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Devereux’s Recommended Book List - General Politics / Military

28 May 2021

If you are interested in the 17th Century, and the 'English Civil Wars' period, we recommend the following literature...


General Politics/Military

Hey For Old Robin - The Campaigns and Armies of the Earl of Essex

By Chris Scott & Alan Turton Helion & Company


One of the Helion 'Century of the Soldier 1618-1721' series, written (and illustrated) by two long standing and knowledgeable members of the regiment, with photographs by Nicola Turton. This is not only a useful guide to the forming, training, equipping and operation of a C17th army, but provides the reader with sections on the constituent parts of the army. Although this covers specific campaigns, it also gives a good generic feel for the problems involved in maintaining and managing an army in the field.

Every One a Witness, The Stuart Age. Commentaries on an Era series

By AF Scott

(White Lion, London & New York, 1974)


Explains the background to the 17thC. Covers a wide range of social, political and religious topics, and through the words of eye-witnesses & participants.

This War Without An Enemy: A History of the English Civil Wars

By R Ollard

(Atheneum, New York, 1976)


Step by step guide through the course and progress of the wars.

The English Civil War: A Military History of Three Civil Wars, 1642-51

By Brigadier Peter Young & Richard Holmes


By the founder of the Sealed Knot and [mainly] the well-known military historian Richard Holmes. Probably still the best purely military history of the wars[s].

Cromwell: Our Chief of Men

By Antonia Fraser


Excellent de-mythologising biography of Cromwell [and his family].

Black Tom: Sir Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution

By Andrew Hopper 

(2013 - Manchester University Press)


The biography of one of the most important players in the Civil Wars, and the first Lord General of the New Model Army. The biography also addresses Fairfax’s life in context of a range of social factors of the time, so it is also useful to read as a general introduction to the 17th Century. Extremely well written to be both cutting and insightful, but also accessible to a general audience.

Cromwell's Army

By CH Firth

(Methuen, London,1902)


Detailed analysis and in depth study of the New Model Army. The information was gathered from period sources from the PRO, some of which was stolen and pasted into the original manuscript.

Naseby, The Decisive Campaign

By Glenn Foard


A detailed account of the civil war’s best known battle that changed the direction of the conflict

Cromwell’s War Machine: The New Model Army

By Keith Roberts


Modern work giving an introduction to the New Model Army.

The Cromwellian Gazetteer

By Peter Gaunt


A nicely illustrated A-Z of what happened where organised by county and country.

Dealing in Death – The Arms Trade and the British Civil Wars, 1638-52

By Peter Edwards

(Sutton Publishing)


A background to understanding the tools of the soldiers trade, this book deals with the supply and sourcing of all of the material required for both sides to prosecute the war. Provided with extensive footnotes and references, this is a good read which provides insights into the difficulties in equipping C17th armies and explains the gap between the ideal and reality. There are the odd unreferenced assertions but overall you can follow up the areas that interest you. We know for example, what the constituent parts of gunpowder are and many are possibly familiar with the sources used to obtain saltpetre, but did you ever think about the source of the sulphur that is a key ingredient?

Civil War: The Wars of the Three Kingdoms 1638-1660

By Trevor Royle


Good one volume book covering the wider topics throughout the British Isles during the period from the earlier important Bishops Wars to the Restoration.

The English Revolution and the Wars in the Three Kingdoms 1638-1652

By Ian Gentles 

(2007 - Routledge)


One of the best recent publications on the Civil Wars. Detailed and well-written. The book covers the period around, and during the Civil Wars, and challenges some of the previously-held misconceptions of the period. Very readable and affordable.

