Shadow on the Highway (20 page)

Historical Notes

Roundheads and Cavaliers

In the middle of the seventeenth century, England went to war – not with another country, but with itself. This was a war which spread to Scotland, Wales and Ireland and to all levels of society. The dispute was one in which both men and women were prepared to take sides on matters of principle, and fight for their beliefs to the death.

In simple terms, the War was one between the King and his followers – the King’s Army, and Parliament on the other – The New Model Army, led by Cromwell. Sometimes these groups are known as Cavaliers and Roundheads. ‘Cavalier’ from the Spanish,
caballero
, originally meant a mounted soldier, but came to be used as an insult to denote someone who would put themselves above their station. ‘Roundhead’ was a term used to describe the short-haired apprentices who first came out in favour of Parliament.

The fighting was over matters of political policy, and on how Britain should be governed. The differences between the two factions were complicated by their differing religious views; the Anglicanism of the King versus the Puritanism of Cromwell’s men. The War began when the port of Hull refused to open its gates to the King, and in 1642 the King proclaimed war on his rebellious subjects.

The English Civil War killed about two hundred thousand people, almost four percent of the population, and brought disease and famine in its wake. It divided families and stripped the land of food and wealth, as troops rampaged the countryside foraging and plundering whatever they could find.

Towns were flattened, and communities dispersed. For example, records show that Parliamentary troops blew up more than two hundred houses at Leicester just to provide a clear line of fire, whilst four hundred more were destroyed at Worcester and another two hundred at Faringdon.

There were nearly ten years of fighting and unrest. Some children barely knew their fathers as they had been away in the wars for most of that time. In effect there were three main periods of fighting, and this book is set between the last two bouts, when the King is about to make his last stand against Cromwell’s increasingly efficient New Model Army.

The seventeenth century saw a King executed, followed by the establishment of a military dictatorship under Cromwell. It was also a time that transformed society, and gave birth to new ideas about political and religious liberty, as demonstrated by the Diggers and sundry other sects with alternative or utopian ideals.

The Diggers

The Diggers were the first group of people to try and live in what we would nowadays call a ‘commune.’ Led by Gerrard Winstanley, the movement began in Cobham, Surrey in 1649, but rapidly spread to other parishes in the southern area of England.

The Diggers advocated equality for all, even equality between men and women, which was viewed as a radical idea in the seventeenth century. Their ideas also included the sharing of all goods and property, the replacement of money with bartering, and the ability to worship freely in whatever way one chose.

The name ‘The Diggers’ came from Winstanley’s belief that the earth was made to be ‘a common treasury for all’, and that all should be able to dig it, and provide themselves with what was necessary for human survival – food, warmth and shelter. The Diggers made several unsuccessful attempts to build houses in different locations, but were suppressed by the land-owning classes and dispersed by force, and the communities wiped out. Although the Diggers were a short-lived movement, their ideas had a far-reaching effect, sowing the seeds of communal living and self-sufficiency for future generations.

The Real Lady Katherine Fanshawe

Lady Katherine Fanshawe really did exist. Katherine was born on 4th May 1634 into a wealthy family, the Ferrers. Tragically, her father, Knighton Ferrers, died two weeks before she was born, and her grandfather shortly after, leaving her the sole heir to a fortune.

A few years later her mother was married again, to the spendthrift and gambler Sir Simon Fanshawe. Unfortunately, Katherine’s mother died when she was only eight, leaving her at the mercy of the Fanshawe family. Sir Simon supported the Royalist cause and the King needed money to fund his army. Sir Simon conceived of a plan to marry off his nephew, Thomas Fanshawe, to the rich heiress, thus gaining control over Katherine’s wealth and land.

This is where my book begins! But the stories about Lady Katherine that I found really fascinating were the reports of her exploits as a notorious highwaywoman. The legend has been handed down through the generations, and the story of her night-time raids has b
een made into a film entitled,
The Wicked Lady
.

Whilst researching this book I took into account both the real history and the legend. I also discovered that Lady Ann Fanshawe, who features in my story, wrote a diary, and I used this as part of my research. There are no historical records about Ralph Chaplin, although his name always appears in the stories. I have taken the liberty of giving him a fictional family, including a sister called Abigail. Lady Katherine Fanshawe, (Kate), Ralph and Abigail wil
l also appear in my next book,
Ghost on the Highway
.

Research into Deaf Education in the Seventeenth Century

I chose to have a deaf girl as my main character because there was a remarkable flowering of education and knowledge in the seventeenth century about how to help non-hearing children communicate. The early members of the Royal Society of London had the idea of creating a universal language, and developed several different strands of research including the teaching of phonetics and the beginnings of sign language. When I came across this in my research, it sparked my interest, and gave me the idea for Abigail. Of course there are many differing degrees of deafness and every person is different and unique. What works for some, will be unworkable for others. For the particular character of Abigail I am grateful to the excellent autobiography
What’s that Pig Outdoors – A Memoir of Deafness
by Henry Kisor, who lost his hearing at the age of three to meningitis.

More on the education of deaf children in the 17th Century can be found by following these links:

The Story of Alexander Popham

The Language of Deafness in the Seventeenth Cent
ury

Sign Language in the Seventeenth Century

Recommended Fiction for Deaf History Month

I hope you have enjoyed my notes. More information about my research for this book and my writing life can be found on
my website
, or chat to me on Twitter @swiftstory
.

Also by Deborah Swift
:

The Lady’s Slipper

The Gilded Lily

A Divided Inheritance