"Any reference material on the katzbalger?" Topic

For those that haven't seen them:
Two soldiers in battle at Old Älvsborg Castle in 1502, Västergötland, Sweden, by Paul Dolnstein
Five Lansquenets and an Oriental on Horseback, by Albrecht Dürer, 1495. (Is this the one you mean?)

Druzhina
15th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

The picture of the battle near Nürnberg 1502 brought to our attention recently by Daniel also includes some clear pictures of sidearms that do look like Katzbalger.

The depiction of Schoenberg 1504 is less clear, though some of the German infantry seem to have Katzbalger.

Afaik there are no other (?) depictions of Landsknechts in their early stage, between 1487 and the Swabian war, when they seem to have used these as standard.

Landsknecht und Tod, by Holzchnitt, 1504

p424, Der Landsknecht im Spiegel der Renaissancegraphik um 1500-1540 by Brigit von Seggern (7.8MB)

There are plenty of mentions of katzbalger in the German text.

Druzhina
16th Century Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

Indeed. But the very title – 1500-1540 – already makes clear that earlier depictions of Landsknechts are rare to non-existant. When they do show up, the Landsknechts already wear that distinctive sword, though in some (few) of it early forms (before 1510) it looks to me like they are slightly different forms (more open handguard, slightly longer).

At one point she mentions one work on arms that claims Katzbalger were only introduced in 1520, but at the same time dismisses this as Katzbalger are clearly shown on many earlier depictions. There is, however, no part on the previous history of this swordtype in this work.

I should have written "by unknown", rather than Holzchnitt.

Druzhina
Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers