title: Battle of Plassey

text: The battle took place at Palashi (Anglicised version: "Plassey") on the banks of the Hooghly River, about north of Calcutta (now Kolkata) and south of Murshidabad in West Bengal, then capital of Bengal Subah (now in Nadia district in West Bengal). The belligerents were the Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah, the last independent Nawab of Bengal , and the British East India Company. He succeeded Alivardi Khan (his maternal grandfather). Siraj-ud-Daulah had become the Nawab of Bengal the year before, and he had ordered the English to stop the extension of their fortification. Robert Clive bribed Mir Jafar, the commander-in-chief of the Nawab's army, and also promised to make him Nawab of Bengal. Clive defeated Siraj-ud-Daulah at Plassey in 1757 and captured Calcutta.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The battle was preceded by an attack on British-controlled Calcutta by Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah and the Black Hole massacre. The British sent reinforcements under Colonel Robert Clive and Admiral Charles Watson from Madras to Bengal and recaptured Calcutta. Clive then seized the initiative to capture the French fort of Chandannagar. Tensions and suspicions between Siraj-ud-daulah and the British culminated in the Battle of Plassey. The battle was waged during the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), and, in a mirror of their European rivalry, the French East India Company "(La Compagnie des Indes Orientales)" sent a small contingent to fight against the British. Siraj-ud-Daulah had a vastly numerically superior force and made his stand at Plassey. The British, worried about being outnumbered, formed a conspiracy with Siraj-ud-Daulah's demoted army chief Mir Jafar, along with others such as Yar Lutuf Khan, Jagat Seths (Mahtab Chand and Swarup Chand), Umichand and Rai Durlabh. Mir Jafar, Rai Durlabh and Yar Lutuf Khan thus assembled their troops near the battlefield but made no move to actually join the battle. Siraj-ud-Daulah's army with about 50,000 soldiers (including defectors), 40 cannons and 10 war elephants was defeated by 3,000 soldiers of Col. Robert Clive, owing to the flight of Siraj-ud-Daulah from the battlefield and the inactivity of the conspirators. The battle ended in approximately 11 hours.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: This is judged to be one of the pivotal battles in the control of Indian subcontinent by the colonial powers. The British now wielded enormous influence over the Nawab, Mir Jafar and consequently acquired significant concessions for previous losses and revenue from trade. The British further used this revenue to increase their military might and push the other European colonial powers such as the Dutch and the French out of South Asia, thus expanding the British Empire and subjugate the people of India.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The Bengal Subah; also referred to as "Mughal Bengal" , was the largest subdivision of the Mughal Empire and later an independent state under the Nawab of Bengal encompassing much of the Bengal region, which includes modern Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal, between the 16th and 18th centuries. From 1741 to 1751, the Marathas under Raghuji Bhonsle invaded Bengal six times. In 1751, the Marathas signed a peace treaty with the Nawab of Bengal, according to which Mir Habib (a former courtier of Alivardi Khan, who had defected to the Marathas) was made provincial governor of Orissa under nominal control of the Nawab of Bengal. It made The Nawab of Bengal a tributary to the Marathas who agrees to pay Rs. 1.2 million annually as the "chauth" of Bengal and Bihar, and the Marathas agreed not to invade Bengal again. The Nawab of Bengal also paid Rs. 3.2 million to the Marathas, towards the arrears of "chauth" for the preceding years.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The British East India Company had a strong presence in India with its three main stations of Fort St. George in Madras, Fort William in Calcutta, and Bombay Castle in western India since the Anglo-Mughal War. These stations were independent presidencies governed by a president and a council, appointed by the Court of Directors in England. The British adopted a policy of allying themselves with various princes and Nawabs, promising security against usurpers and rebels. The Nawabs often gave them concessions in return for the security.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: By the 18th century all rivalry had ceased between the British East India Company and the Dutch or Portuguese counterparts. The French had also established an East India Company under Louis XIV and had two important stations in India – Chandernagar in Bengal and Pondicherry (now Puducherry district) on the Carnatic coast, both governed by the presidency of Pondicherry. The French were a late comer in India trade, but they quickly established themselves in India and were poised to overtake Britain for control.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) marked the beginning of the power struggle between Britain and France and of European military ascendancy and political intervention in the Indian subcontinent. In September 1746, Mahé de La Bourdonnais landed off Madras with a naval squadron and laid siege to the port city. The defenses of Madras were weak and the garrison sustained a bombardment of three days before surrendering. The terms of the surrender agreed by Bourdonnais provided for the settlement to be ransomed back for a cash payment by the British East India Company. However, this concession was opposed by Joseph François Dupleix, the governor general of the Indian possessions of the Compagnie des Indes Orientales. When Bourdonnais left India in October, Dupleix reneged on the agreement. The Nawab of the Carnatic Anwaruddin Khan intervened in support of the British and the combined forces advanced to retake Madras, but despite vast superiority in numbers, the army was easily crushed by the French. As retaliation to the loss of Madras, the British, under Major Lawrence and Admiral Boscawen, laid siege to Pondicherry but were forced to raise it after thirty-one days. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748 forced Dupleix to yield Madras back to the British in return for Louisbourg and Cape Breton Island in North America.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle prevented direct hostilities between the two powers but soon they were involved in indirect hostilities as the auxiliaries of the local princes in their feuds. The feud Dupleix chose was for the succession to the positions of the Nizam of the Deccan and the Nawab of the dependent Carnatic province. The British and the French both nominated their candidates for the two posts. In both cases, Dupleix's candidates usurped both thrones by manipulation and two assassinations. In mid-1751, the French candidate for the Nawab's post, Chanda Sahib, laid siege to the British candidate Wallajah's last stronghold Trichinopoly, where Wallajah was holed up with his British reinforcements. He was aided by a French force under Charles, Marquis de Bussy.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: On 1 September 1751, 280 Europeans and 300 sepoys under the command of Captain Robert Clive attacked and seized Arcot, the capital of the Carnatic, finding that the garrison had fled the night before. It was hoped that this would force Chanda Sahib to divert some of his troops to wrest the city back from the British. Chanda Sahib sent a force of 4,000 Indians under Raza Sahib and 150 Frenchmen. They besieged the fort and breached the walls in various places after several weeks. Clive sent out a message to Morari Rao, a Maratha chieftain who had received a subsidy to assist Wallajah and was encamped in the Mysore hills. Raza Sahib, learning of the imminent Maratha approach, sent a letter to Clive asking him to surrender in return for a large sum of money but this offer was refused. In the morning of 24 November, Raza Sahib tried to mount a final assault on the fort but was foiled in his attempt when his armoured elephants stampeded due to the British musketry. They tried to enter the fort through the breach several times but always repulsed with loss. The siege was raised the next day and Raza Sahib's forces fled from the scene, abandoning guns, ammunition and stores. With success at Arcot, Conjeeveram and Trichinopoly, the British secured the Carnatic and Wallajah succeeded to the throne of the Nawab in accordance with a treaty with the new French governor Godeheu.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Alwardi Khan ascended to the throne of the Nawab of Bengal after his army attacked and captured the capital of Bengal, Murshidabad. Alivardi's attitude to the Europeans in Bengal is said to be strict. During the Maratha invasions of Bengal, he allowed the strengthening of fortifications by the Europeans and the construction of the Maratha Ditch in Calcutta by the British. On the other hand, he collected large amounts of money from them for the upkeep of his war. He was well-informed of the situation in southern India, where the British and the French had started a proxy war using the local princes and rulers. Alwardi did not wish such a situation to transpire in his province and thus exercised caution in his dealings with the Europeans. However, there was continual friction; the British always complained that they were prevented from the full enjoyment of the farman of 1717 issued by Farrukhsiyar. The British, however, protected subjects of the Nawab, gave passes to native traders to trade custom-free and levied large duties on goods coming to their districts – actions which were detrimental to the Nawab's revenue.