O Lord, our God, Arise: More Weekly Reports from England

[RGB:
1. Very. Not all of the provinces are Protestant, but all of the ruling nations are.
2. Well, it's not the Raj itself, it's the Company rule.
3. Or it could be, you know, the town of Reading, England.
4. Yes they are. Of course, she was a Papist previously, and as you'll find out Catholics still aren't very appreciated in Britain.

canonized: Well, to be fair, both sides were almost entirely native armies, and both sides were trained soldiers. The Nawab's army actually evaporated due to Quli Jafar's attack, not Hamilton's.

Morsky: It is his prerogative, and it's something the Siwardings were big on back in the 1100s. The de Cornouailles got in on the act some as well, but they just went with whatever women were handy.

You do realise that many of the rioting ne'er-do-wells are Jacobites, right?

And you'd think that, but then again they have beaten me before. They just might be able to do it again under the right circumstances.

jmberry: I'm certainly not going to get into details with the future. Suffice to say that things are going to continue becoming less and less historical... by 1820, the whole world will be quite a bit different than the one that resulted in our history.


EDIT: I just realised we're overdue for the half-century report. I'll have to fit the 1720 report in after this post...]


Unlike the War of the Spanish Succession, the British army was not prepared to fight, and took several months to finish organising, even then at considerably less strength than before. Its only advantage was the recent introduction of the Long Land Pattern Musket (the famous "Brown Bess"), though mass production had yet to occur and many formations still used the earlier, less standardised sets of muskets. The French, for their part, had introduced the Charleville musket a few years previous to the Land Pattern's production, and as such had more of them, although the Charleville was slightly weaker than the Land Pattern and thus had a slightly shorter range and power.*

George Douglas-Hamilton, commander of the Army of Flanders (and brother of the murdered James Hamilton), did his best to get his men into fighting shape before the French army arrived. On 28 September 1728, after two weeks of dancing around the issue on both sides, he met the army of Marshal Francois-Marie de Broglie at Fontenoy, almost immediately along the border between France and the English Netherlands. Neither side seemed particularly interested in a fight; Douglas-Hamilton was outnumbered 36,000 to 20,500, while de Broglie was notoriously cautious and feared the famed British cavalry, its reputation made by Cromwell and Fairfax, and cemented at Ramillies. Douglas-Hamilton used the cavalry to screen the rest of his army, cause no small number of casualties, and pull back. De Broglie's victory was a limited one; Douglas-Hamilton's cavalry constantly raided his men whenever he attempted to lay siege to fortresses, and over the next year he achieved nothing.

Elsewhere, the League of Augsburg had even more success. Again the French left the Bretagne border undefended except for fortresses, although it took until December of 1729 for the British to secure even the region of Anjou. The Palatinate defeated the French attempts to invade Lorraine, eventually attempting an attack on the Free County of Burgundy and seizing several border fortfications. The truly important area of the war, however, was in the north. On 29 September 1728 - one day after Fontenoy - around ten thousand Icelanders and Frenchmen landed at Barrow-in-Furness on the Irish Sea. Among their number was James Borcalan, styling himself James III of Great Britain. Soon, Cumbria and Northumberland were overrun; the weakened British army had been committed to the Continent and there was no force in the region to contest them. If James was hoping for support, however, he was quickly disappointed. Only five days after his arrival, the Royal Navy found the Icelandic fleet that had landed the force there, and easily dispersed it despite being slightly outnumbered.


James Borcalan, the "Old Pretender"

A few white-rosed Jacobites appeared, but not far behind was George Wade and his "Black Watch" Highlanders, along with other militia units hastily brought together to fight the Borcalans. Clad in the tartan kilts of the Campbell clan (though many came from other Scottish clans), they were fiercely loyal to the Cromwells. Most of the Icelandic army had disappeared by this point by whatever means possible; a few small skirmishes between the Black Watch and James' remaining loyal supporters was enough to force him back to France. Once Britain itself was secure and the Royal Navy on high alert, Wade led an expedition to Iceland; on 24 April 1729, he arrived on the island and put its capital, Reykjavik, under siege. Little forage, long supply lines and a lack of effective cannon made the siege a long one, however, and the city did not fall before the short Icelandic summer ended.

The war itself would be what put an end to the siege. By the end of 1729, Anjou had been secured and de Broglie's army forced out of Flanders. A treaty was hastily signed on 18 January 1730, providing for a status quo ante bellum. The war achieved nothing except to show that Britain's army was weak, although the losses incurred by the various campaigns had forced Louis X to end the fighting before he could bring his full strength to bear.The only territorial change was the slight adjustment of the western border between the British colony of North Carolina and the French colony of Louisiana in Britan's favour; this, combined with Louis' inability to conquer Lorraine, meant that the war was technically a victory for the League of Augsburg. Most in Britain were not inclined to see it as such, however - losses had been unusally high, and foreign soldiers had found their way onto Britain itself - and Townshend himself decided to retire from political life on 15 May, both due to the poor prosecution of the war and due to his own opposition to Austria.

