Charles I Wins Cropredy Bridge: Last Royal Victory
King Charles I personally led a Royalist cavalry charge that defeated a Parliamentarian force at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge in Oxfordshire on June 29, 1644. Sir William Waller's Parliamentarian army had been pursuing Charles across the Midlands when part of it crossed the Cherwell River at Cropredy Bridge and was cut off by Royalist counterattacks. Charles's horsemen recaptured the bridge and two artillery pieces, inflicting several hundred casualties. The battle is notable as the last military action personally won by an English king on English soil. However, the tactical victory was meaningless in strategic terms: Cromwell had already won the decisive Battle of Marston Moor on July 2, 1644, giving Parliament control of northern England. Charles was executed on January 30, 1649.
June 29, 1644
382 years ago
Key Figures & Places
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