Mod Resources (Updated Nov. 19)

**JaM** · February 07, 2009, 08:06 AM

i just found another interesting site about 16.-17.century armies:

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/iberia/1568/org.htm

The Eighty Years War (1568-1648) overlapped the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). The organisation for the main protagonists of the Eighty Years War, Spanish and Dutch, are given here. See the Organisation in the Thirty Years War page for Swedes, French, Imperialist, etc.

Infantry

The company was the building block of Infantry organisation (Heath, 1997). Larger units were made up of a number of companies. The company was not, however, necessarily a battlefield formation. The Pike and shot components of a company were usually deployed separately in the field.

In proportions of pike to shot, I've included command elements, swordsmen etc in the pike component. Although not strictly accurate this gives a reasonable approximation of the fire power of the unit relative to its size.

Spanish

A Spanish vandera or bandera (literally Ensign, but meaning company) were from 100 to 300 men (Heath, 1997). The size varied with time being 120-150 men in the 1560s, 200 men in the 1570s but down to 100 men by the end of the 16th century. Companies were either pike (initially a mix of 2/3 Pike and 1/3 Shot) or Shot (100% Shot); the shot only companies were abolished in 1632. They had 15-25 muskets per company, depending on the period and unit, and by 1601 1/3 of the shot were musket armed. (Heath points out that Parker, 1972, mistakenly omits the Arquebusiers from the "Pike" companies, which would mean they only have 20 Musketeers, which is unlikely.)

The first 20 Spanish coronelas, coronelias, or colonellias, (little columns) were created in 1505 (Gush, 1976; Heath, 1997). The first batch had a 1,000 to 1,500 men, but subsequently a column could have fewer men. Pikes predominated, but they were supported by up to 20% sword and buckler men, a few halberdiers, and the remainder arquebusiers.

The Spanish tercios (thirds) appeared in the 1530s, when the existing coronelas were grouped into threes (Gush, 1976). From 1566 four or five typically served in the Netherlands at any one time (Heath, 1997). They had 1,500 to 8,300, but averaging 3,000 to 4,000; Gush, says the tercios of the 16th century were probably only 1,500 to 3,000 men. The pike component started at 50% but fell to 40% by the 1580s, and 20-30% in the 17th century. Halberdiers and sword and buckler men were mixed in with the pikes, but never amounted to more than 5-10% of the pikes. The remainder were shot. Shot was predominately arquebusiers, although there were 15-20 musketeers per company (about 10% of the whole), but Parma's army in the Netherlands in the late 16th Century is said to have had more muskets than arquebus'. Even in the 17th century the proportion of muskets was often only 10% of the whole and never more than 33%. The tercio was used in the field, but often escuadróns were used instead. Towards the end of the century tercio started to be called Regiments.

Escuadróns (squadrons) were the most common Spanish battlefield formation during the tercio period (Heath, 1997). They comprised of selected companies for particular purposes and could be from a few hundred to several thousand men. The shot companies of several tercio were sometimes grouped in this way.

Spanish regiments appeared in the 1580s and were formed from independent companies which weren't part of tercio (Heath, 1997). They averaged about 1,000 men. Towards the end of the 16th century tercio started to be called regiments as well, which I guess corresponds to their reduced in size.

For the greater part of the 16th century the Spanish foot soldiers were the best in Europe (Heath, 1997). Until the introduction of the reforms of Maurice of Nassau in the 1590s Spanish infantry were clearly superior to their Dutch opponents.
Italian

Italian infantry were organised like the Spanish, i.e. in colonelli and tercio (Heath, 1997).
Burgundian

Burgundian infantry appeared in Spanish service from 1577/8 (Heath, 1997). Initially they were organised into regiments but in 1598 they were reorganised into tercio. Burgundian tercios had between 30-50% pike and the remainder shot (Heath, 1997).
German

German Fähnlein (companies) were bigger than their Spanish counterparts (Heath, 1997). Miller (1976) gives them as 400 men in the early 16th Century. At that time 300 had pike, 50 two-handed swords or halberds, and the final 50 had arquebus (12%).

