42-420: Robert Lilburne (1613–1665) was an English Parliamentarian soldier, the older brother of John Lilburne , the well known Leveller . Unlike his brother, who severed his relationship with Oliver Cromwell , Robert Lilburne remained in the army. He is also classed as a regicide for having been a signatory to the death warrant of King Charles I in 1649. He was forty-seventh of the fifty nine Commissioners . At
84-427: A contemporary authority's description of the crowd that gathered there: "They had the hair of their heads very few of them longer than their ears, whereupon it came to pass that those who usually with their cries attended at Westminster were by a nickname called Roundheads ". The demonstrators included London apprentices, for whom Roundhead was a term of derision, because the regulations which they had agreed to included
126-565: A long-standing personal dispute between Willis and Lord John Belasyse , another of its leaders. Frustrated by the lack of action, a second group known as the 'Action Party' was established, which consisted of middle-ranking country gentlemen and Royalist veterans of the First English Civil War like Sir Humphrey Bennet and John Penruddock , a Wiltshire landowner. They began planning another revolt to take place in early 1655, claiming support from Thomas Fairfax , former commander of
168-592: A number of Roundheads were members of the Church of England , as were most Cavaliers . Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist/socialist Diggers , the diverse group known as the Levellers and the apocalyptic Christian movement of the Fifth Monarchists . Some Puritans (but by no means all of them) wore their hair closely cropped round the head or flat. There was thus an obvious contrast between them and
210-547: A prominent London merchant with extensive interests in the West Indies , Major Thomas Alderne and Captain Henry Hatsell . Those transported included Marcellus Rivers and Oxenbridge Foyle who in 1659 submitted a petition to Parliament complaining about their treatment by the planters who had bought them. Rivers claimed one man, a Mr. Diamond of Tiverton, had been transported despite being 76 years old and merely having expressed
252-407: A provision for closely cropped hair. According to John Rushworth , the word was first used on 27 December 1641 by a disbanded officer named David Hide. During a riot, Hide is reported to have drawn his sword and said he would "cut the throat of those round-headed dogs that bawled against bishops"; however, Richard Baxter ascribes the origin of the term to a remark made by Queen Henrietta Maria ,
294-520: A wish to join the rebels. Although it is unknown whether Foyle returned to England, Rivers returned at The Restoration in 1660 when he petitioned for the exclusion of Martin Noell from the Act of Oblivion extended to Parliamentarians. This proved unsuccessful; despite previous accusations in 1658 of making illegal profits from transporting Royalist prisoners, Noell had protected himself by secretly funding Charles and
336-595: The April 1656 Treaty of Brussels , they agreed to provide military backing to restore Charles in return for support against France . The failure of Penruddock's Rising meant attention returned to assassinating Cromwell; Sexby organised an unsuccessful attempt by Miles Sindercombe to blow him up in 1656. Penruddock was tried for high treason in Exeter on 18 April 1655; he argued opposing Cromwell could not be considered treason, an argument supported by other senior legal officers, but
378-601: The Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy and the principle of the divine right of kings . The goal of the Roundheads was to give to Parliament the supreme control over executive administration of the country/kingdom. Most Roundheads sought constitutional monarchy in place of the absolute monarchy sought by Charles; however, at the end of the English Civil War in 1649, public antipathy towards
420-521: The Exclusion Crisis of 1678–1681, when the term was superseded by " Whig ", initially another term with pejorative connotations. Likewise, during the Exclusion Bill crisis, the term Cavalier was replaced with " Tory ", an Irish term introduced by their opponents that was also initially a pejorative term. Penruddock uprising Ireland Scotland Colonies The Penruddock Uprising
462-774: The Levellers , he was not present at the Corkbush Field rendezvous , the first of several meetings planned following the Putney Debates . Robert Lilburne's regiment marched, without orders, to the rendezvous in the hope of pressing the Levellers manifesto, the Agreement of the People , on the Army. The mutiny failed. Along with copies of the Agreement, the soldiers displayed in their hats papers showing
