Bernard Cornwell

Battle of Assaye

2010-07-03T02:06:00.000-07:00

From August 1803, Wellesley's army and a separate force under the command of his subordinate Colonel James Stevenson had been pursuing the Maratha cavalry-based army which threatened to raid south into Hyderabad. After several weeks of pursuit and countermarching, Scindia reinforced the combined Maratha army with his Europeanised infantry and artillery as the British forces closed in on his position.Wellesley received intelligence indicating the location of the Maratha encampment on 21 September and devised a plan whereby his two armies would converge on the Maratha position three days later. Wellesley's force, however, encountered the Maratha army – which was under the command of Colonel Anthony Pohlmann – 6 miles (9.7 km) farther south than he anticipated. Although outnumbered, Wellesley resolved to attack at once, believing that the Maratha army would soon move off. Both sides suffered heavily in the ensuing battle; Maratha artillery caused large numbers of casualties among Wellesley's troops but the vast numbers of Maratha cavalry proved largely ineffective. A combination of bayonet and cavalry charges eventually forced the Maratha army to retreat with the loss of most of their guns, but Wellesley's army was too battered and exhausted to pursue.

Wellesley's victory at Assaye, preceded by the capture of Ahmednagar and followed by victories at Argaon and Gawilghur, resulted in the defeat of Scindia and Berar's armies in the Deccan. Wellesley's progress in the Deccan was matched by Lieutenant General Gerard Lake's successful campaigns in Northern India and led to the British becoming the dominant power in the heartlands of India.

picture wellesley: Lord Mornington, the Governor-General of British India between 1798 and 1805, oversaw a rapid expansion of British territory in India.

Feuding between the two dominant powers within the Maratha Confederacy, Yashwant Rao Holkar and Daulat Rao Scindia, led to civil war at the turn of the 19th century. The hostilities culminated in the Battle of Poona in October 1802 where Holkar defeated a combined army of Scindia and Baji Rao II – the Peshwa and nominal overlord of the Confederacy. Scindia retreated into his dominions to the north, but Baji Rao was driven from his territory and sought refuge with the East India Company at Bassein. He appealed to the Company for assistance, offering to accept its authority if he were restored to his principality at Poona. Lord Mornington, the ambitious Governor-General of British India, seized on the opportunity to extend Company influence into the Confederacy which he perceived as the final obstacle to British paramountcy over the Indian subcontinent.

The Treaty of Bassein was signed in December 1802 whereby the Company agreed to restore Baji Rao in return for control over his foreign affairs and a garrison of 6,000 Company troops permanently stationed in Poona. The restoration was commanded by Lord Mornington’s younger brother, Major General Arthur Wellesley, who in March 1803 marched on Poona from Mysore with 15,000 Company troops and 9,000 Hyderabad allies. Wellesley entered Poona without opposition on 20 April, and Baji Rao was formally restored to his throne on 13 May.

The treaty gave offence to the other Maratha leaders, who deemed that the system of subsidiary alliances with the British was an unwarranted interference into their affairs and fatal to the independent Maratha states. The Maratha leaders refused to submit to the Peshwa's authority and tensions were raised further when Holkar raided into Hyderabad in May, claiming that the Nizam of Hyderabad (a British ally) owed him money. Mornington consequently engaged the various Maratha chieftains in negotiations.

Lieutenant Colonel John Collins was sent to Scindia's camp to discuss his objections and propose a defensive alliance. However, Scindia had formed a military alliance with the Rajah of Berar in view to bringing the Maratha leaders into a coalition against the British, and had begun to mass his forces on the Nizam's border. Wellesley, who had been given control over the Company's military and political affairs in central India in June, demanded Scindia declare his intentions and withdraw his forces or face the prospect of war. After a protracted period of negotiations, Collins reported to Wellesley on 3 August that Scindia refused to give an answer and would not withdraw his troops. Wellesley's response was to declare war on Scindia and Berar "in order to secure the interests of the British government and its allies".The East India Company attacked the two principal Maratha forces of Scindia and the Raja of Berar from the north and the south. Of the other Maratha leaders, Holkar was hesitant to enter the war in cooperation with his rival, Scindia, and remained aloof from the hostilities, and the Gaekwad of Baroda placed himself under British protection. Operations in the north were directed by Lieutenant General Gerard Lake who entered Maratha territory from Cawnpore to face Scindia's main army which was commanded by the French mercenary, Pierre Perron. A second British force under the command of Major General Wellesley confronted a combined army of Scindia and Berar in the Deccan.

Wellesley was determined to gain the initiative through offensive action and told his senior subordinate, Colonel James Stevenson, that "a long defensive war would ruin us and will answer no purpose whatever".The Maratha army in the Deccan was largely composed of fast-moving cavalry able to live off the land. Consequently, Wellesley planned to work in conjunction with a separate force under Colonel Stevenson to enable his slower troops to out-manoeuvre the Maratha army and force it into a position where it could not avoid a pitched battle. Stevenson was despatched from Hyderabad with an army of some 10,000 men to Jafarabad to deny Scindia and Berar the chance to raid east into the Nizam's territory. In the meantime, Wellesley moved north from his camp near the Godavari River on 8 August with some 13,500 troops and headed towards Scindia's nearest stronghold – the walled town and fort at Ahmednuggur. The bulk of his forces were Company troops from Mysore: five sepoy infantry battalions of the Madras Native Infantry and three squadrons of Madras Native Cavalry. A contingent of European troops were supplied by the British Army and included cavalry from the 19th Light Dragoons and two battalions of Scottish infantry from the 74th and 78th Regiment of Foot. Irregular light cavalry were also provided by the Company's Mysore and Maratha allies.

Wellesley reached Ahmednuggur later the same day after a 7-mile (11 km) march and immediately ordered an escalade assault on the town rather than enter into a time-consuming siege.

The walled town, which was garrisoned by 1,000 Arab mercenaries, upwards of 60 cannon and one of Scindia’s infantry battalions under the command of French officers, was captured with minimal losses after a brief action. The adjacent fort's defenders capitulated four days later once the walls were breached by British artillery. With the fortification providing a logistics base and point of support for future operations into Maratha territory, Wellesley installed a garrison and headed north towards the Nizam's city of Aurungabad. Along the way he captured Scindia’s other possessions south of the Godavari and established a series of guarded bridges and ferries along the river to maintain his communication and supply lines.

Map of the Assaye campaign

The Marathas slipped past Stevenson and advanced on Hyderabad. After receiving reports of their movement on 30 August, Wellesley hurried east down to the Godavari to intercept. Stevenson, meanwhile, marched westwards to the Maratha city of Jalna which he took by storm. Scindia learned of Wellesley's intentions and returned to a position north of Jalna. Unable to make a clean break from the pursuing British he abandoned plans to raid into Hyderabad and instead assembled his infantry and artillery. The combined Maratha army was around 50,000 strong, the core of which was 10,800 well equipped regular infantry organised into three brigades, trained and commanded by European adventurer and mercenary officers. Colonel Anthony Pohlmann, a Hanoverian and former East India Company sergeant, commanded the largest brigade with eight battalions. A further brigade with five battalions was provided by Begum Samru, and was commanded on her behalf by a Frenchman, Colonel Jean Saleur.

The third brigade had four battalions and was commanded by Dutchman, Major John James Dupont. In addition, the Maratha force included 10,000–20,000 of Berar's irregular infantry, some 30,000–40,000 irregular light cavalry and over 100 guns ranging in size from one to 18-pounders.After several weeks of chasing down the Maratha army, Wellesley and Stevenson met at Budnapoor on 21 September and received intelligence that the Maratha army was at Borkardan, around 30 miles (48 km) to the north. They agreed a plan by which their two armies – moving separately along either side of a range of hills with Wellesley to the east and Stevenson to the west – would converge on Borkardan on 24 September. Wellesley's force reached Paugy on the afternoon of 22 September and departed camp before dawn. By noon, the army had marched 14 miles (23 km) to Naulniah, a small town 12 miles (19 km) south of Borkardan, where they intended to rest before joining Stevenson to attack the Maratha army the next day.

At this point, Wellesley received further intelligence that rather than being at Borkardan, the Maratha army was camped just 5 miles (8.0 km) north, but their cavalry had moved off and the infantry were about to follow.At about 13:00, Wellesley went forward with a cavalry escort to reconnoitre the Maratha position. The rest of his army followed closely behind apart from a battalion of sepoys left at Naulniah to guard the baggage. In all, Wellesley had 4,500 troops at his disposal plus 5,000 Mysore and Maratha horse and 17 cannon. Aware that the British were nearby, The Maratha chiefs had positioned their army in a strong defensive position along a tongue of land stretching east from Borkardan between the Kailna River and its tributary the Juah. However, Scindia and Berar did not believe Wellesley would attack with his small force and had moved off from the area in the morning. Command of their army was given to Pohlmann, who had positioned his infantry to the east of the Maratha camp in the plains around the village of Assaye on the southern bank of the Juah.

To his surprise, Wellesley found the entire combined army before him. Nevertheless, he resolved to attack at once, believing that if he waited for Stevenson, the Marathas would have the chance to slip away and force the pursuit to drag on. Wellesley was also eager to forge a reputation for himself, and despite his numerical disadvantage, he was confident that the Maratha’s irregular forces would be swept aside by his disciplined troops, and only Scindia’s regular infantry could be expected to stand and fight.

Pohlmann struck camp and deployed his infantry battalions in a line facing southwards behind the steep banks of the Kailna with his cannon arrayed directly in front. The great mass of Maratha cavalry was kept on the right flank and Berar's irregular infantry garrisoned Assaye to the rear.

The only observable crossing point over the river was a small ford directly ahead of the Maratha position. Pohlmann's strategy was to funnel the British and Madras troops across the ford into the mouth of his cannon, and then on to the massed infantry and cavalry behind. Wellesley's local guides assured him that no other ford existed nearby, but he quickly discarded the option of a frontal assault as suicide. While reconnoitring he had noticed two unguarded villages, Peepulgaon and Waroor, one on each bank of the Kailna beyond the Maratha left. On the assumption that a ford must exist between the two villages, Wellesley ordered the area to be further reconnoitred by his Chief Engineer, Captain John Johnson, who reported that there was indeed a ford at that spot.

Thus Wellesley led his army east to the crossing in an attempt to launch an attack on Pohlmann's left flank. At around 15:00, the British crossed to the northern bank of the Kaitna unopposed apart from a distant harassing fire from the Maratha cannon which was largely inaccurate but succeeded in decapitating Wellesley's dragoon orderly. Once across, Wellesley ordered his six infantry battalions to form into two lines, with his cavalry as a reserve in a third.

His allied Maratha and Mysore cavalry were ordered to remain south of the Kaitna to keep in check a large body of Maratha cavalry which hovered around the British rear. Pohlmann soon recognised Wellesley’s intentions and swung his infantry and guns through 90 degrees to establish a new line spread approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) across the isthmus with their right flank on the Kaitna and the left on Assaye. Although the new position secured the Maratha flanks, it restricted Pohlmann from bringing his superior numbers into action.The Maratha redeployment was swifter and more efficient than Wellesley had anticipated and he immediately reacted by extending his front to deny Pohlmann the opportunity to out-flank him. A battalion of pickets and the 74th Highlanders, which formed the right of the first and second lines, were ordered to move obliquely to the right. This allowed the 78th to anchor the left flank and Madras infantry battalions (the 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/4th and 2/12th) to form the centre of the British line.

Wellesley's intention was to force back the Marathas from their guns and then – operating by his left to avoid the heavily defended Assaye – throw them back on the Juah and complete their destruction with his cavalry.Map of the battle. The British and Indian infantry move forward to attack the redeployed Maratha line.The Maratha cannonade intensified as the British redeployed. Although British artillery was brought forward to counter, it was ineffective against the mass firepower of the Maratha guns and quickly disabled through the weight of shot directed against it. British casualties mounted as the Maratha guns turned their attention to the infantry and subjected them to a barrage of canister, grape and round shot. Wellesley decided that his only option to neutralise the artillery and get his men out of the killing field was to advance directly into the mouth of the Maratha artillery. He ordered his cannon to be abandoned and gave the command for his infantry to march forward with bayonets fixed.

The Maratha cannonade punched holes in the British line, but the infantry maintained a steady pace, closing up the gaps in their ranks as they advanced. The 78th Highlanders were the first to reach the enemy in the southern sector next to the River Kailna. They paused 50 yards (46 m) from the Maratha gunners and unleashed a volley of musket fire before launching into a bayonet charge. The four battalions of Madras infantry to the right of the 78th, accompanied by the Madras Pioneers, reached Pohlmann's line shortly afterwards and attacked in the same fashion. The gunners stood by their cannon but were no match for the bayonets of the British and Madras troops who swiftly pressed on towards the Maratha infantry. However, instead of meeting the charge, the Maratha right broke and fled northwards towards the Juah, causing the rest of the southern half of the line to follow. The officers of the Madras battalions temporarily lost control as the sepoys, encouraged by their success, pushed too far pursuit. Maratha cavalry momentarily threatened to charge but were checked by the 78th who remained in order and re-formed to face the danger.

In the northern sector of the battle field however, Wellesley's right flank was in turmoil. The commander of the pickets, Lieutenant Colonel William Orrock, had mistaken his orders and continued his oblique path directly towards Assaye. Major Samuel Swinton of the 74th regiment was ordered to support the pickets and followed close behind. This created a large gap in the centre of the British line, and brought the two battalions under a barrage of cannonade from the artillery around the village and the Maratha left. The two battalions began to fall back in disarray and Pohlmann ordered his remaining infantry and cavalry forward to attack. The Marathas gave no quarter; the pickets were virtually annihilated but the remnants of the 74th were able to form a rough square behind hastily piled bodies of dead.

Realising that the destruction of his right would leave his army exposed and out-flanked, Wellesley ordered a detachment of British cavalry under Colonel Patrick Maxwell consisting of the 19th Light Dragoons and elements of the 4th and 5th Madras Native Cavalry into action. From their position at the rear, the cavalry dashed directly towards the 74th's square, crashed into the swarming attackers and routed them. Maxwell pressed his advantage and continued his charge into the Maratha infantry and guns on the left, driving them backwards and across the Juah "with great slaughter".A number of Maratha gunners who had feigned death when the British advanced over their position re-manned their guns and began to pour cannon fire into the rear of the 74th and Madras infantry. Wellesley ordered his four sepoy battalions to re-form and ward off any threat from the Maratha infantry and cavalry while the 78th were sent back to retake the Maratha gun line. Wellesley, meanwhile, galloped back to 7th Madras Native Cavalry, which had been held back in reserve to the east, and led a cavalry charge from the opposite direction. The gunners again stood their ground but were eventually driven from their guns and this time it was ensured that all those who remained were dead.

While Wellesley was preoccupied with re-taking the gun line, Pohlmann rallied his infantry and redeployed them into a semicircle with their backs to the Juah; their right flank across the river and their left in Assaye. However, most of the Maratha cannon, which had inflicted heavy losses on Wellesley's infantry, had been captured or lay abandoned on the battlefield. Reluctant to join the fray, the Maratha cavalry lingered in the distance to the west. Most were Pindarries: loosely organised and lightly armed horsemen whose traditional role was to cut down fleeing enemy troops, harass convoy lines and carry out raids into enemy territory. They were not trained to attack well-formed infantry or heavily armed European cavalry, and did not play a further part in the battle.With the remanned Maratha artillery silenced, Wellesley turned his attention to Pohlmann's reformed infantry. Although Maxwell had suffered heavy losses, he had rallied his cavalry and returned to the field of battle. Wellesley ordered him to charge the Maratha left flank, while the infantry moved forward as a single line to meet the centre and right. The cavalry spurred forward but were met with a volley of canister shot which struck Maxwell, killing him instantly. Their momentum lost, the cavalry did not complete their charge but veered away from the Maratha line at the last moment.

The British and Madras infantry marched on against the Maratha position but Pohlmann's men, their morale low, did not wait for the attack and instead retreated northwards across the Juah. Descriptions differ as to the manner of their departure: Maratha sources claim the line marched away from the battlefield in an orderly manner on Pohlmann's orders but British accounts claim the Maratha infantry fled in an uncontrolled panic. Berar's irregulars inside Assaye, now leaderless and having witnessed the fate of the regular infantry, abandoned the village and marched off northwards at around 18:00, followed shortly afterwards by the Maratha cavalry. Wellesley's troops, however, were exhausted and in no condition to pursue and the native allied cavalry which had remained on the south bank of the Kailna and had not been engaged, refused to pursue without the support of the British and Madras cavalry

Assaye elephant emblem awarded to the Madras Sappers

The East India Company and British Army casualties amounted to 428 killed, 1138 wounded and 18 missing; a total of 1,584 – over a third of the force engaged in combat. The 74th and the picket battalion were decimated; from a strength of about 500, the 74th lost ten officers killed and seven wounded, and 124 other ranks killed and 270 wounded. The pickets lost all their officers except their commander, Lieutenant Colonel William Orrock, and had only about 75 men remaining. Of the ten officers forming the general's staff, eight were wounded or had their horses killed. Wellesley himself lost two horses; the first was shot from underneath him and the second was speared as he led the charge to re-capture the Maratha gun line. The number of Maratha casualties is more difficult to ascertain.

Despatches from British officers give a figure of 1,200 dead and many more wounded but contemporary historians have estimated a total of 6,000 dead and wounded. The Marathas also surrendered seven stands of colours, large amounts of stores and ammunition and 98 cannon – most of which were later taken into service by the East India Company. Although Scindia and Berar's army was not finished as a fighting force, several of Scindia's regular infantry battalions and artillery crews had been destroyed. Their command structure had also been damaged: many of their European officers, including Colonel Pohlmann and Major Dupont, surrendered to the Company – which had offered amnesty to Europeans in the service of the Maratha armies – or deserted and sought employment with other native chieftains. The sound of the guns at Assaye was heard by Stevenson who immediately broke up his camp 10 miles (16 km) miles to the west in an attempt to join the battle.

However, he was misled by his guide and marched first on Borkardan before he reached the battlefield on the evening of 24 September. Suspecting that his guide had intentionally led him astray, Stevenson later had him hanged. He remained with Wellesley to assist with the wounded – troops were still being carried from the battlefield four days after the engagement – until ordered to recommence the pursuit of the Maratha army on 26 September. Wellesley remained to the south while he established a hospital at Ajanta and awaited reinforcements from Poona. Two months later, he combined with Stevenson to rout Scindia and Berar's demoralised and weakened army at Argaon, and shortly afterwards stormed Berar's fortress at Gawilghur. These victories, coupled with Lieutenant General Lake's successful campaign in the north, induced the two Maratha chiefs to sue for peace.

Wellesley later told Stevenson that "I should not like to see again such a loss as I sustained on the 23rd September, even if attended by such a gain", and in later life he referred to Assaye as "the bloodiest for the numbers that I ever saw". Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Munro, the Company's district collector at Mysore, was critical of the high proportion of casualties and questioned Wellesley's decision not to wait for Stevenson. He wrote to Wellesley: "I am tempted to think that you did it with a view of sharing the glory with the smallest numbers". In response, Wellesley politely rebuffed Munro's accusations and defended his action as necessary because he had received and acted upon incorrect intelligence regarding the Maratha position.

Lord Mornington and his Council lauded the battle as a "most brilliant and important victory", and presented each of the Madras units and British regiments involved in the engagement with a set of honorary colours. The British regiments and native units were also awarded the Assaye battle honour and most were later given permission to adopt an Assaye elephant as part of their insignia.

A public monument was also erected by the East India Company at Fort William, Calcutta to commemorate the victory. The 74th Regiment of foot later became known as the Assaye regiment due to their stand at the battle and their modern-day successors, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 SCOTS), still celebrate the anniversary of the battle each year. Of the native infantry battalions, In the Indian Army, only the Madras Sappers survive in their original form but do not celebrate Assaye as it has been declared a repugnant battle honour by the Government of India.

