Happy Birthday Charles I

Today in 1600, a young prince was born to King James I and his wife Anne of Denmark. This prince, the couple's second son, would go on to become one the most famous monarchs that England had ever known - King Charles I. He would go on to declare war on Parliament in 1642 and would eventually be executed for treason on 30th January 1649. Charles has long fascinated me and during my University days I spent much of my time researching the English Civil War and the role that the Royalist army played, eventually concentrating solely on the Battle of Cheriton in 1644. For my sins I was also a part of the Sealed Knot and "fought" for the Royalist regiment, Henry Tilliers Regiment of Foote.

Charles I is an interesting character in many respects, not only for his role in the English Civil War. He was never supposed to become King in the first place, that was the role meant for his elder brother Henry Stuart. Sadly though, Henry died in 1612 and the young Duke of York became heir to the throne. Poor little Charles wasn't exactly the most healthy child, he was sickly and had problems walking, and apparently had a speech impediment too. He had spent his childhood in the shadow of his brother Henry, who he loved and tried his best to emulate but unfortunately as a child could never really live up to his brother. In fact, little Charles did not start walking properly until he was at least four years old thanks to the weakness in his legs. At the age of 16 it is recorded that he suffered from "green sickness", a rather odd illness for an adolescent young man to suffer from as it was normally said to affect young ladies! However by the time he reached his early 20's he seems to have left most of his physical illnesses behind although he apparently never really had the intellectual capacity of other young men of his age.

Charles also became bosom friends with his fathers supposed paramour George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham. In George, Charles found a surrogate older brother who encouraged Charles to start looking at women (and noticed that Charles was very slow on the uptake with romance!), and even took the young heir incognito to Spain to woo the Spanish Infanta. When James I died in 1625, Charles married Henrietta Maria if France yet held Villiers above her in his affections. It wasn't until Villiers was assassinated in 1628 that Charles began to take decent notice of his wife and the two of them ended up falling head over heels in love with each other.

Charles never really had a very good relationship with parliament, and ended up taking personal rule of the country from 1629. The next eleven years were known by parliamentarian supporters as the "eleven years tyranny". In 1640, Charles recalled parliament - he needed money to fight the second bishops war. Less than a month later, this parliament was dissolved by Charles because he wasn't going to listen to their ideas for reform. In November that year, Charles again called Parliament, again needing more money and this became known as the Long Parliament. In this one, tensions soon rose when Parliament wanted to impeach various members of the court and they also passed an act to prevent the King from dissolving parliament. In March 1641 they impeached Lord Stafford and he was placed on trial for High Treason. Charles however refused to sign the bill of Attainder but in parliament this bill went unopposed and Charles signed the bill in fear for his family's safety. Stafford was executed. In May of the same year parliament made ship money and various forms of taxation illegal - all of which had proven unpopular when the King had forced these taxes previously.

All of this lead to Charles and Parliament fighting for control - Charles believed that as King of England he should have control, Parliament believed that the King should work with them or not at all. Charles then tried to have five prominent members of parliament arrested on 4th January 1642 when he tried to take parliament by force of arms. The five men had already left. And this was the beginning of the end for Charles Stuart - Parliament seized London and in January 1642, Charles fled London.

Civil War was declared in August 1642 and Charles raised an army. Parliament did the same and it lead to a bitter 7 year period of fighting. The best known part of the civil war lasted until 1646 when Charles was arrested and imprisoned by Parliament. The second civil war was fought in 1648-9, finishing with the execution of King Charles I in January 1649 and the third civil war lasted from 1649-51 and was fought between parliament and supporters of Charles II. Following Charles I's execution in 1649, the country was run by Oliver Cromwell and the interregnum lasted until the death of Cromwell and the failure of his son Richard - leading to the Restoration of Charles I's son Charles II as monarch.

If I'm honest, the life of Charles I deserves much much more than this super brief overview. His life was really very interesting and he did so much in his reign - not all of it clever! Though that seems to be a bit of a pattern with Stuart monarchs (maybe that's why I'm so fascinated with them, really they just seemed to make life difficult for themselves). One of these days I'll do a series of posts on this most fascinating monarch, but I hope this overview has given you all something to mull over. And to finish off - Happy Birthday Charles I!

Further Reading

Frederick Holmes - The Sickly Stuarts
Dianne Purkiss - The English Civil war: A People's History
Katie Whitaker - A Royal Passion
C.V Wedgwood - A King Condemned
Tristram Hunt - The English Civil War At First Hand
David Starkey & Christopher Hibbert - Charles I: A Life of Religion, War and Treason

Winchester In The English Civil War

Having spent three years of my life in Winchester, I feel a certain affinity to the city and in particular the role that it played in the English Civil War. I first became interested in it's role during the English Civil War when I was wandering around the Cathedral for the first time and saw the statues of James I and Charles I that sit on either side of the massive main doors. The statue of Charles has a huge musket hole in it, from when Parliamentarian troops took the city. After that, it became my obsession and I spent many an hour in the University library researching what happened to this beautiful city during those turbulent years and I ended up specialising in one particular battle that had a huge effect on the City and the surrounding area: Cheriton. Of course, the city itself holds many secrets of what happened to it during the Civil War, many of which I discovered whilst doing work for University. Today, I thought I would travel away from Renaissance Italy for a bit and do a little something that goes back to my roots: Winchester in the English Civil War.

As War was declared against Parliament in 1642, the majority of Hampshire was staunchly Parliamentarian. Winchester, however, became a Royalist stronghold and began to prepare itself for a fight. Money was voted in for swords, bullets and arms. However, Winchester would soon find itself the victim of siege from the armies of Sir William Waller (commander of the Parliamentarian armies, and old friend of Ralph Hopton; a commander in the Royalist army). In the December of 1642, as the Royalist army who had fought a skirmish is Wherewall, began to withdraw to the City:

"fearing to be caught napping by active Sir William Waller and his force and the better to protect himself and his Cavaliers from the pursuit of the Parliaments force retreated to Winchester, a place not like to give him kind entertainment being full of Malignant spirits, who indeed were not a little glad at his coming, thinking themselves now secure from danger being under the wings of a bird of theire own feathers."

Yet as the troops fled to the city, they were pursued by Parliamentarian troops, and as they reached the city gates (and some of the citizens came out to help), were heavily outnumbered. As they fought, Grandison's regiment of horse rushing through the gates covered by musketeers, two entire regiments were destroyed. The city was now under siege, it's people trapped and its soldiers outnumbered. William Waller himself arrived not long after and found, as was to be expected, the gates shut to him. So he barricaded the city so the Royalists could not escape, and as he waited for his dragoons to arrive, began to plan his attack. At about 2pm on the afternoon of Waller's arrival, the Parliamentary forces attacked Winchester and by 3pm, they had started to break through the walls into the City and the Royalist soldiers holed themselves up inside the Castle. The very next day, having realised that the Castle was ill equipped to deal with a siege, the Royalists surrendered the castle.

As the Castle was being surrendered however, and terms settled, the Parliamentary troops began to riot through the city, pillaging and plundering as they went. And the Cathedral was quite possibly one of the biggest victims of the 1642 siege. The troops entered the great West Door and there, according to a description by Trussel, defiled bibles, hangings and sacred monuments. They fired their muskets at the two bronze statues of King Charles and King James, and pulled down beautiful mortuary chests containing the bones of Kings an Prelates; scattering the remains.

