Hesilrige was prominent throughout the conflict. After raising horse for the Earl of Essex, he fought at Edgehill and subsequently at the battles of Lansdowne, Roundway Down and Cheriton; in the first two of which he survived wounds. Much is made of his later falling out with Cromwell. When Cromwell came to blows with the earls of Manchester and Essex, Hesilrige supported him and, after achieving success as Governor of Newcastle, joined Cromwell in taking up arms against the Scots in 1650.
His position against the King is also fairly clear. Though he turned down the opportunity to act as a judge at the trial, he remained an unrepentant republican. His success as a soldier and as governor of Newcastle made him an obvious member of the four-year commonwealth, but his relations with Cromwell became fraught when Cromwell dismissed the Rump Parliament and took on the title of Lord Protector. Remaining staunchly fixed to his republican ideals, he was barred from taking his seat in the two protectorates and later instrumental in the downfall of Richard Cornwall in 1659. After being re-elected to the restored Rump Parliament, he was one of the key members of the Council of State before becoming marginalised over the course of the next year as his republican ideals were undermined by parliament’s decision to restore the monarchy.
Real Places
Practically all of the locations mentioned in this novel do exist. Edgehill in south Warwickshire was the setting, on Sunday 23 October 1642, of the first major action of the war. The battle was a chance encounter that occurred as the King, heading south to London, came across the Parliamentarians on their march through the Midlands. It was one of the biggest battles of the war, but on the whole did not prove to be decisive. The site still exists and has now been incorporated into the MoD base at Kineton. Access is prohibited, but it is possible to walk around the battlefield. The monument does exist, as does The Castle Inn, which was designed by Sanderson Miller in 1742 to honour the anniversary of the battle. The inn is a good base for visitors looking to investigate the area.
Marston Moor in Yorkshire and Naseby in Northamptonshire are both real locations and the sites of the two decisive Roundhead victories in the war. The facts mentioned in the book I believe to be accurate, and the three monuments all exist. St Ives in Cambridgeshire is a real town and the chapel on the bridge is based on its real life design and structure. The Cromwell House in Ely also exists, and its inclusion in this book is inspired by my own visit. Suggestion of hidden treasures near the obelisks at the battle sites, beneath the former crypt at St Ives and behind the wall of Cromwell’s bedroom are all fictitious.
Northborough in Cambridgeshire is a real place, and has a population of approximately 1,300 people. Connection with both the Claypole family and Cromwell’s wife and daughter is true, with many of the Claypole family laid to rest within the church. St Andrew’s Church exists, and descriptions are largely based on my first-hand research. The Claypole Chapel in the south transept also still exists, and a plaque placed by The Cromwell Association is currently on display. There is a vault, apparently, beneath the chapel where the body of Elizabeth Cromwell was placed in 1665. According to the 1789 edition of William Camden’s Britannia: ‘The vault has long been opened and used as a charnel house’, basically a place to store bones. In volume one of the 1948 edition of Northamptonshire Past and Present the writer adds, ‘The family vault beneath the chapel has long been cleared, so that it is doubtful whether the remains of any of these Claypoles or of Mistress Cromwell still exist…The Claypoles have vanished from the scene, but their manor house and their monuments in the church at Northborough are still with us, to remind us of a family who made their contribution to the history of their country, and in a very special way to their county also’. The nearby manor house is real and is now privately owned. It was recently up for sale for over £1.7m.
Elizabeth Cromwell
Born in London in 1598, Elizabeth Cromwell was the wife of the Lord Protector and mother to his nine children. Elizabeth was the first of twelve children born to Sir James Bourchier of Felsted in Essex, a wealthy leather merchant, and his wife. Oliver and Elizabeth married on 22 August 1620. Sir James’s influence among the merchant society in London would later be of great advantage to Cromwell, along with his father-in-law’s extensive land holdings in Essex. The marriage was a happy one, and many of the letters between the pair survive. Those mentioned in this novel are, of course, made up, but they are inspired by first-hand accounts of Cromwell writing to her.