Townshend's replacement as the main figure in British foreign policy was the Southern Secretary, Thomas Pelham-Holles, the Duke of Newcastle. The shift in importance to the Southern Department was due both to the difficulties surrounding the Declaration of Vienna and the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 (the upcoming succession of Maria Theresa to the Habsburg lands), as well as the British colonies in America, Columbia, and India. The Habsburg matter was an especially important one; Austria was a natural ally against France and the new Baltic state of Prussia, but Spain, due to long history and colonial rivarly, was a natural enemy. Maria Theresa herself preferred her Austrian and Hungarian territories, converting to Protestantism herself in a semi-political decision, and marrying Franz Stephan von Lothringen, a powerful Palatine noble, in 1736. Spain itself fell under the influence of certain important political figures, especially the ambitious Zenon de Somodevilla, Marquis of Ensenada. This only complicated matters, as Spain itself constantly acted very contrary to Habsburg wishes.


Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle, by Charles Jervas (1735)

Before foreign policy could become a concern, however, another major domestic crisis appeared in Britain. On 7 September 1731, a Catholic recusant was killed in Shrewsbury, for apparently no other reason than religion. His murderers were never caught, and it appeared no attempt to discover them had been made. Catholics throughout the region sent anonymous petitions against the continued illegalisation of Catholicism in Britain. No government authority bothered to respond to the petition; in fact, several of them were discovered, and while no official persecutions took place, more were killed or otherwise terrorised, again without offical notice. By late November, they had gathered and found weapons to fight with, taking over several Midlands and Marches towns, including Shrewsbury. At no point did they demand Catholic control of Britain or a restoration of the Borcalans; their goal was always stated to be only an end to persecution.

The region fell under the control of the Southern Secretary, and Newcastle, with Parliament's approval, had already ordered military forces into the region. Nearly twenty-eight thousand Catholics were advancing on Birmingham and Coventry; at Walsall north of the former, they met a smaller force of 13,000 volunteer milita, and several cavalry regiments totalling 8000. The battle was barely in doubt; both sides tore at each other with incredible ferocity, but the Protestant army had better weapons and more organisation, and mercilessly killed thousands of the Catholics, accepting no surrender. Even Parliament was shocked; Newcastle sent a reprimand to several of the militia commanders for their excessive actions.

The event did shake the British ruling class out of their complacency regarding Catholicism. Many (even those close to the traditionally Catholic Howards) seemed surprised that there were even Catholics remaining in Britain anymore. Edward Howard, then heir apparent to the dying Duke of Norfolk (a line whose recusancy was something of an open secret), as well as a special Papal legate sent to negotiate with the British government over the matter, petitioned the Council of State to demand an inquiry into the murders which sparked the rebellion. The petition was accepted, and the facts of the event uncovered; the matter was then placed before the House of Lords. In July of 1732 they passed two acts: One requiring justices of the peace to investigate all crimes brought before them, and the second, the Recusancy Act of 1732, making Catholicism legal, though not lifting restrictions placed upon them on property, suffrage, or other rights.

A few of the most hard-line Protestants protested the act, but by this point the usual argument made against them - that they owed allegiance to a foreign government which did not recognise the British government - was losing its support. The same legate restated the 1690 Papal recognition of the Cromwell dynasty as Emperors of Britain, and sent messages throughout Britain accepting the supremacy of British law. It was somewhat of a difficult compromise on both sides, but the fact that it could even be made showed how the Englightenment ideals of assuming rights unless otherwise necessary were becoming engrained. The poor, women, and non-Europeans would still need to wait or struggle for such recognition, but the possibility was slowly beginning to appear.


Jonathan Edwards

Catholicism was not the only religious movement showing signs of greater life in this time period. In 1734, Jonathan Edwards, pastor of a church in Northampton, Massachusetts, began gathering the people of the town in religious discussions outside of the church itself. He felt that Protestantism in his area (as opposed to the Catholicism still defiantly predominant in Boston and the other seaboard regions) had become too solidified and spiritually dead. According to his own accounts, his efforts took root suddenly in late December of 1734, resulting in what became known as the "Northampton Revival". Despite opposition from more traditional theologians (known as "Old Lights"), Edwards' revival began to spark similar actions elsewhere. Travelling preachers such as George Whitefield and James Davenport (soon infamous for his spectacular theatrics while preaching) set up revivals throughout the American colonies, and soon brought the "Great Awakening" to Britain itself.


George Whitefield preaching, by an unknown artist (c. 1740)

Among those who took note - and took part - in the revivals was a Lincolnshire Anglican named John Wesley. Wesley had attending meetings of the Bohemian Brethren (a descendant church of the Hussites focused on missionary work), and in 1739 attended a Whitefield revival in Gloucestershire, soon being invited to preach in it by Whitefield himself. Wesley soon organised his own "United Societies", the term "Methodism" soon being applied to them by their opponents, who felt that they were insane, overemotional fanatics. As is often the case, the movement took this apparent insult and turned it into a badge of honour. Unlike Whitefield and the Calvinist Puritan-influenced revivalists in America, Wesley promoted Arminian theology and Methodism remained within the Church of England itself until the late 18th century. Within two decades there were even missions back to America, which gained a considerable following in the post-Awakening period.

Long before this, however, the focus of the British government became foreign policy again. Britain and Spain had entered into a trade agreement in the 1710s, the latter providing an asiento (contract) for British merchants to sell slaves and small numbers of goods to Spanish colonies. In return, Spanish warships were allowed to stop and search the merchants to ensure that they were not attempting to sell more goods than allowed. In 1731, the brig Rebecca was stopped and searched in this manner; the Spanish captain, however, believed the ship to be involved in piracy, and cut off the ear of its captain, Robert Jenkins. It took six years for the Britsh government to take notice of the action; in late 1736, he was first called to the House of Commons to give an account of what occured. In actuality, the matter was blown well out of proportion partially in order to justify the seizure of several Spanish colonies (such as the Yucatan and Patagonia). At one point, Jenkins even claimed that the Spanish captain had said he would cut off the ear of Emperor Thomas if he could.

Parliament sent a message to Spain asking for an explanation and apology for the incident, but said government simply said that the Spanish ship was only acting within its rights, and when several increasingly heated messages were passed back and forth, Spain unilaterally revoked the right to sell slaves while still exercising its right to search British ships. With a diplomatic incident created, the matter went through an almost ritualistic administrative dance. Parliament brought its findings before the Emperor; Thomas sent a request to Newcastle, as Southern Secretary, to organise punitive expeditions against the Spanish government; Newcastle and Walpole sent a request to Parliament to act as necessary and raise the necessary funds for said expeditions; and with the request accepted, on 10 January 1737, Britain went to war with Spain.
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*Since the barrels were approximately the same length, neither was considerably more effective in the bayonet fighting that tended to actually be decisive in standing infantry battles at the time.

[I see the responses are flying thick and fast.

Incidentally, while making the colonial map for this update, I accidentally coloured in the ocean with British red at one point. I should have kept it; after all, Britannia rules the waves. ]



Europe


Click for larger image

The War of the Spanish Succession has trimmed down a good portion of French territory; the gains from that war, aside from Germany, have already been covered.

The other major event was the Prussian-Polish war of the 1710s. Brandenburg, pushing its old claim to the inheritance of the Duchy of Prussia, launched an invasion while Poland was distracted by a large Lithuanian revolt. The Lithuanians, declaring independence, allied with the Margrave of Brandenburg to aid him, the result being a humiliating defeat for the Poles. (Russia, seeing an opportunity, was able to sieze Estonia, but that is all). The margrave declared himself King of Prussia, and was soon invited by the Lithuanians to rule over that region as well in a personal union.

Sweden has made quite a comeback in the Great Northern Wars, now ruling Denmark and taking some of the coastal islands of Finnland proper. The conflict has come to a long stalemate by this point.

Spain has begun expanding further in North Africa at the expense of Algiers and Egypt, although Morocco has declared independence in a slight setback for them. Meanwhile, the Abesanids have conquered Iraq from the Persians and are beginning to look southward towards the Egyptians.


Central Europe



1. Duchy of Holstein
2. Republic of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
3. County of Oldenburg
4. Bremen (to Finnland)
5. Imperial City of Frankfurt
6. Bohemian rebels
7. County of Savoy
8. County of Lombardy
9. County of Parma
10. County of Mantua
11. Republic of Venice
12. Duchy of Romagna
13. Republic of Florence

Although the French lands were taken in the name of the Holy Roman Emperor (King of Baden), the requirements of the new concept of the balance of power have resulted in them being divided between the Count Palatine and the Elector of Hannover. As such, the latter was a major victor from the war despite not truly taking much part in it.

The Babenburgs have also greatly expanded, retaking Tirol and the region of Trent back from Helvetia, as well as retaking Bohemia from the ailing Poland and the Dalmatian coast from the Abesanids. The heartland of Bohemia, however, remains in revolt in an attempt to remain independent, though this is not likely to last forever.

The independence of the Papal States and Sicily has already been gone over; note also that Spain has attempted to make up for its losses by successfully pressing a claim on the Duchy of Romagna, though it has failed to quite take all of it.



Colonies


Click for larger picture

Note that several native countries have been added to give a better picture of the political situation in those regions. (Remind me to get up a comprehensive picture of India in a later update...)

In America, more set lines between the colonial powers have been drawn; France, Britain, and Spain all are attempting to grab more land before the others can. The only remaining native country of any organisation and independence is that of the Iroquois, which has the Shawnee as a semi-dependent state. France is expanding in Quebec and Louisiana, Britain is trying to contain the former, while Spain is looking to the vast western portion of the continent to attempt and move in before the others can make it over.

In Columbia, Portugal has begun moving into the Amazon basin proper, while Spain has run into the brick wall of the Inca Empire, which has successfully defeated several attemps at conquest. The Netherlands has established a small colony in Suriname as well.

Africa has changed little; the Songhay Empire has ruled over much of West Africa for a couple centuries now, and Egypt has been pushing south along the Nile at the same time as their expansion elsewhere.

In Asia, aside from the increasing British power in India, the main powers are China (of course!), the Burmese empire of Taungu, and the Russians slowly taking more and more of Siberia. The Dutch United East India Company has begun expanding at an increased pace in Indonesia, as well, with Portugal being its only rival in the region.

