The Prince and his Poodle

In an era of larger-than-life characters, Prince Rupert of the Rhine still stands out as an especially charismatic and complex figure. The son of Charles I’s sister Elizabeth Stuart and Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire and briefly King of Bohemia, Rupert cut a dashing swathe through the battlefields of the English Civil War, fighting for his royal uncle.

He was also a central figure in a strange, humorous but ultimately tragic war of words that played out through pamphlets between the Royalist and parliamentarian forces, all about his dog, Boy. A hunting poodle, Boy always rode into battle with his master and became synonymous with his romantic, victorious bravado. That is, until the battle of Marston Moor on 2 July 1644…

Unlike his uncle, Rupert would survive the war. He went on to play a leading role in the establishment of the slave trade as a Royalist privateer in the Caribbean, before returning to England as a statesman under Charles II and becoming lucratively involved in the trade of slaves and precious metal in Africa. He died at the relatively old age of 62.

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Letter from Charles I to his nephew Rupert 12 April 1644, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 222/20)

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Letter from Charles I to his nephew Rupert 12 April 1644, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 222/20)

When faced with open warfare against Parliament, Charles called on the military prowess of his nephew, Rupert, the soldierly son of his sister Elizabeth.

The 23-year-old arrived in England from Germany in 1642.

Painting of the bust of a young man against a dark background. He has long, wavy, brown hair and is wearing metal armour underneath a red and yellow, velvet cape. Above him in gold are the words 'Prince Rupert'. — Gerrit van Honthorst, Prince Rupert, Count Palatine, c. 1640, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 4519)

In this letter, written from Oxford in Charles’s own hand, and dated 12 April 1644, the king thanks Rupert for his loyalty and requests his presence.

Charles had been in Oxford since January that year, and on 25 April, after Rupert’s arrival, a council of war was held to plan the Royalist response to the imminent parliamentarian military threat in the region.

Old, discoloured map of a city. — Wenceslaus Hollar, Oxforde, 1643, British Museum, London (Q,6.116)

Thanks to Rupert’s strategy, the Royalists held Oxford until 1646.

<em>Historical memoires of the life and death of that wise and valiant prince, Rupert, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland...</em>, London, printed for Tho[mas] Malthus, at the sign of the Sun in the Poultry, 1683, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 116/18)

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Historical memoires of the life and death of that wise and valiant prince, Rupert, Prince Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Cumberland..., London, printed for Tho[mas] Malthus, at the sign of the Sun in the Poultry, 1683, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 116/18)

Prince Rupert was a native of Bohemia, where Charles I’s sister Elizabeth had married Frederick, briefly the King of Bohemia.

Half-portrait painting of a seated, middle-aged woman. She is wearing dark robes and a large, frilly, white collar. — Studio of Michiel Jansz. van Miereveldt, Princess Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia and Electress Palatine, 1623, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG 71)

Rupert arrived in England to support his uncle in 1642, the year that the bitter clashes between the monarch and Parliament broke into the prolonged conflict of the English Civil War.

A dashing, romantic figure with the long, flowing locks of a cavalier, Rupert quickly won several key battles for Charles – attracting admiration from the Royalists and the ire of parliamentarian pamphleteers in London.

<em>Mercurius civicus, Londons intelligencer...</em>, London, printed, and are to be sold in th[a]t Old Bayly, 17–25 July 1644, no. 61, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 125/1)

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Mercurius civicus, Londons intelligencer..., London, printed, and are to be sold in th[a]t Old Bayly, 17–25 July 1644, no. 61, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 125/1)

Regarded as the first major urban newspaper, Mercurius civicus (named for the Roman messenger god Mercury) was sold weekly for one penny during the English Civil War.

Each issue was headed by woodcut portraits of key figures, in this case the dashing Prince Rupert.

Rupert’s long hair was characteristic of the courtly elegance of the Royalists, which inspired their enemies to call them ‘cavaliers’ (from the Spanish caballero, ‘knight’), a pejorative reference to the Catholic Spanish who were then fighting the Protestant Dutch (1566–1648).

