British Museum - Part One

If you have any interest in world history and take the time to visit sites of interest that feature largely in the story of great events it can often seem that all roads lead to the British Museum.

I have lost count of the number of little signs I have seen at other museums, visitor centres and other historical sites that have the little sentence displayed "item/s on display in the British Museum". This aspect of the museum is not without controversy in some circles, however the fact that these items are protected and freely available to view, safe for future generations cannot be denied, and the tragedy of events in Palmyra and other sites in Iraq and Afghanistan in recent times only serve to emphasise that point.

Carolyn and I had a planned trip to London to attend the wedding of an old school friend of mine and decided to make a long weekend of the trip. This meant that we had the best part of four hours to spend before catching our train back home and we decided to head for the British Museum.

Quite clearly four hours would not be long enough to do this venue justice and so we decided to focus on some specific galleries, whilst doing our best not to get distracted, which I partially failed at.

The plan was to check out the artifacts about the Roman and Greek world, the Celtic/Ancient British period and the finds associated with the Sutton Hoo.

Walking into the British Museum, felt for me like being a kid in a giant sweet shop, and what did I say about not being distracted?

My eye on approaching the Ancient and Medieval galleries was immediately drawn to a hoard of gold coins and pieces of jewellery and the sign indicating its association with the Wars of the Roses, another period I am passionate about.

The Fishpool Hoard, one thousand two hundred and thirty-seven coins and nine pieces of jewellery buried around 1464 after the Battle of Hexham in Northumberland

The Fishpool Hoard contains coins dating up to 1464 with some coming from countries with strong Lancastrian sympathies such as Scotland, France and the Netherlands, supporting the theory that this was money raised to support the Lancastrian cause.

The Lancastrians were defeated at Hexham in 1464 and this hoard may have been hidden by a supporter fleeing from the battle.

Fishpool in Nottinghamshire and its position relative to
some of the key battles of the Wars of the Roses

Jewellery found with the hoard. The ring set with turquoise was believed to protect the owner from poison, drowning or riding accidents 

The other four items pictured were not part of the hoard but have strong links to the war.

On the right can be seen the Towton Ring, a signet ring found on the battlefield of Towton. It carries the engraved figure of a Lion, a symbol of the Lancastrian Percy family and may have been worn by Henry Percy, the third Earl of Northumberland who was killed in the battle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Percy,_3rd_Earl_of_Northumberland

Immediately to the left of the Towton Ring can be seen the silver Boar badge created to celebrate Richard III's coronation and distributed to his significant supporters. A similar badge like this was discovered at Bosworth in and around the position of the marshy ground where it is thought that Richard was killed in his duel with Henry Tudor and his entourage.

In addition to the boar badge and the Towton Ring described above you can see a gold pendant of Edward IV, probably worn by a supporter, and a Henry VI pilgrim souvenir from the shrine at Windsor dedicated to the murdered king.

With stuff like this on display you can see why it is easy to lose track of time and discipline. Forget about "Game of Thrones", this is it, the difference being, it actually happened, although with fewer dragons.

Anglo-Saxon Gallery
Sutton Hoo is one of those sites I have visited a few years ago now that had one of those frustrating signs mentioned previously.

The site of the burial mounds is fascinating, together with the information that describes the archeaology carried out there pre and post war.

http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/sutton-hoo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sutton_Hoo

Needless to say I was really looking forward to seeing the finds discovered, close up and personal so to speak.

These artifacts are a priceless insight into the early medieval period of the 6th and 7th century and the early period of Anglo-Saxon settlement, in this case in the Kingdom of the East Angles in modern day East Anglia.

This is just one of four helmets to survive from Anglo-Saxon England - similar helmets have been found in eastern Sweden, suggesting links and interactions between the two areas.

One can imagine the kind of warrior together with his personal guard covered in this Anglo-Saxon bling, with the light catching and drawing the eye to the blood red garnets. They would have been an imposing site.

The 33" long pattern-welded sword and scabbard with gold and garnet mounts

Even the shield fittings carried garnets

The replica helmet below really helps to illustrate the original in all its glory and the stunning workmanship.

The shoulder clasps seen below would have only emphasised the high status of the wearer. Made of gold, each clasp is decorated with inlaid garnets and millefiori glass and are hinged on a gold pin with an animal head - stunning!

