Abstract :
Scholarly works dealing with the Long Parliament’s military finances have often necessarily
relied on sampled data and exemplary evidence. This communication demonstrates that full, systematic
analyses of the relevant materials in the Commonwealth Exchequer Papers have the potential to alter our
understanding of these finances when certain questions are asked. Lacking a detailed calendar, this vast
collection of documents is extraordinarily complex and opaque, and because of this it is very hard to deal with
holistically. Nevertheless, this communication demonstrates that achieving a broad yet precise view of this
vital quantitative material is sometimes possible. It will be suggested here that the army of the earl of Essex
enjoyed full payment from the moment of its creation in August 1642 until the end of that October. This will
be demonstrated by comparing the total payments received by the foot soldiers to a newly calculated model
of their monetary needs during the period in question. Ultimately, there are many possible reasons for the
army’s failure to secure a decisive victory at Edgehill, but a financial crisis at the political centre was not
one of them.