Painting of two young men. Both are wearing elaborate silk clothing with large, white, lace collars. The man on the left is wearing a gold shirt with maroon pants and the man on the right is wearing a grey and blue cape with blue pants. They both have long wavy hair. — Anthony van Dyck, Two Royalists – Lord John Stuart and his Brother, Lord Bernard Stuart, c. 1638, National Gallery, London (NG6518)

The Royalists happily adopted the nickname, unlike the Puritan parliamentarian ‘roundheads’, so-called for their closely cropped hairstyle.

Old, discoloured engraving of an old man with a near-bald head. He is wearing the long robes of a priest or a monk and is holding a large crucifix. — Anonymous artist, detail from The Sound-Head, Rattle-Head, and Round-Head 1642, British Museum, London (1848,0911.443)

T.B., <em>Observations vpon Prince Rupert's vvhite dog, called Boy...</em>, London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 515/27)

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T.B., Observations vpon Prince Rupert's vvhite dog, called Boy..., London, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 515/27)

Parliamentarian pamphlets were quickly produced to accuse Rupert of barbarity towards women and children, and of losing battles that he had won.

Rupert hit back with his own pamphlets, and as the war of words progressed through 1642, even Rupert’s beloved pet poodle, Boy, was drawn into the fray.

As some parliamentarians muttered darkly about Rupert’s apparently supernatural skill on the battlefield, this royalist pamphlet parodied the anti-Rupert hysteria… With tongue firmly in cheek, the author, ‘T.B.’, accused Boy of being Rupert’s ‘familiar’ (the animal assistant of a witch) …

… and the white dog is transformed into a lion for the title page.

<em>The Parliaments vnspotted-bitch: in answer to Prince Roberts dog called Boy, and his malignant she-monkey</em>, London, printed for R. Iackson, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 2015/36)

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The Parliaments vnspotted-bitch: in answer to Prince Roberts dog called Boy, and his malignant she-monkey, London, printed for R. Iackson, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 2015/36)

Boy captured England’s imagination so strongly that the parliamentarians began to feel a need for their own canine mascot. In this pamphlet, responding to Rupert’s variously published defences of Boy (and his pet monkey), the author has invented an ‘unspotted’ dog for the parliamentarian cause.

The pamphlet is written as though by this dog, who roundly condemns Boy and refutes the notion of his diabolic power, concluding that she regards Prince Rupert’s dog as ‘no more than … a grumbling Cur’.

John Taylor (attributed), <em>A dialogue, or, Rather a parley betweene Prince Ruperts dogge whose name is Puddle, and Tobies dog whose name is Pepper...</em>, London, printed for I. Smith, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 515/28)

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John Taylor (attributed), A dialogue, or, Rather a parley betweene Prince Ruperts dogge whose name is Puddle, and Tobies dog whose name is Pepper..., London, printed for I. Smith, 1643, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 515/28)

The war of words about Rupert’s dog reached a comic high point in this Royalist pamphlet about Boy and ‘Tobies dog’, Pepper – a reference to the biblical Book of Tobit and the religiosity of the parliamentarians.

As suggested by the title page’s illustration, in the text the dogs trade insults, playing out the political and social differences between the opposing forces.

Finally, Pepper (the ‘Roundhead curr’) is won over by Boy’s forceful personality. He decides to join the Royalists and dons a long-haired wig to complete his transformation …

For Tobies Dog doth think it better,
To change himselfe to a Cavalier Pepper.

Marchamont Nedham, <em>Ruperts sumpter, and private cabinet rifled, and a discovery of a pack of his jewels...</em>, London, printed by J. Coe, 1644, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 513/89)

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Marchamont Nedham, Ruperts sumpter, and private cabinet rifled, and a discovery of a pack of his jewels..., London, printed by J. Coe, 1644, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 513/89)

As the Civil War raged, Rupert led the Royalist forces to many famous victories.

In the summer of 1644, he confidently staged a decisive confrontation …

At the Battle of Marston Moor (near York) on 2 July, Rupert’s army was destroyed by the parliamentarians and their Scottish allies, killing thousands.