As well as this they also desecrated chantry chapels, the Lady Chapel and the medieval glass in the cathedral. They also fired their muskets at the huge West Window which depicted images of the saints. During the Restoration, new mortuary chests were made to replace the ones destroyed during this attack, and the bones gathered together and placed in them, including the remains of Kings Cnut and Rufus, Queen Emma and Bishops Wina and Alwyn. Some prominent tombs were destroyed during the attack including the tomb of Cardinal Beaufort (the effigy there now was created during the Restoration and has seventeenth century shoes depicted!) and William of Wainfleet. Whilst most of the damage was reparable, the cathedral lost some parts permanently including the medieval glass windows, ornaments and furniture.

By September 1643, the town was back in Royalist hands again after the Parliamentarians moved out of the city towards Southampton. On Monday 18th September, Colonel Sir Edward Ford marched into the city with his entire regiment. It was the day of the Mayors election, and the city would stay in Royalist hands until Oliver Cromwell would besiege the city in 1645.

For the next two years, the city stayed once more as a Royalist stronghold. The mayor of the city, William Ogle set about fortifying the castle in case the worst should happen again. He ordered the clearing of the surrounding ditches from trees, shrubs and wooden buildings that could be set fire to. And on Monday 6th November, Sir Ralph Hopton arrived in the city from Andover and he made the city his main quarters, from which he marched out to relieve the nearby Basing House from its own recent siege. It is also incredibly likely that at this point the City would have prospered - it was free from plundering parliamentarians after all. In the surrounding area, as 1643 drew to a close, much more was happening. For instance on December 12th 1643, Colonel John Boles found himself in a skirmish at Alton where he and many other defenders were killed inside the local church. The outer door of the Church of St Lawrence shows holes made during musket fire and if you look closely you can even see a few musket balls embedded in the stonework.

There is a memorial plaque to Colonel Boles on a column in Winchester Cathedral. Erected many years later, it gives Boles' name as Richard which was actually his brothers name.

As well as this, in early 1644 nearby Arundel was besieged and taken by Parliament.

The winter of 1644 was used by Hopton to get his troops back into shape after the fall of Romsey, Alton and Arundel. It was high time for him to recruit more men and get them trained in time for the next offensive in the Spring. Hopton also had to make sure than his base of operations was secure and so much of the 1644 winter was spent in building two sconces (defensive ditches or fortifications) - one upon St Giles Hill and the other upon West Hill. By 1st February 1644 Hopton had recruited and trained around 3500 foot and 2000 horse, and by mid February sent a reconnaissance force to Southampton. The sheer amount of new troops in Hoptons army meant that they had to be billeted somewhere, and many were sent to stay at the Hospital of St Mary Magdalen (which at one time had been used as a leper hospital). A few years back now, I took part in an archaeological dig at Magdalen Hill and spent most of my 4 weeks there digging in the chapel where we found evidence of seventeenth century horse gear. This matches up to a complaint sent to Hopton in 1644 by the Master of the Hospital:

"(they) have used violence to the house of God; burninge up all the seats and pues in the church, as also the communion table, and all other wainscott and timbers there, that they could lay hands on: and have converted the sayd house of God into a stable for horses and other prophane uses, to the great dishonour of God..."

By March 1644, there were plans afoot by Parliament to move back towards the west and on 25th March the army rendesvoused at West Meon. News of course reached the ears of Hopton, and during a council of War on 26th it was agreed that they should march immediately against Waller. The two armies met at Cheriton on 29th March 1644, more of which can be read about here. Following their defeat at Cheriton, instead of falling back to Winchester, the Royalists retreated back towards Basing House leaving Winchester isolated. Parliament seem to have got it into their heads that the City would be easily taken, declaring proudly in London that the City had been taken. They were wrong, and the Castle held out for another eighteen months.

On 28th September however, the city found itself besieged once more, this time by Oliver Cromwell - the Lieutenant General of the Parliamentarian Army. It took exactly a week for the City to surrender. During that week, Cromwell and the Mayor exchanged letters in which Cromwell said the only reason he was there was to save the city from ruin. Terms were not reached, and as the week progressed, Cromwell discovered that an elderly bishop was staying in the castle. Cromwell offered the man safe conduct out of the city, but was refused. So instead of giving the city another chance, he fired on the city gates and after a very short skirmish entered the city, forcing the Royalists to retreat back to the castle, which they found difficult to protect against Parliament. Impossible in fact. The castle itself was huge, made up of 8 towers which had to be manned as well as the various gates, yet the Royalists made a stirling effort in their defence. Cromwell however made sure he was well equipped to the task of taking the castle, having gun platforms built, defensive ditches dug and men lined up ready to attack. And during early October, as Cromwell was preparing his attack, the Cathedral was again being ransacked. On the 3rd October, the guns were ready and the next day the attack began. Cromwell started by firing one single shot to signal to Ogle that the attack was beginning, and sent a summons into the castle. It was ignored and the attack began. By nightfall, a breach in the walls had been made and Ogle sent men to defend it. The following day, more summons were sent to Ogle, yet he still refused to surrender although asked if his wife would be allowed safe conduct from the city as she was unwell. Although this was granted, she died on her way home to Stoke. By the Sunday evening, a breach had been made next to the black tower, wide enough for 30 men to walk through. Ogle and his troops had had quite enough, and their morale broke down completely. Ogle then sat down and wrote a letter to Cromwell, asking for a parley which was immediately accepted by Cromwell although negotiations were lengthy. Eventually, a settlement was reached and the castle was once more taken by Parliament and by 3pm the next day Ogle and his army marched out of the City, although many of the Royalists ended up joining Parliament instead.

Later in 1645, Ogle was court marshaled for surrendering Winchester castle. However, due to the size and strength of Cromwell's army he was allowed to walk free.

It was decided by Parliament that the castle should remain garrisoned in case of another Royalist rising, and Thomas Bettesworth was made its governor.

During the attack on the Castle, a large hole was made in the roof of the Great Hall. This Hall is one of the only remaining parts of the Castle left today, and has been used frequently throughout history including the trial of Sir Walter Raleigh in 1603, and the famous Judge Jeffries condemned supporters of Monmouth during the 1685. The hole had been caused by a grenado filled with musket shot which had killed three men. The famous Round Table which today hangs on the wall of the Hall is littered with musket shot, caused either by this grenado or possibly by stray musket shots.

Many other buildings in the city were damaged during the siege, including the church of St Clements and its surrounding buildings. This church had been used as a guard room by the Parliamentarians and ransacked by them. St Larences church in the middle of the city was also wrecked and made unsafe for usage thanks to its interiors being torn out. Hastily patched back together, it was used as a school until Charles II was restored in 1660. The Royalists also stole the bells from the towers of St Mary Kalender, a church that had already long been in ruin. This church now no longer exists within the city. My very favourite little church in the city, St Swithun's Upon Kingsgate was also badly damaged and during Cromwell's Protectorate was let out to a family who used one end of it to live in and the other to keep their pigs in!

