Within three months of the battle of Edgehill, the military positions of the rival forces had reached stalemate. Both sides were consolidating what they had, and opening new fronts in attempts to stretch the resources of the opposition. In November the display of Parliamentarian loyalty by Philip Skippon and the London Trained Bands at Turnham Green, had, for all intent and purpose, proven that the King could not regain his capital by a simple strike towards it. Any war which was to continue, would be protracted and decided as much by logistics and economics, as by military prowess. This fact being begrudgingly accepted by the King, he withdrew to Oxford (29 November) and quickly established his headquarters and court.

Meanwhile the Parliamentarian commander, the Earl of Essex, moved his military headquarters to Windsor, where it would remain throughout his and subsequent commands. It can be said that Windsor, the home of monarchs, was also the home of Parliaments army.

Despite the efforts of the Parliamentarian fleet, a considerable quantity of arms was reaching the King's supporters from abroad. Queen Henrietta-Maria was no doubt the King's best ambassador in the foreign Courts, a fact highlighted in a letter from the Hague on 22nd November which informed Parliament of "10,000 foot arms, 2,000 horse arms and 20 pieces of cannon" which had been landed at Newcastle, Falmouth and Weymouth. Parliament had already lost pieces of artillery at Broughton Castle, Banbury and Edgehill, but held the arms from The Tower, plus the foundries in Kent and Sussex.

In Cornwall, Sir Ralph Hopton had (with the support of Sir Bevil Grenville), recruited a small army of 1,500 men for service in the West. While in the north the Earl of Newcastle was commanding a force of some 8,000 royalists. With part of this force the Earl struck south from Newcastle, and after a brief skirmish occupied York for the King.

Although at first sight, all of these events appear to be military matters, their political significance is more important. The civil war was after all a political disturbance which manifested itself in armed conflict. The King had now organised support in most areas of the country, and through these efforts of Newcastle and Hopton held strategic ports in the north and west, plus the strongpoint of York. Parliament however controlled the economic powerhouse of London, giving it access to the Thames and the south eastern ports, plus the Tower and the strongpoint of Windsor.

Politically this gave the King some considerable bargaining power, for although his road to London had been effectively barred by the Trained Bands, his liberty was preserved by loyal garrisons. Furthermore the occupation of Newcastle meant coal could not be shipped from the mines of Durham to London - though the good colliers of Durham had recently given the royalist Earl a bloody nose - and York blocked the road south. The London news sheets were already reporting disquiet as the fires burned low. Skirmishes and manoeuvring of armies was continuing in all theatres of war throughout January and February.

On 2 March however, the first bitter blow to Parliaments fortunes that year, occurred when Robert, Lord Brooke, was killed while besieging Litchfield. Brooke was an able commander who would be badly missed. Two days after Brook's tragic death Litchield fell to Parliament, but the King immediately despatched the Earl of Northampton with forces from Oxford in a bid to retake it. On 19 March he attacked and defeated the Parliamentarians at Hopton Heath (two miles from Stafford), but was himself cut down in the battle. Although Litchfield was now open to a royalist attack, reinforcements prevented them from doing so, leaving the royalists without tactical advantage and the death of the Earl of Northampton for their troubles.

Against this background on 21 March, only two days after Hopton Heath, the latest peace talks of 1643 began in Oxford. Indeed the news of the royalist victory and Northampton's death, must have arrived in the old university city at about the same time as the Parliamentarian Commissioners led by the Earl of Northumberland approached from London. It is evident that the Treaty of Oxford was a direct result of the military actions of that winter.

In the Treaty were demands of Parliament for the return of the King to London, continuing the political illusion that his Majesty was the prisoner of fate and evil counsellors. Also Parliament called for the suppression of episcopacy, the enforcement of the laws against the Catholics, and the establishment of the true faith, the disbandment of the soldiers raised by the same evil counsellors, the slighting of various castles, and the opening of certain ports. The prominent royalist leaders were also to be exempted from pardon as delinquents, the principal of these being Prince Rupert, the Earl of Newcastle and Lord Digby. Other technical points appertaining to Legal Appointments were also included.

For his part the King demanded that all strong places garrisoned by Parliament should be delivered up to him, all rebel forces be disbanded, and Parliament itself to sit in a neutral place - no doubt where the London Trained Bands could not protect it. For his part, the King also saw talks for peace as a crucible for advancing war. If he could buy time with polite smiles, and subtle words, he could later point the royal finger at an intransigent enemy.

To this end, the King called for a cessation of hostility during the talks, a call granted for an initial period of nineteen days. As the talks dragged on from day to day, it grew more and more apparent that peace was an impossibility. The presence of Prince Rupert in Oxford also acted as an incendiary to an already smouldering situation. Rupert sat through the opening days of the talks a silent witness to history, but away from the negotiations his views were at this time most influential.

Seeing the talks were getting nowhere, the mood of the two sides changed. Pym in London managed, despite opposition, to carry through an ordinance to seize taxes due to the King (money Parliament badly required to pay its army), and while the Commissioners talked Rupert slipped from Oxford, marching against the swordmakers of Birmingham - so much for the cessation of the war.

On Easter Sunday (3 April), Birmingham fell to Rupert's artillery, its suburbs burning to record the deed. Three days later Rupert summoned Litchfield to surrender, and without the mastery of Lord Brooke to drive the royalists back, its defenders holed themselves in for a siege. By the 8 April, Pym had achieved his aims, and Parliament had sent messages to their Commissioners that the royal offers were not enough; whereupon the King raised the gamble by slightly modifying his terms. Parliament rejected them immediately.The Earl of Essex could wait no longer, and in the second week of April marched to besiege Reading. On Saturday 15 April, Parliament recalled its Commissioners, all negotiations having failed. The next day, nineteen days after the cessation had been called, Essex's cannon roared against the walls of Reading, while hand grenades flew over the walls of Litchfield. The English Civil War could continue in proper fashion.

For transcripts of the Treaty of Oxford, see S.R. Gardiner, Constitutional Documents of the Puritan Revolution, also Edward Hyde, History of the Rebellion (usually called Clarendon), ed. W. Macray, which gives a detailed debate.

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