The purse lid below was originally attached to a leather pouch, which held a quantity of Frankish gold coins. decorated in a similar manner to the shoulder clasps, the motifs are thought to have had a significance in Anglo-Saxon culture probably referring to strength and courage.

The reconstructed drinking horns are based on the decayed remains discovered but incorporate the original silver mounts that depict interlacing beasts and human facings. The horns are from the Auroch cattle which were extinct in Britain at the time and are thought to have been sourced from the Continent.

Each horn could hold two litres of mead or ale and would probably have been passed around during feasting rituals. Nice to think that similar traditions still exist with the more familiar glass yard of ale that can be seen drowning the odd participant in English drinking establishments to this day and still underpins the drinking/feasting culture of these islands when groups of young men and not so young men gather for a party.

The Great Gold Buckle

Popular with many of the Germanic peoples of the period, the great gold buckle is an example of the intricate hollow box Frankish buckles that very often held a precious relic as well as holding a belt together. Constructed from 400 grams of gold, the Sutton Hoo buckle displays an intricate pattern of 13 interlaced creatures outlined with a black alloy called niello

Gold and garnet sword belt

The gold and garnet theme is carried on in the design of the sword belt, with similar examples discovered on the Continent, but none to match the exquisite splendour of the one seen above.

Anglo-Saxon sword and fittings. The white objects on the right are horse teeth gaming pieces buried with a fallen warrior

Alongside the Sutton Hoo finds were other examples of Anglo Saxon items and the sword in the photo above was a very eye catching example. These pattern welded iron blade swords were a very high status weapon requiring great skill to construct and the worn silver fittings would suggest this one was a well used family heirloom passed on, probably with a name that spoke of the great deeds it was involved in.

The select warriors that accompanied a king would be rewarded for their valour by gifts from their leader of gold, silver and garnet fittings that would be worn on the scabbard, pommel and sword belt to display their status, example of which can be seen in the cabinet at the front.

The recently discovered Staffordshire Hoard has similar items of Anglo-Saxon warrior bling, thought to have been recovered from the dead in battle and hidden for recovery and distribution at a later date. It was with such baubles, to quote Napoleon, that men are motivated to great valour.

Sword belt and scabbard fittings as seen above

The gold items below consisting of pendants and buckles illustrate the shift to Christianity and its associated symbols, with the inclusion of fish designs seen on the buckle and the early style crosses depicted on the pendants.

Vikings in Britain Gallery

Close to the Anglo-Saxon collection can also be seen items of Viking origin discovered in Britain and Ireland.

From the late 700's, the Viking influence began to dominate the waters around the British isles with raids launched against remote coastal monasteries and Viking settlements constructed in and around modern day Dublin.

An unusual short sword discovered in Ireland displays a Viking style handle decorated with copper alloy rings. The iron blade thought to have been made on the Continent displays markings on both sides which show a cross, circles and vertical lines. possibly representing the makers mark. The blade would have been sharpened on both sides and was designed as a slashing weapon.

Silver Viking ring brooches

Viking ring brooches evolved in Ireland traditionally made from copper alloy and decorated with gilt and enamel.

Thought to have been used by Irish warriors when raiding in Britain, the short sword or gladius displays its Roman origins, with two sharp blades and a pointed tip designed for stabbing.

So that's the first part of this post. In the next section I will look at the Roman and Celtic collections and a post reporting on my very pleasant trip to Attack 2016 at Devizes.

Wellington's War - Pacific Rim Games

The box artwork, like some of the components, could be better but not a major concern

I picked up a new game while I was away on holiday, "Wellington's War" by Pacific Rim Games, and today Tom and I took it for a "road-test" at the Devon Wargames Group.

Tom at this month's meeting of the Devon Wargames Group, "sussing out" the rules during a break in play

I love the wooden block style of game pioneered by Columbia Games with all the hidden deployment those games offer and so when I saw this game covering a period in history that really floats my boat I felt compelled to get a copy.

There are thirty historical event cards that cause
effects to game play as the war unfolds

The game also incorporates a card driven engine, that has become a popular way to control activity and historical events, ever since Avalon Hill's "We the People".

