Baptism pre-Reformation

Summary.   Baptism before Reformation, 1534, was almost as important as Communion. It both purified and sanctified the individual. It was accepted new babies had to be baptised immediately and the ritual involved three Godparents and perhaps the midwife. The ceremony usually started at the door of the church and then a font near to the door. Vows were important. Wealthy families could be in the church which was richly decorated. It is mostly Thomas Cranmer’s baptismal service of 1552 that passed into the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which with minor change is used today.  

    The sacrament of baptism[1] in medieval times was believed to be a way of purifying or giving rebirth of the individual and uniting them with the church. It was another way God showed grace, sometimes called christening, and was second in importance to the mass. A ritual that was both a symbolic and a supernatural transformation. Baptism, mostly for adults, became common by the 2nd-century and up to the 12th-century was customary to enact on Easter Eve[2] or Pentecost Eve.[3] During this time the ritual was variable, location could be outside of a church, if near or in a church it necessitated a baptistry or very large font and age was not defined. After this time[4] baptism was considered essential to be held either on the day of birth, or if good reason delayed no more than two days. This immediacy was in order to save the child’s soul, to enable eternal salvation in case of early death.[5] Baptism was obligatory, though some avoided it, and the church had a prescribed liturgy. Immediate baptism also served to give the baby a name; invariably one name in medieval times. The church required three godparents to be present,[6] two to be the gender of the baby. The name was pronounced by the senior godparent and was repeated at least 16 times in the service. Some historians think it was the godparent who chose the name and so might have ignored the wishes of the parents. Latin was used in the service, but the vernacular was spoken in parts. Normally baptisms occurred in the church, but with extenuating circumstances it could be undertaken elsewhere by the midwife and, if the infant lived, validated later in the church. The midwife presented the infant, together with godparents, whilst the mother stayed at home for 6 weeks being considered unclean to visit the church. The father generally stayed away from the ceremony.

Early depiction of baptism from the catacomb of San Callisto, 3rd century. The baptised was usually naked. It appears water is being poured over the young person.

 

            Detail of the baptismal procedure was first recorded in the second half of the 13th-century.[7] The liturgy began at the cathedral door symbolising the transition from the sinful outside and moving into God’s house.[8] At this time many churches gained a porch for such a celebration and Lichfield Cathedral was probably no exception with an outward projecting atrium around the Great West door.[9] The priest asked the midwife for the gender of the infant and checked whether it had already received a name and any form of baptism.[10] A male baby was held by the priest to the right, a female to the left. He then gave a sign of the cross on the baby’s forehead and said some words to emphasise this and then repeated it on the baby’s breast. The senior godparent then announced the name as well as handing over a small amount of salt. The priest placed this in the baby’s mouth and said a series of prayers.[11] The salt was given to represent wisdom and the prayers exorcised the devil. Three verses from Matthew’s Gospel now described how children were brought for blessing. The priest now spat into his hand and placed saliva on the ears and nose of the baby simulating how Christ healed the blind man. Remember, a new born baby would have their eyes closed. Finally, the Pater noster (Lord’s prayer in Latin) and creed was said. A sign of the cross was given to the baby’s right hand. As the group moved into the church, the priest said, ‘Go into the temple of God, so that you may have eternal life and live world without end. Amen.’ Wealthy families would have decorated the church with fine cloth of silk and gold and arranged for many candles to be brought into the church. For some it was an event emphasising their status.

            The baptismal party stood by the font at the west end of the nave and not far from the entrance door. In later times, the priest asked in the vernacular the party to say the Pater noster, Ave Maria and Creed. He then charged the godparents to protect the infant from fire, water and other perils up to the age of seven (considered to be the age of reason)[12]. They should teach the child, especially the three prayers, and ensure they were confirmed when older. The priest now in Latin blessed the baby in the name of the Trinity and the cathedral saints (Chad and the Virgin Mary).

