Civil War: Aftermath

Infrastructure: Slighting of the Castles

Three days after its final surrender, Parliament ordered that Pontefract Castle should be slighted. “Slighting” was totally or partially demolishing the castle and its fortifications, so that it could not be reused in war, and to punish the ruling elite. During the Civil War and afterwards, more than 100 British castles and fortified houses were slighted by both the Parliamentarians and Royalists, preventing them from being used against them in the future. Most of the destruction was in Wales, the Midlands, and Yorkshire.

In West Yorkshire, the Parliamentarians also slighted the castles at Skipton, Sandal and Sheffield. At Skipton, Lady Anne Clifford was allowed to rebuild the castle after the war, providing that the new building work was cosmetic and not defensive, so the walls and towers were built too weak to support cannon. At Sheffield, so extensive was the slighting that no trace remained of what had once been one of the largest castles in Yorkshire.

Those castles which lay on the coast were spared as they may be required during an invasion.

Trial and Execution of King Charles

A vote was taken in Parliament on 5th December 1648, when the majority of MPs voted to continue negotiating with the King. However, Oliver Cromwell and the army opposed further talks and demanded action. In what was effectively a military coup, Cromwell’s soldiers removed Members of Parliament who supported continuing talks with the King, by standing outside the House of Commons and arresting or intimidating them. Consequently, only half of the men nominated to the High Court of Justice to try the King actually attended its proceedings, some of whom claimed that undue pressure had been brought to bear from Cromwell. The way was now paved to formally accuse King Charles of treason against England and of using his power in his own interest rather than that of his country.

…for accomplishment of such his designs, and for the protecting of himself and his adherents in his and their wicked practices, to the same ends hath traitorously and maliciously levied war against the present Parliament, and the people therein represented.

Multiple sources on the web

Charles refused to plead and quoted the Divine Right of Kings, insisting the trial was illegal. After three days, Charles was removed from the court and witness statements against him were taken in his absence. He was found guilty of treason and, on 26th January 1649, he was sentenced to death. Fifteen Yorkshire-men were among his judges.

On Tuesday 30th January 1649, King Charles was taken from St James’ Palace to the scaffold, which had been erected at the Palace of Whitehall. At about 2 pm, he put his head on the block and it was severed “with one clean stroke”. He was buried in private in the Henry VIII vault alongside the coffins of Henry VIII and his third wife, Jane Seymour, in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 9th February 1649.

Social Consequences

Deaths in the civil war included approximately 100,000 soldiers. As a direct consequence of the English Civil War, it has been estimated that about 180,000 people died in England from fighting, disease and deaths from injuries. About 3.6% of the population perished, compared to about 2.6% in World War 1. However, thousands more died in Scotland and tens of thousands more in Ireland. In total, it has been postulated that about 13% of the population of the British Isles may have died during the civil war period, compared to 3% in World War I.

Although the total death toll on the battlefield was low by the standards of World War I, it was easy for relatively minor wounds to become infected and lead to death from blood poisoning and gangrene. Some would have died from infections and some from their treatment, as amputation was treated by cauterisation with a red hot poker and musket wounds were treated with boiling oil…all administered without anaesthetic. The shock and pain would have been horrific.

The cramped conditions and lack of hygiene of the camps were a breeding ground for dysentery and cholera, scarlet fever and plague. Soldiers drank “stinking water”…they were “filthy and infested with lice”, and lice could carry deadly disease. Typhus decimated several sections of the armies and would be transmitted to the local population. Outbreaks of smallpox were also reported. It is likely that the higher frequency and spread of the plague from 1642 onwards was facilitated by a much greater occurrence of movement of goods and people between towns, as the soldiers moved from one location to another. See article on the plague for more local detail.

The effects of war would be generally higher in those places where the battles were actually fought and soldiers garrisoned. As soldiers moved into communities, the commanders would take over the best houses for their headquarters. Other soldiers would be billeted in the houses of the community or live in tented encampments. Both sides of the conflict took horses, food and other supplies for their armies. Families were subject to starvation when there was nobody to tend crops or else their produce was plundered by hungry soldiers. Taxes went up to pay for the war, so little money was available to buy produce, even if it was available. The main aim of ordinary people, each day, would be to find the next meal for their families.

In addition to the effects of malnutrition and deaths from direct involvement in the wars, persecution of some parts of the community took place. During the civil war, Catholics suffered at the hands of some of the most puritan of the Parliamentarian soldiers, who claimed to be fighting a crusade against Papists. In Parliamentary declarations, the House of Commons stated that Popery was a major issue and that it (Parliament) was acting ‘”to maintain and defend the true reformed Protestant religion against all Popery and Popish innovations”…consequently Catholics suffered more at the hands of the Parliamentarians than most other Royalists and resentment against Catholicism was to rumble on for centuries

However, once the wars ended, most people would try to return to their normal everyday lives…though religious differences continued and in West Yorkshire, they led to the Farnley Wood Plot, which is the subject of the next article.

Political Consequences

England was afterwards ruled under the “Commonwealth”, with Cromwell as Lord Protector. On his death in 1658, he was briefly succeeded by his son, Richard Cromwell. But the monarchy was to be restored with the invitation to the throne of Charles II, in 1660…though the Civil War had marked the end of the absolute power of the monarchy.

The Civil War also strengthened the army and allowed a new class of people to come into government. Protestantism now prevailed as the main religion of the country.

Thomas Lord Fairfax 1612-1671

What of parliamentary commander, Thomas Fairfax? Known as a “man of honour”, Sir Thomas Fairfax succeeded his father as 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron on Ferdinando’s accidental death in 1648. Also know as “Black Tom” because of his dark complexion, Thomas had been one of the most important commanders of the Civil War and became a hero to the people of Yorkshire.

Tom had fought many battles, always led from the front and was wounded 18 times, including being shot in the wrist at Selby and in the shoulder at the siege of Helmsley Castle.

In 1645, Parliament voted to appoint him Commander-in-Chief of the newly-formed New Model Army. Under his leadership, the New Model Army won every battle and siege.

He did not attend the King’s trial and, after the death sentence was passed on King Charles, Thomas Fairfax attempted to postpone the execution, which he opposed. He also declined to take part in Cromwell’s invasions of Ireland and Scotland. In 1650, he resigned as Commander-in-Chief and returned to his Yorkshire estate at Nunappleton.

In 1654, Fairfax was again elected MP for the newly created constituency of the West Riding in the First Protectorate Parliament, which sat until 22nd January 1655, where he opposed military rule. He returned once more to Parliament in 1659, after Oliver Cromwell’s death, to serve in the Third Protectorate Parliament. In time, Fairfax’s influence helped to secure the restoration of the monarchy and he provided the horse on which King Charles II rode to his coronation in 1660.

Increasingly Thomas suffered from arthritis and gout and by his fifties, Fairfax’s illnesses and wounds gradually led him to become confined to a wheelchair, which is now displayed at the National Civil War Centre, Newark. His wife died in 1665 and Thomas himself died at his estate at Nunappleton, after a short fever, on 12th November 1671, aged 59. He is buried at Bilbrough near York. Having a daughter but no sons, Fairfax was succeeded by his cousin Henry as 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.

© Christine Widdall updated September 2019

Bibliography

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