Friday, 5 June 2026
God's Vindictive Wrath Charles Cordell
.jpg)
Sunday, 31 May 2026
Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs - J.B. Lully
From the movie, Tous Les Matins Du Monde (1991). Another movie about music from the Louis XIV period.
Scene from the movie Le Roi Danse (2000)
The King Is Dancing - Wikipedia I liked this film. Did you?
Saturday, 30 May 2026
Event in Sweden
På lördag den 30:e hittar ni oss på Karlshamns kastell där vi kommer att visa upp oss i både Skånska kriget uniformer samt Stora nordiska krigets. Det kommer även att s…
On Saturday the 30th, you will find us at Karlshamn Castle where we will show ourselves in both the Scanian War uniforms and the Great Nordic War. Salutes will also be shot see program:
 |
| Skanes Caroliner 'Då har Kronobergs regementet anno 1676 inkvarterat sig på Karlshamns kastell' Then the Kronoberg Regiment of the year 1676 quartered itself at Karlshamn's castle |
More information can be found here:
Thursday, 28 May 2026
Event next year
Brodiere 1647, a new event taking place next year in Central France.
'We’re currently looking for reenactors and groups to follow our social media channels so you can stay informed as plans develop and registrations open. This week we’re working on battle planning and site management, and we’re looking forward to sharing much more information very soon.
For now, all we ask is that you follow our Facebook and Instagram pages to keep up to date with announcements and event news.
We hope to see many of you there!'
Tuesday, 26 May 2026
The Battle of Honnecourt
The Battle of Honnecourt took place on 26 May 1642, during the 1635 to 1659 Franco-Spanish War. A Spanish army led by Francisco de Melo defeated and largely destroyed a French force under the Comte de Guiche.
The Battle of Honnecourt, by Peter Snayers.[1]
Monday, 25 May 2026
British Army Uniforms
Yesterday's European Military Uniforms - 1600 - Present Day | Facebook
Yves Martin has posted a series of articles by Bryan Fosten on the early English army on the above group. .
Sunday, 24 May 2026
Die Schlacht bei Lutter am Barenberge : ein Beitrag zur vaterländischen Geschichte by Lichtenstein, G
This is for German-speaking readers. Lutter is 400 years old in August.
Saturday, 23 May 2026
Over The Hills And Far Away (Traditional)
Art and video by Thomas Payton.
This tune was published in Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy (Originally in 1706). It appeared in The Recruiting Officer, a comedy by George Farquhar and in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728). The lyrics refer to the War of the Spanish Succession (1701--1714), the Duke of Marlborough, and Queen Anne of England (1665 --1714).
Marlborough's Masterpiece: The Battle of Ramillies
Could a single afternoon shatter the hegemony of the "Sun King" and reshape the map of Europe? In May 1706, the War of Spanish Succession hung on a knife’s edge as the French army left its defensive lines to seek a decisive engagement. Join hosts Dr. Alexander Burns, Dr. Andrew Bamford and Lee Gugino as they welcome back General Ewan Carmichael to deconstruct the Battle of Ramillies, a tactical masterpiece of 18th-century warfare.
In this episode, we apply the modern military framework of find, fix, strike, and exploit to examine how the Duke of Marlborough lured the French into a deadly trap. We explore the "Revolution in Military Affairs" triggered by the socket bayonet and flintlock musket, the brutal infantry struggle in the Ramillies churchyard, and the earth-shaking collision of 25,000 cavalrymen. Discover how Marlborough's ability to "lead from the front" and his obsession with logistics turned a polyglot coalition into the most feared force in the "Cockpit of Europe". Meet the Expert General Ewan Carmichael: A veteran military professional and historian, General Carmichael brings a unique perspective on the War of Spanish Succession. His expertise bridges the gap between 18th-century "war of posts" and modern tactical doctrine.Ramillies 1706
Battle of Ramillies - Wikipedia
Today's anniversary. Reenactors from all over Europe are reenacting it this weekend.
 |
| photo by Thistle and Rose Living History from last night |
.jfif)
English March
The drum march, pure and simple, was one of the main features of martial discipline, and every nation had its own particular national type. Gordon of Rothiemay records of 1637-1638 how Scottish drummers were teaching their soldiery to distinguish between "The marches of severall nationes . . . the Scottish Marche . . . the Irish Marche . . . the English Marche."1 This knowledge was a necessary item even in the economy of tactics. During the Thirty Years' War the Germans once used the Scots March so as to deceive the enemy.2 At Oudenarde the Allied drummers beat the French Retraite,which even a Vendôme could not stem.8
Warlike directions: ... 1644
Warlike directions, or, The sovldiers practice set forth for the benefit of all such as are, or will be, scholars of martiall discipline, but especially for all such officers as are not yet setled or rightly grounded in the arte of warre, by a practitioner in the same art, T.F.
The exercise of the English, in the militia of the kingdome of England 1642
The exercise of the English, in the militia of the kingdome of England. | Early English Books Online 2 | University of Michigan Library Digital Collections
What the Souldier ought to know by the Drumme.
