423ad94a

Malmesbury in the First Civil War – 1642-46

Sun, 31 Oct 2021 13:33:42 GMT

Malmesbury in the First Civil War – 1642-46

By Alan Turton

Regimental Drummers and their important role within the army...

Sat, 10 Jul 2021 22:55:40 GMT

The chaos of battle: controlled by the beat of a drum...

Drummers were a key element of the military regiments during the English Civil Wars, known as the voice of the commander, they were the very heartbeat of the battle. The role of the Drummer was to ensure that orders, that would have otherwise been lost to the noise of battle, were conveyed to the troops as well as maintaining the speed of march.

Devereux's Regiment have put together the below informative video; our regimental Drummers, Steven Rutherford, David Broadwaters and Andy James, share their knowledge and demonstrate the calls of war...

Pike Postures & The Calls of War with Big Dave & Little Wayne

Sat, 10 Jul 2021 22:34:07 GMT

Big Dave & Little Wayne demonstrate postures of the pike and the calls of war...

This is totally not serious, but if you can't laugh at yourselves then who can you laugh at?! That being said, we hope you learn something anyway, as the information provide is stellar !

Spectacles: A Brief History

Thu, 03 Jun 2021 17:24:40 GMT

Devereux’s Recommended Book List - General Politics / Military

Fri, 28 May 2021 13:42:32 GMT

If you are interested in the 17th Century, and the 'English Civil Wars' period, we recommend the following literature...

General Politics/Military

(1st Ed. 1956) The King’s Peace 1637-1641 / (1st Ed. 1958) The King’s War 1641-1647 / (1st Ed. 1964) The Trial of Charles I

By C.V. Wedgewood

Seminal works on the Civil Wars, by a renowned author. A bit dated now, but still very well written and comprehensive. Good core information about the Civil War.

Who’s who in Stuart Britain

By C.P. Hill (1988), Shepheard-Walwyn

An encyclopaedia of key figures in the 17th Century, and a very useful resource to turn to if faced with a name in other reading.

Standards of the English Civil War

Thu, 20 May 2021 16:08:03 GMT

[Note: This series of articles was written by Charles Kightly, illustrated by Anthony Barton and first published in Military Modelling Magazine. The series is reproduced here with the kind permission of Charles Kightly and Anthony Barton. Typographical errors have been corrected and comments on the original articles are shown in bold within square brackets.]

The Parliamentary Infantry

During the Civil Was, there were no regimental colours as such, each company of an infantry having its own. A full strength regiment, therefore, might have as many as ten, one for each of the colonel's company, first, second, third captain's company etc. All the standards of the regiment were of the same basic colour (B1), sometimes with a motto (A1). All the rest, however, had in their top left corner a canton with the cross of St. George in red on white; lieutenant-colonel's colours bore this canton and no other device.

In the system most commonly followed by both sides (pattern 1) the major's colour had a 'flame' or 'stream blazant' emerging from the bottom right hand corner of the St. George (A3), while the first captain's company bore one device, the second captain's two devices, and so on for as many colours as there were companies. Variant styles, however, were in vogue amongst the London militia or Trained Bands, and possibly elsewhere. One of these (pattern 2) continued the use of the major's flame, the first captain's colour bearing two of these, the second captain's three etc., arranged round the canton. In the other (pattern 3) the major's colour bore a single device rather than a flame, the first captain's two devices, and so on.

The devices used by parliamentary infantry seem usually to have been conventional ones, such as stars, balls, lozenge-shapes etc. rather than devices taken from the heraldic arms of the colonel, though Lord Saye's regimental colours did employ his family's rampant lions. Even so, standards rarely broke the heraldic rules by placing metal (gold and silver and hence yellow and white) on metal or a colour (red, blue, green etc.) on a colour; thus, one would not normally expect to find, say, yellow devices on a white standard or blue devices on a red one. Nor were a regiment's colours always the same hue as its coats. Early in Charles I's reign, foot colours were described as being seven and a half feet long (next to the pole) by nine feet long (in the fly) but by the time of the Civil War they had been reduced to a rather more moderate size of six and a half feet square, the canton of St. George being between one and a half and two feet square. In order to fly gracefully, and to be manageable in a wind, they were made from two thicknesses of some lightweight material, like silk or taffeta, the devices being painted rather than embroidered. Standard poles seem generally to have been rather short (perhaps about eight to ten feet long) both for ease of management and to facilitate the ceremonial flourishing of colours so much recommended by seventeenth-century military writers. Contemporary illustrations show the poles to have been topped by a spearhead, but more decorative devices may also have been used. One such, perhaps, was the brass dove, fitted with a socket for a staff, found in a ditch near the battlefield of Cropredy Bridge, Oxon.

Colours were carried by the ensign, who was the company's most junior officer, ranking below the captain and his lieutenant. He was not always a young man, though, since the colours would be a focus of enemy attacks, he needed to be both courageous and agile. In some cases, at least, he would be provided with a guard of men armed with handy pole-weapons like halberds. Many rules were laid down by military authorities for the ensign's conduct on ceremonial occasions, though how much these were observed in the field is another matter. At no time, for instance, was he to carry the standard-pole with more than one hand “but if the wind blow stiff... then he may set the butt against his waste and not otherwise”. He was to dip and flourish his colours to honour the general 'or any Noble Stranger', and on no account was he to lay them on the ground when the company halted but rather furl them and prop them up with sergeants' halberds. As an officer, the ensign would not have worn uniform but his own civilian clothes.

The hazards of his office would also call for defensive armour, most probably a pikeman's suit with or without extra decoration (see illustration).

The ceremonious treatment of the colours was not merely Baroque nonsense, for in some ways they were (like Roman eagles) the heart and soul of the company and regiment. On the march they were carried at the head of the company's pikes (supposedly a more honourable weapon than the musket) or massed together with the collected pikes of the regiment. In battle, of course, their main use was an easily identifiable rallying point, so here, too, they were placed with the stand of massed pikes which was the regiment's chief strength and stay. Even if the pike-stand broke, the colours provided a centre for last-ditch resistance, as at Naseby when the front line of parliamentary foot were forced back in disorder. "But the Colonels and Officers, doing the duty of very gallant Men, in endeavouring to keep their men from disorder, and finding their attempt fruitless therein, fell into the Reserves with their Colours, choosing rather there to fight and die than to quit the ground they stood on." (Joshua Sprigge: Anglia Rediviva).

A regiment that lost all its colours therefore (as several royalist regiments did at the same battle of Naseby) was an utterly broken and routed unit, and one that “cast its standards away in flight" was likely to be little better. Captured colours were a solid proof of success, the more the colours the greater the victory. Contemporary accounts of actions, therefore, nearly always include some such phrase as (in this case referring to the capture of Wakefield, May 20th 1643) “We took all their Officers prisoners, 27 Colours of Foot, 3 Coronets (i.e. standards) of Horse and about 1500 Common Souldiers..."

Colours taken by the Parliamentary army were often sent to be presented to the House of Commons – that is, when they could be found, for the soldiers who captured them sometimes preferred to tear them up for trophies. Partly to prevent this, substantial rewards were given when they were handed over, and the account books of the New Model Army contain such items as:

“For colours taken at Langport fight (10th July, 1645) by the General's order - £7”
"To Monsieur Pridagh the Frenchman for taking colours from the enemy upon a single encounter - £5."
“To Lieutenant Knight who tooke the black colours att the storming of Bridgewater (21st July, 1645)-£10."

Several instances are known of Parliamentary ensigns capturing colours from their enemy counterparts, and Ensign Young of Sir William Constable's bluecoats was responsible for taking the royal standard at the battle of Edgehill, 1642. At the storm of Bridgewater, 1645, the ensigns of the Lord General's regiment were also in the fore, planting their colours on the royalist fortifications to encourage their comrades. Colours could also be used to deceive, as when Colonel Hutchinson, parliamentary governor of Nottingham, being desperately short of men, displayed far more colours on his defences than he had companies in the town; the enemy were taken in, and delayed their assault long enough for Hutchinson to send for reinforcements. On occasion the deception was unintentional, and several unfortunates were taken prisoner after mistaking the similar colours of an enemy regiment for their own.

The discussion will be continued later in an article on Royalist infantry colours. Appended here, however, is a list of all Parliamentary foot standards known to the authors, including brief notes on the service of the regiments concerned.

[Note: This isn’t complete – more colours have come to light since the article was written – notably the whole set for Nicholas Devereux’s Regt, depicted in a contemporary painting of Malmesbury].

Key to illustrations of Parliamentary foot colours

r = raised; disb.= disbanded; m = merged; s served; n.d.k.= colour of standard but no devices known.

Lines A, B, and C illustrate the three types of differencing in use with the Parliamentary army. Letters in round brackets indicate system used by regiment. All regiments of the London Trained Bands probably served at Turnham Green, 1642. Numbers in square brackets indicate number of companies, where known.

A. 1-16 Charles Fairfax's Regiment New Model Army

r. West Yorkshire, 1648

s. Pontefract Castle, 1648, Dunbar, 1650, Worcester, 1651 [10] Motto on Colonel's colour means 'Faithfully and Fortunately'

LONDON TRAINED BANDS

B. 1-16 Green Auxiliaries

s. with Waller's Army, Autumn, 1643, including battle of Alton, Hants. December, 1643. [7]

C. 1-6 Blue Regiment

s. Relief of Gloucester, Aldbourne, First Newbury, 1643 [7]

D.1 Red Regiment (as B) 3rd Captain's Co.

s. as Blue Regt. [7]

D.2 Blue Regiment 4th Captain's Co.

D.3 Green Regiment (as C) 2nd Captain's Cs. as Blue Regt. [6]

D.4 White Regiment (as C) 4th Captain

s. Cheriton, March, 1644. [7]

D.5 Yellow Regiment (as C) 2nd Captain

s. Cheriton, March, 1644. [7]

D.6 Orange Regiment (as C) Major. [6]

E.1 Red Auxiliaries (as C) 2nd Captain.

s. Relief of Gloucester, Aldbourne, First Newbury, 1643. [7]

E.2 Blue Auxiliaries (as B) 2nd Captain.

s. as Red Auxiliaries. [7]

E.3 Green Auxiliaries 4th Captain.

s. with Waller's Army, Autumn 1643, including battle of Alton, Hants. December, 1643.

E.4White Auxiliaries (as B) 1st Captain. [7]

E.5 Yellow Auxiliaries (as B) 4th Captain.

s. as Green Auxiliaries [8]

E.6 Orange Auxiliaries (n.d.k.) Lieutenantcolonel.

s. as Red Auxiliaries.

F.1 Westminster Regiment (as C) 1st

Captain.

s. as Green Auxiliaries [7]

F.2 Southwark Regiment (as A) 6th

Captain.

s. Cropredy Bridge campaign, 1644 [9]

F.3 & F.4 Tower Hamlets Regiment Colonel and 1st Captain.

s. as Southwark Regiment [7]

Motto means 'Jehova [God] will provide'.

ESSEX'S ARMY

F.5 Lord Saye and Sale's Regiment , later

Meldrum's, later Aldrich's (as A) 2nd Captain

r. Oxfordshire.

s. Edgehill 1642, 1st Newbury, 1643,

Lostwithiel, 2nd Newbury 1644. m. New Model Army, 1645 as Lloyd's. Retained these colours until at least 1644. [10]

F.6 Lord Brooke's Regiment (as A) 2nd

Captain. This was the company colour of Captain John Lilburne, the Leveller.

r. London

s. Southam, Edgehill, Brentford 1642, disb. 1643. [10]

G.1 John Hampden's Regiment (n.d.k.) later Tyrrel's, later Ingoldsby's, Colonel.

r. Buckinghamshire

s. Southam, Edgehill, Brentford, 1642, 1st Newbury, 1643? Lostwithiel, ? Second Newbury, 1644.

m. New Model, 1645.

Motto means 'Not one step backwards' (We never retreat).

[Note: Currently it is thought that this design was instead Hampden’s cavalry cornet].

WALLER'S ARMY

G.2 Sir William Waller's Regiment (n.d.k.) Lieutenant-Colonel.

s. Waller's Campaigns September, 1743-5, including Alton 1643, Cheriton and Cropredy Bridge 1644.

m. New Model, 1645 [10]

G.3 Herbert Morley's Regiment (n.d.k.) Lieutenant Colonel.

r. Sussex.

s. Siege of Arundel Castle, 1643, Basing House, 1644 [5]

G.4 Colonel Richard Onslowe's Regiment (n. d. k.) Major.

r. Surrey.

s. Basing House, 1644 [6]

G.5 Colonel Samuel Jones' Regiment (n.d.k.) Lieutenant-Colonel.

r. Surrey.

s. Garrison of Farnham, 1643-5. Basing House, 1643-4, Cheriton, 1644.

NEW MODEL ARMY

G.6 Colonel Thomas Rainsborowe's

Regiment (n.d.k.) Lieutenant-Colonel.

s. Naseby, Bridgewater, Bristol, 1645.

[Note: the hue is 'sea green' -- adopted as a party colour by the Levellers and their sympathisers, especially after Rainsborowe's murder in 1648, and probably relates to the Tower Guard Rgt commanded by Rainsborowe at his death].

GENERALS' PERSONAL STANDARDS

These were carried to mark the position of a general on the field, and borne by his personal lifeguard of horse. They were about 2 feet square, the same size as cavalry standards.

[Note: Much confusion has arisen over ‘personal standards’, these were simply the cornet of the general’s lifeguard troop. Sometimes lifeguard troops deployed independently, but often formed the first troop of the general’s own regiment of horse]

H.1 Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex.

Commander of the main Parliamentary Army, 1642-5. Commander-in-chief at Edgehill, 1642, First Newbury, 1643, Lostwithiel and Second Newbury, 1644.

Motto means: 'Virtue attracts envy'

H.2 Sir William Waller

Command of various armies, especially in southern England, 1642-5. Commander-in-chief at Lansdown, Roundway Down, Alton, 1643, Cheriton and Cropredy Bridge, 1644.

Motto means:' The fruit of virtue'

H.3 Sir Thomas Fairfax

Commander-in-chief, New Model Army, 1649.

Commanded at Naseby, Langport, Bridgewater, Bristol, 1645, Torrington, 1646, Maidstone, Colchester, 1648.

The hue is 'peacock blue'.

H.4 Ferdinando Lord Fairfax (father of the above)

Commander of Northern Parliamentary Army, 1642-5. Commanded in Yorkshire campaigns and present at Marston Moor, 1644.

The Spanish motto translates as 'Long live the King and Death to Bad Government'

H.5 Major-General Philip Skippon

Commander of infantry in Essex's army and in New Model Army. Present at 1st and 2nd Newbury, in most of Essex's campaigns, and at Naseby.

Motto means: 'Pray and fight. Jehova helps and will help you'.

H.6 Edward, Earl of Manchester

Commander, Eastern Association, 1643-5.

Commanded at Winceby, 1643 and Lincoln, 1644, present at Marston Moor and 2nd Newbury, 1644.

The Royalist Infantry

A considerable number of Royalist infantry colours are known, the principal sources of information being, ironically, the records of their Parliamentarian opponents who captured them with increasing regularity as the war turned against the King. Many of these captured standards were sent as trophies of victory to the House of Commons, where some unidentified artists (to whom military historians must be forever grateful) carefully drew and painted them in volumes which still survive in various archive collections.

As might be expected in a civil war, the military systems used by both sides were similar. In the Royalist, as in the Parliamentary army, regiments of foot were composed of companies, nominally of about a hundred men each, and each of these had its own colour. Up to ten standards, therefore, might be carried by a full strength regiment, one each for the colonel's, lieutenant-colonel's, major's, first, second, third and fourth captain's companies, etc. This was the ideal but (especially towards the end of the war) Royalist regiments were rarely up to strength and by the battle of Naseby in 1645 some were down to two or three companies, having to be 'brigaded' together to form one unit of regimental size.

Standards were made of painted silk or taffeta, and were six and a half feet square. Within a regiment all were of the same basic colour, but several methods were used to distinguish the different companies, the most common system being apparently that shown in Cl-6. Here the colonel's colour is plain, but all the rest have cantons of St. George (between eighteen inches and two feet square) in the top left hand corner. The major's colour is further differenced by a streamer issuing from the canton, the First Captain's has one device, the Second Captain's two, and so on. Another common system (see E4-5) had the same type of Colonel's Lieutenant-Colonel's and Major's colours as above - indeed, these were almost universal - but dispensed with devices, the First Captain having two streamers from the St. George, the Second Captain three, etc.

The systems above were used by both sides indiscriminately (see the Parliamentary infantry colours in June Military Modelling), Colonel Cooke's Royalist regiment (E1), for instance, bearing exactly the same colours as those carried by the Blue Regiment of the London Trained Bands on the opposing side. This situation undoubtedly gave rise to considerable confusion on the battlefield, and many examples are known where soldiers mistook an enemy regiment with similar colours for their own, with disastrous results. Perhaps for this reason, some Royalist regiments adopted a system which, as far as we can tell, was confined to the King's army. In this (F2-6) the field officers' standards were conventional, but the

Captains' were distinguished by an increasing number of geometrical segments (or ‘gyrons’) in contrasting colours. One regiment with this type of colour, Gerrard's (F5) further decorated them with gold wreaths, perhaps a battle honour granted for some notable action.

Where conventional devices were used, these were often derived from the colonel's coat of arms. Stradling's cinquefoils, Talbot's hounds, Astley's hawk-lures and Percy's crescents all fall into this category, and Sir Henry Bard's 'cross potent' appears even on the normally plain colonel's colour of his regiment (G1-3). One commander, a certain Martin from Yorkshire, even displayed his whole arms crest, mantling, motto and all - on his colour (H5), which was considered 'bad form' by contemporary heralds. A few royalist units (none, unfortunately, identified) clung to a rather old fashioned design of contrasting stripes reminiscent of the standards of Queen Elizabeth's day (H6).

The colours of the King's Lifeguard of Foot, as befitted its special status, were quite different from those of any other regiment, for the St. George's cross extended the whole length of the hoist. Colonel's, Lieutenant-Colonel's and Major's standards all displayed one of the royal badges, and those of the Captains were differenced with crowned English roses. The colours of Prince Rupert's regiment, by contrast, were very un-English indeed. Like their colonel, these were German in style, and employed the black and white livery colours of the Rhineland Palatinate from which Rupert hailed. The Queen, too, used her national device, the French fleur-de-lys, on both the colours of her foot regiment and the standards of her troop of horse.

The colours were carried by an ensign, the most junior officer of the company, who (when there was any money to be had) was paid a guinea a week, considerably more than a private soldier with his weekly four shillings but less than his captain who received a weekly £2.12/6d. Like all other officers he provided his own clothes rather than wearing the regimental uniform coat. Ensigns were usually 'gentlemen', like the Welshman John Gwyn who, after a short spell in the ranks, was promoted to carry a colour in the regiment of his fellow-countryman Sir Thomas Salisbury. In his memoirs he tells us how 'for my further encouragement I had the colours confirmed on me, to go on as I began'. His post naturally made him the focus of enemy attention, and when Gwyn's unit was forced to retreat during the first battle of Newbury (1643), it was his skill at vaulting with the standard pole that saved him... 'with the colours in my hand, I jumped over hedge and ditch, or I had died by multitude of hands'. In such circumstances agility was the best protection, but many ensigns probably wore some armour, if only the gorget, the usual mark of an officer.

Key to illustration of Royalist foot colours

r = raised, s = served, disb. = disbanded, destr. = destroyed.

Here follows a list of all Royalist colours which we have been able to trace, with notes on uniform colours where known and a summary of the unit's service.

A1-6 King's Lifeguard (Red Coats) Colonel's. Lt-Col's, Major's. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Captains'.

r. Lincs., Derbs. and Cheshire. Originally 12 companies.

s. Edgehill, 1642. First Newbury, 1643. Cropredy Bridge/Western Campaign/2nd Newbury, 1644. Virtually destroyed at Naseby, 1645, where all these six colours were captured.

B1. Queen's Regiment (Red Coats)

Colonel's colour - other colours unknown. Little is known of the service of this regiment, though it certainly fought at Cropredy Bridge. This colour was captured by the Parliamentary army of the Earl of Essex at some unknown place. See also Sir Henry Bard's Regt. below.

B2-6 Prince Rupert's Regiment (Blue Coats)

Col. Lt. Col., 1 st, 3rd and 5th Captain

r. Somerset, as Sir Thomas Lunsford's Regiment. Taken over by Rupert, 1643.

s. Edgehill, 1642. In the west, including Lansdown and the Siege of Bristol, and at Chalgrove, 1643. Marston Moor, 1644. Virtually destroyed at Naseby, 1645, where seven colours were lost. These unusual colours, which are of German type, may only have come in when Prince Rupert took over the regiment.

[Note: The black and white stripy flags B2 and B3 are now thought to belong to another regiment, not Prince Rupert’s]

C1-6 Sir Edward Stradling's (later John Stradling's) Col., Lt. Col., Major, 1st, 2nd, 4th Captain.

r. S. Wales.

s. Edgehill, 1642. ? 1st Newbury, 1643. Cropredy Bridge, 2nd Newbury, 1644. ? Naseby, 1645.

D1-3 Sir Gilbert Talbot's (Yellow Coats) Lt. Col., Major, 1st Captain.

r. ? Shropshire. s. Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge, 1644. The dogs on these colours are 'talbot-hounds', badge of the colonel's family.

D4 Lord Hopton's (Blue Coats) 3rd Captain (system as Talbot's)

r. West Country.

s. Western campaigns including Lansdown and Bristol, 1643. Cheriton and Cropredy Bridge, 1644. Western campaigns, 1645-6.

D5 Sir Bernard Astley's (formerly Marquis of Hertford's) 1st Captain (system as Talbot's).

s. Western campaigns including Lansdown and Siege of Bristol. Cheriton (?), Cropredy, 2nd Newbury, 1644. Naseby, 1645. The devices are hawk’s lures.

D6 Sir Lewis Dyve's 3rd Captain (system as Talbots).

r. Lincs. and Beds.

s. Edgehill, 1642. Garrison of Abingdon, Cheriton (~), Cropredy, 1644. Garrison of Sherborne Castle, Dorset, 1645.

E1 Col. Cooks's 1st Captain (system as Talbot's).

s. Cropredy Bridge, 1644.

E2 Henry Lord Percy's (White Coats)

(system as Talbot's).

Recruited from the Yorkshire regiments, this unit escorted the Train of Artillery (of which Percy was commander) at Cheriton and (?) Cropredy Bridge, 1644.

E3 Sir Richard Bolle's (later Sir George

Lisle's) Lt. Cot's. (system as Talbot's).

r. Staffs.

s. Edgehill, 1642. First Newbury, 1643. Bolle was killed at Alton, Dec. 1649. Under Lisle the unit served at Cheriton, Cropredy and 2nd Newbury 1644. Naseby, 1645.

E4-5 Sir William Pennyman's (later Sir James Pennyman’s, later Richard Page's) Major and 1st Captain.

One of the first royalist regiments, raised from the Yorkshire Trained Bands.

s. Edgehill, 1642. Cropredy, 1644. Naseby, 1645, where several of their colours were taken.

E6 Anthony Thelwall's (formerly Sir Edward Fitton's) 1st Capt. - (system as Pennyman's).

r. Cheshire.

s. Edgehill, 1642. Siege of Bristol, First Newbury, 1643. Cropredy, 2nd Newbury, 1644.

F1-4 Sir Allen Apsley's (Red Coats) Major. 1 st, 2nd and 3rd Captain's.

s. Cropredy Bridge, 1644. ? West Country

1645-6.

F5 Charles Gerrard's (Blue Coats) 1st

Captain's - (system as Apsley's).

r. Lancs., Ches. and N. Wales.

s. Edgehill 1642. Lichfield, Bristol and First Newbury, 1643. Relief of Newark, Cheriton, S. Wales, 1644. ? Wales, 1645, Garrison of Oxford.

F6 Duke of York's 1 st Captain's - (system as Apsley's).

s. Garrison of Mariborough, 1644. Newbury 1645 where six of its colours were taken.

G1-3 Sir Henry Bard's (Grey Coats)

Colonel, Lt. Col., 2nd Captain.

The history of this unit, and of its commander, is a remarkable one. It was originally raised in spring 1644 from Yorkshire soldiers sent to Oxford with a

convoy. Shortly afterwards, however, it was virtually wiped out at the battle of Cheriton, where Sir Arthur Haslerig's “Lobsters” ‘killed or took every man’. Bard himself was then taken prisoner, having lost an arm. Released in 1645, Bard raised a new regiment with similar colours to the old one: it may have been recruited from members of the Queen's Redcoats (see above B 1) and was itself sometimes known as the Queen's Regiment. The new unit was no more fortunate than the old one for, after a spell as the garrison of Chipping Camden, it was decimated at Naseby, where the colours shown were taken. After the war Bard went into exile, and after various adventures was sent to the Shah of Persia in 1650 to raise money for the Royalist cause. He eventually died of heatstroke in India in 1656.

G4-6 City of Oxford Regiment. Lt. Colonel, Major, 1st Captain.

r. Oxford December, 1643 from townsmen rather than students. Given to Col. William Legge, governor of Oxford, 1645. A garrison regiment, it probably took no part in field campaigns.

F1 John Lamplugh's Regiment (White or

Grey Coats) 1st Captain.

r. Yorks. and Cumberland.

s. Northern campaigns and Marston Moor, 1644 where it was wiped out. This is the only one of the Marquis of Newcastle's famous White Coat regiments whose colours are certainly known.

H2 Unknown 4th Captain, H3 Unknown 3rd Captain, H4 Unknown 4th Captain.

These three colours were taken at Marston Moor: some or all of them may have been those of White Coat regiments

F5 Unknown Lt. Colonel's colour. Taken by Essex's army.

The arms are those of the family of Martin from Yorkshire.

F6 Unknown of old-fashioned type. taken as above.

Some other unidentified Royalist colours taken by the Parliamentary forces...

Taken at Edgehill. 1642.

A blue colour with St. George's cross and one white hawk's lure (as on Sir Bernard Astley's colours). Two red colours with St. George's cross and devices of white balls (as on Sir Lewis Dyve's colours) - perhaps belonged to Lord General's Regiment.

Taken at Marston Moor, 1644.

Eleven red colours, six yellow, four white, three green and one blue colour.

Taken at Naseby, 1645.

Four blue colours (a Lt. Colonel's and '1st, 3rd and 4th Captains') the last three having white stars like those on Hopton's colours. As well as near one hundred other colours both of horse and foot'.

Uniforms of some regiments whose

colours are unknown...

Sir Ralph Dutton's -White Coats.

r. Gloucestershire.

s. Edgehill, 1642. Siege of Bristol, 1643. Greenland House, 1644 ? Naseby, 1645.

Sir John Paulet's - Yellow Coats.

r. Late 1643 from troops returned from

Ireland.

s. Cheriton, 1644, Winchester, 1645.

Sir Matthew Appleyard's - Yellow Coats.

r. as above, Paulet's.

s. Cheriton, Cropredy, Western Campaigns, 1644. Naseby, 1645.

Sir Henry Tillier's and Robert Broughton's Both Green Coats.

r. 1644 from troops from Ireland.

s. Relief of Newark, 1644. Badly cut up at

Marston Moor, survivors fought at Montgomery, 1644, and (as 'the Shrewsbury Foot') at Naseby, 1645.

[Note: Although clear evidence exists that Tillier’s had green coats, the evidence for Broughton’s is unclear].

The Parliamentary Cavalry

During the summer of 1642, both the King and his Parliamentary opponents were busy recruiting a force of cavalry for the coming struggle; but the methods they respectively employed were, at first, somewhat different. While the King, from the outset, raised regiments of horse with a nominal strength of 500, the Parliamentarians began by organising their cavalry into individual troops. These were each commanded by a captain, assisted by a lieutenant, a cornet (who carried the standard) and a quartermaster, and included three corporals, two trumpeters, and a number of troops ranging from the statutory minimum of forty to an ideal sixty. Each captain was allowed £1,100 "mounting money" to provide horses and arms for his men of which the captain himself received £140 and the cornet about £50, while around £15 was considered adequate for the mount and equipment of a trooper. By the outbreak of large-scale hostilities in September, 1642, about 80 troops had been raised in this way, including the heavily armoured Lifeguard of the Commander-in-Chief, the Earl of Essex (recruited from the young gentlemen and lawyers of the Inns of Court) and the 67th troop raised in Huntingdon by Captain Oliver Cromwell.

The system of independent troops proved to be far from effective in the field, and at the first major battle of the war, Edgehill (October 23rd 1642), these small units were grouped into ad hoc 'regiments' composed of about six troops each. Though Essex's (A1-3) and Balfour's (A5-B2) regiments did well in this battle, the remainder of the Parliamentary horse were no match for the Royalist cavalry, and were speedily driven from the field. The overall quality of Parliamentary cavalry during the early part of the war, indeed, was not good and Cromwell remarked to John Hampden that, "Your troops ... are most of them old, decayed serving men and tapsters and such kind of fellows, and ... their troopers are gentlemen's sons, younger sons and persons of quality: do you think that the spirits of such base and mean fellows will be ever able to encounter gentlemen that have honour and courage and resolution in them? ... You must get men of a spirit ... that is likely to go on as far as gentlemen will go or ... you will be beaten still ... I did do so ... I raised such men as had the fear of God before them, and made some conscience of what they did, and from that day forward ... they were never beaten".

One of the first steps towards the improvement of the Parliament horse was the decision to organise them into permanent regiments. Cromwell himself had a commission to do so by the end of 1642, and his single troop had grown to a regiment of five troops by March, 1643,and of ten troops by the following September, eventually reaching a strength of fourteen troops or nearly a thousand men. This, however, was an exceptionally large unit, and in 1643-4 Parliamentary horse regiments more usually contained five or six troops of about 70 men each. When the New Model Army was established in 1645, six troops became the standard number (see F, G and H) but these each contained about 100 officers and men, giving a regimental strength of 600. After 1648, however, the number in a troop was reduced to 80.

From the beginning, each troop on both sides had its own standard which was made of silk, taffeta or a similar material and was invariably fringed, often in strips of two contrasting colours. It was about two feet square and was carried on a pole or a specially adapted lance by the cornet of the troop, a junior officer whose rank roughly corresponds to that of a modern second-lieutenant. In 1648 he received pay of 4/6d a day, half as much again as the daily wage paid to an ensign of foot: out of this, however, he had to provide for his horse as well as himself. As an officer, the cornet would have worn his own clothes rather than any kind of uniform but, like other cavalrymen, he would doubtless have worn a buffcoat, pothelmet and back-and-breastplate. The standards themselves, incidentally, were frequently called "cornets".

In the days of independent troops, the basic colour of the standard depended on the preference of the captain and, when troops were first amalgamated together, standards of different hues will have appeared within the same "regiment". This must have made for confusion, and when permanent regiments came in it is virtually certain that all their troop cornets were made the same colour, as in the case of Essex's regiment (A1-3).

Certainly this was the rule in the New Model Army, where Horton's regiment (F1-6), if not others, also had a standardised primary device, with an individual motto and secondary device for each troop. It also seems likely that regiments kept the same colour of standard and fringes when their commanding officers changed: thus Heselrige's regiment (B4) kept its green cornets and green and white fringes when it became Horton's (F16), and Livesey's (B5) passed on its red cornets and black and white fringes to its offshoots, Ireton's (D5) and Skinner's (H1-6).

Some standards, especially those of generals (A4, E1) or colonels (B3, F1, G1), were of plain damask silk, but the vast majority had a motto painted on them, accompanied in many cases by a device: mottoes frequently appeared without devices but not, apparently, vice-versa. The devices used by both sides were often copied from the woodcuts in books of "Emblems”- symbolic representations of vices, virtues, and qualities- which had been popular in England since Elizabethan times. Especially common on the Parliament side, as we might expect, was the arm and sword issuing from a cloud, symbolising God's help in war (A2, C5, F2-6, G4). The anchor and cloud, conveying hope in heaven, was used both by Sir Arthur Heselrige (B4) and Sir William Constable (C3). Conveniently, the anchor was also the heraldic badge of Constable's traditionally naval family. Another common "Emblem" used was the skull and laurel wreath conveying "death or glory" (F5), and F2 includes the pelican wounding itself to feed its young, symbolising self-sacrifice. Apart from these stereotyped Emblems, both sides adorned their cornets with what can only be described as cartoons (A5, C1, E3, E6), a practice that seems to have grown up at the time of the Bishops' Wars of 1639-40 against Scotland. These cartoons depicted subjects religious, political, or just plain insulting to the other sidefor the latter see especially the royalist cornets described in the next article- and were often extremely complicated.

Predictably, the message conveyed by the emblems, cartoons and mottoes of Parliamentary standards often concerned religion. Many asserted the righteousness of the cause, including A3, whose motto may be translated as "We Shall Win with Christ's Leadership and Guidance"; D1 "God with Us"; D2 "Triumph in the Truth"; D5 "Under Christ's Guidance"; E2 "God For Us"; F3 "We Shall Win with Christ's Guidance"; and G2 "if God is With Us, Who Shall Be Against Us". Others proclaimed the supreme importance of the Bible- "God's Law"- in church and state, a point then much at issue: such are B2 "The Supreme Law is the people's safety"; C5 where "The Word of God" and "The People's Law' are shown opposed to the Kingly power; D6, showing the Word of God triumphing over a Papal crown and Catholic rosary; F3 and H4 “For the Gospel". Other religious themes appear in C4, E3, E5 and F6.

At the beginning of the war "political" standards frequently emphasised the Parliamentarians' declaration that they were fighting, not against the King, but for the just combination of "King and Parliament" in the government of England: thus B5; B6 "For God, King and Country"; C2 "For King and Truth"; E4 "For the King and the Laws Equally". The desire for a "just peace" is expressed in A5 "We All Offer You Peace"; D3 (a Biblical quotation); G3 "We Fight for Peace"; G4 "For Peace and Truth"; H5 "Fighting For a Wounded Nation". Others were more belligerent (A2 "Watch out, we're here" and H6) and C1 is aimed at the Anglican clergy, who wore square caps like "mortar boards": with the motto "The Square Shall Be Made Round", the soldier is cutting off the corners of such a cap, changing the "Squarehead" into a "Roundhead"! Most aggressive of all is E6, a late specimen advocating the execution of the King, an idea not entertained until 1647.

Some few Parliamentarians used devices of a purely heraldic and personal nature, such as the Earl of Essex's family motto "Virtue Attracts Envy" on a standard of his orange livery colour (A1), Lord Grey's ermine unicorn (B1), Constable's anchor (C3) and the black horse badge of Captain Nelthorpe (G5). Space allows us to show here only about one third of the parliamentary cornets known: the standards of the independent troops of 1642 are particularly well recorded.

Key to Illustrations

r = raised; disb. = disbanded; m = merged; s = served; n.d.k. = colour of standard but no devices known.

The Earl of Essex's Army, 1642-5

Essex's Regiment of Horse

A1. Colonel's troop of Lifeguard: r. from the gentlemen of the Inns of Court, many of its "troopers" became colonels or generals. At Edgehill this troop wore complete cuirassier's armour like that of Heselrige's "Lobsters".

A2. Troop colour

A3. Troop colour -Captain Chute. Under the command of Sir Philip Stapleton, Essex's horse served in most of his campaigns, including Edgehill, Turnham Green, 1642; 1st Newbury, 1643; Cornwall, and 2nd Newbury, 1644. In 1645 it became part of the New Model, the Lifeguard becoming Sir Thomas Fairfax's Lifeguard and the remainder going into Graves' regiment.

A4. Williarn Russell, Earl of Bedford personal colour.

General of the Parliamentary Horse at Edgehill in 1642, he also besieged Sherborne Castle in that year, but in 1643 defected to the royalists, only to surrender in 1644.

Sir William Balfour's Regiment

One of the best of Essex's cavalry regts., it fought at Edgehill, 1642; 1st Newbury, 1643; Cheriton, Cornwall and 2nd Newbury, 1644.

A5. Colonel's colour - Sir William Balfour was Lieutenant General of Horse at Edgehill, where he greatly distinguished himself.

A6. Capt. (later Major) Balfour - son of Sir William.

B1. Thomas Lord Grey of Groby's troop.

This troop fought under Balfour at Edgehill, but afterwards followed Grey to the Midlands, where it served 1643-4: also at 1st Newbury, 1643.

B2. Sir Samuel Luke.

The troop fought with Balfour at Edgehill, but in 1643 Luke became Governor of Newport Pagnell, Bucks, and his troops operated from there in 1643-5, including the capture of

Hillesden House, Bucks, and an action at Islip, Oxon, both in 1644. Luke was also Scoutmaster-General, or head of military intelligence, to Essex's army.

B3. Arthur Goodwin's Regt - colonel's standard.

Goodwin was MP for Bucks, where his regiment was raised s. Edgehill, Hants, Berks, and Wilts, 1642; Brill, Reading, 1643. Disb., 1643, on Goodwin's death.

Sir William Waller's Army, 1642-5

B4. Sir Arthur Heselrige's Regt - colonel's colour.

The famous "Lobsters", so-called because of their complete suits of armour, were raised by one of the "Five Members". s. with Waller at Lansdown, Roundway Down, 1643; Cheriton and Cropredy Bridge, 1644. Taken into New Model as Butier's. s. at Naseby, Berkeley, Bristol, 1645: afterwards Horton's, see below (F1-6).

B5. Sir Michael Livesey's Regt - colonel's colour.

r. Kent. s. Chichester, 1642, Cheriton, Cropredy, 2nd Newbury, 1644, became Ireton's in New Model (see below E5). Livesey was described by his major as "a most notorious coward and a penurious, sneaking person".

B6. Captain Edward Kightly - troop colour.

Arrived too late for Edgehill. Killed at Chewton Mendip, 1643, probably serving in Waller's own regiment of horse.

C1. Col. Edward Cooke's Regt- colonel's

colour.

s. Cheriton, Cropredy Bridge. Lord Fairfax's Northern Army, 1642-5

C2. John Lambert's Regt. - colonel's colour.

Lambert's cavalry fought in most of the northern campaigns, notably at Adwalton Moor and Hull, 1643; Nantwich, Selby and Marston Moor, 1644. In the New Model, Lambert served as Colonel, General and Cromwell's right-hand man.

C3. Sir William Constable's Regt - colonel's colour.

Operated mainly in north and east Yorks, in actions at Bridlington, Whitby, Scarborough, Driffield and Marston Moor, 1644. Constable also had a foot regiment.

C4. Captain Copley of Doncaster -troop

colour.

Regiment uncertain, but the troop was at Adwalton Moor, 1643.

C5. James Mauleverer's Regt - colonel's colour.

s. Fairfax's campaigns including Marston

Moor.

C6. Captain Nathaniel Barton of

Derbyshire- troop colour.

Originally a chaplain, Barton served under Sir John Gell and Lord Fairfax, and later as a major in Scroope's regiment of the New Model Army. Forces in the West Midlands and Wales, 1642-7

D11. Sir William Brereton - colonel's colour.

Brereton was C-in-C. of Cheshire, and an excellent soldier. Among his many actions were Nantwich, Hopton Heath, 1643; Montgomery, 1644; Denbigh and Lichfield, 1645.

D2. Sir Thomas Middleton - colonel's colour.

C-in-C North Wales, he often co-operated with Brereton. s. N. Wales, 1643; Oswestry and Montgomery, 1644.

D3. Thomas Mytton's Regt. - Major Castleton's troop.

Mytton commanded in Shropshire.

s. under Middleton and in 1645 took over his command. Took Shrewsbury, 1645; in Wales, 1645-7.

D4. Robert Lord Brooke - personal standard. An influential nobleman, he garrisoned Warwick Castle in 1642 and fought at Southern. Killed at Lichfield, March, 1643, by a sniper. Forces in Wilts, and Dorset, 1642-5.

D5. William Sydenham's Regt. -colonel's colour.

An active soldier, Sydenham was governor of Poole and Weymouth, and s. principally in Dorset.

D6. Sir Edward Hungerford's Regt - Major Ludlow's troop.

Ludlow served in Essex's Lifeguard (see A1) before becoming Major of the regiment of the incompetent Hungerford: as such, he defended Wardour Castle, 1643. Later served as a colonel in Waller's army and a general in the New Model. Various Forces, 1642-5

E1. Francis, Lord Willoughby of Parham - personal colour.

C-in-C. in Lincolnshire, 1643.

s. Gainsborough. Retired in 1644.

E2. Sir John Meldrum - colonel's colour.

A Scottish professional soldier, Meldrum served in many theatres of war. At Hull and Portsmouth, and Edgehill, 1642; Reading, Hull and Lincs, 1643-4, Selby, Newark and Lancs, 1644. Killed at siege of Scarborough, 1645.

The Earl of Manchester's Army, 1643-5

Oliver Cromwell's Regt.

r. East Anglia, growing out of a single troop raised in 1642 to a double-sized regiment of 14 troops.

s. Winceby, Gainsborough, 1643; 2nd Newbury, Marston Moor, 1644.

E3. Captain Swallow's troop -"The Maiden Troop".

r. at the expense of the ‘young men and maidens’ of Norwich, hence the symbolism and motto “Burning with the care of Zion".

E4. Capt. James Berry's troop.

Berry was Cromwell's own lieutenant before getting a troop of his own. Afterwards a Major in Twistleton's (see G2), a Colonel and a Major-general. In 1645 Cromwell's regiment was split into two New Model units, half the troops (including Berry's) joining Fairfax's Regt. and half (including Swallow's) forming Whalley's Regt. These two units

s. Naseby, Langport, 1645; Colchester, 1648; Dunbar, 1650;

Worcester, 1651.

The New Model Army 1645-60

E5. Henry Ireton's Regt. - Colonel's colour. Ireton, Cromwell's son-in-law, took over Livesey's Regt. (see above) in 1645. Under him it s. Naseby, Bristol, 1645; Oxford, 1646; Colchester, 1648. Part of it joined the mutiny at Burford in 1649.

E6. Thomas Harrison's Regt - Major William Rainsborowe's troop (c. 1648). The regiment (formerly Sheffield's)

s. Naseby, Bristol, 1645; Cornwall, 1646; Preston, 1648. Rainsborowe's standard urges the execution of the King, with the motto “Safety of the people is the supreme law". Brother of the famous Leveller leader Thomas Rainsborowe (or Rainsborough), William was also an extreme radical, dismissed for sedition in 1649.

Colonel Thomas Horton's Regt. (after 1647).

Formerly Butler's, formerly Heselrige's (see above) s. S. Wales and St. Fagan's, 1648; Ireland 1649.

F1. Colonel's colour.

F2. Major Thomas Penyfeather - s. as a captain under Heselrige.

F3. Captain Essex.

F4. Captain John Godfrey.

F5. Captain Elijah Greene.

F6. Captain Arnall.Col. Philip Twistleton's Regt. (after 1647).

r. Lincs. by Col. Edward Rossiter, and fought under him at Naseby, 1645. Twistleton, Rossiter's major, became colonel in 1647 and with him the regiment.

s. Preston, 1648; Dunbar, 1650; Scotland, 1653-4; Penruddock's Revolt, 1655; disb. 1659.

G1. Colonel's colour.

G2. Major James Berry.

G3. Captain Pearte- s. under Rossiter.

G4. Captain Owen Cambridge.

G5. Captain Nelthorpe -s. under Rossiter.

G6. Captain Haines.

Col. Augustine Skinner's Regt. (the Kentish Horse).

r. Kent 1647-8. Not strictly part of the New Model, it probably contained elements of Sir Michael Livesey's Regt. in which Skinner served. Helped to suppress Kentish rising in 1648.

H1. Colonel's colour.

H2. Captain Owen.

H3. Captain Peak.

H4. Captain Scott.

HS. Captain Robert.

H6. Captain Gibbons.

The Royalist Horse

The very nickname 'Cavalier' signified a horseman, and the King's cavalry was, from the first, the most effective arm of his forces: playing a leading role in the Royalist successes of 1642-44, it eventually met its match in Cromwell's Eastern Association horse, and, after Marston Moor, was increasingly outclassed by its better equipped and more disciplined Parliamentary opponents. Essentially feudal and aristocratic in composition, the King's horse had its origins in the well-mounted troops of volunteers raised from 'noblemen, gentlemen and their followers' at the beginning of the war. Unlike their Parliamentarian counterparts, which were, for a time, left to operate independently, these Royalist troops were at once organised into regiments.

Regimental strength was nominally five hundred, but only prestigious units like the King's Life Guard or Prince Rupert's Horse ever seem to have reached this target, and in the early years of the war a normal Royalist horse regiment consisted of six troops of around seventy men each, a total of about four hundred riders. By 1644, when things had begun to go badly for the King, even the stronger regiments (like Wilmot's and Prince Maurice's) were down to three hundred men, and the weakest ones - which had only two or three troops - could muster no more than eighty; later still in the war, troops were down to twenty men each, and three or four 'regiments' had to be amalgamated to make up a worthwhile unit.

Regiments were normally commanded by a colonel- who might also be a general, in which case his position was more or less honorary- assisted by a lieutenant-colonel and a major. These three 'field officers' also commanded troops- effective control over the colonel's troop being exercised by a captain-lieutenant – and the remaining troops of the Regiment were headed by captains. Each troop also had a lieutenant, a cornet to carry the standard, a commissioned quartermaster, three corporals and (in theory, at least) two trumpeters, a farrier and a saddler.

Though full of spirit and often excellently horsed from gentlemen's stables, the Royalist cavalry were not always well-equipped, and at first ... 'the officers had their full desire if they were able to procure old backs and breasts and pots (helmets, either single or triple barred) with pistols or carbines for their two or three first ranks, and swords for the rest; themselves (and some soldiers by their example) having gotten, besides their pistols and swords, a short pole-axe'. Such pole-axes, useful for in-fighting against armoured opponents, seem to have gone out of general use fairly early in the war.

Body armour was not always worn, and hats frequently served instead of helmets, but protective leather buff-coats were almost universal amongst the cavalry on both sides. They were, indeed, probably the only kind of ‘uniform' worn by most horse regiments, though some cavalry units may just possibly have had coats of a uniform colour, and others may conceivably have identified their members by like-coloured ribbons or sashes. A troop raised by the Earl of Newcastle just before the beginning of the war is known to have embellished its horses with knots of ash coloured ribbon, but whether such fol-de-rols survived the rigours of campaigning is less certain. Some of the more aristocratic Royalist units- notably the King's Life Guard, known as the 'Troop of Show'- were certainly magnificently clad, but it seems likely that these, being gentlemen, would have worn their own splendid civilian clothes. Cavalry officers, at any rate, did so at all times.

Trumpeters, as in later times the focus of unit pride, wore a distinctive coat with hanging sleeves. Such coats, like the banners on their trumpets, might well be in the livery colour of the troop or regimental commander- no doubt they were provided at his expense- and might also be decorated with his personal device. The trumpeters of Sir Richard Astley's troop, carved on a panel on his tomb at Patshull, Staffs, certainly have their trumpet banners blazoned with the pierced cinquefoil (a five-leaved flower) from his family arms. Over and above unit identifications, Royalists habitually wore red or rose-pink sashes; their opponents in Essex's army wore orange-tawny ones, and these seem to have been in fairly general use amongst all Parliamentarians during the early years of the war. There is some evidence, nevertheless, that Lord Fairfax's northern army wore blue sashes, and rather more that the New Model - confusingly – adopted crimson ones. Deception was, therefore, a relatively easy matter, and Colonel Henry Gage's Royalist troopers 'disguised themselves in Orange-tawny scarves' for their ride through enemy territory to the relief of Basing House in 1644.

To make confusion twice confounded, the cavalry standards (or 'cornets') of the opposing sides were exactly similar in type, being roughly two feet square and made of fringed and painted taffeta. Each troop carried one, and the basic colour of standard and fringing was the same within the regiment. Royalist cornets are far more sparsely and haphazardly recorded than those of their enemies, for whereas several books of Parliamentarian standards survive, I know of only one scanty and partially illustrated list made by a Cavalier.

Thomas Blount, it is true, describes the devices of certain Royalist standards in his 'Manner of Making Devices' (published 1650), but unfortunately fails to mention their colours (see list at end of article). Most of the cornets shown here, therefore, are trophies taken by the Parliamentarians and recorded by them. The accidental nature of the survivals makes it impossible to say whether there was any set rule for differencing standards with Royalist regiments of horse. The Queen's Regiment (A2-3) seems to have had cornets of the same basic pattern, while Arthur Aston's (D3-4) regiment used varying numbers of crosses to distinguish between troops, and those of Sir Horatio Cary (E1-2) at least share the same rude sentiment.

The most splendid recorded Royalist cornets, as one might expect, are those of the King's and Queen's Regiments (A1-3), and some noblemen appear to have borne their full arms on their troop standards (B1, D1), a practice unknown on the Parliament side. The vast majority of Royalist cornets, however (like those of their enemies), display a motto on a scroll, in many cases accompanied by a kind of 'political cartoon'. The sentiments conveyed are various.

Some express simply loyalty to the crown (A5, B4, B5, D2), or uphold the Divine Right of Kings (C3, D5, F1). Others hope for peace (B2, C5), but more are belligerent or defiant (C1, C4, E4, F2, F4) and some specifically abuse Parliament and its supporters (A4, D5, F3). ‘Cuckolds we come'- an insult which never failed to amuse the Cavaliers- referred to the unfortunate marital experiences of the Earl of Essex, Parliament's commander-in-chief from 1642-5 (E1-2, F5). C2, by contrast, was as pious in its religious sentiments as any Parliamentary cornet.

A1 King's Lifeguard of Horse: troop

colour?

This standard is distinguished from all the rest by its unusually deep gold fringe, as befits its special status. The royal device may have been embroidered rather than painted. The regiment served in most of the principal actions of the war, including Edgehill, 1642, Newbury, 1643, Cropredy, Cornwall, 2nd Newbury, 1644 and Naseby, 1645.

