In rhetoric, antonomasia is the use of the name of some office, dignity, profession, science, or trade instead of the true name of the person, as when his majesty is used for a king, his lordship for a nobleman; or when, instead of Aristotle, we say, the philosopher; or, conversely, the use of a proper noun instead of a common noun; as, a Solomon for a wise man. Research Antonomasia
The meeting of the Long Parliament (as it was afterwards called) in November 1640 ended the great days of the English monarchy, and sowed the seeds for the English Civil War. The Commons were determined on reform; they meant to put an end to the king's unconstitutional methods in both Church and State. Charles I himself, though he seldom faced facts, saw that some concessions would be necessary. But a real settlement was not achieved, chiefly because tempers were rising and the atmosphere soon became that of a revolution. Charles was partly to blame. He had no real desire for a lasting understanding with Parliament, and his shifty character aroused general distrust. But he found that the more he gave way to Parliament, the more it demanded. John Pym, a squire of Somerset, was the acknowledged leader of the Commons.
His enemies nicknamed him 'King Pym'. He was 'the first great popular organiser', for he used the press, the petition, and even the platform to support his cause. He now led the attack on the chief instruments of the late personal government. The judges who had upheld Charles's financial exactions in the Courts were arrested and imprisoned, and so was Archbishop Laud, who was beheaded in 1645. But the principal victim was Strafford. He was charged with having tried to 'subvert the fundamental laws and government of England and Ireland, and instead thereof to introduce an in March arbitrary and tyrannical government against law'. 1641 he was brought to Westminster Hall to be tried for high treason. But his accusers were at once faced with a difficult point. Strafford may have tried to 'subvert the laws'; but treason meant treason to the king, and had Strafford been a traitor to Charles? It was difficult to prove that he had, and as the trial proceeded it became clear that the verdict would be Not Guilty. But the Puritan majority in the House was determined that Strafford should die. Parliament therefore passed a special Bill of Attainder, condemning the minister to death without trial.
The Lords passed the Bill of Attainder, and it remained for the king to give or to withhold his consent. Some may think that it was Charles's duty to risk his life to defend Strafford. But the mob raged round Whitehall, howling for blood. Charles feared for the safety of the queen and his children, and he gave way. ' If my own person only were in danger', he told the Council, with tears in his eyes, 'I would gladly venture it to save Lord Strafford's life.' Three days later the earl was led to his execution in May 1641 in the presence of a crowd of 200000 people who had come to witness the end of 'Black Tom Tyrant'. No man ever died more bravely. 'I thank my God', he said, as he prepared to die, 'I am not afraid of death, but do as cheerfully put off my doublet at this time as ever I did when I went to bed.' The executioner offered to cover his eyes with a handkerchief. 'Thou shalt not bind my eyes.' said Strafford, 'for I will see it done.' And so he placed his head upon the block.
His misfortune, wrote Laud, was that 'he served a mild and gracious prince, who knew not how to be, or be made great'. That summerParliament was busy passing a number of Acts intended to make absolute government impossible for the future. One Act declared that the presentParliament could not be dissolved without its own consent; another - the Triennial Act - that in future Parliaments should be Called every three years. The three Courts by which the king and Laud had carried out their religious and financial measures were abolished - the Star Chamber, the Court of High Commission, and the Council of the North. Finally Ship-Money and other arbitrary forms of taxation were declared illegal. These abolitions of the year 1641 were the permanent, constructive work of the Puritan revolution; nor were the institutions then destroyed restored with the monarchy in 1660. Meanwhile another Bill had come up for discussion. A petition was presented to Parliament praying for the ending of episcopacy (that is, the rule of the Church by bishops) 'in all its roots and branches'.
The thorough-going Puritan members considered the petition, and a 'Root-and-Branch' Bill in 1641 was prepared, but it fell through. For now a new factor came into play. Hitherto a large majority, both of Lords and Commons, had been united in their opposition to the king. But this Bill divided parliamentarians for the first time. There were many who began to fear extremes; and a moderate party now sprang up. It was out of this debate on the Root-and- Branch Bill that the germs of the future Roundhead and Cavalier parties were formed. The extremists - the Roundheads - included Pym, Hampden, and Oliver Cromwell. The chief figures on the other side were LordFalkland and Sir Edward Hyde, afterwards the famous Earl of Clarendon, the future Chancellor and historian. Parliament adjourned for six months, but met again at the end of October. It had no sooner assembled than terrible news arrived from Ireland. Now that the stern hand of Strafford was withdrawn, the crushed Irish had risen against their lords. There was a sudden and horrible rebellion thousands of Protestants were massacred in cold blood. When this news was received in London it only served to increase the Puritanfury. Meanwhile the Commons drew up a Grand Remonstrance in November 1641, in which they recited the past acts of the king and his servants to which they objected - there were 201 items - and stated a programme for the future. Some of its clauses prayed the king to reduce the power of the bishops and to remove 'oppressions in religion'. Another clause asked His Majesty to employ ministers 'such as the Parliament may have cause to confide in' - which in later times solved the problem of disputes between king and Parliament.
