Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey
Encyclopedia
Edge Hill, Warwickshire
Edge Hill is an escarpment and hamlet in the civil parish of Ratley and Upton, South Warwickshire, England.Edge Hill gave its name to the first battle of the English Civil War, in which it was a prominent feature....
24 October 1642) was an English peer, soldier and courtier.
Early life
Robert Bertie was the son of Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de EresbyPeregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby
thumb|Peregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de EresbyPeregrine Bertie, 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby was the son of Catherine Willoughby, 12th Baroness Willoughby de Eresby, and Richard Bertie. Bertie was Lady Willoughby de Eresby's second husband, the first being Charles Brandon, Duke of...
(b 12 October 1555, d 25 June 1601) and Mary de Vere
Mary de Vere
Mary de Vere , married names Bertie and Hart was a noblewoman of the sixteenth century.In 1577 the hard-drinking, straight-talking Peregrine Bertie successfully courted Mary, sister of the Earl of Oxford, a lady known, in the words of Mark Anderson, “for her quick temper and harsh tongue.” Though...
, daughter of John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford
John de Vere, 16th Earl of Oxford was born to John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford and Elizabeth Trussel, daughter of Edward Trussel...
. Queen Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
was his godmother, and two of her favourite earls, whose Christian name he bore, were his godfathers. He had been in her Essex's expedition to Cambridge, and had afterwards served in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, under Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange
Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange was sovereign Prince of Orange from 1618, on the death of his eldest half brother, Philip William, Prince of Orange,...
. The long Continental wars throughout the peaceful reign of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
had been treated by the English nobility as schools of arms, as a few campaigns were considered a graceful finish to a gentleman's education.
Lindsey took his title from the northern of the three parts of Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...
, the old Kingdom of Lindsey
Kingdom of Lindsey
Lindsey or Linnuis is the name of a petty Anglo-Saxon kingdom, absorbed into Northumbria in the 7th century.It lay between the Humber and the Wash, forming its inland boundaries from the course of the Witham and Trent rivers , and the Foss Dyke between...
.
The entrepreneur
The Lindsey Level in The FensThe Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
, between the River Glen
River Glen, Lincolnshire
The River Glen is a river in Lincolnshire, England with a short stretch passing through Rutland near Essendine.The river's name appears to derive from a Brythonic Celtic language but there is a strong early English connection.-Naming:...
and The Haven
The Haven, Boston
The Haven is the tidal river of the Port of Boston, Lincolnshire in England. It provides access for shipping between Boston Deeps in The Wash and the town, particularly, the dock. It also serves as the outfall into the sea, of the River Witham and of several major land drains of the northern Fens...
, at Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston, Lincolnshire
Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...
was named after the first Earl Lindsey as he was the principal adventurer in its drainage. The drainage work was declared complete in 1638 but the project was neglected with the onset of the Civil War so that the land fell back into its old state. When it was drained again, more than a hundred years later, it was called the Black Sluice Level. There is more information under the article Twenty, Lincolnshire
Twenty, Lincolnshire
Twenty is a small, somewhat remote hamlet, east of the market town of Bourne, in Lincolnshire, England. Agriculture is the major industry.-Location:...
.
The English Civil War
As soon as Lord Lindsey had begun to fear that the disputes between the King and Parliament must end in war, he had begun to exercise and train his tenantry in Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, of whom he had formed a regiment of infantry.With him was his son Montagu Bertie, Lord Willoughby
Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey
Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, 15th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, KG, PC was the eldest son of Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey and his wife Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton.-Early life:...
who had seen some service against the Spaniards in the Netherlands, and after his return had been made a captain in the Lifeguards, and a Gentleman of the Bedchamber. Anthony van Dyck
Anthony van Dyck
Sir Anthony van Dyck was a Flemish Baroque artist who became the leading court painter in England. He is most famous for his portraits of Charles I of England and his family and court, painted with a relaxed elegance that was to be the dominant influence on English portrait-painting for the next...
has left portraits of the father and the son; the one a bald-headed, alert, precise-looking old warrior, with the cuirass and gauntlets of earlier warfare; the other, the very model of a cavalier
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
, tall, easy, and graceful, with a gentle reflective face, and wearing the long lovelocks and deep-point lace collar and cuffs characteristic of Queen Henrietta's
Henrietta Maria of France
Henrietta Maria of France ; was the Queen consort of England, Scotland and Ireland as the wife of King Charles I...
Court.
As Lord Lindsey was a most experienced soldier of 60 years of age at the start of the English Civil War
English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists...
