Sir Walter Earle narrowly escaped death when a bullet went through his hat, by covering himself with a bear skin and on all 4’s, pretended to be a dog. Sir Edward Lake fought so hard at Edgehill for the King, that he was wounded 4 times, eventually having to hold his horses reigns with his teeth to use his sword in his right hand. Sir Thomas Fairfax was returning to camp before Naseby, when he was challenged by a solider of his side in the dark. Fairfax, forgetting the password, was threatened with being shot until the man’s superior appeared to recognise him. Sir John Gell’s Roundhead officers pleaded with the Countess of Chesterfield after they had captured her house, to give half a crown to each of their soldiers to stop their need to pillage. After she explained she was broke, they offered to give her the money to distribute, such was their desperation, but she refused to hand anything over to “traitors” Prince Rupert was only injured in the very final stages of the war, but even then, when he dropped his pistol after a minor injury, it went off and shot his enemy! The Earl of Essex, Parliaments Commander-in-Chief, carried his own coffin with him on campaign. The great Royalist commander Sir Ralph Hopton was temporarily blinded when the Royalist powder wagon exploded. The use of explosives with mining was first introduced to England in the English Civil War. Forgetting about her dog, Queen Henrietta rushed back to a house under bombardment to rescue “Mitte” The wife of the devious and dangerous Royalist, Lord Digby, walked out of her besieged house in 1642, through the Parliamentary lines to confront her enemy, the Earl of Bedford. The Earl was her brother and she promptly advised him, “If you persist in your plans, you will find my body in the ruins.” Lady Saville only surrounded Sheffield Castle to Parliament after she began to go into labour and could not hurl anymore missiles. The Royalists paid the Oxford garrison through taxing the scholars of the universities. King Charles loved nothing more than a game of tennis or cards. Poor Lord Spencer could not ride with the King’s armies in 1643, due to a boil on his behind. It is said that Prince Rupert would dress up as an apple salesman or a common farmer and ride through the enemy lines, even sell apples to them! 3.7% of the English population was wiped out during the civil war, as was 6% of the Scottish. Ireland lost a devastating 41% of its population. When Oxford surrendered, Sir Thomas Fairfax’s first action was to set a guard on the Bodleian library to protect the books. Roundheads were nicknamed as such, in mocking of their short hair, which usually meant that they were socially inferior and a Puritan. Cavaliers were named after the Spanish “Caballero” which means mounted horseman, known for bullying. A comet was seen over England in November 1644. Many people took this to be a bad omen. Sir Arthur Aston was injured in Oxford while cavorting around on his horse, showing off to the ladies! A handful of Soldiers were paid to spit at the King when he was on trial in 1649. John Hamden, a leading Parliamentarian, was killed when his pistol exploded in his hand. The identity of one of the King’s executioners is still not fully known. Before joining the King, Lord Herbert had been working on a bizarre project. It was an early form of a submarine. Back to Table of Contents -- King or Parliament #3 Back to King or Parliament List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 by Mark Turnbull. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com