[RGB:
1. Nope, and he's going to cause all sorts of fun, too.
2. It really doesn't effect as much as you might think. No War of the Austrian Succession, for one, partially because Prussia already has Silesia.
3. Not too much this time around. At least they'll reach the Pacific alright.
4. Ah, yes, they're certainly making up for Germany in that regard. And it'll stay that way for a little bit, too.
5. I like that one myself; Taugu was important at this time, but they've managed to get out even further than usual. And they've some staying power.
6. Ah, you know how those things are.
7. I mentioned it in passing, but the British helped support the Inca, and they fought off the Spanish several times. Less "left them alone" and more "tried to conquer them, but failed spectacularly".

Morsky: The Jacobites aren't gone yet, though. And as for the last bit, they'll be quiet for a little bit, actually.]


Despite the fact that the war had been planned for some time on Britain's part, the world-spanning nature of the intended campaigns caused a bit of delay in moving everything into place. In fact, the first fighting of the war was initiated by Spain, not Britain, as on 23 March 1737 they sent a force into Belize. The Baymen were unable to stand up to the force before them, and slipped north and then west to gain the aid of the King of Peten. On 2 April the Spanish force reached the harbour at Belize Town, finding anything valuable carried off by ship to the Caymans and their supply lines threatened by Itza and Baymen raids. The invading Spanish were forced to withdraw, burning what they could, and leave the region to Britain, making no further effort in that area.

Not long after, fighting began in the main area of importance for the British, the southern end of Columbia. A force of 4100 men had begun marching south from Fort St. George on Chile Island, aided by a seven-ship naval squadron* which kept them in supply. The expedition was under the command of the leader of the squadron, Vice Admiral Edward Vernon, a veteran of the Battle of the North Channel against the Icelandic fleet a decade previous. Vernon's force reached its first goal, the "Rey Don Felipe" colony at the southern end of the American continent proper, on 10 May, burning it and forcing the Spanish colonists to flee. A small colony, named Sandy Point, was set up by some of the more adventurous in Fort St. George and Ushuaia. Less than a month later, much of the Spanish garrison of the La Plata colony appeared, 6000 men strong, and on 16 June 1737 the two met north of Sandy Point.


Admrial Edward Vernon, by Thomas Gainsborough (date unknown)

Vernon easily chased off a couple Spanish ships attempting to support the attack, and set the infantry along a low ridge. His men were just enough to anchor one end on a hill overlooking the seaside cliffs, and the other end on the wooded slopes of the mountains around 1400 meters inland, with reserves to plug any holes the charging cavalry might cause. The Spanish commander, Jose Antonio de Mendoza, felt confident that his cavalry could charge across the flat land between him and the British army; he sent them to take the low hills, with a small portion of them supporting the infantry on an attack against the British centre. Unfortunately for him, however, his men did not stick well to the carefully-unfolding plan he had set before them. The cavalry, feeling the battle to be well in hand, immediately charged with little regard to proper order, leaving the infantry to try and catch up to them.

On the Spanish right, much of the force had to route around or through a stand of woods, and they were unable to regain cohesion due to their fast pace before reaching the British left. Vernon's frigates, meanwhile, though they could not elevate their guns enough to reach the tops of the cliffs, could come close enough to pepper the attacking cavalry with rifle fire, doing little damage but giving them the disconcerting feeling of being outflanked. As they reached the foot of the hill, the front ranks were mowed down by a musket volley; when half of them stopped, the other half ran into each other, creating a mess of men and horses that was entangled perfectly within range of the Land Pattern muskets. Aim was not a concern; the British could aim within the tangle and be sure of hitting something Spanish. After taking horrendous casualties the attackers were eventually able to extract themselves and flee back, all hope of attack ruined.

The other flank fared better, but not by much. The hillside slowed them somewhat and broke the attack into several small waves, but they were at least able to reach the British lines in good order, if not at proper charging speed. Some pushed within the British lines, only to be brought down by reserve bayonets. As one wave was pushed back, the next charged through their fellows, often trampling those who had been unhorsed, to attempt to take advantage of the weakening of the British line; extra reserves had been rushed over from the unthreatened centre, however, and met the new charges with more musket fire and bayonets. At one point the British were even able to charge themselves and capture a few hundred Spanish. The attack on that flank cleared a quarter of an hour after the other, leaving only the Spanish centre, composed of the infantry and a thousand of the cavalry which had failed to advance, intact. That force knew better than to attempt an attack of their own, and pulled back north.


The Battle of Sandy Point. Each line is c. 250 men.

With the main Spanish army in the region broken, Vernon was easily able to advance northward. The Spanish were never again able to send a force capable of driving them off; Patagonia had been secured. However, his force was unable to assault the La Plata colony itself, and the hoped-for Portuguese attack from the north was turned back several times. Despite that, Sandy Point was hailed back in Britain as a great victory, and Vernon as a hero. Green's Lane in Notting Hill was renamed Sandy Point Road, and locations in Edinburgh and Dublin recieved the same treatment. One of the more important Virginia aristocrats, Captain Laurence Washington, was a commander of marines at the battle, and named the family mansion of Mount Vernon after the admiral. At the celebrations in London, Emperor Thomas commanded the staging of an opera named Alfred commemorating British military prowess; the centrepiece was the rousing "Rule Britannia", the famous paean to Britain's growing naval dominance.

