BattlefieldsDonnington Castle Second Parliamentary Siege 1644
English Civil War

Donnington Castle Second Parliamentary Siege 1644

1644
England
Era
English Civil War
Battle Type
Pitched Battle
Location
England
Status
Unregistered
The Combatants

Who Fought

Defeated
Parliamentary
Forces
Parliamentary combined armies of Essex, Manchester and Waller
VS
Victor
Royalist
Forces
Royalist field army under Charles I
Outcome
Royalist strategic success; Charles I retrieved the Donnington cannon; Parliamentary armies failed to prevent him; the episode contributed to the Parliamentary crisis of command that led to the Self-Denying Ordinance and New Model Army.
The Battle

History & Significance

Parliamentary forces besieged Donnington Castle for the second time in the autumn of 1644, surrounding it with siege works after the Second Battle of Newbury. However Charles I marched from Oxford in November 1644 and retrieved his cannon from Donnington under the noses of three Parliamentary armies, a remarkable Royalist coup that humiliated the Parliamentary commanders.

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