Gunman

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German Waffenknecht from 1498 ( Albrecht Dürer ). The equipment is the same as that of the half-Uhlan .

Man-at-arms (including helmet , spit or glaive ; Engl . Man-at-arms , Armsman or coistrel , . French Homme d'armes ) was a term from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance has been used to a soldier , almost always a well in Using weapons trained warrior who served as a fully armored heavy rider to draw. The term could refer to knights or nobles , and their retinues or mercenaries among their captains. Such men could serve for pay or by feudal duty.

Development of the armorer

In the early Middle Ages , any well-equipped armored rider could call himself a "knight", or miles in Latin. During the twelfth century, knighthood became a social rank, with a distinction being made between milites gregarii (non-noble horsemen) and milites nobiles (noble knights). Since a fully armored rider of lower social status could not be a knight, a new name for these soldiers was invented. The designation is therefore a military function and not a social status. This development differed in detail and timing across Europe, but from 1300 onwards there was a clear distinction between the military function of the armored man and the social rank of chivalry.

terminology

The German dictionary defines the soldier as: "armed man who is not a knight, mercenary, servant".

In the Middle Ages, a few terms were used for the man in arms: in German Spiess , Helm or Gleve , in French homme d'armes , lance or glaive , in several other countries bacinet . In Italy the name barbuta was used and in 15th century England the men -of-arms were known as man-of-arms (from the 16th century as man-at-arms ) and spears .

The word gendarmerie comes from the French gens d'armes and means "the armed men", literally "people of arms".

The English term Knight for knight was derived from the Old High German and Middle High German word kneht (Knecht), as the knights in England were under much tighter control by the monarchy than those in France or the Holy Roman Empire . The terms "knight" and "man-at-arms" are often used interchangeably in English, but while certainly all English knights were men-at-arms, not all men-at-arms were knights.

At the end of the late Middle Ages and the beginning of the early modern period , the term Waffenknecht changed to Landsknecht or soldier.

Military function

The military function of the armorer was that of a fully armored heavy rider, although in the 14th and 15th centuries he often fought on foot. In the course of the 16th century, men-in-arms increasingly served other military functions, as half-lancers and cuirassiers .

Weapons and armor

During the Middle Ages and up until the Renaissance, armor-men became more expensive and effective. During the 14th century, the armor’s armor was a combination of different materials. A quilted doublet covered the body, limbs and head of chain mail . Over the centuries, plate armor was added to the body and limbs of chain mail . In the 15th century, full plate armor was developed, which reduced the chain mail components to a few flexible reinforcements.

From the 14th to the 16th century, the main weapon of the armored man on horseback was the lance. The fourteenth-century lance was essentially a simple, twelve-foot-long ash spear. In response to the development of improved armor, heavy lances weighing up to 18 kilograms were developed and a new method of attaching the lance to the breastplate - the armor hook ( arrête ). This combination of the heavy lance with the arming hook made it possible for the mounted armorer to achieve a new level of effectiveness on the battlefields of the late 15th and 16th centuries. Not all servants of the 15th century carried a heavy lance.

When fighting on foot, soldiers at first took over their rifles. English men-at-arms in Italy in the 1360s are known to have two men next to them who held the rider's lance. On other occasions, such as at the Battle of Azincourt , men-in-arms shortened their lances to the more manageable size of five feet. In the 15th century, the increased protection of plate armor led to the development of the murder ax, which is especially suitable for ground combat .

Horses

The horse was an essential part of the army's equipment. The type of horse varied depending on the wealth and status of the owner. Andrew Ayton showed in an in-depth study of English warhorses of the 13th and 14th centuries that three genera were predominant; the destrier , the racer and the common horse (lat. equus, fr. chival ). Destriers were rare and expensive, making up about 5% of the army's horses. Ayton also calculated the price of the average horse of a soldier in fourteen campaigns between 1282 and 1364, showing that it varied between £ 7.6 and £ 16.4. In just two campaigns in the mid fourteenth century, the majority of horses cost more than £ 10. The horse was therefore a large item of expenditure in the equipment of the servants. It was taken into account that the horses of the French gendarmes in the middle of the fifteenth century cost six times the monthly salary of their owners. The cost of the horses means that the professional soldier did not want to risk losing his precious steed in battle. A system developed in the 13th century compensated the mercenaries for their dead horses. In England it was named after the Latin name restauro equorum , and similar systems were in use in France and Italy. To secure this insurance system, the gunman had to assess the value of his horse and record details of its appearance. The rating system allowed mercenaries to insist on a minimum value and associated quality. In 14th century England, the minimum value was 100 shillings in most cases.

