Oxford (Warburton, ii. 224). The addition of her little army to the royal forces, and the victories of the Cornish army under Hopton, enabled the king to take the offensive. On 18 July Rupert left Oxford; on the 23rd he appeared before Bristol and joined the Cornish forces, and on the 26th he assaulted the city and forced Fiennes to capitulate (ib. ii. 236–64; Seyer, Memoirs of Bristol, ii. 402). A fortnight later Rupert and the king laid siege to Gloucester (10 Aug.) The prince took an active part in the early part of the siege; towards its close he was sent with the cavalry to check Essex's march to the relief of the city, and attacked unsuccessfully the parliamentary vanguard at Stow-on-the-Wold on 4 Sept. (Warburton, ii. 280, 286; Bibliotheca Gloucestrensis, pp. 238, 257). In the pursuit of Essex on his return march he was more fortunate, and, by his attack on the parliamentary rear at Aldbourne Chase (18 Sept.), enabled the king to anticipate Essex in occupying Newbury. At the battle of Newbury Rupert's impatience prevented him from utilising to the full the advantages of his position. He led charge after charge on the London trained bands, but could not break their ranks, though he routed the horse which guarded their flanks. Whitelocke describes a personal encounter between Rupert and Sir Philip Stapleton, of which other authorities make no mention. On the next day Rupert attacked Essex's rearguard near Aldermaston, and, though beaten off, put them into great confusion (Gardiner, Great Civil War, i. 213, 219; Money, The Battles of Newbury, ed. 1884, pp. 46, 49, 55, 66, 71).
In October 1643 the king contemplated an attack on the eastern association, and appointed Rupert lieutenant-general of all forces raised or to be raised in Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire, and the eastern counties (28 Oct.); but the vigilance of the Earl of Essex prevented the execution of the design. Rupert made a plundering raid in Northamptonshire and Bedfordshire, but got no further (Gardiner, i. 243; Black, Oxford Docquets, p. 93). Equally abortive was a plot for surprising Aylesbury on 21 Jan. 1644; Rupert fell into a trap himself, and lost nearly four hundred men in his retreat (Gardiner, i. 275; Warburton, ii. 361).
On 24 Jan. 1644 Rupert was created Earl of Holderness and Duke of Cumberland, and about the same time he was given an independent command. The king constituted him captain-general of the counties of Chester, Lancaster, Worcester, Salop, and the six northern counties of Wales (6 Jan.), with power to appoint commissioners for the levy of taxes and troops (5 Feb.). Rupert left Oxford on 6 Feb. 1644, and established his headquarters at Shrewsbury (Black, pp. 125, 133, 136, 140; Warburton, ii. 366). From thence he was summoned on 12 March by the king's orders to relieve Newark, which was besieged by Sir John Meldrum [q. v.] Setting out at once, and, collecting seven thousand men from royalist garrisons in his line of march, he not only defeated Meldrum, but forced the besiegers to an ignominious capitulation (22 March), by which they abandoned their arms and artillery to avoid becoming prisoners (Rushworth, v. 306; Gamaliel Dudley, His Highness Prince Rupert's Raising of the Siege of Newark, 4to, 1644). In a letter to his nephew, Charles styles it a ‘beyond imaginable success’ and ‘no less than the saving of all the north,’ while Clarendon calls it ‘a victory as prodigious as any happened throughout the war’ (Warburton, ii. 397; History of the Rebellion, vii. 416). But the effects of the victory were slight. Lincoln, Gainsborough, and other towns, which were abandoned by the parliamentarians in consequence of the defeat at Newark, were recovered a couple of months later.
Rupert returned to Shrewsbury, and was immediately called to Oxford by the king to consult on the plan of the next campaign. His advice was that the king should reinforce the garrisons of Oxford, Wallingford, Abingdon, Reading, and Banbury with all the foot, leaving some horse in and about Oxford, and sending the rest of the horse to join Prince Maurice [q.v.] in the west. This defensive strategy the king resolved to adopt, but, unfortunately for his cause, other counsellors persuaded him to abandon it (Walker, Historical Discourses, p. 13; Warburton, ii. 410, 415). Rupert returned to Wales, collected his forces, and set forth to the assistance of the Earl of Derby and the Marquis of Newcastle, both of whom had sent him pressing appeals for help (ib. ii. 434). Defeating the parliamentarians at Stockport, he forced his way into Lancashire, stormed Bolton on 28 May, and captured Liverpool on 11 June (Ormerod, Civil War Tracts of Lancashire, p. 187, Chetham Soc. 1844). His desire was to complete the reduction of Lancashire, but the peremptory orders of the king obliged him to march at once to the relief of York. ‘If York be lost,’ wrote Charles on 14 June, ‘I shall esteem my crown little less; unless supported by your sudden march to me and a miraculous conquest in the south, before the effects of their northern power can be found here. But if York be relieved and you beat the