Bibliography

Bennell, Anthony S. (1998), The Maratha War Papers of Arthur Wellesley, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0750920696

Biddulph, John (1899), The Nineteenth and their times, London: Murray, http://www.archive.org/details/nineteenththeirt00bidduoft

Black, Jeremy (1999), Britain as a Military Power, 1688-1815, London: Routledge, ISBN 185728772X

Bradshaw, John (1894), Rulers of India: Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 8120618718, http://www.archive.org/details/sirthomasmunroa00bradgoog

Cooper, Randolph G. S. (2003), The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521824443

Corrigan, Gordon (2006), Wellington: A Military Life, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1852855150

Gurwood, John, ed. (1837), The dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington from 1799-1818, II, London: Murray, ISBN 054860472X,

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=zHwBAAAAQAAJ&printsec=titlepage&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0

Holmes, Richard (2003), Wellington: The Iron Duke, London: Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-713750-8

Millar, Simon (2006), Assaye 1803: Wellington's First and 'Bloodiest' Victory, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1846030013

Roy, Kaushik (2004), India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, ISBN 8178241099

Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1933), The Military Engineer in India, Vol I, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1948), The Indian Sappers and Miners, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers Severn, John Kenneth (2007), Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers, Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806138106

Singh, Sarbans (1993), Battle Honours of the Indian Army 1757–1971, New Delhi: Vision Books, ISBN 81-7094-115-6

Thorn, William (1818), Memoir of the War in India, London: Thomas Egerton Weller, Jac (1972), Wellington in India, London: Longman, ISBN 058212784X

Wellesley, Gerald, ed. (1956), The Conversations of the First Duke of Wellington with George William Chad, Cambridge: Saint Nicolas Press

Indian adventure

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The events depicted in the Sharpe stories also take this "brilliant but wayward" soldier into conflicts other than the Napoleonic wars, for example the earliest tales take us to India under the command of the East India Company and chronicle Sharpe's years spent in the ranks.
During the late 18th Century, The British Empire would be found in a great many parts of the globe and one particular jewel in the crown was India. In the stories, Sharpe serves four years as Armoury Sergeant in Seringapatam, which was the location in 1799 of a hugely significant battle.
The Battle of Seringapatam was important because it was the final confrontation between the British and Tipu Sultan, the Tiger of Mysore, who was killed when the British broke into the fortress. Because of the British victory, the fate of India changed forever, as did English dominance in the continent.
Being a fictional hero, Sharpe's creator Cornwell frankly admits he has taken license with history, often placing Sharpe in the place of another man whose identity is lost to history. These achievements include killing the Tipu Sultan at Seringapatam, saving Wellesley's life at the Battle of Assaye and personally taking command of a regiment that drives off the French Imperial Guard at Waterloo.
However, the fact that the character of Sharpe is so closely intertwined with such key events in European history means that the series has great opportunities to reveal the bloodshed, drama and European politics that erupted during this period, while at the same time spinning more cracking good swashbuckling yarns than you can shake a sword at! The Siege of Seringapatam (4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then known) and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's ruler, was killed in the action. The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty to the throne after the victory, but retained indirect control of the kingdom.

The battle consisted of a series of encounters around Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then called) in the months of April and May 1799, between the combined forces of the British East India Company and their allies, numbering over 50,000 soldiers in all, and the soldiers of the Kingdom of Mysore, ruled by Tippu Sultan, numbering up to 30,000. The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War came to an end with the defeat and death of Tippu Sultan in the battle.
When the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out, the British assembled two large columns under General George Harris. The first consisted of over 26,000 British East India Company troops, 4,000 of whom were European while the rest were local Indian sepoys. The second column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and consisted of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry. Together, the allied force numbered over 50,000 soldiers. Tippu's forces had been depleted by the Third Anglo-Mysore War and the consequent loss of half his kingdom, but he still probably had up to 30,000 soldiers.

The British forces consisted of the following:
12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot 19th Light Dragoons 25th Light Dragoons 33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot 73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot 74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot 75th (Highland) Regiment of Foot 77th Regiment of Foot Scotch Brigade [later 94th Regiment]
The Indian (sepoy) forces consisted of the following:
1st Madras Native Infantry 2nd Madras Native Infantry 1st Madras Native Cavalry 2nd Madras Native Cavalry 3rd Madras Native Cavalry 4th Madras Native Cavalry Madras Pioneers Madras Artillery 1st Bengal Native Infantry 2nd Bengal Native Infantry Bengal Artillery.

Seringapatam was besieged by the British forces on 5 April 1799. The River Cauvery, which flowed around the city of Seringapatam, was at its lowest level of the year and could be forded by infantry — if an assault commenced before the monsoon. When letters were exchanged with Tippu, it seemed that the Sultan was playing for time. He requested two persons to be sent to him for discussions and also stated that he was preoccupied with hunting expeditions. Tippu Sultan's prime minister, Mir Saadiq, was a traitor bought by the British. He pulled out the Mysore army for paying wages in the midst of the battle, thus allowing British forces to storm the boundary wall with little defence. Another key treachery to help the British was the spilling of water in the basements where the Sultan's army stored its gunpowder, which rendered the gunpowder useless.

The Governor-General of the East India Company, Richard Wellesley, planned the opening of a breach in the walls of Seringapatam. The location of the breach, as noted by Beatson, the author of an account of the Fourth Mysore War, was 'in the west curtain, a little to the right of the flank of the north-west bastion. This being the old rampart appeared weaker than the new.' The Mysorean defence succeeded in preventing the establishment of a battery on the north side of the River Cauvery on 22 April 1799. However, by 1 May, working at night, the British had completed their southern batteries and brought them up to the wall. At sunrise on 2 May, the batteries of the Nizam of Hyderabad succeeded in opening a practical breach in the outer wall. In addition, the mines that were laid under the breach were hit by artillery and blew up prematurely.

The leader of the British troops was Major General David Baird, an implacable enemy of the Sultan: twenty years earlier, he had been held captive by the Sultan for 44 months. The storming troops, including men of the 73rd and 74th regiments, clambered up the breach and fought their way along the ramparts. After the Company troops had taken the city, the Sultan's body was found among the dead, shot in the head and stripped of his jewels.
The assault was to begin at 1:00 p.m. to coincide with the hottest part of the day when the defenders would be taking refreshment. Led by two forlorn-hopes, two columns would advance upon the defences around the breach, then wheel right and left to take over the fortifications. A third reserve column, commanded by Arthur Wellesley would deploy as required to provide support where needed.
At 11:00 a.m., on 4 May 1799, the British troops were briefed and whisky and a biscuit issued to the European soldiers, before the signal to attack was given. The forlorn-hopes, numbering seventy-six men, led the charge. The columns quickly formed, were ordered to fix bayonets, and began to move forward. The storming party dashed across the River Cauvery in water four feet deep, with covering fire from British batteries, and within 16 minutes had scaled the ramparts and swept aside the defenders quickly.
The column that rounded the northwest corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a short fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging loaded hunting weapons, passed to him by servants in his service, at the British. After the fall of the city, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of Tippu Sultan. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the offenders, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate.

The Siege is depicted in:

Wilkie Collins's novel The Moonstone begins with the looting of the jewels removed from Seringapatam in 1799 from the legendary treasury of Tippu Saltan. The Battle of Seringapatam was adapted, and was the main conflict in the novel Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.
Two cannon captured by the British during the battle are now placed in front of the officers mess at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.
Elizabeth Longford (Elizabeth Harman Pakenham, Countess of Longford), 1996, Wellington: The Years of the Sword, Smithmark Pub, New York, ISBN 978-0831756468. Jac Weller, 2006, Wellington in India, Greenhill Books, London, ISBN 978-1853673979

http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/regiments.html http://www.napoleon-series.org/greenhill/library/c_weller_india.html

Siege at Srirangapattana /Seringapatam

2010-07-03T01:13:00.000-07:00

Srirangapattana (Kannada: ಶ್ರೀರಂಗಪಟ್ಟಣ) (also spelled Srirangapatna; anglicized to Seringapatam during the British Raj) is a town in Mandya district of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located near the city of Mysore and is of great religious, cultural and historic importance.
Although situated a mere 19 km from Mysore city, Srirangapattana lies in the neighbouring district of Mandya. The entire town is enclosed by the river Kaveri to form an island, northern half of which is shown in the image to the right. While the main river flows on the eastern side of the island, the Paschima Vaahini segment of the same river flows to its west.

Ranganatha Temple

Srirangapattana has since time immemorial been an urban center and place of pilgrimage. During the Vijayanagar empire, it became the seat of a major viceroyalty, from where several nearby vassal states of the empire, such as Mysore and Talakad, were overseen. When, perceiving the decline of the Vijayanagar empire, the rulers of Mysore ventured to assert independence, Srirangapattana was their first target. Raja Wodeyar vanquished Rangaraya, the then viceroy of Srirangapattana, in 1610 and celebrated the Navaratri festival in the town that year. It came to be accepted in time that two things demonstrated control and signified sovereignty over the Kingdom of Mysore by any claimant to the throne:
Successful holding of the 10-day-long Navaratri festival, dedicated to Chamundeshwari, patron goddess of Mysore; Control of the fort of Srirangapattana, the fortification nearest to the capital city of Mysore. Srirangapattana remained part of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1610 to after India's independence in 1947; as the fortress closest to the capital city of Mysore, it was the last bastion and defence of the kingdom in case of invasion.

View of the Hoally Gateway, where Tipu Sultan was killed, Seringapatam (Mysore).

Srirangapattana became the de facto capital of Mysore under Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan. When Tipu finally dispensed with the charade of deference to the legitimate Wodeyar Maharaja who was actually his captive, and proclaimed the "Khudadad State" under his own kingship, Srirangapattana became de jure the capital of that short-lived political entity. In that heady period, the state ruled by Tipu extended its frontiers in every direction, encompassing a major portion of South India. Srirangapattana flourished as the cosmopolitan capital of this powerful state. Various Indo-Islamic monuments that dot the town, such as Tipu Sultan's palaces, the Darya Daulat and the Jumma Maseedi (Friday congregational mosque), date from this period.

Flintlock Blunderbuss Tipoo Sahib Seringapatam 1793 1794

Srirangapattana was the scene of the last and decisive battle fought between Tipu Sultan and a combined force of 50,000 men provided equally by the Nizam of Hyderabad and the British under the overall command of General Harris. This battle was the last engagement of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War. The Battle of Seringapatam, 1799, was truly momentous in its historic effects.

In any event, Tipu Sultan was killed within the fort of Srirangapattana, betrayed infamously by one of his own confidants; the spot where he ultimately fell is marked by a memorial. For the last time in history, Srirangapattana had been the scene of political change in the Kingdom of Mysore. The joint forces of the victorious army proceeded to plunder Srirangapattana and ransack Tipu's palace. Apart from the usual gold and cash, innumerable valuables and objets d'art, not excepting even the personal effects of Tipu Sultan, his rich clothes and shoes, sword and firearms, were shipped to England.
While most of this is now to be found in the British Royal Collection and in the Victoria and Albert Museum, some articles have occasionally become available at auctions and have been retrieved for their native land. The sword of Tipu Sultan has been acquired by Vijay Mallya, a liquor baron from Karnataka, who purchased the same at a Sotheby's auction.

Tippu Mausoleum

The fall of Srirangapattana to the Wodeyar dynasty in 1614 is much celebrated in local ballad and legend, one of which concerns a curse put upon the Wodeyars by Alamelamma, the lamenting wife of the defeated Vijayanagar viceroy. In fulfillment of that curse, no ruling Maharaja of Mysore has ever had children; the succession has inevitably devolved upon brothers, nephews or adopted heirs, or on children born to the Maharaja before his accession, but never has a child been born to a ruling Maharaja.

Daria Daulat ,The Palace of Tipu Sulthan

Indian Was: Sharpe's Tiger

2010-07-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Sharpe's Tiger is Bernard Cornwell's return to the Richard Sharpe series of novels, set during his early years in India. This is Cornwell's device to find prequel material for his hero. First published in 1997, more novels were to follow, both in India and the Western theatre of the Napoleonic Wars.
The first (chronologically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and of the Sharpe India trilogy, by the English author Bernard Cornwell. It takes place in Mysore, India and tells of Sharpe's adventures and triumphs against the Tipu Sultan during the Siege of Seringapatam.

Plot summary

Up to this time Cornwell had been going back through the period of the Napoleonic Wars to find new incidents into which to place his hero. Rather than do this, he adopts a "prequel" approach and uses an earlier campaign period in the history of the British Army, that of colonial India.
The novel opens with Richard Sharpe serving as a private with the British army, then invading Mysore and advancing on the Tippoo Sultan's capital city of Seringapatam. Sharpe is contemplating desertion with his paramour, widow Mary Bickerstaff. His sadistic company sergeant, Obadiah Hakeswill, deliberately provokes Sharpe into attacking him, and engineers the virtual death sentence of 2,000 lashes for the private. But Sharpe is rescued by Lieutenant William Lawford after 200 lashes are inflicted, in order to effect a rescue mission behind the Tippoo's lines.
Lawford and Sharpe are ordered to pose as deserters to rescue Colonel Hector McCandless, chief of the British East India Company's intelligence service. Although Lawford is nominally in command, Sharpe quickly dominates the lieutenant by force of personality and, without authorization, brings Mary on the mission. Joining the Tippoo's army, they discover that the Tippoo has set a trap for the invading British by mining the weakest (and thus most inviting) portion of Seringapatam's walls.
Before Sharpe and Lawford can discover a way to transmit a warning to the British, they are betrayed by Sergeant Hakeswill. Hakeswill has been captured in battle and the Tippoo orders him made a human sacrifice for victory, but Hakeswill secures the Sultan's mercy in exchange for revealing Sharpe's and Lawford's identity as spies.
Sharpe and Lawford are imprisoned as the British army prepares to assault the booby-trapped wall of the city. Mary helps Sharpe to escape, and Sharpe blows up the mine before the main British army can enter the trap. As the Tippoo tries to flee the city, Sharpe finds him in a dark tunnel, kills him, and steals his rich jewels. Sharpe throws Hakeswill to the Tippoo's tigers, but the recently fed animals ignore Hakeswill, and Sharpe's enemy survives to plague him in later adventures.

Characters in "Sharpe's Tiger"

Richard Sharpe – the main protagonist.

William Lawford – Sharpe's lieutenant who aids him in freeing Colonel McCandless.

Mary Bickerstaff – a widowed half-Indian army wife, now attached to Sharpe.

Colonel Arthur Wellesley – later 1st Duke of Wellington.

Colonel Hector McCandless – Scots intelligence officer for the East India Company, held captive by Tipoo Sultan in the dungeons of Seringapatam.

Tippoo Sultan – the Indian King who is killed by Sharpe. His red ruby and some of his other jewels are stolen by Sharpe.

Colonel Jean Gudin – a French adviser to Tippoo Sultan.

Sergeant Obadiah Hakeswill – becomes Sharpe's enemy, engineering his sentence to 2000 lashes.

brevet Lieutenant Fitzgerald – murdered by Hakeswill during a battle outside Seringapatam. Ensign Hicks - the junior officer serving with the Light Company

Captain Morris - the commanding officer of 33rd Light Company

Major Shee - the commanding officer of the 33rd Regiment

Sharpe's Fortress

2010-07-02T14:41:00.001-07:00

Sharpe's Fortress is the third (historically) of the Richard Sharpe series, and last of the Sharpe India trilogy, by English author Bernard Cornwell. It tells the story of ensign Sharpe, during the battle of Argaum and the following siege of the Fortress of Gawilghur in 1803.

plot

It is 1803 and Sir Arthur Wellesley’s army is closing on the retreating Mahrattas in western India. Marching with the British is Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made into an officer and wishing he had stayed a sergeant. Spurned by his new regiment, he is sent to the army’s baggage train and there finds corruption, romance, treason and enemies old and new. Sergeant Hakeswill wants Sharpe dead, and Hakeswill has powerful friends while Sharpe has only an orphaned Arab boy as his ally.
And waiting with the cornered Mahrattas is another enemy, the renegade Englishman, William Dodd, who does not envisage defeat, but only a glorious triumph. For the Mahrattas have taken refuge in Gawilghur, the greatest stronghold of India, perched high on its cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd knows that the fortress is impregnable. There, behind its double walls, in the towering twin forts, Sharpe must face his enemies in what will prove to be Wellesley’s last battle on Indian soil.

Characters in "Sharpe's Fortress"

Ensign Richard Sharpe – Ensign in the British Army

General Sir Arthur Wellesley – commander of the British in India

Sgt. Obadiah Hakeswill – Sharpe's former sergeant and ongoing nemesis

Major William Dodd – renegade British officer

Ahmed – Sharpe's trusty Arab helper

Syud Sevajee – commander of allied Mahratta forces and Sharpe's ally and old friend

English Commander: Rowland Hill

2010-07-02T14:32:00.000-07:00

Without doubt the most popular of Wellington's Generals among both officers and enlisted men, Rowland Hill was born on the 11th August 1772, the second son of a Shropshire gentleman. He joined the Army in 1790 and like many officers of the time transferred between regiments to gain promotion although he did spend 2 years at a military school in Strasbourg. His abilities quickly got him noticed and he became Lieutenant-colonel of the 90th Regt in 1794 which he commanded in Egypt in 1801. He was also present during the first British victories in the Peninsular and was to return to fight in the Peninsular War. Wellington regarded him as highly dependable and trustworthy and this is shown by the commands Wellington gave him including watching his flank while he besieged Badajoz. In 1812 Hill was promoted to Lieutenant-general and gained entry to the Order of the Bath. Again Hill's corps protected Wellingtons flank while he besieged Badajoz for the final time. When the Salamanca campaign began he was protecting the armies rear against any attack by Soult. These vital roles of protecting the Army while other Generals may have sought glory shows the high degree of trust Wellington had in the intelligent and thoughtful Hill. Hill commanded a corps through the campaigns of 1813-14 fighting at Vittoria (1813). Daddy Hill gained his nickname due to his charitable nature be it with friend or foe, enlisted or officer. After the Peninsular War he fought at Waterloo commanding the 2nd and 4th Divisions and leading the counter attack against the Imperial Guard in the closing stages, having his horse shot form under him for his trouble. After Waterloo he served with the Army of occupation until 1818 when he retired. When Wellington became Prime Minister in 1828 he became Commander-in-chief of the army and was to continue in this role for 14 years until he died in 1842.

References

Glover, Michael. The Peninsular War 1807-1814. London: Penguin Books, 2001. ISBN 0-141-39041-7 Oman, Charles. Wellington's Army, 1809-1814. London: Greenhill, (1913) 1993. ISBN 0-947898-41-7

English Commander: 'Black Bob' Crauford

2010-07-02T14:09:00.000-07:00

'Black Bob' Crauford was one of Wellington's most able commanders during the Peninsula War. Born the 3rd son of a Sir Alexander Crauford a Scottish baronet he was to become a fine general who was a serious student of military science and a consummate professional.A fluent German speaker, renown for his sarcasm and violent temper he found throughout his early career that advancement was slow. He served (on attachment) with several foreign armies in places as far afield as India to the Netherlands gaining much first hand experience of continental warfare. In 1807 he took part in the attack on Buenios Aires but could gain no glory when the ill fated expedition collapsed. By 1808 he was commanding a brigade in the Peninsula. From 1809 to 1812 he commanded the Light Brigade, an elite formation of some of the best infantry units in the British army at that time. He had high standards and was the master of detail, at times he was like a spider at the centre of a web of scouts that detected the slightest movement. Despite his ability his temper and over confidence often proved a problem and he could not be trusted to follow Wellington's orders to the letter and could get him into trouble, as he did in 1810 by engaging Neys Corps on the wrong side of the river Coa. On 19th January 1812 he led his troops into the lesser breach of the fortress of Cuidad Rodrigo where he was wounded and after 5 days of agony finally died.