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: In April 1756, Alwardi Khan died and was succeeded by his twenty-three-year-old grandson, Siraj-ud-daulah. His personality was said to be a combination of a ferocious temper and a feeble understanding. He was particularly suspicious of the large profits made by the European companies in India. When the British and the French started improving their fortifications in anticipation of another war between them, he immediately ordered them to stop such activities as they had been done without permission. When the British refused to cease their constructions, the Nawab led a detachment of 3,000 men to surround the fort and factory of Cossimbazar and took several British officials as prisoners, before moving to Calcutta. The defences of Calcutta were weak and negligible. The garrison consisted of only 180 soldiers, 50 European volunteers, 60 European militia, 150 Armenian and Portuguese militia, 35 European artillery-men and 40 volunteers from ships and was pitted against the Nawab's force of nearly 50,000 infantry and cavalry. The city was occupied on 16 June by Siraj's force and the fort surrendered after a brief siege on 20 June.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The prisoners who were captured at the siege of Calcutta were transferred by Siraj to the care of the officers of his guard, who confined them to the common dungeon of Fort William known as The Black Hole. This dungeon, in size with two small windows, had 146 prisoners thrust into it – originally employed by the British to hold only six prisoners. On 21 June, the doors of the dungeon were opened and only 23 of the 146 walked out, the rest died of asphyxiation, heat exhaustion and delirium. It appears that the Nawab was unaware of the conditions in which his prisoners were held which resulted in the unfortunate deaths of most of the prisoners. Meanwhile, the Nawab's army and navy were busy plundering the city of Calcutta and the other British factories in the surrounding areas.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: When news of the fall of Calcutta broke in Madras on 16 August 1756, the Council immediately sent out an expeditionary force under Colonel Clive and Admiral Watson. A letter from the Council of Fort St. George, states that "the object of the expedition was not merely to re-establish the British settlements in Bengal, but also to obtain ample recognition of the Company's privileges and reparation for its losses" without the risk of war. It also states that any signs of dissatisfaction and ambition among the Nawab's subjects must be supported. Clive assumed command of the land forces, consisting of 900 Europeans and 1500 sepoys while Watson commanded a naval squadron. The fleet entered the Hooghly River in December and met with the fugitives of Calcutta and the surrounding areas, including the principal Members of the Council, at the village of Falta on 15 December. The Members of Council formed a Select Committee of direction. On 29 December, the force dislodged the enemy from the fort of Budge Budge. Clive and Watson then moved against Calcutta on 2 January 1757 and the garrison of 500 men surrendered after offering a scanty resistance. With Calcutta recaptured, the Council was reinstated and a plan of action against the Nawab was prepared. The fortifications of Fort William were strengthened and a defensive position was prepared in the north-east of the city.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: On 9 January 1757, a force of 650 men under Captain Coote and Major Kilpatrick stormed and sacked the town of Hooghly, north of Calcutta. On learning of this attack, the Nawab raised his army and marched on Calcutta, arriving with the main body on 3 February and encamping beyond the Maratha Ditch. Siraj set up his headquarters in Omichund's garden. A small body of their army attacked the northern suburbs of the town but were beaten back by a detachment under Lieutenant Lebeaume placed there, returning with fifty prisoners.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Clive decided to launch a surprise attack on the Nawab's camp on the morning of 4 February. At midnight, a force of 600 sailors, a battalion of 650 Europeans, 100 artillerymen, 800 sepoys and 6 six-pounders approached the Nawab's camp. At 6:00, under the cover of a thick fog, the vanguard came upon the Nawab's advanced guard, who after firing with their matchlocks and rockets, ran away. They continued forward for some distance until they were opposite Omichund's garden, when they heard the galloping of cavalry on their right. The cavalry came within of the British force before the line gave fire, killing many and dispersing the rest. The fog hampered visibility beyond walking distance. Hence, the line moved slowly, infantry and artillery firing on either side randomly. Clive had intended to use a narrow raised causeway, south of the garden, to attack the Nawab's quarters in the garden. The Nawab's troops had barricaded the passage. At about 9:00, as the fog began to lift, the troops were overwhelmed by the discharge of two pieces of heavy cannon from across the Maratha Ditch by the Nawab's artillery. The British troops were assailed on all sides by cavalry and musket-fire. The Nawab troops then made for a bridge a mile further on, crossed the Maratha Ditch and reached Calcutta. The total casualties of Clive's force were 57 killed and 137 wounded. The Nawab's army lost 22 officers of distinction, 600 common men, 4 elephants, 500 horses, some camels and a great number of bullocks. The attack scared the Nawab into concluding the Treaty of Alinagar with the Company on 5 February, agreeing to restore the Company's factories, allow the fortification of Calcutta and restoring former privileges. The Nawab withdrew his army back to his capital, Murshidabad.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Concerned by the approach of de Bussy to Bengal and the Seven Years' War in Europe, the Company turned its attention to the French threat in Bengal. Clive planned to capture the French town of Chandannagar, north of Calcutta. Clive needed to know whose side the Nawab would intervene on if he attacked Chandannagar. The Nawab sent evasive replies and Clive construed this to be assent to the attack. Clive commenced hostilities on the town and fort of Chandannagar on 14 March. The French had set up defences on the roads leading to the fort and had sunk several ships in the river channel to prevent passage of the men of war. The garrison consisted of 600 Europeans and 300 sepoys. The French expected assistance from the Nawab's forces from Hooghly, but the governor of Hooghly, Nandkumar had been bribed to remain inactive and prevent the Nawab's reinforcement of Chandannagar. The fort was well-defended, but when Admiral Watson's squadron forced the blockade in the channel on 23 March, a fierce cannonade ensued with aid from two batteries on the shore. The naval squadron suffered greatly due to musket-fire from the fort. At 9:00 on 24 March, a flag of truce was shown by the French and by 15:00, the capitulation concluded. After plundering Chandannagar, Clive decided to ignore his orders to return to Madras and remain in Bengal. He moved his army to the north of the town of Hooghly.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Furthermore, Siraj-ud-Daula believed that the British East India Company did not receive any permission from the Mughal Emperor Alamgir II to fortify their positions in the territories of the Nawab of Bengal.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The Nawab was infuriated on learning of the attack on Chandernagar. His former hatred of the British returned, but he now felt the need to strengthen himself by alliances against the British. The Nawab was plagued by fear of attack from the north by the Afghans under Ahmad Shah Durrani and from the west by the Marathas. Therefore, he could not deploy his entire force against the British for fear of being attacked from the flanks. A deep distrust set in between the British and the Nawab. As a result, Siraj started secret negotiations with Jean Law, chief of the French factory at Cossimbazar, and de Bussy. The Nawab also moved a large division of his army under Rai Durlabh to Plassey, on the island of Cossimbazar south of Murshidabad.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Popular discontent against the Nawab flourished in his own court. The Seths, the traders of Bengal, were in perpetual fear for their wealth under the reign of Siraj, contrary to the situation under Alivardi's reign. They had engaged Yar Lutuf Khan to defend them in case they were threatened in any way. William Watts, the Company representative at the court of Siraj, informed Clive about a conspiracy at the court to overthrow the ruler. The conspirators included Mir Jafar, paymaster of the army, Rai Durlabh, Yar Lutuf Khan and Omichund, a merchant and several officers in the army. When communicated in this regard by Mir Jafar, Clive referred it to the select committee in Calcutta on 1 May. The committee passed a resolution in support of the alliance. A treaty was drawn between the British and Mir Jafar to raise him to the throne of the Nawab in return for support to the British in the field of battle and the bestowal of large sums of money upon them, as compensation for the attack on Calcutta. According to historian W. Dalrymple, the Jagat Seths offered Clive and the East India Company more than £4m (about £420m in 2019 currency), an additional 110,000 Rupees a month (about £1.43m in 2019) to pay for Company troops, and other landholding rights. On 2 May, Clive broke up his camp and sent half the troops to Calcutta and the other half to Chandernagar.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Mir Jafar and the Seths desired that the confederacy between the British and himself be kept secret from Omichund, but when he found out about it, he threatened to betray the conspiracy if his share was not increased to three million rupees (£300,000, which would be over £3m in 2019). Hearing of this, Clive suggested an expedient to the Committee. He suggested that two treaties be drawn – the real one on white paper, containing no reference to Omichund and the other on red paper, containing Omichund's desired stipulation, to deceive him. The Members of the Committee signed on both treaties, but Admiral Watson signed only the real one and his signature had to be counterfeited on the fictitious one. Both treaties and separate articles for donations to the army, navy squadron and committee were signed by Mir Jafar on 4 June.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Clive testified and defended himself thus before the House of Commons of Parliament on 10 May 1773, during the Parliamentary inquiry into his conduct in India:


title: Battle of Plassey

text: On 12 June, Clive was joined by Major Kilpatrick with the rest of the army from Calcutta at Chandernagar. The combined force consisted of 613 Europeans, 171 artillerymen controlling eight field pieces and two howitzers, 91 topasses, 2100 sepoys (mainly dusadhs) and 150 sailors. The army set out for Murshidabad on 13 June. Clive sent out the Nawab's messengers with a letter declaring his intention to march his army to Murshidabad to refer their complaints with regard to the treaty of 9 February with the principal officers of the Nawab's government. The Indian troops marched on shore while the Europeans with the supplies and artillery were towed up the river in 200 boats. On 14 June, Clive sent a declaration of war to Siraj. On 15 June, after ordering an attack on Mir Jafar's palace in suspicion of his alliance with the British, Siraj obtained a promise from Mir Jafar to not join the British in the field of battle. He then ordered his entire army to move to Plassey, but the troops refused to quit the city until the arrears of their pay were released. The delay caused the army to reach Plassey only by 21 June.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: By 16 June, the British force had reached Paltee, north of which lay the strategically important town and fort of Katwa. It contained large stores of grain and military supplies and was covered by the river Aji. On 17 June, Clive despatched a force of 200 Europeans, 500 sepoys, one field piece and a small howitzer under Major Coote of the 39th Foot to capture the fort. The detachment found the town abandoned when they landed at midnight. At daybreak on 19 June, Major Coote went to the bank of the river and waved a white flag, but was met only by shot and a show of defiance by the governor. Coote split his Anglo-Indian force; the sepoys crossed the river and fired the ramparts while the Europeans crossed farther up from the fort. When the garrison saw the advancing troops, they gave up their posts and fled north. Hearing of the success, Clive and the rest of the army arrived at Katwa by the evening of 19 June.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At this juncture, Clive faced a dilemma. The Nawab had reconciled with Mir Jafar and had posted him on one flank of his army. Mir Jafar had sent messages to Clive, declaring his intention to uphold the treaty between them. Clive decided to refer the problem to his officers and held a council of war on 21 June. The question Clive put before them was whether, under the present circumstances, the army, without other assistance, should immediately cross into the island of Cossimbazar and attack the Nawab or whether they should fortify their position in Katwa and trust to assistance from the Marathas or other Indian powers. Of the twenty officers attending the council, thirteen including Clive were against immediate action, while the rest including Major Coote were in favour citing recent success and the high spirits of the troops. The council broke up and after an hour of deliberation, Clive gave the army orders to cross the Bhagirathi River (another name for the Hooghly River) on the morning of 22 June.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At 1:00, on 23 June, they reached their destination beyond the village of Plassey. They quickly occupied the adjoining mango grove, called Laksha Bagh, which was long and wide and enclosed by a ditch and a mud wall. Its length was angled diagonally to the Bhagirathi River. A little to the north of the grove at the bank of the river stood a hunting lodge enclosed by a masonry wall where Clive took up his quarters. The grove was about a mile from the Nawab's entrenchments. The Nawab's army had been in place 26 hours before Clive's. A French detachment under Jean Law would reach Plassey in two days. Their army lay behind earthen entrenchments running at right angles to the river for and then turning to the north-eastern direction for . There was a redoubt mounted by cannon at this turning along the entrenchment. There was a small hill covered by trees east of the redoubt. towards the British position was a small tank (reservoir) and further south was a larger tank, both surrounded by a large mound of earth.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At daybreak on 23 June, the Nawab's army emerged from their camp and started advancing towards the grove. Their army consisted of 30,000 infantry of all sorts, armed with matchlocks, swords, pikes and rockets and 20,000 cavalry, armed with swords or long spears, interspersed by 300 pieces of artillery, mostly 32, 24 and 18-pounders. The army also included a detachment of about 50 French artillerymen under de St. Frais directing their own field pieces. The French took up positions at the larger tank with four light pieces advanced by two larger pieces, within a mile of the grove. Behind them were a body of 5,000 cavalry and 7,000 infantry commanded by the Nawab's faithful general Mir Madan Khan and Diwan Mohanlal. The rest of the army numbering 45,000 formed an arc from the small hill to a position east of the southern angle of the grove, threatening to surround Clive's relatively smaller army. The right arm of their army was commanded by Rai Durlabh, the centre by Yar Lutuf Khan and the left arm closest to the British by Mir Jafar.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Clive watched the situation unfolding from the roof of the hunting lodge, anticipating news from Mir Jafar. He ordered his troops to advance from the grove and line up facing the larger tank. His army consisted of 750 European infantry with 100 Topasses, 2100 sepoys (dusadhs) and 100 artillery-men assisted by 50 sailors. The artillery consisted of eight 6-pounders and two howitzers. The Europeans and Topasses were placed in the centre of the line in four divisions, flanked on both sides by three 6-pounders. The sepoys were placed on the right and left in equal divisions. Clive posted two 6-pounders and two howitzers behind some brick-kilns north of the left division of his army to oppose the French fire.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At 8:00, the French artillery at the larger tank fired the first shot, killing one and wounding another from the grenadier company of the 39th Regiment. This, as a signal, the rest of the Nawab's artillery started a heavy and continuous fire. The advanced field pieces of the British opposed the French fire, while those with the battalion opposed the rest of the Nawab's artillery. Their shots did not serve to immobilize the artillery but hit the infantry and cavalry divisions. By 8:30, the British had lost 10 Europeans and 20 sepoys. Leaving the advanced artillery at the brick kilns, Clive ordered the army to retreat back to relative shelter of the grove. The rate of casualties of the British dropped substantially due to the protection of the embankment.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: After three hours, there had been no substantial progress and the positions of both sides had not changed. Clive called a meeting of his staff to discuss the way ahead. It was concluded that the present position would be maintained till after nightfall, and an attack on the Nawab's camp should be attempted at midnight. Soon after the conference, a heavy rainstorm occurred. The British used tarpaulins to protect their ammunition, while the Nawab's army took no such precautions. As a result, their gunpowder got drenched and their rate of fire slackened, while Clive's artillery kept up a continuous fire. As the rain began to subside, Mir Madan Khan, assuming that the British guns were rendered ineffective by the rain, led his cavalry to a charge. However, the British countered the charge with heavy grapeshot, mortally wounding Mir Madan Khan and driving back his men.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Siraj had remained in his tent throughout the cannonade surrounded by attendants and officers assuring him of victory. When he heard that Mir Madan was mortally wounded, he was deeply disturbed and attempted reconciliation with Mir Jafar, flinging his turban to the ground, entreating him to defend it. Mir Jafar promised his services but immediately sent word of this encounter to Clive, urging him to push forward. Following Mir Jafar's exit from the Nawab's tent, Rai Durlabh urged Siraj to withdraw his army behind the entrenchment and advised him to return to Murshidabad leaving the battle to his generals. Siraj complied with this advice and ordered the troops under Mohan Lal to retreat behind the entrenchment. He then mounted a camel and accompanied by 2,000 horsemen set out for Murshidabad.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At about 14:00, the Nawab's army ceased the cannonade and began turning back north to their entrenchments, leaving St. Frais and his artillery without support. Seeing the Nawab's forces retiring, Major Kilpatrick, who had been left in charge of the British force while Clive was resting in the hunting lodge, recognised the opportunity to cannonade the retiring enemy if St. Frais' position could be captured. Sending an officer to Clive to explain his actions, he took two companies of the 39th Regiment and two field pieces and advanced towards St. Frais' position. When Clive received the message, he hurried to the detachment and reprimanded Kilpatrick for his actions without orders and commanded to bring up the rest of the army from the grove. Clive himself then led the army against St. Frais' position which was taken at 15:00 when the French artillery retreated to the redoubt of the entrenchment, setting up for further action.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: As the British force moved towards the larger tank, it was observed that the left arm of the Nawab's army had lingered behind the rest. When the rear of this division reached a point in a line with the northern point of the grove, it turned left and marched towards the grove. Clive, unaware that it was Mir Jafar's division, supposed that his baggage and stores were the intended target and sent three platoons under Captain Grant and Lieutenant Rumbold and a field piece under John Johnstone, a volunteer, to check their advance. The fire of the field piece halted the advance of the division, which remained isolated from the rest of the Nawab's army.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Meanwhile, the British field pieces began a cannonade on the Nawab's camp from the mound of the larger tank. As a result, many of the Nawab's troops and artillery started coming out of the entrenchment. Clive advanced half of his troops and artillery to the smaller tank and the other half to a rising ground to the left of it and started bombarding the entrenchment with greater efficiency, throwing the approaching trains into confusion. The Nawab's troops shot their matchlocks from holes, ditches, hollows and from bushes on the hill east of the redoubt while St. Frais kept up his artillery fire from the redoubt. Cavalry charges were also repulsed by the British field pieces. However, the British force sustained most of its casualties in this phase.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: At this point, Clive realised that the lingering division was Mir Jafar's and concentrated his efforts at capturing the redoubt and hill east of it. Clive ordered a three-pronged attack with simultaneous attacks by two detachments on the redoubt and the hill supported by the main force in the centre. Two companies of grenadiers of the 39th Regiment, under Major Coote took the hill at 16:30 after the enemy fled without firing a shot. Coote pursued them across the entrenchment. The redoubt was also taken after St. Frais was forced to retreat. By 17:00, the British occupied the entrenchment and the camp left by a dispersing army. The British troops marched on and halted beyond Daudpur at 20:00.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The British losses were estimated at 22 killed and 50 wounded. Of the killed, three were of the Madras Artillery, one of the Madras Regiment and one of the Bengal European Regiment. Of the wounded, four were of the 39th Regiment, three of the Madras Regiment, four of the Madras Artillery, two of the Bengal European Regiment, one of the Bengal Artillery and one of the Bombay Regiment. Of the losses by the sepoys, four Madras and nine Bengal sepoys were killed while nineteen Madras and eleven Bengal sepoys were wounded. Clive estimates that the Nawab's force lost 500 men, including several key officers.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: In the evening of 23 June, Clive received a letter from Mir Jafar asking for a meeting with him. Clive replied that he would meet Mir Jafar at Daudpur the next morning. When Mir Jafar arrived at the British camp at Daudpur in the morning, Clive embraced him and saluted him as the Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Odisha. He then advised Mir Jafar to hasten to Murshidabad to prevent Siraj's escape and the plunder of his treasure. Mir Jafar reached Murshidabad with his troops on the evening of 24 June. Clive arrived at Murshidabad on 29 June with a guard of 200 European soldiers and 300 sepoys in the wake of rumours of a possible attempt on his life. Clive was taken to the Nawab's palace, where he was received by Mir Jafar and his officers. Clive placed Mir Jafar on the throne and acknowledging his position as Nawab, presented him with a plate of gold rupees.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: Siraj-ud-daulah had reached Murshidabad at midnight on 23 June. He summoned a council where some advised him to surrender to the British, some to continue the war and some to prolong his flight. At 22:00 on 24 June, Siraj disguised himself and escaped northwards on a boat with his wife and valuable jewels. His intention was to escape to Patna with aid from Jean Law. At midnight on 24 June, Mir Jafar sent several parties in pursuit of Siraj. On 2 July, Siraj reached Rajmahal and took shelter in a deserted garden but was soon discovered and betrayed to the local military governor, the brother of Mir Jafar, by a man who was previously arrested and punished by Siraj. His fate could not be decided by a council headed by Mir Jafar and was handed over to Mir Jafar's son, Miran, who had Siraj murdered that night. His remains were paraded on the streets of Murshidabad the next morning and were buried at the tomb of Alivardi Khan.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: According to the treaty drawn between the British and Mir Jafar, the British acquired all the land within the Maratha Ditch and beyond it and the zamindari of all the land between Calcutta and the sea. Besides confirming the firman of 1717, the treaty also required the restitution, including donations to the navy squadron, army and committee, of 22,000,000 rupees (£2,750,000) to the British for their losses. However, since the wealth of Siraj-ud-daulah proved to be far less than expected, a council held with the Seths and Rai Durlabh on 29 June decided that one half of the amount was to be paid immediately – two-thirds in coin and one third in jewels and other valuables. As the council ended, it was revealed to Omichund that he would receive nothing with regard to the treaty, hearing which he went insane.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: As a result of the war of Plassey, the French were no longer a significant force in Bengal. In 1759, the British defeated a larger French garrison at Masulipatam, securing the Northern Circars. By 1759, Mir Jafar felt that his position as a subordinate to the British could not be tolerated. He started encouraging the Dutch to advance against the British and eject them from Bengal. In late 1759, the Dutch sent seven large ships and 1400 men from Java to Bengal under the pretext of reinforcing their Bengal settlement of Chinsura even though Britain and Holland were not officially at war. Clive, however, initiated immediate offensive operations by land and sea and defeated the much larger Dutch force on 25 November 1759 in the Battle of Chinsura. The British then deposed Mir Jafar and installed Mir Qasim as the Nawab of Bengal. The British were now the paramount European power in Bengal. When Clive returned to England due to ill health, he was rewarded with an Irish peerage, as Baron Clive of Plassey and also obtained a seat in the British House of Commons.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The struggle continued in areas of the Deccan and Hyderabad such as Arcot, Wandewash, Tanjore and Cuddalore, culminating in 1761 when Col. Eyre Coote defeated a French garrison under de Lally, supported by Hyder Ali at Pondicherry. The French were returned Pondicherry in 1763 by way of the Treaty of Paris but they never again regained their former stature in India. The British would, in effect, emerge as rulers of the subcontinent in subsequent years.


title: Battle of Plassey

text: The Battle of Plassey and the resultant victory of the British East India company led to puppet governments instated by them in various states of India.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Richard William Wright (28 July 1943 – 15 September 2008) was an English musician who was a co-founder of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. He played keyboards and sang, appearing on almost every Pink Floyd album and performing on all their tours. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as a member of Pink Floyd.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright grew up in Hatch End, Middlesex and met future Pink Floyd bandmates Roger Waters and Nick Mason while studying architecture at the Regent Street Polytechnic, London. After being joined by frontman and songwriter Syd Barrett, the group found commercial success in 1967. Barrett was replaced by David Gilmour in 1968, who, along with Waters and Wright, took over songwriting.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Initially contributing more as a singer/songwriter, Wright later acted mainly as an arranger on compositions by Waters and Gilmour. He began to contribute less towards the end of the 1970s and left the band after touring "The Wall" in 1981. He rejoined as a session player in 1987 for "A Momentary Lapse of Reason", and rejoined full-time for "The Division Bell" in 1994. Sessions with Wright during this period were later released on the 2014 album "The Endless River". Away from Pink Floyd, Wright recorded two solo albums and was briefly active in the pop duo Zee with Dave Harris of Fashion. Following Pink Floyd's Live 8 appearance in 2005, he became part of Gilmour's touring band, singing occasional lead vocals on songs such as "Arnold Layne", before his death in September 2008.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's jazz influences and distinctive keyboard playing were an important part of the Pink Floyd sound. As well as playing Farfisa and Hammond organs and Kurzweil synthesisers, he sang regularly in the band and took lead vocals on songs such as "Remember a Day" (1968), "Time" (1973) and "Wearing the Inside Out" (1994).