, King Charles I
Charles I of England
Charles I was King of England, King of Scotland, and King of Ireland from 27 March 1625 until his execution in 1649. Charles engaged in a struggle for power with the Parliament of England, attempting to obtain royal revenue whilst Parliament sought to curb his Royal prerogative which Charles...
had appointed him General-in-chief of the Royalist
Cavalier
Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I and son Charles II during the English Civil War, the Interregnum, and the Restoration...
s for the Battle of Edgehill
Battle of Edgehill
The Battle of Edgehill was the first pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642....
. However, the King had imprudently exempted the cavalry from Lindsey's command, its general, Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Prince Rupert of the Rhine
Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness , commonly called Prince Rupert of the Rhine, KG, FRS was a noted soldier, admiral, scientist, sportsman, colonial governor and amateur artist during the 17th century...
, taking orders only from the King. Rupert was only twenty three, and although an experienced soldier who had fought in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, he had not yet learnt that cavalry should also be used in support of infantry and not just against the enemy's cavalry.
Edge Hill
At eight o'clock, on the morning of 23 October 1642 King Charles was riding along the ridge of Edge Hill, and looking down into the Vale of the Red HorseVale of the Red Horse
The Vale of the Red Horse is a rural area in South Warwickshire, England, below the escarpment of Edgehill. It takes its name from a hill figure of a horse once cut into the red clay. The figure is first recorded in 1607; it may have been Saxon in origin, and possibly connected with the war god Tiw...
, a fair meadow land, here and there broken by hedges and copses. His troops were mustering around him, and in the valley he could see with his telescope the various Parliamentary regiments, as they poured out of the town of Kineton
Kineton
Kineton is a village and civil parish on the River Dene in south-eastern Warwickshire, England. The village is part of Stratford-on-Avon district, and in the 2001 census it had a population of 2,278....
, and took up their positions in three lines. "I never saw the rebels in a body before," he said, as he gazed sadly at the subjects arrayed against him. "I shall give them battle. God, and the prayers of good men to Him, assist the justice of my cause." The whole of his forces, about 11,000 in number, were not assembled till two o'clock in the afternoon, for the gentlemen who had become officers found it no easy matter to call their farmers and retainers together, and marshal them into any sort of order. But while one troop after another came tramping, clanking, and shouting in, trying to find and take their proper place, there were hot words round the royal standard.
Lord Lindsey, who was an old comrade of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 3rd Earl of Essex was an English Parliamentarian and soldier during the first half of the seventeenth century. With the start of the English Civil War in 1642 he became the first Captain-General and Chief Commander of the Parliamentarian army, also known as the Roundheads...
, the commander of the Parliamentarian forces, knew that he would follow the tactics they had both together studied in Holland, little thinking that one day they should be arrayed one against the other in their own native England. He had a high opinion of Essex's generalship, and insisted that the situation of the Royal army required the utmost caution. Rupert, on the other hand, had seen the swift fiery charges of the fierce troopers of the Thirty Years' war
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
, and was backed up by Patrick Ruthven, Lord Ruthven
Patrick Ruthven, 1st Earl of Brentford
Patrick Ruthven, 1st Earl of Brentford and 1st Earl of Forth was a Scottish nobleman, general, and diplomat.Patrick Ruthven distinguished himself in the service of Sweden, which he entered about 1609 and left 1637...
, one of the many Scots who had won honour under King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden
Gustav II Adolf has been widely known in English by his Latinized name Gustavus Adolphus Magnus and variously in historical writings also as Gustavus, or Gustavus the Great, or Gustav Adolph the Great,...
. A sudden charge of the Royal horse would, Rupert argued, sweep the Roundhead
Roundhead
"Roundhead" was the nickname given to the supporters of the Parliament during the English Civil War. Also known as Parliamentarians, they fought against King Charles I and his supporters, the Cavaliers , who claimed absolute power and the divine right of kings...
s from the field, and the foot would have nothing to do but to follow up the victory. The great portrait at Windsor shows us exactly how the King must have stood, with his charger by his side, and his grave, melancholy face, sad enough at having to fight at all with his subjects, and never having seen a battle, entirely bewildered between the ardent words of his spirited nephew and the grave replies of the well-seasoned old Earl. At last, as time went on, and some decision was necessary, the perplexed King, willing at least not to irritate Rupert, desired that Ruthven should array the troops in the Swedish fashion.