A2-3 The Queen's Regiment of Horse:

colonel's colour and troop colour. These 'French' standards honour the nationality of Queen Henrietta Maria, whose regiment did, in fact, contain a number of Frenchmen, though it was mainly recruited from Lancashire Catholics. One of the toughest and most efficient Royalist cavalry units, it was formed in 1643 and served at Aldbourne and 1st Newbury, 1643, Cheriton and 2nd Newbury, 1644, Naseby, 1645. In November, 1645, it was decimated at Shelford House, near Newark, after refusing to accept quarter.

A2 was probably taken at Aldbourne, but

A3 (inserted here for comparison) was lost at Naseby.

A4 Sir John Culpepper's troop- probably Lord Spencer's Regiment.

The nominal commander of this troop served as the King's Chancellor of the Exchequer and was no soldier. His cornet was taken at Cirencester on September 15th, 1643, when Essex surprised and captured two complete Royalist cavalry regiments, those of Henry Lord Spencer and Sir Nicholas Crispe. The device is, presumably, the Parliament house decorated with severed heads: motto - 'As it is outside, so it is inside', or more plainly, 'Traitors Without, Traitors Within'.

A5 Captain Lumby's troop -probably Sir Nicholas Crispe's Regiment. Also taken at Cirencester, see above A4. Motto: For the King and the Known Laws of England.

B1 Henry Lord Spencer's Regiment

colonel's colour.

See A4. Spencer himself avoided capture at Cirencester, but was slain shortly afterwards at 1st Newbury. Note: The following five cornets were all taken at 1st Newbury.

B2 Unknown.

Motto: We Live By This (i.e. peace) We Die By This (i.e. the sword).

B3 Unknown.

Motto: Always Upon The Square. Obscure, perhaps expressing a preference for dice over Roundheads.

B4 Unknown.

'Long Live the King'.

B5 Unknown.

'God Give the King Both'- i.e. the crown and the victor's laurels.

C1 Unknown.

'It is better to die in battle than to see our wicked people'.

Other Royalist cornets taken at 1st Newbury (no colours given) were: A harp with a crown: motto: 'Lyrica Monarchica'. An Angel with flaming sword treading on a dragon: motto: 'Quis Ut Deus' (probably Col. Morgan's Regiment). One with a motto: 'Courage Pour La Cause'.

C2 Unknown.

Biblical quotation: arms of Rogers family of Dorset.

C3 Unknown.

Motto: in effect: 'Keep Your Hands off the Crown, you fool'.

C4 Troop colour- Henry Lord Spencer's

Regiment ?

Taken at Cirencester, see A4. Motto: 'Who Follows This Wins'.

C5 Major Wormesley's troop - Sir Nicholas Crispe's Regiment.

Taken at Cirencester, see A4. Religion mourning over the destruction caused by war. Motto: I Hope for Better Things'.

D1 Unknown.

Possibly a trumpet banner, and illustrated with the fly at the top. Arms:? Leigh quartering Minterne, Dorset.

D2 Unknown.

'For the King'.

(b) Cornets from a muster list of Royalist forces, 10th April, 1644.

D3-4 Sir Arthur Aston's Regiment - 1st and 3rd captains' troops.

The colonel's colour of this unit was apparently plain black, and the 2nd captain's troop had two crosses. Aston, an unpopular man, was Major-General of Dragoons at Edgehill, 1642, and Major-General of Horse in 1643. He was Governor of Reading, 1643, and of Oxford, 1643-4.

He came to a nasty end after the siege of Drogheda, 1649, when his brains were beaten out with his own wooden leg. The regiment served at the capture of Bristol and at 1st Newbury,1643.

D5 Sir Charles Gerrard's Regiment

Colonel's cornet.

The motto indicates a contempt for 'Round' heads. Regiment served Edgehill, 1642, Bristol, 1st Newbury, 1643, Relief of Newark, 1644, S. Wales, 1644-5, Rowton Heath, 1645.

E1-2 Sir Horatio Cary's Regiment Colonel's and Major's cornets.

The motto recalls the old gibe at Essex, and the creature looking out of the barrel may be intended to represent the earl's badge of a reindeer. This regiment was formerly Lord John Stuart's, but its colonel was killed at Cheriton, 1644, and Cary (a turncoat) took over. His command of it was brief, and it soon passed to the Earl of Cleveland, who led it at Cropredy, Cornwall and 2nd Newbury, 1644.

E3 Sir George Vaughan's Regiment

Colonel's comet.

Raised in Wiltshire, this unit served at Lansdown, Roundway Down and Bristol, 1643, Cheriton and Cropredy, 1644. It probably took some hard knocks and by 1644 was reduced to 80 troopers.

E4 - 'Terrible As An Army Arrayed'.

E5 - `Touch Not Mine Anointed Ones'.

F1 - 'The Fourth Shall Be Eternal' - the three crowns shown are of England, Scotland and Ireland, the fourth was to be a heavenly one.

F2 - 'This Shall Untie It - i.e. The Gordian Knot of politics.

F3 - 'How Much Longer Will You Abuse Our Patience' - the lion is the King, the beagles are M.P.s led by John Pym, and the larger dog is Kimbolton, leader of the opposition party in the Lords and later Earl of Manchester.

(A colour taken by the Scots had 'a round head and axe' with the motto 'Fiat Justitia')

(d) Cornets taken at Naseby, 14th June, 1645.

F4 - 'I will die rather than turn aside'.

F5 - No doubt the cornet 'which, being one of the first colours taken, the word was, on the pursuite, returned to the enemy with much mirth and scorne'. Colours of some Royalist cavalry cornets in April, 1644 (no devices recorded). Earl of Northampton's Regiment - four blue colours.

Henry Lord Percy's - seven red colours.

Col. Thomas Howard's - eight green colours.

Col. Sir Edward Waldegrave's - three white.

Col. Humphrey Bennett's - red.

Col. Gerald Croker's - two green.

Col. Neville's , formerly Earl of Caernarvon's five red, perhaps with same device as F3.

Col. Dutton Fleetwood's - red.

Sir William Clarke's - three yellow.

Sir Edward Stawell's - two white.

Col. Gunter -two black.

Cornet-devices of some prominent Royalists (colour of standards unknown).

Marquis of Winchester : Motto only 'Aimez Loyante'.

Marquis of Montrose: Laurel wreath and motto 'Magnis aut excidium ausis'.

Lord. Capel: Crown and sceptre, motto 'Perfectis Simae Gubernatio'.

Lord Lucas: Crown and motto 'Dei Gratia'.

Sir Marmaduke Rawdon: A spotted dog? Motto: 'Malem Mori Quam Tardari'

Dragoons and Auxiliaries

Dragoons

The word 'dragoon', which has come to signify a cavalryman, had a rather different meaning in the seventeenth century. The 'dragooners' of the Civil War were simply mounted musketeers- a 'kind of footman on horseback' - combining the nobility of horsed troops with the steadiness and firepower of infantry. "They ought to be taught to give fire on horseback," declared Sir James Turner, "but their service is on foot," and they were organised into files of 11 men, of whom ten dismounted to fight while the 11th held their horses. Their qualities made them ideal for outpost work and for 'the maintenance or surprising of straight (narrow) ways, bridges or foords', and on campaign we find them 'constantly quartered in the van of the whole army'. In sieges their ability to ride to vulnerable parts of the defences and then assault on foot also made them useful, and Colonel Henry Washington's Royalist dragoons (7,8) were the first unit to penetrate the outworks of Bristol in July 1643. Colonel Okey's New Model dragoons (who according to one of their own officers 'were always counted the best men of the army') also showed great enterprise at the taking of Bath in 1645. Crawling on their stomachs up to the gate, they seized the barrels of the enemy muskets protruding from its loopholes, which so demoralised the Royalists that they abandoned their position and allowed the dragoons to set fire to it.

In battle dragoons were generally used to line hedges and ditches on the flanks of the main armies, or else as a mobile striking force. At Marston Moor, for instance, Fraser's Scots dragoons began by clearing away a body of musketeers posted in a ditch to impede the Parliamentary advance, and later joined in the attack on Newcastle's obstinate Whitecoat infantry- when 'their shot made a way for the horse to enter and put them to the sword.' The most famous dragoon action of the war, however, was that of Okey's men at Naseby, which well illustrates the adaptability of this type of troops. When the rival armies came within sight of each other, the dragoons were stocking up with ammunition some half-a-mile away, but Cromwell ordered them to occupy a line of hedges at right angles to Parliament's left flank, and they at once rode to do so. Leaving their mounts with horse-holders they opened up an enfilading fire on Rupert's cavalry as it charged past the opposite side of the hedge, and then beat off an attempt by enemy horse to carry their position. Later, when the battle hung in the balance, they remounted and charged sword in hand to complete the rout of the Royalist infantry, finishing up by chasing a regiment of regular enemy horse off the field and pursuing them almost to Leicester.

The equipment and organisation of civil war dragoons reflected both the need for versatility and their position half way between cavalry and infantry. Their principal weapon, ideally, was a short musket fitted with a snaphaunce or flintlock and attached by a swivel to a wide belt slung over the shoulder: it could then be fired from horseback if necessary. In the 1620s these arms were called 'dragons' (hence 'dragoons') and were stated to have been 16 inches long in the barrel and of the same bore as a musket: in 1644, however, it was recommended that they should have a rather wider bore than the infantry weapon. Okey's New Model dragoons were certainly equipped with snaphaunces, but others, especially amongst the Royalists, had ordinary matchlocks, which could only be conveniently fired when dismounted. Swords were also in general use, but pistols were apparently rare. German dragoons are known to have carried mattocks and spades (to help in the construction of field fortifications) strapped to their saddles, and no doubt some of their English counterparts followed their example: none, certainly, would have been without the recommended 'sacke for necessaries'.

Apart from, perhaps, a pair of riding boots, or occasionally a buff-coat, dragoons seem to have dressed exactly like the musketeers of an infantry regiment. Like these, they will have worn coats of a uniform colour within the unit but (though Okey's men almost certainly sported the 'Venice red' of their colleagues in the New Model Foot) we cannot discover any reliable information concerning the colours worn by other dragoon regiments.

Officers, following the normal practice of the Civil War, wore their own civilian clothes. The horses - or 'nags' - supplied to dragoons are described as 'ordinary', and in some cases this was probably a compliment. Required only for transport, dragoon mounts were more likely to be commandeered cart-horses than spirited chargers, and the New Model allowed for their purchase only half the sum needed to buy a cavalry horse. This inferiority in status to cavalry was also reflected in pay: an ordinary dragoon receiving 1/6d a day, as opposed to 8d a day for a foot soldier and 2/- or 2/6d a day for a cavalry trooper.

Dragoons were organised into troops, ideally numbering a hundred and ten men each - ten files, including horse-holders. Five troops seem ordinarily to have sufficed for a regiment, but the New Model regiment of dragoons had no less than ten. The Colonel, Lieutenant-Colonel (if any) and Major each commanded a troop, the remainder being led by Captains: each troop also had its lieutenant and its 'guidon' - the dragoons' equivalent of a cornet of horse or an ensign of foot - who carried the troop standard. Since dragoons mostly fought dismounted, drums were more appropriate to them than the trumpets of the cavalry, and (in the New Model, at least) two drummers were attached to every troop. Regiments were not always employed en masse, being often split up into units of two or three troops and distributed where their specialist services were most needed. The western Royalist army of 1643, indeed, attached a troop of dragoons to each of its regiments of horse, and Prince Rupert may have adopted this practice in the force he led at Marston Moor (nos. 6,15).

As befitted the half-and-half status of dragoons, their standards or 'guidons' were a cross between infantry colours and cavalry cornets. From the latter they took their small size - about two feet square - and the fringes which some of them feature. The system of differencing troops by mottos, used by Wardlaws Regiment (nos. 10-14) was also a cavalry habit, but dragoons seem more often to have adopted the infantry practice of a plain guidon for the colonel's troop (nos. 8,14), a guidon with a St. George's cross only for the Lieutenant-Colonel (no. 6), and a St. George combined with varying numbers of devices for the remaining troops. Waller's and Luke's Regiments (nos. 1-5 and 16) dispensed with the St. George's cross and used only devices. What made dragoon guidons really distinctive, however, was their swallow-tailed shape. In later years dragoons displayed an inexorable tendency to turn into fully-fledged cavalry, and by the Napoleonic era the transition was complete: the swallowtailed guidon followed them throughout, to be carried to this day by such units as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. The true heirs of the old-style 'footmen on horseback', nevertheless, were the regiments of Mounted Rifles raised for the Boer War.

Auxiliary Troops

Artillery as such carried no standards, and none are recorded for the companies of 'firelocks'-armed with flintlock muskets to avoid accidental explosions being caused by the lighted match used by ordinary musketeers- who guarded the various trains of artillery. We know, incidentally, that Waller's six companies of firelocks wore blue coats, while the two companies attached to the New Model (unlike their red-clad colleagues in the Foot) wore 'tawny'. Lord Hopton's Lifeguard of Horse, who bore a gun on their cornet (no. 9) in allusion to his office as General of the Royalist Ordnance, were of course, an ordinary cavalry troop. Parliament's navy occasionally landed parties of armed sailors to stiffen the garrisons of beleaguered coastal towns, most notably at Hull and Lyme Regis in 1644. These wore no uniform, though grey (rather than blue) coats seem to have been popular amongst seventeenth-century mariners. The sailors at Lyme certainly carried a standard: this was probably taken from their ship, and if so is likely to have been rather large, with a St. George's cross in the top left-hand corner and a field of horizontal stripes in contrasting colours.

1-5. Sir William Waller's Regiment of Dragoons (Parliamentarian).

This regiment served throughout Waller's campaigns, including the battles of Lansdown and Roundway, 1643. Despite this, it was up to full strength of over 500 when it mustered in London in September 1643. Afterwards served with Waller at Alton and Basing House, 1643, and at Cheriton and Cropredy, 1644.

1. Major Archibald Strachan's Troop.

2. Capt. John Clerte's.

3. Capt. Nicholas Moore's.

4. Capt. John Bennett's.

5. Capt. William Turpin's.

6. Royalist Lieutenant-Colonel's (?) guidon taken at Marston Moor.

Rupert seems to have had no full regiment of dragoons at Marston Moor, but probably attached troops of dragoons to his regiments of horse.

7. Royalist Captain's guidon.

8. Royalist Colonel's guidon.

Both taken by Essex's forces during the First Newbury campaign, 1643. One or other of these may well belong to Colonel James Ussher's Regiment: this unit served at Edgehill, and, under Col. Henry Washington, distinguished itself at the storming of Bristol, 1643. Afterwards served in the garrison of Worcester.

9. Cavalry cornet of Lord Hopton's Lifeguard troop (Royalist).

Used while Hopton was acting as General of the Royalist Ordnance, 1644.

10-14. Colonel James Wardlawe's Regiment (Parliamentarian).

This regiment, almost entirely officered by Scots, served at Edgehill and on Essex's campaigns in 1643. Wardlawe acted as governor of Plymouth, September 1643- January 1644, and seems to have taken his regiment with him.

14. Col. James Wardlawe's Troop.

13. Lt. Col. George Dundas's.

12. Capt. Alexander Nearne's.

11. Capt. John Burne's.

10. Capt. James Stenchion's.

There was one more company, Capt. Archibald Hamilton's, which had the motto 'Bella Beatorum Bella'.

15. Royalist major's guidon- taken at Marston Moor, see no.6.

16. Sir Samuel Luke's Regiment (Parliamentarian)- Captain's guidon.

Raised in Bedfordshire, 1643, this unit had an unlucky start, being surprised at Chinnor, Oxon, during Prince Rupert's Chalgrove raid, 1643. Three of its guidons, including this one, were then taken. The books are Bibles.

The Scots

The Scots entered the Civil War in 1644 on the side of Parliament, having previously (1639- 40) been in arms against the King. In 1648, however, they changed sides and from 1648-51 they were royalist. Fighting for the King the Scots suffered three major defeats. At Preston 85 colours were lost; at Dunbar 146 and at Worcester 159, including the King's own standard.

These flags were sent as trophies of war to the English Parliament who ordered them to be hung in Westminster Hall where they were carefully recorded and drawn as a 'perpetual memorial to His Highness' (Cromwell's) victories". Throughout the Civil Wars the standard carried by the Scottish Armies was their national flag, the St. Andrew's Cross (D2). Unlike the English who placed their flag in canton, the Scots only occasionally did so (E2-5) preferring to display the saltire in full. This flag, the white saltire on a blue field, was adapted for military use; the colours of the field and saltire being changed for regimental distinction (D2-6). The result is very satisfying and must have presented a brave sight on march or in battle. The "Lion Rampant" on the other hand (B2), was the personal standard of the sovereign as King of Scots. It could be flown by him alone or by his Lieutenant.

