ROFUR-FLAGS 
Des Drapeaux, Etandards
et Fanions
1:72nd
scale High Quality
Banners, Colours, Flags, Standards, Pennons,
Guidons
1:72nd
scale
Late
Medieval, Renaissance / Landskenets /
Habsburg Empire 15th
- 16th century Swiss cantons, Burgundian wars,
German peasant´s
uprisings, Hussite wars
Last updated May 5th, 2007
Flags
series conceived together with
Thomas Willers, Germany.
Swiss Cantons / Burgundian Wars / Swiss Infantry / Wars against the Habsburg Empire
1385 the Swiss confederation had to defend against Imperial Habsburg troops who threatened their frontiers. After the Swiss had destroyed several castles, count Leopold III. of Austria mobilised an army of 4000 men - local Levys and Italian mercenarys - to march against Luzern. At the Sempach mountain pass they were confronted with 2000 men of the Swiss confederation.
Count Leopold was slain together with 600 of his knights and several hundred men of his levys. The victory of the swiss made clear that disciplined pikemen were able to defeat heavy armoured cavalry which hitherto had dominated the battlefields.
The Sempach victory ended the Domination
of the Habsburg Empire in the Austrian frontier area and made the
Swiss independent from the Habsburg reign.
Swiss infantry with their distinctive long pikes and disciplined fighting spirit became the most asked for mercenaries within whole Europe. They named themselves "Knechte" or "Reisläufer" whereas "Landsknechte" was how the German mercenaries called themselves.
When Charles the Bold of Burgundy
tried to incorporate Lothringen into a "Great-Burgundian Empire"
reaching from the Alpes mountains to the North Sea, he collided
with the Swiss and the king of France.
Burgundian troops were
heavily defeated at Granson 1476, at Murten and Nancy 1477. The
death of Charles the Bold at the battle of Nancy ended the war.
1/72-55a:
Swiss confederation and Burgundy 1476/77
Burgundian
Infantry 1450-1500 / Burgundian cavalry: banner of Louis de Chalons-Chateauguyon,
captured by the Swiss at the battle of Granson 1476 / Burgundian
infantry and cavalry 1450-1500 /
Swiss:
canton Uri cavalry
and infantry banner / Basel cavalry and infantry banner / Zürich
levy banner / Appenzell levy infantry banner.
1/72-57a:
Swiss Cantons ca. 1476 - 1530
Zürich levy,
banner for musketeers and crossbowmen fähnlein / Appenzell
canton, Infantry banner / Bern canton, Infantry and cavalry banner
/ Bern canton, Infantry banner / Uri canton, infantry banner from
end of 14th century on / Swiss confederation cavalry flag / Fribourg,
musketeers and crossbowmen fähnlein flag.
A suitable figure
to use as a cavalry enseign will be found in the KAMAR-Zinnfiguren
set
"Schweizerische Reiterei bei Nancy 1477
ma-008"
The Holy Roman Empire of German Nation under the reign of Emperor Maximilian I. of Habsburg (Reigned 1493 - 1519) and under his successor Emperor Charles V. of Habsburg (Reigned 1520 - 1556).
Germany under the reign of the Habsburgers.
1440 Albrecht II. of Austria is crowned
Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, now named Frederic III. of Habsburg.
The
Empire had to defend its eastern frontiers against attacks of local
Hungarian and Bohemian kings. Also territory was lost to Burgundy.
Within the Empire´s frontiers, many a local nobility fought
for domination, they robbed and suppressed the people. Longterm
economic changes which already had begun about more than 100 years
ago had confused the structures of European societys. Powerty spread
among the ordinary people. With the domination of money economy
especially the nobleman as a knight had lost the basis of existence
when conflicts more and more were fought with hired mercenaries.
This was the case predomenantly with the lower nobility who often
had no other possibility to survive than to become a robber-baron.
Rulers
and towns united in alliances, for example the "Schwäbischen Bund"
(Suebian confederancy) to fight the castles of those knights who
offended the law.
1484-1490 Turkish troops took Vienna and parts
of Lower Austria.
At last, Frederic III. by arrangements of
marriage and heriditary contracts managed to set the basis for a
"Holy Roman Empire of German Nation" of which Hungaria,
Austria, Bohemia and Burgundy will be part and within which "the
sun never sets".
Die Regns of the Habsburg Emperors:
Frederik III. 1440-1493
Maximilian I. 1493-1519
Charles V. 1519-1556
Ferdinand I. 1556-1564
Unter thr reign of Karl V. Spain
and Spanish troops becomes more dominant within the Empire and its
wars. The old conflict with France and Burgundy affecting the posession
of North Italian territory leads to the war against the French king
Franz I. from 1521 to 1526. To a great part, the fights were fought
with the help of Swiss and German mercenaries. The French were beaten
at Pavia 1525.
With the help of changing alliances, the Empire
saw further campaigns against France. At the same time within the
Empire´s frontiers itself arose an opposition against the
Catholic Habsburg Emperor: Protestant rulers, together with some
of the mighty towns, associated within a Liga and were confronted
and beaten by imperial and papal troops 1546/47.
After the protestant
Counts allied with Henry II. of France, Charles V. had to leave
the throne. He was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand whereas his
son Philipp II. of Habsburg
was given the Spanish territories. The Empire had fallen apart.
The German Landskenets
1/72-158, 1/72-159, 1/72-160,
1/72-164
The German Landskenets.
After defeating the Habsburg Army cavalry at the battle of Sempach 1386 - the first time that men on foot successfully fought against armoured mounted troops - Swiss infantry became the most asked for mercenaries in the European states during the rest of the 14th and during the 15th century.
