The Regiment
Lord Grey's Regiment at their ancestral home in Bradgate Park
Here you can find out information about the different roles in the regiment both on and off the battlefield!
There are two main combat arms within the regiment, these are the Pike and the Musket. If long ranged encounters are more your style there are opportunities to be trained as part of a cannon crew. Other vital roles on the battlefield are the drummers and the water carriers. If you enjoy the history side of things more than the battles we also have a strong living history contingent.
Pike
During the Civil wars a unit of Pikemen was made up of the biggest and strongest men and you can understand why as these men would have to learn to wield a pike effectively. A pike is a pole arm usually made of ash and could be anything between 16 and 20 feet long! A pikeman would generally wear a helmet known as a morion and in the early stages of the war would have worn back and breast armour. As musket technology and tactics progressed, pikemen began to discard their armour as their effectiveness diminished. The main role of a pike unit was to protect the vulnerable musketeers from cavalry during their long reloading procedure but could also be used as heavy shock troops to seize and hold ground, where they often encountered enemy pike blocks and would engage them to try and push them from the field. In the Sealed Knot we aim to recreate all of these roles on the battlefield, so if your into physical, adrenaline fueled action, a career as one of Lord Greys Pikemen could be for you!!
Musket
For many years the longbow was the predominant weapon of England. However to use such a weapon effectivley took a lifetime of training due to the immense draw weight of the bow. With the advent of black powder weapons the longbow fell out of favour as a musket had greater armour penetration and a raw recruit could be trained in a muskets basic use within a couple of days. However the musket was incredibly inaccurate and sometimes just as lethal to the firer as his intended target. This lead to musketeers fighting together in large blocks with the idea that "If we fire enough guns in the same direction, we're bound to hit something!"
There are two main types of musket in use, these being matchlock - muskets that use a length of burning cord to ignite the black powder charge in their pan, and the flintlock - these muskets had a piece of flint that struck a steel frism that then emits a shower of sparks into the priming pan. These were usally issued to powder guards as having lengths of burning match is not the best thing to have around stores of gunpowder! Both of these types of musket are in use by our members on the battlefields as well as a third type, the dummy musket. This is a replica musket that newcomers use as they have to serve 12 months with a dummy musket in the block to get used to the battles raging around them. Potential musketeers must pass an internal safety test and hold the correct shotgun and black powder licenses to be able to fire. This may seem daunting at first but the rewarding feeling of firing a musket on the battlefield is second to none!
There are two main types of musket in use, these being matchlock - muskets that use a length of burning cord to ignite the black powder charge in their pan, and the flintlock - these muskets had a piece of flint that struck a steel frism that then emits a shower of sparks into the priming pan. These were usally issued to powder guards as having lengths of burning match is not the best thing to have around stores of gunpowder! Both of these types of musket are in use by our members on the battlefields as well as a third type, the dummy musket. This is a replica musket that newcomers use as they have to serve 12 months with a dummy musket in the block to get used to the battles raging around them. Potential musketeers must pass an internal safety test and hold the correct shotgun and black powder licenses to be able to fire. This may seem daunting at first but the rewarding feeling of firing a musket on the battlefield is second to none!
Drums
Battles of the English Civil wars were extremely chaotic and noisy, with roaring cannon, volleys of muskets and the thundering hooves of charging cavalry mixed in with the screams of the wounded and dying. In this cacophony of sound soldiers would struggle to hear their orders, so officers would use banks of drummers to relay their orders to the men. Every order has it's own beat on the drum and the soldiers would recognise the beat above the sounds of battle and perform that order. Also at times drummers were sent by officers to engage in parley with the enemy where some may have been asked to spy on their strengths and numbers though woe betide any drummer caught doing such as they risked being chopped into bits and sent back to their lines in their own drum!!
Baggage Trayne
Although not actually a historical battlefield unit in themselves the water carriers of the baggage trayne are an indespensible and crucial part of any Sealed Knot regiment. Without any of these men and women no pike block could take to the field. They provide the water to the pike in between their exhausting pushes especially as most re-enactments take place in the heat of the summer! They also keep an eye on the soldiers for any signs of fatigue (pikeman are sometimes too proud to admit they need a breather!) and looking after anyone who may have picked up an injury or need something as simple as a chinstrap or armour adjusting. If you would a like an ultra close up view of the battles without having to be a combatant then the baggage trayne could be for you!
Living History
Lord Grey's regiment has it's own growing living history section, these people are the public face of the regiment as they directly interact with members of the public. They demonstrate the lives of the soldiers off the field of battle or simply daily life in the 17th century. Members of living history have a great knowledge of the period and like nothing better than to be able to educate and inspire people to find out more about this rich but sadly very widely forgotten period in British history. You don't need to be a history buff or an expert on the period, spend some time down on the living history camp, they are very friendly people and just by listening to the things they say you will soon start to pick things up. If a less frantic approach to re-enacting is your thing or you have a flair for the theatrical then maybe you would enjoy being part of Lord Grey's living history!