"Burgundian household infantry in 1476?" Topic

I have at last acquired a copy of Ian Heath's classic Armies of the Middle Ages (volume 1), and yesterday I was reading through the description of Burgundian household troops of Charles the Bold in 1476.

The household troops are listed as consisting of men-at-arms, archers and infantry. The infantry element is listed as consisting of 4 ordinary household infantry companies and 4 extraordinary household infantry companies, with a total strenght of 736 men.

No mention of the armament of these infantry companies is made, and I cannot recall having seen such in other easily available sources. Anybody aware of some primary sources of interest?

Some wargame army list authors seem to think that they were armed with polearms, which might make sense if they were employed in a ceremonial guard role. However, there were also significant numbers of men-at-arms available in the household who could handle such roles (and some of them formed the ducal banner guard in combat).

Also, polearms did not seem to have been held in particular importance as infantry armament by the Burgundians at the time, with the infantry element in ordonnance companies being officially an even mixture of pikes, crossbows and handguns (though dismounted cavalrymen might employ a polearm for melee combat).

So anybody having more detailed information about the armament of this household infantry element? Or lacking such information, what would be your educated guess for the armament?

Hi
Try this article – if its the right one that I have logged – struggling to open it today to double check.

link

If I recall correctly the Household Guard under Charles the Bold, was a 50:50 split between longbows and polearms?
Hope it helps,
Simon.

Thanks for linking that interesting article, painterman! However, it only mentions the men-at-arms and archer elements of the household, but makes no mention of the household infantry companies.

If I recall correctly the Household Guard under Charles the Bold, was a 50:50 split between longbows and polearms?

For clarification, according to Ian Heath, in May 1476 the household troops consisted of:
- 440-480 men-at-arms (organised into 8 squadrons and a separate banner guard)
- 780 mounted archers (organised into 8 companies)
- 736 infantry (organised into 8 companies)

I don't think that there is any major doubt into how the men-at-arms or mounted archers were equipped. However, it is unclear to me how the infantry contingent were equipped.

Yes, several wargame army list authors have speculated them to be all armed with polearms, but I have not yet seen actual historical source for such assumption – plus such an armament choice would not be in line with how the infantry contingent of the ordinance companies was armed.

If you know of an actual source that would suggest the polearm armament, I would be interested to hear more about it.

736 infantry (organised into 8 companies)

Four "ordinary" and four "extraordinary" companies (from a May 1476 listing in Richard Vaughan's "Charles the Bold").

I have vague memory of a Funcken illustration of a guardsman with bill or glaive, Burgundian cross on his chest – but no idea of whether it had any decent source.

Pikes maybe?

I guess the realistic primary weapon options for the infantry companies would be pikes, polearms, crossbows or handguns, or some mixture of them.

Would these companies be the ones where many rules usually allow a 'stand' of ordonnance archers behind a 'stand' of pike? Could this be a Flemish influence – the Burgundians did borrow the 'best' ideas from many armies? So, pike-trained in these infantry companies?

The pikemen and archers in ordonnance companies were expected to be trained to operate in combined units, with the pikemen in front and archers behind firing over them.

However, only one third of the infantry contingent of ordonnance companies consisted of pikemen, with the rest armed with crossbows and handguns. So it might well be that the household infantry companies were not all armed in the same manner.

In Schilling's first or so-called 'Zurich chronicle' Charles the Bold is shown advancing with his troops, escorted by four archers on foot wearing short puff-sleeved jacks or arming doublets with the red cross of Burgundy on breast and back, sallets and tight hose. Two carry bows and two glaives or spears.

In the 'Berne chronicle' this scene is repealed, the archers wearing the same except for small caps with a single plume and – a detail odd enough to be convincing – their hose rolled up to below the knees (perhaps footless hose rolled up for marching?) All four carry tasselled spears or glaives. These may well be Charles's English archers, who stuck close to him through thick and thin.

Or perhaps the glaives are weapons of the household infantry?

From link

Until we know better, the option to field the available weapons ought to be allowed for. Missile troops seem to predominate at the "cutting edge" of "regular" troops. Medieval traditions still typify the main mass of "levied" troops….

Interesting finding GurKhan, though I am not sure I would take Swiss illustrators as a source of detailed information on Burgundian organisation. Granted, those chronicles are very nicely illustrated, and the illustrations were made relatively close to the actual events.

It is also worth noticing that apparently only a portion of the household troops were actually designated as guards.