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#1732858545784504-461: The New Model Army , Leveller radicals like Edward Sexby and John Wildman , and moderate Presbyterians opposed to Cromwell. Hyde and Ormonde were sceptical of such claims and although some like Sexby did participate, the idea of widespread or significant support was largely imaginary, while Willis ensured Thurloe was informed of the details well in advance. Despite their opposition, the plot
546-464: The Levellers' slogan, " England's Freedom, Soldiers' Rights ". When an officer of the commander of the Army, Sir Thomas Fairfax approached them, members of Lilburne's regiment stoned and wounded him. Oliver Cromwell , then the second-in-command of the New Model Army, and some of his officers rode into their ranks and ordered them to take the papers from their hat bands. Cromwell had eight or nine of
588-735: The Protectorate . In 1654 he was appointed Governor of York and the next year he commanded the army units that put down the Sealed Knot uprising in York . In 1654 he was elected MP for County Durham in the First Protectorate Parliament . During the Rule of the Major-Generals (1656) he was deputy to John Lambert responsible for the day-to-day administration of Yorkshire and County Durham . He
630-607: The Protectorate and its reliance on the army. Although Penruddock and 11 others were executed, the majority received minimal punishment, while senior legal officers argued they were not guilty of treason, since it only applied to acts against the king. Shortly after Cromwell instituted the Rule of the Major-Generals , which dramatically increased the unpopularity of the regime. In 1654, plans were made for an English revolt to coincide with Glencairn's rising in Scotland , but an attempt to assassinate Cromwell known as Gerard's conspiracy
672-651: The Royalist party with Spanish Caballeros who had abused Dutch Protestants during the reign of Elizabeth I . However, unlike Roundhead, Cavalier was later embraced by those who were the target of the epithet and used by them to describe themselves. "Roundheads" appears to have been first used as a term of derision toward the end of 1641, when the debates in Parliament in the Clergy Act 1640 were causing riots at Westminster . The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition quotes
714-706: The Scottish army invaded England Lilburne defeated English Royalists, under the command of the Earl of Derby , at the Battle of Wigan Lane on 25 August 1651. This prevented them from joining the Scots on their march to defeat at the Battle of Worcester and the end of the English Civil Wars . In November 1651 he returned to Scotland as part of Major-General Richard Deane's army of occupation. In December 1652, Lilburne took over command of
756-722: The army in Scotland, but when he was not given promotion or the support he thought he needed from the Government in London to put down the Glencairn's uprising, he was happy to hand over command to General George Monck in early 1654. During the Interregnum although some officers said that he was too sympathetic to the Levellers and the Anabaptists , he supported Oliver Cromwell during first years of
798-598: The defeat of the Engagers at the Battle of Preston . In December 1648, Lilburne was nominated as one of the Commissioners at the trial of Charles I, he attended the trial and signed the king's death warrant. He also took part in the siege of Pontefract Castle , which held out against Parliament until March 1649. During the Third English Civil War he fought under Oliver Cromwell during his Scottish campaign, and when
840-565: The evening of the 12th, where they hoped to be joined by the Marquis of Hertford along with 3,000 to 4,000 recruits. Despite the presence of Hertford's personal chaplain, Humphrey Henchman , they failed to turn up and Penruddock led his small force into Dorset , heading for the Royalist stronghold of Cornwall . Pursued by troops under John Desborough , appointed 'Major General in the West' by Cromwell, they crossed into Devon on 14 March and stopped for
882-521: The king being then called Cavaliers , and the other of the rabble contemned and despised under the name of Roundheads ." After the Anglican Archbishop William Laud made a statute in 1636 instructing all clergy to wear short hair, many Puritans rebelled to show their contempt for his authority and began to grow their hair even longer (as can be seen on their portraits ) though they continued to be known as Roundheads. The longer hair
