[Dom Spens]

Hello, I've been a historical reenactor for the past 10years and am now looking into changing my character.

I reenact battles all over England (and occationally abroad, mainly from the 'War of the Roses' although I do do some specific earlier battles (Agincourt in France 1415 and Hastings, 1066 etc.)

I am looking to start a new character as one of my ancestors (see below: ***)

I have found one contemporary painting by Foucault of the Guarde Ecossaise but cant find any more pictures, I'm particuarly interested in finding out more information/more resources on the Guardes colours/banner etc and the brigandine which has the covered pauldrons, is anyone able to help me?

thanks in advance, Dom Spens.



***
Patrick de Spens, Lord of Bohapple and Estignols,
écuyer des écuries du roi (1450–1485)

The Scots Guards or Garde Écossaise was an elite Scottish military unit founded in 1418
by the Valois Charles VII of France, to be personal bodyguards to the French monarchy.
They were assimilated into the Maison du Roi and later formed the first Company of the
Garde du Corps du Roi or "Life Guards". In 1450, King James II send a company of 24 noble
Scots under the command of Patrick de Spens, son of his custodian. This company takes the
name of "archiers du corps" or "gardes de la manche". On 31 August 1490, this company,
these of Patry Folcart, Thomas Haliday and a part of the company of Robin Petitloch begin
to be the first company of "archiers of the King's gard" under the command of Guillaume
Stuier (Stuart). At the beginning "la compagnie écossaise des gardes du corps du roi"
included 100 "gardes du corps" (25 bodyguards and 75 "archiers"). Each bodyguard had four
men-at-arms under his command, (a squire, an archer, a craquenier and a servant), one of
them acquired the name of "premier homme d'armes du royaume de France". They were finally
disbanded in 1830 at the abdication of Charles X.

The original motto of the Garde du Corps was Erit haec quoque cognita monstris
(They will be recognized, them also, with their brilliant deeds)

It was an officer of the Life guards Patrick de Spens who wounded the Charles the Rash
Duke of Burgundy who died soon after in January 1477. The king Charles VIII takes the motto
of this officer in his honour: "Si Deus (pro nobis), Quis contra (nos)?"

The Gardes de la Manche (English: Guards of the Sleeve) was an elite squad formed as the
king's personal guard by Charles VII with men from the Company of Scottish Archers they were
the 24 oldest men of the 1st Scottish Company. Their name came from the fact that they stood
so close to the king as to be brushed by his sleeves.

married jeanne de sauix d'estingols

Many Scots mercenaries settled in France although they continued to think of themselves as
Scots. One such man was Beraud Stuart of Aubigny: a third-generation Scot immigrant,
Captain of the Garde Écossais from 1493-1508, and hero of France's Italian wars. To this day
both he and other Scots heroes of the Auld Alliance are celebrated in Beraud's home town of
Aubigny-sur-Neve in an annual pageant.


REF:
^ Rene Chartrand, page 14 Louis XIV's Army, ISBN 0-85045-850-1
^ Liliane and Fred Funcken, page 14 L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats de la Guerre en Dentelle, ISBN 2-203-14315-0
^ Rene Chartrand, page 5 Louis XV's Army - Cavalry and Dragoons, ISBN 1-85532-602-7
^ Rene Chartrand, page 6 Louis XV's Army - Cavalry and Dragoons, ISBN 1-85532-602-7
^ Liliane and Fred Funcken, page 10 L'Uniforme et les Armes des Soldats du XIX Siecle, ISBN 2-203-14324-X
Forbes-Leith, William, The Scots Men-at-Arms and Life-Guards in France, Edinburgh, 1882, 2 vols.
Brown, Michael. The Black Douglases, War and Lordship in Late Medieval Scotland. Tuckwell, East Linton, 1998
MacDougall, Norman. An Antidote to the English-The Auld Alliance 1295-1560. Tuckwell, East Linton, 2001
Douglas, Robert. Baronage of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1798, at rootsweb.com
http://pagesperso-orange.fr/jean-claude.colrat/ecossais.htm (Scots with Joan of Arc, in french)
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garde_%C3%89cossaise"

[JG Elmslie]