            Now followed an ordeal for godparents to give vows in Latin and for the naked baby to be immersed in the font three times.[13] The vows were, “Do you renounce Satan? Do you renounce all his works? Do you renounce all his pomps? Do you believe in God the father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth? Do you believe in Jesus Christ his only son our Lord, (who was) born and suffered? Do you also believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life after death everlasting?” Finally, he asked what the party were seeking and they had to reply ‘baptism.’ Then ‘Do you wish to be baptised?’ would be responded with ‘I do.’

            The priest immersed the baby in the font water and said, ‘I baptise you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.’ He repeated the immersion twice more symbolically recalling the Trinity.[14] There are later accounts when affusion, pouring water over the head of the baby, occurred; it is unclear which way was used at Lichfield. Single dipping became the custom from the instruction in the 1552 Prayer Book. If the font was the stonework uncovered in the 1850s in the presbytery area and now lost, it was large enough for total immersion. The senior godparent then held the baby whilst the priest said a prayer and then anointed the baby with chrism[15] on the top of the head. The baby was wrapped in a white cloth known as a ‘chrisom,’ with some words being spoken. Finally, a candle was held in the baby’s hand and some more words spoken. Sometimes, two gospel readings were now given, but this would require an assistant for the priest.

Anointing with chrism from France, possibly Amiens, between 1300 and 1310. MS M.751 fol. 48r. The Morgan Library and Museum, New York. The background of the image has been removed. The anguish on all the faces is obvious.

 

            Normally the party would leave the church, but there are records of refreshment being consumed, sometimes to excess. If many servants helped in the ceremony there could be a distribution of money. It was forbidden to pay the priest,[16] but money was often offered later.   

  The current cathedral font was installed in 1860 and is made of alabaster, Caen stone with marble pillars. Originally close to the north-west door of the nave, it was moved to the North Transept in 1982. The front of the font shows Christ being baptised. John the Baptist holds a scallop shell holding water from the river Jordan over the head of Jesus. A scallop shell symbolises pilgrimage and baptism was seen as a similar journey in faith.

 

            Jewish Law forbade a new mother to return to the church for 33 days for a boy and 66 for a girl. In the medieval church this time changed to 40 days irrespective of the sex of the baby. She could then have a ‘churching’ in which she (her blood) was purified. She visited the priest wearing a head veil, usually accompanied by her midwife and assistant matrons, then made an offering and was pronounced clean. She also returned the chrisom cloth, to be used for further baptisms. Then followed a mass. There might have been in the cathedral a ‘child-wife’s seat.’ The general custom was she could only after churching resume to have sexual intercourse. This church procedure, never made canon law but was in later manuals. It was possibly flouted and indeed if the mother had a real need to pray in church after childbirth it was seen as acceptable. Wealthy parishioners turned the service into a special occasion with the woman wearing a new dress and entertaining a feast afterwards. 

             It is mostly Thomas Cranmer’s[17] baptismal service of 1552 that passed into the 1662 Book of Common Prayer which with minor change is used today.   

[1] Baptisma is Greek for washing or dipping. It originated from Jewish ritualistic practices during the Second Temple Period, c.530 BC–70 AD. It is unknown whether Jesus was baptised by standing in the river Jordan or by total submersion in the water.

[2] Jesus returned to new life at Easter.

[3] John 20, v.22 described the disciples being born again before the Holy Spirit fell at Pentecost.

[4] Infant baptism was accepted at an earlier time in Europe. There are records as early as the 9th-century. During the ninth century in England, both civil and religious regulations required baptism for Christian infants before they reached one month of age. No date can be placed on when it became the norm for England for immediate baptism, which is odd.

[5] Estimates of up to 100 deaths per 1000 live births.

[6] The godparents were held to uphold the spiritual development of the child and were therefore equal in importance to the parents. Finding a godparent with higher status than the parents was frequently sought. After Reformation the role of godparents was reduced.

[7] Described by N. Orme, Going to church in Medieval England, (New Haven and London: 2022), 302–314. The historical record was called ‘proofs of age.’ See also P. Cramer, Baptism and Change in the Early Middle Ages, c.200-c.1150 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought), (Cambridge: 2003), Fourth Series, Series Number 20.

