Sir Roger Williams (1539–1540 – 12 December 1595) was a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
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* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
soldier of fortune and military theorist, who served the Protestant cause, fighting against the Spanish in several theatres of war.
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester
Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester, (24 June 1532 – 4 September 1588) was an English statesman and the favourite of Elizabeth I from her accession until his death. He was a suitor for the queen's hand for many years.
Dudley's youth was ov ...
said that as a soldier he was "worth his weight in gold". He was later a close associate of
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, KG, PC (; 10 November 1565 – 25 February 1601) was an English nobleman and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Politically ambitious, and a committed general, he was placed under house arrest following a ...
, and became a national hero because of his exploits fighting the
Catholic League. He has been described as "an obstreperous, opinionated Welsh soldier" who was "Essex's devoted confederate and agent".
[David J. Baker, ''Between Nations: Shakespeare, Spenser, Marvell, and the Question of Britain'', Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA, 1997, p. 54.]
In his writings on the art of war, Williams was a strong advocate of the modernisation of armies and the exploitation of new military technologies.
Some Shakespeare scholars have suggested that he was the basis for the pugnacious Welsh captain
Fluellen
Fluellen is a fictional character in the play ''Henry V'' by William Shakespeare. Fluellen is a Welsh Captain, a leader of a contingent of troops in the small army of King Henry V of England while on campaign in France during the Hundred Years' ...
in
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
's ''
Henry V Henry V may refer to:
People
* Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026)
* Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125)
* Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161)
* Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227)
* Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...
'', a character who is also both argumentative and unflinchingly loyal.
Life
Born in
Penrhos, Monmouthshire
Penrhos is a village in the community of Whitecastle in Monmouthshire, south east Wales, United Kingdom.
Location
Penrhos is located three miles north of Raglan.
History and amenities
Penrhos has an old Norman motte and bailey castle sit ...
, Williams was the son of Thomas Williams and his wife, Eleanor, daughter of Sir William Vaughan.
[Dictionary of Welsh Biography](_blank)
/ref> He was said by Anthony Wood to have attended Brasenose College, Oxford
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...
.[Lawrence, David, ''The Complete Soldier: Military Books and Military Culture in Early Stuart England, 1603–1645'', Brill, 2009, pp. 64–5.] He spent most of his life soldiering, mainly on the continent. In his own writings he says that his first experience of war was as a page under William Herbert, 1st Earl of Pembroke, participating in the storming of St. Quentin in 1557. Williams may have pursued his career in the service of Spain, before becoming associated with its enemies, though Sidney Lee
Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926) was an English biographer, writer, and critic.
Biography
Lee was born Solomon Lazarus Lee in 1859 at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London. He was educated at the City of London School
, ...
thinks this is "doubtful". He is said to have risen to the rank of Colonel in the Spanish forces.[Alan Palmer, Veronica Palmer, ''Who's Who in Shakespeare's England'', Palgrave Macmillan, 1999, p. 268.]
Whether or not he ever served Spain, in 1572 Williams took part in a raid during the siege of Goes, South Beveland
Zuid-Beveland (; "South Beveland") is part of the province of Zeeland in the Netherlands north of the Western Scheldt and south of the Eastern Scheldt.
Topography
It is a former island, now peninsula, crossed by the Canal through Zuid-Beveland ...
, an outpost of the main Spanish base at Middelburg Middelburg may refer to:
Places and jurisdictions Europe
* Middelburg, Zeeland, the capital city of the province of Zeeland, southwestern Netherlands
** Roman Catholic Diocese of Middelburg, a former Catholic diocese with its see in the Zeeland ...
which was also under siege
''Under Siege'' is a 1992 American action thriller film directed by Andrew Davis, written by J. F. Lawton, and starring Steven Seagal as a former Navy SEAL who must stop a group of mercenaries, led by Tommy Lee Jones, after they commandeer the ...
. The garrison was far larger than they had expected and the attack failed, with many of the raiding party being killed. Williams and Rowland Yorke
Rowland York or Yorke (died 1588) was an English soldier of fortune and defector to Spain.
