A crusader was made by a vow, and he wore it on his chest. Men who swore to march for Jerusalem sewed a cloth cross onto their clothing as the public sign of the promise — a practice begun with the First Crusade in 1095 — and came to be called crucesignati, "the cross-signed." That cross is where the word "crusade" itself comes from. When the Third Crusade was raised, the leaders even divided the colours by nation: red crosses for the French, white for the English, green for the Flemings. The red cross on white that this sergeant carries is the version that outlasted them all — and, in time, became England's own cross of Saint George.

King & Country's sergeant charges with that cross on both surcoat and kite shield, sword up and bloodied, in mail beneath a studded red war hat, mouth open in a shout. A sergeant-at-arms was a professional soldier a rung below the knight — steadier than the levies, the man who held a line together and led the assault. Fall him in behind the Medieval Drummer and under a mounted Crusader Knight to build a marching column, then send the whole line against an attacking Saracen. In a diorama he is the first man over the ditch — the cross on his shield the last thing an enemy sees coming.

Model: MK190 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 1 piece set