Besieged and Sacked

   A Short History of 17th Century Siege Warfare

    By: Chris Poore 

    The Civil wars of Britain generally bring to mind scenes of big battles such as Edge Hill, Marston Moor and Naesby. Or the famous personalities such as Charles I, Prince Rupert, Fairfax and Cromwell. But more than just a war between large field armies, the Civil wars and in particular the first war of 1642-1647 was about controlling the surrounding countryside. By holding key strategic points across the country either side could also control the local roads & rivers and thus also the lines of supply and communication. Garrison duty made up for over a third of army troop placements on both sides and invariably where you get garrisons, you also get sieges!

    Siege warfare by the 17th century was a far cry from the catapults, ballista's and siege towers of the middle ages. The growing size and accuracy of artillery had made high stone walls obsolete, the use of such things as petards, mortars, lime smoke gas and grenardos made it increasingly difficult to hold back direct assaults. The relatively easily trained musketeer could keep up a reign of fire for a long period of time in a long drawn out siege, slowly picking the defenders off one by one and weakening moral. However much also remained the same, starvation being the main source of capitulation. And the soldier's tradition of digging in and waiting for the right moment to storm a breech remained.

    Also the use of siege ladders, poisoning water supplies, battering rams, under-mining walls and even flinging rocks down on attackers heads from the battlements continued. Siege warfare however was always times consuming and extremely draining on supplies, manpower and local resources. Most commanders would wish for a quick victory by making a breech and pressing the point heavily, early on. However if the defenders we're resolute then the long and often moral lowering task of siege would begin.

    First siege lines would be dug around the castle or city with trenches and swine feathers
(Sharpened wooden stakes) driven into the ground the give the besiegers a place of defence if a Sally force was sent out from the garrison to counter attack. Often mines would be dug by engineers who would get under the walls then light a fire bringing the foundations down with the wall above it. Artillery was a main playing piece in the art of siege warfare with battery positions being quickly dug and gabions placed to give the cannon crews some cover from enemy muskets. Large ordinance pieces would often have to be bought up by river to a siege, as the roads were too bad for such heavy guns to travel on.

    A steady stream of musket fire would be put up from both sides with snipers placed in any high places to pick off officers in particular. Parleys would be held with the attackers offering terms of surrender. Some times a garrison would be able to march out with they're weapons and dignity intact so long as they agreed to leave the area. More often than not the terms would be rejected at first only to be eagerly sort again by the defenders after several brutal assaults. With the bulk of the infantry working on the siege lines and the dragoons out foraging for supplies it often fell to the cavalry to make a dismounted forlorn hope assault on the garrison backed up by units of firelock musketeers (elite troops armed with flintlock muskets).
 

      Not all sieges were such grand affairs however. In the taking of Beeston Castle in Cheshire captain Stanford and his famous company of firelocks, scaled the sheer rock face to the walls. Then over the walls and into the officers barracks where they held the garrison commander captive until his forces surrendered. An action more akin to an SAS raid than a siege.
Things could also turn nasty if a siege was prolonged with the attackers often becoming fed up with the endless assaults on heavily defended positions. Some times when such places where taken, no quarter was offered to the survivors. At Hopton castle in 1644 after repeated attacks the parliamentarian garrison of about 30 men finally surrendered. The prisoners where herded into the castle cellar, striped naked, beaten then taken to the moat where they were summarily executed by the by now drunken royalists. For years after the parliamentarians would offer royalists troops "Hopton Quarter" only, in revenge, much like the "Madeburg Mercy" of the 30 years war.

     Things could also turn nasty if a siege was prolonged with the attackers often becoming fed up with the endless assaults on heavily defended positions. Some times when such places where taken, no quarter was offered to the survivors. At Hopton castle in 1644 after repeated attacks the parliamentarian garrison of about 30 men finally surrendered. The prisoners where herded into the castle cellar, striped naked, beaten then taken to the moat where they were summarily executed by the by now drunken royalists. For years after the parliamentarians would offer royalists troops "Hopton Quarter" only, in revenge, much like the "Madeburg Mercy" of the 30 years war.

    Looting, pillaging, rape and murder go hand in hand with sieges. The chief fear of any town, castle, manor or city in civil war Britain was to be sacked by an approaching army. Often the inhabitants of towns would pay handsomely for their town to be spared. Some like the pro parliament town of Birmingham in the opening stages of the war fared for the worse when Prince Rupert using tactics common to the continent put the town to the torch and let his men run wild. Often it was impossible for commanders to control their town forces on entering a defeated place, with the troops drinking what ever alcohol they could find, stealing goods from inhabitants and wreaking vengeance for comrades lost on the attack.

    The most famous of sieges in the civil war is undoubtedly that of Basing House near Basingstoke. The opulent home of John Paulet, 5th Marquis of Winchester. Basing house was said to be the most richly decorated home in the Kingdom with Hampton Court a pale comparison. The Marquis had fortified his house on the inset of war and bravely defended it through a number of sieges until 1645 when a force of 5,000 roundheads led by Cromwell stormed the place. The royalists inside where surprised while playing cards leading to a well-known Hampshire saying of "Clubs are trumps, as when Basing House was taken". The house was sacked with Cromwell alone taking over a quarter of a million pounds worth of goods away. Many of the prisoners men, women and children were striped then executed by hanging or burnt to death when the roundheads set the place alight in their drunken rampage.

    Through out the war, siege would play a most critical role. From 1642 when the king first demanded Hull to surrender, to the fall of the last Royalist stronghold of Harlech castle in 1647. Sieges and garrison duty would be the main source of military actions in civil war Britain. By the end of the first civil war parliament had decided to slight or "render useless by destruction" many of the castles and fortified manors across the country. Much of the damage which you can see to this day at various places across the UK was done by roundhead troopers and sappers.
 

    Never again would the royalist cause have so many bases of operation from which to sally out and control the land. One of the main reasons for the royalist failures of the second and third civil wars was because they could not establish strong garrisons. Siege warfare thus at least deserves to be remembered as one of the most important factors in deciding the fate of the English Civil Wars.