The back of the box has a color chart and a picture reference.
The Templers were religious warriors of the Order of the Temple vowed to defend Christians and Christian territories against non-Christians. The Temple refers to The Temple of Solomon. The Order was set up in 1120 and came into being by the consent of the Pope in January 1129 at the Church Council of Troyes in north-eastern France. It became a very powerful force both militarily and politically because of its wealth and properties.
The Order's end began with the loss of Outremer to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in 1291. In 1307, King Philip IV issued orders and arrested the Templer Knights in France on false charges of hersey and witchcraft. Pope Clement V announced that the charges were unproven, but the Templars' reputation was reuined. In 1310, King Henry of Cyprus put the Templer Knights in his territories under close arrest. In 1312, Pope Clement V abolished the Order of the Temple in the bull "Vox in excelso" and transferred the Order's properties to the Order of the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem (the Hospitallers). In 1314, Master of the Order James of Molay and Commander of Normandy Geoffrey of Charney were burned at the stake at Paris, France. In 1319, the properties of the Order of the Temple were transferred and distributed to other Orders. See Helen Nicholson & David Nicolle, God's Warriors: Knights Templar, Saracens & The Battle of Jerusalem (Osprey 2005); Piers Paul Read, The Templars, (Da Capo 2001).
Typical of Italeri, this set has three identical spurs with 15 mounted knights of 5 different poses. The scuplting is OK, but not great. On the box cover, the Templars has smaller (shorter) shields which seem to correspond to Wayne Reynolds' pictures in God's Warriors, pp 165 and 186. However, the figures have long kite shields. Four of the poses are holding flat long kite shields, while one figure is holding a curved kite shield. On page 189 of God's Warrior, the book refers to Templars having curved triangular shields.
The shields in this set all have a cross design on them. Wayne Reynolds' picture on page 165 in God's Warriors show this design with a cross on a white over black insignia. The picture on page 186 shows a black and white insignia with no cross design.
The lances that come with the set are definitely too short. So, wargamers and modelers will have to make new lances for their Templars.
Lastly, the knight on the left below: holding sword swinging from left to right is in a similar pose from the older Italeri set 6009: The Knights.
No comments:
Post a Comment