Great respect was accorded to this flag. When raised it was greeted by a salute of trumpets, and it was such a royal salute, in 1645, that first warned Argyll that Montrose, the King's Lieutenant, was upon him at dawn at Inverlochy. Scottish colours were 6 1/2 feet by 6 feet square and were made of silk or taffeta. Some, however, were smaller and those of Colonel Scott's Regiment were 5 feet 3 inches by 4 feet 4 inches. The colour-staff generally terminated in a spearpoint, from which hung two long tasselled cords, used to secure the flag when furled. Colours were unfurled in battle - as at Newcastle, where the Scots stormed the walls with 'flyeing collours and roaring drums' - or on the march. It was an offence punishable by death to draw sword in a private quarrel 'while the collours are fleeing', whereas the usual penalty was loss of a hand. Any Scots soldier capturing enemy colours was to have his reward whether there was 'peace or war hereafter', and the penalty for not defending one's own colours 'to the uttermost of one's power' was death.

The battle flags boldly declared the cause for which the Scots fought, though at first there was little uniformity in motto. At Aberdeen, in 1639, Montrose, while fighting for the Covenant, carried a flag which bore the legend "FOR RELIGIOUN THE COVENANT AND THE COUNTRIE" while at the great camp at Duns "everie companie had, flying at the captaine's tent doore a brave new colour stamped with the Scottish arms and this ditton 'FOR CHRISTS CROUN AND COVENANT' in golden letters". At the Battle of Newburn in 1640 the English observed that "embroidered upon their foot colours was the motto 'COVENANT FOR RELIGION CROWNE AND COUNTRY'. At Fyvie in 1644 Argyll's banner (D6)declared FOR RELIGION COUNTRY CROWN AND CONVENANT.

In 1648 the mottos began to be standardised, reflecting the Scots new found loyalty to the King. This state of affairs was confirmed by the Scottish Parliament in 1650 which ordered that upon the "haill culloris and standardes there be COVENANT FOR RELIGION KING AND KINGDOMES". This law was closely observed. The army at full strength bore “10 colours to the regiment and 12 to the major generals". Each regiment carried standards of the same basic colours (D2-6), command of which was frequently given to those from whose territories the forces came. This gave rise to one of the many distinct features of the Scottish system - the liberal use of heraldry. On the colours of both horse and foot there frequently appears the crest or motto of the colonel.

Thus is found the Dove and Snake of Elphinstone (B4), the Dragon of Dumfries (B5), the Thunderbolt of Carnegie (B6), the Lion of Home (Cl), the Goat of Tweeddale (C2-3), the Crane And Stone of Cranston (C4), the Lion of Strathmore (C5), the Maiden of Balfour (E2) and the Double Headed Eagle of Loudon (H4). The flags of the field officers call for special mention. Extremely popular was the use of the all white flag to denote the colonel (B3-6, C1-2). This could carry his crest, the national emblem, the Thistle (B3) or simply be of plain silk. The Lt. Colonel carried an unadorned saltire in the colours of the regiment The major could also do the same - the "stream blazant" not being used in Scotland until the Restoration.

Several colour systems were in vogue in the Scottish Army. In the most common the colonel would display his all white flag (C2) but the individual companies would use the saltire with no attempt being made to indicate the captain (C2, D2-6, E1). All the company colours in such a system were exactly the same. Sometimes the colonel would also use the saltire, in which case his emblem generally appeared on it (F1-3).The difficulties inherent in such a system are obvious and several regiments took a different approach. One was similar to that as used by the English, devices such as stars being used to indicate the captain. When the saltire was in canton, these stars were aligned diagonally from top left to bottom right (E4-5). When, as in most cases, the saltire was employed, the stars appeared at the crossing, generally surrounded by a wreath (F1-3). Saltires, incidentally, seem to have been sewn rather than painted onto the flags. A simpler method was the use of a numeral to indicate the company number (E6).

Lastly, there was a system which seems peculiar to the Scots- the cadency system. In heraldry a particular charge denoted each son of a family in order of seniority. This could be applied to the regiment. Thus the eldest son bore a "label": this would be equivalent to the 1st captain (F6); the second a ‘crescent' = 2nd captain (G1); the third a "star" = 3rd captain (G2); the fourth a "martlet" (bird) = 4th captain (G3); the fifth an "annulet" = 5th captain (G4); the sixth a "fleur-de-lis" = 6th captain (G5); the seventh a “rose" = 7th captain (G6).

Sometimes the charge occurs with a numeral as in (G6) where the seventh symbol a "rose" is reinforced by the number 7. The Horse In 1648 the horse was observed to have "7 colours to the regiment and in every regiment some 500". Such colours could be of very fine workmanship, and, as one Scots captain complained, "cost a great deal"! The device could be left to the individual captain as in the King's Life Guard (H1-3) where each captain was given permission to adorn his cornet with "quhat impresse, rebus or devices they best please, so that they tend to the defence of Covenant, Religion, King and Country".Colonel's cornets were of plain silk, a blue colour of this type being taken at Dunbar, or carried their crest (H4) or arms (H5). Others carried slogans and devices appropriate to the times.

Thus in 1639 when the Scots opposed the introduction of the Book of Common Prayer, the cornets of the Lady Marchioness of Hamilton's troop bore the appropriate impress of "a hand repelling a book". Again, in 1648 when the Duke of Hamilton's army invaded England in support of the King, the Duke's Lifeguard (H6) bore the royal crown and the motto "render unto Caesar". The "arm of God", as might be expected, was as popular in Scotland as in England. A blue cornet taken at Dunbar is a typical example. A gold arm emerges from a cloud grasping a sword, at whose tip is uplifted the laurels of victory. As with the foot, the colours of the horse frequently declared the cause for which the Scots fought - COVENANT FOR RELIGION KING AND KINGDOME.

Key to illustrations

r = raised; disb = disbanded; s = served; dest = destroyed; srnd = surrendered.

Only a portion of the known colours are illustrated here. Particularly well represented are the flags of Dunbar and Preston.

The Foot

(A1-6, B1) His Majestic's Foot Regiment of His Lyffe Guardes (Lord Lorne's). Colonel: Lt Colonel: Major 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Captains. Raised in 1650 to attend the King's person; Lord Lorne being appointed colonel. It consisted of 7 companies. As Foot Guards, the men received 2p a day in addition to a normal soldier's wage. Four companies were engaged at Dunbar, the other 3 being with the King at Perth. At Dunbar the companies stood their ground but were, to quote the King, “altogether broken and most of the officers killed or taken prisoner". The colours, however, escaped capture. Lord Lorne and the Foot Guards were on duty in the presence chamber when the King was crowned at Stone in 1651. An attempt was made to repair the damage of Dunbar by making the regiment up to 10 companies of 110 men, each of the "choicest men of the army but it was too late. The King invaded England where the regiment was destroyed at the Battle of Worcester.

(B2) The Royal Standard.

As the King's Lieutenant, Montrose carried this flag throughout his 1644-45 campaigns. Tippenmuir, Aberdeen, Fyvie 1644; Inverlochy, Dundee, Auldearn, Alford, Kilsyth and Philiphaugh 1645. At Auldearn, by his placing of the Royal Standard, Montrose drew the Covenanters into a trap. Thinking that the standard marked Montrose's main position the Covenanters attacked, only to be taken in the flank and destroyed.

(B3) Unknown Colonel. Dunbar 1650.

(B4) Lord Balmerino's. Colonel.

r 1650, destr Dunbar, 1650.

(B5) Lord Dumfries'. Colonel.

r 1648 surnd Preston, 1648 with Lt. Col, one Capt, 5 Lts, 1 Ensgs, 4 srgts and 44 men.

(B6) Lord Carnegie's. Colonel.

r 1640 s Newburn, 1640 disb 1641. r 1648 srnd Preston, 1648 with Lt. Col, 5 Lts, 5 Ensgs, 8 srgts, and 140 men. This mirror image method of writing is a common feature on Scottish Flags.

(C1) Lord Home's. Colonel (Berwickshire Rgt)

r 1648 srnd Preston, 1648 with Lt. Col, one Capt, 4 Lts, 7 Ensgns, 1 Qrt Mst, 14 srgts and 250 men.

(C2-3) Colonel Yester's. Colonel, Company.

Unusual in that the colonel's crest is repeated on all the regiment's colours. John Hay, Master of Yester commanded the Linlithgow and Tweeddale Rgt. at Marston Moor. In 1648 he was Colonel of the East Lothian Rgt. which was engaged at Preston where it surrendered with 3 Capts, 7 Lts, 9 Ensgs, 12 srgts and 50 men. 7 colours were taken, 6 of type (C3).

(C4) Lord Cranston's. Colonel.

r 1643 s Newcastle, disb 1647, r 1648 s. Preston, 1648, Worcester, 1651.

(C5) Strathmore's. Colonel.

r 1650 destr Dunbar, 1650.

(C6) Unknown. Colonel.

Captured Dunbar, 1650. An unusual colour, bearing the devices of 4 families; Wemyss, Forbes, Douglas and Sinclair.

(D1) Tullibardine's (Perthshire Rgt). Uncertain.

r 1643 s Newcastle, 1644, Newark and Hereford, 1645; disb 1647. r 1650 destr Dunbar, 1650.

(D2) Colonel Scott's. Regt-Company Colour.

Colonel Scott succeeded his father the Earl of Buccleuch as colonel of the Tweeddale Rgt. This regiment was r 1643, s Marston, York and Newcastle, 1644; Hereford and Newark, 1645, disb 1647. r 1650 s Dunbar, 1650, dest Inverkeithing, 1651 where Scott was killed.

(D3-6) Unknown Regiments Company.

Taken Preston 1648. 6 of type (D3) were taken.

(E1) Argyll's. Company Colour.

This Highland Regiment excited much comment. "It was thought the country of England was more afraid of his (Argyll's) highlanders than any other terror, those of the English that came to visit our camp did gaze with admiration upon these supple fellows with their plaids, targes and dorlachs". s Fyvie 1644; Inverlochy, Kilsyth 1645. Argyll refused to command the regiment in 1648 which, nevertheless, kept his name. srnd Preston, 1648. Again in 1651 Argyll refused to head his regiment which perished at Worcester. The colour illustrated carries the pre 1648 motto. After this date it carried the standard one.

(E2) Lord Burleigh's. Colonel.

s Aberdeen, 1644, Kilsyth, 1645, destr Dunbar, 1650.

(E3) Unknown. Lt. Colonel.

Dunbar, 1650.

(E4-5) Unknown. 5th and 6th Captains.

Dunbar, 1650.

(E6) Unknown. 4th Captain.

Preston, 1648.

(F1-3) Unknown. 1st, 3rd and 5th

Captains.

Preston, 1648.

(F4-6, C1-5) Unknown. Colonel: Lt. Colonel: 1st-6th Captains.

(G6) Unknown. 7th Captain.

Dunbar, 1650.

The Horse

(H1-3) His Majesties Lyffe Guard. Colonel: Lt. Colonel: Major.

Colours presented 22 July 1650 at Falkland Palace. The Earl of Eglington was appointed colonel, James Livingstone Lt. Colonel. The reverse of the colours was plain carrying the standard motto. Worcester, 1651.

(H4) Lord Loudon's. Colonel.

Loudon commanded the Glasgow Rgt. at York, Newcastle and Marston, 1644. disb 1645. It is likely that his foot colour would be similar to the one illustrated here. Dunbar, 1650, Glencairn's Rising, 1654.

(H5) Argyll's. Colonel.

r 1644 as it was thought fitting that Argyll should be attended by "some companies of horse". s Dunbar, 1650. Duke of Hamilton's Lifeguard of Horse (H6). r 1648 surnd Preston, 1648. The 'troop of show' of the Scottish Army. "Duke Hamilton himself marched in the van of the army with his trumpeters before him all in scarlet cloaks full of silver lace like a prince in state. With the Duke did ride a lifeguard all very proper and well clothed with standards and equippage like a prince". The regiment fought well at Preston. With Hamilton at their lead they charged the enemy three times to cover the retreat.

Doing It: Medieval Sex

Wed, 28 Apr 2021 19:23:51 GMT

You can leave your hat on...

Housekeeping

I will be referring to men and women as those people possessing a penis and vagina respectively - there are very few sources I can find for discussing how the medieval people thought about intersex individuals, so I’m just leaving that out.

I will also be using both clinical and slang terms for body parts and activities, where appropriate - these terms may be offensive at times, again, I’m trying to reflect the medieval attitude towards men, women and sex. Try to keep sniggering to a minimum. This goes double for Ant.

Chapter 1: Who is doing it?

The Ladies

Women’s status in medieval society is defined by their relationship status, which largely also dictates their sexual status.

Women can be:

Virgins - not allowed to have sex
Wives - allowed to have sex, with certain rules
Widows - have had sex before, but not currently allowed to have sex.
Whores - allowed to have sex, but socially excluded and vilified

Women are only allowed to have sex within a marriage to be respectable - all other women are supposed to be celibate to maintain societal worth.

Virgins can be of two types:

Virgins by circumstance - young, unmarried women, whose choices are marriage, if they can find a husband, or taking a vow of virginity
Virgins by choice - this normally means nuns. It can also mean married or widowed women who have taken a formal vow of chastity before a bishop. Two famous examples of this are Margery Kempe (1373-1438 approx.), who negotiated a ‘chaste marriage’ with her husband after 14 children to devote her life to God, and Margaret Beaufort who took a vow of chastity in 1499 (with her husband’s permission).

Contrary to current common wisdom which states that men think about sex every sex seconds...I mean six seconds...in medieval society, everyone knew that women are UP FOR IT. ALL THE TIME. It was thought that not only do women want sex more than men, but that they gain greater pleasure from the act as well.

This, coupled with their innate weakness and susceptibility to temptation, leads to a greater need to control their sexual access to prevent sin and bastards overrunning the earth.

Women were expected to go to the marriage bed a virgin and to confine their sexual activity to their husband, but ‘wife out to get extracurricular sex’ was an extremely well-worn trope, and prosecutions in court for adultery and fornication were fairly common.

Prostitutes held a very particular place in the medieval mindset. Even the great Church fathers St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas recognise that prostitution serves a public good. It wasn’t seen as ironic that the Bishop of Winchester taxed and regulated the sex trade in Southwark in the 15th century.

Prostitutes themselves were also seen as a breed apart from respectable women - they were not the lowest of the low - many of the C15th Ordinances are regulations protecting the prostitutes themselves from exploitation by brothel keepers or stewhouses, but there were also rules on public dress for them, so that respectable members of society knew at a glance their profession.

The Gents

Gents were much less defined by their sexual status, and while it was acknowledged that men should also not be sowing their wild oats too much because it is immoral, the church and court punishments for adultery and fornication for men are less severe in practice.

There are celibate men in members of the clergy and men in holy orders, but celibacy for priests is only made canon law in 1123, and this with an emphasis on the ‘unmarried’ meaning of the term; sexual continence was also expected, but it was something that was recognised as difficult.

There are court cases of clergy with ‘housekeepers’ who seem to fall pregnant while unmarried a fair amount, and there are increasing urban legends of clerical sexual misconduct as the reformation draws closer, which while probably largely fabricated, was plausible enough to be accepted.

Chapter 2: Why are they doing it?

Nature Calls

Medieval medicine and understanding of biology was based on Ancient Greek and Roman texts, with Galen, Hippocrates and Aristotle having a big influence. The accepted wisdom is that there are four humours in the body, corresponding to four qualities, four elements and four temperaments. Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile and Phlegm are in turns Hot, Cold, Dry and Wet. Men are hot and dry - this is optimal. Women, however are cold and wet by nature. When your humours are out of whack, it leads to illness.

Men, by virtue of their hotness and dryness, are able to burn off excess and imbalanced humours and thus not be polluted by them, whereas women lack the heat to do so. This leads to both menstruation (explained as the purging of those poisonous excess humours) and to their desire for sex - sex generates the heat they lack and male seed provides heat as well. This is why women are always UP FOR IT.

It is also important for men and women to have regular sex as a mechanism to keep their bodily humours in the correct balance.

Ask Nicely

You may also be having sex because your spouse asked nicely. Seriously.

The ‘marital debt’ is what the church refers to as the duty owed by each spouse to the other to have sex if it is requested to avoid falling into sin and seeking it elsewhere.

It comes about because of a Bible passage in 1 Corinthians:

“The husband should fulfil his marital duty to his wife, and likewise the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body but yields it to her husband. In the same way, the husband does not have authority over his own body but yields it to his wife. Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

This marital debt is why a woman can only take a vow of chastity in marriage if both parties agree.

Chapter 3: The Equipment

I have a gentill coke...

A part, yard, member, cock, bow, lance, sword, pin, pillicock or cod, but not yet a penis!

