Mass Grave Sheds Light On Europe's Bloody History (1636 Battle)

Spiegel ^ | 7-31-2007 | David Crossland

[AnAmericanMother]

I think if you dig a little deeper in the English Civil War, as usual there was a lot going on under the surface.

On the one hand you had the genuine religious reformers who thought "high time Oliver came to purge the land!" as Kipling memorably put it in "A Doctor of Medicine". And on the other, corrupt aristocrats in Charles I's court -- although Charles himself (though in some ways a pretentious prig) was almost incredibly moral and went to his death in a heroic manner that did him great credit.

But the overwhelming majority of the folks involved in the conflict were deep in the dispute between the Crown and Parliament over who was going to exercise the temporal power and collect the cash . . . once again as usual, it's "follow the money".

Thankfully, Richard was not the man his father was, or things might have gotten far, far worse. Of course, Charles II for all his considerable political acumen was a bad bargain for the reformers as far as his personal immorality and corruption were concerned.

The image that sticks with me is "pretty witty Nell" Gwyn leaning out of her carriage to address the London mob, "Peace, good people! 'Tis the Protestant whore!"

[SunkenCiv]

:’)

[SunkenCiv]

400-year-old Scots ready to reveal their battle secrets
Allan Hall in Berlin
Scotsman

They died in the Battle of Wittstock on 4 October, 1636, when a Protestant army of 16,000 Swedes beat a force of 22,000 from the Catholic alliance of the Holy Roman Empire and Saxony. Some 6,000 men died in the fighting. Soldiers from several nations fought at Wittstock, including hundreds from Scotland, the German states and Swedes. Sweden was then a magnet for Scottish noblemen, who became civil servants and formed the backbone of the army's officer corps. James King, born on Warbester Hoy in the Orkney Islands, commanded the entire left wing of the Swedish army at the battle... Most of the corpses were stripped before being buried and the only evidence of their undergarments remains in the form of metal hooks and loops, she said. "Everything that was usable in any way was taken off them - shoes, weapons, upper clothing." The archaeologists are hopeful that coins and other small personal effects may be found in the soil... Some 40,000 individuals took part in the battle and experts reckon the remains of 7,000 are scattered around. In the long term, DNA analysis may be carried out on some remains.

[colorado tanker]

The image that sticks with me is "pretty witty Nell" Gwyn leaning out of her carriage to address the London mob, "Peace, good people! 'Tis the Protestant whore!"

:-))