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123-650: The Devon Trained Bands were a part-time militia force recruited from Devonshire in South West England , first organised in 1558. They were periodically embodied for home defence and internal security, including the Spanish Armada campaign in 1588, and saw active service during the First English Civil War . They were reformed into the Devon Militia in 1662. The English militia was descended from

246-401: A feudal system which also contained an element of military obligation in the form of the feudal host. This system supplemented rather than replaced the fyrd, which continued to be deployed until at least the beginning of the 12th century. The Assize of Arms of 1181 combined the two systems by dividing the free population into four categories according to wealth and prescribing the weapons each

369-633: A cavalry charge, resulting in a rout of the Irish forces. The Spanish in Kinsale surrendered after their allies' defeat. The Irish forces retreated north to Ulster to regroup and consolidate their position. The Ulstermen lost many more men in the retreat through freezing and flooded country than they had at the actual battle of Kinsale. The last rebel stronghold in the south was taken at the siege of Dunboy by George Carew . Hugh Roe O'Donnell left for Spain pleading in vain for another Spanish landing. He died in 1602 of

492-715: A colonel of the Devon TBs before the war. He died in 1643, but some of his former regiment may have been among the Royalists besieged by the New Model Army at Great Fulford in October 1645. The New Model Army finally relieved Plymouth for the last time in January 1646 as the war drew to an end and it completed the conquest of the West Country. Once Parliament had established full control of

615-599: A crossing of the River Erne , Bagenal and O'Neill marched (separately) northwards to the northern end of Lower Lough Erne . Blocking forces were posted by Maguire at the ford of Belleek, but these were overcome by Bagenal and O'Neill at the Battle of Belleek on 10 October. Initially O'Neill assisted the English, hoping to be named as Lord President of Ulster himself. Elizabeth I , though, had feared that O'Neill had no intention of being

738-484: A far more able commander, though his greater success could just as well have been because he was provided with all of the administrative support Essex lacked. In addition, two veterans of Irish warfare, George Carew and Arthur Chichester , were given commands in Munster and Ulster respectively. In November 1599 O'Neill sent a 22-paragraph document to Queen Elizabeth, listing his terms for a peace agreement. These called for

861-528: A fever—it is often incorrectly alleged that he was poisoned by a double agent. His brother Rory assumed leadership of the O'Donnell clan. Both he and Hugh O'Neill were reduced to guerrilla tactics, fighting in small bands, as Mountjoy, Dowcra, Chichester, and Niall Garbh O'Donnell swept the countryside. The English scorched earth tactics were especially harsh on the civilian population, who died in great numbers both from direct targeting and from famine. In 1602 O'Neill destroyed his capital at Dungannon due to

984-494: A group of North Devon conscripts dragged Lieutenant Compton Evers from his lodgings and beat and stabbed him to death for being a Papist. They then deserted. This time the government acted vigorously: although the Somerset authorities were supine (the people of Wellington were fined for not doing anything to prevent the murder), the deputy lieutenants of Devon succeeded in capturing 140 of the 160 deserters when they reached home. However

1107-606: A large navy as the first line of national defence, and a militia composed of their neighbours as additional defence and to preserve domestic order. Consequently, the English Bill of Rights (1689) declared, amongst other things: "that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law..." and "that the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defense suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law." This implies that they are fitted to serve in

1230-528: A local truce they retired into Cornwall. Parliament regained control of South Devon and Hele never took over the South Hams regiment. On the expiry of the truce, Stamford sent Chudleigh with a force including elements at least of Rolle's, Rosewell's and Bampfylde's Devon TB regiments across the Tamar at Polson Bridge to attack Launceston on 23 April. Hopton with a smaller force took up a position on Beacon Hill outside

1353-545: A mile of the town before they were seen. Hurriedly deploying the guard, Digby with four or five other mounted officers charged the Parliamentary ' Forlorn hope ' of 50 musketeers, who panicked and fled. The panic spread to the main force, which also fled, pursued by Digby and the 150 troopers of the guard who killed 200 and captured 200 prisoners. Barnstaple and Bideford surrendered soon afterwards, Exeter followed on 4 September, and Dartmouth surrendered to Maurice in October, with

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1476-573: A parley with O'Neill and agreed a truce that was heavily criticised by his enemies in London, despite Elizabeth's admission soon afterward that it was "so seasonably made...as great good...has grown by it." Anticipating a recall to England, he set out for London in 1599 without the Queen's permission, where he was executed after attempting a court putsch . He was succeeded in Ireland by Lord Mountjoy , who proved to be

1599-556: A period of warfare, Shane had Matthew murdered and became O'Neill after his father died. After the murder of Matthew's first heir, Brian, the English authorities spirited the next heir Hugh out of Tyrone to be brought up with the Hovenden family in the Pale . At the parliament of 1585, Hugh O'Neill requested and was granted his English law birthright to the title of Earl of Tyrone. Prior to this and for several years afterwards Hugh O'Neill warred with

1722-424: A quasi-feudal system, whereby he looked to the nobility to raise forces, but expected them to do so within the constraints of the shire levies, and the last use of indenture to raise an army came in 1512. Italian ambassadors reckoned that England had 150,000 armed men in 1519 and 100,000 in 1544 and 1551 available through their militia, while a French ambassador in 1570 reported that 120,000 were ready to serve. This

1845-528: A rival of Hugh Roe, devastated the countryside in an effort to provoke a famine and killed the civilian population at random. Their military assumption was that without crops and people or cattle, the rebels could neither feed themselves nor raise new fighters. This attrition quickly began to bite, and it also meant that the Ulster chiefs were tied down in Ulster to defend their own territories. Although O'Neill managed to repulse another land offensive by Mountjoy at

1968-555: A secure base in the large and dense forests of Tir Eoghain , O'Neill held out until 30 March 1603, when he surrendered on good terms to Mountjoy, signing the Treaty of Mellifont . Elizabeth I had died on 24 March. Although the war had effectively ended with the signing of the Treaty of Mellifont, its final battles were fought during the English invasion of West Breifne in April 1603, which remained

