"Which troop types wore cassocks?" Topic

Looking at the painting of Charles II leaving The Netherlands for England in May 1660, the musketeers have cassocks with unbuttoned sleeves (leaving the sleeves hanging down at their backs). I have also seen illustrations showing this garment worn this way by cavalry and infantry musicians.

Was the cassock – or this particular method of wearing it, with the sleeves unbuttoned – unique to these troop types, or did pikemen have them as well? I could see how the hanging sleeves might be an encumbrance to the pike, but would that also not be true for musketeers?

Dragoons and some other cavalry had firearms and would need to have them protected from the elements just like a musketeer.

Slit sleeves are called 'Albanian sleeves'. They start, at least as early as the 15th century, perhaps in the Balkans, with a slit at the elbow so that the forearm can be put through the slit. It soon developed as a fashion with longer slits. See Sultan Mehmed II smelling a rose by Nakkaş, Sinan Bey, end of 15th century

MIRROR SITE
Sultan Mehmed II smelling a rose by Nakkaş, Sinan Bey, end of 15th century

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

Albanian sleeves with mittens in William Caoursin's Obsidionis Rhodie Urbis Descriptio, 1496.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Ottoman Costume & Soldiers

I can say from practical experience as a re-enactor that a cassack is a liability in melee. The loose cut of the coat and the splits (mine is a riding coat that unbuttons and rebuttons as a cloak) means that it catches on everything. Not good in a real melee.

Re-enactor Musketeers keep locks and pans dry by wrapping them in cloth or spinning the gun so the pan is facing down and is under the armpit. Obviously this is with an unloaded gun. As a result a cassack isn't needed.

Cavalry and senior officers might not have the same issues and wearing them in camp wouldn't be an issue. My view is that the rank and file wouldn't have them. There is no record of their issue and as noted above they can be a liability in melee.

If the infantry and trooper where lucky they may have a Dutch coat, a larger and longer coat with or with out bucket sleeves.
Late Civil War and Restoration.

I can say from practical experience as a re-enactor that a cassack is a liability in melee. The loose cut of the coat and the splits (mine is a riding coat that unbuttons and rebuttons as a cloak) means that it catches on everything. Not good in a real melee.

That would have been my perception – hence the question about pikmen – although loading/firing a matchlock with the sleeves flapping about would also have been hazardous I would have thought.

It appears the troops in the painting are Dutch, not English (which explains the helmets on the musketeers). Possibly they wore more elaborate uniforms than they would in battle as this was a State occasion?

Cassacks were more of a wet weather cloting for cavalry. Fairfax' and Cromwell's Guard wore them- and carried Halberds I think- for ceremony. ANd of course they famously were turned into tabards by Hollywod for rench musketeers

So, essentialy posh cavalry or bodyguards for the ECW

and yes, the chaps in Holland are Dutch civic guard- much to the confusion of books about the Foot Guards.

As indeed are te chaps in te other famous picture- the one with buff coats