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Nine months of political uncertainty finally came to a climax in mid-1642. Since the outbreak of the Irish revolt in October 1641, the constitutional dispute between King Charles I and the radical opponents of his rule in both the Houses of Commons and Lords of the Long Parliament, had acquired a military dimension. Both factions were acquiring military resources and moving ever-further from any possibility of compromise. Yet there was no reason for the people of Oxford to suspect that the city would become central to the forthcoming civil war.

Plaque outside the Clore Music Studios, indicating the line of the Civil War fortifications of Oxford
 

New College, Oxford