2091-427: A self-governing Ireland with restitution of confiscated lands and churches, freedom of movement, and a strong Roman Catholic identity. In respect of Irish sovereignty he now accepted English overlordship, but requested that the viceroy ".. be at least an earl , and of the privy council of England ". Elizabeth's adviser Sir Robert Cecil commented in the margin of the document, with the word " Ewtopia ". George Carew,

2214-540: A simple landlord and that his ambition was to usurp her authority and be "a Prince of Ulster". For this reason she refused to grant O'Neill provincial presidency or any other position which would have given him authority to govern Ulster on the crown's behalf. Once it became clear that Henry Bagenal was marked to assume the presidency of Ulster, O'Neill accepted that an English offensive was inevitable, and so joined his allies in open rebellion in February 1595, with an assault on

2337-469: A small colony had been planted in the 1570s; but here too the terrain was unfavorable for the English, since Lough Neagh and the river Bann , the lower stretch of which ran through the dense forest of Glenconkeyn, formed an effective barrier on the eastern edge of the O'Neill territory. A further difficulty lay in the want of a port on the northern sea coast where the English might launch an amphibious attack into O'Neill's rear. The English strategic situation

2460-514: A thirteen month siege. In 1599, Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex arrived in Ireland with over 17,000 English troops. He took the advice of the Irish privy council, to settle the south of the country with garrisons before making an attempt on Ulster, but this dissipated his forces and he ended up suffering numerous setbacks on a desultory progress through south Leinster and Munster. He spent almost all of his time in Ireland awaiting transport that he had been promised before setting out, it being

2583-531: A trained army including musketeers in prepared positions; after a stinging defeat at the Battle of Clontibret , successive English offensives were driven back in the following years. At the Battle of the Yellow Ford in 1598 up to 2,000 English troops were killed after being attacked on the march to Armagh . The rest were surrounded in Armagh itself but negotiated safe passage for themselves in return for evacuating

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2706-403: A twelve-day siege, a force of 3,000 men led by Tadhg, Henry Folliott , and Rory O'Donnell eventually brought the area, and thus all of Ireland, under English control on 25 April 1603. The leaders of the rebellion received good terms from the new King of England, James I , in the hope of ensuring a final end of the draining war that had brought England close to bankruptcy. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and

2829-654: The Anglo-Saxon Fyrd , the military force raised from the freemen of the shires under command of their Sheriff . It continued as the Shire levy or Posse comitatus under the Norman kings , and was reorganised under the Assizes of Arms of 1181 and 1252 , and again by King Edward I 's Statute of Winchester of 1285. The legal basis of the militia was updated by two acts of 1557 covering musters ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 3) and

2952-431: The Battle of Moyry Pass near Newry in 1600, his position was becoming desperate. In 1601, the long promised Spanish finally arrived in the form of 3,500 soldiers at Kinsale , Cork , virtually the southern tip of Ireland. Mountjoy immediately besieged them with 7,000 men. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and their allies marched their armies south to sandwich Mountjoy, whose men were starving and wracked by disease, between them and

3075-501: The Battle of the Yellow Ford (1598), but the English won a pivotal victory against the alliance and their Spanish allies in the siege of Kinsale (1601–02). The war ended with the Treaty of Mellifont (1603). Many of the defeated northern lords left Ireland to seek support for a new uprising in the Flight of the Earls (1607), never to return. This marked the end of Gaelic Ireland and created

3198-522: The Hundred Years' War , the king raised armies for service in France by indenture , which contracted magnates , under their obligation as subjects rather than feudal tenants, to supply a certain number of men for a specific amount of time in return for a set fee. Those forces allocated for the defence of England, however, were raised on the basis of the general obligation In 1511, King Henry VIII signalled

3321-710: The Kingdom of Kent by the end of the 7th century, Mercia in the 8th century and Wessex in the 9th century, and the Burghal Hidage of 911–919 indicates that over 27,000 men could have been raised in the defence of 30 West Saxon boroughs. In the late 10th century, areas began to be divided into ' hundreds ' as units for the fyrd. The obligation to serve was placed on landholders, and the Domesday Book indicates that individuals were expected to serve for approximately 60 days. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 brought with it

3444-573: The Mutiny Act is also renewed on an annual basis by parliament . If it lapses, the legal basis for enforcing discipline disappears, and soldiers lose their legal indemnity for acts committed under orders . In 1707, the Acts of Union united the Kingdom of England with the Kingdom of Scotland . The Scottish navy was incorporated into the Royal Navy. The Scottish military (as opposed to naval) forces merged with

3567-569: The Netherlands . However, the counties usually conscripted the unemployed and criminals rather than the Trained Bandsmen – in 1585 the Privy Council had ordered the impressment of able-bodied unemployed men, and the Queen ordered 'none of her trayned-bands to be pressed'. Replacing the weapons issued to the levies from the militia armouries was a heavy cost on the counties. With the passing of

3690-578: The Powhatan Federation and other native polities. In the Virginia Company 's other outpost, Bermuda , settled officially in 1612 (unofficially in 1609), the construction of defensive works was placed before all other priorities. A Spanish attack in 1614 was repulsed by two shots fired from the incomplete Castle Islands Fortifications manned by Bermudian Militiamen . In the nineteenth century, Fortress Bermuda would become Britain's Gibraltar of

3813-561: The Second Anglo-Dutch War , in the aftermath of the Battle of Beachy Head and in the face of the Jacobite risings , the militia entered a period of decline. In some areas it received at best only 12 days of annual training, and in others it had not been mustered in a generation. It was regarded as so ineffective that against the Jacobite rising of 1745 it would prove more expedient to raise an ad hoc force of volunteers than to rely on

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3936-624: The Second Bishops' War in 1640, and every county was given a quota of troops to provide from its TBs: Devon was ordered to March 2000 men to Newcastle upon Tyne . However, substitution was rife and many of those sent on this unpopular service would have been untrained replacements and 'pressed men' (conscripts). Officers from the Pollard family extracted such large bribes from Degory Doole of North Petherwin and Thomas Jeffrey of Monkokehampton to avoid service that they were prosecuted for extortion in

4059-510: The Stannary towns of Chagford , Ashburton , Tavistock and Plympton . By 1638 the Devon TBs totalled 4253 muskets and 2509 corslets. Although every English county was ordered in late 1638 to muster its TBs and keep them in readiness, the men of the West Country were kept in reserve and were not involved in the First Bishops' War of 1639. However, Charles planned a larger invasion force for

4182-627: The Star Chamber . Not only were the conscripted men untrained, they were also undisciplined. On the march north a company of the Dorset TBs had murdered their Lieutenant , whose harshness was resented and who was rumoured to be a ' Papist ', while the Dorset men were largely Puritans . Apart from a few named men (most of whom were not caught) the Dorset TBs were treated with surprising lenience, and trouble continued. Three weeks later, at Wellington, Somerset ,

4305-511: The Tower of London , where Fitzthomas eventually died. Most of the rest of the local lords submitted, once the principal native leaders had been arrested. O'Neill's mercenaries had been expelled from the province. Mountjoy managed to penetrate the interior of Ulster by seaborne landings at Derry (then belonging to County Coleraine ) under Henry Docwra and Carrickfergus under Arthur Chichester. Dowcra and Chichester, helped by Niall Garve O'Donnell ,

4428-515: The Treaty of London in August 1604 with the new Stuart dynasty and did not wish to reopen hostilities. Further, a Spanish fleet had just been destroyed by a Dutch fleet in the Battle of Gibraltar in April 1607. In 1608 Sir Cahir O'Doherty , who had previously fought on the Crown's side against Tyrone, launched O'Doherty's Rebellion when he attacked and burnt Derry . O'Doherty was defeated and killed at

4551-551: The Bermudian force operated under a Letter of Marque, its members, as with all military age Bermudian males, were members of the militia. By this time, the 1707 Acts of Union had made Bermudian and other English militiamen British . Up until the Glorious Revolution in 1688, the Crown and Parliament were in strong disagreement. The English Civil War left a rather unusual military legacy. Both Whigs and Tories distrusted

4674-608: The Blackwater Fort , which guarded a strategic bridge on the River Blackwater . Later in 1595 O'Neill and O'Donnell wrote to King Philip II of Spain for help, and offered to be his vassals . Philip proposed that his cousin Archduke Albert be made Prince of Ireland, but nothing came of this. A truce in late 1595 was followed by the submission of Hugh Maguire in April 1596, and Tyrone promised to explain his conduct before

4797-573: The Devon TBs fielded more men than any other county: assessed at 1200 'shot' (men with firearms), 800 bowmen, and 1000 'corslets', the county actually provided more than was required in each category, a total of 3178 men. In the Armada year of 1588 the three Devonshire Divisions (each of three large companies , totalling 3661 men) were instructed to join the army forming to defend the South Coast of England, while 1650 able-bodied untrained men remained to defend

4920-558: The Devon Trained Bands were divided into three 'Divisions', each with two Colonels and six captains: By now the weapons consisted of 647 calivers (firearms), 651 longbows, 830 pikes and 1160 'black bills' and halberds , with 841 corslets (pikemen's armour) and 637 Morion helmets. The threat of invasion during the Spanish War led to emphasis being placed on the 17 'maritime' counties most vulnerable to attack, and in 1584

5043-513: The English Lord President of Munster, managed more or less to quash the rebellion in Munster by mid-1601, using a mixture of conciliation and force. By the summer of 1601 he had retaken most of the principal castles in Munster and scattered the Irish forces. He did this by negotiating a pact with Florence MacCarthy , the principal Gaelic Irish leader in the province, which allowed MacCarthy to be neutral, while Carew concentrated on attacking

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5166-555: The English Militia was re-established by the Militia Act of 1661 under the control of the king's lords-lieutenant, the men to be selected by ballot. The Militia regiments reformed in 1662 were popularly seen as the 'Constitutional Force' to counterbalance a 'Standing Army' tainted by association with the New Model Army that had supported Cromwell's military dictatorship, and almost the whole burden of home defence and internal security

5289-559: The English, with pre-existing regular Scottish regiments maintaining their identities, though command of the new British Army was from England. The Militia of England and Wales continued to be enacted separately from the Militia of Scotland (see Militia (Great Britain) and, for the period following 1801, Militia (United Kingdom) ). Nine Years%27 War (Ireland) ~21,000, including: The Nine Years' War , sometimes called Tyrone's Rebellion , took place in Ireland from 1593 to 1603. It

5412-575: The MacMahon lordship in Monaghan when The MacMahon, hereditary leader of the sept , resisted the imposition of an English sheriff; he was hanged and his lordship divided. There was an outcry, with several sources alleging corruption against Fitzwilliam, but the same policy was soon applied in Longford (territory of the O'Farrells ) and East Breifne ( Cavan – territory of the O'Reillys ). Any attempt to further

5535-444: The Parliamentary garrison of Plymouth threw reinforcements into Exeter and Hopton was forced to retire into Cornwall once more. Parliamentary forces followed Hopton into Cornwall but were beaten at the Battle of Braddock Down and Hopton was able to re-enter Devonshire, resuming the blockade of Plymouth. He sent SirJohn Berkeley to 'beat up' the quarters of Major-General James Chudleigh 's Parliamentarian force at Kingsbridge, which

5658-600: The Plymouth Regiument of Horse in the Plymouth garrison). The Royalists resumed their landward blockade of Plymouth, which was now undermanned. However, the town could be resupplied by sea and it continued to hold out in the Royalists' rear. By now the Plymouth Town Regiment was the only unit of the Devon TBs still serving under Parliamentary command. Sir Popham Southcott of Bovey Tracey and Mohun's Ottery had been

5781-501: The Queen in London, but the arrival of three Spanish envoys from Philip II in 1596 promising men and supplies ended any chances of peace. An unsuccessful armada sailed in 1596; the war in Ireland became a part of the wider Anglo-Spanish War . The English authorities in Dublin Castle had been slow to comprehend the scale of the rebellion. After failed negotiations in 1595, English armies tried to break into Ulster but were repulsed by

5904-591: The Royalist army. He was ignored, and Rolle's Regiment supported the Parliamentarians. John Bampfylde and John Northcote had both been created baronets by Charles the previous year, but when war came they supported Parliament. By September 1642 Parliamentary forces were gaining control of Devon. Rosewell's and possibly Northcote's regiments were at the indecisive Siege of Sherborne Castle in September 1642, after which

6027-637: The Royalist commander, the Marquess of Hertford , withdrew with his infantry and artillery into South Wales where he had greater support. Sir Ralph Hopton led the Royalist cavalry west into Cornwall, which was firmly held for the King by the Cornish TBs. Both counties' trained bands were reluctant to cross the River Tamar that forms the border between them, but Hopton was able to recruit a brigade of excellent infantry from

6150-405: The Royalists persisted with the amateur tradition, the Parliamentarians developed the New Model Army , a small but disciplined, well-equipped and trained army led by officers selected according to ability rather than birth. The New Model Army defeated the Royalist army at the Battle of Naseby in 1645, effectively ending the First English Civil War in victory for the Parliamentarians. Following

6273-601: The Royalists, but early on 21 February the Royalists were attacked in Modbury by a large Parliamentary force that the Earl of Stamford had gathered to relieve Plymouth. This force included Champernowne's, Bampfylde's, Rolle's and Rosewell's (and possibly Northcote's) TB regiments. The Royalists lost 100 dead, 150 prisoners and 5 guns at the Second Battle of Modbury , and retreated from this, abandoned their blockade of Plymouth, and agreeing

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6396-495: The Spaniards. During the march south, O'Neill devastated the lands of those who would not support him. The English force might have been destroyed by hunger and sickness but the issue was decided in their favour at the Battle of Kinsale . On the 5/6 January 1602, O'Donnell, against the wishes and advice of O'Neill, took the decision to attack the English. Forming up for a surprise attack, the Irish chiefs were themselves surprised by

6519-791: The TBs beyond securing the county armouries for their own full-time troops. Some trained bands were used as garrison troops, only a few as field regiments. An attempt by the Royalists to call out the posse comitatus of Devonshire in 1642 was a failure (compared with their success in raising the Trained Bands in neighbouring Cornwall ) and it was quickly dispersed by Parliamentarian forces. The Devon TB colonels and their regiments supported Parliament. The South Hams and North East Devon regiments were still commanded by Col Henry Champernowne of Modbury and Sir John Bampfylde. The East Devon regiment (probably Drake's)

6642-429: The Trained Bands primary weapons were 42% firearms, 26% pikes, 18% longbows, and 16% bills. A 1522 survey had revealed a significant lapse in the obligation to maintain arms and train in their use, and from 1535 commissioners of muster held tri-annual inspections. In the mid-16th century Lords Lieutenant began to be appointed, a great improvement in local authority, and an increasingly efficient machinery for enforcing

6765-456: The Ulster famine of 1602–3 alone. An Irish death toll of over 100,000 is possible. At least 30,000 English soldiers died in Ireland in the Nine Years' War, mainly from disease. So the total death toll for the war was certainly at least 100,000 people, and probably more. Although O'Neill and his allies received good terms at the end of the war, they were never trusted by the English authorities and

6888-573: The West , heavily fortified by a Regular Army garrison to protect the Royal Navy's headquarters and dockyard in the Western Atlantic. In the 17th century, however, Bermuda's defence was left entirely in the hands of the Militia. In addition to requiring all male civilians to train and serve in the militia of their Parish, the Bermudian Militia included a standing body of trained artillerymen to garrison

7011-521: The aging reigning chief of Tyrone, Turlough Lynagh O'Neill for control of Tyrone. Turlough died in 1595 allowing Hugh to be inaugurated "the O'Neill". Hugh however had also ruthlessly murdered his chief competitor to the title, Shane's son Hugh Gavelagh O'Neill . He also had sub-chiefs who wouldn't toe the line murdered such as Phelim McTurlough O'Neill, lord of Killetra. From Hugh Roe O'Donnell , his ally, Hugh O'Neill enlisted Scottish mercenaries (known as Redshanks ). Within his own territories, O'Neill

7134-419: The aid of MacBaron, launched punishing raids into northern Connacht, burning villages around Ballymote Castle . Maguire launched a more ambitious raid into Connacht during June, when he clashed with forces led by the governor of Connacht, Sir Richard Bingham, but the English were beaten back and Maguire continued to spoil thorough Roscommon before returning north. In response, the crown forces were gathered under

7257-480: The aid of Spain, O'Neill could arm and feed over 8,000 men, unprecedented for a Gaelic lord, and leaving him well prepared to resist English incursions into Ulster. By the early 1590s, the north of Ireland was attracting the attention of Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam, who had been charged with bringing the area under crown control. A provincial presidency was proposed; the candidate for office was Henry Bagenal , an English colonist settled in Newry , who would seek to impose

7380-423: The approach of Mountjoy's forces, and withdrew to hide in the woods. In a symbolic gesture Mountjoy smashed the O'Neills' inauguration stone at Tullaghogue . Famine soon hit Ulster as a result of the English scorched earth strategy. O'Neill's uirithe or sub-lords (O'Hagan, O'Quinn, MacCann) began to surrender and Rory O'Donnell , Hugh Roe's brother and successor, surrendered on terms at the end of 1602. However, with

7503-409: The authority of the crown through sheriffs to be appointed by the Dublin government. O'Neill had eloped with Bagenal's sister, Mabel, and married her against her brother's wishes; the bitterness of this episode was made more intense after Mabel's early death a few years after the marriage, when she was reportedly in despair about her husband's neglect and his mistresses. In 1591, Fitzwilliam broke up

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7626-418: The capture of large numbers of ships and cannon. Northcote was taken prisoner at Barnstaple, and the TB regiments in the garrisons were dispersed. Plymouth was now closely besieged by the Royalists, using the ships captured at Dartmouth to prevent resupply by sea. The prewar Plymouth Town TB regiment, whose normal role was to provide part-time unpaid night sentries, formed part of the garrison. However, Plymouth

7749-420: The cavalry cut their way out of the trap, Essex and the foot were obliged to surrender on 2 September. The paroled Parliamentary troops made their way to Portsmouth. Only 200 of the men drawn from Plymouth garrison returned. That same month Luttrell's Regiment was involved in a failed defence of Barnstaple, and the captured regiment was officially disbanded on 1 December 1644 (after which Luttrell briefly commanded

7872-401: The centre of the northern province of Ulster . His father, Matthew O'Neill, Baron Dungannon , was the reputed son of Conn O'Neill the Lame , the first O'Neill to be created Earl of Tyrone by the English Crown . Matthew O'Neill had been appointed by Conn as his heir, whereas Conn's eldest surviving son Shane O'Neill was the preferred heir according to the Irish custom of tanistry . After

7995-407: The command of Sir Henry Bagenal , who launched an expedition into Monaghan, then Fermanagh, to crush Maguire and his allies, receiving his commission on 11 September 1593. Bagenal had under his command 144 horse, 763 foot, and 118 kern, to which O'Neill was to bring a further 200 horse and 1,200 foot. Bagenal entered Fermanagh on 22 September and was joined by O'Neill four days later. Unable to make

8118-413: The country in 1648 it passed legislation to reorganise the militia in various counties, including an Ordinance to settle the Militia of Devon on 7 June. The term 'Trained Band' began to disappear in most counties. Under the Commonwealth and Protectorate the militia received pay when called out, and operated alongside the New Model Army to control the country. After the Restoration of the Monarchy ,

8241-495: The country, notably James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald as the Earl of Desmond and Florence MacCarthy as the MacCarthy Mór . In Munster as many as 9,000 men came out in rebellion. The Munster Plantation , the colonisation of the province with English settlers, was dealt a serious blow; the colonists, among them Edmund Spenser , fled for their lives. Only a handful of native lords remained consistently loyal to either side, and loyalties were complicated by splits within clans. However all

8364-437: The county, besides 112 in Exeter. Although the militia obligation was universal, it was clearly impractical to train and equip every able-bodied man, so the militia commissioners in some counties including Devon separated their able men aged 16 to 60 into three categories. 'Pryncipall' men were best suited for soldiering; those of the 'seconde' rank had some promise, while the remainder were classed as 'unable'. After 1572 it became

8487-457: The county. Devon also supplied 150 light horsemen and 50 'petronels' (the petronel was an early cavalry firearm); it had no 'lances' (heavily armoured horsemen) but instead supplied 200 additional musketeers. In the 16th Century little distinction was made between the militia and the troops levied by the counties for overseas expeditions, and between 1585 and 1601 Devon supplied over 1490 levies for service in Ireland , 750 for France and 150 for

8610-400: The creation of a large standing army not under civilian control. The former feared that it would be used as an instrument of royal tyranny. The latter had memories of the New Model Army and the anti-monarchical social and political revolution that it brought about. Consequently, both preferred a small standing army under civilian control for defensive deterrence and to prosecute foreign wars,

8733-473: The disorders continued when the army's infantry assembled under Sir Jacob Astley at Selby in July. Astley reported that Lt-Col Culpepper hd been 'beastly slain by the Devonshire men'. The campaign was a fiasco, and ended in defeat at the Battle of Newburn in August. Control of the militia was one of the areas of dispute between King Charles I and Parliament that led to the First English Civil War , yet when open war broke out neither side made much use of

8856-458: The distrust was mutual. O'Neill, O'Donnell, and the other Gaelic lords from Ulster allied to them left Ireland in 1607 in what is known as the " Flight of the Earls " after news they planned another rebellion reached the authorities. They intended to organise an expedition from a Catholic power in Europe, preferably Spain, to restart the war but were unable to find any military backers. Spain had signed

8979-506: The elevation of the national obligation as the sole means of raising armies from the citizenry. He ordered the commissioners of array be responsible not just for the raising of levies, but also for ensuring that they were suitably equipped according to the Statute of Winchester. He also restricted landowners to raising forces only from their own tenants or others for whom, by the tenure of office, they were responsible. By these means Henry instituted

9102-556: The establishment of the army as an accepted state body and a military leader in Europe. The status of the army as a state institution under parliamentary control and subject to national law was normalised in 1689 by the Bill of Rights and the annually passed Mutiny Acts . Failure in the Monmouth Rebellion and controversy over the mis-use of funds had an adverse effect on the militia. Although it continued to be called out, for example in

9225-631: The execution of King Charles I, the establishment of the Commonwealth of England and the subsequent Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell , the New Model Army became politicised, and by the time of Cromwell's death in 1658, martial law and the Rule of the Major-Generals had renewed the traditional mistrust of standing armies. On the restoration of King Charles II to the throne in 1660, the New Model Army

9348-494: The force of James Fitzthomas Fitzgerald, who commanded the main rebel force. As a result, while MacCarthy resisted English raiding parties into his territory, he did not come to Fitzthomas's aid, despite urgings from O'Neill and O'Donnell to do this. In the summer of 1600, Carew launched an offensive against Fitzthomas's forces. The English routed Fitzthomas' forces at Aherlow and in November, Carew reported to London that he had, over