1. A Call.
2. A March.
3. A Troope.
4. A Charge.
5. A Retreate.
6. A Battalia.
7. A Battery.
8. A Reliefe.
Divided Kingdom series Charles Cordell
Just ordered these from the Library. Looking forward to reading them. Bumph for the first one reads
The Vale of the Red Horse, Edgehill, Warwickshire, October, 1642. Bitter divisions that have grown unchecked in the kingdoms of the Stuart dynasty are about to engulf England in a bloody civil war. 30,000 men have gathered to determine the fate of nations and to pursue their own ideals and enmities through brutal and bloody combat. Many have never handled a weapon or strayed far from their native shire.
Among them are Anthony Sedley the Birmingham iron worker and Leveller, Robbie Needham, an embittered lead miner from Derbyshire who picks up a pike for his king, George Merrick, the young Oxford graduate whose prospects have been blighted by court corruption, Hywel Lloyd, a proud Welsh hill farmer, and William Bennet the struggling merchant who has staked everything to raise a company for the parliamentary cause.
Then there are the half-brothers, Ralph and Francis Reeve, sons of a Suffolk farmer. Pious Francis has abandoned his studies at Cambridge to make England a New Jerusalem, cleansed of sin and filth. He despises his carefree brother and the father who seems to favour him. Caught cuckolding a London merchant, Ralph has forfeited his apprenticeship and indenture money. He dreams of restoring his honour and his fortune when he returns to London with the king's victorious army. But first the brothers must face each other in the Vale of the Red Horse, the horse whose rider is War... God's vindictive wrath!
Bellum Civile. Hopton’s narrative of his campaign in the west, 1642-1644
I have been reading a fair bit on the Civil war in the West and so was glad to find this. Ralph Hopton, 1st Baron Hopton - Wikipedia
.jfif)
Thursday, 21 May 2026
North Star 1672. The new Musketeer figures for our 1672 range.
They'll be taking pre-orders this weekend for them.
Wednesday, 20 May 2026
Sack of Magdeburg
Sack of Magdeburg - Wikipedia Today's anniversary. Considered the worst massacre of the 30YW.
_(Peeter_Meulener)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_17230.tif.jpg) |
| The Siege of Magdeburg (1631) (Peeter Meulener) - Nationalmuseum - 17230 |
Tuesday, 19 May 2026
Thirty Years War Wallenstein festival in the Czech republic. Held every two years so enough tinme to prepare.
Valdštejn festivities 2026 are already in the past. We thank everyone who were not discouraged by the weather and enjoyed it with us. And we thank all those who participated in their preparations and during the course! We had a blast!
We look forward to seeing you again in 2028 
video: StoryMages
Battle of Rocroi
 |
| I have this. It's good. |
The Battle of Rocroi, fought on 19 May 1643, was a major engagement of the Thirty Years' War between a French army, led by the 21-year-old Duke of Enghien (later known as the Great Condé) and Spanish forces under General Francisco de Melo only five days after the accession of Louis XIV to the throne of France after his father's death. Rocroi shattered the myth of invincibility of the Spanish tercios, the pike and shot infantry units that had dominated European battlefields for the previous 120 years. The battle is therefore often considered to mark the end of Spanish military greatness and the beginning of French hegemony in Europe in the second half-17th century during the reign of Louis XIV.[6] After Rocroi, the Spanish progressively transformed the tercio system incorporating more of the line infantry doctrine used by the French over time.[7][6]
Monday, 18 May 2026
La Maison militaire du Roi
'Ce soir nous vous présentons le groupe de la Maison Militaire du Roi présent aux Heures Historiques de Sully-sur-Loire'
Friedrich II "Der Grosse"* – Flötenkonzerte Und Sinfonien
1985.
Although King Frederick only composed sporadically in his later years—almost his entire life’s work dates from before the Seven Years’ War in 1756, which brought Prussia and its ruler to the verge of ruin—the flute, and flute-playing, remained his loyal companions to his dying days. As late as 1770 the famous soprano Elisabeth Mara acclaimed his ‘strong, full tone and great proficiency’. And the well-travelled English music historian Charles Burney explicitly praised Frederick’s skills: ‘His playing was superior, in many respects, to anything I had heard from amateur or indeed professional flute-players.’ His own compositions, which he performed in small private concerts, were highly valued for their quality, although Frederick would have been well aware that in Quantz, Graun, C.P.E. Bach and other musicians in his court orchestra he had assembled a group of outstanding performers who would breathe new life into the musical life of Berlin and Potsdam in the middle of the 18th century and would have far-reaching effects as the fine arts moved towards a new cultural aesthetic of sensibility, ultimately ushering in the era of Sturm und Drang.
– Detlef Giese
English translation: Saul Lipetz
Recordings by Frederick II King of Prussia | Now available to stream and purchase at Naxos
North Star Military Figures news
First look at the new Musketeers range in metal. Released June 2026. North Star Military Figures - Home Page
Charge! rules
Declaration of War 1756
(French and Indian War) | George II's formal declaration of
GEORGE II, King of England (1683-1760). His Majesty’s Declaration of War against the French King … Given at Our Court at Kensington, the Seventeenth Day of May, 1756. London: printed by Thomas Baskett, 1756.
Fantassin italiens, vers 1660
