Is Cake Allowed?

-

Whilst happy to celebrate my Parliamentarian heritage and leaning (my great × lots uncle became General Treasurer of Lancashire for Parliament in 1643), if Parliament* was against cake I may well have to become a turncoat and rally to the King's aide.


* it being that time of year, it is only right and proper to debunk the commonly held fact that Cromwell banned Christmas. The Puritans who held the majority effectively banned Christmas as a) they believed it to be wasteful and a sin, and b) as an attempt to persuade the Scots Presbyterians that only by supporting Parliament could they achieve their goal of religious tolerance. Parliament banned Christmas, not Cromwell.


If you enjoyed reading this, or any of the other posts, please consider supporting the blog. 
Thanks.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Houses of Interest: Strathclyde

-
Image
The second of the ECWtravelogue posts from its grand summer Scottish road trip. Ayr Citadel was started in 1652 during the Interregnum, and possibly never finished. The site of the fort  is outlined by Montgomorie Terrace, Arran Terrace, Ailsa Place and Bruce Crescent. What had been built was demolished upon the Restoration. The Battle of Kilsyth took place on the 15th August 1645. Having won victories at Tippermuir, Aberdeen, Fyvie, Inverlochy, Auldearn and Alford, Montrose attempted to break into the Lowlands. From Alford, Montrose headed south along the east coast making for Glasgow. Two Covenanter forces, under Argyll and Baillie, following in pursuit. By nightfall on the 14th August, Montrose was camped in the area around Colzium Castle, his forces consisted of about 3000 foot, with up to 600 cavalry and dragoons.   The Covenanters numbered between 3500 and 7000. The two sides met in the area that is now covered by Banton Loch. The traditional deployment h...
Read more

Houses of Interest: Fife

-
Image
The first of rather a lot of Scottish entries to the now rather inappropriately named, ECW travelogue.  Apologies to Scottish readers who steadfastly, and proudly hang on to traditional Scottish shire boundaries, for ease of writing I have gone with the nine Scottish regions established by the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973. (Yes I know those areas are now defunct, but it made sense at the time when I was planning the entries.) A brief entry, in comparison to those Scottish regions to come, but important nonetheless. The West Port of St Andrews was built in 1587 as a monumental entrance to the city’s South Street. It was less a defensive structure than it was a symbol of civic pride. Charles II visited St Andrews in 1650 and was presented with silver keys before the West port by the provost of St Andrews. A plaque marks the event, located inside one of the gateway's arches. Battle of Inverkeithing ,  20th July 1651,   saw an outnumbered New Model Army decimate a Sc...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 1: Parliamentarian Regiments of Foot

-
Image
When I first started my Civil War gaming project I relied upon the many ECW coat colour tables on wargaming websites. As my project has progressed, my library has got bigger, my research has gone back to primary sources rather than relying upon second and third hand sources; and I have noticed quite a few errors in these lists for wargamers. I have also noticed the same errors appearing in multiple lists.     As a result of continually seeing 'the London Trained Bands and their Auxiliaries wore red coats' (there is no evidence supporting this at all, the evidence, whilst not explicit suggests that the London Trained Bands wore civilian clothes - some of the Auxiliaries might have been issued with blue winter coats) I decided to write my own list.  So here it is. If your allegiance lies elsewhere you might want to look at  Introduction   Part 2  Royalist coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B ...
Read more

Battle of Winnington Bridge, 19th August 1659

-
Image
Battle of Winnington Bridge, I hear you ask?  'Twas the battle that spelled the end for Booth's Rebellion and the Royalist plans of 1659. Sir George Booth Cue the wobbly cinematic 'go-back-in-time' effect... Richard Cromwell has resigned as Lord Protector due to pressure from the Grandees of the New Model Army. The Rump Parliament has been reinstated. Meanwhile John Mordaunt, and the Sealed Knot have been trying to incite Royalist rebellions.  The planned uprisings were all pretty much nipped in the bud thanks to a combination of incompetence and lack of coordination (on the Royalist side), and the good fortune of intercepting the plans (on the Parliamentarian side). Only one such rebellion gained any real traction. Sir George Booth of Dunham Massey , former Parliamentarian commander of Nantwich garrison, and brother-in-law of Lord Grey of Groby, was to lead the Cheshire rising. Booth appears to have considered cancelling the whole thing at the eleventh hour, but as the...
Read more

Warlord Pike and Shotte Epic Battles: the infantry sprue

-
Image
Firstly a big thank you to Warlord Games who sent me a sprue of their new Pike and Shotte Epic Battles infantry. (You can see how I got on with the cavalry sprue here. ) I will try and look at these figures from three different angles: the first impression of someone completely new to the period, the button counter’s standpoint, and then from a seasoned wargamer’s point of view. In all cases I'm looking at these through Wars of the Three Kingdoms spectacles. (Wars of the Three Kingdoms is a more accurate name for the conflicts that were fought in the British Isles in the mid seventeenth century. The English Civil War was just one of these conflicts.) The obligatory next to a ruler picture (the ruler is lined up with the soles of their footwear) The 'new to the period' view This one sprue provides enough figures for one unit (a Regiment of Foot or RoF). Figures look very detailed, moulding is clean and crisp with no flash and only minimal mould lines. The pikes look a bit d...
Read more

