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<DATE>2014-06-30</DATE>
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<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140511.apex.</ITEM>
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<STC T="T">E288_4</STC>
<STC T="C">R200093</STC>
<BIBNO T="umi">99860897</BIBNO>
<VID>113024</VID>
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<TEXT LANG="eng">
<FRONT>
<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
<PB REF="1" MS="y">
<P>A PERFECT RELATION of the taking of LEICESTER: With the &s;everall marches of the of the Kings Army &s;ince the taking thereof. Colonell <HI>Ha&s;tings</HI> being made the Governour. With the &s;tate of the Town at this pre&s;ent. And how they plunder the Countrey.</P>
<P>ALSO, How <HI>Northampton</HI> hor&s;e skirmi&s;hed with the Kings, and what lo&s;&s;e on both &s;ides. With the condition of both Armies, and their &s;everall rendezvouz fully made known.</P>
<LICENSE LANG="eng">
<P><HI>Publi&s;hed by Authority.</HI></P>
</LICENSE>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Iohn Wright</HI> at the &s;igne of the Kings-head in the Old-baily. 1645.</P>
</DIV1>
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<DIV1 TYPE="letter">
<PB REF="2">
<PB N="1" REF="2">
<HEAD>A perfect Relation of the taking of <HI>Leice&s;ter,</HI> and of the &s;everall marches and proceedings of the Kings Forces &s;ince the taking thereof.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>SIR,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_TO &s;atisfie your reque&s;t in your Letter touching the condition of Leice&s;ter, I have endeavoured to enforme my &s;elfe from the mo&s;t moderate and under&s;tanding men that were &s;ufferers in that generall lo&s;&s;e, and eye-witne&s;&s;es of the whole carriage of that &s;ad bu&s;ines, that are &s;ince fled hither for refuge. On Wedne&s;day at night <HI>May</HI> the 28. a &s;trong party of the Kings hor&s;e faced the Towne, and by quartering at the adjacent Villages hindred the &s;upplies from the Countrey. On Thur&s;day their Artillery were drawn up neere the Town, and by the direction of &s;ome malignants of the town, who had formerly gone out of it, or were put out, their great Guns were planted again&s;t &s;ome of the weake&s;t places of their workes: by Friday night they made wide breaches, which by the indu&s;try of the men and women of the town were &s;ome of them made up againe with Wool&punc; packs, and other materials; but the enemy pre&s;&s;ing hard upon them with their numbers, and that round about the towne they were hard put to it, the enemy being numerous without, and they but few within, and the workes very large; the line is neere three miles in compa&s;&s;e, the foot Souldiers in pay in the towne not exceeding 450, and the towne&s;-men in
<PB N="2" REF="3"> armes, with &s;ome of the Countrey that came in to their a&s;&s;i&s;tance made the &s;ouldiary about 1000 in all, who by rea&s;on of the &s;mall|ne&s;&s;e of their numbers, and the largene&s;&s;e of their workes, were enforced to duty Wedne&s;day, Thur&s;day, and Friday nights toge|ther, the enemy keeping them in con&s;tant alarms, which did &s;o tire out the towne&s;&punc; men that they were the more unfit for the re|fi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ting the furious enemy, though to give them their due they did as much as could be expected con&s;idering the oppo&s;ition, for the enemy had about 4000 foot, who &s;tormed in &s;o many places at once, that the defendants wanting re&s;erves were the ea<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">ilier over&punc; ma&s;tered. The &s;torme began about one of the clocke on Satturday morning <HI>May</HI> the 31. and la&s;ted at the walls about two howres, the enemy being all this while &s;trongly re&s;i&s;ted and lo&s;t many in the worke, they were three times beaten backe, but their hor&s;e who were behind the foot did force them on againe, about 20 &s;everall bodies of foot &s;torming at once, 200. or 300. in a place, and driven on by as many hor&s;e as oft as they were driven to retreat, and when they did breake in they were by ours driven back<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> againe untill oppre&s;&s;ed by multitudes, and entring in many places at once ours were driven to the market-place, where our hor&s;e that all this while had backed our foot, and kept them to their duty, now were them&s;elves put to it, and did behave them&s;elves re&s;olutely&punc; and held the fight in the Town almo&s;t an houre after, betaking them&s;elves to places of &s;trength, enforced quarter for their lives, and &s;ome of them e&s;caped, having gotten the enemies word (which was <HI>God and the Prince.</HI>) At their fir&s;t comming in they &s;laughtred many, untill ours had laid down their Armes and yeelded them|&s;elves pri&s;oners and then they fell to their plundering worke, and catching of men to be their pri&s;oners, executing their accu&s;tomed cruelty to men and women to finde out their money, and be&s;t goods. The Gentlemen of the Committee, Sir <HI>Robert Py<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">,</HI> and Major <HI>Enis</HI> were carried before the Princes to their Inne, who di&s;po&s;ed them to &s;everall hou&s;es as pri&s;oners, the two la&s;t upon their Paroll were &s;et at liberty to procure exchange, the Com|mittee are yet kept pri&s;oners in the towne many other Gentlemen of the Countrey and Officers of the garri&s;on were &s;ent with the be&s;t of the plunder to their &s;everall garri&s;ons of Newarke, Litch|field, and Belvore, 140 cart loads of the be&s;t goods and wares in
