220 Ch. 6 England and the Dutch Republic

Crowds watch Puritan soldiers leaving London, c. 1647. Note the “roundheads” and

the armed preacher urging them on.

They opposed the creation of a new established church and favored tolera­

tion of some religious dissent. Some of them even desired more far-reaching

political reforms that would protect individual rights. Cromwell’s rise to lead­

ership reflected the ascendancy of the Independents in Parliament.

Cromwell purged Presbyterian commanders within the New Model Army,

replacing them with Independents loyal to him. Singing psalms as they

rushed fearlessly into battle, Cromwell’s “Ironsides,” as his troops were

called, maintained an air of invincibility. In June 1645, the New Model Army

routed the royalists. Charles surrendered to the Scots a year later, hoping to

obtain a less draconian peace than if he capitulated directly to Parliament.

But the Scottish army soon withdrew from England and left the king in the

custody of Parliament in February 1647.

Radicals

As the war dragged on, England fell into virtual anarchy amid growing

resentment over the billeting of soldiers, food shortages, and rising prices.

The English Civil War unleashed forces that seemed to challenge the foun­

dation of social and political order. During the siege of royalist Oxford, a

hungry sentry called down to the besieging forces, “Roundhead, fling me up

half a mutton and I will fling thee down a lord!” At times the Roundheads