He still possessed about one-third of the kingdom. From Oxford he
extended his sway almost without interruption to the extremity of Cornwall:
North and South Wales, with the exception of the castles of Pembroke and
Montgomery, acknowledged his authority; and the royal standard was still
unfurled in several
[Footnote 1: See Rushworth, v. 928-932; vi. 228; Guthrie, 162-183; Baillie,
ii. 64, 65, 92-95; Clarendon, ii. 606, 618; Wishart, 67, 110; Journals,
vii. 566; Spalding, ii. 237.]
[Sidenote a: A.D. 1645. March 25.]
[Sidenote b: A.D. 1645. April 4.]
towns in the midland comities.[1] But his army, under the nominal command
of the prince of Wales, and the real command of Prince Rupert, was
frittered away in a multitude of petty garrisons, and languished in a state
of the most alarming insubordination. The generals, divided into factions,
presumed to disobey the royal orders, and refused to serve under an
adversary or a rival; the officers indulged in every kind of debauchery;
the privates lived at free quarters; and the royal forces made themselves
more terrible to their friends by their licentiousness than to their
enemies by their valour.[2] Their excesses provoked new associations in the
counties of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, and Worcester, known by the
denomination of Clubmen, whose primary object was the protection of private
property, and the infliction of summary vengeance on the depredators
belonging to either army.
Pages:
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161