Cromwell was
conciliatory, and a considerable proportion of Presbyterians took up an
attitude hostile to the king's claims. The supporters of Charles were
known as Resolutioners, or Engagers, and his opponents as Protesters or
Remonstrants. The consequence was that the old Royalists and
Episcopalians began to rejoin Charles. Before the battle of Dunbar
(September 2nd) Charles had been really a prisoner in the hands of the
Covenanters, who had ruled him with a rod of iron. As the stricter
Presbyterians withdrew, and their places were filled by the "Malignants"
whom they had excluded from the king's service, the personal importance
of Charles increased. On January 1st, 1651, he was crowned at Scone, and
in the following summer he took up a position near Stirling, with Leslie
as commander of his army. Cromwell outmanoeuvred Leslie and seized
Perth, and the royal forces retaliated by the invasion of England, which
ended in the defeat of Worcester on September 3rd, 1651, exactly one
year after Dunbar. The king escaped and fled to France.
Scotland was now unable to resist Monk, whom Cromwell had left behind
him when he went southwards to defeat Charles at Worcester. On the 14th
August he captured Stirling, and on the 28th the Committee of Estates
was seized at Alyth and carried off to London. There was no further
attempt at opposition, and all Scotland, for the first time since the
reign of Edward I, was in military occupation by English troops.
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