Marching through history – on opposite sides of the divide

Cryssa Bazos is a 17th century enthusiast – as am I. We do not agree on Prince Rupert, she tends to lean Royalist where I am more Parliamentarian, but those minor differences aside, I find her books set in the period utterly enthralling. In Cryssa’s novels, gorgeous descriptive prose marries convoluted plots, further enhanced by wonderfully complex characters. Yup: VERY recommended! Today, Cryssa shares the story of two women caught up in the English Civil War. One was a Royalist, the other a Parliamentarian, and yet I suspect the things they had in common were far more than those they did not, You know, like it is with most of us. Anyway, I give you Cryssa!

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History has been coloured by one war after another, and certainly as a novelist, there is no better material for gripping historical fiction than times of conflict. But what about Herstory during these same unsettled periods? While there were many instances where women had disguised themselves in breeches to fight alongside men in war, women’s contribution for the most part was holding down the home front. During the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in the mid-17th century, that could be as challenging and treacherous as facing the enemy across a battlefield.

What we know of women’s experience in the 17th century was thanks to letters and diaries they left behind. We don’t have the wealth of information that we do for their male counterparts, but the stories they have left behind speak of courage, resilience and determination. The Wars of the Three Kingdoms was particularly brutal. Armies marched through towns and villages, demanding free quarter from enemy and supporter alike. Famine and disease ran rampant. This placed considerable strain on the women who struggled to keep their families safe and support their absent husbands as best they could.

When I was writing my first novel, Traitor’s Knot, I explored the difficulties and dangers of the home front during this period. There were many notable women from whom I could draw inspiration, but two in particular stood out for me. Ann Fanshawe and Brilliana Harley were on opposite sides of the political conflict, but both were sisters in courage and resiliency.

Ann Harrison Fanshawe was born in London on March 25, 1625, the eldest daughter of Sir John Harrison of Balls, Hertfordshire. She had a carefree childhood, and although she was taught the necessary skills expected of one in her station, she was high-spirited. In her own words:

“I learned as well as most did, yet was I wild to that degree, that the hours of my beloved recreation took up too much of my time, for I loved riding in the first place, running, and all active pastimes; in short, I was that which we graver people call a hoyting girl.”

Throughout her life, she never lost her passionate and spirited nature. If her words mirrored her essence, she was an engaging and charming woman. There is no doubt that this is one of the traits that endeared her to husband, Richard Fanshawe. Theirs was a love match.

Richard Fanshawe was an unwavering royalist and served both King Charles I and his heir, Charles II, as a diplomat and statesman. Throughout the years of their marriage, there were extended periods of separation, and Ann felt those keenly. After the birth of their first son in 1645, Richard left to join the Prince of Wales (future Charles II) in Bristol as his personal secretary. The child was sickly and did not survive. Richard sent for her as quickly as he could and in May of that year, Ann joined him in Bristol. By then, the war was not going in the King’s favour, and the Fanshawes were forced to move around as dictated by the changes in Royal fortune. They lived one year in Ireland, when Richard was Treasurer of the King’s navy, but were forced to leave for the continent when Cromwell arrived with an invading army.

The next years were financially difficult for them, and rather than live on credit, Ann made frequent trips to England to obtain funds for her husband. In 1650, a year after the execution of Charles I, Richard left for Scotland to join Charles II in his bid to win back his father’s throne.

After the king’s disastrous loss at Worcester, Richard was imprisoned in isolation at Whitehall for ten weeks. Not even Ann was allowed to visit him, but every day she would go to see him at his window:

“During the time of his imprisonment, I failed not constantly to go, when the clock struck four in the morning, with a dark lantern in my hand, all alone and on foot, from my lodging in Chancery Lane, at my cousin Young’s, to Whitehall, in at the entry that went out of King Street into the bowling-green. There I would go under his window and softly call him: he, after the first time excepted, never failed to put out his head at the first call: thus we talked together, and sometimes I was so wet with the rain, that it went in at my neck and out at my heels.”

Ann was wild with worry over the health of her husband. She petitioned for help and managed to obtain a doctor’s certificate stating that her husband was near death. Oliver Cromwell supported her petition and argued in her favour. Ann succeeded in securing her husband release, although under £4,000 bail, which would leave them in penury.

