The Landsknecht,(pronounced [ˈlantsknɛçt]) plural Landsknechte , were mercenary soldiers who became an important military force through late 15th- and 16th-century Europe. Consisting predominantly of German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, they were the universal mercenaries of early modern Europe, sometimes fighting on both sides of a conflict.
The Germanic compound Landsknecht (earlier Lantknecht, without Fugen-"s") combines Land and Knecht to form "servant of the land." The compound Lantknecht was used during the 15th century for bailiffs or court ushers.
The word Landsknecht first appeared in the German language circa 1470 to describe certain troops in the army of Charles, Duke of Burgundy. As early as 1500, the term was morphed into Lanzknecht, referring to the unit's use of the pike as its main weapon.
Over the Burgundian Wars, the well-organized and supplied armies of Charles the Bold were defeated by the Swiss Confederation, which wielded an ad hoc militia army. Charles's army lacked esprit de corps because of its composition by feudal lords, mercenaries, and levied gentry. The Swiss army, though poorly organized, were highly motivated, aggressive, and well-trained with their arms. The Swiss pikemen, called Reisläufer, repeatedly defeated and eventually killed Charles, eliminating Burgundy as a European power. Archduke Maximilian I von Habsburg, who inherited Burgundy in 1477 by marrying Mary of Burgundy, was greatly influenced by the Swiss victories. When the French contested the inheritance, Maximilian levied a Flemish army and defeated the French in 1479 at the Battle of Guinegate using Swiss tactics. The dissolution of his levied army at war's end found Maximilian wanting a permanent and organized military force to protect his domain, but the existing Burgundian structure was inadequate.
To this end, Maximilian began recruiting men from southern Germany and Switzerland. By 1486, the year of his election as Holy Roman Emperor, Maximilian had amassed 6,000–8,000 mercenaries. One of these units Maximilian gave to Eitel Friedrich II, Count of Hohenzollern, who trained them with Swiss instructors in Bruges in 1487 to become the "Black Guard"[a] – the first Landsknechte. In 1488, Maximilian organized the Swabian League, creating an army of 12,000 infantry and 1,200 cavalry to deter Bavaria and Bohemia. This is considered to be the first Landsknecht army to be raised in Germany. Maximilian raised a strong army for the Austrian-Hungarian War of 1490, and succeeded in driving the Hungarians out of the Austria. The Landsknechte in his army refused to serve after sacking Stuhlweissenburg (now Székesfehérvár, Hungary), citing lack of pay and stopping Maximilian's advance on Budapest. To prevent a repeat of Stuhlweissenburg, Maximilian now sought to homogenize the Landsknechte into a fully professional, and mostly German military force.
In the 1490s, the well-trained Landsknechte managed to defeat significantly greater Frisian armies. Paul Dolnstein wrote of the siege of Älvsborg Fortress 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." In 1521, the Spaniards recruited German infantrymen to defend their country against the French because, as they stated "our infantry does not perform as well in its native country as abroad". At the Battle of Bicocca and the Battle of Marignano (1515), the Landsknecht performed well, defeating the famed Reisläufer.
The Imperial Landsknechte were instrumental in many of the Emperor's victories, including the decisive Battle of Pavia in 1525. The same year, they also managed to defeat the peasants' revolt in the Empire. At their peak in the early 16th century, the Landsknechte were considered as formidable soldiers who were often brave and loyal. However, these qualities may have declined afterward.
From the 1560s on, the reputation of the Landsknechte steadily decreased. In the French Wars of Religion and the Eighty Years War, their bravery and discipline came under criticism, and the Spanish elements of the army of Flanders regularly deprecated the battlefield usefulness of the Landsknechte, somewhat unfairly. Their status also suffered from the rising reputation of the dreaded Spanish tercios which, however, were far less abundant and more expensive to train. It should also be noted that when serving in southern Europe, Landsknechte were still considered as elite troops. In the army of the Dutch rebels, many German mercenaries were hired but were forced to give up many Landsknechte's traditions in order to increase their discipline and their fighting abilities.
They are attested as deployed in the armies of Kings John III of Navarre and successor Henry II of Navarre during their campaigns to reconquer Navarre (1512–1524). In the same context, they are also found fighting on Charles V's side (battle for Hondarribia, 1521–1524) where they performed strongly. They also served in high numbers in the Imperial army during the campaigns of Austria (1532), France (1542), Germany (1547) and in all the Italian wars.
The army of the Holy Roman Emperor defeated the French army in Italy, but funds were not available to pay the soldiers. The 34,000 Imperial troops mutinied and forced their commander, Charles III, Duke of Bourbon, to lead them towards Rome. The Sack of Rome in 1527 was executed by some 6,000 Spaniards under the Duke, 14,000 Landsknechte under Georg von Frundsberg, some Italian infantry and some cavalry.
As with the Reisläufer, a regiment of Landsknecht was raised by a lord with a letter patent (Bestallungsbrief) that named the unit colonel (Obrist). This document laid out the size and structure of the unit, the pay of its men, and contained its Articles of War (Artikelsbriefe). Upon accepting the commission and securing funding, either through a bank loan or a grant from the lord, the colonel assembled his chain his command. His captains, once appointed, would then go to a locality he knew with drummers and fifers Recruits gathered at a specified place and time for the muster and a parade under an arch, where recruits were examined by the colonel. The colonel then gave the men their first months' pay, read the Bestallungsbrief to them in full, and lead the Landsknechte in oaths of allegiance to cause, officers, and the Emperor. This ceremony also saw the appointing of the unit staff and its standard bearers, or Fähnriche (ensigns), who swore to never lose the standard.
