For those (like me before finding out) who are wondering which painting is presented here : It’s The Meeting on the Turret Stairs by Frederick William Burton ! I adore it.
Hi, yeah, do you want to yearn and ache some more because OOF
(taken from the National Gallery of Ireland website)
It shows the final moments of a legend of Bertrand Du Guesclin, when he reveals his identity after competing anonymously in a tournament and beating all comers.
Dave Arneson, “Father of Role Playing,” endorsed some of Grenadier Models’ Fantasy Lords miniature sets (here on the bottom box of set 6005 Knights, Fighters, and Men at Arms)
Before the battle of Hexham, fought on 15th May 1464, by Graham Turner.
Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, was just nineteen when his father was killed at St Albans in 1455, the beginning of a vicious cycle of retribution that would come to characterise the series of conflicts now known as the Wars of the Roses. He would gain revenge at the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, where his father’s nemesis the Duke of York would die, followed by another victory at the second Battle of St Albans, but the catastrophic defeat at Towton would see Beaufort and the other surviving supporters of Henry VI take refuge in their Northumberland fortresses as they desperately tried to keep their king’s cause alive.
Although he could be as ruthless as any of his contemporaries, the new young Yorkist king, Edward IV, did at times try to balance this with a policy of reconciliation, and when Somerset was captured at the close of 1462, he was fortunate to not only receive a full pardon, but become a close companion to Edward ‘who loved him well’. Somerset’s brief sojourn with the other side lasted until December 1463, when he headed north again with the aim of being reunited with his men at Newcastle.
At Durham he was recognised and narrowly avoided capture while he slept, escaping barefoot in his nightshirt and leaving his armour behind. His retainers in Newcastle attempted to steal away but ‘… some of them were take and lost their heads for their labour.’ Somerset managed to make his way to Bamburgh where he joined King Henry and the remains of his resistance, and from here they organised raids, taking Norham Castle and several towns.
Defeated by Lord Montagu at Hedgeley Moor on 25th April 1464, the remains of Somerset’s army were seemingly caught by surprise early on 15th May near Hexham, Montagu’s soldiers sweeping down into their camp and scattering the survivors. With their back to the aptly named Devil’s Water, there were few escape routes, and many were cut down or drowned as they tried to cross the fast-flowing river.
Twenty-eight-year-old Henry Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, found his luck had finally run out and following his capture he was promptly executed in Hexham.
Book Review: Pilgrims with Blades A01: Pressed into Service
Book Review: Pilgrims with Blades A01: Pressed into Service
Book Review: Pilgrims with Blades A01: Pressed Into Service by Douglas Van Dyke Jr.
The city-state of Kashmer, in the realm of Dhea Loral, has a problem. One of its nobles has been captured by orcs, and the ransom asked is ludicrous. It’s actually cheaper to mobilize the military; while the army attacks from one side with the elite fighting force of the Regindal family at the fore, every…
Map of the Agincourt battleground. Taken from Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas’ book
Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas’ 1827 work The History of the Battle of Agincourt, an in-depth account of the battle drawn from further contemporary accounts – and one which includes the ‘roll of the men at arms in the English Army’; or, to give the full description: the “names of the Dukes, Erles, Barons, Knights, Esquires, Serviteuers and others that wer with the Excellent Prince King Henry the Fifte, at the Battell of Agincourt, on Fryday, the XXVth Day of October, in the Yere of our Lorde God, 1415”.” Perhaps your ancestor was one of these men, Shakespeare’s “few…happy few…band of brothers”?
While women have been fighting alongside men for all of history, they usually don’t get the same recognition as their counterparts. Here are some cases where women didget accepted into chivalric orders, though they typically got a separate title. Some of the women were combatants, and some were not (but non-combatant men have been accepted in chivalric orders for just as long!)
Order of the Hatchet (12th century Spain) Orde de l'Atxa|Orden del Hacha was an entirely-female order created after women defended the Catalonian town of Tortosa from invaders. With most adult men off to war, the women fought with hatchets and other tools. Women of this order were given social and financial privileges, including tax exemptions.
Order of Saint-John (12th century Malta) A military religious order, the Order of Saint-John had female soeurs hospitalières and male frères prêtres who had essentially the same role in the order.
Teutonic Order (12th century Jerusalem) The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem accepted women primarily as consororesandhospitallers, in charge of supportive and medical services. However, these women did follow men to war to perform battlefield medicine.
Knights Templar (12th-14th century Jerusalem) The members of the Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon admitted women for a number of roles. We know that when the final got around to writing down their rules, it included continuing the already standard practice of admitting women. Most Knights Templar were noncombatant, especially financiers.
Order of the Garter (14th-15th century England) Dedicated to the patron saint of England, Saint George, the Most Noble Order of the Garter admitted women regularly, often due to blue blood. However, women without high birth were admitted as well.
Order of the Ermine (14th and 15th century France) The L'Ordre de l'Hermine was directly inspired by the Order of the Garter and dedicated to upholding one’s personal honor. It openly admitted men and women of any social rank, including the only known instance in Medieval history of a woman serving as Officer of Arms. This woman, Katherine Potier, was titled “Espy Herault”.
Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary (13th-16th century Italy) A unique order that took up arms to pacify cities in the fractured Italian states. It was centered in Bologna and would admit women as fighters called militissa(literally ‘female knight’).
