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Balto Slavica > Main forum > History > High Quality/Late Middle Ages (X mid XVII centuries AD)
Landsknechts
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Folkvald
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23.6.2009, 10:36
Message #1
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"Landsknechte" ("Landsknechte", the term was first introduced into use by Peter van Hagenbach, the chronicler of Charles the Bold of Burgundy) literally means "servant of the country".
Hired mainly from the poor in southern Germany, they became famous for their extraordinary clothing and effective combat tactics.
At the zenith of their glory, they were the best military force in Europe.
The appearance of the war was changing, the Burgundian Wars (1476-1477) showed the complete impotence of the knight's cavalry against any well prepared formations of pikemen and new hand guns.
The new mobile infantry landsknechts pikemen in the best traditions of Swiss mercenaries, quickly turned into the main component of mercenary armies throughout Europe.
The battles of the Renaissance were sometimes like a chess game, in which victory and defeat were recognized very quickly, with as little blood as possible.
These gentlemen's agreements soon began to disappear from the battlefield due to the use of tactical tricks, such as ambushes, disguising detachments, disinformation of the enemy, smoke and dust curtains to blind the enemy before a sudden and massive attack, which first appeared and were included in the strategy and combat formations of European armies.
The main force of the Landsknechts were soldiers using pikes (a 14-18 foot long shaft weapon with a 10 inch steel tip), supported by "shock squads" armed with huge two handed zweihander swords (Zweihander, a sword 66 inches long, with a double edged, sometimes wavy blade, weighing 7-14 pounds; such soldiers were called "Soldiers on double pay" - Doppelsoldner - they went on the attack in the first ranks, breaking into the ranks of enemy pikes, breaking them and clearing passages for the main forces) or halberds (pole weapons 6-7 feet long).
In addition, detachments of landsknechts owned arquebuses and various types of heavy artillery.
Using new tactics, they soon earned the respect of their enemies.
Impregnable and impenetrable square formations, bristling in all directions with pikes (copied from the Swiss), rows of soldiers armed with new deadly arquebuses, and a mobile artillery system have become the standard of these new deadly mercenary armies.
The army of Landsknechts was terrifying by its very appearance.
The Swiss mercenaries were formidable warriors who considered a dead enemy a good enemy.
The Swiss reigned on the battlefield for about a century, until a new weapon was introduced light cavalry and arquebuses, which they ignored for some reason.
The supremacy of the Swiss in foot battles finally came to an end in the Battle of Bicoca.
Under the command of Georg van Frundsberg, a contingent of Landsknechts destroyed over 3,000 Swiss mercenaries, using earthworks, exhausting attacks and a new weapon arquebuses.
The clothes of the Landsknechts were the most decorated and provocative during the Renaissance.
The Landsknechts were free from the laws regulating the style and appearance of clothing that other citizens obeyed Maximilian granted them this exemption: "Their life is so short and joyless that gorgeous clothes are one of their few pleasures.
I'm not going to take it away from them."
Their garments were famous for their decoration in the style of "boofs and slits", which arose as a result of cutting through the outer clothing and stuffing the lower layers through these slits.
The sleeves were often theatrically inflated, as were the trousers.
Often their sleeves differed in the palette of colors and the contours of the puffs even from one another!
The pant legs sometimes also differed.
They wore wide flat hats, of enormous size, often decorated with ostrich feathers.
Some wore obscenely huge pouches covering their genitals.
Even their shoes were decorated in the style of slits and boofs.
The external effect often led to a sense of visual distortion.
The style of "boofs and cuts" in clothing was also adopted by other peoples, becoming a common type of jewelry in some parts of Europe.
The English nobility was partially fascinated by"puffs and cuts".
Henry VIII began to dress in this style after seeing the clothes of the landsknechts he hired; in fact, the famous portrait of Henry VIII by Hans Holbein depicts him in a doublet decorated with puffs and slits.