Penis as a term is a 16th century one, but the word ‘bollocks’ has a very long pedigree - first used in c. 1000.

According to medical theory, semen is humour that has been refined into the male ‘seed’ necessary for procreation by the heat and dryness of the male body, the ‘cooking’ of which has turned it from red blood into white semen. Because it is therefore connected with the balance of humours, it is healthful to periodically release it in intercourse. However, if you orgasm too frequently the you run the serious risk of depleting your reserves of hot dry fluids making yourself sick, and potentially effeminate.

Also, it was thought that the hot air that men had in abundance was responsible for erections, so hold on to that, or your bellows may fail you.

All your quaint honour...

The most common non-slang word for the female part used in the medieval period is cunt. This was a descriptive term, albeit a bawdy one, but the truly offensive terms in the middle ages were blasphemous, not anatomical. Consider in modern life the changing levels of offensiveness of racial slurs.

The related term ‘quaynt’ (which also meant cunning, which potentially also shares a linguistic root) was also in use to mean the same thing - this pitches up in Chaucer and plays on the word quaynt, quaint and cunt appear regularly from Chaucer to Shakespeare and beyond.

Vulva as a term for the external female genitalia appears in the 14th century and vagina only starts being used in the 17th century.

Several medical writers (Galen and Avicenna among them) considered the female organs to be the same as the males but inverted. Hence, women also have testicles (ovaries to us) and produce ‘seed’ which is necessary for conception. This is why it was considered important that women experience orgasm for conception, to release their seed, and in the same way as men, regular emission of seed contributed to health.

Chapter 4: Doing it Right

When?

When: Can’t just have at this willy-nilly! You have to make sure it’s the right day for marital sexytimes. And not in daylight. For shame.

The church prohibited sex on Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, during Lent and Advent, during Easter Week, during Whitsun Week, feast days, and when a woman in menstruating, pregnant or breastfeeding.

If none of those, then crack on.

Where?

Bed is usual! However, complete privacy was less common than now. Many poorer families slept multiples to the bed, and richer people would often have servants sleeping in in the room. Curtains around the bed help, but can only do so much! This is probably why people did need reminding not to shag on church grounds - and occasionally got dragged into court to punish them for it too.

“ 4 September, 1516 the lord bishop sitting in judgement in the chapel of his manor in Liddington ordered Amy Martynmasse of Sharnford in the county of Leicester, who was appearing before him in person and had confessed that she had been known carnally by Thomas Westmorland the curate of Uppingham within the rectory of Uppingham…”

How?

Positioning is very important. Some positions were thought to be too close to bestial or contraceptive in nature, which isn’t allowed, so missionary position is the only acceptable position to take for your shenanigans.

Chapter 5: Doing it Wrong

Wrong?

Here is one of the central problems for the Church. Since the fall from grace in the Garden of Eden, lust and sex have been intertwined. When Adam and Eve gained knowledge of good and evil, they also lost the state of innocence in which animals live, and sex becomes contaminated with lust. If humankind had not fallen from grace, sex would be as animals have it - purely for procreation. However, since humankind had a concept of good and evil now, and we make a distinction between moral and immoral acts, we require guidance as to what things will land us in hell.

SO, many of the church decrees around sexual activity and what is and is not acceptable aim to make sure that sex is as non-sinful as possible. This attempt to manage the sin of lust forms the basis of most prohibitions and rules around sex.

Sodomy!

ANY non-procreative sex. Regardless of who is doing it and to whom, if you can’t get pregnant from it, it’s sodomy. So yes, it covers man-on-man buttsex, but also heterosexual buttsex, oral, masturbation, dildos, bestiality, and exotic positions which might be contraceptive (cowgirl, standing).

While all these things are sodomy, there was a hierarchy of badness, and that hierarchy doesn’t necessarily treat homosexual acts as worse than heterosexual acts.

In Florence, for example, there was a court case for sodomy which ended in the man being burnt. But, he wasn’t just caught with another adult man, he ‘ “with force and violence committed the act of sodomy” with a ten year old boy. The standard penance for the first offence of sodomy in Florence at the time was a 100 florin fine, and corporal punishments didn’t kick in until your 4th offence, and then you need two witnesses to it.

In other places we have evidence that some homosexual activities were on a par with solo joys:

12. If a woman practices vice with a woman, she shall do penance for three years.

13. If she practices solitary vice, she shall do penance for the same period.

From the Penitential of Theodore (7th century, reprinted up until the 12th)

Penitentials

Penitentials are interesting. The height of their popularity was between the 6th and 12th centuries (they were officially banned in the 12th century but this wasn’t well enforced across Christendom, many remained in existence and their advice crops up in a lot of other later writings).

A ‘penitential’ is a book that gives guidance to priests who are giving the Sacrament of Reconciliation, which was known as the Sacrament of Penance in the medieval period. You tell the priests your sins, he tells you the penance you need to perform to be reconciled to God.

One of the most influential was written by Burchard of Worms, a bishop in the Holy Roman city of Worms (Martin Luther also pitches up there 500 years later). He had a big influence on Canon law, but he also wrote his own penitential in C11th, which gives a shy priest questions to ask to winkle out confessions from reticent parishioners.

On paper, this is great - a list of common sins and what their punishments were. However, we have no way of knowing if the sins in the penitentials were what people WERE doing, or just what some bishops who spent a lot of time thinking it about it THOUGHT they were doing. Either way, we can gather an idea of what it was plausible to priests that their parishioners were up to.

Among the things Buchard thought were going on were:

Girl on girl dildo action: Have you done what certain women are accustomed to do, that is, to make some sort of device or implement in the shape of the male member, of the size to match your desire, and you have fastened it to the area of your genitals or those of another with some form of fastenings and you have fornicated with other women or others have done with a similar instrument or another sort with you? If you have done this you shall do penance for five years on legitimate holy days.

Or solo: Have you done what certain women are accustomed to do, that is, you have fornicated with yourself with the aforementioned device or some other device? If you have done this, you shall do penance for one year on legitimate holy days.

A woman swallowing semen is penalised with 7 years of fasting, and he prescribes ten days fasting for male masturbation, or married couples going at it doggy style.

Spells

The penitentials also describe potential magic spells for sex, all of which are no-nos. You can either inflame lust:

Have you done what some women are wont to do? They take a live fish and put it in their vagina, keeping it there for a while until it is dead. Then they cook or roast it and give it to their husbands to eat, doing this in order to make the men be more ardent in their love for them. If you have, you should do two years of penance on the appointed fast days’

Or bring harm:

“Hast thou done what some women are wont to do? They take off their clothes and anoint their whole naked body with honey, and laying down their honey-smeared upon wheat on some linen on the earth, roll to and for often, then carefully gather all the grains of wheat which stick to the moist body, place it in a mill, and make the mill go round backwards against the sun and so grind it to flour; and they make bread from that flour and then give it to their husbands to eat, that on eating the bread they may become feeble and pine away. If thou hast [done this], thou shalt do penance for forty days on bread and water."

It seems odd to us that magic vagina fish magic carries a less harsh penalty from a bishop than two ladies with a marital aid or a wifely blowjob, but here is where the procreative factor comes into it again.

The wife meddling with a perch is seeking more of an acceptable form of sex from her husband. She’s going about it a bad way, and is probably driven by lust, but nevertheless. Dildos and blowjobs are explicitly non-procreative and solely pleasurable - therefore doing it a much worse sin.

Impotence

What if you can’t do it at all? Well, according to the logic of the medieval Church - no sex, no babies, no point. Inability to raise the staff is a legitimate reason for having a marriage annulled, but there was a process to determine whether this really was a big problem.

This was one of the ‘lawful impediments’ that are asked for in a marriage ceremony - if someone knows that the groom’s bits are purely decorative, they need to speak up.

But if not, then after 3 years, the wife can apply for an annulment, and if granted, both parties can remarry. Even if nobody denies it, there needs to be ‘Congress’ to prove that the husband is impotent.

Thomas Chobham (1160 - 1230) lays out the procedure:

After food and drink the man and woman are to be placed together in one bed and wise women are to be summoned around the bed for many nights. And if the man’s member is always found useless as if dead, the couple are well able to be separated.

And this seems to be exactly what happened. In 1370 for poor John Sanderson in York:

Congress was performed and the matrons reported the following back to the court; the member of the said John is like an empty intestine of mottled skin and it does not have any flesh in it, nor veins in the skin, and the middle of its front is totally black. And said witness stroked it with her hands and put it in semen and having thus been stroked and put in that place it neither expanded nor grew. Asked if he has a scrotum with testicles she says that he has the skin of a scrotum, but the testicles do not hang in the scrotum but are connected with the skin as is the case among young infants.

And in 1433 (again for a John in York), things were very thoroughly tested!

"exposed her naked breasts and with her hands warmed at the said fire, she held and rubbed the penis and testicles of the said John. And she embraced and frequently kissed the said John, and stirred him up in so far as she could to show his virility and potency, admonishing him for shame that he should then and there prove and render himself a man. And she says, examined and diligently questioned, that the whole time aforesaid, the said penis was scarcely three inches long".

Were There Black People in Britain During The English Civil War? (erm, yes!)

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 19:28:56 GMT

The simple answer to this question is yes; Black People (People of African dependency) had been part of the British landscape for 1500 years when the Civil War broke out.

Earliest records of Black people in Britain goes back to 210AD when a Black Roman soldier was described in military records as “this Ethiopian of great frame amongst clowns and good for a laugh”.

Later in the 3rd Century up to 500 Roman cavalry originating from Sudan and Ethiopia who were part of the Muarorum Aurelianorum which was named after Emperor Marcus Aurelius who was described as a “Moor”.

More evidence of Black troops being part of Roman Britain on Hadrian’s Wall at a fort at Aballava near Burgh by Sands , Carlisle and modern DNA testing of the existing inhabitants shows much higher than average levels of African DNA indicating that they troops mingled with the local indigenous population potentially marrying and having families.

Archaeological excavations in Sycamore Terrace, York discovered a 4th Century high status stone coffin containing the remains of the “Ivory Bangle Lady” who was a sub Saharan Black lady about 5 foot tall who died in her early 20’s. She was well nourished and the grave was adorned with high status grave goods. The archaeologists suspected she could have been the wife of a senior military commander or a successful trader. Continued excavations on the site and the subsequent DNA testing of skeleton’s led to an estimate that up to 10% of this important Roman city had their origins in Africa.

Not all evidence of Black people in early Britain were directly related to the Roman army, in 1953 the discovery of “Beachy Head Lady” during an excavation of an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery from about 200-245AD that raised in excess of 300 skeleton’s. This one skeleton, during DNA testing, showed that this young woman originated sub-Saharan Africa although brought up and lived for some time in Sussex.

During the post Roman period there is little evidence or records of the existence of Black Britain’s but you can assume that any Black Romans left behind will have had mixed marriages and the origins would have dissipated over the generations.

However during “The Dark Ages” leading into the early medieval period with the growth of Christianity, a Black Roman commander born in Thebes, Egypt about 250AD was venerated in 926AD. St Maurice led a Roman Legion of 10,000 Christian troops and was executed along with many of his Legion for not butchering Christians when ordered to do so by the Emperor.

During the Medieval period, there was increased trade with Africa, no doubt Black sailors and tradesmen would not have been uncommon at major ports around the coast of Britain.

The Mappa Mundi (circa 1300) clearly shows three distinct Christian continents of the known world, Europe, Asia and Africa with Ethiopia as the heart of Christian Africa. Africa was seen in Medieval Britain as a very rich and plentiful continent with strange and exotic animals and mystical human entities.

The Moorish invasion of the Spanish peninsula didn’t enhance the standing of many Black people in Europe as a whole but there is plenty of evidence that Black soldiers were employed in many armies throughout the continent. When the Moorish forces were driven out of Southern Europe not all the Moors who have headed back to Africa but many came north through France and up into Northern Europe.

W ith Britain entering the Tudor Age, we see the country entering a period of sustained growth of its Black population and clear evidence starts appearing again.

Catherine of Aragon, future wife of Henry VII came from Spain to Britain with at least one Black woman in her entourage, known as Catalina de Cardos and was important enough to be given the role of Head of the Bed Sheets. She may have been involved in proving that Catherine’s doomed first marriage to Prince Arthur had not been consummated ahead of her marriage to Henry in 1509.

In 1511, King Henry VIII held the Westminster Tournament at which his Royal Trumpeters performed and in painting celebrating the event we clearly see a Black trumpeter. His name was John Blanke, probably came to this country as part of Catherine of Aragon’s entourage and first employed by King Henry in 1507.

John Blanke was involved in what we would today describe as an employment dispute as he brought a grievance against the King as he was being paid less than his White counterparts. Unlike many who stood against Henry, John Blanke was successful and received an increase in his wage to bring up to parity with his white colleagues.

When John Blanke married in 1512, the King presented him with “a gown of violet cloth and also a bonnet and a hat to be taken of our gift against his marriage” so we can assume he was highly respected by his employer. Again in a painting of The Field of Gold from 1520 there appears a Black Royal Trumpeter who it is assumed was John Blanke still in the King’s employment.

Black people were coming to this country during early Tudor period and being employed as musicians, dancers, entertainers and domestic servants. Most were to be found in and around the major southern ports like London, Southampton and Bristol but not exclusively.

Specialist workers were being brought into Britain, in 1545, King Henry VIII hired a Venetian Salvage Expert, Corci, based in Southampton where he worked with the Italian traders when their boats were lost coming into harbour. Henry had lost his flagship, the Mary Rose in Portsmouth harbour and wanted to recover his ordinance from on board and Corci’s lead diver was Jacques Francis who originally came from a small island off the coast of Guinea where pearl and fishing divers were employed by Europeans for their swimming and diving skills.

We know a reasonable amount about Jacques Francis as he was the first Black Man to appear in court records when he gave evidence on behalf of his employer, Corci, when he was involved in a case where he had been accused of theft from a clients ship.

Trade with West Africa continued to grow throughout the 16 ^th Century but it was during the Elizabethan period where Britain saw a big increase in the numbers of Black Africans coming to our shores. As Britain’s trade grew, we saw conflict with the traditional partners, namely Portugal and Spain with Queen Elizabeth’s “Privateers” such as Drake, Hawkins and their like regularly raiding Spanish and Portuguese trade ships going from the Spanish mainland to West Africa and then over the Atlantic Ocean to their colonies in The America’s.

As well as gold, ivory, spice and exotic African goods, the Privateers were taking the African slaves from the Iberian ships who along with the rest of their bounty were brought back to Britain.

Generally speaking these poor souls were either released on the docks of port cities like London, Southampton and Bristol to fend for themselves or as local people realised there was a regular supply of Black workers, they would offer the ship Captains a fee to take them off their hands.

These were not classed as slaves as we would later recognise but like anyone, regardless of race in this time who was penniless, homeless and disorientated by their dreadful experience they would have had a difficult time however learning the language and more importantly becoming a Christian would see their lives improve. The first Black worker in the port city of Bristol is found in 1560 when Sir John Young employed a African straight from the ships to work as a gardener in his grounds located just behind what is now The Red Lodge Museum.

Most Africans were to be commonly found in and around the port cities generally employed as domestic servants, musicians, entertainers, sex workers and low level tradesmen. Most common though was likely to be sailors on trade ships

The subject of slavery is one that can’t be ignored, generally speaking slavery didn’t exist and Queen Elizabeth described the trade as “detestable and would call down the vengeance of Heaven upon the undertakers”. However some Royal loans could be linked to small scale slave trade operations. The only commercial slave trade during this period was linked to Sir John Hawkins who made four trips from West Africa to The Americas before ceasing the trade. He saw the financial opportunity follow numerous successful raids on Spanish ships filled with African slaves bound for their colonies.

In 1596, following successive failed harvests and subsequent food shortages, Queen Elizabeth wrote to the Mayor of London & other leading Aldermen around the country expressing concern over the increased numbers of Black people in the country and suggesting they should be deported. Showing the value employers regarded their Black workers and their embeddedness into society, only 10 were ever deported.

Reflecting how Black people were an intrinsic part of Elizabethan society, we just have to look at the writings of Shakespeare whose plays had a number of important Black roles such as Othello based it is believed on his Black mistress’s father and Caliban from the Tempest.

In the previous article, we looked at how Black Africans had been an important part of society for 1500 years leading up to the 17 ^th Century and the English Civil War.

The beginning of the 17 ^th Century saw significant changes in Britain with the Tudor dynasty making way for the Stewarts with James VI of Scotland coming south to take the crown from the deceased Elizabeth.

With James and his royal entourage arriving in London there is evidence of a small but significant number of black domestic and personal servants. Black servants were seen as a very fashionable thing to have throughout Europe’s elite and these people would have been richly attired to show off their existence. In addition to the servants, high society entertainment would very often involve Black musicians, dancers, acrobats and entertainers.