Lady Brilliana Harley was a prolific correspondent and left behind nearly four hundred letters, the majority to her husband and beloved eldest son. The Harleys were on the other side of the civil war conflict, devout puritans and staunch supporters of Parliament. Her husband, Sir Robert Harley, was a Member of Parliament, and his service took him away from the family seat of Brampton Bryan Castle in Hertfordhsire for extended periods of time and throughout most of the war. Brilliana remained at home to take care of her family and hold the castle against the royalists.

Her letters to her son, Edward, were tender and caring, imparting motherly advice to encourage the shaping of his character. When he was studying at Oxford, she often included packages of goodies, ointments and tonics for his health. After civil war erupted when he joined the Parliamentary army, she sent as many provisions and funds that she could afford to part with even though her tenants had stopped paying their rents when the civil war broke out.

The royalists besieged Brampton Bryan Castle in July 1643 with a force of seven hundred infantry and cavalry. Brilliana Harley remained steadfast, refusing to capitulate and surrender her home to the aggressors. Her courage and strength was inspirational. The siege lasted for two months until the royalist forces were called off to assist with another siege in Gloucester. During this time, her home had been shelled, her cattle stolen, crops and mills destroyed. Her tenants had turned their backs on the Harley family and provided assistance to the royalist army. Despite the privations and the unrelenting attacks, most of her household survived when the siege was lifted. Included in this household were about fifty musketeers. One of these defenders wrote an eyewitness account and had this praise for Brilliana:

“That honourable and gallant Lady Harley put herself into a posture of defence against their insolent and illegal proceedings. The castle being of considerable strength was manned with answerable proportion of powder and match, and thus inoffensively did this noble lady live upon her own in an honourable, resolute and religious way till the malice of her enemies broke forth.”

And when the enemy trained five large guns on the castle, fully intending to pound them to the ground, he wrote:

“The noble lady was this day more courageous than ever, bid us now play the man, for the enemy was in good earnest.”

Brilliana also kept her wits and knew that she couldn’t allow them to be completely cut off from outside support and sent spies to gather intelligence.

“Among the many policies of war it is not the least to hold intelligence with friends abroad, and in this her wisdom was great. This night we had secret intelligence through all their courts of guard to our. No small advantage and encouragement.”

Unfortunately a little more than a month after the siege of Brampton Bryan Castle had been lifted, Brilliana Harley died. She has stayed strong for her people but in the end her health had failed.

Ann Fanshawe and Brilliana Harley are just two among many remarkable women who navigated a time of profound upheaval with strength and courage. While my work is fiction, the indomitable spirit of women like them—characterized by their resilience, grit, and unwavering resolve—has deeply inspired the characters in my novels. They stand as true role models, embodying the steel that defines the strength of a woman.

Additional reading:

• The Grand Quarrel: From the Civil War memoirs of Mrs. Lucy Hutchinson; Mrs. Alice Thornton, Ann, Lady Fanshawe; Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle; Anne, Lady Halkett, & the letters of Brilliana, Lady Harley. Edited and introduced by Roger Hudson
• Memoirs of Lady Fanshawe; Project Gutenberg.
• The English Civil War: A People’s History; Diane Purkiss.

Excerpt from Traitor’s Knot:

The pounding on the front door startled Elizabeth. Without waiting for Jennet, she rushed down the hallway. The urgent thumping continued unchecked. Just as she laid her hand on the handle, a force slammed against the wood. The portal flew open, and Elizabeth stumbled back, hitting her head against the wall. Pain exploded, and for a moment she fought against the spots dancing before her eyes. A company of dragoons rushed past her into the manor.

She shook her head to clear her wits. “What is this?” she called out, but they ignored her.

Jennet’s voice rose from somewhere down the hallway. “Get out of that parlour! What is the meaning—” A crash sounded, and Jennet shrieked, “What are you doing? The cabinet!”

Elizabeth raced to the parlour. The dragoons were ransacking the room. Two soldiers were hauling Isabel’s old china cabinet away from the wall. The remaining dishes flew off the shelves and smashed into pieces. Others threw aside the mantel painting and yanked down the window curtains.

“What are you doing?” Elizabeth yelled, but they shoved her aside. One dragoon pulled down the mirror, shocking her into action. “Get away from that.” Elizabeth grabbed the edge of the mirror just as the dragoon released his hold. It pitched forward and shattered at her feet.