Other portraits of Heinrich depict him wearing what looked like a knee length skirt; he adopted this style from the German military skirts worn by some Landsknechts.
Henry's son, Edward VI and Elizabeth I also dressed in this style.
Men who joined the Landsknecht units usually brought with them a woman who took care of them - a sister, a wife or a daughter.
These women were called "Hure" - literally translated "whore" - but they were not prostitutes, but only camp companions (Kampfrauen).
They took care of the men between battles, and even partially participated in the battles themselves, following the fighters, robbing the dead and finishing off the dying.
Some even helped the gunners, dismantled enemy houses for wood, which was later used for earthworks and fortifications.
Women also adopted the "boofs and slits" style of clothing, although not to the same extent as men dressed.
Their hats were similar to men's.
One characteristic aspect of women's clothing was expressed in the fact that they shortened their skirts, raising the border a few inches from the dirty ground and creating boofs from excess fabric around the hips.
The life of a landsknecht was not easy - the punishments for violating laws and regulations were quick and cruel, the battles were bloody and terrible, and the living conditions were usually uncomfortable.
The main (and only) benefit was the fee: the landsknecht earned more in a month than the farmer earned in a year.
If he survived, he could retire rich.
The development of firearms caused the decline of the power and glory of the landsknechts - dense formations of pikemen.
The wild, unbridled clothes of the Landsknechts disappeared by the second half of the XVI century, and even the word "Landsknecht" is gradually falling out of use, now they were called the Imperial Infantry (Kaiserliche Fussknecht).
Thus ended one of the most famous periods of the military history of Europe.
Zweihander (zweihaender, German for "two hands", also called bidenhainder or bihaender) is a two handed sword of the Renaissance era.
Having appeared in Germany in the 14th century, the Zweichander gained fame during the 16th century as the distinctive weapon of the German Landsknecht since the time of Maximilian I. Zweihanders were supposedly used in the first Landsknecht front lines, where they were used to cut through the ranks of opposing pikemen and spearmen, whose spears presented a difficult barrier to conventional weapons, and especially cavalry.
Perhaps the most famous user of zweihander was Pier Gerlofs Donia, who is believed to have mastered zweihander with such skill, strength, and efficiency that he managed to decapitate many people with one blow.
The Zweichander he owned is on display in the Frisian Museum.
It has a length length of 213 cm and a weight of approximately 6.6 kg.
Technical characteristics of the zweihander The Zweihander was usually up to 180cm long from the base of the pommel to the tip of the blade, with a pancake blade 120-150cm and a hilt 30-45cm long.
The weight of the zweinhander lay in the range from 2kg to 3.2 kg.
However, the ceremonial zweihander, which was unsuitable for combat, could weigh up to 7kg.
However, some zweihanders were shorter.
In earlier versions, in particular, the total length of the sword was often about 150 cm, and the weight was only 1.5 kg.
The features of the zweihander Guard could be simple or decorative, while the hilts usually ended with a heavy pommel in the form of a heart or a pear.
Sometimes the non sharpened part of the blade (heel), or fehlscharfe (German for "lost sharpness") allowed the second hand to grasp the sword below the guard, reducing the grip, as a result of which the zweihander was held on a semblance of a shaft weapon.
This allowed its owner to repel a cavalry attack.
The zweihanders had side rings attached to the hilt, thereby increasing the guard to 35 cm in width.
Along the blade, approximately 10-20cm from the end of the guard, there were "parrying hooks" (parierhaken) designed as protrusions or ridges acting as a guard for the heel of the blade, preventing other weapons from sliding down the blade of the zweihander.
According to the late medieval reports, previously, most types of zweihanders were used to "break through" the formations of pikemen, first breaking the peaks and then hitting the pikemen directly.
Some scholars suggest that this is a modern legend, and that the zweihander was mainly used for demonstration fencing.
But, at least as a legend, the concept of "zweihander" appears at least in the 17th century, if not at the end of the 16th century.
A bizarre description of a zweichander used against a halberd in battle lines appears in a Polish chronicle dated 1597.
