Landsknecht were German hired infantry of the Renaissance. The term was first introduced into use around 1470 by Peter van Hagenbach, the chronicler of the Burgundian duke Carl the Bold.
Origin
The military historian Hans Delbrück wrote that the word Landsknecht first occurs under the year 1417 in the Chronicle of the Land of Prussia, Johann von Posilge, and means policeman, bailiff, court messenger, equestrian or foot gendarme who also performs military functions.
The first Landsknecht troops were recruited between 1482 and 1486 by the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian I Hapsburg. According to the 19th century Austrian historian Wendelin Böheim, they were originally formed from the free inhabitants of Swabia, Allgäu and Tyrol, according to the German military historian Hans Delbrück, they also consisted of natives of the Netherlands and Switzerland.
Landsknechts were hired mainly from representatives of the lower class (poor), as opposed to knights – nobles , although the latter often held the posts of senior officers in Landsknecht formations. In addition, the Landsknechts were a kind of “German response” to the Swiss infantry.
It is worth noting the dislike of the Landsknechts towards the Swiss, as a result of which both of them, fighting with each other, did not take prisoners instead they killed them.
It should be noted that the looting was partly due to the lack of a supply system in the armies of that era, which appeared in its embryonic form during the Thirty Years War. Thus, the only way to provide the army with food was its removal from the population.
It was believed that the Landsknecht earned a month more than the peasant for the year. Landsknechts, who fought in the first rows for double salary, were called doppelzoldner.
They became widespread in Europe from the end of the 15th century. until the beginning of the XVIII century. They were a transitional link from the knightly cavalry of the Middle Ages to the regular armies of the new time.
Organization
The Landsknecht detachment was usually called a company. The number of these companies, in contrast to modern companies, could reach several hundred or even thousands of people.
The company was headed by a captain who was a senior commander and treasurer of the company, whose task was to find a tenant, conclude an advantageous contract with him and distribute payment among company members in accordance with their position and merit. The captain established the company’s charter – a set of disciplinary rules, defining the duties and responsibilities of company members; he was the supreme judge who sentenced for violations of these rules.
Discipline in the company was supported by harsh measures – corporal punishment (for violation of subordination), and in the case of serious crimes (flight from the battlefield ) the death penalty. Punishments were imposed by the captain and usually carried out before the general system they served as a means of educating not only the punished, but also the entire company. As performers they were special military executioners. Robbery of civilians or military prisoners was not considered a great sin, and sometimes the city taken by storm was given for a few days “to the looting ” of the company, as a reward.
Sometimes the captain appointed himself one or more assistants – lieutenants. Depending on the size of the company, it could be split up into smaller units headed by commanders of lower ranks – sergeants, corporals, sergeant frontiers. The leaders of the companies were also called condottieri (from the Italian. Condotta “contract of employment”). Representatives of the highest aristocracy of the nobility often acted as condoteurs.
Monarchs, large feudal lords, and free cities acted as employers of landsknecht companies.
The supply of the company was provided, as a rule, by markers – traders specializing in the sale of various goods to mercenaries. Landsknechts earned well and did not save, so this trade was very profitable, and there was no shortage. The campaign followed the company with a large wagon train, in which there were merchants with goods, artisans serving the Landsknechts ( gunsmiths , tailors , shoemakers , barbers , etc.), mobile brothels , wagons with the personal property of Landsknechts and even with their families.
In spite of all the costs, the hired troops of the Landsknechts in the period of the disintegration of the feudal society turned out to be more effective than the striking force of the feudal forces – the knightly cavalry.
Sources:
A. Agapeev. Experience of the history of the development of the strategy and tactics of mercenary and permanent armies of new states
Beheim Vendalen . Encyclopedia of weapons
Delbrück H. G. The history of military art in the framework of political history
Dougherty, Martin J. Middle Ages. Art of War
Efimov S.V., Rymsha S.S. Weapons of Western Europe of the XV-XVII centuries. – Volume 1