Gloucester and the Civil War - A City Under Siege

By Malcolm Atkin & Wayne Laughlin Alan Sutton Publishing


An account of the siege by one of the former members of Devereux's, (Malcolm) who was the Worcester County archaeologist. Important to us as the end of the siege of Gloucester marks the the birth of Devereux's regiment, Nicholas having arrived there as a Captain in Forbes dragoon regiment. The failure of the King to take Gloucester in 1643 and its relief by the parliamentarian army under the Earl of Essex is arguably one of the turning points of the first civil war, raising morale and maintaining a permanent parliamentary presence in the region. Alarmed by the casualties that his army took during the storming of Bristol, the King wanted to settle down and besiege Gloucester. This book uses maps, archaeological reports, photographs and drawings to illustrate the events as well as provide an insight into life inside a besieged town. If nothing else, this book shows you that the ECW is all around us.

The World turned Upside Down

By Christopher Hill 

(1975 - Penguin)


An account of The Levellers, Ranters, Quakers, and other movements that challenged the status quo during and after the Civil Wars.  A fairly brief paperback, but well written and interesting.

The English Civil War: A Peoples History

By Diane Purkiss

(Perennial Press)


By blending the political and the personal, Diane Purkiss illuminates both the ideologies behind the English Civil War and the fears of those who fought in it; the men who were destroyed by the conflict and those, such as Oliver Cromwell, who were defined by it.

Cavalier capital: Oxford in the English Civil War 1642-1646

By John Barratt (2015)


A thorough account of the development, reinforcing, and day-to-day life of Charles I’s capital, Oxford. This volume covers a range of subjects – from fortification, to supplies, health, and campaigns in which Oxford featured prominently.

The Cromwellian Gazetteer: An illustrated guide to Britain in the Civil War &Commonwealth

By Peter Gaunt 

(2000 - Wren’s Park Publishing)


An interesting book with a range of entries about key locations of importance to the Civil Wars, with some interesting information about each.

Speeches of Oliver Cromwell

By Ivan Roots (Editor) (1989)


Not actually a history book, but an interesting look into the words of one of the most significant personalities in the Civil Wars and Republic afterwards. You get a good insight into the man from the words of his speeches.

The English Civil War, 1642-51

By R Potter & GA Embleton (Almark,London, 1973)


A brief military history of the wars then deals with uniforms worn and weapons used in the conflict.

(1st Ed. 1956) The King’s Peace 1637-1641 / (1st Ed. 1958) The King’s War 1641-1647 / (1st Ed. 1964) The Trial of Charles I

By C.V. Wedgewood

Seminal works on the Civil Wars, by a renowned author. A bit dated now, but still very well written and comprehensive. Good core information about the Civil War.


Who’s who in Stuart Britain

By C.P. Hill (1988), Shepheard-Walwyn

An encyclopaedia of key figures in the 17th Century, and a very useful resource to turn to if faced with a name in other reading.