The armor of the horse

Already at the end of the 13th century, Edward I ordered by decree that all his servants should ride the equus coopertus , i.e. an armored or bearded horse. At that time, the horse's armor was not always made of metal, but often made of leather or quilted fabric. The horse's armor was made of chain mail or brigantine , with plate armor reserved for the skull, in the form of a chamfron . Plate armor for horses was introduced in the 15th century and was a common part of the armory's equipment until the 16th century.

In England

Armor of a soldier from the early 16th century

Social status

The social structure of Anglo-Norman society in England was relatively rigid, but the easiest way for a man to improve his social status was to serve in the army or the clergy. In the Norman states, unlike many other societies of the time, the accolade of men of little birth who had shown bravery and skill was possible on the battlefield. Although rare, some non-aristocratic servants achieved noble status. The accolade of squires and men-in-arms was sometimes done in ignoble fashion, as was customary in the Hundred Years War, simply to increase the number of knights in the army. In the knightly theory, every rider could be awarded the accolade, but this was usually only awarded by princes and the high nobility. It is historically recorded that the great mercenary captain, Sir John Hawkwood, knighted large numbers of his followers, up to twenty per occasion. Attempts to limit the power of commanders in order to strengthen the knights intensified within the 16th century, but by the end of Elizabeth I's reign this practice had become obsolete.

Although knightly bachelors, standard-bearers and noblemen of all classes were generally soldier in the war, the mass of armed men of the 13th century consisted of a developing social class, the gentry . The armorer could be a wealthy merchant of any social origin, but for the most part, his wealth was based on land. Some came from the serjeant class , but during the 14th century they were increasingly replaced by squires. Squires often came from chivalrous families who were rich enough to equip them to be knights but who did not want to bear the costs and responsibilities of that rank. The members of the lowest social class of the gentry, who had been known as gentlemen since the 15th century, also served .

The proportion of knights among the soldiers in arms varied from time to time. Between the 1280s and the 1360s, 20-30% were common. In 1380 there was a rapid decline to 6.5%. A slight increase to 8% was recorded at the Battle of Azincourt , perhaps because a royal army was fighting, but after the numbers continued to decline in 1443, the Duke of Somerset faced only 1.3% knights among his servants.

Terms of Service

The social stratification of the men who served as soldiers in arms can be seen in the amount of their wages. In the mid-1340s, a knight was paid two shillings a day, an ordinary soldier earned half; for comparison: an archer on foot received two or three pence, twelve pennies for one shilling. A man in arms was also paid based on the quality of his first horse if the horse died or fell in battle. An ordinary squire might have a warhorse worth five pounds, while a great nobleman might have a horse up to 100 pounds.

Social status was influenced by the nature of the military service of the man in arms. Garrison duty was seen as unattractive and was often performed by soldiers of lower social status. For example, in 1301 the English garrison in the Scottish town of Roxburgh consisted of only three knights, as opposed to 27 servants of lower social status.

Military role

The last great battle in which the English men-at-arms fought was fought against the Scottish Army in 1547 at the Battle of Pinkie Cleugh . The outnumbered Scottish cavalry were quickly driven out by the English cavalry, as they had been almost completely wiped out in a battle the day before, after which the Scottish pikemen made a concentrated sortie. In order to slow their advance and to give the English infantry more time for their formation, the English heavy cavalry (men-in-arms and half-lancers) were thrown against the pikes. The English cavalry broke into the pikemen, but suffered significant losses. In spite of this, they halted the attack by the Scots, thereby buying the English infantry and artillery time to take up effective positions; the battle ended in a heavy defeat for the Scots. “ To slow their onset and give time for the English infantry to receive them the English heavy horse (men-at-arms and demi-lancers) were thrown against the pikes. The English cavalry crashed into the pikemen with great elan but sustained considerable losses. However, they stopped the Scots attack, buying time for the English infantry and artillery to deploy effectively; the battle resulted in a heavy defeat for the Scots. ”

In France

Fully armored French gendarmes from the Italian Wars (mid-16th century)

French men-in-arms, like elsewhere, were marked by the broad class of gentil hommes . Until the middle of the 14th century they were either accompanied by their feudal lords or as individuals part of the royal army. In 1351, the first of a series of ordonnances was proclaimed in an attempt to organize the soldiers in arms into units of 25 to 80 fighters. The ordonnance of 1363 attempted to create a standing army of 6,000 men in arms, although it was unlikely that the attempt brought together over 3,000 men in arms. In 1445 a radical revision was attempted. 15 companies were formed under the Ordonance, each consisting of 100 lances . Each lance consisted of men in arms, a coutilier , three mounted archers, and a squire . In 1446 the program was expanded by five more companies and resulted in a total of 2,000 men in arms. Eventually the number of these gens d'ordonnance du roi reached under Louis XVI. 15,816 men, including 2,636 soldiers in arms.