<PB N="3" REF="3"> the &s;hops were &s;ent away by Satturday noone towards Newarke with a convoy of hor&s;e. I finde &s;ome of the Pamphlets &s;peaking of the horrid cruelty of the in&s;ulting enemy, putting man, wo|man, and child to the &s;word. I know their tender mercies are cruelties, but give the divell his due, there was indeed many &s;laine at the fir&s;t enterance, and &s;ome that made little re&s;i&s;tance, and &s;ome women and children among&s;t the multitude by the rabble of common &s;ouldiers&punc; but I cannot learne of any &s;uch order given to de&s;troy all, as is &s;aid by &s;ome, and it is the generall opinion of many that have &s;ince got out of the Towne that in the conflict and &s;ince there was not &s;laine of the Parliaments party, &s;ouldiers and others, above 100. and &s;ome of tho&s;e in their cold blood, after they had granted quarter of life, picking out &s;ome active men and &s;etting common &s;ouldiers to quarrell with them and &s;lay them, but of the&s;e not many. It is confidently believed that not above 300 are &s;laine on both &s;ides, the Town was full of wealth which the Countries had brought in for &s;afety, they tooke their nine peices of Ordnance, great and &s;mall, above 1000 Muskets: neere 400 hor&s;e and armes, and about 50 Barrells of Powder, be&s;ides what was &s;pent in the &s;ervice. The greate&s;t defect was want of men&punc; though the Town was not well fortifyed, nor was there Ordnance to reach from one worke to another; It were to be wi&s;hed that Garri&s;ons of &s;uch concernment to the Kingdome might be taken care off, that they might have at lea&s;t 1000 foot &s;ouldiers in pay, which had this place had, with the helpe of the Towne&s;-men, in all probability that might have kept out the enemy, and made them pay for their bold attempt, Colonell <HI>Ha&s;tings</HI> is made Governour there, who now be&s;tirs him&s;elfe in the fortifying the Towne, which if &s;oon vi&s;ited may in probability yet be regained.</P>
<P>Upon Tue&s;day <HI>Iun<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"></HI> 3, the Kings hor&s;e advanced Southwards, and kept his generall randezvo<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">z at Newton five miles on this &s;ide Leice&s;ter, on Wedne&s;day he removed to Ki<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">worth five miles from Harbrough and on Thur&s;day morning his hor&s;e came to Maydwell eight miles from Northampton and in the afternoon they came to Brixworth and other adjacent To<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nes and &s;ent out their war|rants all over the North-Ea&s;t par<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">s of t<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">is County&punc; and taxed every Town &s;ome at 100 pound, &s;ome 200 pound, and &s;ome le&s;&s;e &s;ome more, upon penalty of being plundred of their goods, and
<PB N="4" REF="4"> their hou&s;es fired, and by this meanes they have gathered great &s;ums of mony: and &s;ome of the Townes having payd the &s;um fir&s;t &s;et, another company comes and chargeth them againe at a &s;econd, and after that a third, and all have been enforced to be paid; on Thur&s;day night about eight of the clocke, a party of their hor&s;e came within two miles of Northampton, we took that day divers pri&s;oners, who all agreed that the whole body of hor&s;e and foote were drawing up this way, which gave us a timely alarum; on Friday and Saturday they continued their taxing the Countrey Townes, and their hor&s;e lie in &s;everall places in great bodies to collect their tax, we dayly take of their men in the Townes, and our troopers skirmi&s;hing with them, Sir <HI>Iohn N<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">rwich</HI> governour of Rockingham hath &s;ent out his troope dayly, who have taken ma|ny pri&s;oners, he &s;ent in hither 30 at one time to be kept here. On Satturday <HI>Iune</HI> 7. the King with all his foot and carriages march|ed from Harbrough to Daventry in Northampton&s;hire. This night came in our 400 foot had bin before Oxford at the Leaguer&punc; and this night Sir <HI>Thomas Fairfax</HI> his army quarter about Oleny and Newport Pannell, to whom this day joyned Colonell <HI>Ver|<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uden</HI> with his 2000 hor&s;e and 500 Dragooners, the two armies being within 16 miles each of other. The Kings army drive men and cattell along with them, that the Townes may come after them and redeeme them for money: The Kings head quarter is this day at Daventry eight miles from Northampton, his hor&s;e in the villages adjacent, he hath about 14 peeces of Ordnance, and about 200 carriages, much of the wealth of Leice&s;ter&punc; and his men are full of money they plunder from the Country, the King drives multitudes of Bea&s;ts and Sheep before his Army, it is &s;uppo&s;ed to recrute Oxford; this day we tooke eleven of theirs pri&s;oners, and &s;lew five, mo&s;t of them full of money and good cloathes, tho&s;e that have &s;eene both Armies &s;ay they differ not much in numbers&punc; the Kings hor&s;e &s;eeming more, but not &s;o good nor &s;o well armed, and his foot nothing &s;o well provided as ours, the Lord give us courage and faithfulne&s;&s;e&punc; <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">nd &s;tand by us in the day of battell, and find out and di&s;cover tho&s;e have occa&s;ioned &s;o much mi&s;ery to the heart of the Kingdome, I am confident the Counties of Stafford, Warwick, Leice&s;ter, and Northamption have &s;uffered more within &s;ix weeks then would pay our new army &s;ix moneths, and their weekly taxes
