The theme of the Knights of War of the Scarlet and White Rose aroused a keen interest of VO readers. In the three previous articles, we tried to cover, whenever possible, all sides of this conflict. Today we publish the latest material on this topic …
The knights who fought with each other during the war of the Scarlet and White Roses had several serious problems associated with both their own "knightly deeds" and the specifics of the conflict. First of all, oddly enough, it was an identification problem. A person with position and high status, be it a "banner", a lord or a king, was easy to recognize on the field by his banner - a wide square or rectangular flag with the owner's coat of arms embroidered on it. The lord, as well as his servants and soldiers, could also wear a surcoat with heraldic images, or at least its heraldic colors. At first it was a tight-fitting or loose "jupont", both with and without sleeves, and even later - a "tabar" loosely falling from the shoulders with wide sleeves up to the elbow, very similar to those used in this is the time of the heralds. The effigies that have come down to us show us knights in such "cloaks", but there are few of them. That is, "white armor" was still more popular at that time, and even the simplest in appearance. And since shields were no longer used then, it was very important that the standard-bearer was as close to his master as possible, and kept no further than the tail of his horse, in the expression of that time. The most common was the standard - a long flag in the form of a piece of cloth with a sharp end or a bifurcation in the form of a dovetail. At the very place of attachment to the pole, it was customary to depict the cross of St. Georg is a red straight cross on a white background. But then came "furs", crosses, boars, eagles, dragons, branchy clubs, leopard lions and all other heraldic animals. In general, the pennant could carry much more information than even the same coat of arms. The color of the standard usually corresponded to the two main colors of the seigneur's coat of arms, which were then present on the clothes of his soldiers. This tradition is very well represented in the Soviet film "Black Arrow". Apparently, they had a good consultant there and the director listened to him.
The Henry VII Chapel at Westminster is the last masterpiece of English Gothic.
But both Yorks and Lancaster could have a red cross, and it was not so easy to notice any other details of the drawing. Therefore, the lord could order not to move more than ten feet from the banner (or take some other, but similar precaution) in order to be able to visually control his people. However, if you had to move from one place to another, then in the heat of battle it often happened that one squad mistakenly attacked its own allies.
Since there were many pennants on spears, important nobles also used their own heralds on the battlefield, who wore "tabars" with their coats of arms, and buglers with trumpets, from which hung cloths, again with the family symbols of their masters.
King Henry VI (National Portrait Gallery, London)
The roar of weapons and armor from the multitude of people who violently threw themselves at each other, was simply terrible on the battlefield. And the lowered visor in this case limited not only the ability to hear well the orders being given, but also to see what was happening. True, the side view was no better than it is commonly believed; it was difficult to glide along the narrow viewing slit all the time. If the helmet lacked, for example, ventilation holes, then the warrior could see his own legs only if he bent over. And, of course, inside such a helmet it became very hot very quickly, the body in armor was sweating, and sweat poured into his face.
If a knight received a wound or fell ill, then on the way to recovery he also faced two obstacles at once. The first was connected with his position and means, since the most important thing depended on this - whether he would meet with a doctor or not. Second, even if he had enough money for a doctor, and he still received medical help, a lot was decided by the skill of the doctor and the nature of the wound he received. Kings and prominent representatives of the nobility tried to have their own doctors for salaries, and such people accompanied them on campaigns. For example, a certain Thomas Morestid is known, who was the royal physician to Henry V during the invasion of France in 1415. It is interesting that this physician entered into an agreement with the king that he undertakes to supply his sovereign with three more archers, and 12 "hommes de son mestier", that is, "people of his service." As a physician or physician, a certain William Bradwardine was also listed with the royal person. Together with Morestid they appeared, accompanied by nine more doctors each, so that the total number of doctors in the royal army reached 20 people.
King Henry VII circa 1500 Copy of the lost original. (London, Society of Antiquaries)
It happened that doctors were hired, just like soldiers, but the pleasure was expensive. Thus, John Paston was wounded by an arrow below his right elbow at the Battle of Barnet in 1471, but escaped along with other Yorkists. His brother sent him a healer who used leeches and healing to heal, and used the wounded man until his wound began to heal. However, John complained to his brother that his recovery cost him as much as £ 5 in half a month and practically ruined him.
However, the chance to get better at that time depended more on the patient's luck than on the skill of the doctor. Famous doctors learned the art of healing at a school in Montpellier, in the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the south of France, but such medical luminaries were very limited in their capabilities. Many doctors could heal a broken limb or straighten a dislocated joint, knew how to heal even a hernia, and could make amputations. But since no one knew anything about bacteria, any operation of this kind became mortally dangerous for the patient. Neither tools nor hands were often even washed. Open wounds were simply sutured with a needle and thread, and the top was smeared with egg yolks, widely considered a healing agent. Bleeding was stopped by a very simple, reliable, albeit painful means, namely, cauterization with a red-hot iron.