The soldiers were trained to use the zweihander (the name Meister des langen Schwertes was provided by the Marx brotherhood), receiving double pay, compared to a regular infantryman, and were called Doppelsoldner ("double mercenaries").
These landsknechts were often used as guards of artillery batteries.
The work "Goliath Fechtbuch" (1510) describes fencing with swords that are comparable in size to a zweichander, but without parrying hooks.
This creates some controversy as to whether Zweichander is depicted in the drawing or not.
Swords are depicted and used in a style similar to the appearance and style of fencing with a one and a half sword.
Although this point of view could be considered controversial, given the fact that both the one and a half sword and the zweichander used the same fencing style, modified for the larger size of the zweichander.
Cutting spades
Katzbalger (katzbalger) - a short one handed sword of the Renaissance, known for its robust construction and the characteristic S - shaped 8 shaped guard.
Measuring 75-85cm long and weighing 1-2 kg, the katzbalger was the distinctive blade of the Landsknechts.
The Katzbalger was designed with a large guard in the form of an eight, which protects the hand in case the opponent's sword slides down the blade.
There are several different versions about the origin of the name "Katzbalger".
One version is that there was a custom to wear a katzbalger without a scabbard, covered only with a cat's skin (the German word "Katze" means "cat", while "Balg" means the skin (fur) of an animal).
In this case, "katzbalger" means a part made from the skin of a cat.
However, this version is unlikely.
Another theory is that the word comes from the German " balgen "("quarrel"), and means an intense melee, reminiscent of a fight between wild cats.
The most common translation of the term "katzbalger" is "koshkoder", with a hint of a cat fight.
The katzbalger was often used by pikemen, archers, and crossbowmen as a "weapon of last resort" in case the enemy came too close, and bows and pikes became ineffective.
http://www.bsmith.ru/ru/katzbalger
Landsknecht Soldier 1486-1560.
Osprey http://ifolder.ru/3204640
New Soldier 62 Landsknechty, 1486-1560
http://www.infanata.org/2007/08/04/novyjj_...y 14861560.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/46803560/ns62.rar http://natahaus.ifolder.ru/2903955
New Soldier 127 German Landsknechts, 1470-1556
http://www.infanata.org/index.php?newsid=1146086673
http://rapidshare.com/files/42393808/ns127.rar http://natahaus.ifolder.ru/2644873
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Might is Right
"The people of Moscow are by nature proud and arrogant; since they prefer their Prince to all Sovereigns, they also consider themselves above all other peoples" The beginning and rise of Muscovy.
The work of Daniel, Prince of Bukhov
We have a White king over the kings, the king of the Pigeon (Deep) book
Thank you said:Alaric, DaoiCarpates, Lynx, Magdalena, Volgost, Gloomy,
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23.6.2009, 10:42
Message #2
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Battle of Pavia
New Soldier 180 Battle of Pavia, 1525 The triumph of the German Landsknechts
http://www.infanata.org/society/history/11...pavii 1525.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/91159369/vians180.rar http://natahaus.ifolder.ru/5333414
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http://folkvald.livejournal.com/
Might is Right
"The people of Moscow are by nature proud and arrogant; since they prefer their Prince to all Sovereigns, they also consider themselves above all other peoples" The beginning and rise of Muscovy.
The work of Daniel, Prince of Bukhov
We have a White king over the kings, the king of the Pigeon (Deep) book
Thank you said:DaoiCarpates, Skalagrim, Volgost, Transnistrian,
Pridnestrovian
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23.6.2009, 14:37
Message #3
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Quote The main strength of the Landsknechts were soldiers using pikes (a 14-18 foot long shaft weapon with a 10 inch steel
If you mean the English foot, then 5 meter peaks are impressive.
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16.9.2009, 16:14
Message #4
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S. E. Alexandrov.
German mercenary of the late XV mid XVII centuries: facets of mentality.
