David Flintham - Military Historian
David Flintham - Military Historian
The Tudor ramparts of Berwick-upon-Tweed. Below is a view of the Vauban-designed ramparts in Ypres
Thanks for visiting!
Thanks for visiting!
Welcome to the home page of David Flintham BA FRGS.
I am a military historian, specialising in 17th century fortifications.
The 17th century was a watershed in European history: it was the century where the superstitions of the medieval period were largely laid to rest, to be replaced by scientific reasoning. The origins of the great transformations of the 18th and 19th centuries (the Enlightenment, and the Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions) can be traced to the 17th century. The transformation on the battlefield was no less dramatic – military engineering which was regarded as an ‘art’ during the 16th century was very much a science by the end of the 17th.
The importance of sieges and fortifications during the so called 'English' Civil Wars of 1639-60 is something that is often misunderstood and under-represented in studies of the conflict. But to contemporaries, sieges dominated the fighting. Writing in 1677, the 1st Earl of Orrey, a veteran of the wars, noted that it was fought “more like foxes than lions, and you will have twenty sieges for one battle”. More recently, the late Professor Christopher Duffy described the Civil Wars as “a war of trenches, ramparts, palisades, bombardments and blockades”.
This site is home to my research into the fortifications of the 17th century, and also to the Kings Lynn under Siege (KLuS) and the Civil War Fortifications Register projects.
Latest News
Latest News
I'll be speaking at November's Siege Warfare in the Long Eighteenth Century conference. See Helion's website for further information.
My latest book, The Town Well Fortified, has just been published. Click on the image for details.
Also recently published is Batter their Walls, Gates and Forts: The Proceedings of the 2022 English Civil War Fortress Symposium. This includes a chapter on King's Lynn under Siege. Click image for details.
The Civil War Fortifications Register has been launched (see https://vauban.co.uk/civil-war-fortifications-register-(cwfr) )
Bookings are now open for this year's King's Lynn dig (14th to 19th July). Click here for details.
If you missed the King’s Lynn episode of the Great British Dig, it can be viewed via catch-up
My essay 'Fortress Scotland - 1650-1707' is included as part of Helion's 1648 and All That
Civil War London: A Military History of London Under Charles I and Oliver Cromwell is available as is my earlier English Civil War Defences of London.
