During the English Civil War, Newark held immense strategic value as a crossing over the River Trent before the Humber estuary. Dubbed the ‘Key to the North’, it stands at the intersection of two major highways. This new military history, incorporating fresh research, marks the town's first comprehensive account in a century.The Duke of Newcastle sent Sir John Henderson, an experienced soldier, with 4,000 Horse to secure the town for the King in December 1642 and turn the town into a secure royalist garrison. It was to remain under royalist control, in spite of three sieges through until May 1646, when it was ordered by Charles I to surrender on terms.Over the period of the first Civil War it was visited separately by Charles and his Queen, Henrietta Marie with their substantial accompanying armies, tripling the population of the town. During the second siege (1644) Prince Rupert achieved one of his greatest victories of the war by not only breaking the siege, but also inflicting a crushing defeat upon the parliamentarian forces besieging the town.