Cromwell had turned a potential stalemate into victory. For the royalists, however, the day was lost. A few hours later, after darkness had fallen, their survivors straggled miserably into York.
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That evening in July was a crushing blow for the royalist cause. With the Marquess of Newcastle fleeing into exile, and Prince Rupert heading south to rejoin his uncle, royalist power in the north of England had been effectively broken.
Finally, the White Coats were overrun and died in their ranks almost to a man, refusing to ask for quarter. It is said that only thirty White Coats survived the battle. The rest of the remaining Royalist Foot were dispersed, killed or captured. The battle was over by 9pm. The Parliamentary authorities claimed to have lost only men. This figure does not appear to have included Scots casualties.
Seymour discounts the figure and estimates the Parliamentary-Scots casualties at around 1, Parliamentary-Scots sources put Royalist casualties at 3, to 4, killed and 1, captured.
Many more deserted and left for their homes. Of these Sir Richard Gledhill suffered twenty-six wounds in the battle but managed to ride to his home in Norton Conyers in North Yorkshire the same night dying an hour after he arrived. The roads to York after the battle were described as being lined with dead and dying Royalist troops. Sir Thomas Glenham commanding the York garrison initially closed the city gates to ensure that no Parliamentary-Scots entered on the heels of the Royalist troops.
Prince Rupert arrived at the end of the column and the gates were opened. The day after the battle and after a hostile exchange with Lord Newcastle, Prince Rupert rode off towards Richmond in North Yorkshire with the remains of his cavalry. Surrender of the City of York on 2nd July The assembling of members for the Parliament at Oxford created a serious rival government to the House of Commons in London, which had trouble raising more than members itself, once war had begun. No European aid reached the king.
The Irish negotiations remained a hopeless muddle, and the thousands of Irish soldiers that Charles wanted would remain quite remote and useless. In the spring of , the Scots under Alexander Leslie, first Earl of Leven, were besieging Newcastle and had sent patrols as far south as Durham. Blocked in Lincolnshire by Cromwell and the Earl of Manchester, the northern Royalists under the Earl of Newcastle retreated into the walled city of York. Much of the cavalry was sent out to ride for Newark, where it reinforced a Royalist garrison that never surrendered until ordered to by Charles in Some 5, men were retained to defend York.
While the Royalist situation worsened in the north, in March Rupert suddenly curved across the middle of England to Newark, where he forced the surrender of 6, Parliamentary troops besieging the place under Sir John Meldrum. The whole of Lincolnshire again fell to the Royalists. The news from Newark brought new urgency to the deliberations of the Parliamentary Committee of the Two Kingdoms, which was trying to direct the war from Westminster.
Cromwell called up all the men he could muster and then firmly held East Anglia. Rupert returned to Oxford and in May he headed for Lancashire, where he intended to pick off Parliamentary garrisons before marching to the relief of York. On the other side of the Pennines, Rupert took over Stockport on May 25, and Bolton three days later.
At Bolton, 1, Roundheads were killed and the town was savagely sacked in reprisal for refusing to surrender-typical in the 17th century. Rupert measured the strength he would need to help relieve York, but he intended to take the town of Manchester first. Other events now impinged upon the campaign. Rupert had worked out a plan to defend Oxford with outlying garrisons, backed by a cavalry reserve in Oxford that could go to the aid of any endangered garrison.
Charles bolted out of Oxford with 3, cavalry on June 2 and headed for Evesham. Fortunately for Charles, Essex marched for the southwest in an attempt to occupy Cornwall, a departure that allowed the king to turn on Waller at Cropedy Bridge and win a substantial victory on June Charles, however, was disconcerted enough to have written a letter to Rupert on June 14 from Bewdley that caused Rupert to break off his Lancashire campaign and march for York.
By this convoluted sentence which gives us a glimpse of his muddle-headedness Charles implied that he could hold on in the south until Rupert had relieved York and won a great battle. Cromwell and his lieutenants knew Rupert was at Knaresborough on June On July 1, they faced west along the York-Knaresborogh road, pulling some of their forces back over a bridge of boats at Poppleton.
Rupert shot across the map like a line on a graph, crossing the Ure at Boroughbridge and the Swale at Thornton Bridge before dropping to the south, with the Ouse River protecting his right flank. That night he seized the bridge of boats at Poppleton and sent his messengers into York over the very trenches the Roundheads had so speedily abandoned. His infantry had marched more than 20 miles that day; the cavalry had ridden even farther. It was a remarkable piece of strategy, but the advantage gained was to be negated within a few hours.
The Roundheads drew off toward Tadcaster to guard the route to Newark and the south. Rupert had snatched a few hours of sleep in the Forest of Galtres. He then sent a peremptory message to the Marquis of Newcastle demanding he be present with his forces on the moor at 4 a. Newcastle was a patrician who had been born in ; he was a learned man-poets John Dryden and Ben Jonson were among his friends-but he made no claim to being a great general. Eythin had not covered himself with glory then, and now Newcastle was faced with the fact that this year-old nephew of King Charles was his Royalist commander.
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