Colchester surrenders to Parliament

Historical Context Note

Andrew Hopper (The University of Leicester)

Ed. by Jacqueline Eales, Canterbury Christ Church University
The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

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Battle

Dates

Date of occurrence 1648-08-27

Places

England (Location)

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The surrender of Colchester during the second civil war marked a new vindictiveness in the treatment of defeated English royalists and has blotted the reputation for lenience of the parliamentarian commander-in-chief, Lord Fairfax. Both besiegers and besieged had suffered appalling conditions in a sodden and hungry siege lasting 75 days. On 27 August 1648, with no hope of relief and fearful of mutiny, the royalist commissioners negotiated a surrender. Afraid of being set upon by Fairfax’s vengeful soldiery, the commissioners submitted to harsh terms. Common soldiers and officers under the rank of captain were promised their lives, but officers over the rank of captain, lords and “gentlemen of distinction” (Jones, 129), were to submit themselves to Fairfax’s mercy.

Fairfax entered

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378 words

Citation: Hopper, Andrew. "Colchester surrenders to Parliament". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 May 2008 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=2350, accessed 22 November 2024.]

Colchester surrenders to Parliament

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