By the end of the English Civil War, and following the execution of Charles I in 1649, Cromwell ordered that  Winchester castle be demolished. The castle was demolished in 1651, due to fears of a Royalist invasion from France under the exiled Prince Rupert. Parliament ordered that the Castle be demolished within fourteen days of receiving the instructions. The Great Hall was left standing, as was the central oval tower on the east side of the castle. This tower seems to have been left standing until Sir Christopher Wren began building a new palace for King Charles II in the 1680's. Sir William Waller seemed to be rather upset by the demolition:

"It was just with God for the punishment of my giving way to the plunder of the City of Winchester (whereof I was a freeman and sworne to maintain and procure the good thereof as far as I could) to permit the demolition of my castle in Winchester"

In 1682, the City sold the land to King Charles II for the grand sum of 5 shillings. And in 1683, the City agreed to the demolition of the Great Hall to make way for the Kings new palace but only if they could have a new hall built for them. However, when Charles II died in 1685, building of his new palace was abandoned and so the Hall was saved.

The history of Winchester during the English Civil War has long fascinated me. It was the central area that each side wanted to keep their hands on, and during the years of war certainly suffered. Not only were buildings destroyed but the Cathedral was ransacked and it's people had to put up with the pillaging soldiers not once but four times. The War also meant that the City lost one of it's biggest landmarks; it's Castle, with only a few ruins and the Great Hall left of it today. I must admit, that every time I go back to Winchester I wonder what it would have been like during the siege of 1645, what would the Royalists held in the castle have been thinking? And it never fails to get my imagination going.

Further Reading

The Civil War In Winchester - Richard Sawyer
Cheriton 1644: The Campaign & The Battle - John Adair
The Civil War in Hampshire - Tony MacLachlan
The Civil War In Hampshire - Rev G N Godwin (no link available)

Oliver Cromwell - I can't believe I am admitting this...

Oliver Cromwell by Robert Walker

Let's make on thing quite clear:

I am not a fan of Oliver Cromwell.

There, I admitted it. In my rather embarrassing days in the Sealed Knot I was a member of a Royalist regiment and as we faced the Parliamentarian army in front of the crowds we would shout insults such as "A POX ON PARLIAMENT!!". And it was those months spent in the Royalist 'army', sleeping in muddy fields and having my tent flooded on each and every occasion that I began to develop a serious interest in the Seventeenth Century.

And a serious dislike for Oliver Cromwell.

During my time reading up on the Seventeenth Century and researching the English Civil War for my Uni dissertation (the one that is going to published!) that I realised that had I lived back then, and been a man, I would have fought on the side of the King. Why? Charles I was a bit of a stubborn derp, but he believed fully in his divine right and fought to keep the traditions of England going. Oliver Cromwell on the other man was harsh and banned everything fun - including mince pies at Christmas!

That's not to say I don't respect him historically because of course I do. He tried his best to keep the country running during the Interregnum and was pretty successful. It's just the people got bored, and after Oliver died his son Richard just sort of shrugged his shoulders and left, leading Parliament to bring back the Monarchy.

Oliver Cromwell looking at the body of King Charles II

Anyway, I am currently reading "Oliver Cromwell: Our Chief of Men" by Antonia Fraser on my Kindle. It's a little weird for me, reading about the English Civil War from his point of view, and even weirder for me to be enjoying what I'm reading about him and dare I say it...

I actually feel sorry for him. And I am growing to like him.

...

Yes, you heard me correctly. The man is growing on me. It seems he was a bit of a tearaway as a child and loved getting into trouble and stealing apples from farms. Just that makes me like him more than I did before. And yes, I feel sorry for him - why? Because in the early 1630's he was suffering badly from depression and spent much of his time in bed feeling pretty useless, but he did get treatment from the best doctor in the country for it.

Now, Cromwell will never overtake Charles I and Charles II in my affections but let's just say that branching out and reading more about Cromwell has really helped me develop a new kind of respect for the man. And dare I even say it, I have developed a liking for the man. And I am very much looking forward to reading more about him

Winchester Cathedral

So yesterday after work I took myself off to Winchester to meet up with an old friend from University, and to have a wander around the Cathedral. It was absolutely fantastic to meet up with my friend and we had a few pints in one of the oldest pubs in Winchester, The Eclipse. This pub was the site of Lady Alice Lisle's imprisonment after her apparent involvement in hiding John Hicks, a dissenting minister and man who sides with Monmouth after the Monmouth rebellion. She was also executed outside the pub after being found guilty. The poor woman was in her 70's. It is said that her ghost haunts the upstairs corridor of the pub, leading to the women's toilets and I have to say it is a very very creepy corridor!

After a few pints we went and had a quick cuppa in the Cathedral cafe before I took myself off into the cathedral. It has been a good few years since I've been in there but it holds a very special place in my heart. I won't spend ages writing about the cathedral because I could probably write a book on it. My main interest is the Cathedral's links to the English Civil War - when the Parliamentarian troops took Winchester they burst into the Cathedral, smashed windows with the bones of the great people buried there, stole great treasures and desecrated the church. You can still see damage from this, particularly in the two statues that flank the great doors.

King James I

King Charles I

Musket hole in the cape of James I, some nasty parliamentarian obviously took umbrage to the statue and thought it would be fun to shoot it.

As well as this, as you head up towards the altar, hidden away on one of the columns is a tiny brass plaque:

The picture isn't very clear because I couldn't get my camera to work properly. This brass is a memorial to Colonel John Boles who was killed in action at the Battle of Alton in 1643 - the plaque incorrectly dates his death to 1641 and also calls him Richard who was actually his brother! The brass reads:

For this renowned Martialist Richard Boles of the Right Worshipful Family of the Boles in Linckhorne Shire, Collonell of a Ridgment of Foot of 1300, who for his gracious King Charles the First did wounders at the battle of Edge-hill. His last action to omit all others, was at Alton, in this county of Suthampton was surprised by five or six thousand of the Rebels; which caused him, there quartered, to fly to the church with near four-score of his Men, who there fought them six or seven hours; And then the Rebells breaking in upon him, He slew with his Sword six or seven of them. And this was slain himself, with sixty of his men about him. 1641.

His gracious sovereign hearing of his Death gave him his high Commendation, in that passionate Expression,

"Bring me a Mourning Scarf, I have lost one of the best Commanders in the Kingdome"

Alton will tell you of that famous Fight

Which this man made, and bade this world good night

His vitrtuous Life fear'd not Mortalyte;

His body must, his ventues cannot die

Because his Blood was there so nobly spent:

This is his Tombe, that Church his Monument.

Richardus Boles Wiltoniensis in Art. Mag

Composuit posuitq: Doleus

An Sni 1689

The plaque always brings a tear to my eye, despite it showing the wrong name and date. But it's OK, because it was erected in 1689 so I can guess I can forgive them. They were probably too busy partying to care too much about it.

As I was wandering around the Cathedral as well, I came across a statue of a rather dashing Restoration gentleman in a periwig:

I couldn't read the writing underneath that said who he was, so I stopped a bloke in monks robes - he probably wasn't a monk, but they looked like monks robes - and asked him. He tried to read it and said he couldn't make out the name but that he had been a soldier. Now this morning, as I was looking through my various books on the English Civil War in Winchester I discovered that this rather dashing man was Sir John Clobury who died in 1687. He was a soldier who payed close attention to literature and claimed to help General Monke restore the Monarchy is 1660! I knew there was a reason I liked the statue!!

