Pictured- our character King Charles II
Fifty years later, that struggle continued in Worcestershire, on the battlefield at Evesham in 1265, where Prince Edward defeated Simon de Montfort. During his brief 18-month rule, de Montfort had summoned what is widely recognised as England’s first representative parliament.
More than four centuries later, in the very city where King John was buried, Worcestershire once again became central to the struggle for liberty and representative democracy. In 1651, the Battle of Worcester, the final major battle of the English Civil War, helped reshape the constitutional relationship between the Crown and Parliament.
Battle of Worcester
On 3 September 1651, Worcester became the stage for the final clash of the English Civil Wars.
Royalist hopes rested on David Leslie, who led an army of around 14,000 Scots in support of King Charles II. Marching south through England, the Scottish army was seen as a foreign force and failed to gather the backing they had expected. By the time they reached Worcester, they faced overwhelming opposition from Oliver Cromwell’s New Model Army, nearly twice their size at 28,000 strong.
The battle was decisive. The Royalists were crushed, and with them, any remaining chance of restoring Charles to the throne by military means. Charles himself narrowly escaped capture, slipping into exile in France. For England, the Civil War was over.
The Escape of Charles II
Charles’s escape after the battle is one of the most dramatic episodes in the city’s history. As the Royalist defences collapsed around Sidbury, Parliamentary cavalry almost captured him. With Cromwell’s troops flooding through Worcester’s gates, escape seemed impossible.
Luckily for Charles, his headquarters lay close to St Martin’s Gate, and he managed to flee with Lord Wilmot and a small band of loyal followers. For the next six weeks he was on the run, with a £1,000 bounty on his head and a death sentence promised to anyone caught helping him.
Legend tells that during this time Charles hid in an oak tree to evade his pursuers – a story still remembered today as the “Royal Oak.” After sheltering in safe houses across the countryside, and a failed attempt to flee from Bristol, he finally reached the coast. From Shoreham, he escaped by boat to Fécamp in France.