by Alan Turton 31 October 2021
Malmesbury in the First Civil War – 1642-46 By Alan Turton
10 July 2021
The chaos of battle: controlled by the beat of a drum...
10 July 2021
Big Dave & Little Wayne demonstrate postures of the pike and the calls of war...
by Nick Boyle 3 June 2021
by Paul Hargreaves 3 June 2021
Introduction This is a guide designed to support new and existing members to produce a convincing representation of the clothing of the common people in the mid seventeenth century. It is written with the aim of supporting members with getting together a typical basic outfit that can then be developed further as expertise, interest and finances allow and involvement in the hobby grows. It is not intended as a great academic work covering every aspect of clothing of the period. Neither is it produced with the intention of being the definitive truth about what people wore in the period – the only way we will ever know for sure is by travelling back in time and seeing with our own eyes! It is simply one possible interpretation of the written, pictorial and (rare!) surviving garments from which has developed a representation of clothing of the period which, through being worn at a range of events and while undertaking period activities in a range of weather conditions, has been proved to work – being reasonably comfortable, waterproof and warm, while looking convincing as a fairly standard outfit for the period. The clothing that we wear for re-enactments and re-creations matters. Beyond the uniform coat colour and pattern that those members who are portraying a military role are required to wear, we have a good degree of choice over our appearance and what we select to wear in our representation of a person from the past. Clothing is also the first thing that the public notice about us as individuals and one of the first things that they are able to compare with their life today. There are countless questions from curious members of the public about what we wear – what it is made of, what it is like to wear, why certain things are worn. The clothing worn by members also affects how we carry ourselves, how we act, and how we under- take activities. Costume in the re-enactment of the seventeenth century has suffered from a number of fads, fashions and inaccuracies, some of which have survived since the 1960s, some of which have dominated for a few years and then faded away but can still linger in some quarters. However, recent years has seen a growing interest in the development of realistic representations of common clothing. Those with a more academic skill than I have focused on written evidence (wills, inventories and the like), examined a full range of pictorial evidence (wood cuts, illustrations, paintings), and undertaken practical experimentation (making the things to see if they work). This guide is based on much of this research by many others, together with practical personal experience of making and trying out the garments.
by Charles Kightly 20 May 2021
[Note: This series of articles was written by Charles Kightly, illustrated by Anthony Barton and first published in Military Modelling Magazine. The series is reproduced here with the kind permission of Charles Kightly and Anthony Barton. Typographical errors have been corrected and comments on the original articles are shown in bold within square brackets.]
by Kathleen Davies 28 April 2021
Housekeeping I will be referring to men and women as those people possessing a penis and vagina respectively - there are very few sources I can find for discussing how the medieval people thought about intersex individuals, so I’m just leaving that out. I will also be using both clinical and slang terms for body parts and activities, where appropriate - these terms may be offensive at times, again, I’m trying to reflect the medieval attitude towards men, women and sex. Try to keep sniggering to a minimum. This goes double for Ant. Chapter 1: Who is doing it? The Ladies Women’s status in medieval society is defined by their relationship status, which largely also dictates their sexual status. Women can be: Virgins - not allowed to have sex Wives - allowed to have sex, with certain rules Widows - have had sex before, but not currently allowed to have sex. Whores - allowed to have sex, but socially excluded and vilified Women are only allowed to have sex within a marriage to be respectable - all other women are supposed to be celibate to maintain societal worth. Virgins can be of two types: Virgins by circumstance - young, unmarried women, whose choices are marriage, if they can find a husband, or taking a vow of virginity Virgins by choice - this normally means nuns. It can also mean married or widowed women who have taken a formal vow of chastity before a bishop. Two famous examples of this are Margery Kempe (1373-1438 approx.), who negotiated a ‘chaste marriage’ with her husband after 14 children to devote her life to God, and Margaret Beaufort who took a vow of chastity in 1499 (with her husband’s permission). Contrary to current common wisdom which states that men think about sex every sex seconds...I mean six seconds...in medieval society, everyone knew that women are UP FOR IT. ALL THE TIME. It was thought that not only do women want sex more than men, but that they gain greater pleasure from the act as well. This, coupled with their