Nevertheless, as they fought for nothing but money when in the service of foreign kings or dukes, they used to leave the battlefield when their payment did not arrive in time.
The Army of the Holy Roman Empire dominated by the Habsburg Emperors during that period, consisted of mercenaries from different European regions. These men were not always confident, even when properly payed, and they often were ill-disciplined.
Emperor Maximilian was convinced that infantry established of mercenaries coming from Germany itself could be as effective as the Swiss, when carefully trained. During his reign from 1493 to 1519 the German Landsknechts became an efficient infantry after the Swiss model, composed of men armed with long pikes, swords and muskets and lead by capable commanders like the famous Georg von Frundsberg. Notorious for their "unmodest" colourful and extremely slashed clothing fashion, German Landsknechts were badly criticized by many an authority of church and state.
A Landsknecht regiment was composed of 10 "Fähnlein" (about 400 men each). Each Fähnlein carried a flag, which by this time usually had a short stave and a comparatively large bunting. The flagstave was carried and waved by the fist of one hand.
After victorously fighting for their emperor Karl V. of Habsburg at Marignano, Bicocca and Pavia in the North Italian wars, the German Landsknecht´s fame finally rose over that of the Swiss footsoldier who from now ceased to dominate the European battlefields.
At the end of the first halve of the 16th century with further development of firearms, Landsknechts lost their significance as a factor in battle.
PDF-file
1:72nd scale Landskenets, 9
pages, 891 kb
1/72-158:
Holy Roman
Empire under Maximilian I., 1493 - 1519 (1)
Imperial infantry flag / Suebian infantry flag / German infantry flag / Duchy of Bavaria, Artillerie flag ca. 1500 / Duchy of Bavaria, cavalry flag.
1/72-159: Holy
Roman Empire under Maximilian I., 1493 - 1519 (2)
Imperial Landskenets flags, 3 different
/ Georgs von Frundsberg, knight and imperial leader, personal flag
ca. 1500 / Duchy of Bavaria, cavalry flag ca. 1500 / Imperial cavalry
flag.
1/72-160:
Holy Roman Empire under
Charles V. , 1520 - 1556 (1)
3 different German Landskenets flags
/ Landskenets flag of "lost company" / Imperial cavalry flag.
1/72-161:
Holy Roman Empire under
Charles V. (2). Mixed
Battle of Pavia 1512: Spanish infantry, 2 different flags / Milano Infantry flag / Frannce: 1 infantry and 1 cavalry flag / Holy Roman Empire: cavalry flag.
Peasant´s Uprisings in Germany up to 1525
As in other parts of
Europe and in England, the later medieval and Renaissance period
also saw such uprisings in Germany.
Peasants and Craftsmen pressed
by loss of traditional rights and steadily rising taxes, sometimes
allied with poorer noblemen as Götz von Berlichungen or Franz von Sickingen.
Religious
and charismatic leaders like Thomas Münzer or Martin
Luther supported the rebelling people. At first succesful, the rebellion
failed at last for lack of structure and disciplin, but also for
treaty. Also the Roman Empire together with German rulers had much
more possibilities to afford skilled troops in sufficient numbers.
1525 the peasant´s army was completely slain at Frankenhausen.
1/72-162: 15th/16th
century. German peasants wars
Flag of peasants leader Thomas Müntzer
/ peasant´s "Bundschuh" flag / Nürnberg town infantry
flag / Memmingen town infantry flag / "Georgischild" knights association
flag.
1/72-164: Holy
Roman Empire under Charles V. , 1520 - 1556 (3) Mixed
Imperial Landsknechts flags, 2 different / Memmingen town infantry flag / Bavarian infantry flag / Electorate of Saxony, cavalry flag.
Late medieval flags of the Maximilian I./Charles V. period may be used with: ORION 72002 and 72004 "Landsknechts XVI-XVII cent."
Also suitable to Strelets 15th cent. knights and infantry.
1/72
MINI-ART 72011 German Knights 15th cent.
Hussite Wars 1419-1437
The
development of money economy within Europe lead to revolutionary
changings within the social structures. As powerty was spreading
and hopelessness arose among the ordinary people, religious communitys
different from the official Catholic church dogma were much
sought after. These groops demanded for social egality and the neglection
of a privileged nobility and criticised the Catholic officials for
extensively consuming pleasures of life.
The Clerus reacted by
declaring those who searched for a simple and genuine way of religious
living for heretics. Inquisition was the fate of those who did not
accept papal law.
One of those diffamed as heretic had been
the popular Bohemian preacher John (Jan) Hus who was burnt 1415.
His death lead to a general uprising of his followers. These "Hussites"
with their well-organized army between 1419 and 1437 invaded Austria,
Bavaria, Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.
1/72-163: Hussite
Wars 1419-1437
Crusader´s flag / Bavarian flag / Bohemian flag / Austrian flag / Saxon flag / Hussite cavalry flag / Hussite wagon pennon / Hussite infantry, 2 different flags.
King
Sigismund on campaign against Hussite army 1419-1437
F1:72nd
scale figures painted by Thomas Willers from ZVEZDA 8036 French
Knights
5 pages article
(German), pdf-file 864 kb
Literature
Miller / Embleton: The Swiss at War 1300-1500, Osprey Men-At-Arms Nr. 94, London 1991
Michael / Embleton: Armies of Medieval Burgundy 1364-1477, Osprey Men-At-Arms Nr. 144, London1983
Gerry Embleton: Medieval Military Costume Recreated in Colour Photographs. Europa Militaria Special Nr. 8, Crowood Press 2000
