Landsknechts (singular Landsknecht, German plural Landsknechte, sometimes also in English publications) 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 the European Renaissance.

Etymology

The term is from German, Land "land, country" + Knecht "servant", recorded from ca. 1480. It was originally 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

The first Landsknecht regiments were formed by Maximilian I, the Holy Roman Emperor from 1508 and King of the Romans from 1486. He called upon Georg von Frundsberg, known by many as the Father of the Landsknechts, to assist him in their organization. They 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 themselves in weapons usage, and always containing a large majority of pikemen, were more predisposed 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, who made widespread use of the arquebus and, later, musket.

The 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, they performed very well, being 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 derogated the battlefield usefulness of the Landsknechts -- the Duke of Alba is said to have hired them only to deny the Dutch enemy of their service, and that he put them on display to swell his numbers and did not intend 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.

Organization

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, an experienced Landsknecht could be designated a Doppelsöldner, and instead of wielding a pike as did more recent recruits, would employ a six to eight foot long halberd or partisan, or, more famously, a zweihänder, a two-handed sword as long as 6 feet (although it was generally called at the time a beidhänder 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, this tactic seems to have been of limited value, and was dropped after around 1510 - their Swiss adversaries had specifically prohibited it when they went over to widespread use of the pike in the early 15th century, because the weapon was too large to use in constricted pike warfare. "Doppelsöldner" meant "double mercenary", because they were paid double the wages of their less experienced counterparts.

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.

Clothes

However, what made the landsknechts so conspicuous was their elaborate dress, which they adopted from the Swiss, but later took to even more dramatic excess. Doublets, deliberately slashed at the front, back and sleeves with shirts and other wear pulled through to form puffs of different-colored fabric, so-called slash and puff; parti-colored hose; jerkins; ever-broader flat beret-type hats with tall feathers; and broad flat shoes, made them bodies of men that could not be mistaken.

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

External links

• Das Todesengel Faehnlein, St. Maximilian Landsknecht Re-enactment Guild.
• No Money No Landsknecht, Website of Wolfgang von Orlok, Landsknecht of the Bristol Renaissance Faire.
• Landsknecht clothing
• Landsknecht Pikeman Armour, Arador Armour Library Article