Comments on: All the King’s horses and all the King’s men

By: Philip Robinson

Philip Robinson — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 16:56:25 +0000

i am currently reading history 3rd year at university of southampton, studying under the excellent tutorage of proffesor mark stoyle.i am researching background info for my dissertation which is on southamptons involvement in the civil war. i notice in the article there is a reference to southampton concerning the re supplying of equipment to essex’s infantry. if you could point me toward any material about southampton during the civil war i would be most grateful. thank you for your time best regards Phil Robinson.

By: Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:43:15 +0000

That’s quite a difficult question, not least because the issue was so controversial at the time and has continued to be ever since. Views range from royalist apologists who claim that only a few troops came over from Ireland and that they were nearly all protestant English, to parliamentarian propaganda which portrayed the King’s armies as nothing but bloodthirsty papists. Getting at the truth is difficult because of the loss of so many royalist administrative records. It’s now generally accepted that the royalists were recruiting significant numbers of Irish Catholics, and there’s some evidence that this alienated some English Protestant royalists (as well as fuelling parliamentarian propaganda), so might have been counterproductive in some ways. Parliament had similar problems with their alliance with the Scots, but it seems to be generally thought that in practice the Scots had more impact than the Irish. The difficulty of transporting men across the Irish see was an extra problem, but the parliamentarian navy wasn’t able to stop them getting across. The Scots look even more important when you take into account the fact that many officers in English parliamentarian regiments were Scottish. The falling out between Presbyterians and Independents, and the new modelling, meant that a lot of experienced Scots officers left in the spring of 1645.

By: Gary Smailes

Gary Smailes — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 09:19:13 +0000

Gavin,
Thanks for yet another great post.
I do have one question.
How important do you feel Ireland’s potential supply of troops was to the war effort?

By: Gavin Robinson

Gavin Robinson — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 17:24:24 +0000

I might write a full review of it, but then I’d have to read the whole thing again as I haven’t read it all for a couple of years, so it might have to wait.

By: Ross Mahoney

Ross Mahoney — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 15:26:02 +0000

Gavin - Very interesting. I am intrigued by your comments of Malcolm Wanklyn’s work. He was a professor at my university when I did my undergraduate studies. I did not get to do his English Civil War module as he was on sabbatical finishing this book. What are you opinions on it as I have not had the chance to read it fully?