committees in London had 
 power to examine witnesses, and the chance of mitigating 
 a heavy penalty was sufficient inducement to bring up large 
 numbers from long distances and at great expense. Thomas 
 Withering, postmaster, of Hornchurch, Essex, being 
 maliciously accused by one Wilkes, went before the County 
 Committee at Chelmsford, and ' after seven months debate, 
 during which petitioner carried 30 witnesses to Chelmsford 
 from London,' the Committee discharged him and imprisoned 
 Wilkes for sending horses to the enemy. As soon as he was 
 free Wilkes again instigated proceedings against Withering, 
 this time before the Committee at Haberdashers Hall in 
 London, and got twenty to fifty witnesses to swear against 
 him, but he was again discharged. 
 
 A curious story told by Vicars of the way in which 
 a Royalist's property was sometimes intercepted and dealt 
 with is that of a Mr. Neville, of Cressing Temple, Essex. 
 In 1642, at the beginning of the strife, Mr. Neville had 
 some fat beasts to send up to the London market, twenty 
 in number. But Mr. Neville had declared himself as 
 a Royalist, and it leaked out that the twenty fat beasts 
 were being sent up to Smithfield to raise money * to supply 
 the Cavaliers, his comrades.' Ten of them were actually 
 sold to a butcher for ;^ioo, when some of the agents for 
 Parliament appeared upon the scene, and compelled the 
 butcher to bring the ^100, and instead of paying it to 
 Mr. Neville, to pay it into the Guildhall, to help on the 
 
Great Civil War. 305 
 
 cause of Parliament, and the other ten oxen were conveyed 
 to the victualling department of the Navy. Akin to this 
 was the dispatch of Lord Capel's letter from Hertfordshire 
 in a hollow stick, giving to the Cavaliers in Cornwall power 
 to receive and gather up all his rents in the West country. 
 The messenger entrusted with the stick was detained, and 
 
 * by great accident this hollow stick and the concealed letter 
 were intercepted and brought to the Parliament,' who 
 promptly saved all trouble in collecting the rents by 
 sequestering all his rents there.^ 
 
 The ways of the sequestrators themselves were not always 
 models of fair dealing or of competent work. Parliament, 
 by selecting men from all parts of a county, did its best 
 to secure a tribunal free from local favouritism or local 
 prejudice, but in practice the work of the sequestrators 
 often drifted into the hands of a small minority of the 
 Committee. The best men on these Committees were 
 drawn away on the more urgent business of the War, others 
 became half-hearted in the work, and the task of carrying 
 off the Royalists' goods and chattels was performed by 
 agents who had not always Cromwell's wholesome grip 
 of the elementary principles of order, or by well-meaning 
 Committeemen without the capacity for properly dealing 
 with the confusing succession of ordinances issued by 
 Parliament, and with what was really a most complicated 
 business of account-keeping. The difficulties and the 
 hazards of the sequestrators in getting their business done ; 
 the journeys, the interviews, and the persistent canvassing 
 of the agents of the Guildhall Committee in London to 
 keep the County Committees up to time in rendering their 
 accounts ; the crooked ways of some of the local agents 
 intrusted with the carrying out of sequestrations ; and the 
 vexation and contempt of the Royalists towards the 
 
 * mean men ' who did not spare them in their humiliation 
 — these were the common experiences of county life within 
 the Eastern Association during and after the War. The 
 county of Cambridge, after Cromwell had left it for more 
 
 * Perfect Diurnal, Nov. 7, 1642. 
 
 20 
 
3o6 East Anglia and the 
 
 stirring scenes elsewhere, was especially notable in this 
 respect, and some of the documents in which local 
 experiences are recorded afford striking examples of the 
 legacy of ill-feeling which was left to the Commonwealth 
 and broke out afresh in efforts to set right old grudges after 
 the Restoration. 
 
 This is shown by the letters from the sequestrators to 
 the Guildhall Committee in London, in which in 1643 and 
 1644 they declare they found men who were 'truly malig- 
 nant ' under protection orders from the Earl of Manchester, 
 having 'abused the Earl's good nature.' In those stormy 
 months of 1648, when the Second Civil War was raging 
 in East Anglia, John Davies, messenger from the Guildhall 
 Committee, had an unpleasant time in looking after seques- 
 tration accounts. On September 4, 1648, he writes thus 
 from Ipswich to the Guildhall Committee : — 
 
 " In pursuance of your instructions, I have delivered two 
 letters, the one at Chelmsford, the other at Colchester. For 
 the first I desire to make a particular but brief relation by 
 reason of contemptible language I received at the delivery 
 of it. On Friday last, being market day there, I made 
 inquiry of some for the Committee, and I was informed 
 that Mr. Whitcombe, of Ingatstone, and Mr. Sorrell, of 
 Much Waltham, members of it, were in town. I presently 
 went to them, where I found Colonel Mildmay, alias Sir 
 Henry Mildmay (then unknown to me), another member 
 of that Committee, lying cross the bed. I, with my hat in 
 my hand, desired to know which was Mr. Whitcombe and 
 Mr. Sorrell, for I had a message to deliver to them, on 
 which Mr. Whitcombe came to me, received the letter ; 
 on breaking it open he took one of the ordinances to read, 
 gave the other to Mr. Sorrell, and the letter he delivered 
 to the Colonel, who (having scarcely read it) burst into 
 a passion, saying : ' What are these fellows that write thus 
 peremptorily > I know them not : here are better men in 
 company than themselves.' To which I replied : ' Sir, they 
 are the treasurers at Guildhall, sitting there for sequestration.' 
 At which he arose from the bed and told me I was too 
 
Great Civil War, 307 
 
 saucy, and deserved a box on the ears, and should be laid 
 by the heels if I had nothing besides my letter to protect 
 me. Then I showed him my commission, and taking my 
 leave of the Colonel in a great hurry, he said that they had 
 earnester employment, now Colchester was taken, than to 
 give up accounts. At Colchester he saw Mr. [SirJ Thomas 
 Barrington, who treated him very courteously." ^ 
 
 Again, he writes on September 17, this time from Cam- 
 bridgeshire and Huntingdonshire : — " I came to Ely on 
 Wednesday, September 13, where I delivered a message 
 I had in charge to Mr. Luke Voyce and Richard Ponsonby, 
 the one a draper and the other a servant to Leuit. General 
 Cromwell, both living in Ely. They cheerfully received 
 it, and promised a fair accompt. They say they must bring 
 divers eminent persons on the stage for their transactions, 
 and I do believe they will discover some foul passages 
 of Mr. Basse, sequestrator for Suffolk, and some others. 
 They have about ;^ 1,000 to bring up with them. I thence 
 repaired to Cambridge, where I delivered one of my letters 
 to Mr. Stephen Fortune, haberdasher there, sequestrator 
 to the University. The other I delivered to Mr. John 
 Taylor, he lives at Cotnam [Cottenham], four miles from 
 Cambridge, one of the sequestrators for the whole Co. 
 Mr. Fortune has in part discovered to me some passages 
 of Col Mildmay (that litigious gentleman), now one 
 of the Committee for Essex and formerly governor of 
 Cambridge, which I shall tender on my return. Mr. Taylor 
 is a plain, but active man, and I think will do much good 
 in the service. I am now at Huntingdon, endeavouring to 
 procure an answer there." ^ 
 
 After John Davies, the messenger from the Guildhall 
 Committee, had received that cheerful assurance from Mr, 
 Voyce, the draper, and Mr. Ponsonby (Cromwell's servant), 
 at Ely, these gentlemen and Mr. Cole, only a month 
 afterwards, wrote to the Committee in London a very different 
 
 » Add. MSS. 5,494, Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 » Ibid. 
 
3o8 East Anglia and the 
 
 and ofthand account, that they had no money, the lands 
 of the Bishop and the Dean and Chapter being no longer 
 in their hands. To this the Committee at Guildhall appear 
 to have written a sharp reply, with an ultimatum demanding 
 an account and ;^270 from each person within three days ; 
 a demand which elicited a graphic recital of the trials and 
 dangers of a man appointed, even with the authority of 
 Parliament, to seize his neighbour's goods. On December i6, 
 John Cole, Richard Ponsonby, and Luke Voyce write from Ely 
 to the Committee at Guildhall in the following extraordinary 
 tone : — 
 
 " We have received yours of the 9th December wherein your 
 threatnings are so very harsh and severe against us. You 
 charge us to be indebted to the State upwards of ;^270 
 per perse. We do, indeed, acknowledge we have received 
 about that sum in the Isle of Ely towards our charge 
 & travayle for ourselves & horses ever since July 1643 
 at which time we first entered on the State's service as 
 commissioners of sequestration ; namely, 20^". per week. 
 But not that we are indebted or have in our hands one 
 penny of the State money, it being spent and more in the 
 State's service. The letter of ordinance says we shall have 
 our charges, but it does not say how much. Indeed, Mr. 
 Maddyn said well that we should have bargained with the 
 Parliament before we began what we should have, for then 
 we should surely have been worthy of ^50 per annum 
 besides our riding charges, as well as Mr. Maddyn. Sure 
 we are, our service hath been as dangerous to ourselves as 
 any in the kingdome, in regard to the opposition we have 
 found, and the detestation of the opposite party, besides 
 the extreme hazard of our persons and estates in case the 
 wheel should turn, by seizing and sequestrating men's goods, 
 which danger is greater than that of any solicitor ; yea, than 
 of any soldier that hath fought against the other party. Are 
 we then, in your judgments, thought worthy of nothing? 
 It is a very hard measure, and we beseech you to do as 
 you would be done unto. But you say you are not to be 
 the judges of what is necessary for us to have ; therefore 
 
Great Civil War, 309 
 
 we don't appeal to you, but to them that imployed both 
 you and us. Whereas you require the money to be paid 
 forthwith within three days after the receipt of your letter, 
 we cannot pay it in your time limited ; no, not if for three days 
 you had said three years ; for we have expended more money 
 in the State's service than we are worth .... neither 
 can we pay it, some of us, if we were to sell all we have. 
 Gentlemen, we desire nothing from you but what is just 
 and reasonable, and according to the trust imposed on you, 
 and as it is not yet determined by those who are to be 
 judges in this case, whether we have any monies in our 
 hands or not, we desire you will suspend this business 
 till we can get it resolved by the House .... and 
 we hope we shall not find you more harsh and unreasonable 
 than those who, having the greatest interest in it, appear 
 well satisfied with us." ^ 
 
 It was alleged by the Royalists who suffered at the hands 
 of the sequestrators that the latter took care to feather 
 their own nest out of the business. Proceedings during 
 the War formed the subject of an Inquisition, held at the 
 " Red Lion," Petty Cury, Cambridge, twenty years afterwards, 
 * when the wheel had turned.' It was sworn by the witnesses 
 that from Sir Anthony Cage, who had supported the rising 
 at Linton, horses, oxen, sheep, and effects were taken to 
 the value of ;^8,ooo ; that from the Bishop of Ely's park 
 and house at Downham, ;^700 in value was taken, and not 
 more than ^140 accounted for ; that the sequestrators sold 
 the goods distrained upon to one another. The chief 
 persons against whom these charges were brought were 
 John Taylor, the ' plain, but active man ' already referred to, 
 and John Wright, both of Cottenham. The old Royalist 
 rector. Dr. Manby, who was ejected by them, put in evidence 
 against them that they seized or caused to be taken from 
 him, grain, malt, hay, grass, horses, milch cows, and othei* 
 cattle, sheep, swine, bricks, boards, timber, household stuff, 
 brewing vessels, and other goods to the value of ;£"6oo. It 
 
 » Add. MSS. 5,494, Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
EastAnglia and the 
 
 was further suggested, or rather sworn to by old men from 
 Cottenham, that Wright was at the commencement of 
 the War only a collar-maker, working at his trade and 
 earning eighteenpence a day, and had a small estate of two 
 houses at Cottenham, bringing in £i6 a year, but then (1664) 
 he was ' seized of an estate in lands worth ;£"ioo per annum 
 at least/ The evidence for the defence was, that they had 
 the authority of the Association Committee for what they 
 did. There are glimpses of the finding of some of the 
 old Committee books in a cupboard at the " Bear " at 
 Cambridge, and witnesses came forward to say that the 
 signatures to letters therein were authentic and 'had not 
 been forged/ Another defendant at the same time was 
 Richard Harrison, treasurer of the Isle of Ely, during the 
 later years of the War, concerning whose actions old men 
 were brought up from Wisbech who remembered the money 
 and men raised by that town for ' reducing of Crowland ' 
 when it was besieged. It was suggested among other things 
 that Harrison offered to repay the town of Wisbech by 
 a sort of composition of 5^-. in the pound.^ 
 
 Generally, the account-keeping of the sequestrators was 
 in a hopeless muddle, due as much to the incapacity of the 
 men to whom in stress of war a puzzling succession of 
 conflicting and overlapping ordinances was entrusted, as 
 to their wilful default. When, at the close of the War, new 
 Commissioners came on the scene in Cambridgeshire, meeting 
 twice a week, Tuesday and Friday, at the " Cock," on ' the 
 Peas Market Hill,' they reported— "We are now taking 
 the old sequestrators' accounts, which occupy much time, 
 as most of them cannot tell how to make up accounts, and 
 therefore we are glad to have the sequestrators by us to 
 express their meaning." 2 In Huntingdonshire new Com- 
 missioners were also appointed, with Mr. John Leet, of 
 Southoe, as Chairman, and met every Saturday at the 
 " Falcon." Here and also in Suffolk there was considerable 
 
 ChaHeriT'^'^^ °^ '^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^ *° ^^ ^°""^ '" Exchequer Depositions, 18 
 * Letter of Commissioners to Guildhall Committee, Hist. MSS. Reps. 
 
Great Civil War. x 1 1 
 
 delay over the state into which the accounts had drifted. 
 In some cases the old sequestrators resented their dismissal 
 and ' turned counsel for malignants,' and in others they still 
 had 'great sums of money in hand which they keep for 
 allowances as they report.' At best it was a thankless 
 task when done conscientiously according to order of 
 Parliament, and when done ill, by inferior and unscrupulous 
 agents, it was the cause of as much ill-feeling between 
 individuals as was set up in a parish between the parson 
 and his flock. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A RELIGIOUS REVOLT — THE PURITANS AND THE CLERGY 
 — UNHAPPY RURAL ENGLAND. 
 
 NO modern attempt to rehabilitate Archbishop 
 Laud as a cultured High Churchman upon 
 those Anglican lines which have found a wide 
 acceptance to-day, can alter the view with which history- 
 must regard the Puritan revolt against the abuse of human 
 authority in religion which was largely responsible for 
 the Civil War. Laud may or may not have meant to 
 Romanize the Church of England, but judging by the 
 standard of the times — the only safe rule for the student of 
 history — he did exactly that which was calculated to make 
 the people think that he intended it. 
 
 In order to understand how the system of things 
 ecclesiastical presented itself to the people of East Anglia, 
 certain general facts of early seventeenth-century life have to 
 be remembered. The relation of the individual to the State 
 came very largely through the contact with the Church. 
 One effect of this contact had been throbbing through 
 recent history in the memory of funeral pyres lit up 
 around those who had dared to die for their faith in 
 Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, in the thrill of patriotic fire 
 which ran through these shires over the Spanish Armada 
 and the Gunpowder Plot. With the memory of these 
 things, the fact of the King marrying a Catholic, and 
 the more recent massacre of Protestants in Ireland, the 
 
East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 313 
 
 inhabitants of a region which was dominated by Calvinism, 
 and its capacity for sturdily hating the Pope and all his 
 ways, had no choice but to revolt against a tendency which 
 reminded them and seemed likely to revive the bitter 
 experiences of the past. They had before their eyes men 
 in the pulpits of the Church who were out-Lauding Laud, 
 and the cast-iron creed of Calvin had come too recently out 
 of the fire to admit of any very broad views of life amongst 
 its adherents. The very scruples of the parishioners against 
 alterations in the Church service may perhaps seem trivial 
 in these days, until one remembers the strange divorce there 
 was between that human authority in religion which had 
 been so blindly cruel in the day of its power, and the 
 tenacious hold of the individual conscience upon such 
 spiritual authority as each individual found or thought he 
 found in the Word of God. 
 
 The part which the men of the Eastern Counties played 
 in the struggle teaches emphatically the lesson that the 
 quarrel between King and Parliament was above all things 
 a religious quarrel. So completely did the religious element 
 and the " No Popery ! " cry predominate over the civil 
 differences, that the same men who had exacted Ship-money 
 later on stood up for Parliament on religious grounds, as 
 in the case of Mr. Pychard, Sheriff for Cambridgeshire, who 
 first levied Ship-money and afterwards signed the petition 
 against the Bishop of Ely. As in the pulpit and the Church, 
 so in the field. The people of East Anglia, being pre- 
 eminently Puritan, came into the field just at the point 
 where the conflict was the hottest, where their zeal was 
 fanned through being called upon to fight on their own 
 borders with an army largely in the pay of the Catholic 
 Queen — with the 'white coats' under Newcastle, so frequently 
 referred to as an 'Army of Papists.' Here, then, in East 
 Anglia, the extremes of the two hostile halves of the nation 
 met ; here was the secret of the immense impetus which 
 the religious zeal of Puritan East Anglia gave to the 
 Parliamentary arms, a zeal of which such personal factors 
 as an Oliver Cromwell were at once cause and effect. 
 
 In one respect, in its earlier stages, the religious followed 
 
314 East Anglia and the 
 
 the same line of -cleavage as the political revolt; if, indeed, 
 the two principles can ever be separated, for the former 
 was then no more a revolt against a State Church than the 
 latter was a revolt against the Kingship. It meant a temporary 
 nonconformity which in the end had no choice left but to 
 become a separatism. The logical extreme of the revolt 
 against Episcopacy in the Church and human authority 
 in religion was, of course, to be found in Independency, and 
 the trend that way received its greatest impetus from the 
 Eastern Counties, whose famous Association Army became 
 absorbed, and its methods continued, in the all-powerful 
 Army of Independents under Cromwell. 
 
 Although Puritanism and the Parliamentary cause were 
 divided between Presbyterianism and Independency, yet 
 the former was distinctly the lesser factor in the Eastern 
 Counties, and at best a mild compromise which the greater 
 zeal of the Independents could not brook. ^ 
 
 In the earlier stages of the Civil War, Puritanism was, 
 however, one solid factor at the point where it came in 
 conflict with the King and with the Royalist clergy. By 
 the end of 1643 that conflict had assumed an acute form : 
 the powerful influence of the Bishop of Ely in and around 
 Cambridge was no longer of any avail, and the Earl of 
 
 ^ An interesting example of this in the family life is afforded by the Norths 
 of Kirtlington, near Newmarket. Sir Dudley North, son of the old Lord 
 North, married one of the Montagues of Boughton ; Sir Dudley was a rigid 
 Presbyterian, and his wife was a not less rigid, but more zealous, Independent. 
 She was ' head of the Church in her house,' both over her 'carnal ' husband and 
 her children. She ' used to instruct her babes in the gift of praying by the Spirit, 
 and all the scholars were made to kneel by the bedside and pray ' ; or ' poure out 
 themselves in spiritual prayer.' One of them, the future Lord Guilford, and 
 Lord Keeper of the Great Seal to Charles II and James II, was only a ' babe ' in 
 truth, and ' this petit spark was too small for that posture. ' So he was ' set upon 
 the bed to kneel with his face to the pillow,' and go through his little exercise 
 there. Poor little fellow ! Tired and sleepy after the activities of the day, he 
 seems to have been hard put to it for a theme, and in after life all that he could 
 remember of his infantile attempts at extempore prayer was, that ' he prayed for 
 his distressed brethren in Ireland. ' Considering that he was only four years of age 
 when the Irish massacres occurred, the incident has a peculiar and almost 
 pathetic interest, and shows how the subject had burned itself into the very soul 
 of the Puritans, and how severe was the mental discipline which enabled them to 
 * hold forth ' and to ' testify ' against the Papacy. Lady North, however, brought 
 her husband fourteen dutiful children, and has been described as a lady of noble 
 and lofty character. That her children were fine types of English gentry, the 
 splendid portraits in the "Lives of the Norths" are eloquent testimony. — See 
 *' Lives of the Norths," by the Hon. Roger North ; also Baker MSS., vol. xxxvii, 
 ff. 29, 30 ; Diet. Nat. Biog , etc. 
 
Great Civil War. 315 
 
 Manchester, now settled at Trinity College for the Winter, 
 turned his attention from the routine of quartering soldiers, 
 until active operations could be renewed in the Spring, to 
 another kind of routine devised for calling to account the 
 clergy who had followed the Bishop's example, or who were 
 * scandalous ' in their life and conversation. 
 
 On January 22, 1644, the Lords and Commons issued 
 the following Ordinance for regulating the University of 
 Cambridge, and for removing * scandalous ministers ' in the 
 seven Associated Counties : — 
 
 " Whereas many Complaints are made by the well-affected 
 Inhabitants of the Associated Counties of Essex, Norfolk, 
 Suffolk, Hertford, Cambridge, Huntingdon, and Lincolne, 
 That the service of the Parliament is retarded, the Enemy 
 strengthened, the peoples Soules starved, and their mindes 
 diverted from any care of God's cause, by their idle, 
 ill-affected, and scandalous Clergy, of the University of 
 Cambridge, and the Associated Counties ; and that many 
 that would give Evidence against such scandalous Ministers 
 are not able to travell to London, nor beare the charges 
 of such a journey : It is Ordained by the Lords & 
 Commons assembled in Parliament, That the Earle of 
 Manchester shall appoint one or more Committees in every 
 County, consisting of such as have been nominated Deputy 
 Lieutenants, or Committees by any former Ordinance of 
 Parliament, in any of the said Associated Counties, every 
 Committee to consist of ten, whereof any five or more of 
 them, to sit in any place or places within the said Associated 
 Counties where the said Earle shall appoint, with power 
 to put in execution these instructions following, and in 
 pursuance thereof, to give assistance to the said Committee." 
 
 The Earl or the Committees were given power to call 
 before them heads of colleges, students and members of the 
 University, ministers in any counties of the Association, 
 and all schoolmasters ' that are scandalous in their lives 
 or ill-affected to Parliament, or fomentors of this unnatural 
 war, or that shall wilfully refuse obedience to the ordinances 
 of Parliament, or that have deserted their ordinary place 
 of residence ' ; also to send for witnesses and examine them 
 
3i6 East Anglia and the 
 
 upon oath ; also to administer ' the late Covenant' The 
 Committees were to report to the Earl of Manchester, and 
 he had power to eject 'such as he shall judge unfit for 
 their places.' 
 
 During the month of February, 1644, the Earl of 
 Manchester commenced his task of the ' reformation of the 
 University of Cambridge,' and to deal with * scandalous 
 ministers ' in the Associated Counties. Warrants were issued 
 by his Lordship calling upon the Cambridge Colleges to 
 send in their statutes, lists of members, and certificates of 
 those in residence and those absent ; and by another warrant 
 all Fellows, scholars, and officers were required to be in 
 residence by the lOth of March. On the appointed day 
 there were still so many absent, that another warrant called 
 for a list of those who had returned and of those who were 
 still absent.^ 
 
 The Commission for dealing with the University and the 
 ministers of Cambridgeshire appears to have been somewhat 
 different from the rest of the County Committees, and 
 consisted of Cambridgeshire Committeemen with members 
 from each of the Associated Counties added. The minutes 
 of the Committee's proceedings in this case show an average 
 attendance of five or six, including at different times nearly 
 forty different names ; fresh members dropping in at different 
 sittings according to personal convenience or the pressure 
 of business elsewhere ; the most regular attendants being 
 the Cambridgeshire Committeemen proper — Robert Clerk 
 (Meldreth), Samuel Spalding (Cambridge), Thomas French 
 (Cambridge), Robert Robson (Cambridge), Thomas Duckett 
 (Steeple Morden), John Sherwood (Cambridge)— and those 
 most frequently on duty from other Counties on the 
 Association Committee for the general purposes of the War. 
 
 With the formation of the Earl of Manchester's ' reforming ' 
 Commission, the Grand Committee for the Associated 
 Counties, which had formerly sat at the " Bear," appears to 
 have removed its quarters to Trinity College, and the Earl's 
 Commission for dealing with 'scandalous ministers' sat at 
 
 * Baker MSS., vols, xlii and xlvii. 
 
Great Civil War, 317 
 
 the " Bear," situate in the corner block of buildings connecting 
 Market Street with Sidney Street, in the corner of Market 
 Passage, near the site of the present Conservative Club.^ 
 Around this spot some strange scenes were witnessed as 
 the Puritan folk came forward with hot zeal to impeach their 
 parson, or the latter attempted to justify before the Com- 
 missioners some act of ritual, some slighting words con- 
 cerning the Parliament, or regard for the proclamation of 
 the King. 
 
 The separate County Committees appointed for each of 
 the other counties were empowered to divide into smaller 
 Committees of five, and to fix certain days for sitting at 
 different places. It appears to have been a general rule 
 that the accused clergyman was not allowed to be present, 
 when the depositions of witnesses against him were being 
 taken, ' lest it should discourage the witnesses ' ; but he was 
 entitled to have a copy of the depositions, upon paying for 
 the same, in order that he might answer them in writing and 
 make his defence at another meeting. The Committeemen 
 were to receive ^s. per day, out of which a clerk had to be 
 paid * that he may not discourage informers by taking fees.' 
 
 An analysis of the offences charged against the Royalist 
 
 ' It is stated in a local book ("The Cambridge Portfolio," p. 389) that "the 
 Commissioners under the Earl of Manchester sat at the ' Bear ' Inn, in a yard which 
 communicates with Sidney Street and with the Market Street, nearly opposite 
 the entrance into the church of the Holy Trinity. The large room, which about 
 sixty years ago was divided into three, is an upper story looking into the inner 
 yard through three bow windows connected by a long series of narrow lights ; 
 the two fireplaces with their carved oak mantelpieces and the oak wainscotting 
 remain, Oct. 4, 1839." From a satirical rhyme printed in 1642, entitled 
 •'The Cambridge Royalist Imprisoned," it appears that the "Bear" was used by 
 the Parliamentary party from the commencement of the War ; and that the Town 
 Hall was the Court of Guard. At any rate, the narrative, coarse and unsparing 
 towards the Parliamentarians, represents the " scholler " being 
 
 " Marcht to the Town-Hall, where being straight let in, 
 Such company, such smoake, such stinke, such dinne. 
 Three tedious houres amongst these hell-hounds wee 
 Bravely endured, when coming in we see 
 A spruce young Rebell, who scarce yet did know 
 Whether he fought against the King or no." 
 
 From the Town Hall he was hurried to the " Beare," and brought before 
 
 " A veryer Beast then that which hung at doore." 
 
 A copy of this tract, which does not clear up the fortunes of the Royalist 
 "scholler," is in the possession of Mr. Robert Bowes (No. 2,912 in his 
 Catalogue of Cambridge Books). 
 
o 
 
 1 8 East. Anglia and the 
 
 clergy would distinguish them as (i) Ecclesiastical, (2) Moral 
 and Social, and (3) Civil and Political. Indeed, it was 
 something in this order that the evidence in support of the 
 cases against the offending clergyman was presented to 
 the Court — ' that he was an innovator, a common alehouse 
 haunter, and hath spoken malignant words against the 
 Parliament.' 
 
 Around the conduct of the parson and his position in 
 the parish was fought out on a small scale the conflict 
 between King and Parliament, and the strife inevitably 
 mingled even with the elements of public worship. At 
 the baptism of an infant, if the clergyman used the sign 
 of the Cross, some one would be sure to protest or register 
 the act against him ; if he asked a communicant to come 
 up to the rails within the chancel to receive the Communion, 
 the individual would perhaps sit stolidly in the body of 
 the church and argue openly before the congregation and 
 show that it was * against his conscience and received no 
 warrant from Scripture.' On the other hand, the parson 
 would reply with threats of excommunication. Even when 
 the constable delivered to the churchwardens, and the 
 latter delivered to the parson, copies of proclamations from 
 Parliament, the parson had at the same time most likely 
 received from the emissaries of the King copies of pro- 
 clamations to a contrary effect. 
 
 The position of the clergyman was not an enviable 
 one. If he cherished notions of ' divine right ' and yet 
 desired to keep the peace, he would read the King's 
 proclamation 'with seeming joy,' and the Parliament's in 
 * so low a tone that no one could hear it ' ; if he were a strong 
 Royalist he would read the ' King's book ' defiantly and 
 'throw away that of Parliament in contempt.' Then, if 
 his sermon contained any references to the bitter controversies 
 of the hour, which it was hard to avoid ; if he encouraged 
 the youth of the village to play bowls and other games on 
 the Sunday afternoon, or visited the alehouse himself in 
 the evening — all this was taken note of to be used against 
 him hereafter, not merely by a bigoted person here or there, 
 but by many of his parishioners, and, likely enough, his own 
 
Great Civil War, 319 
 
 churchwardens. It must not be understood, however, that 
 the clergy in general were of the character of those who 
 were brought up before the Earl of Manchester's Com- 
 missioners, but these were sufficiently numerous for their 
 cases to disclose a most unhappy state of things in rural 
 England as a background to the horrors of the Civil War. 
 
 The charges against the Royalist clergy which occurred 
 most frequently were the following : — 
 
 (i) Ecclesiastical. That he was a strict observer of the late 
 illegal innovations — bowing at the name of Jesus, bowing 
 towards the altar, standing up at the Gloria Patri, reading 
 the second part of the service at the communion table in the 
 chancel, making the sign of the Cross in baptism, requiring 
 the communicants to come up to the rails to receive the 
 Sacrament, preaching in his surplice and hood. Also that 
 he was very forward in reading the Book of Sports ; was 
 non-resident ; employed curates who were superstitious and 
 malignant ; and that he denounced those who went away 
 to hear sermons elsewhere. 
 
 (2) Social and Moral. That he is a common haunter or 
 frequenter of alehouses and taverns, a common gamester, 
 a common drinker, an outrageous swearer and tippler, 
 a singer of profane songs, etc., etc. 
 
 (3) Civil and Political. That he is a fomentor of this 
 unnatural war, hath often expressed great malignancy 
 against Parliament, refused to read the declaration that came 
 from Parliament, but was very forward in reading those 
 that came from the King ; spends much of his time in 
 company of those who are disaffected to Parliament, and 
 associates with the Cavaliers ; refuses to take the Covenant, 
 and never prayeth for Parliament. 
 
 The foregoing made up the general run of charges pre- 
 ferred against the most notable of the Royalist clergy, but 
 these were varied, of course, in individual cases, and sometimes 
 worse charges were made. 
 
 By the first sweep of the new broom of the reforming 
 Commission most of the Colleges in Cambridge lost their 
 masters — Trinity, St. John's, Jesus, King's, Queen's, Clare 
 Hall, Gonville and Caius, Catherine Hall, Pembroke Hall, 
 
320 East Anglia and the 
 
 Magdalene, and even the Puritan fold of Emmanuel ; while 
 Trinity, St. John's, and others had a large number of their 
 Fellows excluded. 
 
 The strength of Puritanism and Parliamentary sympathy 
 in a county did not always coincide with the proportion of 
 clergy on the one side or the other. There might be, and 
 often was, as in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire, a strong 
 Parliamentary feeling and yet a very high percentage of 
 Royalist clergy ; a proof in itself that the clergy did not 
 represent the people. On the other hand, a small percentage 
 of sequestered clergy is evidence of the Parliamentary cause 
 being triumphant all along the line. Norfolk, judged by 
 this standard, was the most exclusively Parliamentarian 
 county in the Association, with only 8i sequestered clergy 
 out of 500 parishes ; Suffolk had 129 out of nearly the same 
 number sequestered ; Essex about the same number, or 
 rather more ; Hertfordshire had about 40 per cent, of its 
 clergy sequestered ; and Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, 
 with all their Puritan strength, had the highest percentage, 
 viz., of 173 parochial clergy, only 53 conformed to Puritan 
 rule, about 70 were sequestered, and the rest are doubtful. The 
 inference seems to be that the influence of the Bishop of Ely 
 was more powerful among the clergy nearest to where the 
 Bishop lived,^ and that here the breach between parson and 
 parishioners was the most marked. 
 
