The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639–1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters under the Earl of Leven defeated the Royalists commanded by Prince Rupert of the Rhine and the Marquess of Newcastle.
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented commander, Fairfax led Parliament to many victories, including the crucial Battle of Naseby, effectively becoming military ruler of England, but he was eventually overshadowed by his subordinate Oliver Cromwell, who was more politically adept and radical in action against Charles I. Fairfax became dissatisfied with Cromwell's policy and publicly refused to take part in Charles's show trial. Eventually he resigned, leaving Cromwell to control the country. Because of this, as well as his honourable battlefield conduct and active role in the Restoration of the monarchy after Cromwell's death, he was exempted from the retribution that was exacted on many other leaders of the revolution.
Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron was an English nobleman and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648. He was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War.
The Battle of Nantwich was fought on 25 January 1644 in Cheshire during the First English Civil War. In the battle, Sir Thomas Fairfax in command of a Parliamentarian relief force defeated Lord Byron and the Royalists.
Marmaduke Langdale, 1st Baron Langdale was an English landowner and soldier who fought with the Royalists during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
Whinmoor is a residential area of east Leeds, West Yorkshire, England.
The First English Civil War took place in England and Wales from 1642 to 1646, and forms part of the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Three Kingdoms. An estimated 15% to 20% of adult males in England and Wales served in the military at some point between 1639 and 1653, while around 4% of the total population died from war-related causes. These figures illustrate the widespread impact of the conflict on society, and the bitterness it engendered as a result.
The Battle of Adwalton Moor occurred on 30 June 1643 at Adwalton, West Yorkshire, during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Royalists loyal to King Charles led by the Earl of Newcastle soundly defeated the Parliamentarians commanded by Lord Fairfax.
The siege of York in 1644 was a prolonged contest for York during the First English Civil War, between the Scottish Covenanter army and the Parliamentarian armies of the Northern Association and Eastern Association, and the Royalist Army under the Marquess of Newcastle. It lasted from 22 April until 1 July when the city was relieved by Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Rupert and Newcastle were defeated the next day at the decisive Battle of Marston Moor, and the siege resumed until the city was surrendered on easy terms on 16 July.
Cornwall played a significant role in the English Civil War, being a Royalist enclave in the generally Parliamentarian south-west.
The unsuccessful second siege of Hull by the Royalist Earl of Newcastle in 1643 was a victory for Parliament at the high point of the Royalist campaign in the First English Civil War. It led to the abandonment of the Earl of Newcastle's campaign in Lincolnshire and the re-establishment of Parliament's presence in Yorkshire.
Sir John Hotham the younger, known as Captain Hotham, was an English member of parliament and military commander who fought for the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War. He was executed for treason in 1645.
The Battle of Selby occurred on 11 April 1644 in North Yorkshire during the First English Civil War. In the battle, the Parliamentarians led by Lord Fairfax attacked and captured the strategic Royalist garrison of Selby under the command of John Belasyse.
The Battle of Montgomery took place during the First English Civil War of 1642–1646. On 17 September 1644, a Parliamentarian force commanded by Sir John Meldrum advanced to engage a Royalist army led by Lord Byron which was besieging Montgomery Castle in mid Wales. The battle was fought the next day. After the Royalists gained an initial advantage, the Parliamentarians counter-attacked and destroyed Byron's army.
The battle of Leeds took place during the First English Civil War on 23 January 1643, when a Parliamentarian force attacked the Royalist garrison of Leeds, Yorkshire. The attack was partly dictated by the need to maintain local support for the Parliamentarian cause; the Earl of Newcastle had recently shifted the balance of power in Yorkshire in the Royalists' favour with the addition of his 8,000-strong army, and sent one of his commanders, Sir William Savile to capture Leeds. The West Riding of Yorkshire relied on the cloth trade, and Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax sent his son, Sir Thomas Fairfax to bolster the defences of nearby Bradford, before agreeing to his request to attack Leeds.
The capture of Wakefield occurred during the First English Civil War when a Parliamentarian force attacked the Royalist garrison of Wakefield, Yorkshire. The Parliamentarians were outnumbered, having around 1,500 men under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax, compared to the 3,000 led by George Goring in Wakefield. Despite being outnumbered, Parliamentarians successfully stormed the town, taking roughly 1,400 prisoners.
The Battle of Tadcaster took place during the First English Civil War on 7 December 1642, when a Royalist force attacked the Parliamentarian garrison of Tadcaster, Yorkshire, which was held by between 900 and 1,500 soldiers under the command of Ferdinando Fairfax, Lord Fairfax. The Earl of Newcastle marched out of York on 6 December, and split his force of 6,000 into two; he took 4,000 infantry down the main York–Tadcaster road to attack the town from the east, while sending a deputy, the Earl of Newport, with a further 1,500 to circle around and trap the Parliamentarians by attacking from the north-west.
The battle of Piercebridge was fought on 1 December 1642 in County Durham, England, during the First English Civil War. The Earl of Newcastle was advancing with an army of 6,000 from Newcastle upon Tyne to York to reinforce the local Royalists. Aware of his approach, the Parliamentarians defended the main crossing over the River Tees, at Piercebridge. Under the command of Captain John Hotham, around 580 troops had barricaded the bridge.
The sieges of Bradford, were two very short-lived sieges that took place separately in the town of Bradford, Yorkshire, in December 1642 and early July 1643, just after the Royalist victories in Pontefract (1642), and the Battle of Adwalton Moor (1643) respectively. In the second siege, with the Parliamentarian forces dispersed to the west in and around Halifax, the Earl of Newcastle subjected Bradford to a brief siege to enforce rule and allegiance to the king.
The Battle of Sherburn in Elmet was an action fought towards the end of the First English Civil War. A detachment of the English Royalist army led by Lord Digby, King Charles I's Secretary of State, was making a belated attempt to reach Scotland and join forces with the Scottish Royalists. As they moved north through Yorkshire, they were pursued by a Parliamentarian force under Sydnam Poyntz. Poyntz was unaware of the Royalists' position, and the Royalists took the opportunity to ambush and attack a small Parliamentarian detachment at night in the village of Sherburn in Elmet. However, the Royalists then mistook fleeing Parliamentarians for their own men and panicked. In the ensuing flight, several hundred Royalist prisoners were taken. The Parliamentarians also captured Digby's coach, which contained much compromising correspondence.
