Siege of Newcastle

by William Lithgow

The author of this concise history of a campaign in the Scottish intervention in the English Civil War was a Scottish traveller and gentleman, William Lithgow, who was an eye-witness of the actions he describes. The centrepiece of the book is Lithgow's history of the long-drawn out siege of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, a Royalist stronghold which eventually capitulated to its Scots besiegeers in October 1644. The book also contains Lithgow's description of the 'Never to bee forgotten' battle of Marston Moor, the great turning point of the war in which an Anglo-Scottish army defeated the Royalists near York and effectively captured the North for Parliament. A rare eye-witness account, this book is a must for all Civil War enthusiasts as well as anyone interested in Scottish military history.

58 pages, Paperback

First published November 4, 2010

About the author

William Lithgow (c.1582 - 1645) was a widely-travelled Scot. He was born in Lanarkshire and educated at Lanark Grammar School.

Prior to 1610 he had visited Shetland, Switzerland, and Bohemia. In that year he set out from Paris for Rome on the 7 March, where he remained for four weeks before moving on to other parts of Italy: Naples, Ancona, before moving on to Athens, Constantinople, and others. After a three-month stay in Constantinople, he sailed to other Grecian localities and then on to Palestine, arriving in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday 1612, and later on to Egypt.

His next journey, 1614–16, was in Tunis and Fez; but his last, 1619–21, to Spain, ended unfortunately in his apprehension at Malaga and torture as a spy.

His most famous work, The Totall Discourse of the Rare Adventures & Painefull Peregrinations of Long Nineteene Yeares Travayles from Scotland to the most Famous Kingdomes in Europe, Asia and Africa (1632), is an exhilarating account of his experiences.