An Anglo-Irish Lord

Today sees a return of the Irish on the blog. Wargames Illustrated have recently released a figure of "Great Darcy of the Pale", https://www.wargamesillustrated.net/product/great-darcy-of-the-pale/ and what is great about the miniature is that Darcy is depicted in a very distinctive Anglo-Irish style of armour. It is a harness in a style that would have been worn by the Anglo-Irish Lords who ruled over parts of Ireland in the 15th and 16th centuries as they warred and raided with one another and rival Gaelic Irish chieftains.

The Anglo-Irish were the descendants of the English and Welsh who had settled in Ireland during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The term is an anachronism as at the time these colonists called themselves "English" or "the English of Ireland", although the Great Earl of Kildare used the term "Englishe Irysshe" when reporting to the king's council in 1496. From surviving grave effigies we know that by the 1500s a very distinctive type of armour had developed amongst the English of Ireland and it is great to see a miniature that has been based on these. For some examples of this type of harness have a look at the effigies of Piers Butler, 8th Earl of Ormond, https://humphrysfamilytree.com/Butler/Images/5.jpg, James Butler http://www.megalithicireland.com/Kilkenny/James%20Butler,%209th%20Earl%20of%20Ormond%20001L.jpg and James Schorthals https://www.tara.tcd.ie/bitstream/handle/2262/26132/ertk1700.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. 

The recent Helion book on Irish armies in the 16th Century, "Of Kerns and Gallowglasses", has an artists reconstruction of an Irish chieftain in a harness of a smiliar style which can be viewed here: https://www.helion.co.uk/images/extraimages/masters/helion1000807.jpg?1. From these images it is clear that the new sculpt of Darcy of the Pale is a pretty accurate representation of the style with a high bascinet and visor, a large mail pisane protecting his neck and a coat of plates made of horizontal lames of plate to protect the torso. I would have liked to have seen the besagews laced onto the mail pisane, as this was a distinctive characteristic of these armours as seen in all of the effigies in the links above. Who knows maybe another manufacturer will make some figures based on these effigies in the future?

Great Darcy or William Darcy was a notoriously tall follower of the Earl of Kildare, famed for carrying the pretender to the English throne, Lambert Simnel, on his shoulders for his "coronation" in Dublin in 1487 and for being felled by a MacSweeney gallowglass in the battle of Knockdoe in 1504. Darcy's life was saved by the Baron of Navan, John Nangle. In the photos I have chosen to show the miniature as the Earl of Desmond, standing in front of the Desmond banner, although the flag can be changed so the figure can be used to represent various Anglo-Irish Lords. His gallowglass constable can be seen discussing the upcoming raid or battle with him, whilst a less well armed Anglo-Irishman holds his banner.

The last set of photos show a unit of kern that I finished recently. They are a mix of figures including Crusader, Old Glory and Antediluvian miniatures as well as some from the Flags of War Border Reivers range: https://www.flagsofwar.com/collections/miniatures-2/products/fow-bw13-border-wars-fighting-irish-set. These Flags of War figures are great and whilst I will probably base some of them up individually I couldn't resist including four of them in the new Kern unit as can be seen below.

The FitzGerald Earl of Desmond

An Anglo-Irish Lord in his distinctive harness with a large mail pisane collar, high bascinet helmet and a coat of plates to protect the body.

Early 16th century kern.

Kern with targes, javelins and axes.

Kern with bows and javelins.

Kern with bows