English Warfare, 1511-1642

401 Pages·2001·20.288 MB·English

by  Mark Charles Fissell

ENGLISH WARFARE,
1511-1642
English Warfare, 1511—1642 chronicles and analyses military operations from
the reign of Henry VIII to the outbreak of the Civil War. The Tudor and
Stuart periods laid the foundations of modern English military power.
Henry VIII’s expeditions, the Elizabethan contest with Catholic Europe,
and the subsequent commitment of English troops to the Protestant cause
by James I and Charles I, constituted a sustained military experience that
shaped English armies for subsequent generations.
Drawing largely on manuscript sources, English Warfare, 1511—1642
includes coverage of:
• the military adventures of Henry VIII in France, Scotland and Ireland
• Elizabeth Is interventions on the Continent after 1572, and how arms
were perfected
• conflict in Ireland
• the production and use of artillery
• the development of logistics
• early Stuart military actions and the descent into civil war
English Warfare, 1511—1642 demolishes the myth of an inexpert English
military prior to the upheavals of the 1640s.
Mark Charles Fissel is Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and
Professor of History at Augusta State University, USA. His previous books
include The Bishops’ Wars: Charles Ts Campaigns Against Scotland, 1638—1640
(Cambridge, 1994).
WARFARE AND HISTORY
General Editor: Jeremy Black
Professor of History; University of Exeter
AIR POWER IN THE AGE OF OTTOMAN WARFARE, 1500-1700
TOTAL WAR Rhoads Murphey
John Buckley
SEAPOWER AND NAVAL
THE BALKAN WARS, 1912-1913: WARFARE, 1650-1830
PRELUDE TO THE FIRST WORLD Richard Harding
WAR
Richard C. Hall THE SOVIET MILITARY
EXPERIENCE
ENGLISH WARFARE, 1511-1642 Roger R. Reese
Mark Charles Fissel
VIETNAM
EUROPEAN AND NATIVE Spencer C. Tucker
AMERICAN WARFARE, 1675-1815
THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE
Armstrong Starkey
AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF
AMERICAN SOCIETY
EUROPEAN WARFARE, 1660-1815
Harry M. Ward
Jeremy Black
WARFARE AND SOCIETY IN
FRONTIERSMEN: WARFARE IN
EUROPE, 1792-1914
AFRICA SINCE 1950
Geoffrey Wawro
Anthony Clayton
WARFARE AT SEA, 1500-1650
GERMAN ARMIES: WAR AND
Jan Glete
GERMAN POLITICS, 1648-1806
Peter H. Wilson WARFARE IN ATLANTIC AFRICA,
1500-1800: MARITIME CONFLICTS
THE GREAT WAR, 1914-1918 AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF
Spencer C. Tucker EUROPE
John K. Thornton
ISRAEL’S WARS, 1947-1993
Ahron Bregman WARFARE, STATE AND SOCIETY
IN THE BYZANTINE WORLD,
THE KOREAN WAR: NO VICTORS, 565-1204
NO VANQUISHED John Haldon
Stanley Sandler
WARS OF IMPERIAL CONQUEST
MODERN CHINESE WARFARE, IN AFRICA, 1830-1914
1795-1989 Bruce Vandervort
Bruce A. Elleman
WESTERN WARFARE IN THE AGE
NAVAL WARFARE, 1815-1914 OF THE CRUSADES, 1000-1300
Lawrence Sondhaus John France
ENGLISH WARFARE,
1511-1642
Mark Charles Fissel
| J Routledge
Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
FOR RALPH J. WALLER
VERITAS, LIBERTAS, ET RELIGIOS
First published 2001 by Routledge
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon 0X14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY, 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2001 Mark Charles Fissel
Typeset in Bembo by Florence Production Ltd,
Stoodleigh, Devon
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be
reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any
electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication-Data
Fissel, Mark Charles.
English warfare 1511-1642 / Mark Charles Fissel.
p. cm. - (Warfare and history)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Great Britain—History, Military—1485-1603. 2. Military art
and science—Great Britain—History—16th century. 3. Military art
and science—Great Britain—History—17th century. 4. Great
Britain—History, Military—1603-1714. I. Title. II. Series.
DA66.F57 2001
355'.00942'0902-dc21 00-065332
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-21481-0 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-415-21482-7 (pbk)
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint
but points out that some imperfections in the original may be apparent
CONTENTS
List of illustrations IX
Preface XI