 Space will only admit of a few glimpses of the proceedings 
 before the Earl of Manchester's Commissioners, but these 
 will be sufficient to show the part which the clergy were 
 sometimes tempted to take in the fray, and the unhappy 
 state of things under divisions which tore asunder the ordinary 
 relations of parochial life.^ Some of the clergy left their 
 cures, went to Oxford with the King, or in some cases were 
 
 * The parish of Fowlmere, Cambs, is an instance of the general sentiment 
 of East Anglia in associating Bishop Wren with Archbishop Laud. Thus, 
 Mr. Morden, the parson, was reported to have said : " They are about to settle 
 religion, but they dare as well eat their fingers' ends as dispute for it, for there 
 is two men that if they might have their liberty would lay them flat upon their 
 backs ; that is, the Bishop of Canterbury \_sic\ and the Bishop of Ely." — Minutes 
 of Committee for Scandalous Ministers, Add. MSS. 15,672, B.M. 
 
 ' The authorities for the cases which follow are to be found in the Minutes 
 of the Committee for Scandalous Ministers ; White's "First Century of Malignant 
 Priests"; Walker's "Sufferings of the Clergy" ; the Baker MSS., etc. 
 
Great Civil War. 321 
 
 with the Royalist Army in the field or in garrisons ; while 
 others who remained in their parishes did not hesitate to 
 accumulate arms and ammunition, or in other ways to play 
 a militant part for the King. 
 
 Dr. Rowe, Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, and 
 rector of Orwell, Cambs, according to the evidence of 
 witnesses, * sent Alderman Rose, of Cambridge, to buy thirty 
 muskets in London for Trinity College,' and was the chief 
 means of procuring the College plate to be sent to the 
 King, manifesting his zeal by ' going round to the Fellows' 
 chambers with the College servants to fetch their plate to 
 the end it might be in readiness.' Mr. Nicholas Felton, 
 parson of Stretham, in the Isle of Ely, against whom there 
 were also charges of getting drunk, gambling, and paying 
 too much attention to Mrs. Hogg, the wife of his curate, 
 persuaded a parishioner not to join Cromwell's regiment, 
 and when the soldiers came for the Bishop of Ely they took 
 * some arms and a barrel of powder ' from Mr. Felton's house. 
 Richard Watts, parson of Mildenhall, Suffolk, and Chesterton, 
 Cambs, after telling the men who were threshing his corn 
 at five shillings a week * to make haste and get done, and 
 they would receive six shillings a week to kill men,' sent 
 two soldiers towards Banbury with his servant with them 
 to guide them so that they did not meet with Parliament 
 troops. Roger Ashton, parson of Linton, Cambridge, and 
 Fellow of Pembroke Hall, associated with the Cavaliers, 
 left his parish, it was believed, to join the King's Army, and 
 when he had gone his house was searched, and a box 
 containing * about 200 musket bullets * was found. Mr. 
 Baker, parson of Bartlow, Cambs, one of the most notorious 
 brought up at the " Bear " in Cambridge, if only half the 
 charges were true, is alleged to have gone out with his gun 
 into the village at night, fell to quarrelling with some young 
 men, and then finding the constable at his post keeping watch, 
 began to rail at him, adding, " You will never be quiet until 
 I drop a brace of bullets in your sides." ^ 
 
 * Of Mr. Baker's drunken freaks, John Butcher, an old man of Hadstock, was 
 summoned to give evidence, but could not appear, and sent in the following 
 sworn declaration: — ** Mr. Baker forced me to drink at his house so long that 
 
32 2 East Anglia and the 
 
 At Furneaux Pelham, in Hertfordshire, the clergyman, 
 Mr. Hancock, walked about the churchyard with his sword 
 during the night-time, declaring that he would rather lose 
 his life than suffer the communion rails to be pulled up ; 
 and in the pulpit rejoiced that God should have put it into 
 the heart of the King ' to fight the Lord's battil ' at Edgehill 
 on the Lord's day. Edward Aston, parson of Pentelow, 
 Essex, came out boldly in the pulpit by declaring that " now 
 that every child lifted up its sword to shed innocent blood it 
 was high time for him to lift up his voyce like a trumpet," 
 and he did so by reading the King's declaration instead of 
 that of Parliament.^ 
 
 The relation of the clergy to the Puritan conscience, and 
 the Puritan habit of going out of the parish to hear sermons, 
 formed another phase of the divisions in parochial life. For 
 instance, when Mr. Morley, parson of Little Eversden, Cambs, 
 presented his parishioners at the Ecclesiastical Court for 
 leaving the church when he went up to the altar to read 
 the second part of the service there, one of them pleaded 
 that he "could find no warrant in God's Word for him to 
 continue in church while the minister read the second service 
 at the altar." Dr. Gray, of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire, 
 refused to * church ' the wife of one of the witnesses, because 
 she would not come up to the altar rails, and she ' being 
 satisfied in her conscience that it was more than God 
 required, she did not go up, but went away without being 
 churched.' 
 
 Wherever the clergyman was not often to be heard in 
 the pulpit, or was not a particularly ' edifying ' or long-winded 
 
 when I could take no more he poured the rest upon my head. I am an old man 
 and at this present sicke and not able to appear before you, but before two 
 witnesses I have solemnly declared to be very true, and have hereunto set 
 my mark." 
 
 ' As to utterances in the pulpit, Dr. Hurst, of Barrowby, preaching at Lincoln 
 from the book of Daniel on the four Horns, compared the Earl of Essex to the 
 horn of the south, Fairfax the horn of the north, Sir William Waller the horn 
 of the west, and Cromwell was the great terrible horn. Thomas Pickhard, of 
 St. Mary's, Stamford, was scandalous in frequenting inns and ' tobacco shops,' and, 
 bemg quarrelsome, was carried off to Rockingham Castle. The clergy of Stamford 
 appear to have been pretty solid for the King : the parson of St. Nicholas and 
 another Mr. Salter were found in Burleigh House when it was taken, while 
 Mr. Holt, of All Saints, fled to Newark and Oxford. 
 
Great Civil War, 323 
 
 preacher, the Puritans were hard upon him in their evidence ; 
 and, on the other hand, against the habit under such 
 circumstances of going out of the parish to hear Puritan 
 sermons elsewhere, the Royalist clergyman was constantly 
 railing. Against the parson of Rockland, in Norfolk, it was 
 alleged that he could not preach * by reason of an impediment 
 in his mouth ' ; against Mr. Underwood, of Bartley, in 
 Lincolnshire, that he preached but seldom, and when he 
 did preach 'he did it very meanly and is not above half an 
 hour in the pulpit.' But if the Puritans had a poor opinion 
 of the * malignant ' clergyman as a preacher, the latter had 
 an equally poor opinion of the habit of going to hear long 
 sermons and much preaching. Henry Osbaldeston, D.D., 
 of Much Parndon, Essex, declared that " it was never a merry 
 world since there had been so much preaching," and taunted 
 his parishioners who went elsewhere to hear sermons that 
 they " stanke of two sermons a day." Mr. Exeter, parson, 
 of Soham, Cambs, 'caused warrants to be served upon 
 parishioners to appear at the Assizes for going abroad to 
 hear sermons on Sunday in the afternoon when they had 
 none at home ' ; and at Fen Ditton, some of the parishioners, 
 finding it impossible ' to edify by his doctrine,' were 
 excommunicated for four years by Dr. Collins, the parson 
 (and provost of King's College, Cambridge), ifor going to 
 hear sermons elsewhere. 
 
 The publication of the King's " Book of Sports," and 
 encouraging sports on a Sunday afternoon, by the parson, 
 and in a few cases charges of drunkenness even while 
 discharging or attempting to discharge ministerial duty, 
 were laid to the account of the clergy m.an. Mr. Page, of 
 Hemingford, Hunts,^ Mr. Felton, of Stretham, Isle of Ely, 
 and Mr. Morden, of Fowlmere, Cambs, were examples of 
 the former ; and of the latter, Mr. Good, of Hatley, Cambs, 
 of whom Walker says he ' ought rather to have been hanged 
 than sequestered ' if the charges against him were true, 
 
 * It was alleged against Mr. Page that he encouraged the young people 
 on the Sabbath-day in * foot-ball play and cudgel play ' ; and that he would 
 go and see the same himself, and said ' well done ! ' as he looked on. — Lords' 
 Journals. 
 
324 East' Anglia and the 
 
 Mr. Baker, of Bartlow, Mr. Sone, or Soan, of Aldenham, 
 Herts, and a few others. 
 
 Among the general charges, Mr. Cherry, parson of Much 
 Holland, Essex, was accused of 'bowing twelve times to 
 the East when he goeth into the chancell ' ; Mr. Nicholas 
 Lowes, of Great Bentley, Essex, ' hoped to see them all 
 hanged that set their hands against Bishops and pulpits ' ; 
 Mr. Evans, of Sandcroft, Suffolk, read the King's declaration 
 instead of a sermon ; Mr. Cuthbert Dale, of Kettleborough, 
 in the same county, visited his anger upon a stranger who 
 sat in his church with his hat on, calling him 'a sawcy 
 unmannerly clown, a scabbed sheepe, and none of his flock ' ; 
 while John Wells, of Shimpling, Suffolk, the parish which 
 responded so well for Parliament when the quarrel began, 
 was accused of too much regard for the ladies, and that 
 * he sold his calves for kisses with them.' 
 
 With the exception of ' alehouse haunting,' actual charges 
 of immorality, though they were made the most of where they 
 did arise, were comparatively few ; and, putting aside mere 
 partisanship of ' malignancy against the Parliament,' perhaps 
 the worst that could be said of these Royalist clergy, from 
 the standpoint of to-day, when High and Low Church are 
 equally orthodox, is that, thinking more of the Church 
 and its authority than of the people for whom churches 
 should exist, they had lost their influence for good over 
 the very people to whom they were appointed to minister ; 
 because these were not always charges by individual 
 fanatics, but often proceeded from their own churchwardens, 
 and from responsible men of sufficient influence and numbers 
 in the parish, to make it clear ho\Y complete was the divorce 
 between parson and people in many parts of these Puritan 
 counties. In all the cases to which reference has been made 
 and in many others, the clergyman was ejected from his 
 living and a Puritan installed in his place. 
 
 Where the sequestered clergyman and his family had no 
 friends to go to, or, what was more likely, where he either 
 refused to give up the parsonage to the nominee of Par- 
 liament or preferred to remain in the parish and pose as 
 a martyr, the execution of the orders of Parliament and its 
 
Great Civil War. 325 
 
 Committees was sometimes attended with painful scenes. 
 One of these occurred at the parish of Woolley, near 
 Huntingdon, where the rector, Alphery Mikepher (if Walker 
 has given the name correctly), had been sequestered from 
 the living in 1643, and apparently had given the sequestration 
 authorities some trouble over the business. " On a Lord's 
 day as he was preaching [apparently in defiance of the 
 orders of Parliament] a file of musketeers came and pulled 
 him out of his pulpit ; turned him out of the church, and 
 his wife and children with their goods out of the parsonage. 
 The poor man then ejected out of his house, built an hutt 
 or booth over against the parsonage house in the street, 
 under the trees growing in the verge of the churchyard, and 
 there lived for a week with his family. He had procured 
 three eggs, and gathered a bundle of rotten sticks, and was 
 about to make a fire in the church porch to boyl his eggs, 
 but some of his adversaries came thither, broke the eggs and 
 kicked away his fire." ^ 
 
 Two other Huntingdonshire parishes are mentioned by 
 Walker, who says that Mr. Baker, rector of Wistow, "w^as 
 imprisoned at Huntingdon jeyl, where he was abused and 
 barbarously treated. His goods were also plundered and 
 exposed to public sale, but his neighbours were so generous 
 that none of them would buy them." In the case of Mr. Brook, 
 of Ripton Regis, he says " he was so harassed and abused 
 that he was forced to quit his living in the beginning of the 
 Revolution ; being assaulted in person, having his horses 
 hamstringed, and suffering other insults and indignities." ^ 
 
 Mr. Barnabus Oley, vicar of Great Gransden, who had 
 guided the party with the Cambridge plate through the 
 byways of Huntingdonshire towards the King, though not 
 actually sequestrated, was harassed and threatened, and 
 obliged to quit his living, says Walker; and in order to 
 escape discovery 'changed his habit to a cloak and grey 
 clothes'; and for almost seven years 'had not wherewith 
 to support himself,' though a man of profound learning, 
 
 1 Walker's ** Sufferings of the Clergy," pt. ii, p. 183. 
 
 2 Ibid., ii, 202. 
 
o 
 
 26 East • Anglia and the 
 
 *as eminent for his piety and charity as any man in the 
 Church of England.' 
 
 Two of the most notable of eviction scenes in clerical 
 life were afforded by the parishes of Soham and Cottenham, 
 Cambridgeshire ; the one having a typical interest as an 
 example of the squire and the parson pulling together for 
 the King, and the other a personal interest from the 
 marriage and residence of a sister of Cromwell in the parish. 
 
 The old Royalist Vicar of Soham, Mr. Exeter, had been 
 replaced by Mr. John Fenton. After Mr. Fenton had 
 officiated for about three years, in 1647, the old vicar, 
 Mr. Exeter, "in combination with, and with the assistance 
 of, Samuel Thorneton and Israel Thorneton, Esquires, 
 Thomas Gin, senior, Robert Lambert, WiUiam Ellsden, 
 Andrew Bainard, John Peacher (alehouse keeper), Edward 
 Dockery, George Mensham, William Pamment, Jeremy 
 Canon, Thomas Cheaveley, junior, Robert Prime, Henry 
 Carlton, Peachie Clarke, Robert Amner, and divers others, 
 disaffected persons, thrust the said Mr. Fenton out of 
 the possession of the premises and possessed the same 
 himself, and officiated the cure of the said church. Divers 
 of the aforesaid persons, being the Lord's day, did in 
 a violent and riotous manner and by force keep the said 
 Mr. Fenton out of the desk and pulpit. The said Mr. Exeter, 
 and one Grymer, a sequestrated minister, officiated the same 
 day, the said Exeter reading the Book of Common Prayer, 
 and the said Grymer publishing a proclamation in the name 
 of the King, and a pretended declaration from the Army 
 for reinvesting of such scandalous ministers as are seques- 
 trated into their livings. The confederates above named, 
 with divers others, turbulent and ill affected persons, did 
 with weapons and other instruments, in a riotous and hostile 
 manner, beset and assaulted the said Mr. Fenton, his house, 
 and by force broke open and entered the same and possessed 
 themselves thereof, beating and ejecting such as kept the 
 same, and spoiled and cast forth out of doors most of the 
 goods and household stuff of the said Mr. Fenton, and 
 settled the said Mr. Exeter in possession of the said house, 
 who still keepeth and possesseth the same." 
 
Great Civil War. 327 
 
 Complaint was made to the justices, but Mr. Thorneton 
 and his following appeared before the justices "with swords 
 and clubs, and staves, to justifie their aforesaid insolent 
 practices." Samuel Thorneton, who was under a previous 
 order of Parliament for contempt, was sent for in safe custody 
 to appear before the Committee for Plundered Ministers. 
 But when the officers came down for him " the said Thorneton, 
 in further contempt of the authority of Parliament being 
 arrested by Nathaniel Denham, deputy of the serjeant-at-arms 
 of the House of Commons, did fall upon the said Serjeant's 
 deputy and beat him, refusing to submit unto the order of 
 Committee, and hath committed other outrages in manifest 
 contempt of the authority of Parliament." 
 
 The Justices of the Peace, Mr. M. Dalton, Mr. Story, and 
 Mr. Clark, appear to have been overawed by the demon- 
 stration of * swords, clubs, and staves,' and certified to the 
 Committee for Plundered Ministers in London that, " in regard 
 to the threats, boldness, and turbulent carriage of divers 
 malignants in the said countie, questioning the said Justices 
 authority to their face, they durst not at present without 
 further course and direction assist the deputy of the sergeant- 
 at-arms of the House of Commons in the execution of the 
 order of July 29th last for bringing Samuel Thorneton and 
 Thomas Eaton before the Committee in safe custody." ^ 
 
 The Committee for Plundered Ministers renewed their 
 order for Thorneton's arrest, and the sheriff was ordered to 
 see that it was carried out ; but how they fared is not clear. 
 Disturbances of a similar kind, though less violent, occurred 
 at Girton and Teversham. 
 
 In 1643 Dr. Manby was sequestrated from the living of 
 Cottenham. His goods were seized by the local sequestrators 
 appointed to the work — John Wright, then a collar-maker 
 at Cottenham, and John Taylor, a husbandman of the same 
 place — who, according to Dr. Manby's sworn depositions 
 made twenty years afterwards, took, or caused to be taken, 
 " in moneys, graine, malt, hay, grasse, horses, milch cows, and 
 other cattell, sheep, swine, bricks, boards, timber, household 
 
 » Add. MSS. 15,671, B.M. 
 
o 
 
 28 J^as^ Aug Ha and the 
 
 stuffe, brewing vessells, and other goods of this deponent, 
 to the value of six hundred pounds or thereabouts, and did 
 sell or otherwise dispose of the same as they pleased." ^ He 
 also states that " they took away ten milch cowes, one calfe, 
 and a bull," the goods of Hester Manby, a relative. As for 
 Dr. Manby, he had been carried off a prisoner to St. John's 
 College, Cambridge, then ' converted into a jayl,' where he 
 remained for a year and a half, and while there escaped from 
 a pistol shot discharged at him. It was while he was in 
 durance that his estate was seized by Wright and Taylor, 
 who were destined to be called upon later for an account 
 of their proceedings. Walker, in his account, says that 
 " Dr. Manby was plundered of all his goods, his sickly wife 
 and five small children were turned out of doors by a party 
 of soldiers under the command of Major Jordan, then Governor 
 of the Castle of Cambridge .... they entered the 
 house with their pistols cocked and swords drawn, and took 
 Mrs. Manby by the arm, with a suckling child at her breast, 
 and turned her and her other four children out of doors into 
 the open street." ^ 
 
 The living was given to Dr. Peter French, who married 
 Oliver Cromwell's sister Robina ; or, as Walker puts it : " The 
 rich parsonage was given to Oliver Cromwell's daughter \sic\ 
 Robina, who soon after bestowed both it and herself upon 
 Peter French." He adds that Dr. French, Dr. Manby's 
 * gaping successor,' was in the yard, a * spectator of the 
 barbarities and insults of the soldiers ' who came to take 
 possession of the parsonage, and alleges that Mrs. Manby 
 and her children were harshly treated in the parish. Dr. 
 Manby, upon his release from Cambridge Castle in 1644 
 or 1645, appears to have gone into Yorkshire for a year, and 
 coming to Cottenham just as Walker alleges they were going 
 to take off his wife prisoner, he went in her stead and 
 remained a prisoner for some time in London. 
 
 Such incidents as the foregoing only arose in parishes 
 in which there was a resistance to the orders of Parliament, 
 and must not therefore be taken as an indication of the 
 
 ^ Exchequer Depositions, Charles II (March 22, 1664). 
 * •* Sufferings of the Clergy," pt. ii, 303-4. 
 
Great Civil War. 329 
 
 spirit in which Parliament set about its work, so much as 
 one of the inevitable results of sequestering that which on 
 the one hand was naturally regarded by the clergy as their 
 private rights, and that by Parliament on the other hand 
 as a privilege attached to a responsible position which had 
 been abused. Harsh as the sequestrations must have been, 
 Parliament did not allow the ejected clergyman to starve ; 
 but required the minister put in his place to allow him and 
 his wife and family one-fifth of the emoluments. 
 
 To get rid of the 'malignant' parson was not enough; 
 there was the Church itself and its ceremonial to be stripped 
 of the things which * put upon it the face of Popery.' One 
 of the first acts of the Westminster Assembly of Divines 
 appointed in the Summer of 1643 was to petition Parliament 
 in favour of reforming things amiss, * where God is especially 
 dishonoured,' and among them that 'all monuments of 
 idolatry and superstition ' should be abolished, but * more 
 especially the whole body and practice of Popery.' The 
 Commons responded by framing an Ordinance, to which 
 the Lords after some delay assented on August 26, 1643. 
 By this Ordinance it was ordered that ' in all Cathedrals, 
 Churches, and Chapels, all altars and tables of stone, shall 
 be utterly taken away and abolished.' Communion tables 
 were to be removed from the east end to the body of the 
 church, and the chancel levelled where it had been raised 
 round about the altar. Tapers, candlesticks, basins, crucifixes, 
 crosses, all images and pictures of any one or more persons 
 of the Trinity, or of the Virgin Mary, and images and pictures 
 of saints, or superstitious inscriptions, were all to be removed 
 and done away with by the ist of November, 1643, O'' ^ ^"^ 
 of 40i". was to be paid to the poor. In all cases of default 
 by the 1st of December any Justice of the Peace was to 
 order the work to be done at the cost of the defaulting 
 authorities. Coats-of-arms, put up to any King, prince, 
 nobleman, or other dead person, ' not commonly reputed 
 or taken for a saint,' were not to be interfered with. 
 There had already been a great inroad made upon the 
 ceremonial of public worship. In many parish churches 
 mutilated copies of the Book of Common Prayer were in 
 
330 East Anglia and the 
 
 use,i and in October Parliament was ordering the surplices to 
 be ' taken from the Parish Churches and applied to the relief 
 of the maimed soldiers,' and parsons were enjoined not to wear 
 them during divine service.^ 
 
 By the month of December it was found that in many- 
 parishes the Ordinance for demolishing ' idols,' images, 
 pictures, etc., had not been complied with, and the task of 
 sweeping away these offensive objects from the churches 
 was entrusted to William Dowsing, the record of whose 
 proceedings is familiar enough. The entries in Dowsing's 
 Journal have too much of a sameness to be very interesting 
 reading in detail. They are chiefly of interest as showing 
 what kind of an interior the churches presented at the time 
 of the Puritan revolt, and what was the temper of the 
 iconoclasts and the modus operandi oi t\\Q paid agent employed 
 upon the business. 
 
 " We brake down lO mighty great angels with wings." 
 
 " We brake down the pictures of the Seven Deadly Sins." 
 
 "We brake down above 600 superstitious pictures and 
 8 Holy Ghosts, 3 of God the Father and 3 of the Son." 
 
 " We brake down 2CO pictures, one Pope and divers 
 Cardinals, Christ and the Virgin Mary." 
 
 " We brake down .... some Popes and crucifixes,^ 
 and God the Father sitting in a chayre and holding glasses 
 in His Hands." 
 
 "We brake down St. George and the Dragon, and 
 St. Catherine and her wheel," etc. 
 
 These are the kind of entries for parishes in Suffolk, and 
 in the town of Cambridge, where Dowsing had a busy 
 
 ' *' The Booke of Common Prayer from ye beginning of it to David Psalms 
 was cut out and torn in pieces in all our churches in the Isle of Ely, not by any 
 order or command of Parliament, but by private directions and command, and 
 the ministers referred to their own conceived prayer for Divine Service, adminis- 
 tering ye sacrament, marrying, churching of women, burials," etc.— Extract from 
 Wilberton (Cambs) Parish Register, Jan. 13, 1643, in Baker MSS., xxxvii, 446. 
 
 * Commons' Journals. 
 _ • Wherever a cross appeared the Puritan saw the Pope. In one Suffolk parish 
 It was made matter of complaint that an Irishman was seen by the High 
 Constable to * bow and take off his hat at the cross on the steeple ' ; and at 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, 6d. was paid to a man to climb up and take the 
 cross off the Bell Tower, as the Bursar's accounts of the College still testify. The 
 parish churches invariably lost the cross off their steeples as the entries for 
 Cambridgeshire show. 
 
Great Civil War, 331 
 
 fortnight from December 20, 1643, to January 3, 1644. 
 Often, as at Pembroke Hall, the rude strokes of the workmen 
 were accompanied by long arguments and the bandying of 
 texts of Scripture between Dowsing himself and the Fellows 
 of Colleges, or the clergyman ; or the latter may have stood 
 in the despoiled building uncovered as a reverent and silent 
 protest on the one hand against the irreverence of the 
 destroyer on the other, as at Queen's College, Cambridge, 
 where Dowsing 'brake down no superstitious pictures 
 besides cherubim,' while the Fellows of the College stood 
 by ' refusing to put on their hatts.' ^ 
 
 On December 29, 1643, the Earl of Manchester issued 
 a warrant to Dowsing to bring before him all who had in 
 Cambridge and the Associated Counties refused to comply 
 with the Ordinance, or who had opposed Dowsing in 
 his work.2 
 
 It is no part of the purpose of this book either to join 
 in the commonplace execrations which have fallen upon 
 the head of William Dowsing, or to defend what was done 
 in the name of Parliament under the above Ordinance. The 
 mere facts of the existence of such a vast amount of ornate 
 imagery left behind after the Reformation in the churches 
 on the one hand, and on the other the issuing by Parliament 
 of such a sweeping ordinance for its destruction, and the 
 callous disregard of sentiment shown by Dowsing in his 
 work and his Journal — these things represent the two 
 extremes which came into conflict, neither of which can 
 very well be defended from the standpoint of to-day. 
 
 The attitude of the Puritans towards cathedrals rests upon 
 a somewhat different footing from that of the parish churches. 
 The cathedrals they looked upon as centres of the objection- 
 able side of things ecclesiastical, without the merit of the 
 parish church of being essential as a place for public worship, 
 
 * The only records now extant of Dowsing's work are those for the counties 
 of Suflfolk and Cambridgeshire. The Suffolk "Journal " is the one most familiar 
 to the student. It has been carefully edited, with notes on the personal life of 
 Dowsing, by the Rev. C. H. Evelyn White. Of the less known Cambridgeshire 
 record a transcript is preserved in the Cambridge University Library portion of the 
 Baker MSS., vol. xxxviii, ff. 455-8 and 471-3. 
 
 ^ State Papers, Charles I. 
 
332 East Anglia- and the Great Civil War, 
 
 and so were prepared to suggest their application to secular 
 purposes. On March 3, 1648, there was, for instance, this 
 Order made by the House of Commons : — 
 
 " Ordered that it be referred to the Committee for sick 
 and wounded soldiers to consider of and examine the 
 structure of the Cathedral Church in the Isle of Ely, in relation 
 to the ruinous condition of the same ; and what other churches 
 there are in the same place for the people to meet together 
 in, for the hearing the Word of God, and communicating 
 in the Ordinances of God, and to bring in an Ordinance as 
 they shall find the business, for making sale of the materials 
 of the said Cathedral, that out of the proceed thereof pro- 
 vision may be made for the relief of sick and maimed soldiers, 
 widows and orphans."^ 
 
 A more extreme proposal was that made with regard 
 to Norwich Cathedral, in a petition from the Bailiffs and 
 Aldermen of Great Yarmouth. They asked Parliament to 
 "be pleased to grant us such part of the lead and other 
 useful materialls of that vast and altogether useless Cathedral 
 in Norwich, towardes building of a workshouse to employ 
 our almost sterued poore, and repairing our peeres, or 
 otherwise as you shall thinke fitt and sufficient."^ It is 
 something to be devoutly thankful for that this utilitarian 
 view of things, and the absolute poverty of any historical 
 sense which it discloses, did not prevail. 
 
 ^ Commons' Journals. 
 
 * Yarmouth Corporation Records, Hist. MSS. Com. Reps. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CROMWELLIANA AND BIOGRAPHY — EVOLUTION OF THE 
 IRONSIDES— CONCLUSION. 
 
 WHEN Oliver Cromwell had succeeded by almost 
 unparalleled exertions in raising that i,ooo horse 
 and 3,000 foot — * three score men out of one 
 poor petty village in Cambridgeshire ' and the like — and by 
 forced marches had joined Fairfax and been received with 
 a ' mighty shout ' on the hills of Naseby, the resolute farmer 
 of St. Ives and the man of affairs who had controlled the 
 head of the Eastern Association, and led its forces to victory 
 passed beyond the view of his neighbours. Henceforth the 
 name of Oliver Cromwell belongs to the history of England 
 and the world. To follow the broader issues of Cromwell's life 
 in their national bearing, is neither necessary nor, indeed, 
 possible within the limits of this book. But there remains the 
 duty of recalling something of the spirit and influence of his 
 work, and of the features and the deeds of a few of Cromwell's 
 neighbours and others who shared in his herculean labours 
 or suffered in person or estate through taking sides in the 
 War. To give a place to all whose career might' be worthy 
 of mention would require a separate volume. Such a volume 
 would show how superficial, if not absurdly inaccurate, are 
 the conventional labels of the school-books respecting the 
 Civil War — " the gentry for the King and the common people 
 for Parliament " — for, even in these Puritan Counties of East 
 
334 East Anglia and the 
 
 Anglia many of the best families were on the side of Par- 
 liament. All that is possible, however, within the limits 
 of a chapter is a passing reference to a few interesting careers 
 in Cromwell's own and other counties of the Association. 
 
 It is part of the fate of leaders of all great movements such 
 as that of the Puritan Revolution of the seventeenth century 
 to become identified with the extreme views and actions 
 of lesser men. 
 
 From kings to cobblers 't is the same, 
 Bad servants wound their masters fame. 
 
 Perhaps no leader of men has been more unjustly treated 
 in this respect than Oliver Cromwell by most of the historians 
 who wrote of this period until within the last fifty years. 
 Yet Oliver Cromwell, with all his faults, was above all 
 a great Englishman of an intensely practical turn of mind, 
 standing head and shoulders above all the narrow fanatical 
 sectaries which grew up around him. In the wide field of 
 national affairs he was tolerant of all sorts of fantastical 
 dreamers and theorists who swarmed around him, in almost 
 incredible numbers, in the day of his power ; and yet he 
 was firm as adamant in keeping them in check directly they 
 began to use their theories for the subversion of law and 
 order — great sacred watchwords which Cromwell, like Alfred 
 the Great, made all men reverence. For upwards of two 
 hundred years the older historians played the Philistine part 
 of first depriving Cromwell of his locks — first ignoring the 
 central fact and grip of the man in his strong element of 
 personal religion and his insistence upon its connection with 
 public policy in national government — and then denouncing 
 him as a hypocrite for his audacity in pretending to execute 
 the judgments of God upon a perverse generation. At last 
 we are getting a little beyond the temporary limitations of 
 the sects, which hampered rather than inspired Cromwell's 
 genius ; beginning to hear, out of the discords, that * bridal 
 dawn of thunder peals' in which faith for once, verily, 
 'wedded fact,' and to recognize those universal elements 
 in which Cromwell's great Protestation stands, not for an 
 age, but for all time. 
 