On the birth of his first son, Henry, James VI held what described as a magnificent pageant with the centrepiece being a famous Black entertainer playing the part of a ferrous lion who was described as being “Black-Moor and very richly attyred”

King James with his richly attired Black servants would have set the present for his courtiers to follow the fashion and no doubt as the middle classes grew in financial strength they too would have wanted to be seen as having Black domestic servants.

Not all Africans in Britain would be in service; again in Bristol, a barmaid called Katherine worked at The Horses Head in Christmas Street until her death in 1612.

A self sufficient Single woman described as a “negra” (a Black Woman”) called Cattelena of Almonsbury near Gloucester appeared to make a living from the proceeds of the products from her cow and provided food for travellers passing through the town. Records show clear evidence of 50 other independent Black women between 1571-1640

Parish records from the 17 ^th Century show evidence of Black residence in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucester, Kent, Northampton and Suffolk although London appears to be the main location for the Black community. In 1610, ships records show up to 30% of ships crews were Black African sailors but also others from Japan and Asia

In 1618, the Thirty years War broke out in Europe and it is estimated that up to 50,000 refugees fled to Britain with London being the location of choice especially for professionals and skilled tradesmen from the Low Countries.

Many of these new citizens would have brought their domestic servants with them and considering that Holland and especially Antwerp where many of them had fled from had the second largest population of Africans (Lisbon being the largest as the capital of the European slave trade) in Europe.

A census in the early part of the 17 ^th Century in Southwick, a very poor South London borough with a total of 20,000 inhabitants (10% of London’s total population) had 2004 “alien” households representing 10% of the boroughs population.

Parish records in London from this period show regular Black inhabitants getting baptised, married and buried. It is interesting that it appears that the majority of Black men marry white British women and therefore it is safe to assume that there was a significant population of mixed race people growing up in the 17 ^th Century

As we move into the middle of this century there is evidence that a lot of Black residence of London have taken on specialist trades and records show involvement in needlemakers, seamstresses, milliners and silk work. Many of these had learnt their trade from being servants from Holland who took over from their employer following their death.

N ot everything was positive with the relationship between Britain and the relationship with Black Africans. In 1610 James I granted a license to set up the Guinea Company who primarily traded in gold but it is believed they did get involved in low volume slave trading in 1619 (Virginia, US) and 1626 (St Kitts). In 1631 King Charles I grants a monopoly to this company for sole trade between Guinea and London.

With the increase in trade came far greater travel and access to Africa and many of the explorers were far from complimentary about what they found especially being derogatory about the inhabitants of the continent that challenged the beliefs and values of Protestant Gentlemen of the time.

Sir Thomas Herbert in 1627-9 described the Africans as “fearful blacke….devilish”, devils incarnate” and “worshipped the Devil”. In 1634 Herbert wrote “Comparing their limitations, speech and visages, I doubt many of them have no better processors than monkeys” and also implied that they copulated with Apes and told stories of Baboons raping Black women.

William Bosman described Africans as “Nothing but the utmost necessity can force them to labour, they are besides incredibly careless an stupid”

There are many such extracts from travel writers of the time and none paint positive pictures of the inhabitants of Africa and the influence of these writings on those in Britain reading them would no doubt had a negative response to those Black inhabitants of Britain

Any suspicion or negativity towards the Black population would not have been helped by continued raids on the coastal towns of the South & West of Britain by those known as the Barbary Pirates.

These North African pirates generally speaking were linked to trade with the Ottoman Empire and spread terror throughout the coastal settlements of Europe. In 1626, it was estimated that there were up to 60 Barbary men-of-war ships prowling the coastal waters of Devon and Cornwall looking for boats and ships to attack or unprotected coastal towns and villages to raid. As well as looking for ships and there contents, the Barbary Pirates would take entire populations of towns and villages to be sold into slavery in the Ottoman Empire. In 1645 it was estimated that there were between 3000-5000 English slaves in Algiers.

The traditional view that there were no Black people in Britain during the mid 17 ^th Century is clearly inaccurate however there is little evidence of Black soldiers being directly involved in the Civil War in any great numbers

In 1643, the Parliamentarian leader, the Earl of Stamford was accused by the Royalists “when the Earl of Stamford was last at Exeter he took divers, Turks out of Launston gaol and listed them for the King & Parliament”. There is evidence of a “Turk” (another name for a North African/Barbary Pirate who was potentially Black) serving in the Exeter garrison alongside a range of other ethnic groups in its Parliamentarian ranks

General Massey’s Western Brigade was said to include “Ethiopians, Egyptians and Mesopotamians” when it was disbanded in 1646. Evidence in the records that Black soldiers in Massey’s Brigade were given passes to leave Britain suggests that they were very likely to have been paid mercenaries rather than settled men from this country.

Bearing in mind the clear evidence that anything up to 30% of sailors in the fleets around Britain were of African descendency, it is safe to assume that when the military fleets were formed during the Civil War that they would have called upon the skilled and experienced Black sailors that were available. The small Royalist fleet in Bristol in 1643 was reported to have twelve Black sailors in its midst

The Royalist commander of Cheshire, Lord Byron argued that Royalists should actively recruit from all nations “I know no reason why the King should make any scruple of calling in the Irish or the Turk if they should serve him”.

Byron is pictured with his young Black squire as indeed was King Charles himself.

In summary, there were a significant number of Black people in Britain during the time of the English Civil War especially in London and the port towns of the South and West coast of Britain.

Primary occupations for these people were sailors, domestic servants, musicians, entertainers, skilled tradesmen/women, entrepreneurs, single women and sex workers

There were Black men directly involved in the War being in both navies and soldiers especially in the west Country although you do question that with the significant numbers based in London during the middle of the century that there were not Black soldiers involved in the formation of the London based Regiments but evidence hasn’t been found yet to my knowledge.

Archery in the English Civil War

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 18:49:34 GMT

As many of you know, I do medieval (War of the Roses) re-enactment in my spare time and a lot of this takes the form of archery and not just dressing up in lots of tin and battering each other

One of the questions that is asked by the public is about the use and effectiveness of the longbow compared with the matchlock. From my personal point of view, I would take a longbow over a musket any day but apart from the illustrations by William Neade’s Double Armed Man project of 1625, I have not seen any real evidence of its use

However, I did stumble across an excerpt from a book called “Seventeenth-Century Military Archery” by E.T Fox that provides evidence of significant use and some lovely illustrations.

The author explains how as a weapon of war, the longbow began to fall from favour in the sixteenth century, so much so that King Henry VIII had to introduce a number of statutes enforcing the practicing of archery in an attempt to maintain a force of available archers if required.

In Queen Elizabeth I reign, the longbow less and less popular until, in 1589, her Privy Council reorganised the trained bands and removed archers from their ranks. With its strong tradition though, the longbow didn’t disappear and its use continued particularly in provincial and rural regions well into the seventeenth century.

In Repton, Derbyshire, mustered militia men had “a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrows and a quiver” in the reign of James I and as late as 1628, Sir Phillip Carteret wrote that Jersey had a force of 3000 able bodied men for the defence of the island, of whom 300 were armed with musket and pikes, “the rest having bows, bills and unarmed”

As late as 1638, the Earl of Arundel at Carlisle requested, “some quantity of bows with offensive arrows should be poured into the bordering shires of Cumbria, Northumberland and Westmorland”

During the seventeenth century there were a number of schemes to revive the use of the longbow, the best known of which is probably the famous William Neade’s project of 1625 that we all know as the “Double Armed Man”. Neade’s idea was that by arming a pikeman with a longbow in addition to the pike, they would no longer be restricted to standing around on the battlefield getting shot for the majority of the time and waiting just in case they were needed to defend the remaining troops from cavalry. Armed with a longbow they would have an offensive role in addition to their defensive capability.

The nature of Neade’s now famous invention appears at first glance to be something of a novelty rather than a practical proposition for use on the battlefield. However, we know it worked as Neade himself made it work and he persuaded the Artillery Company of London to put it into practice. In March 1628 the Council of War gave orders for a formal trial of Neade’s idea and 300 members of the Artillery Company turned out in St James’s Park in London to demonstrate it in front of King Charles I. In fact Charles himself had a go and was impressed enough to commission William Neade and his son to provide training and instruction to the county militias in the use of the double armed soldier.

William Barriffe wrote of it: “In all these firings, the pike never come to charge, but stand in a square battell, in danger of the enemies shot: themselves neither being able to offend the enemy nor to defend themselves. And yet if by frequent practice, they were inured to the use of the longbow, fastened to their pikes, I made no question but that, when they should become expert in the use of the Bow and Pike, they would not onely be a terror to their enemies, by the continual showers of Arrows which they would send amongst them; but also that they would be a great meanes to rout their enemies. And utterly to breake their order”

Robert Ward in his Animadversions of Warre (1639) and Sir Thomas Kellie in his Pallas Armata (1627) were both keen advocates of Neade’s double armed man and this was part of a much large attempt to revive the use of the longbow during the first half of the seventeenth century. In 1631 and in 1637 King Charles I reissued the statute of 33 requiring all men between the ages of 16 and 60 to both own and practice with the longbow.

The most significant attempt to reinstate the longbow came in 1627 when King Charles’s favourite councillor, the Duke of Buckingham raised an army to attack the Isle de Rhe in support of the French Huguenots at La Rochelle. Orders from Buckingham were sent out to the counties for the levying of men and it was stipulated that 24% of them were to be archers. In some counties the order for archers arrived too late and the force had already set off for the embarkation points and in other counties not enough archers could be found to fill their quota. Nevertheless bows and arrows were ordered from the Tower and archers were reportedly assembling at Portsmouth but exactly how many made it to France is unclear but French sources reported arrows being shot into the fort of St Martin de Rhe.

In many years prior to the civil war there were plenty of longbows in circulation and not just a few archers. With 300 men trained in the use of the pike and longbow in London and given William Neade’s commission from the King, it is reasonable to suppose that at least some trained with them throughout the provinces. Several hundred archers at least had been assembled for the expedition to Isle de Rhe and by recently enacted law every man from 16-6- had to own and practice with his longbow. Although we can assume not everyman in every part of the country observed the law it would be safe to assume that there were significant numbers out practicing on a regular basis. But does that therefore lead to significant numbers of archers taking to the field during the Civil War? No it doesn’t seem to mean that but before dismissing the use of the longbow completely E T Fox does provide us with some interesting evidence.

In the period leading up the beginning of the outbreak of the war, King Charles issued Commissions of Array ordering his supporters to raise troops in their locales for his service and they included provision for archers. The Commission sent to the Marquis of Hertford, for example, to raise troops in the West Country and Wales instructed that he raise an army consisting of “Horsemen, Archers and Footmen of all kinds of degrees meet and apt for the Wars” Indeed this Commission included Hereford, one of the counties where there was a company of archers in 1642 according to JW Willis Bund his book The Civil War in Worcestershire 1642-1646.

During the same period, a company armed with pikes and longbows in Hertford specifically for defence of the town when they believed the town was under threat of attack from a Royalist force. The local Parliamentarian commander, Earl of Bedford sent a party of cavalry under Captain Ankle to boost the defence of Hertford and when they approached the town they were met with piquets posted on the outskirts of town but having given the password they were admitted. Ankle’s cavalry were then met by “a second watch, being a company of pikes with bowes and arrows”.

Another company of archers was raised on behalf of Parliament in Shropshire, troops stationed in Bridgnorth were expecting the arrival of the Earl of Essex when instead a Royalist force under Prince Maurice arrived. Cavalry were sent out but a large force of Royalist musketeers under Lord Strange took up position just outside the town and drove the cavalry back. Fearing that the triumphant Royalist would drive home their success by fording the river and enter the town, the defenders “with …..Bowes and Arowes sent to them which did so gaule them, being unarm(our)ed men that with their utmost speed they did retreat”.

In the earl months of the War there is evidence of formations of archers being assembled and in at least one cased, used in action during the defence of towns. Archers may have been a reasonably common feature of sieges on both sides of the conflict. At the siege of Gloucester in 1643 bows were used to shoot messages in and out of the besieged city and according to Peter Gaunt in his book English Civil War, a Military History, messages were shot by longbow into Basing House by Parliamentarian besiegers in 1644.

Also at the siege of Lyme Regis, Dorset the Royalists shot fire arrows into the town and set alight to the a good number of buildings and there is additional evidence of arrows being used for sending messages as late as 1648 in the sieges of Colchester and Pembroke.

Locally raised companies of archers raised to defend their towns or what might be only one or two archers present at sieges are not the same as formations of archers being active in the field armies though no less important. In September 1643 the Parliamentarian newspaper Mercurius Civicus reported the news from Oxford that the Royalists:

“have set up a new Magazine without Norgate, onely for Bowes and Arrowes, which they intend to make muchuse of against our horse which they heare (though to their great griefe) doe make much increase: and that all the Bowyers, Fletchers and Arrow head makers that they can possibly get the imploy and set on worke there for that purpose. Also that the King hath two regiments of Bowes and Arrowes. It is therefore necessary, that no Arrow-heads be suffered to goe from London towards Newbery, or into any other parts where the Cavaliers may by any means come to achieve or surprise them. And it were to be wished, that the like provision were made by the Parliament here to get bowes and Arrowes (at least some for their Pikeman) it being not unknown what victories have been formerly atchieved in France and other parts by our English Bow-men> Besides the flying of the Arrowes are farre more terrible to the horse then bullets and doe much more turmoyle and vex them if they enter”

That the king had two regiments of archers is unlikely but that fact that it was printed in 1643 indicates that it was not considered unlikely at the time and the fact that the movement of arrowheads was to be restricted suggests that there was at that time a supply worth restricting, The most intriguing thing perhaps about this article is that the bows and arrows were for supplying the pikemen thus suggesting that the double armed man was still considered a possibility in 1643 and may have been what was meant by the ambiguous reference to the “company of pikes with bowes and arrows” in Hertford in the previous year.

Importantly, the rallying cry of Mercurious Civicus for a Parliamentarian force of archers was heard in the highest circles. Thomas Taylor served as a lieutenant under Colonel Fiennes at the Siege of Bristol and was called as a witness by Fiennes to appear at his trial for surrendering the city too early. When he first gave his deposition he was a lieutenant but by the time of the trial itself he had been promoted to Captain. As well as his promotion, Taylor was also given his own command:

“Whereas, by Virtue of a Commission under my Hand and Seal, dated First Day of November 1643, directed to Mr Thomas Taylor, Citizen of London, he the said Thomas is authorized to raise a Company of Archers, for the service in Hand and to set the same on Foot, by and through the free Bounties of the well-affected People, in and about the City of London, and Parts adjacent, as by the Teneur of the said Commission appears”

It has been said that the last significant use of the longbow in a battle in Britain occurred at Tippermuir on 1 ^st September 1644 when Montrose’s Royalist highlanders defeated an army of the Scottish covenanters commanded by Earl of Wemyss. The highlanders were still well known for their use of the longbow at this time and at Tippermuir the “Atholl and Banzenoch men had swords, bowes and fyrelockes”. In the Bishops Wars of 1639-40 longbow armed highlanders had played their part and from that conflict comes a wonderful description of the kind of men who fought at Tippermuir:

“They were all or the most part of them well timbred men, tall and active, apparelled in blew woollen wascotts and blew bonnets. A pair of bases of plad, and stockings of the same, and a paire of pumpes on their feet: a mantle of plad cast over the left shoulder, and under the right arm, a pocquet before their knapsack, armed a pair of durgs on either side of the pocquet. They are left to their owne election for the weapons; some carry onely a sword and targe, others musquetts and the greater part bow and arrows with a quiver to hould about 6 shafts maide of the maine of a goat or colt, with the hair hanging on and fastened by some belt or such like soe as it appears almost a taile to them”

W hilst Montrose and Wemyss were battling it out at Tippermuir, on the same day the Earl of Essex was losing the Battle of Lostwithiel in Cornwall. Whether Thomas Taylor’s company of archers took art in the battle is unknown but there can be little doubt that having been raised by Essex the previous November they almost certainly went on to join his army for the West Country campaign of 1644. However they were probably knocked out of the fighting in the West Country in mid-August for around 14 ^th August 1644, Royalist troops plundered Lanhydrock House, the home of Parliamentarian Colonel Lord Robartes and “in the howes was found many bowes an divers of arrows” as noted in Richard Symonds Diary of the Marches of the Royal Army During the Great Civil War.

There is no evidence of Thomas Taylors company of archers after August of 1644 and it appears likely that if they had survived the long march out of Cornwall following the defeat at the Battle of Lostwithiel they were probably incorporated into another regiment and re-equipped with pikes or muskets or maybe even disbanded. Taylor himself continued in Parliaments service and ended his military career in 1647 when he was one of the three men who presented the Leveller tract “An Agreement of the People” to the army.

