Arcière Life Guard

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Heinrich Ambros Eckert , guard of the Arcièren Body Guard on horseback, around 1835, Art Library - State Museums in Berlin
Franz Zeller Edler von Zellberg , Arcièren Life Guard 1868
Guard Lieutenant (Colonel)
Zentralfriedhof Wien - grave of the major of the Arcièren Life Guard Karl Nawratil von Kronenschild

The Arcièren-Leibgarde (from Italian Arciere - archer, bodyguard) was one of the five guard formations of the Emperor of Austria . The full name was: kk First Arcièren Life Guard. It consisted only of generals, staff and senior officers and was, along with the royal Hungarian bodyguard, the most distinguished of the Austro-Hungarian guards.

Meaning and position

The guard of the dual monarchy Austria-Hungary consisted of:

Originally only semi-invalid officers of noble origin were accepted, and it was not until 1807 that the guard was also open to non-aristocrats. The conditions of admission were very strict. Good looks and a minimum height (174 cm) were required. The aspirant had to be able to point to special merits in front of the enemy, if possible also to wounds, which, however, should not disfigure him. He had to have an excellent job description and be proficient in riding. Unmarried people were preferred. Until 1780 the Catholic creed was required.

The Arcièren Life Guard was not a guard in the sense of the Swiss Guard of the Vatican or the Hundertschweizer (Cent Suisses) of the French King Louis XVI. as most of its members had already reached the more sedate age. ( Colonel-General Viktor Dankl von Krásnik was already 64 years old when he was appointed captain of the Arcièren Life Guard; Field Marshal Lieutenant (referred to as Field Marshal Lieutenant since the spelling reform of 1996 ) Friedrich Karl von Fürstenwärts was only accepted on his 70th birthday.)

The tasks of the unit were of a purely representative nature. It was subordinate to the First Supreme Court Master as the Colonel of all Guards. In Austria-Hungary, the tasks of a guard in the military sense were incumbent on the bodyguard equestrian squadron and the bodyguard infantry company, and to a limited extent also the satellite bodyguard.

Command structure in July 1914

  • Guard captain:
General of the Infantry Friedrich von Beck-Rzikowsky
  • Guard Captain Lieutenant:
Not occupied in August 1914
  • Guard Lieutenant and Guard House Commander:
Field Marshal Lieutenant Friedrich Sachse von Rothenberg
  • Guard Lieutenant:
Field Marshal Lieutenant Ferdinand Ritter von Dondorf
  • Guard sergeant:
Colonel Oliver Anelli-Monti Edler from Vallechiara
Major Adolf Freiherr von Schmysingk called Korff
Major Oskar Ritter d'Elvert
Major Emil Paskovits

history

After the Treaty of Hubertusburg , Maria Theresa set up the Roman-royal Arcièren body guard on horseback (30 men) on August 25, 1763 and the royal aristocratic Arcièren body guard on horseback (50 men) on December 27, 1763 . Both Guard formations were laid after the death of Emperor Franz Stephan to the royal Bohemian and Austrian noble erzherzoglich Arcièrenleibgarde together, which at that time in the Lower Belvedere was housed.

In 1806 the name was changed to the Imperial and Royal First Arcièren Life Guard .

Colonel of all life guards “Sr. Maj. The Emperor and King ”was last Alfred Prince Montenuovo .

The headquarters of the Arcièren Life Guard was in Vienna in the III. Bez., Rennweg 4/6 in the Leibgardekaserne .

On December 29, 1913, the formation had a strength of 38 men.

Batches

The guard consisted only of generals, staff and senior officers with the following batch designation:

Adjustments

Court service adjustment
Parade adjustment
  • It comprised the following outfit for the captain of the guard and the officers of the general rank:
    Helmet with buffalo hair bush, tunic, pantaloons , ankle boots , coat , gloves, saber, saber dome, portepee, armband.
  • For guard officers without general rank, guard charges and guards:
    Helmet with buffalo hair bush, tunic, cartridge with strap, salon trousers, ankle boots, coat, gloves, saber, saber dome, portepee.
"Guard" in court service adjustment

