Category: Dark Age

Back in June (where did the summer go?) I painted up this Footsore Baron’s War figure with a bit of freehand painting on the shield to depict a knight by the name of Sir John De Belloows.  At the time I did it I thought I’d quite like to have another bash at the heraldry at some point and over the last week I finally got around to doing so.

I decided this time that I would have a go at applying the heraldry to a mounted knight.  I also chose to go with a different colour scheme, yellow instead of white, and a slightly different design.  As you can see there isn’t much to choose between them other than the head really.  Having done three paint jobs of the Eagle(?) – two at the back of the horse and one on the shield – I couldn’t be asked to do two at the front of the horse so I went for crosses instead.  Lazy I know.

I really have no idea if there is a real knight with anything close to this heraldry, if there is then it is purely coincidence on my part.  Accordingly the knight was in need of a name so once again I returned to my family tree for inspiration and thus settled on the name of my great grandfather, James Kimber.

Images of Sir James  below.

TIM

Another week, another Footsore Baron’s War knight and another opportunity for some freehand painting.  This weeks offering is Richard The Lionheart, King of England.  The figure comes as a twin pack, the other figure being mounted and in a slightly different pose with his helmet on.  I think I might start on the mounted version sooner rather than later but look at doing the freehand heraldry a bit different. 

For some reason I couldn’t get the shield to photograph as well as I’d like.  Not enough of a photographer to understand why but the end result is reflective light so the three lions do not show up as well as they look in the flesh.  My best guess is that it is down to the metallic paint.  Gold was appropriate to use but maybe a yellow would have photographed better?  It is what it is.

Images below.

TIM

 

Mounted knights are a bit like buses, you wait ages for one and then along comes another one soon after.  This mounted knight is another with made up heraldry and name.

This particular one takes its name from my dad, Aubrey Green.  Unfortunatley my dad who’s 94 years of age, 95 in October, went into hospital last week having had a heart attack.  He was sent home earlier this week but yesterday was readmitted as he had had further chest pains.  He hasn’t seen this knight yet but I’ll let him see it when he’s fit and well.  Verde if you weren’t aware is the Spanish word for green.  There is no family connection to Spain that I am aware of other than holidays which have been spent there.

The colours of green and white pretty much chose themselves and the “Howling Wolf” heraldry was based on a YouTube video I found searching for an easy to draw wolf.  Credit here must go to “Art Ala Carte” for her simple drawing method which I was able to replicate reasonably well at the first time of asking.

Images below.

TIM

I thought I’d try something new this week in respect of heraldry and decide to have a go at painting a stags head on one of my Footsore Baron’s War knights shields.  I wasn’t sure how authentic it would be in an historical sense but I figured it might look quite cool.  The thing is I’m not a natural artist, I can’t just do something like a stags head without the need for some very easy reference material to copy from.

My default position is to revert to YouTube and see what I can find.  A search under “easy animal drawings” threw up several ideas aimed at five year olds and I settled on a combination of two very short but very good video’s.  The first video showed how to draw the head of a Doe, a deer, a female deer (there’s a song in there somewhere) and the second gave me the idea for the antlers.  Essentially all I had to do was draw a basic triangle and flesh things out from there.  Simples!  And as it turned out it did prove pretty simple much to my surprise and on top of that I was pleased with the end result too.

As this was another made up knight I needed to give the little chap a name.  My uncles christian name is Edgar and a good friend of mine has the surname Edgar and as I felt it had a certain medieval feel to it I settled on that with the Grun being a germanic play on Green.

Black over white is always a good combination in my book for easier touching up so I went with that colour combination and added a couple of white lines at the bottom of his surcoat to break things up a bit.

lmages of Sir Edgar De Grun below.

TIM

 

After allowing myself to get side tracked by painting “Hubert de Burgh” last week I was determined that this week would see another 28mm mounted Baron’s War knight completed.  This little chap is a made up knight, which is to say the heraldry is not one I have come across but one I have made up.   If it does exist out there then it is purely a coincidence as far as I am concerned. 

Although it was made up it was inspired by other images I have seen.  The light blue and yellow colour combination I have seen used before and rather like it and the cross hatching, albeit in a different way, I have also seen used a good many times.  From a painting perspective it represented a nice challenge and overall I’m pleased with it even though some of the squares aren’t quite as even as I would like but that’s something I can work on when I next undertake a square pattern. 

As already mentioned this is a made up knight and therefore in need of a made up name.  On a previous figure I referred to my family tree for inspiration and decided I would do this once again.  In this instance I elected to go with my maternal great grandfather’s name, James Newton Langley.

Images of Sir James below.

TIM

 

 

The good news for me this week is I’ve started work on my next mounted knight.  The Bad news is I digressed and decided to paint this guy instead!

What we have here is “Hubert de Burgh”, a real life knight whose heraldry is shown in the below downloaded Google image.  As you can see it represents a painting challenge and it is that which led me to setting aside my mounted knight.

 

The opening paragraph on Wikipedia for this knight reads:

“Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent (c. 1170 – before 5 May 1243) was an English nobleman who served as Chief Justiciar of England and Ireland during the reigns of King John and of his infant son and successor King Henry III and, as a consequence, was one of the most influential and powerful men in English politics”.

There is however much more written about this chap and if you would like to read more then follow the link below.  I was particularly interested to learn that he was once the custodian of Launceston castle in Cornwall which is only a few miles from me and is where my parents both live.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubert_de_Burgh,_1st_Earl_of_Kent

All in all an interesting guy and one which deserved the best I could offer in terms of a paint job.  I’m not going to pretend the diamond pattern was easy to do on a 28mm figure, it wasn’t.  I also used a little poetic license on the shield too.  It was simply far to small for me to even attempt to replicate the exact design. Maybe next time I’ll give it ago if I ever paint him again.

Images of “Hubert” below.

TIM

 

 

As well as working on the other two Spearmen from pack 1, which should feature in this coming Wednesday’s Miniatures & Musings post,  l decided I’d also make a start on the next set of Spearmen too.

For this little chap I thought I would return to authentic heraldry and chose to paint his shield in a design which according to a chart I have is called “Gyronney”.  At first glance I thought it would prove to be hard to paint but in the end it turned out to be easier than I thought.  I’m starting to think that, given the practice I have had, that maybe, just maybe my ability to paint straight lines is starting to pay off.

As shield designs go this is one I may well do again, albeit in a different colour scheme.  It might just be me but it does seem quite eye catching.  First though I must work on another mounted knight.  To date I’ve done only three which as a ratio to the number of them I have compared to foot figures puts me way behind.  On the positive side mounted knights look pretty impressive but on the downside they do take me a very long time to paint.  They also take me a while to decide on a scheme too and at times I find that the hardest part.  I’m sure I’ll come up with something but firstly I must finish the two Spearman for Wednesday.

Images of my “Gyronney” Spearman below.

TIM

 

Work continues on my Baron’s War army.  At times progress seems slow but at other times it doesn’t.  I think it depends on what pile of figures I look at, the pile I’ve painted or the pile I still have to do.  Mathematically I’m approaching half way on the foot figures that I have purchased which will be a landmark moment.  Until such times as I buy more figures it will soon start to feel like I am coming down the other side of the mountain.  Unfortunately the same cannot be said for the mounted figures and I really must begin to make more progress on these.

Meanwhile back to this weeks figure.

I decided to deviate from authentic characters and heraldry and in doing so came up with this little chap.  An uncle who died a couple of years ago whose name was Cecil Green came up in a recent conversation with my mum and dad and this served as my inspiration for the name Sir Cecil de Vert.  I may well look at my family tree for further names if I continue down this fictional route. 

The inspiration for the colour scheme came from the Orlando Bloom character “Balian de Ibelin” in the film Kingdom of Heaven. 

Images below.

TIM

 

Not the most exciting figure but things have rather caught up with me.  It was my mums 90th birthday and my brother and his wife came to stay for several days along with his son and daughter.  Add to the mix my son and daughter and their respective partners and we had a house full staying.  Accordingly I was told in no uncertain terms by She Who Must Be Obeyed that under no circumstances was I allowed to paint!  Had I not been been married for almost 40 years and acquired the ability to lie and conceal my modelling addiction I may well have gotten nothing done at all.  As it was I did manage to paint my first figure from the “Foot Sergeants with Spears” pack.  

Now I can’t say I know a great deal about medieval Sergeants but Wayland Games describes them as follows:

“Throughout the middle ages and into the renaissance the majority of armies were compromised of infantry armed with spears and shields, or crossbowmen. Although the majority were peasants with little to no armour, there was a professional solider core that was more heavily armed and armoured. Equipped with Chain mail armour and steel helmets these soldier made up the backbone of the many armies that fought in this tumultuous period”.

I’m sure there is a lot more to be learnt about these and many other fighting men of the period and I really must make more of an effort to investigate and read more.  As to this little figure he clearly fits within the category of being a more professional fighting man given how he is equipped.

A straight forward paint job with an emphasis on blue to add a little colour amongst the more drab figures I have done of late.  A freehand cross on the shield was added to provide a little more interest.

Images below.

TIM

 

This weeks Footsore Baron’s War figure is a nice little sculpt of Peter Des Roches, Bishop of Winchester.  Now I’m not going to pretend I know anything about this particular little chap and what little I have learnt thus far is confined to Wikipedia which I have copied and posted below.  Clearly he was a significant personality of his age.

As far as the painting goes for this figure I elected to go with a scheme similar if not identical to that shown on the Footsore website.  I assume it to be a pretty accurate depiction but even if it isn’t I quite liked the look anyway.  A mostly straight forward paint job but the shield did offer a freehand challenge.  The heraldry for the Bishop is shown as two keys and a crossed sword. 

Hard to know just how pious the clergy were back in these days.  I presume the mace he is carrying wasn’t just for show and that he was an accomplished fighter.  Makes me wonder what people would make of today’s clergy if they took to the pulpit wielding AK47’s or something similar?  I reckon it it would make for an interesting sermon.  It would certainly grab my attention!

Wikipedia narrative below followed by images of Peter des Roches.

TIM

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WIKIPEDIA 

Towards the end of Richard I‘s reign, Peter became Lord Chamberlain and an influential counsellor. He held the ecclesiastical offices of Archdeacon of Poitiers, treasurer of Poitiers, and was a precentor of the diocese of Lincoln in 1204.^[2]

In early 1205, through John’s influence, Peter was elected to the see of Winchester.^[3] His election was disputed but, on appeal, confirmed on 25 September 1205 by Pope Innocent III.^[4] Peter was consecrated on 24 March 1206.^[3] Nonetheless, the new bishop stood by John’s side during the whole period of the papal interdict set upon him due to John’s refusal to accept Stephen Langton as Archbishop of Canterbury despite Papal warning.^{[citation needed]}

In 1213 Peter was made Chief Justiciar in succession to Geoffrey Fitz Peter.^[5] This promotion was justified by the fidelity with which Peter supported the king through the First Barons’ War. However, by 1215, Hubert de Burgh was Chief Justiciar.^[5] In 1216, Peter was named Sheriff of Hampshire.^[6]

At the battle of Lincoln in 1217 Peter led a division of the royal army and earned some distinction by his valour; but he played a secondary part in the government so long as William Marshal held the regency. After Marshal’s death in 1219 Peter led the baronial opposition to Hubert de Burgh, with varying success. At first the justiciar was successful.

Peter was responsible for founding several monasteries in England and France,^[7] including Titchfield Abbey^[8] and Netley Abbey,^[7] both in Hampshire, England, and La Clarté-Dieu^[7] in Poitou, France. He gave his protection to the first group of Dominican friars to come to England in 1221.^[9]

In 1225 a plot to ship Eleanor of Brittany, who as cousin to Henry III always posed a potential threat to the crown and was thus viewed as a state prisoner and then confined at Bristol Castle, away to France, was reported. The plot might have been false and only fabricated to discredit Peter, and he eventually fell out of royal favor in spring 1234.^[10]

Crusading bishopEdit

Peter participated in the Sixth Crusade alongside William Briwere, who was Bishop of Exeter.^[11] An army of other crusaders accompanied them to the East, although whether they were English or mercenaries recruited on the Continent is unclear. The contingent left from Brindisi in August 1227.^[12] Both bishops were influential advisors to Frederick II the Holy Roman Emperor^[11] even though Pope Gregory IX had ordered that no one collaborate with Frederick, who was at the time excommunicated. Both bishops ignored the papal orders and worked closely with Frederick’s agents and Frederick himself. The financial resources both bishops brought were especially appreciated by the crusaders.^[11] Both bishops witnessed the treaty on 18 February 1229 with the Sultan of Cairo that restored Jerusalem to the Christians,^[11] the Treaty of Jaffa.^[12] After the crusade, he spent time in Italy.^[6]

Peter died on 9 June 1238.^[3]

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