The Siege of Newark, Nottinghamshire: 23rd & 24th June

As the Heatwave continued to scorch Britain, Newcastle’s turned up in relatively large numbers to Devon Park, Newark once again on the Friday afternoon and started to set up camp ready for what turned out to be a great weekend.

The advantage of going back to Newark again is having knowledge of the area and what to expect at the event. We were able to set up camp easily if a little squished in and get straight to the important things such as catching up with friends, having a few drinks and eating!

Continue reading “The Siege of Newark, Nottinghamshire: 23rd & 24th June”

Colours of the English Civil War

As you’ve probably worked out, we don’t do a great deal of fighting over the winter. To keep our blog ticking over, we’re going to write about a range of topics including wider 17th Century history, more information about the members of our regiment and other interesting things we think you might like.

To kick this off, Simon Wright from our Regiment has written all about the colours of the English Civil War. The colours were one of the most prized possession of a regiment and were carried onto the field by the Ensign, a junior officer of the regiment.

Continue reading “Colours of the English Civil War”

#375Edgehill: The Battle of Edgehill, 23rd October 1642

375 years ago today, the Battle of Edgehill took place just outside of Kineton, Warwickshire. It was the first of many pitched battles of the English Civil Wars that took place between 1642 and 1651.

Regimental Member Anne has written a follow up to her piece about the road to rebellion that was published a couple of days ago and has written all about what happened 375 years ago.

Continue reading “#375Edgehill: The Battle of Edgehill, 23rd October 1642”

The Road to Rebellion: Why did England go to war with itself?

In just a couple of days time, it will be the 375th Anniversary of the Battle of Edgehill. This was the first pitched battle of the English Civil Wars that took place across the British Isles from 1642 to 1651.

Although Edgehill is often considered the start of the wars, there was obviously a series of events that led the country to go to war with itself. Regimental member Anne has written the following piece exploring what happened in the run up to the first battle.

‘Raising the Royal Standard’ painted in 1874 by Reuben Bussey. Image source

Continue reading “The Road to Rebellion: Why did England go to war with itself?”

Queen Christina of Sweden – Defying gender roles in the 17th Century

We often think of the breakdown of gender stereotypes as being a modern concept, something very 21st century as the world becomes, little by little, more accepting of differences to gender. There’s still a long way to go before the prejudices are truly a thing of the past but is the breakdown of these prejudices really a modern thing?

When studying a small girl’s waistcote and looking at just how much it resembled the restrictive nature of the adult equivalent, member of the regiment Beth Parker decided to look into the life of the little girl who this waistcote belonged to and found a very interesting character indeed.

Continue reading “Queen Christina of Sweden – Defying gender roles in the 17th Century”

Elite Discourse and Witchcraft: Nationalism, Anti-Catholicism and Puritanism.

Firstly, let me apologise for the lack of content here in the past few weeks, as the Newcastle’s Blog Fairy it’s been a bit on the hectic side so some things had to be put on the back burner! Things are calming down now though so normal, weekly service should be resuming!

A little while ago there was a post on here put together by one of our members, Anne, all about Medical Knowledge and Medicinal Herbs in the 17th Century. Anne, who has a lot of knowledge on the subject wrote a fantastic piece for us to put on here and it was really well received. As time goes on and especially over the winter when there are less battles to tell you about, other members of the regiment have agreed to write posts for the blog sharing their areas of knowledge.

For some it’s something they already have a lot of knowledge about, for others it’s a chance to sit down and do some research and reading about a topic they want to know more about as they put together their article. Today’s article is from Beth who was our ‘Meet the Member’ this month. Beth is a History student at the University of Sheffield and for one of her assignments looked into Witchcraft in the 17th Century and agreed to write a shortened version of what she found for the blog, so without further ado, here is a piece all about Witchcraft. Beth has provided a list of sources and book for further reading at the end of this piece for those who wish to find out more.

Continue reading “Elite Discourse and Witchcraft: Nationalism, Anti-Catholicism and Puritanism.”

Medical Knowledge and Medicinal Herbs in the 17th Century

The Newcastle’s Blog Fairy decided it was about time that some of our wonderful members were able to share their knowledge of the period with our delightful blog readers.

Last month we introduced you to one of our members, Anne who has spent her time in the society either being a medic or sharing her medical knowledge of the period on the Living History camps. Anne kindly agreed to be the first to share her knowledge so in our first piece of a more historical nature, as opposed to what we get up to, here is an insight into Medicine and Medical knowledge of the period.

Continue reading “Medical Knowledge and Medicinal Herbs in the 17th Century”

Tankersley Moor: The Lost Battle

In Mrs Newcastle’s somewhat starry eyed biography of her husband, she mentions that his forces defeated a significant Parliamentarian force at Tankersley Moor which is between Sheffield and Barnsley. It is also mentioned in his patent for Marquess.

wentworth
Re-enactment at Wentworth Castle of the Battle of Tankersley, which Newcastle’s Regiment organised in July 2013.

Continue reading “Tankersley Moor: The Lost Battle”

The Battle of Adwalton Moor – June 1643

Battle Plaque at Adwalton Moor
The Battle Plaque at Adwalton Moor

Introduction:  Following his defeat at Wakefield, Newcastle determined to finish off the Parliament Forces (commanded by Lord Fairfax and his son,  Sir Thomas Fairfax) once and for all. He gathered a force of about 7-8000 and marched for the Parliament strongholds of Leeds and Bradford. The Fairfaxes set out to try and catch Newcastle on the march and fight him on ground of their choosing (Adwalton Moor). This did not quite work as Fairfax found Newcastle ready for him. Fairfax was able though to get his troops in position.

Continue reading “The Battle of Adwalton Moor – June 1643”