Hello all!
It's me again.If you read my last post, you'll be aware that I'm writing a novel set during the English Civil War. In the last post, I imparted a few bits about the Sieges of Lichfield. Now I'd like to pass on a little bit more about the background to my novel, mainly the Siege of Manchester.
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| Keep that aim steady. |
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| Parlimentary harquebusier |
Primarily, there is a wonderful book called
Massacre: The Storming of Bolton by David Casserly and published by Amberley. Its name is actually a bit of a misnomer as it covers so much! From the build up to the war proper, we find that the first death of the Civil War was actually in Manchester more than a month before the war officially started with King Charles I raising his standard over Nottingham Castle, through the Siege of Manchester, the Seige of Lathom House - the defense being led by Lord Strange the Royalist commander's wife - through action in Wigan and the separate stormings of Bolton proper. This book, I found to be invaluable. David Casserly has done his research, and done it properly. you get a real feeling for what the people were going through, the surprise that the folk of the era felt at the war going ahead, the personal politicking of the gentry as well as being able to get your head around all the military positions with the lovely descriptions, maps and the very useful period illustrations. You get a real feel for the progression of the war, step by step as it unfolded, a sense that similar events of uncertain portents were unfolding across the nations of England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
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| Massacre:The Storming of Bolton |
It's from this book that I decided that I needed to end my novel there in spectacular fashion. With the Royalists attacking the city that at that time had a population of around 3000. Their commanders, Lord Strange and Lord Molyneux attacked from three separate angles. As the battle unfolded, they eventually failed to take the city, leaving it in Parliamentary hands. This was mainly down to the efforts of a German engineer by the name of Major Johan Rosworm. He was a real character, almost as if he was from a pulp style story. He was a military engineer of some repute. being close at hand, he was invited to fortify the unwalled city of Manchester for a fair sum of £30 for a six month period. Lord Strange soon offered to pay him three times what the Parliamentarians were paying him so that he'd change sides. Rosworm refused, but while building the banks and ditches necessary for Manchester's defence, he would take any chance, be it criticism, the questioning of his methods or even just a local passing him in the street to set him off into a tirade. He would tell them, probably while foaming at the mouth, that he despised the town and he thought that every single inhabitant was an idiot, then bawling at the top of his voice that he should have taken Lord Strange's offer of turning coat and joining the Royalists. The irony being, he would re-new his contract with the Roundheads and serve them, leading regiments and building defences for the remainder of the war, only retiring a decade later when the war finally ended. Unfortunately, history doesn't record what happened to him afterwards. He lived and then died in utter obscurity, none knowing where and when he died. Of that, there is no trace.
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| Pikeman |
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| Form on me! |
During the Siege of Manchester itself, Major Johan Rosworm had taken up a position at Salford Bridge in the city's north east, near the Collegiate Church with a large block of musketeers. While the Royalist commander, Lord Strange would repeatedly charge his pike blocks and musketeers along the south side of Manchester, along Deansgate and cavalry charged in from the east to make a foothold in the town, Rosworm managed to defend his position well against the Royalist forces of Lord Molyneux, even when the took up positions on his side of the river in a house that they'd forced their way into. With few casualties, and reinforcements from the formations successfully defending against the advances of Lord Strange spared to join Rosworm, he gained a reputation as a fearless and thoroughly efficient commander. The only real problem that Rosworm had was from desertion. Several of his troops fled at his first order to prepare for an attck at the first sight of Lord Molyneux's troops. Rosworm threatened his remaining Parliamentary Musketeers to remain where they were or that he would personally shoot them. From his behaviour while he supervised the building of Manchester's defences, I can only presume that the deserters were more afraid of Rosworm's actions during combat than they were of the men that they were about to fight against.
Well, that's my brief overview of the Siege of Manchester over. I think I'll have a lot of fun writing the finale around the events that unfolded in Manchester. Keep yourselves safe and soldier forth!
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| Defend the lines! |
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| At ease while the barrel cools... and remove that casualty. Quick! |
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| A matchlock musketeer |
