"Good books on XV century HRE military organization" Topic

Does anyone knowns any? Sugestions in any language are welcome.

I too would be interested in this, mainly early 15th Century.

Chris

Me as well, though preferably in English, too.

HRE is??

Holy…Roman…Empire

I fear that subject has no actual work. Afaik there are some attempts made by German historians pre WW1, but most of these are unavailable now, cover only a small view of the picture and some have a biased perspective. Some of the sources they had are, however, lost since (to war or stupidity) and so they offer valuable contributions.

Overall the scope of 15th century HRE is probably even broader then "Italy 15th century". Where Italy has a couple of dozen states, the HRE has hundreds, ranging from a Knight to Kingdoms, from feudal over ecclesiarchical or free peasant areas, independent cities ruled by a senate to leagues rivaling kingdoms. Each and every organization has its own martial history and tradition over that century.

A grasp (which I most definitely not have) can probably best achieved by studying some better known aspects first, like the Hussite wars or the siege of Neuss- Ferdinand raising an imperial army to relieve Neuss after an 11 month siege from Charles the Bold. There is an unbelievable mass (and mess) of material out there (like transcripts of all Reichstage – imperial diets, or the complete transactions and treaties of major cities) that needs to be compressed by some able historian into handy works for lay historians and wargamers.

BTW: Imho one of the most important developments for the later events is that, parallel to the condottiere system in Italy, a system of veteran bands hired and fired at need developed, though I know of no systematic (and available) research of this. Many of the more famours pirate and outlaw stories (like Störtebecker) origin in such bands.

Perhaps Daniel can forward a good starting point. Anything at all would be greatly appreciated.

Puster, do you know any good book dealing with the Imperial forces on the siege of Neuss?

Sorry, no book. I have a translation (into readable German, from the original) of the account of the siege, and there are a couple of articles and websites out there – though all in German- on different aspects, but I do not think there is a modern work on a comprehensive history of the siege – though it certainly was one of the more impressive feats, withstanding the full might of Charles the Bolds Burgundian forces for 11 months.

Here is a link to a good work on it that contains lots of information on the troop strength, alas in German.
PDF link

Some shorter versions of the history on one page:
link
link

And a reenactment group:
link

Here is a historical work on the actual campaign, that I was yet unable to undig in paper:
"Der Kriegszug Karls des Kühnen in das Rheinland und die Belagerung von Neuss unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der kriegstechnischen Aspekte – Jörn Richter, Schriftliche Hausarbeit im Rahmen der Ersten Staatsprüfung für das Lehramt für die Sekundarstufe I, Köln 1999."

BTW: Verbruggen wrote an interesting work on the battle of Guinegate and a couple of articles of the military of the Flandric cities. Afaik the former is not available in English or German, and the latter are only available as part of the pretty expensive volumes by Boydell Press. Perhaps there are other works of him on the Burgundian conflicts pre and post Charles death.

BTW 2: There are also well over 100 documents in the "Imperia Regestii"

link

Just put in search terms like "Neuss" and a lot will show up.

As the Reichsheer was not part of any actual fighting, reports on its strength and composition are hard to find. I know that Friedrich called out for aid from all subjects, threatening the withdrawal of "rights and privileges" if they did not send forces, and the optimal plans called for a host of 130000 to defend the Empire against both Charles and especially the Hungarians under Corvinus. I would be surprised if 10% of these would be drawn together. Eg the Chronica Frisia of 1544 tells that the Frisians, asked to send every 4th able man, send back an excuse that they were not allowed to travel through the territories between Frisia and Cologne in arms, and it seems they got away with it.

Seems there is an ongoing dissertation concentrating on – huzzah – the assembly of the Reichsheer for the relief of Neuss:
link

He plans to concentrate on the diplomatical mechanics to assemble the Heer, but I am sure it will yield some reliable numbers, too:
For now: "24 Fürsten, 40 Grafen, 72 Städte sowie unzählige Niederadlige" – 40 counts, 24 higher nobles (dukes?), 72 cities and uncountable lower nobles answered the call for aid from the Emperor

Thank you very much, Puster!!