Talk:Great Siege of Scarborough Castle/Archive 1

Suggestions towards approval

In the section "royalist stronghold," the first sentence concludes "next several months." The timing reference has been lost by the new section. Please include dates. Russell D. Jones 14:27, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

OK, I've made these edits. These expand the background of what happened in 1643-1644, before the siege, and include dates. Please let me know about anything else that needs doing. Thanks. John Stephenson 04:07, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Siege aspects

"Great" siege implies there were others, but the existence of other sieges isn't obvious.

I set up a redirect for cannonball. While we really need articles on siege warfare in general, it's probably worth mentioning that castles were essentially pre-gunpowder fortifications; cannon made them obsolete.

Looks good, though. Howard C. Berkowitz 19:40, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I've added some extra info to the introduction to mention the second siege that occurred after the Great Siege, plus a point about why the Great Siege was more notable (because of the fighting and the destruction of the keep). Actually there were various minor sieges earlier in the castle's history, but I think it's better to confine the article to the English Civil War. John Stephenson 05:30, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Approval

I am seeking approval for this version following comments made by Howard above - if there is anything that anyone feels is lacking with this article, please tip me off. Thanks. John Stephenson 07:17, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Without intending any criticism here, but something to learn for the future, this is not a topic where I was able to get any of the hard copy references; I don't live near a university library. Nevertheless, the description of siege operations seems consistent with my knowledge of other sieges, and I don't feel uncomfortable recommending the article. I think this will be a test of cases of fairly obscure subjects where an experienced Editor can check for plausibility rather than specific fact checks.

I would ask John and others if they'd be interested in collaborating in a higher-level general article on siege warfare. Vaubon, the French master of both fortification and siege, for example, I think is available online. Howard C. Berkowitz 13:47, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Is the capitalization of the title correct, or should it be changed to "Great siege ..."?

I have a suggestion regarding the references (if editors agree): The page references are of no interest to the general reader of the page -- the sources can be found in the bibliography. Therefore I think that these references could be "hidden" as html-comments: There they can be found by anybody who is really interested, but the page would look much cleaner.

Peter Schmitt 22:48, 20 October 2009 (UTC)