The war was far from over, however; it merely shifted focus. While the New World was mostly dealt with (some minor fighting in America went back-and-forth along the border and achieved nothing), the Old saw war once again. Spain had brought the Netherlands into the war, and in mid-1737 a Dutch army under the Prince of Waldeck advanced into the ever-embattled Flanders. Douglas-Hamilton had died earlier in the year, and his successor, the Duke of Argyll, did not perform nearly as well as his predecessor. For a time, it seemed as if the Dutch would secure Flanders and overrun the rest of the British Netherlands; Argyll was quickly recalled and a new force raised.

The commander was an unusual one for a British army: Francois de la Rochefoucauld, the Marquis of Montandré, a Huguenot who had put himself at the service of the British emperor due to persecution in France. His family was an important one in France, particularly his 17th-century namesake, a notable philosopher and writer. Montandré collected his army, integrated it into the one he had inherited from Argyll, and overwhelmed the Dutch at Terneuzen, across the Sceld estuary from Flushing, on 3 December 1737. The 51,000-string British army was the largest in Europe at the time, and the shocked Dutch could only hope to slow them by using their ships in the many waterways crossing Zeeland. This hope was quickly crushed by the arrival of Vernon and the Royal Navy, which bottled the Dutch fleet in the ports of Amsterdam and Horn in the Zuider Zee; Montandré slowly marched northward unopposed, and on 24 April 1738 set siege to the capital of Harlem, which fell later that year.

A coordinated attack on 3 February 1739 struck at Amsterdam and Horn, with the Royal Navy blocking escape into the North Sea. The Dutch navy and merchant fleet, unable to escape, was either sunk by the newer, larger British ships, captured (though few were willing to be taken), or burned in their harbours. Many towns and harbours all along the Dutch coast were also raided and burned between mid-1738 and the end of the war. Despite Dutch calls for revenge against such a humiliating loss, they never again developed a fleet capable of rivalling Britain's, and the loss of so many ships crippled much of their foreign empire.


A harbour on the Dutch island of Terschelling burning, in a contemporary engraving

King Louis X of France hosted the treaty as a neutral party, and negotiations had already started while Harlem was still under siege. The first treaty was at Versailles on 21 March 1739, with Spain, handing the region of Patagonia over to Britain; the northern border was defined as the Rio Negro and Nequen River. The second was in Blois, on 2 April 1739, ceding a good portion of Zeeland - all the land south of the Sceld - to Flanders. But although the war had been an overall success for Britain, many in Parliament, and among the populace, were disappointed that the gains had not been greater. None of Spain's Caribbean possessions had been so much as touched, the Yucatan remained in their possession, and Portugal had been too busy fighting off attacks on their European possessions to help take La Plata.

Walpole's main opposition at this time was not the Tories, but the "Patriot Whigs"; aside from the disappointment with the war, his arrangement of the dismissal of another Patriot, William Pitt, from the army was seen as an abuse of his authority. As news came back of the treaties, William Pulteney, the leader of the faction, requested early elections to Parliament. Thomas, seeing that Walpole was rapidly becoming unpopular, dissolved Parliament (enough time had passed since the last election, in 1737, to allow him to do so), hoping that Newcastle would take his place. The Patriots, however, had broad support with the middle class, and took easy control of Parliament. Spencer Compton, the Earl of Wilmington, became the new Lord Treasurer; Pulteney (soon after made Earl of Bath), however, was regarded as the main figure in the government, and thus the Prime Minister, one of the few times the two titles were held by different people.


William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, by Jean-Baptiste van Loo (c. 1745)

The early 1740s seemed to herald a better time in Britain. Bath's early ministry oversaw peaceful economic expansion, especially in the British colonies and trade with the Portuguese colonies. At home, opposition to the Reform Act and Recusancy Act had calmed, and the Jacobites were oddly quiet. In 1742, the East India Company launched an attack upon the Marathis, in an attempt to seize the ports of Surat and Bombay. Several times, the cities were taken and then lost; only in 1744, when James Wolfe was given command of the invading army, was Bombay taken permanently (3 June 1744) and Surat put under a long siege.

Britain's attention was quickly turned back to home, however. In 1744, several chiefs of the Scottish Highland clans sent a message to France, asking for men and supplies to aid an uprising. The "Wild Geese" of the Brigade irlandaise, a unit of Irish Catholic exiles fighting for the French army, arrived on 2 August 1745, along with Charles Edward Borcalan, son of the still-living "Old Pretender". Around the core sent from France, "Bonnie Prince Charlie" collected 25,000 men overall from both the Highlands and Lowlands - an astounding force in such a short time, showing that the rebellion was long in the planning - and set siege to Edinburgh. Panic set in as it seemed all of Scotland might declare for the Borcalans, and only Wade's relatively small "Black Watch" was in the immediate area. The Northern Secretary, William Stanhope, Earl of Harrington, quickly requisitioned the Army of Flanders from his Southern counterpart, still Newcastle; the two got in a heated argument over the matter, wasting valuable time as Edinburgh threatened to fall.