Early life
Rowland York was the ninth of eleven sons of Sir John York. He volunteered for the Netherlands under Thomas Morgan of Llantarnam in 1572. He em ...
escaped by crawling out through ditches on their stomachs. In 1577 he joined John Norreys John Norreys may refer to:
*Sir John Norris (soldier) or Norreys (c. 1547–1597), the son of Henry Norris, 1st Baron Norreys, a lifelong friend of Queen Elizabeth
*Sir John Norreys (Keeper of the Wardrobe) for Henry VI of England (c. 1400–1466) ...
' expedition of English volunteers to the Low Countries, serving as Norreys' military adviser.
In the 1580s he was in the Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
fighting on behalf of William the Silent
William the Silent (24 April 153310 July 1584), also known as William the Taciturn (translated from nl, Willem de Zwijger), or, more commonly in the Netherlands, William of Orange ( nl, Willem van Oranje), was the main leader of the Dutch Re ...
, Prince of Orange, against Spain. He was present when the Prince was assassinated in 1584, and helped capture the assassin
Assassination is the murder of a prominent or VIP, important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not ha ...
, Balthasar Gérard
Balthasar Gérard (alternative spellings Gerards or Gerardts; c. 1557 – 14 July 1584) was the assassin of the Dutch revolt's leader, William the Silent of the House of Orange (William the Silent, and later known as the "Father of the Fatherla ...
. In 1585 he joined Earl of Leicester
Earl of Leicester is a title that has been created seven times. The first title was granted during the 12th century in the Peerage of England. The current title is in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and was created in 1837.
Early creations ...
's command in the Netherlands, to confront the Spanish forces under the Duke of Parma
The Duke of Parma and Piacenza () was the ruler of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, a historical state of Northern Italy, which existed between 1545 and 1802, and again from 1814 to 1859.
The Duke of Parma was also Duke of Piacenza, except ...
. Though the campaign was not a success, Leicester wrote: "Roger Williams is worth his weight in gold, for he is noe more valiant than he is wise and of judgement to govern his doings". He was duly knighted after the Battle of Zutphen
The Battle of Zutphen was fought on 22 September 1586, near the village of Warnsveld and the town of Zutphen, the Netherlands, during the Eighty Years' War. It was fought between the forces of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, aided ...
in 1586 by Leicester.
He also fought for the Protestant Elector of Cologne, Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg
Gebhard Truchsess von Waldburg (10 November 1547 – 31 May 1601) was Archbishop-Elector of Cologne. After pursuing an ecclesiastical career, he won a close election in the cathedral chapter of Cologne over Ernst of Bavaria. After his ...
, and fought with the Dutch soldier of fortune, Martin Schenck von Nydeggen
Maarten (Martin) Schenck van Nydeggen, (1540?, – 11 August 1589) was a noted military commander in the Netherlands.
He first served with William of Orange in the fight for Dutch independence from Spain then switched to serve with distincti ...
in Westphalia
Westphalia (; german: Westfalen ; nds, Westfalen ) is a region of northwestern Germany and one of the three historic parts of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. It has an area of and 7.9 million inhabitants.
The territory of the regio ...
. During the Siege of Venlo in 1586 Schenck and Williams came very close to killing the Duke of Parma.
In 1587, Williams and his regiment were in Sluys (Sluis
Sluis (; zea, label=Zeelandic, Sluus ; french: Écluse) is a town and municipality located in the west of Zeelandic Flanders, in the south-western Dutch province of Zeeland.
The current incarnation of the municipality has existed since 1 January ...
) when the Duke of Parma laid siege to the town. After a heroic defence, the English and Dutch defenders were forced to surrender on 4 August. Parma gave generous terms; the garrison marched out with all their banners and baggage and all the honours of war. Parma sought Williams out and offered him a command where he would not have to fight either his fellow-countrymen or his co-religionists. Williams replied politely that if he ever fought in the service of any other than his queen, Elizabeth
Elizabeth or Elisabeth may refer to:
People
* Elizabeth (given name), a female given name (including people with that name)
* Elizabeth (biblical figure), mother of John the Baptist
Ships
* HMS ''Elizabeth'', several ships
* ''Elisabeth'' (sch ...
