Phase 2 - The Civil Wars, Commonwealth, Protectorate and Restoration

Towards the later stages of the reign of Charles I, the relations between king, parliament and proletariat had deteriorated so much, that the use of force to settle the issue was being seen as inevitable, and the factional support of the country became more and more polarised between monarchy, that is those who supported the King and his beliefs, and 'parliament', that is a grouping of interests with grievances, political and religious, against the king and his supporters, loosely grouped together and given voice in parliament

Given that Charles was an absolutist monarch (like most Stuarts he believed in the divine right of kings to rule) he tried to use parliament to his own ends - in this, he was supported by many, but by no means all, his 'noblemen' and by those of the population who tended towards adherence to the monarchy and 'catholic' belief

Parliament, at that time, was, therefore, 'loaded' to provide support to the king, and this annoyed those who felt disenfranchised, due to their more 'protestant' beliefs (of which there were many sects both religious and secular), those who disagreed with the concept of divine right, those who resented the arbitrary raising of taxes and those who just did not like the monarchy

As a result, the country 'tumbled' into war, and became a country with two capital cities, Oxford for the king, and London for the 'parliamentarians'

Neither side had a formal standing army to call on, but both sides attracted English officers and men who had been serving in Europe, and citizen armies formed on both sides according to their loyalties.

Parliament was able to call on the London 'trayned bands' and county militias who supported their cause, the forces of the king relied, in the main on county militias - both sides relied heavily on the citizenry and country people for the bulk of their forces

However, during the course of the early conflict, it became obvious to the parliamentary army council that regulation of their army was required, and that the army needed to be 'new modell'd' (that is, needing changes to make it more effective)

The first real regulations for the soldiery was produced ('The Souldiers Catechisme') and this laid down how the army should conduct itself from the lowliest private volunteer upwards in the hierarchy, and also laid down that a member of the parliament should not be a serving soldier - Cromwell, however managed to be both!

His cavalry force from the Eastern Association, became known as the 'Ironsides', as a result of their behaviour and conduct in and out of battle, and this nickname spread through the rest of the army as he assumed powers

Charles eventually was captured, tried and beheaded, but this did not stop the fighting - the Scots became involved (on both sides), adding to the political melting pot and helped the eventual outcome in favour of the 'parliamentarians'

The popularly used term, 'New Model Army', was a Victorian construct, and we use the term, the 'Ironside' army to refer to the army in the late protectorate and early restoration period (1655 onwards) - the term 'to model' or (to re-model) was used widely during this period to indicate that the soldiers were moved into an appropriate fighting formation to suit the prevailing situation in drill or battle, thus the re-organised Parliamentarian Army in 1645 was "new-modell'd", that is, it was re-organised

At the outset of the wars, there was little difference in style or organisation between the two armies, and what was new came via those officers and men who returned from fighting in Europe

Armour was still in use, (though it began to be less and less in evidence), the pike and sword were still the weapons of choice, and though muskets and pistols were available and became more of a favoured weapon as the fighting continued, they were in the minority in the early stages of conflict

Armour gave way to heavy fabric and leather, due to cost of repair and losses, and colours became more uniform - the men took to wearing the short 'cassock' (originally worn under the breast and back plates) - following the style of clothing adopted by the Swedish army of Gustavus Adolphus in his later campaigns in Europe

This garment, favoured in Spain and in the Dutch army (though the actual styles were different) gradually became longer, in order to afford some protection to the upper legs

To see figures which illustrate this period, please click the button for the period you require

'Uniforms' 1640 - 1655

The Restoration

Uniforms 1655 - 1684