The object of research of this article is the group consciousness of the members of the mercenary corporation, their self perception, worldview, ideology.
The study of this subject gives an idea of the mentality of the German mercenary of the late XV mid XVII centuries, as well as allows you to imagine the actual face of the military community, formed under the direct influence of corporate consciousness.
Every mercenary, landsknecht, both in his own eyes and in the eyes of society, was first of all a member of the military community, a powerful, numerous corporation, outside of which he did not think of himself, and outside of which he was not considered by society.
A vivid and illustrative example of the manifestation of the corporate spirit is provided by the analysis of the famous battle songs of the Landsknechts.
None of them contains any mention of the private military merits of individual personalities (let's compare it with the heroic epic of the previous period, for example, with the "Song of Roland", etc.).
We are always talking only about the anonymous mass of soldiers who fought there and accomplished something.
Fame becomes depersonalized, becomes the property of the entire squad, and, ultimately, of the entire corporation.
The early panegyrics of the most revered and famous leaders are no exception, since the military commander (at least in the songs) is always understood more as the "first landsknecht", a kind of symbol of the entire community, whose merits equally belonged to everyone, rather than as a specific person.
The emergence of corporate identity is traditionally associated either with the manifestation of community principles introduced into the army by recent villagers, or with a similar borrowing of the guild principles of urban craft.
Of course, the new structure in the strictly corporatized society of the early Modern period could not but take the same corporate form.
The corporation, a kind of quasi ideology of mercenaries, adopted many other features inherent in traditional social groups of feudal society, and, in this sense, both sources of personnel had their impact, however, a much greater role in the formation of a specific corporate spirit was played rather by the tactical factor.
The conceptual revolution in military affairs, which made wars large scale, and the military craft mass, required the introduction of rigidly organized tactical units in both infantry and cavalry.
Since the last third of the XV century, the conduct of war for the first time in several hundred years has again become a truly collective matter.
A single kriegsknecht or reitar, unlike a knight, was not an independent combat unit and alone, due to much weaker individual training, was worth little, while together with his comrades, in a combat formation or at a general gathering, he could [83] quite successfully resist the pressure of both an external, "official" enemy and internal — his own military authorities, the struggle with which, similar to the struggle of any hired workers for their rights, required no less cohesion from the rank and file.
In such conditions, the German mercenaries naturally had to realize themselves as a single community with their own rules, customs and norms of behavior.
The corporate spirit of mercenaries of other nationalities was formed in a similar way, however, in this case, another unique circumstance had a significant impact — the long term presence of a partly systematically developed, partly independently developed ideology in the field of group consciousness.
It was originally based on four fundamental principles.
Maximilian I of Habsburg, creating a new military community on the basis of the Upper German militia, tried to find a strong support in it both in foreign and domestic politics.
Therefore, the first point of the ideology of the Landsknechts was the necessary loyalty to the empire and the emperor.
The second, since the new army had to be made attractive to the widest segments of the population, including the nobility, who treated service in the infantry with understandable disdain, was the idea of "chivalry" of these troops.
The third basic principle was the idea of military brotherhood, which is necessary to ensure the internal unity of a very diverse contingent.
The fourth was the declaration of" piety " of the Landsknechts, which was supposed to indicate the religious and spiritual unity of the corporation.
These ideas were brought together by the concept of the "Order of Landsknechts" assigned by the Soldners.
The real Order of the Landsknechts the fruit of Maximilian I's unsuccessful attempt to create a secular knightly order had little in common with everyday military practice.
However, he, or rather his ideal and very distorted reflection, existed in the minds of the Knechts, was the basis of their self representation and self identification.
It should be noted that the true essence of the real knightly order of the Landsknechts, mostly people of common origin, did not understand and could not understand, and its elite, closed character was perceived by them rather by a closer analogy with the usual spiritual orders.