, it would be in the service "of that hero of the Protestant cause, King Henry of Navarre
Henry IV (french: Henri IV; 13 December 1553 – 14 May 1610), also known by the epithets Good King Henry or Henry the Great, was King of Navarre (as Henry III) from 1572 and King of France from 1589 to 1610. He was the first monarch ...
."
Williams was in England to assist in the fight against the Spanish Armada
The Spanish Armada (a.k.a. the Enterprise of England, es, Grande y Felicísima Armada, links=no, lit=Great and Most Fortunate Navy) was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aris ...
in 1588. Williams accompanied Sir Francis Drake
Sir Francis Drake ( – 28 January 1596) was an English explorer, sea captain, privateer, slave trader, naval officer, and politician. Drake is best known for his circumnavigation of the world in a single expedition, from 1577 to 1580 (t ...
in the expedition
''The Expedition'' is the live album by the American metal band Kamelot, released in October 2000 through Noise Records. The last three tracks are rare studio recordings: "We Three Kings" (instrumental) and "One Day" are additional material from ...
to Spain and Portugal 1589, and later fought on behalf of the French Huguenot
The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...
s. He met the Earl of Essex in 1589, and the two became close when they were sent by Queen Elizabeth to lead an army as allies of Henry of Navarre against the Catholic League during the Spanish occupation of Brittany
Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...
in 1592. He went on to serve Henry against the League during the late 1580s and 1590s, scored a major victory at the Battle of Arques
The Battle of Arques occurred on 15–29 September 1589 between the French royal forces of King Henry IV of France and troops of the Catholic League commanded by Charles of Lorraine, Duke of Mayenne, during the eighth and final war (1585-1598) ...
.Terry Breverton
Terry D. Breverton (born 1946) is a British former businessman and academic who has written many books on subjects mainly related to Wales and seamen.
Life
Terry Breverton was born in Birmingham in 1946.
His parents were Welsh, and he was broug ...
, "Williams, Roger" in ''Wales: A Historical Companion'', Amberley, 2012. After Essex returned to England Williams became overall commander of the English forces supporting Henry and ''de facto'' envoy of the Queen. Shortly afterwards he captured Aumerle with only 600 men. During the Siege of Rouen in 1592, he almost killed Albanian-Italian leader Giorgio Basta
Giorgio Basta, Count of Huszt, Gjergj Basta or Gheorghe Basta (1550 – 1607) was an Italian general, diplomat, and writer of Arbëreshë origin, employed by the Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II to command Habsburg forces in the Long War of 1591– ...
in personal combat, slicing his neck and driving him and his men from the field. These actions made Williams a famous hero in England, and pamphlets of his exploits were published. Sir Henry Umton stated that King Henry was full of praise for Williams and his men, "I never heard him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to Sir Roger Williams and the rest".
He returned to England permanently in 1594, but broken in health he died the following year and his death elicited a great show of public mourning. He left his property to the Earl of Essex. He was buried in St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
with "full military honours" in an expensive funeral funded by the Earl.
Writings and assessments
Williams was recognised as an expert on military matters by his contemporaries, and wrote ''A Brief Discourse of War, with his opinions concerning some part of Martial Discipline'' (1590). He also wrote ''Newes from Sir Roger Williams'' (1591). After his death his account of his experiences in the Netherlands was published as ''Actions of the Low Countries'' in 1618. Williams gave detailed analyses of the different methods and effectiveness of the Dutch and Spanish forces in the Netherlands, commending the discipline of Parma's troops. He also examined methods of creating effective fortifications. Williams was a strong advocate of new weaponry, emphasising that the English army had to adapt to the new technology, as the traditional English longbow would soon be made obsolete by improved firearms. He argued that a combination of fireams and close-quarter deployment of pikes represented the future of warfare.
