On quiet farmland just outside York, one of the most significant battles of the English Civil War was fought on July 2, 1644. Indeed, it is thought that it is the largest battle ever fought on British soil. Throughout that summer, Parliamentarian forces under the command of Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester were joined by Scottish Covenanters who had been besieging the Royalist stronghold of York. On the Royalist side, Prince Rupert of the Rhine had gathered an army and marched through the northwest of England, across the…