French Commanders

2010-06-26T04:47:00.000-07:00

Marshal Soult

Marshal Soult was one of the most able of all Napoleon’s marshals, rising from the ranks to become the Grand Old Man of the French Army, and only the fourth man to be created Maréchal-général of the French army. In 1785 he enlisted as a private solider in the royal regiment of infantry.
In 1792, during the first military crisis of the revolution, he was commissioned in the grenadiers. Over the next four years he proved himself to be brave but not reckless, and in 1796 was promoted to general of brigade. In 1799 he took part in the Swiss campaign, fighting under General Masséna. Soult was prominent in this victory, and was promoted to general of division.
In 1800 Soult took part in the Italian campaign, once again serving with Masséna. This first campaign ended with the outnumbered French besieged in Genoa. This was when Soult first came to the attention of Napoleon, who up until this point only knew him by his reputation. Napoleon asked Masséna if Soult deserved his reputation, to which Masséna replied that “for judgement and courage his scarcely has a superior”. This high praise earned Soult a high command for the rest of the Italian campaign.
Soult was promoted to marshal in the “great creation” of 1804, part of the creation of Napoleon’s Empire. After the end of the Peace of Amiens, Soult was appointed to command the Army of England at Boulogne. Although the invasion never took place, in 1805 that army became the Grande Armée and would go on to win some of Napoleon’s most famous victories.
Soult commanded the right wing of the army at the battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805). It was this wing that captured the Pratzen heights, the key to the entire battle. This success won him great praise from Napoleon, who called him “le premier maneovrier de l’Europe”. Soult would also go on to play a prominent role at the battles of Jena (1806) and Eylau (1807).
Soult would spend most of the rest of the war fighting in Spain and Portugal, and would be one of the few French generals to emerge from the Peninsular War with his reputation largely intact.
Soult first entered Spain in 1808 during Napoleon’s personal intervention in the country. This campaign began with a series of French victories that allowed Napoleon to enter Madrid, but the French campaign was then disrupted by a British army under Sir John Moore. Believing that Napoleon was being delayed at Madrid, Moore decided to move north and attack Soult, whose army was defending the main line of communication back to France. The British reached Soult’s cavalry screen, winning a cavalry battle at Sahagun on 21 December 1808, before receiving news that Napoleon had left Madrid and was on his way north.
Moore’s response was to head north west towards Corunna, from where his army could be evacuated to safety. At first both Soult and Napoleon were in pursuit, but when Moore escaped across the river Esla, Napoleon dropped out of the race, leaving Soult in command.
Although Soult was able to defeat Moore’s Spanish allies at Mansilla on 30 December 1808, the British were able to reach Corunna. On 16 January Soult attacked the British position at Corunna and was repulsed. Moore was killed in the battle, but what was left of his army was safely evacuated.
Soult’s attention then turned to Portugal. In March 1809 he defeated a Portuguese army at Oporto, a victory marred by the collapse of a bridge carrying refugees out of the city. Once again the British responded by sending an army to Portugal under the command of Arthur Wellesley (soon to become Viscount Wellington). The British quickly moved against Soult, who was unable to prevent them from crossing the river Douro (battle of Oporto, 12 May 1809), and was forced to retreat back into Galicia.
The French response to the British intervention was to concentrate their armies. However, on 27-28 July 1809 at Talavera Marshal Victor attacked Wellington without waiting for Soult to arrive, and was defeated. When Soult, Ney and Mortier’s forces came together, Wellington was forced to pull back into Portugal.
Soult now became chief-of-staff to King Joseph, Napoleon’s brother. In this role he played a major part in the French victory at Ocana on 19 November 1809, which ended a Spanish campaign aimed at Madrid.
At the start of 1810 Soult was appointed to command the military district of Andalusia. Although he had 70,000 men in three corps, he was badly stretched. The Spanish had armies to his north and east, while a massive Allied garrison defended Cadiz. Soult spent most of 1810 involved in futile attempts to deal with these multiple threats.
He was also coming under increasing pressure to help Massena, who was struggling in Portugal. Soult responded by attacking the border fortress of Badajoz (French siege of Badajoz, 27 January-9 March 1811). A Spanish attempt to relief the siege was defeated (battle of the Gebora River, 19 February 1811), and the fortress fell on 9 March 1811. Soult then left a garrison in the fortress, and returned to Andalusia.
The British responded by besieging Badajoz themselves. Soult in turn attempted to relieve the siege, but on 16 May 1811 was defeated by Beresford (battle of Albuera). Despite this victory, the Allies were eventually forced to abandon the siege of Badajoz, which would not fall until the next year.
In the spring of 1813 Soult was summoned to Germany, to take part in Napoleon’s final campaign in Germany. He performed well at Lützen (2 May 1813), where he commanded the Guards, and at Bautzen (20-21 May 1813), but soon after that Napoleon learnt of Wellington’s great victory at Vittoria. Soult was dispatched back to Spain with orders to defend the frontier.
The result was the battle of the Pyrenees, a series of battles in the mountains that saw Soult attempt to force his way back into Spain. Soult himself was unable to break through at Roncesvalles on 25 July 1813, and the entire campaign ended with the British pushing towards the French border. During these battles Soult had sizable armies, but they were almost always made up of raw recruits, the last manpower available to the French.
Soult made a series of attempts to slow this invasion, but he was defeated at the Nivelle River (10 November 1813) and the Nive River (9-12 December 1813), and at the start of 1814 the Allies were besieging Bayonne. The final battle of the Peninsular War came on 10 April 1814 at Toulouse, where once again Soult was defeated. This battle came after Napoleon’s first abdication, but before the news had reached either Wellington or Soult.
After Napoleon’s first abdication Soult submitted to the government of Louis XVIII, but during the Hundred Days he returned to Napoleon’s side, serving as his chief of staff. This was not a happy appointment – Soult was ill at ease in the job. He fought at Ligny and Waterloo, and after Napoleon’s second abdication went into exile.
His exile ended in 1819. His honours were restored over the next few years, starting with the marshal’s baton in 1820, but he did not return to favour until the period of the July Monarch (1830-1848). Louis Philippe raised him to the peerage in August 1830, and he served as Minister of war (1830-4 and 1840-5) and Prime minister.
In 1838 he represented Louis-Philippe at the coronation of Queen Victoria where he met his old adversary Wellington, who is said to have seized his arms and said “I have you at last”, a tribute to his difficulties in Spain. In 1847 he was made Maréchal-général of the French Army, a title previously only granted to Turenne, Villars and Saxe.

Napoleon's Commanders: Vol 1Author: Philip Haythornthwaite Edition: Paperback Pages: 64 Publisher: Osprey Year: 2001

Although the emphasis is often on Napoleon, the wide spread nature of the Napoleonic Wars and the slow speed on communications on the battlefield means that his subbordinate commanders played a key role in the success or failure of French armies across Europe.

Volume one of Haythornthwaite's work covers the wars from Napoleon's campaigns in Italy in 1796, through to the Austrian campaign of 1809. It also includes a section on the system of promotion used by Napoleon. The volume contains details on the careers of Augereau, Bernadotte, Berthier, Carnot, Davout, Desaix, Junot, Kellerman, Kleber, Lannes, Lasalle, MacDonald, Massena, Moreau, Murat, Oudinot, Rapp, Serurier, Soult and Reynier

Jean-Baptiste Comte Jourdan, Marshal of France, 1762-1833Jourdan had one of the longest careers of any of Napoleon's Marshals, having served under Lafayette during the American War of Independence and then fighting in the French Revolutionary Wars, and on into the Napoleonic wars, surviving those to serve as governor of Les Invalides and Minister for Foreign Affairs under King Louis-Philippe. He became a Marshal in 1804 when he was appointed the commander of the Armee d'Italie which he commanded until September 1805. He became governor of Naples the following year and in 1808 became Chief of Staff to the Armee d'Espagne. He saw action at the battles of Talavera and Almonacid in 1809 returning to France in the October of that year. He returned to Spain in 1811 to become governor of Madrid and in 1812 fought at the battles of Salamanca and Vittoria while serving King Joseph as his Chief of staff. He was recalled to France in 1812 and retired in 1813 but this was not to last long. He was recalled to command the 14th and 15th Military divisions in 1814 but when the Bourbons retuned to power he quickly switched his allegiance back to the monarch and was made a Chevalier de Saint-Louis and commander of the 15th military division. After Waterloo he once again rallied to the monarchy and presided over the council of War that sentenced Marshall Ney to death. Despite his long record he was a timid commander more suited to the defensive warfare of a previous age than Napoleonic Warfare, Napoleon recognised this also and never gave Jourdan command of anything except secondary posts.

Indis: Sharpe's Tiger, Siege Seringapatam May 1799

2010-06-20T15:10:00.000-07:00

This is the first of the Sharpe novels in India, 4th May 1799

Sir Walter Scott, commenting on the abdication of Napoleon Bonaparte in 1814, wrote:
Although I never supposed that he [Napoleon] possessed, allowing for some difference of education, the liberality of conduct and political views which were sometimes exhibited by old Haidar Ally, yet I did think he [Napoleon] might have shown the same resolved and dogged spirit of resolution which induced Tipu Sahib to die manfully upon the breach of his capital city with his sabre clenched in his hand.

Mysore Palace

The Siege of Seringapatam (4 May 1799) was the final confrontation of the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War between the British East India Company and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British achieved a decisive victory after breaching the walls of the fortress at Seringapatam (as Srirangapatna was then known) and storming the citadel. Tippu Sultan, Mysore's ruler, was killed in the action. The British restored the Wodeyar dynasty to the throne after the victory, but retained indirect control of the kingdom.

When the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War broke out, the British assembled two large columns under General George Harris. The first consisted of over 26,000 British East India Company troops, 4,000 of whom were European while the rest were local Indian sepoys. The second column was supplied by the Nizam of Hyderabad, and consisted of ten battalions and over 16,000 cavalry. Together, the allied force numbered over 50,000 soldiers. Tippu's forces had been depleted by the Third Anglo-Mysore War and the consequent loss of half his kingdom, but he still probably had up to 30,000 soldiers.

The British forces consisted of the following:
12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot

19th Light Dragoons

25th Light Dragoons

33rd (Duke of Wellington's) Regiment of Foot

73rd (Highland) Regiment of Foot

74th (Highland) Regiment of Foot

75th (Highland) Regiment of Foot

77th Regiment of Foot Scotch Brigade [later 94th Regiment]

The Indian (sepoy) forces consisted of the following:
1st Madras Native Infantry

2d Madras Native Infantry

1st Madras Native Cavalry

2nd Madras Native Cavalry

3rd Madras Native Cavalry

4th Madras Native Cavalry

Madras Pioneers

Madras Artillery

1st Bengal Native Infantry

2nd Bengal Native Infantry

Bengal Artillery

Another key treachery to help the British was the spilling of water in the basements where the Sultan's army stored its gunpowder, which rendered the gunpowder useless

After the Company troops had taken the city, the Sultan's body was found among the dead, shot in the head and stripped of his jewels.

The assault was to begin at 1:00 p.m. to coincide with the hottest part of the day when the defenders would be taking refreshment. Led by two forlorn-hopes, two columns would advance upon the defences around the breach, then wheel right and left to take over the fortifications. A third reserve column, commanded by Arthur Wellesley would deploy as required to provide support where needed.

At 11:00 a.m., on 4 May 1799, the British troops were briefed and whisky and a biscuit issued to the European soldiers, before the signal to attack was given. The forlorn-hopes, numbering seventy-six men, led the charge. The columns quickly formed, were ordered to fix bayonets, and began to move forward. The storming party dashed across the River Cauvery in water four feet deep, with covering fire from British batteries, and within 16 minutes had scaled the ramparts and swept aside the defenders quickly.

The column that rounded the northwest corner of the outer wall was immediately involved in a serious fight with a group of Mysorean warriors under a short fat officer, which defended every traverse. The officer was observed to be discharging loaded hunting weapons, passed to him by servants in his service, at the British. After the fall of the city, in the gathering dusk, some of the British officers went to look for the body of Tippu Sultan. He was identified as the fat officer who had fired hunting weapons at the offenders, and his body was found in a choked tunnel-like passage near the Water Gate.

Wilkie Collins's novel The Moonstone begins with the looting of the jewels removed from Seringapatam in 1799 from the legendary treasury of Tippu Saltan.

The Battle of Seringapatam was adapted, and was the main conflict in the novel Sharpe's Tiger by Bernard Cornwell.
Two cannon captured by the British during the battle are now placed in front of the officers mess at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

Bibliography
Elizabeth Longford (Elizabeth Harman Pakenham, Countess of Longford), 1996, Wellington: The Years of the Sword, Smithmark Pub, New York, ISBN 978-0831756468.

Moienuddin, Mohammad. Sunset at Srirangapatam: After the death of Tipu Sultan, Orient Longman, ISBN 8125019197

Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan and the Struggle with the Mohammadan Powers of the South, Cosmo (Publications, India), ISBN 8177554352

Confronting Colonialism: Resistance and Modernization Under Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan (Anthem South Asian Studies), Anthem Press, ISBN 1843310244

Jac Weller, 2006, Wellington in India, Greenhill Books, London, ISBN 978-1853673979

"Maratha War Papers" by A Bennell 1998 ISBN 0750920696

http://www.lib.mq.edu.au/digital/seringapatam/regiments.html

http://www.napoleon-series.org/greenhill/library/c_weller_india.html

India: Sharpe's Fortress, December 1803

2010-06-20T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is the second novel of Sharpe in India at the battle of Assaye.

The Battle of Assaye

East India Company

Maratha Confederacy:Daulat Scindia Raghoji Bhonsle

Commanders Arthur Wellesley /Anthony Pohlmann

Strength 9,50017 cannon 50,000100+ cannon

Casualties and losses 428 killed1,156 wounded

18 missing Approx. 6,000 killed and wounded,

98 cannon lost

The Battle of Assaye was a major battle of the Second Anglo-Maratha War

fought between the Maratha Confederacy

and the British East India Company

It occurred on 23 September 1803 near Assaye in western India where an outnumbered Indian and British force under the command of Major General Arthur Wellesley (who later became the Duke of Wellington) defeated a combined Confederacy army of Daulat Scindia and the Raja of Berar. The battle was the Duke of Wellington's first major victory and one he later described as his finest accomplishment on the battlefield.

Wellesley received intelligence indicating the location of the Maratha encampment on 21 September and devised a plan whereby his two armies would converge on the Maratha position three days later. Wellesley's force, however, encountered the Maratha army – which was under the command of Colonel Anthony Pohlmann – 6 miles (9.7 km) farther south than he anticipated. Although outnumbered, Wellesley resolved to attack at once, believing that the Maratha army would soon move off. Both sides suffered heavily in the ensuing battle; Maratha artillery caused large numbers of casualties among Wellesley's troops but the vast numbers of Maratha cavalry proved largely ineffective. A combination of bayonet and cavalry charges eventually forced the Maratha army to retreat with the loss of most of their guns, but Wellesley's army was too battered and exhausted to pursue.

picture wellesley: Lord Mornington, the Governor-General of British India between 1798 and 1805, oversaw a rapid expansion of British territory in India.

Scindia retreated into his dominions to the north, but Baji Rao was driven from his territory and sought refuge with the East India Company at Bassein. He appealed to the Company for assistance, offering to accept its authority if he were restored to his principality at Poona. Lord Mornington, the ambitious Governor-General of British India, seized on the opportunity to extend Company influence into the Confederacy which he perceived as the final obstacle to British paramountcy over the Indian subcontinent.

Wellesley entered Poona without opposition on 20 April, and Baji Rao was formally restored to his throne on 13 May.The treaty gave offence to the other Maratha leaders, who deemed that the system of subsidiary alliances with the British was an unwarranted interference into their affairs and fatal to the independent Maratha states. The Maratha leaders refused to submit to the Peshwa's authority and tensions were raised further when Holkar raided into Hyderabad in May, claiming that the Nizam of Hyderabad (a British ally) owed him money.

Mornington consequently engaged the various Maratha chieftains in negotiations. Lieutenant Colonel John Collins was sent to Scindia's camp to discuss his objections and propose a defensive alliance. However, Scindia had formed a military alliance with the Rajah of Berar in view to bringing the Maratha leaders into a coalition against the British, and had begun to mass his forces on the Nizam's border. Wellesley, who had been given control over the Company's military and political affairs in central India in June, demanded Scindia declare his intentions and withdraw his forces or face the prospect of war. After a protracted period of negotiations, Collins reported to Wellesley on 3 August that Scindia refused to give an answer and would not withdraw his troops. Wellesley's response was to declare war on Scindia and Berar "in order to secure the interests of the British government and its allies".

The East India Company attacked the two principal Maratha forces of Scindia and the Raja of Berar from the north and the south. Of the other Maratha leaders, Holkar was hesitant to enter the war in cooperation with his rival, Scindia, and remained aloof from the hostilities, and the Gaekwad of Baroda placed himself under British protection. Operations in the north were directed by Lieutenant General Gerard Lake who entered Maratha territory from Cawnpore to face Scindia's main army which was commanded by the French mercenary, Pierre Perron. A second British force under the command of Major General Wellesley confronted a combined army of Scindia and Berar in the Deccan. Wellesley was determined to gain the initiative through offensive action and told his senior subordinate, Colonel James Stevenson, that "a long defensive war would ruin us and will answer no purpose whatever".

The Maratha army in the Deccan was largely composed of fast-moving cavalry able to live off the land. Consequently, Wellesley planned to work in conjunction with a separate force under Colonel Stevenson to enable his slower troops to out-manoeuvre the Maratha army and force it into a position where it could not avoid a pitched battle. Stevenson was despatched from Hyderabad with an army of some 10,000 men to Jafarabad to deny Scindia and Berar the chance to raid east into the Nizam's territory.

In the meantime, Wellesley moved north from his camp near the Godavari River on 8 August with some 13,500 troops and headed towards Scindia's nearest stronghold – the walled town and fort at Ahmednuggur. The bulk of his forces were Company troops from Mysore: five sepoy infantry battalions of the Madras Native Infantry and three squadrons of Madras Native Cavalry. A contingent of European troops were supplied by the British Army and included cavalry from the 19th Light Dragoons and two battalions of Scottish infantry from the 74th and 78th Regiment of Foot. Irregular light cavalry were also provided by the Company's Mysore and Maratha allies.Wellesley reached Ahmednuggur later the same day after a 7-mile (11 km) march and immediately ordered an escalade assault on the town rather than enter into a time-consuming siege.

Map of the Assaye

campaign

Colonel Anthony Pohlmann, a Hanoverian and former East India Company sergeant, commanded the largest brigade with eight battalions. A further brigade with five battalions was provided by Begum Samru, and was commanded on her behalf by a Frenchman, Colonel Jean Saleur. The third brigade had four battalions and was commanded by Dutchman, Major John James Dupont. In addition, the Maratha force included 10,000–20,000 of Berar's irregular infantry, some 30,000–40,000 irregular light cavalry and over 100 guns ranging in size from one to 18-pounders.After several weeks of chasing down the Maratha army, Wellesley and Stevenson met at Budnapoor on 21 September and received intelligence that the Maratha army was at Borkardan, around 30 miles (48 km) to the north. They agreed a plan by which their two armies – moving separately along either side of a range of hills with Wellesley to the east and Stevenson to the west – would converge on Borkardan on 24 September. Wellesley's force reached Paugy on the afternoon of 22 September and departed camp before dawn. By noon, the army had marched 14 miles (23 km) to Naulniah, a small town 12 miles (19 km) south of Borkardan, where they intended to rest before joining Stevenson to attack the Maratha army the next day.

At this point, Wellesley received further intelligence that rather than being at Borkardan, the Maratha army was camped just 5 miles (8.0 km) north, but their cavalry had moved off and the infantry were about to follow. At about 13:00, Wellesley went forward with a cavalry escort to reconnoitre the Maratha position. The rest of his army followed closely behind apart from a battalion of sepoys left at Naulniah to guard the baggage. In all, Wellesley had 4,500 troops at his disposal plus 5,000 Mysore and Maratha horse and 17 cannon. Aware that the British were nearby, The Maratha chiefs had positioned their army in a strong defensive position along a tongue of land stretching east from Borkardan between the Kailna River and its tributary the Juah.

