The Kingmaker

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This morning I corrected this drawing.  I decided to leave the vertical lettering as it is and maintain that I meant it to look this way.  I am leaving the original post up as a reminder of the uncertainties of talent, the miss-steps of ambition, and the eventual destination of all paths of glory.

Orate Pro Anima Hamilton Tighe!





I have been reading Paul Murray Kendall's brilliant biography of Richard Neville, aka Warwick the Kingmaker. What a busy man this was!
The general consensus among historians is that he overreached himself and died as a result of ambition, but in my opinion he could do nothing else.  He was riding the tiger and could not get off.  Even had he tried to retire to his extensive estates and live the life of a wealthy lord, he would never have been allowed peace.  The moment he laid down his arms his many enemies would converge from all sides.  He died the way he lived, always striving for more.  I am including the Wikipedia reference as there is just so much to say about him, and even this is very spare.



I draw my anthros sparsely dressed due to them having a coat of fur. Furthermore, there is no extant portrait of the Earl so my drawing is as accurate as any.  Notice that I said "accurate" and not "good".  We are honest to a fault here at Mister Scribbles.  The Ragged Staff and Bear are Warwick's emblem.  His arms are different.  



Arms of Richard Neville, K.G.  Shamed be the one who thinks ill of this.  Whoa!

The battleaxe would have been used on foot and would more likely have been a polearm, battleaxe's were right out after Hastings, although they were used in tourney's and as murder weapons, of course.  They would work just fine in a bar brawl today.  The curved spike would have been used to yank cavalry off their mounts, as well as puncturing bone and armor.




The Bear and the Ragged Staff.  A version of this is the official flag of Warwickshire.  There is no credible origin story, it was lost in time when the Kingmaker was born.





Warwick Castle, Warwickshire.  That is the river Avon.  Shakespeare used Neville in his Henry VI trilogy, and he is buried in Warwickshire.   The Earl was buried in Bisham Priory, Berkshire, and his grave and the priory are long gone.  Sic Transit Gloria Mundi, y'all!





A warrior's effigy.


(The Hamilton Tighe reference is obscure even for me.  But a post on this site must be as nimble as the spring grasshopper, leaping from flower to tree until devoured by the quick appetites of the alert reader, not as the dull and relentless gnawing of a worm chewing through the grave cerements.  In other words, deal with it).


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