that could shelter the enemy. Leveson surrendered the castle on 10 May. These terms upon which he surrendered were as good as could be expected, so good that the Royalists said that the governor had been guilty of treachery. Insinuations were made that he was bribed but no evidence is forthcoming to support either charge. The Royalist cause was hopeless; there was no prospect whatever of relief, and those who surrendered first got the best terms. In this Leveson was shrewd. Hartlebury Castle was the next Worcestershire garrison to be dealt with. Morgan advanced with a strong force against it, arriving before it on 9 May, he summoned it to surrender, Stating in his summons that it might well do so as far stronger castles, such as Newark and Banbury, had already capitulated. The Royalist governor Colonel William Sandys requested that he be given time to check that his was true as it meant he could expect no relief. Sandys' request appears to have been granted, for it was not until nearly a week later, on 14 May, that the place surrendered. The surrender was made on terms, and it included secret articles, one of which was that Morgan pledged himself to Sandys to use his best endeavours to secure that the sequestration of the Sandys' estate at Ombersley might be taken off without any composition, and on 7 January 1648 Morgan petitioned the House of Lords on Sandys' behalf. This deal for private interests of Sandys over those of the Royalists was seen by some Royalists still in the field as a betrayal. The surrender of Hartlebury Castle left only three Royalist garrisons in the county, Worcester, Madresfield, and Strensham. As to the last it is not clear when the Parliament took it. In the articles of the surrender of Worcester it is provided that it be "disgarrisoned", but it does not state it was then in Royalists' hands, if it had been, probably more would have been said about it. Siege May On 13 May 1646, the Worcester garrison wrote to the King asking for his special instructions. On 16 May Fairfax wrote from Headington, near Oxford, to Washington, the Governor of Worcester, requiring him to surrender the city. Washington replied: This answer, as might have been foreseen, was at once followed by the arrival of some Parliament troops under Whalley. On 21 May they encamped on Wheeler's