NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Swiss Mercenaries

Swiss mercenaries were soldiers notable for their service in foreign armies, especially the armies of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Later Middle Ages into the Age of the European Enlightenment. Their service as mercenaries was at its apogee during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them the most sought-after mercenary troops in the world. Download high resolution version (438x644, 78 KB) Luzerner Schilling, fol 327v. ... Download high resolution version (438x644, 78 KB) Luzerner Schilling, fol 327v. ... The west face of the Petit Dru above the Chamonix valley near the Mer de Glace. ... Reisläufer crossing the Alps Luzerner Schilling (or Luzernerchronik) is how the chronicle of Diebold Schilling the Younger of Lucerne (1513) is referred to. ... The early modern period is a term used by historians to refer to the period in Western Europe and its first colonies which spans the time between the Middle Ages and the Industrial Revolution that has created modern society. ... Dante by Michelino The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th to 16th centuries (AD 1300â€“1500). ... // The Age of Enlightenment (French: ; German: ; Polish: ) was an eighteenth-century movement in European and American philosophy, or the longer period including the Age of Reason. ... The Renaissance (French for rebirth, or Rinascimento in Italian), was a cultural movement in Italy (and in Europe in general) that began in the late Middle Ages, and spanned roughly the 14th through the 17th century. ...

Ascendancy of Swiss Mercenaries

During the Late Middle Ages, mercenary forces grew in importance in Europe, as veterans from the Hundred Years War and other conflicts came to see soldiering as a profession rather than a temporary activity, and commanders sought long-term professionals rather than temporary feudal levies to fight their wars. Swiss mercenaries (Reisläufer) were valued throughout Late Medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the pike and halberd. Hiring them was made even more attractive because entire ready-made Swiss mercenary contingents could be obtained by simply contracting with their local governments, the various Swiss cantons -- the cantons had a form of militia system in which the soldiers were bound to serve, and trained and equipped to do so. It should be noted, however, that the Swiss also hired themselves out individually or in small bands. This article is in need of attention. ... Dante by Michelino The Late Middle Ages is a term used by historians to describe European history in the period of the 14th to 16th centuries (AD 1300â€“1500). ... A modern recreation of a mid-17th century company of pikemen. ... Swedish halberds from the 16th century Halberdiers from a modern day reenactor troupe. ... The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. ...

The warriors of the Swiss cantons had gradually developed a reputation throughout Europe as skilled soldiers due to their successful defense of their liberties against their Austrian Habsburg overlords starting as early as the late thirteenth century, including such remarkable upset victories over heavily-armoured knights as Morgarten and Laupen. This was furthered by later successful campaigns of regional expansion (mainly into Italy). By the fifteenth century they were greatly valued as soldier-hires, particularly following their series of notable victories in the Burgundian Wars in the latter part of the century. As a result, bands of men, sometime acting independently, other times under the banners of their cantons, marched off to foreign lands to fight in the causes of others, for pay. The native term Reisläufer literally means "one who goes to war" and is derived from Middle High German Reise meaning "military campaign." Flag of the Habsburg Monarchy; also used as the flag of the Austrian Empire until the Ausgleich of 1867. ... On November 15, 1315, the soldiers of Duke Leopold I of Austria were thoroughly defeated by an ambush of the Swiss Confederation near the Morgarten pass. ... Illustration of the Battle of Laupen (by Diebold Schilling the Elder, 1480s). ... The Burgundy Wars were a conflict between the House of Habsburg and the Valois Dynasty, in which the Old Swiss Confederacy got involved and would play a decisive role. ... The twenty-six cantons of Switzerland are the states of the federal state of Switzerland. ...

The Swiss, with their head-down attack in huge columns with the long pike, refusal to take prisoners, and consistent record of victory, were greatly feared and admired -- for instance, Machiavelli addresses their system of combat at length in The Prince. The Valois Kings of France, in fact, considered it a virtual impossibility to take the field of battle without Swiss pikeman as the infantry core of their armies. (Although often referred to as "pikemen," the Swiss mercenary units also contained halberdiers as well until several decades into the sixteenth century, as well as a small number of skirmishers armed with crossbows or crude firearms to precede the rapid advance of the attack column.) Detail of the portrait of Machiavelli, ca 1500, in the robes of a Florentine public official Niccolò Machiavelli (May 3, 1469—June 21, 1527) was an Italian political philosopher during the Renaissance. ... Il Principe (The Prince) is a political treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist NiccolÃ² Machiavelli. ... Main articles: France in the Middle Ages and Early Modern France The Valois Dynasty succeeded the Capetian Dynasty as rulers of France from 1328-1589. ... Swedish halberds from the 16th century Halberdiers from a modern day reenactor troupe. ...

The young men who went off to fight, and sometimes die, in foreign service had several incentives -- limited economic options in the still largely-rural cantons; adventure; pride in the reputation of the Swiss as soldiers; and finally what military historian Sir Charles Oman describes as a pure love of combat and warfighting in and of itself, forged by two centuries of conflict. Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (Jan. ...

