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| Keywords: people indoor Philip Mould: acob Astley was one of the most important royalist figures during the English Civil War. A professional soldier, he began his military career as a teenager when he volunteered to join Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1597 Azores expedition, but then sought employment as a mercenary in Europe, serving at significant battles such as Nieuport in 1600, and eventually marrying a Dutch heiress. During his stay in Holland, he gained favour at the exiled court of Elizabeth Stuart, the so-called ‘Winter Queen’ and daughter of James I of England. She referred to him as ‘honest little Jacob’ (Astley was very short), and is thought to have engaged him as a tutor to her son Prince Rupert in military matters. Astley saw regular army service throughout thecontinent until he returned to England in the 1630s to take an infantry command under Charles I during the war against Scotland. This was to be the first of Astley’s many appointments for the King, who, at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, and impressed with his continental knowledge of military tactics, appointed him as his principle infantry commander. At the inconclusive Battle of Edgehill Astley was in charge of ten thousand troops, and fought with great courage until he was wounded. It was at Edgehill that he uttered the prayer with which he is most associated today; ‘O Lord! Thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me…’. Astley’s importance to the royalist forcesincreased throughout the war, and he was appointed, amongst other posts, governor of Oxford and became a leading member of the king’s council of war. He also saw action at Reading, Gloucester and Lostwithiel, but his infantry were forced to surrender during the final major battle of the war in 1645 at Naseby. Astley escaped, only to be defeated again at Stow on the Wold in 1646 while en route to the besieged king at Oxford. This portrait shows him at the age of sixty one in 1640. The artist is not known, but the picture may be identified with the similar example last recorded in the possession of Astley’s descendants at Melton Constable Hall in Norfolk. Philip Mould: acob Astley was one of the most important royalist figures during the English Civil War. A professional soldier, he began his military career as a teenager when he volunteered to join Sir Walter Raleigh’s 1597 Azores expedition, but then sought employment as a mercenary in Europe, serving at significant battles such as Nieuport in 1600, and eventually marrying a Dutch heiress. During his stay in Holland, he gained favour at the exiled court of Elizabeth Stuart, the so-called ‘Winter Queen’ and daughter of James I of England. She referred to him as ‘honest little Jacob’ (Astley was very short), and is thought to have engaged him as a tutor to her son Prince Rupert in military matters. Astley saw regular army service throughout thecontinent until he returned to England in the 1630s to take an infantry command under Charles I during the war against Scotland. This was to be the first of Astley’s many appointments for the King, who, at the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642, and impressed with his continental knowledge of military tactics, appointed him as his principle infantry commander. At the inconclusive Battle of Edgehill Astley was in charge of ten thousand troops, and fought with great courage until he was wounded. It was at Edgehill that he uttered the prayer with which he is most associated today; ‘O Lord! Thou knowest how busy I must be this day; if I forget thee, do not thou forget me…’. Astley’s importance to the royalist forcesincreased throughout the war, and he was appointed, amongst other posts, governor of Oxford and became a leading member of the king’s council of war. He also saw action at Reading, Gloucester and Lostwithiel, but his infantry were forced to surrender during the final major battle of the war in 1645 at Naseby. Astley escaped, only to be defeated again at Stow on the Wold in 1646 while en route to the besieged king at Oxford. This portrait shows him at the age of sixty one in 1640. The artist is not known, but the picture may be identified with the similar example last recorded in the possession of Astley’s descendants at Melton Constable Hall in Norfolk. | ||||
