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Thread: New unit.

  1. #1

    Default New unit.

    Rad presents:

    THE URBAN CROSSBOW MILITIA!

    Why such a generic name? Although this unit primarily represents crossbow militia from Dubrovnik (aka Ragusa), other cities on the eastern Adriatic coast had similarly organized and equipped militias, so I wanted to keep it broad.

    I will now present historical information about their social composition, organization, training, equipment and presence in other states and regions. The sources will be listed. After that, I will present a concept for the unit's visual appearance, stats and availability.

    Social composition, training and service:

    At the very beginning of the 14th century, crossbowmen serving in fortresses and on ships were foreign mercenaries. It cannot be determined whether this remained the case until the end of Venetian rule in Dubrovnik, but the fact that in the end of March 1346 a decree was passed to make a list of all crossbowmen and to order them to practice shooting every holiday would indicate that there was already a significant number of domestic crossbowmen in Dubrovnik, because it is unlikely that the government issued such orders for its foreign mercenaries who were by default expected to practice shooting. At the beginning of 1359, decenes (ten man squads) of crossbowmen were founded and organized on the principle of class affiliation: the nobles had their own, and the commoners had their own. The decenes of crossbowmen included adult men aged 16 to 40, and they represented personnel trained in handling crossbows, who in the state's defense system were crossbow soldiers in fortresses and on ships. These adult men from Dubrovnik and the Dubrovnik area were obliged to spend a certain amount of time, usually 15 days, in one of the Dubrovnik and Ston fortifications, during which time they received a salary.

    Decenes represented a kind of people's army, whose main task was to perform guard and garrison duties. All of Dubrovnik nobles and commoners were enrolled in them, and they were headed by elders, who took the oath and received a chapter with defined personal obligations, as well as the obligations of individual members. These military units were divided according to the social status of their members into aristocratic and common. Within the commoner decenes, adult members of various trades were organized. Thus, in 1359, Živko the tailor, Radoje the goldsmith, Rusin the tanner and Cvetko the tailor were at the head of four commoner decenes of crossbowmen.

    The city organized shooting competitions since at least 1378. The winners were awarded with monetary prizes.

    Weapon - the crossbow :

    Until 1358, Dubrovnik was oriented towards Venice when it came to acquiring crossbows. The presence of three Venetian crossbow makers in the first four decades of the 14th century is confirmation that crossbows made in Dubrovnik matched those in Venice. Partially preserved and available decisions of Dubrovnik's councils indicate that the people of Dubrovnik bought significant quantities of crossbows in Venice at times when the city was in danger.

    The city obtained:

    100 crossbows in 1317,
    100 crossbows in 1348,
    100 crossbows in 1348

    Those 300 crossbows were bought by the people of Dubrovnik in Venice directly from the Venetian municipality or from Venetian crossbow makers with the permission of the government. In case crossbows were not found in sufficient numbers, they were sold to them from the municipal armory.

    Even in the first years after the termination of the Venetian administration, the people of Dubrovnik still, when necessary, bought crossbows in Venice. In July 1361, it was decided in the Grand Council to buy another 100 crossbows.

    Acquisition of crossbows from Venice ceased with the eighth decade of the 14th century, when at least one crossbow maker was constantly in the municipal service in Dubrovnik. However, this does not end the ties with Italian cities. The crossbow makers who lived in Dubrovnik and worked at repairing municipal crossbows and making new ones, came from Venice, Perugia, Barletta and Ancona. It is indisputable that the crossbows they made typologically corresponded to Italian crossbows from the same time. This is confirmed by the fact that they were exported to Venice and Apulia. In the second half of 1380, the Dubrovnik government bought 50 defective crossbows that were located on a Genoan galley. This was the amount corresponding to the yearly purchase of new crossbows for the municipality. All the above data unequivocally show that crossbows, used and made in Dubrovnik throughout the century, were the same as in Italy.

    Weapon - the sword:

    It can be freely said that there was not a citizen of Dubrovnik who did not possess a sword. In almost every will listing the testator's property, there is a sword. Swords were owned by all strata of Dubrovnik society, sometimes even several swords. This phenomenon is quite understandable if we start from the function the sword had in Dubrovnik - it was a mandatory weapon for sailors and for the guards that watched over this tiny state (this duty was the duty of all men), and the personal weapon of every free man. However, despite that, swords were not counted among the official armament of Dubrovnik, nor were the sword makers salarians. Their reputation in society, especially since the second half of the 14th century, was not at an enviable height. The knightly-courtly culture of medieval Europe, in which the sword was a symbol of chivalry and feudal society, only marginally touched Dubrovnik and other Mediterranean trading cities, which had their own specific social and economic orientations and preoccupations.

