Prince Rupert's Royalist army stormed the major port of Bristol on 26 July 1643. Parliamentarian governor Nathaniel Fiennes surrendered after the outer defences were breached. Possession of the city gave the king an important harbour, commercial centre and route to Wales and Ireland.

Bristol's fall generated competing printed accounts about courage, cowardice and military responsibility. Fiennes's controversial surrender showed how the press could place commanders on trial before a national readership.