Charles d'Albret held the highest military office in France and could not make anyone do as he said. He was appointed Constable in 1403 by Charles VI, lost the post when the Burgundian faction took control of the court, and had it back in 1413 when the Armagnacs returned — so the supreme command of the kingdom's armies moved with the political weather. At Agincourt on 25 October 1415 he was the nominal commander, jointly with Marshal Boucicaut, and the two professional soldiers could not exercise effective control over the higher-ranking French nobles who had come to the field. Princes of the blood outranked a Constable socially, and they wanted the front rank. He led the vanguard into that ground himself and was killed in it, aged forty-six, and was buried at the friary church at Vieil-Hesdin. Agincourt is usually explained by longbows and mud, and both belong in the account — but so does an army that would not take orders from the men appointed to give them.

Tradition of London put him in quarters of red and blue strewn with gold fleurs-de-lis, across the barding and his own coat, with a coronet round the helm and the mace already up. Muster him with Jean de Boucicaut, the marshal who shared the command and survived the day only to die a prisoner in England, and Charles Duke of Orleans, pulled alive from under the dead on the same field. Gautier VI Compte de Brienne gives you an earlier Constable of France killed in battle sixty years before, which is a sobering pairing on a shelf. Then put Thomas Strickland opposite them with the banner of St George, and the diorama has both commands of 25 October 1415 in it.

Model: MK05 / 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.