 For the reader of these pages it is not unlikely that the 
 
Great Civil War, 335 
 
 most interesting traits of Cromwell's character may be those 
 which were displayed in that part of his career when, at 
 the beginning of the fray, he was rousing his neighbours for 
 the great service to which circumstances were so loudly 
 calling them. From these traits we may judge how he 
 presented himself to his neighbours, and, to some extent, 
 what they must have thought of him. Enthusiasm was with 
 Cromwell, as with other great leaders of men in the world's 
 history, felt to be almost a God-inspired faculty. "Verily 
 I do think the Lord is with me. I do feel myself lifted up 
 by a strange force, I cannot tell why." This was Cromwell's 
 spirit, if not, as given by the writer of the " Squire Papers," 
 his actual words. Then his superabundant energy carried 
 all before it — " Throw off fear ; be as a bundle of sticks : 
 I shall be with you ! It is no longer disputing, but out 
 instantly all you can!" His sense of justice was a part of 
 the stern discipline which moulded his victorious Ironsides 
 — " Tell Captain Russell my mind of his men drinking the 
 poor man's ale and not paying. I will not allow any plunder, 
 and so pay the man and stop their pay to make it up. 
 I will cashier officers and men if such is done in future." 
 Cromwell's self-denial and consideration for those serving 
 with him was a quality which distinguished him as a general 
 as well as a man — " I ask not your money for myself, but 
 
 others will not be satisfied You have had my 
 
 money ; I hope in God I desire to venture my skin." 
 
 Cromwell, the stern rugged Ironsides, was not without his 
 gentler moods ; as in that touching interchange of brotherly 
 sympathy with Colonel Valentine Walton, of St. Neots, on 
 the loss of his boy at Marston Moor. Both men had faced 
 the greatest trials that could come to a man, but only a great 
 heroic soul could have met the demands of a trying situation, 
 and stepped aside out of the full flush of victory to pour 
 balm into a private sorrow as Cromwell did — "You know 
 
 my own trials this way He was a gallant young 
 
 man, exceedingly gracious. Let this drink up your sorrow ; 
 seeing these are not feigned words to comfort you, but the 
 thing is so real and undoubted a truth. Let this public mercy 
 to the Church of God make you forget your private sorrow." 
 
oo 
 
 6 Bas'^ Anglia and the 
 
 This sinking of private sorrow and private interest in 
 the public good was characteristic of Cromwell, and no 
 one can rightly understand him who fails to notice the intense 
 devotion and almost consuming passion for what he believed 
 to be the public good, as distinguished from private ends, 
 in the presence of a great national emergency. Sometimes 
 his pressing this upon his neighbours may have seemed 
 overbearing and irksome, but if so it was because the occasion 
 was one for heroic measures, the immense importance of 
 which Cromwell realized more keenly than they. That he 
 was a man of strong passion is certain, and before the severe 
 discipline of his later years, he sometimes gave way to it 
 in notable fashion, as in the quarrel with his neighbour, 
 Mr. Barnard, of Huntingdon, about the town charter; but 
 he had even then the good sense to ask that words spoken 
 in *heat and passion' might be forgotten.^ Oliver Cromwell 
 has, at least, this vindication in history, that just as no man 
 ever demanded more to be given up for the public good, 
 so no man was ever more willing to sacrifice himself and 
 his means for the promotion of the same end.^ 
 
 That a man should fight courageously and make sacrifices 
 for his own honour and his Sovereign's service, even a 
 Cavalier could understand ; but that he should do this for 
 an abstract principle of justice, the privileges of the people, or 
 profess to do it for that Scriptural righteousness which 
 ' exalteth a nation,' without having some ulterior motive, they 
 could not believe ; nor, after the sacrifice of the King and the 
 Protectorate of Cromwell, could the historians to whom the 
 genealogical tree is sacred, ever quite understand it. "His 
 personal endowments were such, especially in martial courage 
 and conduct, that had they been employed for his own 
 honour and his Sovereign's service, probably no man in that 
 respect would have deserved a greater name, but,"^ etc., etc. 
 
 ^ See "Court and Society from Elizabeth to Anne," by the Duke of 
 Manchester, i, 340-1. 
 
 r \/?" ^^^^ Cromwell had ;^i,50o due to him as Lieutenant-General to the Earl 
 of Manchester, and two years' pay as Governor of the Isle of Ely, which he gave 
 up for the benefit of the State, and received the "hearty thanks " of the House of 
 Commons " for his free and liberal offer, to the good example and encouragement 
 of others. — Commons' Journals. 
 
 3 "Magna Britannia," ii, 1,048, published in 1740. 
 
Great Civil War, 
 
 ^Z7 
 
 — this was the kind of estimate of Cromwell which was 
 destined to prevail so long as loyalty was regarded as 
 a virtue only for the subject and not for the Prince. 
 
 Of Cromwell's family relations there are some few points 
 of interest which are deserving of notice in these pages. 
 Mrs. Cromwell, Oliver's wife, when at Court, as in the old 
 house at Ely, was still the excellent housewife, 'and as 
 capable of descending to the kitchen with propriety as she 
 was of acting in her exalted station with dignity.' It is 
 even asserted that she *as deeply interested herself in steering 
 the helm as she had done in turning the spit,' and among 
 the stories which have gained some credence it is said that 
 she tried to influence her husband to become reconciled to 
 
 NORBOROTJGH HoUSE. the seat of tlie Oaypooles. 
 
 the King's family on the ground of the dangers to which 
 his (Cromwell's) situation exposed him, ' and the certain 
 ruin of his family at his death,' to which, it is alleged, she 
 got the unlikely answer : " You are a fool : Charles Stuart 
 can never forgive me his father's death, nor the injustice he 
 has suffered from me ; and if he can, he is unworthy of 
 the Crown." After the Protector's death, his widow retired 
 to live with her son-in-law Claypole, at Northborough 
 Deeping, Lincolnshire, where she died and was buried, but 
 no memorial of her exists there. 
 
 Mrs. Claypole was Cromwell's favourite daughter. In her 
 last illness at Hampton Court, where she died, it is said 
 she so impressed her father the Protector by representing 
 
338 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 to him the ' blood that he had spilt,' and placing his policy 
 in an unfavourable light, that he was * exceedingly perplexed,' 
 and either from this cause or the death of his daughter 
 became very melancholy afterwards. She was buried in 
 state in Westminster Abbey. Bridget, his eldest daughter, 
 like her first husband, Ireton, deputy-governor of the Isle 
 of Ely, was as strong-minded a republican as her sister 
 Mrs. Claypole was chivalrous towards the Royal Family. To 
 
 Bridget Qrjetoj^ Fleetivood 
 
 Bridget, whose portrait is here given, belongs the distinction 
 of marrying two of her father's generals — Ireton and 
 Fleetwood. 
 
 Concerning Cromwell's son Oliver, who died in the wars, 
 the entries in a paper folio admission book, "Daniel Mill's 
 Register," at St. Catherine's College, Cambridge, for the 
 year 1640-1, contain that of Oliver, second son of Oliver 
 
Great Civil War. 339 
 
 Cromwell, who was admitted as a pensioner at this College : 
 a fact which, as Mr. Riley, in reporting upon the College 
 MSS., states, does not appear to have been anywhere 
 mentioned. Of the other two Oliver Cromwells who took 
 sides in the War, Sir Oliver of Ramsey, and formerly of 
 Hinchinbrook, in 1645 gave his age as 84, and three years 
 later he was still living, stating his age as ' 90,' and urging 
 the ruin of his estates at the hands of the sequestrators 
 " for some opposition he should make against the Parliament's 
 forces, under the command of Lieutenant General Cromwell 
 at Ramsey." ^ The other Oliver, son of Sir Philip, of Biggin 
 House, was killed in Ireland in 1649 under circumstances not 
 without their pathetic side. In June of that year he was 
 urging his claims to ;^2,I38 arrears of pay, that he had 
 raised 80 horse at his own charge, that his creditors were 
 very urgent, and he was in daily danger of arrest, and that 
 he had engaged to serve under Lieutenant-General Cromwell in 
 Ireland. Parliament ordered his arrears to be satisfied, but 
 before this could have been accomplished he was killed in action. 
 
 The numerous Olivers in the Cromwell family suggest 
 that the colloquial name of " Old Noll," applied by the 
 Cavaliers to Cromwell, was not so much a name of contempt 
 as might be supposed. It was but taking a liberty w^ith 
 the common appellation for Oliver in the Cromwell family. 
 Thus, Major Thomas Cromwell, of Great Staughton, writing to 
 Ann Cromwell, administratrix of the Major Oliver Cromwell 
 just referred to, says that "his brother Noll owed him two 
 several twenty pounds, one on a bond and the other on 
 a bill of exchange." ^ 
 
 Of the two Henry Cromwells, Colonel Henry Cromwell, 
 son of Sir Oliver of Ramsey, who marched with his men 
 to help get away the Cambridge plate, was fined ^^"1,882 5^. 8//. 
 for his delinquency.^ Cromwell's own son Henry, to whom 
 
 ^ Reports of the Committee for Compounding, in which his fine is put at £,Z^\, 
 
 2 MSS. of Duke of Marlborough, Hist. MSS. Com. Rep., viii. 
 
 3 Among the papers at Ramsey Abbey is this letter addressed to Colonel Henry 
 Cromwell :—" For Colonell Cromwell or the chief officer of his regiment at 
 Hinton or elsewhere. Sr, you are immediately after sight hereof to march with 
 your whole Regiment of Horse to my Lord Hopton, wheresoever, from whom 
 you shall receive further orders. And hereof you may no faile as you will 
 answer it. — Rupert. " 
 
340 East Anglia and the 
 
 that precocious letter about the Camdeners and Newcastle's 
 broom for sweeping the Fens is attributed in the " Squire 
 Papers," is said to have entered the Army under his father 
 at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty he was made 
 a captain, and two years later, in 1649, went to Ireland and 
 served with distinction under his father. His subsequent 
 career as Lord-Deputy of Ireland gained for him much 
 credit under great difficulties. On his return to England he 
 lived in retirement with the Russells of Chippenham, near 
 Newmarket, a daughter of which house he had married, and 
 was favourable to the restoration of the King. He afterwards 
 removed to Spinney Abbey, near Soham, ' descending from 
 the toilsome grandeur of governing men to the humble and 
 happy occupation of husbandry.'^ He died in 1674, and was 
 buried within the communion rails of Wicken church. 
 
 Of Richard Cromwell, who became Lord-Protector in 
 succession to his father, there is only this that need be said 
 here, that he was nominated by his father's old friend and 
 landlord, Henry Lawrence, of St. Ives, and that his accession 
 to the high office of his father elicited flattering and fulsome 
 addresses from his neighbours in Huntingdonshire, which 
 were not justified by events. 
 
 From these family details which naturally cluster around 
 the name and fame of Cromwell,'^ and so demand a passing 
 notice, it is fitting that we should turn to some other 
 
 ^ In this connection there is the well-known story of Charles II, when returning 
 from Newmarket, seeking hospitality and finding the former Lord- Deputy of 
 Ireland in his farmyard occupations, with the doubtful addition that his brother- 
 in-law, Lord Inchiquin, took up a muck fork and walked in front of Mr. Cromwell 
 as he had formerly done as mace-bearer in Ireland. — See Noble's Memoirs, i, 212. 
 
 "^ Mr. W. B. Redfern, of Cambridge, has in his possession two very interesting 
 Cromwellian relics : a pair of leather gloves, which belonged to Cromwell, as 
 well authenticated as anything could possibly be in such a case, which have only 
 changed owners once since they were in the Russell family, Cromwell's daughter's 
 husband, of Chippenham ; and a pair of spectacles, which have been handed down 
 through the Desborough family as Cromwell's. Another old family estate 
 which had, until recently, a visible link associating the house with Oliver 
 Cromwell, is the manor of Offord Cluny, Hunts, which was for many generations, 
 and still is, in the possession of the Sismey family, one of whom appears to have 
 served on the Parliamentary side. This link of association was a tapestried bed- 
 room and a state bed, in which it is believed Cromwell passed a night or two in 
 one of his many ridings to and fro. Until the room was at last dismantled by 
 a late owner, it was often visited by persons staying at Kimbolton Castle, the 
 Duke of Manchester's seat. 
 
Great Civil War, 341 
 
 individual careers whose heroic deeds belong to East Anglia, 
 or by old associations were connected with Cromwell. 
 
 Of the seven counties of the Eastern Association the county 
 of Hertford was the most notable for the heroism and romance 
 which belonged to individual careers in the War, and of these 
 the valiant Lord Capel occupied the foremost place. As 
 plain Mr. Arthur Capel, member for Hertfordshire, he was 
 ' the first to stand up for grievances ' ; but, like many others, 
 could not follow Parliament far enough to fight against the 
 King, by whom he was created a peer before the War began. 
 His exploits in the siege of Colchester have been already 
 referred to. After the summary execution of Sir Charles 
 Lucas and Lisle, Lord Capel was committed a prisoner in 
 the Tower. In an effort to escape by a cord let down from 
 his window in the night-time, he had to wade through the 
 deep muddy ditch which surrounded the Tower, where, 
 * if he had not been by the head taller than other men he 
 must have perished, since the water came up to his chin.* 
 He was again taken prisoner, tried and sentenced to death 
 with other noble lords, including the unfortunate Earl of 
 Holland, whom the reader has met with at St. Neots ; and, 
 despite the efforts of Lady Capel, he was appointed to be 
 executed on March 9, 1649, only a few weeks after the 
 execution of the King. His letters to his wife in his last 
 moments display a remarkable combination of tenderness 
 and fortitude. " My dear life ! my greatest care in relation 
 to the world is for thy dear self I pray remember that the 
 occasion of my death will give thee more cause to celebrate 
 my memory with praise rather than to consider it with 
 sadness." Again, on the day of his execution he wrote to 
 his wife these last words : — " Let me live long here in thy 
 dear memory to the comfort of my family and our dear 
 
 children God be unto thee better than an husband, 
 
 and to my children better than a father. God be with thee, 
 my most virtuous wife ; God multiply many comforts to 
 thee and to my children ! " ^ 
 
 At the execution before Westminster Hall his fortitude 
 is thus described by Whitelock : " Next was my Lord Capel 
 
 ^ Excellent Contemplations, etc., 1,416a (27), Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
342 East Anglia and the 
 
 brought to the scaffold, much after the manner of a stout 
 Roman." Having asked if the other noble lords had * spoken 
 with their hats on/ and being told that they were bare, he 
 gave his hat to his servant, and, speaking in a clear strong 
 voice, addressed the great crowd assembled. He declared 
 that he was brought thither to die for doing that which he 
 could not repent of, and was now condemned to die against 
 all the laws of the land, to which sentence he did submit. 
 
 In accordance with Lord Capel's request his heart was 
 taken from his body and deposited in a silver box with 
 a view to its being presented to Charles H, when he came 
 home, and buried at the feet of Charles I wherever he should 
 be buried. As there were no funeral rites to Charles I the 
 box containing Capel's heart was restored by Charles H to 
 Capel's son, the Earl of Essex, and was preserved at Hadham 
 Hall, until its removal to Cassiobury, Watford, Herts, where 
 on the wall of the inner Library of the Palace is this 
 inscription : " Within this stone is deposited the heart of 
 Arthur Lord Capel, who was beheaded by the Rebels, 
 March 9th, 1649." ^ 
 
 Another Hertfordshire hero was the great Lord Falkland, 
 of Aldenham, a prince among the learned, poet, philosopher, 
 and statesman ; and, like Hampden, a moderating influence 
 when moderate men were only too rare. He became a soldier 
 by necessity, and not by choice. Going into the fight at the 
 first battle of Newbury on September 20, 1643, with the 
 prophetic words on his lips — " I am weary of the times 
 and foresee much misery to my country, but I believe I shall 
 be out of it ere night " — he placed himself in the front rank of 
 Sir John Byron's regiment, and was struck by a bullet as he was 
 riding through a gap in the hedge. Only a few hours after 
 he had left his inn in the morning, dressing himself carefully 
 that the enemy 'should not find his body in a slovenly 
 condition,' he was brought back, ' slung across a horse,' to 
 the Town Hall, where his body was identified.' ^ 
 
 ^ The bibliography of Capel covers a number of interesting and rare pamphlets 
 and books in the British Museum Library.— See "Hertfordshire during the 
 Great Civil War," pp. 103-112. 
 
 ' A handsome granite monument to his memory now occupies the site of the 
 battle where Falkland fell. 
 
Great Civil War, 343 
 
 The romance of love and war has never received a more 
 interesting illustration than in the careers of Sir Richard and 
 Lady Fanshawe, of Ware Park, Herts, around whose lives 
 quite a halo of romance was thrown by the fortunes of war, 
 and a wedded love which rose superior to all misfortune. 
 The handsome and accomplished young courtier went to 
 the King at Oxford, and Sir John Harrison, of Balls Park, 
 Hertford, and his beautiful daughters, went there too. The 
 two young lovers, near neighbours at home, came together 
 in the strange medley of city, camp, and court, in which high- 
 born dames were sharing mean lodgings and indifferent food, 
 little comforts and fewer luxuries. But love threw a gossamer 
 veil over all the distractions of war, and young * Dick ' 
 Fanshawe and Anne Harrison, a young girl only nineteen 
 years of age and exceedingly beautiful, met at the village 
 church of Wolvercot, two miles outside Oxford on the road 
 to royal Woodstock, and there, defying all the discordant 
 notes of war, were made man and wife, though their entire 
 capital at the time, as the lady frankly admits, was only 
 twenty pounds. Fanshawe had to follow the Prince to 
 Bristol, leaving his young wife behind at Oxford, just after 
 her confinement, and a short time afterwards a perilous journey 
 to Bristol brought husband and wife together once more ; 
 and of the delight at meeting she writes : " Now I thought 
 myself a perfect Queen, and my husband so glorious a crown 
 that I more valued myself to be called by his name than 
 a born princess." Driven away from Bristol by the plague, 
 and plundered of what goods they had by the person with 
 whom they were left, the young wife and mother went through 
 peculiar hardships in the Scilly Isles, and in 1648 was brought 
 once more in contact with the King, not long before his 
 trial and execution. Of this interview Lady Fanshawe 
 writes : — 
 
 " The last time I ever saw him was on taking my leaf 
 I could not refrain from weeping, and when he saluted me 
 I prayed God to preserve his Majesty with life and happy 
 years. He stroked my cheek, and said : * Child, if God 
 pleaseth it shall be so, but both you and I must submit to 
 God's will, and you know in what hands I am/ Turning to 
 
344 ^^^/ Anglia and the 
 
 Mr. Fanshawe he said : ' Be sure, Dick (a term by which his 
 Majesty generally spoke to Mr. Fanshawe), to tell my son 
 all that I have said, and deliver those letters to my wife. 
 Pray God bless her. I hope I shall do well ' ; and, taking him 
 in his arms, observed : ' Thou hast ever been an honest man, 
 and I hope God will bless thee, and make thee an happy 
 servant of my son, whom I have charged in my letter to 
 continue his love and trust in you ' ; adding : * I do promise 
 you that if ever I am restored to my dignity, I will bountifully 
 reward you both for your services and sufferings.* Thus did 
 we part from that glorious sun that within a few months 
 afterwards was murdered, to the grief of all Christians that 
 were not forsaken by God." 
 
 Soon after this she was in Ireland with her husband, and, 
 while the latter was away at Kinsale, she was lying with 
 a broken wrist at the house of Dean Boyle, when the town 
 was taken by Cromwell's soldiers. Waking up in the night 
 and hearing the guns going off, she despatched a letter to her 
 husband at Kinsale to warn him, and made her way by the 
 light of a taper, * in that pain I was in,' into the market-place. 
 There, with only a man and a maidservant, she passed 
 through the tumult, and the soldiers with their swords in 
 their hands. From the chief officer Jeffries, who had received 
 civilities at another time from her husband, she obtained 
 a pass, and so got away, and little by little made her way 
 to Kinsale garrison, where she found her husband ' the most 
 disconsolate man in the world for fear of his family, which 
 he had no possibility of assisting.' 
 
 Fanshawe was with Prince Charles in his march from 
 Scotland, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Worcester, 
 and when with other prisoners he was brought up to London, 
 his wife was allowed to see him in a room at Charing Cross. 
 Of their meeting she writes : — " Taking my hand and kissing 
 me, he said : ' Cease weeping ; no other thing on earth can 
 move me! Remember we are all at God's disposal.'" The 
 effect of a long imprisonment at Whitehall told upon the 
 health of the young courtier, and again his wife stood nobly 
 by him ; and in her memoirs, written for her children, there 
 is this crowning touch of heroic womanhood i— 
 
Great Civil War, 345 
 
 "During the time of his imprisonment I failed not con- 
 stantly, when the clock struck four in the morning, to go 
 with a dark lanthorn in my hand, all alone and on foot, from 
 my lodging in Chancery Lane to Whitehall, by the entry 
 that went out of King's Street into the Bowling Green. There 
 I would go under his window and call him softly. He, 
 excepting the first time, never afterwards failed to put out 
 his head at the first call. Thus we talked together, and 
 sometimes I was so wet with rain that it went in at my neck 
 and out at my heels." ^ 
 
 Eventually the noble woman got the ear of Cromwell, and 
 her husband was released from his imprisonment. He escaped 
 to Paris, and his wife, by a stratagem, got a passport to 
 follow him. At the Restoration they were not forgotten, 
 and Sir Richard met with a brilliant reception as Ambassador 
 to the Court of Spain. The record of their adventures, written 
 by Lady Fanshawe to her children, is one of the most 
 beautiful examples of perfect wedded love, strengthened by 
 peculiar joys and sorrows, to be found either in actual life 
 or literature. 
 
 Heroism of another kind was abundantly shown on the 
 Parliamentary side. The extremes of revolution generally 
 do violence to human nature, and when the ' wheel turned * 
 at the Restoration, the trial and execution of the Regicides 
 were not surprising, but the brutal revenge shown in carrying 
 them out was at once a lasting stigma upon the Royalist 
 cause and the occasion for heroic fortitude on the part of 
 the victims. 
 
 Among the foremost of these was Colonel Axtell, of Great 
 Berkhamsted, Herts, who, although only acting under orders, 
 was so prominent at the trial and execution of the King, 
 as the officer in command of the Guards, that he shared 
 the fate of the other Regicides — was sentenced to be hung, 
 drawn, and quartered, a fate which he met with undaunted 
 courage. Returning from his trial and sentence 'with 
 a cheerful countenance,' and his wife coming to him 'full 
 of trouble,' Axtell said : " Not a tear, wife ! What hurt have 
 
 * Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe. 
 
346 East Anglia and the 
 
 •they done me to send me sooner to Heaven ? I bless the 
 Lord I could have freely gone from the bar to the gibbet ! " 
 To a friend he said : " Tell them that for the good old cause, 
 which we were engaged in under Parliament, I am now 
 going to be their martyr, and as for the King I wish him 
 as well as my own soul." To other friends he said : " I am 
 now going to my bed of roses ; my last bed. If I had 
 a thousand lives I would lay them down for the Good 
 old Cause ! " 
 
 The public, who had witnessed almost a surfeit of executions 
 and quarterings at Charing Cross, turned up at Tyburn to 
 witness the execution of Colonels Axtell and Hacker in 
 a more favourable mood towards the victims. They had 
 witnessed the brutal displays of the executioner over the 
 other victims ; had seen Cook, the Solicitor-General, dragged 
 on the sledge from Newgate to Charing Cross, with the 
 severed head of Harrison placed in front of him during his 
 * dismal progress ' ; they had seen the attitude of Hugh 
 Peters, the Army Chaplain, who when the executioner, 
 having finished quartering Cook, held up his gory hands and 
 tauntingly said: "Come, Mr. Peters, how do you like this 
 work ! " undaunted, made this courageous reply : "I am 
 not, thank God, terrified at you ; you may do your worst ! " 
 Although as a matter of policy, the venue was changed to 
 Tyburn for the execution of Axtell and Hacker, yet the 
 scene was a remarkable one. 
 
 Axtell, addressing the Sheriff, said : " Mr. Sheriff, I am 
 now, as you see, come to the place of execution according 
 to my sentence. I desire your leave that I may speak freely 
 and without interruption, first to these people and then to 
 God ; for it is the last that I shall speak in this world, and 
 I hope it will redound to your credit." He then addressed 
 the people, declaring, with the Bible in his hand, that " the 
 very cause for which I have engaged is contained in this 
 book of God, both in the civil and religious rights of it." 
 Having finished his speech and given his Bible to the Sheriff, 
 Axtell prayed fervently and in a loud voice before the 
 people, begging as 'the last request this side of Heaven' 
 that 'this poor people might have the pardon of a dying 
 
Great Civil War, 347 
 
 Saviour.' Turning to his companion, Colonel Hacker, they 
 " saluted and embraced each other in their arms and said : 
 ' The Lord sweeten our passage and give us a happy meeting 
 with Himself in glory."* The crowd was much affected, and 
 it was alleged that the man in charge of the cart refused to 
 draw it away [to leave them swinging], declaring that "he 
 would lose his cart and horse before he would have a hand 
 in hanging such a man " ; and that the hangman himself had 
 at last to come down out of the cart and pull the horse 
 forward.' After his death Axtell was * drawn and quartered,' 
 his head placed upon Westminster Hall, and his * quarters 
 exposed to public view in other parts of the city.' 
 
 "So passed away one of the stout old praying, fighting 
 Ironsides, the Berkhamsted boy who learned to pray as an 
 apprentice in Laurence-lane, and to wield the sword on 
 
 many a hard fought field His life and work may 
 
 have had in them all the defects as well as the virtues 
 of the extreme party to which he attached himself .... 
 but through it all the side of Parliament had no braver 
 soldier, Protestantism no stouter champion, and the great 
 drama of the Civil War no more courageous man in the 
 face of its awful development, than Daniel Axtell." - 
 
 Miles Corbet, member for Yarmouth and a member of 
 the Norfolk Committee, was another example of that fortitude 
 which enabled men to face the ordeal of death on the scaffold 
 and the ignominy intended thereby. The studious, dark 
 swarthy-faced man of affairs was fired with heroic courage 
 in the face of such a death ; for, although he at first had 
 scruples about sitting at the trial of the King, he came round 
 to that point, took his seat in the Court upon the last day 
 of the trial, and before his death assured his friends that he 
 was so fully convinced of the justice and necessity of the 
 action for which he was to die, that he could not refuse to 
 do it again if necessary. 
 
 When preparing for his execution, in company with Colonel 
 Okey and Colonel Barkstead, on April 19, 1662, he took his 
 Bible in his pocket *as a companion on the sledge to the 
 
 » State Trials, vol. v : " Trial of the Regicides," etc. 
 
 * *• Hertfordshire during the Great CiWl War," pp. 139-40. 
 
348 East Anglia and the 
 
 gallows.' He put on his clean linen, bands and cuffs, 
 with his cloak clean brushed, and also a new pair of 
 gloves which his wife had provided for him, and which he 
 called his ' wedding gloves.' When told that the Sheriff was 
 ready for him he replied, " and I for them." He then took 
 leave of his wife, 'commending her to the Lord,' and bade 
 her farewell ; but she, clinging to him, cried out : " Oh, my 
 dear husband, my precious husband, what an husband shall 
 I now lose ! Oh, what will become of me 1 " With tears ready 
 to burst from his eyes he conquered himself, and taking his 
 wife by the hand, said : " Oh, my dear wife, shall we part in 
 a shower ! Be contented, God will be a husband and a father 
 to thee and thine " ; and * with other such like good words 
 and so kissing her, turned to his son Miles, whom he took 
 by the hand and blessed him also.' Then he hastened to 
 the sledge on which he was to be drawn to the scaffold, 
 'desiring a friend to stay with his wife and son to comfort 
 them.' To a friend who had done him some kindness, who 
 came and took him by the hand and asked him how he 
 did, Corbet, looking up into the bright blue sky from his 
 position on the sledge to which he had been bound, replied : 
 " Methinks I begin to see the Lord appearing ; farewell, 
 and the Lord requite you for all the civilities that I have 
 received from you." He was then drawn along from Newgate 
 to the place of execution at Tyburn, carrying his Bible in 
 his hand. Replying to inquiring friends how he was, he said : 
 " I am well now, but I shall be better anon, when I am gotten 
 yonder, above that place," pointing up to the heavens above 
 him. When nearing the end of the journey he was told of 
 efforts being made to get his body for burial, to which he 
 replied : " What care I what becomes of my body when I am 
 dead ! Let them do what they will with it ! " On the gallows 
 with Colonel Okey and Colonel Barkstead, he made a speech 
 to the crowd, in which he said : " We are now dying men and 
 upon dying ground, and we are in the presence of the great 
 
 God to whom we are now going I will only say 
 
 this (Mr. Sheriff), both the levying of the war and that act 
 we are now accused and condemned for, if they had been 
 done without authority that had been abominable, and to 
 
Great Civil War, 349 
 
 justify that authority, I do not come here to do it." He 
 urged submission to the law, and that God must be the 
 judge of those who made the law. He prayed for the King, 
 Charles H, 'as for his own soul, and that he might reign in 
 peace and righteousness to the glory of God, and the good 
 of the people of the nation.' In conclusion he added : " And 
 now we have done speaking to men, we may now speak 
 unto our God." He then poured out his soul in a long and 
 earnest prayer.^ 
 
 Colonel Valentine Walton, of Great Staughton, near 
 St. Neots, member for Huntingdon, neighbour, brother-in-law, 
 and companion in arms of Cromwell, who took the risk of 
 open conflict at Cambridge when the strife began, had 
 a chequered career in store. Taken prisoner and carried 
 to Oxford in 1643, exchanged and released, made Governor 
 of King's Lynn, he became an active member of the High 
 Court of Justice formed for the trial of the King, and was one 
 of those who signed the warrant for the King's execution, 
 and so belonging to the Regicides had to face their 
 risks. He became a member of the Council of State, but 
 was less in sympathy with Cromwell, and lived in comparative 
 retirement during the Protectorate of Cromwell. Upon 
 Richard Cromwell succeeding, he came, says Noble, to 
 Admiral Edward Montague, at Hinchinbrook, " to take off 
 prejudices and to let him know that his principles were not 
 such as they might be represented," and " in diverse other 
 particulars discoursed very orthodoxly." After the dethrone- 
 ment of Richard Cromwell, Walton became very active for 
 Parliament, and was appointed with General Monk and three 
 others for governing the Army. Finding Monk had designs for 
 bringing back the exiled Charles H, Walton retired to the Con- 
 tinent and became a burgess of Hanau, in Germany. Fearing, 
 however, that, like others of the Regicides, he might be 
 delivered up, he left that place just in time to escape, and 
 spent the short time remaining to him ' in the greatest privacy 
 in Flanders ' ; going under an assumed name in the disguise 
 of a gardener. Finding himself ill and at the point of death, 
 
 ^ Howell's "State Trials," Cobbett's Collection, v, 1,315 et seq. 
 
350 East Anglia and the 
 
 he 'discovered himself, and desired that after his death his 
 relations in England might be acquainted of it.' He died in 
 Flanders in 1661 ; his end being probably, says Noble, 
 * occasioned by disappointment, anxiety, and dread of a violent 
 and ignominious death/ ^ 
 
 Among the King's Judges who were nominated to that 
 office, and sat at the trial, but did not sign the warrant for 
 the King's execution, was William Heveningham, of 
 Heveningham, Suffolk, whom the reader has already met. 
 When brought to trial at the Restoration, he pleaded that 
 in 1648 'they were under a force, under the tyranny of the 
 Army,' who were their masters ; but ' a malicious and 
 traiterous heart he had not.' He further pleaded that he 
 protested against sealing the King's warrant and did not 
 sign it. He admitted that he might have sat at the trial 
 of the King, and now threw himself upon the mercy of the 
 Court in rather abject fashion. He was sentenced to death, 
 but was not executed.- 
 
 Of Cromwell's neighbours the most conspicuous figures 
 in the War were the Earl of Manchester, young Edward 
 Montague, of Hinchinbrook, and John Desborough, of 
 Eltisley, Cambs. 
 
