THE SIEGE OF BREDA

1627. HUGO (HERMAN, SJ) THE SIEGE OF BREDA written in Latin... translated into English by C[aptain] H[enry] G [age], FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH [Gent, J. Dooms], 1627. Small Folio 32 cm., 3 preliminary leaves, 152 pages. (lacking portrait) 15 plates (6 double; including map, plans) . VERY RARE IN COMMERCE. [STC 13926]. Contemporary calf, some wear to spine, small loss at top and hinges starting

Particularly interesting as a rare English work priunted in Ghent and also notable for the unusual Chronogram in the colophon


Sir Henry Gage (1597-1645), the translator, received his education in Flanders and subsequently served in the Spanish garrison at Antwerp. He made a name for himself during the 1622 siege of Bergen op Zoom and the 1624 siege of Breda. However, following the fall of Breda and the reduction of English regiments in Spanish service, coupled with the onset of war between England and Spain, Gage was compelled to return to England. He subsequently dedicated his time to studying the theory of war, with this translation being among his most notable scholarly contribution

Ghent, being part of the Spanish Netherlands during this period, was under the influence of the Catholic Habsburgs. The Jesuits, like Herman Hugo, were a Catholic order, and their works might have found more support and less censorship in such environments compared to Protestant areas. This Catholic connection might have made Ghent a more sympathetic location for publishing a work by a Jesuit author.