All this shows that Parliament had considerably advanced its demands. During the months from November 1640 to September 1641 they, had succeeded in placing constitutional checks on the king's power. From November 1641 to August 1642 they were bent on seizing control of both Church and State, until they forced Charles to reply: ' If I granted your demands, I should be no more than the merephantom of a king.' The Grand Remonstrance was passed by a majority of only eleven - a fact which illustrates the growth of the anti-Puritan party.
The situation, at the end of 1641, was dangerous in the extreme. On the one hand the queen and the swaggering ' Cavaliers' of the Court were urging Charles to strike at King Pym and his fellow leaders before it was too late. On the other hand, London was a stronghold of Puritanism, and it was the London merchants who had felt the weight of Charles's taxation most heavily. The London ' prentices' and the king's swordsmen were itching to get at one another's throats. Never the less Pym proceeded steadily on his way. He was determined to deprive the king of the command of the militia; for it was obvious that if the Irish rebellion was to be crushed a militia must be called out. And once Charles had command of the national armed forces, would he not use them to crush Parliament and destroy English liberty for ever? Pym had no doubt that he would. A Militia Bill was therefore brought in, and - contrary to all English law and custom - it took the command of the military forces out of the king's hands. To this Charles of course refused his consent.
Early in January 1642 he took the queen's advice, and instructed the Attorney- General to impeach Pym, Hampden, and three other leading members of the Commons. The members were alarmed, but Charles promised them 'on the word of a king' that no violence should be done them. The next day - the 4th of January 1642 - he went down to the House with 400 swordsmen. He left his guard at the door, and walked in accompanied only by Prince Rupert, his German nephew. But the five members, warned of his intention, had fled by river. There was a dead silence as the king looked round. He asked the Speaker, Lenthall, where the missing members were. 'I have neither eyes to see', Lenthall replied, 'nor tongue to speak in this place, but as this House shall direct me.' There was another pause as Charles scanned the benches. 'I see', he said at last, 'all the birds are flown. I do expect you will send them to me as soon as they shall return hither.' Then, amid cries of 'Privilege, privilege', he walked out. By this revolutionary act the king had outlawed himself. All hope of reconciliation being now past, he determined to try the issue of war. He left his capital on the 10th of January, sent the queen out of the country, and took up his quarters at York. Parliament claimed the control of the militia and secured the command of the fleet. During the spring and summer of 1642 both sides were busy raising troops. The great strength of the Puritan cause was London. The city contained a tenth of the population of England - 500000 out of five million. The number of troops which London provided was more than sufficient to quell any Royalist opposition in the surrounding country. The London 'train-bands' therefore protected the Puritan leaders during the eight months that the king was gathering his army in the north - January to August 1642. And so the English Civil War started. Research Long Parliament
A mound or orb is a sign of sovereign authority and majesty. It consists of a ball or globe surmounted by a cross and encircled with a horizontal band, from the upper edge of which springs a semi-circular band, both of which are enriched with precious stones. The mound forms part of a sovereigns royal regalia. Research Mound
The Cleveland Bay is an indigenous British breed of riding horse dating back to the Middle Ages when they originated in the Cleveland district of Yorkshire from the Chapman Horse. The Cleveland Bay stands 16.2 hands high and is bay with black points in colour. By the 1960s the breed had almost died out, but intervention by Her MajestyQueen Elizabeth II who purchased a stallion for breeding has resulted in the breed's continuation. Research Cleveland Bay
Catholic Majesty was a title which PopeAlexander VI gave to the kings of Spain, in memory of the complete expulsion of the Moors from Spain in 1491 by Ferdinand of Aragon. But even before that time, and especially after the council at Toledo in 589, several Spanish kings are said to have borne this title. Research Catholic Majesty
Frederic Augustus Thesiger, Lord Chelmsford, was an English soldier and statesman. He was born in 1827 and died in 1905. The eldest son of the first LordChelmsford, who was twice lord-chancellor, he was educated at Eton, served in the Crimean War and through the Indian mutiny. As deputy adjutant-general he served in the Abyssinian campaign, was nominated CB, made aide-de-camp to her Majesty Queen Victoria, and adjutant-general to the forces in India from 1868 until 1876, and in 1877 was appointed commander of the forces and lieutenant-governor of Cape Colony.