 

Operations points ranging from one to four points allow group activations, with some cards 

giving options to activate or add pips to blocks in the form of new drafts

The combat units also incorporate the grading system popularised by Columbia with A, B, C and D units firing in the order of their quality rating and causing hits on poorer quality units before they get to fire back.

The game is very pleasing on the eye with an impressive map, with each hex about 30 miles across

The General officers also have pips they can use to affect movement and combat, amongst other things, allowing the "big men" of the war to bring their skills into effect.

 

The map is a huge three foot by four foot depiction of the Iberian peninsula that really gives a feel of the size of the campaign area with those annoying guerrilla units able to make full use of the space in French rear areas.

My feeling is this game has great figure campaigning potential, and today's play-through with Tom has confirmed that opinion . In the meantime I thought I would put together a Cyberboard module just in case my impressions were justified.

The map showing the initial positions in 1808 at the start of the full campaign game, taken from my Cyberboard module

If I were to to pick one criticism of the game it would be a bit of a 1970's SPI style in the components that don't meet the modern standards of games today, but frankly the play is great and I don't care as they are good enough.

Robert Simon at Brave New World Games store in Germany is one of the European distributors for the game and got my copy to me promptly on ordering.

If you want to check out more of the detail and thoughts about this game you can follow the link below to Board Game Geek.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/28920/wellingtons-war-peninsular-campaign-1809-1814

https://boardgamegeek.com/user/bravenewworld

http://www.bravenewworld.biz/website/

Devon Weasel - A fierce little beastie!

 

Whilst Carolyn and I were out on the daily cycle ride we happened to meet up with another example of Devon wildlife in the most unexpected way.

It was so unexpected that the only camera to hand was Carolyn's phone and so the pictures are not up to the usual standard but I think you can get an idea of the look of this interesting little creature.

The unexpected part of the meeting is that this little chap is pictured on the tarmac of the cycle path and I narrowly missed running him/her over as I spotted a little brown shape moving between my wheels.

I am identifying this as a weasel rather than a stoat as the distinguishing feature of the stoat is the black tip to the tail which our little friend quite clearly hasn't got.

Although this weasel is quite small, only about five inches tail to head, its fierce reputation as a predator of small voles on up to rabbits was well demonstrated as I attempted to persuade it off the path and out of the way of other cyclists and dog walkers, it faced me off and issued a sharp squeak whilst taking a bite at the phone in its case that I was using to prod it with. I was well aware of keeping my hand well clear of the sharp little teeth that were on display.

These creatures generally live for only three years or so and so the urge to kill and eat is a high priority for this fast active predator and the cycle path is home to plenty of voles, mice and rabbits.

I have usually only caught glimpses of these animals as they dash across the path so to see one close up almost seeming to be enjoying sitting out in the sunshine was a real treat.

http://mentalfloss.com/article/64193/7-fierce-facts-about-weasels
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/life/Least_Weasel

2/95e Regiment de Ligne

The 95e Regiment de Ligne were involved in the Peninsular War from the start of the first French invasion when the regiment provided a battalion as part of the 6th Provisional Line Regiment in Marshal Moncey's Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean.

French Corps d'observation des Cotes de l'Ocean, lst January l808 - Source Oman
Commanding Officer: Marechal Moncey

2nd Division: General de division Gobert
lst Brigade: General de brigade Lefranc
5th Provisional Line Regiment (Battalion)(Officers/Men)
l03rd Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/44l)
64th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/409)
39th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/507)
94th Line Infantry Regiment (l)((9/4l6)
6th Provisional Line Regiment
70th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/5l2)
27th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(8/374)
lllth Line Infantry Regiment (l)(7/324)
95th Line Infantry Regiment (l)(l0/343)

The activities of French forces involved in this first French invasion can be followed in the previous posts on other regiments by following the link.
2/63e Regiment de Ligne

With French forces driven back behind the River Ebro and Napoleon's forced intervention, the 95e Regiment de Ligne was brought up to full war strength with all three of it's first line battalions forming the second line regiment in General Pacthod's brigade in Marshal Victor's I Corps d'Armee.

