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Prince Maurice's Regiment of Horse
Being a brief history of this Royalist regiment of horse
By Robert Giglio from ECWSA Collections

Prince Maurice's Regiment of Horse "was accounted the most active regiment in the [King's] army, and most commonly placed in the out[ermost] quarters [of the army nearest to the enemy] ..." and where "...hardly one week pass[ed] in the summer half year, in which there was not a battle or skirmish fought, or beating up of quarters" by the regiment.

The regiment's most famous action was the Battle of Roundway Down, where it charged Sir Arthur Hesilrige's Regiment of Horse, which were fully armored cuirassiers (three-quarter armor, known as "lobsters"). Captain Richard Atkyns himself clashed with Sir Arthur, though beacause of Hesilrige's heavy armor, Atkyhns was unable to seriously wound him. He was, says Atkyns, "too well armed all over for a pistol bullet to do him any hurt, having a coat of mail over his arms and a headpiece (I am confident) musket proot…". Wearing mail over cuirassier armor is odd in the extreme, so this may be referring to a mail cape, or "bishop's mantle", as worn by landsknechte in the 16th century. Atkyns pursued Helisrige, "upon the faltering of his horse his headpiece opened behind, and I gave him a prick in the neck, and I had run him through the head if my horse had not stumbled."

Chronological History of Prince Maurice's Regiment of Horse

1642
Regiment is raised for King Charles I's Army (Aug/Sept.)
Fight at Powick Bridge (Sept. 23rd)
Battle of Edgehill - possibly only 4 troops/200+ men raised at this time (Oct. 23rd)
Went into Winter Quarters at Faringdon (Dec. 9th).

1643
Storming of Cirencester (Feb. 2nd)
Fight at Little Dean; and then at Upton Bridge (Apr. 11th)
Fight at Ripple Field (Apr. 12th)
Evesham Fight (Apr.)
Caversham Fight (Apr. 25th)
Chewton Mendip Fight (June 10th)
Somerton Down Fight (June)
Battle of Lansdown (July 5th)
Battle of Roundway Down (July 13th)
Fight at Bradford Bridge (July)
Storming of Bristol - about 200 strong (July 26th)
Thereafter stayed in Bristol and recruited heavily until 400 strong
Barnstaple Fight, Siege of Gloucester (400 strong), Exeter Fight, and Plymouth Fight (Aug.)
Siege & Taking of Exeter (Sept.)
First Battle of Newbury (Sept. 20th)

1644
Battle of Cheriton (Mar. 29th)
Siege of Lyme Regis (Mar/Apr.)
Alburne Chase Muster with the King's Army - 7 troops, 300 strong (Apr. 10th)
Battle of Cropredy Bridge (June 29th)
Cornish Campaign (July/Aug.)
Lostwithiel Campaign - Fights at Castle Dore and the Storming of Beacon Hill around Lostwithiel (Aug/Sept.)
Second Battle of Newbury (Oct. 27th)
Relief of Donnington Castle (Nov. 9th)

1645
Lifeguard Troop raised under Lord Molyneux sometime in 1645
Siege of Leicester - 150 strong (May 30th)
Battle of Naseby - had 4 troops (June 14th)
Lifeguard Troop of Reformadoes from Naseby raised - probably 100 - under Lord Molyneux (June); Battle of Rowton Heath (Sept. 24th)
Bewdly Fight, where they were "badly knocked about" (Aug.)
Denbigh Green Fight (Nov. 1st).

1646
Quarters beaten up at Tudbury (Jan 14th).
Presumably disbanded along with Prince Rupert's forces (Apr.).

Cornets

At the Aldbourne Chase muster it was reported as having seven red cornets.

Historical Officers of the Regiment

Prince Maurice	Strongest Troop. Was the Lifeguard Troop, and formed a 'division' with Prince Rupert's Lifeguard of Horse at the Battle of Naseby.
Capt.-Lt. Hugh Williams	Prince Maurice's Troop.
Lt.-Col. Guy Molesworth	Professional soldier and had been Capt.-Lt. of the Earl of Northumberland's Regiment of Foot (1640). Was C.O. of the horse regiment throughout the war. Wounded at Naseby. He recovered from his wound, and with the remnant of the regiment (perhaps 100) was still campaigning under Lord Gerard as late as Jan. 14th, 1646.
Maj. Robert Legge	Had become a colonel and Governor of Evesham, which fell to Parliament on May 25th, 1645, but he was later listed as Major of the regiment at the Battle of Naseby (June 14th, 1645).
Maj. Thomas Sheldon	Was a Captain in Sir James Hamilton's Regiment of Foot (1640). Killed 1643, just after Battle of Lansdown.
Capt. Richard Atkyns	(Tufley, Gloucestershire) Known to be in the regiment in 1643.
Capt. James Elliot
Capt. Fitzmaurice	Killed 1644.
Capt. William Ford
Capt. John Freake
Capt. Wolley Lee	Died Dec. 1644.
Capt. Roger Renekers
Capt. Thomas Roberts
Capt. John Salisbury	(Denbigh)
Capt. William Sheldon	(Broadway, Worcestershire) PW Naseby.
Capt. Robert Snead
Lt. William Arscott
Lt. Richard Elliot	(Bromsgrove, Worcestershire) Capt. Elliot's Troop.
Lt. William Horton	(Gloucestershire) Capt. Freake's Troop.
Lt. Robert Morse	(Gloucestershire)
Cornet George Guise	(Sandhurst, Gloucestershire) Capt. Sheldon's Troop, eventually promoted to Lt.; PW Naseby.
Cornet William Grills	(Cornwall)
Cornet Robert Holmes	Capt. Atkyn's Troop.
Cornet Henry Lyon	(Lancaster) Capt. Renekers' Troop.
Cornet Will Mason	(Warwick) Capt. Freake's Troop.
Cornet John Sheldon	(Worcester) Capt. Sheldon's Troop.
Cornet Wellsborne Sill	Capt. Sheldon's Troop.
Cornet Stephen Smith	Capt. Snead's Troop.
Cornet John Turner	Lt.-Col. Molesworth Troop.
Cornet Washnage	Killed 1643.
Quartermaster Erwing	(Scots)
Quartermaster Edward Hebden	(York)
Quartermaster George Nation	(Cornwall)
Quartermaster John Watts	Lifeguard Troop.

Sources & Recommended Reading

ECW Notes & Queries, Caliver Books/Partizan Press. Memoirs of Prince Rupert & the Cavaliers, Eliot Warburton. Memoirs of Richard Atkyns, Peter Young (editor). Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Patrick Morrah. The King's War, C. V. Wedgwood. The Siege of Lyme Regis, Chapman. The Vindication of Thomas Atkyns, 1643.