Of course there is a lot more in the Cathedral than Seventeenth Century awesomeness and I took so many photographs it in unreal. Here are just a few of them.

I am always stunned when I see these medieval wall paintings - they are apparently one of the finest examples in England. They date from the 12th Century but were covered yup in the 13th Century but a new layer of plaster. They were discovered by a fall of plaster in the 19th Century but it's only since the 20th Century that they were able to be fully restored.

Bishop Fox's tomb and Chantry Chapel

Cardinal Beaufort's Tomb

Beautiful medieval floor tiles. We found very similar ones at the Mary Magdalene Leper Hospital on the outskirts of Winchester when I took part in a dig there.

The shrine of St Swithun. This memorial stands on the site of the original shrine that was destroyed by Henry VIII and his commissioners in 1538. St Swithun was an Anglo Saxon bishop of Winchester and subsequently became the city's Patron Saint. AND THERE IS STILL A ST SWITHUN'S DAY!!! It is said that on his day (15th July) whatever the weather is, it will stay like that for 40 days!

A random statue of Joan of Arc

The heart burial of Bishop Aymer de Valance

Tomb of Bishop Gardiner, that slimy bloke from The Tudors - not the actor but the actual Bishop who was a bit of a nasty piece of work. The cadaver shown here is really unsettling, it has worms and stuff carved into it...

I thought I'd take a picture of the info board...

This building kept making me stop and have 17th Century feels

STOP GIVING ME ALL THESE FEELS

Isn't it just breathtaking?

Tomb of the famous William Wykeham, Bishop of Winchester until his death in 1404. He made many of the alterations that we see in the building today.

Very out of focus photo of a rather beautiful ceiling

And that was that, after spending a good few hours wandering around and having too many feels at all the Seventeenth Century stuff as well as getting too many feels about the earlier stuff (especially Henry VIII destroying the Shrine, that nasty man!), I was ushered out as they began to close. 

I haven't gone into the history of the building itself because that is a different post for a different day. But the building has lasted for many many hundreds of years and seen so much. Every time I visit I see something new, and it always takes my breath away. Winchester Cathedral has to be one of my favourite places in the entire world.

Further Reading

Sawyer R, 2002, Civil War in Winchester, Rowanvale Books: Salisbury

Till, M, 2005, Winchester Cathedral Guide Book, Scala: London

A Quick Catch Up - Various Historical Ramblings

It's been a while since I've sat down and written a proper blog about anything. I blame work. No really I do. Also I blame the fact that I've been busy working away at editing my book, which I am slightly behind on because of said work. But never mind. I shall pick the manuscript back up tomorrow evening and try not to drown it in my English Civil War/Stuart family tears.

If I'm perfectly honest I don't even know why I'm sitting here typing this because it will most likely have nothing to do with anything remotely historical whatsoever. I suppose I just felt like checking in with you all and saying hello. Oh, and telling you what historical shenanigans I've been up to this past week - wait, didn't I just say this would have nothing historical? Oh well.

So, on Thursday 14th I wrote that whole post on the death of Juan Borgia, and after I saw the lovely David Oakes tweet about it being the 515th Anniversary of Juan's death I may have, sort of, tweeted him about the piece I wrote. And a couple of days later, as I switched on tweetdeck a little thing popped up in my mentions list. I may have sat there in shock for a good few minutes before squealing at my partner: OH MY GOD DAVID OAKES RETWEETED MY JUAN POST. HE MUST HAVE READ IT AND LIKED IT!!!! Yeah, I may have gotten a little bit overexcited, I'm not sorry one bit.

It's probably not very clear in the screen shot but it says "retweeted by David_Oakes". Now for those of you who don't know, or who haven't seen Showtime's "The Borgia's", David Oakes plays Juan Borgia, second son of Rodrigo Borgia - or as he is more often known "Alexander VI". Now then I won't spoil season 2 for those who haven't seen it, but let's just say that David did an utterly astounding job portraying the history of Juan, despite the inaccuracies of the time lines etc. I found myself in floods of tears seeing Juan's downward spiral, yet at the same time I loved his sass. Honestly, if you haven't seen The Borgias, please do check it out because it is fantastic, albeit not hugely accurate. But hey, it is entertainment after all, and very well done entertainment!!

I may have gone a little bit mad on books this past week. A few weeks ago I went on a bit of a spree buying a ton of books on Minette Stuart, just because I love her and all, and I may have ended up buying a few more than I should have...

The two lying cover up are two that I brought myself on Tuesday from a bookshop when I was on the way back from the hospital. I felt like cheering myself up after a diagnosis of Coeliac disease (I'm not going to go into it too it here as y'know this is a history blog and all but let's just say that things weren't entirely clear from the doctor and they said it was "mild" and I had to cut down on my gluten intake and it runs hand in hand with my type 1 diabetes. Excellent. They didn't tell me that changing my diet to mainly gluten free would really play around with my blood sugars, but still, different story for a different day) and I ended up spending £35 on two books. BUT IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT! The books spine up are mainly all on Minette, except the two on the left which are dedicated to my favourite couple in history; Charles I and Henrietta Maria, and the biggest bad ass woman on the planet Caterina Sforza!

And then yesterday, this little beauty arrived! I'm not going to lie, but I have a bit of a thing for the Earl of Rochester aka John Wilmot aka the man who wrote the most obscene play of the Seventeenth Century. Have any of you seen The Libertine with Johnny Depp? If not, why not? I ADORE IT SO MUCH! I also adore Rochester. The other day I sat down and read his entire obscene play in a matter of hours, and I loved every minute of it. And no, not because if was Seventeenth Century pornography...but because I thought it was freaking hilarious and also provided an excellent commentary to Rochester's feelings on the court of Charles II. Does that sound a bit presumptuous? Maybe. I'm not sorry.

Tomorrow I'm planning on visiting Winchester when I finish work. I went to University in that gorgeous city and haven't been since my graduation. It's going to be amazing to get back there. The town has such a magical quality for me, mainly for its history. The city has been there for centuries, and even has an Iron Age hill fort on its outskirts. I have many fond memories of St Catherine's Hill, particularly sitting up there one very cold November evening watching various firework displays. My main interest in the city lies in its ties to the English Civil War - the city itself changed hands many sides during the War (which is worth a blog post on its own), and the Cathedral shows a lot of English Civil War damage in the interior, caused by Parliamentarian Soldiers. Not only that but the famous Round Table, hung in the Great Hall of Winchester Cathedral, also suffered Parliamentarian vandalism after they burst into the Hall and shot at the table with their muskets! My main plan tomorrow is to have a slow wander around the Cathedral and soak in its atmosphere - I adore the place and find it very peaceful, plus the history held in the building helps. I also have a plan to light a candle for a close friend of mine who recently passed away. There are two statues by the entrance of James I and Charles I both of which have musket damage which I am particularly interested in revisiting. And for those Tudor fans, Stephen Gardiner Bishop of Winchester is also buried within the walls. I will return with lots of pictures. I should also hopefully be meeting up with an old friend from Uni for pints which is always fun!

And if I'm honest there hasn't been much historical fun going on for this past week. I still blame work. I've mainly been reading a book that is so far from history based you wouldn't even believe it. For anyone who cares, I've been reading "Let's Pretend This Never Happened" by Jenny Lawson, aka The Bloggess and it has to be one of the best non history books I've ever read. It's not often an autobiography has me laughing so hard that tears run down my face, but this book was fantastic. Not only that but between the hilarity there were also some very serious moments that provided a very stark insight into mental illness. It is a fantastic book, very funny and very very frank. I would recommend it to anyone, whether they are into this type of book or not. I've also been working my way through "Restoration London" by Liza Picard which reads like a more serious version of Ian Mortimer's "A Visitor's Guide to Medieval England" and I am thoroughly enjoying it. I am learning so much more about what the normal citizens of London in the 1660's would have lived like and it is rather nice coming at the era from the "bottom up" as it were...

And my old A-Level teacher would be so proud of me for using the term "bottom up" in a sentence about history.

Charles I & Henrietta Maria: A Love Story

Charles I and Henrietta by Mytens

The love story between Charles I and Henrietta Maria is the stuff of legend. As we wander around the great Royal Palaces in London, the couple gaze down at us from portraits, and you can just tell that these two were very much in love. Despite their differences in the early part of their marriages, despite their differences in religion they ended up falling very much in love with each other. That's not to say their marriage was easy, far from it, but their story is so sad and never fails to bring a tear to my eye.

The pair first met in Paris in 1623 when Charles was travelling to Spain with the Duke of Buckingham to discuss a possible marriage to the Spanish Infanta. Whilst travelling Charles saw the young Henrietta Maria at a French Court entertainment. The visit ended badly however, despite it being a rather romantic gesture for Charles. The Duke of Buckingham argued with the Spanish King's chief minister Charles attempted to see the Infanta alone and was warned off by the Queen to said his suite was useless and the Infanta herself Dona Maria was disgusted at the prospect of marrying a heretic (the Spaniards were devout Catholics). And so upon his return to England, Charles began to look elsewhere for a bridge, and feelers began to be put out in France. Buckingham sent an emissary to Paris who received an interview with the Queen Mother, Marie De Medici. The emissary was sent back with a purse full of gold and an optimistic report. And in January 1624 King Louis of France sent King James I a present of falcons, huntsmen and horses. Things were looking up. In February 1624 the first official approach to the marriage was sent to France with a man by the name of Henry Rich, Viscount Kensington. He described Henrietta in a letter to Buckingham as a "lovely, sweet young creature".

On the 11th May 1625 Henrietta Maria De Bourbon was married by proxy to the recently ascended Charles I of England on a special stage built at the doorway of Notre Dame. This was a catholic ceremony, as Henrietta was a devout catholic. However part of the marriage treaty said that even though Charles would allow Catholics in his country, he would remain protestant and so when Henrietta arrived in England, they would be married in a protestant ceremony. The Duke of Buckingham stood in as Charles' proxy bridegroom. Sadly the relations between Henrietta and Buckingham were not the greatest, and after the wedding they managed to fall out over Cardinal Barbarini when Henrietta decided to go and meet the Cardinal when Buckingham had come to call on her. She said it was a courtesy due to him being the Pope's representative. Buckingham was also getting rather irate with the length of time it was taking Henrietta to get ready to depart France for England. She ended up leaving Paris in June of 1625, arriving in Dover on Sunday 12th June. Hasty messengers were sent to King Charles to tell him that his bride had arrived in England. He arrived at 10am on the Monday morning while Henrietta was still at breakfast. She fell to her knees, speaking to him in French, and he raised her and covered her in kissing. They then retired for an hour into a private room - what did Henrietta think of this twenty four year old man, his stiff and awkward manner and a stammer that gave him difficulty in speaking. After they reappeared and Henrietta introduced her servants for him they had some dinner and set out for Canterbury. It was here that the couple had their first quarrel. This was caused by Madame St Georges who followed Henrietta into the carriage and sat down with her. Charles may have been unaware that this lady was Henrietta's maid of honour and was expected to stay close but in any case he had planned to give Buckingham's mother and sister the honour of sitting with them and so ordered her out. Henrietta protested, loudly but Charles was unmoved by her tears and wouldn't give way until the French ambassadors stepped in and made the point that she was alone and thus clung to St Georges. Henrietta resented the fact that Charles gave way to her ambassadors instead of her and Charles never forgave St Georges.

At Canterbury, the couple were married in person at St Augustine's Church on 13th June, following which they spent their wedding night at Lord Wotton's house. The next morning Charles apparently appeared very jovial whilst Henrietta was said to be very sad. Henrietta's religion also forbade her from being crowned in an Anglican service and when she suggested being crowned by a Catholic this did not go down well with Charles and his court. Instead she had to watch from a distance as her husband was crowed, and the fact that she was never crowned Queen of England went down rather badly with the citizens of London.

Henrietta Maria by Van Dyke

Following their marriage, Charles liked to call Henrietta just simply Maria, whilst the people called her Queen Mary, a stark comparison to Charles' catholic grandmother Mary Queen of Scots. Henrietta was a devout Catholic, and rather unapologetic about it. In fact the entire retinue she brought from France were catholic and it caused some consternation with her husband. So much so that in June 1626 Charles had them removed from her service. This did not help the arguments between the couple, and their early years of marriage were fraught with arguments and disagreements.

But following the assassination of Buckingham in 1628, relations between husband and wife began to improve. Buckingham had been Charles' best friend and a royal favourite, and now that his beloved "Steenie" was gone, he transferred his love for the man onto his wife. The two ended up falling head over heels in love with each other, had a grand total of 9 children together (some of whom sadly died) and stuck together through the turbulent years of Civil War. Even when apart, they would write letters to each other professing their love.

When Civil War broke out in 1642, Henrietta was at the Hague raising money for the Royalist cause, even gong so far as to sell her Crown Jewell's, but this proved difficult as many of the larger pieces were considered too expensive to sell. And many were put off in case Parliament said that she had sold them illegally. Whilst she was successful in selling the smaller pieces, press back in England made out she was doing so to buy guns for a religious conflict which only increased her unpopularity. In February 1643 she managed to make it back to England, her fleet avoiding parliamentarian navy and landing in Yorkshire. She and her party took refuge in the town but Parliament began bombarding it and they took refuge in some nearby fields - Henrietta then defiantly returned to the little house for her dog who had been left behind. She spent the next year with her husband, after meeting up with him at Kineton before leaving her at Abingdon in 1644. It was the last time they would ever see each other.

Charles I and Henrietta Maria by Van Dyke

In 1646 Henrietta settled in Paris whilst her husband continued fighting, after taking shelter with the Scottish and in July her son, Prince Charles joined her. Whilst in France she sent letters to her husband asking him to set up a Presbyterian government in England to get the Scots help, and was incredibly anxious about him, and she was horrified when Charles refused the peace offered to him by Parliament. The second civil war in 1648 did not last long however and ended up with Charles being captured by Parliament.

On January 30th 1649, Charles I was executed on a scaffold outside the Banqueting House, London, accused of high treason. News of his death sent Henrietta into deep mourning, and she wore black for the rest of her life. She was no longer Queen of England, but Queen Mother to the young King Charles II. During the continued exile of her son, she began to concentrate more on her faith and her children, particularly little Minette - she took her faith so seriously that she tried to convert both Princes, York and Gloucester to convert. These attempts obviously angered Charles II who was determined to remain protestant and this brothers and heirs should also.

