SWORDSMEN AND THE KING: Charles I's Nephews Rupert and Maurice at War

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The story of Charles I's German nephews Rupert and Maurice during the English Civil War (1642-46) -- men dubbed by critics at court the King's Swordsmen, and by their opponents as the Bloody Cavaliers. Analyses the battles and campaigns they fought, drawing on first-hand accounts to evoke the experience of 17th-century warfare. The action is set in the context of ECW politics, exploring tensions between the princes' family (ruined by the Thirty Years War), the English Parliament at Westminster, and the Royal Court at Oxford.

Rupert stands out in histories of the period, attracting criticism and applause in equal measure. Swordsmen establishes him as not only a dashing and talented cavalry commander, but also as a man whose aggressive prosecution of the war shocked contemporaries, and whose apparent haughty disregard for the opinions of others created tensions within the Royalist High Command. Maurice has received less focus in the past than his elder brother.

Rehabilitation can only go so far; the younger prince's later failures compared badly with Rupert's string of successes elsewhere. By the summer of 1644, Rupert had reached the pinnacle of his fame, while Maurice, recovering from illness, had seen his fortunes plummet. Rupert's steam-roller invasion of the North led to a defeat of monumental proportions, plunging the Prince into a deep depression. While Rupert licked his wounds, Maurice redeemed himself, playing a decisive role in defeating Parliamentarian field armies in Cornwall and Berkshire, setting the stage for the fateful campaign of 1645.