Glaive
In the late Middle Ages, a glaive (also known as a helmet ) was the smallest unit of cavalry , that is, a knight (gleevner) with a three to four-man entourage . The term comes from the French glaive , which in turn is derived from the Latin gladius . The term glaive was only used in the Holy Roman Empire .
construction
A glaive in the Middle Ages consisted of a small group of mounted and unridden men who were experienced in the use of weapons, often servants of a heavily armed knight, the so-called Glevner. It was the knight with a riding horse and a battle horse , a squire and a rifleman, the number of members of the glaive fluctuating considerably. The glaive was not a tactical formation , but was a means of determining the number of men capable of weapons.
Emergence
In the late Middle Ages, when the fiefdom was no longer the basis for the establishment of a military power, what counted was the real property. Secular and spiritual feudal lords had to provide glaive. The electors of the Holy Roman Empire were rated the highest, they had between forty and fifty glaives. The dukes of Bavaria only had to provide eight glaive, while the rich Free City of Nuremberg, for example, had to provide thirty.
The glaive system was introduced in the cities before King Sigismund used it to set up an imperial army. King Sigismund ordered the service for every 20th and 25th man in 1426 and 1431. Militarily, the glaive proved inferior to both the Hussites and the mercenaries . Like the Hussites, glaives were neither inspired by national and religious zeal, nor did they have the financial incentive of mercenaries. In 1467 the glaive system had to be abolished, but other aids were equally ineffective. In addition to citizen groups , the cities raised their own mercenary armies, which seemed to have worked for some time, but also involved risks. The scum of society gathered in these mercenary armies, and morale was seldom high. Since they came from everywhere, they lacked the experience of joint action.
When King Sigismund asked the Diet of Nuremberg in 1426 for an army of 6,000 glaives to fight the Hussites, his vassals simply replied that it was impossible to raise an army of this size in the Holy Roman Empire. And if it could be set up, it would not be able to feed on the resources available in Bohemia . They wanted to provide 3,000 to 4,000 glaives if the cities contributed another 1,000. But the cities claimed that this number was beyond their means. So King Sigismund marched with a smaller army than expected, whose fighting morale was moreover doubtful, to Bohemia towards Aussig on the Elbe , which had remained loyal to the king and was besieged by the Hussites ( Battle of Aussig ). The glaives of the realm shone by their absence. About five years later, the Reichstag decided to erect 8,200 glaives, although in 1426 it was considered impossible to erect 6,000 glaives.
See also
Literature / source
- HW Koch: Illustrated history of military campaigns in the Middle Ages , pp. 170–171, Bechtermünz Verlag, ISBN 3-8289-0321-5
Individual evidence
- ↑ Cf. Georg Liebe: Soldat und Waffenhandwerk , Leipzig 1899, p. 8
- ↑ Joachim Ehlers: Die Ritter , p. 79
- ↑ Cf. Georg Liebe: Soldat und Waffenhandwerk , Leipzig 1899, p. 8