The dragoons were tapping on every panel, searching for hidden rooms. But Hammond already knew there was nothing.

“Dragoons!” Hammond strode into the room and planted himself in the centre. Slung across his coat was a bandolier, and a carbine was tucked in his belt. “Found anything?”

“Not yet, Lieutenant.”

In the next instant, a splintering crash rippled through the manor. The stillroom! Elizabeth pushed past Hammond and rounded the corner to her haven. Ripped from the walls, the bookcases toppled, their frames twisted and fractured across the worktable. Shattered glass jars littered the floor while puffs of herbal dust floated in the air. Bunches of dried rosemary swung on their hooks as though dancing on a gibbet. Even the mortar, crafted of inch-thick stone, lay on the ground split in two.

Elizabeth stood at the door, stunned. Everything she had worked for lay broken at her feet. All of it. A strangled cry was wrenched from her, and she lunged forward, but Jennet pulled her back.

“Nay—your bare feet.” Jagged glass shards were strewn on the floor.

Elizabeth slumped against Jennet. She covered her mouth and stifled a sob. Everything. Gone. Swept away. She stared at the room in horror. It was like the broken body of a dear soul.

From the kitchen, her baby’s cries cut through Elizabeth’s despair. Thomas. She raced back to the kitchen and found Thomas alone in his cradle, his little legs drawn to his chest. He drew big gulps of air between his screams as fat tears streamed down his red cheeks. Cuddling him to her breast, she covered his ears against the sound of destruction. She cringed every time more glass shattered.

Above their heads, the sound of thundering feet ran across the upstairs rooms. A loud thump shook the rafters. Startled, Thomas started to cry again. “Hush, my love,” she said, rocking him in her arms.

A movement from the corner of Elizabeth’s eye caught her attention, and she lifted her head. Hammond sauntered in and headed for her. She tightened her grip on Thomas and backed away.

“Show me the little brat.”

“Stay away.” Elizabeth was prepared to tear his eyes out if he touched her son.

Her fury must have shown on her face, for Hammond halted his progress. “The bitch defends her pup.”

“Aye, I promise you that,” she said with a hiss.

“You promised much before,” Hammond said.

“That was your arrogance and desire.”

Hammond’s brow darkened. “Is that Salome’s defence?”

“As you wish,” Elizabeth said.

Hammond took another step forward, his gaze fastened on Thomas. For a moment, he didn’t guard his expression, and raw loathing twisted on his face. Oh my God. Elizabeth had seen that look before. Desperation and terror gripped her. Not my son. Not Thomas. Holding her baby tight, she retreated as far as she could until the edge of the hearth brought her up short. Seizing the poker, she brandished it like a sword.

“Threatening an officer of the Commonwealth?”

Undeterred, Elizabeth tightened her grip. “If you try to harm my son, I swear I’ll gut you.”

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Traitor’s Knot
England 1650
Amid the turmoil of the English Civil War, Elizabeth Seaton finds herself at the crossroads of duty and desire. As a staunch supporter of the king, she helps fugitives fleeing persecution from Parliament. But when the handsome and brooding James Hart crosses her path, Elizabeth’s world is thrown into chaos.

A former Royalist officer turned highwayman, James is a man of secrets and questionable morals, and yet Elizabeth cannot resist the dangerous allure he holds over her heart. As the war threatens to rekindle, Elizabeth and James are drawn into a passionate and forbidden romance, forcing them to navigate the dangers of war and their own conflicting loyalties.

Will their love be able to survive in a world torn apart by civil war?

Buy it HERE!

Cryssa Bazos is an award-winning historical fiction author and a seventeenth century enthusiast. Her debut novel, Traitor’s Knot is the Medalist winner of the 2017 New Apple Award for Historical Fiction, and a finalist for the 2018 EPIC eBook Awards for Historical Romance. Her second novel, Severed Knot, is a B.R.A.G Medallion Honoree and a finalist for the 2019 Chaucer Award. Rebel’s Knot is a B.R.A.G Medallion Honoree and 2021 Discovering Diamonds Book of the Year.

For more information of her work, visit her website cryssabazos.com or connect on Facebook, Bluesky (@cryssabazos.bsky.social) or Threads (@cryssabazos). Her books are available from all online retailers using the following links: Traitor’s Knot, Severed Knot, and Rebel’s Knot.

Check out the previous Marching Through History post HERE!