Casal and Cassel.

 

The Grand old Duke of York and The Flashing Blade.

I have been reading around the War of the First Coalition against revolutionary France 1793-94.

The Duke of York was the Commander of the British and allied army in the Flanders campaigns. Reference of course gets made to the nursery rhyme and the fact that Flanders is so flat. 

Mont Cassel is the only hill in the area overlooking French Flanders. so if it happened at all, that's where he marched up and down.

This then made me think of the 1960s French TV drama The Flashing Blade, wasn't that all about the siege of Cassel.

No, it was all about the siege of Casal.

Casal 1630, from the opening sequence. 

The story is set during the War of the Mantuan Succession 1628-31, part of the 30 Years War. The fighting was mainly between Spain (the baddies) and France (the goodies), in and around Savoy and the border with Italy. It was, and still is, a great kids adventure story.

Interestingly it was filmed at Chateau Gaillard, King Richard the Lion Heart's castle back up north near Flanders.