By mid 16th Century the company was up to 500 men in size although this subsequently shrunk to 300 men (Heath, 1997). Officially 50% were pike and the remainder shot, but in reality less than 25% had firearms. By the later 16th Century Miller (1976) says on only 200-220 pikes were necessary, but doesn't mention the composition of the remainder. A low proportion of shot was recorded as late as 1601. On the other hand by 1601 the Germans had a higher proportion of muskets with 60% of their shot having muskets and 40% arquebus.

German regiments were bigger than their Spanish counterparts, comprising five to ten companies of 300-500 men each (Heath, 1997). This would give a regimental size of 1,500 to 5,000 men, i.e. pretty much like a tercio.

Germans infantry never used tercio(Heath, 1997), although Miller (1976) shows a very similar German formation (Gevierte Ordnung) from 1540 where the regimental pike block has four small sleeves of shot.
Walloon

Walloon companies shrunk from 300 in the mid 16th century and had shrunk to 200 in 1592 (Heath, 1997). Like the Spanish they had Pike companies (25 of whom were musketeers and the remainder pike) and Shot companies (Heath gives 57% musket and 43% arquebus, but also says "equal numbers" when referring to 1601).

Walloon regiments had five, six or ten companies, of 200-300 men (Health, 1997). This gives a total of 1,000 to 3,000 men, so large compared to a Spanish regiment but small compared to a tercio. I don't know the pike to shot ratio was for a regiment.

Walloon infantry were organised into tercios from 1602 (Heath, 1997).
Dutch

Dutch companies varied from 120 to 400 men although from 1574 companies of 150 or 200 were most common (Heath, 1997). In 1598 the company size shrunk to 120, 135 or 150, or 160 depending on the province. In 1601 it changed again to 113, 135 or 180 depending on the province. In all cases the size of the command element stayed the same, so proportion of officers increased over time. From 1605 the arquebus was abandoned. It is worth mentioning that the Dutch musket was 25% lighter than those of other countries. The proportion of shot also varied with time.

Date Size Shot Others (including command, pike, halberds, swords, etc)
1579 150 87 arquebus (58%) 63 (42%)
1586 150 70 (47%); 18 musket and 52 arquebus 80 (53%)
1586 200 97 (49%); 24 muskets and 73 arquebus 103 (51%)
1596 135 74 (55%); 30 musket and 44 arquebus 61 (45%)
1597 113 59 (52%); 28 musket and 31 arquebus 54 (48%)
?? 113 64 (57%) 49 (43%)

Table of Dutch Shot proportions over time

The term "regiment" was used for two different administrative organisations in Dutch service (Heath, 1997). Each Dutch province provided a regiment (e.g. the Holland Regiment), but companies were also organised into different and smaller administrative regiments for the duration of a campaign. Neither organisation was used in the field.

By 1592 Dutch regiments were being divided into two or more Hopen (battalions) in the field (Heath, 1997). Each contained between five and 11 companies, and in practice this meant a battalion size of between 500 and 1,000 men. Usually the pikes were in the centre of the battalion and the shot on the flanks, although occasionally the shot would be in front of the pike. Initially battalions were 12 ranks deep. By 1595 the pike were sometimes only 6 ranks deep and the shot 10 ranks. From 1594 the shot were divided into sections of 4 files to allow volley fire. When distant from the enemy the shot would be ahead of the pike, but as the distance closed they withdrew to be in line with the 5th or 6th rank of pike, or if threatened by cavalry under the pikes.

The Dutch grouped their regiments and battalions into three brigades: the van, the battle, the rear (Heath, 1997). Sometimes the brigades formed up side by side, but more normally they formed three lines. The battalions of each line deployed behind the gaps in the line in front, thus forming a checker board pattern.
French Huguenot

French Huguenot companies were between 150 and 250 men (Heath, 1997).
British

Typically most English, Scots and Irish in a Spanish army were organised into a single regiment of 200 to 1700 men (Heath, 1997). I don't know the pike to shot ratio was for a regiment.

British troops in Dutch employ were organised along Dutch lines (Heath, 1997). Similarly for those in Swedish employ (Brzenzinski, 1995).
Cavalry
Corneta or Vanen (Cornet) or Tropa (Troop)

Typically a Spanish cornet was 60-100 men (Heath, 1997).

Dutch cornets were a similar size (Heath, 1997). In 1589 a cuirassier cornet had 100 men, a lancer cornet 75 and a mounted arquebusier cornet 60. In 1591 all cornets were theoretically standardised on 120 men, although they typically only reached 100 men. In 1596/7 100 men was made the standard cornet size, although they usually had only 70 men in the field. Dutch cavalry formed up 7 deep.

