Civil War by Trevor Royle

Author:Trevor Royle [Royle, Trevor]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Great Britain
ISBN: 9780349115641
Google: W8ncHAAACAAJ
Publisher: Abacus
Published: 2004-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

It was rough and ready justice and it was meant to be. Fairfax understood the mood, and realising that he had to puncture it he acted decisively: in addition to the punishments recorded by Rushworth copies of the Agreement of the People were torn up and Leveller favours were ripped off uniforms. Seeing the public disgrace of the two Leveller regiments, and no doubt intimidated by the execution of the man whose fate was decided by lot, the others protested their innocence and reaffirmed their loyalty, shouting as they marched off the field, ‘The King and Sir Thomas!’ When the next two musters took place they passed off without incident and for the time being the army was loyal, and reconciliation replaced confrontation. There would be no widespread mutiny and the Army Council agreed that there would be no further attempts to negotiate with the king. It was a sensible solution which effectively side-lined the Levellers and put the revolt in its proper context. Those battle-hardened men were not mutinous by nature and most had excellent combat records but, freed from the need to fight, their minds had quickly turned to the equally pressing needs of peacetime and their own futures

At Ware the army’s unity was cemented and the influence of the Levellers was curbed. It was a timeous solution, because Cromwell and Fairfax had just received the extraordinary news that the king had gone missing — the information was probably also known to the men — and with him their main bargaining counter had disappeared. Four days earlier, Charles had disappeared into thin air at Hampton Court and no one, not even his guardian Colonel Edward Whalley, knew where he had gone. All that was left in his room were two letters, one thanking his custodians for their care and the other explaining that he needed the freedom to consider his options: ‘Let me be heard with Freedom, Honour and Safety, and I shall instantly break through the clouds of retirement, and show myself ready to be Pater Patriae.’

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