Following the death of his mother, Elizabeth II, in September 2022, Charles III became king of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. At age 73, he became the oldest person to accede to the British throne, being the longest-serving heir apparent.
England retains its royalty, as do several other countries. As of 2022, there were 43 sovereign states in the world with a monarch as head of state.
Author Jessie Childs in her latest historical narrative, “The Siege of Loyalty House: A Story of the English Civil War,” takes readers to another time and era in England when royalty reigned: Charles I—who ruled under the belief that his reign was divinely inspired—in the timeframe of the mid-1600s.
Roundheads and Royals
Childs deftly sets the stage, giving readers close-up looks into the lives of local merchants as well as career politicians: their daily interactions, areas of interest, aspirations, lineages and heritages, beliefs, and loyalties. Ultimately, it’s those loyalties that divided neighbors and families and pitted friend against friend and brother against brother.It was a devastating time in England. Chaos reigned with the parliamentary Roundheads pitted against the Royalists. Basing House, known as Loyalty House, in Hampshire, was the stronghold of the marquess of Winchester. Ever loyal to King Charles I, he was besieged three times between 1643 and 1645. This is the story of those events.
Readers will find themselves immensely engrossed while learning about Thomas Johnson, an herbalist and member of the apothecary guild, who delighted in roaming the countryside to discover new plants, record their properties, and potentially use them for medicinal purposes. He liked to help people feel better.
Johnson, the apothecary-botanist, became a key player as a lieutenant colonel fighting to protect Loyalty House. His cleverness, courage, and calculated creativity in battle exposed another aspect of his personality.
Marmaduke Rawdon, a textile agent and antiquarian, was, like Johnson, loyal to the crown. He unflinchingly upheld his devotion to the cause. He also had a son mired in the conflict, and Childs does a masterful job of tugging at readers’ emotional heartstrings.
Sir William “the Conqueror” Waller was an English soldier and politician. While commanding the parliamentarian armies, he launched the first major assault on Loyalty House.
Readers will meet another, perhaps more familiar, English politician and military officer: Oliver Cromwell, who brings in the big guns in 1645 against the beleaguered stronghold.
Terrifying Tools and New Rules
The descriptions of the weaponry used in that period is an eye-opener for the uninitiated in warfare history. There were cannonballs of immense size. Not only did they shatter buildings and lives, but the deafening noise shattered eardrums and spirits. “Granados,” basically a very large grenade filled with any number of items to cause distress and damage, tragically surprised many. And the list goes on.Rules and roles changed. Hunters and gamekeepers became snipers. England’s foremost architect, Inigo Jones, designed fortifications rather than banquet halls, and women melted lead to make bullets and hurled bricks at their enemies. They were also slaughtered mercilessly along with their children. But there are heroines as well, such as Honora, the marchioness of Winchester, who at one point stealthily left Loyalty House to rally support.
Throughout this history, readers will meet artists, poets, writers, biographers, and tradesmen in addition to the rank and file of both fighting armies. All of their stories are worth knowing and sharing. They are the pivotal players in this beautifully written epic that, even if you know the ultimate outcome from a past history class, will keep you turning the pages.
Childs brings this pivotal and powerful period of England’s history to life in dazzling fashion with inviting prose, insight, grace, and masterful craftsmanship and perspective. The story is often brutal and bloody, the players desperate and determined, but the telling is always riveting.
History lovers will relish not only its facts but also the depth of human frailties and heroism revealed. Courage and cowardice share common ground in this conflict. Readers will feel more than the drum of advancing foot soldiers or the volley of canons. The human heartbeat will ring louder.