Henry, Earl of Richmond, in his youth. Unknown French artist. (Calvet Museum)
Since the arrows could pierce the body very deeply, the infection almost always got into the wound. True, the percentage of dangerous hits with a serrated arrowhead at this time decreased, since the warriors wore armor. But even a seemingly frivolous wound caused severe suppuration, since the arrows were often stuck into the ground by archers in order to be always at hand, and therefore deadly dirt remained on their tips, which fell into the wounds along with scraps of dirty clothing. Wounds in the abdomen were usually always fatal, since any cut in the intestines caused their contents to leak into the abdominal sinuses, as a result of which the wounded began peritonitis, followed by inevitable death. But … skeletons found at the site of the Battle of Towton in 1461 tell us about the truly amazing ability of the people of that time to survive after the most terrible wounds. On the bones found in the burials, they found marks from a weapon that had previously passed through muscle tissue. One of the warriors was hit in the jaw with such force that the blade came out from the other side of the mouth. He also has traces of wounds on his skull, and, nevertheless, he survived after them, and albeit disfigured, but still took part in the battle of Towton. That is, he knew that this could happen and still got into a fight! And in fact, it was here that this seasoned soldier found his death. Although knights usually wore better armor than ordinary soldiers, they got it too. And their participation in the battle ended like this: robbed and half naked, they remained lying in the open until death came to them or their saviors appeared. Usually these were monks from the nearest monastery, but again there were not enough donkeys or carts for everyone, so that sometimes many hours passed before the wounded finally received help.
One of the memorial signs at Bosworth Field.
As for the human remains found near Towton, just like the remains at the Battle of Visby, they belong mainly to soldiers who served in the infantry. The characteristic position of the bones of the left hand suggests that they were arrows from a long Welsh bow. Doom found these archers while fleeing as they fled, bow in hand. Some have several wounds at once, especially on the head, which suggests that they were clearly finished off. Moreover, this also tells us that the victims did not have helmets, and maybe they abandoned them or lost them while fleeing. Then the dead were dumped into common mass graves. But, of course, that knights and people with position had every chance to avoid such a sad fate. For example, after the Battle of Agincourt, the body of the Duke of York was boiled (!), And the bones were sent to England for burial. Other seniors could be found by their military servants or heralds who bypassed the battlefields and recorded the killed (it is clear those who could be identified by their emblems). This allowed the winner to understand what kind of success he achieved with his victory. Then the corpse of the murdered man was delivered to his family members, and they took the body to the home cemetery - usually to the family crypt, where the deceased took a place next to his ancestors. In other cases, they were buried at the place of their death or near it, usually at the local church or abbey.
Memorial plaque (brass) of Sir Ralph Verney, 1547 in Oldbury, Hertfordshire. On the figure there is a loose "tabar", worn over the armor, and after all, so many years have passed since the end of the "War of Roses"! By the way, he is also wearing a chain mail skirt … from which dear grandfather did he inherit this armor?
The era of the wars of the Scarlet and White Roses was also characterized by the fact that "for the whites" and "for the reds" it was divided according to the principle of providing support to the pretenders to the throne and the people themselves, often not even particularly wanting to, or even with complete indifference. Therefore, under these conditions, treason was almost a natural thing, but the punishment for it was always the same as a deliberate act. For example, after the Battle of Wakefield in 1460, Richard Neville, Earl of Salisbury, was captured and executed the very next day. While the knights fought in France, where the enemy treated them as people of honor, this did not happen. But in England, the desecration of the murdered became very popular. Thus, the body of Warwick "Kingmaker", who was killed in a clash at Barnet in 1471, was specially brought to London and exhibited for public viewing before being taken to Bisham Abbey for burial among other members of his family. Richard III lay naked for two days, apart from a piece of cloth that covered him, in St. Mary's Church in Newark in Leicester, and then he was buried in a simple grave at the monastery of the "gray brothers" nearby. The head of the Earl of Salisbury, as well as the Duke of York and his youngest son, Earl Rutland, who died at Wakefield, were completely planted on stakes sticking out on the walls of York, decorating the duke's forehead with a paper crown.
By the way, the tradition of putting heads on poles and displaying them in this form on London Bridge or at other gates of the city should have been a warning to other rioters who saw what fate threatened even the most eminent gentlemen. However, it also happened that some of the prisoners managed to get out of the water dry. So, Sir Richard Tunstall, already planted in the Tower, convinced Edward IV that he would be more useful to him alive than dead, and then even entered into his mercy. The children of those convicted of treason were usually not executed along with their fathers, although the lands could pass into the possession of the crown as long as they were considered ready to take possession of them.
Memorial plaque (brass) of Humphrey Stanley of Westminster Abbey, 1505. It depicts him in the typical "white armor" of the "War of the Roses" era.
But along with the harshness of this time, we sometimes find the most unexpected examples of the manifestation of humanism and compassion. Chapels were built on the battlefields, allowing people to mourn and pray for their dead, and money for them was collected by the whole world. Richard III made a substantial contribution to Queens College, Cambridge, so that the priests there could pray for his warriors who fell at Barnet and Tewkesbury.
Nevertheless, during the wars of the Scarlet and White Roses, along with many knights, 30 noble lords found their end. And those who survived the battles were able to avoid death only through the intercession of their families, and not at all because of their personal qualities. The Yorkies, for example, were actually very merciful and, in need of the support of the nobility, did not shed blood at all as willingly as their subsequent opponents wrote about it …