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright, whose father was head biochemist at Unigate, grew up in Hatch End, Middlesex, and was educated at the Haberdashers' Aske's School. He taught himself to play guitar, trombone, trumpet and piano at age 12 while recuperating from a broken leg. His mother encouraged him to concentrate on the piano. He took private lessons in music theory and composition at the Eric Gilder School of Music and became influenced by the trad jazz revival, learning the saxophone along with his other instruments, but continuing to focus on piano. In 1962, uncertain about his future, Wright enrolled at Regent Street Polytechnic (later incorporated into University of Westminster) to study architecture. There he met fellow musicians Roger Waters and Nick Mason, and all three joined a band formed by their classmate Clive Metcalf called Sigma 6.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's position in the band was tenuous to begin with, as he did not choose a definitive instrument, playing piano if a pub had one, otherwise settling on rhythm guitar or trombone. He moved with Waters and Mason into a house in Stanhope Gardens, Highgate, and they began serious rehearsals to become a professional group. Although Mason and Waters were competent students, Wright found architecture of little interest and after only a year of study moved to the London College of Music. He took a break from studies and travelled to Greece for a sabbatical. Their landlord, Mike Leonard, purchased a Farfisa electric organ and briefly replaced Wright in the band. However, this organ ultimately became Wright's main instrument. Through a friend, he arranged the fledgling group's first recording session in a West Hampstead studio, just before Christmas 1964. Guitarist Bob Klose and guitarist and singer Syd Barrett joined the band, which became Pink Floyd.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Pink Floyd stabilised with Barrett, Waters, Mason and Wright by mid-1965, and after frequent gigging that year became regulars on the underground circuit in London. While Barrett was the dominant member, writing and singing most of the songs, Wright had an important supporting role, playing keyboards and singing harmony vocals, and contributing arrangements as well. He also occasionally wrote (and sang lead) on his own songs. As the most qualified musician technically, Wright was also responsible for tuning Barrett's guitars and Waters’ bass during concerts. Later on, he used a Strobotuner to tune guitars silently during gigs. In these early days, before they acquired a full-time road crew, Wright acted as the primary roadie, unloading the gear and packing it up at each gig.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: While not credited for vocals on "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn" album sleeve, Wright sang lead vocals on Barrett-penned songs "Astronomy Domine" and "Matilda Mother". Examples of his early compositions include "Remember a Day", "See-Saw", "Paint Box" and "It Would Be So Nice". Wright was close friends with Barrett, and at one point the pair shared a flat in Richmond. After Barrett was forced out of the group in 1968 owing to mental health issues, Wright considered leaving and forming a group with him, but realised it would not have been practical.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Following Barrett's replacement by David Gilmour, Wright took over writing duties with Waters, but gradually became less involved as a songwriter as the band's career progressed. His keyboard playing remained an integral part of the band's live set, particularly on "Interstellar Overdrive", "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun" and "Careful with That Axe, Eugene". He contributed themes for Pink Floyd's film scores for "More", "Zabriskie Point" and "Obscured by Clouds". He made significant arranging contributions to longer compositions such as "Atom Heart Mother", "Echoes" (on which he sang lead vocals with Gilmour) and "Shine On You Crazy Diamond". On 1973's "The Dark Side of the Moon" he composed the music for "The Great Gig in the Sky" and "Us and Them". He also contributed to the composition of other album tracks such as "Breathe" and "Time", singing lead on the latter's bridge.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's contributions to the band diminished in the late 1970s (as Waters began to dominate the writing process), and 1977's "Animals" was the first album where Wright did not receive any songwriting credits. By the time the group recorded "The Wall" in 1979, Waters had become frustrated that Wright was not contributing, yet still claiming an equal share of production royalties. Wright refused to catch up on the recording backlog as his first marriage had deteriorated and he had not seen enough of his children, deciding family was more important to him. "Both myself and Dave… had little to offer, through laziness or whatever," he admitted. "Looking back, although I didn't realise it, I was depressed."


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Waters considered suing Wright, but ultimately decided it would be easier for Wright to leave the band at the end of the project. As the band was in financial trouble at the time, Wright agreed. Waters, Gilmour, producer Bob Ezrin, composer Michael Kamen and session player Fred Mandel also played keyboard parts on "The Wall". Wright generally went into the studio late at night when the other band members were not there. He was retained as a salaried session musician during 1980–81 concerts to promote the album, and ironically became the only member of Pink Floyd to profit from the initial run of shows, since the net financial loss had to be borne by the remaining "full-time" members. Wright did not attend the 1982 premiere of the film of "Pink Floyd—The Wall". In 1983, Pink Floyd released "The Final Cut", the only album from the band on which Wright does not appear. His absence from the album credits was the first time fans realised he had left the group, which was officially confirmed some years later.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: After Waters' departure in 1985, Wright began to contribute to Pink Floyd again, beginning with sessions for "A Momentary Lapse of Reason". However, he did not legally rejoin, and was a salaried musician for the resulting tour, as his contract said he could not rejoin as a "full member". On the album credits, his name was listed amongst the other session musicians, and his photo did not appear on the inner sleeve along with Gilmour and Mason.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: By 1994, he had legally rejoined Pink Floyd. In 2000 he said: "I am a full member, but contractually I am not on a par with Dave and Nick." He co-wrote five songs and sang lead vocals on "Wearing the Inside Out" for "The Division Bell". This was followed by the double live album and video "Pulse" in 1995. Wright, like Mason, performed on every Floyd tour.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: On 2 July 2005, Wright, Gilmour and Mason were joined by Waters on stage for the first time since the "Wall" concerts for a short set at the Live 8 concert in London. This was the last time that all four members performed together. Wright underwent eye surgery for cataracts in November 2005, preventing him from attending Floyd's induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Before Wright died in 2008, he went to British Grove Studios to re-record a missing piano part from "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". This was found to be missing by James Guthrie, who was remixing the "Wish You Were Here" album for an SACD release.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's last Floyd appearance was posthumously on 2014's "The Endless River". The album contained mostly instrumental music recorded during the "Division Bell" sessions in 1993–94, along with new music recorded between 2010 and 2014. Mason said that unreleased sessions Wright recorded for Gilmour's solo projects may appear on Gilmour's future solo albums.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright performed less work outside Pink Floyd than the other members. His first released song, "You're the Reason Why", appeared in 1964 on Decca as the B-side of a single by Adam, Mike and Tim. Along with Gilmour, he played on Barrett's second solo album, "Barrett" (1970), and helped with its production. He later recalled working on the album as a way of helping Barrett in any way possible. He guested at a concert by Sutherland Brothers & Quiver in 1974 at Newcastle Polytechnic.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright recorded his first solo album, "Wet Dream", in early 1978 in Super Bear Studios, France, which featured Floyd touring guitarist Snowy White and former King Crimson saxophonist Mel Collins. The album was released in September to minimal commercial success.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: During 1983–1984, Wright formed a new musical duo called Zee with Dave Harris (from the band Fashion). The pair had been introduced by a mutual friend, saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft. They signed a record deal with EMI Records and released only one album, "Identity", which was a commercial and critical flop. Wright later referred to Zee as "an experiment best forgotten".