Old print depciting a battle scene - a man on horseback is charging towards unseen figures. — James Bromley (after Abraham Cooper), Rupert’s Standard at Marston Moor, 1824, British Museum, London (2010,7081.5825)

One of the victims was Boy.

This parliamentarian pamphlet shows the prince hiding in a bean field while his enemies rifle through his possessions, and his beloved pet lies dead.

The white poodle has been depicted as a black dog, perhaps to emphasise his death or his supposedly diabolical nature.

Marcus Tullius Cicero, <em>De officiis libri III...</em>, Amsterdam, Henry Laurence, 1623, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 115/4)

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Marcus Tullius Cicero, De officiis libri III..., Amsterdam, Henry Laurence, 1623, State Library Victoria, Melbourne (RAREEMM 115/4)

Like all high-born men of his age, Rupert was educated in the classical thought of Greece and Rome.

This is his signed copy of one of Roman statesman Cicero’s last works, De officiis, which explores how to live a moral life.

Marble bust of an older man in robes with short hair. — Bust of Marcus Tullius Cicero c. 1800

Book 3 deals with the conflict between what is right and what is expedient, an issue of profound importance to a military royal such as Rupert.

Chalk portrait of Prince Rupert - head and shoulders. He has long curly hair, and is wearing a frilled collar, chain, pendant and armour. — Wallerant Vaillant, Portrait of Prince Rupert; head and shoulders, with long curly hair, wearing a frilled collar, chain, pendant and armour, 1655–77, British Museum, London (1863,0509.629)

Despite Rupert’s efforts in the Royalist cause, the parliamentarian forces (allied with the Scots) triumphed in England’s Civil War.

After the death of his uncle, Charles I, Rupert’s varied career included fighting in Louis XIV’s army and a stint as a privateer (a private individual serving under a commission of war from the monarchy) in the Caribbean.

Full-length painting of a king. He is wearing an elaborate, long silk and fur coat with a blue pattern over white tights. He has long, black, curly hair and is holding a cane. Behind him there is a large red and yellow curtain and a pillar. — Hyacinthe Rigaud, Portrait of Louis XIV, between 1700 and 1701, Louvre Museum, Paris (INV 7492)

He was also personally involved in the West African slave trade from its early years as a major shareholder of the Company of Royal Trading into Africa (established 1662), which later became the Royal African Company.

Rupert died in England in 1682, aged 62.

Connections

Charles: in his own write

The letter from Charles to Rupert in the Emmerson Collection is significant for both its content and the hand that wrote it. Charles’s correspondences were usually drafted by scribes thus the King’s choice to personally write this letter to his nephew is a testament to the closeness of their relationship. Another example of such affection can be seen in Charles’s letter to his sister and Rupert’s mother, Elizabeth.

Read more about Charles’s letter to his ‘onlie deare Sister’ and the influence of queens in the early modern period.>

Marks of ownership

Rupert’s desire to sign his copy of De officiis was common in the early modern period. As well as signing their names, book owners would often also record the provenance of their prized possession, for instance ‘Sarah Hodges her boock … Given her by the Bishope of Worster her father … a littel before his death’.

Discover more about marks of ownership and other forms of marginalia.>

A war of words

The pamphlet Ruperts sumpter depicting Boy’s death at the Battle of Marston Moor references Mercurius Britannicus and Mercurius Aulicus in its full title. These two newsbooks (an early form of newspaper) were part of a war of words between Royalists and parliamentarians.

Learn more about these polemical pamphlets and the seventeenth century in partisan England.>

Mezzotint

Woodcuts, like the portrait of Rupert in Mercurius civicus, were a precursor to the printmaking technique known as mezzotint. After the war, Rupert became interested in mezzotint and, having learnt the technique abroad, demonstrated it to the diarist, author and book collector John Evelyn. Impressed, Evelyn included Rupert’s mezzotint ‘Little Executioner’ in his book Sculptura, or, The History and Art of Chalcography and Engraving in Copper 1662.

Read more about Evelyn, his collecting methods and other significant private libraries.>

Index

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