Thus, the famous Nuremberg beggar poet and singer of the beginning of the XVI century, a former landsknecht who lost his sight in battle, Jorg Graff, in his "Song about the order of military People" very clearly indicated the connection of the latter with the monastic order, and the style of presentation of Graff is very similar to the style of the monastic charter.1) It was in this very peculiar way that the military initially represented their community, since they simply did not know any other classification options for a completely new education for Europe at that time.
Such an understanding of the Order, which has been repeatedly sung in military folklore, albeit from a somewhat ironic angle, has so firmly entered the consciousness of contemporaries that such prominent [84] humanist scientists as Sebastian Frank, Johann Fugger and Paracelsus, when talking about it, clothe the ideal substance in flesh, understanding the Order as a "military estate", "a corporation of military mercenaries".
With the rebirth of the militia, as which the regions of the Landsknechts were originally created, into the troops of free mercenaries, the original ideology did not immediately and not completely lose its relevance, completely losing only the first of its four main pillars, namely, the idea of serving exclusively the interests of the emperor and the empire, in the specific historical conditions of Germany of the late XV mid XVII centuries.
For the military, who are forced to sell the sword to anyone who wants y, it has become completely unacceptable.
However, in other respects, the original ideology, somewhat transformed, fully met the interests of the Soldners.
The transformation of the ideology of the "defenders of the fatherland" into the ideology of mercenaries occurred almost imperceptibly and painlessly, although such a coup could not but lead to the gradual destruction of the order's idea as the core of the worldview.
The idea of brotherhood, which is vital for the very existence of the corporation, turned out to be especially relevant.
It was preserved in the first half of the XVII century, when the Order was no longer remembered.
Even after raising a riot and expelling the appointed commanders, the mercenaries did not lose unity, maintaining the same organizational forms.
Georg von Frundsberg, one of the first and most famous oberst Landsknechts, who was revered by them as a father, took the order's idea very seriously and called his soldiers nothing but "beloved sons and brothers".
Before the battle of Pavia, he put on a Franciscan cassock over his armor, 2) to show both his fighters and enemies that he considers himself only a poor warrior, one of many brothers of the order.
However, quite quickly the leaders of the mercenaries lost fraternal feelings towards their subordinates, which was mutual, since the appetites of the former in obtaining income in any way constantly increased, directly affecting the interests of the rank and file, and both sides understood perfectly that the antagonism between the entrepreneur, namely, military leaders played such a role, and hired workers does not allow for any fraternal agreement.
Thus, the brotherhood closed itself into a circle of privates and rottmeisters elected by them, the lowest command staff.
The leaders of the mercenaries, however, constantly appealed in their appeals to the army to the order, the corporate identity of the Kriegsknechts, believing in it, as Frundsberg believed, quite rarely, but much more often openly speculating.
In any case, they tried to ignite hearts by talking about loyalty first to the emperor, and, later, to any other employer, about military brotherhood, about the chivalry of battle and the honor of the corporation.
The words "beloved honest landsknechts "("liebe ehrlichen Landsknechte") and"brothers" ("die Brüder"), "pious Germans" ("fromme Teutsche") and"strong courageous Germans" ("starke mannliche Teutsche"), [85] and"conscientious honest military people" ("redliche ehrliche Kriegsleut") were the usual treatment in such cases.
With the rebirth of ideology, a specific military rhetoric was formed with its own standard figures and formulas, samples of which can be found in almost every military treatise of the XVI century.
Usually, both military treatises and other sources refer to mercenaries as "knechts" ("die Knechte")," ordinary knechts "("die gemeine Knechte")," foot knechts "("die Fussknechte") or simply" infantry "("das Fussvolck").
As landsknechts, mercenaries were addressed only when they wanted to touch their order honor, however, the desired result was achieved less and less often, especially when it came to money.
The third idea of the order was also extremely attractive for mercenaries — the idea of chivalry, which is equally tempting both for impoverished chivalry, which is not able, from a financial point of view, to secure service in heavy cavalry, and for commoners, who are thus equated with the noble ones.
To a large extent, this aspect of ideology contributed to the gradual formation of a single status of a professional military.
