The Soldier's Life in the English Civil War, by Stuart Peachey, subtitled 'Organisation, Food, Clothing, Weapons and Combat'
Book published by Stuart Press in 2016, 208 pages. Paperback (N6634)
Brand New Book
From the rear side cover: This work draws together 40 years of research to provide an understanding of the real life both military and civilian of the common foot soldier of the English Civil War. The military aspects include recruitment, organisation, weapons and the reality of combat and casualties. Civilian aspects include the soldiers clothing, food and drink, accommodation and possessions.
The work is based on the study of many thousands of original military documents, hundreds of period newspapers, wartime autobiographies, recipe books and 20,000 probate inventories and wills. The information was then used over the last 30 years to reconstruct complete period landscapes within which to test theories experimentally and to produce the materials required for other experiments. Clothing was reconstructed with specially made replica fabrics, dyed in a reconstruction of a period dyehouse using the original methods and dyes. Orchards and gardens were reconstructed to reproduce the soldier's diet.
This book forms essential reading for anyone trying to reconstruct, interpret or understand the life of the common English soldier of the period.
The book includes chapters on The Types of Infantrymen (Recruitment), The Soldiers Clothing (Coats, Royalist Clothing Construction, Footwear, Headwear, Breeches, Doublets, Waistcoats, Stockings, Shirts and Collars), Organisation, Infantry Weapons and Armour (Royalists Weapon Supply, Parliamentarian Weapon supply, Pike to Musket Ratios, The Weapons, Pikes, Muskets, Bandoleers and powder bags, Pole Arms, Swords, Body armour and helmets), What did soldiers do? (Baggage: Snapsacks and their contents, Women, Crime and Punishment, Soldier’s Accommodation), The Soldiers Food (Civilian Food for Billeted soldiers, Military Supplies, Cooking Methods, The Nature of the Foods), and The Mechanics of Combat (Battlefield Casualties, Medical Services and Death).
| Condition | New |