French Army in Spain, 15 November 1808 - source Oman
Commanding Officer: Emperor Napoleon
I Corps: Maréchal Victor
3rd Division: Général de division Villatte
Brigade: Général de brigade Pacthod (Battalions)(Officers/Men)
27th Légère Regiment (3)(50/1,527)
63rd Line Regiment (3)(44/1,246)
Brigade: Général de brigade Puthod
94th Line Regiment (3)(54/1,627)
95th Line Regiment (3)(47/1,428)

As covered in the post about it's fellow brigade comrades the 94e Ligne, from November 1808 to the March of 1809 the brigade would see three very successful battles against the Spanish at Espinosa, Ucles and Medellin.

2/94e Regiment de Ligne

With such a run of success against the Spanish and with no experience of fighting the British, the veteran battalions of the 95e Ligne could be forgiven for any overconfidence they might have felt as they marched into the line at Talavera in July 1809.

My 2/95e Ligne are composed of figures from AB supplied by Fighting 15's and the battalion fanion is from GMB Flags.

This is the penultimate battalion of the twenty four required to fit out Victor's I Corps, so the 3/95e Ligne will be followed by a Corps parade before we move onto the next stage.

England v Sri Lanka One Day International Cricket in Cardiff

England batsman, Joe Root in full flow yesterday in Cardiff, top scored with 93 runs

Alongside wargaming and all the fun activities that hobby brings, I like nothing better than spending a fine sunny afternoon enjoying international cricket, well pretty much any cricket if the truth be known, especially in the company of friends and family.

So Saturday, Carolyn Will and myself travelled up to Cardiff in the company of "Mr Steve" and Steve M, together with one of Will's pals Jos, who also enjoy the sound of leather on willow, to watch the final match in the one day international series versus Sri Lanka.

England and Warwickshire bowler Chris Woakes

England had already won the series, but the match still produced some excellent skills and thrills with a very entertaining knock from England's Jos Buttler scoring a quick 70 runs off 45 balls which included seven 4's and a mighty 6 that sealed an  England win by 122 runs.

Woakes takes the ball from Captain Eoin Morgan

James Vince opened the batting for England scoring 51 runs off 56 balls

After the match we finished off a fun day in the sun with a very nice curry. This was both Will and Jos' first international cricket match, which they both enjoyed so hopefully two new fans introduced to the great game.

http://www.ecb.co.uk/scorecard/39254

The Battle of St. Fagans 1648

Re-enactment by the English Civil War Society. 29th May 2016

Back in May when we had our annual three days of summer, I went to the re-enactment of the Battle of St Fagans which was being put on by the English Civil War Society. (mortal enemies of the Sealed Knot) across the very fields that the actual battle had taken place over 368 years ago.

http://www.ecws.org.uk/

It was one of those glorious late evenings where it is still warm enough for just a pair of shorts and a tee shirt, there is a gentle breeze and it stays light until 10 o’clock.

St Fagans is a village on the edge of Cardiff and the battlefield is preserved due to it being part of the St Fagans National History Museum, this is a marvellous place, one of its main purpose’s is to rescue historic old buildings from anywhere in Wales that are in danger of being demolished and then rebuild them on site, thus saving them from disappearing altogether. (see: Vulcan Pub saved)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-17955268
https://museum.wales/stfagans/

The Battle of St Fagan’s was one of the largest battles ever to take place in Wales and although it is seen as a continuation of the first part of the English Civil War it was actually more about what happens when you try and disband your soldiers without first paying them their arrears in pay. At the same time the governor of Pembroke Castle, Colonel Poyer, was being replaced by Colonel Fleming, he refused to be removed and instead attacked Fleming and routed his forces, why did he do this I wondered?

“After the ending of the First Civil War, Poyer claimed that he had impoverished himself by personally financing the defence of Pembroke and unsuccessfully petitioned Parliament for reimbursement. His resentment increased when Parliament proposed the disbandment of military units in south Wales without settlement of the soldiers' arrears of pay. In February 1648, Colonel Fleming was sent to replace Poyer as governor of Pembroke Castle, but Poyer refused to hand it over until the arrears were paid. Early in March, Parliament passed an ordinance declaring that Poyer was to be considered a traitor unless he surrendered the castle to Fleming. Encouraged by Royalist agents, Poyer's response was to attack and rout Fleming's forces. His action led to widespread opposition to disbandment among the Welsh troops and encouraged a Royalist insurrection in south wales “. BCW Project

http://bcw-project.org/biography/john-poyer

http://bcw-project.org/military/second-civil-war/wales

The garrisons at Tenby and Chepstow joined the revolt and the Parliamentarian commander in South Wales; Major-General Laugharne also changed sides and took command of the rebel army. Collecting together whatever he could he marched on Cardiff  however Sir Thomas Fairfax had already sent Colonel Horton with a small force to put the rebellion down and he arrived in the city first, he then marched out and took up a strong position to await the arrival of Laugharne’s forces.