Henrietta, Duchesse De Orleons aka Minette

When Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Henrietta Maria returned in the October, partly due to the fact that her other son James Duke of York had gotten Anne Hyde pregnant and James was proposing marriage. Henrietta was incensed at this news, she despised Clarendon and did not want Anne as a daughter in law - her son should, after all, be marrying into royalty! However Charles II ended up agreeing to the match and there was nothing she could do, or say, to stop it. Charles gave into her possession Somerset House where she lived, and a generous pension although she still was not very popular among the people and described as a "plain old woman". After going to France to see her daughter Minette married to The Duke of Orleons' in 1661 she intended to spend the rest of her life in England, this was not to be however and by 1665 she was very very unwell and blamed her illness on the English Weather. And so she returned to France where in 1669, after seeing the birth of her granddaughter she died at the Chateau De' Colombes in Paris after taking laudanum to help her sleep. Her doctors had previously said that her illness, although painful, would not prove fatal. That night she realised that, despite having felt better during the day, sleep wasn't going to come naturally and so she asked for the laudanum. She fell into a drugged sleep which she did not wake from, and died on 10th September 1669 between three and four o clock in the morning.

She was buried in the Cathedral at St Denis, given all of the pomp that a daughter of France deserved.

The story of Henrietta and Charles never fails to bring a tear to my eye. Despite their early differences they really did love each other, and after she was widowed she stayed perpetually in mourning. She supported her husband through the English Civil War, helped him, stayed true to him and remained loyal to the Royalist cause. She wasn't popular, especially with Parliament, but to her it didn't matter. She stuck by her husband through thick and thin, loved her children and fought to help bring about her son's restoration. She was a woman to be reckoned with, with so many layers and facets of her personality. Henrietta Maria has to be one of my favourite Stuart Queen's, because quite frankly, she was a bit of a bad ass.

Further Reading


Plowden, A, 2001, Henrietta Maria: Charles I's Indomitable Queen, Sutton Publishing: Gloucester

The Amazing Life of Prince Rupert of the Rhine (In Bullet Points)

When I sat down to write this blog post, it was originally going to a book review of of Charles Spencer's "Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier". However as any followers of mine on twitter will attest to, when I finished the book yesterday I went on a rampage about how much I love the Rhineland Prince, and listed in a barrage of tweets WHY I love him so much. And I also warned people that this blog post may happen. I'm not sorry.

Anyway, I first of all wanted to thank Charles Spencer for providing me with lots of extra information about this fascinating man in the history of the Seventeenth Century. Oh don't get me wrong, I knew of Prince Rupert loooong before I picked up a book about him and that is all down to my days in the Sealed Knot, and plenty of beer tent drinking with Prince Rupert's Blewcoats! And in my reading around The English Civil War, the name of this exceptional military man just kept on popping up. Whether it be with fantastic military victories, Cavalry charges worthy of a song or the hateful propaganda poured out by Parliament; there was something incredibly special about Prince Rupert of the Rhine. And well...I guess you will all know already that I have one hell of a thing for Rupert because of the massive picture of him in the header image up there!

Reading Spencer's biography of Rupert was an eye opener for me, and has really peaked my interest. And so this post is going to talk about WHY I have such a thing for this dashing, Cavalier poster boy. And I'm going to do bullet points just because if I didn't then this post would end up being a million times longer. And each point, I hope, will show exactly how awesome (...oh god did I really just use the word awesome in a history blog post? I regret absolutely nothing) Prince Rupert was.

• He was the nephew of Charles I - what's not to like?
• Him and his family ended up in exile after his parents took over Bohemia where they ruled for just one season, which is why his parents Frederick V and Elizabeth of Bohemia are so often called the "Winter King & Queen". After the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II began advancing on Prague in 1619 just a few months after Rupert's birth, the family were forced to flee. And poor baby Rupert was almost left behind! A court servant ending up throwing him into one of the carriages at the last minute!
• They escaped to The Hague, where Rupert grew up, earning himself the nickname "Rupert the Devil" due to being incredibly mischievous.
• By the age of 14, Rupert had become a soldier, fighting in the Siege of Rheinberg in 1633, and by 1635 had become a member of the Prince of Orange's lifeguards. And during these years he earned himself a reputation for fearlessness in battle!
• In 1638 Rupert was captured during the Invasion of Westphalia, and imprisoned in Linz where his captors tried to convert him to Catholicism - Rupert refused, he was Calvinist and proud, and kept on refusing even when he was told he could go free if he converted.
• His captors ended up liking him though, and gave him a white poodle which he named "Boye"
• He was released in 1641 after promising never to take up arms against the Emperor again and went to England.
• He was appointed General of the Horse in 1642 by his uncle King Charles and ended up recruiting over 3000 men by the September. He won an astounding success at Powick Bridge after leading a surprise Cavalry charge.
• He played a key role at Edgehill, but he ended up arguing with another commander, making a swift cavalry charge but a lack of discipline in the ranks meant that he was unable to bring the troops back to the field. Edgehill could have been won by the Royalist, but it ended up with no clear victor.
• In 1643, he took Bristol, which became one of his best victories.
• It was at this point that Parliament really feared him. And he became a big issue in potential peace negotiations. And the propaganda against him kept on coming, some said he could even dodge bullets!
• During his later years in the wars though, he managed to make enemies. He may have been a great military man but he was never able to grasp the ways of the courtier, and had a very quick temper. He managed to have a huge falling out with George Digby, a favourite of King Charles, and this would end up haunting him for many years.
• At the battle of Marston Moor, 1644, Rupert commanded much of the Royalist army which ended up being a huge defeat. Rupert, and lack of clear communication, were blamed.
• After the Battle of Naseby, Rupert was one of the few Royalists to realise that actually, the war would be Parliament's and he tried his best to make his uncle see that. He urged his uncle to vie for peace but Digby got in the way of this! In 1645, Rupert was back at Bristol and overwhelmed by Parliament - he surrendered it in the September. Charles (influenced by Digby?) dismissed Rupert from his service.
• But Rupert being Rupert managed to convince his Uncle to hold a court martial to see is he had in fact been negligent in letting go of Bristol. After meeting with the King, it was decided that actually, Rupert had been the one in the right. Yet, Charles and Rupert ended up arguing about the fate of the Governor of Newark. And so Rupert resigned. 
• He ended up in France where he ended up fighting for Louis XIV, although he was quite clear in the fact that if his uncle wanted him, he would go back to England. Now that's loyalty!
• The main problem that Rupert had while he was in France was that the French court was dominated by his Aunt, Queen Henrietta Maria (who had a bit of a dislike for her Nephew) and her favourite Digby. I can imagine Rupert seething as he first came into contact with Digby upon entering the French court. So Rupert moved on and accepted a commission from Anne of Austria to fight for Louis. From 1647 Rupert fought with De Gassion, taking the fortress of La Bassee after a three week siege. Sadly not long after, Rupert and De Gassion were taken unawares by the Spanish - Rupert was shot in the head and very badly injured. It was an injury that would affect him for the rest of his life. Whilst Rupert was recovering, De Gassion was killed in combat.
• After this Rupert returned to the service of his Uncle, where he joined the Navy. At the time, Charles was a prisoner on the Isle of Wight and Rupert argued that the fleet should be used to rescue Charles. In the fleet, discipline was lacking and many ships ended up turning tail and joining the other side!
• After a reconciliation with his uncle, Rupert took command of the naval fleet himself. His command took him many many places. It was in Ireland that he learned of the execution of his Uncle. But he sailed on, determined to keep on fighting for the Royalist cause and the new King Charles II. These years took him as far as the Caribbean as a privateer (pirate), though he was often pursued by Parliamentary ships under the command of Robert Blake. 
• During the trip, Rupert almost lost his life in a storm in which his ship The Constant Reformation was shipwrecked. He was determined to go down with his men, except they ended up pushing him into a lifeboat and sending him across to his brother Prince Maurice. 333 lives were lost on that ship as well as a lot of treasure. Not long afterwards, in another storm as they sailed for the Virgin Islands, a hurricane scattered the remaining ships. The Defiance which was captained by Prince Maurice went missing and was never found. Rupert refused for a long time to believe that his brother was dead, although it was certain. And Maurice's death left a hole in Rupert's heart that would never be filled.
• in 1653 Rupert returned to France and the court of the exiled Charles II. But his presence caused problems, as he apparently became involved in a plot to assassinate Oliver Cromwell in 1654 and many in the court including Clarendon saw Rupert as an obstacle to peace.
• in 1655 Rupert left for Germany, where he visited his brother Charles-Louis. Relations broke down though and they parted on bad terms in 1657 and he took up employment with Ferdinand III.
• However after Charles II's restoration, Rupert moved permanently to England (with lots of wine!) and was granted a large pension by his cousin and ended up being made Constable of Windsor Castle in 1668. He continued his work with the Navy, fighting in the Dutch Wars.
• His old head wound began to flare up again and Rupert ended up undergoing trephanning TWICE to sort the problem out. This surgery had changed little since it had first been used by people in prehistory, and the survival rate was low. But survive, he did. And after retiring from active naval service in the 1670's he began to work very closely with the Royal Society, having long had an interest in science. Much of his scientific work ended up being military, and he is credited with early versions of the machine gun, revolver and torpedo. He also became involved in the colonisation of North America, dealing in trade and also the slave trade, he was also made First Governor of "Rupert's Land", an absolutely huge expanse of North America, though he never set foot there.
• Towards the end of his life, Rupert became romantically involved with the actress Peg Hughes - he never married her but ended up falling so head over heels in love with her that he almost became the laughing stock of court. Despite never marrying Peg, Rupert openly acknowledged their daughter Ruperta (born 1673), and enjoyed the family lifestyle.
• In November 1682, Rupert died of pleurisy at his house in Westminster.  He was buried in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey and given a magnificent state funeral.

