Battle of Langport and four infantry regiments from their New Model Army, to relieve Taunton. They raised the siege on 11 May 1645, but were themselves besieged by Goring's returning army (although there was no longer any danger of the Royalists storming the town). On 14 June 1645, the main body of the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax, with Oliver Cromwell as Lieutenant General of Horse, won the decisive Battle of Naseby, destroying Charles's main army. After the Royalist garrison of Leicester surrendered four days later, the New Model Army was free to march to the relief of Taunton. The army
Francis Windebank (Royalist soldier) forces in April 1645, Walters speculates that this was done to protect the lives of his wife and friends even though the Parliamentarian forces had little chance of taking the house by force. Returning to Oxford he was consequently tried by a Royalist court-martial which took just three hours to sentence him to death by firing squad. According to Walters the execution took place against the length of town wall abutting Merton College, where Windebank bared his chest to the muskets and exclaimed "God Save the King." He was survived by his wife and a daughter, Frances. Windebank's ghost was