VERE, Francis.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

The Commentaries... being diverse pieces of service, wherein he had command, written by himself in way of Commentary. Published by William Dillingham. First edition. Vere (1560-1609), described by Clements Markham, ever with an eye on the British imperial project, as "the first great English general in modem history", commanded the Anglo-Scots forces assisting the Dutch republic. Commentaries is "not only a key source for Vere's life, but one of the major sources for the history of England and the Netherlands in this period" (ODNB). Known for his "calculated rashness" and outstanding bravery, Vere "became famous in Elizabethan England's great war against Spain, and was the mentor for a generation of English soldiers, many of whom went on to command in the civil wars of the 1640s". The Commentaries, which doubled as memoir and practical military text, circulated widely in manuscript and was intended for "family, friends, and a circle of admiring veterans". And it was the copy owned by the distinguished parliamentarian general Philip Skippon which first drew the attention of William Dilligham, a Cambridge academic.Dillingham oversaw publication of this handsome quarto, adding narratives of Nieuwpoort and the parley at Ostend by Sir John Ogle, "and extracts from some of the publications of Henry Hexham, Vere's page at Ostend and, by the 1630s, a noted writer on military subjects". Printing was timely, as in 1657 the country was embroiled in the Anglo-Spanish War of 1654-60, with

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