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.

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. 

Preamble.

The three Civil Wars, first in England and later in Scotland and Ireland, caused 250,000 deaths, around 1 in 10 of the adult population. This is a much bigger percentage of the population than has occurred in any war before or since. There was no one cause for the war, but instead an increasing annoyance with the way the country was being ruled. Aggravation came from;

1.     King Charles found it difficult to persuade Parliament to raise money. So he made everyone pay a ‘ship tax’. Lichfield in 1635 had to pay £100, which increased in 1637 to £150 and another £10 for the Close. He also imposed heavy fines on the nobility to obtain titles.

2.     From 1639 he closed down Parliament for 11 years.

3.     His wife was Catholic and Charles defended a Catholic way for the Eucharist. He abolished the ‘Book of Common Prayer’ and ordered the Scots to use an English prayer book. He appeared to support the Irish Catholics.

4.     There were many old arguments about the ownership of manors and estates.

It was not a clear-cut war between Catholics and Protestants. Indeed, the majority of soldiers in both the Parliament and Royalist armies were Protestants. It often split families with father and son on different sides. The cathedral and Close were Royalist and the majority in Lichfield supported the Parliamentarians. There were differences in many ways between a Parliamentarian ‘Roundhead’ soldier and a Royalist ‘Cavalier’ soldier, but these are generalisations.

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 their servants; most were ill equipped and untrained.[1] The cathedral served as a barracks with horses stabled inside 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 Parliamentarian cause.

Fortress cathedral with red flags to intimidate and show force.

 

                                      Summary of the fortification of the Close. There is uncertainty on the shape of the west end towers, the amount of walling on the southern boundary and the effectiveness of the moat on the north side.

                           Best interpretation of how the west-end fortification appeared.

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, 1587. 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 so 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 Sir 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.

Sir John Gell, a rich landowner in Derbyshire who sided with the Parliamentarians. There are accounts that show a ruthless attitude to his enemies.

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, on Sunday 5 March, 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.

---

[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.

Second siege, 7-21 April 1643.

Summary. The Parliamentarian army had occupied the Close for 47 days from 6 March 1642. On 7th April a Royalist regiment surrounded the Close intent on regaining the strategic military stronghold which lay on their ammunition supply route from Hull to Oxford. After several futile attempts to scale the wall, a tunnel was dug under the northwest corner and the wall breached with gunpowder. Fighting within the Close led to the Royalists retreating, but then the Parliamentarians surrendered having exhausted their ordinance.

    Prince Rupert, nephew of the king and ‘General of the Horse’, with 1200 horse and dragoons, and 400–700 foot[1] left Oxford determined to secure the Midlands. He also arranged for culverin and demi-culverin sized cannons to follow.

Prince Rupert

 Despite leading this experienced regiment, Rupert had difficulty charging 200-barricaded soldiers in Camp Hill, Deritend, Birmingham, eventually entering the town and burning some buildings. Many criticise Rupert for this reckless skirmish. He moved on to Walsall and Cannock before finally reaching Lichfield on 7 April, 1643.

Route taken by Rupert’s army.

An immediate  summons to Colonel Russel (or Roweswell) to surrender the Close was met with the cathedral ringing the bells. Russel is thought to have had 150 horse and 400 foot around the walls of the Close.[2]  Bombarding the Close wall on the north side for a week with 10–14 pounders failed to open the wall or induce surrender. This bombardment might have been from the high ground on the northwest corner now known as Prince Rupert’s Mound. See the post, ‘Fortress cathedral, 1640’ for the best idea of the layout of the fortification.

 

Current view of the cathedral from Rupert’s Mound. The Mound was raised in the third siege and is the only fieldwork left around the Close.

A letter from a Royalist soldier to his wife described a scaling of the wall near the south gate with much loss of life. Using battering rams and hurling rocks made no difference. A new tactic was needed, so Rupert’s troops drained the moat on the northwest side of the Close. It was probably full with winter rain.[3] He then supposedly recruited 50 coalminers[4] and requisitioned them to make four tunnels[5] under the inner wall of the Close. Three of these tunnels were discovered and abandoned. One undiscovered tunnel in the north-west corner of the Close was filled with five barrels of gunpowder and exploded in the hours of darkness on April 20 1643. It breached the wall with a 6 m wide gap.[6] 

North wall of the cathedral fortress showing were the breech occurred. It is likely this point along the wall had the shallowest moat being on the highest ground, Furthermore, the wall did not have houses against the wall and giving it greater strength,  

There was fierce fighting in the Close, as well as all around the wall, and Russel claimed around 100 were killed and 160 taken prisoner. He also stated his losses were only 14 killed. Prince Rupert caught a musket ball in his foot and some of his other officers were injured. The Royalists retreated and then aimed cannon through the gap in the wall. Russel was now out of ammunition and surrendered the next day. Rupert was anxious to move on to relieve a siege at Reading and his terms of surrender were generous. Russel was allowed with his troops to march to Coventry with their colours, muskets, horses and 11 carts containing valuables taken from the cathedral.[7]

