Siege of St Andrews - 1546-1547

A friend asked me to paint a few WoRs figures for him. Instead I decided to go off piste, again, and came up a vignette of the Siege of St Andrew's castle, 1546-47, given his links to the city. It took most of 2020 to complete but finally done.

The Story of the Siege

The Rough Wooing isn't my historical patch but the siege include all the political elements - religion, court power struggles, dynastic marriage plans, and international relations, with French and English involvement. 

The siege began when a number of Protestant lairds took the castle and killed its owner, Cardinal Beaton, in response to his execution of a Protestant preacher, George Wishart. Beaton's body was hung from the castle ramparts.

The Earl of Arran's coat of arms

Earl of Arran, the Scottish Regent, started a siege of the castle in late 1546 but the initial campaign had little impact and a truce and negotiations followed English threats to come in aid of the besieged protestants. There then followed a period of talks, intermittent English naval forays; and the death of Henry VIII, and the regular back and forth of John Knox, latter founder of Scotland's Presbyterian Church, as the as garrison's chaplain. English naval assistance was unsuccessful but in April 1547, Henry II of France sent aid to the besiegers, under the command of Italian mercenary, Leone Strozzi. After ineffectual bombardments from French ships, the plague-ridden garrison, fell to an effective, well-organised artillery bombardment on 30 July. Many of the defenders were imprisoned in France, and some ended up on war gallies, including Knox. Any Scottish victory overshadowed the next year, with their major defeat at Pinkie.

Leone Strozzi

Strozzi's coat of arms

So to the figures. There are two stands, One a command with Strozzi and Arran plus standard bearers and a Gallowglass for extra character. The other, two Scottish hand gunners, a Landsknecht and French crossbow man. 

I’m not sure how well executed they are, and I find the paint finishes lacking contrast but I like the fact, unlike the WoRs, there was a chance to mix it up with a variety of styles and costumes. The figures use virtually all of the makes I have - Perry, Steelfist dollies, Warlord and even some Warhammer Imperial Guard arms and a Dixon sword. And a bit of green stuff.

I do recommend a visit to the Castle and St Andrews if you ever get a chance.

Visit to Towton Battlefield

We managed to visit North Yorkshire this summer, during the lulls between lock-downs. The first day trip was to Towton battlefield.

We walked the battlefield, saw Saxton Church, the Crooked Billet and St Mary's Chapel. And also  saw Hazlewood Castle, across the beck, home to Sir Henry Vavasour (1421/30-1499), who according to some sources fought on the Yorkist side with Warwick, even though based in a Lancastrian heartland and possibly a Percy retainer.

Sir Henry is buried in the castle's chapel,

    "By the door lyes a blue marble about 2 yards and i long, escocheoned at corners thus: viz. Vavasour     and Gascoigne impaled. On the inscription plate this epitaph, viz. + Orate pro animabus domini             Henrici Vavasour militis, qui obiit ....die mentis .... anno Domini m0 cccc0 x'cviij0. (?) et [Johanna         consortia snce, quce xvij die Septembris, anno Domini m0 cccc" lxij0 (?) decessit;omniumque             fidelium defunctorum, ut requiescant in pace."  Torre's Archdeaconry of York. c 1754, 218.

The Vavasour coat of arm. And possibly the Gascoigne one it was impaled with.

 

 

 

According to one story,  the family heard the battle, 2/3rds of a mile away whilst at  Mass. It was Palm Sunday after all. And another, that Edward IV took quick refreshment in the Castle after the battle before moving on to York.

Thoughts from the visit?  

I've always found visiting battlefields and other sites associated with trauma and death a mixed and tad ghoulish experience and this time no different. But it is a quiet, still place, with not glorification, and no commercialisation.

Visiting the site did solidify the geography, especially the ascents, descents and plateau, in my mind. The long, wet slog up from Ferrybridge to the Towton plateau in snow and cold weather must have been tiring, grim and anxious for the Yorkists. And the short, sharp drop from the salient to the beck and the routes north  for the Lancastarians in rout even worse. Even on a summer day, the plateau is noticeably higher and exposed. I imagine it was less open and uniform at the time, however. 

And St Mary's Chapel, at Lead, on the left flank, is a hidden gem. It is the only extant remnant of Lead Manor and village, which again, the story goes, Edward may have stayed in the night before the battle. 

I hope to create a figure of Vavasour, Lead Chapel and if possible the retreat towards the beck.