[8] The medieval church held that babies were inherently tainted by the doctrine of Original Sin, a state of separation from God. All people were born into this separation as a result of the disobedience of Adam and Eve. 

[9] See the post King Richard II of Bordeaux and Lichfield. The other two doors on the west front might have had some porch, but this is unrecorded.

[10] Only Royalty were allowed baptism outside a mainstream church. They used a private chapel. Very early medieval baptism was sometimes undertaken at wells and springs.

[11] Boys received 5 or 6 prayers, girls three or five prayers.

[12] The Fourth Lateran Council, 1215, decreed that all children past the age of seven should confess their sins and receive communion at least once a year.

[13] The font water would have previously been consecrated with prayers, a cross made in the water, the priest breathing three times on the water in the shape of the cross and dropping wax from a burning candle and adding holy oil to the water.

[14] How a new born baby responded to this is unclear, but it must have been an unpleasant experience. Usually the water was church cold, though sometimes it was warmed. In later years the baby was firstly immersed on the side facing north, then facing south and finally immersed face down.

[15] a mixture of oil and balsam, consecrated and used for anointing at baptism and used in other rites 

[16] Third Lateran Council, 1179.

[17] Archbishop of Canterbury, 1532–1556.

Death and burial pre-Reformation

 Summary. Dying, death and burial involved a series of rituals intended to give salvation and ultimately eternal life. Receiving the last sacraments was essential, though proved difficult with death from plague. It was necessary for the dead to be given all rites to avoid hell and damnation. Place of burial depended on status.  Cranmer’s Prayer Book, 1552, signalled the end of the church assuming prayer would affect life after death.

    In 1276, the average length of life from birth was around 31–5 years (those born with wealth could expect at least another 10 years). Infant mortality was high with one third not reaching their 5th birthday. As much as 20% of women died from childbirth and complications that followed. Death was common and a constant threat. Between 1348 and 1351 and periodically afterwards, plague accentuated this deep concern. Images in church of hell and judgement, such as on rood screens, must have been a consistent reminder of needing to approach death with a pure heart.

 

Cadaver tomb said to be Dean Thomas Haywode (Haywood) who died in 1492. The dried skeleton sculpture would be a reminder of death. If it had an upper part this would show the individual in life.

 

For a church dying, death and burial involved a series of rituals intended to give salvation and ultimately eternal life.[1] Priests were obliged to visit the sick and give a blessing. This could be a challenge to large, rural parishes. The priest would vest himself, ring a passing-bell and be accompanied by a clerk when travelling by horse or foot to the dying. Seriously ill parishioners would receive an anointing and a mass. A crucifix would be placed in the house for the gravely ill to see. After aspersing water and saying prayers, the priest asked, presumably in the vernacular, for the individual to profess their faith by responding ‘I believe.’ Then followed questions to assess the depth of sins committed. If the individual died without completing their penance, then the family and friends had to undertake the penance, which often meant giving alms. The priest offered the crucifix to be kissed and then prayers to remit the sins confessed.[2] The dying were anointed with holy oil on each eye, ears, lips, nostrils, hands, feet and back (or navel for a woman).

  

Anointing. 1445–50. Painting by Roger van der Weyden. Wikipedia Commons

 

After washing his hands with saltwater, the priest gave a blessing and prayers for healing. Finally, he questioned whether the individual believed in the transubstantiation of the bread and wine and, if so, gave a shortened mass with a wafer given to the mouth.[3]

Last rite, Dutch school of painting, c. 1600. Wikipedia Commons.

