‘Memories of the Maimed’: The Testimony of Charles I's Former Soldiers, 1660–1730

Abstract

Historians have paid little attention to the experiences and attitudes of the ordinary men who enlisted in the royalist armies during the English Civil War: chiefly because such individuals – most of them poor and unlettered – left no formal memoirs of their wartime service behind them. The present article suggests that the petitions for financial relief which were submitted by wounded and impoverished Cavalier veterans after the Restoration can help to bridge this evidential gap and to illuminate the mental world of the king's more humble supporters. By putting the language of the ‘maimed soldiers’ petitions’ under the microscope, it shows how the artisans, husbandmen and labourers who had fought for Charles I viewed the conflict in retrospect. The article begins by considering the strengths and limitations of the petitions themselves and the purposes for which they were initially composed. It then goes on to discuss what these documents reveal: not only about the physical suffering which the king's soldiers had undergone in the field, but also about their views of their comrades, their commanders and their enemies. The article concludes by arguing that the personal and political links which had been forged amid the fiery trials of the Civil War continued to bind together former royalists, of all ranks, for decades after the conflict came to an end.

Review of periodical literature published in 2003

“…She reaches the somewhat unsurprising conclusion that the disadvantages of the deaf varied partly in accordance with the severity of their disability but more obviously in the light of the wealth and status into which they were born. Stoyle’s analysis of the experience of another disabled group, the wounded and impoverished Cavalier veterans who petitioned for maimed soldiers’ pensions after the Restoration, is much more illuminating, not least because he is so careful to recognize the significance of the distorting filters through which petitions of this kind have to be read. This testimony reveals a great deal not only about soldiers’ memories of physical suffering in the battlefield but also about attitudes towards comrades, commanders, and enemies, and incidentally discloses the existence of a substantial body of ex‐servicemen who continued to celebrate, commemorate, and reaffirm their service to the Crown into the early eighteenth century.…”

Coda: History, Time and Social Memory

“…54 In this respect, they helped to After the Restoration, it was the turn of former Cavaliers and their wives and children. 56 The terms according to which parochial and county relief was administered to the victims of war, then, helped to perpetuate wartime divisions for generations to come. The disease and dearth that came with the disruption of trade and passage of marching armies was also burnt into people's memories.…”

Battlefield Emotions 1500-1800

“…5 Siege warfare introduced the hardships of underfed and poorly clothed soldiers wintering in muddy camps as well as the new dangers involved with the undermining with explosives of walls and bulwarks. 6 Mass manoeuvres and the use of firearms reduced the key importance of individual performance in man-to-man fights while, on the other hand, these reforms demanded more professional training of soldiers, paying more attention to discipline, technical skills and mental constitution. 7 Finally, social status and life conditions of the military changed dramatically over time.…”