Bovey Tracey Saga

The previous volume, A Shameful War, ended in 1646 with Royalists forces scattered far and wide. The town of Bovey Tracey and its inhabitants were left to continue their own battles with weather, crops, illness, and general upheaval. A Time of Confusion now takes the story on during the years 1648 and 1649, where life in the South Devon town of Bovey Tracey continues. There is little time for the ordinary folk to do other than pursue their livelihoods. A vicious bout of the 'Winter Fever' carries off more than normal; a king is brought to trial - some see it as a mockery - and is beheaded. A Commonwealth is firmly established, and Parliament reigns supreme. The inhabitants of this small town are left to struggle on as best they may. In the south-eastern lee of Dartmoor, the weather is always a factor!

King Charles I was beheaded on the 30th of January 1649, outside Whitehall Palace. This was done at the order of parliament. His son, also named Charles, was immediately adopted by Scotland as their king Charles II. The previous volume, A Time of Confusion, ended very roughly with these happenings. We now hop forward a couple of years to 1651. Charles, supported by some elements in Scotland and a few in England, makes an attempt to add the throne of England to that of Scotland. There are many in England who are tempted towards him and his efforts. There are also many who wholeheartedly support parliament and the firm rule that they impose. There are also many who are ambivalent. Down in south Devon, life goes on much as usual - apart from the restrictions upon the nature of worship, the closure of the playhouses, restrictions on fairs, music, dancing and general merrymaking. In the English countryside, what is important is the raising of crops, the husbanding of livestock, the production and preservation of the very means of survival. It had always been thus. Few had time to indulge in other matters. However, there were a few who did - and this volume concentrates on those whose duty it was to concern themselves in these matters - and upon the very few who rallied to the royalist banner. Would any of them succeed in their endeavours?

The year 1659 saw multiple changes: some seen as good, others seen as detrimental. The old warhorse Oliver Cromwell has died and left affairs in the hands of his son Richard, known as 'Tumbledown Dick'. Richard is not the force that his father was. Most suspect that he didn't even want to be. Two large figures emerge from the chaos - General George Monck and General John Lambert.Monck is an ambivalent figure. First and foremost, a very able field commander who, during Cromwell's Commonwealth, had been an ardent parliamentarian. During the latter part of 1659 his allegiances changed somewhat. He was what we would nowadays label as a pragmatist.Then there is General John Lambert - as ardent a parliamentarian as one could ever imagine. When faced with the civilian parliament, he replaces it with a military one. Monck is outraged by this and sets about restoring the old Rump Parliament. John Lambert's grave can be found on Drake's Island in Plymouth Sound.So, why did Lambert lose this encounter? Simply by not making sure his soldiers were properly paid! Up with that, they would not put - and voted with their feet.Life for my imaginary inhabitants of Bovey Tracey just carries on as normal - intrigues, sickness, betrothals, deaths - plus the introduction of one of many weird sects. These abounded in seventeenth century England; ultra-puritan on one wing and ultra-Catholic on the other. On the whole, the people of England feared the very idea of a return to Catholicism - although over a century had passed, Bloody Mary's burnings were not to be forgiven!Was England heartily fed up with the strictures of a puritan government? On the whole, probably. No fun, no theatres, no dancing, no festivals. Dull and boring! Will things improve? Volume 5, A Time of Disillusion, offers my attempt at an answer.

The middle of the seventeenth century must have been a bewildering time in which to live in England. An autocratic king brooked no interference from parliament or from anyone else. He had been anointed by God - therefore he needed no help, guidance, or advice from any other mortal. Those who had been elected to sit in parliament, finding that their services were surplus to the requirements of Charles I, set about forcing the king to recognise their 'rights'. And so began the Civil War (not the first of these in England by any means). Parliament raised the New Model Army, completely destroyed the royalist forces, brought Charles to trial, then lopped off his head. Then followed a decade of rule by a decidedly Puritan parliament. That was, in many parts of the country, as unwelcome as had been the autocratic rule of a king hovering on the edge of Roman Catholicism. The Republic, labelled The Commonwealth, simply petered out after the death of Cromwell. His son Richard (a dismal failure), then General Lambert (who tried martial law), both came to nothing as General Monck settled things by recalling the remains of parliament (The famous Rump Parliament).To much rejoicing, back came the Stuarts in the form of Charles II. He very quickly became known as the Merry Monarch. Merry he may well have been; lecherous and self-indulgent he most certainly was. His illegitimate offspring were scattered far and wide, and from a very wide selection of women. This fact alone alienated a goodly proportion of the population who had become used to the Puritanical strictures of the Commonwealth. Hence the reason for this story being labelled 'Disillusion'. Many were distinctly disillusioned with this hedonistic king.The eldest of Charles' bastards was James Scott. Born in The Netherlands of a lady named Lucy Walter, Charles lost no time in creating the lad Duke of Monmouth - and more of him in Book 6! Bewildering? It must have been very odd to the ordinary citizen lurching from Puritanical 'correctness' to open debauchery and licentiousness in the space of just a few years.