After negotiations with Parliament broke down, King Charles raised his standard in August, 1642. The opening campaigns of the First Civil War tilted in the Royalists favor.
1.05- Cavaliers and Roundheads
[Update: Fixed pronunciation of Gloucester]
In case you're wondering, yes, Charles took a rather circuitous route to get from Nottingham to London.
Another excellent and fascinating episode Mike - huge thanks from all your listeners for another fabulous series.
You asked somewhere for any corrections on pronunciation - so far i can't think of anything that hasn't sounded right to this English ear, but there was a first understandable error in this episode. Gloucester is - inexplicably - usually pronounced as Gloss-ter.
Keep up the great work
Posted by: Mark D | 13 October 2013 at 03:05 PM
I can't believe you're back! Such a trip hearing you talk about non-Romans. Great stuff as always, absolutely loving it.
Posted by: Will Y. | 13 October 2013 at 07:48 PM
Just wanted to say that when I downloaded episode zero and started to play it, it was like hearing the voice of an old friend. Glad you're back!
Posted by: Dana | 13 October 2013 at 11:17 PM
Well, when I was listening to the History of Rome, I never thought that I'd hear you talk about Roundway Down, which is about 10 minutes walk from where I live. Notice you chickened out of pronouncing "Devizes" though. Only kidding, great stuff as always.
Posted by: Ian | 14 October 2013 at 03:39 AM
Great episode, I'd just like to chime in a little. I learned about all this in school and while I can't remember all that much, it was all pretty heavily biased towards Cromwell and against Charles.
There were a few things against Cromwell, but they were generally brushed under the carpet, so it's quite refreshing hearing the Royalists' side of things along with the Parliamentary's.
Oh and guys, before you start sympathising too much for Cromwell, remember - he literally stole Christmas.
(I'm not a monarchist or whatever despite how this comment might sound by the way.)
Posted by: Aaron Casa-Grande | 14 October 2013 at 05:16 AM
@ Ian- I did studiously avoid saying Devizes didn't I?
Posted by: Mike Duncan | 14 October 2013 at 05:57 AM
Brilliant, great to see you back. Couple of points though.
Glowster? (Gloucester) It is pronounced Gloss-ter and if you get to Leicester its Lester and Loughborough is Luf-burra.
And although on it own Shire is pronounced as ire with a Sh in front when attached to the county name such as Oxfordshire it is pronounced sheer.
Posted by: John M Howitt | 14 October 2013 at 06:01 AM
G'day Mike,
Just thought I'd mention that this podcast is now showing up in Windows Store. You rock man!
Oh and sorry for turning into a die-hard Microsoftie.
Posted by: Claude | 14 October 2013 at 08:34 AM
"Caesar and Pompey, they were not." - I loved this bit. Do you, per chance, have some knowledge about Caesar and Pompey, Mr Duncan? :)
Posted by: Nick | 14 October 2013 at 08:50 AM
Another fantastic podcast, your work is awesome. I see someone has told you our weird English pronunciation of Gloucester, and with the battle of Worcester featuring down the line, you might like to know it's pronounced 'wuss-ter'. Thanks so much for your wonderful podcasts.
Posted by: Susan Wright | 14 October 2013 at 01:37 PM
Thank you for simplifying all of these battles. You personified each side with quick and illustrative depictions and spoke in common terms about the battle. I never learned about this period of time in school (American education) or if I did, it was briefly meantioned. This was an extremely interesting time!
I've actually been talking with the people I'm close with about this podcast, this time period and how we can learn from it today in all of these current affairs, etc. Thank you for opening up our eyes to it in a fun and exciting way.
Posted by: Elyse | 15 October 2013 at 11:10 AM
Sorry Mike, if you have mentioned this and I wasn't listening to, or were planning to; but where is Wales in all this? Is Wales not part of the King's remit here? A lot of the events mentioned are English or Scottish (or Irish if we're talking about the poor soldiers stuck there), but was anything important happening in Wales?
Posted by: Sam | 16 October 2013 at 05:30 AM
Mike, thanks again for youre excelent podcast series. Ive been an early listener to thor and im getting hooked up on this one too!
Will you look in to the dutch revolt too?
Greatings from middelburg, zeeland the netherlands.
Btw is everting ok with the mrs and child of thor/ revolutions?
Posted by: Hans de ridder | 17 October 2013 at 11:15 PM
although yough stated thqt you will not cover ever siege and battle of the English Civil Wars,i wondered if anyone would be curious about the ties between the nursey rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" and the siege of Gloucester?
Posted by: jacob bains | 18 October 2013 at 11:51 AM
Just wondering, is summarizing the battles of the English Civil War like summarizing the late period of the second Punic war?
Posted by: J. MIller | 18 October 2013 at 02:41 PM
i believe the summation, of the battles and sieges of the English Revolution, is analogous to the late period of the Hannibalic War.
Posted by: jacob bains | 18 October 2013 at 04:15 PM
Glad your back. Interesting enough. I was just listening to an audiobook named- Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers.. Haven't gotten to far into it as of yet. Keep up the good work- excellent podcasts...
Posted by: syst | 20 October 2013 at 01:20 PM
Hi Mike! Thanks for another great podcast! It's one of the very few that I manually move up to the head of my listening queue ;-).
Posted by: Stephan | 21 October 2013 at 01:46 AM