Lord Thomas Fairfax and Vegetius

[Renatus]

His biographers assert that, in his retirement, Lord Thomas Fairfax, the first Captain-General of the New Model Army and commander-in-chief of Parliamentary forces during the English Civil War, undertook, amongst other literary endeavours, the translation of the treatise of the Roman military writer Vegetius. A few years ago, I discovered the manuscript of this translation, in Fairfax's handwriting, in the Harley Collection in the British Library. After investigating a curious passage at the end of the manuscript, I came to the conclusion that the translation was undertaken during Fairfax’s generalship, not from Latin but from a French translation by Johann Jacobi von Wallhausen, as a preparatory stage in the production of a practical handbook, based on Vegetius’ treatise, for the use of himself and/or his fellow commanders and/ subordinates. My findings have been published in the Modern Language Review, the reference being:

Michael King Macdona, 'Thomas, 3rd Lord Fairfax and Vegetius', The Modern Language Review,vol. 113, no. 2, 2018, pp. 307–320.

I have uploaded the article to academia.edu, the link being:

https://www.academia.edu/38776177/Thomas_3rd_Lord_Fairfax_and_Vegetius

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Very interesting.
I'm not big on the English Civil War and always kind of just saw Fairfax as a footnote to the entire conflict and to Cromwell's career. Although I imagine that Fairfax must have read the old classics since he was supposedly an organizer and somewhat scholarly. Vegetius being one of the most popular writings of that entire period.

Can't promise that I will read it any time soon but I definitely downloaded it. Glad that someone took the initiative to do academic research.

[Renatus]

Thanks for your comments and the rep. Fairfax has been over-shadowed by Oliver Cromwell but he is an important character, particularly in regard to the formation of the New Model Army. I hope you enjoy the article, when you have time to read it. I am currently working on the other text in the British Library manuscript, 'The Abridgement of War', which is not all it seems.

[Lord Oda Nobunaga]

Nice, I will look forward to reading both of your articles.