Although the Short Parliament, which met on 13 April 1640, only lasted for three weeks, in the autumn the King decided to summon another Parliament. Cromwell was again elected for the town of Cambridge, and on 3 November what was to become the long parliament met for the first time. While his friends and relations in the Commons were undoubtedly aware of his presence, Cromwell appears to have been a rather undistinguished backbencher during the early days of this Parliament. It was not until after the King's rash departure from London in January 1642, that Cromwell's true significance, especially as a plan of action, began to reveal itself His determination to fight, if need be, for the defence of Parliament, first became apparent both in London and Cambridge when on July 1642 the House of Commons made the following order: 'Mr. Cromwell having sent down arms into the County of Cambridge for the defence of that County. Sir Dudley North to pay him £ 100 ' The order also authorised the town of Cambridge to raise two companies of volunteers with captains to lead them.

While arrangements were being made to start recruiting these volunteers, in a Letter dated 24 July the king suggested to the vice-chancellors of Oxford and Cambridge that some of their college plate might be sent to him in York, not to assist him financially in the difficult days which lay ahead but for 'the better security and safety thereof.' Although the Letter subtly suggested that the Parliamentary opposition was about to confiscate the plate from both universities and that it would be safe in royal hands, very few colleges seemed at all eager to accept his offer. St John's was prepared to contribute certain articles of plate amounting to about two thou and ounces of silver and Queens', Jesus and Magdelene also assembled a number of pieces. Unfortunately, from the royalist point of view, in the meantime Cromwell had arrived in Cambridge and had been informed of the intention of these colleges to send plate to the king. He therefore decided with the assistance of his brother in-law Valentine Walton, to intercept the convoy under Captain James Dowcra, who had been sent to conduct the treasure to York. In the event, it seems likely that only the plate from Magdelene College actually Left Cambridge, and this was seized by Cromwell, at the head of a small band of volunteers, somewhere along the road to Huntingdon. On 15 August the Committee of Defence was able to report to Parliament that 'Mr Cromwell has seized the Magazine in the Castle at Cambridge and hath hindered the carrying away of the plate from that University; which as some report was to the value of £ 20,0000 or thereabouts.' Although the suggested value of the plate seems somewhat inflated, both actions were approved. By 22 August 1642 when the C civil War began with Charles I raising his standard at Nottingham, Cromwell was already firmly in control of Cambridge, assisted by the mayor and three aldermen. A week later at Huntingdon, with the rank of captain, he mustered a troop of sixty horsemen, made up of volunteers from Huntingdonshire and Cambridgeshire. Thus at the age of forty three, a gentleman farmer and a politician, he started out on the military phase of his life, which was to reveal his natural ability both as a brilliant general and as a remarkable leader of men.

Doubtless as he rode towards London after his dispiriting experience at the battle of Edgehill on 23 October 1642, Cromwell must have pondered on all he had seen especially the obvious need for training and discipline. He remained in London for some weeks firmly supporting John Pym against the peace party of Denzil Holles. He also took part from the very beginning in the Legislation passed on 20 December for the formation of the Eastern Association, the aim of which was to raise troops and supplies through the committees of the countries concerned. These counties were Essex, Hertfordshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridgeshire, although Huntingdonshire and Lincolnshire were added to the Association during 1643. Lord Grey of Warke was appointed Major-General of the Association, with his headquarters in Cambridge. The Legislation was not implemented by the committees in the five counties until 9 February 1643, when their reluctance to provoke quiescent royalist in the region was eventually overcome by news of a threatened raid on Cambridge by the force of Prince Rupert and Lord Capel. By this time Cromwell had become a colonel of the Association and was back in his constituency.

In the instructions issued by Parliament to Lord Grey, regarding the immediate use of his forces he was ordered to assemble all the Association volunteers in Cambridge. The bulk of the army commanded by Grey himself, was then to proceed south to reinforce the main Parliamentary army in the Thames valley, leaving a detachment under Cromwell to defend the north and northwest boundaries of the Eastern counties. The volunteers were duly assembled in Cambridge throughout February and March, and on 7 April Lord Grey rode out of the town with some five thousand horse and foot to join the Earl of Essex at the siege of Reading. In the meantime Cromwell had been busily occupied in building up his regiment. In March he already had five cavalry troops and it is likely that in April, after Grey's departure he commanded about a thousand volunteers in hi Cambridge stronghold. From the outset his recruitment policy was based on the firm belief that 'if you choose godly honest men to be captains of horse, honest men will follow them.' However, in spite of his being convinced that 'a few honest men arc better than numbers', or perhaps because of it, the troops at his disposal continued to grow steadily in the months ahead.

Early in March 1643 the Cambridge committee of the Eastern Association appealed to the people of Cambridge and the surrounding area for additional funds to complete the fortification of the town, which had begun in the previous month. The amount mentioned, two thousand pounds, was apparently collected, for on 12 July Cromwell was able to report to Parliament that 'our town and castle arc now very strongly fortified being encompassed with breastworks and bulwarks.' Most of the Norman walls of the castle had either fallen down or been used elsewhere for building purposes. Cromwell therefore fortified it with earthworks and built a brick barracks on the north side. No contemporary plans or pictures exist of the fortifications and there is little evidence as to their nature, but it is fairly certain that the castle, situated to the north of the town on the only hill, would have been the key defence position. Since any attack would most probably have come from the north or the west, the river Cam was almost equally important, and to strengthen the defenses in this area it was found necessary to demolish the bridges of St. John's, Trinity, King's and Queens'.

However, following the success of the Newark royalist in March and early April, Cromwell realised that while the garrison and fortifications of Cambridge provided the Eastern Association with a secure base, it was essential to ensure that they remained a second or even a third line of defence. At first he thought of the River Ouse as the natural frontier of the Association, but after he had occupied Peterborough on 22 April 1643 and after Hundtingdonshire was added to the Association on 26 May, the River Nene became both the Frontier of the Eastern Association and its first line of defence. Certainly the main threat to the eastern counties came from royalist forces moving southwards, and it was therefore north of this frontier that Cromwell spent most of the summer and a part of the autumn of 1643. Outside Grantham in May he successfully blocked the royalist advance, but in July he was forced to make an orderly retreat from Gainsborough, when completely outnumbered by an army commanded by the Earl of Newcastle.

On 10 October 1643, at Winceby, a little over twenty miles east of Lincoln, he joined with Sir Thomas Fairfax and his Yorkshire cavalry and put to flight a numerically superior force under Sir John Henderson. Not only did this battle largely remove the menace to Lincolnshire, which had recently been added to the Eastern Association, but it was also a very auspicious beginning to the collaboration of Cromwell and Fairfax: a collaboration which was to make possible the victory of Marston Moor and the decisive defeat of Charles I's army at the battle of Naseby.

More Cromwell and Cambridge

Introduction
Long Parliament
Destructive Behaviour
Excerpt: Cromwell in Ely
Excerpt: Clarenden, Life
Excerpt: Parliament Orders
Excerpt: Barwick

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