The use of the longbow did not entirely disappear with Taylors company as there is evidence of its use by Parliament at both the sieges of Colchester and Pembroke as well as the Royalists still having archers in the field in 1647 when James Winstone, a Parliamentarian soldier “was wounded in ye righte hande by an arrow” at a skirmish in Hathersage, Derbyshire but this is the last known acknowledgement of the longbows use.

For reference I would strongly recommend you buy E T Fox’s book, Seventeenth Century Military Archery that contains the complete transcripts of William Neade’s The Double-Armed Man (1625),. Other worthwhile reading come in the form of the anonymous A New Invention of Shooting Fire-shafts in Long-Bows (1628) and Gervase Markham’s The Art of Archerie (1634) all available from Fox Historical Publications.

The Nature of Tent Use in the English Civil Wars

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 18:33:59 GMT

Key Points...

There is occasional evidence for the use of tents by ordinary soldiers, but billeting in existing civilian buildings or purpose built huts was far more common.
Tents were normally the preserve of officers during the English Civil War. The use of tents by regular soldiers was much more common during the contemporary wars in Ireland and Scotland.
Where tents were used en masse, they seem to have been made to a standard design: 7ft square and 6ft high, to accommodate a file of six soldiers.

Introduction...

This article is formed of two parts: the evidence for tent use by soldiers during the Civil Wars, and where issued, the form and fabric of such tents. Our focus is on the British Isles during the 1640s and 1650s. Evidence from the continent and from earlier and later eras is incorporated into Part Two, as it helps to inform our overall understanding and acts as bridge across knowledge gaps when we are compelled to make choices in physical reconstruction. Two surviving examples of 17th century tents, from Austria and Switzerland, are used as examples of tent-making techniques.

The layout and organisation of camps, or castramentation, is a vast subject by its self, and will not be examined in this article. Mark will be leading a separate debate over the choices we have in portraying a 17th century encampment.

Part One: The Nature of Evidence for Tent Usage

There is evidence for use of tents by common soldiers during the English Civil War, however it is very limited. There is a comprehensive and objective summary of the available evidence in A.J.Rowland’s “Military Encampments of the English Civil Wars”, published by Stuart Press. I would heartily recommend anyone with an interest in the subject to beg, borrow or steal a copy.

Factors in Choosing Shelter.

Therefore, the type of overnight shelter available to our generic ECW infantryman would depend upon a series of factors –

the tactical activity of the unit,
coherent forward planning,
the weather,
the availability of civilian buildings,
time available for setting up the camp, and time in place,
availability of timber and thatch, and
the immediacy of the threat posed by the adversary.

Billeting as the Default Option

Suffice to say, it appears that sleeping in billets (requisitioned civilian buildings) was most common, for most soldiers, most of the time. Suitable billeting sites would be planned and reconnoitred in advance. Only on occasion were soldiers forced to sleep outside, under which circumstances hedges, bushes and trees served as overnight shelters.

Better Hutting than Tenting.

Where time allowed impromptu shelters known as ‘huts ‘were built, but this was dependent on arrival at the campsite early enough for the surrounding countryside to be ransacked for wood and thatching. Despite the time required to build, and resulting impact on local communities, huts appear to have been preferred over tents. When well constructed, they would be more weatherproof than the average tent and when no longer required could simply be burned rather than require transportation.

Fig 1: An officer’s tent, with sentinel. Detail from the portrait of Sir Horace Vere (Sir Thomas Fairfax’s father in-law)

W ho used Tents and When

Tents were normally the preserve of officers, and sometimes for use within the train of artillery; however there are occasional mentions of tents in use by common soldiers. Most examples are for service in Scotland and Ireland, possibly a consequence of sparse settlement patterns and long marches. Available evidence for tent use in the British Isles during the 1640s-50s is as follows (drawn from Rowland):

Tents and Devereux’s Regiment

As a garrison unit, it seems highly unlikely that the original Devereux’s Regiment would have required tents. Much of their campaigning involved the defence and seizure of settlements and manor houses in Northern Wiltshire. We have ample evidence of billeting, and no evidence for the use of huts or tents.

Tents and Fairfax’s Regiment

The appearance of ‘trench tents’ within contracts for the artillery train of the New Model Army occurs as early as April 1645, although it is unlikely that tentage was employed widespread within the ranks of New Model until its campaigns in Scotland and Ireland. Cromwell made extensive use of tents in Ireland in 1649, although climactic sickness still made a heavy impact on the health of his forces.

Part Two: The Form and Fabric of Soldiers’ Tents

The ‘Trench Tent’, a Standard Form?

There are at least three separate references to ‘trench-tents’ in 17 ^th century contexts, and where dimensions are detailed, both indicate a length of 7 feet. Remarkably, the New Model Army contracted trench tents are near identical in terms of outer dimensions to those the British Army were using in the latter 18 ^th Century both in Britain and in North America (see Table 2). The only significant difference appears to be that the latter 18 ^th century soldiers’ tents featured a curved end on the opposite side to the doorway, apparently used to deposit equipment (see Fig 9). Research has thus far failed to find an explanation for the term ‘trench-tent’, but given Boyle’s use of the term ‘entrenched encampments’ it may conceivably that the term is short for ‘entrenched-tents’, reflecting military-academic enthusiasm for entrenching campsites (which seldom appears to have been the reality).

Tent Flaps

Unfortunately the New Model Army contract does not detail whether the tents were to have tent flaps. A cursory study of military scenes between the 16 ^th and 18 ^th centuries reveals numerous examples of tents with and without tent flaps. It is unclear from 17 ^th century depictions how tent flaps were secured closed, although the Graz tent features wooden toggles on the tent flaps. This would explain the lack of dangly ties which can frequently be seen on living history tents. It is also possible that a doorway only featured at one end, similar to the British military tents of the 18 ^th century. With respect to huts, Boyle simply states that: “Every company is to have the door or opening of every hut towards the lane, which is common to the said two files of huts.”

Fabric and Construction

Tentmaking was a specialist craft, but as per Table 1, in desperate times bulk orders might be placed with generalist textile workers. The Royalist artillery train in Oxford in 1643 employed Roger Pickford and his son as tentmakers, whilst General Monck employed a tentmaker for his campaign in Scotland. The New Model contract of April 1645 went to one John Snow * . The daily pay established for tent-making specialists accompanying Charles I’s army of 1639 were as follows (Grose, p289):
*Probably not identifiable with either the curmudgeonly broadcaster or northern king of the same name.

17 ^th century tents appear to have been made from flax or hemp, both processed into linen. It is highly likely that tent makers retained the selvedge of the cloth. This would have resulted in a more robust edges and seams, whilst reducing the amount of labour time and wastage. Seams on the surviving examples from Graz and Basel are flat felled (see Fig 9), and it is likely that similar seams would have featured on soldiers tents. The Basel example also has blue-dyed linen strips sewn to cover the seams on the outside of the tent, although this level of frippery is unlikely for soldier issue tentage. The variation in cloth widths would likely have resulted in tents that were sometimes some inches outside the prescribed 7’ width and 7’ length. 17 ^th century linen was manufactured in a range of widths, from 28” to 40”. Thus three panels of around 30” width could easily be sewn to a 7’ (84”) width, with sufficient allowance for seams. We should nonetheless remain alive to the possibility of narrower panels, which might be inferred from some period illustrations (see Fig 2).

It would appear that the linen chosen for tentage was variable, and sometimes the most expedient choice rather than the best available.

The New Model Army contracts state lockram as the preferred textile, which is of hemp rather than flax. Peachey describes the lockram’s width as 33.75”, which would work well for a three panel 7’ tent with generous seam allowance. It is unclear whether tent linen would have been bleached. Most period illustrations show an off-white colour, although a sample of 18 ^th century tent linen is decidedly brown, as is one of the tents depicted by the 18 ^th century artist David Morier. It seems highly likely that even where unbleached tents were issued, that moderate use would have seen the linen bleach in sunlight.

Framework and Furniture

The New Model Army contract sets the requirement for “firre staves lynes & pinns & other appurtenances”. Quite what “other appurtances” is open to the imagination, but likely to be pegs and possibly also bags. Equally incongruous is the mention of “firre staves”. As a softwood, pine seems entirely unsuited to an item which might undergo a considerable degree of strain on campaign, where the sole conceivable advantage would be its lightness. The framework for soldiers’ tents consistently appears as a simple goal post shape in period illustrations. An 18 ^th century description provides a method for fixing the frame together:

“These tents are fixed by means of three poles and 13 pegs: the poles A are called standard poles, and are about 6 feet high; the pole B is called the ridge pole, and is about 7 feet long: the ridge and standard poles are held together by two iron pins, fixed in the top of the standard poles” (Lochee).

The iron pins here described are probably the pins mentioned in the New Model contract. Despite the mention of ‘lines’ in the contract, there are no visible guy ropes featuring on period illustrations of common soldiers tents. Instead, the frame is likely to have been held in place by ramming the posts into the ground, or else by the tension of the canvas once pegged to the ground. Although 17 ^th century evidence for this is sparse, Wolf Huber’s depiction of the battle of Pavia, drawn c1530, depicts a freestanding goalpost arrangement, where the uprights have been rammed into the ground. The same arrangement is also shown in an early 18 ^th century depiction of redcoats erecting tents (see Fig 10)

P egging points on the Graz example were reinforced by an extra layer or linen and leather tabs. It is likely that there is also an internal grommet, through which a short length of rope would pass. This is possibly the same system as shown on the portrait of Sir Horace Vere (Fig 1). This system would allow the pegging to be adjusted on uneven ground, and replaced easily following wear and tear.

Further Work

Accepting that tent use was the exception rather than the norm during the ECW, it would nonetheless be an interesting project to attempt a tentative (pun intended) reconstruction of the New Model Army ‘trench-tent’. The broad dimensions and textile type is apparent in the April 1645 contract. Further constructional detail can be derived from surviving 17 ^th century tents and the framework visible in early 18 ^th century British military tent illustrations.

In the meantime – let’s keep our eyes peeled for more evidence!

Bibliography

Boyle, R. (1677): A Treatise on the Art of War. London. Link
Grose, F. (1786): Military Antiquities Respecting a History of the English Army. Link
Livingstone, J (1727): A Brief Historical Relation of the Life of John Livingstone, Minister of the Gospel. Link
Lochee, L. (1778): An Essay on Castramentation. Link
Mclean, W. (2012): A Seventeenth Century Tent from the Armory at Graz. Link
Miller, B. (2002): Ben’s Tarptent. Link
Mullins et al. (2010): To Shelter the Enlisted Man: A Study of Other Ranks Tents during the American War of Independence. Link
Peachey, S. (2014): Clothes of the Common People in Elizabethan and Early Stuart England. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Rowland, A.J. (1995): Military Encampments of the English Civil Wars. Bristol, Stuart Press.
Ward, R. (1639): Animadversions of Warre.
Website: Information on authentic Medieval Pavilions. Lin k

Yummy 17th Century Marmalade and Dutch Pudding

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 15:26:49 GMT

C17th Marmalade

This receipt makes 2lb (900g) of marmalade

You will need...

x 5 Large Lemons or Oranges

x 3 Dessert Apples (e.g. Cox’s Pippins)

x 150ml Water

x 450g Sugar

Method...

Take a stainless-steel pan
Cut the pointed end off the Lemons (take the tops/bottoms off Oranges) and quarter them, removing the pips and put them in the pan.
Peel, core and quarter the apples and put them in the pan with the water
Cover and simmer for around 45-60 minutes or until tender
Remove from the heat and make unto a pulp by either rubbing it through a sieve with the back of a wooden spoon or use a blender – it needs to be smooth
Weigh the pulp and transfer it into a clean saucepan with its own weight of sugar
Stir over a low heat until it boils to setting point (105˚C/221˚F)

This can be used in several ways:

To store for a while, pack into sterilised glass jars and sealed as is usual
Spoon into small waxed baking cases
Or, as I prefer; spread approx. 10mm thick onto a sheet of waxed paper on a baking tray and then cut into cubes, lozenges, sprinkled with caster sugar and guzzled down with an indulgent smile :)

Dutch Pudding

The word ‘pudding’ conjures up all sorts of sweetness in the mind; Roley Poley, Spotted Dick, Syrup Sponge, Lemon Rice Pudding (a particular favourite of our beloved carb-denier The Dark Lord, aka Spencer Houghton). But who would ever have described a savoury as a ‘pudding’? Our C17th ancestors. The clue is in the name. This is a lovely, cheap showstopper. I served it to the Officers at an event circa 1994 with a simple herb sauce. To be fair; I’ve never heard them Officer types so silent… until the sweet stuffe came to the table. Anyhoo; I digress...

You will need...

x a good square of muslin, or linen cloth.

x 350g Coarsely minced beef

x 225g Suet

x 100g Dry (Stale) breadcrumbs

x 2 tsps Dried sage

x 1tsp Dried savory

x 1st Dried thyme

x 2 Eggs

x ¼ tsp Ground cloves

x ¼ tsp Ground nutmeg

x ¼ tsp Ground mace

x ¼ tsp Pepper

x 2 tsp Salt

x A few lovely White cabbage leaves

Method...

Aside from the cabbage leaves; mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (by hand; it’s great fun)
Form the meaty mix into round ball
Wrap the ball completely in cabbage leaves; ensuring there are no gaps
Tie the ball of loveliness tight into the cloth. I take a strip from the cloth and use that to make a tie; tying it so as to leave a loop to catch it with when lifting in the pot.
Plunge into a large pot of already boiling water (anything less than boiling will automatically spoil any kind of pudding; sweet or savoury)
Simmer for 2 hours
Serve on a bed of fresh breadcrumbs or ‘sippets’ (cubes of bread; toasted or not)
It looks just like cabbage; until cut

VOILA!

Some Notes on the Nottingham Royal Standard: 22 August 1642

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 17:00:31 GMT

The following is a short discussion on the actual appearance of this famous flag, the hoisting of which at Nottingham on 22 August 1642 by King Charles 1st marked his official declaration of war against his rebellious parliament.

These notes are based upon research I carried out about 30 years ago when I was attempting to recreate the standard for flying during special events at the Royalist stronghold of Basing House. [now, in 2020, this is a revised article with later research as an addendum].

One of the first difficulties that arose was that no definitive contemporary illustration survives and the actual standard, which seems certain to have flown on only the one occasion, has long since vanished. There is however, one wood-cut illustration which is included in a printed report.

A true and exact relation of the manner of his Majesties setting up of His Standard.

Which taken with the description in that report gives lots of clues. It would however be foolish to accept that this illustration alone gives the actual appearance of the flag, so other sources were needed.

Hollar, the émigré Bohemian artist produced a very detailed engraving (below) of the King’s camp near Berwick during the First Bishop’s War which included in the top left-hand corner a representation of The Glorious Standard of our Gracious King.

This illustration depicts the flag as having the Royal Stuart arms of England at the hoist, with two, long, tapering tails issuing from them. The tails appear to contain no devices although they are conceivably damasked and the whole flag is surrounded by parti-coloured fringe or border.

The Nottingham Standard appears to have contained far more devices, including - if the printed report is to be believed - an actual representation of the King. To find out the tinctures of the standard I visited the College of Heralds in London. The Heralds have a coloured manuscript book which contains illustrations of the Standards of England, Scotland and Ireland carried at Royal funeral processions up to that of King James 1st.

C harles was given a private funeral at Windsor so there were no banners to record. Therefore, I based my design on that of his father’s Standard of England. This flag has a basic red field with a red and white border, the normal Cross of St England and the Royal Emblems of England and France in gold.

The Nottingham Standard seems to have been very much a one-off design to indicate the King’s conflict both in England and Ireland, and thus included elements of the Standard of Ireland which contained a golden harp on a blue field. This one-off design is also signified by the inclusion of the painted image of the King and the biblical motto Give Caesar His Due, quoted in the True and Exact Relation. This is very much a departure from the heraldic norm by this very traditional-minded King and reflects his dilemma at having to declare war on his own people.

From all the above elements, I drew the design below and from it was produced a 15’ replica which used to be seen flying – wind conditions permitting – at Basing House.

Not long after having had the standard reproduced (sketch above), I came across a reference to a contemporary letter from an eyewitness to the raising of the actual standard in which he describes it as:

It is a long pole, like a Maypole, painted red on the upper end, whereof hangs a large silk flag, (in form of a scutcheon) with a red crosse and two lions passant, upon two crownes.

From this description which is very similar to King James’ standard I then drew this reconstruction which (to date) is as accurate as possible.

It is of interest to note that the Standard of England carried at the funeral of Oliver Cromwell in 1658 is very similar in design except that one of the lions is left off, the motto is changed to Pax Quaeritur Bello (Peace Brought Forth from War) and a number of O Ps are dotted over the field.