Carlo Fantom (died December 1643) was a "remarkable"

Croat The Croats (; , ) are a South Slavs, South Slavic ethnic group native to Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other neighboring countries in Central Europe, Central and Southeastern Europe who share a common Croatian Cultural heritage, ancest ...

mercenary in the

English Civil War The English Civil War or Great Rebellion was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Cavaliers, Royalists and Roundhead, Parliamentarians in the Kingdom of England from 1642 to 1651. Part of the wider 1639 to 1653 Wars of th ...

who had the reputation of being impervious to bullets and is quoted as saying "I care not for your Cause; I come to fight for your halfe-crown and your handsome women. My father was a Roman Catholique, and so was my grandfather. I have fought for the Christians against the Turkes, and for the Turkes against the Christians."

Career

Initially serving in Arthur Goodwin's regiment of horse, where he was valued by the

Earl of Essex Earl of Essex is a title in the Peerage of England which was first created in the 12th century by King Stephen of England. The title has been recreated eight times from its original inception, beginning with a new first Earl upon each new cre ...

for training cavalrymen how to fight on horseback. According to an anecdote recorded in

John Aubrey John Aubrey (12 March 1626 – 7 June 1697) was an English antiquary, natural philosopher and writer. He was a pioneer archaeologist, who recorded (often for the first time) numerous megalithic and other field monuments in southern England ...

's ''

Brief Lives ''Brief Lives'' is a collection of short biographies written by John Aubrey (1626–1697) in the last decades of the 17th century. Writing Aubrey initially began collecting biographical material to assist the Oxford scholar Anthony Wood, who ...

'', he was shot at close range by Colonel Robert Pye but remained unscathed, returning the bullets to the colonel with the words "Here, take you bullets again", and later explaining to a friend that his body could not be pierced by bullets due to a herbal treatment received as a child. In 1643 he changed sides to fight for the King. He was reportedly hanged at Bedford for raping a woman, while the army was marching to relieve

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

Legacy

The sparse details of his life inspired

Reginald Hill Reginald Charles Hill FRSL (3 April 193612 January 2012) was an English crime writer and the winner in 1995 of the Crime Writers' Association Cartier Diamond Dagger for Lifetime Achievement. He was inducted into the prestigious Detection Club in ...

's ''Captain Fantom: Being an account of the Sundry Adventures in the life of Carlo Fantom, Soldier of Misfortune, Hard-man and Ravisher'' (London, 1978), published under the pen-name Charles Underhill, and the prequel ''The Forging of Fantom'' (1979). He is a primary antagonist in the ''Fiskardo's War'' series of

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictional plot takes place in the Setting (narrative), setting of particular real past events, historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literatur ...

books by J.C. Harvey.https://atlantic-books.co.uk/book/the-dead-men/

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fantom, Carlo Year of birth unknown 1643 deaths Roundheads Cavaliers Expatriates in the Kingdom of England Executed military personnel Croatian people convicted of war crimes Parliamentarian military personnel of the English Civil War People executed by England by hanging People executed for rape People executed for war crimes