Ironsides

Horse regiments varied greatly in size, but were often about 400 strong, divided into six troops. They were divided in ‘harquebusiers’ and 'cuirassiers’, the former being by far the most common. Harquebusiers are what Waller’s portray: light cavalry armed with sword, pistols and carbine, and protected by buffcoats and back and breastplates. Cuirassiers, on the other hand, although armed similarly, wore full armour, with the exception of the lower legs, which were protected, like the harquebusier, by long leather ‘bucket-top’ boots. The most famous regiment of cuirassiers was probably Sir Arthur Haslerigg’s regiment, nicknamed the ‘Lobsters’. They fought resolutely for the Parliament and suffered greatly at Roundway Down. The effectiveness of their armour is demonstrated by the fact that Haslerigg himself received three short-range pistol shots and numerous sword cuts when dismounted, and survived uninjured. As Richard Atkyns famously said in his ‘Vindications’ of 1669, “Had he been victualled as well as fortified, he might have endured a siege of seven years!"

Although well protected, cuirassiers were not popular as they were slow to manoeuvre and could not march as far or as fast as the much more common harquebusiers.

The harquebusier presented the typical image that most people have of the Parliamentarian army, with buffcoat and tri-bar lobster pot helmet. This style of cavalry and dress was, however, typical of both sides in the conflict; the feathery-hatted Royalists and dour armoured Parliamentarians being mostly a Victorian invention.

The buffcoat, made of ox leather, was stout enough to turn a sword cut, and covered the trooper to his knees when mounted. His legs were protected by long leather bucket top boots that could be folded down to below the knees when dismounted, and the torso protected by steel back and breastplates over the buffcoat. These often had a dent over the breast, reputedly to prove that the armour was of the best quality and would stop a pistol ball. These dents were, however, often hammered into inferior armour by unscrupulous merchants.

The classic cavalry tactic of the time, inherited from the Thirty Years War, was the ‘caracole’. This involved approaching the enemy horse at “a good round trot”, firing pistols when in range and then retiring. This move was much used by the forces of the Parliament. The tactics of the Royalist cavalry commander, Prince Rupert, were quite revolutionary at the time, and consisted of a charge at full gallop with swords drawn, which drove the enemy cavalry before them. Both tactics had their advantages and disadvantages: the caracole was controlled and disciplined, but tended to lack effectiveness due to the light calibre and poor accuracy of horse pistols. The charge was very effective, but exceedingly undisciplined, and the troopers were very hard to reform afterwards, on occasion not returning to the field until they had plundered the baggage train, only to find their foot had been decimated by the enemy cavalry in their absence. In the long run, the discipline of the Parliamentarian troops of the new-modelled army defeated the wild bravado of the Royalist horse.

During battles the cavalry regiments tended to concentrate on fighting each other on the flanks of the infantry. Only once the opposing horse was driven off the field did the cavalry turn to the enemy infantry. Unfortunately, if that infantry included pike the cavalry could inflict little damage once their pistols were expended, and the casualties amongst the horses were very high, up to six horses being ridden in one battle.

Parliamentarian cavalry were not always as disciplined as their reputation would suggest:

"…. a [Parliamentarian] troop of horse met me, pillage me of all, and robbed me of my very sword, for which cause I told them I would either have my sword or die in the field, commanded my men to charge with bullet, and by divisions to fire upon them, which made them with shame return my sword, and it being towards night I returned to Northampton, threatening revenge upon the base troopers. This night and the day following our company by lot watched the south gate, where I searched every horseman of that troop to the skin, took from them a fat buck, a venison pasty ready baked, but lost my own goods."

Sergeant Nehemiah Wharton of the Army of Parliament, Archaeologia. (1853), XXXV:315.