UNEXPECTED CULTURAL CONSEQUENCES
ALTHOUGH FORGOTTEN TODAY, THE SIEGE Of Namur Inspired memorable WORKS Of MUSIC AND Literature
The late 17th century is a relatively forgotten period in British history, but William III’S victory at Namur was an inspiration for the traditional marching song The British Grenadiers and Laurence Sterne’s classic 18th-century novel Tristram Shandy.
The British Grenadiers has been a ceremonial marching song of the British Army since the early 1700s and is often used in historical films and television programs. It is believed that the Siege of Namur inspired the song, and its verses suggest intense siege warfare: “When e’er we are commanded to storm the palisades/our leaders march with fuses, and we with hand grenades… And when the siege is over, we to the town repair/the townsmen cry ‘Hurrah boys, here comes a Grenadier.’”
By contrast, Tristram Shandy specifically references Namur, and it forms a key part of the back-story of one of the novel’s major characters. ‘Captain Toby Shandy’ is the protagonist’s retired uncle and a veteran of Namur. It is revealed that Toby was wounded in the groin at the siege, but he retains a keen interest in its history and even builds a complete replica of the battle in his garden with his servant and fellow veteran Corporal
Trim. Toby’s reminiscences about Namur are so vivid that a re-enactment of the siege was included in the 2006 film A Cock and Bull Story, which was a comic adaptation of the novel.