<PB N="5" REF="4"> and other charges for 12. to the utter undoing of many thou&s;ands, and the impoveri&s;hing of others both friends and foes, for I am &s;ure I can have abundant te&s;timony from tho&s;e that at fir&s;t had them welcom to Town, and directed them to the roundheads hou&s;es and grounds, where they fir&s;t began their cruelty, but it ended on their pates as well as pur&s;es, that thought they &s;hould have found them their friends; for the good party having ob&s;cured them&s;elves, they to keepe their hands inure exerci&s;ed their cruelty one whom they could meete, And found their cattell would yeeld as round money as others, and they to be delivered from their cruelty would give as round &s;ums; tho&s;e pretended to be their friends, they with horred execration cur&s;ed, and bad them if they were friends bring in their money, &s;wearing at the next progre&s;&s;e they would not leave them worth a penny, telling them all they had was the Kings, and he had given it to them would fight for him, they having no other pay.</P>
<P>On Sabbath day <HI>I<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"></HI> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">. there came in divers &s;ouldiers both hor&s;e and foot from Leice&s;ter that had bin pri&s;oners about a weeke, and were exchanged for &s;o many of E&s;ham pri&s;oners &s;ent hither&punc; in all 100 hor&s;e and foot &s;ouldiers, the like number being to be relea&s;ed here for them) and they informe us that there was 300 relea&s;ed on Thur&s;day la&s;t, for &s;o many from Warwick, Coventry and Staf|ford; Here is yet about 100 more, mo&s;t of them lately taken in this Countrey of the Kings party, which will relea&s;e more, the enemy no<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> knowing what to doe with &s;o many pri<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">oners; few of the 800 &s;ouldiers hor&s;e and foote taken pri&s;oners at Leice&s;ter would by any meanes take up armes for the other party though they were dayly &s;ollicited both by threats and promi&s;es: onely on <HI>Smith</HI> a Lieutenant who let th<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">m&punc; i<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> as &s;oone as hee could, is &s;ince made a Captaine by Colonell <HI>Ha&s;tings,</HI> and hee per&s;waded <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">bout fourty foote &s;ouldiers to take up armes with him, but &s;ome of them have &s;ince di&s;&s;erted him, and got to Coventry: All &s;peake the fea&s;eablene&s;&s;e of regaining the Towne, if attemp<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">|ed before the n<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="2 letters"> <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 span"> be made&punc; which they a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">e a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">out to do in a part of the Towne; and of their cruelty to the Scotts, &s;laying divers of them in cold bloud after quarter given to them, but this is &s;ayd to be by the Iri&s;h in the Kings Army, and Eng|li&s;h Papi&s;ts their adherents. The King &s;till continues at Daventry
<PB N="6" REF="5"> and our army in their quarters, our hor&s;e have bin abroad this day and &s;laine two of the enemy and brought one pri&s;oner, I heare but of one of our men lo&s;t in all the&s;e encounters&punc; and he is come home upon exchange; I have bin more particular and large then ordinary, becau&s;e you wrote twice for the &s;ame thing, an<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;eeme to be affected with the bu&s;ine&s;&s;e of Leice&s;ter, which we have all <GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">au&s;e to be, and I pray God we may never forget to doe them the be&s;t good we can by our prayers, pur&s;es, and paynes, knowing that nothing hath befallen them, that we are not &s;ubject unto, a &s;ancti|fied u&s;e whereof both to them and us, is the earne&s;t prayer of your loving friend.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE>Northampton, <DATE>June 9. 1645.</DATE></DATELINE></CLOSER>
<CLOSER><POSTSCRIPT>
<P>IT is &s;aid that <HI>Langdale</HI> did quarrell at Leice&s;ter, that the King did not advance North, as hee had promi&s;ed him and others, and the King promi&s;ed him within 15 dayes to go<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> that way, el&s;e he and other Northerne men would have left hi<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter"> &s;ervice.</P>
</POSTSCRIPT></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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