Cornish Families Declaring for Parliament
These families were Puritan and Parliamentarian, as was Killigrew of Gleys, yet Q includes none of them by name. They had their estates in south-east Cornwall, an area less solidly Royalist than the novel suggests.
John, Lord Robartes (d.1685) of Lanhydrock, leader of Puritan opinion in Cornwall and in the House of Lords. One time commander of a regiment of foot and governor of Plymouth. He was Lord Privy Seal at the Restoration in 1660 and Speaker of the House of Lords. He tended to Presbyterianism.
Francis Rous of Halton in St. Dominick, MP for Truro and leader of the Cornish Puritans in the House of Commons. He was educated at Oxford and Leyden and was something of a theologian.
The Bullers of Shillingham and Morval. Puritans who continued to have a presence in the House of Commons for generations. Francis Buller commanded a Cornish regiment of foot, taking part in Ruthen’s advance from Plymouth to Braddock Down. He took part in the battle but is not mentioned by Q.
As with Killigrew of Gleys, these families where imbued with the ideas of Continental Reformed theology, for which the term Puritan scarcely does justice. They wanted a strong parliament and a reformed Church of England, even to the point of imposing a Presbyterian system. Many Royalists, such as Sir Ralph Hopton, were influenced by Reformed theology, but had no sympathy for the increasingly radical views of figures such as Robartes and Rous, and the troopers of the Parliamentary army – a radicalisation the novel illustrates.
The fictional Killigrew of Gleys is the only Cornish Parliamentarian in the text. The name presents a problem as the Cornish Killigrews, who lived at Arwennack in Falmouth, were Royalists. The nearest we have to Killigrew of Gleys is John, Lord Robartes of Lanhydrock. He was at the centre of a Puritan and Parliamentary network in Cornwall. Through the influence of Lord Robartes, the Puritan Hannibal Gammon was instituted as the Rector of Mawgan-in-Pyder (1619 to 1651). He also acted as chaplain to the family at Lanhydrock. Tingcomb and Gammon share the same first name, but this may be chance.
The steward of Lanhydrock was John Tregeagle, two of whose letters appear in the ‘Buller’ papers. As with the steward of Gleys, Tregeagle kept himself fully informed of military and political developments. A letter of 26 September, 1642, informs Sir Richard Buller of Royalist support and activity in Cornwall. He used a system of informers and associates in various parts of Cornwall, including the home area of Sir Bevil Grenville. Tingcomb and Tregeagle had something in common.
The Bullers of Shillingham and Morval looked to Robartes for leadership. As the Robartes became known to Q through Liberal politics at the close of the Victorian age, so the Bullers were known to Dr Jonathan Couch through their involvement in local politics in the Looe elections of 1796 and 1823. According to A.L. Browne’s Corporation Chronicles, Thomas Bond, under who Jonathan served as Second Lieutenant in the East and West Looe Voluntary Artillery, was made town clerk of East Looe on the recommendation of the Rev. W. Buller, and thereafter effectively ‘excluded the inhabitants from municipal life’ of the town. Jonathan Couch supported the Reform Bill of 1832 in the hope of breaking the power of the local oligarchy.
It is possible that Q refrained from naming actual Parliamentarians as he had to work with their descendants.
Parliamentarians Named in the Text
Nathaniel Fiennes (c.1608–1669)
After Hannibal Tingcomb and Luke Settle, Nathaniel Fiennes is the third most evil character in the novel, but unlike them he is historically identifiable. He is termed a ‘bigot’ and has ambitions of replacing Col. Essex as governor of Bristol. Fiennes is probably the accuser of Jack Marvel and Delia Killigrew during their interrogation by Col. Essex in Chapter VIII and the instigator of the proposed hanging of Marvel, in Chapter IX, against the will of Col. Essex. Soon after the escape of Marvel, Fiennes does rise to the governorship of Bristol, because after the recapture of Delia Killigrew at Launceston, she returns to Bristol where Fiennes imprisons her for four weeks, before arranging for the Fortitude to ship her to Virginia.
The historical Nathaniel Fiennes was a Puritan who had spent time in Switzerland. The term Calvinist might be more applicable. He led a detachment at the Battle of Worcester on 22 September, 1642, although Q is correct in portraying him as an inadequate soldier. He did become governor of Bristol, from where he refused to send reinforcements to Sir William Waller before the Battle of Lansdown in June 1643. This did not save Bristol which was stormed on 26 July, with Fiennes surrendering the city shortly afterwards. Coate saw Fiennes as honest and brave but out of his depth as a military figure.
In the novel, the accuser of Marvel and Delia Killigrew claims to have seen Delia, who is disguised as a boy, serving at mass in the Catholic centre of Douai. This appears to be stretching credulity. However, if Fiennes had come home from Switzerland through the port of Calais, his journey might have taken him through Douai.
Henry Grey, 1st Earl of Stamford (1599–1673)
As with many commanders during the Civil War, Stamford was given military responsibility on the basis of his nobility rather than his military experience. Barrett calls him ‘energetic’ but no match for Sir Ralph Hopton. Coate defends Stamford against the derision of Clarendon, following his role in the Parliamentary defeat at Stratton, but accepts his inadequacy as a leader.
He appears in The Splendid Spur as the Parliamentary strategist who is gathering forces for a descent upon Cornwall in overwhelming strength (Chapter IX). His plan is to take the central road from Exeter to Bodmin with Ruthen taking the southern from Plymouth. Ruthen is defeated at Braddock without Stamford crossing the Tamar.
He appears by name when Hannibal Tingcomb informs Jack Marvel of the gathering of Parliamentary forces at Stratton. This is confirmed later on the same day, 15 May, by Billy Pottery, resulting in Marvel and Pottery leaving Temple for Stratton. Later, Jack Marvel surmises that if the Earl of Stamford had retained Sir George Chudleigh’s dragoons, the Battle of Stratton would have been his. Q does not reiterate Clarendon’s harsh assessment of Stamford, but he does indicate where the responsibility lay. Q’s portrayal of Stamford appears to be historically accurate.