"Wallenstein uniforms?" Topic

Seems like I remember seeing a post that Wallenstein's infantry had some uniformity in dress but my search of posts didn't turn up anything. Can anyone help with a link?

I doubt that these would be regimental uniforms, so much as tailors who were organized to turn out coats and breeches of the same colour and style for individual companies. The colour would depend on what colour was available in the area at the given time.

Wallensteins whole organization was about his factories supplying his army with all of their equipment.

So whereas Tilly was all for a "ragged soldier but a bright musket", Wallenstein was into making his fortune out of his army.

As he was supplying uniforms to most, if not all of his army, then it is reasonable to assume that bulk buying cloth or dyes in a limited number of colours, makes for good business. So I would expect to see a significant element of uniformity in his infantry.

That could be expressed as jackets all the same, or a mixture of jackets and trousers of a linked colour. Don't forget, after a bit of campaigning, any army maintaining regularity of dress is a bit of a push.

Except that Tilly wasn't for a "ragged soldier but a bright musket", that particular quote was one of many false qoutes that Walter Harte invented for his 1759 biography of Gustavus. An actual look at period sources reveals that not only was it of great concern to Tilly when his men were poorly paid and supplied but also that the Catholic League issued uniforms to it's troops. Indeed so well stocked were the captured Leaguist depots in Würzburg and Munich that they allowed the Swedes to extensivly reclothe and reequip their troops. At the battle of Breitenfeld eyewitnesses noted that Tilly's men were far better dressed than the dusty and worn Swedish infantry.

While Wallensteins industrial plans were ambitious their scope tends to be exaggerated quite a bit. Even on paper he was never able to supply more than a part of his troops from his own factories and he continously bought huge amounts of arms, armour and other equipment for already existing centers of arms trade such as the Netherlands, Suhl and Nürnberg.

The speed at which Wallenstein raised troops also outstriped the rate at which he was able to equip them and we have several eyewitness accounts describing their poor equipment and ragged state of dress. A good example is the Poles who were a bit shocked by the apperance of their allies in 1629.

I am surprised that the Netherlands equipped the Imperialist troops, given that the latter usually seemed to be allied with the Spanish.

"The Netherlands" does not necissarily refer to the Dutch Republic, could just as well be the Spanish Netherlands including the bishopric of Liege, the later was a major source of weapons & armour. And of course "cash was king" even in the 17th Century and unscrupulous arms merchants could well have sold to the Imperial army as long as there was not outright hostillity or a state of war between the Emperor and the United Provinces.

I thought Daniel that the Dutch did allow a certain amount of trading with the enemy in order to help finance the war. Is that a myth, or perhaps simply a reflection of the realities of the limited ability of the Dutch to regulate the activities of their merchants?

The arms trade was fairly well regulated and it was rather difficult if not impossible to hide large scale sales of arms. We do know that merchants sought and were given permission to sell weapons to the Emperor at certain times, notably when Empire was fighting the Ottomans or an Ottoman proxy. Last large scale delivery was an order of 5000 muskets in 1624.

But IMHO it is far liklier that the reference in Wallenstein's records to the Netherlands refer to the Spanish part

Are there any contemporary references to the specific uniform of any regiment or company in Wallensteins army?

Are there any contemporary references to the specific uniform of any regiment or company in Wallensteins army?

Unless it was a guard unit and dressed in its proprietor's livery, the uniform colours would change every few months when the company got new clothes.

No units had the luxury of getting new clothes every few months, not even Royal bodyguards enjoyed such frequent issues of cloth or clothing. If you got more than one set of clothes each year then you were very lucky.

I thought I remembered something about them wearing red stockings?