. The
First English Civil War had ended in 1646 with the defeat of
Charles I's forces, but by 1648 divisions within Parliament and the army were threatening peace. Believing himself essential to any peace settlement, Charles had refused to compromise in negotiations; in December 1647 he made
an agreement with representatives of the
Scottish Parliament to restore him fully to the English throne in return for imposing a
Presbyterian polity for three years. He expected backing from Presbyterian moderates in the English Parliament, while mutinous elements of the army also became drawn into the plan. The revolt began in
Pembrokeshire, an area controlled by Parliament since early 1643. Like their colleagues in the
New Model Army, the soldiers had not been paid for months, and feared being disbanded without their wages. In early March,
John Poyer, Governor of
Pembroke Castle, refused to relinquish command; he was joined by the senior commander in South Wales,
Rowland Laugharne. What began as a pay dispute became overtly political when the Welsh rebels made contact with Charles. Most Royalists had sworn at the end of the first war not to bear arms against Parliament and did not participate, one exception being Sir
Nicholas Kemeys, who held
Chepstow Castle for the king. By the end of April, Laugharne had assembled around 8,000 troops, and was marching on
Cardiff. In the interim Royalist sympathisers attempted to expand the revolt into North Wales. The north had been affected by the same pay issues as South Wales, while heavy taxation and a poor harvest in 1647 stoked local economic resentments. At the beginning of May, Sir John Owen, a Caernarfonshire landowner who had served as Royalist governor of
Conwy Castle during the first war, began recruiting in
Merioneth. Senior Royalist exile
John Byron, who in March had been given a commission to raise men in his former command of North Wales by the
Prince of Wales in anticipation of a Scots intervention, left France for
Anglesey on hearing of Owen's mobilisation. While small numbers were involved, Byron believed a guerrilla-type campaign in the north could assist the Pembrokeshire rebels by drawing away Parliament's resources. On arrival at Anglesey Byron found most local landowners unenthusiastic, but he and Owen continued recruitment efforts throughout May, "giving out many threatening speeches against the Parliament". In the south, Laugharne was defeated on 8 May at
St Fagans, but the Royalists' retention of several fortresses encouraged them to continue. The garrison of
Beaumaris under Captain Thomas Symkys joined the revolt, as did elements of the Anglesey
Trained Bands. In mid-May Owen was reported at
Dolgellau with about "100 reformados [former Royalist officers] where they quartered two nights"; Colonel George Twisleton at Denbigh sent patrols to search for Owen among the mountain passes, but the Royalists managed to evade them. The counties of
Flintshire,
Denbighshire and
Montgomeryshire issued declarations that they would resist the rebels and "oppose [...] the disturbance of the peace of the Kingdome". ==Skirmish at Caernarfon==