The Battle of Edgehill: The History and Legacy of the Opening Battle of the English Civil War
Written by Charles River Editors
Narrated by Steve Knupp
()
About this audiobook
The outcome of the English Civil War was no doubt unthinkable to many across Europe before it actually happened, and the Battle of Edgehill represented the first sign that things might not go according to the typical plan. The tiny hamlet of Edgehill sits atop an escarpment in the parish of Ratley and Upton in Warwickshire, England, an unremarkable location in and of itself, like many others in Warwickshire. It attracts a few tourists, some of whom are on the lookout for ghosts. Some claim to hear cries of pain and terror, the clash of swords, cannon fire, and the lament of lost souls. The first report of such phenomena was made shortly before Christmas 1642 when a number of Edgehill inhabitants claimed to have seen two ghostly armies fighting in the sky. So strong and widespread did these claims become that King Charles I sent a commission to investigate. The commissioners supposedly witnessed the apparitions and were able to identify some of the combatants as participants in the Battle of Edgehill, which occurred three months earlier on October 23, 1642. This included Sir Edmund Verney, who lost a hand in the battle and was observed missing an appendage. The apparitions supposedly ended when villagers buried the corpses of soldiers who still lay on the battlefield, but people still claim to hear signs of the celestial battle 370 years later.
The enormous upheaval in English society in 1642 may very well have engendered such tales. For the simple villagers, it seemed as if heaven and earth had been rent asunder. After all, the whole concept of divinely ordained kings was that God had created the system and placed a king over England, making the monarch, Charles I of the House of Stuart, God’s viceregent. But that year, the unthinkable happened when the king and Parliament broke with each other, raising their standards of war. The divinely appointed order was broken, and the result was bloodshed, terror, and chaos.
More audiobooks from Charles River Editors
Gnosticism: The History and Legacy of the Mysterious Ancient Religion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The East India Company: The History of the British Empire's Most Famous Mercantile Company Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rape of Nanking: The History and Legacy of the Notorious Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ur: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Sumerian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Project MK-Ultra: The History of the CIA’s Controversial Human Experimentation Program Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nineveh: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Assyrian Capital Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Legends of the West: Deadwood, South Dakota Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Arnold Rothstein and Meyer Lansky: The Lives and Legacies of the Gangsters Who Reformed Organized Crime in America Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMysteries of the South: Ghosts, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in Dixie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mossad: The History and Legacy of Israel’s National Intelligence Agency Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5J. Robert Oppenheimer: The Life and Legacy of the Father of the Atomic Bomb Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Life and Trial of Lizzie Borden: The History of 19th Century America's Most Famous Murder Case Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung: The Pioneering Lives and Works of History’s Most Influential Psychologists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Battle of Hamburger Hill: The History and Legacy of One of the Vietnam War's Most Controversial Battles Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mysterious Midwest: Mysteries, Legends, and Unexplained Phenomena in America's Heartland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Denisovans: The History of the Extinct Archaic Humans Who Spread Across Asia during the Paleolithic Era Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to The Battle of Edgehill
Related audiobooks
History Revealed: Wallace Triumphant: Episode 36 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory Revealed: Cromwell's Last Battle: Episode 40 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of the Boyne: The History of the Battle that Ended James II’s Attempt to Reclaim the Throne of England Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHistory Revealed: Slaughter Hill Spion Kop: Episode 6 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlamo of the Revolution: Benedict Arnold and the Massacre at Fort Griswold Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe British Empire Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Nerva-Antonine Dynasty: The History and Legacy of the Emperors Who Ruled the Roman Empire at Its Peak Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Rus’: The History and Legacy of the Group that Established a Russian State in the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAmerica’s First Korean War: The History and Legacy of the United States Expedition to Korea in 1871 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gettysburg Campaign: The History and Legacy of the Civil War’s Most Famous Campaign Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dramatic Rise and Fall of the Portuguese Empire: The History and Legacy of Portugal’s Mercantile Empire across the World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMONTGOMERY: God’s Lonely Man Goes to War Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5The Spanish and Portuguese in the New World: The History and Legacy of the First European Rivalry in the Americas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEly Samuel Parker and Stand Watie: The Life and Legacy of the Civil War’s Most Famous Native American Officers Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGerman and Allied Air Forces in World War I: The History and Legacy of the Rivals in the Sky during the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Medieval Invasions of Italy: The History and Legacy of the Conflicts across the Italian Peninsula in the Middle Ages Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World’s Deadliest Plagues: The History and Legacy of the Worst Global Pandemics Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrance in World War II: The History of Nazi Germany’s Conquest of France and Its Liberation By the Allies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAsia Minor’s Most Prominent Ancient Cities: The History and Legacy of the Influential Cities that Dominated the Region in Antiquity Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Battle of Kapetron: The History and Legacy of the First Major Battle Between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuk Turks Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe War of the Keys: The History and Legacy of the Military Conflict Between the Holy Roman Empire and the Vatican Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Vietnam War: The History of America’s Most Controversial War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsNapoleon’s Worst Defeats: The History and Legacy of the Battles that Stalled France’s Expansion and Forced the Emperor’s Abdication Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFighting in World War I: The History and Legacy of Warfare during the Great War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGrunwald and Orsha: The History and Legacy of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth’s Most Decisive Battles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe French Revolution: The History and Legacy of the World’s Most Famous Social Revolution Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMedieval History: Facts and Insights about Vikings, Anglo-Saxons, Crusaders, and the Plague (3 in 1) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
European History For You
Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Mysterious Case of Rudolf Diesel: Genius, Power, and Deception on the Eve of World War I Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Our Hideous Progeny: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The War on the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Finding Freedom: Harry and Meghan and the Making of a Modern Royal Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Anglo-Saxons: A History of the Beginnings of England: 400 – 1066 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Iron, Fire and Ice: The Real History that Inspired Game of Thrones Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Teutonic Knights: A Military History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Professor and The Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sovietistan: Travels in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: with Pearl and Sir Orfeo Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Short Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Templars: The History and the Myth: From Solomon's Temple to the Freemasons Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Over My Dead Body: Unearthing the Hidden History of American Cemeteries Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Children of Ash and Elm: A History of the Vikings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ghost Map Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Royal Art of Poison: Filthy Palaces, Fatal Cosmetics, Deadly Medicine, and Murder Most Foul Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Immortal Irishman: The Irish Revolutionary Who Became an American Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Royal Witches: Witchcraft and the Nobility in Fifteenth-Century England Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Black Ghost of Empire: The Long Death of Slavery and the Failure of Emancipation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reformation: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ten Caesars: Roman Emperors from Augustus to Constantine Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Battle of Edgehill
0 ratings0 reviews