Bath and Wilmington finally forced Newcastle's hand, and the Army of Flanders began north in February; before it could go into action, however, Emperor Thomas died on 18 March 1746. The loss of the Emperor when a pretender army was on British soil was a political disaster; supporters of the Borcalans and the Cromwells began rising up and fighting all over Britain. It had taken a century, but the Borcalans had finally returned the empire to a proper state of civil war.
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*The sixty gun HMS Dreadnought and fifty gun HMS Antelope, with five 24-gun frigates. With the lack of available bomb ketches in the region, the former two were intended to help perform shore bombardment duty against any Spanish fortifications, with actual naval combat unlikely, at least against ships the frigates could not handle.

[RGB: Mostly Patagonia is useful to connect all the little bits Britain already has down there. And most of Spain's islands are too big to trade that for, I think.

Kurt Steiner: Hey, when you're a royal family, you can afford to be persistent. So long as you don't do something silly like sell the claim to someone else or the like.

Morksy: Your loyalties are noted by both sides. You'd best hope the Borcalans win.

canonized: A very musical response from all of you. That makes the next update all the more fitting.

English Patriot: Won't be the last you'll see of Wolfe, either. ]




As the island reunified under the Staffords in the late 15th century, Great Britain began once again to take part in the wider European culture. While the most notable parts of medieval music had not shown much in Britain itself - the spurious legend of the troubador Jean Blondel de Nesle being connected with Sigeric Scothammer nonwithstanding - the Staffords quickly took to the music of the Renaissance. Henry III is noted as a composer himself, including the famed "Pastime With Good Company"; he also employed no small number of skilled composers. This continued for the rest of the century, and the reign of his daughter Elisabeth I saw one of England's finest.


John Dowland

"Douland to þee is deere, hwase heovenly rine
Upon þe lute doþ needneme mannisc rede;"
- Richard Barnfield, The Passionate Pilgrim (1598)

The Lady Rich, Her Galliard

Despite claims that Dowland was Irish, all evidence points to his having been born in London. Prior to his career as a musician, in true Renaissance style, he displayed talent in other areas, including diplomacy. In fact, during one diplomatic visit to Blois, France (accompanied by Edward, Earl of Kent, a distant cousin to the queen), he decided to convert to Catholicism. That, in Elisabeth's court, was the end of his diplomatic career, and only his association with the Earl of Kent kept him from persecution so long as he did not proclaim his Catholicism. Even his musical career did not get off to a good start because of this; Dowland later claimed that he was passed over for the position of court lutenist due to his religious beliefs. King Mikael IV of Finnland had no such qualms, apparently, and Dowland spent the time from 1590 to 1606 in Turku. Emperor James I offered him his much-coveted court position in 1612; notably, this ended his time as a composer, as either he played only old songs or those he composed have been since lost.

Dowland's instrument of choice was the lute, of which he was regarded at his time, and is still regarded now, as one of the masters. He also had a reputation for melancholy in his songs, one which he recognised and poked fun at; in his most famous publication, the Seven Teares of 1604, he included a piece called "Semper Dowland, semper dolens" (Always Dowland, always mournful). He had plenty of quite cheerful pieces, as well, including several songs for voice and lute alongside the plain lute pieces.


Henry Purcell

"Hwan I am laid in earþ, mey my misfarings mace
Ney þrastness, ney þrastness in þy breast;
Beþinc of me, beþinc of me, but ah! forget my wird.
Beþinc of me, but ah! forget my wird."
- Nahum Tate, Dido and Aeneas

Abdelazar, or the Moor's Revenge: Rondeau

After the height of English music during the late 16th and early 17th centuries (marked not only by Dowland but other luminaries such as the keyboardist John Bull and the folk collector Thomas Ravenscroft), the Civil War brought this creativity to a complete halt. The Puritan-dominated Parliament banned most musical and dramatic performances during the 1640s and 1650s; after that, it took a short time for Britain to rouse from her creative slumber. Emperor Henry IV (and more so Henry V) played some role in this, taking the austerity of Oliver I's protectorate court and returning it to what was considered normal for a European court. In the 1660s Henry hired Thomas Purcell as Gentleman of His Imperial Majesty's Chapel, and Thomas brought his young, orphaned nephew Henry along.

By 1670, Henry Purcell was already composing; a piece for the Emperor's birthday survives from that year. His first incidental pieces for a dramatic work followed in 1676 and 1677: Aureng-Zebe by Dryden, Abdelazar by Aphra Behn,* and several others. By 1680 - aged only 20 - Purcell was already the head organist at Westminster Abbey; much of the next decade involved his composition of religious music.


Aphra Behn, sketch by George Scharf (19th century)

It was 1689 that brought about Purcell's finest hour. That year was the first production of one of the first English-language operas, Dido and Aeneas. As with most operas of the time, the story was taken from a classical source (Virgil's Aeniad); the libretto was one of notable poet Nahum Tate's first works. More than anything else, it marked Britan's arrival as a centre of culture in Europe; although Italian, as in other European countries, continued to dominate as the language of opera, composers such as Thomas Arne (whose Alfred introduced the song "Rule, Britannia") made operas entirely in English.

Purcell, more than any other, was the founder of a specifically British style of music. A large number of British musicians and composers - both of classical and more modern musical genres - noted the direct influence of Purcell upon their work.


