Chris, Is there any reference in this book to either of the John Ayletts that were in the siege of Colchester? One lived in the town and was a Master, the other fought with Sir Charles Lucas but was said to have escaped the siege before the end. Ruth -- Sent from my HTC ----- Reply message ----- From: "Chris Graves" <chris@thegraves.co.uk> To: "'Peter Moll'" <bviabe@gmail.com>, <essex-uk@rootsweb.com> Subject: [Ess] Siege of Colchester/ Date: Tue, Mar 12, 2013 19:14 I don't claim to be the expert on this subject but I do have Barbara Donagan's book, which is very much a study of war and civil war, rather than its causes. In the last section of the book she provides an account of two sieges, Boarstall House (1645-1646) and a much longer account of Colchester (1648). She describes the "major outbreaks of the second war were geographically dispersed and episodic; it was less a planned and co-ordinated war than, as John Kenyon has said, 'a series of scattered uprisings'. Both she and Phil Jones ('The Siege of Colchester 1648') describe the chaotic attempts by royalists to foment uprisings in different parts of the country, with a series uprising in Kent led by the Earl of Norwich (whom we in Colchester know by his lesser title of Lord Goring) which started well, and then fizzled out, and then, following a vain attempt to foment an uprising in London, found it countered by Fairfax' much smaller but better organised army. The royalists fled into Essex, principally to escape Fairfax, but fondly believing they would receive support there. That support wasn't enough to resist Fairfax, and so they ended up at Colchester in the belief that Sir Charles Lucas' home there would be a sufficient base to hold out, and draw reinforcements from Suffolk and the Royalist Navy. That's the main theme in the books I've read. That said, Barbara Donagan's bibliography is impressive, with 26 pages of largely primary sources. They relate to the whole book, not just the last four chapters. Chris Graves Colchester -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Peter Moll Sent: 12 March 2013 11:23 To: essex-uk@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Siege of Colchester/ Is there any evidence that a Parliamentary threat before the Colchester campaign to enslave captured Royalists, mentioned in several secondary resources, was ever carried out? Barbara Donagan claims to be "drawing extensively on primary sources" for *War in England 1642-1649" (2008). She uses the Siege of Colchester as a case history in her research into the actual experience of living through the War, trying to answer such questions as "What were the rules that were supposed to govern conduct in war, and how were they enforced?" She seems to have drawn on a Royalist source for the Parliamentary threat at the outset of the Colchester campaign to "transport and sell them [captured royalists] beyond Sea for slaves" and a Parliamentary one for her statement that the plan was later dropped (the minutes of the Essex Committee?) I have read only extracts from Donagan's book,so must apologise for the absence of page references, but would be very grateful if someone with access to her book would check to see if she quotes her primary sources in each case. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message