Roger Williams

Who was Roger Williams?

Sir Roger Williams was a Protestant Welsh soldier of fortune. Charles Wisner Barrell has identified Sir Roger Williams as the basis for Fluellen in William Shakespeare's Henry V.

Born in Penrhos, Monmouthshire, Williams was said by Anthony Wood to have attended Brasenose College, Oxford. He spent most of his life soldiering, mainly on the continent. He was in the Netherlands fighting on behalf of William the Silent, Prince of Orange, when the latter was assassinated, and helped capture the assassin, Balthasar Gérard. Williams was recognised as an expert on military matters by his contemporaries, and wrote A brief discourse of war.

In 1572 Williams took part in a raid on Ter Goes, South Beveland, an outpost of the main Spanish base at Middelburg. The Garrison was far larger than they had expected and the attack failed, with many of the raiding party being killed, Williams and Rowland Yorke escaped by crawling out through ditches on their stomachs.

In 1585 he was sent to the Low Countries with an army under the Earl of Leicester's command, to confront the Spanish forces under the Duke of Parma.