Edward Massie

Sir Edward Massie

Sir Edward Massie (also Massey , * around 1619; † around 1674/5), English general during the English Civil War , was the son of John Massie of Coddington in Cheshire .

Life

Little is known about his early life. But it is known that he fought against the Spanish in the Dutch army . In 1639 he appears as captain of the pioneers in the army put together by King Charles I in the fight against the Scots. When the English Civil War broke out, he was with the king in York , but soon joined the parliamentary army.

As a Lieutenant Colonel under the Earl of Stanford, he became Deputy Governor of Gloucester , where he also stayed until the end of the First English Civil War . In early 1643 became governor. He led minor military operations against numerous smaller Royalist troops and was in command of the defense of Gloucester when it was attacked by the King's main army in August 1643. He has received thanks from Parliament and £ 1,000 recognition for his services for his reliability and skills in defense . In 1644 he got the upper hand in his area and drove out the local royalists. On various occasions he fought against the troops of Prince Ruprecht of the Palatinate . In May 1644 he was appointed General of the Western Alliance Armed Forces. In 1645 he launched an offensive against Lord Goring and the royalists around the west and neared the Taunton area . In August 1645 worked successfully with Sir Thomas Fairfax and the New Model Army in the Langport campaign.

After participating in a few unrelated operations that ended the First War, he sat in the House of Commons for Gloucester. He actively sided with the Presbyterians and was one of the generals accused by the army of resurrecting the civil war in the interests of the Presbyterians. Massie fled England in June 1647, but resumed his parliamentary work in 1648 and was expelled from it again by Prides Purge . After a brief detention, he fled to the Netherlands . There, like many Presbyterians, he stood openly and defensively before King Charles II , whom he accompanied to Scotland in 1651 .

He fought Oliver Cromwell at the Stirling and Inverkeithing Bridge and commanded the life guards of the royalist army during the invasion of England in 1651. It was generally hoped that Massie would prevail over the towns of the Severn Valley, and the march on Worcester was partly borne by that expectation. He could do little, however, and for a time rode in the king's entourage at the Battle of Worcester , but fell into the hands of his former comrades and was locked in the tower. He managed to flee to the Netherlands again. He traveled to England twice in 1654 and 1656 to negotiate with the Presbyterians over the restoration of the monarchy. In 1660 he prepared the return of Charles II and was then beaten to a Knight Bachelor ("Sir") and received a recognition of £ 3,000 . He spent the rest of his life in political and, naturally, in military and administrative matters. It is said that he died in Ireland in 1674 or 1675.

literature

• Hugh Chisholm (Ed.): Massey, Sir Edward . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . Volume 17, Cambridge University Press , 1911, p. 867.
• Godfrey Noel Richardson: Massey, Sir Edward. In: Sidney Lee: Dictionary of National Biography . Volume 37, Smith, Elder & Co, London 1894, pp. 2 ff.