German cornets were 150-200 strong (Heath, 1997).
Trozo, Cavalry Tercio, Cavalry Regiment

Three to eight Spanish cornets (typically three to six) formed a Trozo (Heath, 1997). Probably just an administrative formation.
Adhoc Formations

The typical battlefield formation for cavalry was a temporary group of 300-600 men (Heath, 1997). Some German groups had up to 1,000.

Typically Dutch cavalry formed up in a checker board formation of cornets (Heath, 1997).
Artillery

The Spanish used four specific calibres of artillery: cannon, demi-cannon, quarter-cannon or field-piece, and eight-cannon or falcon (Heath, 1997). Cannon were only used in sieges. The other types had gun carriages and limbers. Normally only half a dozen were used in a battle.

The Dutch, following Spanish practice, adopted the same four calibres (Heath, 1997). All Dutch pieces were cast in bronze, had gun carriages and limbers. Like their Spanish counterparts, few were fielded during battle; roughly 4-6.
Name Shot weight Horses
Cannon 48 lbs 22-30
Demi-cannon 24 lbs 18-22
Field-piece 12 lbs 10-12
Falconet 6 lbs ??

30YW: Orders of Battle in the Thirty Years War

The Eighty Years War (1568-1648) overlapped the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). The main protagonists of the Dutch Revolt, Spanish and Dutch, are covered in the Organisation in the Eighty Years War. Other nations (Swedes, French, Imperialist, etc) are covered here.

See various pages of Organisation:

Infantry

The company was the building block of Infantry organisation (Heath, 1997). Larger units were made up of a number of companies. The company was not, however, necessarily a battlefield formation. The Pike and shot components of a company were usually deployed separately in the field.

In proportions of pike to shot, I've included command elements, swordsmen etc in the pike component. Although not strictly accurate this gives a reasonable approximation of the fire power of the unit relative to its size.

Battlefield units differed to the organisational units. On the field infantry were formed into units usually called battalions. These were a temporary unit usually formed from a single regiment but which could also be formed by subdividing large regiments or consolidating several small regiments. The units consolidated from several regiments were confusingly sometimes called brigades, as distinct from a brigade comprising several battlefield battalions.
Swedish

Swedish companies had 150 men including 72 musketeers (Brzenzinski, 1995).

Swedish regiments were administrative (Brzenzinski, 1995). Officially of 1,200 men, they could also have 1,800 or 2,400. In reality the composition were smaller.

In the field the Swedes used squadrons (battalions) and brigades (Brzenzinski, 1995). Squadrons first appeared between 1617 and 1621. A squadron was half a regiment, so about 500 men.

The standard formation was a pike block (36 files of 6 ranks) followed a musket block (32 files of 6 ranks) and the remaining musketeers in two small blocks behind (each 8 files of 6 ranks) (Brzenzinski, 1995). This suggests a higher proportion of shot than were actually present in a squadron, but I don't where the inconsistency comes in.

Brigades were introduced in 1627 but abandoned again in 1634 (Brzenzinski, 1995). From 1628 to 1631 they had four squadrons (about 2,000 men), but otherwise three (about 1,500 men).

Deployment for a three squadron brigade (based on Brzenzinski, 1995):

Deployment for a four squadron brigade (based on Brzenzinski, 1995):

German

By the end of the 16th Century German Fähnlein (companies) had shrunk to 300 men (Heath, 1997). A low proportion of shot was recorded as late as 1601. On the other hand by 1601 the Germans had a higher proportion of muskets with 60% of their shot having muskets and 40% arquebus.

Germans infantry were organised into regiments, never using the tercio (Heath, 1997), but the distinction is more about terminology than anything else. In fact German regiments were bigger than their Spanish counterparts, comprising five to ten companies of 300-500 men each. This would give a regimental size of 1,500 to 5,000 men, i.e. pretty much like a tercio.
British

British troops in Swedish employ were organised along Swedish lines (Brzenzinski, 1995).
Cavalry
Corneta or Vanen (Cornet) or Tropa (Troop)

German cornets were 150-200 strong (Heath, 1997).
Adhoc Formations

The typical battlefield formation for cavalry was a temporary group of 300-600 men (Heath, 1997). Some German groups had up to 1,000.