For the first time in many centuries, armed commoners were able to consider themselves full fledged warriors, if not knights, then at least "fighting in a chivalrous manner"3) shoulder to shoulder with the nobility.
Military honor and glory became equally accessible to everyone, and although a nobleman was automatically assigned a double salary, 4) however, the emphasis was primarily not on origin, but on the presence of military skills guaranteed to a certain extent by chivalric education.
In addition, any native of the common people, providing proof of his skill, for example, belonging to a shooting guild or a fencing fraternity, or appearing at the review in full armor, could claim the same honorable place in the payroll as a nobleman.
In addition, the fact of leveling the social status of soldiers was also stipulated legally, already in the first paragraphs of the articles of articles (the predecessors of modern military regulations) for infantry and cavalry, which was reflected in the lack of words of military courts.5)
The process of equalization went so far that the nobles of the Landsknechts, in order to somehow stand out from the general mass, had to constantly focus on their high origin.6) And if one of the early articles of the charter still included the requirement of the rank and file to ensure real equality before the law of the noble and ignoble, as one of the most important and relevant,7) then later the class boundaries in the infantry became formal, despite the fact that the presence of the noble remained the subject of special pride of the Landsknechts, one of the justifications for their swaggering and arrogant attitude to others.
It was repeatedly emphasized in songs, and, as can be assumed, analyzing the poems that were supplied with numerous flying leaflets of that time, which fairly objectively represented the types of landsknechts in everyday life. [86]
The influence of the nobles on the rest of the military in the sense of awareness of their own importance, the emergence of a sense of professional pride, is undoubtedly, as is their role in increasing the combat capability of the infantry, but also undoubtedly the presence of the reverse influence of the ignoble, who began to perceive war much faster exclusively as a craft, albeit ennobled, which was much easier for them to do due to the lack of illusions about the highest purpose of chivalry transmitted with their mother's milk.
Natives of the common people, in contrast to the originally noble by origin, appreciated the exclusivity of the status of a warrior as such, without burdening him with the accompanying duties defined by the chivalric code of honor.
It was communication with them, the impact of their understanding of the meaning of war, as well as the very occupation of mercenary work, which dictated its own laws, practically destroyed the last remnants of the ideology of chivalry among the German belligerent nobility, and by the beginning of the XVII century ,there was no trace of" chivalrous feelings", according to the military theorist of that time J. J. Wallhausen, 8) In the period under study, "chivalry" as a concept in general makes sense only in relation to the self determination of the status of a mercenary, since the methods of conducting war, as well as the generally accepted norms of behavior in it, which have changed dramatically due to the loss of chivalry's dominant position and the development of mass mercenary activity, have extremely quickly lost even the touch of the former courtliness.
In the cavalry, the situation was different.
Among the Reitar, the tone was set by the nobles, despite the fact that over time more and more people from the burghers turned out to be in its ranks.
Here, at least in the eyes of the Reitar themselves, the very idea of leveling the status, a kind of equality, was formalized, as well as in the infantry, legally.
Nevertheless, despite the internal tension, the Reitars generally looked at the infantrymen disrespectfully, usually with mockery and contempt.9) They believed that their own military law and judicial system were direct heirs of the traditions of chivalry, as well as their native "noble" service in the equestrian system, as well as the traditional preference given by the military authorities, gave them the right to assess their branch of the armed forces as more "chivalrous" than the infantry.
In the German lands, despite the rather high reputation of the Landsknechts, service in the cavalry continued to be considered more appropriate to the status of a noble.
The nobility, who served in the infantry, immediately took advantage of the appearance of the Reitar as a new kind of troops (the middle of the XVI century) to join their ranks.
Naturally, such views of Reitar could not but cause extreme irritation of the Landsknechts, who were distinguished by the presence of equally exorbitant ambitions, and relied on an ideology created specifically for them.
The bitterness and secret envy for the higher salary and privileges of the horsemen intensified.
