‘The whole party of the King’s in this county being engaged, directly or indirectly, in this business’: Shropshire and the regional conflict in 1648

Abstract

Histories of the so-called ‘Second English Civil War’, fought during 1648, have concentrated on the main areas of military operations – the north-west and south-east of England, and south Wales. While these, ultimately, were the decisive theatres of war, the region encompassing the westerly midland shires of England – including Shropshire – and also northerly Wales has received much less historiographical consideration. However, from the outbreak of the first war in 1642 partisan support for King Charles I was widespread across this territory, and historians have categorised Shropshire as a strongly royalist county. In 1648 militant royalism re-emerged in Shropshire and elsewhere in opposition to the parliamentarian regime victorious by 1646. Parliament’s failure during the interwar period to achieve a constitutional settlement with the king, coupled to unpopular fiscal and governmental policies involving the maintenance of powerful armed forces, emboldened opponents to engage in armed revolt in 1648. However, royalist uprisings attempted across Shropshire’s region failed to achieve serious military momentum – all were either aborted or nipped in the bud by defeat in skirmishing by parliamentary action. This chapter re-evaluates this territorial conflict. Shropshire is central to the analysis, but given the association of events coverage extends to adjacent counties. While historians have tended to dismiss royalist insurgency as being uniformly ineffective, a more nuanced view is taken here. Shropshire is also considered as a case study of popular discontents with the parliamentary regime considered to have inflamed renewed national civil conflict in 1648.