9471-602: The fortified cities and towns of the country sided with the English colonial government. Hugh O'Neill, unable to take walled towns, made repeated overtures to inhabitants of the Pale to join his rebellion, appealing to their Catholicism and to their alienation from the Dublin government and the provincial administrations. For the most part, however, the Old English remained hostile to their hereditary Gaelic enemies. The English fortress at Castle Maine surrendered in November 1599 after

9594-707: The garrisoned towns of Plymouth, Exeter, Dartmouth, Bideford and Barnstaple, which were masked while Hopton joined the Royalist Western Army in Somerset. Sir John Berkeley began a close siege of Exeter in June. The garrison included the Exeter TB and the surviving elements of the East Devon TB (probably now under Col Henry Aishford) and the North East Devon TB (possibly commanded by Col John Wear). Northcote's regiment

9717-516: The garrisons of Plymouth, Barnstaple and Bideford. Berkeley sent Sir John Digby with his regiment of horse and some dragoons to prevent the Bideford and Barnstaple forces from joining up. He arrived at Torrington, where he was joined by some newly raised foot, and quartered his men in the town. However, the Barnstaple and Bideford men (300 horse and 1200 foot, including Rolle's Devon TB) got within half of

9840-412: The gentry. The legislation made it a counter to the standing army, the main bulwark against disorder and the guarantee of the political settlement. The army – which, by the time of King James II's accession in 1685, comprised seven regiments of foot and four mounted regiments – was officially part of the royal household and had no basis in law; both king and Parliament were careful to refer to

9963-652: The groundwork for the foundation of the Plantation of Ulster . The war against O'Neill and his allies was the largest conflict fought by England in the Elizabethan era . At the height of the conflict (1600–1601) more than 18,000 soldiers were fighting in the English army in Ireland. By contrast, the English army assisting the Dutch during the Eighty Years' War was never more than 12,000 strong at any one time. The Nine Years' War

10086-676: The maintenance of horses and armour ( 4 & 5 Ph. & M. c. 2). The county militia was now placed under the Lord Lieutenant , assisted by the Deputy Lieutenants and Justices of the Peace . The entry into force of these Acts in 1558 is seen as the starting date for the organised county militia in England. The 2nd Earl of Bedford was appointed lieutenant for the counties of Devon, Cornwall , Dorset and Exeter , and issued detailed orders for

10209-466: The midst of the English Civil War there was some debate as to whether the militia should be a supplement or an alternative to a standing army, and a series of ordinances were passed in attempts to replace the repealed 1558 act. These reflected the ongoing struggle for control of the militia until, in the early 1660s, new legislation established the militia under the control, through the lieutenancy, of

10332-588: The militia itself. Although the militia continued to exist, it fell into neglect as attempts to introduce new legislation to regulate it failed. The beginning of the English Civil War was marked by a struggle between King Charles I and Parliament for control of the militia. The indecisive Battle of Edgehill in 1642, the first pitched battle of the war, revealed the weakness of the amateur military system, and both sides struggled with barely trained, poorly-equipped, ill-disciplined and badly led armies. While

10455-516: The militia, which was intended to serve as a counterweight to the standing army and preserve civil liberties against the use of the army by a tyrannical monarch or government. The Crown still (in the British constitution) controls the use of the army. This ensures that officers and enlisted men swear an oath to a politically neutral head of state, and not to a politician. While the funding of the standing army subsists on annual financial votes by parliament,

10578-517: The militia. Successful English settlement of North America, where little support could be provided by regular forces, began to take place in 1607, in the face of Spain's determination to prevent England establishing a foothold in territory it claimed for itself. The settlers also had to contend with frequently hostile native populations. It was immediately necessary to raise militia amongst the settlers. The militia in Jamestown saw constant action against

10701-536: The numerous fortifications which ringed New London ( St. George's ). This standing body was created by recruiting volunteers, and by sentencing criminals to serve as punishment. The Bermudian militiamen were called out on numerous occasions of war, and, on one notable occasion, to quell rioting privateers. In 1710, four years after Spanish and French forces seized the Turks Islands from Bermudian salt producers in 1706, they were expelled by Bermudian privateers. Although

10824-461: The obligations of the citizenry to be ready for war resulted in 1558 the Militia Act, which ended the quasi-feudal system and implemented a more efficient, unified national militia system. In an attempt to remove the statutory limitations and allow the lieutenants to increase their demands on the militia, the act was repealed in 1604. This, however, succeeded only in removing the statutory basis for

10947-465: The occupation of Fermanagh . In 1592, Hugh Roe O'Donnell had driven an English sheriff, Captain Willis , out of his territory, Tyrconnell (now part of County Donegal ). In 1593, Maguire supported by troops out of Tyrone led by Hugh O'Neill's brother, Cormac MacBaron, had combined to resist Willis' introduction as Sheriff into Maguire's Fermanagh . After Willis was expelled from Fermanagh, Maguire, with

11070-597: The only effective way of reaching his stated objective of Lough Foyle; however, a lack of administrative efficiency in England caused his plans to go awry and the requisite pack animals and ships were never sent. Those expeditions he did organise were disastrous, especially an expedition crossing the Curlew mountains to Sligo , which was mauled by O'Donnell at the Battle of Curlew Pass . Thousands of his troops, shut up in unsanitary garrisons, died of diseases such as typhoid and dysentery . When he did turn to Ulster, Essex entered

11193-403: The only part of the county that supported Parliament. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Hopton's infantry stormed the hill with three converging columns on 16 May (the Battle of Stratton ). The Parliamentary army including the Devon TBs broke and fled, leaving 300 dead and 1700 prisoners, Chudleigh amongst them. After Stratton Hopton quickly overran the whole of Devonshire, with the exception of

