“Prince Rupert” redirects here. For the city, see Prince Rupert, British Columbia. For other uses, see Prince Rupert (disambiguation).

Prince Rupert
Count Palatine of the Rhine Duke of Cumberland Earl of Holderness
Prince Rupert portrayed in Roman garb
Born	17 December 1619 Prague, Bohemia
Died	29 November 1682 (aged 62) London, England
Burial	6 December 1682 Westminster Abbey
Issue	Dudley Bard (1666–1686) Ruperta Howe (1671–1740)
House	Palatinate-Simmern
Father	Frederick V, Elector Palatine
Mother	Elizabeth Stuart
Religion	Calvinist
Occupation	Soldier, statesman, privateer, and scientist

Prince Rupert of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland, KG, PC, FRS (17 December 1619 – 29 November 1682) was a German-British army officer, admiral, scientist and colonial governor. He first came to prominence as a Cavalier cavalry commander during the English Civil War.^[a]

Youth, 1596–1610[edit]

Map showing the Electoral Palatinate in the Holy Roman Empire. As son and heir of Frederick IV, Elector Palatine (1574–1610), Frederick was the hereditary ruler of the Palatinate.

Frederick was born on 26 August 1596^[1][2] at the Jagdschloss Deinschwang (a hunting lodge) near Amberg in the Upper Palatinate. His father, Frederick IV, was the ruler of Electoral Palatinate; his mother was Louise Juliana of Nassau, the daughter of William I of Orange and Charlotte de Bourbon-Monpensier. Frederick was related to almost all of the ruling families of the Holy Roman Empire and a number of diplomats and dignitaries attended his baptism at Amberg on 6 October 1596. The Palatine Simmerns, a cadet branch of the House of Wittelsbach, were noted for their attachment to Calvinism; this was in marked contrast to the other main line of Wittelsbachs, headed by Duke Maximilian, which was deeply devoted to the Roman Catholic Church.

Rupert accompanied his parents to The Hague, where he spent his early years at the Hof te Wassenaer (the Wassenaer Court).^[7] Rupert’s mother paid her children little attention even by the standards of the day, apparently preferring her pet monkeys and dogs.^[8] Instead, Frederick employed a French couple, Monsieur and Madame de Plessen, as governors to his children. They were raised with a positive attitude towards the Bohemians and the English, and as strict Calvinists.^[8]

Early phases, 1642–43[edit]

Charles I holding a council of war at Edgecote on the day before the Battle of Edgehill; Rupert, who would command the King’s cavalry during the battle, is seated at the table

Rupert arrived in England following his period of imprisonment and final release from captivity in Germany. In August 1642, Rupert, along with his brother Prince Maurice and a number of professional soldiers, ran the gauntlet across the sea from the United Provinces, and after one initial failure,^[31] evaded the pro-Parliamentary navy and landed in Newcastle.^[32] Riding across country, he found the King with a tiny army at Leicester Abbey, and was promptly appointed General of Horse, a coveted appointment at the time in European warfare.^[27] Rupert set about recruiting and training: with great effort he had put together a partially trained mounted force of 3,000 cavalry by the end of September.^[33] Rupert’s reputation continued to rise and, leading a sudden, courageous charge, he routed a Parliamentarian force at Powick Bridge, the first military engagement of the war. Although a small engagement, this had a propaganda value far exceeding the importance of the battle itself, and Rupert became an heroic figure for many young men in the Royalist camp.^[34]

In November 1644 Rupert was appointed General of the entire Royalist army, which increased already marked tensions between him and a number of the King’s councillors. By May 1645, and now desperately short of supplies,^[51] Rupert captured Leicester, but suffered a severe reversal at the Battle of Naseby a month later.^[52] Although Rupert had counselled the King against accepting battle at Naseby, the opinions of Digby had won the day in council: nonetheless, Rupert’s defeat damaged him, rather than Digby, politically.^[53] After Naseby, Rupert regarded the Royalist cause as lost, and urged Charles to conclude a peace with Parliament. Charles, still supported by an optimistic Digby, believed he could win the war. By late summer Rupert had become trapped in Bristol by Parliamentary forces; faced with an impossible military situation on the ground, Rupert surrendered Bristol in September 1645, and Charles dismissed him from his service and command.^[54]