However, Scindia and Berar did not believe Wellesley would attack with his small force and had moved off from the area in the morning. Command of their army was given to Pohlmann, who had positioned his infantry to the east of the Maratha camp in the plains around the village of Assaye on the southern bank of the Juah.To his surprise, Wellesley found the entire combined army before him. Nevertheless, he resolved to attack at once, believing that if he waited for Stevenson, the Marathas would have the chance to slip away and force the pursuit to drag on. Wellesley was also eager to forge a reputation for himself, and despite his numerical disadvantage, he was confident that the Maratha’s irregular forces would be swept aside by his disciplined troops, and only Scindia’s regular infantry could be expected to stand and fight. Pohlmann struck camp and deployed his infantry battalions in a line facing southwards behind the steep banks of the Kailna with his cannon arrayed directly in front. The great mass of Maratha cavalry was kept on the right flank and Berar's irregular infantry garrisoned Assaye to the rear. The only observable crossing point over the river was a small ford directly ahead of the Maratha position. Pohlmann's strategy was to funnel the British and Madras troops across the ford into the mouth of his cannon, and then on to the massed infantry and cavalry behind. Wellesley's local guides assured him that no other ford existed nearby, but he quickly discarded the option of a frontal assault as suicide. While reconnoitring he had noticed two unguarded villages, Peepulgaon and Waroor, one on each bank of the Kailna beyond the Maratha left. On the assumption that a ford must exist between the two villages, Wellesley ordered the area to be further reconnoitred by his Chief Engineer, Captain John Johnson, who reported that there was indeed a ford at that spot.

Pohlmann soon recognised Wellesley’s intentions and swung his infantry and guns through 90 degrees to establish a new line spread approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) across the isthmus with their right flank on the Kaitna and the left on Assaye. Although the new position secured the Maratha flanks, it restricted Pohlmann from bringing his superior numbers into action.The Maratha redeployment was swifter and more efficient than Wellesley had anticipated and he immediately reacted by extending his front to deny Pohlmann the opportunity to out-flank him. A battalion of pickets and the 74th Highlanders, which formed the right of the first and second lines, were ordered to move obliquely to the right. This allowed the 78th to anchor the left flank and Madras infantry battalions (the 1/10th, 1/8th, 1/4th and 2/12th) to form the centre of the British line. Wellesley's intention was to force back the Marathas from their guns and then – operating by his left to avoid the heavily defended Assaye – throw them back on the Juah and complete their destruction with his cavalry.

Map of the battle.

The British and Indian infantry move forward to attack the redeployed Maratha line.The Maratha cannonade intensified as the British redeployed. Although British artillery was brought forward to counter, it was ineffective against the mass firepower of the Maratha guns and quickly disabled through the weight of shot directed against it. British casualties mounted as the Maratha guns turned their attention to the infantry and subjected them to a barrage of canister, grape and round shot. Wellesley decided that his only option to neutralise the artillery and get his men out of the killing field was to advance directly into the mouth of the Maratha artillery. He ordered his cannon to be abandoned and gave the command for his infantry to march forward with bayonets fixed.

A number of Maratha gunners who had feigned death when the British advanced over their position re-manned their guns and began to pour cannon fire into the rear of the 74th and Madras infantry. Wellesley ordered his four sepoy battalions to re-form and ward off any threat from the Maratha infantry and cavalry while the 78th were sent back to retake the Maratha gun line. Wellesley, meanwhile, galloped back to 7th Madras Native Cavalry, which had been held back in reserve to the east, and led a cavalry charge from the opposite direction. The gunners again stood their ground but were eventually driven from their guns and this time it was ensured that all those who remained were dead.

Descriptions differ as to the manner of their departure: Maratha sources claim the line marched away from the battlefield in an orderly manner on Pohlmann's orders but British accounts claim the Maratha infantry fled in an uncontrolled panic. Berar's irregulars inside Assaye, now leaderless and having witnessed the fate of the regular infantry, abandoned the village and marched off northwards at around 18:00, followed shortly afterwards by the Maratha cavalry. Wellesley's troops, however, were exhausted and in no condition to pursue and the native allied cavalry which had remained on the south bank of the Kailna and had not been engaged, refused to pursue without the support of the British and Madras cavalry.

Assaye elephant emblem awarded to the Madras Sappers

The number of Maratha casualties is more difficult to ascertain. Despatches from British officers give a figure of 1,200 dead and many more wounded but contemporary historians have estimated a total of 6,000 dead and wounded. The Marathas also surrendered seven stands of colours, large amounts of stores and ammunition and 98 cannon – most of which were later taken into service by the East India Company.

Although Scindia and Berar's army was not finished as a fighting force, several of Scindia's regular infantry battalions and artillery crews had been destroyed. Their command structure had also been damaged: many of their European officers, including Colonel Pohlmann and Major Dupont, surrendered to the Company – which had offered amnesty to Europeans in the service of the Maratha armies – or deserted and sought employment with other native chieftains.

The sound of the guns at Assaye was heard by Stevenson who immediately broke up his camp 10 miles (16 km) miles to the west in an attempt to join the battle. However, he was misled by his guide and marched first on Borkardan before he reached the battlefield on the evening of 24 September. Suspecting that his guide had intentionally led him astray, Stevenson later had him hanged. He remained with Wellesley to assist with the wounded – troops were still being carried from the battlefield four days after the engagement – until ordered to recommence the pursuit of the Maratha army on 26 September.

Wellesley remained to the south while he established a hospital at Ajanta and awaited reinforcements from Poona. Two months later, he combined with Stevenson to rout Scindia and Berar's demoralised and weakened army at Argaon, and shortly afterwards stormed Berar's fortress at Gawilghur. These victories, coupled with Lieutenant General Lake's successful campaign in the north, induced the two Maratha chiefs to sue for peace.

Assaye was 34-year-old Wellesley's first major success and despite his anguish over the heavy losses, it was a battle he always held in the highest estimation. After his retirement from active military service, the Duke of Wellington (as he later became known) considered Assaye the finest thing he ever did in the way of fighting even when compared to his later military career.Lord Mornington and his Council lauded the battle as a "most brilliant and important victory", and presented each of the Madras units and British regiments involved in the engagement with a set of honorary colours.

The British regiments and native units were also awarded the Assaye battle honour and most were later given permission to adopt an Assaye elephant as part of their insignia. A public monument was also erected by the East India Company at Fort William, Calcutta to commemorate the victory. The 74th Regiment of foot later became known as the Assaye regiment due to their stand at the battle and their modern-day successors, the Royal Highland Fusiliers (2 SCOTS), still celebrate the anniversary of the battle each year. Of the native infantry battalions, In the Indian Army, only the Madras Sappers survive in their original form but do not celebrate Assaye as it has been declared a repugnant battle honour by the Government of India.

Bibliography

Bennell, Anthony S. (1998), The Maratha War Papers of Arthur Wellesley, Stroud: Sutton Publishing, ISBN 0750920696

Biddulph, John (1899), The Nineteenth and their times, London: Murray

Black, Jeremy (1999), Britain as a Military Power, 1688-1815, London: Routledge, ISBN 185728772X

Bradshaw, John (1894), Rulers of India: Sir Thomas Munro and the British Settlement of the Madras Presidency, Oxford: Clarendon Press, ISBN 8120618718,

Cooper, Randolph G. S. (2003), The Anglo-Maratha Campaigns and the Contest for India, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521824443

Corrigan, Gordon (2006), Wellington: A Military Life, London: Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 1852855150

Gurwood, John, ed. (1837), The dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington from 1799-1818, II, London: Murray, ISBN 054860472X

Holmes, Richard (2003), Wellington: The Iron Duke, London: Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-713750-8

Millar, Simon (2006), Assaye 1803: Wellington's First and 'Bloodiest' Victory, Oxford: Osprey Publishing, ISBN 1846030013

Roy, Kaushik (2004), India's Historic Battles: From Alexander the Great to Kargil, Hyderabad: Orient Blackswan, ISBN 8178241099

Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1933), The Military Engineer in India, Vol I, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers

Sandes, Lt Col E.W.C. (1948), The Indian Sappers and Miners, Chatham, Great Britain: Institution of the Royal Engineers

Severn, John Kenneth (2007), Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers, Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma Press, ISBN 0806138106

Singh, Sarbans (1993), Battle Honours of the Indian Army 1757–1971, New Delhi: Vision Books, ISBN 81-7094-115-6

Thorn, William (1818), Memoir of the War in India, London: Thomas Egerton Weller, Jac (1972), Wellington in India, London: Longman, ISBN 058212784X

Wellesley, Gerald, ed. (1956), The Conversations of the First Duke of Wellington with George William Chad, Cambridge: Saint Nicolas Press

94th (Scotch Brigade)

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94th (Scots Brigade) Regiment of Foot 1802–1818, 1794Scotch Brigade, raised for Dutch service in 1568, placed on the British Establishment in 1794.

References

Edwards, T J (1953). Standards, Guidons and Colours of the Commonwealth Forces. Aldershot: Gale & Polden. Farmer, John S (1901). The Regimental Records of the British Army : a historical résumé chronologically arranged of titles, campaigns, honours, uniforms, facings, badges, nicknames, etc.. London: Grant Richards. Lawson, Cecil C P (1961).

A History of the Uniforms of The British Army, Volume III. London: Norman Military Publications. Swinson, Arthur (1972).

A Register of the Regiments and Corps of the British Army. London: The Archive Press. ISBN 0855910003. Wickes, H L (1974).

Regiments of Foot: A History of the Foot Regiments of the British Army. Reading, Berkshire: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0850452201.

India: Sharpe's Fortress

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This is third novel in the trilogy of Sharpe in India, it is set at the Siege of Gawilghur, December 1803

Gawilghur (also Gawilgarhor Gawilgad) was a well-fortified mountain stronghold of the Maratha Empire north of the Deccan Plateau, in the vicinity of Melghat Tiger Reserve, Amravati District, Maharashtra. It was successfully assaulted by an Anglo-Indian force commanded by Arthur Wellesley on the 15 December, 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. In popular culture, the campaign to take Gawilghur forms the background of the novel Sharpe's Fortress by Bernard Cornwell, the third in a trilogy of books covering the eponymous hero's time in the British army in India during the Napoleonic era.
The fort takes its name from the Gawli (cow herds) who inhabited the Berar (modern day Amravati) for centuries. Earlier the fort was likely just made of mud as were several such areas in the region. The exact date of construction is not known but the Persian historian, Firishta, records that Ahmed Shah Wali, the ninth king of the Berar dynasty built Gawilgarh when he was encamped at Ellichpur in 1425. Likely this was the date when major fortification was carried out.

After two failed attempts at the main gate by British and Sepoy companies, and many casualties, Captain Campbell led the 94th Scottish Brigade (light company) up the ravine dividing the inner and outer forts and into the inner fort by escalade. The Scots then forced the northern gatehouse and opened the many gates, allowing the remaining British forces entry. The British suffered few casualties in the final assault (approx. 150). The fortress was returned to the Marathas after making peace with the British but they abandoned it.
The fort has several inscriptions in Persian recording the date of building of each of its seven gates. It has two water tanks (Devtalav and Khantalav), which would have been the main water source in case the fort was besieged. Within the fort the ruins of a mosque are the most conspicuous. It stands at the highest point in the inner fort and is built in the Pathan style of architecture. The mosque has a square canopy with intricate stone lattice work and a seven arched façade. The mosque originally had two minarets, only one of which is intact today.
Gafur Ahmed, a jaglia (tenant) of the Narnala fort, tried to determine whether the chambers built into the fort of Narnala had any use by driving 20 sheep into them. One of the sheep turned up at Gawilgarh which is more than 20 miles away. So, probably there is an underground tunnel connecting the two forts.
There are several unrepaired breaches made by British guns, which remain to this day. The gun that killed five attackers with a single shot still stands, although now with graffiti running the length of the barrel.

http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/MTDC/HTML/MaharashtraTourism/Default.aspx?strpage=../MaharashtraTourism/TouristDelight/Forts/GavilgarhFort.html

ReferencesNaravane, M. S (2007). Battles of the honourable East India Company:making of the Raj. APH Publishing. ISBN 9788131300343.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_forts_in_Maharashtra

The Battle of Maldon

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View across to Northey Island from the south bank of the Blackwater at low tide with the causeway uncovered (author's photograph, August 1991).

The Battle of Maldon took place on 10 August 991 near Maldon beside the River Blackwater in Essex, England, during the reign of Aethelred the Unready. Earl Byrhtnoth and his thegns led the English against a Viking invasion, which ended in defeat. After the battle Archbishop Sigeric of Canterbury and the aldermen of the south-western provinces advised King Aethelred to buy off the Vikings rather than continue the armed struggle. The result was a payment of 10,000 Roman pounds (3,300 kg) of silver, the first example of Danegeld in England.
An account of the battle, embellished with many speeches attributed to the warriors and with other details, is related in an Old English poem which is usually named The Battle of Maldon. A modern embroidery created for the millennium celebration in 1991 and, in part, depicting the battle can be seen at the Maeldune Centre in Maldon.
One manuscript of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle said a Norwegian, Olaf Tryggvason, led the Viking forces, estimated to have been between 2,000 and 4,000 fighting men. A source from the 12th century, Liber Eliensis, written by the monks at Ely, suggests that Byrhtnoth had only a few men to command: "he was neither shaken by the small number of his men, nor fearful of the multitude of the enemy". Not all sources indicate such a disparity in numbers

The poem The Battle of Maldon
'The Battle of Maldon' is the name conventionally given to an outstanding 325-line fragment of Old English poetry. Linguistic study has led to the conjecture that initially the complete poem was transmitted orally, then in a lost manuscript in the East Saxon dialect and now survives as a fragment in the West Saxon form, possibly that of a scribe active at the Monastery of Worcester late in the 11th century. [1] Fortuitously this was early attached to a very notable manuscript, Asser's Life of King Alfred, which undoubtedly assisted its survival. The manuscript, by now detached, was burned in the Cotton library fire at Ashburnham House in 1731. John Elphinstone had transcribed the 325 lines of the poem in 1724, but the front and back pages were already missing from the manuscript (possibly around 50 lines each): an earlier catalog described it as fragmentum capite et calce mutilatum ("mutilated at head and heel"). As a result, vital clues about the purpose of the poem and perhaps its date have been lost.
At the time of battle, English royal policy of responding to Viking incursions was split. Some favoured paying off the Viking invaders with land and wealth, while others favoured fighting to the last man. Recent scholarship suggests that Byrhtnoth held this latter attitude, hence his moving speeches of patriotism in the poem.
The Vikings sailed up the Blackwater (then called the Panta), and Byrhtnoth called out his levy. The poem begins with him ordering his men to stand and how to hold weapons. His men, except for his household guard, were peasants and householders from the area. He ordered them to "send steed away and stride forwards": they arrived on horses but fought on foot. The Vikings sailed up to a small island in the river. At ebb, the river leaves a land bridge from this island to the shore; the description seems to have matched the Northey Island causeway at that time. This would place the site of the battle about two miles southeast of Maldon. Olaf addressed the Saxons, promising to sail away if he was paid with gold and armour from the lord. Byrhtnoth refused.
Olaf's forces could not make headway against the troops guarding the small land bridge, and he asked Byrhtnoth to allow his warriors onto the shore. Byrhtnoth, for his ofermōde (line 89b), let all the Vikings cross to the mainland. The Vikings overcame the Saxons after losing many men, killing Byrhtnoth. A Englishman called Godrīc fled riding Byrhtnoth's horse. Godrīc's brothers Godwine and Godwīg followed him. Then many English fled, recognizing the horse and thinking that its rider was Byrhtnoth fleeing. After the battle Byrhtnoth's body was found with its head missing, but his gold-hilted sword was still with his body.
There is some discussion about the meaning of "ofermōd." Although literally meaning "over-heart" or "having too much heart", it could mean either "pride" or "excess of courage" (cf. Swedish övermod or German Übermut, which mean both "hubris" and "recklessness"). One argument is that the poem was written to celebrate Byrhtnoth's actions and goad others into heroic action, and Byrhtnoth's action stands proudly in a long tradition of heroic literature. Another viewpoint, most notably held by J.R.R. Tolkien, is that the poem is an elegy on a terrible loss and that the monastic author pinpoints the cause of the defeat in the commander's sin of pride, a viewpoint bolstered by the fact that ofermōd is, in every other attested instance, used to describe Satan's pride.[2] There is a memorial window, representing Byrhtnoth's dying prayer, in St Mary's church at Maldon.
Norse invaders and Norse raiders differed in purpose. The forces engaged by the English were raiding, or (in Old Norse) "í víking", to gather loot, rather than to occupy land for settlement. Therefore, if Byrhtnoth's forces had kept the Vikings off by guarding the causeway or by paying them off, Olaf would likely have sailed farther up the river or along the coast, and raided elsewhere. As a man with troops and weapons, it might be that Byrhtnoth had to allow the Vikings ashore to protect others. The poem may, therefore, represent the work of what has been termed the "monastic party" in Ethelred's court, which advocated a military response, rather than tribute, to all Norse attacks.

A statue of Byrhtnoth in Maldon

The main source of our knowledge of the Battle of Maldon is the independently preserved Old English heroic battle-poem, which appears to have been composed not long after the event. Its beginning and ending are lost, but the poem provides a detailed account of the battle from the English point of view. Its pace and vividness suggests that the poem might have been intended to accompany a tapestry depicting the deeds of Byrhtnoð. According to the twelfth-century Liber Eliensis, Byrhtnoð's wife, Ælflæd, bequeathed such a tapestry to Ely.
The poem as we have it begins with Byrhtnoð deploying his troops along the riverbank. Across the causeway the Viking herald then calls out the Danes' demands for tribute [ll.29-41]. The width of the river here is now beyond shouting distance, but geological research has shown that in 991 the river was narrower, with meadows along the banks where today there are salt-marshes (G.& S.Petty, "A Geological Reconstruction of the Site of the Battle of Maldon", The Battle of Maldon: Fiction and Fact, ed. J.Cooper [Hambledon 1993], pp.159-170).

Waving his ash-shafted spear, Byrhtnoð turns the herald's words around and hurls them back at him:

“Gehyrst þu sæliða, hwæt þis folc segeð?
“Hearest thou, seafarer, what this folk sayeth?
Hi willað eow to gafole garas syllan,
They will to you [a] tribute of spears give,
ættrynne ord, ond ealde swurd,
deadly points, & time-tested swords,
þa heregeatu þe eow æt hilde ne deah..."
such war-gear that you in battle [will] not profit from…." [ll.45-48].
Byrhtnoð's famous reply [ll.45-61] strikes what has come to be regarded as a characteristic note of English national defiance against foreign invaders, one that has sounded several times throughout our island history.
The battle would have begun then and there but by now the rising tide made it impossible for the combatants to engage [ll.62-64] except for those armed with bows [ll.70-71]. The poem refers to the effect of the intervening flood-tide between the two armies as lucon lagustreamas, 'locking tidal-streams' [l.66a]. This phrase provides a strikingly succinct description of the way that the waters still close over the causeway. The incoming tide of the Blackwater estuary is separated into two tidal streams by the north eastern edge of Northey Island, which then meet again on its south-western side exactly over the causeway.
When the tide ebbs enough to permit a crossing, the poem refers to the Vikings "yearning for battle" [ll.72-72]. Yet still they are frustrated, for they can only advance along the narrow causeway on which Byrhtnoð has stationed a "war-hardened warrior" named Wulfstan and two companions [ll. 74-83]. Like the Horatius on the bridge, Wulfstan stoutly blocks the causeway. The tactical stalemate is then resolved through negotiations, during which the Danes are said be guileful [l.86], which culminate in Byrhtnoð agreeing to allow the Vikings passage over the causeway for his ofermod, "because of his over-confidence" [l.89b]. Armchair generals have often been critical of Byrhtnoð's decision here, but they overlook his need to bring the dangerously mobile Danish fleet-army to battle while he had the chance, rather than allowing them to continue strike at will along the east coast.
Nevertheless, it was a fateful decision, emphasised in the poem by the dramatic advance of the Viking "slaughter-wolves" [l.96a] across the causeway as the hungry ravens wheel overhead [l.106]. Once the Danes are across, the battle begins. There is a blow-by-blow account of the fall of Byrhtnoð himself [ll.130-184], which precipitates the flight of some of the English army. The poem concludes by immortalising the heroic last stand of several named Englishmen who refuse to yield, even though all seems lost. Fighting over the body of their fallen lord, their supreme courage is realised through the words of Byrhtnoð's old comrade Byrhtwold:

"Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre,
"Thought shall be harder, heart keener,
mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað.... "
mood shall be more [resolved], as our main [strength] lessens! ..." [ll.312-313].
The poem concludes on so heroic a note that what is in fact a military defeat is turned into a kind of moral victory.
After the battle the Danes probably carried off Byrhtnoð's head as a battle-trophy, but his body was recovered by the monks of Ely and buried in their great abbey.
Byrhtnoð's last resting place in Bishop West's Chapel and the east end of Ely Cathedral
With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that the Battle of Maldon, the first major defeat of an English army for generations, was the beginning of the end for line of Alfred. Further defeats ensued, including the battles of Ringmere near Thetford. This phase of Anglo-Danish warfare eventually culminated in the kingdom-winning victory of Sweyn's son Cnut at the battle of Assandun in 1016.

