"Dutch Infantry Dress" Topic

Reading Ian Heath's Foundry book on the armies of sixteenth century netherlands I found a mentions that in the dutch army under Maurice of Nassau, the Infantrymen were "expected to provide their weapons, clothes, equipment (…)". Can anyone confirm that this was the dutch practice, instead of having the company captain outfitting his company? If so, would the mean that uniformity of dress wouldn't existe in the dutch army of Maurice of Nassau?

In the 16th century this was common in europe. This practice carried on till the early 20th century in the english army.

the new soldier had to buy his uniform and equipment, but could sell his kit after leaving the army.

and we are speaking about a time were uniformes are a very new thing.

Do not overlook the fact that civilian dress did not have a wide range of colour options, at most black, brown, grey and blue. Add a sash to give the unit a military bearing and complete the picture with a flag of the province.

Search for Dutch paintings of the civilian city companies, Rembrandt's Night Watch being the most famous.

Cheers,

Search for Dutch paintings of the civilian city companies, Rembrandt's Night Watch being the most famous.

One of my most favourite Rembrandt works.

But as I understand it, in some armies it would be expected of the captain to purchase clothes for his company, and there are some mentions of uniform cassocks/vestidos de municion being issued to infantry companies – even though those clothes probably didn't last long in a campaign – . So my question would be, would this practice also exist in the dutch army, or would the rule there be that the soldiers would purchase their own clothes?

From the period known as the 80 years war, the Seven Provinces were a confederation governed by the States-General.

This meant the supply and arming of troops would be done at the provincial level as authorized by the "federal government", even under the military reforms of Maurice of Orange-Nassau,.

You could draw a parallel with the 13 colonies making a collective effort to raise and clothes troops for the war against Britain, however, this changed after the 30 years war when Willem III became stadthouder in 1650.

The only use of cassock that I have come across were worn by the mounted guard (troop) of Prince Willem III.

To address your question, "some armies" would have their captains arm and clothes their companies, however, this would be most unlikely for the field army of the Seven Provinces.

This was a period of time when it made good business sense to "hire" mercenaries, armed and clothed at their own expense to fight.

Timurilank, was there any guard unit in the dutch armies of Maurice of Nassau and Frederick Henry who may have had uniforms of some sort?

Guys, does anyone knows if there was any uniformed guard unit in the dutch army of Maurice of Nassau and Frederick Henry?

Search for Dutch paintings of the civilian city companies, Rembrandt's Night Watch being the most famous.

According to folk far more knowledgeable than me on 16th Century art, society, and life in general, there is a caveat concerning such paintings. City militias were drawn from the richer echelons of urban society (hence they could afford men like Rembrandt to depict them) and wealthy organisations such as guilds. Thus, the standards of their clothing, weapons, and equipment, would be higher than those of ordinary soldiers recruited from rural society and the poorer urban populations. So unless these city militias were included in the army, your rank-and-file would look very drab and basic (eg no buff coats for non-officers – and even with them, possibly only for the wealthier ones).