Coat Colours Part 2: Royalist Regiments of Foot

-
Image
Continuing my therapeutic blogging (write rather than rant) antidote to incorrect English Civil War coat colour tables for wargamers, I give you the Royalist Regiments of Foot. For all of my coat colour articles see: Introduction   Part 1  Parliamentarian coat colours Part 3  Scots coat colours Part 3B  Montrose and the Irish Brigade Part 4  Dragoons, Horse and the New Model Army coat colours The Trained Bands London Trained Bands Auxiliary regiments Scarves   Same rules apply here, as they did with the Parliamentarian coat colours: Regiments often got renamed when command passed to a new colonel - these regiments are listed under their first name e.g. Jacob Astley's Regiment was originally Richard Fielding's Regiment. Coat colour notes refer to contemporaneous references and some of the deductions made by Reid, Spring,  Peachey and Prince. You will also notice that some regiments have several coat colours listed. Where there is some question aro...
Read more

Colonel Richard Norton’s Regiment of Horse

-
Image
The last of the Parliamentarian units that appeared briefly, that now deserve their moment in the spotlight. Originally appeared on here as Captain Charles Fleetwood's Regiment of Horse, but then I realised that I also field Colonel Francis Russell’s Regiment of Horse - Russell's metamorphosed into Fleetwood's (via a brief outing as Vermuyden’s). So a change of flag and a little rebranding was required. Raised in 1643 Norton's would serve both with Essex's Field Army and Waller's Southern Association, spending much of their existence besieging Basing House. In July 1643 they were repulsed from Basing House; went to the relief of Gloucester; First Newbury; then back to Basing House; before skirmishes at South Harting, Westbourne and Romsey. 1644 saw them skirmish at Havant; Warblington; Cheriton; skirmish at Odiham; back for round two at Basing House;  possibly at Winchester; back to Basing House; Second  Newbury; back to Basing House; skirmish at Salisbury. 1645...
Read more

So You Want to Know About Royalist Armies?

-
Image
Finally! I hear some of you say. A Royalist Army reading list. Well, there's a problem. The Royalist Armies are nowhere near as well documented as the various Parliamentarian Armies.  Why is this the case? There are, potentially, several reasons. Parliament, at every level, consisted of committees who needed minutes, account books and audit trails. Parliament 'won' the Wars, so these records were transferred to what would eventually become The National Archives as State Papers. The records of the various Royalist Armies don't generally exist in The National Archives. Records tend to exist in the archives of the families of Royalist supporters, and are usually specific to the units that the family raised and equipped.  There may well be 'unknown' military records waiting to be discovered, but these records are not centrally held, and in many cases access is difficult or completely off limits.  Any researcher wanting to collate an "Old Robin's Foot" ...
Read more

Painting Guide - Horses

-
Image
Caveat: if you want a guide to painting horses that employs 16 shades of the same colour to highlight and lowlight horse flesh look away now. This is a quick and easy average painter's guide to painting horses averagely. I must confess that I am not the biggest fan of horses; I blame having a horse mad older sister, who didn't have a horse but had a little brother she could bully.  So I always used to paint horses as quickly as possible, dark brown, with dark brown manes and tails, and dark brown tack. My token gesture to 'not dark brown' was the occasional white flash or sock. Here is my current horse formula. Well it works for me, and my horses look, well, horse like. Colours: I avoid greys and blacks unless absolutely necessary (commanders being known for only riding horses of a specific colour, or certain Napoleonic cavalry units). So my horses are almost exclusively chestnut , bay or dun . In the seventeenth century there wear superstitions surrounding hor...
Read more

Houses of Interest: Borders

-
Image
  The latest instalment of the ECWtravelogue summer road trip. This time attention turns to the Borders. The Battle of Philiphaugh was fought on 13th September 1645, to the south west of Selkirk. After Montrose's victory at Kilsyth in August 1645, he made a critical error: rather than pressing on and consolidating his gains, he allowed his army to disperse, giving his enemies a chance to regroup.  the battlefield from the walkway Montrose appeared to be unaware that Leslie had marched north from England with a substantial Covenanter army. On the 11th, Leslie had joined forces with the Lothian troops at Gladsmuir and then proceeded south. On night of the12th, unbeknownst to Montrose, the Covenanter army advanced toward Selkirk, disrupting the quarters of Montrose's rear guard. His seriously outnumbered army was taken by surprise by the advancing Covenanter forces, who routed Montrose's army from the field. The defeat marked the end of Montrose’s effective campaign in Scot...
Read more