Sources

Brzenzinski, R. (1995). The Army of Gustavus Adolphus 1: Infantry [Men-at-Arms 235]. Osprey.

Heath, I. (1997). Armies of the Sixteenth Century: The Armies of England, Ireland, the United Provinces, and the Spanish Netherlands 1487-1609. Foundry Books.

Gush, G. (1975). Renaissance Armies 1480-1650. Patrick Stephens.

Part of this book are available on-line on the myArmoury site:

The Burgundian Army of Charles the Bold
The Swiss
The Italians
Military Orders
The English: Henry VIII to Elizabeth
The Irish
The Scots
The Spanish
The French

Miller, D. (1976). The Landsknechts [Men-At-Arms 58]. Osprey.

Oman, C. (1987). A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. London: Greenhill Books. Originally published 1937.

Parker, G. (1972). The Army of Flanders and the Spanish Road 1567-1659: The logistics of Spanish Victory and Defeat in the Low Countries' Wars. Cambridge University Press.

Taylor, F. (1993). The art of war in Italy 1494-1529 (originally published 1921). Essex, UK: Partizan Press.

**JaM** · February 07, 2009, 09:07 AM

Military structure: The tercios of Italy

In the first years of the XVIth century the principal Spanish military instrument is going to be born to support the Empire in the European territories. It is a question of the Spanish tercios, which, created to provide the domains in Italy and Flanders, will write glorious pages of the military history of all the times. Some authors have compared these tercios with the Roman legions and with the Macedonian, such phalange it was his structural perfection and his tactical and strategic capacity, throughout two centuries.
The birth of the tercios owes to itself to the experience acquired in the campaigns of Italy by Gonzalo Fernández of Cordova, called the Big Captain, who to the orders of king Fernando de Aragón managed to defeat the French on Italian soil time and again, and managed to impose the Spanish hegemony on the different States of Italy, including to the proper Papacy.
The superiority of the military skill of the Spanish on other armies of this epoch takes root in that while the Swiss, considered till then the best, form his "squadrons" or infantry blocks in compact picture, using the sword as a principal weapon, the Spanish place ahead of every side of the picture the pikes, which prevent from approaching the enemy, and they allow the opportune exit of those who were fighting to sword, protected by those. The pike happens to turn into the favorite and noble weapon of the battlefield. Next to this one the halberd or pike finished off by a half moon or an axe is the weapon that the sergeants and the most distinguished soldiers handle, and it serves to avoid the approach of the hostile horses to the squadron or picture. This one moves in all directions on the area presenting in each of his sides identical offensive and defensive capacity. The soldier "pike dries" it was taking in addition to his long weapon a sword and a dagger (called by the troop the "vizcaína"), which was allowing him to fight body to body in all occasion. The training of the soldiers understands in addition to the use of the pike, the fencing of sword and dagger to two hands when the moment comes. His protection is light, a morion or helmet of steel finished off by a comb on which the hostile blows slip towards the sides, and one sew you to him or light cuirass to protect the breast. The sword takes a guard or bowl to protect the hand that clutches it. Generally there were used the swords made of Toledo, which were appreciated by his excellent tempering due so much to the armorers toledanos as to the virtue that the waters of the Tagus were giving him on having moderated them.
The recruiting was done especially between gentlemanly young people who for being segundones could not inherit the familiar patrimony reserved to the older brother (system of primogeniture), what it was forcing them to look for the future in the exercise of the military career, in which they could reach status and fortune. This was giving to the soldier of the tercios an extraordinary human quality, for his noble origin, his education and his sense of the honor and loyalty to the king (the loyalty to the chief was a military virtue that the Romans were naming devotio, much admired because of it in the Iberian warriors who were forming in his auxiliary troops), thing that could not be obtained in other foreign armies formed by mercenaries or by necessary levies of peasants and artisans without love to the military life.
A big part of the soldiers of the Spanish tercios was taking with it his horses, although they were of Infantry, for his displacements and walks, and was making accompany themselves of servants. They were accepting the discipline like an honor, despite being extremely rigorous. A tercio part of the military cash was armed with arquebuses, what it was allowing him, before body came to the combat to body, a big thickness of fire.
The recruit's principal points were Barcelona, Cartagena and Seville, what indicates that approximately the tercio part of the soldiers were coming from Catalonia and Aragon, tercio other one of Castile, and other one of Andalusia and Extremadura.
The soldiers were receiving his pay of the king, but they were allowed in the capture of hostile cities to practise the plundering. This was not a form vandálica and multitudinous of taking possession of the goods of the inhabitants, but it was becoming tidy and methodically, valuing the goods and indicating to them a price that the owner had to pay like war contribution. This was becoming enclosed with the goods of the municipalities, files, stores, and sometimes even with the ecclesiastic goods, treasures of the churches, etc. The amount of the obtained value was distributing the soldiers like a complement of his pay. Sometimes, if the pay was not coming, the troops were incited to mutiny and the plundering was terrible (to see "The plundering of Rome").
The harnessing was carried out in places indicated in the mentioned cities, hanging a drum on the front to indicate that it was a recruit's place, and as the drum is called "a box" there stayed until our days the name of "Recruit's Box" for the centers of recruiting or military harnessing.
Also it was possible to carry out it recruits it for another system: a distinguished soldier who had credited for several years his value and efficiency, and who had shown the sergeant's grades and second lieutenant provided with satisfactory certificates of his chiefs, was requesting of the king license to "raise" a company, and provided with her he was remaining turned into captain of the people who was recruiting, to whose effect was covering villages and cities, managing to assemble the necessary men, with whom it was going to one of the reviewed ports, from there to be sent by his people to join a tercio in Italy, Flanders and other places where these had his quarterings and garrison.
The instruction or preparation was done preferably in Milan and as soon as the personnel was prepared one was destining him to other quartering points. At first the tercios had each one 6.200 men, but later this cash was diminished because the experience demonstrated that the units were better with less people, so much for his mobility in the combat, as for the biggest facility in supplying it of supplies, weapon and gunpowder, with what the tercio came to remain reduced to half of men. They were equivalent to the current regiments:
The tercio of Naples, it was the first one that was constituted, by this it was called "an Old tercio of Naples". This one had to his charge the harness of the Campania, with the provinces of Avellino, Benevento, Caserta, Salerno and Naples. His tercio head was in Naples, capital, and the companies were providing the castles of golden Castel and Castelnuovo at the entry of Naples, with detachments in the islands of Capri, Ischia and Procide. Other companies were providing the Rocasecca castle along with Montecasino, and the strong Gaeta square.

