Siege of Reading 1642
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Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate. Wikidata lists more than one location for this battle; the first is shown.
Key facts
| Date | 4 November 1642 – 25 April 1643 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1642 | Wikidata P580 (start time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | England | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | First English Civil War | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Cavalier, Roundhead | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 51.4542, -0.9731 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The siege of Reading was an eleven-day blockade of Reading, Berkshire during the First English Civil War. Reading had been garrisoned by 3,000 Royalist troops under Sir Arthur Aston in November 1642. On 14 April 1643, Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex led a Parliamentarian army of 19,000 troops to lay siege to the town, and began bombarding it two days later.
During the siege, Aston was wounded and command of the garrison passed to Richard Feilding. On 25 April, Feilding requested a truce in order to negotiate the town's surrender. Despite a Royalist relief force commanded by Charles I of England and Prince Rupert of the Rhine arriving the following day, Feilding held to the truce, and Essex's army was able to repel the relief army. The surrender terms were agreed on 26 April, and the next day the Royalists left the town for Oxford.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Siege of Reading (revision 1375675683), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Reading (1688) 1688 · 0 km
- Battle of Reading (871) 871 · 1 km
- Battle of Englefield 871 · 9 km
- Battle of Ashdown 871 · 20 km
- Battle of Basing 871 · 21 km
- Siege of Basing House 1643 · 21 km
Other battles of the First English Civil War
- Battle of Aylesbury 1642
- Battle of Babylon Hill 1642
- Battle of Brentford (1642) 1642
- Battle of Edgehill 1642
- Battle of Powick Bridge 1642
- Battle of Turnham Green 1642
- Siege of Hull (1642) 1642
- Battle of Adwalton Moor 1643
- Battle of Aldbourne Chase 1643
- Battle of Braddock Down 1643
All 45 battles of the First English Civil War →
Browse more: battles in England · Europe · Early modern battles