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#1732858545784924-486: The king was high enough to allow republican leaders such as Oliver Cromwell to abolish the monarchy completely and establish the Commonwealth of England . The Roundhead commander-in-chief of the first Civil War, Thomas Fairfax , remained a supporter of constitutional monarchy, as did many other Roundhead leaders such as Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester , and Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex ; however, this party
966-421: The men of courtly fashion , who wore long ringlets . During the war and for a time afterwards, Roundhead was a term of derision, and in the New Model Army it was a punishable offence to call a fellow soldier a Roundhead. This contrasted with Cavalier , a word used to describe supporters of the Royalist cause, but which also started out as a pejorative term. The first proponents used it to compare members of
1008-473: The more truculent of Lilburne's troopers arrested, tried at an improvised court-martial, and found guilty of mutiny. Three ringleaders were sentenced to death and, having cast lots, Private Richard Arnold was shot on the spot as an example. Despite this incident, Fairfax appointed Lilburne Governor of Newcastle-upon-Tyne . During the Second English Civil War , Lilburne joined Cromwell and Lambert in
1050-727: The night in South Molton . Around 10 pm, they were attacked by 60 troopers from the Exeter garrison led by Captain Unton Croke ; after a brief skirmish, most of the Royalists surrendered, including Penruddock. Wagstaffe avoided capture and managed to make his way back to the Spanish Netherlands . Sexby was another who escaped to Flanders where English exiles were given shelter by the Spanish; in
1092-653: The north. Targets included the ports of Hull , Newcastle and Carlisle , along with co-ordinated risings in Nottinghamshire , Cheshire and the Royalist heartland in the West Country . Rochester was accompanied by Sir Joseph Wagstaffe , a professional soldier of fortune who served under the Parliamentarian leader John Hampden before switching sides in January 1643; when the First English Civil War ended in 1646, he
1134-437: The organisers actually belonged to a loose network sometimes referred to as the 'Action Party'. They counted on support from Presbyterian opponents of the Protectorate , disillusioned Leveller radicals and disaffected elements within the New Model Army , including its former commander Thomas Fairfax . These hopes proved unfounded, while the Protectorate was aware of the preparations well in advance. A series of uprisings
1176-653: The outbreak of the First English Civil War Lilburne joined the Roundheads . He served under Edward Montagu (the son of Earl of Manchester ) and by 1644 had attained the rank of captain. He then raised a regiment of horse in County Durham which became part of Lord Fairfax's Northern Association army. He joined the New Model Army and was promoted to colonel of a regiment. Although like his brother John, his sympathies like those of his regiment lay with
1218-432: The town and took several prisoners, including John Dove , a regime loyalist who was High Sheriff of Wiltshire ; Wagstaffe wanted to execute him for refusing to proclaim Charles II but was over-ruled by Penruddock. Taking Dove with them, the rebels left Salisbury next morning, having doubled their numbers to around 400 by emptying the local jails and marched west through Blandford and Sherborne . They reached Yeovil on
1260-424: The wife of Charles I, at the trial of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford , earlier that year. Referring to John Pym , she asked who the roundheaded man was. The principal advisor to Charles II , Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon , remarked on the matter, "and from those contestations the two terms of Roundhead and Cavalier grew to be received in discourse, ... they who were looked upon as servants to
1302-443: Was a Royalist revolt launched on 11 March 1655, intending to restore Charles II to the throne of England . It was led by John Penruddock , a Wiltshire landowner who fought for Charles I in the First English Civil War ; intended as one of a number of co-ordinated risings, the others failed to take place and it was easily suppressed. Often described as planned by the Sealed Knot , a small group of senior Royalist conspirators,
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1344-470: Was a disastrous failure. As a result, a small group of aristocrats known as the Sealed Knot were given responsible for co-ordinating future Royalist activity in England , reporting to senior exiles Edward Hyde and the Earl of Ormond . One of its members, Sir Richard Willis , was later revealed to be a double agent working for Cromwell's spymaster, John Thurloe . Its effectiveness was further undermined by
