When the Civil Wars broke out in AD 1642, the country was divided into support for King or Parliament along roughly regional lines. London, the South East, East Anglia and the East Midlands were for Parliament; Wales, the North, the West Midlands and the South West were for Charles I. The King established his capital at Oxford.

The city was both the main military base for the Royalists and their seat of government with the Royalist Parliament, the Royal Mint and a Court of Requests. The life of the University was disrupted as college quadrangles were turned into encampments. The King and his courtiers took up residence in Christ Church, and Prince Rupert, Charles’ cousin and one of his best military commanders, was in St John’s College.

Coins were minted to pay the troops and a newspaper was produced, the Mercurius Aulicus(the Court Mercury). The King still went hunting and fashionable royalist ladies promenaded in the streets. Oxford surrendered to the Parliamentary forces in 1646 within weeks of Charles fleeing to Scotland, but both city and country continued to hold royalist sympathies.