 The Earl of Manchester, ' a man of gentle, generous nature,' 
 was, as Clarendon suggests, hardly fitted by temperament 
 for the rough parts of the times ; " insomuch as he was never 
 guilty of any rudeness towards those he was obliged to 
 oppress, but performed always as good offices towards his 
 old friends and all other persons .... as the nature 
 of the employment he was in would permit." Sir Philip 
 Warwick, who knew him well, says : " The Earl was a gentle- 
 man of debonair nature, but very facile and changeable." 
 The Earl's indifference to the prosecution of the War after 
 his forces had triumphed at Marston Moor, may have deserved 
 some of the reflections of Cromwell and other officers, but 
 the Puritans of East Anglia owed him this acknowledgment, 
 that he lent to their cause the weight of his great influence 
 in their time of sorest need, just when the Parliamentary cause 
 
 ^ Memorials of the House of Cromwell, ii, 225-6. 
 ^ State. Trials, vol. v. 
 
Great Civil War, 35 f 
 
 was trembling in the balance, and thus materially helped to 
 make the subsequent victorious career of Cromwell and his 
 Ironsides possible.^ 
 
 Edward Montague, son of the Royalist, Sir Sidney, of 
 Hinchinbrook, was the brave young officer who, as Noble 
 says, " when little more than eighteen years old raised one 
 thousand men in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely, with 
 which he distinguished himself in the most important sieges 
 during the Civil War, and in other battles. Cromwell, who 
 well knew the strength of every one's abilities, employed him 
 much." He became one of the Protector's Privy Council, 
 afterwards, as an Admiral, went over with the fleet and 
 brought Charles II back to England at the Restoration, and 
 was created Earl of Sandwich. 
 
 Of the Desboroughs of Eltisley, Cambridgeshire, John, the 
 famous Major-General, was first brought up to the law, then 
 cultivated his farm at Eltisley, and in 1636 married Cromwell's 
 sister Jane. As one of the captains of the Fenmen under 
 Cromwell, and as Colonel and Major-General, he distinguished 
 himself on many occasions, notably • at the storming of 
 Bristol. He fought at the battle of Worcester, and in his 
 romantic flight Charles II encountered Desborough, near 
 Salisbury, and narrowly escaped recognition.^ Desborough 
 afterwards became one of Cromwell's Major- Generals, and 
 was in charge of the Western Counties. He was opposed to 
 the idea of his brother-in-law Cromwell taking the title of 
 King, and after Cromwell's death became a thorn in the 
 side of poor Richard. At the Restoration he was arrested 
 on the coast of Essex when attempting to leave England ; 
 was liberated, and again arrested on suspicion of a plot to kill 
 Charles II ; was again liberated, and escaped to Holland ; and 
 
 ^ The Earl married five times, the last time to Lady Sussex, of Gorhambury, 
 near St. Albans, whose letters have been quoted, and whose taking four husbands 
 — a baronet and three earls — gained for her the name of " Old men's wife." — 
 See Verney Papers. 
 
 ' " The ways were full of soldiers Thereupon he [the King] 
 
 resorted to his old security of taking a woman behind him, a kinswoman of 
 Colonel Windham, whom he carried in that manner to a place not far from 
 Salisbury. In his journey he passed through a regiment of horse, and presently 
 after met Desborough walking down a hill, with three or four men with him, 
 who had lodged in Salisbury the night before." — Clarendon's "History of the 
 KebelUon." 
 
352 East Anglia and the 
 
 in July, 1660, obeyed a proclamation requiring him to return 
 to England, and was committed a prisoner to the Tower. He 
 remained there until 1667. After this he lived in retirement 
 until his death at Hackney in 1680. At the time of his death 
 he still possessed the family manor at Eltisley.^ 
 
 But the heroism of the Puritan Revolution was not all on the 
 side of those who threw themselves into the bitter struggle which 
 divided the nation into hostile halves. In the great Protestation 
 of Puritan England there was an offshoot which was taking 
 root beyond the seas under conditions scarcely less heroic, 
 and yet full of promise of almost boundless possibilities for 
 the future. Some of the best traits of Puritan England are 
 those which connect families from East Anglia with their 
 friends who had gone out to New England settlements. 
 John Winthrop, a Suffolk man, had gone out to become 
 the first Governor of Massachusetts, and Samuel Stone, 
 a Hertford man, to give a name to Hartford, the capital of 
 Connecticut. But more intimately connected with Cromwell 
 than these were the two young men already referred to — 
 — William Leete and Samuel Desborough — who went out 
 from England just before the Civil War began. 
 
 The departure of William Leete is an illustration of how 
 great events from little causes spring. From his legal 
 training in the Bishop's Court at Cambridge, the conviction 
 he formed there that the Puritans were being oppressed, and 
 his throwing in his lot with them, there arose the possibility 
 of a great career ; and from the interesting fact that he had 
 just been married to Anne Payne, daughter of the minister of 
 Southoe, Hunts, and took out his young bride to share his 
 fortunes in the unknown land, there was to follow a remark- 
 able dispersion of the name of Leete all over the New 
 England States.^ On his arrival with Samuel Desborough 
 Leete drew up the deeds of the purchase from the Indians 
 
 ^ A portrait of Cromwell's sister, Mrs. Desborough, an indifferent print, and 
 a small medallion portrait of Major- General Desborough, are now in possession 
 of Mr. C. J. Desborough, of Hartford House, Huntingdon. 
 
 ^ In "The Family of William Leete, Governor of Newhaven and Connecticut 
 Colonies," by Edward L. Leete, the names of 1,074 of his descendants bearing 
 the name of Leete are entered, many of whom, says Judge Ralph D. Smith, the 
 historian of Guilford, have been distinguished in New England. 
 
Great Civil War. 353 
 
 of the land for the settlement upon which the town of 
 Guilford now stands, and his son John was the first white 
 child born in the settlement. 
 
 After Desborough's return to England, Leete rose to the 
 rank of a Colonial Statesman ; in 1676 he became Governor 
 of the State of Connecticut, and was re-elected until his death 
 in 1683 at the age of 70. He was laid to rest in the burial- 
 ground of the first church established at Hartford, the capital 
 of Connecticut, the town founded b}'' Samuel Stone, of 
 Hertford. That the citizens of Connecticut, at the modest 
 funeral of their State Governor, took leave of a great man 
 worthily, is still attested by this entry in Treasurer John 
 Talcott's Account Book, preserved in the State Library of 
 Hartford, Conn., under date April 18, 1683 : — 
 
 "To II pound of powder for the Great Guns at Gou*" leet's 
 funerall." ^ 
 
 Governor Leete had kept in touch with affairs in England, 
 had obtained the advice of Cromwell at critical times in the 
 colony, and when the great reaction came at the Restoration 
 in England, and Whalley and Goffe fled to New England 
 to escape the fate of the Regicides, Leete sheltered them for 
 days in the cellar of his store and fed them from his table.^ 
 
 Samuel Desborough, brother of John Desborough, the 
 Major-General, who went out to New England with Leete 
 before the War, also gained distinction. Samuel Desborough 
 became first magistrate of Guilford, Connecticut, and filled 
 other high offices in the colony. Upon the advent of the 
 
 ^ Particulars of Leete and Desborough in New England are to be found in 
 these authorities: "History of Guilford, Connecticut," by the Hon. Ralph 
 D. Smith ; Dr. Trumbull's '* History of Connecticut " ; "The 250th Anniversary 
 of the Settlement of Guilford, Conn. "; "The Family of William Leete," by 
 Edward L. Leete, of Guilford, Conn. 
 
 ' There were Leetes left behind in England during the War — a captain in the 
 New Model Army, and Governor Leete's brother John, who became Chairman of 
 the Parliamentary Sequestration Committee for Huntingdonshire. The Irish 
 branch of the family of Leet, or Leete, traces its descent from an ancestor who 
 went over to Ireland with Cromwell. The handsome genealogical record of 
 the descendants of Governor Leete, whose names now permeate the New 
 England States, had a worthy precursor in a record of the Leete family in 
 England, chiefly in Hunts and Cambs, from the thirteenth century to the 
 present time. This is compiled by a descendant of the Eversden branch, 
 Mr. Joseph Leete, of South Norwood Park, Surrey. He is a Knight of the 
 Legion of Honour, and a successful merchant in the City of London. 
 
 23 
 
354 East Anglia and the 
 
 Commonwealth he returned to England, became Member 
 of Parliament for Edinburgh, and Keeper of the Great Seal 
 for Scotland. At the Restoration he accepted the King's 
 declaration of pardon, came back to his old home in 
 Cambridgeshire, and bought the manor of Elsworth, in the 
 parish church of which place there is a monument erected 
 to his memory. 
 
 The interesting association of the two Puritans, Henry- 
 Lawrence and Oliver Cromwell, the quondam landlord and 
 tenant at St. Ives, was renewed under very different but not 
 less interesting circumstances at a later date. Lawrence 
 went abroad during the War, sat for Westmoreland in 1646, 
 and is said to have disapproved of the proceedings against 
 the King ; but, if so, he was reconciled during the Common- 
 wealth, when he became Lord President of the Council of 
 State under the Protector Cromwell, and at the latter's death 
 had to perform the office of declaring Richard Cromwell 
 as the Protector's successor. It was of Lawrence's son 
 Henry that Milton wrote his twentieth Sonnet — 
 
 Lawrence, of virtuous father virtuous son. 
 
 Stephen Marshall, born at Godmanchester, a few years 
 before Oliver Cromwell saw the light at Huntingdon, became 
 as famous with the tongue in the pulpit as Cromwell was 
 with the sword in the field. The son of a poor glover, it is 
 said that as a boy he went gleaning over the Cromwells' 
 fields. If so his father's fortunes improved, for his son graduated 
 at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, became Vicar of Finching- 
 field, Essex, and famous as a Puritan preacher. In 1640 he 
 preached the first of a long series of sermons before the 
 House of Commons, in St. Margaret's, Westminster, with 
 a * fervid eloquence which seemed to spurn control.' A famous 
 member of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, he was 
 appointed to wait upon Archbishop Laud in the interval 
 between sentence and execution. He preached before the 
 Commissioners at the Uxbridge treaty-making ; and was 
 with the King at Holmby, though it is said the King never 
 attended his sermons and said grace himself, and commenced 
 dinner while Marshall was * at inordinate length ' invoking 
 
Great Civil Wat, 355 
 
 a blessing. He died in London in 1655, was buried in 
 Westminster Abbey, and his remains were taken up on 
 September 14, 1661, by a royal warrant and cast into 
 a pit at the back door of the Prebendary's lodgings in 
 St. Margaret's churchyard. Of his fame as a preacher, 
 a writer has said that " he was listened to because no man 
 could rival his power of translating the dominant sentiment 
 of his party into the language of irresistible appeal." ^ He 
 was, says Fuller, " their trumpet by whom they sounded their 
 solemn fasts, preaching more public sermons on that occasion 
 than any four of his function." 
 
 Another of the Puritan band in Huntingdonshire who 
 surrounded Cromwell was Philip Nye, minister of Kimbolton, 
 who married a daughter of Stephen Marshall. He and 
 Marshall went to Scotland and brought back the Solemn 
 League and Covenant. At first, like his patron, the Earl 
 of Manchester, Nye was a Presbyterian, but later went ov^r 
 to the Independents, and with Marshall was sent to the 
 King at Carisbrooke Castle. Both these men, connected 
 with neighbouring parishes in Hunts, were members of the 
 Westminster Assembly of Divines. 
 
 It is an interesting fact that the present Lord-Lieutenant 
 of Cambridgeshire, Alexander Peckover, Esq., of Wisbech, 
 with others of that name, is a direct descendant of Edmund 
 Peckover, of Fakenham, a trooper in Colonel Fleetwood's 
 regiment, and now possesses among other relics the original 
 discharge of his ancestor from P'leetwood's regiment. The 
 document, in its seventeenth - century spelling, reads as 
 follows : — 
 
 "Thes are to sertyfey home it may concern that Edmund 
 Peckover, Gentillmane, served as a Solger in the troupe of 
 Will. Collman, major: after him Joseph Blisitt capting had 
 and hath still the Comand of the same troupe under the 
 Comand of the Right honorabull Leftennante General Charles 
 Fletewod whom is Colonell in the service of the Comonwellth, 
 both in England and Scotland, from the yeare of our Lord 
 
 ^ ** Dictionary of National Biography." 
 
356 East Anglia and the 
 
 on thousand six hundred forty six untill the yeare on thousand 
 six hundred fiftey and five: during which time he behaved 
 him selfvef faithful! ley and honesley, as becom a Solger, 
 in witnes whareof we have here Uonto set our hands and 
 Seels this Sixen of Aguste, 1655. 
 
 Joseph Blissett 
 Hugh Parrye " 
 
 After his discharge, Edmund Peck over settled at Fakenham, 
 became attached to the Society of Friends, and frequently 
 suffered with them for his religious principles. The Peckovers 
 came from Fakenham to Wisbech about 120 years ago, 
 and the house at Fakenham purchased by Edmund Peckover, 
 the trooper, after his discharge, is now owned by Alexander 
 Peckover, Esq., the Lord-Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire.^ 
 
 Other East Anglians, who figured on the stage in the 
 drama of the Civil War, might be mentioned did space 
 permit, but in the foregoing typical examples there is enough 
 to show that the heroic spirit was not lacking on either side ; 
 that among the Royalists there was a fine, chivalrous devotion 
 to the King, and among the Puritans a strength of conviction 
 and a stimulus to high endeavour of which Cromwell and 
 his Ironsides were the natural product. Still, it is not 
 always remembered as it should be that, while, practically, 
 all Puritans were Parliamentarians, all the Parliamentary 
 soldiers were not Puritans in the religious sense of the word. 
 What did distinguish the Parliamentary Army in this 
 direction was the presence of a decided leaven of religious 
 conviction among the officers, and to some extent among 
 the soldiers, and the pre-eminence of this class of men in 
 certain regiments such as Cromwell's. In times of urgency 
 the rank and file of that Army had, of necessity, to be made 
 up of those who were but average men of their day and 
 generation, with human feelings and human failings. That 
 there was, however, a distinct leaven among the rank and file 
 which restrained them even where their memory has been 
 
 * Letter from the Lord -Lieutenant to the writer. Edmund Peckover' s trade 
 token bears on the obverse his name and the Merchant Tailors' Arms, and ' * In 
 Facnham, grocr, 1667 " on the reverse.— Bovne's " Tokens." 
 
Great Civil War, 357 
 
 most slandered, there is the testimony of those who saw 
 them when in contact with the refinements of Cambridge 
 University life. When assembled in the Chapel of Trinity 
 College, the College authorities were so impressed with the 
 devout behaviour of some of the soldiers that a gratuity 
 was bestowed upon them from the funds of the College ; and 
 on another occasion a similar acknowledgment was made 
 whisn some of the soldiers defended the Chapel from others 
 of their number who would have laid violent hands upon it.^ 
 
 If the officers were not always able to find the godly men 
 with a conscience in their work, who were so dear to Cromwell's 
 heart, it was clearly the aim of some of them to do this, as 
 appears by Sir Samuel Luke's letters. The bluff old Knight 
 was himself in sympathy with Cromwell's method of looking 
 after the godly men for his soldiers, as the following little 
 certificate still bears witness : — 
 
 " By reason of ye disaffection of Robert Nicholls, of Potton, 
 to this service, and his perverseness to all religious exercises, 
 these are to certifye all whom it may concerne that I have 
 released him from being a soldier in the garrison of Newport, 
 March 15. 1644 [5].— S. L."2 
 
 The testimony of others concerning Cromwell's methods 
 and discipline was unanimous. " He had a brave regiment 
 of horse of his countrymen, most of them freeholders and 
 freeholders' sons, who would as one man stand firmly and 
 
 fight desperately At a general muster in 1644 
 
 no men appeared so full and well-armed, and civil, as Colonel 
 Cromwell's horse." ^ 
 
 " Cromwell used them daily to look after, feed and dress 
 their horses, and when it was necessary to lie together on 
 the ground, and besides taught them to clean and keep their 
 arms bright, and have them ready for service, to choose the 
 best armour and to arm themselves to the best advantage. 
 Trained up in this kind of military exercise, they excelled all 
 
 * " To divers souldiers at severall times that behaved themselves very devoutly 
 in ye chapell, 5j. To some of Major Scot's souldiers who defended ye chapell 
 from ye rudeness of ye rest, 5i-." — Bursar's Accounts, * Extraordinaries,' Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, 1644. 
 
 ■■* Luke's Letter-book, Egerton MSS., 787, f. 94, Brit. Mus. Lib. 
 
 =* Whitelock, pp. 72, 131. 
 
;^8 Ea-st Anglia and the 
 
 their fellow soldiers in feats of war, and obtained more victories 
 over the enemy. These were afterwards preferred to be 
 commanders and officers in the army, and their places filled 
 up with lusty strong fellows, whom he brought up in the 
 same strictness of discipline." ^ 
 
 " The officers of the army are such as knew little more of 
 war than our own unhappy wars had taught them. Except 
 some few. They were better christians than soldiers, and 
 wiser in faith than fighting, and could believe a victory sooner 
 than contrive it. And yet I think they were as wise in the 
 way of soldiery as the little time and experience they had 
 to make them. These officers with their soldiers were much 
 in prayer and Scriptures, an exercise that soldiers till of late 
 have used but little ; and thus they went on and prospered. 
 Men conquer better as saints than as soldiers, and in the 
 countries where they came, they left something of God as 
 well as of Caesar behind them, something of piety as well 
 as pay." 2 
 
 But nothing can give so clear a conception of Cromwell's 
 rise to power and of the evolution of the Ironsides, as 
 Cromwell's own account of himself and the men who fought 
 under him : — " I was a person that from my first employment 
 was suddenly preferred and lifted up from lesser trusts to 
 greater. From my first being captain of a troop of horse 
 I did labour (as well as I could) to discharge my trust, and 
 God blessed me as it pleased Him. I had a very worthy 
 friend then, and he was a very noble person, and I know his 
 memory is very grateful to you all. Mr. John Hampden 
 [was the person]. At my first going out into this engage- 
 ment, I saw our men were beaten on every hand. I did 
 indeed, and desired him that he would make some additions 
 
 to my Lord Essex's army of some new regiments 
 
 * Your troops,' said I, * are most of them old decayed serving 
 men and tapsters, and such kind of fellows. And their 
 troops are gentlemen's sons, younger sons, and persons of 
 quality. And do you think that the spirit of such base and 
 mean fellows will ever be able to encounter gentlemen that 
 
 ' Bates, p. 239. 
 
 2 Sprigge's *' Anglia Rediviva," p. 323. 
 
Great Civil War. 359 
 
 have honour and courage and resolution in them ! You 
 must get men of a spirit, and (take it not ill what I say) of 
 a spirit that is likely to go on as far as gentlemen will go ; 
 or else I am sure you will be beaten still.' I told him so. 
 He was a wise and worthy person, and he did think that 
 I talked a good notion, but an impracticable one. I told 
 him I could do somewhat in it. And I raised such men as 
 had the fear of God before them, and made some conscience 
 of what they did. And from that day forward they were 
 never beaten ; but wherever they were engaged against the 
 enemy they beat continually." ^ 
 
 One of the most interesting things, perhaps, in all our 
 military history was this evolution of the famous Ironsides, 
 chiefly from those plain, tawny-coated yeomen of the Fens, 
 who, without any idea of ever becoming soldiers, sent up to 
 King and Parliament their contribution to that thundering 
 " No " against Ship-money and things ecclesiastical when the 
 struggle began. Without any previous acquaintance with 
 the arts of war, such as the Royalist sons of knights and 
 gentry who followed the King may have acquired, these 
 brown-coated husbandmen left their ploughs, their makings, 
 their grazing-lands and dykes ; and, armed with no panoply, 
 but the musket, sword, and pistol, with Cromwell's Soldiers' 
 Bible in their pockets, and enough practical common-sense 
 to see that success in war, as in peace, meant discipline and 
 preparation, they wielded so stoutly the " Sword of the Lord 
 and of Gideon," that their brown coats, and strong, sinewy 
 arms were ere long, seen by all England emerging from the 
 mists and shadows of their native Fenland, which they had 
 wrested from the Earl of Newcastle's invading army as they 
 had before wrested it from the inroads of the sea. Standing 
 there on the borders of the great marshland which they had 
 swept with a stiffer " broom " than that with which they 
 had been threatened, they, not without some murmuring here 
 and there, exchanged their tawny coats for the red coats 
 of war ; and, with an outward bearing in harmony with the 
 militant spirit within them, marched under the leadership 
 
 * Speech on the offer of title of King to CromwelL 
 
360 East Anglia and the 
 
 of a born commander into the broader issues of the strife at 
 Marston Moor and Naseby. Inured to the hardships and 
 discipline of war on many a hard-fought field, and finding 
 the power of the Army the only real power in the nation, they 
 took into their hands the notion of governing as well as 
 fighting, with all the defects which must follow where an 
 executive instrument sets about determining questions of 
 policy, aggravated by the application of military sternness 
 to civil life. 
 
 All fanciful accounts, such as have sometimes been placed 
 on record, of any actual enrolment of the famous Ironsides, 
 or the assignment of any particular period of time at which 
 such a force became a recognized part of the Parliamentary 
 Army, may be dismissed as inadequate and misleading. 
 The Ironsides, as we apply the term now, were neither 
 a definite territorial regiment, nor a distinct regiment at all 
 perhaps in the ordinary sense of the term. It would be 
 sufficiently near the mark to say that they were that part 
 of the Parliamentary Army which came under the immediate 
 personal influence of Cromwell and his methods of selection 
 and discipline of the men who were to serve under him. It 
 would, therefore, be almost the literal truth to say that the 
 modest Slepe Hall troop in their tawny coats who left their 
 grazing-lands on the banks of the Ouse, about St. Ives, and 
 rallied around their neighbour Mr. Cromwell at the very 
 beginning of the struggle, was the actual nucleus of the 
 famous Ironsides, and that the force grew with the widening 
 influence of Cromwell's methods of recruiting and discipline. 
 
 The Puritan freeholders and farmers whom Cromwell 
 selected from the Eastern Counties were to be found chiefly 
 in the cavalry ; the Civil War was largely a war of cavalry, 
 and the Puritan horsemen were led by one of the greatest 
 cavalry officers whom England, if not the world, has ever seen. 
 Thus, forces were working both for the evolution of Cromwell's 
 military genius, and for the triumph of his Ironsides in 
 a field where the impelling force of religious enthusiasm 
 covered the ground of the quarrel much more effectually 
 than the solitary motive of a chivalrous devotion to the 
 King's person which animated the Cavaliers. The evolution 
 
Great Civil War, 361 
 
 of the famous Ironsides, from a small and unpromising 
 beginning, thus became a monument to the effect upon 
 a receptive people of the commanding force of personal 
 character, and the inspiration of a great principle. It was 
 a clear case of the survival of the fittest, the fittest to carry to 
 its logical issue that famous protest, with which all England 
 had set their faces against the abuses of the royal prerogative. 
 If Cromwell persisted in keeping the Army supreme, when 
 his neighbour of Kimbolton would have given up the game, 
 and continued to fight when many moderate men felt that 
 the sword should have been in its scabbard, it was because 
 from the first he had a clearer insight of the Stuart policy, 
 and, like Martin Luther, kept his stand with that solid 
 background of irresistible conviction as to the thing which 
 in England should not be. It was the strength of the 
 Ironsides that, unable to recognize the subtle distinction 
 between those who fought merely for the Kingship, and 
 those who would re-establish the policy which had been so 
 emphatically declared to be intolerable to the English people, 
 they swept away with such irresistible force this " right divine 
 of kings to govern wrong." It was their weakness that, 
 having swept that away, they attempted a task for which 
 they were unfitted, of governing the country themselves; 
 an attempt which, but for the practical statesman's instinct 
 of Cromwell, must have led to hopeless confusion. But the 
 Ironsides under Cromwell will always be judged as soldiers, 
 or rather as men who in a great crisis first taught the English 
 people to say "No"; who gave us the germ of a standing 
 army, the instinct of the professional soldier, and left behind 
 them one of the most brilliant and enduring of fighting 
 records in the annals of British warfare. 
 
 To the unknown rank and file of the Ironsides who followed 
 Cromwell with Spartan firmness and with Spartan fame, there 
 is due this final tribute. Above all their excess of zeal or 
 their lack of culture, which their best friends may have had 
 reason to condemn and their enemies to despise, they were 
 men of whom England has still reason to be proud. Of them 
 it may be said that where they trod, there sprang up a harvest 
 of liberty for other men to gather in happier times, when the 
 
362 East Anglia and the Great Civil War. 
 
 bigotry and the bitterness of the strife had passed away» 
 With almost unexampled valour these homely Fenmen cut, 
 with sword instead of pen, in letters of imperishable clearness 
 the maxim that he ever fights best whose cause is for the 
 right. In their unknown graves we may leave them. Their 
 bones lie scattered, but their place in history is assured. 
 With the valiant men who have dared to risk all for what 
 they believed to be right ; and with soldiers in the foremost 
 rank of the great phalanx enrolled with the iron pen — from 
 Marathon and all succeeding deeds of valour— having earned 
 the laurel wreath, they now rest beneath the epitaph of all 
 brave men — 
 
 On Fame's eternal camping-ground 
 Their silent tents are spread, 
 And Glory guards, with solemn round, 
 The bivouac of the dead. 
 
APPENDICES. 
 I. 
 
 SOCIAL AND PUBLIC LIFE DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 THAT the effect of the Civil War in the domain 
 of social and domestic life was an ever-present 
 terror to many, may very well be imagined. That 
 the omens of coming woe pressed upon the popular 
 mind even more than the actual realization, can also be 
 understood when it is remembered how the popular 
 imagination was stirred on the one hand by the familiar 
 repetitions of Scripture prophecies and the fear of Roman 
 Catholic persecutions, and on the other how the popular 
 mind was, at the same time, bound by superstitions. The 
 belief in witchcraft, for instance, was so general that while 
 the Ironsides were marching to the triumph of the faithful 
 at Naseby, and Essex was bringing up its reserves, the 
 Essex magistrates — the Parliamentary Earl of Warwick 
 and the rest of them — were trying for witchcraft eighteen 
 women — * poore, mellencholic, envious, mischevous, ill- 
 disposed, ill-dieted, atrabilus constitutions ' — who were 
 condemned and sentenced to be hung at the Chelmsford 
 Midsummer Quarter Sessions of 1645.^ The Huntingdonshire 
 magistrates were condemning others to death in 1646, and 
 next year the magistrates at Ely were engaged in similar 
 trials.^ 
 
 * Wilson's Narrative in Peck's " Desiderata Curiosa." 
 
 * See Ely Episcopal Records by Gibbon. 
 
364 East Anglia and the 
 
 The terror of pestilence also stalked abroad, as at Cambridge, 
 where in 1646 and 1647 tents were erected on Jesus College 
 Green and on the Commons for receiving patients, to which 
 reference may be found in Bancroft's letters (Carey Memorials) 
 and in Cooper's " Annals of Cambridge." Strange signs 
 were seen, or related as being seen, in the heavens above, 
 which the reader may attribute partly to an excited imagination. 
 The narratives of these are, however, so precise, that an 
 example may be given, in the " Strange signes from Heaven 
 seen and heard in the ayre " in Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, and 
 other counties — 
 
 " Near Newmarket there were seen by divers honest, sober, 
 and civil persons, and men of good credit, three men in the 
 ayre, striving, struggling, and tugging together, one of them 
 having a drawn sword in his hand Betwixt New- 
 market and Thetford a pillar of cloud ascended from the 
 earth with a bright hilt of a sword towards the bottom of it ; 
 and there descended also out of the sky the form of a pike or 
 
 lance, with a very sharp point to encounter with 
 
 At Brandon, Norfolk, the inhabitants were forced to go out of 
 their houses to behold so strange a spectacle of a spire and 
 steeple ascending up from the earth, and a pike or lance 
 
 descending downward from Heaven At the same 
 
 place also were seen semblances of a fleet or navy of ships 
 in the ayre, swiftly passing under sail, with flags and 
 streamers, as if they were ready to give encounter." At 
 Comberton, near Cambridge, where the Trained Bands had 
 mustered, "the form of a spire or steeple with swords 
 set round about it" appeared in the sky. In Marshland, 
 Norfolk, within three miles of King's Lynn, " a captain and 
 lieutenant with divers other persons of credit" heard "in 
 the time of thunder the sound of a whole regiment of drums 
 beating and calling, with perfect notes and stops much 
 admired at of all that heard it ; and the like military sound 
 was heard in Suff"olk upon the same day" and in several 
 parts of the Eastern Counties. 
 
 It is further added that ''in all these places there was 
 very great thunder with rain and hailstones of extraordinary 
 bigness " ; and the narrative concludes with these w^ords : 
 
Great Civil War. 365 
 
 " The Lord grant that all the people of this kingdom may 
 take heed of every warning trumpet of His." ^ 
 
 Behind the confusion and the strife, the sound of drums 
 and trumpets, and the marching and counter-marching of 
 men in arms, there was ever present in the social life of the 
 people that unfailing stimulus — in sermons, fastings, thanks- 
 givings, protestations, and the like — by which Parliament 
 kept up the zeal of adherents to its cause. In the early 
 months of 1644 there was pressed upon the belated parishes 
 which had not already complied with it, the Solemn League 
 and Covenant, the taking of which was one of the conditions 
 of the marching of the Scots over the borders towards the 
 issues of Marston Moor. It had been taken by Members of 
 Parliament in the previous Autumn, and was to be taken 
 by everyone in office, down to the parish constable, and to be 
 tendered by the minister to the inhabitants generally of every 
 parish at church on the Sunday. In some cases the clergy- 
 man flatly refused, and had to answer for his conduct to 
 Parliament ; in others it was delayed ; but gradually it was 
 taken in most of the parishes in the Associated Counties ; 
 and interesting glimpses of it survive here and there, of which 
 the following is the clearest : — 
 
 In the parish church of Swineshead, Huntingdonshire, 
 on a Sunday in June, 1644, just before the battle of Marston 
 Moor, the minister, Mr. Whitehand, at the close of the 
 morning sermon, unrolled his copy of the Solemn League 
 and Covenant. As he commenced to read the solemn vow, 
 ' that we shall sincerely, really, and constantly, through the 
 grace of God, endeavour, in our several places and calling, 
 the preservation of the Reformed Religion,' etc., every man 
 in the church above sixteen years of age, in obedience to 
 previous directions, took off his hat, and so remained 
 uncovered while the solemn vow was read. At the con- 
 clusion of the reading fifty-one men in the congregation 
 stood up, held up their right hand,^ and then walked into the 
 
 ^ " Signes from Heaven," etc., King's Pamphlets, Brit. Mus. Lib., E. 340 (3). 
 
 2 The instructions for taking the Covenant provided that the minister was ' to 
 read the whole Covenant distinctly and audibly in the pulpit ; and during the 
 time of reading thereof the whole congregation to be uncovered, and at the end 
 of reading thereof all to take it standing, lifting up their right hands bare ; and 
 
366 East Anglia and the 
 
 chancel, while the womenfolk looked on, and there, following 
 the example of their minister, the parish constable, and the 
 churchwardens, subscribed their names or made their marks, 
 as the list at the end of the old document still testifies. 
 "Tho. Whitehand, min." and "William Pentlow, const." 
 lead off, and the rest of the fifty-one in columns after them. 
 
