The Aftermath
The treatment of the wounded had, by this time, become comparatively sophisticated under the provisions made by Parliament. Many of the men injured at Naseby were moved to Northampton in the days after the battle and forty Parliamentary troops were treated at St John's Hospital in Bridge Street.
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Skippon was carried to Mr Stanley's house in Brixworth where Dr. Clark from Wellingborough treated him. The general became fevered, presumably because of the infection of his wound, but by 25 June was on the mend. The great number of patients required the services of at least nine surgeons to assist the Surgeon-General Daniel Winter and money was granted for the continuing care of about 450 Parliament men in Northampton, of whom forty-one died. Some of the severely wounded were transported to London by one Thomas Campion who had four nurses to attend to them. Most of the Royalist wounded were taken to Market Harborough, Rockingham or Northampton where All Saints and other churches were used to house 500 of them. Four carts full of Royalist wounded went to London with other prisoners where they arrived on 21 June and were taken to the Military Ground behind St James's Palace for treatment.
The King's Cabinet Revealed
The loss of men and supplies of arms and ammunition was a severe blow to Charles I, but added to that was the loss of the King's Cabinet, his personal correspondence both with his council and generals, but also with the queen who was soliciting reinforcements on the continent. This was published by Parliament as soon as possible, perhaps in July, under the title of 'The Kings Cabinet Opened' which made the most of every opportunity to show the author of these letters as a catholic sympathiser at the best and as a traitor to the independence of the English at the worst. A clergyman called Edward Symmons immediately set about refuting the charges, writing 'A Vindication of King Charles' in Cornwall, but before he could finish it '.the Enemy, like a flood, brake in thither: Whereupon to preserve and finish it, I went to France .' The work eventually appeared in 1648 and is as full of bias and special pleading as the work it proposed to refute.
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Fairfax retook Leicester on 18 June. Charles I made for the Welsh Marches, Goring had been defeated by Fairfax at Langport on 10 July, Rupert prepared to defend Bristol. The king then set off from Cardiff and, leaving Lord Leven's Scots besieging Hereford, made for Litchfield and Doncaster where, on 19 August, his strength was recorded as being 2,200 horse and 400 foot. But he was now in peril from pursuing Scots and approaching Parliamentarians from the north and so turned back to Oxford and in September was back at Raglan Castle.
The Royalist Cause Lost
On 4 September Fairfax summoned Rupert to surrender Bristol. On 10 September Fairfax assaulted the place. It soon became apparent that it could not be held and if resistance continued the slaughter would be extreme. Rupert therefore surrendered on terms that allowed his army to leave with their weapons and colours and be granted the dignity of an escort to Oxford. The king was furious and was persuaded to strip his nephew of his rank and appointments. In a dramatic foray, Rupert forced his way into the king's presence in Newark in mid October, demanding a court martial, which granted, it found him not guilty. It was not until December that a reconciliation was achieved, but by then the Royalist cause was, in military terms, lost. On 27 April 1646 the king left Oxford in disguise on his way to Newark where he hoped to persuade the Scots to espouse his cause. They did not. On 5 May Charles rode into their headquarters at Southwell and gave himself up. Oxford, the Royalist capital, was surrendered on 20 June.
