Editing Battle of Edgehill (section)

==Prelude==
By early October, the King's army was almost complete at Shrewsbury. He held a [[council of war]], at which two courses of action were considered. The first was to attack Essex's army at Worcester, which had the drawback that the close country around the city would put the superior Royalist cavalry at a disadvantage.{{sfn|Young|1995|p=71}} The second course, which was adopted, was to advance towards London. The intention was not to avoid battle with Essex, but to force one at an advantage. In the [[Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon|Earl of Clarendon]]'s words: "''it was considered more counsellable to march towards London, it being morally sure that Essex would put himself in their way.''" Accordingly, the army left Shrewsbury on 12 October, gaining two days' start on the enemy, and moved south-east. Essex followed, but neither army had much information on the location of their enemy.

[[File:Charles Landseer - The Eve of the Battle of Edge Hill, 1642 - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|305px|right|''[[The Eve of the Battle of Edgehill]]'' by [[Charles Landseer]], 1845. Charles I holding a [[council of war]] before the Battle of Edgehill]]
By 22 October, the Royalist army was quartered in the villages around [[Edgcote]], and was threatening the Parliamentarian post at [[Banbury]]. The garrison of Banbury sent messengers pleading for help to the garrison of [[Warwick Castle]]. Essex, who had just reached there, ordered an immediate march to Kineton to bring relief to Banbury, even though his army had straggled and not all his troops were present. That evening, there were clashes between outposts and quartermasters' parties in Kineton and the villages nearby, and the Royalists had their first inkling that Essex's army was close by.{{sfn|Young|1995|p=75}} The King issued orders for his army to muster for battle on top of the [[escarpment]] of Edge Hill the following day.

Essex originally intended marching straight to the relief of Banbury, but at about 8 a.m. on 23 October, his outposts reported that the [[Cavalier]]s were massed on Edge Hill, {{convert|4.5|mi}} from Kineton. Essex deployed his army about halfway between Kineton and the Royalist army, where [[hedge (barrier)|hedges]] formed a natural position.

The well known "Soldiers' Prayer" was given by [[Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading|Jacob Astley]] before the battle.{{efn|"O Lord, Thou Knowest how busy I must be this day. If I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me."{{sfn|Knowles|2009}}}}