The tercio of Sicily in addition to providing the island had troops emphasized in the calabria, in the Marina of Catanzaro.
The tercio of Sardinia was providing the island with his squares of Cagliari, Nuoro and Sassari.
The tercio of Lombardy or of the Milanesado was providing Milan, Cremona, Mantua, Sondrio, Varese, Pavía, Brescia, Bergamo and Like, being his squares strong Castiglione, in Mantua, and San Germano in the Piedmont.

tercios of Sea

The tercio of the League formed later, being assined to protect the coast suroriental from Italy, the Duchy of Apulia with the provinces of Foggia, Bari, Brindisi, Lecce, Potenza and Tarento, against the attacks of the Turks. His strong squares were nola in Bari, Andria in Bari, Hoary in Foggia, Ceriñola, Otranto in Lecce, Malfi in Potenza, Ruvo and Barletta in Bari. This was a tercio principally destined to provide the galleys, or a tercio embarked in the ships that were patrolling opposite to the coast, although also like garrison troop in the places earlier stated. The tercio of Sea was formed by effective triples of the normal thing and his troops were forming the Infantry of Marina del Imperio. Of these three we have already quoted that of the League, but also they were:

The tercio of the galleys of Sicily
The New tercio of Naples.

In addition to the tercios several local militias existed in Italy, due to the Crown of Spain, and some particular troops of some big gentlemen, like the duke of Medinaceli, in service of the king, but with organizational autonomy, and I weld on account of his organizers.

The situation of the Spanish soldiers in Italy reflected in numerous literary works of the golden Century, was of an extreme serviceability and well-being, to what he was contributing the sweetness of the climate, the beauty of the cities, the facility of the language, the wealth of the territory, the religious identity. For it it recruits for the tercios of Italy always easy age. All this turns out to be reflected in a few poems or popular folk song popularized then, that says:

Spain, my nature,

Italy my luck,

Flanders my grave.

