ENGLAND INVADED BY EDWARD FOORD AND GORDON HOME ADAM AND CHARLES BLACK SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W. 1913 PREFACE SINCE the year 1794, when England seethed with excitement through fear of a French Republican invasion, no book has been produced dealing with the invasions of England. The historical and archaeological work of the century that has passed has shed so much light on dark and shadowy periods of English history that the materials available for a new work on the subject have become increasingly extensive, and the authors have endeavoured to take full advantage of all this new material. They have, either together or separately, visited all the important, and many of the minor, battle sites and campaign areas mentioned in the text, and, as a result of close study, they have in certain instances arrived at conclusions at variance with those generally accepted. By careful topographical work, aided by every shred of historical evidence available, the authors venture to hope that they may have thrown a little new light upon the great campaign in which the Roman general Paulinus crushed the British struggle for independence under Boudicca. They have also devoted much time and thought to the elucidation Preface of the problem of the identity of the heroes of the Romano-British contests with the oncoming Teu tons, and to the areas of their chief military operations. After much consideration and study of the available authorities, they have arrived at the conclusion, which they have not hesitated to express, that Arthur, or Artorius, is a well-established historical figure. One of the authors has, through his familys territorial connection with the Eastern Border, had exceptional opportunities for becoming familiar with the topography of the wild and intricate region in which both are inclined to place the fields of at least four, and perhaps six, of Arthurs twelve famous victories. The field of Senlac has been examined by the authors in the company of Sir Augustus Webster, Bart., the present owner of Battle Abbey, himself a practical soldier. The result of their investigations has been to convince them that the line of the Norman advance lay considerably to the cast of where it is generally placed, and that the great bulk of Harolds army was massed about the site of the abbey itself. His right wing, being almost unassailable owing to the protection given to it by the marshy ground in its front, was probably very weakly held. Relying on the contemporary evidence of the Bayeux tapestry, and considering the circumstances of Harolds march, the authors are inclined to discount any effective entrenchments or palisading. In regard to the strategy and tactics of Flodden, a close study of contemporary documents and VI Preface authorities tends to emphasize certain features which are often overlooked or ignored. First, the Scottish army evidently changed its position twice to counter act Surreys puzzling flanking movement Second, it can have had no proper service of scouts, and was too cumbrous to manoeuvre readily, circumstances which left it at the mercy of its numerically inferior antagonist. Third, it was never able to form a complete line of battle owing to the slowness of the right wing in coming into action. Fourth, so far as appears from the letters of the English leaders, there was no slackness on the part of the Scottish Lord Chamberlain who commanded the left wing. Much has been written on the relative strengths of the English and Spanish fleets in 1588. The authors opinions may be summarized as follows i The Spaniards had an undoubted superiority in tonnage, but in strength of ships actually built for war the English had the advantage. 2 The English ships, being manned by a majority of sailors, were infinitely better handled and the galleons of the Royal Navy were faster sailers than those of the Spanish...

England Invaded

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