Williams has been called a "fiery Welshman", who was "rough around the edges, bloody minded, often lacking in self-control and, at times, slightly mad", but he was widely regarded as "a soldier of the highest integrity". Amos Miller considered his ''A Brief Discourse of War'' to be one of the most important contributions to military theory of its day. Sidney Lee
Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926) was an English biographer, writer, and critic.
Biography
Lee was born Solomon Lazarus Lee in 1859 at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London. He was educated at the City of London School
, ...
says that "His letters and literary work prove him to have possessed command of a blunt and forcible vocabulary as well as much sagacity as a student of the art of war."[ Williams, Roger (1540?–1595) (DNB00)]
Petition anecdote
According to an anecdote recorded by the ''Camden Society
The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary an ...
'', Williams once appeared before the queen with a petition she wished to avoid. When he pressed the matter, she dismissed him with the excuse that his new boots smelled too strongly of tanning.
The story includes the implausible assertion that Williams was a tailor before he was a soldier, which may result from a confusion about the pun on "suit , but Lee notes that his family, though members of the gentry, were relatively poor.
Fluellen
The similarity between the character of Williams and Shakespeare's Fluellen (the pedantic Welsh officer obsessed by military "disciplines" in ''Henry V'') was noted by the Victorian military historian Julian S. Corbett
Sir Julian Stafford Corbett (12 November 1854 at Walcot House, Kennington Road, Lambeth – 21 September 1922 at Manor Farm, Stopham, Pulborough, Sussex) was a prominent British naval historian and geostrategist of the late 19th and early ...
, who wrote that Williams, "with his professional pedantry, his quaint and forcible turns of speech, his vanity and cool valour, was another 'Fluellen'.". Likewise, Lee says that "Like Shakespeare's Fluellen, he was constitutionally of a choleric temper and blunt of speech".
Shakespeare scholar J. Dover Wilson
John Dover Wilson CH (13 July 1881 – 15 January 1969) was a professor and scholar of Renaissance drama, focusing particularly on the work of William Shakespeare. Born at Mortlake (then in Surrey, now in Greater London), he attended Lancing ...
made the leap from this to suggest that the character of Fluellen was in fact based on Williams. Wilson insisted that Fluellen was "a careful and unmistakable portrait—a real portrait—of Sir Roger Williams, the Welsh soldier who had accompanied Essex during the French campaign of 1592 and had died, tended by Essex to the last, in 1595." He went on to claim that this was evidence that the play promoted the Earl of Essex's 1599 expedition to Ireland: "That this old friend f Essexshould reappear in a stage-representation of Agincourt four years later is strong evidence that the play was intended to be associated with the hope of England." Wilson also argued that Williams was the author of the Martin Marprelate
Martin Marprelate (sometimes printed as Martin Mar-prelate and Marre–Martin) was the name used by the anonymous author or authors of the seven Marprelate tracts that circulated illegally in England in the years 1588 and 1589. Their principal f ...
tracts.
E. K. Chambers
Sir Edmund Kerchever Chambers, (16 March 1866 – 21 January 1954), usually known as E. K. Chambers, was an English literary critic and Shakespearean scholar. His four-volume work on ''The Elizabethan Stage'', published in 1923, remains a s ...
accepted that "Wilson has made a fair case for finding, traits of the Welsh soldier Sir Roger Williams in Fluellen". The connection has been supported by some other commentators. Several critics have noted that, while the characterisation of Fluellen may have been influenced by Williams, there is a major problem with equating the two, because Fluellen is a strong advocate of military tradition, unlike Williams, who was a moderniser. Fluellen's debates with his colleagues appear to parody the war of words between Williams and his critics, but Fluellen supports the position of Williams' main opponent Sir John Smythe.[Outland, Allison, "Eat a Leek: Welsh corrections, English conditions and British cultural communion" in ''This England, That Shakespeare: New Angles on Englishness and the Bard''. Ashgate Publishing, 2013, p. 93.]
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roger
1540 births
1595 deaths
Welsh soldiers
British people of the Eighty Years' War
16th-century Welsh military personnel
Welsh Protestants
16th-century Protestants
16th-century soldiers
Welsh mercenaries
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
People from Monmouthshire
Military writers