Outfit

  • The helmet
The helmet consisted of the bell with sun and neck umbrella, the double-headed crowned eagle with half-open wings and the ornate coat of arms of the ore house . The material for the helmet was silver , the coat of arms , the helmet cross, and the eagle were made of brass . The helmet was always worn with a white buffalo hair bush so that the eagle was barely visible.
The introduction of the helmet instead of the hat to the court service uniform was approved on July 29, 1850; it was worn from New Year's Day 1851, initially with a white horsehair bush, which was replaced in 1869 by a more elegant, lighter and more durable buffalo hair bush. Trumpeters wore Packfong helmets with a red horsehair bush.
  • The hat
A bordered hat was worn until the silver helmet was introduced in 1850.
On special occasions the captain of the guard wore a black field cap instead of a helmet, like generals of the Austro-Hungarian army . The other officers of the guard had something like the officers of the infantry with gold buttons with a double eagle emblem.
The hat was part of the house uniform. Staff officers and generals wore it with a green ostrich, the rest with a black rooster plume.
  • The court service tunic
According to regulations made of ponceau-red cloth with collar and lapels made of black velvet. Cut and shape like the infantry , but with tapered laps at the front. a row of between nine and twelve gold-plated buttons with the double-headed eagle as an emblem .
The collar, the sleeves and the front parts, as well as the edges and laps of the flaps, were decorated with rich gold embroidery on the captain of the guard and the chief officers .
In the guards and guards, the collar and cuffs of the court service tunic had double gold edging. The two front parts as well as the lower two sleeve halves had a wide trimming of gold braids and tassels.
The epaulettes belonging to the skirt consisted of a plate and armpit plate. The plate was elliptical in shape and decorated with three rows of thick gold bouillons.
Members of the Arcièren bodyguard with the rank of general wore their black tunics with ponceau red equalization, the collar and the cuffs like generals in German uniform . The distinction stars were according to their rank. The guards tunic of the other relatives had an armpit loop like that of the Dragoon officers . They wore the distinctions on their collars corresponding to their army charge in accordance with the adjustment regulations of the army .
  • The trousers
The court service adjustment included trousers made from white American buckskin. They were cut tight on the thighs and buttocks.
  • Boots
High riding boots (shape of the so-called cuirassier boots ) made of fine, black patent leather with soft tubes and caps that reached 16 cm above the knee.
  • saber
The court service saber with a moderately curved blade made of steel without hollow ground, with the etched "All Highest Name" was 82 cm long. The cast bronze vessel basket had multiple openings and showed two griffins carrying the double-headed eagle adorned with the imperial crown . The handle made of beech wood was covered with fish skin. The saber had a scabbard made of polished steel with gold-plated, ornamented fittings. The saber was carried on a brown leather dome . It was trimmed with gold braids and gold-plated buckles. The portepee was like that of the infantry officers . The armband with gold thread was similar to that of the generals in German uniform.
  • coat
The court service uniform included a white cycling coat with a 10 cm wide, red turn-down collar
  • Command stick
A 90 cm long black ebony stick was also part of the court service (but only on foot) as a command stick .
  • cartridge
Guard charges and garden were identified by a cartridge . In shape and size it resembled the cavalry officer's cartridge pouch, but was lined with black velvet. The side walls and the floor were made of wood, covered with silver and fitted with gold-plated brackets and hooks. The Austrian house coat of arms with the imperial crown made of gilded bronze , held by two griffins, was affixed to the cartridge cover . The cartridge was carried by a leather strap which was trimmed with gold and which had a black stripe in the middle.
Uniforms of the life guards of the Emperor of Austria in the HGM (from left to right: ku Leibgarde , Arcièren-Leibgarde, kuk Trabantenleibgarde and kuk Leibgardereitereskadron ).

Museum reception

The very glamorous and correspondingly complex adjustments of the guards are exhibited in the Army History Museum in Vienna. You can see outfits of the Imperial and Royal First Arcièren Life Guard, the Imperial and Royal Bodyguard Rider Squadron and the Imperial and Royal Trabant Bodyguard. At the back of the showcase is a portrait of Colonel General Friedrich Graf Beck-Rzikowsky in the uniform of a captain of the Arcièren Life Guard, a position Beck held from 1906 to 1917, created by Ludwig Koch . Next to the showcase is another painting by the painter Franz Zeller von Zellberg, which shows the Arcièren Life Guards entering their barracks on Rennweg in Vienna. (pictured above)

swell

  • Austrian State Archives / War Archives (Vienna)
  • Complete inventory of the Vienna House, Court and State Archives. Based on the history of the archive and its holdings. Volume 2: History and inventories of the archives of the House of Habsburg-Lothringen, the court staff and the cabinet archive (= inventories of the Viennese house, court and state archives 5. = inventories of Austrian state archives 5, 5). Holzhausen, Vienna 1937, p. 347 ff.

literature

  • Oskar Brüch : The KuK Heer 1895. A series of images (= writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna. Volume 10). Commented by Günter Dirrheimer. 3. Edition. Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1986, ISBN 3-215-05083-8 .
  • Günter Dirrheimer (Ed.): The KK Army in the Biedermeier. New edition of the representation of the Imperial and Royal Austrian Army with all batches in 26 booklets. With an appendix of 20 sheets in folio. Contains the military music bands, artillery coverings, war navy and all the military train. Lithograph bey Joseph Trentsensky in Vienna, 1823. Edition Tusch, Vienna 1975, ISBN 3-85063-047-1 , (facsimile).
  • Dislocation and division of the Austro-Hungarian Army, the Imperial and Royal Navy, the Imperial and Royal Landwehr and the Imperial and Royal Landwehr. In: Seidel's small army scheme. Seidel & Sohn, Vienna 1914, ( 1908 edition; HTML, 81 kB. ).
  • Emil Paskovits: The first Arcier bodyguard of His Majesty the Emperor and King. A look back at its 150 year history. Self-published by the Imperial and Royal First Arcièrenleibgarde, Vienna 1914.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Not meant here as a rank, but as a senior officer
  2. ↑ His Majesty, the Emperor and King - that's the official name
  3. ↑ a b Herbert Klima: The helmet of the Imperial and Royal First Arcier Body Guard. In: Militaria Austriaca. Volume 1, 1977, ZDB -ID 557189-3 , pp. 49-63.
  4. ↑ Johann Christoph Allmayer-Beck : The Army History Museum Vienna. Guide to the museum. Volume 1: The museum, the representation rooms. Kiesel, Salzburg 1981, ISBN 3-7023-0113-5 , p. 29.

Web links

Commons : Arcièren-Leibgarde  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Austro-Hungarian military uniforms  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Commons : Austro-Hungarian military uniforms in details  - collection of images, videos and audio files