Further Reading
Cooper, Janet (ed.), The Battle of Maldon: Fiction and Fact (Hambledon 1991)
Hart, Cyril, The Danelaw (Hambledon 1992), pp.533-551
Scragg, Donald (ed.), The Battle of Maldon AD991 (Blackwell 1991)

Other sources

The death of Byrhtnoth, an ealdorman of Essex, was recorded in four versions of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Its Cotton Tiberius manuscript says for the year 991:-

Her wæs Gypeswic gehergod, ⁊ æfter þæm swyðe raþe wæs Byrihtnoð ealdorman ofslagan æt Meldune. ⁊ on þam geare man gerædde þæt man geald ærest gafol Deniscum mannum for þam myclan brogan þe hi worhton be þam særiman, þæt wæs ærest .x. þusend punda. Þæne ræd gerædde ærest Syric arcebisceop.

Here Ipswich was raided. Very soon after that, ealdorman Byrhtnoth was killed at Maldon. And on that year it was decided to pay tax to Danes for the great terror which they made by the sea coast; that first [payment] was 10,000 pounds. Archbishop Sigerīc decided first on the matter. The Life of Oswald, written in Ramsey, England around the same time as the battle, portrays Byrhtnoth as a nearly supernatural, prophetic figure.

In 1170, the Book of Ely retold and embroidered the story and made the battle two fights, with the second being a fortnight long against overwhelming odds. These texts show, to some degree, the growth of a local hero cultus.

Manuscript sources

In the Cotton library, the "Battle of Maldon" text had been in Otho A xii. The Elphinstone transcription is in the British Library.

In modern fiction

The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm's Son is the title of a work by J. R. R. Tolkien that was originally published in 1953 in volume 6 of the scholarly journal Essays and Studies by Members of the English Association. It is a work of historical fiction, inspired by the Old English Maldon fragment. It is written in the form of an alliterative poem, but is also a play, being mainly a dialogue between two characters in the aftermath of The Battle of Maldon. The work was accompanied by two essays, also by Tolkien, one before and one after the main work. K.V. Johansen's short story "Anno Domini Nine Hundred and Ninety-One", in the collection The Storyteller and Other Tales is a retelling of the Battle of Maldon. In one episode of the science fiction novel Perelandra by C. S. Lewis, the protagonist (a philologist from Cambridge transported to the planet Venus) recites "The Battle of Maldon" in order to keep up his courage while wandering dark tunnels deep under the alien planet's surface. The Swedish bestselling historical novel "The Long Ships" ("Red Orm") includes a long fictionalised account of the Battle of Maldon, described from the Scandinavian side. In David Drake's short story As Our Strength Lessens in Keith Laumer's Bolo series, a sentient tank named after the battle of Maldon discusses the battle with a human officer. They consider whether Byrhtnoth and his men acted nobly or failed in their mission to protect the land and people from the Viking invaders.

The United Kingdom black metal band Winterfylleth has two songs in their album The Ghost of Heritage (2008) that remembers Maldon Battle (track 2: The March to Maldon (03:46) and track 3: Brithnoth: The Battle of Maldon (991 AD)) The Norwegian / German symphonic metal band Leaves' Eyes have a song called The Battle of Maldon on their 2009 EP, My Destiny.

References

1. E.V.Gordon, The Battle of Maldon (London, 1968) p 38

2. Tolkien's Heroic Criticism: A Developing Application Of Anglo- Saxon Ofermod To The Monsters Of Modernity. 2003. Rorabeck, Robert. Thesis, Florida State University.

Anglo-Saxon poetry: an anthology of Old English poems tr. S. A. J. Bradley. London: Dent, 1982 (translation into English prose).

Thetford: Ancient Earthworks and Buried Treasure

2009-11-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

Thetford was one of East Anglia's major towns in the later Anglo-Saxon period and became the seat of the region's bishops after their move from North Elmham in 1075 until Norwich Cathedral was built in the 1090's.

Today, the most prominent surviving feature of the old Thetford is the immense Norman motte of Castle Hill, which, at 81 feet high, is one of the largest man-made mounds in the country. It was probably built soon after 1066 and remained a baronial stronghold until it was confiscated by King Henry II in 1157, who had its defences dismantled after the war of 1173.
The great motte stands in the angle of a bailey with unusually large double ramparts surviving to the north and east. Excavations have suggested that it is unlikely that these continued round into the flood-plain to the south, where the Rivers Thet and Little Ouse run. Indeed, the bailey appears to have been formed from the earthworks of an Iron Age promontory-fortress which ran in a curve to the north of the rivers, with the latter forming its southern defences.

A view of Thetford Castle from the east showing the great Norman motte with the double rampart of the former Iron Age promontory fort incorporated into the defences of the bailey
This Iron Age fortress appears to have been built to control the fords which carry the ancient Icknield Way over the Little Ouse valley at this point. Indeed, these crossings appear to have given Thetford its name - from the Old English Theod-ford, 'people's ford'.
Before the Norman re-used these earthworks, they may have provided the defences of the winter base for the 'great army' of Danes which occupied Thetford in the autumn of 869, to which the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle refers. Its shape would be similar to the ship-fortress they built beside the River Trent at Repton in 874. It was this great army of Danes, led by the Ragnarrssons, which, while based at Thetford, defeated and killed one of the last and most famous of the later Wuffing kings of East Anglia, St Edmund, on 20th November 869.

Thetford was also a target for later Danish invasions. According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the town was attacked and burnt by Sweyn Forkbeard in 1004 as part of his campaign of retribution following the massacres of Danes on St Brice’s Day in November, 1002. As he was returning to his fleet at Norwich, Sweyn was met by the East Anglian Ealdorman Ulfcytel and his army on Wretham Heath to the north of the town. A hard battle followed and, although he could not prevent the Danes from getting back their ships, Ulfcytel earned the greatest respect from his opponents for his actions that day, as the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle tells us:

Swa hi sylfe sæðon, þæt hi næfre wyrsan hand plegan on Angelcynne ne gemitton þonne Ulfcytel him to brohte. As they themselves [the Danes] said, that they never met with worse hand-play [i.e. battle-skill] among the English than Ulfcytel brought to them.

Ulfcytel thus came to be nicknamed Snillingr [perhaps ‘Valiant’] in Scandinavian sources and East Anglia came to be known as ‘Ulfcytel’s Land’. Ulfcytel fought another great battle against the Danes near Thetford on 5thMay, 1010.

This was the famous Battle of Ringmere, which is described in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle and in Old Norse saga.

Norse sagas recorded a battle at Hringmaraheior; Old English Hringmere-hūō Ringmere heath. [1]
The sack of Thetford occurred in 1004. Sigvat records the victory of King Ethelred, allied with Saint Olaf,[2] over the Danes under Sweyn Forkbeard during the latters campaigns in England.
The Battle site was located in lands under the control of Ulfketel, Thane of East Anglia, near Wretham.[2] The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle reports that Ulfketel/Ulfcytel and the "councillors in East Anglia" attempted to buy a truce with Swein, but that the Danes broke the truce and marched to Thetford where a part of the East Anglian fyrd engaged them. The Danes managed to escape.
The Battle of Ringmere was fought in 1010. John of Worcester records that the Danes defeated the Saxons. Over a three month period the Danes wasted East Anglia was burning Thetford and Cambridge.[1]

References

1. W. H. Stevenson; (Apr., 1896), Notes on Old-English Historical Geography, The English Historical Review, Vol. 11, No. 42 pp. 301-304

2. Sturlason, Snorre (2004). Heimskringla Or the Lives of the Norse Kings. Kessinger Publishing. p. 225. ISBN 0766186938. ; Edited with notes by Erling Monsen

This battle appears to have taken place to the south of the town, with the Danes advancing from Ipswich under the leadership of Sweyn’s ally, Thorkell the Tall. The site was probably at the former meeting place now called Rymer Point. Ulfcytel eventually fell fighting against his old enemies the Danes at the Battle of Assendun in 1016, probably Ashdon near Hadstock in north-west Essex.

Unknown to the English, the Danes, and the Normans, a treasure-hoard lay buried on Gallow's Hill to the north of the town near a Romano-Celtic altar site. It was here that in 1979 the Thetford Treasure was discovered by a free-lance metal detectorist.

This very rich hoard dates from the second half of the fourth century and includes gold and silver bracelets, necklaces, pendants, and rings, many of which are bejewelled with precious stones. Also found were 33 silver spoons, many of which bear inscriptions to the woodland fertility god Faunus.

Just to the north of the buried tresure, also on Gallow's Hill, was an important Late Iron Age Iceni religious site. The outline crop-markings of this great rectangular sanctuary were discovered by chance from the air by archaeologist Bob Carr in 1980. Excavations in 1981 showed that during the time of the famous Iceni queen Boudicca, it was enclosed by ditches, banks, and up to nine rows of closely spaced oak uprights, perhaps with branches still on them. This created what one archaeologist described as ‘an artificial oak grove’ (for more on this fascinating site, see Tony Gregory, Excavations in Thetford, 1980-1982, Fison Way, Vol.1, East Anglian Archaeology Report No.53 [Norfolk Museums Service 1991]).

John Speed Map of Bedfordshire

2009-10-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

Bedfordshire Towns

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Dunstable Map

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Walauds Bank

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Map of Stour Estuary

2009-10-15T02:22:00.000-07:00

Bedfordshire:Place in Bernard Cornwell's SaxonvSeries ****

2009-10-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

Bedfordshire (pronounced /ˈbɛdfərdʃər/ or /ˈbɛdfərdʃɪər/; abbreviated Beds.) is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the North East, Northamptonshire to the North, Buckinghamshire (and the Borough of Milton Keynes) to the West and Hertfordshire to the South East.The highest elevation point is 243 metres (797 ft) on Dunstable Downs in the Chilterns.

As part of a 2002 marketing campaign, the plant conservation charity Plantlife chose the Bee Orchid as the county flower.

The traditional nickname for people from Bedfordshire is "Bedfordshire Bulldogs" or "Clangers", this last deriving from a local dish comprising a suet crust dumpling filled with meat or jam or both.

Districts

1. Bedford 2. Central Bedfordshire 3. Luton

History

Bedfordshire is an English shire county which lies between approximately 25 miles and 55 miles (or approximately 40 and 90 kilometres) north of central London.

Story

The first recorded use of the name was in 1011 as "Bedanfordscir", meaning the shire or county of Bedford, which itself means "Beda's ford" (river crossing).

Anglian Bedfordshire

The Angle invaders were naturally attracted to Bedfordshire by its abundant water supply and suitability for agriculture, but the remains of their settlements are few and scattered. With one exception, they all occur south of the River Ouse. Evidence of Anglian occupation has been found at a cemetery at Kempston, where both male and female graves dating from the fifth century.

Etymology

The name in its old form is "kemestun" which includes the Brittonic word "cambio" meaning bent or curved. Therefore, the name meant when coined "the enclosed settlement on the bend". The bend was that of the River Great Ouse, noted for its sharp bends upstream of Bedford. It is, however, also possible that "cambita" (the curved one) was the name given to this stretch of the river by the Celtic-speaking population. In this case the name could have developed like that of the river Kembs in the French Department of Haut Rhin. Kempston is also a family name for many individuals from British Ancestry. Kempston was recorded as "camestone" in the Domesday Book and had a 6th-century Anglo Saxon burial site, now home to the Saxon Centretury have been discovered as well as a settlement near Biggleswade.

In the Fifth century AD, Saxon invaders settled here - the name Biggleswade is thought to be derived from Biceil, an Anglo-Saxon personal name and Waed, the Saxon word for ford.

Political History

Early reference to Bedfordshire's political history is scanty. In 571 Cuthwulf inflicted a severe defeat on the Britons at Bedford and took four towns. During the Heptarchy (The word heptarchy refers to the existence (as was thought) of seven kingdoms, which eventually merged to become the basis for the Kingdom of England; these were Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Essex, Kent, Sussex and Wessex. The period supposedly lasted until the seven kingdoms began to consolidate into larger units, but the actual events marking this transition are debatable. At various times within the conventional period, certain rulers of Northumbria, Mercia and Wessex (such as Penda of Mercia) claimed hegemony over larger areas of England; yet as late as the reigns of Eadwig and Edgar (955–75), it was still possible to speak of separate kingdoms within the English population). what is now the shire formed part of Mercia; by the Treaty of Wedmore it became Danish territory, but it was recovered by King Edward (919-921). The first actual mention of the county comes in 1016 when King Canute laid waste to the whole shire.

Model of Bedfordshire Castle

There was no organised resistance to William the Conqueror within Bedfordshire, though the Domesday survey reveals an almost complete substitution of Norman for English landholders. Bedfordshire suffered severely in the civil war of King Stephen's reign; the great Roll of the Exchequer of 1165 proves the shire receipts had depreciated in value to two-thirds of the assessment for the Danegeld. Again the county was thrown into the First Barons' War when Bedford Castle, seized from the Beauchamps by Falkes de Breauté one of the royal partisans, was the scene of three sieges before being demolished on the king's order in 1224 .

Corn Exchange Bedford

The Peasants Revolt (1377–1381) was marked by less violence in Bedfordshire than in neighboring counties; the Annals of Dunstable make brief mention of a rising in that town and the demand for and granting of a charter.In 1638 ship money was levied on Bedfordshire, (Ship money refers to a tax that Charles I of England tried to levy without the consent of Parliament. In medieval times, this tax, which was only applied to coastal towns during a time of war, was intended to offset the cost of defending that part of the coast, and could be paid in actual ships or the equivalent value) and in the English Civil War that followed, the county was one of the foremost in opposing the king. Clarendon observes that here Charles I had no visible party or fixed quarter. The earliest original parliamentary writ that has been discovered was issued in 1290 when two members were returned for the county. In 1295 in addition to the county members, writs are found for two members to represent Bedford borough. Subsequently until modern times two county and two borough members were returned regularly.

Towns and Cities of Bedfordshire

Before 1835 Bedfordshire was divided into nine hundreds, (A hundred is a geographic division formerly used in England, Wales, Denmark, South Australia, some parts of the United States, Germany (Southern Schleswig), Sweden, Finland and Norway, which historically was used to divide a larger region into smaller administrative divisions. Alternative names include wapentake, herred (Danish, Norwegian), härad (Swedish), Harde (German) and kihlakunta (Finnish).The name is derived from the number one hundred. It may once have referred to an area liable to provide a hundred men under arms, or containing roughly a hundred homesteads, or to a small parcel (thus loosely a hundredth) of a territory. It was a traditional Germanic system described as early as AD 98 by Tacitus (the centeni).)
Barford, Biggleswade, Clifton, Flitt, Manshead, Redbornestoke, Stodden, Willey and Wixamtree, and the liberty, half hundred or borough of Bedford. From the Domesday survey it appears that in the 11th century there were three additional half hundreds, viz. Stanburge, Buchelai and Weneslai, which had by the 14th century become parts of the hundreds of Manshead, Willey and Biggleswade respectively. Until 1574 one sheriff did duty for Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, the shire court of the former being held at Bedford. The jurisdiction of the hundred courts, excepting Flitt, remained in the king's possession. Flitt was parcel of the manor of Luton, and formed part of the marriage portion of Eleanor, sister of Henry III, and wife of William Marshall. The burgesses of Bedford and the prior of Dunstable claimed jurisdictional freedom in those two boroughs. The hundred Rolls and the Placita de quo warranto show that important jurisdiction had accrued to the great over-lordships, such as those of Beauchamp, Wahull and Caynho, and to several religious houses, the prior of St John of Jerusalem claiming rights in more than fifty places in the county.

Geology, landscape and ecology

The southern end of the county is part of the chalk ridge known as the Chiltern Hills. The remainder is part of the broad drainage basin of the River Great Ouse and its tributaries.

Most of Bedfordshire's rocks are clays and sandstones from the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods, with some limestone. Local clay has been used for brick-making of Fletton style bricks in the Marston Vale. Glacial erosion of chalk has left the hard flint nodules deposited as gravel – this has been commercially extracted in the past at pits which are now lakes, at Priory Country Park, Wyboston and Felmersham.The Greensand Ridge is an escarpment across the county from near Leighton Buzzard to near Gamlingay in Cambridgeshire.

Climate

Bedfordshire is relatively dry being situated in the east of England. Average annual rainfall is 584.4mm at Bedford. Rain falls more frequently than every other day in autumn and winter but falls are normally light, conversely spring and summer generally sees more dry days but heavier individual falls of rain, of note were the 1998 Easter floods. In most years there is a spell lasting between 2 and 3 weeks in which no rain at all falls. Between November and April some snow can be expected from time to time but it is rarely heavy. Average temperatures in Bedford range from a minimum of 0.6C overnight in February to 21.5C during the day in July and August.

Bibliographic references

• History of Bedfordshire 1066-1888 by Joyce Godber

• A Bedfordshire Bibliography by L R Conisbe published in 1962 with a supplement in 1967

• Bedfordshire Historical Record Society by H O White (published annually).

• Guide to the Bedfordshire Record Office 1957 with supplements.

• Guide to the Russell Estate Collections Published in 1966.

• Elstow Moot Hall leaflets On John Bunyan and 17th Century Subjects

• A Bedfordshire Flora by John Dony

• Luton and the Hat Industry by John Dony

• Pillow Lace in the East Midlands by Charles Freeman

• Bedfordshire Magazine (Published Quarterley)

Dunstable / Dunastopol: Place in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series ****

2009-10-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Dunstable (pronounced /ˈdʌnstəbəl/) is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. It lies on the eastward tail spurs of the Chiltern Hills, 30 miles north of London. These geographical features form several steep chalk escarpments most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the north.

Etymology
In Roman times its name was Durocobrivis. There was a general assumption that the nominative form of the name had been Durocobrivae, so that is what appears on the map of 1944 illustrated above. But current thinking is that the form Durocobrivis, which occurs in the Antonine Itinerary, is a fossilised locative that was used all the time and Ordnance Survey now uses this form.
There are several theories concerning its modern name:
• Legend tells that the lawlessness of the time was personified in a thief called Dun. Wishing to capture Dun, the King stapled his ring to a post daring the robber to steal it. It was, and was subsequently traced to the house of the widow Dun. Her son, the robber, was taken and hanged to the final satisfaction that the new community bore his name.

It comes from the Anglo-Saxon for "the boundary post of Duna".

Ancient history
Relics of Palæolithic man, such as flint implements and the bones of contemporary wild animals, suggest settlement is prehistoric. At Maidenbower just outside the town near Totternhoe to the north-west, there is an Iron Age hill fort and is clearly marked on the Ordnance survey maps. Maidenbower has some of the Ramparts showing through the edge of an old chalk quarry at Sewell where there are Bronze age remains of an older Fort. There are a lot of prehistoric sites in this area and details can be found with the Manshead Archaeological Society who are based in Winfield St. Dunstable.