innate weakness and susceptibility to temptation, leads to a greater need to control their sexual access to prevent sin and bastards overrunning the earth. Women were expected to go to the marriage bed a virgin and to confine their sexual activity to their husband, but ‘wife out to get extracurricular sex’ was an extremely well-worn trope, and prosecutions in court for adultery and fornication were fairly common. Prostitutes held a very particular place in the medieval mindset. Even the great Church fathers St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas recognise that prostitution serves a public good. It wasn’t seen as ironic that the Bishop of Winchester taxed and regulated the sex trade in Southwark in the 15th century. Prostitutes themselves were also seen as a breed apart from respectable women - they were not the lowest of the low - many of the C15th Ordinances are regulations protecting the prostitutes themselves from exploitation by brothel keepers or stewhouses, but there were also rules on public dress for them, so that respectable members of society knew at a glance their profession. The Gents Gents were much less defined by their sexual status, and while it was acknowledged that men should also not be sowing their wild oats too much because it is immoral, the church and court punishments for adultery and fornication for men are less severe in practice. There are celibate men in members of the clergy and men in holy orders, but celibacy for priests is only made canon law in 1123, and this with an emphasis on the ‘unmarried’ meaning of the term; sexual continence was also expected, but it was something that was recognised as difficult. There are court cases of clergy with ‘housekeepers’ who seem to fall pregnant while unmarried a fair amount, and there are increasing urban legends of clerical sexual misconduct as the reformation draws closer, which while probably largely fabricated, was plausible enough to be accepted. Chapter 2: Why are they doing it? Nature Calls Medieval medicine and understanding of biology was based on Ancient Greek and Roman texts, with Galen, Hippocrates and Aristotle having a big influence. The accepted wisdom is that there are four humours in the body, corresponding to four qualities, four elements and four temperaments. Blood, Black Bile, Yellow Bile and Phlegm are in turns Hot, Cold, Dry and Wet. Men are hot and dry - this is optimal. Women, however are cold and wet by nature. When your humours are out of whack, it leads to illness. Men, by virtue of their hotness and dryness, are able to burn off excess and imbalanced humours and thus not be polluted by them, whereas women lack the heat to do so. This leads to both menstruation (explained as the purging of those poisonous excess humours) and to their desire for sex - sex generates the heat they lack and male seed provides heat as well. This is why women are always UP FOR IT. It is also important for men and women to have regular sex as a mechanism to keep their bodily humours in the correct balance.
by Spencer Houghton 9 April 2021
The simple answer to this question is yes; Black People (People of African dependency) had been part of the British landscape for 1500 years when the Civil War broke out. Earliest records of Black people in Britain goes back to 210AD when a Black Roman soldier was described in military records as “this Ethiopian of great frame amongst clowns and good for a laugh”. Later in the 3rd Century up to 500 Roman cavalry originating from Sudan and Ethiopia who were part of the Muarorum Aurelianorum which was named after Emperor Marcus Aurelius who was described as a “Moor”. More evidence of Black troops being part of Roman Britain on Hadrian’s Wall at a fort at Aballava near Burgh by Sands , Carlisle and modern DNA testing of the existing inhabitants shows much higher than average levels of African DNA indicating that they troops mingled with the local indigenous population potentially marrying and having families. Archaeological excavations in Sycamore Terrace, York discovered a 4th Century high status stone coffin containing the remains of the “Ivory Bangle Lady” who was a sub Saharan Black lady about 5 foot tall who died in her early 20’s. She was well nourished and the grave was adorned with high status grave goods. The archaeologists suspected she could have been the wife of a senior military commander or a successful trader. Continued excavations on the site and the subsequent DNA testing of skeleton’s led to an estimate that up to 10% of this important Roman city had their origins in Africa. Not all evidence of Black people in early Britain were directly related to the Roman army, in 1953 the discovery of “Beachy Head Lady” during an excavation of an early Anglo-Saxon cemetery from about 200-245AD that raised in excess of 300 skeleton’s. This one skeleton, during DNA testing, showed that this young woman originated sub-Saharan Africa although brought up and lived for some time in Sussex.
by Spencer Houghton 9 April 2021
As many of you know, I do medieval (War of the Roses) re-enactment in my spare time and a lot of this takes the form of archery and not just dressing up in lots of tin and battering each other One of the questions that is asked by the public is about the use and effectiveness of the longbow compared with the matchlock. From my personal point of view, I would take a longbow over a musket any day but apart from the illustrations by William Neade’s Double Armed Man project of 1625, I have not seen any real evidence of its use However, I did stumble across an excerpt from a book called “Seventeenth-Century Military Archery” by E.T Fox that provides evidence of significant use and some lovely illustrations. The author explains how as a weapon of war, the longbow began to fall from favour in the sixteenth century, so much so that King Henry VIII had to introduce a number of statutes enforcing the practicing of archery in an attempt to maintain a force of available archers if required. In Queen Elizabeth I reign, the longbow less and less popular until, in 1589, her Privy Council reorganised the trained bands and removed archers from their ranks. With its strong tradition though, the longbow didn’t disappear and its use continued particularly in provincial and rural regions well into the seventeenth century. In Repton, Derbyshire, mustered militia men had “a cote and bowe and a shiffe of arrows and a quiver” in the reign of James I and as late as 1628, Sir Phillip Carteret wrote that Jersey had a force of 3000 able bodied men for the defence of the island, of whom 300 were armed with musket and pikes, “the rest having bows, bills and unarmed” As late as 1638, the Earl of Arundel at Carlisle requested, “some quantity of bows with offensive arrows should be poured into the bordering shires of Cumbria, Northumberland and Westmorland” During the seventeenth century there were a number of schemes to revive the use of the longbow, the best known of which is probably the famous William Neade’s project of 1625 that we all know as the “Double Armed Man”. Neade’s idea was that by arming a pikeman with a longbow in addition to the pike, they would no longer be restricted to standing around on the battlefield getting shot for the majority of the time and waiting just in case they were needed to defend the remaining troops from cavalry. Armed with a longbow they would have an offensive role in addition to their defensive capability.
by Tim Edwards 9 April 2021
Key Points... There is occasional evidence for the use of tents by ordinary soldiers, but billeting in existing civilian buildings or purpose built huts was far more common. Tents were normally the preserve of officers during the English Civil War. The use of tents by regular soldiers was much more common during the contemporary wars in Ireland and Scotland. Where tents were used en masse, they seem to have been made to a standard design: 7ft square and 6ft high, to accommodate a file of six soldiers. Introduction... This article is formed of two parts: the evidence for tent use by soldiers during the Civil Wars, and where issued, the form and fabric of such tents. Our focus is on the British Isles during the 1640s and 1650s. Evidence from the continent and from earlier and later eras is incorporated into Part Two, as it helps to inform our overall understanding and acts as bridge across knowledge gaps when we are compelled to make choices in physical reconstruction. Two surviving examples of 17th century tents, from Austria and Switzerland, are used as examples of tent-making techniques. The layout and organisation of camps, or castramentation, is a vast subject by its self, and will not be examined in this article. Mark will be leading a separate debate over the choices we have in portraying a 17th century encampment. Part One: The Nature of Evidence for Tent Usage There is evidence for use of tents by common soldiers during the English Civil War, however it is very limited. There is a comprehensive and objective summary of the available evidence in A.J.Rowland’s “Military Encampments of the English Civil Wars”, published by Stuart Press. I would heartily recommend anyone with an interest in the subject to beg, borrow or steal a copy. Factors in Choosing Shelter. Therefore, the type of overnight shelter available to our generic ECW infantryman would depend upon a series of factors – the tactical activity of the unit, coherent forward planning, the weather, the availability of civilian buildings, time available for setting up the camp, and time in place, availability of timber and thatch, and the immediacy of the threat posed by the adversary. Billeting as the Default Option Suffice to say, it appears that sleeping in billets (requisitioned civilian buildings) was most common, for most soldiers, most of the time. Suitable billeting sites would be planned and reconnoitred in advance. Only on occasion were soldiers forced to sleep outside, under which circumstances hedges, bushes and trees served as overnight shelters. Better Hutting than Tenting. Where time allowed impromptu shelters known as ‘huts ‘were built, but this was dependent on arrival at the campsite early enough for the surrounding countryside to be ransacked for wood and thatching. Despite the time required to build, and resulting impact on local communities, huts appear to have been preferred over tents. When well constructed, they would be more weatherproof than the average tent and when no longer required could simply be burned rather than require transportation. Fig 1: An officer’s tent, with sentinel. Detail from the portrait of Sir Horace Vere (Sir Thomas Fairfax’s father in-law)
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