 

            If the priest could not reach the dying, then psalms were read and prayers given, especially invoking the Trinity and saints (Chad and Mary for Lichfield), in the cathedral. A passing bell might have been rung.[4]

            After death, prayers and psalms were said around the body. The body was washed and given a white shroud (white only if in faith). The coffin was surrounded by a black cloth to show death. Sometimes, the body was then placed in the church with mourners ‘watching’ overnight. There was an ancient custom for close ones to drink, sing and dance, but this was discouraged by the church. If available, a priest might sing the psalms. If the deceased had been kept at home, it was taken for burial in a borrowed community-coffin accompanied by loved ones carrying candles. This could be a long journey and out of the parish. The cortege would normally have to arrive early morning, but occasionally a service would be held after the mid-morning mass.

            At the cathedral the coffin was taken to the chancel, whilst mourners stayed in the nave. A service of matins for the dead was given. High status deceased might have a sermon with the clergy robed in black or blue vestments.[5] Clergy and wealthy could be buried within the cathedral. Burial around Chad’s gravesite was generally favoured by deans whereas bishops were usually interred close to the high altar. Sometimes canons were buried in the aisles. They were usually buried in a stone coffin or in a stone-lined grave topped with a ledger stone becoming part of the floor. The stone recorded the death date as the most important time for the life remembered. Ordinary folk were buried in the cemetery in shallow (0.4–0.7 m deep) earth graves[6] wrapped in a shroud. The grave might be aspersed with water, censed and blessed. The priest scattered earth to the grave in a configuration of a cross before it was closed.[7] Sprigs of rosemary were often carried by people in the funeral procession and cast onto the grave, much as wreaths are today.

            Christians were buried with their head to the west and feet to the east. At Lichfield the east-west alignment of the cathedral is poor and graves in the Close have shown variable alignments which might be due to lack of space at the time of burial. Often a cross was added to the grave. A priest’s coffin found in the nave excavations, 2003, was covered with a white cloth on which was painted a Greek cross (+) and alongside were two broken sticks arranged in the same way. In some graves a broken measuring rod has been found.[8] Sometimes a wax cross was placed on their chest. The priest’s coffin had a pewter chalice on the lid with a veil covering it and a wafer stuck to the veil; a reminder to have mass when reaching paradise. Bishops were buried with religious and secular artefacts and sometimes bullae from the pope.[9] Parliamentarian soldiers, 1643, removed from the tomb of Bishop Scrope a silver chalice and a crozier of considerable value. The idea that Christians, unlike pagans, were buried simply without grave goods is not true.

Drawing of a chalice found in a grave in the middle aisle in 1785.

14th-century oak coffin covered with a cloth showing a red cross. On top is a pewter chalice and paten covered with a linen corporal concealing a wafer. Note also two broken sticks.

The burial service used for children is unclear, but some were buried close to adults. Money was left by the wealthy for candles and prayers to be said in the following days, or every month (month’s mind) for a year, or on anniversaries (year’s mind). Often alms were given for the poor and sometimes money bequeathed to pay for their burial or for them to say prayers for the deceased. The wealthy would request mourning for 30 days. 

              There has been a modern interpretation of medieval burial as being superstition and ritual intended to keep the dead from reappearing in some form to harass the living. This is an exaggeration from a few cases recorded in isolated churches. From very early times there is much evidence to show the dead were invariably respected and given a sympathetic burial. There is also the charge that the church used burial to make money. Payment was necessary,[10] but there were reduced charges for the poor and disadvantaged.

            Orme concluded ‘a medieval church was almost as much a place of the dead as it was of the living.’[11] The 1552 Cranmer’s Prayer Book signalled the end of the church assuming prayer would affect life after death.[12] The church from now on prayed for Christ’s work in life and for his grace in death.   

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[1] Information is mostly from N. Orme, Going to church in Medieval England, (New Haven and London: 2022), 337–47. See also M. Gray, ‘Deathbed and Burial Rituals in Late Medieval Catholic Europe.’ In  A companion to death, burial and remembrance in late Medieval and Early Modern Europe, c. 1300-1700, Chapter 3. (Leiden, Netherlands: 2020), 106–131.

[2] For many, the soul lay in purgatory waiting for all sins to be pardoned by God. Purgatory became accepted in the Catholic church at the Council of Lyon, 1274. The concept predates Christianity because it was a belief of Orthodox Jews. It is not mentioned in the Bible.