 The old rector of Swineshead lived to see many changes. 
 After the Restoration he renounced the Covenant he had 
 signed, but still there was the unfortunate document itself 
 in his own possession a witness against him. So the old man, 
 with one eye on the political weather-vane and one on the 
 future, took up the old document once more, and mounting 
 a table or chair, made a hole in the ceiling of his room, 
 coiled up the document, thrust it through the hole, dabbed 
 it over with moist clay, and descended to his daily round 
 of duty. Six years later, in 1666, Mr. Whitehand was 
 gathered to his fathers and buried in the little churchyard ; 
 but that secret contribution to the history of Swineshead by 
 the fifty-one Covenanters, still rested on the rafters, while 
 many succeeding rectors paced the room below through 
 all the changeful times. 
 
 In 1846 the late Rector of Swineshead, the Rev. W. Airy, 
 brother of the Astronomer Royal of that name, found it 
 necessary to take off the dilapidated roof of the rectory house. 
 On exposing the rafters to view there lay the rolled-up docu- 
 ment which Mr. Whitehand had concealed, now mouldering 
 and crumbling away from the effects of rain penccrating 
 the roof, at the end of it which projected beyond the rafter, 
 but in other parts clear as when it received the names of 
 fifty-one of Swineshead who with uplifted hand encouraged 
 each other and their neighbours for the fight two hundred 
 years before. The ruined part of the old document, extending 
 when unrolled all down one side, was carefully restored and 
 the missing words added, and it was then neatly framed in 
 wood from the rafter upon which it had rested so long. In 
 
 then afterwards to subscribe it severally, by writing their names or marks, to 
 which their names are to be added, in a parchment roll or book, whereunto the 
 ^.ovenant is to be inserted, purposely provided for that end, and kept as a record 
 m the parish.' r ^ r ^ v 
 
Great Civil War, 367 
 
 this handy form it was presented to the Library of Trinity 
 College, Cambridge, where it may still be seen by the visitor, 
 near by the relics of Sir Isaac Newton, Byron, and the famous 
 Scottish Covenant signed with the Covenanters* blood. The 
 Swineshead document is prefaced with this introduction : 
 " The solemn vow and covenant taken by us, minister, 
 constable, churchwarden, and inhabitants of Swineshead, 
 in the county of Huntingdon and hundred of Layghtonston, 
 June, 1644." The signatures, names and marks, are all 
 left intact, and fourteen Thomases, nine Johns, and seven 
 Williams attest the popularity of those Christian names. 
 
 The writers of the University's Complaint mention that 
 some of the scholars at Cambridge were thrown into prison 
 * for not being old enough to take the Covenant.' They also 
 made bitter complaint of the soldiers breaking into their 
 Colleges, of their libraries and treasuries being 'ransackt and 
 rifled,' and that pictures from the Colleges — *were they but 
 paper prints from the Twelve Apostles' — were carried to 
 the market-place on market-day, and there burned as the 
 ' Popish idols of the University ' ; a proceeding which made 
 the scholars 'hated by the common people.' Besides the 
 conversion of the Old Court of St. John's College into 
 a prison ' for His Majesty's loyal subjects,' there is this 
 reference to the other Colleges : — " Their malice has since 
 extended itself to all the rest in quartering their soldiers in 
 those glorious and ancient structures .... nor was 
 it one whit strange to find whole bands of soldiers training 
 and exercising in the Royal Chapel of King Henry the Sixth 
 [King's College Chapel]. Nay, even the commanders them- 
 selves, being commanded to show their new Major-General 
 how well they understood their trade, choose that place to 
 train in." In conclusion, the writers of the " Querela," to 
 whom the great cause for which Parliament and the people 
 had taken up arms had little meaning outside those personal 
 experiences which came to them chiefly through the fortunes 
 of war, reach a fitting climax of pathos set in a classical 
 form befitting its origin — 
 
 " If posterity shall ask who thrust out one of the eyes of 
 the kingdom, who made eloquence dumb, philosophy sottish, 
 
368 East Anglia and the 
 
 widdowed the arts, and drove the muses from their ancient 
 habitations .... they are quickly answered — those 
 who have transformed this kingdom into a large gaol to 
 keep the liberty of the subject, they who maintained 100,000 
 murderers by sea and land to protect our lives and the 
 propriety of our goods, that have gone a-king-catching these 
 three years, hunting their most gracious Sovereign like 
 a partridge on the mountains in his own defence." ^ 
 
 Some of the rough use of College buildings here complained 
 of was involved in the larger question whether the War itself 
 was justifiable. If it were, then, with Cambridge full of 
 soldiers from all parts of East Anglia, the occupation of 
 College Halls was for the time being a military necessity. 
 The stripping them of their ornament was a part of the 
 reforming zeal of the Commission sitting at the " Bear" ; and 
 against any excesses from that quarter, lamentable as they 
 may have been, it will always be remembered that although 
 Cromwell's horses may have been stabled in the nave, the 
 magnificent series of stained glass windows of King's College 
 Chapel were spared — it is said through Cromwell's friendship 
 for the Provost. That there were those among the Puritan 
 soldiers who would defend the Colleges from violence, we have 
 seen from the records of the Colleges themselves ; and that 
 those in authority were not altogether the foes of learning 
 and philosophy that the " Querela " has represented, posterity 
 will, in fairness to both sides, acknowledge from the following 
 resolution of Parliament, passed on March 24, 1648, just on 
 the eve of the Second Civil War, when it had no cause to 
 befriend the Cambridge scholars : — " Resolved, &c. that the 
 sum of Two Thousand Pounds be forthwith advanced and 
 bestowed upon the University of Cambridge, to be employed 
 towards the building and finishing of the Public Library there, 
 and that this Two thousand Pounds do issue and be paid 
 out of the estates and lands of the Dean and Chapters, and 
 that it be referred to the Committee for the University of 
 Cambridge to consider and take care that this Two thousand 
 Pounds be forthwith raised and issued accordingly." ^ 
 
 ^ "Querela Cantabrigiensis." - Commons' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War, 369 
 
 It was also ordered that the sum of ;^500 be paid out 
 of the receipts of Goldsmiths' Hall " for the purchase of 
 Mr. Thomason, a Library or Collection of Books in the 
 Eastern languages, of very great value, and that the said 
 books be bestowed upon the Public Library in the University 
 of Cambridge." ^ 
 
 Surprising as it may seem, peaceful operations in the 
 midst of war were possible during most of the time. The 
 Judges on circuit did, upon one or two occasions, suspend 
 the business of Assizes ; yet preachers of endowment sermons 
 in connection with St. John's College, Cambridge, appear 
 to have travelled to Hatfield and Stamford to discharge the 
 trust ; and their charges, and the keeping and sweeping of 
 the Library of that College, are regularly accounted for in the 
 Bursar's Accounts. But the most remarkable instance of 
 attending to local needs during war— -even to the outward 
 shell of religious systems which Puritanism was condemned 
 for neglecting — was perhaps that afforded by the parish of 
 Barholm, a small village situate about four miles from 
 Stamford in Lincolnshire. Here the western tower added to 
 the parish church bears the date " 1648," and a stone below 
 the date bears this inscription, which makes further comment 
 unnecessary : — 
 
 WAS . EVER . SVCH . A THING 
 SINC . THE . CREATION 
 A . NEW . STEEPLE . BVILT . IN 
 THE . TIME . OF . VEXATION. 
 
 Another church in the same part of Lincolnshire which 
 preserves a reference to the Civil War is that of Moulton 
 St. James, near Spalding, which, rebuilt in 1722, bears 
 an inscription attributing its former ruinous condition to 
 the Civil War. " Fanaticorum sacrilego furore Civili Bello," 
 says the inscription ; but it is not always safe to accept 
 an eighteenth-century view of motive in the Civil War. 
 It is interesting, however, to note that Moulton St. James 
 was in the thick of the fighting in South Lincolnshire ; and 
 in the crowding of prisoners into churches and the fortification 
 
 ' Commons* Journals. 
 
 24 
 
370 East Anglia and the 
 
 of such buildings which often took place, it probably suffered 
 enough to account for the tradition and the inscription. 
 
 In the belt of Fenland, lying between Stamford, Crowland, 
 and Spalding, where the advance-guards of the Ironsides 
 so frequently met those of the Whitecoats of Newcastle, 
 the severity of the struggle left traces to which my attention 
 has been called by a correspondent.^ ' Here in every village 
 are one or more good houses (now sometimes getting more 
 or less dilapidated) that were built, or almost rebuilt, between 
 1660 and 1700. Many of them are dated.' My correspondent 
 adds : — " I think this shows that when the times became 
 settled people began to repair the ruins caused by the fights." 
 But, alas ! he might have added, they were not always the 
 same people who had formerly owned them. Forces 
 economic as well as military were at work in these rebuildings. 
 That these houses were fortified there is no doubt ; that many 
 of them must have been injured by military assault and 
 battery seems equally certain ; but it is much less certain 
 that their owners had the means of rebuilding them when 
 peace returned. In too many cases the hard necessities and 
 sacrifices of the War had brought them to» the end of their 
 fortunes, and so a great many estates changed hands ; and 
 the large amount of post-Restoration rebuilding is, in too 
 many cases, to be put down to the passing of country estates 
 into the hands of wealthy City men who had helped to 
 make their fortunes in provisioning the armies for the 
 necessities of the War. 
 
 Letters of the time show how much family estates, the 
 collection of rents, etc., had to be left to others, and how 
 difificult it was in those times to get accounts rendered of 
 the stewardship, owing to the way in which such claims were 
 prejudiced by the urgent demands of the War.^ 
 
 Robert Burton, bailiff for Sir Thomas Barrington for estates 
 in Lincolnshire, writes to Sir Thomas : — " By reason of the 
 
 The Rev. W. D. Sweeting, vicar of Maxey, near Market Deeping, and the 
 Editor of "Fenland Notes and Queries." For Royalists about Deeping, see 
 Reports for Advance of Money, part ii, 1,173. 
 
 ' See Letters of the Cromwell Family in the Ramsey Papers, vol. xix, 
 Add. MSS. 33,463, Brit. Mus. Lib. / f ' 
 
Great Civil War, 371 
 
 Earl of Newcastle's forces coming together all men's estates 
 are weakened and decayed, that I fear few men will be able 
 to pay any rents ; for all our horses, beasts, and sheep are 
 driven away, and most of our houses plundered ; our corn 
 lost in the fields, our hay devoured — 2,000 load lost in one 
 lordship — some of it devoured by the great number of their 
 troop horses, and other horses and oxen which they brought 
 with them to bring their guns and other provisions along 
 with them ; another great part cast into the ditches for 
 making their highways, and another great part of it used 
 about their works, tents, and huts." He adds that they carried 
 off the plate from one of the churches, " carrying themselves 
 more like Turks and Pagans than like Christians." ^ 
 
 The recovery of debts justly due was attended with 
 difficulty and risk. Sir Arthur Jenney, a Suffolk man, 
 arrested one George Martin for debts, only to find that the 
 man had on him an old commission from the Earl of Warwick 
 which protected him, and Sir Arthur and his bailiffs were 
 thrown into prison on the score of privilege, and had some 
 trouble to get released. Widow Browne, of Bourn and 
 Spalding, adopted the same tactics for meeting the Par- 
 liamentary levies as did Sir Arthur Jenney, and Mrs. Brown 
 had much trouble in consequence, 'being spoiled of all that 
 she had by the adverse party at Bourn.' 
 
 Members of Parliament and Committeemen made personal 
 sacrifices in order that the Parliamentary finances might not 
 suffer. A member would forego his wages for attending in 
 Parliament,^ as in the case of Mr. Abraham Burrell, member 
 for Huntingdon, who in 1646 took the place of Edward 
 Montague, and the town returned him on the condition that 
 *he will serve as Burgess in Parliament without requiring 
 or demanding any manner of wages or pay.' ^ 
 
 We think of the issues of the great battles in which Cavalier 
 and Roundhead fought for King or Parliament, but forget 
 the harvest of woe which, during three years of the maddening 
 
 I Hist. MSS. Cora. Rep., 7. 
 
 ' The Records of King's Lynn showed that the members for that town were 
 paid 5j. a day each for their attendance in Parliament, and the Cambridge 
 Corporation Records contain frequent entries of such payments. 
 
 ^ Carruthers' '* History of Huntingdon," pp. 163-4. 
 
372 . East Anglia and the 
 
 strife, was reaped in the domestic and social life of England, 
 and especially by women and children, ' waiting to hear the 
 step that never comes.' The vivid picture of the fiery sword 
 in the heavens above was but a symbol of the cutting asunder 
 of family ties, when, in the words of a famous orator of 
 a later day, " the angel of death passed over the land until 
 you could almost hear the beating of his wings." The terror 
 of it was intensified by the knowledge of the fact that 
 neighbour was fighting against neighbour, and it might be 
 even father against son and brother against brother. After 
 the final triumph of the Parliamentary cause at Naseby it 
 became possible to * slight * garrisons, and to gradually cover 
 up the outward signs of the War, but there were deeper scars 
 in the social life, and a legacy of objects of pity moving 
 through the villages of England, whose footprints are still 
 visible here and there in old Churchwardens' accounts, as 
 at North Elmharn in Norfolk, Cratfield in Suffolk, and 
 other places, in which are repeated entries of gifts to * maimed 
 souldjers and their wives.' 
 
 Happily, the Civil War, with all the implacable animus 
 which called it forth, and the bitter memories which followed 
 in its train, had this distinguishing characteristic, that non- 
 combatants in the sphere of social and domestic life, and 
 especially women and children, rarely met with personal 
 violence. That many a family was rudely disturbed by the 
 quartering of soldiers in their houses, and alarmed by rumours 
 and actual experiences of plundering, is undoubted, but the 
 bitterest complaint of this rarely, if ever, suggests such a thing 
 as personal violence, and there is frequent testimony to 
 the civility of an officer charged with a disagreeable duty.^ 
 It is, therefore, a pleasure to acknowledge that, in the main, 
 the soldiers of the Civil War deserved something of the 
 eulogium passed upon both sides by Warburton in his 
 " Memoirs of the Cavaliers." 
 
 » Lady Elizabeth Wiseman, writing in September, 1643, from Canfield Hall to 
 Sir Thomas Barrington, says : — " I had last night at my house a troop of horse, 
 which added great affrightment to my late griefs [the loss of her husband], although 
 I must needs commend the civility of the captain. The demand was for the 
 twentieth part."— Barrington MSS. 
 
Great Civil War, 373 
 
 " Through all these stormy times shines steadily the heroic 
 character of English nature, nobly manifesting its grave 
 earnest power, terrible and unsparing on the battlefield, 
 self-controlled and considerate in all intervals of peace, 
 compared with the great German War generous and gentle 
 as a tournament — 
 
 " England's war revered the claim 
 Of every unprotected name. 
 And spared amidst its fiercest rage, 
 Childhood and womanhood and age." 
 
 II. 
 
 PAYING AND FEEDING THE ARMY. 
 
 When, after the first few months of the Civil War, voluntary 
 contributions became inadequate, the machinery for the 
 creation of a National Debt, carrying 8 per cent, interest, 
 collapsed, and Parliament attempted to pay its way by 
 a direct war-tax, the experience of the Eastern Counties 
 affords at once an example of the heavy financial burden 
 which was imposed, and of the enormous contributions 
 which these Eastern Counties made towards the prosecution 
 of the War for Parliament. About the beginning of 1644 
 there are frequent recitals in the old Ordinances of the fact 
 that the Associated Counties had raised I4,cxx) horse and 
 foot and dragoons, and 'intend to raise a far more con- 
 siderable force.' This flattering preamble was accompanied 
 by an order for a weekly assessment of the following 
 amounts upon the Associated Counties : — 
 
 Essex the weekly sum of £\fi^7 lo o 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 » 
 
 n 
 
 1,875 
 
 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 » 
 
 »> 
 
 1,875 
 
 
 
 Lincolnshire 
 
 »> 
 
 t> 
 
 1,218 15 
 
 
 
 Hertfordshire ... 
 
 ;i 
 
 )> 
 
 675 
 
 
 
 Cambridgeshire. .. 
 
 > 
 
 » 
 
 562 
 
 
 
 Huntingdonshire 
 
 » 
 
 i» 
 
 330 
 
 
 
 The Isle of Ely ... 
 
 J> 
 
 M 
 
 221 5 
 
 
 
374 East Anglia and the 
 
 Here, then, in this one Ordinance, to say nothing of others 
 for special purposes, such as for the Scottish Army, was 
 a demand for nearly ;^8,5oo a week, or ;^442,ooo a year, from 
 the Associated Counties. Before, however, this sum could 
 reach the Army it was subject to various deductions, and 
 some of it could never be collected at all.^ 
 
 The best example of this part of Parliamentary finance 
 for the Eastern Counties which is known to me is that 
 contained in the Duke of Manchester's Papers in the Record 
 Office, which gives one complete year's amounts collected 
 in weekly assessments from the Associated Counties, and 
 paid over to the two Treasurers for the Association. The 
 dates are in the old style, the actual year being 1644, in which 
 the Association forces under Manchester were sent to York 
 and fought at Marston Moor. The totals, it will be observed, 
 are not in all cases exact. 
 
 " An accompt of monies received by us, William Leman 
 and Gregory Gawsell, treasurers appointed and chosen by 
 the Right Hon. Edward, Earl of Manchester, Major-General 
 of the Association, and the Committee for the Association, 
 sitting at Cambridge, from the first day of January, 1643, 
 until the first of January, 1644." 
 
 From Suffolk. £ s. d. 
 
 Rec^ out of 5*^^ and 20"' part 240 o o 
 
 ReC* of sequestration money 1)632 7 6 
 
 Rec^ for fines imposed upon men 20 o o 
 
 Rec^ in full of the i^* 4 mos assessments from 
 
 Jan I 1643 30,000 o o 
 
 Rec^ in part of the 2°^ 4 mos assessments ... 27,06918 5^ 
 
 » » » 3*^^ 4 „ „ ... 9,730 14 2 
 
 68,693 o \\ 
 
 From Norfolk. £ s. d. 
 
 Rec^ out of i & T^c; part 3,630 o o 
 
 Rec^ of sequestration money 1,300 o o 
 
 Rec'* of I ^' 4 mos assessment in part 20,782 4 3I 
 
 2nd ^^ ^^ ^^ 26,379 18 n 
 
 » 3' )) )) „ 7>227 o o 
 
 59,319 2 II 
 
 ^ Threepence in the pound was allowed for collecting, of which the overseers 
 and petty constables received twopence. 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 375 
 
 From Essex. 
 
 Rec<» out of ^ & ^ part 
 
 Rec** of sequestration money 
 
 Fines imposed 
 
 Rec^ for 1=*' 4 mos assessment in part 
 
 From Cambs. 
 
 Rec"* out ofi& -h 
 
 Rec** of sequestration money 
 
 For a horse 
 
 Rec'* in part i" 4 mos assessment 
 
 » >» 2 „ „ 
 
 » »> 3 >» )i 
 
 i 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 ... 1,806 
 
 I 
 
 a 
 
 ... 3.606 
 
 6 
 
 8' 
 
 190 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 24,117 
 
 5 
 
 I 
 
 ... 23,814 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 7,130 
 
 
 
 
 
 60,664 
 
 6 
 
 10 
 
 £ 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 230 
 
 
 
 
 
 450 
 
 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 8,616 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 ... 8,502 
 
 8 
 
 4 
 
 ... 1,855 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 19,685 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 s. 
 
 d 
 
 ... 1,999 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 5,280 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 4,365 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 11,645 
 
 
 
 8 
 
 From Huntingdon. 
 Received of sequestration money 
 Rec"^ in full i^' 4 mos assessments 
 
 », part 2 
 
 » j> 3 ,j » ••• 
 
 The return from Lincolnshire is imperfect ; but these 
 figures are sufficient to show that in the form of weekly- 
 assessments alone five of the Associated Counties raised about 
 a quarter of a million sterling for the purposes of the War 
 in one year. But there is evidence that the amount of work 
 they did, in defensive operations, garrisons, meeting alarms, 
 etc., was in excess of the money raised, and in the same 
 class of documents there is a representation from the 
 Association Committee at Cambridge submitting reasons 
 why the weekly assessments were not sufficient to meet 
 the emergencies of the times, by about ;^i 2,000 for the year. 
 They further urged that " much of the money assessed 
 Cometh not to the treasury at Cambridge, partly in regard 
 it cannot be collected by reason of plunderings by the 
 enemy, depopulations and other difficulties, and partly 
 because being collected, it is charged by superior powers 
 
 and particular Committees By these means a 
 
 great debt is contracted upon the Association, and there 
 
376 East Anglia and the 
 
 must be some provision made for the discharge thereof. 
 Therefore, is not the Committee for the Association at 
 Cambridge to be blamed, if after five months soliciting for 
 relief the soldiers still cry out for want of cloathes, food, and 
 pay, and contract diseases and die upon the guards, to the 
 daily grief of all that are true hearted and well affected." 
 
 Parliament, recognizing the value of the Association Army, 
 allowed one-third part of the money raised by the sequestra- 
 tion of Royalists' estates within the Associated Counties to 
 go direct to that Army, less ;^ioo per month which was 
 at a later date allowed for the Association Committee at 
 Cambridge * for their salary and their clerk.' 
 
 Under the new model in 1645, the assessments upon the 
 Associated Counties were made a monthly charge at the 
 following rates : — 
 
 Essex 
 
 Suffolk 
 
 Norfolk 
 
 Norwich 
 
 Lincolnshire 
 
 Herts 
 
 Cambs 
 
 Hunts 
 
 In addition to this the same Counties were ordered to raise 
 for the Scots Army a total per month of ;^8,223 \os, qJ^., 
 making a levy of ;^37,ooo a month. In order to get in these 
 vast sums of money, or as much of them as was possible, 
 Parliament, with its brand New Model, depended less upon 
 the old expedient of sending down the members for the 
 Counties to whip up the contributions, and appointed 
 canvassers of its own. ^ 
 
 But though these canvassers, or Parliamentary agents, 
 were less likely to be influenced by local circumstances, it 
 
 Jvl', ^^^^^ •^^^^- ^^^""^ ^^^^^ ^ persons employed in the several Counties to 
 soiicu the bnnging m of the assessments charged upon the several counties and 
 Fofrf ^. L°''^^^"^^. ^^'^ '■'^^^^"S ^nd maintaining the Army under Sir Thomas 
 «,ff K fi ' A y"^^^"^^ Herbert was appointed at loj. per day for his own services, 
 Commons' J ^"''S ^^ ^'' ^" ^^^' '"^ ^^^ ^^^ °^ Manchester's Association- 
 
 I 
 
 s. 
 
 d. 
 
 . 6,750 
 
 
 
 
 
 7,070 
 
 
 
 
 
 7,070 
 
 366 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,070 
 
 
 
 
 
 2,432 
 2,171 
 
 10 
 6 
 
 
 8 
 
 1,020 
 
 
 
 
 
 28,949 
 
 16 
 
 8 
 
Great Civil War, 2>77 
 
 sometimes happened that the complaints of the unpaid soldiers 
 were as much due to the agent as to backwardness on the 
 part of the inhabitants of the Counties. The Parliamentary- 
 system of trying to be exact with its finances and audited 
 accounts in the field, sometimes found an agent who could 
 turn it to his own advantage. There are traces of one 
 Captain James Pinckney who served Parliament well with 
 his tongue, and himself out of the moneys entrusted to him. 
 He was employed in canvassing and getting in the proportions 
 from the Associated Counties for maintaining the garrison 
 of Newport Pagnell, under the Governor, Sir Samuel Luke. 
 Here is his own account of his riding and talking powers. 
 He had previously, in writing to Cambridge, painted the 
 condition of the soldiers in Newport Pagnell in vivid colours, 
 if the enemy should attempt to surprise this " ye bulwark 
 of the Association." 
 
 " From Captain James Pinckney, Ware, Jan. 27, i64|-. — 
 Honoured Sir. Be pleased to take notice that I have not in 
 the least procrastinated. I rode first to Cambridge with three 
 or four stout men to give ye better luster to ye business. 
 I found as much opposition as was possible from men who 
 would be thought friends to ye Parliament ; to tell you the 
 particulars would be to trouble you with tedious discourse. 
 But I, considering they were the great Levyathan with whom 
 I had then to deal, I resolved neither to be repulsed nor 
 exasperated with harsh usage, but to demean myself as to 
 gain (not give) advantage. I obtained advantage in words, 
 and by that means drew a consent and promise to further it, 
 and to prepare monies as ye week now coming ; in breife 
 of enemys I made them friends. This last week I rode to 
 Chelmsford notwithstanding the floods, where I found no 
 less ' opposition ; but here also gaining advantage in words, 
 and they sent out 24 warrants for two months tax." 
 
 The next day after Captain Pinckney's eloquent letter from 
 Ware, Sir Samuel Luke's deputy at Newport Pagnell was 
 writing to his chief: — "We are hearty and well resolved, 
 but much straightened for want of pay. Captain Pinckney 
 hath promised it again and again. I conceive y on may do well 
 to have an eye on htm^ for I much doubt him" On the same 
 
^yS East Anglia and the 
 
 day this was sent off Pinckney was at Stevenage, looking 
 after the Hertfordshire money and writing to Sir Samuel : 
 "Expect to supply you with at least ;^i,ooo next week. 
 Am now going into Isle of Ely and Norfolk issuing warrants." 
 The next day another warning goes up to Sir Samuel 
 from Newport — " I fear Captain Pinckney will deceive your 
 former good opinion of him." Just a week after this, Pinckney 
 had got as far as Royston, and writes asking that Mr. Harrison, 
 the treasurer, should "repaire to Royston with a party of 
 horse to Mr. Jo. Glover's, high constable, where he had left 
 £%QO for the service of S'" Samuel Luke." Next day, 
 February 6, Henry Oxford writes to Sir Samuel these 
 significant words : — " Looke to Pinckney ; he hath ;^2,ooo 
 at least. He is suspected to be false." 
 
 By this time Sir Samuel Luke had got back from London 
 and to his post ; and then Pinckney made his way to London,^ 
 Sir Oliver Luke being there writes : — " Having interviewed 
 Captain Pinckney, I find no reason to trust him longer. So 
 entered an action of ;^4,ooo against him in the Counties, and 
 gave an order for him to be arrested. He paid £dfiO, and 
 afterwards confessed that he had received ;^i,ooo more, which 
 he had paid to satisfy some debts of his own, but hoped to 
 make it up soon. He remains in custody." ^ 
 
 Parliament was also obliged to have a keen eye for anything 
 like "jobbery" in connection with its Army contracts. Thus 
 when the Cambridgeshire money assigned for pistols for 
 Cromwell's regiment was to be paid over to the gunsmith 
 somebody wanted a little private commission of 4^. in the 
 pound out of the transaction, but Parliament became aware 
 of it, put its foot down, so to speak, and required the parties 
 to pay the money over forthwith, to " Mr. Watson, gunsmith, 
 without his paying 4^. in the pound for the same." ^ 
 
 As to the money finding its way to the soldier, this is 
 how the vexed question of arrears of pay sometimes began : — 
 " Every captain, both of Horse and Foot, and every other 
 superior or inferior officer, or other, in the Army of the said 
 Earl of Manchester, or belonging to the said Associated 
 
 » Luke's Letter-book, Stow MSS. » Commons' Journals. 
 
Great Civil War. 379 
 
 Counties, whose pay comes to Ten Shillings a day or above, 
 shall take but half the pay due to him, and shall respite the 
 other half upon the Public Faith until these unnatural wars 
 be ended ; and every officer or other that is to have Five 
 Shillings a day or above, or under ten shillings, shall accept 
 of two-thirds of the pay due to him, and shall respite one- 
 third part upon the Public Faith .... and when there 
 is three months pay due to any of them, or more, a certificate 
 thereof from the said Earl, or two of the Committee, shall 
 be sufficient to demand the said monies owing upon the 
 Public Faith." 1 
 
 The question of clothing the soldiers raises an interesting 
 point as to the colour of their coats. When the two 
 great armies of the King and Parliament faced each other 
 at the beginning of the Civil War, there was very little 
 in the uniforms of the different forces to distinguish friend 
 from foe, excepting the red sash worn by the Royalists 
 and the orange sash worn by the Parliamentarians. 
 When the various regiments were brought together at 
 a rendezvous, the effect was therefore pretty much like that 
 of a gathering of Volunteers from different counties of 
 England to-day, only that the diversity was much greater. 
 Vicars describes "red-coats, blew-coats, purple-coats, and 
 gray-coats" at the battle of Edgehill, but even these did not 
 complete the diversity, which embraced coats of many 
 colours — red, white, blue, green, purple, gray, and brown or 
 tawny. This diversity of colours often led to confusion and 
 the slaying of ' friends by friends.' The evolution of the 
 red-coat was in fact a part of that strict discipline which made 
 the Eastern Counties' forces the predominant factor in the 
 strife. Carlyle's comment 'red coats for the first time' upon 
 the entry in the " Squire Papers " concerning the objections 
 of soldiers to wearing the red coats about the time of Marston 
 Moor, is a little too sweeping. There were red coats worn 
 even before the War began. Certainly the Suffolk men raised 
 to march against the Scots in 1640 wore red coats ; Essex 
 men who came up to Cambridge, coatless, tattered and torn, 
 a few months after the War began, in the Summer of 1643, 
 
 * Ordinance in Lords' Journals, Jan. 20, 1644. 
 
380 East Anglia and the 
 
 were provided with red coats/ and without the testimony 
 of the "Squire Papers" it is safe to assume that the 
 red coats became general among the Association forces 
 apparently in time to afford an example for the New Model 
 Army. 
 
 For the purposes of feeding the Army, and especially the 
 Association Army, Parliament was able to draw upon these 
 same counties which had furnished it with its 'coslets and 
 muskets,' 'stout Norfolk blades,' and valiant yeomen of 
 Puritan stock, as appears by the following : — 
 
 A particular of provisions assessed upon the several counties 
 by the Commissioners of Parliament for the accommodation 
 of the Scottish Army now before Newark : — 
 
 Norfolk. Per mensem to go to Boston. 
 
 600 quarters of oats at 14/- per qr ;^420 o o 
 
 30,000 lb cheese at 2^'' per lb 312 10 o 
 
 I'j qrs, 5 strikes, if pecks of oatmeal at 4/8 
 
 per strike ... 145 o o 
 
 114 qrs, 6 strikes, 2jpks. pease or beans at 
 
 2/8perstrike 112 10 o 
 
 ;^99o 
 
 Cambs &» Isle of Ely. To go to Boston. 
 
 400 qrs, of oats ^288 o o 
 
 400 qrs malt at ^i 6 8 per qr 533 6 8 
 
 8322 lbs cheese at 2ld. 86 13 5 
 
 ;^9o8 o I 
 
 Hunts. To go to Grantham. 
 100 qrs of oats 
 1 50 qrs „ pease 
 3520 lbs of cheese 
 100 qrs malt. Total ^400 o o 
 
 Lincolne. To go to Gainsborough. 
 Lyndsey. 
 
 20,000 lb beef at 2 Iff. 
 
 12,000 lb mutton at 3</. 
 
 1 50 qrs. malt 
 
 10,000 lb cheese 
 
 3,000 lb butter at 4</. 
 
 82 qrs. I peck pease or beans ^800 o o 
 
 in\«Iv^!lT-^ ^""f^K applied to the site of the battle of Gainsborough, fought 
 m July, 1643, IS a local survival bearing upon this point. 
 
Great Civil War, 381 
 
 Kesteven. 
 
 90 qrs malt 
 
 5,000 lb cheese 
 
 1600 lb butter 
 
 3600 lb of pork 
 
 38 qrs 5^ strikes of pease ;^30o o o 
 
 Holland. 
 
