Men at arms under the command of Sir John Chandos

One of my projects that I’ve worked on earlier this year has been 24 men at arms under the command of Sir John Chandos.

Sir John Chandos with men at arms, I've not found a flag for him as yet so used a St George cross in the interim

As usual I’ve given them a uniform feel with simplified colours based on the relevant coat of arms, but with some variation to depict the varied arms/armour of the era as I did with my English Archers previously (see here: https://englandswarsinfrance.blogspot.com/2024/02/early-hundred-years-war-english-archers.html). The miniatures themselves are mostly Claymore with a couple of V&V and I think one Foundry. At the moment Claymore cover the early years of the war most comprehensively. Ideally more manufactures would cover it, but I kind of understand why they don’t. Throughout much of the war there’s only really dismounted men at arms, archers/crossbowman and cavalry that make up the bulk of the forces. There is artillery and various foreign forces that get involved, but they never made up the back bone of the respective countries forces. So in short that doesn’t make for a particularly wide miniature range, which you might see for other eras.

I depicted Chandos in a relatively extravagant outfit including a great helm with white plumage. I’ve seen him in various illustrations including osprey depicted with a tournament helm, though as I discussed in my post on the Black Prince (here: https://englandswarsinfrance.blogspot.com/2022/05/edward-black-prince.html) whether they were worn in the field is debateable. So this is an entirely plausible early 100 yw depiction of him.

Sir John Chandos

Chandos was in his time one of the most widely respected peers of the realm and close friends with the Black Prince. He was apparently respected even by the French for his chivalry and abilities as a diplomat, and was certainly mourned by all according to Froissart when news of his untimely demise spread. In this respect he was much like John Woodstock the Duke of Bedford later in the war, who was similarly held in high esteem by all parties including the French.