16th century

The number of men in arms continued to vary depending on military circumstances until the 16th century. In the first quarter of the century their number varied from 1500 lances in peacetime around 1505 and 3847 lances during the war of 1523. The change was brought about by the drafting and dissolution of entire companies and the varying number of men in ordonnance companies. In 1559, for example, Francis II reduced the number of lances in each company to 20.

In the 1580s, the French gendarme was in decline as a heavy rider armed with a lance. The battle of Coutras on October 20, 1587, between Henry of Navarre and the Duke of Joyeuse , during the Eighth Huguenot War , illustrates the extinction of the heavy Uhlan. Navarre's cavalry were 1,300 pistol shooters, while the royalists under Joyeuse were 2,000 heavy lancers (gendarmes). Within a few minutes of the engagement, the Uhlans were defeated, many of them captured and taken hostage. All later French horsemen under the designation "gendarmes" were lightly armored, ultimately completely unarmored and used firearms and swords, rarely the heavy lance.

Later story

On his accession to the throne, Louis XIV found only eight of the originally over one hundred companies of gendarmes, but after the victory of Fleurus , which was decided by the courage of the latter, he increased their number to sixteen companies. The first four companies were named Gendarmes ecossais , Gendarmes anglais , Gendarmes bourguignons and Gendarmes flamands , after the nationalities of the soldiers who originally made up the companies, but at that time the companies consisted exclusively of French soldiers and officers. These four companies had a captain general, the king. The fifth company was the queen's company and the others were named after the prince who commanded them. These companies were dissolved in 1788.

Development towards paramilitary police violence

A military corps with such duties was first set up in 1337 and was placed under the command of the Connétable of France and therefore named connétablie . After the title of Connétable was abolished in 1626, the corps was placed under the command of the Maréchal of France and renamed the Maréchaussée . The main task of the corps was to protect the streets from snap cocks . In 1720 the maréchaussée was subordinated to the gendarmerie ; after the French Revolution , the maréchaussée was abolished and the gendarmerie took over its duties in 1791.

In Italy

Soldiers in arms formed the core troops of the companies of the Italian condottiere from the 14th century to the 16th century. Although the men-in-arms essentially remained mounted soldiers, they often fought on foot in the 14th century, following the example of the English mercenaries who generally served there from the second half of the century. The system of condotte, or contracts, which gave the condottieri their name, resulted in the establishment of armies of a number of contractors, who usually served under a prime contractor. Perhaps the best known of these is the White Company under Sir John Hawkwood in the 14th century. These companies were divided into lances of three men, actually two fighting men and a squire. Five lances were grouped to form a posta , five of which formed a bandiera .

In the 15th century the structure of the companies changed. A company was divided into a number of squadrons . One of these was the captain's squadron. The squadrons varied in size, but included at least one lance .

In the second half of this century, these structures were supplemented by the practice of hiring individual men-in-arms alongside companies by states, who were then combined by a state commander. These men-in-arms were originally recruited because their commanders were dead or too old and were known as lance speczate, or broken lances. At the same time, changes were seen in the components of the lance . Towards the end of the 15th century, squadrons of men-in-arms were organized into larger formations called columns, which were organized under a condottiero , the colonello. A column usually consisted of eight to ten squadrons.

