English Faction Thread

[Sauron the Great]

They (the French) must have wised up to it later because they just started to cut off the second finger of every archer they caught then let them go (if there was no potential for ransom). Thats were the V sign came from, English archers taunting the French soldiers.

P.S You sure know your names

[ShadesWolf]

Heroes

Sir John Chandos

One of the most respected English commanders of the 14th century, he first distinguished himself in the campaigns of 1339. Later he served with great distinction at Crecy, Poitiers and Najara.

Sir Thomas Holand

One of the senior commanders in Prince Edwrads division at Crecy. He firstmilitary service was in Flanders in 1340. In 1342 he went to Bayonne to defend the Gascon frontier. In1343 he was admitted into the order of the Garter. In 1346 he served in the retinue of the earl of warwick and at the taking of Caen he captured the Constable of France.

Laurence Hastings, Earl of Pembroke

Served in Flanders in 1339. In 1340 he accompanied the king on his exzpedition into Scotland. Took a prominent part in Lancasters campaign of 1345 in Aquitaine and Gascony. He was at the siege of Calais but died in 1348

Captal de Buch - Jean III de Grailly

Most noted Gascon commander of the Poitiers campaign. He became the Black Princes Lieutentant in Aquitaine and distinguished himself at the battle of poitiers. He died a prisoner of the French King in 1377 as he would not agree to never taking up arms against France again.




Sir Walter Manny

[Sauron the Great]

Just been doing a bit of research and came across what could make quite a nice unit: Bordeaux Militia. They could be similar to the Spartan Hoplites in RTW, in that they can only recruited in Bordeaux.

Historical Information
Militia from Bordeaux seems to have been fiercely loyal to the English crown. In 1254, a militia was raised, and agreed to serve the King for forty days without pay. The type of soldiers that made up the militia's is unknown, but they seem to have been of inconsistent quality. In 1420 and 1423, militia's from Bordeaux, along with the cities artillery arsenal, were deployed to capture French castles (on what must have been Aquitaine's frontier).

Unit Information
I have no real idea what type of troops these could be, so i think some brain storming is in order (that is if you all like the idea). My first suggestion would be for the militia to be standard spearmen. What do you all think?

[The Blind King of Bohemia]

Well with Bordeaux probably having a high concentration of Gascons i would say they would be a spearmen or a mounted infantry with good morale.

I'm not sure if they an Elite unit but considering the lack of English manpower in the south west of France the Gascon population, who were very loyal to their English overlords, were sought after and seen often in the armies of the Earl of Derby and later Edward of Woodstock or the Black Prince in his Raids into southern France and at the battle of Poitier in 1356.

[Sauron the Great]

Mounted infantry is good idea. As Bordeaux was a rich city, perhaps many of its citizens would have been able to afford horses. In what i'm reading at the moment, it states that the Gascons had a system of mustering armies that was as sophisticated, and very similar to the English system, that of retinues and malitia levies. So it's not surprising that English got many Gascons into their armies, like you said BKB.

[ShadesWolf]

All I can find is Malice

Middle English, from Old French, from Latin malitia (maybe is means militia)

[ShadesWolf]

A Few Notes on Englsih Armies

Local Gascon militias had long played a major role in the defence of the English possessions in the south-western France.... The Black Princes army also included bidaus and brigans, including light infantry armed with traditional javelins.

The Gascon nobility provided nearly 4,000 for the chevauchee of the Earl of Stafford in 1352.

Sources of manpower in the duchy fell into three main categories:
firstly, the companies and retinues of the Gascon nobility, difficult to distinguish from the second type : hired captains and their followings; and thirdly, troops raised by the towns, either through short-term contracts with captains or from communal levies. In terms of quality and proffessionalism, the hired captains and the nobles clearly outdid the communal levies.

The militia of Bordeaux, which had agreed in 1254 to serve the king-duke without pay for forty days within the diocese, was a force of dubious competence. But it certainly served to recover castles from French hands well before the outbreak of the war in 1337