Rupert breaching the wall

In the 47 days the cathedral and Close were held by the Parliamentarians much was ransacked according to Royalist accounts. Dugdale[8] stated monuments were demolished (67 gravestones robbed of brass-work, five notable tombs wrecked), carved work pulled down (100 coat-of-arms destroyed), windows battered, records of the cathedral destroyed, horses stabled in the church, a guard-room located in the cross-aisle, pavement broken, choir polluted with excrement, a cat hunted with hounds (presumably for betting) and a calf wrapped in linen sprinkled with water from the font in derision of baptism. Lists like this were commonly given for churches damaged in the Civil War and published after the return of the monarchy. Fortunately, Precentor Higgins rescued the St Chad's Gospels and Elias Ashmole regained later other books. Griffith Higgs, Dean of Lichfield 1638-1659, was unlike Dugdale an eyewitness. He confirmed much of Dugdale except the mock baptism and the hunting of cats, but added there was destruction of the font, pulpit and anything with an image of a mitre; these, together with the altar and its rail, were the first targets for destruction at almost all the cathedrals.[9]

 The Close was now entrusted to Colonel Richard Bagot and his Staffordshire regiment of horse and foot and around 700 troops. Senior clergy had left before the siege, but some members, including Precentor Higgins, joined the army. Bagot raised £75 to repair the breached wall, £12 for the drawbridge, £8 for new gates and £8 for an inner tower. £10 was needed for drawing water back into the moat and £15 to make a pond for the horses. Bagot claimed much of the cost, including pay for the troops, came from him. However, between 1643 and 1645 there was a regular and reliable system of taxation. Supplies anticipating another siege were stockpiled and even gunpowder was produced within the Close. Sulphur (brimstone) was the critical ingredient having to be imported from Sicily. Projectiles were fashioned from lead and iron found within the Close. Another 140 men were recruited; clearly a third siege was expected..

Bagot, with 400 horse, left the garrison and raided Cannock, Stafford and Burton. The regiment gained a reputation as skirmishers and plunderers. In March 1644, Prince Rupert’s army passed through Lichfield on its way to Newark and again with its return. In July, an ammunition train passed through on its way to Stratford-upon-Avon.[10] At this moment, the Royalists were based at Tutbury, Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Lichfield, whilst the Parliamentarians were at Derby, Stafford, Tamworth and Birmingham.

     In May 1645, Bagot left Lichfield with 300 foot and 200 horse to fight at Naseby where on June 14  8,000 Royalists lined up against 14,000 Parliamentarians. Bagot’s foot regiment was in the middle and was slaughtered. 900 Royalists were killed and half the army taken prisoner. Bagot returned to Lichfield with his horse regiment accompanying the king, who stayed one night in the Bishop’s Palace. Bagot was seriously wounded in the arm and he died three weeks later in the Close. . A plaque in the cathedral records he died on 1 July 1645,

Colonel Richard Bagot who became governor of Lichfield Cathedral. Acknowledgement Staffordshire Past Track, Staffordshire County Record Office. 

 Charles I returned to Lichfield in August for two days and in October for one night. Colonel Harvey Bagot replaced his brother and in January 1646 Sir Thomas Tyldesley took command of over 500 soldiers. Despite Naseby they were financially cared for as well as thoroughly prepared for battle.

[1] Accounts differ on this number. T. Lomax, A short account of the City and Close of Lichfield. (Lichfield: 1819) has 4000 troops.

[2] W. Gresley, The siege of Lichfield: A tale illustrative of the Great Rebellion. (London: 1840) thought Russel  had 80 horse and 80 foot.

[3]There are some accounts which believe the dimble on the north side of the Close was on raised ground and could not have had freestanding water from the Curborough Brook like the other three sides. It could have collected rainwater or received piped water. H. Thorpe, ‘Lichfield: a study of its growth and function’. Staffordshire Historical Collection (1950–51), 139–211 has a drawing of Lichfield dated 1640 showing a moat with water on the west, south and east side of the Close. If it was a dry dimble then its shape would have been like an ankle-breaking ditch if it was effectively defensive. N. Ellis and I. Atherton, 'Griffith Higg's account of the sieges of and iconoclasm at Lichfield Cathedral in 1643', Midland History (2009), 34, 2, 233-245 has Minster Pool on the south side and a dry ditch on the other three sides. Yet Rupert builds a bridge across this ditch and Griffiths Higgs, cathedral dean, gives a first-hand account and says the moat was refilled with water after the siege.

[4] A common story is the tunnellers were coal-miners commandeered by a Colonel Hastings from the Cannock area, but they would have had Parliamentarian sympathies. It is possible that many of the men involved were sappers in the Royalist regiment. A round number of 50 is suspicious. For a general account see H. Clayton, ‘Loyal and Ancient City. The Civil War in Lichfield’. (Lichfield, self-published: 1987), 43.

[5] T. Harwood, The history and antiquities of the church and city of Lichfield. (London: 1806) mentions two tunnels. It was said the besiegers met the besieged in one tunnel and a fight ensued underground.

[6] This was a copy of the undermining of the wall at Breda, Belgium, 1637, in which Prince Rupert helped the Duke of Orange retake the town from the Spanish. To reach Breda town wall they dug covered trenches and added brushwood to the moat, so maybe that is how they reached the wall without being noticed. This was the first landmine in British history.

[7] W. Dugdale, A short view of the late troubles in England. (Oxford: 1681), 560, said Communion plate and linen were taken from the cathedral. Curiously, only 10 carts reached Coventry.

[8] Ibid, 559–60. 

[9] All cathedrals suffered in some way. York Minster got off lightly with its organ being removed. Carlisle lost its west front and most of the nave. Durham suffered badly.. 

[10] It is said Queen Henrietta Maria tried to sell Crown Jewels on the Continent to raise money for buying ammunition. It failed, but then the Parliamentarians later destroyed the jewels.