1386-796: Was a major-general in the Royalist Army of the West. Wagstaffe was sent to join Penruddock, while Rochester co-ordinated the northern uprising. Pre-warned, government troops had already secured Hull and Newcastle; on 8 March, fewer than 150 men assembled on Marston Moor outside York and were quickly dispersed by soldiers under Colonel Robert Lilburne , brother of Leveller radical John Lilburne . A number of senior Royalists were captured, including Sir Henry Slingsby , although Rochester and Armorer escaped abroad, as did O'Neill. Another group of 300 assembled at Rufford Abbey in Nottinghamshire but went home when their leaders failed to show up. The western revolt
1428-572: Was appointed to the Army's Committee of Safety and supported General John Lambert when Lambert marched to stop General George Monck marching on London. When that failed and the Restoration occurred Lilburne was arrested along with all the other regicides still living in Britain. On 16 October 1660 Lilburne was found guilty of high treason , and was sentenced to be hanged, drawn and quartered , but later this
1470-489: Was approved by Charles II who sent some of his most trusted advisors to co-ordinate. They included Daniel O'Neill and Nicholas Armorer , who were both arrested on entering England and held in Dover Castle , but escaped with the help of Royalist sympathisers within the garrison. A few days later, they were joined by the Earl of Rochester , a long serving and highly experienced Royalist cavalry leader responsible for raising
1512-638: Was commuted to life imprisonment. He died a prisoner on Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound in August, 1665. Lilburne married Margaret, daughter of Richard Beke of Hadenham, Buckinghamshire, with whom he had three sons who survived him. Roundhead Roundheads were the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Also known as Parliamentarians , they fought against King Charles I of England and his supporters, known as
1554-664: Was elected MP for the East Riding of Yorkshire in the Second Protectorate Parliament . However he opposed the offer of the crown to Cromwell and was uneasy with the constitutional arrangements of the later Protectorate. With the death of Oliver Cromwell, Lilburne did not support Richard Cromwell but instead supported the restoration of the Rump Parliament and the reinstatement of the English Commonwealth . He
1596-411: Was found guilty. Although his wife travelled to London to plead for his life, Cromwell refused to commute his sentence and he was beheaded on 16 May. Thirty-two others received the death sentence, of whom eleven were executed; the remainder were reprieved but transported to Barbados as indentured labourers along with seventy of those captured at South Molton. They were sold on behalf of Martin Noell ,
1638-409: Was intended to draw troops away from Kent and allow Charles to land at Dover; by 11 March, Penruddock and Wagstaffe were aware the other risings had failed but despite this decided to proceed. Their original objective was Winchester where the local assizes were being held; after learning its garrison had been reinforced, they targeted Salisbury instead. Having assembled around 150 men, they captured
1680-539: Was more common among the "Independent" and "high-ranking" Puritans, which included Cromwell, especially toward the end of the Protectorate, while the "Presbyterian" (non-Independent) faction, and the military rank and file, continued to abhor long hair. By the end of that period, some Independent Puritans were again derisively using the term Roundhead to refer to the Presbyterian Puritans. Roundhead remained in use to describe those with republican tendencies until
1722-511: Was outmanoeuvred by the more politically adept Cromwell and his radicals, who had the backing of the New Model Army and took advantage of Charles' perceived betrayal of England in his alliance with the Scottish against Parliament. England's many Puritans and Presbyterians were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the Independents . However,
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1764-470: Was planned throughout England on 8 March, most of which failed to take place. Three days later, Penruddock and Joseph Wagstaffe attacked Salisbury but without support elsewhere retreated into North Devon . On 14 March, a troop of New Model cavalry under Captain Unton Croke attacked the rebels in South Molton , and they quickly surrendered. Despite its failure, the Rising demonstrated the lack of support for
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