The terms aren\u2019t modern and actually first spring up \u2013 in the context of the Civil War<\/a> \u2013 in London, in late 1642\/early 1643. Certainly, in the propaganda of the time, you can see images of long-haired, foppish Cavaliers pitted against sober-looking, shorthaired parliamentarians.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The word \u2018Cavalier\u2019 actually comes from the Spanish word \u2018caballero\u2019 (gentleman) and it had connotations of foreignness, of being a trooper or an armed horseman. And it was also tied up with images of gentility. So it became a very handy propagandist tool for the parliamentarians, because once you start to call people Cavaliers, you invoke the idea of snobbish aristocrats who are looking down on ordinary people.<\/p>\n The word Cavalier also conjures up images of violent foreigners, particularly those associated with Spain, which was a country hated by Protestant men and women at the time and which was viewed as the heartland of European Catholicism. And, of course, there\u2019s also the other meaning of the word cavalier: of being reckless, high-handed, swaggering, drinking and so on \u2013 the antithesis, if you like, of the stout Protestant English man or woman.<\/p>\n The origin of the word \u2018Roundhead\u2019 is a little harder to trace and doesn\u2019t have any obvious roots in other words. The classic explanation is that it reflected the short hair of the London apprentices who were very prominent in their support of Parliament at the beginning of the Civil War. Another possible explanation, which I\u2019ve always been interested in, is that, before the Civil War, if you were seditious and opposed the government, particularly in religious terms, you could have your ears lopped off as a form of punishment. There is one rather gruesome example of a man who had already had his ears cut down once to the stumps, but then had the remaining stumps cut off for the same crime!<\/p>\n I do sometimes wonder if the term Roundhead was almost created as a nasty joke \u2013 to invoke the image of seditious, Puritanical individuals who had had their ears cropped as a result of their hostility to the established church.<\/p>\n You can listen to the full interview with Mark Stoyle on our Everything You Wanted To Know About podcast episode<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n In a word, no. The idea of gaily dressed Cavaliers in plumed hats doing battle with helmeted Roundheads is a Victorian misconception.<\/p>\n Armies in the Civil War of 1642\u201351 were dressed in exactly the same way and any cavalryman, Roundhead or Cavalier, offered the opportunity of wearing a helmet, breastplate and thick leather coat would have jumped at the chance.<\/p>\n![\""A\"](\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2019\/07\/16.-GettyImages-463963647-9957776.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413"\" "\\"\"The\\"\/")
<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>Did Roundheads and Cavaliers really dress so differently?<\/strong><\/h4>\n