The Solemn Engagement (''A Solemne Engagement of the Army, under the Command of his Excellency Sir Thomas Fairfax'') was a declaration to the English
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
adopted unanimously by the
General Council of the Army commanded by
Thomas Fairfax
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented command ...
at
Newmarket on 29 May 1647. Acting in response to a parliamentary threat of disbandment, the document asserted that the army would not disband until satisfactory terms were negotiated. This was in part because of weeks of arrears owed to the soldiers, and in frustration of the slow progress parliament had made in securing a settlement with the imprisoned
Charles I Charles I may refer to:
Kings and emperors
* Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings
* Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily
* Charles I of ...
.
Events
The agreement was read, and assented to by all the officers and soldiers of the regiments of the
New Model Army
The New Model Army was a standing army formed in 1645 by the Parliamentarians during the First English Civil War, then disbanded after the Stuart Restoration in 1660. It differed from other armies employed in the 1639 to 1653 Wars of the Th ...
that rendezvoused on
Kentford Heath
Kentford is a village and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk in eastern England. In 2021 it had an estimated population of 1125. Located just off the A14 road (England), A14, close to the border with Cam ...
near Newmarket on Friday and Saturday 4 and 5 June. On 8 June Fairfax sent the Solemn Engagement to Parliament with a letter.
In the letter he explained that because the King was now with the Army (
Cornet Joyce
Cornet George Joyce (born 1618) was a low-ranking officer in the Parliamentary New Model Army during the English Civil War.
Between 2 and 5 June 1647, while the New Model Army was assembling for rendezvous at the behest of the recently formed ...
having taken Charles I from Parliament's custody at
Holdenby House
Holdenby House is a historic country house in Northamptonshire, traditionally pronounced, and sometimes spelt, Holmby. The house is situated in the parish of Holdenby, six miles (10 km) northwest of Northampton and close to Althorp. It is a G ...
), it had been agreed on 7 June that Charles would be held at Newmarket under the guard of two regiments of
Ironsides. So that the Army and Parliament's commissioners could discuss the Engagement, without the King present, Fairfax moved the rendezvous with the commissioners to "Triploe Heath" at 9 o'clock in on Thursday 10 June, which was as soon as was practicable.
At the Triploe Heath rendezvous the commissioners offers failed to pacify the New Model Army, largely because the officers and men were aware of the steps that Parliament and the City of London were taking against the Army, including an attempt to set up a rival army for which they were willing to pay while still withholding arrears of pay from the New Model Army. The Army rejected the commissioners offer and continued their slow advance towards London.
See also
*
English Commonwealth
The Commonwealth was the political structure during the period from 1649 to 1660 when England and Wales, later along with Ireland and Scotland, were governed as a republic after the end of the Second English Civil War and the trial and execut ...
*
Good Old Cause
The Good Old Cause was the name given, retrospectively, by the soldiers of the New Model Army, to the complex of reasons that motivated their fight on behalf of the Parliament of England.
Their struggle was against King Charles I and the Royalis ...
Notes
References
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Further reading
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1647 in England
17th-century documents
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