11316-515: The organisation of the militia on 18 April 1558. He organised the men from the Hundreds of Devonshire into four groups for the defence of the harbours on the north and south coasts of the county: Most of these men would have been armed with longbows or bills , because the 1560 survey of arms and armour in Devonshire reported only two arquebuses . However, nine years later there were 595 arquebuses in

11439-435: The other surviving Ulster chiefs were granted full pardons and the return of their estates. The stipulations were that they abandon their Irish titles, their private armies, and their control over their dependents, and that they swear loyalty only to the Crown of England. In 1604, Mountjoy declared an amnesty for rebels all over the country. The reason for this apparent mildness was that the English could not afford to continue

11562-463: The ranks of the Cornish TBs. He then began moving back into Devon in December: Rolle's Regiment of Devon TBs was engaged in a skirmish at Torrington . Hopton failed in an attempt to take Plymouth, then moved on Exeter, which he briefly besieged. The Exeter TB, supplemented by volunteers, formed part of the Parliamentary garrison together with Bampfylde's and possibly Rosewell's TB regiments. However,

11685-471: The rebellion, King James II was able to expand the army with 16 new regiments, paid for by money misappropriated from funds voted by Parliament for the militia. The Glorious Revolution of 1688 brought the Dutch King William III to the throne, and with him came interests in continental Europe. It was the defence of these interests that would lead, by the time of the Battle of Blenheim in 1704, to

11808-471: The regiments as 'guards', based on their role as bodyguards to the king, and it was still intended that the militia would provide the country's main force in the event of war. However, it was the army, already made more palatable to Parliament by acts of civilian service in support of the common good, that defeated the Monmouth Rebellion in 1685, the militia having proved too slow to mobilise. Following

11931-399: The same in the O'Neill and O'Donnell territories was bound to be resisted by force of arms. The most significant difficulty for English forces in confronting O'Neill lay in the natural defences that Ulster enjoyed. By land there were only two viable points of entry to the province for troops marching from the south: at Newry in the east, and Sligo in the west – the terrain in between

12054-443: The siege of Plymouth and retired over the Tamar. After Barnstaple was recaptured by the Parliamentary forces, Rolle recalled his North Devon TB regiment, which reformed under Col John Luttrell, a former major in the regiment. Luttrell had been commissioned colonel on 2 June 1644 to raise new Parliamentary regiments of horse and foot for the operation to recapture Barnstaple, but may have simply taken over Rolle's men. Luttrell's regiment

12177-411: The sole holdout Irish kingdom following O'Neill's capitulation. The kingdom was ruled by Brian Óg O'Rourke , one of the alliance's chief lieutenants and leader of the Irish forces during the Battle of Curlew Pass . He failed to secure any concessions from the treaty as his half-brother Tadhg O'Rourke had fought with the English during the war and was granted lordship of West Breifne in return. Following

12300-411: The summer, killed 1,200 'rebels' and taken the surrenders of over 10,000. Carew also weakened Florence MacCarthy's position by recruiting a rival MacCarthy chieftain, Donal, to English service. In June 1601, James Fitzthomas was captured by the English forces. Shortly afterwards, Carew had Florence MacCarthy arrested after summoning him for negotiations. Both Fitzthomas and MacCarthy were held captive in

12423-476: The threat of invasion, the trained bands declined in the early 17th Century. Later, King Charles I attempted to reform them into a national force or 'Perfect Militia' answering to the king rather than local control. In 1633 the Devon TBs under the 4th Earl of Bedford as Lord Lieutenant were organised as: In addition there were also the Exeter Trained Band and four independent companies of 'tinners' from

12546-422: The time. Because it was not practical to call out every man, King Edward I introduced a system whereby local gentry were authorised to conduct commissions of array to select those who would actually be called for military service. During the reign of King Edward III , feudal service was recognised as increasingly obsolete, and the feudal host was formally called out in full for the last time in 1327. During

12669-446: The town and Chudleigh began an attack. Both sides received reinforcements during the day, including 100 men of Northcote's Regiment, who with a London regiment defended Polson Bridge against the Royalist cavalry. By the end of the day Hopton had a superior force and began a counter-attack, but Chudleigh got his shaken men back over the river, covered by the steadiness of the party at the bridge. Following up into Devon, Hopton's army in turn

12792-492: The town. O'Neill's personal enemy, Sir Henry Bagenal, had been in command of the army and was killed during the early engagements. It was the heaviest defeat ever suffered by the English army in Ireland up to that point. The victory prompted uprisings all over the country, with the assistance of mercenaries in O'Neill's pay and contingents from Ulster, and it is at this point that the war developed in its full force. Hugh O'Neill appointed his supporters as chieftains and earls around

12915-544: The universal practice to select a proportion of the available men for the Trained Bands (TBs), who were mustered for regular training. In that year Devonshire mustered 9224 'able men', including tin-miners and mariners, under 53 Captains , but the musters were unsatisfactory, with many propertied people shirking their obligation to provide arms and armour. This earned the Earl of Bedford a rebuke from of Queen Elizabeth I . By 1577

13038-485: The war any longer. Elizabethan England did not have a standing army, nor could it force its Parliament to pass enough taxation to pay for long wars. Moreover, it was already involved in a war in the Spanish Netherlands . As it was, the war in Ireland (which cost over £2 million) came very close to bankrupting the English exchequer by its close in 1603. Irish sources claimed that as many as 60,000 people had died in

13161-415: The weapons they used (mainly bills and longbows) prompted the creation of the more elite Trained Bands , who numbered 50,000 in 1588 (comprising about a third of the militia). This was only a partial solution however. By 1591 official records show 102,000 men on the rolls, of whom 42,000 are fully trained and furnished, plus 54,000 armed but not sufficiently trained and 6,000 neither armed nor trained. In 1588

13284-492: Was also present, 1200 strong, but it was probably now a full-time volunteer regiment, even if it was partly recruited from his trained band regiment. The Parliamentarian navy attempted to run supplies into the city on 25 July, but failed with the loss of three ships. Berkeley was now reinforced by Prince Maurice with the Western Army. In August the Parliamentary commanders decided to relieve Exeter by land, using forces drawn from