Rupert responded by making his way across Parliamentary held territory to the King at Newark with Prince Maurice and around a hundred men, fighting their way through smaller enemy units and evading larger ones.^[55] King Charles attempted to order Rupert to desist, fearing an armed coup, but Rupert arrived at the royal court anyway.^[55] After a difficult meeting, Rupert convinced the King to hold a court-martial over his conduct at Bristol, which exonerated him and Maurice.^[56] After a final argument over the fate of his friend Richard Willis, the governor of Newark, who had let Rupert into the royal court to begin with, Rupert resigned and left the service of King Charles, along with most of his best cavalry officers.^[57] Earlier interpretations of this event focused on Rupert’s concern for his honour in the face of his initial dismissal by the King;^[56] later works have highlighted the practical importance of the courts martial to Rupert’s future employability as a mercenary in Europe, given that Rupert knew that the war by this point was effectively lost.^[58] Rupert and Maurice spent the winter of 1645 in Woodstock, examining options for employment under the Venetian Republic, before returning to Oxford and the King in 1646.^[59] Rupert and the King were reconciled, the Prince remaining to defend Oxford when the King left for the north. After the ensuing siege and surrender of Oxford in 1646, Parliament banished both Rupert and his brother from England.^[60]

Rupert was a common figure of Parliamentarian propaganda, depicted here, with his dog Boy, pillaging the town of Birmingham

1

Restoration statesman[edit]

Rupert was appointed to the King’s Privy Council in 1662, taking roles on the Foreign Affairs Committee, the Admiralty Committee and the Tangier Committee.^[116] Accounts vary of Rupert’s role in all these committees of government. Samuel Pepys, no friend of Rupert’s, sat on the Tangier Committee with him and later declared that all Rupert did was to laugh and swear occasionally: other records, such as those of the Foreign Affairs Committee, show him taking a full and active role in proceedings.^[114]

In 1668, the King appointed Rupert to be the Constable of Windsor Castle.^[117] Rupert was already one of the Knights of the Garter, who had their headquarters at the castle, and was a close companion of the King, who would wish to be suitably entertained at the castle.^[118] Rupert immediately began to reorder the castle’s defences, sorting out the garrison’s accommodation, repairing the Devil’s Tower, reconstructing the real tennis court and improving the castle’s hunting estate.^[119] Rupert acquired his own apartments in the castle, which were recorded as being “very singular” with some decorated with an “extraordinary” number of “pikes, muskets, pistols, bandoliers, holsters, drums, back, breast, and head pieces”, and his inner chambers “hung with tapisserie, curious and effeminate pictures”.^[120] King Charles II and Rupert spent much time together over the years hunting and playing tennis together at Windsor,^[121] and Rupert was also a close companion of James, the Duke of York.^[114] Rupert was considered by Pepys to be the fourth best tennis player in England.^[122]

Rupert became romantically engaged to Frances Bard (1646–1708), the daughter of the English explorer and Civil War veteran Henry Bard.^[123] Frances claimed to have secretly married Rupert in 1664, although this was denied by him and no firm proof exists to support the claim.^[124] Rupert acknowledged the son he had with Frances, Dudley Bard (1666–86), often called “Dudley Rupert”, who was schooled at Eton College. In 1673, Rupert was urged by Charles Louis to return home, marry and father an heir to the Palatinate, as it appeared likely that Charles Louis’s own son would not survive childhood. Rupert refused, and remained in England.^[125]

Career in the Restoration navy[edit]

For much of the 17th century, England was embroiled in conflict with commercial rival Holland through the Anglo-Dutch Wars.^[126] Rupert became closely involved in these as a senior admiral to King Charles II, rising to command the Royal Navy by the end of his career. Although several famous admirals of the day had previously been army commanders, including Blake and Monk, they had commanded relatively small land forces and Rupert was still relatively unusual for the period in having both practical experience of commanding large land armies and having extensive naval experience from his campaigns in the 1650s.^[127]

