English Civil War Weapons

The English Civil War?

I’m doing a school project about the English Civil War. We are asked to research about what happened in the war. But we also need to research some other things.

1: Which side an individual on wasn’t really a matter of choice,except for the nobility and rich landed gentry.75% of the nobility fought for the King, 25% for Parliament. Two thirds of MPs fought for Parliament, the other third following Charles to his Civil War capital at Oxford, thus supporting the Royalists.

Support didn’t necessarily divide strictly along religious lines either. Lord Falkland, Lord Wilmott, and Sir Marmaduke Langdale were Puritans who fought for the King, and all were given senior military commands. No Catholics were allowed in Parliament’s armies, so they supported the king. Presbyterians generally supported Parliament at the start of the war, but were largely excluded from service in the New Model Army on its formation in April 1645.

As for the ordinary person, their allegiance depended on where they lived.If they were in a pro Royalist area – Wales, the southwest, Yorkshire and the northeast – they supported the Royalists.Areas controlled by Parliament – London,East Anglia, Lancashire and Sussex – had the support of those populations.

Some changed sides; Sir John Urry turned his coat at least 3 times during the war. Close friends fought against each other.Sir Ralph Hopton and Sir William Waller served together as mercenaries in the early stages of the Thirty Years War, and had been friends for over 20 years; they commanded opposing armies in the South west during the Civil War, but remained close friends, often writing to each other during “This war without an enemy” as Waller commented in one letter to his friend Hopton.

Weapons:
Infantry were armed either with a matchlock musket or a 16 feet long pike, in a ratio of about 50-50.A small number of musketeers were armed with the superior flintlock musket, but these were expensive and prone to break easily, so were relatively rare.

Cavalry ideally would wear back and breastplate,helmet, a buff leather coat and be armed with a sword and 2 pistols. One regiment in Parliament’s army, the Lobsters, wore three-quarter length full armour.

Artillery ranged from light guns called robinettes which needed only 2 horses to move, up to massive culverins, requiring anything up to 30 horses to move.All guns in an army were generally deployed in one place for a battle, and remained immobile throughout.

With less money and resources at the beginning of the war, the Royalists were forced to arm some of their infantry with clubs or bows for the early campaigns, and their cavalry sometimes lacked any armour at all.

Weapons effectiveness – artillery and muskets had a slow rate of fire, limited range,and were very inaccurate.The arm of decision was the cavalry; charging cavalry using shock tactics were the decisive troops in almost every Civil War battle.
Their major weapon was the sword, pistols being useless once fired (reloading them was a complicated process,impractical in combat).Cavalry troopers usually threw their pistols at the head of the nearest enemy (really!) after firing them.

Appearance – there were no standard uniforms, so the armies looked alike, being distinguished on the battlefield by different coloured sashes (crimson for Royalists, orange for Parliament) or even by a white piece of paper worn in the hat (as Parliament forces used at the battle of Marston Moor 1644).
Occasionally, a rich nobleman might outfit a regiment in a proper uniform, at his own cost. The Earl of Newcastle (the richest man in England) had 2 regiments known as the Whitecoats because they were outfitted in white uniforms.

3: Henrietta Maria:
The Queen went to Europe at the start of the war to raise money, buy arms,and enlist military support for the Royalist cause.However, the ongoing Thirty Years War in Europe meant that she was unable to persuade the King of Denmark, the Dutch, or even the French to send troops to help.One small cavalry unit of French volunteers, The Queen’s Lifeguard of Horse (about 200 men) were the only troops she could raise.
However, by pawning the Crown Jewels and heavy borrowing she raised enough money to buy considerable amounts of arms. These were shipped to England (convoyed by the Dutch navy), Henrietta landing with them at Newcastle early in 1643. She then organized and led a huge wagon convoy containing these arms to the main Royalist army at Oxford, Charles’ wartime capital.
She then returned to the continent to attempt to raise further support for the Royalist cause.

The best recent overview of the military aspects of the Civil War is

‘A Military History of the English Civil War’ by M.Wanklyn and F.Jones

which covers all the topics you ask about in some detail.

Burundi’s lethal leftover weapons

Soldiers of the English Civil War: Infantry, Weapons Logistics, Color Plates $10.17

Nova: Lincoln’s Secret Weapon [VHS] $19.95 …

Kay Boyle (Lannan Literary Video Series) VHS VIDEO (VHS Video) Lannan literary series. 1989. 1 videocassette (60 min.). “Kay Boyle, who has published more than 30 books in a rich career that stretches back to Paris in the 20’s, gives her final performance at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and is interviewed by Sean Wong”. Kay Boyle (February 19, 1902 – December 27, 1992) was an American writer, educator, and political activist. In later years K…

The Great Civil War Exposition and Living History Show $29.99 (1 VHS Video) Witness America’s past brought to life with the Great Civil War Exposition and Living History Show with Steve Gipson and John Mobley. Civil War historian, Steve Gipson, provides a fast-paced, often humorous, portrayal of one southern family’s difficult circumstances during the War Between the States. Gipson, a nationally recognized personality, enlists Chattanoogan, Mike Pleasant a…

Bulletstorm $3.45 Bulletstorm PC…

Transformers: War for Cybertron $5.40 Experience the legendary battle between the Autobots and Decepticons before their exodus to Earth in the untold story of the civil war for their home planet, Cybertron. Two distinct and intertwined campaigns chronicle the Autobots heroism in the face of total annihilation and the Decepticons unquenchable thirst for power. Play both campaigns in team-based online co-op, or go head-to-head in sever…