When Charles the First Was King · Chapter
Of the Second Siege of Pontefract Castle explained
Will Dale and Ben Tuckett join the Royalist garrison at Pontefract Castle during the second siege.
What happens
Will Dale and Ben Tuckett join the Royalist garrison at Pontefract Castle during the second siege. The chapter details the garrison's efforts to gather provisions, the daily sallies against the Parliamentarian forces, and the hardships of the blockade, including food shortages. Ben Tuckett, initially reluctant, becomes a fierce fighter, and the chapter recounts several skirmishes, including a notable Easter Sunday attack.
Themes in this chapter
Civil War and Duty
Will and Ben join the garrison out of loyalty to the King and necessity, highlighting the personal and collective duty during the civil war.
Loyalty to the Crown
The garrison's defense of Pontefract Castle for King Charles I, and Will's mother's prayers for the King's cause, underscore unwavering royalist loyalty.
Rural Life and Nature
The reliance on cattle and wheat from the countryside, and the constant need for fresh meat, reflects the rural economy and its disruption by war.
Characters to notice
- Will Dale
Narrator and defender of Pontefract Castle; drives cattle and wheat into the garrison, joins Sir John Ramsden's division.
- Ben Tuckett
Joins the garrison, donates his goods, and becomes a fierce fighter during sallies; longs for meat pasties.
- Rose Lisle
Present in the kitchen scene, teases Ben about being afraid of bullets.
- Lucy
Expresses concern that Ben will be killed; mentioned in relation to meat pasties.
- Old Deborah
Implied as part of the household; not directly named but present in the kitchen scene.
- Sir Marmaduke Langdale
Mentioned as retreating southward, leaving the garrison to face the Parliamentarians.
- Colonel Montgomery
Leads six hundred Scotch reinforcements arriving on April 18th; receives a warm reception from the garrison.
Key passages
“I drove twelve good head of cattle into the Castle with my own hands, and, moreover, sent in twelve loads of my best wheat, for I had no mind to see those who were fighting for his Majesty reduced to starvation.”
Will personally brought twelve cattle and twelve wagonloads of wheat into the castle to prevent the king's soldiers from starving.
Shows Will's active support for the Royalist cause.
“I cannot abide to see cattle going as it were by our very door when we have such need of it inside, and I feel that I must strike a blow for the possession of it, or die.”
Ben cannot stand watching cattle pass by when the garrison is desperate for meat, so he feels compelled to fight for them.
Highlights Ben's transformation into a motivated fighter driven by hunger.
“I would give the King's crown for one of those meat pasties at this moment.”
Ben would trade the king's crown for one of Lucy's meat pies right now.
Illustrates Ben's craving for home-cooked food amid the siege's scarcity.