This division of the knightly heritage often led to skirmishes and brawls, sometimes even escalating into mass carnage.
Many articles of articles specifically stipulated [87] the duty of Landsknechts to peacefully coexist with reitars in the camp, voluntarily giving the latter a place to accommodate horses.10)
So how did the mercenary represent himself?
The basis of his self perception, psychology and, consequently, attitude to the surrounding world, regardless of the type of troops, was a clear awareness of his special position, his exclusivity as a member of a military corporation, from his point of view, the most glorious and worthy.
The understanding of the "specialness" of their status, however, had a dual character.
On the one hand, whatever the origin of Soldner, he, as a rule, belonged to that part of the German population that turned out to be "redundant" in the conditions of the monstrous social crisis experienced by the country in the XVI—XVII centuries and was, strictly speaking, one of the main reasons for the transformation of mercenary activity into a mass phenomenon; landsknecht could not help but remember that, in essence, he is an "extra person", an outcast, rejected by society, which has not found application in peaceful life, that all the difference between him and the latter a beggar beggar is only that he has found sre the money to acquire weapons and the courage to put your life in constant danger.
Even if a landsknecht or reitar chose his own path in life, looking for adventure, fame or in the hope of prey, he still completely broke with his former life, as a rule, forever.
Naturally, a feeling of dislike for "normal" life in all its manifestations was born.
Of course, the reasons for this dislike, sometimes turning into real hatred, the landsknechts usually tried to hide even from themselves, so they very rarely appear in their songs.
Hidden envy found its expression in contempt for all non military personnel, who were regarded as stay at home, lazy and cowards.11) Also, by the way, in order to explain and justify the way of life of unemployed mercenaries who live on alms between wars, the idea of a "laudable mendicant Order of landsknechts" appeared, 12) however, likening oneself to the Franciscans could not add to them either humility or meekness, rather the opposite.
It should be noted, however, that the society itself did not remain in debt, contributing to the strengthening and development of negative emotions with its attitude.
Thus, in one of the allegorical engravings of the XVI century, illustrating the parable of the good and bad son, the latter is depicted as a landsknecht, the first is a peasant who lovingly cares for his parents, and the artist, in this case only reflecting the general opinion, was absolutely indifferent that the "bad son", deprived of any hopes for inheritance by the right of the entail, simply had no other way out.
On the other hand, the specifics of the special position of the mercenary corporation were determined by the presence of significant factors, both material (legal benefits, the withdrawal of the military from the jurisdiction of class civil courts, etc.) and ideal properties (the belief in the chivalry of the military community, which gave rise to a truly chivalrous [88] contempt for any work, etc.), which allowed them to put themselves above all others, at least of ignoble origin.
So what other exceptional qualities did Soldner give himself?
The main and most characteristic features can be found in the above mentioned standard formulas of treatment, which flattered the pride of ordinary people, and in their own songs.
Along with the usual characteristics, such as "cheerful" ("frisch") or "old" ("alt"), such self definitions as "free", "free" ("frei") and "honest" ("ehrlich") landsknecht appear again and again.13) They are the key ones.
What are invested in these definitions?
Had no land, no home, no any other property, which could bind kriegsknechte to a certain place, tramp, leading a nomadic life, for which there were no boundaries, with the loss, in most cases, communication with the homeland and customary occupation, lost once and for all certain place in the traditional caste hierarchy was freed thereby from all involved, restrictions, freedoms, including restrictions in the choice of the Lord, and in the German mercenaries of the period — Mr. temporary.
The mercenary actually did not have a certain citizenship, did not pay any taxes, did not perform any forced labor and did not recognize masters over himself in the usual sense for most of his contemporaries.
The ideas about the" lord of war " (der Kriegsherr) — the supreme employer of the monarch or about the military commander were radically different from the ideas of the inhabitants about the lord — the feudal lord.
He was not understood as a God given oppressor and oppressor, to obey whose whims it was the duty of subjects from time immemorial, and to rebel against whom they could
