Richard de Vere was born at Hedingham Castle in Essex on 15 August 1385 and buried at Earls Colne, ten miles away, thirty-one years later. His father died when he was fourteen. He was granted livery of his lands in December 1406 at twenty-one, without waiting on proof of age. He was one of the commanders of the English army at Agincourt on 25 October 1415, at thirty years old. The following May he was invested with the Order of the Garter. On 15 February 1417 he was dead. Sixteen months separate the summit of his career from his grave, and there is nothing remarkable in that — aristocratic lives ran fast in this period and stopped without warning, and the men at the head of armies were often much younger than the word "lord" leads you to expect. Though not always: on that same field in October, Sir Thomas Erpingham was approaching sixty. The English command at Agincourt contained both ends of a life.

The figure is unmistakable from across a room, which is exactly what heraldry was for. Quarters of red and gold with the white de Vere star in the first — one of the most recognisable coats in English heraldry — repeated on the shield, the jupon and the horse's barding, with the sword already up. Set him with Sir Thomas Erpingham KG, thirty years his senior and marshalling the archers, and Thomas Strickland with the banner of St George; put Charles d'Albret, Constable of France across from them, and fill in behind with King & Country's English Archer Set. Four named men on one small field, and only two of them saw 1418.

Model: MK01 / Tradition of London / 54mm (1/32) scale / 1 piece set

All hand painted Toy Soldier sets packed in the Classic Tradition Red Boxes. All Toy Soldiers cast in quality white metal, and individually hand painted in gloss enamels.

Please allow 2-3 weeks delivery.