 20,000 lb beef 
 
 10,000 lb mutton 
 
 24,000 lb bread 
 
 4,000 lb cheese 
 
 1,500 lb butter ;^5oo o o 
 
 As to means of communication, it would be impossible to 
 over-estimate the enormous advantage to the Parliamentary- 
 Army and to the Parliamentary cause which was derived 
 from an almost uninterrupted command and use of the great 
 thoroughfares leading from London towards the ever-shifting 
 seat of war in the north and west. With one or two 
 exceptions it was possible during the whole period over 
 which the struggle extended for the Parliamentary transport 
 to pass along without much risk of serious interruption 
 between the Metropolis and the Parliamentary outposts, such 
 as Cambridge and Newport Pagnell, which marked off the 
 Home Counties and the Eastern Counties as a recruiting base. 
 The same advantage enabled the City of London in its 
 turn to draw regular supplies for its markets and raw material 
 for its trade, from just those counties least affected by the 
 ravages of the War. As a mere matter of communication 
 the command of the first fifty miles out of the Metropolis was 
 often of the greatest possible moment at a crisis in the War, 
 and this the Parliament could nearly always hold along these 
 ^ great thoroughfares leading towards or bordering upon the 
 Associated Counties of East Anglia. The Grand Committee 
 for the Associated Counties sitting at Cambridge was thus 
 within four or five hours' communication of the Committee 
 in London, and it was no uncommon thing at a crisis such 
 as that in the Summer of 1644 on the eve of Marston Moor, 
 for a dispatch to pass between these Committees in the 
 morning and a reply be received during the afternoon, as 
 the following will show : — 
 
382 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 Stages of the Post between London and Hull, by way of 
 
 Lynn Regis. 
 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 From 
 
 London to Waltham 
 
 Waltham to Ware 
 
 Ware to Barkway ... 
 
 Barkway to Witchford [ ? Whittlesford] ' 
 
 Witchford to Newmarket 
 
 Newmarket to Brandon 
 
 Brandon to Lynn Regis 
 
 Lynn Regis to Boston 
 
 Boston to Horncastle 
 Horncastle to Castor 
 Castor to Barton [on Humber] 
 
 miles. 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 12 
 lO 
 12 
 
 14 
 
 22 
 22 
 
 14 
 i6 
 
 12 
 
 III. 
 
 THE EASTERN ASSOCIATION COMMITTEES. 
 
 The discarding of the wretched 'tapsters and decayed 
 serving men' in favour of men having a conscience in 
 their work, by which Oliver Cromwell built up the solid 
 fame of his Ironsides, was not the limit of his influence 
 in this direction. In the selection of men for administrative 
 work, from the composition of a committee for Par- 
 liament down to the parish constable, there are traces of 
 Cromwell's practical methods of working with select tools. 
 The student who is bewildered by the innumerable ordinances 
 of Parliament, and the number of committees appointed to 
 meet special local difficulties as they arose — until ordinances 
 and committees appear to overlap one another in almost, 
 inextricable confusion — cannot hope to unravel their real 
 meaning except by reading the Parliament's executive work 
 upon this Cromwellian principle of the survival of the fittest. 
 Whenever a County Committee was failing to work together 
 through the disaffection or half-heartedness of any of its 
 
 * Whittlesford was the nearest point to Cambridge on this route. 
 ' State Papers, Dom. Ser. Charles I. 
 
Great Civil War, 383 
 
 members, or any special duty was to be added to a Com- 
 mittee, down came a fresh ordinance from Parliament to 
 be read in church on Sunday, reappointing most of the old 
 Committeemen, and adding new and more vigorous men 
 who had given evidence of fitness for the special duty 
 required, or of zeal for the cause of Parliament. In this way 
 the process of reappointments continued from time to time 
 until the whole body of Committeemen who are named for 
 any given county had been brought together by no end of 
 different appointments, all made for the same purpose of 
 seeing that the Parliamentary cause did not suffer from its 
 enemies or from lack of whole-hearted workers amongst 
 its friends. In this way, from the individual troopers to 
 the great and powerful organization of the Eastern Counties' 
 Association and its invincible army, the Parliamentary cause 
 was held together in the field by men who believed in their 
 work, and the famous Eastern Association owed a large 
 measure of its pre-eminence to the man who never spared 
 himself in his incessant riding to and fro in the interests 
 of unity of spirit as the great secret of effective strength.^ 
 
 Besides the original appointment of a County Committee 
 for each of the seven Associated Counties, there were special 
 appointments of Committees for sequestrating Royalists' 
 estates, of Committees named in the Ordinances for levying 
 and collecting weekly assessments ; and then another special 
 appointment in the Ordinance placing the Associated Counties 
 under the Earl of Manchester in 1643, with special instructions 
 for the choice, from amongst their numbers, of the Grand 
 Committee to represent the Association at the headquarters 
 at Cambridge. Then, again, when the Earl of Manchester 
 himself became half-hearted after Marston Moor, and the 
 New Model Army came under the direct command of Fairfax 
 and Cromwell, in February, 1645, there was a general sifting 
 of Committees, and reappointments, with men added who 
 
 ^ The only qualification to these observations indirectly confirms the view 
 here taken. Cromwell's influence over County Committees is traceable from 
 1 64 1 to 1644 ; but from 1 645 to 1649, when he was away in other fields, there 
 was among County Committees a relaxing of that grip of fair dealing which 
 Cromwell had enforced ; and there was a renewed strictness of control and 
 investigation of finances and accounts as soon as the Commonwealth came in. 
 
384 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 would support Fairfax and the New Model. In addition to 
 the above, there were various minor appointments all tending 
 to the same end, and making it almost impossible to reproduce 
 the separate lists here ; moreover, as the same names turn up 
 again and again in different lists it will suffice to accept, with 
 slight modifications, the plan adopted by Carlyle ^ of putting 
 all the principal Committeemen for each county into one 
 list :— 
 
 CAMBRIDGESHIRE. 
 
 Aldmond, Edward (/.). 
 Becket, Thomas. 
 Bendish, Thomas. 
 Blackley, James (/.). 
 Browne. 
 
 Browning, Edward. 
 Butler, Henry. 
 Butler, Nevill. 
 Castle, Robert. 
 Castle, Thomas. 
 Chennery, John. 
 Clapthorn, George. 
 Clark, Edward. 
 Clark, Robert. 
 Clench, Edward. 
 Clopton, Walter. 
 Cooke, Thomas. 
 Cromwell, Oliver. 
 Cutts, Sir John, Kt. 
 Dalton, Michael, sen. 
 Dalton, Michael, jun. 
 Desborow, Isaac. 
 Diamond, Tristram {e.). 
 Ducket, Thomas. 
 Eden, Dr. 
 Fiennes, Aid, (/.). 
 Fisher, William. 
 Foxton, Richard. 
 French, Thomas (/.)• 
 Hobart, John. 
 Hynde, Robert. 
 Janes, William. 
 Leeds, Edward. 
 
 Lowry, John (^.). 
 
 Male, Ednmnd. 
 
 March, Humberston. 
 
 Marsh, William. 
 
 Martin, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Mayor of Cambridge, The (/.)• 
 
 North, Sir Dudley, Kt. 
 
 Parker, Thomas. 
 
 Partridge, Sir Edward, Kt. {e.). 
 
 Pepys, Samuel. 
 
 Pepys, Talbot (/.).* 
 
 Pope, Dudley. 
 
 Raven, John. 
 
 Reynolds, James.. 
 
 Reynolds, Sir James. 
 
 Robson, Robert (/.). 
 
 Russel, Francis. 
 
 Russel, Killiphet. 
 
 Sandys, Sir Miles, Kt. 
 
 Sherwood, John (/.). 
 
 Smith, Henry. 
 
 Spalding, Samuel (/.). 
 
 Staughton, Robert. 
 
 Stone, Richard, M.D. {e.). 
 
 Story, Philip. 
 
 Symonds, Thomas. 
 
 Thompson, James. 
 
 Towers, John. 
 
 Walker, Thomas. 
 
 Welbore, John. 
 
 Welbore, William (/.). 
 
 Wendy, Francis. 
 
 Wright, John. 
 
 * Appendix to Cromwell's Letters and Speeches. 
 Talbot Pepys, of Impington, Recorder of Cambridge, and great- uncle of 
 Samuel Pepys, the dianst, who in 1661 visited the old man at Impington, and 
 lound him, sitting all alone, like a man out of the world : he can hardly see ; 
 but all things else he do pretty livelyly. " 
 
 c. These sat for Ely only ; /. for the town and University of Cambridge only. 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 385 
 
 ESSEX. 
 
 Adams, Thomas, of Thaxted. 
 
 Allen, Isaac, of Haseley. 
 
 Alliston, John. 
 
 Atwood, John. 
 
 Atwood, William. 
 
 Aylet, Jeremy. 
 
 Aylett, Thomas, of Kelldon. 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel. 
 
 Barnardiston, Arthur. 
 
 Barrington, Henry. 
 
 Barrington, Robert. 
 
 Barrington, Sir John, Kt. 
 
 Barrington, Sir Thomas, Bart. 
 
 Berkhead, Edward. 
 
 Bourn, Robert. 
 
 Brook, John. 
 
 Burket, John. 
 
 Buxton, Robert. 
 
 Calthorp, Robert. 
 
 Cheeke, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Clapton, Thomas. 
 
 Cletheroe, Captain. 
 
 Collard, William. 
 
 Cook, William, Aid. 
 
 Cooke, Thomas. 
 
 Cooke, Thomas. 
 
 Crane, Robert. 
 
 Eden, John. 
 
 Eldred, John. 
 
 Everard, Sir Richard, Bart. 
 
 Farr, Henry. 
 
 Fenning, John. 
 
 Friborne, Samuel. 
 
 Gambeil, James. 
 
 Goldingham, William. 
 
 Grimston, Harbottle. 
 
 Grimston, Sir Harbottle, Bart. 
 
 Harlackenden, Richard. 
 
 Harlackenden, William. 
 
 Harrison, Ralph, Aid. 
 
 Harvey, John. 
 
 Hawkin, Richard, of Harwich. 
 
 Heme, James. 
 
 Hicks, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Holcroft, Sir Henry, Kt. 
 
 Honywood, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Jocelyn, John. 
 
 Johnson, Thomas. 
 
 Kemp, Sir Robert, Kt. 
 
 Langley, John, of Colchester. 
 
 Langton, John. 
 
 Lumley, Sir Martin, Bart. 
 
 Luther, Anthony, 
 
 Maidstone, Robert. 
 
 Martin, Sir William, Kt. 
 
 Masham, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Masham, William. 
 
 Matthews, Joachim. 
 
 Mayor of Colchester, The. 
 
 Mead, John. 
 
 Middleton, Timothy. 
 
 Mildmay, Cary. 
 
 Mildmay, Henry, of Graves. 
 
 Mildmay, Sir Henry, of Wanstead, 
 
 Bart. 
 Nicholson, Francis. 
 Palmer, Edward. 
 Pike, John. 
 Plume, Samuel. 
 Raymond, Oliver. 
 Reade, Dr., of Birchanger. 
 Rowe, Sir William, Kt. 
 Sayer, John. 
 Shaw, John, jun. 
 Sheffield, Samson. 
 Smith, Robert. 
 Sorrell, John. 
 Stonehard, Francis. 
 Talcot, Robert, of Colchester. 
 Talcot, Thomas. 
 Thomas, Captain. 
 Thorogood, George. 
 Thorogood, John, of Walden. 
 Tindall, Deane. 
 Topsfield, — . 
 
 Turner, William, of Wimbish. 
 Umphrevill, William. 
 Vesey, Robert. 
 Wade, Thomas, Aid. 
 Walton, George. 
 Ward, Aid. 
 Watkins, John. 
 Whitcombe, Peter. 
 Williamson, Francis, of Walden. 
 Wincall, Isaac. 
 Wiseman, Henry. 
 Wiseman, Richard. 
 Wiseman, Robert, of Mayland. 
 Wright, John. 
 Young, John. 
 Young, Robert. 
 
 25 
 
386 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 HERTFORDSHIRE. 
 
 Atkins, Edward, Sergeant-at-Law. 
 
 Barber, Gabriel. 
 
 Carter, William, of Offley. 
 
 Cecil, Robert. 
 
 Combes, Toby. 
 
 Cranborne, Charles, Lord Viscount. 
 
 Dacres, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Fairecloth, Litton. 
 
 Freeman, Ralph. 
 
 Garret,^ Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Harrison, Sir John.'' 
 
 Heydon, John. 
 
 Humberston, John, sen. 
 
 Jennings, Richard. 
 
 King, Dr. John, M.D. 
 
 Leman, William. 
 
 Litton, Rowland. 
 
 Litton, Sir William, Kt. 
 
 Lucy, Sir Richard, Bart. 
 
 Marsh, John. 
 
 Mayor of Hertford, The. 
 Mayor of St. Albans, The. 
 Meade, Thomas. 
 Mewtys, Henry. 
 Norton, Graveley. 
 Pemberton, John. 
 Pemberton, Ralph. 
 Porter, Richard. 
 Priestly, William. 
 Puller, Isaac. 
 Read, Sir John, Bart. 
 Robotham, John. 
 Sadler, Thomas. 
 Scroggs, John. 
 Tooke, John. 
 Tooke, Thomas. 
 Washington, Adam. 
 Wilde, Alexander. 
 Wingate, Edward. 
 Witte wrong. Sir John, Kt. 
 
 HUNTINGDONSHIRE. 
 
 Armyne, Sir William, Bart. 
 Bonner, John. 
 Buckley, John. 
 Burrell, Abraham. 
 Castle, John, 
 
 Cotton, Sir Thomas, Bart. 
 Cromwell, Oliver. 
 Desborow, Isaac. 
 Drury, William. 
 Fulwood, Gervaise. 
 Harvey, Robert. 
 Hewet, Sir John, Kt. 
 
 Ingram, Robert. 
 Joceline, Terrill. 
 King, WiUiam. 
 Montague, Edward. 
 Montague, George. 
 Offley, John. 
 Petton, John. 
 Temple, Thomas. 
 Vintner, Robert. 
 Walton, Valentine. 
 Winch, Onslow.-* 
 
 LINCOLNSHIRE. 
 
 Anderson, Edmund. 
 Archer, John. 
 
 Armyne, Sir William, Bart. 
 Ashton, Peter. 
 Askham, Thomas. 
 Ayscough, Sir Edward, Kt. 
 Ayscough, Edward. 
 Bernard, John. 
 Bowtal, Barnaby. 
 Brassbridge, Aid. 
 Browne, John. 
 
 Brownlow, Sir John, Bart. 
 Brownlow, Sir William, Bart. 
 Broxholme, John. 
 Bryan, Richard. 
 Bury, William. 
 Cave, Morris. 
 Cawdron, Robert. 
 Cholmley, Montague. 
 Coppledike, Thomas. 
 Cornwallis, Thomas. 
 Cust, Samuel. 
 
 2u ^^^'^^■■^' ' S^"^ Jo^ii Harrison afterwards went over to the King at Oxford. 
 
 There were also amongst the Hunts Committeemen Apollo Pepys, one of the 
 Fepys of Brampton, from whom Samuel Pepys, the diarist, sprang ; and John 
 L^ete, of bouthoe, brother of Governor William Leete, of Connecticut, was at one 
 time Lhairman of the Sequestration Committee for this county. 
 
Great Civil War. 
 
 387 
 
 Davison, William. 
 Dawson, Stephen, Aid. 
 Disney, John, sen. 
 Disney, Mollineux. 
 Disney, Thomas. 
 Disney, William. 
 Ellis, Edmund. 
 Ellis, William. 
 Emmerson, Alexander. 
 Empson, Charles. 
 Empson, Francis. 
 Erie, Sir Richard, Bart. 
 Escote, Captain. 
 Filkin, Richard. 
 Fines, Francis. 
 Fisher, Francis. 
 Grantham, Thomas. 
 Godfrey, William. 
 Hall, Charles. 
 Hall, — , of Kettlethorp. 
 Hall, Thomas. 
 Harrington, James. 
 Harrington, John. 
 Hatcher, Thomas. 
 Hickman, Willoughby. 
 Hitchcott, Edmund. 
 Hobson, John. 
 Hobson, William. 
 Hudson, Christopher. 
 Irby, Sir Anthony, Kt. 
 Irby, Thomas. 
 Johnson, Martin. 
 King, Edward. 
 Knight, Isaac. 
 Leigh, Samuel. 
 Lister, Thomas. 
 Lister, William. 
 Luddington, William. 
 Marshal, William, Mayor. 
 Massinbeard, Draynard. 
 Massinbeard, Henry. 
 Massingden, — . 
 Mayor of Boston. 
 
 Ashley, Sir Edward, Kt. 
 Ashley, Sir Isaac, Kt. 
 Bailiffs of Yarmouth, The. 
 Bainham, Robert. 
 Baker, Thomas. 
 Barkham, Sir Edward, Bart. 
 Barret, Christopher. 
 Barret, Thomas, Sheriff. 
 Beddingfield, Philip. 
 Berkham, John. 
 
 Mayor of Lincoln. 
 
 Miscendyne, Francis. 
 
 Moorcroft, Robert, Aid. 
 
 Munckton, Michael. 
 
 Nelthorp, Edward. 
 
 Nelthorp, John. 
 
 Nethercote, Thomas. 
 
 Owfield, Sir Samuel, Kt. 
 
 Owfield, William. 
 
 Parkins, Wyat. 
 
 Pelham, Henry. 
 
 Pierpoint, Francis. 
 
 Rawson, Nehemiah. 
 
 Rossiter, Edward (Colonel). 
 
 Rossiter, Thomas. 
 
 Samuel, Arthur. 
 
 Savile, Thomas. 
 
 Savile, William. 
 
 Sheffield, John. 
 
 Skipworth, Edward. 
 
 Thompson, William. 
 
 Thorrald, Nathaniel. 
 
 Tilson, Edmund. 
 
 Trollop, James. 
 
 Trollop, Sir Thomas, Bart. 
 
 Walcott, Humphrey. 
 
 Watson, William, Aid. 
 
 Welby, Thomas. 
 
 Welcome, Thomas. 
 
 Whitchcot, Edward. 
 
 Whitchcot, Sir Hamond, Kt. 
 
 Whiting, John. 
 
 Willesby, John. 
 
 Williamson, Richard. 
 
 Williamson, Thomas. 
 
 Willoughby, Hickman. 
 
 Willoughby, Lord Francis,of Parham 
 
 Wincopp, John. 
 
 Woolley, William. 
 
 Wrath, John. 
 
 Wray, Sir Christopher, Kt. 
 
 Wray, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Wray, John. 
 
 NORFOLK. 
 
 Bemey, Sir Richard, Bart. 
 Blofield, Jeremy, of Alby. 
 Brewster, John. 
 Brewster, Samuel. 
 Brown, John, of Sparkes. 
 Bumum, Edmund, Aid. 
 Buxton, John. 
 Calthorp, James. 
 Calthorp, Philip. 
 Chamberlain, Edward. 
 
:88 
 
 East Anglia and the 
 
 Church, Bernard, Sheriff. 
 
 Clarke, of Gaywood. 
 
 Collier, John. 
 
 CoUyns, of Blackborne Abbey. 
 
 Coney, William. 
 
 Cooke, John. 
 
 Cooke, William. 
 
 Corbet, Miles. 
 
 Dagley, Robert, of Alsham. 
 
 Day, Sucklin. 
 
 Doylie, Sir William, Kt. 
 
 Earl, Erasmus. 
 
 Felsham, Robert, of Sculthrop. 
 
 Fountain, Briggs. 
 
 Fryer (Friar or P'rere), Tobias. 
 
 Gasley, William, of Holcan. 
 
 Gawdy, Edward. 
 
 Gawdy, Framlingham. 
 
 Gawdy, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Gawsell, Gregory. 
 
 Gibbon, John. 
 
 Gibbon, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 
 Gooch, Robert, of Elham. 
 
 Gower, Robert, of Yarmouth. 
 
 Greenwood, John, Sheriff. 
 
 Grey, James de. 
 
 Grey, John. 
 
 Harman, Richard. 
 
 Harvye, Richard. 
 
 Heveningham, William. 
 
 Heyward, Edward. 
 
 Hobart, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Hobart, Sir Miles, Kt. 
 
 Holland, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Houghton, John. 
 
 Houghton, Robert. 
 
 Hogan (Huggen, etc.). Sir Thomas, 
 
 Kt. 
 Hunt, George. 
 Jaye, John, of Ersham. 
 Jermy, Francis. 
 Jermy, Robert. 
 Johnson, Thomas. 
 Ket, Robert, of Wicklewood. 
 Kettle, Henry, of Thetford. 
 King, Henry. 
 
 Lincoln, Thomas, of Thetford. 
 Lmdsey, Matthew. 
 Long, Robert. 
 May, John, of Lynn. 
 Mayor of Lynn, The. 
 Mayor of Norwich, The. 
 Money, Samuel, of Binnam. 
 Mountford, Sir Edmund, Kt. 
 Owner, Edward. 
 
 Palgrave, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Parkes (or Parker), Samuel. 
 
 Parmenter, Adrian. 
 
 Paston, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Peckover, Matthew. 
 
 Pell, Sir Valentine, Kt. 
 
 Percivall, John, of Lynn. 
 
 Potts, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Raymes (Reimes, etc.), John, of 
 
 Oxtron. 
 Rich, Robert. 
 Rower, Robert. 
 Russell, Thomas. 
 Salter, John. 
 Seamier, Adam. 
 Seamier, James. 
 Scottow, Timothy. 
 Sedley (Sidley, etc.), Martin. 
 Sheppard, Robert. 
 Sheriffs of Norwich, The. 
 Sherwood, Livewell. 
 Shouldham, Francis, of Fulmerston. 
 Skippon, Philip. 
 Smith, Samuel. 
 Sotherton, Thomas. 
 Spelman, John. 
 
 Springall, Thomas, of St. Mary's. 
 Steward, — . 
 
 Swalter, John, of South Creek. 
 Symonds, William, of Norwich. 
 Taylor, Henry. 
 Thacker, John. 
 Thoresby, Edmund. 
 Tofts, John. 
 Tofts, Thomas. 
 Toll, Thomas. 
 Tooley, John. 
 Townsend, Roger. 
 Utber, Thomas. 
 Vincent, John, of Crinisham. 
 Walpool, John. 
 Walter, — , of Dereham. 
 Ward, Hamon. 
 
 Warner, Richard, of Little Brand. 
 Wasted, Thomas. 
 Watts, Henry. 
 Webb, John. 
 Weld, Thomas. 
 Wilton (or Wilson), Robert. 
 Windham, Sir George, Kt. 
 Windham, Thomas. 
 With, — , of Brodish. 
 Wood, Robert. 
 
 Woodhouse, Sir Thomas, Bart. 
 Wright (or Weight), Thomas. 
 
Great Civil War, 
 
 389 
 
 SUFFOLK. 
 
 Aldermen of Bury St. Edmunds, 
 
 The. 
 Aldus, John. 
 Appleton, Isaac. 
 Bacon, Sir Butts, Bart. 
 Bacon, Sir Edmund, Bart. 
 Bacon, Francis. 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, of Freeston. 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, of Ipswich.' 
 Bacon, Nicholas. 
 Bacon, Thomas. 
 Bailiffs of Aldeburgh, The. 
 Bailiffs of Ipswich, The. 
 Baker, Thomas. 
 
 Barnardiston, Sir Nathaniel, Kt.' 
 Barnardiston, Sir Thomas, Kt. 
 Barrow, Maurice. 
 Bass (Base or Bates), John. 
 Bence, Alexander. 
 Bence, Squire. 
 Blosse, Thomas. 
 Bloyse, William. 
 Bokenham, Wiseman. 
 Brandling, John. 
 Brewster, Francis. 
 Brewster, Robert. 
 Bright, — . 
 
 Brook, Sir Robert, Kt. 
 Brooke, John. 
 Cage, William. 
 Chaplin, Thomas. 
 Chapman, Thomas. 
 Cheney, Henry. 
 Clinch, John, sen. 
 Clinch, John, of Culpho. 
 Cole, Thomas. 
 Cotton, John. 
 
 D'Ewes, Sir Simond, Bart. 
 
 Duke, Sir Edward, Kt. 
 
 Duncombe, Robert. 
 
 Fisher, Peter. 
 
 Gale, Jacob. 
 
 Gibbs, Thomas. 
 
 Gurdon, Brampton. 
 
 Gurdon, Brampton, jun. 
 
 Gurdon, John. 
 
 Harv-ey, Edmund. 
 
 Heveningham, William. 
 
 Hobart, James. 
 
 Hodges, John. 
 
 Johnson, Thomas. 
 
 Lawrence, William. 
 
 Lucas, Gibson. 
 
 Moody, Samuel. 
 
 North, Henry, sen. 
 
 North, Henry, jun. 
 
 North, Sir Roger, Kt. 
 
 Parker, Sir Philip, Kt. 
 
 Parker, Sir William, Kt. 
 
 Pemberton, Joseph. 
 
 Pepys, Richard. 
 
 Playters, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Puplet(Pupler,Pulpit,etc.),Richard. 
 
 Read, Edward. 
 
 Reynolds, Robert. 
 
 River (or Rivet), William. 
 
 Rous, Sir John, Kt. 
 
 Sicklemer, John. 
 
 Soame, Sir William, Kt. 
 
 Spring, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Terrell (or Tirrell), Thomas. 
 
 Vaughan, Theophilus, of Beccles. 
 
 Wentworth, Sir John. 
 
 * Recorder of Ipswich, and said to have acted as Chairman of the Grand 
 Committee of the Association at Cambridge. 
 
 2 The strong representation on the Committees of such great families as the 
 Bacons and the Barnardistons is an example of the hold which the Parliamentary 
 cause had among the gentry of these Puritan counties. Sir Nathaniel Barnardiston 
 is said to have been the twenty-third Knight of the same family ; and a Sir Samuel 
 Barnardiston was conspicuous among the London Apprentices, and in the riots 
 over Lunsford's appointment as Constable of the Tower he was noticed by the 
 Queen, who, looking out from a window, exclaimed, "See what a handsome 
 young Roundhead is there ! " 
 
390 East Anglia and the 
 
 IV. 
 
 A LIST OF THE DEPRIVED ROYALIST CLERGY OF 
 CAMBRIDGESHIRE, DURING THE CIVIL WAR. 
 
 [By W. M. Palmer.] 
 
 An examination into the condition and conduct of 
 the clergy in the county of Cambridge during the Civil 
 War, is especially interesting from the circumstance 
 that Matthew Wren, the Laud of the Eastern Counties, 
 had been at the time of the assembling of the Long 
 Parliament over two years Bishop of Ely. He would no 
 doubt during that time endeavour, as far as he was able, to 
 fill all vacant benefices with men of his way of thinking. In 
 this he was not always successful, for many of his appointments 
 remained permanent during the War, their holders preferring 
 Puritan forms to losing their livings. But the majority of the 
 clergy accepted his teaching, and the evidence against 
 scandalous ministers consists largely of complaints about 
 the persistent manner in which the Popish innovations of 
 Bishop Wren were thrust on the people. 
 
 Wren had been translated from Norwich to Ely in May, 
 1638. He had brought with him the reputation of being 
 an uncompromising enemy of Puritanism to a county where 
 many of the inhabitants were of that way of thinking. Rigid 
 and sincere in his belief, he did not, however, shrink from 
 reforming the arrangement of the churches, such as removing 
 the altar from the body of the church to the eastern end of 
 the chancel, and making other alterations which the Puritans 
 stigmatized as rank Popery. These things had to be endured, 
 but were not forgotten, and as soon as Parliament showed 
 its spirit by impeaching Archbishop Laud, a numerously 
 signed petition was sent up by the county of Cambridge, 
 charging the Bishop with having, amongst other things, 
 endeavoured to set up idolatry and superstition. The original 
 signatures to this petition, several hundreds of them, may 
 still be seen in the British Museum. Amongst the signatures 
 
Great Civil War, 391 
 
 are Thomas Pychard, of Trumpington, the High Sheriff, 
 appointed by the King, Hasilden Bury, of Meldreth, Robert 
 Castell, of East Hatley, Thomas Bendish, of Barrington, 
 John Lynne, of Bassingbourn, William Hitch, of Melbourn, 
 John Nightingale, of Kneesworth, Isaac Disborow, of Eltisley, 
 and many other gentry, besides two vicars, John Lawson^ 
 vicar of Bassingbourn, 1 626-1660, and Stephen Wilson, vicar 
 of Shepreth, 16 12-1640. As a result of this and other 
 petitions, the Bishop was promptly lodged in the Tower, 
 where he remained for eighteen years, narrowly escaping the 
 fate of Laud. 
 
 All these proceedings had tended to inflame the minds 
 of tlie people against episcopacy ; and when the Earl of 
 Manchester came down to Cambridge in 1643, armed with 
 a coTimission to inquire into the character of scandalous 
 ministers, there was no lack of witnesses to testify against 
 such unfortunate clergy as had carried out the orders 
 of their Bishop. In almost every parish there was some 
 extreme Puritan who was smarting under the refusal of his 
 minister to administer the sacrament to him unless he walked 
 up to the rails to receive it ; and if that unfortunate minister 
 had been known to speak against the Parliament, publicly 
 or privately, or had been in the habit of taking a little 
 too much wine or beer, his tenure of his living was a 
 precarious one. 
 
 At :he time of the Civil War there were about one hundred 
 and ffty-five livings in Cambridgeshire, including fourteen 
 in tht town of Cambridge. Of this number we have direct 
 eviderce that from sixty-eight the clergy were ejected, chietiy 
 for thsir Royalist opinions. Sixty-five parochial clergymen 
 accepted the Solemn League and Covenant, or at least 
 conformed as regards outward show to Puritan forms ; and 
 of these more than a third lived to see and participate in 
 the restoration of monarchy and episcopacy. There remain 
 twen:y-two livings, twelve of which were in Cambridge town, 
 and perhaps were not all filled at this period, for no mention 
 of them occurs in the ordinary sources of information. 
 Concerning ten livings, it has not been possible to decide 
 whether there was an ejection or not. The names of these 
 
392 East Anglia and the 
 
 places are Great Abington, Barton, Caxton, Eltisley, Ickleton,^ 
 Kirtling, Littleport, Litlington, Sawston, Triplow. Such 
 information as has been collected about these doubtful places 
 will be found in East Anglia?i Notes mid Quet-ies, vol. vi, 
 pp. 353-5, 372-6. It may be here mentioned that the 
 proportion of clergy ejected is much the same as it was in 
 the neighbouring county of Hertford. 
 
 In the following list, all the ejections have been verified 
 from the original authorities, with the exception of four 
 instances, which are taken from Walker's " Sufferings of the 
 Clergy." These authorities are far too numerous to mertion 
 in detail, but the principal are as follows : The Proceedings 
 of the Earl of Manchester's Committee sitting at Cambridge, 
 some of which are in the British Museum, Additional MSS., 
 15,672; the Proceedings of the Committee for Plundered 
 Ministers in the same library. Additional MSS., 15,669-71; 
 the Parliamentary Surveys of Livings in 1650 and the 
 Augmentation Books, both in Lambeth Palace Library ; 
 the Exchequer Bills and Answers for the Commonvfealth 
 period, and the Institution Books in the Public Record Office. 
 Of these the Proceedings of the Committee sittirig at 
 Cambridge are the most interesting. The Museum MS. 
 is a contemporary copy of the original minute-book cf the 
 committee. It gives the names of the witnesses against 
 scandalous ministers, and what appears to be a veibatim 
 report of the informations to which they swore. The greater 
 part of the informations refers to * popish practices ' which the 
 unfortunate minister had been guilty of, and to his expressions 
 of friendliness towards the King and unfriendliness to 
 Parliament. In only a few cases is immorality alleged. 
 An example of these informations will be found in East 
 Anglian Notes and Queries, vol. vi, p. 122, where the record 
 concerning Mr. Mapletoft, parson of Downham, is printed 
 in full. 
 