Piqueros

The piqueros were provided generally with helmet, bib, back, pouch or falzete (species of metallic skirts that were forming an angle of 45 grades with the body to allow to the soldier movements freedom), armbands, watch - arm and oven gloves. They were taking therefore half an armor or sew you to him; his clothing was completed sometimes with gregüescos yellow stabbed in red, red wedges and shoes of cordovan leather. As defensive weapon they were using also an oval metallic shield or round shield in whose obverse there were represented two columns connected by a band with the inscription "Odd Bonus Ultra". This shield was taking in his reverse a hook that was allowing to the soldier to hold it to his belt.

His defensive weapon was the pike and the sword. Of the examination of the pieces that have come up to us and of the iconography of the epoch it is deduced that the size of the pikes was changing between wide margins. This way, while in the Museum of the Army of Madrid there survive pieces that have an approximate length of two meters and a half, in engravings and carpets that represent the campaigns of Tunisia, pikes are appreciated of up to five meters. Although the big pikes were heavy weapon and of difficult handling, his advantages in the defensive plane were well-known since they were allowing to provide the front of the squadrons keeping the enemy controlled with the minimal risk. The employment of the pike in closed formations needed big training and discipline. It is necessary to bear in mind that because of his big length there always existed the danger of which the piqueros placed in backward positions were hurting those who were forming the first lines.

In the defensive formations the piqueros of the first line were stooping doubling a knee, with the pike rested on the soil, and those of the following lines were supporting the pike in progressively more vertical positions. During the marches it is probable that the pikes were transported in the ammunition cars, since to take them on the shoulder had to turn out to be tiring because of the vibration of the flagstaff, the pikes were done by resistant wood to prevent from breaking. When the iron top was not used in combat it was protected by a sheath. The sword usually did not measure any more than one meter in order to which it could be drawn by facility. Nevertheless many soldiers preferred swords of major length that were turning out to be more suitable in the duels. It arms this one it was holding over the hip with an exact thong to prevent from swaying during the march, the combat, etc. The Spanish soldiers became famous in the whole Europe for his workmanship in the handling of the sword. Not in vain one of the centers was Toledo of swords manufacture more appreciated in the continent. The swords toledanas had double knife-edge and cutting top, generally they were provided with a garrison in the shape of S, with one of the arms curled towards the handle in order to protect the hand. The sheets were surrendering to very rigorous control panel before considering them to be suitable for the sale, and were differing for being sharpened like choppers and being resistant at the time that flexible and light. Also there are typical of this epoch the big swords or slashes, of more of meter and a half of length, which were managing with both hands.

Arquebusiers

The clothing of the arquebusiers was much more light than that of the piqueros. It was usually consisting of a morion, a ruff of mesh of steel and a jerkin (made leather garb, for the common thing of before, with sleeves or without them, which the body covers, ciñéndolo up to the waist; in the ancient thing it had a few tails that were not going on from the hips) or leather vest. The arquebusiers were considered to be, in effect, light soldiers with regard to the piqueros, whose companies were constituting the basic nucleus of the third. During the combat the arquebusiers' companies were characterized by his big mobility, opening quickly to be located in the wings of the pictures formed by the piqueros and to try to wrap the enemy whipping his flanks. The arquebus was used by successive innovations from the XVth to XVIIIth century. The word perhaps derives from German hakenbüchss (haken: hook or hook. büchss, firearm), although also it might be a distortion of the Arab to the káduz (the pipe). It arms this one it was consisting of a cannon mounted in an one meter wooden shaft approximately, lightened towards the mouth and reinforced towards the fire camera. The length of the soul was ranging between 0,80 and 1,60 meters. After the arquebus evolved towards the musket, increasing of size and weight, it was necessary to support it in a pitchfork to be able to do fire. The additional team of the arquebusiers was consisting of a bandolier from which they were hanging the lines or gunpowder charges in twelve cases of copper or of wood (those who were known like twelve apostles), a powder keg of reservation and a rucksack in which there were keeping the bullets, the wick and the cigaret lighter to light it. They were armed also with a sword similar to the one that the piqueros usually used. Every arquebusier was receiving a certain quantity of lead or tin to melt its own bullets in a mold that was delivering them to itself together with his weapon. As every weapon order was including the molds to make the ammunition, the caliber of the ruined bullets would have to coincide with that of the cannon. Nevertheless, this not always happened in practice due to vagueness in the manipulation of the molds. On the other hand, it is necessary to bear in mind that many soldiers were using weapon that were not normalized and that the dosage of the gunpowder realized of subjective and rather exaggerated form once the predosed cases of the bandolier had been used, This happened often when the circumstances were having to support a rapid fire cadenza and the knob did not have time to fill the cases again to dose his charges and was spilling the gunpowder in the lavatory pan straight with the reservation powder keg. From all this it was turning out to be a considerable shot inequality.

