Crabchurch Talks- John Milton poem on Sir Henry Vane , Sidney Keyes on 'Dunbar 1650'

                        Crabchurch Conspiracy  History  Talk 12th May 2018 

                                                     Crabchurch Flyer courtesy of Semi Vine  

                           The 'Crabchurch Conspiracy' history talk, re-scheduled from the main Crabchurch weekend of 2nd-4th March 2018 due to the inclement weather, took place in Weymouth  on Saturday 12th May 2018. It was an excellent evening indeed.

An interview appeared on this blog last year with Dorset historian Mark Vine about The Crabchurch Conspiracy . It's encouraging to see how Mark Vine's original book about the failed Royalist  attack on Weymouth in 1645 has inspired an annual event that involves historians, re-enactors, the Celtic Rock group 'The Dolmen', and more.

Dorset novelist Kit Berry, Professor Ronald Hutton, and comedian Bishop Bray gave informative and enjoyable talks. Now feel  inspired to start reading Kit Berry's  'Stonewylde' series and look forward to her novel set in Portland during 1645. Ronald Hutton offered a fascinating insight into the brief political career of 'Tumbledown Dick as  Richard Cromwell was known, and the shaky transition to the rule of Charles II. ( His  book 'The Restoration- A Political and Religious History of England & Wales 1658- 1667' is heartily recommended ).




 'Sir Henry Vane'- John Milton (Sonnet XVII) 

In his 1913 biography of  titled 'Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger statesman and mystic 1613- 1662', John Wilcox wrote

Very few general readers know more about Vane than that Milton addressed a sonnet to him and Cromwell on a celebrated occasion  prayed to be delivered from him. 

Sir Henry Vane the Younger   was the son of Sir Henry Vane , one time Secretary of State to Charles I. His education was formidable, attending Westminster School, then Oxford University.  He did a tour of Europe and started to be trained as a diplomat, yet the younger Henry Vane could not settle in Charles' regime. He held strong religious views that were contrary to the high church practices associated with Archbishop Laud, including refuse to kneel to take the sacrament. Charles I permitted Sit Henry Vane to travel to the colony of Massachusetts in 1635. The following year  Henry Vane became governor.  He lasted two years in this role, but established a reputation for protecting religious dissent and for successfully negotiating with American natives during the Pequot War.

On returning to England in 1639,  Henry Vane, married into a wealthy family, was knighted, and given a treasury post in the Navy. When Parliament was recalled in 1640, Henry Vane became MP for Hull, and gradually became more opposed to the role of Charles. During the years 1643- 1648, Henry Vane took a prominent role in the House of Commons as leading Parliamentarian. He was sent on diplomatic missions and backed the formation of the New Model Army, but took part in the trial and condemnation of Charles I.  In 1651 Henry Vane wrote an erudite plea for religious toleration -Zeal Examined or A Discourse for Liberty of Conscience. 

But by 1653  Sir Henry Vane's fierce individualism led him to clash with Oliver Cromwell. A prolific writer of pamphlets , he wrote a work titled  A Healing Question , in 1656 calling for a convention to draft a constitution for the Commonwealth. Sir Henry Vane was jailed for a few months at Carisbrook Castle. Sir Henry Vane returned to political life after Oliver Cromwell's death in 1658, becoming MP for Whitchurch in Hampshire in 1659, and also a member of the Council of State.


At the time of the Restoration Charles II has been credited with not seeking massive retribution against those who took up arms against his father or were active within the Commonwealth:  The 1660  'Act of Free and General Pardon Indemnity and Oblivion' made exceptions for those who committed murder, rape, buggery, witchcraft, piracy, and also the regicides, those who had signed the death warrant of Charles I.

The concept of 'Oblivion' seems to have been based on the notion that the reign of Charles II began on 30th January 1649, and that the Interregnum simply didn't happen. And this principle was extended to condemn, Sir Henry Vane, after two years imprisonment, to death as a traitor against Charles II, and he was beheaded on 14th June 1662, the anniversary of the Battle of Naseby.  Trumpets and drums were used to drown out his final speech to the crowd.


Milton's sonnet to him was most likely to have been written in 1652 or 1653 just before Henry Vane's break with Cromwell. It is intriguing to note that both the English Commonwealth and the Directorate in France ( Between the ending of 'The Terror' and the rise of Napoleon), seem to have cited the Roman Republican as an inspiration.)

Sir Henry Vane ( Sonnet 17) 

 " Vane, young in years, but in sage counsel old, 
Than whom a better senator ne’er held 
The helm of Rome, when gowns, not arms, repelled 
The fierce Epirot and the African bold, 
Whether to settle peace, or to unfold 
The drift of hollow states hard to be spelled; 
Then to advise how war may best, upheld, 
Move by her two main nerves, iron and gold, 
In all her equipage; besides, to know 
Both spiritual power and civil, what each means, 
What severs each, thou hast learned, which few have done. 
The bounds of either sword to thee we owe: 
Therefore on thy firm hand Religion leans 
In peace, and reckons thee her eldest son.  "

A useful guide to the poem can be found at The Milton Reading Room
'Dunbar 1650'- Sidney Keyes 


The companion blog to this one World War 2 poetry  has just been updated to feature an article about the life of  Lieutenant Sidney Keyes, who was killed in action on 29th April 1943, at Sidi Abdullah,  Tunisia, a month before his 21st birthday.  This poem was written in June 1942 and was first published in his collection 'The Cruel Solstice' .

Charles I was beheaded on 30th January 1649, but war still raged outside England and Wales. Cromwell invaded Ireland, and then Scotland, striking for Edinburgh in August 1650. The Scots seemed to be preparing for victory. Their position was strong, occupying the Doon Hill, therefore trapping  Cromwell's army who were about half their number . The options opened to Cromwell were to either evacuate his forces via the North Sea or to storm a superior foe who were on higher ground. Leslie decided to move his forces to lower ground, probably planning to engage Cromwell's forces at his leisure during the following day. Cromwell mustered his men before dawn on 3rd September and managed to breach the Scottish positions by the river Broxburn. It was raining heavily and some Scots had moved away from their positions to seek shelter.  Cromwell's move was so swift that many Scots did not even have a chance to fire their muskets. The resulting battle was a victory for Cromwell- a high estimate maintains that around 3,000 Scots were killed, and 10,000 taken prisoner.

It is not known why Sidney Keyes particularly wanted to use the Battle of Dunbar as the subject for a poem.,,,,"The southern terrible squire " is of course Cromwell and 'the preachers' the Scottish Covanenters.

Dunbar 1650 

"They came down from the ridge.
Scarped hills swallowed them.
Under the walls grew spiked
Iceweed and bleeding them.

The preacher cried. Their gowns
Flapped among the wrack.
The lame general rode
Ashamed with a bent back.

Crossing the little river
Their pikes jostled and rang.
The ditches were full of dead
A blackbird sang.

The southern terrible squire
Rode them down to the march
The preachers scattered like crows-
The name of the day was WRATH. "


UPDATE on Sidney Keyes : Missed the most obvious explanation why Sidney Keyes would write about the Battle of Dunbar. Keyes was stationed at Dunbar for Officer Cadet training from May 1942- October 1942.

Further information

British Civil War Project   Excellent article on Sir Henry Vane


Henry Vane America's First Revolutionary   Web article by Sean Gabb from 1991

Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger,Statesman, & Mystic  Full text of 1913 book by John Wilcock

World War Poetry website  feature on Sidney Keyes ( June 2019)