Pistoleer: Brentford
Page 33
During a large battle they were often kept back as a strategic reserve, but before the battle they would be used as couriers, scouts, and skirmishers. The weakness of The Pistoleers was that normal pistols were single shot, and reloading them on a moving horse was slow work. For this reason pistoleers carried more than one gun, and one of them would be a Dragon. A Dragon was a blunderbuss pistol ... a scatter gun, the sawed off shotgun of the era. During the British Civil war companies of Pistoleers were called 'flying squads'.
4. What was the significance of Broughton?
Broughton Castle, two mile SW of Banbury, was and still is the family home of the Fiennes family, Barons Saye and Sele. In the 1600's William Fiennes joined with the Digby and Howard families in active opposition against the Stuart Regime. Under Charles I he became active in colonization and was a founding member of the Providence Island Company with Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick, Robert Greville, 2nd Baron Brooke and John Pym. He and Rich were instrumental in the creation of the colonies of New England.
His home was the meeting place where colonies and companies were planned, and also the meeting place where the Reform Party was created to bring Charles under control. The lead reformers were originally known as the Broughton Castle Circle.
5. Why was Banbury so important?
Banbury is a town in the northern point of Oxfordshire, to the SE of the hilly massive of which Edgehill is a part. Its central location has made it a crossroads throughout history, and it sat on the main Coventry-London highway of the day, and on the Coventry-Oxford highway, and was less than 20 miles from the main Northampton-London highway.
The castle was turned into a fortress in 1250 and was very advanced for the day with a pentagon shape and concentric walls. During Elizabethan times it was owned by the Crown and contained a prison for Catholics. When the prison was shut, it was leased to William Fiennes of Broughton Castle. At the outbreak of the Civil War it was re-fortified.
6. Why was the Earl of Lindsey so hated?
Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey was the principal adventurer (venture capitalist) in the drainage schemes of the Lincolnshire Fens. These drainage schemes were an environmental disaster and a cultural disaster for they amounted to the wholesale theft of common marshy land which was nature's nursery and the main stay of cottage industries of the local villages.
He and his son had both had long experience fighting in the brutal continental wars, and they used continental techniques to stop any local opposition to their schemes. Robert was the king's main general leading up to the battle of Edgehill, but resigned his command when he was told that the devil prince Rupert and his flying army were not under his command. He died from infected wounds that he received very early in the Battle of Edgehill.
7. Is Kingston in the north or the south?
Both. Kingston-upon-Thames is in the south between London and Windsor which historically was very important to anyone with an army because it had the next bridge upstream from London Bridge. Kingston-upon-Hull is in the north on the north shore of the Humber Estuary and near to the sea. Historically the Humber has been a gateway for invading The Midlands and Yorkshire, so Kingston was a fortified town with a fortified harbour. Both Kingstons figured large during the English Civil War.
8. Who was Freeborn John?
John Lilburne was the man who coined the term "freeborn rights" which he defined as being rights that every human being is born with, as opposed to the rights bestowed by government or by human law. This was based on his ideal that everyone is born free, rather than born in slavery or bondage or vassalage. During the English Civil War, John's ideas gave rise to the Leveller political movement/party which promoted democratic ideals which were beyond the republican movement of the day.
A hundred years after John died, his ideal that all are born free was used to justify the first anti-slavery laws in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. Political philosophers on both sides of the Atlantic evolved John's ideals into the "unalienable rights" of Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
9. Were there cannons mounted on barges at Brentford?
Yes. As described in this novel, barges of munitions and men were sent down the Thames from Kingston to reinforce Parliament's regiments that were trying to block the advance of Rupert's flying army. Field guns on the shore surprised the barges with cannon fire and blew some of them up, and the barges did fire back. During the negotiation truce at the beginning of the Battle of Turnham Green, yet another barge blew up which made both armies believe that the other side had broken the truce.
10. Why is Prince Rupert honoured as a hero if he was so evil?
During the Restoration all records of the Civil War that were not complementary to the Royalists were ordered destroyed by Charles II. Prince Rupert of the Rhine was his elder cousin and was idolized by him in his youth. Rupert was the nephew of Charles I by his sister Queen Elizabeth of Bohemia so he grew up in the Germanies and the Netherlands.
The descriptions of Elizabeth's middle son Rupert from the German courts fit with the man being a tall, intelligent, flamboyant, glib psychopath. It was the Germans who gave him the nickname 'the devil prince'. During the Civil War, and during the Republic when he turned to slave running and piracy, and actively helped the Papist Empires against the interests of England, his actions were certainly those of a ruthless and pitiless commander.
After the Restoration his cousin Charles II made him the Admiral of the English Fleet, and the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, but he remained involved in the slave trade. His sister Sophia was the bloodline link that replaced the Stuart Regime with the Hanover Regime on the British throne, and since that regime has held the throne ever since, it is not surprising that Rupert's psychopathy is described as "youthful impatience" in history texts.
11. Were there women on the battlefield at Turnham Green?
Yes. As mentioned in this novel, the Fleet Street new sheets had spread the word of the Brentford massacre and so people of all ages and sexes streamed out of London towards the battlefield. This included sight-seers, relatives of those in the army, those wishing to help in the battle, and many women who came with food and fed the London militiamen during the initial truce.
12. Did the Earl of Warwick join Essex's army on the Thames?
Perhaps. As mentioned in this novel, Robert Rich owned many properties in London, and it was he and not Essex who had funded and equipped many of the London Trained Bands. If Admiral Rich had been in London and not with his fleet, (which is probable but I found no direct proof), he would have joined the Londoners who streamed out to Turnham Green.
He mistrusted Essex's loyalty and competence so if he had been in the area, he would have been with his trained bands rather than with Essex. I found references in some old books that Essex ordered the Kingston garrison to retreat to London bridge, but that Rich reversed that order and led them back towards Kingston with the intention of taking them all the way to Windsor (which historically was the best location from which to protect the Thames valley).
13. Were tradesmen part of Essex's army?
Absolutely. Gentlemen were horsemen, but most of Essex's army was infantry. The infantry, especially the London Trained Bands, had heavily recruited from the huge pool of tradesmen apprentices. These were young, well fed, strong men with coin in their pockets and skilled hands and minds, and financially backed by their trades masters. Though the gentlemen formed the frame of Essex's army, the tradesmen were the driving force and muscle.
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THE END of Brentford
Be sure to watch for the next novel - The Pistoleer - Invasion.
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The Pistoleer - Brentford by Skye Smith Copyright 2014
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