Lord Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby

JadeTotti Haziran 12, 2022

Lord Thomas Stanley, 2nd Earl of Derby 1485-1521

Bit of a milestone with this stand as it is the last base of attacking bill required in the self made listing that I'm working to. I may have a couple of stands of marching bill at some point but this will be all for now - woohoo!

The Stanleys were rather busy in 1513; Lord Thomas Stanley personally led and raised a retinue of 511 for the French campaign, serving in the Foreward under the earl of Shrewsbury. Of that number were some demilancers though I have been unable to ascertain exactly how many. I know that Thomas was in the saddle and saw action at the Battle of the Spurs and was also commended for his bravery both at the sieges of Therouanne and Tournai so you could say he was in the thick of it.

Given the latter commendations and as a nod to the fact that he was also in the saddle I have chosen to represent him on foot in 3/4 armour with cavalry boots to give the appearance of a dismounted demilancer.

The figure is a dismounted knight from the perry WOTR range to which I have added to the boots a little with green stuff and made the addition of a plume from the plastic cavalry boxed set.

I then thought I'd have a go at giving his armour the appearance of a finely gilded suit from the recently established Greenwich armoury. Strictly speaking they were only armourers to the King at that time and this decoration did not begin to feature until the 1530's but I took a bit of artistic license and thought it helped bring the WOTR figure into the early 1500's. I have to say it was a much longer paint job than I thought - 2 days in all but I think it was worth it - it might be a while before I attempt another !

Serving alongside him are faithful retainers of the Stanley Household, some with green and tawny liveried hose and one also wearing the eagle claw family badge on his arm.

There's a couple of minor green stuff conversions amongst these too which you may be able to spot; the addition of a plume, a lovely beard and St. George field sign and also the standard bearer has some hair poking out from his sallet.

The banner was quite interesting to research as I found that it was one of two such banners which were used in that year; Lord Thomas served under this banner in France but he was also required to raise troops for the expected Scottish raids which culminated in the battle of Flodden and for this he was given permission to allow his son, Edward to carry a duplicate of this banner.

The motto 'dieu et ma foy' which means 'in god is my faith' is certainly known to have featured on that which was carried at Flodden but not what I could find with respect to the campaign in France so I've taken a punt that it was probably the same.

It was a bit of a struggle getting the heraldic tawny colour right while still having the yellow symbols being prominent but it seems to have worked.