Abbreviations xvi
1 The early Tudor art of war on the Continent 1
Early Henrician expeditions to the Continent 4
Henry VIII and an armed citizenry 8
The French campaign of 1544: Henrician strategy and
royal finance 13
The post-Henrician military dilemma 19
2 The early Tudor art of war in the British Isles 21
Henrician warfare and the Scots 21
Edwardian actions against Scotland in 1547 29
The logistical challenge: garrisons, victualling and fortresses 34
The earlier Tudors in Ireland, 1520—53 41
Tudor ordnance 43
An English art of war 47
3 The defence of the shire: lieutenancy 50
How lieutenancy worked: the Lords Lieutenants 50
Deputy lieutenants 53
Defending against the Armadas 56
The militia as defender of the realm 61
Muster-masters and military charges 67
Lieutenancy as an early Stuart political issue 71
The privileges of the English militia 76
v
CONTENTS
4 The defence of the realm: impressment and
mobilisation 2001)
Elizabethan levies and the institutionalisation of
impressment 85
Sir John Smythe, Catholic conspiracy; and the deleterious
effects of impressment 91
Pressed English soldiers in the Irish theatre 96
Billeting and impressment under the early Stuarts 105
5 Elizabethan warfare in the North, 1560-73 2001)
Countering the French threat in Scotland, 1560-1 114
The assault on Leith 117
The northern rising of 1569-70 123
The 1569 rebellion and the wars of religion 128
The sieges of Barnard Castle (1569) and Edinburgh
Castle (1573) 131
6 Elizabethan warfare in the Netherlands, 1572-92 2001)
Elizabeth and the wars of religion 137
The Earl of Leicester’s campaign, 1585-6 142
Mustering English companies on the Continent 146
7 Elizabethan and Jacobean allied operations on
the Continent, 1587-1622 2001)
The continental reputation of English fighting men 154
The Portugal expedition of 1589: English warfare on sea
and land 158
English warfare in France, 1589-91 161
English soldiers at Turnhout (1597) and Nieuwpoort
(1600) 170
The English school of war 177
8 Ordnance and logistics, 1511-1642 2001)
The English and continental siegecraft 181
The Ordnance Office and English military architecture 188
Victualling and logistics, 1550-1640 193
9 Hibernian warfare under the Tudors, 1558-1601 2001)
English warfare in Ireland, 1561—95 208
The rebellion of Hugh O’Neill, Earl of Tyrone, 1595-1601 216
From the Yellow Ford to Kinsale 226
CONTENTS
10 The Irish military establishment, 1603-42 236
The early Stuart peace in Ireland 23 6
Rebellion and civil war 246
11 The Caroline art of war 255
Early Stuart continental warfare and the Cadiz expedition 255
The Isle of Rhé expedition 261
Military failure and ‘Personal Rule’ 269
The Bishops’Wars and after 272
12 English warfare turned upon itself 282
An English art of war 282
English armies and multiple kingdoms 294
Notes 304
Bibliographical essay 363
Index 370
vii
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ILLUSTRATIONS
1.1 The Henrician campaigns of the 1540s 15
1.2 Henry VIII’s French campaigns taught the English much
about contemporary siegecraft 17
2.1 English tactical ingenuity and tenacity won the Battle of
Flodden, 9 September 1513 23
2.2 Britain, 1511-1642 24
2.3 As Earl of Hertford in 1544, Seymour excelled in fighting
Scottish wars 30
2.4 The mid-Tudor garrison system and the Anglo-Scottish
Borders 35
3.1 The Counties ofTudor-Stuart England and Wales 59
3.2 The English militia had become a more selective and
highly trained force 77
4.1 ‘In the 19. how he (havinge the Pike advanced) shall
take the same with left hand higher and at the same tyme
charge’ 106
4.2 ‘In the 33. how he shall lightlye with one hand laye the
Musket upon the shoulder’ 107
6.1 Map of the Low Countries, the Germanies and
northwestern France 138
7.1 Map of the Atlantic coast 157
7.2 The victory atTurnhout (1597) demonstrated English
proficiency in fighting on horseback 171
7.3 ‘And so we charged their Pikes, not breaking through
them, at the first push’ — Sir Francis Vere 172
7.4 Tactical manoeuvring and the judicious use of firepower
characterised the successes of English arms at
Nieuwpoort, 2 July 1600 175
7.5 ‘On our side, in a manner, the whole loss fell upon the
English’ — Sir Francis Vere 176
9.1 Map of Ireland, 1530-1642 209
IX