"The Dogs of War: Prince Rupert and Sergeant ..." Topic

…Major General Boye.

"At the 1644 Battle of Marston Moor in a wild meadow west of York, Royalist Sergeant Major General Boye was summarily executed by the Parliamentarians with a silver bullet. As one of the largest battles of the First English Civil War, with over 4000 Royalist casualties, and the subsequent abandonment of Northern England by Royalist forces, one might argue that such are the fortunes of war where brave men are stuck down in their prime, and in the aftermath of the carnage, the victors exact their vengeance. Except, Boye was a white hunting poodle. Given, he was the battle-hardened, dogged canine companion of cavalier and future General of the Royalist Army Prince Rupert of the Rhine, but dogs are not known for strategic planning of combat operations or strict adherence to political ideologies. Mostly, they follow their noses. Boye, on the other hand, was widely reputed to be Rupert's shapeshifting, demonic familiar, credited with strange occult powers from invulnerability to prophecy. And a fondness for bones. Preferably those of his enemies trampled beneath his feet.

Rupert, Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, 1st Duke of Cumberland, 1st Earl of Holderness, commonly referred to as Prince Rupert of the Rhine (1619-1682) was a 17th Century soldier of fortune, fighting in the Netherlands against Spain during the Eighty Years' War and in Germany against the Holy Roman Empire in the Thirty Years' War. As a younger son of German prince Frederick V, Elector Palatine and the eldest daughter of King James the 1st of England, this made him a close relative of the British monarchy, which explains how he wound up as a Royalist cavalryman and eventually a general during the English Civil War. After the Royalists were defeated and he was banished from England, he hadn't seen enough war, so he went off to fight for France against Spain, and then as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean, returning to England after the Restoration of the monarchy, serving as a senior naval commander in the Anglo-Dutch Wars. In short, despite an undeniably aristocratic upbringing and propensity for wearing frilly shirts, Prince Rupert was a badass. At the tender age of fourteen, rather than worrying about the pubescent perils of high school, Rupert was busy knocking heads at the Battle of Vlotho in an attempt to recapture the Rhenish Palatinate in southwest Germany for Charles Louis, Elector Palatine. Unfortunately, Rupert was captured and tossed into prison in Linz. In the 17th Century, being a royal prisoner was not such a bad gig. Rupert spent his time exercising his artistic inclinations, hunting, and reading military textbooks (clearly assuming he would be called upon to spill blood somewhere else), and even had a torrid affair with the daughter of Count von Kuffstein, his official host/jailer during his three years of imprisonment. And it was here that Rupert met Boye. Boye was a rare white hunting poodle and they quickly became fast friends (or as some say, partners in infernal crime). Boye accompanied Rupert on campaign, and was renowned to have rather bizarre religious behaviors that branded him as something more than a dog…"
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Amicalement
Armand

I miss my dog :(