    The sword in Dubrovnik, above all, had a practical significance, contained in its functional purpose as a weapon for cutting and stabbing.

    The archives provide information that four types of swords were known in Dubrovnik in the 14th century: 1. Ordinary sword, which is mentioned without any additional information, 2. Long sword, 3. Short sword, and 4. Slavic (or Serbian) sword.

    Armor:

    Based on archival data, it can be determined that the official armor configuration in the Republic of Dubrovnik consisted of three parts: 1) coat of plates variously called coratia, coracia, coraga, 2) protective maille collar - collare, collarium and 3) helmet - arma de testa, capellus, capellinus. Only one document, from 1349, mentions gauntlets - guantf.
    In the first half of the 14th century, Dubrovnik procured these armor components from Venice: in 1317 the city obtained "a large number" of coracias, in 1348 - 91 coracia and in 1349 - 150 coracias with collars, gauntlets and helmets.
    Since the middle of the 14th century, Dubrovnik focused on obtaining armor from domestic sources and had at least one armorer in its service, in addition to a few more local armorers who worked part-time for the municipality.
    The municipality issued equipment from its armory to its ground forces and ship crews. Until the middle of the century, all those who belonged to the ground forces and were obliged to possess some part of the armor, received it for a fee.
    From the second half of the century, news about armor belonging to the municipality indicate that some of it was present in the fortresses of Ston: 1361 - 30 coat of plates, 30 collars and 30 helmets, 1376 - coats of plates and helmets, 1382 - 100 coats of plates and 100 helmets, 1386 - 30 coats of plates, 1396 - 6 coats of plates and 6 iron hats in each of the three Ston fortresses. The decision of the Small Council from 1402 informs us that coats of plates and iron hats were issued to crossbowmen in the fortresses of Ston for the duration of their service.

    Presence in other cities on the eastern Adriatic coast:

    Similar to Dubrovnik, the cities on the coast of Zeta had an organized system of city defense. Indirect data on the city guard can be found in the Statute of the City of Kotor. Based on several articles, it can be concluded that all residents of the city with citizen status, including craftsmen, were obliged to participate in the guard. Those newly settled in the city were released from this obligation for two years (Art. 225). Along with paying taxes, guard duty was a burden borne by all the citizens of the commune. There are no preserved records on how this duty was distributed to citizens, but there is a strict ban on guards using the night to commit theft. This offense was severely punished by amputation of the right arm (Art. 108). On the other hand, the high fines for moving around the city (Art. 94) and keeping the taverns open (Art. 95) after the third bell partially belonged to the night guards.

    In 1442, the Venetian authorities decreed that the richest citizens of Kotor must own two crossbows and a composite bow, while those with middle levels of income must own one crossbow.

    Presence in the Serbian interior:

    Over time, the number of foreigners living in Serbia, chiefly Ragusans, increased considerably. This prompted Serbian rulers to regulate their status, their rights and their duties - including military ones. In 1302, king Milutin issued a charter which exempted Ragusans from military obligations such as attending the army, manning and repairing fortifications etc. The matter was not raised again until the end of the century, when increased pressure from the Ottoman Turks forced Serbian magnates to revoke some of the old privileges that the foreign merchants and craftsmen enjoyed. In 1387, lords Lazar Hrebeljanovic and Vuk Brankovic issued charters that confirmed most of the rights that Ragusan citizens had in Serbia. However, Ragusan citizens who were permanently settled in Serbia now had to help repair and defend fortifications. These new obligations did not remain mere ink on paper. When Musa Çelebi attacked the Serbian Despotate in 1412, Ragusan citizens participated in the successful defense of Novo Brdo. The Ragusan government was quick to remind despot Stefan Lazarevic of their bravery when a trade dispute arose later on. There is also a record from 1413 of Ragusans going to Novo Brdo's archery range to practice shooting with bows and crossbows. The city was more seriously threatened near the end of Stefan Lazarevic's reign. The despot expected that Novo Brdo will be attacked again, so he ordered that every Ragusan in the city must have a crossbow. The siege started at the start of 1427 and lasted to the end of the year. There is another recorded case of Ragusan citizens participating in the defense of the cities they settled in. When Bosnian king Tvrtko II sieged Srebrenica in 1425 in hopes of exploiting the fact that despot Stefan Lazarevic was busy fighting the Ottomans, Ragusan citizens participated in the defense of the city's fortress. The Bosnian army suffered a terrible defeat and was forced to withdraw. Tvrtko never forgot the part the Ragusans played in his defeat and even went as far to demand that they pay 10.000 ducats as compensation for the damages he endured. He didn't get the money.

