Siege of Bristol, 23-26 July 1643
With the defeat of Parliament's western field army at Roundway Down, the King's council of war turned its attention to the great strongholds of Bristol and Gloucester. Prince Rupert marched from Oxford with three brigades of foot, two of horse and a formidable train of artillery to join with Sir Ralph Hopton's Cornish army and lay siege to Bristol, which was second only to London as a major port. The Royalist armies met before Bristol on 23 July. The Parliamentary governor, Colonel Nathaniel Fiennes, refused the call to surrender and Rupert's artillery began bombarding the city on 24 July. Bristol was defended in two rings: a series of forts connected by walls and an inner defence around the city centre. Many of the defences were incomplete, however, and Colonel Fiennes had only 1,800 troops to defend the walls. While Prince Maurice and the Cornish commanders were in favour of mining the walls and a full siege, Rupert and the Oxford commanders were convinced that the undermanned defences would fall to a storming assault.
On the morning of 26 July 1643, Rupert launched an attack from two directions. On the southern side, the Cornish infantry were repulsed with great loss of life, including the commanders of all three of their assault columns. On the northern side, where Rupert led the assault, the outer defences were breached by Colonel Washington (great-uncle of George Washington). With Prince Rupert inside the city defences, Colonel Fiennes called for a truce and a parley. The Parliamentarians were running short of ammunition and the citizens of Bristol were unwilling to risk the destruction of their city. Fiennes surrendered that night and marched his troops out next morning, leaving his ammunition, arms and sixty cannon. He was later court-martialled for incompetence and sentenced to death, though the sentence was remitted.
Prince Rupert's capture of Bristol marks a high point in the Royalist war effort.
Siege of Gloucester, 10 August-5 September 1643
After the fall of Bristol, Prince Maurice and Lord Caernarvon were sent to attack remaining Parliamentarian towns in the south-west while King Charles took his main Oxford army to besiege Gloucester. The city was the last Parliamentarian stronghold between Bristol and Lancashire; its capture would secure the routes to England from the Royalist recruiting grounds in Wales.
The King expected Gloucester to surrender when he summoned the city on 10 August, but the governor, Colonel Massey, was defiant and the citizens worked to strengthen its defences. Rejecting Prince Rupert's plan to take it by storm, the King's army settled down to a long siege. This had a galvanising effect on London, where the mood had grown gloomy from so many Royalist successes around the country. Inspired by the resolution of Colonel Massey and the defenders of Gloucester, Londoners flocked to the colours. Three new regiments of foot and one of horse were raised to march with the London Trained Bands to the relief of Gloucester. Commanded by the Earl of Essex, the London regiments set out from Hounslow Heath on 22 August. Fending off attacks by Prince Rupert and Lord Wilmot, Essex led his troops to Gloucester in his most brilliant campaign of the war. The King withdrew his army on Essex's approach and Gloucester was occupied on 8 September. Essex had arrived in the nick of time - Massey's small garrison of 1,500 men was down to its last three barrels of gunpowder.
Aldbourne Chase, Berkshire, 18 September 1643
After the relief of Gloucester, the Earl of Essex was faced with the task of bringing his army home to London. The King's army was in the field and Prince Rupert was eager to fight. If Essex's army could be defeated as decisively as Waller's had been at Roundway Down, London would be left defenceless. Essex withdrew from Gloucester to Tewkesbury. On 15 September he made a feint northwards towards Worcester then swung south suddenly and made a night march to Cirencester, where he scattered the Royalist garrison and captured a convoy of provisions bound for Oxford. Prince Rupert rode in pursuit of Essex ahead of the main Royalist army and intercepted him at Aldbourne Chase near Swindon on 18 September, making an attack on the Parliamentarian left flank that forced Essex to leave the main London road and slowed down his march. Through wet, windy conditions, Essex's army marched doggedly towards Newbury, but Rupert's action at Aldbourne had slowed him enough for the main Royalist army to occupy Newbury ahead of him, blocking the London road and forcing a battle he had hoped to avoid.
First Battle of Newbury, Berkshire, 20 September 1643
The Royalist army of around 8,000 foot and 6,000 horse was commanded by King Charles in person with his Lord General the Earl of Forth as his chief of staff, Prince Rupert commanding the horse and Sir Jacob Astley commanding the foot. The Earl of Essex had 10,000 foot and 4,000 horse. Both armies had around 20 artillery pieces, including a number of heavy guns.
Although the Royalists had arrived at Newbury ahead of the Parliamentarians, Essex secured the best ground, deploying infantry and artillery under Major-General Skippon on Round Hill which dominated the battlefield. The whole area was intersected with lanes and hedgerows, which seriously hampered the superior Royalist horse. The vital task of dislodging Skippon fell to Sir Nicholas Byron's brigade of foot, supported by his nephew Sir John Byron's cavalry. During several assaults on Round Hill, Byron's cavalry briefly succeeded in gaining the summit but were unable to hold it when Skippon committed his reserve regiments of Trained Band infantry. Byron later blamed the Royalist foot, who had "play'd the poltroons extremely" and refused to advance in support of his cavalry. To the south of Round Hill, the main body of Prince Rupert's cavalry routed Sir Philip Stapleton's horse but were unable to dislodge the Parliamentarian infantry. Skippon stabilised the Parliamentarian centre and brought up his guns to engage the Royalists in an intense artillery duel, said to have been the fiercest and most sustained of the whole war. The resolution of the London Trained Band regiments, who endured pounding by Royalist artillery and repeated cavalry attacks, saved the day for the Parliamentarians.
By nightfall, both armies were exhausted and neither had gained a clear advantage. The Royalists still blocked the road to London; Prince Rupert and Sir John Byron were in favour of continuing the battle the next day, but King Charles ordered a withdrawal to Oxford. This came as a surprise to the Parliamentarians, who had also expected the battle to continue. The King was appalled at the carnage; around 3,500 men were killed at Newbury including the senior Royalists, Lord Caernarvon and Lord Sunderland. Most painful of all to the King was the death of Viscount Falkland, his Secretary of State, who rode deliberately to his death on Round Hill, in despair at the horror of civil war.
Around midday on 21 September, Essex resumed his march to London. Prince Rupert disrupted Essex's withdrawal with an attack on his rearguard, during which Sir Philip Stapleton rode up to Rupert and fired point-blank in his face. Fortunately for Rupert, the pistol failed to go off. Parliamentarian musketeers fended off Rupert's attack and Essex's army withdrew to Reading. Deciding that the town could not be held, Essex evacuated the garrison there and continued on to London. At the head of his battered army, he arrived home to a hero's welcome on 28 September.