1642-10-23: LOCAL LORD SLAIN IN BATTLE OF EDGE HILL

Left: Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, 14th Baron Willoughby de Eresby

Lord Robert Bertie, 1st Earl of Lindsey, was mortally wounded last Sunday at the Battle of Edge Hill in southern Warwickshire. He was 58 years of age, and had become General-in-Chief of the Royalist armies of King Charles I.



Right: Grimsthorpe Castle, home of the Earls of Lindsey

Lord Lindsey was born on 17 December 1583 at the family seat Grimsthorpe Castle, Lincolnshire, son of the 13th Baron Willoughby de Eresby. He leaves a widow, Elizabeth, nee Montagu and other sons and daughters apart from Lord Willoughby already mentioned.

Lord Lindsey is not just known as a soldier. In his younger years he was instrumental in financing and overseeing the drainage of extensive lands in his family’s holdings near Boston, Lincolnshire. This project was almost completed four years ago, but held in abeyance due to his absence on military duties. His tenants have now called that a campaign should be started to name the project the Lindsey Levels, in his honour.

Left: Map showing Lindsey lands in East Lincolnshire

Last Sunday's confrontation is the first outright battle between King Charles and his supporters, and the Parliamentarians, whom he sees as traditionalists. King Charles has been at odds with the Government since the spring, as Parliament does not approve his stance of absolute monarchy. Mutterings have circulated around Parliament about his creation of a number of earldoms such as that of Lindsey, so many never having been created since medieval times.

Right: King Charles I holds Council of War on the night prior to the battle. (Painting: A. van Dyck)

The scroll from our correspondent reads that for this battle, which involved some 15,000 men on each side, there was some controversy regarding generalship within the Royalist camp, when King Charles switched leadership from his esteemed but mature campaigner, Lord Lindsey, to Prince Rupert of the Rhine. Both are celebrated veterans of the ongoing military campaigns in the Low Countries, which it is said look set to go on for as long as Thirty Years. Lord Lindsey when interviewed at his tent on Sunday morning stated that he remained loyal to his Sovereign and to his cause.

Late in the battle, the Royalist army was commanded to charge on the Roundheads from the brow of a hill. Lord Lindsey’s small personal regiment was pitted against Parliamentarian forces led by his erstwhile military comrade, Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, with whom he had trained when younger. The struggle seemed almost equal until the Parliamentarians sent in reinforcements of cavalry kept in reserve behind their lines, just as the Royalists’ ammunition was running low. However, although the Parliamentarians claimed several high-ranking hostages, the Royalists retained control of the road to London, and so claimed victory.

Left: Montagu Bertie, Lord Willoughby de Eresby: fought alongside his father

In the course of the hostilities Lord Lindsey was shot in the thigh, and immediately fell from his horse. His son, Lord Willoughby de Eresby (34), involved elsewhere in the conflict, pushed forward to tend to his father, and both were instantly captured by the Parliamentarians. Lord Willoughby insisted they be taken to shelter nearby, where they were placed under guard. Sources at the tavern had it that the Earl of Essex had to be dissuaded by his generals from sending his surgeon to tend his erstwhile comrade. Lord Lindsey’s wounds could not be staunched, and he died during the night.

Afterwards many visitors to the battlefield, seeking recycling opportunities, were able to see the event ‘replay’ itself in ghostly form. A pamphlet is circulating nearby towns, saying, ‘A great wonder in heaven shewing the late apparitions and prodigious noyse of war and battels, seen on Edge-Hill, neere Keinton, in Northamptonshire 1642.’ Word at the tavern has it that these sights will be seen forever, as slain soldiers find no rest.

Meanwhile, despite King Charles' best efforts to obtain his freedom, Lord Willoughby remains a prisoner of the Parliamentary side, and it has been left to his immediate officers to transport Lord Lindsey’s body back home. A private family service is to be held at Grimsthorpe as soon as can be arranged, and the family has meanwhile requested "no paintings".