Friday 20 July 2012

Ok, so here's the next unit. The retinue of William Neville, Lord Fauconberg. Fauconberg, younger brother of the earl of Salisbury, was one of the most experienced military commanders of the first half of the fifteenth century. He had fought both in Normandy (where he had been captured in 1449 while on embassy, being unfortunate enough to be in the castle of Pont de l'Arche when it fell to the French) and on the northern borders. From 1459 he acted as lieutenant to his nephew, the earl of Warwick, as captain of Calais, and at Towton two years later he commanded one of the Yorkist battles.

The figures are Front Rank and I'm pleased with how they come out. I used a black undercoat for everyone and it was much easier. The other knight with a heraldic surcoat is Sir Thomas Lumley, a member of a Durham family who fought for the Yorkists in 1461. The palatinate of Durham was a stronghold of Yorkist support (unlike Northumberland which was predominantly Lancastrian) mainly due to the fact that Robert Neville, brother to Fauconberg and Salisbury, had become the bishop of Durham in April 1438. Many of the gentry of the palatinate were retained by the Nevilles as a result, most importantly Sir Robert Ogle of Ogle and Norham, a friend of Lumley. I'm going to add a base representing Ogle next probably, as he's also one of the most interesting men of the period (and was probably instrumental in the Yorkist victory at St. Albans in 1455, but that's another story . . . )



3 comments:

  1. Nice looking unit there, very neat surcoats. I like the addition of the HYW figures too.

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  2. Thanks. I figured in any retinue from the mid 15th century there would be a range of armours, some dating back to the late 14th century. I think one of the signs of the increased influence of things Italian (i.e. the Renaissance) in England in the second of the 15th century was a vogue for 'armour of Milan'. Warwick, for instance, loved the stuff and ordered plenty for the Calais garrison. For an English army of the 1470s and 80s I would have exclusively Italian-style armour I think.

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    Replies
    1. Excellent, I like the cut of your cloth!

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