[3] Mass was not offered to children, the insane and anyone likely to vomit the elements. It could be offered again to adults if ever they recovered.

[4] Two rings for a woman and three for a man.

[5] Lichfield Cathedral was stated to have a large wardrobe of vestments in the time of Walter Langton.

[6] Archaeology found Chad’s grave to be recessed 0.8 m into the sandstone bedrock of the cathedral.

[7] Cremation in this time was strongly forbidden. Criminals, suicides, and the unbaptised could not be buried in consecrated ground. This was relaxed in 1547; clergy had to bury whoever was brought to the church.

[8] A reminder we have no defence after death. Monarchs have been buried with a broken staff of office.

[9] At Lichfield these valuables were removed by Parliamentarian soldiers in the Civil War, 1643.

[10] A London church charged 8 pence for an adult burial and 4 pence for a child. The sexton digging the grave and ringing the bell might charge 6 pence. A member of a Guild could expect to receive help with their payment. There are many records of poor people paying 1 penny, and the paupers being buried on the north side of a churchyard without ceremony. Those buried in the cathedral would have had to pay much.

[11] Note 1. Orme, (2022), 348.

[12] Diarmaid Maculloch expressed it as ‘the church surrendered its power over death.'

First Civil War siege of the Close, March 1643.

Summary. An inexperienced troop of Royalist soldiers occupied the cathedral and Close in December 1642. They enhanced the fortifications around the Close. A regiment of Parliamentarian soldiers besieged the Close in March 1643. Lord Brooke, their leader, was killed on March 2nd, Chad’s death day. His replacement came with more troops and they fired grenadoes from mortars over the walls. Three days of bombardment led to the Royalists surrendering. 

In December 1642, a troop of around 300 Royalist soldiers from Derbyshire led by Lord Chesterfield entered Lichfield and garrisoned in the Close. His army was a mix of local gentry and servants, most were ill equipped and untrained.[1] The cathedral served as a barracks with horses stabled in the cathedral. At the same time, Royalist contingents secured Tamworth, Stafford and Dudley. A red royalist flag was run up the central spire and must have angered townspeople as many, possibly most, supported the Parliamentarians.

Fortress cathedral

                                      Summary of the fortification of the Close.

A journal written by the Parliamentary army General, Sir William Brereton,^[2] stated at the beginning of the first siege, March 1643, the walls of the Close had been strengthened and loopholes pieced in the stonework, a deep and wide moat surrounded the Close, mounds were thrown up on the inner banks, double wooden doors, portcullises and drawbridges added to the gates and additional walls and bastions added. The west gate had two outer towers to make it a barbican and this would have strengthened the doorway, the weakest part of the fortification. Clarendon wrote,^[3] at the beginning of the Civil War “The Close in Lichfield was a place naturally strong, and defended with a moat, and a very high and thick wall; which in the infancy of the war was thought a good fortification”. On the second siege, April 1643, he added, “The cathedral church and all the clergymen’s houses was strongly fortified, and resolved against him (Prince Rupert). The wall, about which there was a broad and deep moat, was so thick and strong, that no battery the prince could raise would make any impression.”^[4] Fortress Lichfield was seen as formidable, perhaps, impregnable.

Two months after Chesterfield’s arrival, the Parliamentary commander for Warwickshire and Staffordshire, Robert Greville, Second Baron Brooke of Warwick, after removing Royalists from Warwickshire with a battle at Stratford-upon-Avon, August 1642, brought his private army of around 1200 foot-soldiers, wearing their distinctive purple uniforms, to Lichfield. They had some experience in warfare and were well organised in ten companies each led by an officer. Greville was an ardent Calvinist, Puritan and supporter of the ‘Levellers,’ and possibly the Scottish Covenanters. His army had distinguished themselves at Edgehill (then known as the battle of Kenton), October 1642, and helped defend London at the battle of Brentford, November 1642. Greville arrived on March 1 1643 and immediately placed his cannon opposite the south-east gate.[5] A medium-sized cannon called a demi-culverin, that fired balls with a 110 mm diameter, was fired at the gate, but made little difference.