Image File history File links Bad-war. ... Image File history File links Bad-war. ... A 1543 portrait miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger by Lucas Horenbout Holbeins 1533 painting The Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ...

The Swiss and the Landsknechts in the Great Italian Wars

Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a virtual monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplemented by imitators, chiefly the Landsknechts. Landsknechts were Germans (at first largely from Swabia) and became proficient at Swiss tactics to produce a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades. Although the Landsknechts were never quite as redoubtable as the Swiss, they were much more readily available for hire, as after 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The Landsknecht, however, would serve any paymaster, even, at times, enemies of the Holy Roman Emperor (and Landsknechts at times even fought each other on the battlefield, something the Swiss flatly refused to do in mercenary service). The Landsknecht assumed the bright, garish soldier's outfits of the Swiss, and in fact soon outdid the Swiss in the flamboyance of their military dress. Period illustration of Landsknecht soldiers. ... Germany. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ...

The Swiss were not flattered by the imitation, and the two bodies of mercenaries immediately became bitter rivals over employment and on the battlefield, where they were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a simple "push of pike", the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage, and known to Italian onlookers as "bad war." Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, and ghastly casualties on both sides. Image File history File links Switzer. ... Image File history File links Switzer. ... Period illustration of Landsknecht soldiers. ... The Battle of Hard was the first major battle of the Swabian War. ... The Italian Wars, often referred to as the great Italian Wars or the great wars of Italy in historical works, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, all the major states of western Europe (France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, Scotland, the... Bad war The push of pike was a particular feature of late medieval and Early Modern warfare that occurred when two opposing columns of pikemenâ€”often Swiss mercenaries or landsknechtsâ€”collided and became locked in position along a front of interleaved pikes. ... A 1543 portrait miniature of Hans Holbein the Younger by Lucas Horenbout Holbeins 1533 painting The Ambassadors Hans Holbein the Younger (c. ...

Despite the competition from the Landsknechts, and imitation by other armies (most notably the Spanish, which adopted pike-handling as one element of its famed Tercios infantry formations), the Swiss fighting reputation reached its zenith between 1480-1525, and indeed the Battle of Novara, fought by Swiss mercenaries, is seen by some as the perfect Swiss battle. Even the close defeat at the terrible Battle of Marignano in 1515, the "Battle of Giants," was seen as a victory of sorts for Swiss arms due to the ferocity of the fighting and the good order of their withdrawal. Tercio was a term used by the Spanish army to describe a mixed infantry formation of about 3,000 pikemen and musketeers, sometimes referred to by other nations as a Spanish Square. ... The Battle of Novara was a battle of the Italian Wars fought on June 6, 1513, next to Novara, in Northen Italy. ... Combatants France, Republic of Venice Duchy of Milan Commanders Francis I, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Bartolomeo dAlviano, Louis de la TrÃ©moille Maximilian Sforza, Cardinal Matthaeus Schiner Strength 30,000 Unknown The Battle of Marignano, in the phase of the Italian Wars (1494â€“1559) that is called the War of...

Nonetheless, the repulse at Marignano presaged the decline of the Swiss form of warfare -- eventually, the two-century run of Swiss victories ended in 1522 with complete disaster at the Battle of Bicocca when combined Spanish and Landsknecht forces decisively defeated them using fortifications and new technology. It can be argued that it was arrogance -- overconfidence in their own supposed invincibility -- which defeated the Swiss as much as the armed forces of their enemies, for at Bicocca, the Swiss mercenaries, serving the French king, attempted repeatedly to frontally storm an impregnable defensive position, only to be mown down by small-arms and artillery fire. Never had the Swiss suffered such awful casualties while being unable to inflict much damage upon their foe. Arrogance and overconfidence were at play here, but another consideration was economic -- many of the Swiss mercenaries were still farmers, and needed to return home from campaign quickly in order to work the fields. This meant they often rushed, unthinking, into ill-advised battles in the hopes they would crush the enemy of their employer, collect booty, get paid, and march home to work their fields. Image File history File links Marignano. ... Image File history File links Marignano. ... Combatants France, Republic of Venice Duchy of Milan Commanders Francis I, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Bartolomeo dAlviano, Louis de la TrÃ©moille Maximilian Sforza, Cardinal Matthaeus Schiner Strength 30,000 Unknown The Battle of Marignano, in the phase of the Italian Wars (1494â€“1559) that is called the War of... Combatants France Spain Commanders Odet de Lautrec Fernando de Avalos Strength 15. ...

So terrible was the blow at Bicocca that Swiss battlefield proficiency suffered severely for years to follow. Their performance three years later, in French service at the great battle of the age, the Battle of Pavia, was commented on by many contemporaries as remarkably mediocre, and the battle is often portrayed as the benchmark for the decline in the reputation of the Swiss. Combatants France Holy Roman Empire, Spain, Duchy of Milan[1] Commanders Francis I of France Charles de Lannoy, Antonio de Leyva, Georg Frundsberg Strength 17,000 infantry 6,500 cavalry 53 guns 19,000 infantry 4,000 cavalry 17 guns Casualties 12,000 dead or wounded 500 dead or wounded...