At the start of the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665–67), Rupert was appointed as one of the three squadron commanders of the English fleet, under the overall command of the Duke of York, taking HMS Royal James as his flagship.^[128] As the commander of the White Squadron, Rupert fought at the Battle of Lowestoft in 1665, breaking through the enemy defences at a critical moment; Rupert’s leg was injured in the battle, an injury that caused him ongoing pain.^[129] Recalled to accompany the King during the plague that was sweeping London, Rupert continued to argue in favour of the fleet’s seeking a set-piece engagement with the Dutch that would force the Dutch back to the negotiating table.^[130] The following year, Rupert was made joint commander of the fleet with Monk and given the opportunity to put this plan into practice. In June 1666, they fought the Dutch at the Four Days’ Battle, one of the longest naval battles in history; the battle saw the new aggressive tactics of Rupert and Monk applied, resulting in “a sight unique till then in sailing-ship warfare, the English beating upwind and breaking the enemy’s line from leeward.”^[131] However, the Four Days’ Battle was considered a victory for the Dutch, but the St. James’s Day Battle the following month allowed Rupert and Monk to use the same tactics to inflict heavy damage on the Dutch and the battle resulted in a significant English victory.^[132] The Dutch however would see a favourable end to the war with the decisive Raid on the Medway.^[133]

Rupert also played a prominent role in the Third Anglo-Dutch War (1672–74). This time Louis XIV of France was a key English ally against Holland, and it was decided that the French would form a squadron in a combined fleet.^[134] The English fleet had been much expanded, and Rupert had three ships, HMS Royal Charles, HMS Royal James and HMS Royal Oak, equipped with a high-specification, annealed and lathe-produced gun of his own design, the Rupertinoe. Unfortunately the cost of the weapon—three times that of a normal gun—prevented its wider deployment in the fleet.^[135] The French role in the conflict proved a problem when Charles turned to the appointment of an admiral. Rupert’s objection to the French alliance was well known, and accordingly the King appointed the Duke of York to the role instead.^[136] Rupert was instead instructed to take over the Duke’s work at the Admiralty, which he did with gusto.^[136] The Allied naval plans were stalled after the Duke’s inconclusive battle with the Dutch at Solebay.^[137]

The English plan for 1673 centred on first achieving naval dominance, followed by landing an army in Zeeland. The King appointed the Duke as supreme commander, with Rupert as his deputy, combining the ranks of general and vice admiral of England.^[138] During the winter of 1672, however, Charles—still (legitimately) childless—decided that the risk to the Duke, his heir, was too great and made Rupert supreme Allied commander in his place.^[139] Rupert began the 1673 campaign against the Dutch knowing the logistical support for his fleet remained uncertain, with many ships undermanned.^[140] The result was the Battle of Schooneveld in June and the Battle of Texel in August, a controversial sequence of engagements in which, at a minimum, poor communications between the French and English commanders assisted the marginal Dutch victory.^[141] Many English commentators were harsher, blaming the French for failing to fully engage in the battles and Rupert—having cautioned against the alliance in the first place—was popularly hailed as a hero.^[142] Rupert finally retired from active seagoing command later that year.^[143]

Rupert had a characteristic style as an admiral; he relied upon “energetic personal leadership backed by close contact with his officers”;^[144] having decided how to proceed in a naval campaign, however, it could be difficult for his staff to change his mind.^[144] Recent work on Rupert’s role as a commander has also highlighted the progress the prince made in formulating the way that orders were given to the British fleet. Fleet communications were limited during the period, and the traditional orders from admirals before a battle were accordingly quite rigid, limiting a captain’s independence in the battle.^[145] Rupert played a key part in the conferences held by the Duke of York in 1665 to review tactics and operational methods from the first Dutch war, and put these into practice before the St James Day battle.^[146] These instructions and supplementary instructions to ships’ captains, which attempted to balance an adherence to standing orders with the need to exploit emerging opportunities in a battle, proved heavily influential over the next hundred years^[146] and shaped the idea that an aggressive fighting spirit should be at the core of British naval doctrine.^[147]

After 1673 Rupert remained a senior member of the Royal Navy and Charles’s administration. Rupert allied himself with Lord Shaftesbury on matters of foreign policy, but remained loyal to King Charles II on other issues,^[125] and was passionate about protecting the Royal Prerogative. As a consequence he opposed Parliament’s plan in 1677 to appoint him to Lord High Admiral—on the basis that only the King should be allowed to propose such appointments—but noted that he was willing to become Admiral if the King wished him to do so.^[148] The King’s solution was to establish a small, empowered Admiralty Commission, of which Rupert became the first commissioner.^[149] As a result, from 1673 to 1679 Rupert was able to focus on ensuring a closer regulation of manning, gunning and the selection of officers. He was also involved in setting priorities between the different theatres of operations that the Royal Navy was now involved in around the world.^[150] Rupert was also appointed to the supreme position of “General at Sea and Land”, effectively assuming the wartime powers of the Lord High Admiral.^[151]