As Protectress of England, insufficient evidence of her character has come to light to make a meaningful assessment. After her husband’s death, she was treated relatively well; however, on the back of the Restoration of the Monarchy she decided to take flight. The story mentioned in the novel of her attempting to flee London whilst in possession of many valuables once property of the royal family is generally accepted as fact, and is supported by historical evidence. When the items were discovered, she was forced to part with them. What happened next is something of a grey area. There have been some claims that she fled from England and resided for some time in Switzerland, but primary records do not support this. She did spend some time in Wales before living with her son-in-law, John Claypole, at the manor in Northborough described in this book. Her date of interment is recorded as 19 November 1665. In 1846 the author John Heneage Jesse in his Memoirs of the court of England, from the Revolution in 1688 to the death of George the Second recorded Elizabeth’s death as having occurred on 8 October 1672. In 1784, the antiquary and biographer Mark Noble, writing in his Memoirs of the protectorate-house of Cromwell: deduced from an early period and continued down to the present time conjectured that Elizabeth’s death in 1665 was merely a ‘political death’ due to her fear of persecution. The author credits the Rev James Clarke of Peterborough for making him familiar with the story.
The Portraits
The key portraits mentioned in this book are real. A self-portrait of Sir Anthony Van Dyck, oil on canvas circa 1640, was purchased by the NPG in 2014 for a price similar to that mentioned in the novel.
The portrait of Oliver Cromwell by Robert Walker is presently on display in room five of the gallery, alongside a similar oil on canvas portrait of Sir Arthur Hesilrige, circa 1640. In 2014 it came to light that the painting of Hesilrige had been painted on an already used canvas. Research suggests the original painting had been of Cromwell.
The second portrait of Oliver Cromwell mentioned in the novel is also genuine. Originally entitled Oliver Cromwell and his daughter, it was acquired by the gallery in 1896 but is currently not on display. Due to doubts about the identity of the subjects it portrays, it was later renamed Unknown man and woman.
The Original Crown Jewels of England
Coronation regalia has always played a vital and, at times, dramatic role in England’s history. As recently as 1988, archaeologists have discovered crowns from the 2nd century BC. Similar finds have also been recorded from the Saxon era.
William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066 culminated with his being crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey. The Bayeux Tapestry shows both Edward the Confessor and Harold Godwinson wearing a gold crown, and according to the Anglo-Saxon chronicle – that chronicles the history of Britain from around 60BC up until about 1154 – William was recorded as having worn a crown on no less than three occasions a year. There are few, if any, surviving records of what exactly the Crown jewels consisted of at that time. Around 15 October 1216, just four days before his death, King John’s entire baggage train was wiped out by a tide in The Wash as he prepared to cross into Norfolk. There is a good deal of uncertainty about what precisely was lost. At his coronation at Gloucester Cathedral on 28 October, John’s son, Henry III, was crowned with a plain hoop of gold, property of Henry’s mother. The usual crown was apparently missing, though whether this was because it had been among the valuables washed away on the east coast or because the circumstances of the war made it inaccessible remains unclear. In 1220, when Henry was crowned for a second time, the ceremony, atten
ded by notably more prelates and barons than on the first occasion, was described in much more detail. Records of that event have identified the crown used as that of the Diadem of Edward the Confessor. That this was the same one as used by Edward himself and later William the Conqueror and his successors is quite probable. An inventory of the Crown jewels by a monk at Westminster in the mid-1400s makes further reference to ‘an excellent golden crown’, along with other items apparently used at Edward the Confessor’s coronation, including ‘a tunicle…golden comb and spoon’, and for his wife, Edith, a crown, two rods, a chalice comprised of onyx stone and a paten. The spoon, along with the golden ampulla first used at the coronation of Henry IV to pour holy oil over the king, are two of the few pieces from the set that have survived.
Precise references to the diadem’s existence can be found from Henry III’s coronation right up to the reign of Charles I. To confuse matters, there has been some suggestion that the Diadem of Edward the Confessor was renamed King Alfred’s Crown at some point following the dissolution of the monasteries. Prior to that point another crown, referred to commonly as Alfred the Great’s state crown, is also recorded as having existed. Descriptions are vague, but appear different enough to confirm the existence of two crowns. An early description of King Alfred’s state crown referred to it being ‘set with slight stones and two little bells’, while a parliamentarian named Sir Henry Spelman writing during the civil war referred to Alfred’s crown as ‘of very ancient work, with flowers adorned with stones of somewhat plain setting’. One of the few surviving accounts of the diadem states it was a ‘gold crown decorated with diverse stones’. Cromwell’s agents are recorded as having found at least three crowns in Westminster Abbey, Whitehall Palace and the 14th century Jewel Tower, whilst an inventory into the property of Edward II referred to ten crowns in existence.