He restored Kaffraria to tranquillity, and was given the chief command in the Zulu war of 1879. After great difficulties with the transport, and some disasters, he gained the decisive victory of Ulundi, before the arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley, who had been sent to supersede him. On his return he was made GCB, and from 1884 until 1889 was lieutenant of the Tower. Research Frederic Thesiger
In Greek mythology, Semele was a daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia. She was beloved by Zeus and bore him Dionysus by an immaculate conception. Hera, the wife of Zeus, was so consumed by jealousy that she persuaded Semele to ask Zeus to show himself to her in all his majesty. Zeus thereupon appeared as the god of thunder, and Semele was consumed by lightning, but Zeus saved her unborn child, Dionysus. Dionysus then later retrieved Semele from Hades and she became the goddess Thyone. Research Semele
The Black Watch (Watch or Highland Watch) was a British army force raised in 1729 to keep peace in the Highlands during the times of the Jacobite intrigue. The regiment was raised from companies employed to watch the Islands of Scotland and subsequently became renamed the Royal Highlanders and had the nickname of the Black Watch from the black tartan they wear. The Regiment's first blooding occurred in Flanders in 1745, in the War of Jenkin's Ear at the Battle of Fontenoy, where the French dubbed them 'Highland Furies'. In 1751 the Regiment was numbered the 42nd, The Gallant Forty Two. Seven years later the title 'Royal' was granted and it became the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment.
The Black Watch saw action in the Americas, most notably in Ticonderoga and the Heights of Abraham, and acquired its presentbadge and motto 'Nemo me impune lacessit' which refers to the Thistle and means 'nobody provokes me without being hurt'. In 1759 the red hackle, seen in the feather bonnets and worn by all ranks of the Black Watch, was first presented at Royston, in Hertfordshire.
During the Napoleonic Wars the Regiment fought at the Battle of Alexandria (hence the Sphinx and the word Egypt on its colours), in the Peninsula, including Corruna, and finally at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. Its 19th century battle honours include Alma and Lucknow, and in the 1860s Queen Victoria authorised the addition of the name 'The Black Watch' to the official title of the 42nd Royal Highlanders, a title which has become known throughout the world.
During the Great War, eleven Battalions of the Black Watch fought in France and Flanders, Macedonia, Mesopotamia and Palestine. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, former Colonel in Chief of the Black Watch since 1937 until her death, had two brothers and a first cousin in the 5th Battalion, another brother killed in 1915 with the 8th and a cousin killed serving with 4/5th. Armistice Day found the Regiment advancing across the very field at Fontenoy where the Watch had fought 173 years before. The French commemorated the stalwart assistance given to them in Champagne in 1918 by erecting a cairn on the spot where fell the body of The Black Watch soldier who advanced the furthest - 'Here shall flourish for ever the gloriousthistle of Scotland among the roses of France'.
The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers was formed by order of Her Majesty the Queen on St. George's Day, 23rd April, 1968 by the union of the four regiments of the Fusilier Brigade: The Fifth Foot, The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers, The Sixth Foot, The Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers, The Royal Fusiliers (The City of London Regiment), and the Twentieth Foot, The Royal Lancashire Fusiliers. There is no distinction between the regular battalions of the regiment as each shares an equal inheritance from the four former regiments, and each draws Fusiliers from the four regimental areas of England - Northumberland, Warwickshire, London and Lancashire. Currently, the regiment boasts two regular battalions (1st and 2nd) and two territorial battalions (5th and 6th) which are located in Coventry and Alnwick, Northumberland.
The regimental emblem is St. George with the Garter, all within a laurelwreath and surrounded by St. Edward's crown. The regimental flag is the red cross of St. George on a white field, with the regimental emblem in the centre of the cross. The regimental motto, inherited from The Royal WarwickshireRegiment and The Royal Fusiliers is that of the Royal Garter - Honi soit quimal y pense - 'Evil be to he who evil thinks.' The regimental cap badge consists of the symbol of St. George and the dragon within a laurelwreath ensigned with the crown. The St. George and the dragon is inherited from The Royal Fusiliers and the laurelwreath from The Lancashire Fusiliers. Research The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers
Tyrian dye was a purple dye derived from animal juice in the shell-fish murex. It was used in ancient times. Since only small quantities could be obtained, it's use was limited to the great and the wealthy, hence purple became the colour associated with majesty. Research Tyrian dye
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Antonomasia
