Arms and Armour

Charles I's journey from Oxford to the Scottish army camp near Newark

Charles I of England left Oxford, Oxfordshire on 27 April 1646 and travelled by a circuitous route through enemy-held territory to arrive at the Scottish army camp located close to Southwell near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire on 5 May 1646. He undertook this journey because military Royalism was all but defeated. It was only a matter of days before Oxford (the Royalist First English Civil War capital) would be fully invested and would fall to the English Parliamentarian New Model Army commanded by Lord General Thomas Fairfax (see Third Siege of Oxford). Once fully invested it was unlikely that Charles would be able to leave Oxford without being captured by soldiers of the New Model Army. Charles had been in contact with the various parties that were fielding armies against him seeking a political compromise. In late April he thought that the Scottish Presbyterian party were offering him the most acceptable terms, but to gain their protection and finalise an agreement Charles had to travel to the Scottish army that was besieging the Royalist-held town of Newark. When he had arrived there he was put under close guard in Kelham House. On 27 April, Charles had his tresses, his lovelock, and the peak of his beard clipped off by scissors. In this way, he no longer resembled the royal image popularized Anthony van Dyck's portraits. Charles' traveling companion Michael Hudson used an old pass to pose as an army captain heading for London. Charles used the alias of "Harry" while posing as a servant for his other traveling companion, John Ashburnham. He was wearing a montero cap to further change his appearance. The trio of travelers arrived at Hillingdon, where they discussed three potential options for further travels. They chose to head towards King's Lynn in Norfolk, which if it proved difficult to reach, or if no ships were available, left the Scottish option still open. After the king's disguise became known to others, he changed to another disguise. Charles dressed himself as a cleric and posed as Hudson's tutor. Crossing Lincolnshire during 3 and 4 May, the trio crossed the River Trent at Gotham, Nottinghamshire. On 5 May, Charles arrived at the King's Arms Inn in Southwell where he made his initial contacts with representatives of the Scottish forces.

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See also

• ▸Duchy of Neopatras
• ▸Book of Kells
• ▸Bedil (term)

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Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.