It was a greater affront to the General-in-chief than the king was likely to understand, but it could not shake the old soldier's loyalty. He gravely resigned the empty title of General, which only made confusion worse confounded, and rode away to act as colonel of his own Lincoln regiment, pitying his master's perplexity, and resolved that no private pique should hinder him from doing his duty. His regiment was of foot soldiers, and was just opposite to the standard of the Earl of Essex.
In the afternoon the Royal forces marched down the hill. It was at this time that Sir Jacob Astley
Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading
Jacob Astley, 1st Baron Astley of Reading was a Royalist commander in the English Civil War.-Life:He came from an established Norfolk family, and was born at Melton Constable. His first experiences of war were at the age of 18 when he joined the Islands Voyage expedition in 1597 under the Earl of...
prayed "O Lord, Thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget Thee, do not Thou forget me;" then, rising, he said, "March on, boys." And, amid prayer and exhortation, the other side awaited the shock, as men whom a strong and deeply embittered sense of wrong had roused to take up arms. Prince Rupert's charge was fully successful. No one even waited to cross swords with his troopers, but all the Roundhead horse galloped headlong off the field, hotly pursued by the Royalists. But the main body of the army stood firm, and for some time the battle was nearly equal, until a large troop of the enemy's cavalry who had been kept in reserve, wheeled round and fell upon the Royal forces just when their scanty supply of ammunition was exhausted. Step by step, however, they retreated bravely, and Rupert, who had returned from his charge, sought in vain to collect his scattered troopers, so as to fall again on the rebels. Some were plundering, some chasing the enemy, and none could be got together.
His death at Edge Hill
Lord Lindsey was shot through the thigh bone, and fell. He was instantly surrounded by the rebels on horseback; but his son, Lord Willoughby, seeing his danger, flung himself alone among the enemy, and forcing his way forward, raised his father in his arms thinking of nothing else, and unheeding his own peril. The throng of enemy around called to him to surrender, and, hastily giving up his sword, he carried the Earl into the nearest shed, and laid him on a heap of straw, vainly striving to staunch the blood.It was a bitterly cold night, and the frosty wind came howling through the darkness. Whether the battle were won or lost, the father and son knew not, and the guard who watched them knew as little. Lord Lindsey himself murmured, "If it please God I should survive, I never will fight in the same field with boys again!"–no doubt deeming that young Rupert had wrought all the mischief. His thoughts were all on the cause, his son's all on him. It proved impossible to stop his wounds bleeding and gradually the old man's strength ebbed away.
Toward midnight the Earl's old comrade Essex had time to understand his condition, and sent some officers to enquire for him, and promise speedy surgical attendance. Lindsey was still full of spirit, and spoke to them so strongly of their broken faith, and of the sin of disloyalty and rebellion, that they slunk away one by one out of the hut, and dissuaded Essex from coming himself to see his old friend, as he had intended. The surgeon, however, arrived, but too late, Lindsey was already so much exhausted by cold and loss of blood, that he died early in the morning of the 24 October 1642. His son, despite King Charles' best efforts to obtain his exchange, remained a prisoner of the Parliamentary side for about a year.
Lord Lindsey should not be confused with Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford
Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford
Ludovic Lindsay, 16th Earl of Crawford took part in the strange plot of 1641 called The Incident. Having joined King Charles I at Nottingham in 1642, he fought at the Battle of Edgehill, at the Battle of Newbury and elsewhere during the English Civil War; in 1644, just after the Battle of Marston...
who also fought for the King at the Battle of Edgehill.
Genealogy
Robert married Elizabeth Montagu (d 30 November 1654, sister of Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of BoughtonEdward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton
Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton was an English politician. He was one of the key founders of what is known today as Guy Fawkes Night through his sponsorship, in Parliament, of the Observance of 5th November Act 1605. His support for King Charles I led to his arrest in August 1642...
. They had three children:
- Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of LindseyMontagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of LindseyMontagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey, 15th Baron Willoughby de Eresby, KG, PC was the eldest son of Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey and his wife Elizabeth Montagu, daughter of Edward Montagu, 1st Baron Montagu of Boughton.-Early life:...
- Katherine Bertie, married about 1631 Sir William Paston, 1st Bt, one son, Robert Paston, 1st Earl of YarmouthRobert Paston, 1st Earl of YarmouthRobert Paston, 1st Earl of Yarmouth, FRS was an English politician, nobleman and scientist. The Paston family had a long history. His father William , was created a baronet in 1642, and on his death was succeeded in the title by Robert. Robert was subsequently created a Viscount and then became an...
- Elizabeth Bertie (d. 28 February 1684), married in 1661 Sir Miles Stapleton, 1st Bt, no issue as it seems