"German early 16th C "light" cavalry" Topic

Just updated my blog with a short article about the apperance and equipment of the light cavalry in German armies in the first years of the 16th C based on a little known battle painting from 1502. link

Interesting, and thank you for the link!

Good stuff.
Puts me in mind of the Schloss Wolfegg Hausbuch, though there is more of a mix of coloured helmets and plain metal.

One thing which has just occurred to me is that both of these sources show the horses with docked tails. Do I dare take snips to the tails of my horses?

Very good resource. Thanks!

Glad you liked it!

Svampster,
I fully agree about the similarities between the cavalry seen in the 1502 painting and the troopers seen in this

and the other Hausbuch drawings. IMHO they are basicly the same type of cavalry, the only thing that has changed is the style of their equipment. (The Hausbuch shows equipment that is 20 years older and certain pieces such as the "black sallets" were not in use until about a decade after the Hausbuch was made.)

Great find. I did not expect that elaborate paintings of helmets were so widespread. I wonder what type of color they used and wether this was waterproof.

Any chance to get better details of the Landsknechts?

I found the online entry for the object:
link

Slightly better overall quality, but not usable for details.

Edit: and a high quality version with Wikimedia:

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/1502_Die_Schlacht_im_Walde_anagoria.JPG
(without direct link, its big…)

Puster,
If the helmets are actually covered with leather or cloth it becomes easier to decorate the helmet as the dye of the cover would give a base colour while also providing a fundation for addtional painted decorations. According to Tobias Capwell the paint used directly on metal was linseed oil based and combined well with the rough surface of munitions armour. Unfortunately most of these armours that have been preserved have been heavily polished by later day collectors and museum staff to give them the apperance of "white" armour so surviving helmest with original paint or rough surface are very rare.

I plan to cover the Landsknechts in a separate blog post :-)

I'm afraid the photos I took are not always better…

I was also unaware that helmets were used covered, though I must admit that my main interest in the era only starts around 1470, and there are not many clothed helmets. Perhaps they just do not show in the predominant black/white illustrations of the era. I will now be on the lookout for such features, and probably try out some miniatures based on these red/white patterns.

The image shows a good deal of action, and I am not sure how good actual battlefield tactics are represented. On the upper right we do see a line of fully armoured horse, followed and headed by lighter armed cavalry, while the opposing sides is in small bunches of infantry with arquebus, not unlike the tactics attributed to the Spanish at Pavia vs. the French Gensdarmes. I am almost tempted to get me the publications on that engagement (I found three, mostly pre WW1 though) just to check up wether there is anything to match the image against.

I feel with you with the photos. I once managed to make a full set of unusable photos in the arms collection of the Palazzo Ducale in Venice. No image of a combined warmace/pistol (I assume the first shot after hitting an opponent with that one would be quite a risk). :-(

I look forward to your posting on the Landsknechts.

"The image shows a good deal of action, and I am not sure how good actual battlefield tactics are represented."

I suppose things are made worse if it is showing various stages of the action rather than a snapshot of one instant.

Puster,
IMHO the used of covered helmets is one of those things that have been "forgotten" due to a lack of evidence, with the majority of covers removed or lost to rot and old age the only evidence of their presence has been the small holes used to attach the cover. And because so few helmets retain covers images showing them has been dismissed as either being made with artistic licence or as showing equipment not meant for war.

The Hofjagd und Rustkammer in Wien has a few mid-late 16th Century helmets that not only do retain their original covers but also are clearly meant for use in war.
Erzherzog Ferdinand's burgonet dates to 1550:

While Duke Charles of Lorraine's closed helmet is dated to the 1590's:

Here are two drawings from Paulus Hector Mair's fencing manual dated to the 1548-1550 period.

Now that I look for them, eg. the Schloss Wolfegg Hausbuch shows lots of colored helmets. I thought not much about it, except that it was sloppy painting to show helmets in blue/white in extension of eg jacket colours. Now that I am aware of these helm covers it seems just likely that they would extend any colour scheme to them.

I wonder wether there is any intended effect apart from the chance to show colours. Was there any additional protection or temperature regulation?

@Swampster – cramping all the action into one image is certainly not good for authenticity. On the other hand, it was a way of storytelling that was otherwise impossible (or too hard to achieve), and offers us the chance to see several aspects of an event. It probably makes checking the image vs. the actual story easier if knowledge about the event exists.

To continue I found Ottmar Kreppel's book about the battle online at the Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum link
and after a quick read through I can certainly recognise some of the events described during the battle but IMO the painting is more an Impressionistic depiction of the battle that tries to cover numerous events at the same time rather than an attempt at a realistic depiction of formations and tactics.

For example in the battle the Nürnbergers made extensive use of their wagenburgs if I understand things correctly but on the paintings the wagenburg wagons are present but have a decidedly secondary role. Much space is also given to what I interpret as Willibald Pirckheimer's sortie with 800 men yet as I understand it this force never saw action.

At the moment my interpretation of the painting is that that it gives us a valueable look at the apperance and equipment of the troops at the time but little or no tactical data.

Btw, which 3 books on the battle were you able to find?

Naturally the book of Kreppel. Managed to buy a real life exemplar :-)

There is also an article of Kreiner from 1938, so highly suspect for its political underground, and another article on the events leading to the battle by Thiemann, 1928.

Looking a bit deeper, there are many more recources for the battle, which was known to contemporaries as the "Kirchweih von Affalterbach" (which yields better results).

Here is the start of an article of Mario Müller 2009 on the "Art. Kirchweih von Affalterbach", mentioning seven contemporary songs that cover the event:
link

Better yet, the actual Nürnberg chronicles are digitalized unter:
dlib.gnm.de/item/Hs4415/194/html

I just wish I could read that script, but I struggle to realize the actual letters.

I wonder wether there is any intended effect apart from the chance to show colours. Was there any additional protection or temperature regulation?

Showing colours and status was a big deal in the 16th century, as we know.

I presume that they might be of some use in shading the helmet from sun in the summertime, though I have no idea how much practical benefit this would provide. It could be probably tested with a re-enactment helmet and improvised cloth cover.

Against rain, it might be more of a problem than benefit – the cloth would become soaked with water, adding weight and possibly drying slower than the plain helmet itself.

Von Berlichingen's memoirs mention it.
English version here
link