Robert Greville. He previously said he would flatten the cathedral and then go on to do the same for St Pauls. He described cathedrals as ‘the haunt of anti-Christ’[6] Wikimedia Commons.

 

Demi-Culverin cannon. One used to attack the south-east gate was given a name of ‘Black Bess’. It fired a 9-pound cannonball.

 

 The central tower of the cathedral had minion cannons that were small bore, typically 76.2 mm or 3 inch diameter, and fired a 5-pound cannonball. On the walls were soldiers with muskets.[7] Then followed a freak event which has been a story to tell, and distort, ever since the morning of March 2. A sniper killed Robert Greville; it is one of the earliest recorded assassinations by a sniper. A much-repeated story has the sniper firing from the central tower, but this is improbable.

 

View from the central tower to where a cannon was positioned (near Speaker’s Corner). The distance is 170 m (185 yards). An owner of a civil war musket has privately said this distance might just have been lethal, but accuracy would be minimal. Much more likely was the sniper was on the curtain wall battlements or gate towers.

 

There are at least four different reports detailing the assassination.  

1. Edward, Earl of Clarendon wrote[8] Brooke lodged in a house within musket-shot from the Close. On the intended day of assault of the Close, he was sitting in his chamber with the window open. He was, from the wall of the Close, shot by a common soldier with a musket ball in the eye of which he instantly died without speaking a word. Clarendon was an arch Royalist so the narrative could be arranged so that the assassination appeared unfortunate.

Another version has Brooke killed by an unknown person with a brace of bullets[9] and another[10] claimed a large quantity of slugs was fired.

2. Brooke was looking out of a window in an upstairs room and directing his troops where to fire the cannon. He then descended from the upper room, and as he came out of a door was shot in the eye.[11] A version has the musket ball ricocheting from the door frame.
3. The third mentions being shot in the mouth with a musket ball made from church lead. The taking of lead from a church roof adds to the infamy and being shot in the mouth seems like perverse justice. The soldier who took the lead from the roof and fired his home-made musket was named as John Dyott, a local Royalist.  It supports the notion the shot came from the cathedral roof/tower.[12]  Harwood wrote, Lord Brooke, a General of the Parliament Forces, preparing to besiege the Close of Lichfield, then garrisoned for King Charles I  received his death wound, on the spot beneath this inscription (in Dam Street), by a shot in the forehead from Mr. Dyott a gentleman who had placed himself on the battlements of the great steeple to annoy the Besiegers.[13] A variation has Brooke removing his helmet before being shot.
4. Clayton[14] described Brooke as passing under cover from Market Street around the backs of houses in Dam Street and then through an entry close to where his cannon was positioned. He was wearing his purple tunic and a five-barred headpiece (his armour at Warwick Castle shows a three-barred helmet) and this made him stand out. John Dyott, a man born both deaf and dumb, was posted on the cathedral tower armed with a fowling piece or punt gun (it had a barrel around 2.1 m or 7 feet long and a calibre of 40 mm).[15] It was loaded with a lead ball made from lead taken off the cathedral roof. Brooke leaned forward to give instructions to his gunner and was shot in his left eye.

 

17th-century matchlock musket

 The Civil War was the first in England to use propaganda spread by pamphlets to exaggerate the feats and belittle the enemy. Since the assassination occurred on Chad’s Death Day, March 2, it led to some believing Chad was intervening, so giving it quasi-divine justification. More likely is that after a cannon bombardment of the south-east gate there was a reply from the besieged of a fusillade of musket shot and one ball killed Brooke. Almost certainly the shot came from the battlements on the south-east wall.