Among those might have been a series of rare finds from the reign of Edward I. In 1282, in preparation for his war against Edward I, Llywelyn ap Gruffudd deposited many of his jewels with the monks of Cymer Abbey. In 1284, with the war over, the jewels were handed over to Edward, including the ‘coronet Arthur’, a crown that supposedly belonged to the legendary king.
Later in Edward’s reign, the Stone of Destiny was brought from Scotland and kept in the Tower following his success against William Wallace in 1296. The stone was added to the coronation chair, but the appearance of the stone that now resides at Westminster Abbey does not fit with the original description.
By the reign of Henry VII another crown, commonly referred to as the Tudor State Crown, had been added to the collection. Descriptions of this have survived in greater numbers, and it has also been shown in a number of portraits. The frame of this crown was also gold and embedded with pearls, rubies, sapphires and diamonds and decorated by a figure of the Virgin Mary, at least three crosses and as many as four fleurs-de-lis. The Tudor Crown was independently valued as the most precious of the original jewels at approximately £1,100, worth just under £2m in the present day.
Of the original items only the ampulla, the spoon, the coronation chair and possibly some of the swords have survived. Gold from the Diadem of St Edward is believed to have been used in the construction of the new St Edward’s Crown – the official coronation crown that has been used at most coronations since that of Charles II, including Elizabeth II. According to the official receipts, the remainder of the jewels were destroyed. During the civil war, a story told that one of the original crowns, possibly the diadem, had been salvaged by a band of Cavalier soldiers, its whereabouts never divulged.
At present the story cannot be proven or disproven.
The City of Angers
The city of Angers, the birthplace of the de Haulle family in this novel, is a real city, the long-time capital of the Anjou region of France, the ancestral home of the Plantagenet dynasty. Though the family in this novel is made up, it is true that this area of France was responsible for more rulers of England than any other part of the world, fourteen in total. In 2012 a petition posted on the city’s website read that the city demands the Crown jewels of England, or a similar monetary equivalent, to compensate for the role played by the ancestors of the present royals in ending the line of Plantagenet succession.
As of 2014, the current Crown jewels of England have not left the Tower of London!
Acknowledgements
As always, researching these books has been tremendous fun and a genuine privilege to write. My two trips to the National Portrait Gallery in particular were enormously useful, and many members of staff there were most helpful. Driving across England to visit the sites of the three battles were also inspiring experiences. Even today they are each steeped in atmosphere. Edgehill, in particular, holds a certain stillness that is not easy to appreciate unless it is witnessed first hand. It is in such places in Britain I have always found the local people and the staff and volunteers of the various museums and establishments to be both most kind and thoughtful in helping me get to know the ins and outs of the local area, and I am grateful to many such people at each site mentioned in the book for their kind assistance during my visits.
As always, special thanks must be reserved for my superb copyeditor Pauline Nolet for her guidance, patience and loyalty; my incredible friends for their great humour and support, and my wonderful family without whom I would never have written a single word.
Lastly, but most importantly, my thanks must go to you, the reader, without whom none of this would be possible. I hope you have enjoyed the book. If you did, please look out for my other titles.
The Templar Agenda, 2011
The Larmenius Inheritance, 2013
The Plantagenet Vendetta, 2014
The Cortés Enigma, 2014
Non-fiction
Robin Hood: The Unknown Templar, Peter Owen 2009
Pity for the Guy – a biography of Guy Fawkes, Peter Owen 2010
The Gothic King – a biography of Henry III, Peter Owen 2013
For more on me, please check out my website, www.theunknowntemplar.com. There, you can also find a link to my blog.
If you have any questions or you would like to get in touch, you can email me at [email protected]. You can also follow me on Twitter at @unknown_templar
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