The colonel was the highest–ranking officer in a Landsknecht in a regiment, but if his force contained more than one regiment he could become a Generalobrist. If it contained cavalry and artillery in addition to its infantry, then he could be a Feldobrist or Generalfeldobrist. The regiment would be commanded by a lieutenant colonel in the colonel's stead. The regiment itself was formed by ten Fähnlein, equivalent to a company and commanded by a captain. A Fähnlein was made up by 400 men, including 100 veterans called Doppelsöldner because they received double the pay of a regular Landsknecht. Rotten, equivalent to a platoon, were the building blocks of the Fähnlein and contained either ten ordinary Landsknechte or six Doppelsöldner, led by a Rottmeister elected by his unit. In totality, the regiment averaged at 4,000 men;[b] ten Fähnlein, containing 40 Rotten. Unit sergeant majors, called Feldweibel, were tasked with training drill and formation. The regimental sergeant major, Oberster-Feldweibel was responsible for drill on the battlefield. Rotten sergeants, Weibel, were charged with ensuring discipline and relaying liaisons between enlisted men and their officers. One of these men, the Gemeinweibel, was the spokesman for the men and was elected monthly.
According to Imperial law, a colonel could have a staff of 22 officers but in practice this depended on the colonel's wealth. Included in that staff were a chaplain, a scribe, a doctor, a scout, his personal quartermaster and ensign, a drummer and fifer, and a bodyguard (Trabanten) of eight men. Captains also had a staff that included much of the same, but with additional musicians and two Doppelsöldner to protect him. A provost marshal and Schultheiss were appointed by the colonel to main military discipline and to prosecute the Artikelsbriefe respectively. The provost was unimpeachable, and feared. Harsh punishments could be expected for offenses such as mutiny or drunkenness on duty. He had a retinue of a jailer, bailiff, and executioner (Freimann).
Tactics and equipmentEdit
Landsknechte were trained in the use of the pikes, halberds, two-handed swords, and arquebuses. The pike, 14–18 feet (4.3–5.5 m) in length, was the Landsknecht's primary weapon, used in phalanx formation. The pikes were supported by halberdiers, who would rush a gap in an opposing line, a tactic copied from the Swiss.
An experienced Landsknecht could be designated a Doppelsöldner, an armored soldier who served at the front of the formation. He could also be alternatively employed with a 6-to-8-foot-long (1.8 to 2.4 m) halberd or partisan or, more famously, a Zweihänder, a two-handed sword as long as 180 cm (6 ft). These greatswords were used to knock the pikes aside, creating disorder amongst tightly-arranged enemy pikemen in order to break through their lines. Other Doppelsöldner were armed an arquebus or crossbow and would lay ranged fire support by the flanks of the pike square.
The primary use of the Zweihänder would be to serve as the guard for the standard bearer. Swiss adversaries to the Landsknechte 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 pay man", because they were paid double the wages of their less-experienced counterparts. Landsknechte also used Kriegsmesser (literally War knife) a long curved sword clasped to the belt, the blade shown naked without a scabbard in some woodcuts from 1500 to 1520. Other Landsknechte would use the arquebus, the precursor to the musket.
The universal Landsknecht weapon was a short sword called a Katzbalger, carried in addition to the Landsknecht's main weapon. The Katzbalger became a symbol of the Landsknecht. Swiss illustrators were careful to depict it to indicate that a mercenary was a Landsknecht rather than a Reisläufer.
The Tross were the camp followers or "baggage train" who traveled with each Landsknecht unit, carrying military necessities, the food, and the belongings of each soldier and his family. The Tross was made up of women, children and some craftsmen. A Landsknecht was usually forbidden by his Bestallungsbiref from having more than one woman in the baggage train. The Tross was overseen by a "whore's sergeant" (Hurenweibel).
Landsknechte 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 Landsknechte 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 Landsknechte 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.
- Miller 1994, p. 3
- Richards 2002, p. 4
- Tallett 2010, p. 59
- Richards 2002, pp. 4–5
- Tallett 2010, p. 162
- Richards 2002, p. 6
- Tallett 2010, p. 163
- Richards 2002, p. 7
- Richards 2002, pp. 7–8
- Richards 2002, p. 51
- Miller 1994, p. 4
- Richards 2002, p. 9
- Richards 2002, pp. 10–11
- Miller 1994, p. 5
- Richards 2002, p. 10
- Richards 2002, p. 11
- Miller 1994, pp. 4, 5
- Richards 2002, pp. 10–11
- Rogers 2010, p. 487
- Pavkovic 2006, p. 8
- Jörgensen, Christer; Pavkovic, Michael F.; Rice, Rob S.; Schneid, Frederick C.; Scott, Chris L. (2006). Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-34819-3.
- Miller, Douglas (1976). The Landsknechts. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 0850452589.
- Richards, John (2002). Landsknecht Soldier 1486-1560. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841762431.
- Rogers, Cliff (2010). The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195334035.
- Tallett, Frank (2010). European Warfare 1350–1750. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88628-4.