 During the researches necessary for the production ot this 
 list, much interesting information has been gained concerning 
 
 The incident of the soldiers and the minister of Ickleton referred fo on 
 p. 25 is suggestive that he may have been amongst those who were ejected. 
 
Great Civil War, 393 
 
 nearly every rectory and vicarage in the county. There 
 were few livings which were not affected in some way or 
 other during the period 1642-62. At some future time the 
 author hopes to publish the whole results of his researches 
 into the lives of the Cambridgeshire clergy at this period. 
 
 Abington Pigots. — Edward Lynne was appointed rector in 1631, and 
 was buried in 1655. In 1645 Isaac King was appointed. But it is not 
 certain that Lynne was ejected. 
 
 Barrington.—AnXhony Marshall was ejected in the early part of 1646. 
 A Fellow of Emmanuel College named Wenham was herein 1650, and he 
 was followed by Kobert Cam 
 
 Bartlow. — John Baker was ejected in 1644. 
 
 Battisham. — Theodore Crossland was ejected in 1644. He was 
 followed by Thomas Walker and Richard Britten. 
 
 Burrow Green. — Thomas Wake was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 by William Stephenson. 
 
 Burwell. — William Brearley, Fellow of Christ's College and vicar here, 
 was ejected from both benefices according to Walker. But the rector, 
 Dr. Robert Metcalfe, stayed on from 1618 to 1650. 
 
 Cald€Cote.—T\iQva2LS Saunders was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 by George Biker, who was not in holy orders, as we learn from an entry 
 in the church register by his successor in 1650, Thomas Smith, Fellow 
 of Christ's College. 
 
 Cambridge. — The only notices which have been obtained of ejections 
 from livings in Cambridge town are from Walker. He states that 
 Charles Bussey was ejected from All Saints in 1644, and Peter Gunning 
 from St. Mary the Less. 
 
 Carlton. — Thomas Greeke, Fellow of Trinity College and rector here, 
 is stated by Walker to have lost both his life and his living through the 
 Civil War. But he was here as late as April 3, 1645. He was followed 
 by Robert Sendall. 
 
 Castle Camps. — Nicholas Gray was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 by Nahum Kenitie, who died in 1649. Faithful Theate, Walter Ellis, and 
 Martin Francis succeeded in turn. Francis was properly inducted on 
 the death of Gray in 1660. 
 
 Chatteris. — George Otway was sequestered in 1644. Thomas Dearsley 
 was here during the Commonwealth. 
 
 Cherryhinton.— Isaac Barrow, who had been appointed to this living 
 in 1 64 1, was deprived of his fellowship at Peterhouse, and probably of 
 this living also. He was succeeded by Walter Ellis. In 1660 Barrow 
 came back. 
 
 Chesterton. — Richard Watts was ejected in 1644. Francis Tallance 
 was here in 1650, but Watts returned at the Restoration. 
 
 Cheveley. — Robert Levitt was ejected in 1644, and was very troublesome 
 in 1646 to one of his successors, Abraham Wright. Levitt died in 1659, 
 but Wright was deprived by the Act of Uniformity. 
 
 Connington. — Edward Martin, Master of Queen's College, was ejected 
 for political reasons in 1643. He was followed by John Yadley and 
 
394 ^«^/ Anglia and the 
 
 William Whitfield, the latter of whom stayed until the Restoration, when 
 Martin returned, and Whitfield, having conformed, was promoted to 
 another benefice. 
 
 Cottenham.—]o\m Manby was ejected in 1644. Peter French and 
 John Nye followed. In 1660 Manby came back. 
 
 Coveney cum Manea. — John Hill was ejected in 1644, having been vicar 
 for 26 years. A minister was then supplied to each place. 
 
 Doddington. — Algernon Peyton, the rector here, was in prison in 1647, 
 but he was back again in his living in 1649. 
 
 Downham. — Edmund Mapletoft was ejected in 1644. Thomas Giles 
 was here in 1653. 
 
 Duxford St. Peter. — George Chamberlain was ejected in 1646. A man 
 named Swan followed, after whom came Samuel Mills, who stayed until 
 1660, when Chamberlain came back. 
 
 East Hatley. — Thomas Goode was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 by Robert Pepys and Richard Kennet, the latter being deprived by the 
 Act of Uniformity. 
 
 Elm. — William Allanson was ejected from the vicarage in 1645, and 
 Thomas Petit appointed. 
 
 Eversden Parva. — Thomas Marley was ejected in 1644. He was 
 followed successively by Richard Britten, John Howorth, Oliver Sell, 
 and James Spering. At the Restoration Marley returned. 
 
 Fenditton. — Samuel Collins, Provost of King's, was ejected in 1644. 
 William Retchford followed, and after him came Robert Allmgton. 
 
 Fordham. — Stephen Hall was ejected in 1645. Hugh Floyd or Lloyd 
 followed and remained vicar 45 years. 
 
 Fowlmere. — John Morden was ejected in 1644. He was followed by 
 a minister named Watson, who had been driven from his benefice in 
 Lincolnshire by the Royalist forces. When he regained possession 
 of his former living, Ezekias King came to Fowlmere, and remained 
 until the Act of Uniformity. 
 
 Fulbourn St. Fz^^rj.— Thomas Wilson, D.D., Chaplain to the King, 
 was ejected in 1644. He was followed successively by Robert Dacie, 
 John Alders, and John Masterson. 
 
 Gamlingay. — Charles Gibbs was ejected from the rectory, and John 
 Worlich, or Woldridge, from the vicarage about 1644. John Heringe 
 succeeded to both, but Esdras Marshall was here in 1650. 
 
 Girton. — William Ling was ejected in 1644, and gave his successor, 
 John Wilson, a good deal of trouble when the second Civil War was 
 brewing in 1647. 
 
 Granchester.—T\iom.2,s Whatton was ejected in 1644. Isaac Dobson, 
 Fellow of St. Benet's, was here in 1650, and in 1660 Whatton returned. 
 
 Gransden Parva.— ]ohn Tolly was ejected in 1645, and Thomas Perry 
 succeeded him. Bishop Wren, whilst in the Tower, appointed Joseph 
 Beaumont, but he did not gain possession of the hving until the 
 Restoration. 
 
 Gut/den Morden.— Thomas Anscell was ejected in 1644. He was 
 followed by John Peacock, John Wilson, and Andrew Strode. In 1660 
 Anscell returned. 
 
 I/ardwick.~Edvf2ird Mapletoft was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 successively by Francis Creswick, Francis Johnson, and John Fidoe. 
 
Great Civil War. 395 
 
 //ar/ton.—R\cha.rd Sterne was ejected about 1644. He was followed 
 by Jonathan Allen. In 1660 Sterne came back. He became Archbishop 
 of York in 1664. 
 
 Haslingfield.—Qn^ih. Hatley was ejected about 1646. In 1650, Robert 
 Quarles was being paid ten shillings a day for officiating here. 
 
 Histon.—]o\iVi Slegg was ejected shortly before July, 1647. John 
 Ashley followed, and remained for nearly 50 years. 
 
 Isleham. — Nathaniel Whitlow was ejected in 1645, ^"d was followed 
 by Roger Peachey. 
 
 Kingston. — Cuthbert Pierson was ejected in 1644. Robert Brand 
 followed. The living was again under sequestration in 1647, and Phillip 
 Johnson, the minister in 1650, was found by the Parliamentary Com- 
 missioners to be "insufficient."' 
 
 Knapwell. — John Staunton was sequestered in 1646 because he held 
 also the living of Longstowe. 
 
 LevetHngton. — George Bailey was sequestered in 1645. He was 
 followed successively by — Stukeley, Tristram Dimond, William Sheldrake, 
 and Richard Reynolds. 
 
 Linton. — Roger Ashton was ejected in 1644. Thomas Punter followed. 
 In 1660 Ashton came back. 
 
 Lolworth. — Thomas Whincoppe had to resign in 1644, because he 
 also held the living of Elsworth. 
 
 Longstanton All Saints. — John Goche, or Gothe, seems to have been 
 displaced about 1650 in favour of Henry Gray. 
 
 Melboum. — Francis Durham was sequestered in 1644. William Wells 
 followed. Durham returned in 1660. 
 
 Meldreth. — Thomas Elton was obliged to have an assistant in the 
 person of Isaac Worrall, of St. John's College. 
 
 Milton. — Edward Johnson was ejected from the vicarage in 1644. 
 George Thomasson followed. 
 
 Newton in the Isle. — Thomas Lee was ejected in 1644. He was 
 followed by John Pawson. 
 
 Oakington. — Daniel Chandler was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 successively by — Selby, James Spering, and Andrew Paschall. 
 
 Orwell. — Cheney Rowe was ejected in 1644. He was followed by 
 — Brooks. 
 
 Pampisford. — Michael Selbie resigned in 1646, and William Johnson 
 was appointed. 
 
 Soham. — Roger Hexteter' was ejected in 1644. John Fenton succeeded, 
 but was very much troubled by Hexteter, and in the latter part of 
 1647 soldiers had to be sent to keep the ejected vicar quiet.* 
 
 Steeple Morden.—ThomsiS Kitchener was ejected in 1644, and Richard 
 Flower appointed. 
 
 Stret/iam.— Nicholas Felton was ejected in 1644. Matthew Clark 
 followed. After him came Robert Carr, who was deprived by the Act 
 of Uniformity. 
 
 Swaffha?n Bulbeck. — William Isaacson was ejected in 1644. Israel 
 Shipden followed. After him came John Idle, Eli Bentley, and Daniel 
 Foote, the last-mentioned being deprived by the Act of Uniformity. 
 
 » Or Exeter. ' See pp. 326, 327. 
 
396 East Anglia and the 
 
 Swaffliam Prior {St. Cyriac). — Richard Peacock was ejected in 1644. 
 The living was afterwards united to that of St. Mary's, of which Jonathan 
 Jephcok was vicar. 
 
 Swavesey. — The Vicar (whose name is not mentioned ; perhaps it was 
 Thomas Knight) was sequestered in favour of WilHam Sampson in 1648. 
 
 Teversham. — Daniel Darnelly was ejected in 1643 o^ 1644, and was 
 succeeded by William Sharp, who did not get on well with his parishioners 
 in the matter of tithes. Darnelly caused a good deal of trouble in the 
 parish in the Autumn of 1647. 
 
 7<9/?.^Henry Downhall was ejected in 1644. John Ellis followed. 
 
 Trumpington. — Nathaniel Welis resigned in 1643. He was followed 
 by Thomas Giles. 
 
 Wentworth. — Daniel Wigmore was ejected or sequestered in 1646, 
 and Richard Wethered appointed. 
 
 Whaddon. — William Pickering was sequestered in 1645, ^^^ Henry 
 Lilly appointed. After him came John Yong. 
 
 W kittle sf or d. — Robert Clarkson was ejected in 1644. He was followed 
 by John Swan. 
 
 Wicken. — Robert Grimer was ejected in 1644. William Walker was 
 here in 1650, but in 1656 Grimer was back again. 
 
 Wilbraham Parva. — John Munday was ejected in 1644. He was 
 followed successively by William Rhett, Peter Harrison, and Thomas 
 Whitehead. 
 
 Wimpole. — Joseph Loveland was ejected in 1644. He was followed by 
 John Gibson and William Scarlett. In 1660 Loveland came back, and 
 died here in 1695, aged 92. 
 
 Wisbech (St. Mary and St. Peter).— Edward Furnace was ejected in 
 1645, and Thomas White appointed. He was followed by William 
 Sheldrick. 
 
 THE "FIRST CENTURY OF SCANDALOUS AND MALIGNANT 
 
 PRIESTS." ^ 
 
 Of this list of Royalist clergy who were among the first 
 to lose their benefices at the outbreak of the War, on 
 grounds of alleged misconduct, 'superstitious' innovations 
 in worship and * malignancy against the Parliament,' 
 White has taken 58 of the 100 from five of the 
 Associated Counties named below. The list is not, of 
 course, representative of the Royalist clergy generally, but 
 
 * By John White, published by authority of Parliament, 1643. 
 
Great Civil Wai' 
 
 397 
 
 only of those who were most notorious for the conduct which 
 brought them in conflict with Parliament. The paragraph 
 number refers to the position of the names in the " Century." 
 
 Cambridgeshire. 
 
 Paragraph 40, the case of John Manby, D.D. Cottenham. 
 „ 58 „ Thomas Goode East Hatley. 
 
 „ 85 „ Edward Marten Dunnington and 
 
 [Houghton Conquest, Beds. 
 
 Huntingdonshire. 
 
 
 
 
 )> 
 
 47 
 
 )) 
 
 John Reynolds 
 
 Haughton & Witton. 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 
 
 
 
 »j 
 
 20 
 
 »> 
 
 RobertCotesford,D.D 
 
 . Hadleigh. 
 
 j> 
 
 30 
 
 » 
 
 Edward Brewster 
 
 Lawshall. 
 
 )) 
 
 31 
 
 » 
 
 Richard Hart 
 
 Hargrave. 
 
 )» 
 
 36 
 
 >» 
 
 Alexander Clarke 
 
 Bredfield. 
 
 »> 
 
 52 
 
 » 
 
 William Evans 
 
 Sandcroft. 
 
 »> 
 
 57 
 
 » 
 
 Cuthbert Dale 
 
 Kettleburrough. 
 
 »> 
 
 59 
 
 >» 
 
 Nicholas King 
 
 Friston & Snape. 
 
 ij 
 
 61 
 
 »> 
 
 John Wells 
 
 Shimplyn. 
 
 )) 
 
 62 
 
 » 
 
 Thomas Geary 
 
 Beddingfield. 
 
 >> 
 
 69 
 
 >» 
 
 John Ramew 
 
 Kettlebaston. 
 
 J) 
 
 71 
 
 » 
 
 Miles Goultie 
 
 Walton. 
 
 » 
 
 72 
 
 )> 
 
 Samuel Alsop 
 
 Acton. 
 
 » 
 
 77 
 
 i> 
 
 Matthew Clay 
 
 Chelsworth. 
 
 » 
 
 86 
 
 j> 
 
 James Buck 
 
 Stradbrooke. 
 
 j» 
 
 94 
 
 » 
 
 Robert Shepard 
 
 Hep worth. 
 
 » 
 
 99 
 
 >j 
 
 Samuel Scrivener 
 
 Westhropp. 
 
 Essex. 
 
 
 
 
 
 ii 
 
 3 
 
 »» 
 
 Charles Forbench 
 
 Kenny. 
 
 » 
 
 4 
 
 »» 
 
 Stephen Withers 
 
 Kelvedon. 
 
 j> 
 
 5 
 
 11 
 
 Emanuel Vty, D.D. 
 
 Chigwell. 
 
 j> 
 
 6 
 
 » 
 
 Edmund Cherry 
 
 Much-Holland. 
 
 » 
 
 9 
 
 » 
 
 Lawrence Washington Purleigh. 
 
 » 
 
 14 
 
 )) 
 
 Edward Thurman 
 
 Hallingbury. 
 
 »» 
 
 15 
 
 » 
 
 Robert Sell 
 
 Matching. 
 
 »» 
 
 32 
 
 n 
 
 Edward Jenkinson 
 
 Panfield. 
 
 v 
 
 33 
 
 >> 
 
 Joseph Plum 
 
 Black Novelty 
 
 [or Notley]. 
 
 jj 
 
 38 
 
 >» 
 
 Nicholas Wright 
 
 Theydon Gamon. 
 
 »> 
 
 44 
 
 >» 
 
 Thomas King 
 
 Chesill Magna. 
 
 n 
 
 45 
 
 »i 
 
 Edward Aston 
 
 Pentlow. 
 
 n 
 
 51 
 
 >» 
 
 Nicholas Lowes 
 
 Much Bentley. 
 
 >» 
 
 55 
 
 )} 
 
 Richard Nicholson 
 
 Stapleford Tawney. 
 
39^ East Anglia and the Great Civil War, 
 
 Essex (cont.). 
 
 
 
 
 
 Paragraph 56, 
 
 the case 
 
 of Francis Wright 
 
 Witham. 
 
 » 
 
 60 
 
 j» 
 
 Edward Turner 
 
 St. Lawrence. 
 
 5> 
 
 63 
 
 5J 
 
 Thomas Darnell 
 
 Thorp. 
 
 » 
 
 66 
 
 » 
 
 Erasmus Laud 
 
 Little Tey. 
 
 )f 
 
 73 
 
 )> 
 
 Robert Senior 
 
 Feering. 
 
 » 
 
 76 
 
 )) 
 
 Clement Vincent 
 
 D anbury. 
 
 » 
 
 80 
 
 J> 
 
 Henry Osbalston,D.D 
 
 . Much Parndon. 
 
 >J 
 
 81 
 
 )) 
 
 Humphrey Dawes 
 
 Mountnessing. 
 
 » 
 
 89 
 
 )) 
 
 Thomas Staple 
 
 Mundon. 
 
 » 
 
 90 
 
 55 
 
 Peter Allen 
 
 Tollesbury. 
 
 >5 
 
 91 
 
 5) 
 
 John Hurt 
 
 Horndon-on-Hill. 
 
 }> 
 
 95 
 
 5) 
 
 John Woolhouse 
 
 West Mersea. 
 
 )> 
 
 97 
 
 » 
 
 Samuel Southen 
 
 Malendine [?]. 
 
 J> 
 
 98 
 
 » 
 
 Thomas Heard 
 
 West Tukely 
 
 [? Takeley]. 
 
 »> 
 
 100 
 
 » 
 
 Ambrose Westrop 
 
 Much Totham, 
 
 Herts. 
 
 10 
 
 5> 
 
 Philip Leigh 
 
 Redburn. 
 
 » 
 
 13 
 
 55 
 
 John Gorsuch, D.D. 
 
 Walkern. 
 
 )» 
 
 17 
 
 )) 
 
 Joseph Soane 
 
 Aldenham. 
 
 »> 
 
 24 
 
 )> 
 
 JamesMountfordjD.D, 
 
 . Tewin. 
 
 » 
 
 27 
 
 5) 
 
 Griffith Roberts 
 
 Ridge. 
 
 
 35 
 
 }> 
 
 Henry Hancock 
 
 Furneaux Pelham. 
 
 »> 
 
 46 
 
 5> 
 
 Christopher Webb 
 
 Sawbridgeworth. 
 
 >j 
 
 68 
 
 5J 
 
 John Sydall 
 
 Kensworth. 
 
 » 
 
 82 
 
 )> 
 
 Richard Taylor 
 
 Buntingford, West- 
 mill, & Aspenden. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Agitators, The, 235, 238. 
 
 Alpheton (Suffolk), 84, 85. 
 
 Appleyard, Capt. John, 266, 267, 298. 
 
 Appleton Hall (Norfolk), 185, 186. 
 
 Army, The Parliamentary, and the 
 City, 243 ; and the King, 236, 286, 
 287 ; arrears of, 234 ; at St. Albans, 
 286 ; declarations of, 238, 247 ; order 
 to disband, 238 ; refuses, 239 ; 
 paying and feeding the, 373 ; con- 
 tracts of, 378 ; colour of coats of, 
 379, 380. 
 
 Armyne, Sir William, 19, 22, 23. 
 
 Ashburnham, John, 224 et seq. 
 
 Ashton, Mr. (of Linton), 321. 
 
 Assembly of Divines, The, 329. 
 
 Association of Counties, 77. See also 
 Eastern Counties' Association. 
 
 Astley, Sir Jacob, 72. 
 
 Aston, Edward (Essex parson), 322. 
 
 Audley End, 23 ; threatened, 66. 
 
 Audley Wheathill, 301. 
 
 Axtell, Daniel, 197 ; career and trial of, 
 345, 346 ; execution of, 347. 
 
 Aylesbury, 155. 
 
 Aylmer, Edward, 298. 
 
 Aylofife, Sir Benjamin, 298. 
 
 Bacon, Francis, 193. 
 
 Bacon, Nathaniel, 193, 201, 389. 
 
 Bacon, Thomas, 193. 
 
 Baker, Mr. (of Bartlow), 321. 
 
 Baldock, Charles I at, 225, 249. 
 
 Barholm (Lincolnshire), 369. 
 
 Barley, Letters from, 243. 
 
 Barnard, Mr., 88. 
 
 Barnardiston, Sir Nathaniel, 257 ; 
 
 descent of, 389 ; colonel, 270. 
 Barnardiston, Sir Samuel, 389. 
 Barnardiston, Sir Thomas, 256, 257. 
 Barrett, Christopher, 255. 
 Barrington, Sir Thomas, 64, 114, 132, 
 
 146, 307, 370. 
 
 Bassingbourn, 5, 304. 
 Beale, Dr., 37, 68. 
 Beccles, 24. 
 
 Bedford, seized by Cavaliers, 145 ; re- 
 taken by Parliament, 147; Cromwell 
 
 at, 205. 
 Bedford, Earl of, 68. 
 Bedfordshire, Petition of, 32, 76. 
 Bellasize, Lord, 231. 
 Berry, Captain, 116. 
 Bishop's Stortford, 238, 239, 299. 
 'Bishops' War,' The, 23-6. 
 Book of Common Prayer, The, 329, 
 
 330. 
 Boston, 51, 69, 120, 131, 143, 177. 
 Bottisham, 74 ; King at, 226. 
 Bourchier, Sir James, 6. 
 Bourn, 371. 
 Braintree, 239, 260. 
 Brampton Gurdon, Colonel, 201. 
 Brampton Gurdon, jun., Mr., 193. 
 Bramston, Sir John, 60 ; his sons' ride 
 
 to York, 60, 61. 
 Brandon (Suffolk), 364. 
 Brentford, 74, 75. 
 Browne, John (of St Ives), 227, 230, 
 
 231. 
 Browne, Major-General, 157, 158. 
 Brownlow, Sir William, 193. 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 273, 274, 276. 
 Buckinghamshire, Petition of, 31, 76. 
 Bunyan, John, 13, 196. 
 Burghley House, 117, 118, 153. 
 Burgoyne, Sir John, 99. 
 Burrell, Abraham, 371. 
 Bury St. Edmunds, 51, 66, 130, 201, 
 
 238 ; Army Conference at, 239 ; 
 
 New Model Conference at, 192-5 ; 
 
 Royalist risings at, 255-8 ; Royalists 
 
 seized at, 267. 
 
 Cage, Sir Anthony, 266, 297, 309. 
 Caistor (Lincolnshire), 45. 
 
400 
 
 Index, 
 
 Calamy, Edmund, 126. 
 
 Cambridge, Riotous soldiers at, 24 ; 
 signing the Protestation at, 27 ; 
 plague at, 34 ; Charles I and the 
 Prince at, 36-8 ; rival Proclama- 
 tions in the Colleges, 47 ; sending 
 arms to, 50 ; carrying off the College 
 plate from, 55-9, 301 ; the Castle 
 seized by Cromwell, 59 ; Commission 
 of Array at, 67 ; full of soldiers, 89 ; 
 fortifications of, 91, 95, 98, 115; 
 bridges demolished and Castle 
 strengthened at, 95 ; the " Bear " 
 inn at, 99 ; threatened by Prince 
 Rupert, 145 ; Royalists in, 146, 147 ; 
 condition of the Castle at, 198 ; 
 East Anglian forces at, 201-3 ; 
 rejoicings at, after the battle of 
 Naseby, 209 ; Cavaliers approach 
 to, 220 ; Fairfax at, 234 ; fighting 
 at, 264, 265 ; digging up hidden 
 treasure at, 286; sequestrators at, 
 307 ; inquisition at the " Red Lion" 
 at, 309; Committee Books at, 310; 
 Committees at, see Eastern Associa- 
 tion Committee ; Reforming Com- 
 mission sitting at, 316, 317; Dowsing, 
 William, at, 330, 331. 
 
 Cambridge Colleges— Clare Hall, 95 ; 
 Emmanuel, 36 ; Jesus, 37, 67, 148 ; 
 King's, 36, 38, 57, 58, 95, 367, 368 ; 
 Magdalene, 59; Pembroke, 178, 
 331 ; Queen's, 67, 95, 331 ; St. 
 Catharme's, 338; St. John's, 37, 
 38, 56, 67, 95, 328. 367, 369 ; Sidney 
 Sussex, 6; Trinity, 37, 51, 56, 95, 
 148,149, 172, 180, 182, 213, 234, 265, 
 286, 316, 357, 367 J Trinity Hall, 
 51. 
 
 Cambridge University and the King, 
 29 ; students' petition, 34 ; reception 
 of the King and Prince by, 36-8; 
 petition to Parliament from, 62 ; 
 arrest of heads of Colleges, 68 ; the 
 *' Complaint" of, 95, 96 ; the Vice- 
 Chancellor of, sent to the Tower, 
 96 ; soldiers and the, 97, 98, 149, 
 357 ; students and the King, 240, 
 241 ; students of, and the Second 
 Civil War, 265 ; Ordinance for re- 
 forming the, 315, 316; Association 
 Committee at Trinity College, 316 ; 
 Colleges losing their masters and 
 fellows, 319; troops exercised in 
 King's College Chapel, 367 ; burning 
 of pictures of the, 367, 368 ; Library 
 of, 368, 369. 
 
 Cambridgeshire, 24, 39, 71, 74, 87, 
 88 ; Ship-money riots in, 21, 22 ; 
 
 Quarter Sessions of, and the crisis, 
 33 ; petitions from, 41, 42 ; members 
 of, taking sides, 43 ; Sheriff of, 57 ; 
 Militia of, 66 ; Protestation of, 
 76, 77 ; sequestrators for, 304, 307 ; 
 Reforming Commission for, 316 ; 
 Royalist clergy in, 320 ; contribu- 
 tions of, 373, 375, 376; supplies 
 from, 380 ; Committee of, 384 ; 
 deprived Royalist clergy of, 390-6 ; 
 malignant priests of, 397. 
 Capel, Lord, 27, 68, 88, 89, 259, 262, 
 279, 305 ; his career and heroic 
 death, 341, 342. 
 Capel, Arthur, the younger, 271, 272. 
 Capel, Lady, 69, 272, 341. 
 Carr, Sir Robert, 177. 
 Cave, Mr., and the King, 227, 228, 
 
 230. 
 Cave, Mrs., 230, 231. 
 Cavendish, Viscount, 1 16, 120. 
 Charles I and the Puritans, 14 ; and 
 the Scots, 26 ; his return from 
 Scotland, 29 ; and the Militia, 35, 
 37 ; departs from his Parliament, 
 35 ; his reception at Cambridge, 
 37, 38 ; his letter from Huntingdon, 
 40 ; at York, 60 ; the raising of his 
 standard, 62 ; his speech to his 
 soldiers, 71, 72 ; his designs upon 
 the Associated Counties, 204 ; de- 
 feated at Naseby, 206; his approach 
 to the Associated Counties, 213 ; 
 takes Huntingdon, 214; leaves 
 Huntingdon, 220 ; at Newark, 223 ; 
 escapes from Oxford, 224, 225 ; his 
 passage through the Fens in dis- 
 guise, 226-8 ; carried off from 
 Holmby, 240 ; at Childerley, 240 ; 
 at Newmarket, 242, 247 ; his trial 
 and execution, 287 ; his execution 
 resented by the counties, 288, 289. 
 Chelmsford, 238, 239, 253, 258, 259, 
 
 304, 306. 
 Chicheley, Thomas, 43, 302. 
 Childerley, 66, 240, 241, 242. 
 Chishall, Little, 28. 
 Churches, Images, etc., demolished in, 
 
 330, 331. 
 Clarke, Sir William, 300. 
 Claypole, Mrs., 337. 33?- 
 Clergy and proclamations, 51, 52 ; 
 reforming of the, 315-7 ; offences 
 of, 318, 319 ; and the Puritans, 
 322-4 ; scenes at ejections of, 
 326-8. 
 Coggeshall, 260, 261. 
 Colchester, 32, 95, 109, 261, 299; tumult 
 at, 25 ; scenes at, 63, 64 ; Fairfax's 
 
Index, 
 
 401 
 
 attack upon, 261, 262; valorous 
 Royalist defence of, 263 ; siege of, 
 269 et seq. ; condition of besiegers, 
 271 ; desperate condition of the 
 besieged in, 281 ; surrender of, 
 282, 283 ; sequestrators at, 306. 
 
 Commission of Array, 62, 63, 3C». 
 
 Communion rails pulled down, 25. 
 
 Compounders, 303, 304. 
 
 Compounding Committees, see Seques- 
 trators. 
 
 Coney, Sir Sutton, 298. 
 
 Coningsby, Thomas, 19, 87. 
 
 Coppingford, The King at, 226. 
 
 Corbet, Miles, 229; his trial and 
 execution, 347-9. 
 
 Cottenham, 307, 309, 310, 327, 328. 
 
 Cotton, Sir John, 38, 59, 301. 
 
 County Committees, see separate 
 counties. 
 
 Cowper, Sir Wm., 291. 
 
 Crane, Mr., Sheriff of Cambs, 33, 34. 
 
 Crane, Sir Robert, 65, 66. 
 
 Cratfield (Suffolk), 47, 372. 
 
 Crawford, Major-General, 152, 175. 
 
 Crimplesham, 226, 229. 
 
 Cromwell, Bridget, 338. 
 
 Cromwell, Sir Henry, 5, 44. 
 
 Cromwell, Henry, 116, 117, 339, 340. 
 
 Cromwell, Henry (son of Sir Oliver), 
 58, 217, 220, 339. 
 
 Cromwell, Henry (of Biggin?), 212. 
 
 Cromwell, Jane, 351. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, Birth, education, and 
 marriage of, 6 ; at St. Ives, 7, 8 ; 
 his removal to Ely, 8 ; early life of, 
 13 ; confessions of, 14 ; member for 
 Cambridge, 15; Hampden's pre- 
 diction of, 17 ; his resolution con- 
 cerning the Grand Remonstrance, 
 29 ; seizes College plate at Cam- 
 bridge, 56-9 ; authorized to hold 
 Cambridge, 61 ; Captain of Horse, 
 71 ; at Edgehill, 72 ; arrests the 
 Sheriff at St. Albans, 87; Colonel 
 of a Regiment, 90; his ride 
 into Norfolk, 93 ; suppresses 
 Royalists at Lowestoft, 93, 94 ; at 
 King's Lynn, 94 ; relieves Crow- 
 land, 106, 107, 108, 109 ; his strict 
 discipline, no, iii ; charge of in- 
 humanity against, ill ; in Lincoln- 
 shire, 113; meets, "Ca'ndishers," 
 116; takes Burghley House, 117, 
 118; defeats Cavendish at Gains- 
 borough, 119, 120; his rousing 
 letters, 121 ; appointed to the com- 
 mand of Cambs and Hunts Horse, 
 124 J at the siege of Lynn, 135 ; his 
 
 regiment of 1,000 horse, 139 ; joins 
 Fairfax at Hull, 142 ; at Winceby 
 fight, 144 ; at Ely Cathedral, 149, 
 150; his tolerance of opinions, 152; 
 loses his son Oliver, 154; at 
 Marston Moor, 159-61 ; letter to his 
 brother-in-law, 162; his quarrel with 
 Manchester, 168-76; charge against, 
 '75> 176; his attitude towards the 
 New Model Army and unity, 
 188-90 ; takes the Queen's colours, 
 197 ; in the Isle of Ely, 198 ; at 
 Cambridge, 200 ; riding through the 
 Fens, 202 ; rousing his neighbours, 
 
 203 ; made Lieut. -General of Horse, 
 
 204 ; his march to Harborough and 
 welcome by a * mighty shout,' 205 ; 
 his victorious charge at Naseby, 
 206 ; his dispatch from the battle- 
 field, 207 ; * Old Ironsides,' 208 ; 
 his valour recognized by Parliament, 
 209; marches into the west, 211; 
 with the army at Saffron Walden, 
 235 ; meets the King at Childerley, 
 241 ; with the army at Thriplow 
 Heath, 243 ; and the Levellers, 25 1 ; 
 his victory at Preston, 282 ; his 
 character, 334-6 ; in Ireland, 344 ; 
 character of his troops, 356-8 ; 
 his own account of himself and his 
 troops, 358, 359 ; his policy, 361 ; 
 his administrative methods, 382, 383. 
 Cromwell, Mrs., 337. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, junior, 106, 338, 
 
 339 ; death of, 154, 169. 
 Cromwell, Sir Oliver, 5, 44. in, 139. 
 Cromwell, Oliver (son of Sir Philip), 
 
 44, 339. 
 Cromwell, Sir Philip, 44. 
 Cromwell, Richard, Protector, 340, 
 
 351. 
 