In the first arquebuses the ignition system was used by wick that was replaced further on with that of wheel. The ignition system for wick was basing on the employment of a device so called serpentín that initially was a simple lever in the shape of Z mounted aside of the wooden shaft: if his low part was oppressed, the Superior was moving ahead. In the end of the serpentín there was fixed a piece of wick of combustion slow to provoke the ignition of the gunpowder. These wicks were made by rope of linen or of hemp soaked in a solution of saltpeter and putting to be dried. Further on the model of simple serpentín was perfected joining a spring so that after the pressure slackening on this one the serpentín was separating immediately of the dressing room. In the weapon equipped with the system of wheel, this one was driving a hammer with form of jawbone provided with an agate piece that, on having struck other one of flint, was inflaming the bait with the produced spark.

Crossbowmen/Ballesteros:

The troops armed with crossbows, which so effective had proved like force of support and coverage during the Middle Age, kept on being used during the XVIth Century. The archer was protected by helmet, armor for half a leg and a level of mesh with a vest of superposed leather the last one reinforced with metallic pieces. In the rear part the cranequín, system is visible to tighten the rope of the yerga. There existed also the so called "rattletrap" formed by a set of pulleys. On having tightened the rope, this one was remaining hooked in a ledge called nut of the one that was coming undone sudden when the key was oppressed.

The crossbows were made sometimes with assembled pieces of bone and of wood. When the rod was of wood, the crossbow was called "of stick". These materials were replaced progressively with the steel from the XVIth century.

In the figure of the right we can observe, it arrives: Crossbow provided with rattletrap. In the center: arrows or breads of crossbow. Below: Crossbow with cranequín.

Imperial guards

They were integrated by the halberdiers of the Spanish Guard, the archeros of Burgundy and the halberdiers of the German Guard. The halberdiers of the Spanish Guard were dressed in jerkins and gregüescos stabbed of yellow and red colors, red wedges and black shoes. They were touching themselves with a parlota (wide and almost flat cap) quarter note adorned with white pens, completing his clothing a yellow capotillo lined in red arranged of turn on the left shoulder. The archeros of Burgundy were coming from the archers' Guard of Burgundy, got in Spain for Felipe Beautiful, and his components were giving service on foot inside the real stays and on horseback in the exterior. In the service on foot they were dressing jerkins and gregüescos stabbed of yellow and red colors, yellow wedges, parlota black woman, capotillo of equal form and coloring that the halberdiers of the Spanish Guard and black shoes with big red bonds. His principal weapon was the archa, spear species with sheet in the shape of knife of big size. The halberdiers of the German Guard came from Germany in 1519, being always ruled by special jurisdictions. About his clothing several versions exist. This way, according to Giménez they were taking parlota half note and capotillo, while the Count of Clonard represents them without capotillo and with the color of the averages (half note one and yellow other one) alternating with that of the Jerkin and the gregüescos.

source:
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/8788/tercios.htm
(in spanish...)

**Gorrrrrn** · March 19, 2009, 09:20 AM

GrnEyedDvl has written:

This little program is designed to make scripting the TW games much easier. Anytime you have a script that has to be repeated for every settlement or every faction, then this is what you need.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...64#post4719764

**Gorrrrrn** · April 07, 2009, 11:53 AM

Augustus Lucifer has discovered how to get multiple trace logs at the same time:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...22#post4894922

so we can do a script trace and a ltgd trace at the same time.

Might be useful for testing mods.

**Gorrrrrn** · May 12, 2009, 05:25 AM

konny has released his trait generator:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...88#post5144288

works with Excel and (I believe - certainly loads into it) Open Office.

