[Illustration: CHURCH AND MARKET-HALL, MARKET HARBOROUGH.]
The last great contest of the Civil War, at which the fate of King
Charles was really decided, was fought nearly three years afterwards,
June 14, 1645, and but a few miles north-east of Edgehill, at Naseby,
standing on a high plateau elevated nearly seven hundred feet. The
Parliamentary forces had during the interval become by far the stronger,
and were engaged in besieging Chester. The king and Prince Rupert in May
left Oxford with their forces, and marched northward, hoping to raise
this siege. The king had gone as far north as Leicester, when, hearing
that Lord Fairfax had come from the borders of Wales and besieged
Oxford, he turned about to relieve it. His army was about ten thousand
strong, and, having reached Daventry in June, halted, while Fairfax,
leaving Oxford, marched northward to meet the king, being five miles
east of him on June 12. Being weaker than Fairfax, the king determined
on retreat, and the movement was started towards Market Harborough, just
north of Naseby. The king, a local tradition says, while sleeping at
Daventry was warned, by the apparition of Lord Strafford in a dream, not
to measure his strength with the Parliamentary army. A second night the
apparition came, assuring him that "if he kept his resolution of
fighting he was undone;" and it is added that the king was often
afterwards heard to say he wished he had taken the warning and not
fought at Naseby. Fairfax, however, was resolved to force a battle, and
pursued the king's retreating army. On June 13th he sent Harrison and
Ireton with cavalry to attack its rear. That night the king's van and
main body were at Market Harborough, and his rear-guard of horse at
Naseby, three miles southward. Ireton about midnight surprised and
captured most of the rear-guard, but a few, escaping, reached the king,
and roused him at two in the morning. Fairfax was coming up, and reached
Naseby at five in the morning. The king held a council of war in the
"King's Head Inn" at Market Harborough, and determined to face about
and give battle. The forces met on Broad Moor, just north of Naseby
village. Prince Rupert had command of the royal troops, and Sir Jacob
Astley was in command of the infantry. The king rode along the lines,
inspiriting the men with a speech, to which they gave a response of
ringing cheers. Cromwell commanded the right wing of Fairfax's line,
while Ireton led the left, which was opposed by Rupert's cavalry. The
advance was made by Fairfax, and the sequel proved that the
Parliamentary forces had improved their tactics. Rupert's troopers, as
usual, broke down the wing opposing them, and then went to plundering
the baggage-wagons in the rear. But fortune inclined the other way
elsewhere. Cromwell on the right routed the royal left wing, and after
an hour's hot struggle the royal centre was completely broken up.
Fairfax captured the royal standard, and the king with his reserve of
horse made a gallant attempt to recover the day. But it was of no use.
Fairfax formed a second line of battle, and the king's wiser friends,
seizing his horse's bridle, turned him about, telling him his charge
would lead to certain destruction. Then a panic came, and the whole body
of Royalists fled, with Fairfax's cavalry in pursuit. Cromwell and his
"Ironsides" chased the fugitives almost to Leicester, and many were
slaughtered. The king never halted till he got to Ashby de la Zouche,
twenty-eight miles from the battlefield, and he then went on to
Lichfield. There were one thousand Royalists killed and four thousand
five hundred captured, with almost all the baggage, among it being the
king's correspondence, which by disclosing his plans did almost equal
harm with the defeat. The prisoners were sent to London. A monument has
since been erected on the battlefield, with an inscription describing
the contest as "a useful lesson to British kings never to exceed the
bounds of their just prerogative; and to British subjects, never to
swerve from the allegiance due to their legitimate monarch." This is
certainly an oracular utterance, and of its injunctions the reader can
take his choice.