Most people will think of the English Civil War when they hear Rupert's name and for a long time I was the same. But his life was absolutely remarkable and he ended up staying in the military well past his 50th year. Not only had he been part of the army and Navy, but he had been a pirate as well as taking part in science via the Royal Society and being hugely involved in the colonisation of America. And THAT is why I have such a thing for him.

Further Reading
Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier - Charles Spencer

Prince Rupert's Reputation, And His Dog Boye

A couple of days ago I started reading "Prince Rupert: The Last Cavalier" by Charles Spencer (the very same Charles Spencer, brother of the amazing Princess Diana) and well...I think you may have all gathered from my post on Stuart crushes, and the fact that the blog header has a rather dashing portrait of the young man splashed across it...and the fact my new twitter user pic is the very same portrait as above, that I have a bit of a thing for the Prince from Prague. And I regret absolutely nothing. Anyway, as I was reading the book this evening during a particularly quiet period at work I came across a quote that really got me thinking (and also made me laugh out loud):

"There was a determination that the most eye-catching of the Royalist leaders should be characterised as wild, dangerous, and even devilish. He was portrayed as a deviant who enjoyed sex with his white poodle, Boy..."

At first glance the quote above seems rather shocking. How could this young man, a favourite of his Uncle Charles I's and a celebrated military man, enjoy such depravities? But then you read a little deeper and realise that this is all propaganda circulated by the Parliamentarian forces. Did Rupert do this with his little dog named Boye? The answer is, in my humble opinion, 100% not true - Rupert was a highly religious human being, and from what I've read so far exceptionally honourable. The likelihood of him getting friendly with his pet dog was therefore...well...not likely in the slightest.

So why did Parliament concoct such propaganda?

The answer is relatively simple. They were afraid of Rupert. Despite his youthful years, he was an accomplished military man, had fought from the age of 14 in warfare and during the early stages of the English Civil War had been placed in command of the Cavalry by Charles I. Despite the fact he had been a prisoner of war for many, many years, he was seen by the opposition to be a formidable foe, and a man who had taken part in some of the bloodiest atrocities during the early days of the Civil War, including his demands of £2000 from the City of Leicester to stop him and his troops from invading them. Charles I in the end sent apologies to the City, saying he had nothing to do with his behaviour.

Rupert's reputation never really recovered, especially with when it came to his little dog, Boye. Thanks to Parliamentarian propaganda Rupert faced numerous accusations of witchcraft and Boye was accused of being his familiar. Many accused Boye of being the devil in disguise, being able to find hidden treasure, being invulnerable to attack and having the ability to catch bullets fired at his master in his mouth.

Boye was sadly killed at the battle of Marston Moor. Despite having been tied up at the Royalist camp, he escaped and followed Rupert into battle, being killed in the fighting. What did Rupert think of the death of his faithful dog, an animal that had been given to him during his time as a prisoner of war? I have found very little to tell me of what he felt after this but I can imagine him being distraught. Not only that but those who produced the propaganda against Rupert and his apparently magical dog must have rejoiced. 

I have plans to write a series of posts on Prince Rupert, similar to what I have previously done on Nell Gwynne and Barbara Villiers, as there seems to be so much to learn about this interesting man. His dog however, grasped my imagination this afternoon!

Stuart Crushes...? Oh Go On Then.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I have a huge obsession with the Stuart era. I can't help it, I just love it. I mean, it was an era full of rather dashing men, battlefield heroics and amazing beards. Not only that (and we're getting serious now) but it was a dark period of Civil War, followed by a totally unfun England (cheers for that Cromwell) and ended up as a much more fun England under Charles II - bawdy poetry, theatre, dancing...general fun! My problem is that I love the era so much, the WHOLE era from James I all the way up to the reign of Queen Anne, and I have ended up developing way too many crushes on some rather dashing young men from the period. So I thought I would present you all with some pictures of these rather dashing young men and a little bit about who they are, and why I love them so much.

Prince Rupert of the Rhine

Born in December of 1619, this rather handsome young man played a huge part in the English Civil War, fighting and commanding parts of the Royalist army. He was also nephew of the lovely Charles I (see below). Prince Rupert became the poster boy for the perfect Cavalier with his dashing good looks, arrogance and enthusiasm. As commander of the Royalist Cavalry, Rupert took part in many of the English Civil Wars biggest battles including Edgehill, Marston Moor and the Siege of Bristol. Despite being rather dashing and a competent military commander he realised that the Royalist cause was lost and in 1645 advised Charles to treat with Parliament. Charles, of course refused and Rupert surrendered Bristol to Parliament ending up in him being court marshaled. His name was cleared, but in 1646 Rupert was exiled from England by his uncle. He did however have a part to play in his cousin Charles II's exile, and became a part of the exiled court, and when Charles was restored to the throne Rupert was granted a pension and made a part of the Privy Council, and took an active role in the Naval pursuits of the time. Prince Rupert is just so fabulous he deserves a post all of his own, full of pictures of his handsome face. So this will be done. For sure. Because well...LOOK AT HIM!