Sewell Chalk Quarry

Roman settlement
There was already some form of settlement by the time that the ancient British Romans paved road (now known as Watling Street, and in the Great Britain road numbering scheme the A5) crossed another ancient and still-existing road, the Icknield Way. Traces of Neolithic activity are not in doubt but much of their mystery may be lost under the surrounding Chiltern Hills.

A map of Dunstable from 1944

The Romans built a posting station and named the settlement Durocobrivis, which survived until their departure from Britain. The area is most likely to have been swarmed by the Saxons, who overran this part of Bedfordshire in about 571.

Mediaeval times
Until the 11th century this area of the county is known to have been uncultivated tract covered by woodlands. In 1109 Henry I started the a period of activity by responding to this danger to travellers. He instructed areas to be cleared and encouraged settlers with offers of royal favour. In 1123 a royal residence was built at what is now called the Royal Palace Lodge Hotel on Church Street. The King used the residence as a base to hunt on the nearby lands.
The Dunstable Priory was founded in 1131 by the King and was later used for the divorce between Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon, which led to the establishment of the Church of England in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church. The same year the town granted a Town Charter to the power of the priors. In 1290 Dunstable was one of twelve sites to erect an Eleanor cross recognising Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I, whose coffin was laid close to the crossroads for the local people to mourn the dead Queen. The coffin was then guarded inside the Priory by the Canons overnight before continuing on to St Albans. The original wooden cross has long since perished but a modern memorial remains.

Market Cross Dunstable

17th century
Bedfordshire was one of the counties that largely supported the Roundheads during the English Civil War. Nearby St Albans in Hertfordshire was the head quarters of the Roundheads, and troops were occasionally stationed at Dunstable. The town was plundered by King Charles I's soldiers when passing through in June 1644, and Essex's men destroyed the Eleanor Cross. The town's prosperity, and the large number of Inns or public houses in the town, is partly because it is only one or two day's ride by horse from London (32 miles (51 km)), and therefore a place to rest overnight. Towns like Stevenage on the Great North Road benefitted from the same effect, and of course similar settlements all over the rest of the country. There are two pubs which still have coaching gates to the side: the Sugar Loaf in High Street North, and the Saracens Head in High Street South. The Saracens Head is a name often given to pubs frequented by Knights of The Crusades. It is considerably lower than the road to its front, witness to the fact that the road has been resurfaced a number of times during the lifetime of the pub.

19th century

Dunstable's Grove House

Dunstable's first railway opened in 1848. It was a branch joining the West Coast Main Line at Leighton Buzzard. A second line linking Dunstable with Hatfield via Luton opened in 1858. Passenger services to Dunstable were withdrawn in 1965, but the line between Dunstable and Luton remained open for freight traffic for many years. Dunstable was a significant market town, but its importance diminished as the neighbouring town of Luton grew.

World War ll Museum Luton

20th century and after
The 19th century saw the straw hat making industry come to Luton and a subsequent decline in Dunstable, to be replaced in the early 20th century by the printing and motor vehicle industries with companies such as Waterlows and Vauxhall Motors respectively.

Vauxhall Motors Griffith House

But with the closure of the main factories and the decline of manufacturing in the area, this distinctiveness has been lost. Shops were concentrated along the main High Street (Watling Street) until in 1966. The Quadrant Shopping Centre opened, becoming the main retail centre of Dunstable. Additionally in 1985 the Eleanor's Cross retail area was developed to cater mainly for smaller independent shops.With the rise of out-of-town retail parks, as with many other market towns the town centre has suffered a decline in trade. Few original independent shops remain. Of the oldest Moore's Of Dunstable (opened in 1908) closed in 2008, leaving The Cottage Garden Flower Shop of Chiltern Road, established in 1898, as the oldest independent retail business still trading.

Governance

Before the Local Government Act 1972 coming into force in 1974, Dunstable was a municipal borough. It is now a civil parish in the Central Bedfordshire district.For council elections the town is divided into wards. Since 2002 these have been called Chiltern, Dunstable Central, Icknield, Manshead, Northfields and Watling.

Geography

Dunstable Downs

The oldest part of the town is along the Icknield Way and Watling Street where they cross. These roads split the rest of the town into four quadrants which have each been developed in stages.

Icknied Way

The north-west quadrant started to be developed in the nineteenth century when the British Land Company laid out the roads around Victoria Street. The development of the Beecroft area began with the houses around Worthington Road; after World War II the borough council extended the estate up to Westfield Road with its shops, and then up to Aldbanks. The war-time site of the Meteorological Office, where the road Weatherby is now, was redeveloped by George Wimpey and others. At the north of the town there is an estate originally marketed as French's Gate Estate, and at the west of the town there is an area of houses on Lancot Hill. The south-west quadrant has largely been developed since World War II. There are three main estates. In the Lake District Estate all the streets are named after places in the Lake District and Cumbria; the estate includes a parade of shops on Langdale Road. It was originally called the Croft Golf Course Estate and was built by Laing Homes. Oldhill Down Estate around the Lowther Road shops was developed by William Old Ltd, and the Stipers Hill Estate around Seamons Close was initially created by the Land Settlement Association. In the south-east quadrant, the area around Great Northern Road was developed at the end of the nineteenth century as Englands Close Estate and Borough Farm Estate. The Downside Estate including the shops on Mayfield Road was planned by the borough council in 1951. The north-east quadrant is a mainly commercial and civic area, the result of redevelopment in the early 1960s. But the site of the Waterlow and Sons printing works around Printers Way is now occupied by houses built in the 1990s. The Northfields Estate at the north of the town was completed by the borough council in 1935. Further east, near the border with Luton, there is another area that has largely been developed since World War II. To the south of Luton Road, Jeansway was completed after the war; to the north, Poynters Estate and Hadrian Estate were built on either side of Katherine Drive, where there is a parade of shops. The area also includes the Woodside Estate which contains most of the factories and warehouses that still exist in Dunstable.

Leighton Buzzard Market Square

Politics
The town lies in the parliamentary constituency of South West Bedfordshire. Since June 2001 Leighton Buzzard based lawyer Andrew Selous has won election to representation on behalf of the Conservative party. For many years previous David Madel was MP for the district.

Culture
Since its opening in April 2007 the Grove Theatre has replaced the Queensway Hall as the town's premier arts centre, located within the council owned Grove Gardens. National and local productions take place regularly at this cornerstone of Dunstable's cultural exploits. Additional facilities include units fit for six bars or restaurants along with a 1,000 seated auditorium. (Currently a Wetherspoons entitled The Gary Cooper, an Italian, and a Dim Sum restaurant have opened.)One of the town's little gems is that of the Little Theatre, home of the Dunstable Rep Theatre Group that also hosts dramatic performances throughout the year. The auditorium, once part of the Chews Trust was fully opened in 1964 by Bernard Bresslaw. It sits next to the historic Chews House on High Street South. The town also has numerous amateur dramatics societies that perform several shows a year. These include 'The Square Drama Circle' and 'Dunstable Amateur Operatics Society'

Landmarks

The new Grove Theatre development

Within the town, there is the modern Grove Theatre, newly refurbished Priory House Heritage Centre (free to the public), and the Priory Church where Henry VIII formalised his divorce from Catherine of Aragon.

There is shopping in the heart of the town at the Quadrant Shopping Centre; across High Street North there is a secondary area called Eleanor's Cross Shopping Precinct with a modern statue commemorating the original cross.

Nearby Luton has the Waulud's Bank prehistoric henge and Luton Museum & Art Gallery. Dunstable Downs, a chalky escarpment outside the town, is a popular site for kite flying, paragliding, and hang gliding, while the London Gliding Club provides a base for conventional gliding and other air activities at the bottom of the Downs.

Further into the countryside are the open-range Whipsnade Zoo,

a garden laid out in the form of a cathedral at Whipsnade Tree Cathedral,

and the Totternhoe Knolls motte-and-bailey castle.

Bibliography

Prehistory: Matthews, C. L. (1989). Ancient Dunstable (2nd ed.). Manshead Archaeological Society. ISBN ISBN 0-9515160-0-0.

Historical town-centre locations: Benson, Nigel, (1986). Dunstable in Detail: An Illustrated Guide to the Town of Dunstable. Dunstable: Book Castle. ISBN 0-9509773-2-2.

Street names: Walden, R. (1999). Streets Ahead: An Illustrated Guide to the Street Names of Dunstable. Dunstable: Book Castle. 0-871199-59-X. ISBN 0-871199-54-9.

Second World War: Dunstable and District at War from Eyewitness Accounts. Dunstable: Book Castle. 2006. ISBN 1-903747-79-1.

Watchet/ Waeced: Place in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series ****

2009-10-11T14:18:00.000-07:00

Watchet is a harbour town and civil parish in the English county of Somerset, with an approximate population of 4,400. It is situated 15 miles (24 km) west of Bridgwater, 15 miles (24 km) north-west of Taunton, and 9 miles (14 km) east of Minehead. The parish includes the hamlet of Beggearn Huish. The town lies at the mouth of the Washford River on Bridgwater Bay, part of the Bristol Channel, and on the edge of Exmoor National Park.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem The Rime of the Ancient Mariner was written whilst travelling through Watchet and the surrounding area.

History

Watchet is believed to be the place where Saint Decuman was killed and the 15th century, Grade I listed, Church of St Decuman is dedicated to him.The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records the early port at Watchet being plundered by Danes led by Ohtor and Rhoald in 987 and 997. It is known that it was in frequent use by small boats in 1564 possibly for the import of salt and wine from France.

During the English Civil War Royalist reinforcements for the siege of Dunster Castle was sent by sea, but the tide was on the ebb and a troop of Roundheads rode into the shallows and forced the ship to surrender, so a ship at sea was taken by a troop of horse.The primitive jetty was damaged in a storm of 1659 and a larger, stronger pier was built in the early 18th century supported by local wool merchants, although by 1797 the largest export was kelp made by burning seaweed for use in glass making.

Dunster Castle

Watchet Railway Station

In the 19th century trade increased with the export of iron ore from the Brendon Hills, paper, flour and gypsum. Harbour trade was aided by the coming of the railway. In the mid-1860s two independent railways terminated at Watchet. The West Somerset Mineral Railway ran down from the iron mines on the Brendon Hills, and the West Somerset Railway came up from the Bristol & Exeter Railway at Norton Fitzwarren. Both lines made extensive use of the harbour at Watchet from where iron ore was shipped across the Bristol Channel for smelting at Ebbw Vale in South Wales.The mines and West Somerset Mineral Railway closed in 1898. The West Somerset Railway, extended from Watchet to Minehead in 1874, survived as part of British Rail until 1971. Reopened as a heritage railway, it still operates today. In 1900 and 1903 a series of gales breached the breakwater and East Pier with the loss of several vessels each time and subsequent repairs.

Governance

The civil parish of Watchet is governed by a town council. Administratively, the civil parish falls within the West Somerset local government district and the Somerset shire county. Administrative tasks are shared between county, district and town councils. In 2002, the parish was estimated to have a population of 4,401. Watchet forms part of the Bridgwater county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. Following its review of parliamentary representation in Somerset, the Boundary Commission for England has finalised the proposals which expands the existing Bridgwater seat into a new Bridgwater and West Somerset division. The current MP is Ian Liddell-Grainger, a member of the Conservatives. Residents of Watchet also form part of the electorate for the South West England constituency for elections to the European Parliament.

Landmarks

A statue of the Ancient Mariner at Watchet Harbour, unveiled in September 2003 as a tribute to Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Ah ! well a-day ! what evil looks

Had I from old and young !

Instead of the cross, the Albatross

About my neck was hung.

The principal landmark in Watchet is the town's harbour and the surrounding quaysides and narrow streets. In commercial use until 2000, the harbour has now been converted into a marina.

There are several museums in the town, including the Market House Museum, which explores the history of the town and its harbour,

and the Watchet Boat Museum, which displays the unusual local flatner boats and associated artefacts. Adjacent to the harbour is Watchet station. This is now an intermediate stop on the West Somerset Railway, a largely steam-operated heritage railway that links Bishops Lydeard, near Taunton, with Minehead. The trackbed of the old West Somerset Mineral Railway now forms a path, which can be followed from the harbour at Watchet to Washford station, also on the West Somerset Railway.

Warren Bay, Watchet

The foreshore at Watchet is rocky, with a high 6 metres (20 ft) tidal range. The cliffs between Watchet and Blue Anchor show a distinct pale, greenish blue colour, resulting from the coloured alabaster found there. The name "Watchet" or "Watchet Blue" was used in the 16th century to denote this colour.

Daw's Castle, about 0.5 miles (0.80 km) west of Watchet, is a hill fort situated on a sea cliff about 80 metres (260 ft) above the sea. The fort may be of Iron Age origin, but was (re)built and fortified as a burh by King Alfred, as part of his defence against Viking raids from the Bristol Channel around 878 AD.

Cleeve Abbey, one of the best preserved medieval monasteries in England, lies about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Watchet, in the village of Washford.

River Orwell: Place in Berbard Cornwell's Saxon Series****

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The River Orwell flows through the County of Suffolk in England Its source river, above the tidal limit, is known as the River Gipping.

Bridge across the River Gipping

It broadens into an estuary at Ipswich and flows into the North Sea at Felixstowe after joining with the river Stour at Shotley.

Felixstowe Port

Map of the Rivers Orwell and Stour

reach the estuary at Shotley

The large Orwell Bridge carries the A14 trunk road over the estuary just east of Ipswich.

Name
In the name Orwell, Or- comes from an ancient river-name — probably pre-Celtic; but -well probably indicates an Anglo-Saxon naming.

In A tour through England and Wales written in 1722, Daniel Defoe calls the river "Orwel" (though does this inconsistently). He also mentions that "a traveller will hardly understand me, especially a seaman, when I speak of the River Stour and the River Orwell at Harwich, for they know them by no other names than those of Maningtre-Water, and Ipswich-Water".

George Orwell
The writer Eric Blair chose the pen name under which he would later become famous, "George Orwell", because of his love for the river.

Sailing
The Orwell provides a popular venue for sailing. Interest originally centred on the hamlet of Pin Mill (featured in two children's novels by Arthur Ransome: We Didn't Mean To Go To Sea and Secret Water) and its "hard", and is home to the Pin Mill Sailing Club. A charming film, "Ha'penny Breeze," was made in Pin Mill, featuring a yacht that was based in the area.

For many years Pin Mill was a centre for the repair of Thames sailing barges. During World War II, Pin Mill was home to Royal Navy MLs (Motor Launches) and to a degaussing vessel created from a herring drifter, and prior to the Normandy Invasion in 1944 was also home port, with Woolverstone, to many LCTs (Landing Craft Tanks) used in the invasion.
Since the 1970s marinas have opened at Levington (Suffolk Yacht Harbour), Woolverstone, Fox's (just outside Ipswich), and two marinas in the old Ipswich Wet Dock.

Woolverstone is home to the Royal Harwich Yatch Club that was for many years host to the Swordfish 15-foot racing dinghy built by Fairy Marine, in addition to its 12-foot Firefly, a derivative of the National 12-foot dinghy, both designed by the great sailor Uffa Fox.

Seine Drainage Basin

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Roman Britain c.150AD

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Roman Empire 117AD

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Roman Empire c.125AD

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Pas de Calais and the Somme

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Isle of Wight showing Solent between the mainland

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Cherburg

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Hennebont

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Map of Amorica

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Knights of the Shire

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In English and Welsh politics from mediaeval times until the Representation of the People Act 1884, Knights of the Shire were representatives of counties sent to advise the government of the day.
The precursor to the English parliamentary system was a council of advisors to the King, consisting of noblemen and members of the aristocracy, and Knights of the Shire. This council evolved into the Model Parliament of 1295 which also consisted of representatives from the boroughs (burgesses) and had legislative powers. Two Knights of the Shire were sent from each county. In the reign of Edward III parliament split into its current day format of two houses—the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Knights of the Shire, as well as representatives from the boroughs formed the former House. From then until the Great Reform Act of 1832, each county continued to send two Knights (apart from Yorkshire, which had its number of Knights increased to four in 1826). How these knights were chosen varied from one county to the next and evolved over time. The 1832 Act increased the number of Knights sent by some populous counties to as many as six.

The Traditional Shires marked in RED

Uniform County Franchise

Until legislation in the fifteenth century the franchise for elections of knights of the shire to serve as the representatives of counties in the Parliament of England was not restricted to forty shilling freeholders.
Seymour, discussing the original county franchise, suggested "it is probable that all free inhabitant householders voted and that the parliamentary qualification was, like that which compelled attendance in the county court, merely a "resiance" or residence qualification".
Seymour goes on to explain why Parliament decided to legislate about the county franchise. "The Act of 1430, after declaring that elections had been crowded by many persons of low estate, and that confusion had thereby resulted, accordingly enacted that the suffrage should be limited to persons qualified by a freehold of 40s".
The Parliament of England legislated the new uniform county franchise, in the statute 8 Hen. 6, c. 7. However the Chronological Table of the Statutes does not mention such a 1430 law, as it was included in the Consolidated Statutes as a recital in the Electors of Knights of the Shire Act 1432 (10 Hen. 6, c. 2), which amended and re-enacted the 1430 law to make clear that the resident of a county had to have a forty shilling freehold in that county to be a voter there.
Over the course of time a great number of different types of property were accepted as being forty shilling freeholds and the residence requirement disappeared.

Modern Usage

The term became obsolete in the later Reform Act of 1884, but is still used in a colloquial sense to refer to Members of Parliament whose distinguishing feature may be a county background and innate conservatism rather than a radical approach.

References

The text of the 1832 Reform Act Chronological Table of the Statutes: Part 1 1235-1962 (The Stationery Office Ltd 1999)

Electoral Reform in England and Wales, by Charles Seymour (David & Charles Reprints 1970) The Statutes: Revised Edition, Vol. I Henry III to James II (printed by authority in 1876)

The Statutes: Second Revised Edition, Vol. XVI 1884-1886 (printed by authority in 1900)

Count of the Saxon Shores

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The Count of the Saxon Shore or comes litoris Saxonici was the head of the "Saxon Shore" military command of the later Roman Empire.

The Roman empire in the time of Hadrian (ruled 117-138 AD), showing the imperial province of Britannia (England/Wales), and the 3 legions deployed there in 125.

The post was possibly created during the reign of Constantine I and was probably existent by AD 367 when Nectaridus is elliptically referred to as one by Ammianus. His remit covered the southern and eastern coasts of Roman Britain during a period of increasing maritime raids from barbarian tribes outside the empire. The Count was one of three commands covering Britain at the time, along with the northern Dux Britanniarum and central Comes Britanniarum.