13407-512: Was caused by the clashes between the Gaelic Irish lord Hugh O'Neill and the advance of the English state in Ireland , from control over the Pale to ruling the whole island. In resisting this advance, O'Neill managed to rally other Irish septs who were dissatisfied with English government and some Catholics who opposed the spread of Protestantism in Ireland. Hugh O'Neill came from the powerful Ó Néill sept of Tír Eoghain , which dominated

13530-421: Was commanded by Sir Henry Rosewell of Forde Abbey, John Drake's brother-in-law, and Sir John Northcote , who had been a militia captain since 1627, also commanded one of the regiments. By the summer of 1642 Pollard's former North Devon regiment was under the command of Sir Samuel Rolle . In August Arthur Bassett was commissioned to take command of the regiment and attempted to disband and disarm it to provide for

13653-528: Was complicated by interference from Scots clans, which were supplying O'Neill with soldiers and materials and playing upon the English need for local assistance, while keeping an eye to their own territorial influence in the Route (present-day County Antrim ). Historians disagree on the exact beginning of the Nine Years' War, but it is generally considered to have begun in May 1593 with Gaelic lord Hugh Maguire resisting

13776-416: Was disbanded. Despite the concerns of Parliament about expense and the threat to the power it had only recently won from the Crown, it still proved necessary to maintain a small standing force in England, for the protection of the new king and to garrison coastal forts. A new army was therefore established in 1660, comprising two regiments born in the civil war; one raised in 1656 as Charles's bodyguard while he

13899-633: Was entitled to limited military service from his sub-lords or uirithe . He also recruited his tenants and dependants into military service and tied the peasantry to the land to increase food production (see Kern ). In addition, he hired large contingents of Irish mercenaries (known as buanadha ) under leaders such as Richard Tyrrell. To arm his soldiers, O'Neill bought muskets , ammunition, and pikes from Scotland and England. From 1591, O'Donnell, on O'Neill's behalf, had been in contact with Philip II of Spain , appealing for military aid against their common enemy and citing also their shared Catholicism . With

14022-490: Was entrusted to the militia under politically reliable local landowners. The Devon Militia were reformed around 1662. Militia (English) The origins of military obligation in England pre-date the establishment of the English state in the 10th century, and can be traced to the 'common burdens' of the Anglo-Saxon period, among which was service in the fyrd , or army. There is evidence that such an obligation existed in

14145-436: Was fought between an Irish confederacy—led mainly by Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone and Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tyrconnell —against English rule in Ireland , and was a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland . The war began in Ulster and northern Connacht, but eventually engulfed the entire island. The Irish alliance won numerous victories against the English forces in Ireland, such as the Battle of Clontibret (1595) and

14268-508: Was in exile during the Interregnum , the other raised in 1650 as part of the New Model Army. Several conspiracies uncovered towards the end of 1660 convinced Parliament of the need for two more regiments – again, one raised in exile during the Interregnum, the other originally a New Model Army regiment – and the army was officially established by royal warrant on 26 January 1661. In

14391-433: Was involved in attacks on Appledore Fort . However, Essex now overreached himself and marched on into Cornwall. His army had been weakened by the need to garrison the recaptured towns, and he drew out 1000 men from the Plymouth garrison as reinforcements. At Lostwithiel he was bottled up by the King's army that had arrived from Oxford, while the fleet was kept in Plymouth by adverse winds and could not relieve him. Although

14514-438: Was largely mountains, woodland, bog, and marshes. Sligo Castle was held by the O'Connor sept, but suffered constant threat from the O'Donnells; the route from Newry into the heart of Ulster ran through several easily defended passes and could only be maintained in wartime with a punishing sacrifice by the Crown of men and money. The English did have a foothold within Ulster, around Carrickfergus north of Belfast Lough , where

14637-498: Was reasonably close to the truth as 183,000 militiamen were mustered in 37 counties in 1575, and in the officials returns of 1588 more than 132,000 were expected to be fielded in England and Wales. They were intended to comprise part of the armies raised to combat the Spanish invasion. There were expected to be a total of 92,000 men mustered in the south of England (including 5,300 cavalry). Their poor state of readiness and obsolete nature of

14760-516: Was routed at the Battle of Sourton Down on 25 April. Amongst the material captured were Hopton's papers, including orders he had received to link up with the Royalist forces in Somerset. Stamford then collected as many troops as he could (including Rolle's, Rosewell's and Bampfylde's Devon TB regiments) to invade Cornwall and prevent Hopton joining this concentration. Stamford took up a strong hilltop position at Stratton in North East Cornwall,

14883-470: Was successful. But when Berkeley attempted to do the same at Okehampton on 8 February 1643 the Parliamentary troops initially dispersed, then rallied at Chagford, where they caused casualties to the Royalists in a confused skirmish. Northcote's regiment may have been involved in this action. As Hopton tried to gain control of Devonshire, Sir Thomas Hele was commissioned on 20 February to take over Champernowne's South Hams TB (consisting of 1000 'tinners') for

15006-416: Was to maintain. The first category corresponded to the feudal host, the next two corresponded to the old fyrd and the last to a general levy. The Statute of Winchester in 1285 introduced two more non-feudal categories to impose a general military obligation on all able-bodied males, including non-free, between the ages of 15 and 60, and updated the prescribed weaponry in the light of developments in warfare at

15129-531: Was well-defended and Maurice broke up the siege in December to go into winter quarters. He renewed the siege in early 1644, but on 20 April he temporarily left to begin a Siege of Lyme Regis in Dorset. Parliament now sent its main army under the Earl of Essex to relieve these sieges. Maurice raised the siege of Lyme on 18 June and fell back to Exeter. Essex then pushed further into the West Country, reaching Tavistock on 23 July, upon which Sir Richard Grenville raised

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