John Wilmot - Earl of Rochester

Anyone who knows about Charles II and the Restoration should have heard the name of John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester. And if not, why not? This guy is famous for having his portrait painted with a monkey, wrote some of the best bawdy poetry and plays of his time as well as some of the most gorgeous love poems I have ever read, wrote a ton of hilarious seventeenth century pornography and loved booze and women a little bit too much. Also, if you haven't seen The Libertine with Johnny Depp starring as the lovely Rochester then you are missing out because it is rather amazing and Mr Depp makes a brilliant Rochester! My favourite little ditty of ole' Johnny's is the following:

Here lies a great and mighty King,
Whose promise none relied on;
He never said a foolish thing,
Nor ever did a wise one.

Poor Rochester kept falling out of favour with his friend Charles II, mainly because a lot of his work made fun of the King and made out he was obsessed with sex. So he was exiled, and then came back only to be exiled again after a midnight brawl ended up in the killing of one of his companions in 1676.  But poor Rochester was to die young, and it is said he died of a plethora of venereal diseases including Syphilis and alcoholism.

Charles II

I think you all know why I love this man. I MEAN LOOK AT HIM AND HIS FABULOUSNESS AND HIS SHOES AND JUST EVERYTHING ABOUT HIM. Ahem. Please see my previous posts on Charles and his mistresses Nell Gwynne and Barbara Villiers if you want serious information about this guy. For now I will leave you with more pictures.

James Duke of Monmouth

James Duke of Monmouth has long fascinated me, since driving through Norton St Phillip on the way home from a day of digging up a Roman Villa and being told all about the George Inn where the ill fated Monmouth stayed during the Monmouth Rebellion. Monmouth was the illegitimate son of Charles II and his first mistress Lucy Walter. Monmouth was doted on by his father but there were loads of rumours that he had married Lucy and so the boy was actually the heir to the throne. It didn't help that Monmouth had proven to be a military hero and the people loved him, and those who didn't want James Duke of York on the throne got ideas into their heads that Monmouth should be the next King because he was Protestant. In the end, and this is putting it simply because again this could be a post all of its own, Charles got a little bit fed up of Monmouth and his big head so exiled him. After Charles II died, Monmouth came back to England and started the Monmouth rebellion to kick his Uncle James off the throne. And it failed, badly. Monmouth ended up being executed for high treason - he was beheaded on Tower Hill by the famous executioner Jack Ketch. Before he died, Monmouth felt the axe and asked Ketch to dispatch him quickly, fearing the axe wasn't sharp enough, even going so far as to give Ketch a bag of coins to encourage him. It still took 5 blows to kill him, and Ketch ended up removing Monmouth's head with a butchers knife. Monmouth's story is fascinating and incredibly sad - all he wanted to do was please his father, but at the same time wanted desperately to believe that he was legitimate and his parents had been married. I'm currently reading a biography of him by J.N.P Watson which is proving to be a great read and I can tell that by the end of it, I will be sobbing into my cup of tea.

Charles I

Charles I was my first Stuart love. I mean, look at that beard and you will understand why! Poor Charlie, he made some bad choices when it came to running the country and arguing with Parliament but I really do believe he was in the right. Him and his Royalists fought for tradition, and he firmly believed in the Divine Right of Kings, that he was ordained by God and so he was the big dog and so, above Parliament. Parliament didn't like that idea and so we all know how the story goes...the English Civil War. And sadly we all know how it ends, with Charles I being tried in a kangaroo court and found guilty of treason (treason? How can a king be found guilty of treason when treason is a crime against the King?). He was beheaded upon a scaffold outside of Whitehall Palace, and the only part of that Palace that survives today - The Banqueting House. For more detail on Charles please see my previous post about him and his life.

Thomas Fairfax

This guy sadly fought on the wrong side during the English Civil War, and was a General of the Parliament Army. Despite this, I quite like Fairfax not only because he was a rather handsome devil, but he managed to see through the Civil War, fought for what he believed it and also had a hand in bringing Charles II back to England. He also loved literature (maybe that's why I love him so much!) and gave loads of manuscripts to the Bodleian library as well as writing his own poetry and translating Psalms. His nick name, quite adorably, was Black Tom due to his dark eyes and dark hair.

Edward Sexby

The picture above is of John Simm's portrayal of Edward Sexby in the Devil's Whore because I couldn't actually find a portrait of Sexby from the time. Which is rather annoying.  If anyone knows of any then please do email me. Anyway, the portrayal of Sexby in the Devil's Whore wasn't exactly the most accurate although he was ruggedly handsome! The REAL Sexby fought for Oliver Cromwell's Parliamentarian army during the English Civil War and was also a follower of the Leveller John Lilburne, and thus believed in government being left to the people rather than having to answer to King or Parliament. When Cromwell took up the Protectorship in 1653 Sexby opposed it hugely, as it went against everything that had been fought for in the Civil Wars - Cromwell would for all intents and purposes be a King. Sexby and other Levellers began plotting against the Protectorship, publishing pamphlets and Sexby himself even turned up at the exiled court of Charles II to tell them all about leading an uprising against Cromwell and bringing Charles II back. Edward Hyde (Clarendon) was of course sceptical, wondering how on earth the levellers and a reinstated monarchy could work together. Sexby was the author of a pamphlet named "Killing No Murder" in which he said that Cromwell was a tyrant and worse than Caligula, and in such circumstances Tyrannicide was justifiable. He then began to plot to assassinate Cromwell. He was arrested in 1657, locked up in the Tower of London and questioned where he admitted to writing the pamphlet and plotting to assassinate Cromwell, but he wouldn't name any of his accomplices. Good man. Poor Sexby died of a fever whilst locked in the Tower in 1658 before he could be tried.

John Donne

This guy was a poet, a satirist, a lawyer and eventually a priest. He didn't take part in the English Civil Wars, dying before they could even start. He was born in 1572 and died in 1631, and this the majority of his adult life was lived during the reign of James I. Whilst Donne didn't really do anything particularly exciting, he was a member of parliament and later became a priest, he did write a love poem involving a flea. And that therefore makes him awesome.

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,
How little that which thou deny'st me is;
It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,
And in this flea, our two bloods mingled be;
Thou knowest that this cannot be said
A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead.
Yet this enjoys before it woo,
And pampered, swells with one blood made of two,
And this, alas, is more than we would do.
Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,
Where we almost, yea, more than married are.
This flea is you and I, and this
Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;
Though parents grudge, and you, we are met
And cloistered in these living walls of jet.
Though use make you apt to kill me,
Let not to that self murder added be,
And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.
Cruel and sudden, hast thou since
Purpled thy nail in blood of innocence?
Wherein could this flea guilty be
Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?
Yet thou triumph'st, and sayest that thou
Find'st not thyself, nor me, the weaker now.
'Tis true, then learn how false fears be;
Just so much honor, when thou yieldst to me,
Will waste, as this flea's death took life from thee