Picard command group

I am currently working upon another unit of pike for the garrison of Therouanne, this one represents the 1000 infantry under the command of Guillame de Pisseleu, lord of Heilly.

Something of a theme for the French nobles is that I know very little about them, anything you can add would be much appreciated. What I have been able to find is that Guillame's family acquired lands in Picardy through marriage in the fifteenth century, his father must have been very keen to continue this as he apparently lived to 115 and had 30 children. Guillame also used marriage to gain influence at court via his daughter, Anne de Pisseleu who became a favourite of Francis I.

Also, his son, Adrien sieur Heilly joined court in the 1530's and would soon gain a reputation for commanding infantry.

Back to Guillame, in 1513 he was appointed by Louis XII to raise 1000 infantry for the defence of the region, something which he repeated for Henry's second invasion in 1521.

I have used a mixture of Perry & The Assault Group figures for this unit, the drummer and Guillame are TAG figures from their Renaissance Italian range which painted up rather nicely as French. Guillame wears maximilian armour which I have decorated with gilding and a painted cross of St. Denis for recognition. This appears in a few contemporary images of gendarmes. 

I have painted the drummer in somewhat national allegiance with the cross of St. Denis on his coat and the red and yellow of Louis XII's livery, which is also that of the town of Heilly (more on that in the next post).

Standard bearer #1 (you can never have too many flags).

This chap proudly carries the banner of the Picardy region, the cross of St. Denis on a red ground. This was also used by the French as a national symbol and can be found frequently in paintings of the period.

I have continued the red and yellow livery with his hose which also have a cross of St. Denis sewn on. This figure is a conversion using the torso from the mercenaries command sprue with the legs from the infantry sprue. He's a bit on the tall side but I think that adds to the overall appeal of the group.

Standard bearer #2

Here we have the second banner bearer, holding aloft the arms of the Pisseleu family, the photograph captures the reverse mirror image of the flag, the other side is as below;

....note to self, make sure the composition is the right way round for the unit.

The unit is quite close to completion and features lots more conversions but I couldn't resist a WIP teaser for you.

Bye for now

Stuart