England's Allies and Mercenaries in 1513

 

Here we are at last. The Valois French are complete. Likewise, the host of the King of Scots. Now we turn to the English. Or nearly so.

First let us see the  Allies/ Mercenaries. Those being the Burgundians and the Irish and various bits of the Emperor’s Army. The Emperor’s men were genuine allies. The Burgundians and Irish had to be contracted and paid. Top of the page and below Burgundians.

The Burgundian Gendarmes above.

A Burgundian Lance. We see the front rank of Gendarmes and the second supporting rank of mounted crossbow men. This was the favoured Burgundian formation. Note the smaller horses in the second rank.

Burgundian mounted Crossbows who could deploy separately.

 Imperial or Burgundian skirmishing shot.

The splendid Burgundian flags are from Pete's Flags.

Cardinal Wolsey wanted to hire 1000 Irish cavalry for the 1513 Campaign. Wolsey looked after the important stuff for Henry. Diplomacy, Finance, Legislation that sort of thing. Doubtless he was a sharp lad. 

The horsemen he was looking for came from Ireland’s Warrior Clans. A 1000 of them wouldn’t leave many left in Ireland. Let me explain. An Irish Warrior Clan was an agnatic Mercenary Company. It owned no land and made its living by hiring out for wages and grazing in Ireland’s regular small wars.

Had Wolsey succeeded in hiring them he would have gained some excellent light cavalry and have removed a significant military group from Ireland. Smart work. 

In the event it seems he failed. Probably over money. In another negotiation Wolsey haggled about the number of servants each Kern expected  to take to France.

Some Kern did go to France so a deal was done. Here are some above and below.

Wolsey might have got some Irish Cavalry.  They are not, as far as I know, attested in the record. 

All the same, if you want to use some think Stradiots as far as capability goes. "The finest Scourrers on Christian ground." as the man said about them. I wouldn't go with more than one unit of Irish cavalry in 1513 France.

One though, adds to the fun.

Before we go, have a gander at the pic' above.  It is Henry King of England in 1513. Gold armour is hard to miss. I wonder if he wore it in the field? My version will.

Next time in 1513 we will see the English cavalry. Pete's Flags above with Essex Miniatures.

Gendarmes and Archers 1513

 

When I again turned my attention  to 1513 I thought not to linger over long. Utterly wrong as it turned out. Each Gendarme needs at least one non noble horseman in support. There was a lot of painting.

I have written before about the “Lance” concept. A Lance being variably 2-5 men. One hundred Lances means at least 200 men and up to 500 men. As you can see i have simplified the representation here. 

Even with creative interpretation (cheating) it is a fair few cavalry.  Let us get to it.

Supporting Archer cavalry.

 You can see a lot of Minifigs in the pic's. A lot to like with these figures I think.

Not all Archers were archers.

David at Not By Appointment made me some flags for known French Commanders.

Above we see Berault (Bernard) Stewart. He is the lad in the middle. Note his buckle impressa drawn from his banner. Below Louis de Tremouille once again we see an impressa. In this case Fortuna's Wheel depicted on the surcoat.

Gendarme or Archer  units can fight separately if required.

Now, Burgundian Gendarmes with supporting mounted Crossbow men. A debate meanders on about shooting from the saddle. I think they did, by utilising a latch. We will see more of them in a subsequent post on England's Allies and Mercenaries.

They are shown with latches. Could they dismount to shoot? Of course. They  weren’t centaurs. The ones above are a mixture of Minifigs and Donnington.

There are lots of flags on show today. They are from Pete’s Flags, free ones from Lancashire Games and banners for Berault (Bernard) Stuart and Louis de Tremouille that David at Not By Appointment kindly made for me. 

Next to turn once more to the English.  We will begin with England's Allies and Mercenaries. 

 

Maximillian Adventure -New and Bigger Units

 

Today I want to show you my two new Imperial Mexican units and my expanded existing ones. A start on the latter anyhow. Yes, I have taken the decision to expand all my existing three stand Maximillian units to four stand ones. This is the sort of thing we do in the hobby. It accounts for how long projects take.

The catalyst was an ebay purchase. The sort where you only want part of the lot. Likely you have done similar. Anyhow, this one turned out very well indeed. For £10 +P&P I got.

20 various Maximillian figures

A 12 man unit of Paraguayans for The Great Paraguayan War! Amazing.

16 Revolutionary War Continentals in Hunting Shirt

32 Mexican regulars for the USA-Mexican War

I had thought to write off the Mexicans but close perusal determined otherwise. In fact they make great Imperial Mexican Regulars. Two Battalions of them. I was able to add a couple of figures to ring them to strength. You see the result on this page, top and below.

The expanded units next. 

Above and below the Egyptians.

Next the Algerians. 

The Second Battalion of the Belgian Legion next. They are in French issue uniform. As were many non French units in Mexico. The unit contains QRF, Peter Pig and Irregular Miniatures figures.

That's it so far. Next time we are back with the Valois and a couple of units of Burgundians.

I would be remiss if I didn't alert you to the fact that Irregular Miniatures have reduced their prices. Something to do with VAT.  Anyhow, much to please there.

Counts and Pilgrims- In the Days of the Cid

 

The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostella is one of the glories of Christendom. It was, and is, a place of pilgrimage. 

Time was if you walked from your home nation to Santiago you got a free billet in the equally glorious Palace of The Catholic Kings. At least you did in my young day. That pilgrimage is known as the Camina.  

Santiago, St. James, was the patron saint of the Re-Conquista. It was from the Rainy West that the Re-Conquista was launched. Green Spain as it is often called. Extra manpower was always welcome.

Crusaders could fight for Christ and fulfil their vows on the Spanish marches. Sometimes a spell fighting and visiting the shrines of Spain was enough. Those who had done it wore a scallop shell to indicate the achievement. For others a stop off on the way to Outremer was useful.

Currently I have no Crusaders for Spain. Although any Norman figures would do well enough. Instead I was minded for something more exotic. English perhaps or Scandinavians. I settled on Norse Irish meaning the dwellers in the Viking settlements of Ireland. Both they and the native Irish enjoyed going on Pilgrimage. Here they are. 

Essex figures. I think their long robes look nice in a Spanish context. 

You might recall in a previous Cid post we looked at Moorish Emirs. 

Here you see my Christian Counts and a martial Bishop. 

Figures from Donnington.

With that my Spanish Army is game ready.

Valois Soldiery 1513

 

The stars of today’s post are the French Artillery. Back then it enjoyed a fierce reputation. The guns and crews you see above are from Minifigs. Note the fine Master Gunner.  Big bases as you see. Something I learned from Barry Hilton. Guns take up a lot of space.

I’m pleased to tell you I bought them at an impressive discount. Basically I paid the retail price for one for all three. 

Should you be in the market for Valois artillery Khurasan also have a lovely set.

The French liked crossbows. Above are some Gascons. Fast moving skirmishers. Well motivated too. Note the Fortuna flag. Fortuna was something all soldiers understood. Figures from QRF, Donnington New Era and Khurasan.

One of the Commanders next. Berault (Bernard) Stuart. A Franco-Scots nobleman. Note his buckle impressa on the surcoat. His banner is carried by a pal. David at Not by Appointment kindly made it for me. Normally Commanders get a single figure base, not this time. Such fellows seldom rode alone in 1513.

Alas this small scale does not do it full justice. The last figure on the base carries a St. Dennis flag. A free one from Lancashire Games.

Some Franc Archers next. Tax exempt boys. There’s motivation for you. The Franc Archers tended to be effective soldiers. Above a strong unit with above average missilery capability. Massed crossbows worked with the front rank firing and the rear loading. This must have been just the ticket because a similar system was advocated for post pike musketry. The flags indicate the unit was raised in Brittany.

 

You have seen these close combat Franc Archers before. This time they are joined by their crossbow armed comrades. De Crequy raised this unit hence the profusion of yellow and red. I have a halberd, and variants, armed Franc Archer unit to do. 

Speaking of things concussive and slicing. Here are some Swiss Halberdiers.

Mainly Minifigs with a couple of Alternative Armies and some Roundway.  Roundway was a real loss.

 

I intend having 3 units of Archer Cavalry. This is the last one, a work in progress. Another 4 figures and it is done. The Bretons again below. The light was tricky this morning. Hopefully the photo's still work for you.

There is much more to do on this one. I estimate I’m two thirds in. The English are getting some Burgundian Gendarmes. They hired them in being short of quality noble heavy cavalry themselves. No shortage of nobles, not enough really big horses apparently. One unit only but they should look nice. I bought some Pete's Flags for them.

I have now commenced work on the French Gendarmes. Demanding stuff.