Horton had around 3000 troops, roughly half of whom were cavalry and dragoons. Laugharne had approximately 500 cavalry and 7,500 infantry however unlike Horton who’s entire force consisted of very experienced troops, Laugharne could only call on the two units that had revolted and the rest were raw recruits most of whom were volunteers or ‘clubmen’ armed with clubs and billhooks.

Laugharne was desperate to defeat Horton before Cromwell, who was known to be on the way could reinforce him and so on the 7th May 1648, Laugharne made a feint towards Cardiff, which drew Horton down to a new position around the village of St Fagans. Laugharne hoped to trap the Parliamentarians in the village and surrounding enclosures where their cavalry would be less effective.

Early in the morning of 8th May, Laugharne launched a surprise attack with 500 infantry but was driven back when a counterattack by 50 Parliamentarian horse and dragoons routed the Royalist advance guard.

The battle then degenerated into almost guerrilla fighting, with the Royalist troops hiding in and attacking from behind hedges and ditches where the Parliamentarian cavalry were less effective. Gradually however the training of the Parliamentarian troops and their superior number of cavalry told; Horton’s army began to advance and the Royalists began to panic.

Laugharne launched a last ditch attempt to rally the Royalist forces by leading a cavalry attack himself but this failed , he was wounded and within just two hours the Royalist army had been routed. 300 Royalist troops had been killed and over 3000 taken prisoner, the remainder fleeing west to Pembroke Castle with Laugharne and his senior officers.

After an eight week siege they surrendered, and this is the interesting bit, Laugharne, Poyer and Colonel Powell were sent to London and court-martialled. All three were sentenced to death but General Fairfax decreed that only one should die, to be decided by lots drawn by a child: The papers drawn for Laugharne and Powell read: "Life Given by God". Poyer's paper was blank and he was shot in front of a large crowd at Covent Garden on 21 April, 1649.

The re-enactment was well attended on the day I went and the general public showed a lot of interest in the camp and the drill carried out before the battle. This was perhaps the best part of the evening for me as having been to a number of these events I am getting less interested in the actual re-enactment as they all tend to follow the same routine. The artillery start off the proceedings followed by various marching around by the infantry, several individual groups then advance and fight each other, pony club have a nice ride about , more individual groups fight each other, more guns go bang, more from pony club and then everything is concluded by one big melee. In fact pony club were more entertaining than usual, the six riders (all royalist) were immaculately turned out not only in matching uniforms but matching big black horses and did look very impressive. Much to the crowd’s amusement one rider kept falling off his horse and given the concern showed it clearly wasn’t supposed to be part of the display.

For only £10 and on a lovely summers evening I had a very enjoyable 3-4 hours.

For the wargamer I am not sure how this battle would go given the disparity of the forces, we always have a struggle re-creating battles where small well disciplined forces defeat similar but larger armies (unless you have machine guns and they have sharpened mangoes). We all know that we would just throw the clubmen in and see what damage they could do whilst trying to get our good troops into an advantageous position and cavalry in our rules don’t really take on infantry unless they can flank them. I think the key is army morale along the lines of the Lardies rules or Sam Mustafa perhaps.
I haven’t been able to find a map of the battle on-line and all I can offer is a 36 page booklet on the battle which may or may not have a map but as I haven’t read it, its pot luck.

THE BATTLE OF SAINT FAGANS 1648 by Webb.D

http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=256507550
And have a look at this other very little known battle also fought by Laugharne in South Wales.

Colby Moor, August 1645

http://bcw-project.org/military/english-civil-war/wales-marches/south-wales-1644-5#colby

http://www.experiencepembrokeshire.com/home-2-2-2-2/hidden-heritage/military/llawhaden/the-battle-of-colby-moor/

This was a “ Day out with Mr Steve “ presentation