Osprey - General Military - Knight - The Warrior and ... - Brego-weard

BEYOND THE BATTLEFIELD: THE KNIGHT IN MEDIEVAL SOCIETY -•
of the factionalism present and the power of the individual lords. In May 1390
Richard II published an ordinance in an attempt to limit what it called 'liveries ol
company' since the badges were being distributed too freely, so that hirelings as well
as indentured retainers and household servants were wearing them and they were
being used to create what amounted to private armies ol ruffians and thugs to
intimidate the lord's weaker neighbours and opponents. As the Parliament of 1388
put it in its call for the abolition of the badge altogether, 'those who wear them are
flown with such insolent arrogance that they do not shrink from practising with
reckless effrontery various kinds of extortion in the surrounding countryside ... and it
is certainly the boldness inspired by these badges that makes them unafraid to do these
things'. Richard's ordinance stated that only those of the rank of banneret or above
might issue them and only those above the rank of esquire might wear them. An
ordinance of Henry VII, alter the protracted conflict of the Wars of the Roses, in
which almost every knight and nobleman had his livery colours and badge and which
were characterized by armed conflict between the liveried retinues of the great lords,
endeavoured to restrict the issuing of livery badges to the king, and the wearing of
liveries to the immediate household servants of the nobility.
The Wilton diptych
is a marvel of medieval
propaganda. A travelling
altarpiece made for
Richard II, it deftly shows
him submissive to Christ
and the Virgin Mary and,
at the same time, suggests
something divine in his
nature through the angels'
wearing of his and the
Plantagenet badges.
(Bridgeman Art Library)
201