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In 1996, inspired by his successful input into "The Division Bell", Wright released his second solo album, "Broken China", which had been co-written with lyricist Anthony Moore of Slapp Happy, who also helped with production and engineering. The album covers the theme of depression and helped Wright come to terms with seeing his wife and friends affected by it. Musical contributions came from bassist Pino Palladino, drummer Manu Katché and guitarist Dominic Miller (both known for their work with Sting) and guitarist Tim Renwick (another Floyd associate). David Gilmour contributed a guitar part for "Breakthrough" but his performance didn't make the final mix of the album. Wright considered taking the album on tour, but concluded it wouldn't be financially viable. Sinéad O'Connor sang lead vocals on two tracks, "Reaching for the Rail" and "Breakthrough", with Wright singing the remainder.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In 1999, Pink Floyd touring keyboardist Jon Carin joined with Wright's wife to bring Wright and Waters back together after some 18 years apart; the two men met backstage after a tour date by Waters.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright played at several of Gilmour's solo shows in 2002, contributing keyboards and vocals, including his own composition "Breakthrough". In 2006, he became a regular member of Gilmour's touring band along with former Floyd sidemen Jon Carin, Dick Parry and Guy Pratt. He contributed keyboards and background vocals to Gilmour's solo album, "On an Island", and performed live in Europe and North America that year. On stage with Gilmour he played keyboards, including a revival of the Farfisa organ for "Echoes". Wright sang lead on "Arnold Layne", which was released as a live single. He declined an offer to join Waters and Mason on "The Dark Side of the Moon Live" tour to spend more time working on a solo project.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In 2006, Wright joined Gilmour and Mason for the official screening of the "P•U•L•S•E DVD". Inevitably, Live 8 surfaced as a subject in an interview. When asked about performing again, Wright replied he would be happy on stage anywhere. He explained that his plan was to "meander" along and play live whenever Gilmour required his services. The same year, he co-wrote the Helen Boulding B-side, "Hazel Eyes", with Chris Difford.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's final vocal performance took place at the Syd Barrett tribute concert "Madcap's Last Laugh" at The Barbican in London on 10 May 2007. It was organised by Joe Boyd in memory of Barrett, who had died the previous July. The first half featured a Roger Waters solo performance, while the second half concluded with Wright, alongside David Gilmour and Nick Mason, performing "Arnold Layne". His final live performance was as part of Gilmour's band at the premiere of Gilmour's concert DVD Remember That Night on 6 September 2007 at the Odeon Leicester Square, London. After an edited version of the film had been shown, the band took to the stage to jam.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright married his first wife, Juliette Gale, in 1964. She had been a singer in one of the early bands that evolved into Pink Floyd. They had two children and divorced in 1982. His second marriage to Franka lasted between 1984 and 1994. Wright married his third wife Mildred "Millie" Hobbs in 1995, with whom he had a son, Ben. Wright's 1996 solo album "Broken China" is about her battle with depression. They separated in 2007. Wright's daughter Gala was married to Floyd and Gilmour touring bassist Guy Pratt.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright had been fond of the Greek islands since a sabbatical visit in 1964, before Pink Floyd formed. He moved to Greece in 1984 after the Zee project, briefly retiring from music, and enjoyed sailing and yachting. In his later years, Wright lived in Le Rouret, France, and spent time on a yacht he owned in the Virgin Islands. He found sailing therapeutic, relieving him from the pressures of the music business. He was also a collector of Persian rugs.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright died from lung cancer at his home in London on 15 September 2008, aged 65. At the time of his death, he had been working on a new solo album, thought to comprise a series of instrumental pieces.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: The surviving members of Pink Floyd paid tribute to Wright: Waters said it was "hard to overstate the importance of his musical voice in the Pink Floyd of the 60s and 70s", and added that he was happy they had reunited for Live 8. Mason said Wright's contributions were underrated, and that his playing "was the sound that knitted it all together", comparing his "quiet one" status in the band to George Harrison of the Beatles. Gilmour called him "my musical partner and my friend", and praised Wright's ability to blend his voice with Gilmour's, such as on "Echoes". Gilmour reiterated that it would be wrong to continue as Pink Floyd without him.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Eight days after Wright's death, Gilmour performed "Remember a Day", a Wright composition from Pink Floyd's second album, "A Saucerful of Secrets", on a live broadcast of "Later... with Jools Holland" on BBC Two as a tribute to Wright. Gilmour said that Wright had intended to perform with him that day, but had not been well enough.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: David Gilmour also dedicated his song "A Boat Lies Waiting" from his 2015 album "Rattle That Lock" in Wright's memory. The song features Wright's voice sample. The lyrics define Gilmour's sadness on his demise and revolves around mortality and Wright's love for the sea.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright's main influence was jazz, particularly Miles Davis and John Coltrane. He never considered himself a typical songwriter, preferring to create whole albums of music with a theme, later saying "if the words came out like the music, and we didn't have anything else to do, then quite a few would be written". A number of compositions credited to Wright came out of improvisation and randomly trying ideas, some of which were picked up enthusiastically by his bandmates. Wright later said "I just play and don't really think about what I'm doing, I just let it happen". Of all the Pink Floyd members, Wright was the most reserved, sitting down behind the keyboards and concentrating on the music.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In the 1970s, Wright listened to some contemporary progressive rock bands, and particularly liked early Peter Gabriel-fronted Genesis. He later asked some of the musicians in Gabriel's solo touring band to play on "Broken China". Wright enjoyed playing the organ, and considered the style he used in Pink Floyd to be unique. He played solos in the early part of Floyd's career, frequently using Egyptian scales, such as on "Matilda Mother" or "Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun". His jazz background led to him being interested in free form music, with adherence to tempo being less important. Later, he was more interested in complementing each piece with organ, electric piano or synthesiser as a backing instrument, while still featuring occasional solos.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In the early days of the band, Wright dabbled with brass before settling on Farfisa electric organs as his main instrument onstage. He originally owned a single-manual Combo Compact model, which was used for early recordings of "Interstellar Overdrive", and later upgraded to a dual-manual Compact Duo. During the 1960s, Wright relied heavily on his Farfisa fed through a Binson Echorec platter echo, as heard on the "Ummagumma" live album. On later tours, the instrument was fed through a joystick control allowing the signal to be sent through up to six speakers in an auditorium, which was called the "Azimuth Coordinator". Wright stopped using the Farfisa after "The Dark Side of the Moon", but revisited it in later years, playing it on Gilmour's "On An Island" tour. It was recorded for the sessions that eventually became "The Endless River".


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright played the piano and Hammond organ in the studio from the start of Pink Floyd's recording career; using the Hammond's bass pedals for the closing section of "A Saucerful of Secrets". He used a Mellotron in the studio for some tracks, including "Ummagumma" "Sysyphus" and on the "Atom Heart Mother" suite. For a brief period in 1969, Wright played vibraphone on several of the band's songs and in some live shows, and reintroduced the trombone on "Biding My Time". He started using a Hammond organ regularly on stage alongside the Farfisa around 1970 and a grand piano became part of his usual live concert setup when "Echoes" was added to Pink Floyd's regular set list. All three keyboards are used in the concert film "".


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: In the 1970s, Wright began using synthesisers such as the VCS 3, ARP String Ensemble and Minimoog, which were featured on "Shine on You Crazy Diamond". Wright wrote the closing part of the track alone, and included a brief extract of the band's early single "See Emily Play" on the Minimoog towards the end. He used a number of electric pianos during the 1970s, including a Wurlitzer fed through a wah-wah pedal on "Money" and an unaccompanied Rhodes introduction for "Sheep" on "Animals".


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: From the 1987 "Momentary Lapse of Reason" tour onwards, Wright and touring keyboardist Jon Carin favoured Kurzweil digital synthesisers, including the K2000 keyboard and K2000S rack module for reproducing piano and electric piano sounds. Wright retained the Hammond along with a Leslie speaker, playing it onstage and using it during the "Division Bell" sessions.


title: Richard Wright (musician)

text: Wright was a proficient multi-instrumentalist who, in addition to keyboards, also played guitar, flute, cello, trombone, violin, drums, saxophone and bass. Other keyboards that he used in the studio were tack piano, harpsichord, celesta and harmonium, notably on Syd Barrett's solo song "Love Song" and "Chapter 24".


title: Eraserhead

text: Eraserhead is a 1977 American surrealist horror film written, directed, produced, and edited by David Lynch. Lynch also created its score and sound design, which included pieces by a variety of other musicians. Shot in black and white, it was Lynch's first feature-length effort following several short films. Starring Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Jeanne Bates, Judith Anna Roberts, Laurel Near, and Jack Fisk, it tells the story of a man who is left to care for his grossly deformed child in a desolate industrial landscape.


title: Eraserhead

text: "Eraserhead" was produced with the assistance of the American Film Institute (AFI) during Lynch's time studying there. It nonetheless spent several years in principal photography because of funding difficulties; donations from Fisk and his wife Sissy Spacek kept production afloat. It was shot on several locations owned by the AFI in California, including Greystone Mansion and a set of disused stables in which Lynch lived. Lynch and sound designer Alan Splet spent a year working on the film's audio after their studio was soundproofed. The soundtrack features organ music by Fats Waller and includes the song "In Heaven", written and performed for the film by Peter Ivers, with lyrics by Lynch.


title: Eraserhead

text: Initially opening to small audiences and little interest, "Eraserhead" gained popularity over several long runs as a midnight movie. Since its release, it has earned positive reviews and is considered a cult film. Its surrealist imagery and sexual undercurrents have been seen as key thematic elements, and its intricate sound design as its technical highlight. In 2004, the film was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Eraserhead

text: The Man in the Planet (Jack Fisk) is moving levers in his home in space, while the head of Henry Spencer (Jack Nance) floats in the sky. A spermatozoon-like creature emerges from Spencer's mouth, floating into the void.


title: Eraserhead

text: In an industrial cityscape, Spencer walks home with his groceries. He is stopped outside his apartment by the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall (Judith Anna Roberts), who informs him that his girlfriend, Mary X (Charlotte Stewart), has invited him to dinner with her family. Spencer leaves his groceries in his apartment, which is filled with piles of dirt and dead vegetation. That night, Spencer visits X's home, conversing awkwardly with her mother. At the dinner table, he is asked to carve a chicken that X's father has "made"; the bird moves and writhes on the plate and gushes blood when cut. After dinner, Spencer is cornered by X's mother, who tries to kiss him. She tells him that X has had his child and that the two must marry. X, however, is not sure if what she bore is a child.


title: Eraserhead

text: The couple move into Spencer's one-room apartment and begin caring for the child—a swaddled bundle with an inhuman, snake-like face, resembling the spermatozoon-like creature seen earlier. The infant refuses all food, crying incessantly and intolerably. The sound drives X hysterical, and she leaves Spencer and the child. Spencer attempts to care for the child, and he learns that it struggles to breathe and has developed painful sores.


title: Eraserhead

text: Spencer begins experiencing visions, again seeing the Man in the Planet, as well as the Lady in the Radiator (Laurel Near), who sings to him as she stomps upon miniature replicas of Spencer's child. After a sexual encounter with the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall, Spencer has another vision: the Lady in the Radiator sings ("In Heaven Everything Is Fine") as Spencer watches his own head fall off, revealing a stump underneath that resembles the child's face. Spencer's head falls from the sky, landing on a street and breaking open. A boy finds it, bringing it to a pencil factory to be turned into erasers.