Toirdhealbhach Ó Cearbhalláin (Turlough Carolan)**


Turlough Carolan, by an unknown artist

Carolan's Welcome

Ireland had a long tradition of music; most often connected with the island is the itinerant harper, singing for various patrons and telling old tales. Perhaps the man that epitomised that tradition was one of the last to take part in it: Turlough Carolan, a poet and harper from Meath. Despite being blinded in 1688 (aged 18) by smallpox, he continued to perform and compose for the rest of his life, another fifty years. One important facet of his music was the combination of traditional Irish music with the Baroque style of Francesco Geminiani (the two, in fact, met at one point), best exemplified in his "Concerto for Mrs. Power".

If Dowland had a reputation for being morose, Carolan was the exact opposite: cheerful, tempermental, and a heavy drinker. His music and poetry, of course, reflect this quite well, including one ode to liquor written after a doctor perscribed some to him. Carolan's music was never published during his lifetime, and he had little influence on musicians after him, but he remains an important symbol of Irish culture at a time when it was threatened by English influence.


Georg Friedrich Händel


Georg Friedrich Händel, by Balthasar Denner (1733)

"I did þenc þat I did see alle heaven fore me, and þe great God him self."
- Händel, on composing Messiah

Messiah: 44. Chorus ("Hallelujah")

The most famous Baroque composer connected with Britain was not born there, but still lived nearly fifty years on Great Britain. Born in what was at that time the Polish subject state of Magdeburg, Händel's musical career began in earnest when he moved to Hamburg in 1704. The next decade was a time of wandering for him; he first went south to Italy, but his patron was the notoriously difficult Gian Gastone de' Medici, a Florentine noble. He returned to Germany in 1710, working for a short time with George, Elector of Hanover, before finally being hired by the young Emperor Thomas in 1712. His first task was to write a set of coronation anthems; the result was "Zadok the Priest", used at every British coronation since.

Händel soon learned English quite well, and settled into life in Britain. Although all of his operas were in Italian, most of his oratorios, for which he is more famous, are in English. Easily the most famous of these is his Messiah, premiered on 13 April 1742, a masterwork of Baroque tone painting. According to tradition, Emperor Thomas was so moved by the "Hallelujah" chorus that he stood out of respect (for either the music, or for God) during it, causing all others in the hall to scramble to their feet and beginning a tradition connected to it ever since.

Aside from these sung works, Händel wrote numerous concerti and other instrumental pieces. He outlived the other two famous composers born in the same year as him (Johann Sebastian Bach and Domenico Scarlatti), continuing to compose almost until his death in 1759.
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*Abdelazar was not only notable for its music, but for the fact that Aphra Behn (born Efrith Johnson) was a woman. Women had been barred from all matters of the stage - writing, acting, or otherwise - in previous times; the Restoration lifted these bans entirely. In fact, her correspondance with Catholics was far more remarked upon (and disapproved of) than her gender.
**The question of whether to use "O'Carolan" or "Carolan" is an uncertain one; it appears that Carolan himself perferred the latter, however.

[RGB: Good to see I'm introducing people to some very good music.

canonized: Have to get some facets of the culture in there, of course, I tend to prefer political and social history to military anyway. I was pleasantly surprised I had a spot to slip Aphra Behn in, actually.

Morsky: Not a bad idea. Just avoid Rome or Naples, those are aligned with Britain and thus might not be entirely safe. Milan might be a good place, or Florence.

Milites: First heard Händel? I wasn't aware one could not at least hear something of his at some point. The "Hallelujah" chorus if nothing else!]








Oliver Henry Cromwell, by Pompeo Batoni (1742)

Oliver, the elder of two surviving sons of Emperor Thomas (the other being Henry, Duke of Cumberland), was considerably more active than his father. Despite being too young to take part in either of the major wars of his lifetime (he was born in 1725), he certainly expressed a wish to do so. As soon as he had an opportunity to, he began studying military matters and raised a cavalry regiment, the Prince's Horse (which would see much action in 1746). Had Thomas been in better health in 1745, he would no doubt have asked to lead the army northward to defeat the rebellion; as it was, both Thomas and Bath spoke against it for fear that it would cause trouble communication the succession to him at a very important time. As it was, Thomas' death found him very energetic to deal with the matter at hand.


Charles Edward Borcalan, by Antonio David (1732)

Although Charles Borcalan was offically fighting in place of his father James, the focus of those taking part alongside him was decidedly on "Bonnie Prince Charlie". Young and charismatic, Charles certainly had the vigour necessary for one wishing to take the throne, unlike his father, and he seemed to have some recognition for political realities, as he emphasised his willingness to convert back to Anglicanism to become Emperor. Though somewhat unskilled in military matters, he had the knowledgeable commander George Murray at his side to aid him in that regard.

The news of Thomas' death reached Edinburgh very quickly, as Charles Borcalan obviously made no effort to prevent them from finding out; on 30 April 1746, the city surrendered. The Army of Flanders was still only in Brighton, as Newcastle now wanted it to scour the English countryside of Jacobites and ensure there was no French intervention before moving north. Harrington was absolutely furious, stating that the army was needed in the north, immediately, to support Wade's slowly retreating Black Watch and overwhelm the Borcalan army. Newcastle accused Harrington of chasing glory beyond his ability; Harrington responded by accusing Newcastle of being secretly a Jacobite. Had the two been left to their own devices, they might have argued while Charles and Murray walked into London.