 

The Parliamentarians brought in reinforcements led by John Gell from Derbyshire raising the besiegers to 2000 men. Gell was at one time a supporter of the king and then turned puritan opposing the king’s attempts to encourage high Anglicanism. It was said Gell used hostages to front his troops and avoid further sniper attack. The hostages were paraded along Dam Street which exposed them to sniper fire. The outcome was a sniper wounding Edward Peyto, Brooke’s deputy, who died some weeks later. Another senior officer was also killed. Exposing hostages was not repeated. This either, indicates great accuracy of the Royalist snipers, or is yet another distortion.

A scaling of the north wall with ladders was rebuffed. After collecting much flammable material from residents (tar, pitch, hemp, rosin), they tried to set fire to the west gate, but failed under fire to place the material. At one point, the drawbridge on the west gate was lowered and attackers were repelled. A small Royalist group based at Rushall arrived to harry the besiegers, but retired after losing 60 horses. They tried a second time at night but to no avail.  

A large army of 3000, horse and foot, led by William Brereton arrived to assist the siege. Brereton was the commander of parliamentary forces in Cheshire, Shropshire, Lancashire and Staffordshire. He advocated total reform of the Anglican Church. On March 4, the Parliamentarians brought a mortar from Coventry to fire ‘grenadoes’ over the walls. These were hollow metal balls (perhaps ceramic at the start), around 250 mm (10 inches) across, filled with gunpowder and having a slow-burning fuse sticking out. The mortar lobbed them high with the intention of getting them to land in the south-west corner of the Close. Very many, possibly several hundred, were sent over the walls, causing much damage accompanied by considerable noise. The grenadoes shattered into metal shards; it was an indiscriminate terror weapon. Many missed the target and many failed to explode, with some even being sent back. 

A mortar at Goodrich Castle

After 3 days, Chesterfield, hopelessly outnumbered and almost out of ammunition, pulled down his flag gave instructions to a trumpeter to sound a surrender and later opened the gates. Residents of the Close were pardoned, but Chesterfield and his leaders were detained. Chesterfield was led to the tower and kept until the end of the war.

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[1] S. Shaw, The history and antiquities of Staffordshire. Volume 1 ed. (London: 1798) described Chesterfield as more remarkable for his loyalty to the king than in the arts of war.

[2] J. McKenna, A Journal of the English Civil War. The Letter Book of Sir William Brereton. (North Carolina and London: 2012), 59, 99. J. W. W. Bund, The Civil War in Worcestershire, 1642-1646 and the Scotch invasion of 1651. (Birmingham: 1905), 30, confirmed the Close was fortified by the Royalists before the first siege, 1643.

[3] E. Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, The History of the Great Rebellion and Civil Wars in England in the Year 1641, (Oxford: 1816), Volume 6, 454.

[4] Ibid. Volume 7, 34.

[5] According to Shaw (1798).

[6] He owned the elaborate and well-furnished Warwick Castle. W. Dugdale, Monasticum Anglicanum. London: 1673) described him as ‘strangely tainted with fanatic principles’.

[7] W. Gresley, The siege of Lichfield: A tale illustrative of the Great Rebellion. (London: 1840).

[8] E. H. Clarendon, The history of the rebellion and civil wars in England. Vol. 4, 221. His account was written between 1646–48, but not published until 1702–4. The narrative is taken from an edition (Oxford: 1807).

[9] T. Lomax, A short account of the City and Close of Lichfield. (Lichfield: 1819).

[10] H. S. Ward, Lichfield and its cathedral: a brief history and guide. (Bradford and London: 1892).

[11] W. Dugdale, Monasticum Anglicanum (London: 1673).

[12] It is thought this narrative was spun in a propaganda pamphlet and has been extended with time. It is repeated by A. Dougan, One shot, one kill. A history of the sniper. (London: 2004).

[13] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806), 503.

[14] H. Clayton, ‘Loyal and Ancient City. The Civil War in Lichfield’. (Lichfield, self-published: 1987), 22.

[15] Such a musket was not generally used until the 19^th century, so it must have been self-made with an eccentrically long barrel (after 1630 they were normally 1m long). The calibre indicates a large lead ball and would have caused extensive damage. Such a musket still exists with the Dyott family.