**Gorrrrrn** · May 26, 2009, 07:55 AM

Awesome - individualised strat map castles by wilddog.
check them out here:

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...49#post5254649

**spanish_emperor** · July 23, 2009, 09:40 AM

If you have read some byzantine military manuals you will understand when what this argument is about. i think it is very interesting.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~chris...hiliarchy.html

**Gorrrrrn** · September 01, 2009, 05:25 PM

Still work in progress but advances are being made on modding battle map buildings.

quick overview here:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/Battle_...ildings_-_M2TW

and details of .worldcollision file here:

http://www.twcenter.net/wiki/.worldc...on_file_-_M2TW

**Gorrrrrn** · January 30, 2010, 12:03 PM

useful on-line resource

Medievalists.net.

Has database of hundreds (sorry 1300 and rising) academic articles

http://www.medievalists.net/

**Gorrrrrn** · June 04, 2010, 05:09 PM

A tad specialist but anyone wanting hard economic data for the medieval and later periods in Europe may find the information collected here useful:

European State Finance database
http://esfdb.websites.bta.com/Default.aspx

The contents of the database: An overview

A wide range of countries is covered in the ESFD, including Austria, England, France, the Low Countries, Poland, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Spanish America and Switzerland. Much of the data relates to different types of taxes, but there is also material relating to army size, wool and cloth exports and imports and stock prices.
How to use the database

To examine a particular data series on the database, the following steps should be taken. First, click on the title of the data series, for example ‘Data collected by Dr Marjolein 't Hart, and used in the preparation of her chapter on 'The United Provinces, 1579-1806' in R. J. Bonney (ed.), The Rise of the Fiscal State in Europe, c. 1200-1815 (Oxford, 1999), pp. 309-326’. Next, click on the dataset that you wish to examine, for example ‘Revenue from farmed taxes in the province of Holland, 1624-1713’. You will be provided with a graph and a series of figures. The graph can be changed between line, point, horizontal bar, vertical bar, horizontal stacked bar and vertical stacked bar. Meanwhile, the table can be read by clicking on the ‘page’ numbers in its bottom left hand corner.

Two further functions are provided with the dataset; notes on the data and a function for exporting the data to Excel via a .CSV file (comma de-limited text file). The notes on the data can be downloaded. They typically provide information on the unit of measurement used, the primary sources used, any missing years of data and, where appropriate, how the data was calculated.

There is also the potential to search the ESFD for data on particular countries and periods. A search for data on England in the period 1200-1300, for example, can be conducted by typing ‘England’ in the search field and then ‘1200’ in the from field and ‘1300’ in the to field. This search will bring up all data series that contain data relating to that period, namely ‘Data on the geographical distribution of taxable wealth in England, 1291-1535, supplied by Dr R. S. Schofield’, ‘Data prepared on English revenues, 1485-1815, by Professors P. K. O’Brien and Dr P. A. Hunt’ and ‘Miscellaneous published and unpublished data, mostly concerning English revenues (especially those from indirect taxation), supplied by Professor W. M. Ormrod’. It is also possible to search for data on a particular theme, such as indirect tax.

database here:

http://esfdb.websites.bta.com/Database.aspx

bibliography here:

http://esfdb.websites.bta.com/Defaul...b=bibliography

For example if you want to see the value of english wool exports by port you can look here:

http://esfdb.websites.bta.com/table....sourceid=12077

(check the Notes on data for key to graph.)

**Gorrrrrn** · January 05, 2011, 01:45 PM

Swagger has stopped work on his Outremer mod and kindly donated all the materials he assembled for the mod to the TWC community
(do rep him for that)

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...11#post8714811

there's a lot of bits and pieces people may find a use for in there.

**Ishan** · July 12, 2013, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by druzhina345

Franks & Saracens in the painted windows in the monastery church of St Denis, 12th century (before 1140)
The windows in the monastery church of St Denis were destroyed during the French Revolution, but, copies were published in Les Monuments de la Monarchie Françoise in 1729.
There are 10 windows on 5 plates:
St Denis Plate 50 Nicaea
St Denis Plate 51 Antioch
St Denis Plate 52 Jerusalem
St Denis Plate 53 Ascalon
St Denis Plate 54 Ascalon continued
with text in the original French and an English translation.

Ian Heath based 4 drawings of Syrian cavalry and a drawing of a Sudanese Spearman on these.

MIRROR SITE

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: