Landsknecht

by Daniel Hopfer, c. 1530.]] Landsknechte (German plural, singular Landsknecht) were European, most often German, mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of Early modern Europe.

Etymology

The term is from German, Land "land, country" + Knecht "servant", recorded from ca. 1480. It was originally coined by Peter von Hagenbach and intended to indicate soldiers of the lowlands of the Holy Roman Empire as opposed to the Swiss mercenaries. As early as 1500 the misleading spelling of Lanzknecht became common because of the association with Lanze "lance".

The term "Landser" is directly based on Landsknecht, as is the name of the French card game.

History

Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor from 1493 to 1519, formed the first mercenary Landsknecht regiments in 1487. He called upon Georg von Frundsberg (1473–1528), known by many as the Father of the Landsknechts, to assist him in their organization. Landsknechts later went on to fight in almost every 16th-century military campaign, sometimes on both sides of the engagement.

The Landsknechts, formed in conscious imitation of the Swiss mercenaries (and, initially, using Swiss instructors), eventually contributed to the defeat of the redoubtable Swiss, whose battle formations - overly-dependent on hand-to-hand fighting - became vulnerable to the increased fire power of arquebus and artillery. French artillery or Spanish firepower dealt serious blows to the Swiss formations, and the Landsknecht pike blocks were there to fight off the depleted Swiss attack columns once this had occurred.

The Landsknechts, although rather conservative in their usage of weapons, and always containing a large majority of pikemen, inclined more to the tactical employment of firearms than the Swiss were because Landsknechts relied less on the precipitous rush to close combat and, as Imperial soldiers, they also often fought in formations mixed with Spaniards during the reign of King of Spain and Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. These Spaniards made a good, widespread use of the arquebus and, later, of the musket.

Landsknechts typically came from Swabia, Alsace, Flanders, and the Rhineland, but ultimately the regiments were made up of men from all parts of Europe.

Their battlefield behavior was highly variable. Sometimes, such as at the Battle of Pavia (1525), they performed exceptionally well, fighting to the death on both sides of the conflict, even after their allies fled the field, as was the case for the French employed Landsknechts. The Imperial Landsknechts were instrumental to the Emperor's victory. However, on many other occasions, (such as in the later Italian Wars, French Wars of Religion and the Eighty Years War) their bravery and discipline came under severe criticism, and the Spanish elements of the Imperial army regularly deprecated the battlefield usefulness of the Landsknechts—it was said that the Duke of Alba hired them only to deny the Dutch enemy of their service, and put them on display to swell his numbers, not intending to fight with them. The Huguenots scorned their Landsknecht mercenaries after these were immediately routed by the battered Swiss mercenary pike-block they had been sent to finish off at the Battle of Dreux (1562).

Organization

by Daniel Hopfer. Note the huge Zweihänder sword over his shoulder, and the smaller Katzbalger sword at his hip, both emblematic of the Landsknecht.]] The regiments often expanded from 4,000 to 10,000 men according to circumstances, or even larger—the Black Band, generally considered to have been a regiment of landsknechts, were 17,000 strong when raised by the French in 1515. It was this flexibility which allowed them to be used in various battle conditions. Oberste (colonels) were given recruiting commissions by the Emperor to form regiments, with a lieutenant-colonel and various regimental staff, and units divided into Fähnleins (companies) with a Hauptmann (captain) in charge, as well as lieutenants and Fähnriche (ensigns). Other ranks included majors of the court-martial and officers in charge of camp followers.

The Tross were the camp followers or "baggage train" who traveled with each Landsknecht unit, carrying the military necessities, the food and the belongings of each soldier and his family. Members of the Tross were made up of women, children and some craftsmen.

Weapons

Landsknechts were trained in the use of the famous long pikes and used the pike square formations developed by the Swiss. The majority of Landsknechts would use pikes, but others, meant to provide tactical assistance to the pikemen, accordingly used different weapons. For example, men armed with an early matchlock firearm called an "arquebus" would lay ranged fire support by the flanks of the pike square. For another example an experienced Landsknecht could be designated a Doppelsöldner, an armoured soldier who served as the backbone for the formation and in addition to the pike as more recent recruits, they could also be Alternatively employed wielding a halberd or partisan, or, more famously, a Zweihänder (literally: "Two-hander"), a two-handed sword as long as 180 cm (6 ft), although it was generally called at the time a Bidenhänder (literally: "both-hander") rather than a Zweihänder. These great war swords could be used to hack off the heads of enemy pikes; or more likely to knock the pikes aside, creating disorder among the tightly arranged enemy pikemen in order to break through their lines. However, the primary use of the two handed sword would be to serve as the guard for the standard bearer, as it is a weapon that allows for a few to oppose many . The Swiss adversaries to the Landsknechts had specifically prohibited the use of these swords during the late 15th century, as they deemed them unsuitable for the constricted manner of pike warfare, though they continued to use the shorter longswords into and throughout the 16th century. "Doppelsöldner" meant "double mercenary", because they were paid double the wages of their less experienced counterparts. Landsknechts also used Kriegsmesser longswords, in German translating to War knife, a long curved sword clasped to the belt, the blade shown naked without a scabbard in some woodcuts from (1500–1520).

Other Landsknechts would use the arquebus, the precursor to the musket. When the Landsknechts were first formed, arquebusiers composed up to an eighth of the total number of soldiers, but the number gradually grew to be about a quarter.

The universal Landsknecht weapon was a short sword called a Katzbalger, carried in addition to the Landsknecht's main weapon. Indeed, the Katzbalger was seen as the very symbol of the Landsknecht, Swiss illustrators being careful to depict it to indicate that a mercenary was a Landsknecht rather than a Reisläufer.

Landsknechts were a very powerful force due to powerful weaponry. Landsknecht Paul Dolstein wrote of the siege of Älfsborg in July 1502, fighting for the King of Denmark: "We were 1800 Germans, and we were attacked by 15000 Swedish farmers ... we struck most of them dead".

the massed pike formation is seen at the rear]]

Clothes

What made the landsknechts so conspicuous was their elaborate dress, which they adopted from the Swiss, but later took to even more dramatic excess. Maximilian I exempted them from the prevalent sumptuary laws as an acknowledgement of their "...short and brutish" lives. Doublets (or Wams), deliberately slashed at the front, back and sleeves with shirts and other wear pulled through to form puffs of different-colored fabric, so-called puffed and slashed; parti-colored hose (or Gesses); jerkins (or Lederwams); ever-broader flat beret-type hats (or Tellerbarrets) with tall feathers; and broad flat shoes, made them bodies of men that could not be mistaken.

Camp

Landsknechts adopted the Hussite tactic of creating a ring of limbers and wagons, surrounded by cannon, with the encampment in the middle. While in strong positions like this, many Landsknechts lived in tents; however, in more makeshift situations, they would often build crude huts made of straw and mud supported by Pikes and Halberds. Commissioned officers would always sleep in tents on campaign. Quarrels and disease would go about the camp, and if the landsknechts had been defeated in the battle the camp followers had little time to escape before rape and plunder took place. However, it was usually secure from the enemy.

Modern image

There are Landsknecht associations in various European countries, as well as in the United States, which promote interest in the Renaissance tradition of the landsknechts and who often stage revivals and festivals. The action film Flesh & Blood portrays a group of Landsknecht and their fictional adventures in Italy.

See also

Tross

Tercio

Burgmann

Doppelsöldner

Katzbalger

References

External links

Landsknecht.org, International Landsknecht enthusiast society.

Das Todesengel Faehnlein, St. Maximilian Landsknecht Re-enactment Guild in Northern California.

Das Heiligesturm Fahnlein, Website of Das Heiligesturm Fahnlein in Southern California.

No Money No Landsknecht, Website of Wolfgang von Orlok, Landsknecht of the Bristol Renaissance Faire On the Illinois/Wisconsin Border.

Landsknecht clothing

Category:Warfare of the Early Modern era Category:Military units and formations of the Early Modern era Category:16th and 17th century warrior types