    SOURCES:

    "Contribution to the study of the military role of artisans in medieval Serbia" - Aleksandra A. Fostikov, Vladeta M. Petrović, 2014
    "The state of the Serbian Despots" - Andrija Veselinović, 2006
    "Entertainment and festivites in medieval Serbia from the end of the 12th to the end of the 15th century" - Stanoje Bojanin, 2005.
    "14th century weapons and armor of Dubrovnik" - Đurđica Petrović, 1976.
    " Armour and weapons in medieval Serbia, Bosnia and Dubrovnik" - Gavro Škrivanić, 1957.
    "Legal monuments of the Serbian medieval states" - Stojan Novaković, 1912.
    Last edited by Rad; May 13, 2020 at 04:14 PM.

  2. #2

    Default Re: New unit.

    Availability:

    This unit is a factional for Ragusa/Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik should be able to recruit them in all territories in which its rule is well established. Other factions can recruit them in Dubrovnik and the coastal cities of Zeta (modern day Montenegro). Serbia (and possibly Bosnia) can also recruit them in the interior if Ragusan colonies are established. The colonies should multi-tiered. The final level should give the militia crossbowmen unit, a free upkeep for them, a bonus to trade and possibly a small fixed income to simulate tariffs. I will write more about Ragusan settlement in Serbia if there is interest for it.

    Stats:

    The unit should have a fairly high armor rating. Concerning attack and defense skill, it's militia level. A trained militia, but not a professional group of soldiers.


    Does this unit clash with any existing units of Dubrovnik, Bosnia and Serbia?


    No. Quite the opposite, it's a great addition to them. From what I can see in the Battle Beta version, Dubrovnik's existing crossbowmen represent professional troops. These guys are militia.
    Serbia and Bosnia had native crossbowmen, so there is no conflict between the existing crossbow units of those factions and this proposed one.

    Concept for the early version:

    The unit is armed with crossbows and one handed swords.

    These guys are decently armored with the minimum being a coat of plates and a helmet. They are generally well to do men with military duties to the cities they live in. They would either personally own that armor or it would have been issued to them for the duration of their service.

    The helmets should be a mix of kettle hats and bascinets (bascinets without visor, ofc). Cervellieres (aka skullcaps) are an option, but they seem to have been rarer.

    If there are 5 variations for the torso, it should look like this:

    1. Coat of plates over civilian clothes
    2. Coat of plates over civilian clothes, maille collar
    3. Coat of plates over gambeson, maille collar
    4. Coat of plates over long sleeved maille shirt, maille collar
    5. Maille shirt - short sleeved - my research focused on the coat of plates since it was so ubiquitous, but maille (panzeria) was used as well.

    Leg protection? Not something that people behind walls need. The sources related to the militias don't mention it.

    Gauntlets? Best not, these are crossbowmen after all.

    Concept for the later version:

    The unit is armed with crossbows and one handed swords - updated to late 14th/early 15th century ones, ofc. You can throw in a saber for variety, since they appear more frequently in the end of the 14th century.

    The helmets should be a mix of late 14th/early 15th century kettle hats, bascinets (bascinets without visor, ofc) and Italian proto-barbutes.

    The armor should be somewhat heavier and it should be updated to late 14th and early 15th century styles. If there are 5 variations for the torso, it should look like this:

    1. Coat of plates over civilian clothes, maille collar
    2. Coat of plates over gambeson, maille collar
    3. Coat of plates over short sleeved maille shirt, maille collar
    4. Coat of plates over long sleeved maille shirt, maille collar
    5. Maille shirt - long sleeved

    My suggestions regarding leg protection and gauntlets remain the same.
    Last edited by Rad; May 12, 2020 at 09:20 AM.

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