Three French commanders

Some more commanders now, this time for the French side. Here we have Philippe de Hochberg, Jean de Damas and Jean de Salazar. These three were all involved in the southern theatre of the war (see The War in Burgundy for full details), and so should make good opponents for my many Burgundian nobles. As usual all the flags are swappable, so these particular figures can be used as any other nobles.

Jean de Damas, Lord of Digoine, Clessy and Saint-Amour (1423-1481) had previously served the dukes of Burgundy. He was governor of the Mâconnais region (which had belonged to the dukes since 1435) and had been made a Knight of the Golden Fleece in 1468. Following the death of Charles the Bold in 1477 it wasn't long before he switched his allegiance to Louis XI, and handed Mâconnais over to the French. He was removed from the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1481, and died later the same year.

My Jean de Damas is a Perry metal commander with a headswap, the new one being from the Wargames Foundry WOTR range. His standard bearer is also from Wargames Foundry, but he is on a Perry metal horse.

Philip de Hochberg, Lord of Badenweiler (1454-1503) was a nobleman who had also previously served Charles the Bold and had been taken prisoner at the Battle of Nancy in 1477. Following his release he sided with France, and was made Marshal of Burgundy when the French occupied the duchy. He was also gifted with the confiscated territories of the Prince of Orange, though he had to return them following the Treaty of Arras in 1482. In 1487 he succeeded his father as Margrave of Hochberg-Sausenberg and Count of Neuchâtel, and was later made Grand Chamberlain of France (1491) and Grand Seneschal of Provence (1493). 

My Philip de Hochberg is actually from the Athena Miniatures WOTR range, though I have replaced his hands with plastic Perry parts and put him on a metal Perry horse. The standard bearer and his horse are both Perry metals.

The heraldry I have used is conjectural - I have found his heraldry for when he succeeded his father, but at this point he was just the heir, so what I've used is his family arms quartered with the arms of Badenweiler. Interestingly these are the same as the Counts of Neuchâtel but in different colours.

Jean de Salazar (1410-1479) was a veteran Spanish mercenary who had served France for many decades, even having fought alongside Joan of Arc in the Hundred Years War. In 1477 he fought in Burgundy, and was in command of the occupied town of Gray in the Franche-Comté when it was attacked during the night by Claude and Guillaume de Vaudrey. Taken by surprise, Salazar led the defence of the castle but was eventually forced to flee, wounded and badly burned. He escaped to the duchy, and despite his injuries he later managed to lead a sortie to turn back a Burgundian raid led by the Prince of Orange that had reached the gates of Dijon.

Interestingly there was another Jean de Salazar around this time who fought for the Burgundians, known as le petite Salazar. It's not known if the two were related.

My figure for Salazar is a plastic Perry man-at-arms with a Steel Fist plume, and his standard bearer is a metal Perry sculpt with a headswap, both on metal Perry horses.

In comparison to the Burgundians, the list of identifiable French commanders in this conflict is actually quite small, or at least I've not been able to identify that many of them. And of the three here, I've only found references to Jean de Salazar doing any actual fighting. The other two were involved in the campaign though - they both led armies into the Duchy of Burgundy in 1477 when it was in danger of rebellion, and Philippe de Hochberg was with Charles d'Amboise when he victoriously entered Besançon in 1479. I've already covered Georges de la Trémoille, and also talked about Gaston du Lion on my French light cavalry post. That leaves the one notable French leader for the southern campaign of 1477-1480 as Charles d'Amboise. He will get covered sometime in the future!