Oliver stepped in immediately, however. He sent a message to Parliament requesting the army for himself, a request that was quickly accepted. Now both Newcastle and Harrington were both angry at Oliver, the former resigning and (much to Harrington's vindication) throwing his lot in with the Borcalans. In fact, the few remaining Tories in Parliament, almost to a man, made the same defection, and Charles could claim a small Parliament and Privy Council (using the pre-Cromwell term for the Council of State) of his own. Oliver had his army, however, and could now march north.


The March of the Guards to Finchley, satirising the haphazard Cromwellist response to the Jacobites, by William Hogarth (1750)

Now it was Charles' turn to get stuck. Half of his army wanted him to try and consolidate Scotland, setting up a proper administration and raising a larger army before trying for England. Charles stated that there were Englishmen on his side now, and that he could stir up a general rebellion against the Cromwells simply by marching south. Being the commander, he overruled the others - including Murray - and began south. Marshal Wade tried to stop them at Newcastle; Charles simply went around his small force, leaving the slow Wade confused. Two hundred and fifty men, a disappointing number but at least a start, joined the army in Manchester, and they arrived in Derby on 22 June 1746.

Oliver had begun north, and, with better intelligence and speed than Wade had at his disposal, was able to reach Melbourne, just south of Derby, and properly contest Charles' advance. Wade and the Black Watch were still en-route, but even without them Oliver outnumbered Charles' army, with thirty thousand men to Charles' 25,000. Although unable to prevent Charles' army from crossing the Trent at Swarkestone Bridge, he was immediately to the south, and the two armies, both singing their own versions of "God Save the King", finally met in battle on 24 June.


Swarkestone Bridge

If there were any doubts as to Oliver's bravery, they were dispelled as soon as his army's disposition became clear. The Prince's Horse was front and centre, the Emperor himself at their front, the Cromwell coat-of-arms flapping in the wind beside him. It was the first time since 1484 that a ruler of Britain had taken the field himself; in a story he might well have rode out between the lines to challenge Charles to single combat for the throne. As it was, the romantic image did precisely what Oliver hoped: it inspired his men that they weren't fighting for a coward huddled in London but someone willing to stand up for himself. Cumberland was shocked, and asked his brother to at least direct the battle from behind the lines, but Oliver, as well as his second in command, the Viscount Cobham, overruled him.

Charles had his own arguments to deal with. Murray had directly opposed the crossing of Swarkestone Bridge, stating that doing so with Oliver's army so close was far too dangerous, but Charles pulled his weight as Prince of Wales and insisted upon it, dismissing Murray and intending on fighting the battle himself. Most of the army was not quite in position yet as the battle began; Charles sent out urgent orders to hurry into place before Oliver's army reached him. He had a front line in place, but his reserves were still in chaos, when Oliver's cavalry and infantry struck his centre at full speed. Oliver's use of his infantry in a bayonet charge without first firing a volley was not conventional, and likely would not have worked against professional soldiers; Charles had placed those along the Trent, however, and so he struck directly into militia. Charles hastily sent a multitude of contradictory orders to his reserves; nobody was available to plug the gap Oliver made.


An Incident in the Rebellion of 1745, by David Morier (1746)

Only on Charles' left, where the Brigade irlandaise anchored the army's escape route over the bridge, did the Jacobites hold. Had Charles ordered an ordered withdrawl at that moment, with much of the Cromwellist army worn out and disorganised, he could have saved his army and at the very least secured the north of England for a later advance back south. Instead, expecting what few reserves he had to hold what was now his flank, he ordered a direct charge into the British right. The result was magnificent in appearance, with thousands of Highlanders and Irishmen hitting Oliver's men directly, and dying by the hundreds from concentrated musket fire and expert use of the bayonet. Oliver pushed his cavalry into one final charge into the flank of the attack, surrounding several thousand more and forcing them to surrender.

The remnants of the Jacobite right wing, which Murray quickly took direct command of, formed a rear guard and were able to escape. In all, of the 25,000 who had marched out of Derby on 23 June, only 7,000 (including Charles and Murray) returned late on 24 June. The vast majority of those lost had been captured either in battle or as wounded; had Cumberland had his way, most would have been killed, but Oliver insisted upon mercy. Many of the wounded still died due to lack of facilities to care for them, and the general agreement between Oliver, Cumberland, and Cobham was that those lords captured in the battle should stand trial for treason.


The Battle of Swarkestone Bridge. Each line is c. 1000 men.

The rest of Charles' army, in the meantime, was stopped in its flight north by Wade's Black Watch. With nowhere to go, most surrendered; Charles and Murray only survived being handed over by their own soldiers by escaping at night with the remnants of the Brigade irlandaise, and making their way to a pair of French ships. Shaking a pursuit by a small squadron of Royal Navy sloops, they managed to return to France, Murray making a point to never again have anything to do with Charles. With the incompetence of the "Young Pretender" displayed for all to see, and French support waning, the Borcalan cause was ruined permanently. Oliver spent the rest of 1746 with Wade in Scotland seeing to the pacification of the region; he only returned the next year for his coronation on 10 April 1747, more than a year after his father's death, and began to deal with the political mess which resulted from the rebellion.