title: Eraserhead

text: Awakened, Spencer seeks out the Beautiful Girl Across the Hall, but finds her with another man. Crushed, Spencer returns to his room. He takes a pair of scissors and for the first time removes the child's swaddling clothes. It is revealed that the child has no skin; the bandages held its internal organs together, and they spill apart after the rags are cut. The child gasps in pain, and Spencer stabs its organs with the scissors. The wounds gush a thick liquid, covering the child. The power in the room overloads, causing the lights to flicker; as they flick on and off the child grows to huge proportions. As the lights burn out completely, the child's head is replaced by the planet seen at the beginning. Spencer appears amidst a billowing cloud of eraser shavings. The side of the planet bursts apart, and inside, the Man in the Planet struggles with his levers, which are now emitting sparks. Spencer is embraced warmly by the Lady in the Radiator, as both white light and white noise build to a crescendo before the screen turns black and silent.


title: Eraserhead

text: Writer and director David Lynch had previously studied for a career as a painter, and he had created several short films to animate his paintings. By 1970, however, he had switched his focus to film-making, and at the age of 24 he accepted a scholarship at the American Film Institute's Center for Advanced Film Studies. Lynch disliked the course and considered dropping out, but after being offered the chance to produce a script of his own devising, he changed his mind. He was given permission to use the school's entire campus for film sets; he converted the school's disused stables into a series of sets and lived there. In addition, Greystone Mansion, also owned by the AFI, was used for many scenes.


title: Eraserhead

text: Lynch had initially begun work on a script titled "Gardenback", based on his painting of a hunched figure with vegetation growing from its back. "Gardenback" was a surrealist script about adultery, which featured a continually growing insect representing one man's lust for his neighbor. The script would have resulted in a roughly 45-minute-long film, which the AFI felt was too long for such a figurative, nonlinear script. In its place, Lynch presented "Eraserhead", which he had developed based on a daydream of a man's head being taken to a pencil factory by a small boy. Several board members at the AFI were still opposed to producing such a surrealist work, but they acquiesced when Dean Frank Daniel threatened to resign if it were to be vetoed. Lynch's script for "Eraserhead" was influenced by his reading as a film student; Franz Kafka's 1915 novella "The Metamorphosis" and Nikolai Gogol's 1836 short story "The Nose" were strong influences on the screenplay. Lynch also confirmed in an interview with "Metro Silicon Valley" that the film "came together" when he opened up a Bible, read one verse from it, and shut it; in retrospect, Lynch could not remember if the verse was from the Old Testament or the New Testament. In 2007, Lynch said "Believe it or not, "Eraserhead" is my most spiritual film."


title: Eraserhead

text: The script is also thought to have been inspired by Lynch's fear of fatherhood; his daughter Jennifer had been born with "severely clubbed feet", requiring extensive corrective surgery as a child. Jennifer has said that her own unexpected conception and birth defects were the basis for the film's themes. The film's tone was also shaped by Lynch's time living in a troubled neighborhood in Philadelphia. Lynch and his family spent five years living in an atmosphere of "violence, hate and filth". The area was described as a "crime-ridden poverty zone", which inspired the urban backdrop of "Eraserhead". Describing this period of his life, Lynch said, "I saw so many things in Philadelphia I couldn't believe ... I saw a grown woman grab her breasts and speak like a baby, complaining her nipples hurt. This kind of thing will set you back". In his book "David Lynch: Beautiful Dark", film critic Greg Olson posits that this time contrasted starkly with the director's childhood in the Pacific Northwest, giving the director a "bipolar, Heaven-and-Hell vision of America" which has subsequently shaped his films.


title: Eraserhead

text: Initial casting for the film began in 1971, and Jack Nance was quickly selected for the lead role. However, the staff at the AFI had underestimated the project's scale—they had initially green-lit "Eraserhead" after viewing a twenty-one page screenplay, assuming that the film industry's usual ratio of one minute of film per scripted page would reduce the film to approximately twenty minutes. This misunderstanding, coupled with Lynch's own meticulous direction, caused the film to remain in production for a number of years. In an extreme example of this labored schedule, one scene in the film begins with Nance's character opening a door—a full year passed before he was filmed entering the room. Nance, however, was dedicated to producing the film and retained the unorthodox hairstyle his character sported for the entirety of its gestation.


title: Eraserhead

text: Buoyed with regular donations from Lynch's childhood friend Jack Fisk and Fisk's wife Sissy Spacek, production continued for several years. Additional funds were provided by Nance's wife Catherine E. Coulson, who worked as a waitress and donated her income, and by Lynch himself, who delivered newspapers throughout the film's principal photography. During one of the many lulls in filming, Lynch was able to produce the short film "The Amputee", taking advantage of the AFI's wish to test new film stock before committing to bulk purchases. The short piece starred Coulson, who continued working with Lynch as a technician on "Eraserhead". "Eraserhead" production crew was very small, composed of Lynch; sound designer Alan Splet; cinematographer Herb Cardwell, who left the production for financial reasons and was replaced with Frederick Elmes; production manager and prop technician Doreen Small; and Coulson, who worked in a variety of roles.


title: Eraserhead

text: The physical effects used to create the deformed child have been kept secret. The projectionist who worked on the film's dailies was blindfolded by Lynch to avoid revealing the prop's nature, and he has refused to discuss the effects in subsequent interviews. The prop—which Nance nicknamed "Spike"—featured several working parts; its neck, eyes and mouth were capable of independent operation. Lynch has offered cryptic comments on the prop, at times stating that "it was born nearby" or "maybe it was found". It has been speculated by "The Guardian" John Patterson that the prop may have been constructed from a skinned rabbit or a lamb fetus. The child has been seen as a precursor to elements of other Lynch films, such as John Merrick's make-up in 1980's "The Elephant Man" and the sandworms of 1984's "Dune".


title: Eraserhead

text: During production, Lynch began experimenting with a technique of recording dialogue that had been spoken phonetically backwards and reversing the resulting audio. Although the technique was not used in the film, Lynch returned to it for "Episode 2", the third episode of his 1990 television series "Twin Peaks". Lynch also began his interest in transcendental meditation during the film's production, adopting a vegetarian diet and giving up smoking and alcohol.


title: Eraserhead

text: Lynch worked with Alan Splet to design the film's sound. The pair arranged and fabricated soundproof blanketing to insulate their studio, where they spent almost a year creating and editing the film's sound effects. The soundtrack is densely layered, including as many as fifteen different sounds played simultaneously using multiple reels. Sounds were created in a variety of ways—for a scene in which a bed slowly dissolves into a pool of liquid, Lynch and Splet inserted a microphone inside a plastic bottle, floated it in a bathtub, and recorded the sound of air blown through the bottle. After being recorded, sounds were further augmented by alterations to their pitch, reverb and frequency.


title: Eraserhead

text: After a poorly received test screening, in which Lynch believes he had mixed the soundtrack at too high a volume, the director cut twenty minutes of footage from the film, bringing its length to 89 minutes. Among the cut footage is a scene featuring Coulson as the infant's midwife, another of a man torturing two women—one again played by Coulson—with a car battery, and one of Spencer toying with a dead cat.


title: Eraserhead

text: The soundtrack to "Eraserhead" was released by I.R.S. Records in 1982. The two tracks included on the album feature excerpts of organ music by Fats Waller and the song "In Heaven", written for the film by Peter Ivers. The soundtrack was re-released on August 7, 2012, by Sacred Bones Records in a limited pressing of 1,500 copies. The album has been seen as presaging the dark ambient music genre, and its presentation of background noise and non-musical cues has been described by "Pitchfork"s Mark Richardson as "a sound track (two words) in the literal sense".


title: Eraserhead

text: "Eraserhead" sound design has been considered one of its defining elements. Although the film features several hallmark visuals—the deformed infant and the sprawling industrial setting—these are matched by their accompanying sounds, as the "incessant mewling" and "evocative aural landscape" are paired with these respectively. The film features several constant industrial sounds, providing low-level background noise in every scene. This fosters a "threatening" and "unnerving" atmosphere, which has been imitated in works such as David Fincher's 1995 thriller "Seven" and the Coen brothers' 1991 black comedy "Barton Fink". The constant low-level noise has been perceived by James Wierzbicki in his book "Music, Sound and Filmmakers: Sonic Style in Cinema" as perhaps a product of Henry Spencer's imagination, and the soundtrack has been described as "ruthlessly negligent of the difference between dream and reality". The film also begins a trend within Lynch's work of relating diegetic music to dreams, as when the Lady in the Radiator sings "In Heaven" during Spencer's extended dream sequence. This is also present in "Episode 2" of "Twin Peaks", in which diegetic music carries over from a character's dream to his waking thoughts; and in 1986's "Blue Velvet", in which a similar focus is given to Roy Orbison's "In Dreams".


title: Eraserhead

text: The film has also been noted for its strong sexual themes. Opening with an image of conception, the film then portrays Henry Spencer as a character who is terrified of, but fascinated by, sex. The recurring images of sperm-like creatures, including the child, are a constant presence during the film's sex scenes; the apparent "girl next door" appeal of the Lady in the Radiator is abandoned during her musical number as she begins to violently smash Spencer's sperm creatures and aggressively meets his gaze. In his book "The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror", David J. Skal describes the film as "depict[ing] human reproduction as a desolate freak show, an occupation fit only for the damned". Skal also posits a different characterization of the Lady in the Radiator, casting her as "desperately eager for an unseen audience's approval". In his book "David Lynch Decoded", Mark Allyn Stewart proposes that the Lady in the Radiator is in fact Spencer's subconscious, a manifestation of his own urge to kill his child, who embraces him after he does so, as if to reassure him that he has done right.


title: Eraserhead

text: As a character, Spencer has been seen as an everyman figure, his blank expression and plain dress keeping him a simple archetype. Spencer displays a pacifistic and fatalistic inactivity throughout the film, simply allowing events to unfold around him without taking control. This passive behavior culminates in his sole act of instigation at the film's climax; his apparent act of infanticide is driven by the domineering and controlling influences that beset him. Spencer's passivity has also been seen by film critics Colin Odell and Michelle Le Blanc as a precursor to Lynch's 1983–92 comic strip "The Angriest Dog in the World".


title: Eraserhead

text: "Eraserhead" premiered at the Filmex film festival in Los Angeles, on March 19, 1977. On its opening night, the film was attended by twenty-five people; twenty-four viewed it the following evening. However, Ben Barenholtz, head of distributor Libra Films, persuaded local theater Cinema Village to run the film as a midnight feature, where it continued for a year. After this, it ran for ninety-nine weeks at New York's Waverly Cinema, had a year-long midnight run at San Francisco's Roxie Theater from 1978 to 1979, and achieved a three-year tenure at Los Angeles' Nuart Theatre between 1978 and 1981. The film was a commercial success, grossing $7 million in the United States and $14,590 in other territories. "Eraserhead" was also screened as part of the 1978 BFI London Film Festival, and the 1986 Telluride Film Festival.


title: Eraserhead

text: "Eraserhead" was released on VHS on August 7, 1982, by Columbia Pictures. The film was released on DVD and Blu-ray by Umbrella Entertainment in Australia; the former was released on August 1, 2009, and the latter on May 9, 2012. The Umbrella Entertainment releases include an 85-minute feature on the making of the film. Other home media releases of the film include DVD releases by Universal Pictures in 2001, Subversive Entertainment in 2006, Scanbox Entertainment in 2008, and a DVD and Blu-ray release by the Criterion Collection in September 2014.


title: Eraserhead

text: Upon "Eraserhead" release, "Variety" offered a negative review, calling it "a sickening bad-taste exercise". The review expressed incredulity over the film's long gestation and described its finale as unwatchable. Comparing "Eraserhead" to Lynch's next film "The Elephant Man", Tom Buckley of "The New York Times" wrote that while the latter was a well-made film with an accomplished cast, the former was not. Buckley called "Eraserhead" "murkily pretentious", and wrote that the film's horror aspects stemmed solely from the appearance of the deformed child rather than from its script or performances. Writing in 1984, Lloyd Rose of "The Atlantic" wrote that "Eraserhead" demonstrated that Lynch was "one of the most unalloyed surrealists ever to work in the movies". Rose described the film as being intensely personal, finding that unlike previous surrealist films, such as Luis Buñuel's 1929 work "Un Chien Andalou" or 1930's "L'Age d'Or", Lynch's imagery "isn't reaching out to us from his films; we're sinking into them". In a 1993 review for the "Chicago Tribune", Michael Wilmington described "Eraserhead" as unique, feeling that the film's "intensity" and "nightmare clarity" were a result of Lynch's attention to detail in its creation due to his involvement in so many roles during its production. In the 1995 essay "Bad Ideas: The Art and Politics of Twin Peaks", critic Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote that "Eraserhead" represented Lynch's best work. Rosenbaum wrote that the director's artistic talent declined as his popularity grew, and contrasted the film with "Wild at Heart"—Lynch's most recent feature film at that time—saying "even the most cursory comparison of "Eraserhead" with "Wild at Heart" reveals an artistic decline so precipitous that it is hard to imagine the same person making both films". John Simon of the "National Review" called Eraserhead "a grossout for cultists".


title: Eraserhead

text: Contemporary reception of the film has been highly favorable. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 90% based on 62 reviews. The critical consensus reads, "David Lynch's surreal "Eraserhead" uses detailed visuals and a creepy score to create a bizarre and disturbing look into a man's fear of parenthood". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 87 out of 100 based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".


title: Eraserhead

text: Writing for "Empire" magazine, Steve Beard rated the film five stars out of five. He wrote that it was "a lot more radical and enjoyable than [Lynch's] later Hollywood efforts" and highlighted its mix of surrealist body horror and black comedy. The BBC's Almar Haflidason awarded "Eraserhead" three stars out of five, describing it as "an unremarkable feat by [Lynch's] later standards". Haflidason wrote that the film was a gathering of loosely related ideas, adding that it is "so consumed with surreal imagery that there are almost limitless possibilities to read personal theories into it"; the reviewer's own take on these themes were that they represented a fear of personal commitment and featured "a strong sexual undercurrent". A reviewer writing for Film4 rated "Eraserhead" five stars out of five, describing it as "by turns beautiful, annoying, funny, exasperating and repellent, but always bristling with a nervous energy". The Film4 reviewer wrote that "Eraserhead" was unlike most films released to that point, save for the collaborations between Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí; however, Lynch denies having seen any of these before "Eraserhead". Writing for "The Village Voice", Nathan Lee praised the film's use of sound, writing "to see the film means nothing—one must also "hear" it". He described the film's sound design as "an intergalactic seashell cocked to the ears of an acid-tripping gargantua".


title: Eraserhead

text: "The Guardian" Peter Bradshaw similarly lauded the film, also awarding it five stars out of five. Bradshaw considered it to be a beautiful film, describing its sound design as "industrial groaning, as if filmed inside some collapsing factory or gigantic dying organism". He compared it to Ridley Scott's 1979 film "Alien". Jason Ankeny, writing for AllMovie, gave the film a rating of five stars out of five; he highlighted the disturbing sound design of the film and described it as "an open metaphor". He wrote that "Eraserhead" "sets up the obsessions that would follow [Lynch] through his career", adding his belief that the film's surrealism enhanced the understanding of the director's later films. In an article for "The Daily Telegraph", film-maker Marc Evans praised both the sound design and Lynch's ability "to make the ordinary seem so odd", considering the film an inspiration for his own work. A review of the film in the same newspaper compared "Eraserhead" to the works of Irish playwright Samuel Beckett, describing it as a chaotic parody of family life. Manohla Dargis, writing for "The New York Times", called the film "less a straight story than a surrealistic assemblage". Dargis wrote that the film's imagery evoked the paintings of Francis Bacon and the Georges Franju 1949 documentary "Blood of the Beasts". "Film Threat" Phil Hall called "Eraserhead" Lynch's best film, believing that the director's subsequent output failed to live up to it. Hall highlighted the film's soundtrack and Nance's "Chaplinesque" physical comedy as the film's stand-out elements.


title: Eraserhead

text: In 2004, "Eraserhead" was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Selection for the Registry is based on a film being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". "Eraserhead" was one of the subjects featured in the 2005 documentary "", which charted the rise of the midnight movie phenomenon in the late 1960s and 1970s; Lynch took part in the documentary through a series of interviews. The production covers six films which are credited as creating and popularizing the genre; also included are "Night of the Living Dead", "El Topo", "Pink Flamingos", "The Harder They Come", and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". In 2010, the Online Film Critics Society compiled a list of the 100 best directorial débuts, listing what they felt were the best first-time feature films by noted directors. "Eraserhead" placed second in the poll, behind Orson Welles's 1941 "Citizen Kane".


title: Eraserhead

text: Lynch collaborated with most of the cast and crew of "Eraserhead" again on later films. Frederick Elmes served as cinematographer on "Blue Velvet", 1988's "The Cowboy and the Frenchman", and 1990's "Wild at Heart". Alan Splet provided sound design for "The Elephant Man", "Dune", and "Blue Velvet". Jack Fisk directed episodes of Lynch's 1992 television series "On the Air" and worked as a production designer on 1999's "The Straight Story" and 2001's "Mulholland Drive". Coulson and Nance appeared in "Twin Peaks", and made further appearances in "Dune", "Blue Velvet", "Wild at Heart", and 1997's "Lost Highway".


title: Eraserhead

text: Following the release of "Eraserhead", Lynch attempted to find funding for his next project, "Ronnie Rocket", a film "about electricity and a three-foot guy with red hair". Lynch met film producer Stuart Cornfeld during this time. Cornfeld had enjoyed "Eraserhead" and was interested in producing "Ronnie Rocket"; he worked for Mel Brooks and Brooksfilms at the time, and when the two realized that "Ronnie Rocket" was unlikely to find sufficient financing, Lynch asked to see some already-written scripts to consider for his next project. Cornfeld found four scripts that he felt would interest Lynch; on hearing the title of "The Elephant Man", the director decided to make it his second film.


title: Eraserhead

text: While working on "The Elephant Man", Lynch met American director Stanley Kubrick, who revealed to Lynch that "Eraserhead" was his favorite film. "Eraserhead" also served as an influence on Kubrick's 1980 film "The Shining"; Kubrick reportedly screened the film for the cast and crew to "put them in the mood" that he wanted the film to achieve. "Eraserhead" is also credited with influencing the 1989 Japanese cyberpunk film "", the experimental 1990 horror film "Begotten", and Darren Aronofsky's 1998 directorial debut "Pi". Swiss artist H. R. Giger cited "Eraserhead" as "one of the greatest films [he had] ever seen", and said that it came closer to realizing his vision than even his own films. According to Giger, Lynch declined to collaborate with him on "Dune" because he felt Giger had "stolen his ideas".


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Edmund Ironside (30 November 1016; , ; sometimes also known as Edmund II) was King of the English from 23 April to 30 November 1016. He was the son of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu of York. Edmund's reign was marred by a war he had inherited from his father; his cognomen "Ironside" was given to him "because of his valour" in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Edmund was not expected to be King of England; however, by June 1014 two elder brothers had died, making him heir apparent. At the end of the same year, England was conquered by Sweyn Forkbeard, who died shortly thereafter. Æthelred was able to reclaim the throne, despite opposition. Sweyn's son, Cnut, was defeated and returned to Denmark, where he assembled an invasion force to reconquer England. It would not arrive for another year.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: After regaining the throne, the royal family set about strengthening its hold on the country with the assistance of Eadric Streona (Edmund's brother-in-law). People who had sided with the Danes in 1014 were punished, and some were killed. In one case, two brothers, Morcar and Sigeferth, were killed and their possessions were taken by Æthelred. Sigeferth's widow Ealdgyth was imprisoned within a monastery, but she had already captured Edmund's attention. Cnut returned to England in August 1015. Over the next few months, Cnut pillaged most of England. Edmund joined Æthelred to defend London, but in 1016 Edmund unofficially named himself the Earl of the East Midlands and raised a revolt against his father. Without the king's permission he took Ealdgyth from the monastery, and married her; it would have been a politically advantageous marriage, since she was a member of one of the strongest families in the Midlands.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Æthelred died on 23 April 1016, making Edmund king. It was not until the summer of 1016 that any serious fighting was done: Edmund fought five battles against the Danes, ending in his defeat on 18 October at the Battle of Assandun, after which they agreed to divide the kingdom, Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the rest of the country. Edmund died shortly afterwards on 30 November, leaving two sons, Edward and Edmund; however, Cnut became king of all England, and exiled the remaining members of Edmund's family.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: The exact date of Edmund's birth is unclear, but it could have been no later than 993 when he was a signatory to charters along with his two elder brothers. He was the third of the six sons of King Æthelred the Unready and his first wife, Ælfgifu, who was probably the daughter of Earl Thored of Northumbria. His elder brothers were Æthelstan (died 1014) and Egbert (died c. 1005), and younger ones, Eadred, Eadwig and Edgar. He had four sisters, Eadgyth (or Edith), Ælfgifu, Wulfhilda, and the Abbess of Wherwell Abbey. His mother died around 1000, after which his father remarried, this time to Emma of Normandy, who had two sons, Edward the Confessor and Alfred and a daughter Goda.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Æthelstan and Edmund were close, and they probably felt threatened by Emma's ambitions for her sons. "The Life of Edward the Confessor", written fifty years later, claimed that when Emma was pregnant with him, all Englishmen promised that if the child was a boy they would accept him as king.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: When Sweyn Forkbeard seized the throne at the end of 1013 and Æthelred fled to Normandy, the brothers do not appear to have followed him, but stayed in England. Æthelstan died in June 1014 and left Edmund a sword which had belonged to king Offa of Mercia. His will also reflected the close relationship between the brothers and the nobility of the East Midlands.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Sweyn died in February 1014, and the Five Boroughs accepted his son Cnut as king. However, Æthelred returned to England and launched a surprise attack which defeated the Vikings and forced Cnut to flee England. In 1015 Sigeferth and Morcar came to an assembly in Oxford, probably hoping for a royal pardon, but they were murdered by Eadric Streona. King Æthelred then ordered that Sigeferth's widow, Ealdgyth, be seized and brought to Malmesbury Abbey, but Edmund seized and married her in defiance of his father, probably to consolidate his power base in the East Midlands. He then received the submission of the people of the Five Boroughs. At the same time, Cnut launched a new invasion of England. In late 1015 Edmund raised an army, possibly assisted by his wife's and mother's links with the midlands and the north, but the Mercians under Eadric Streona joined the West Saxons in submitting to Cnut. In early 1016 the army assembled by Edmund dispersed when Æthelred did not appear to lead it, probably because of illness. Edmund then raised a new army and in conjunction with Earl Uhtred of Northumbria ravaged Eadric Streona's Mercian territories, but when Cnut occupied Northumbria Uhtred submitted to him, only to be killed by Cnut. Edmund went to London.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Æthelred died on 23 April 1016, and the citizens and councillors in London chose Edmund as king and probably crowned him, while the rest of the Witan, meeting at Southampton, elected Cnut. Edmund then mounted a last-ditch effort to revive the defence of England. While the Danes laid siege to London, Edmund headed for Wessex, where the people submitted to him and he gathered an army. He fought inconclusive battles against the Danes and their English supporters at Penselwood in Somerset and Sherston in Wiltshire. He then raised the siege of London, which had been successfully resisted by the citizens, and defeated the Danes near Brentford. They renewed the siege while Edmund went to Wessex to raise further troops, returning to again relieve London, defeat the Danes at Otford, and pursue Cnut into Kent. Eadric Streona now went over to Edmund, but at the decisive Battle of Assandun on 18 October, Eadric and his men fled and Cnut decisively defeated Edmund. There may have been one further battle in the Forest of Dean, after which the two kings, persuaded by the Witan, negotiated a peace dividing the country between them. Edmund received Wessex while Cnut took Mercia and probably Northumbria.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: On 30 November 1016, Edmund died. The location of his death is uncertain, though it is generally accepted that it occurred in London, rather than in Oxford where Henry of Huntingdon claimed it to be in his version of events, written perhaps a century later, which included Edmund's death from multiple stab-wounds whilst he was defecating on a privy. Geoffrey Gaimar narrates a similar occurrence with the weapon being a crossbow; but with a number of other medieval chroniclers, including the "Encomium Emmae Reginae", not mentioning murder, it is thought Edmund's cause of death may possibly have been wounds received in battle or some disease. It is certainly possible, however, that he was murdered.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Edmund was buried near his grandfather King Edgar the Peaceful at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset. However, the abbey was destroyed during the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the 16th century, and any remains of a monument or crypt may have been plundered; hence the location of his remains is unclear.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: In the view of M. K. Lawson, the intensity of Edmund's struggle against the Danes in 1016 is only matched by Alfred the Great's in 871, and contrasts with Æthelred's failure. Edmund's success in raising one army after another suggests that there was little wrong with the organs of government under competent leadership. He was "probably a highly determined, skilled and indeed inspiring leader of men". Cnut visited his tomb on the anniversary of his death and laid a cloak decorated with peacocks on it to assist in his salvation, peacocks symbolising resurrection.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: Edmund had two children by Ealdgyth: Edward the Exile and Edmund Ætheling. According to John of Worcester, Cnut sent them to Sweden where he probably hoped they would be murdered and forgotten, but King Olof of Sweden instead forwarded them on to Kiev, where his daughter Ingegerd was the grand princess. The boys eventually ended up in Hungary where Edmund died but Edward prospered. Edward returned from exile to England in 1057 only to die within a few days of his arrival. His son Edgar Ætheling was briefly proclaimed king after the Battle of Hastings in 1066, but later submitted to William the Conqueror. Edgar lived a long and eventful life: fighting in rebellion against William the Conqueror from 1067 to 1075; fighting alongside the Conqueror's son Robert Curthose in campaigns in Sicily (1085–1087); and accompanying Robert on the First Crusade (1099–1103). He was still alive in 1125.


title: Edmund Ironside

text: In 1070 Edward the Exile's daughter, Margaret, became queen of Scotland. Through her and her descendants, Edmund is the ancestor of subsequent British monarchs.


title: Ptolemy

text: Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance to later Byzantine, Islamic, and Western European science. The first is the astronomical treatise now known as the "Almagest", although it was originally entitled the "Mathēmatikē Syntaxis" or "Mathematical Treatise", and later known as "The Greatest Treatise". The second is the "Geography", which is a thorough discussion on maps and the geographic knowledge of the Greco-Roman world. The third is the astrological treatise in which he attempted to adapt horoscopic astrology to the Aristotelian natural philosophy of his day. This is sometimes known as the "Apotelesmatika" (lit. "On the Effects") but more commonly known as the "Tetrábiblos", from the Koine Greek meaning "Four Books", or by its Latin equivalent "Quadripartite".


title: Ptolemy

text: Unlike most ancient Greek mathematicians, Ptolemy's writings (foremost the "Almagest") never ceased to be copied or commented upon, both in Late Antiquity and in the Middle Ages. However, it is likely that only a few truly mastered the mathematics necessary to understand his works, as evidenced particularly by the many abridged and watered-down introductions to Ptolemy's astronomy that were popular among the Arabs and Byzantines alike.


title: Ptolemy

text: Ptolemy lived in or around the city of Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt under Roman rule, had a Latin name (which several historians have taken to imply he was also a Roman citizen), cited Greek philosophers, and used Babylonian observations and Babylonian lunar theory. In half of his extant works, Ptolemy addresses a certain Syrus, a figure of whom almost nothing is known but who likely shared some of Ptolemy's astronomical interests.


title: Ptolemy

text: The 14th-century astronomer Theodore Meliteniotes gave his birthplace as the prominent Greek city Ptolemais Hermiou () in the Thebaid (). This attestation is quite late, however, and there is no evidence to support it.


title: Ptolemy

text: Ptolemy's Greek name", Ptolemaeus" (, "Ptolemaîos"), is an ancient Greek personal name. It occurs once in Greek mythology and is of Homeric form. It was common among the Macedonian upper class at the time of Alexander the Great and there were several of this name among Alexander's army, one of whom made himself pharaoh in 323 BC: Ptolemy I Soter, the first pharaoh of the Ptolemaic Kingdom. Almost all subsequent pharaohs of Egypt, with a few exceptions, were named Ptolemies until Egypt became a Roman province in 30 BC, ending the Macedonian family's rule.


title: Ptolemy

text: The name "Claudius" is a Roman name, belonging to the "gens" Claudia; the peculiar multipart form of the whole name "Claudius Ptolemaeus" is a Roman custom, characteristic of Roman citizens. Several historians have made the deduction that this indicates that Ptolemy would have been a Roman citizen. Gerald Toomer, the translator of Ptolemy's "Almagest" into English, suggests that citizenship was probably granted to one of Ptolemy's ancestors by either the emperor Claudius or the emperor Nero.


title: Ptolemy

text: The 9th century Persian astronomer Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi mistakenly presents Ptolemy as a member of Ptolemaic Egypt's royal lineage, stating that the descendants of the Alexandrine general and Pharaoh Ptolemy I Soter were wise "and included Ptolemy the Wise, who composed the book of the "Almagest"". Abu Ma'shar recorded a belief that a different member of this royal line "composed the book on astrology and attributed it to Ptolemy". We can infer historical confusion on this point from Abu Ma'shar's subsequent remark: "It is sometimes said that the very learned man who wrote the book of astrology also wrote the book of the "Almagest". The correct answer is not known." Not much positive evidence is known on the subject of Ptolemy's ancestry, apart from what can be drawn from the details of his name, although modern scholars have concluded that Abu Ma'shar's account is erroneous. It is no longer doubted that the astronomer who wrote the "Almagest" also wrote the "Tetrabiblos" as its astrological counterpart. In later Arabic sources, he was often known as "the Upper Egyptian", suggesting he may have had origins in southern Egypt. Arabic astronomers, geographers and physicists referred to his name in Arabic as "Baṭlumyus" ().


title: Ptolemy

text: Ptolemy wrote in ancient Greek and can be shown to have utilized Babylonian astronomical data. He might have been a Roman citizen, but was ethnically either a Greek or at least a Hellenized Egyptian.


title: Ptolemy

text: Astronomy was the subject to which Ptolemy devoted the most time and effort; about half of all the works that survived deal with astronomical matters, and even others such as the "Geography" and the "Tetrabiblos" have significant references to astronomy.