 Cromwell, Robert, 5. 
 
 Cromwell, Robina, 328. 
 
 Cromwell, Thomas, 339. 
 
 Crowland, 100, 222, 263, 264, 268, 
 300, 370; first siege of, loi et seq. ; 
 captured by Parliament, 107; retaken 
 by the Royalists, 177 ; Eastern 
 Counties' troops march to, 178; 
 again besieged, 179 ; Royalist re- 
 lieving force defeated, 179 ; special 
 ordinance for, 179, 180; forts erected 
 around, 180 ; surrounded by lx)ats 
 and recaptured by Parliament, l8i ; 
 fortification of the church at, 197 ; 
 ordinance for securing, 212. 
 
 Croyland, see Crowland. 
 
 Cutts, Sir John, 34, 66, 74, 24 d. 
 
 Cutts, Lady, 241. 
 
 26 
 
402 
 
 Index. 
 
 Dacres, Sir Thomas, 68. 
 
 Dalbier, Colonel, 275 ; slain at St. 
 
 Neots, 277. 
 Dallison, Sir Charles, 48, 49. 
 Deeping, Market, 200. 
 Denton (Lincolnshire), 179. 
 Dereham (Norfolk), 254. 
 Dereham, Thomas, 300. 
 Desborough, John, Major- General, 14, 
 
 113, 169, 174, 212, 257; his career, 
 
 351,352. ^ 
 Desborough, Samuel, 14, 352-4. 
 D'Ewes, Sir Symonds, 20, 70, 
 Docwra, Captain, 57 ; Henry, 299. 
 Dodson, Major, 53, 106, 118, 141 ; 
 
 Colonel and Governor of Crowland, 
 
 197, 212, 222. 
 Downhall, Mr. (of St. Ives), 8. 
 Downham (Isle of Ely), 67, 309. 
 Downham (Norfolk), 135 j Charles I at, 
 
 225-32. 
 Dowsing, William, 330, 331. 
 Dunstable, Cavaliers at, 157, 158. 
 
 Earith, 223, 226. 
 
 East Anglia and Bishop Wren, 26 ; 
 and 'No Popery,' 27; the Compact 
 of, 79 ; popular rising of, 81-5 ; re- 
 cruiting in, 164; Puritans of, 191, 
 196 ; Royalist risings in, 252 ; 
 Puritan revolt of, 312-14; Puritan 
 horsemen of, 360. 
 
 Eastern Counties and Puritanism, 2 ; 
 proclamations in, 52 ; troops of, at 
 Edgehill, 72 ; forces of, march 
 to Cambridge, 88-90, 99, 100 ; 
 Royalist designs upon, I15 ; re- 
 organizing forces of, 125, 126; the 
 King's design to march through, 
 140 ; forces of, again march to Cam- 
 bridge, 147; "Remarkable Mercies" 
 in, 153 ; Royalist advance towards 
 the, 157 ; troops of, at Marston 
 Moor, 159, 164; forces mustering 
 for Naseby, 202 ; forces at Naseby, 
 206 ; reserves of, 208 ; final triumph 
 of their forces, 209 ; alarms in the, 
 215 ; sending forces to Newark, 223 ; 
 thanksgiving in, 224 ; Fairfax's army 
 in, 237 ; ' scandalous ministers ' in, 
 315; committees for reforming them, 
 317, 396-8 ; contributions from the, 
 373-5 ; supplies from, 380, 381 ; 
 communication with, 383, 384. 
 
 Eastern Counties Association, The 
 formation of, 78, 80; subscribing 
 to it in the counties, 81-5 ; ordered 
 to raise 20,000 men, 130 ; army of 
 15,000 strong, 153 ; jealousy of, 155 ; 
 
 army of, at Marston Moor, 165 ; 
 army of, at Huntingdon, 167 ; against 
 marching w^estwards, 172, 173; the 
 King's designs upon, 183 ; integrity 
 of the, 190 ; conference of, and the 
 New Model, 192-5 ; Trained Bands 
 of the, 198 ; Grand Committee of 
 the, 90, 98, 99, 125, 130, 177, 198 ; 
 letters from and to the Com- 
 mittee of the, 118, 119, 121, 
 132, 145, 172, 200, 201, 213; 
 finances of the, 375, 376 ; lists of 
 County Committees in the, 382-9. 
 
 Edgehill, Battle of, 72. 
 
 Elm, 139. 
 
 Elmham, North (Norfolk), 372. 
 
 Eltisley (Cambs), 169. 
 
 Ely, II, 13, 113, 115, 203, 363; 
 Cromwell's house at, 10 ; Great 
 Tithe Barn at, 1 1 ; scene in Market- 
 place at, 53 ; Cromwell at, 133 ; 
 Cromwell and the Cathedral service 
 at, 149 ; Royalist plot to secure, 
 158 ; Charles I at, 226 ; Parlia- 
 mentary Sequestrators at, 307 ; letters 
 from, 308, 309 ; orders as to the 
 Cathedral, 332. 
 
 Ely, Isle of, 72, 77, 112, 113, 124, 
 284 ; petition from the, 41 ; soldiers 
 in the pulpits of, 175 ; defence of 
 the, 197 ; Cromwell to be Governor 
 of, 198 ; ammunition sent into the, 
 199 ; Cromwell recruiting in, 202 ; 
 ordinance for securing, 212 ; Charles I 
 passing through, in disguise, 226 ; 
 passes into the, 259 ; safety of the, 
 267 ; sequestrators in, 308 ; contri- 
 butions of, 373 ; supplies from, 380. 
 
 Emneth, 139. 
 
 Essex, Sheriff of, and Ship-money, 20 ; 
 soldiers of, 25 ; petitions from, 31, 
 46 ; soldiers of, and their Captains, 
 74 ; how the men came in from, 131, 
 132, 134, 143, 379; the King's 
 forces to march into, 140 ; forces of, 
 for Naseby and at Cambridge, 208, 
 221 ; the County and the Army, 233 ; 
 the Clergy and the Army in, 235 ; 
 petition from, 246, 255 ; Royalist 
 rising in, 258, 259 ; Committee 
 of imprisoned, 258, 271-3, 282; 
 Trained Bands of, 261, 283 ; soldiers 
 of, at the siege of Colchester, 268 ; 
 the 'Essex Lions,' 270; Puritanism 
 of, 312 ; Royalist clergy in, 320 ; 
 contributions of, 373, 375, 376 ; list 
 of County Committee of, 385 ; 
 ' Malignant Priests ' in, 397, 398. 
 
 Essex, Earl of, 73, 115, 122 ; appointed 
 
Index, 
 
 403 
 
 Lord General for Parliament, 69 ; 
 
 his march against the King, 70, 71 ; 
 
 his speech to his soldiers, 71 ; his 
 
 Army in the West, 155 ; defeat at 
 
 Lostwithiel, 168. 
 Exeter, Mr. (of Soham), 326. 
 Eynesbury, 223. 
 
 Fairfax, Sir Thomas, in Hull, 140 ; 
 defeats the Royalists at Selby, 155 ; 
 at Marston Moor, 162 ; appointed 
 commander-in-chief for Parliament, 
 195 ; asks for Cromwell to have 
 command of the Horse, 203 ; 
 welcomes Cromwell at Market Har- 
 borough, 205 ; with the Army at 
 Saffron Walden, 235 ; in Essex, 
 260, 263 ; besieging Colchester, 
 268 ; takes Colchester, 282. 
 
 Falkland, Lord, 29, 142, 342. 
 
 Fanshawe, Sir R. and Lady, 343-5. 
 
 Farre, Captain, 47 ; Colonel, 258. 
 
 Fen Drayton, 91, 92. 
 
 Fenmen, The, 77, 126 ; valour of, 122. 
 
 Fens, The, 113; defending passes, 
 etc., in, 115, 125; the 1648 rising 
 in, 268. 
 
 Fleetwood, 113, 237, 256. 
 
 French, Dr. Peter, 328. 
 
 Gainsborough, Battle of, 119, 120. 
 Gawsell, Gregory, 174, 374. 
 Godmanchester, 220, 221 ; bailiffs of 
 
 and the King, 215 ; plunder of, by 
 
 Cavaliers, 218. 
 Gransden, Hunts, 325. 
 Grantham, 180. 
 
 Graveley (Herts), The King at, 225. 
 Grey, Lord, of Wark, 96, 97, 100, 125. 
 Grimston, Harbottle, 27, 64, 269, 270. 
 
 Hacker, Colonel, 1 79 ; execution of, 
 
 347. 
 Hadham Hall (Herts), 68, 271, 342. 
 Halstead, 239, 260. 
 Harlackenden, Sir William, 1 32, 134, 
 
 259. 
 Hampden, John, 10; death of, 114; 
 
 influence of, 115, 142; Cromwell 
 
 and, 358, 359. 
 Harrison, Sir John, 343. 
 Harwich, 269. 
 Haselrigg, Sir Arthur, 174. 
 Hatfield, Charles I at, 249. 
 Hatfield House, 273. 
 Hemingford (Hunts), 323. 
 Hertford, 27, 53. 
 Hertfordshire, Scenes in the churches 
 
 of, 25 ; petition against grievances 
 from, 27 ; Charles I in, 31 ; petition 
 from, 32 ; arrest of Sheriff of, 87 ; 
 forces of, at Hitchin, 147 ; Com- 
 mittee's letters from, 157 ; Charles I 
 in, 224, 249 ; pursuit of Royalists 
 through, 273 ; Colchester prisoners 
 in, 283 ; contributions of, 373, 374, 
 376 ; Committee of, 386 ; " Malig-. 
 nant Priests " in, 398. 
 
 Heveningham, Sir Wm., 80, 350. 
 
 Hewitt, Sir John, 297. 
 
 Hill, Dr. (of Coveney), 53. 
 
 Hinchinbrook, 5, 43, 44, 169, 240. 
 
 Hingham (Norfolk), 28. 
 
 Hitchin, 14s, 147, 171, 273, 299 J 
 yeomen rising at, 157, 158. 
 
 Hobart, Sir John, 63, 267. 
 
 Hobart, Colonel Sir Miles, 106, 107, 
 117. 
 
 Holdsworth, Dr., 28, 96. 
 
 Holland, Earl of, 273, 275 ; taken 
 prisoner at St. Neots, 276, 277 ; his 
 execution, 341. 
 
 Honeywood, Sir T., 259, 261, 268, 
 272. 
 
 Homcastle, 144. 
 
 Horsey Bridge, Pass of, 177. 
 
 Hudson, Michael, 224, 225, 227 ; his 
 tragic end, 264. 
 
 Hull, Siege of, abandoned, 145. 
 
 Hunstanton, 184, 284, 285, 293, 294. 
 
 Huntingdon, 61, 88, 98, 148, 177, 
 '97» 307, 371 ; Mayor's speech, 29; 
 Charles I at, 40, 58 ; Cromwell at, 
 1 10, 119, 120, 129, 199, 2CX); 
 Committee's letter from, 117; 
 Association Army at, 168, 170, 171 ; 
 King's forces opposed at, 214 ; His 
 Majesty's entry and reception, 215 ; 
 his letters from, 216 ; plundering of, 
 by the Cavaliers, 218, 219; the 
 King's departure from, 221 ; his 
 return to, with Comet Joyce, 240. 
 
 Huntingdonshire, Sheriff" of, and Ship- 
 money, 19, 22, 23 ; petitions from, 
 28, 42 ; divisions in, 43, 44 ; the 
 Montagues and the Cromwclls in, 
 44 ; publishing the King's proclama- 
 tion m, 52 ; Royalists in, 58 ; added 
 to the Eastern Association, 113; 
 defending the passes into, 115; 
 plundered by Cavaliers, 219 ; alarms 
 in, 223 ; tumults in, 273 ; seques- 
 trators in, 307, 310 ; contributions 
 of, 373t 375. 376; supplies from, 
 380 ; Committee of, 386 ; *' Malig- 
 nant priests " in, 397. 
 
 Hussey, Sir Edward, 297. 
 
404 
 
 Index, 
 
 Ickleton, 25. 
 
 Independents, The, 171, 175, 176, 189, 
 224, 234, 248, 250, 314; army of, 
 
 Ipswich, 109, 389 ; scenes in the 
 churches at, 26 ; letter from, 306. 
 
 Irby, Col. Sir Anthony, 107. 
 
 Ireland, Massacres in, 29. 
 
 Ireton, Quarter-Master-General, 170, 
 171, 237, 288. 
 
 Ironsides, The, 113, 131, 223 ; at 
 Marston Moor, 160, 161 ; Captains 
 of, 212 ; evolution of, 360, 361 ; 
 final tribute to, 361, 362. 
 
 Jermey, Sir Arthur, 371. 
 
 Jermyn, Thomas, 297. 
 
 Jermyns, The, of Rushbrooke Hall, 257. 
 
 Jocelyn, Giles, 20, 266. 
 
 Kimbolton, Lord, 31, 35, 42, 58. 
 
 King, The, see Charles I. 
 
 King's Lynn, 32, 51, 61, 69, 112, 122, 
 131, 133. 153, I77> I97» 212, 215, 
 229, 268, 284, 294, 295, 364; 
 Cromwell disarming Royalists at, 
 94; siege of, 134; capture of, from 
 Parliament, 138; plot to recapture, 
 184-6 ; strengthening the garrison 
 of, 198 ; imprisonment of members 
 for, 296. 
 
 Kirtlington, 314. 
 
 Laud, Archbishop, 96, 312. 
 
 Lavenham (Suffolk), 239 ; contributions 
 and soldiers furnished by, 81-3. 
 
 Lawrence, Henry, 7, 340, 354. 
 
 Leete (or Leet), John, 310, 386. 
 
 Leete, William, 14, 352, 353. 
 
 Leigh's Park, 259, 301. 
 
 Le Strange, Lady Alice, and her 
 account -keeping, 293-6. 
 
 Le Strange, Sir Hamon, 113, 131, 284, 
 293-6 ; secures King's Lynn, 131 ; 
 befriends the Royalist prisoners, 285. 
 
 Le Strange, Roger, The King's com- 
 mission to, 184, 185 ; his plot to 
 retake King's Lynn, 186; his trial 
 and defence, 187. 
 
 Lilburne, John, 250. 
 
 Lincoln, 120, 177; the King at, 48, 
 49; taken by the Earl of Man- 
 chester, 156; Association Army at, 
 167 ; Royalists at, 273. 
 
 Lincolnshire, The Militia of, 45, 46, 
 .48 ; the King's visit to, 48, 49 ; 
 Volunteers training in, 51 ; Cavaliers 
 of, loi ; joined to Eastern Associa- 
 
 tion, 143 ; Danes landing in, 148 ; 
 Royalist petition from, 151 ; Cava- 
 liers overrunning, 214 ; Royalist 
 rising in, 263 ; effects of the War 
 in, 370, 371 ; contributions from, 
 373j 374, 376; supplies from, 380, 
 381 ; Committee of, 386, 387. 
 
 Lindsey, Earl of, 48, 72. 
 
 Linton (Cambs), Royalist rising at, 
 265 ; Parliamentary victory at, 267. 
 
 Lisle, Sir George, 262 ; execution of, 
 283, 341. 
 
 London, City of, and the Army, 238 ; 
 excitement in, 246 ; letters to and 
 from, in Guildhall Committee, 305-8 ; 
 Goldsmiths' Hall Committee of, 303. 
 
 Loughborough, Lord, 259. 
 
 Lowestoft, Skirmish at, 93, 94. 
 
 Lowry, John, 161, 301. 
 
 Lucas, Sir Charles, 132, 140, 259-62, 
 269, 279; execution of, 282, 341. 
 
 Lucas, Sir John, 63, 140. 
 
 Luke, Sir Oliver, 378. 
 
 Luke, Sir Samuel, Governor of Newport 
 Pagnell, 181 ; letters from and to, 
 176, 178, 179, 182, 183, 190, 191, 
 196, 204, 357, 377, 378. 
 
 Lynne, Elizabeth, mother of Crom- 
 well, 5. 
 
 Maddingley (Cambs), 241. 
 
 Manchester, Henry, Earl of, 44, 75. 
 
 Manchester, Edward, second Earl of, 
 75 ; Commander of the Association 
 forces, 123, 125, 130; at the siege 
 of Lynn, 134 ; joins Cromwell and 
 Fairfax in Lincolnshire, 143 ; at 
 W^inceby fight, 144 ; at Cambridge, 
 147, 148 ; besieges Lincoln, 155 ; 
 at Marston Moor, 1 59-64 ; his quarrel 
 with Cromwell, 168-76 ; his letter 
 from Huntingdon, 168 ; his defence 
 to the charges of apathy, 173, 174; 
 his absence in the West, 178 ; his 
 view of the Association forces, 190 ; 
 apathy of, 191 ; resigns his Com- 
 mission, 197 ; as Speaker of the 
 Lords, 243 ; his good-nature, 306 ; 
 reforming the clergy, 315-7 ; his 
 character and services, 350, 351 ; 
 proceedings of his Commission, 392. 
 
 Manchester, Countess of, 148. 
 
 Mandeville, Lord, see Kimbolton. 
 
 Marshall, Stephen, 15 ; his career, 354, 
 
 , 355. 
 
 Marston Moor, 159. 
 
 Martin, Dr., 68. 
 
 Maynard, Lord, and the soldiers, 24, 25, 
 
Index. 
 
 405 
 
 Melbourn, Cambs, Riots at, 21, 22. 
 Melford, Long, 65 ; riots at, 66. 
 Mildmay, Sir Henry, 179, 193, 20I, 
 
 306, 307. 
 Militia, The King's refusal of, 35, 37 ; 
 
 Parliament's Ordinance for, 44. 
 Montague, Edward, 15, 44, 71, 169, 
 
 174, 212, 273, 350, 351, 371. 
 Montague, Sir Sidney, 44, 75. 
 Moulton, St. James, 369. 
 
 Needham Hall, Cromwell at, 138. 
 
 Newark, 112, 179, 195, 199, 209, 21 1, 
 214, 223, 300 ; the King at, 228, 231. 
 
 Newbury, Battles of, 141, 173, 342. 
 
 Newcastle, The Earl of, 99, 113, 115, 
 120-2, 141, 191; the ' Whitecoats ' 
 of, loi ; holding of Lincolnshire 
 by, 140 ; his defeat at Marston Moor, 
 160 ; his army, 359. 
 
 Newell, George and Sir Gervase, 
 298. 
 
 Newmarket, 114, 2CX), 257, 258; 
 Charles I at, 37, 225, 242, 247 ; 
 Fairfax's army at, 239, 240 ; skirmish 
 at, 265, 266 ; signs and wonders 
 near, 364. 
 
 New Model Army, The, 189, 190, 192, 
 196. 
 
 Newport Pagnell, 145, 147, 176, iSl, 
 182, 204, 377, 378 ; John Bunyan 
 at, 196. 
 
 Newton, John, 297. 
 
 Nicholas, Sir Edward, 30. 
 
 Norfolk, Sheriff of, and Ship-money, 
 20 ; watching the bridges in, 63 ; 
 prisoners taken in, 94 ; petition 
 from, 172; Charles I in, 226; peti- 
 tion of, 246 ; Royalist prisoners in, 
 284, 285 ; Puritanism of, 312 ; con- 
 tributions from, 373, 374, 376; 
 supplies from, 380 ; Committee of, 
 381, 388. 
 
 Norris, Sir John, 145, 
 
 North, Sir Dudley, 43, 45, 50, 66, 74 ; 
 his wife and children, 34. 
 
 North, Henry, 192. 
 
 North, Lord, 33. 
 
 North, Sir Roger, 118. 
 
 Northborough Deeping, 337. 
 
 Norwich, 80, 93, 94, 130, 131 ; clerical 
 utterances there, 27, 28; held for 
 Parliament, 61 ; Volunteers of, 88 ; 
 Maidens' Troops of, 130; arresting 
 the Mayor of, 253 ; fighting and 
 tragic scenes at, 253-5 ; orders as 
 to Cathedral, 332. 
 
 Norwich, Earl of, 258, 259, 261, 279. 
 
 OfTord Cluny (Hunts), 340. 
 
 Oley, Barnabus, 56, 325. 
 
 Osbaldeston, Henry, D.D., 323. 
 
 Oxford, Charles I at, 85 ; his Parlia- 
 ment at, 152 ; his escape from, 224 ; 
 seizing the artillery at, 240. 
 
 Packer, Colonel, 152. 
 
 Page, Mr., Royalist parson, 323. 
 
 Palgrave, Colonel, 116, 117, 192. 
 
 Parliament and Militia, 40 ; first army 
 of, 70 ; reverses of, 1 22 ; and 
 Cromwell's successes, 123 ; and the 
 Army, 234, 246, 287 ; Commissioners 
 of, 242, 243 ; assessments by, 291 ; 
 and the Royalists, 292 ; agents of, 
 376 ; finances of, 377. 
 
 Parliamentary cause, The, 4. 
 
 Peckover, Edmund, 355, 356. 
 
 Pelham, Furneaux (Herts), 73. 
 
 Pelham, Edward, 298. 
 
 Peterborough, 41, 106, ICD9, 116, 131, 
 199, 203 ; Cromwell and the Cathe- 
 dral, 109, no; Cromwell at, 122. 
 
 Peters, Hugh, Execution of, 346. 
 
 Pickering, Captain, 15 1, 170, 174, 265, 
 266. 
 
 Piggott, John, Royalist, 302. 
 
 Pinckney, Captain, 184, 377, 378. 
 
 Popish innovations, 196. 
 
 Presbyterians, 189, 224, 234, 248, 250, 
 
 314. 
 Pritchard, Jane, 301. 
 Priests, " First Century of Scandalous 
 
 and Malignant," 396-8. 
 Prince Charles at Royston, 35; at 
 
 Cambridge, 36-8 ; at Worcester, 344, 
 
 351- 
 
 Protestation, The, 27. 
 
 Puritans, The, 4; first victorious charge 
 of the, 112 ; singing psalms in battle, 
 144 ; their joy at Naseby, 206 ; the 
 revolt of, 312 ; the conscience of, 
 322 ; of New England, 352. 
 
 Puritanism and Parliament, 320, 356. 
 
 Pychard, Thomas, 19, 20, 391. 
 
 Pym and the petitions, 32. 
 
 Queen, The, 72, 99, 115, 128, 197, 
 247 ; and the Catholics, 313. 
 
 Ram, Mr., parson of Spalding, 102 et 
 
 seq. 
 Ramsey, Cromwell at, in, 112. 
 Recruiting for Naseby, 202. 
 Red coats for soldiers, 132, 379, 380. 
 Remonstrance, The Grand, 29. 
 Rich, Lord, 301, 302. 
 Ripton Regis, Parson of, 325. ' 
 
4c6 
 
 Index, 
 
 Rival proclamations, 44, 51-3. 
 
 Kivers, Countess, 64 ; her adventures, 
 65, 66. 
 
 Romford, 133. 
 
 Rossiter, Colonel, 178, 221, 273. 
 
 Rowe, Dr., 26, 321. 
 
 Rowe, Sir William, 145 ; his letters 
 from Cambridge, 146. 
 
 Royalists, Taxing the, 292-4, 297 
 et seq. 
 
 Royston, Charles I at, 35, 225, 248, 
 249 ; Prince Charles' letter from, 35, 
 36 ; Cromwell at, 205 ; Army at, 
 243, 244 ; Army's letter to the City 
 from, 244, 245 ; resenting the King's 
 execution at, 288, 289. 
 
 Rupert, Prince, 115, 145, 158; his 
 challenge to Cromwell, 159 ; at 
 Marston Moor, 160, 161 ; at Naseby, 
 206 ; defeat at Bristol, 223. 
 
 Russell, Frank, 169, 201, 212, 248. 
 
 Russell, John, 67, 297. 
 
 Saffron Walden, 208, 299 ; Army con- 
 ferences at, 234-7. 
 St. Albans, 34, 70, 147 ; Mayor of, 
 
 arrested, 53 ; Sheriff arrested at, 
 
 87 ; Earl of Essex's army at, 148 ; 
 
 Charles I at, 225, 249; Fairfax's 
 
 army at, 247 ; Army officers in 
 
 Council at, 286, 287. 
 St. Ives, 28, 98, 223, 227 ; Cromwell 
 
 at, 7-10, 199 ; Cavaliers at, 181. 
 St. John, Mrs., 13. 
 St. Neots, 169, 220, 223, 273 ; defence 
 
 of, 148 ; battle of, 275-8. 
 St. Osyth, 64. 
 Scots, The, 26, 151, 195. 
 Scroope, Col. Adrian, 273, 276, 277. 
 Scroope, Sir Jervase, 48, 73. 
 Self-denying Ordinance, The, 189, 197, 
 
 209. 
 Sequestrators, 293, 297, 299-301, 303, 
 
 310. 
 Shimpling (Suffolk), Contributions and 
 
 soldiers from, 83, 84. 
 Ship-money, 18, 21, 22, 88, 93. 
 Skegness, 69. 
 Skippon, Major-General, 45, 206, 237, 
 
 238. 
 Skipworth, Ralph, 226, 229, 230. 
 Soham (Cambs), 265, 323; parson 
 
 ejected from, 326. 
 Soldiers, Condition of, 190, 191 ; arrears 
 
 of pay, 213. 
 Solemn League and Covenant, The, 
 
 142, 151 ; instance of taking the, 
 
 365-7. 
 " Souldiers Pocket Bible," The, 126-9. 
 
 Southwell, 225. 
 
 Spalding, 102, 105, 107, 112, 122, 
 369, 370 ; seizing the parson of, 104. 
 
 Sparrow, Colonel, 259, 267. 
 
 Stamford, 39, 41, 60, 99, 116, 183, 369, 
 370 ; Mayor's speech to Charles I at, 
 29 ; taking of Burghley House, near, 
 117, 118; seized by Cavaliers, 177 ; 
 Cavaliers defeated at, 21 1 ; Alderman 
 of, made prisoner, 212 ; Charles I 
 at, 214, and again in disguise, 227, 
 228, 230 ; Hudson and Styles' rising 
 at, 264. 
 
 Stanstead, 133. 
 
 Staughton, Great, 169. 
 
 Sterne, Dr., 68. 
 
 Steward, Sir Thomas, 8. 
 
 Stilton (Hunts), 214, 221. 
 
 Stone, Richard (Sheriff), 39, 57, 301. 
 
 Stowmarket, 257. 
 
 Strafford, Execution of, 27. 
 
 Stretham, 321. 
 
 Styles, Mr., of Crowland, 102 et seq., 
 263 ; his escape, 264. 
 
 Styles, Captain Thomas, 103, 109. 
 
 Sudbury, 100, 201, 239 ; scenes at, 65. 
 
 Suffolk and Ship-money, 20 ; prisoners 
 taken in, 94 ; Cromwell's letter to, 
 134, 143 ; letter to deputy-lieutenants 
 of, 200 ; sends troops to Naseby, 
 201 ; cost of forces of, 223 ; petitions 
 of, 246 ; passes into, 259 ; trained 
 bands of, 261 ; and the Second Civil 
 War, 268 ; forces of, at the siege of 
 Colchester, 268-70 ; sequestrators 
 
 of. 
 
 Puritanism of, 312 ; 
 
 Royalist clergy in, 320 ; contributions 
 of. '373. 374, 376 ; Committee of, 
 389 ; malignant priests in, 397. 
 
 Suffolk, Earl of, 23. 
 
 Sussex, Lady, Letters of, 34, 70, 75, 
 
 Swineshead (Hunts), 365-7. 
 
 Symonds, Richard, 220. 
 
 Taylor, John, sequestration agent, 307, 
 
 309, 327- 
 Thetford (Norfolk), 257, 364. 
 Thornton, Colonel, 265. 
 Thorold, Sir Wm., 297. 
 Thriplow Heath, 242, 243. 
 Trollop, Sir Thomas, 193. 
 Trumpington, Charles I at, 242. 
 
 Uxbridge, Treaty of, 189. 
 
 Vermuyden, Colonel, 199, 200. 
 Verney, Sir Edmund, 72. 
 Verney, Sir Ralph, 34, 
 Volunteers, 51, 62. 
 
Index. 
 
 407 
 
 Walden, Lionel, 298. 
 
 Waller, Sir William, 115, 155, 158, 
 
 167, 235, 236. 
 Walton, Captain, 162. 
 Walton, Colonel Valentine, 15, 56-9, 
 
 62, 71, 118, 162, 169, 229, 268, 
 
 335 ; Governor of Lynn, 186 ; 
 
 Cromwell's letter to, 162 ; his escape 
 
 and death, 349, 350. 
 Ware, 68, 248, 377 ; Charles I at, 30 ; 
 
 mutiny at, 250. 
 Waresley, 297. 
 Warwick, Earl of, 25, 65, 74, 255, 
 
 259, 301, 302. 
 Watford, 342. 
 Welby, Captain, 119. 
 Wentworth, Sir John, 93. 
 Whalley, Major, 113, 119, 242, 256, 
 
 259. 
 
 Wheathampstead (Herts), 225. 
 
 Whittlesea, 116, 268. 
 
 Willett, James, 28. 
 
 Willoughby of Parham, Lord, 45, 46, 
 48, 120, 143, 144 ; quarrel of, with 
 Manchester and Cromwell, 15 1. 
 
 Wilson, Arthur, Narrative of, 65, 66. 
 
 Winceby, Battle of, 144. 
 
 Windham, Thomas, 20. 
 
 Winthrop, John, 352. 
 
 Wisbech, icx), 106, 113, 115, 139, 197, 
 
 267, 268 ; Royalist prisoners in the 
 
 church at, 141. 
 Wistow (Hunts), 325. 
 Witchcraft, 353. 
 Witham (Essex), 28. 
 Wolph, Mr. (of Stamford), 227, 228. 
 Woodcroft House, 264. 
 Woolley (Hunts), 325. 
 Wren, Matthew, Bishop of Ely, 11, 
 
 26, 54, 196, 313, 314 ; information 
 
 against, 26 ; sent to the Tower, 30 ; 
 
 charges against him, 31 ; pursuit and 
 
 re-arrest of, 66, 167 ; his influence 
 
 with the clergy, 390, 391. 
 Wright, John, sequestration agent, 
 
 309. 310, 327. 
 
 Yarmouth, Great, 63, 93, 332 ; Volun- 
 teers of, 88 ; disturbances at, 278. 
 
 York, Mayor's speech, 29 ; Association 
 Army before, 156. 
 
 For County Committeemen, whose names are mentioned in the text as such, 
 and for Parishes from which Cambs Royalist clergy were ejected, see alphabetic 
 lists in the Appendices. 
 
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