What is "roundhead"

Roundhead \Round"head`\, n. (Eng. Hist.) A nickname for a Puritan. See Roundheads, the, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.
--Toone.

"adherent of the Parliamentary party in the English Civil War," 1641, so called for their custom of wearing the hair close-cropped, in contrast to the flowing curls of the cavaliers.

a. (cx of a screw English) Having a dome-shaped head. n. A roundhead screw, one with a domed head.

1. n. a brachycephalic person

2. a supporter of Parliament and Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War

A Roundhead by John Pettie

]] Roundhead was the name given to the supporters of the Parliament of England during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against Charles I of England and his supporters, the Cavaliers or Royalists, who claimed rule by absolute monarchy and the divine right of kings. The goal of the Roundhead party was to give the Parliament supreme control over executive administration.

Most Roundheads appear to have sought a constitutional monarchy in place of the absolutist monarchy sought by Charles I. However, at the end of the English Civil War in 1649, public antipathy towards the king was high enough to allow republican leaders such as Oliver Cromwell to abolish the monarchy completely and establish the Commonwealth of England.

The Roundhead commander-in-chief of the first Civil War, Thomas Fairfax, remained a supporter of constitutional monarchy, as did many other Roundhead leaders such as Edward Montagu, 2nd Earl of Manchester and Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex; however, this party was outmanoeuvred by the more politically-adept Cromwell and his radicals, who had the backing of the New Model Army and took advantage of Charles' perceived betrayal of England by allying with the Scottish against Parliament.

England's many Puritans and Presbyterians were almost invariably Roundhead supporters, as were many smaller religious groups such as the Independents. However many Roundheads were Church of England, as were many Cavaliers.

Roundhead political factions included the proto-anarchist Diggers, the diverse group known as the Levellers and the apocalyptic Christian movement of the Fifth Monarchists.

A roundhead was a type of mace used during the English Civil War. It is described as having a head about , a staff long inserted into the head, twelve iron spikes round about, with another spike in the end. In 1643 an article in Mercurius Civicus claimed the weapon was called a roundhead by the Cavaliers because they were to be used to beat the Roundheads into subjection.

The word roundhead or roundheads may refer to any of several things.

In English history, "roundhead" can refer to:

• Roundhead, a supporter of the Parliamentarian and Puritan faction during the English Civil War
• more generally, any member of the Puritan movement in English history
• Roundhead (weapon), a type of mace used during the English Civil War

Names:

• Roundhead, a Wyandot chief who fought in the War of 1812
• "Roundhead" refers to the earliest complex of rock art paintings prevalent in the south east of the Tassili n'Ajjer plateau (Algeria)

Several organisms have the English common name "roundhead":

• Roundhead, also known as longfin, is a common name for fish of the family Plesiopidae
• Roundhead galaxias (Galaxias anomalus), a species of galaxiid fish
• Roundhead, a common name occasionally used for mushrooms of the genus Stropharia

Several place names in the United States carry the name "Roundhead":

• Roundhead Township, Hardin County, Ohio
• Roundhead, Ohio, an unincorporated community in Roundhead Township
• Roundhead, a peak near Fredericksburg, Texas
• Roundhead Butte, a peak in the Buffalo Plateau of southern Montana
• Roundhead Mountain, a peak near Stanley, Virginia

In coastal engineering, "roundhead" is:

• the offshore tip of a breakwater (structure)

In popular culture, "roundhead" can refer to:

• Roundheads and Pointheads, a play by Bertolt Brecht with music by Hanns Eisler
• The Roundheads, a Doctor Who novel
• Roundhead, terminology commonly used in Melbourne, Australia to describe a Gunzel or Trainspotter
• Roundhead Studios, a New Zealand-based music and sound recording studio owned by Neil Finn

Roundhead (c. 1760 – October 5, 1813), also known as Bark Carrier, Round Head, Stayeghtha, and Stiahta, was a Native American chief of the Wyandot tribe. He was a strong member of Tecumseh’s Confederacy against the United States during the War of 1812 and died alongside Tecumseh at the Battle of the Thames. __NOTOC__