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This is one of our members within
the L'Estrange retinue.
He has researched and taken on the persona of an actual character from
the wars of the
roses period.
Some Pictures of Sir Hewe in armour
Hewe in the early days as retinue
billman
"Hewe d'Ambray" was the illegitimate son of ‘Sir Thomas d'Ambray’, wealthy Lincolnshire land owner whom in 1429, was knighted on the field during the 'siege of Orleans'.In March 1430, Sir Thomas returned to England, and to the news of the death of his wife Alice. Being of man of his times, it was not too long before Sir Thomas had began an affair with a certain ‘Mary Binder’, a sixteen years old serving girl from within his own household.
Over the following five years Mary had given birth to three children by Sir Thomas, firstly a boy who was still born, next a girl who unfortunately did not live past the age of three months.Then in April 1437 she again gave birth to another boy, this time the child was and remained healthy and he was named as Has "Hewe" Bastard son of Thomas d'Ambray.
Although for the times, Sir Thomas d'Ambray was regarded as a good and
just man, for reasons best known only to himself, he ordered that young
Hewe
be kept more away from public view, as though his father was almost
ashamed of the association between them. Then in the spring of 1444
Mary died of a
chill and just before the young d'Ambray's eighth birthday, Sir Thomas
sent him away to his brother in Northumberland, supposedly in order to
teach
the young Hewe the finer points of life, but there was to be no riding,
hunting, or any other gentlemanly teachings for Hewe, just an almost
every day
ritual of beatings from his ill-tempered, bullying and drunken uncle.
By the
age of fourteen and almost six years later on, Hewe could stand it no
more and
ran away. Making his way homeward, he arrived at his destination on a
cold
early morning in March 1450, only to learn that his father Sir Thomas
had
died one year earlier but his uncle had kept the news from
him. The house and
estate had been sold, most paid the debts that Sir Thomas had allowed
to mount, and what little was left, was taken by Sir Thoma's other
brother, who was in with his claim and away again in no time. Hewe was
now homeless
and friendless and remained that way for some considerable time, being
forced to live off the land and his wits, scavenging for food and
shelter
wherever he was able.
Then in the early spring of 1451, Hewe met up with and befriended a local lad of the same age named ‘Ealdred Miller’ only son of one ‘Cuddy the Miller’. As the friendship grew, the two became more like brothers, with Hewe working along side Ealdred in his friend's father's mill, in return for a meal and a dry bed.When Cuddy the Miller died in 1458, the "First Battle of St Albans" had already taken place in 1455, until now the country's squabbling had not been of any concern to the young friends, but now, because of their circumstances things were very different, trouble and unrest throughout the country was once more brewing, this time on an even larger scale, and the "Wars of the Roses" was about to begin in earnest.
In late August 1459 both men joined up to the Yorkist cause, and on 'September 29th 1459', on the battlefield of "Blore Heath" the two friends were first introduced to the full horror that was medieval hand-to-hand combat in warfare. It was during that battle at Blore Heath, that the two's friendship had come to a sudden and abrupt end, as Ealdred was brought down and slain by the bill of a Lancastrian foot-soldier. Hewe for his part survived Blore Heath to fight again at the battle of Northampton in 1460, this battle he also survived.
By the time Hewe d'Ambray entered onto the field at "Towton" in March 1461, it is known that he had stayed within his original retinue and had seen promotion to man-at-arms for his trouble. He did obviously live through Towton as well, as he next appears again in1476, his name being among those belonging to a group of English 'Mercenaries' involved within the fighting of the Swiss battles of "Grandson" in March and "Morat" in June of that same year.Hewe then appears again as part of an English mercenary force involved in fighting at the battle of "Nancy" in 1477. (It is noted that although Hewe d'Ambray did indeed partake within those Swiss battles mentioned, it is unsure on which side the English mercenaries fought). After the battle of Nacy, and for the next eight years, not a single trace of Hewe d'Ambray can be found, either in actual or referred form. Then at the closing of the day of 22nd August 1485, his name appears on a tally-list (death-roll), identified by the quartered colours and the arms upon his surcoat, the ‘Charges’ being – Two Argent (white or silver) Fleur-de-lis against a Vert (green) field and a Single Or (yellow or gold) Crescent against a Sable Field.
This then, at that place they do call ‘Bosworth
Field’, was most certainly the last stand of Hewe d'Ambray.
The number of many wounds
about his body and the much loss of blood, implied that he had given
good
account of himself and that he not been easy to bring down.
He had also died in the best of companies, for not too many paces from
him lay the hacked and mutilated body of 'Sir Percival Thirwell',
Standard-Bearer to King Richard III of England.
"Sir Charles Oman's" :- "A History of The Art of War in the Middle Ages / Volume Two : 1287-1485".
"Charles Ross" :- "The Wars of the Roses - (a concise history)".
"Geoffrey Regan" :- "Battles that changed History".
"Thomas Woodcock & John Robinson" :- "The Oxford Guide to Heraldry".
"Elizabeth Hallam & Hugh Trevor-Roper" :- "Chronicles of the Age of Chivalry".
"City of Winchester" :- "Facilities & Staff of Hampshire Reference & Lending Libraries". "Various and numerous internet sources of information".