Later life[edit]

After the end of his seagoing naval career Rupert continued to be actively involved in both government and science, although he was increasingly removed from current politics.^[152] To the younger members of the court the prince appeared increasingly distant—almost from a different era.^[153] The Count de Gramont described Rupert as “brave and courageous even to rashness, but cross-grained and incorrigibly obstinate… he was polite, even to excess, unseasonably; but haughty, and even brutal, when he ought to have been gentle and courteous… his manners were ungracious: he had a dry hard-favoured visage, and a stern look, even when he wished to please; but, when he was out of humour, he was the true picture of reproof”.^[153] Rupert’s health during this period was also less robust; his head wound from his employment in France required a painful trepanning treatment, his leg wound continued to hurt and he still suffered from the malaria he had caught while in the Gambia.^[154]

Colonial administration[edit]

Rupert had demonstrated an interest in colonial issues for many years. On arriving in England in 1660, he had encouraged the government to continue his own exploration of the Gambia in an attempt to find gold, leading to Robert Holmes‘s expedition the following year.^[155] Rupert was an active shareholder in the Company of Royal Adventurers Trading into Africa that was established as a result in 1662.^[155] The company continued operations for the next eight years, with backers including the King, the Duke of York and the Royal Society, with operations including engaging in the West Africa slave trade until it folded in 1670.^[156] The company’s operations merged with those of the Gambia Merchants’ Company into the new Royal African Company, with a royal charter to set up forts, factories, troops and to exercise martial law in West Africa, in pursuit of trade in gold, silver and slaves; Rupert was the third named member of the company’s board.^[157]

By then, however, Rupert’s attention had turned to North America. The French explorers Radisson and des Groseilliers had come to England after conducting a joint exploration of the Hudson’s Bay region in 1659;^[158] there their account attracted the attention of the King and Rupert.^[159] Rupert put an initial investment of £270 of his own money into a proposal for a fresh expedition and set about raising more; despite setbacks, including the Great Fire of London, by 1667 he had formed a private syndicate and leased the Eaglet from the King for the expedition.^[160] The Eaglet failed, but her sister vessel, the Nonsuch, made a successful expedition, returning in 1669 with furs worth £1,400.^[161] In 1670, the King approved the charter for “The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England trading into Hudson’s Bay” that would form the Hudson’s Bay Company, which was granted a trading monopoly in the whole Hudson Bay watershed area, an immense territory named Rupert’s Land, with Rupert appointed the first Governor.^[161] Rupert’s first company secretary was Sir James Hayes and Radisson named the Hayes River, in present-day Manitoba, in his honour. The company continued to prosper, forming the basis for much of the commercial activity of colonial Canada. Rupert’s role in colonial commerce was marked by his being asked to lay the cornerstone of the new Royal Exchange in 1670, and being made one of its first councillors.^[162][b]

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“A beastly ambition, which the gods grant thee t’

attain to! If thou wert the lion, the fox would

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eat three: if thou wert the fox, the lion would

suspect thee, when peradventure thou wert accused by

the ass: if thou wert the ass, thy dulness would

torment thee, and still thou livedst but as a

breakfast to the wolf: if thou wert the wolf, thy

greediness would afflict thee, and oft thou shouldst

hazard thy life for thy dinner: wert thou the

unicorn, pride and wrath would confound thee and

make thine own self the conquest of thy fury: wert

thou a bear, thou wouldst be killed by the horse:

wert thou a horse, thou wouldst be seized by the

leopard: wert thou a leopard, thou wert german to

the lion and the spots of thy kindred were jurors on

thy life: all thy safety were remotion and thy

defence absence. What beast couldst thou be, that

were not subject to a beast? and what a beast art

thou already, that seest not thy loss in

transformation!”

― William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens

For the 21^st partisans for patronage

Putin and the bear Nationalism

Trump and the Eagle InterNationalism

Corbyn of the un-common people interNationalism
Farage of the common people Nationalism

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Within the Elysian bosom suckling Globalism on the right

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From good men and bad society to

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The Simple see war is simply a football match 
conducted with cannons.wise men look 
not In  Nietzsche's Will to Power, 
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shadows cast from secret whispers.