"Maximilliam of Austria Campaigns in Poland (1587-1588)" Topic

Is there any good Order of Battle detailing the composition of the german forces of Maximilliam III of Austria during the Battle of Byczyna/Pitschen and the Siege of Kraków of 1587?

A. Rajtaria:
- rota niemiecka Erazma Lichtensteina 100 koni
- rota niemiecka Melchiora Redera 100 koni
- rota niemiecka Bernhardswalda 100 koni
- rota śląska Wilhelma Oppersdorfa 700 koni
- rota śląska Henryka Waldau 200 koni
- rota morawska Bogusława Borzity 300 koni
- rota morawska Fridricha Żerotina 300 koni
Razem: 1800 koni

B. Arkebuzeria:
- rota niemiecka Wenzla Brauna 200 koni
- rota niemiecka Wenzla Geisa 30 koni
- rota morawska 300 koni
- rota morawska Jana Hodejowskiego 100 koni
Razem: 630 koni

C. Jazda lekka [kozacka? – W.J.]:
- rota polska Floriana Suchorabskiego 50 koni
- rota polska Krzysztofa Konickiego 50 koni
- rota polska 100 koni
- rota węgierska 30 koni
Razem: 230 koni

D. Husaria:
- polska Stanisława Stadnickiego 200 koni
- polska Stanisława Górki 100 koni
- polska [Zborowskiego? – W.J.] 50 koni
- węgierska Walentyna Prepostvarego 500 koni
Razem: 900 koni

E. Piechota (stan/strzelcy/pikinierzy):
- rota niemiecka landsknechtów Engeharda Kurzta 400/200/200
- rota śląska 400/100/300
- rota śląska z Kluczborka 600/200/400
- rota morawska Jana Hetzera 500/200/300
- rota polska 200/200/0
- rota węgierska 1190/600/590
Razem: 3290/1500/1790
Prawdopodobnie cztery działa ciężkie i kilkanaście falkonetów.

Piechota=infantry
Rajtaria=reiters
Jazda lekka= light cavalry probably polish cossack-style cav.

Thank you very much, Mihai! So Maximiliam's army was quite polish in character, with hussars and polish light cavalry, wasn't it? Also, would the silesian, "wegierski", moravian be organized as german landsknecht companies, or as polish draby or hajduk rotas?

oh sorry "węgierski" means hungarian, so they'll be regular haiduks, as for moravian and silesian I suppose they were landsknechts. I'll check it.

The only Landsknechts was the single company named as such, the troops raised from Moravi & Silesia were locals and not landsknechts. Organisation would have been based on ther German pattern though with some local tweaks.

The Polish troops were the remnants of the the Poles who had supported his election and his initial invasion. The 600 or so Poles were only nominaly under Maximilians command and it should be noted that the bulk of the hussars (500) were Hungarians that had no Polish connection at all as they were raised from Habsburg controlled Royal Hungary. (The same applies to the Hungarian foot, the Hungarian troops were raised as reinforcements after Maximilians initial army was badly reduced during the siege of Krakow and the retreat afterwards)

So the Hungarian foot would be regular haiduks from Royal Hungary. What about the "rota polska"? Would they be organized like the "draby" infantry rotas that were used prior to Bathory's reforms, or would they also be Haiduks?

Also, is there any clue about the dress of the Moravian & Silesian troops? Would they dress like the north germans? And daniel, do you have any guess of what those "local tweaks" might have been?

Since the battle took place well after the reform I suppose rota polska means piechota wybraniecka.

Thanks, Mihai! (:
Do you have any idea about how would the Moravian & Silesian troops have looked?

Wybraniecka were recruited from Royal lands and served as part of the Crown army, you would not find them among the private troops of Maximilians supporters. The Polish company of foot in Maximilian were Polish mercenaries serving with firearms, most probably patterning themselves on the Haiduk style introduced from Hungary.

Does anyone have any clue on the dress of the Moravians & Silesians of the XVI century? Was it Germanic, or more eastern?

Guys, does anyone has any idea on how the dress and equipment of the landsknecht rota would have differed from the silesian and moravian ones? I suppose they wouldn't be so different, since Silesia and Moravia were part of the Habsburg held Bohemia, but I'm not sure…

The contemporary iconography is sparse, so I think it's safe to asume that their dress was german in style.

I get it. What about their equipment? Would the imperial regulations of 1570 also be enforced on the lands of the bohemian crown?

It is a far from safe assumption to assume German style dress simply because a duchy or kingdom was held by the Habsburgs or part of the HRE. The issue of fashion is much more complex than that. Ethnic group, social status and time period all had significant impact on the apperance of the inhabitants.

For example Silesia was allways the most Germanized of the the two since there had been huge German imigration to make up for population losses caused by the plauge and hussite wars. The native Silesians would become a minority during this period and much more readily adopted German language, culture and dress. The Kingdom of Bohemia of which Moravia was a part was a very diffrent matter since the native population was the majority and had their own strong cultural background. Images from earlier on in the period show civilian and military men from Bohemia in their own distinctive dress which looks very ungerman. Even as late as 1577 the lower classes are still depicted in clothing which shows little of German styles.

Daniel, where are the 1577 bohemians depicted? Aldo, would the Imperial Military regulations of 1570 be Aldo válido for Bohemia?

link book was published in 1577 but the images are probably a bit older in some cases.

You can see how the dress has progressed since Erhard Schön drew this Bohemian captain and his escort

In theory the 1570 HRE regulations applied to all troops raised for Imperial service inside the HRE including Bohemia. In practice the regulations and equipment would be determined by the negotiations between the military contractor(s) and those that raised the troops.

Thank you, Daniel!