literature

  • Andrew Ayton: Knights and Warhorses - Military Service and the English Aristocracy under Edward III . Boydell Press, Woodbridge 1994, ISBN 0-85115-739-4 .
  • S. Church, R. Harvey (Eds.): Medieval knighthood V: papers from the sixth Strawberry Hill Conference 1994. Boydell Press, Woodbridge 1994.
  • Philippe Contamine : Was in the Middle Ages . Basil Blackwell, Oxford / New York 1984, ISBN 0-631-13142-6 .
  • S. Cooper: Sir John Hawkwood. Pen & Sword Books, Barnsley 2008.
  • Peter R. Coss: The Knight in Medieval England 1000-1400 . Alan Sutton, Stroud, Gloucestershire 1993, ISBN 0-7509-0996-X .
  • A. Curry (Ed.): Arms, armies and fortifications in the Hundred Years War. Boydell & Brewer, Woodbridge 1994.
  • David Edge, John Miles Paddock: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight . Defoe Pub, London 1988, ISBN 1-870981-00-6 .
  • Kenneth Fowler: The Age of Plantagenet and Valois . Ferndale Editions, London 1980, ISBN 0-905746-09-0 (first edition: 1967).
  • C. Gravett: Tudor Knight. Osprey, Oxford 2006.
  • Michael Edward Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. Bodley Head, London 1974 ISBN 0-370-10502-8 .
  • Charles WC Oman: History of the Art of War in the 16th Century. Greenhill Books (Reprinted 1998, ISBN 0-947898-69-7 ).
  • Paul Martin: Armor and Weapons . Herbert Jenkins, London 1968.
  • David Potter: Renaissance France at War . Boydell, Woodbridge 2008, ISBN 978-1-84383-405-2 .
  • Michael Prestwich: Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. Yale University Press, New Haven 1996, ISBN 0-300-07663-0 .
  • Helen J. Nicholson: Medieval warfare: theory and practice of war in Europe, 300-1500. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
  • Clifford J. Rogers: The Battle of Agincourt. In: LJ Andrew Villalon, Donald J. Kagay (Eds.): The Hundred Years War (Part II): Different Vistas. Brill, Leiden 2008, pp. 37-132.
  • D. Simpkin: The English aristocracy at war: from the Welsh wars of Edward I to the Battle of Bannockburn. Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2008.
  • Malcolm Vale: War and Chivalry. Duckworth, London 1981, ISBN 0-7156-1042-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Waffenknecht  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Church, Harvey: Medieval knighthood V…. P. 51.
  2. ↑ Church, Harvey: Medieval knighthood V…. Pp. 48-49.
  3. ↑ Nicholson: Medieval Warfare: Theory and Practice of War in Europe, 300-1500. 2004, p. 55.
  4. ↑ Waffenknecht. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 27 : W – way [twittering] -zwiesel - (XIII). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1922, Sp. 309 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
  5. ^ Contamine: War in the Middle Ages. 1984, p. 126.
  6. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, pp. 31-32.
  7. ^ OED etymology of man-of-arms
  8. ^ Edge, Paddock: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight. 1988, pp. 68-83.
  9. ^ Edge, Paddock: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight. 1988, pp. 99-118.
  10. ^ Edge, Paddock: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight. 1988, p. 88.
  11. ^ Vale: War and Chivalry. 1981, pp. 114-119.
  12. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, p. 37.
  13. ^ Rogers: The Battle of Agincourt. 2008, pp. 90-91.
  14. ^ Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. 1994, pp. 62-63.
  15. ^ Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. 1994, Table 6.1, p. 195.
  16. ^ Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. 1994, Table 6.2, p. 196.
  17. ^ Vale: War and Chivalry. 1981, p. 126.
  18. ^ Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. 1994, p. 85.
  19. ^ Contamine: War in the Middle Ages. 1984, pp. 130-131.
  20. ^ Ayton: Knights and Warhorses. 1994, pp. 197-198.
  21. ↑ Church, Harvey: Medieval knighthood V…. P. 39.
  22. ^ Edge, Paddock: Arms and Armor of the Medieval Knight. 1988, pp. 61-62.
  23. ^ Martin: Armor and Weapons. 1968, pp. 140-141.
  24. ^ Cooper: Sir John Hawkwood. Pp. 119-120.
  25. ^ Gravett: Tudor Knight. 2006, p. 14.
  26. ↑ Coss: The Knight in Medieval England 1000-1400. 1993, pp. 127-133.
  27. ^ Prestwich: Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. 1996, pp. 51-52.
  28. ^ Curry: Arms, armies and fortifications in the Hundred Years War. P. 24.
  29. ^ Simpkin: The English aristocracy at war: from the Welsh wars of Edward I to the Battle of Bannockburn. Pp. 26-27.
  30. ^ Gravett: Tudor Knight. 2006, pp. 46-47.
  31. ^ Fowler: The Age of Plantagenet and Valois. 1980, pp. 101-102, 134-137.
  32. ↑ Potter: Renaissance France at War. 2008, pp. 80-83.
  33. ^ Oman: History of the Art of War in the 16th Century. P. 475.
  34. ↑ Gendarmerie . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 11 : Franciscans - Gibson . London 1910, p. 573 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
  35. ^ Cooper: Sir John Hawkwood. Pp. 76-81.
  36. ^ Cooper: Sir John Hawkwood. Pp. 76-77.
  37. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, pp. 107-108.
  38. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, pp. 112-113.
  39. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, pp. 148-149.
  40. ↑ Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters. 1974, pp. 150-151.