The Scottish Victory That Embarrassed King Charles I
By: Ryan Fan
Tags: World, History, Religion, Society, Politics

The Scottish Victory That Embarrassed King Charles I

When the Scots took Newcastle

Scots crossing the ford at the Battle of Newburn —James Grant, Public Domain

Three hundred eighty-one years ago, on August 28, 1640, Scottish Covenanters beat back the English at Newburn, a village just outside Newcastle. The Scottish Covenanter army of 20,000 people, led by Commander Alexander Leslie, defeated an English force of 5,000, led by Lord Conway. Both sides lost about 300 people, and the victory helped the Scottish occupy Newcastle.

The Battle of Newburn was a part of the Second Bishops’ War. Newcastle was a significant part of the River Tyne geographically because it provided the bulk of London’s coal supplies.

Background

Signing of the National Covenant in Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh. — Painting by William Allan, Public Domain

At the root of the Battle of Newburn was the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation created the Church of Scotland and the Presbyterian “kirk” in structure and Calvinism in doctrine.

Most Scots believed in a monarchy mandated by God but disagreed on what it meant for the monarchy to be well-run. They were separated into two categories: Covenanter and Royalist.

The Presbyterians were thoroughly divided from the Episcopalians. Elders ruled the Presbyterians. Supporters of a rule by the Presbyterian Church were called Covenanters. The Episcopals were governed by bishops, which were appointed by the King. Supporters of government by the monarch were called the Royalists.

Tensions were exacerbated in 1596 when King James VI wanted to take greater control of the Kirk, according to historian Tim Harris. He had a lot of hostility to the Scottish “Puritans,” and then made it a point to attend every General Assembly from 1597 to 1603. He banned “troublesome” ministers from the Assembly and then asserted royal control over the Assembly.

In 1600, the General Assembly met at Montrose, Scotland, to approve a scheme by the King: he could choose his commissioners to sit in Parliament. He persuaded the Kirk to agree to ecclesiastical representation in Parliament and wanted to add three bishops to Parliament. The Kirk refused to acknowledge the convention’s authority of the Montrose Convention, but James did not back down.

James VI would later become James I once the Scottish and English crowns were united in 1603. According to historian Jeffrey Stephen, his first step towards a centralized state was having a unified Church of Scotland and England. However, combining the Church of England and the Church of Scotland was extremely difficult due to theological differences.

Charles I would later be the King of England and Scotland, he tried to impose religious reforms on the Church of Scotland. According to historian J.D. Mackie, on February 28, 1638, the National Covenant in Scotland vowed to oppose any changes by Charles I. In December, the Kirk expelled the bishops.

The tension between the Royalists who supported Charles the Covenanters soon led to the First Bishops’ War in 1639. The Scottish army was very experienced and well-trained. The English army was not. According to historian Trevor Royle, the Covenanters defeated the Royalists at Aberdeenshire and cemented their control over Scotland.

Royle also noted that the English troops were mostly militia troops who were poorly-equipped and unpaid. Morale was extremely low as Charles levied his attacks on an Irish army in the west, a Scottish army in the north, and an English army in the south. His army lacked necessary supplies, and so needed to loot from areas they passed.

Lord Conway, who was the commander in the north, tried to reinforce Berwick-upon-Tweed if the Scottish army decided to invade England. Instead, Alexander Leslie led the Scottish military and went towards Newcastle-on-Tyre, the center of London’s coal trade.

The Battle

Monument commemorating the Battle of Newburn Ford — From Andrew Curtis on Wikipedia Commons

On August 27, 1640, Leslie’s army headed towards Newcastle with its 20,000 troops. It was well-defended from the north, so his army crossed the River Tyne at Newburn, a small village outside Newcastle. He chose this route to attack Newcastle from the south side, the unfortified side of Newcastle.

The next evening, on August 28, Lord Conway army arrived at Newburn with 1,000 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. Colonel Thomas Lunsford at Newburn was supervising defense building, and another Royalist, Sir Jacob Astley, who had 2,000 of his own soldiers.

The Royalist forces were outnumbered four to one, and they were in an indefensible position. According to Harris, Leslie had an artillery commander named Alexander Hamilton who placed his guns on high ground to the north, giving them a clear fire field on English and Royalist forces. Not only that, but the English could not fire back on Hamilton’s forces and guns.

Astley wanted Conway to retreat to the woods to nullify the threat of the artillery. His recommendation was refused. King Charles’s advisor, Lord Strafford, ordered Conway to stop the advance of Leslie’s army, so a battle was inevitable.

According to the English Heritage Battlefield Report, the battle started when Royalists shot a Scots officer around 1 p.m. The artilleries started dueling, and Hamilton’s guns quickly overwhelmed the defenses around the Newburn ford. English and Royalist forces abandoned their positions, and Scottish troops crossed the ford. The English attempted to counterattack with their cavalry, but their forces were driven back, and the Scottish captured commander Henry Wilmot.

According to Harris, at that point, both Conway’s cavalry and infantry had retreated, so Conway’s forces fled to Newcastle by early evening. The Scots and the English both suffered 300 casualties, and Leslie refused to pursue Conway’s forces.

The Scottish forces took Newcastle on August 30, 1640. Conway had retreated to Durham because he felt like his troops were too undisciplined. Not only that, but they had extremely low morale.

Legacy

Contemporary German print of Charles I’s beheading outside the Banqueting House, Whitehall — Public Domain

Charles had to make peace with the Scottish, and in the Treaty of Ripon in October. It was a significant setback for Charles I and had very humiliating terms. Charles would cede Northumberland and County Durham to the Scots, and Charles left Newcastle to the Scots. Charles also had to pay £850 for the Scottish soldiers to stay in Newcastle. The Treaty promised the Scots they would be reimbursed for their expenses during the war.

Parliament met in 1641 to discuss further negotiate and secure funds to pay the Scots. Charles, at the time, was losing on all fronts.

According to Royle, there was unrest in London, an Irish Rebellion, and a displeased Parliament. The Treaty of London got the Scots to evacuate Northern England after they were paid. Parliament and King Charles both agreed they had to suppress the Irish Rebellion, but, according to Tim Harris, they didn’t agree on how to stop it.

The tension from all these events would lead to the First English Civil War between Charles I and the English Parliament.

In Scotland, the Covenanters maintained control of the government and the Kirk. In 1643, the Covenanters made an agreement in the Solemn League and Covenant during the Civil War. The Covenanters promised their military support to Parliament under the condition that the Scottish form of government took hold in England. The Scottish Covenanters wanted to create a unified church of Scotland and England, one that was Presbyterian.

However, it didn’t work out for the Scots. Not that many people were Presbyterians in the Church of England. Historian John Rees documents a massive opposition by religious independents in England to any State Church. One opponent of the Solemn League and Covenant was Parliamentarian Oliver Cromwell.

History would turn out differently for the Covenanters. But the Scottish victory at the Battle of Newburn led to a significant treaty that embarrassed King Charles and helped contribute to the first English Civil War. Charles would be executed in 1649 during the Second English Civil War, with Oliver Cromwell as one of the prominent signatories.