What was life like for ordinary people during the English Civil War?
Disruption to civilian life caused by the English civil war was localised and limited because the number of combatants involved was limited in relation to the total population of England at that time. The total number of troops involved on both sides rarely exceeded 25,000 in relation to a total English population of around 5.5 million. The largest battle of the civil war was Marston Moor involving 45,000 men in June 1644. The ‘hot’ war lasted from the battle of Edgehill in October 1642 to the decisive battle of Naseby in June 1645 but action was sporadic and localised. The English population at the time was largely rural and the main disruption to civilian life would have been to take men away from the farms during harvest time but this would have been avoided where possible. England was a very religious society at the time and the Parlimentary side was mainly Puritan and often had a strong ethic to suppress what were seen as frivoulous activities and ‘popish’ ie Catholic tendencies i
