Utilisateur:Arkeinsas/Brouillon4
| Date | 10 juillet 1645 |
|---|---|
| Lieu | Langport, Somerset |
| Issue |
Victoire décisive des parlementaires, Destruction de l'Armée du Lord Goring |
.svg){kind=small} Royalistes |
 Parlementaires |
| George Goring |
Thomas Fairfax |
| 7 000 hommes | 10 000 hommes |
| 300 morts 500 prisonniers |
Inconnue |
Première guerre civile anglaise
Batailles
1643
1644
1645
1646
La bataille de Langport est une bataille opposant royalistes et parlementaires lors de la première guerre civile anglaise. S'inscrivant dans la suite de la déroute royaliste suite à leur échec de prendre la ville de Taunton, les parlementaires selleront un peu plus leur victoire à l'issue de la bataille, l'armée royaliste, menée par Lord Goring, sera considérée comme détruite.
Se déroulant près de la ville de Langport, au Sud de Bristol, il s'agit également pour les parlementaires de couper les royalistes de l'Ouest du Royaume qui fut l'une des sources d'hommes et de matières premières pour leurs armées.
Contexte[modifier | modifier le code]
La bataille s'inscrit dans la suite direct de l'achèvement de la série de trois siège sur la ville de Taunton. Place forte royaliste lors du début de la guerre civil, il tombera aux mains parlementaires dès 1644 lors du plan de conquête de l'Ouest du Royaume de Robert Devereux, Comte d'Essex.
Si les plans de ce dernier échoueront alors qu'il arrive aux Cornouailles, la situation quant à Taunton est plus complexe. Du côté parlementaire, la ville tient de peu à chaque fois, comptant sur l'arrivée de renfort parlementaire tandis que le camp royaliste est rongé par des querelles entre commandant.
Alors que George Goring reprend le commandement des forces siégeantes, préparant une nouvelle prise de la ville, celui-ci finit par fuir quant il entendit que Thomas Fairfax arrivait en renfort.
Tandis que le conflit faire rage dans tout le royaume, Taunton demeure une place forte royaliste alors qu'elle constitue la porte d'entrée vers l'Ouest du Royaume.
En juin 1644, Robert Devereux, Comte d'Essex et Commandant parlementaire, est chargée de conquérir l'Ouest du Royaume, alors aux mains des royalistes. Taunton tombera pour la première fois
Robert Devereux, Comte d'Essex, dans son plan de conquête de l'Ouest du Royaume s'empare de la ville avant de continuer dans les Cornouailles, laissant derrière lui une garnison avec Robert Devereux afin de défendre la ville.
Campaign[modifier | modifier le code]
Taunton had been captured by the Parliamentarian army under the Earl of Essex in June 1644. After Essex's army was forced to surrender at Lostwithiel in Cornwall in September, the Royalists maintained a siege of Taunton, although the town was briefly relieved by Sir William Waller in late November.[1]
When determining strategy for 1645, King Charles I had despatched George, Lord Goring, the Lieutenant General of Horse (cavalry), to the West Country with orders to retake Taunton and other Parliamentarian outposts in the area. Although Goring briefly rejoined the King's main 'Oxford Army', tensions between him and Prince Rupert, the King's Captain General and chief adviser, resulted in Goring's force returning to the west.[2]
Parliament had meanwhile sent a substantial detachment commanded by Colonel Ralph Weldon, consisting of one cavalry regiment and four infantry regiments from their New Model Army, to relieve Taunton. They raised the siege on 11 May, but were themselves besieged by Goring's returning army (although there was no longer any danger of the Royalists storming the town).[3][4]
On 14 June, the main body of the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax, with Oliver Cromwell as Lieutenant General of Horse, won the decisive Battle of Naseby, destroying Charles's main army.[5] After the Royalist garrison of Leicester surrendered four days later, the New Model Army was free to march to the relief of Taunton.
The army marched first south and then west, keeping near the coast so as to keep in touch with Parliament's navy. On 4 July it reached Beaminster, where Fairfax learned that Goring had raised the siege and was retreating towards the Royalist stronghold at Bridgwater. To cover the retreat of the baggage, Goring's army was spread over a front of 12 milles (19,312128 km) along the north bank of the River Yeo, from Langport to Yeovil.[5] The Royalists were outnumbered by Fairfax's army, and their discipline was poor, mainly because a succession of lax Royalist commanders had allowed their men too much license to pillage (which also alienated many of the local people).[6]
Fairfax was joined by Weldon's detachment from Taunton and advanced north towards Goring's army. On 8 July, the Parliamentarians captured Yeovil at the western end of the Royalists' line. The Royalists abandoned the line of the river, and Fairfax crossed to the north side of the River Yeo.[7] He sent another Parliamentarian force (part of the army of the "Western Association" under Major General Edward Massie) to deal with an attempted diversion in the direction of Taunton by some of Goring's cavalry under George Porter, a notoriously unreliable officer.[8] Porter's men had neglected to post proper sentries and outposts, and were taken by surprise by Massie and destroyed at Isle Abbots in the early hours of 9 July.[9]
Fairfax had meanwhile advanced in pursuit of Goring, and encountered Goring's main position at Langport late on 9 July.[10]
- Bush (1994), p. 202–206.
- Firth (1890), p. 245–248.
- Civil War in Somerset.
- Battle of Langport, Somerset Military Museum.
- Battle of Langport, UK Battlefields Resource Centre.
- Rogers (1968), p. 241.
- Bush (1994), p. 243–246.
- Barratt (2005), p. 115–127.
- Barratt (2005), p. 116-118.
- The Civil War in Somerset.