Comes (genitive: comitis) is the Latin word for companion, either individually or as a member of a collective known as comitatus (compare comitatenses), especially the suite of a magnate, in some cases large and/or formal enough to have a specific name, such as a cohors amicorum. The word comes derives from com- "with" + ire "go."
Comes rei militaris
These comites held military appointments, higher than dux, but under Magister peditum/ Magister equitum; they were the superiors of a series of military posts, each commanded by a praepositus limitis (border commander), and/or unit commanders, such as tribunes of cohorts, alae (auxiliary equivalent), numeri, in the eastern empire even legions : The Notitia Dignitatum (early fifth century) mentions six such positions, of the rank vir spectabilis, in the western empire (Comes Italiae, Comes Africae, Comes Tingitaniae, Comes Tractus Argentoratensis, Comes Britanniarum and Litoris Saxonici per Britannias) and two in the eastern empire: Comes (limitis) Aegypti, Comes Isauriae = - per Isauria).
Comes Africae -- Count in charge of the defense of Roman Africa.
Comes Argentoratensis -- Count in charge of the defense of part of Gaul (Gallia).
Comes Avernorum -- Count in charge of the defense of part of Gaul (Gallia).
Comes Britanniarum -- Count in charge of defense of Roman Britain (Britannia). This post presumably expired circa AD 410, when the last Roman troops left the isles forever.
Comes Hispaniarum -- Count in charge of the defense of Roman Iberia (Hispania).
As the number of comites grew, the rank was devalued, which led to he introduction of the notion of classes of comites; first, second and third ordines

Dux Britanniarum was a military post in Roman Britain, probably created by Diocletian or Constantine I during the late third or early fourth century. It is listed in the Notitia Dignitatum as being one of the three commands in Britain, along with the Comes Britanniarum and Count of the Saxon Shore. His troops were limitanei or frontier guards and not the comitatenses or field army commanded by the Comes Britanniarum.
Fourteen units in north Britain are listed in the Notitia as being under his command, stationed in either modern Yorkshire, Cumbria or Northumberland. Archaeological evidence indicates there were others that were occupied at the time which are not listed. His forces included three cavalry vexillationes with the rest being infantry, overall they were newly-raised units rather than being third century creations. In addition to these fort garrisons, the dux commanded the troops at Hadrian's Wall and the Notitia lists their stations from east to west as well as some further forts on the Cumbrian coast. These troops appear to have been third century regiments although the reliability of the Notitia makes it difficult to infer any solid information from it.

Comes Britanniarum was a military post in Roman Britain, with command of the mobile field army from the mid 4th century onwards.
It is listed in the Notitia Digni tatum as being one of the three commands in Britain, along with the Dux Britanniarum and Count of the Saxon Shore. His troops were the main field army in Britain or comitatenses and not the limitanei or frontier guard commanded by the other two.

The shield of the Equites Taifali, a Taifal mercenary corps serving under the comes of Britain.

Some historians formerly considered the post to have been introduced after 410 during a now-discounted re-occupation of Britain under Honorius.
The first comes in Britain was Gratian the Elder, the father of emperor Valentinian I, who commanded the British field army (comitatus) holding this title. It seems to have been an appointment during some unrecorded crisis at the time.
A permanent office was created in the late fourth or early fifth century, perhaps by Stilicho who withdrew troops from Britain to defend Italy in 402. Alternatively, it may have been instituted by Magnus Maximus or Constantine III.
According to the Notitia Dignitatum the comes commanded six cavalry and three infantry units, probably a force of no more than 6,000 troops. This tiny force was charged with supporting the frontier troops in fending off the increasing number of barbarian raids during the period. Some units seem to have been transferred from the Duke of Britain's or Count of the Saxon Shore's armies. The office was not in place for long as the last Roman troops are recorded in Britain no later than 409.

Originally, the command may have covered both sides of the English Channel as well as Britain's western coast, as Carausius had done but by the end of the fourth century the role had been diminished and Gaul had its own dux tractus Amoricani and dux Belgicae Secundae.
In 367, a series of invasions from Picts, Franks, Saxons, Scots and Attacotti appears to have defeated the army of Britain and resulted in the death of Nectaridus. Under Count Theodosius' reforms, the command was reorganised slightly.

The fifth century Notitia Dignitatum lists the names of the Saxon Shore Forts from Norfolk to Hampshire that were under the Count's command. Further stations up the North Sea coast were probably also his responsibility. Forces he controlled were classified as limitanei, or frontier troops. In 401 many of his soldiers appear to have been withdrawn for the defence of Italy, likely rendering Britain much more vulnerable to attack.

Nine Forts of the Saxon Shore

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The Saxon Shore (Latin: litus Saxonicum) was a military command of the late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the English channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Saxon Shore". In the late 4th century, his functions were limited to Britain, while the fortifications in Gaul were established as separate commands. Several Saxon Shore forts survive still in east and south-east England.

Background
During the latter half of the 3rd century, the Roman Empire faced a grave crisis. Internally, it was weakened by civil wars, the violent succession of brief emperors, and secession in the provinces, while externally it faced a new wave of attacks by "barbarian" tribes. Most of Britain had been a Roman province (Britannia) since the mid-1st century.

It was protected from raids in the north by the Hadrianic and Antonine Walls, while in the Channel, the Classis Britannica patrolled, keeping seaborne raiders at bay.
However, as the frontiers came under increasing external pressure, a massive fortification drive was undertaken throughout the Empire in order to protect cities and guard strategically important locations. It is in this context that the forts of the Saxon Shore were constructed. Already in the 230s, under Severus Alexander, several units had been withdrawn from the northern frontier and garrisoned at locations in the south, and built new forts at Brancaster, Caister-on-Sea and Reculver. Dover was already fortified since the early 2nd century, and when the other forts were constructed in the period between the 270s and 290s, the full chain of forts was completed.

Meaning of the term and role
The complete fortification system of the Saxon Shore extended on both sides of the Channel.

The only contemporary reference we possess that mentions the name "Saxon Shore" comes is the late-4th century Notitia Dignitatum, which lists its commander,

the Comes Litoris Saxonici per Britanniam ("Count of the Saxon Shore in Britain"), and gives the names of the sites under his command and their respective complement of military personnel. However, due to the absence of further evidence, theories have varied between scholars as to the exact meaning of the name, and also the nature and purpose of the chain of forts it refers to.
Two interpretations were put forward as to the meaning of the adjective "Saxon": either a shore attacked by Saxons, or a shore settled by Saxons. The latter hypothesis receives at least partial support from archaeological finds, as Germanic-style artifacts have been found in burials, while the settlement of Saxons in large numbers in the area of SE England and the northern coasts of Gaul around Boulogne-sur-Mer and Bayeux is clearly attested from the middle of the 5th century onwards. Especially in the Gallic coast, the settlement of Germanic tribes is clearly attested. The chronicler Eutropius mentions that during the 280s, the sea along the coasts of Belgica and Armorica was "infested with Franks and Saxons", and that it was for this reason that Carausius was first appointed in charge of the Classis Britannica. In addition, the Notitia records the presence of numerous Germanic tribes (mainly Franks and Suevi) serving as laeti in the Roman army in the latter 4th century.
The other interpretation, supported by Stephen Johnson, holds that the forts fulfilled a coastal defense role against seaborne invaders, mostly Saxons and Franks, and acting as bases for the Classis operating against them. This view is reinforced by the existence of a parallel chain of fortifications across the Channel on the northern coasts of Gaul, which complemented the British forts, suggesting a unified defensive system.
Other scholars like John Cotterill however, consider the threat posed by Germanic raiders, at least in the 3rd and early 4th centuries, to be exaggerated. The construction of the forts at Brancaster, Caister-on-Sea and Reculver in the early 3rd century and their location at the estuaries of navigable rivers is interpreted by them as an indication of a different role, that of fortified supply and transport points from and to Britain and Gaul, without any relation (at least at that time) to countering seaborne piracy. This view is supported by contemporary references to the supplying of the army of Caesar Julian with grain from Britain during his campaign in Gaul in 359, and their use as secure landing places by Count Theodosius during the suppression of the Great Conspiracy a few years later.
Another theory, proposed by D.A. White, was that the extended system of the large stone forts was disproportionate to any threat by seaborne Germanic raiders, and that it was actually conceived and constructed during the secession of Carausius and Allectus (the Carausian Revolt) in 289-296, and with an entirely different enemy in mind: they were to guard against an attempt at reconquest by the Empire. This view, although widely disputed, has found recent support by archaeological evidence at Pevensey, which dates the fort's construction to the early 290s.
Whatever their original purpose, it can be regarded as certain that in the latter decades of the 4th century, the forts and their garrisons were employed in operations against Frankish and Saxon pirates. Roman control over the area was never fully restored after the Great Conspiracy, however, and Britain was abandoned by Rome in 407, with Armorica following soon after. The forts on both sides continued to be inhabited in the following centuries, and in Britain in particular several continued in use well into the Anglo-Saxon period.

The Forts

In Britain

The nine British Saxon Shore forts in the Notitia Dignitatum.

The nine forts mentioned in the Notitia Dignitatum for Britain are listed here, from north to south, with their garrisons.

Branodunum (Brancaster, Norfolk). One of the earliest forts, dated to the 230s. It was built to guard the Wash approaches and is of a typical rectangular castrum layout. It was garrisoned by the Equites Dalmatae Brandodunenses, although evidence exists suggesting that its original garrison was the cohors I Aquitanorum.

Castrum Layout

Basic ideal plan of a Roman castrum. (1)Principia (2)Via Praetoria (3)Via Principalis (4)Porta Principalis Dextra (5)Porta Praetoria (main gate) (6)Porta Principalis Sinistra (7)Porta Decumana (back gate)

The Wash Area

This was an important strategic area as the Capital was Colchester not far from here and the depot at Lincoln.

Gariannonum (Burgh Castle, Norfolk). Established between 260 and the mid-270s to guard the River Yare (Gariannus Fluvius), it was garrisoned by the Equites Stablesiani Gariannoneses.

Othona (Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex). Garrisoned by the Numerus Fortensium. Now only St.Peters Bradwell exists from the 3rd century

Remains of the rampart of Regulbium. The typical Roman mixture of stone and bricks is evident.

Regulbium (Reculver, Kent). Together with Brancaster one of the earliest forts, built in the 210s to guard the Thames estuary, it is likewise a castrum. It was garrisoned by the cohors I Baetasiorum since the 3rd century.

Rutupiae (Richborough, Kent), garrisoned by parts of the Legio II Augusta.

Dubris (Dover Castle, Kent), garrisoned by the Milites Tungrecani.

Portus Lemanis (Lympne, Kent), garrisoned by the Numerus Turnacensium.

Anderitum (Pevensey Castle, East Sussex), garrisoned by the Numerus Abulcorum.
View from later castle towards the walls and bastions of the Roman fort, including the Saxon gate and Norman priory church.

Portus Adurni (Portchester Castle, Hampshire), garrisoned by a Numerus Exploratorum.

There are a few other sites that clearly belonged to the system of the British branch of the Saxon Shore (the so-called "Wash-Solent limes"), although they are not included in the Notitia, such as the forts at Walton, Suffolk, which has by now sunk into the sea due to erosion, and at Caister-on-Sea.

In the south, Carisbrooke Castle on the Isle of Wight and

Clausentum (Bitterne, in modern Southampton) are also regarded as westward extensions of the fortification chain.

Other sites likely connected to the Saxon Shore system are the sunken fort at Skegness, and the remains of possible signal stations at Thornham, Corton and Hadleigh.

Thornham Coastline

Further north on the coast, the precautions took the form of central depots at Lindum (Lincoln) and

Malton with roads radiating to coastal signal stations. When an alert was relayed to the base, troops could be dispatched along the road.

Further up the coast in North Yorkshire, a series of coastal watchtowers (at Huntcliff,

Filey,

Ravenscar,

Goldsborough,

and Scarborough) was constructed, linking the southern defences to the northern military zone of the Wall.

Similar coastal fortifications are also found in Wales, at Cardiff and Caer Gybi.

In Gaul

As mentioned above, the Notitia also includes two separate commands for the northern coast of Gaul, both of which belonged to the Saxon Shore system. It must be noted, though, that when the list was compiled, in ca. 420 AD, Britain had been abandoned by Roman forces. The first command controlled the shores of the province Belgica Secunda (roughly between the estuaries of the Scheldt and the Somme), under the dux Belgicae Secundae with headquarters at Portus Aepatiaci:

Marcae (unidentified location near Calais, possibly Marquise or Marck), garrisoned by the Equites Dalmatae. In the Notitia, together with Grannona, it is the only site on the Gallic shore to be explicitly referred to as lying in litore Saxonico. Locus Quartensis sive Hornensis (likely at the mouth of the Somme), the port of the classis Sambrica ("Fleet of the Somme")

Portus Aepatiaci (possibly Étaples), garrisoned by the milites Nervii. Although not mentioned in the Notitia, the port of Gesoriacum or Bononia (Boulogne-sur-Mer), which until 296 was the main base of the Classis Britannica, would also have come under the dux Belgicae Secundae.

To this group also belongs the Roman fort at Oudenburgs marked RED

Further west, under the dux tractus Armoricani et Nervicani, were the coasts of Normandy and Armorica, up to the mouth of the Loire.

The Notitia lists the following sites:

Grannona (disputed location, either at the mouths of the Seine or at Port-en-Bessin), the seat of the dux, garrisoned by the cohors prima nova Armoricana. In the Notitia, it is explicitly mentioned as lying in litore Saxonico.

Seine Basin

Rotomagus (Rouen), garrisoned by the milites Ursariensii Constantia (Coutances), garrisoned by the legio I Flavia Gallicana Constantia

Abricantis (Avranches), garrisoned by the milites Dalmati

Grannona (uncertain whether this is a different location than the first Grannona, perhaps Granville), garrisoned by the milites Grannonensii

Aleto or Aletum (Aleth, near Saint-Malo), garrisoned by the milites Martensii

Osismis (Brest), garrisoned by the milites Mauri

Osismiaci Blabia (perhaps Hennebont), garrisoned by the milites Carronensii

Benetis (possibly Vannes), garrisoned by the milites Mauri

Beneti Manatias (Nantes), garrisoned by the milites superventores In addition, there are several other sites where a Roman military presence has been suggested.

At Alderney, the fort known as "The Nunnery" has been suggested as dating to Roman times, and the settlement at Longy Common has been cited as evidence of a Roman military establishment, though the archaeological evidence is, at best, scant.

In popular culture

In 1888, Alfred Church wrote a historical novel entitled The Count of the Saxon Shore. It is available online.

The American band Saxon Shore takes its name from the region.

The Saxon Shore is the fourth book in Jack Whyte's Camulod Chronicles.

Since 1980, the "Saxon Shore Way" exists, a coastal footpath in Kent which passes by many of the forts.

David Rudkin's play The Saxon Shore takes place near Hadrian's Wall as the Romans are withdrawing from Britain.

Sources
Breeze, David J. (1994). Roman Forts in Britain. Shire Publications. ISBN 0-85263-654-7.

Cotterill, John (1993). "Saxon Raiding and the Role of the Late Roman Coastal Forts of Britain". Britannia 24 (XXIV): 227–239. doi:10.2307/526729.

Fields, Nic (2006). Rome's Saxon Shore - Coastal Defences of Roman Britain AD 250-500 (Fortress 56). Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-094-9.

Johnson, Stephen (1979). The Roman Forts of the Saxon Shore. London: Elek. ISBN 978-0236401659.

Maxfield, Valerie A. (1989). The Saxon Shore, a Handbook. University of Exeter Press. ISBN 0-85989-330-8.

Pearson, Andrew (2002). The Roman Shore Forts: Coastal Defences of Southern Britain. Tempus Publishing. ISBN 978-0752419497.

Ward, John (1911). Romano-British Buildings and Earthworks. http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/Europe/Great_Britain/_Periods/Roman/_Texts/WARRBE/home.html. White, Donald A. (1961). Litus Saxonicum: the British Saxon Shore in Scholarship and History. Madison, W: University of Wisconsin Press. Johnston, David E.; et als. (1977). "The Saxon Shore" (PDF). CBA Research Report (18). http://ads.ahds.ac.uk/catalogue/adsdata/cbaresrep/pdf/018/018tl001.pdf. Retrieved 2007-08-20.

Maxfield, Valerie A.; Dobson, Michael J. (Eds.) (1991). Roman Frontier Studies: Proceedings of the XVth International Congress of Roman Frontier Studies. Exeter: Exeter University Press. ISBN 978-0859897105.

British Kingdoms c.800

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River Ouse and its Tributaries

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Map of East Sussex

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Map showing Coastal Plain

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River Rother Course

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Map of Raids and Hoards

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Park Area at Pebsham

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Map showing Place of Patching Hoard

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Pagham Harbour Map

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Chichester Harbour Map

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Brede Village and Parish

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Origin of Village Name

Brede is most likely derived from the Anglo Saxon Braed(Broad) which described the sea estuary towards Westfield . The village is first mentioned in a charter from the time of King Canute (1016 - 1035). It is possible that the name came from the "Brid" family who were masters of the mint at Hastings, but this is less likely. The mint was founded by King Aethelstan in 924. In 1030 the Manor of Brede was granted to the Abbey of Fecamp in Normandy, and until 1416, Brede was controlled by the Abbey. The church was built by the Benidictine monks from the Abbey around 1180. Very little of the early church remains, and the majority stems from the 12th century.
In 1297 on the 9th August, the whole of the channel fleet was inspected by King Edward I about 1 mile to the east of Brede Bridge in the harbour at Winchelsea now rich farmland.

Code Letter Parish

A Ashburnham

B Battle

BE Bexhill

BO Bodiam

BR Brightling

BRE Brede

BU Burwash

BY Beckley

C Crowhurst

CA Catsfield

CR Camber

D Dallington

E Etchingham

EG East Guldeford

EW Ewhurst

F Fairlight

G Guestling

H Hastings

HG Hurst Green

HO Hollington

I Icklesham

ID Iden

M Mountfield

N Northiam

O Ore

P Pett

PE Penhurst

PH Peasmarsh

PL Playden

R Rye

RF Rye Foreign

S Sedlescombe

SA Salehurst

ST St Leonards

T Ticehurst

U Udimore

W Westfield

WH Whatlington

WI Winchelsea
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Godley Hundred one of the Hundred Districts

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Surrey 14 Saxon Hundreds

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Surrey Roman Town Carvella

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Surrey Map

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Surrey Borders Map

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Towns and Villages in Surrey

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Chertsey Abbey Plan

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Sussex / Suth Seaxa (South Saxons): Place in Bernard Cornwell's Saxon Series ****

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Sussex pronounced /ˈsʌsɨks/), from the Old English Sūþsēaxe ('South Saxons'), is a historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West Sussex and East Sussex and the City of Brighton and Hove.

Brighton and Hove Unitary Authority

The city of Brighton & Hove was created a unitary authority in 1997; and was granted City status in 2000. Until then Chichester had been Sussex's only city.

West Sussex 1.Worthing 2. Arun 3. Chichester 4. Horsham

5. Crawley 6. Mid Sussex 7. Adur

Divisions of West Sussex and East Sussex were first established in 1189, and had obtained separate administrations (Quarter Sessions) by the 16th century.

East Sussex 1. Hastings 2.Rother 3.Wealden 4.Eastbourne

5. Lewes 6.Brighton & Hove (Unitary)

This situation was recognised by the County of Sussex Act 1865. Under the Local Government Act 1888 the two divisions became two administrative counties (along with three county boroughs: Brighton, Hastings and, from 1911, Eastbourne).

Eastbourne Pier

The appellation Sussex remained in use as a ceremonial county until 1974, when the Lord-Lieutenant of Sussex was replaced with one each for East and West Sussex. The whole of Sussex has had a single police force since 1968.
Sussex still retains a strong local identity and the county's unofficial anthem is Sussex by the Sea.

Sussex by the Sea is a song written in 1907 by William Ward-Higgs. It became popular during the First World War, having already been adopted by the Royal Sussex Regiment as an unofficial "nick" march. It may well have come from a poem written by Rudyard Kipling in 1902 entitled Sussex, the final stanza of which is:
God gives all men all earth to love,

But since man's heart is small,

Remains for each one spot shall prove

Beloved over all.

Each to his choice, and I rejoice

The lot has fall to me

In a fair ground - Sussex by the Sea!

In a fair ground - Yea, Sussex by the Sea!

It became well known throughout Sussex and is regarded as a county anthem. It is regularly sung at celebrations throughout Sussex and can be heard during the Lewes bonfire celebrations and is played by marching bands and even Morris dancers throughout the county.

The county's motto, "We wunt be druv", reflects the strong-willed nature of its people in past centuries.

West Sussex Coat of Arms

East Sussex Coat of Arms

Sussex's county flower is the round-headed rampion, also known as the Pride of Sussex.

St. Richard of Chichester

June 16, the feast day of the county's patron saint St Richard, has been declared Sussex Day by West Sussex County Council. Although it retains a strong identity, most people say West Sussex and East Sussex today and even use them in lists of traditional counties sometimes.

Geography
The physical geography of Sussex relies heavily on its lying on the southern part of the Wealden anticline.

