On 06/06/2012 16:32, Brian Austin wrote: > You have to be a bit careful about blanket acceptance of the stories of > Cromwell's massacres in Ireland. I was at his house in Ely today. Information posted up there mentions at least two massacres in Ireland (I wasn't counting) but adds that these were "normal" for the period and there were massacres carried out by both sides.

On 29/07/2013 18:59, CWatters wrote: > On 06/06/2012 16:32, Brian Austin wrote: >> You have to be a bit careful about blanket acceptance of the stories of >> Cromwell's massacres in Ireland. > > I was at his house in Ely today. Information posted up there mentions at > least two massacres in Ireland (I wasn't counting) but adds that these > were "normal" for the period and there were massacres carried out by > both sides. > Cromwell, and his opponents, were still operating under the customs of medieval siege warfare which allowed for the decimation of the defenders of a besieged town when defeated. One of the problems is that decimation is now interpreted as killing the majority. -- Graeme Wall This account not read, substitute trains for rail. Railway Miscellany at <http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail>