Carlo Fantom

Carlo Fantom
DiedDecember 1643 (1644)
AllegianceParliamentarians Royalists
Conflicts
English Civil War

Carlo Fantom (died December 1643) was a "remarkable"[1] Croat mercenary in the English Civil War who had the reputation of being impervious to bullets and is quoted as saying "I care not for your Cause; I come to fight for your halfe-crown and your handsome women. My father was a Roman Catholique, and so was my grandfather. I have fought for the Christians against the Turkes, and for the Turkes against the Christians."

Career

Initially serving in Arthur Goodwin's regiment of horse, where he was valued by the Earl of Essex for training cavalrymen how to fight on horseback. According to an anecdote recorded in John Aubrey's Brief Lives, he was shot at close range by Colonel Robert Pye but remained unscathed, returning the bullets to the colonel with the words "Here, take you bullets again", and later explaining to a friend that his body could not be pierced by bullets due to a herbal treatment received as a child.[2] In 1643 he changed sides to fight for the King. He was reportedly hanged at Bedford for raping a woman, while the army was marching to relieve Gainsborough.[3]

Legacy

The sparse details of his life inspired Reginald Hill's Captain Fantom: Being an account of the Sundry Adventures in the life of Carlo Fantom, Soldier of Misfortune, Hard-man and Ravisher (London, 1978), published under the pen-name Charles Underhill, and the prequel The Forging of Fantom (1979).[4]

He is a primary antagonist in the Fiskardo's War series of historical fiction books by J.C. Harvey.[5]

References

  1. ^ Ian Roy, "Soldiers of Fortune", in The Oxford History of the British Army, edited by David G. Chandler and Ian Beckett (Oxford University Press, 1994), p. 33.
  2. ^ Frederick Valletta, Witchcraft, Magic and Superstition in England, 1640–70 (Routledge, 2017).
  3. ^ William Thoms, ed., Anecdotes and Traditions Illustrative of Early English History and Literature Derived from MS Sources (London, Camden Society, 1839), pp. 111-113.
  4. ^ John Lennard, Of Sex and Faerie: Further Essays on Genre Fiction (2010), p. 315.
  5. ^ https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/the-dead-men/

Content Disclaimer

Informasi ini disarikan dari Wikipedia dan disajikan kembali untuk tujuan edukasi. Konten tersedia di bawah lisensi CC BY-SA 3.0. Kami tidak bertanggung jawab atas ketidakakuratan data yang bersumber dari kontribusi publik tersebut.

  1. The information displayed on this website is sourced in part or in whole from Wikipedia and has been adapted for the purpose of restating it. We strive to provide accurate and relevant information, however:
  2. There is no guarantee of absolute accuracy. Wikipedia is an open, collaborative project that can be edited by anyone, so information is subject to change.
  3. It is not intended to constitute professional advice. The content displayed is for informational and educational purposes only. For important decisions (e.g., medical, legal, or financial), please consult a professional.
  4. Content copyright. Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). This means that content may be reused with appropriate attribution and shared under a similar license.
  5. Responsible use. Any risk arising from the use of information from this website is entirely the responsibility of the user.