Richard de la Pole: The Last White Rose

Hi again!

This time, I've opted to go for the upper-bound time-wise of this project (before things get too Renaissance-y), with a command base to represent Richard de la Pole, or Richard IV, titular Duke of Suffolk and the last serious military contender for the House of York, before his death in the Battle of Pavia in 1525.

De La Pole (and his brothers) presented a fairly serious threat to the early Tudor regime, having a stronger claim to the throne than Henry VII. While the eldest brother died in 1487 at Stoke Field, and Richard's other elder brothers arrested and/or executed by the Tudors, Richard was able to flee to Europe, where he ended up being notably charismatic, winning over a number of highly influential figures in France, the Holy Roman Empire and Hungary to support his claim. Plans were made under both Louis XII and Francis I to support an invasion of England with Scottish support, and with rumblings of Yorkist sympathisers in England itself and the earls of Desmond and Kildare in Ireland happening as well, it's no surprise that the Tudors saw the pretender as a problem. Adding to their concerns, Richard de la Pole had become a seasoned battlefield commander during the start of the 16th century, leading forces of Landsknecht on behalf of France in Italy and Navarre, giving him vital experience that the earlier Yorkist pretenders definitely lacked!

First up on the base are a pair of retainers with halberds, to act as bodyguards for de la Pole. Desmond Seward in The Last White Rose mentions that during Richard's stay in Metz in the 1510s he retained a group of musicians and bodyguards in blue and grey livery, so I've used that as the basis for the colours on the livery jackets. I thought it was a bit unusual that unlike every other de la Pole Richard decided to opt for grey instead of yellow in his livery, but my guess is that it may be a deliberate call-back to his grandfather Richard Duke of York's blue and white livery during the War of the Roses. With that in mind, I've added a white rose to the chest of the livery jackets, to tie-in de la Pole to York, and as a pastiche of Henry Tudor's own retainers. Both retainers are based on Steel Fist standing dollies, with Perry Early-Tudor heads and medieval arms

Next up are the two standard bearers on the base (one for Richard de la Pole's personal arms, and the other for his livery banner). One standard bearer is an unmodified War of the Roses figure in older armour, while the other is a liveried retainer built using the same method as the two others

Also on the base is a knight, pointing out something on the horizon to Richard. I'm using him to represent an attaché from France or Foix to provide battlefield support for Richard, or alternatively an English exile, adventurer or opportunist who decided to throw in with de la Pole. The figure is one of the excellent Steel Fist Miniatures Italian Wars foot knights without any modifications

And finally, the pretender himself, Richard de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk. Like the other knight, Richard is a Steel Fist Miniatures Italian Wars foot knight. I love the pose for this figure in particular for a commander, and Richard de la Pole seemed like an excellent excuse to use the figure!

I've painted de la Pole's jacket in his livery colours of blue and grey, and like with his retainers, I've given him a white rose livery badge (only larger!). I've not found any decisive evidence for any livery badges used by Richard, compared to his father, or older brother John, but I made the assumption that seeing as just about everyone among his contemporaries refers to him as the White Rose, that he must have some effective 'branding' and actively cultivated that association.

I decided the beardy head quite nicely captures the look of the portrait that shows up on Google when you search for Richard de la Pole (although, I think it may be actually of Charles III, Duke of Bourbon instead from what I've found!)

And finally, a couple of pictures of the command base on a grassy field

Hopefully they've turned out ok! The base was a lot of fun to put together and paint! Special thanks to Stuart for the advice with this one as well!