The armored
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The armored (also: The Torgauer armored ) are the oldest electorally privileged vigilante group ( citizen pike company ) in Germany, they were first mentioned on April 11, 1344 in an agreement on the city union of the three Saxon cities Torgau , Oschatz and Grimma to jointly fight the gang violence .
On the orders of Elector Johann Friedrich , 128 men from Torgau armed vigilante groups, 50 of them mounted, moved out to the occupation of Wurzens on March 21, 1542 in order to collect aid to finance the war against the Turks, which Wurzen, which belonged to the diocese of Meißen , did not want to pay (" Turkish tax "). The Wurzen feud was bloodless thanks to the arbitration between Landgrave Philipp von Hessen and Martin Luther . At Easter 1542, after the successful arbitration, the armored people moved to Torgau. On the way back, and when they arrived in Torgau, they were treated to Easter flatbreads, which is why the Wurzener feud was also nicknamed " Fladenkrieg ".
In 1543, at the request of the participants in the exodus to Wurzen, the elector Johann Friedrich gave the armor and equipment he had provided to the Torgau vigilante group with the privilege of granting an annual public festival ( exodus festival ) with armor exercises to commemorate the Wurzen feud and its bloodless outcome to celebrate. The move-out festival was celebrated annually until 1791, then every two years. In 1824 it was finally decided that the move-out festival should be celebrated every two years from the Thursday after Pentecost. Originally, two parties were formed during the weapons exercises that were part of the parade party, one of which had to "storm" the tent city that had been set up.
A contingent of 700 men, armor and riflemen was sent out in 1546 to defend Wittenberg and to take part in the Schmalkaldic War . After returning from the lost battle of Mühlberg , some of the fighters at Großtreben lay in an ambush and attacked boats traveling to Wittenberg, which were carrying a papal envoy with money and letters. The ambassadors were all slain, but the boatmen were released. Only one alleged perpetrator, the electoral gunsmith Melchior, was caught and executed.
From around 1700 the armor company became a pure parade troop, which had to act on all festive occasions, princely weddings, etc.