The Bluecoats - Clothing the Elizabethan Soldier 1572-1603, by David Evans
Booklet published by Stuart Press, 32 pages. A5 size booklet (N6629X1)
On June 6th 1572 Sir Thomas Morgan wrote from Flushing to Lord Burghley to report the landing of his company, part of a force of 300 volunteers. On July 10th Sir Humphrey Gilbert, with 1,200 men, clothed in fustian doublets and blue cassocks guarded with yellow and red, landed in the Low Countries, seizing Sluys on July 16th For the next 70 years English troops would serve in the Netherlands, Normandy, Brittany, Picardy, Ireland, and the German states in the defence of the Crown and Realm. Throughout England a stream of orders to impress men flowed from the Privy Council, reaching into every parish and to every constable. At times of the year the roads were clogged with the movement of pressed men to their ports of departures, with the attendant risks of desertion and violence. The numbers of men impressed was not substantial by modern standards, 120,000 men over a 17 year period out of a population of about 4 million all told, yet the impressments were a constant drip, draining manpower and finances. At first the level of commitment was low, a trickle of small numbers of deniable volunteers in the Low Countries. Ireland averaged about 1,500 men throughout Elizabeth's reign, peaking during the mid 1590's. The Treaty of Nonsuch between the Crown and the States General in August 1585 made the first official large scale English presence in Europe since Henry VIII. The first troops under the command of Sir John Norreys landed at Middelburg on August 21st with 2,000 Foot and 450 Horse.....From the opening page:
The condition of the booklet is generally very good. The cover has one or two minor scuffs, but the staple spine is intact, and all pages are intact, unblemished and tightly bound.
There is a small price sticker on the rear side cover.
| Condition | New |