Ditchling Beacon

Some features of that are the high lands which cross the county in a west to east direction: the Weald itself, and the South Downs. The former consists of clays and sands; the latter chalk. Between those two ridges, mainly in West Sussex, lies the ‘’Vale of Sussex’’; at the eastern end of the county is the valley of the River Rother, which flows into what was a long sea inlet to reach the sea at Rye Bay.

The Weald

The Weald runs in an easterly direction from St Leonards Forest, south-west of Crawley, and continues to Ashdown Forest.

Ashdown Forest

Its eastern extremity is in two sections, divided by the River Rother valley. The northern arm reaches the sea at Folkestone (in Kent); the southern at Fairlight Down east of Hastings.

Black Down

Within the Weald lies Sussex's highest point, the pine-clad Black Down, close to the Surrey border at 917 feet (280 m). Another high point is in the part called Forest Ridges: a height of about 800 feet (240 m) is reached at Beacon Hill in the neighbourhood of Crowborough.
The High Weald, as the main area is known, gets its name from ’’wilderness’’ or forest, and it retains the highest proportion of ancient woodlands in the country. Around 1660 the total area under forest was estimated to exceed 200,000 acres (81,000 ha), and supplied the furnaces of the ironworks which formed an important industry in the county until the 17th century, and which survived even until the early years of the 19th century.

South Downs
The South Downs start from a point near Petersfield in Hampshire. On entering Sussex, their summit is about 10 miles (16 km) from the sea. They run east for some 50 miles (80 km), gradually approaching the coast, and terminating in the bold promontory of Beachy Head near Eastbourne.

Beachy Head, famous for people commiting suicide here

Signpost to Ditchling Beacon

Their average height is about 500 feet (150 m) though Ditchling Beacon is 813 feet (248 m) (the third highest summit) and many other summits exceed 700 feet (210 m).

Vale of Sussex

The Vale of Sussex is the lower undulating land which came into being when the softer clays between the Weald and the Downs were worn away. Crossing the Vale are most of the rivers in Sussex: those rising on the slopes of the Weald and cutting through the Downs to reach the sea .

Coastal plain
Narrow belt from Chichester to Brighton. Once noted for market gardening, it is now heavily built-up into a sprawling coastal conurbation. The beaches along the coast vary from sandy to shingle: that factor, together with the mild climate of the coast, sheltered by the hills from north and east winds, resulted in the growth of numerous resort towns, of which the most popular are (east to west)Hastings, Bexhill, Eastbourne,

Hastengas (Hastings Old town)

Bexhill-on-Sea

Seaford

Brighton

Shoreham-by-Sea

Worthing Pier

Littlehamton Harbour

Bognor Regis

Marshland

There are several areas of low-lying marshland along the coast; from west to east these are: in the west of the county, south of Chichester, between Chichester Harbour and Pagham Harbour;

Salt Marsh at West Wittering

Pagham Harbour

beyond Beachy Head, the "Pevensey Levels"; beyond Hastings, the "Pett Levels";

Welland Marsh Wind Turbines

Beyond Rye, the "Walland Marsh" part of Romney Marsh.

St. Mary in the Marsh at Romney Marsh

All were originally bays; natural coastal deposition and man-made protective walls have given rise to alluvial deposition.

Drainage
The rivers wholly within the county are relatively short. All rise in the Weald (St Leonard’s Forest area) and, apart from the eastern River Rother, flow south to the English Channel, using gaps in the South Downs as they do so. The mouths of all have been affected by longshore drift, particularly during violent storms during the Middle Ages. From west to east they are:

Arun, and its tributary the western River Rother: source of Arun near Horsham; entering the sea at Littlehampton

Adur: source near Cuckfield; mouth near Shoreham-by-Sea

Ouse: Source near Lower Beeding; mouth at Newhaven

Newhaven Fort

Cuckmere: rising near Heathfield; mouth ‘’Cuckmere Haven’’.

River Rother Course

River Rother and its many tributaries including the Rivers Bewl (flowing through Bewl Water) and Tillingham: source, the Weald near Heathfield; it flows in an easterly direction and enters the sea at Rye Bay.

Bewl Water

The section known as the Kent Ditch forms the boundary between East Sussex and Kent.

River Rother West

Climate

England combines the highest average daytime temperatures found in the British Isles with the highest sunshine averages on the British mainland. There are between 25 and 30 inches (630 and 760 mm) of rainfall; and there can be high variation of temperature between day and night.
The climate of the coastal districts is strongly influenced by the sea, which because of its tendency to warm up slower than land, can result in cooler temperatures than inland in the summer. In the autumn months, the coast sometimes has higher temperatures. Rainfall during the summer months is mainly from thunderstorms and thundery showers; from January to March the heavier rainfall is due to south-westerly frontal systems. The coast has consistently more sunshine than the inland areas: sea breezes, blowing off the sea, clear any cloud from the coast.

Agriculture
Sussex has retained much of its rural nature: apart from the coastal strip, it has few large towns. Although in 1841 over 40% of the population were employed in agriculture (including fishing), today less than 2% are so employed. The wide range of soil types in the county leads to great variations in the patterns of farming. The Wealden parts are mostly wet sticky clays or drought prone acid sands and often broken up into to small irregular fields and woods by the topography, making it unsuitable for intensive arable farming. Pastoral or mixed farming has always been the pattern here with field boundaries often little changed since the medieval period. Sussex cattle are the descendants of the draught oxen which continued to be used in the Weald longer than in other parts of England.

Arthur Young

Agriculturalist Arthur Young commented in the early 18th century that the cattle of the Weald "must be unquestionably ranked among the best of the kingdom."

William Cobbett

William Cobbett, riding through Ashdown Forest, said he had seen some of the finest cattle in the country on some of the poorest farms. Areas of cereals grown on the Weald have risen and declined with the price of grain. The chalk downlands were traditionally grazed by large numbers of small South Down sheep, suited to the low fertility of the pasture, until the coming of artificial fertiliser made cereal growing worthwhile. Yields are still limited by the alkalinity of the soil. Apart from a few areas of alluvial loam soil in the river valleys the best and most intensively farmed soils are on the coastal plain, where large scale vegetable growing is commonplace. Glasshouse production is also concentrated along the coast where hours of sunshine are greater than inland.

There are still fishing fleets, notably at Rye and Hastings, but the number of boats is much reduced. Historically, the fisheries were of great importance, including cod, herring, mackerel, sprats, plaice, sole, turbot, shrimps, crabs, lobsters, oysters, mussels, cockles, whelks and periwinkles. Bede records that St Wilfrid, when he visited the county in 681, taught the people the art of netfishing.

At the time of the Domesday survey the fisheries were extensive, and no fewer than 285 salinae (saltworks) existed. The customs of the Brighton fishermen were documented in 1579.

Pagham Harbour

There are working harbours at Rye, Hastings, Newhaven and Shoreham; whilst Pagham and Chichester harbours cater for leisure craft, as does Brighton Marina.

Chichester Harbour

Iron working

Sites of ironstone which occur where sandstone strata overlie weald clay have been exploited from early in the Iron Age. The Romans made full use of this resource, and iron slag was widely used as paving material on the Roman roads of the area.

Blacksmith at work

Medieval times the Weald was of national importance in the iron industry, with numerous streams dammed to create furnace ponds, where water powered bellows drove blast furnaces, and hammer ponds where wrought iron was hammered out of the raw iron from the furnaces. This made the area strategically important for producing iron canons during the English Civil War, when the Yalding family of ironmasters at Fernhurst had a policy of armed neutrality, firing on soldiers from either side who tried to enter the parish.

Mid Sussex shown in RED

Clay working (pottery, tiles, bricks)

As much of the Mid Sussex area has clay not far under the surface, clay has in the past been a focus of industry in central Sussex, in particular in the Burgess Hill area.

Hassocks

Although in the first quarter of the 20th century, Burgess Hill, and the Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint areas had many kilns, clay pits and similar infrastructure to support the clay industry, nowadays the majority of this form of industry has left the area, but it still can be seen in place names such as "Meeds Road", "The Kiln", or Oakmeeds Community College, which is named after the oak trees in the area and Meeds Pottery, a once significant pottery in the centre of Burgess Hill. At the height of the success of this industry, tiles and bricks from Sussex were used to build landmarks such as Manchester's G-Mex, but now there is just one main tileworks in the area, Keymer Tileworks. Plans have been submitted to develop the area into housing, so even this tileworks now has a closing date, albeit one not in the near future.

University of Sussex Campus

Service industries

Many of the holiday resorts, and the many tourist attractions, form part of the main economic base in Sussex. The University of Sussex and the University of Brighton provide employment for many more; whilst reasonable rail connections allow many people to work in London.

University of Brighton

Borough English

The custom of borough-English, by which land descends to the youngest son, prevailed to an extraordinary degree in Sussex, and 140 manors have been catalogued in which it was found. Gavelkind tenure existed in Rye, in the large manor of Brede, and in Coustard manor (in Brede parish).

Prehistoric Sussex

Archaeological collections contain a neanderthal handaxe, found at Hamsey near Lewes, dated to perhaps 80,000 years ago.
Later archaeological finds have shown that Mesolithic peoples had arrived in the area today known as Sussex: primitive flint tools used in fishing and hunting, and evidence of woodland clearing have been found. At the time (8000BC) Britain was still connected to the continent prior to glacial meltwater completely filling the Channel.
By 4100BC flint mines were being worked, particularly near today's Worthing by Neolithic man. Tombs with some pottery and weapons have also been discovered.

Drawing of Cissbury Hillfort

400-1100BC) settlements and burial sites have left their mark on the area, particularly along the South Downs.

Cissbury Ring North Side

Devils Dyke

Later, in 7th/6th Century BC the Celts arrived, and their hill-forts at Cissbury, Devils Dyke and other places show their settlements; burial sites have given further evidence of the lives.

Roman invasions of Britain

The first Roman invasion took place between 54-45BC. It left behind Roman coins, villas, and Romano-British temples. Tincomarus and then Cogidumnus ruled the Atrebates tribe who controlled this part of south-east England. The latter later became King (Rex), possibly at the time of the second Roman invasion in AD 100. This invasion was to be the time when many of the larger villas were built - including Fishbourne and Southwick. Finds have included coins and decorated pottery. Remains of the Roman roads include parts of those from Chichester to London; and that from Hastings northwards: the latter carrying the iron ore mined near the town. Other settlements included ports, among them Chichester and Portslade on the River Adur. Hastings may have been another.

Patching Hoard

More hoards of coins have been discovered: a large one at Patching in particular.
Towards the end of the Roman occupation the Saxon attacks began, and forts were built around the south-east coast, under the Count of the Saxon Shore.

Anderitum wall still visible

In the area later to be known as Sussex was, for example, Anderitum (Pevensey Castle).

Pevensey Castle

The Saxons

According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle the Saxons landed in 477 in the west of the county under Aelle and his three sons, and began to found the kingdom of the South Saxons. Later (491AD ) they landed at Pevensey and took the castle there. They had driven the British westward. Aelle became the most influential of the contemporary Saxon chiefs, and was, according to Bede, the first Bretwalda, or principal king. After his time the kingdom of Sussex gradually declined, falling entirely under the dominion of Wessex in 823.

Highdown Hill Fort

With earlier occupants of the area, now named Sussex, Saxon remains have been discovered. There are numerous cemeteries, and scattered burial places along the south slopes of the Downs, including the cemetery on Highdown Hill, where weapons, ornaments and vessels of various kinds were found, and the Chanctonbury hoard of coins is among the most noticeable relics.

Chanctonbury Hill Fort

In 895 Sussex suffered from constant raids by the Danes, till the accession of Canute, after which arose the two great forces of the house of Godwine and of the Normans. Godwine was probably a native of Sussex, and by the end of Edward the Confessor's reign a third part of the county was in the hands of his family.

Fecamp Abbey

Land Tenure
Norman influence was already strong in Sussex before the Conquest: the abbey of Fécamp had interest in the harbours of Hastings, Rye, Winchelsea and Steyning; while the estate of Bosham was held by a Norman chaplain to Edward the Confessor. The county was of great importance to the Normans; Hastings and Pevensey being on the most direct route for Normandy. William ensured that his lines of communication were safe by placing the lands in the hands of men, such as his half-brother, Robert, Count of Mortain, who held Pevensey, and his son-in-law, William de Warenne, who held Lewes.

In addition the five (later six, with the addition of Battle) rapes of Sussex were held by these and three other Norman tenants-in-chief.

Battle

The holdings - which had been scattered under the Saxons, so that one man's holding might be in more than one rape - were now determined, not by the manors in which they lay, but by the borders of the rape. Another peculiarity of the division of land in Sussex is that, apparently, each hide of land had eight instead of the usual four virgates.
The county boundary was long and somewhat indeterminate on the north, owing to the dense forest of Andredsweald, which was uninhabited till the 11th century. Evidence of this is seen in Domesday Book by the survey of Worth and Lodsworth under Surrey, and also by the fact that as late as 1834 the present parishes of north and south Amersham in Sussex were part of Hampshire.
At the time of the Domesday Survey Sussex contained sixty hundreds, which have been little altered since. A few have been split up into two or three, making seventy-three in all; and the names of some have changed, owing probably to the meeting-place of the hundred court having been altered. These courts were in private hands in Sussex; either of the Church, or of great barons and local lords.

Jurisdiction

The county court had been held at Lewes and Shoreham until 1086, when it was moved to Chichester. After several changes the act of 1504 arranged for it to be held alternately at Lewes and Chichester. There was no gaol in the county until 1487; that at Guildford being used in common by Surrey and Sussex, which were under one sheriff until 1567.
Private jurisdictions, both ecclesiastical and lay, played a large part in the county. The chief ecclesiastical franchises were those of the Archbishop of Canterbury, of the bishop of Chichester, of the Saxon foundation of Bosham, where Bishop Wilfred had found the only gleam of Christianity in the county (Sussex was the last of the Saxon kingdoms to embrace Christianity), and of the votive abbey of Battle, founded by William the Conqueror. This abbey possessed, besides land in many other counties, the `Lowy of Battle,' a district extending for 3 miles (5 km) round the abbey.

Selsey

The see of Chichester was co-extensive with the county, and has altered little. It is one of the oldest bishoprics, having been founded by Wilfred at Selsey; the seat was removed to Chichester by William I. Among the lay franchises, the most noticeable are those of the Cinque Ports and of the honor of Pevensey, named the honour of the Eagle from the lords of L'Aigle or Aguila. There were two archdeacons centred on Chichester and at Lewes; whose jurisdiction later became the basis for the division between East and West Sussex, the County Councils from 1888 having been based in those two towns. In 2006 there are three archdeacons: those for Chichester; Horsham; and for Lewes and Hastings.

Arundle Castle

Rebellions

Sussex, from its position, was constantly the scene of preparations for invasion, and was often concerned in rebellions. Pevensey and Arundel play a great part in rebellions and forfeiture during the troubled times of the early Norman kings. In the barons' wars the county was a good centre for the king's forces; Lewes being in the hands of the king's brother-in-law, John de Warenne, earl of Surrey, Pevensey and Hastings in those of his uncle, Peter of Savoy. The forces of the king and of Simon de Montfort met at Lewes, where a battle took place in 1264.
The corrupt and burdensome administration of the county during the 13th and 14th centuries, combined with the constant passage of troops for the French wars and the devastating plagues of the 14th century, were the causes of such rebellions as the Peasants' Revolt of 1381 and Jack Cade's Rebellion in 1450.
During Elizabeth's reign there was again constant levying of troops for warfare in Flanders and the Low Countries, and preparations for defence against Spain. The sympathies of the county were divided during the English Civil War, Arundel and Chichester being held for the king, Lewes and the Cinque Ports for the parliament. Chichester and Arundel were besieged, and the Roundheads gained a strong hold on the county, in spite of the loyalty of Sir Edward Ford, sheriff of Sussex. A royalist gathering in the west of the county in 1645 caused preparations for resistance at Chichester, of which Algernon Sidney was governor. In the same year the "Clubmen" rose and endeavoured to compel the armies to come to terms.

War

No active part in the national history fell to Sussex from that time till the French Revolution, when numbers of volunteers were raised in defence. At the outbreak of war with France in 1793 a camp was formed at Brighton; and at Eastbourne in 1803, when the Martello towers were erected along the south coast. A central fort and supply base for the towers, the Eastbourne Redoubt at Eastbourne was constructed between 1804-1810. It is now home to the Royal Sussex Regiment Museum. In the 1860s, possible wars with France prompted more defence building, including the fort at Newhaven.
During World War II the entire coast in East Sussex became a virtual fortress, and towns such as Hastings and Eastbourne became armed camps. Large numbers of the civilian population were evacuated to safer towns inland.

Parliamentary history

The Parliamentary history of the county began in the 13th century. In 1290, the first year for which a return of knights of the shire is available, Henry Hussey and William de Etchingham were elected.
Until the Redistribution Act of 1832, representation of the people in Parliament had grown in a haphazard way. Over eighty seats were held in England in places which, for one reason or another, no longer had the numbers of voters such a situation demanded.

Midhurst

It disenfranchised many of them completely, including Bramber, East Grinstead, Seaford, Steyning and Winchelsea in Sussex, which were disfranchised after returning two members each, the first being classed among the worst of the rotten boroughs. Before 1832 two members each had been returned also by Arundel, Chichester, Hastings, Horsham, Lewes, Midhurst, New Shoreham (with the rape of Bramber) and Rye.

Rye

Arundel, Horsham, Midhurst and Rye were each deprived of a member in 1832, Chichester and Lewes in 1867, and Hastings in 1885. Arundel was disfranchised in 1868, and Chichester, Horsham, Midhurst, New Shoreham and Rye in 1885.

Antiquities

During these times castles guarded three important entries from the coast through the South Downs into the interior provided by the valleys of the Ouse, the Adur and the Arun.

Bramber Castle

Lewes Castle

These are respectively at Lewes, Bramber and Arundel. The ruins of the first two, though imposing, do not compare in grandeur with the third, which is still the seat of the dukes of Norfolk. More famous than these are the massive remains, in part Norman but mainly of the 13th century, of the stronghold of Pevensey Castle, within the walls of Roman Anderitum.

Hastings Castle

Other ruins are those of the finely situated Hastings Castle; the Norman remains at Knepp near West Grinstead; the picturesque and remarkably perfect moated fortress of Bodiam, of the 14th century;

Bodiam Castle on the River Rother

Herstmoncaux Castle

and Herstmonceux Castle, a beautiful 15th-century building of brick. The county is also rich in moated sites, and smaller castles, mostly found in the low weald.

Towns and cities

Arundel Battle Bognor Regis Bexhill-on-Sea Brighton and Hove (home of the University of Brighton and University of Sussex) Burgess Hill Chichester (home of the University of Chichester)

Crawley Queens Square

Crowborough

Eastbourne

East Grinstead

Hailsham

Hastings

Haywards Heath

Heathfield

Horsham

Hove

College Chapel Lancing (credited as the largest village in Britain)

Lewes
Littlehampton (home of The Body Shop)

Midhurst

Lombard Street Petworth

Rye

Selsey

Uckfield

Worthing

Flag

Sussex's flag was the winning entry in a competition held in 2008 under the auspices of the BBC and in collaboration with Graham Bartram of the Flag Institute.

There are three Sites of Special Scientific Interest
Marline Valley Woods lies within the Ashdown ward of Hastings. It is an ancient woodland of pedunculate oak-hornbeam which is uncommon nationally. Sussex Wildlife trust own part of the site.

Combe Haven is another site of biological interest, with alluvial meadows, and the largest reed bed in the county, providing habitat for breeding birds. It is in the West St Leonards ward, stretching into the parish of Crowhurst.

The Last SSSI is from Hastings Cliffs to Pett Beach, is within the Ore ward of Hastings, extending into the neighbouring Fairlight and Pett parishes. The site runs along the coast and is of both biological and geological interest. The cliffs hold many fossils and has many habitats, including ancient woodland and shingle beaches.