Organization and tactics of early Swiss mercenary contingents

The early contingents of Swiss mercenary pikemen organized themselves rather differently than the cantonal forces. In the cantonal forces, their armies were usually divided into the Vorhut (vanguard), Gewalthut (center) and Nachhut (rearguard), generally of different sizes and often echeloned back with respect to each other. In mercenary contingents, although they could conceivably draw up in three similar columns if their force was of sufficient size, more often they simply drew up in one or two huge columns which deployed side by side, forming the center of the army in which they served. Likewise, their tactics they were not very similar to those used by the Swiss cantons in their brilliant tactical victories of the Burgundian Wars and Swabian War, in which they relied on maneuver at least as much as the brute force of the attack columns. In mercenary service they became much less likely to resort to outmaneuvering the enemy and relied more on a straightforward steamroller assault. Look up vanguard in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... The Burgundy Wars were a conflict between the House of Habsburg and the Valois Dynasty, in which the Old Swiss Confederacy got involved and would play a decisive role. ... The Battle of Hard was the first major battle of the Swabian War. ...

Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in close combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge, but they were vulnerable to firearms if they could be immobilized (as seen in the Battle of Marignano). The Swiss mercenaries did deploy crossbows, handguns and artillery of their own, however these always remained very subsidiary to the pike and halberd square. Despite the proven armour-penetration capability of firearms, they were also very inaccurate, slow-loading, and susceptible to damp conditions, and did not fit well with the fast-paced attack tactics used by the Swiss mercenary pike forces. Combatants France, Republic of Venice Duchy of Milan Commanders Francis I, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Bartolomeo dAlviano, Louis de la TrÃ©moille Maximilian Sforza, Cardinal Matthaeus Schiner Strength 30,000 Unknown The Battle of Marignano, in the phase of the Italian Wars (1494â€“1559) that is called the War of...

The Swiss remained primarily pikemen throughout the sixteenth century, but after that period they adopted similar infantry formations and tactics to other units in the armies in which they served. Accordingly, their tactics became less unique, and they took a normal place in the battle line amongst the other infantry units.

End of Military Ascendancy of Swiss Mercenary Pikemen

In the end, as proven at Marignano and Bicocca, the pike attack of the Swiss mercenaries proved to be too vulnerable to firearms wielded by Spanish and Landsknecht arquebusiers and the earthworks and artillery of the French. These arquebusiers and heavy cannons scythed down the close-packed ranks of the Swiss squares in bloody heaps -- at least, as long as the Swiss attack could be bogged down by earthworks or cavalry charges, and the shooters were backed up by Spanish and/or Landsknecht pikemen to defend them if necessary from the Swiss in close combat.

Other stratagems could also take the Swiss pikemen at a disadvantage. For instance, the Spanish rodeleros, also known as Sword and Buckler Men, armed with steel rodelas and side-swords, often wearing a helmet and a breastplate, were much better armed and armoured for man-to-man close combat than the Swiss. Accordingly, they could heavily defeat the Swiss if their pike column could be disorganized so that the Sword and Buckler Men could dash under the unwieldy pikes of the Swiss and stab the lightly-armoured, shieldless Swiss infantry. Landsknechts, using a formation similar to that of the Swiss, were defeated with terrible slaughter by the Spanish Sword and Buckler Men at the Battle of Ravenna. It should be noted, however, that this required disorganization of the pike column, and Swiss pike columns which retained good formation were able to heavily defeat Spanish rodeleros formations in battles such as at the Battle of Seminara. Rodeleros (shield bearers), also called espadachins (swordsmen) colloquially known as Sword and Buckler Men were Spanish troops in the early 16th (and again briefly in the 17th) century, equipped with steel shields or bucklers known as adarga and swords (an early form of the rapier). ... A side-sword was a type of war sword used by infantry during the Renaissance of Europe. ... Combatants France, Ferrara Spain, Papal States Commanders Gaston de Foixâ€ Ramon de Cardona Strength 26,000 12,000 Casualties 3,000 dead or wounded 9,000 dead or wounded The Battle of Ravenna, fought on April 11, 1512, by forces of the Holy League and France, was a major battle... Combatants France Spain, Kingdom of Naples Commanders Bernard dAubigny Ferdinand II of Naples The Battle of Seminara was fought in Calabria on June 28, 1495 as part of the First Italian War, between a French garrison in recently-conquered southern Italy and the allied forces of Spain and Naples...

Swiss Mercenaries after the Battle of Pavia

Despite the end of their supremacy circa 1525, the Swiss pike-armed mercenaries soon bounced back, and thereafter continued to be among the most capable close combat infantry in Europe throughout the sixteenth century, as demonstrated by their battlefield performances serving the King of France in the French Wars of Religion, particularly at the Battle of Dreux, where the block of Royal Swiss pikemen singlehandedly resisted virtually the entire Huguenot army, allowing the Catholic cavalry to eventually counterattack. The French Wars of Religion were a series of conflicts fought between Catholics and Huguenots (Protestants) from the middle of the sixteenth century to the Edict of Nantes in 1598, including civil infighting as well as military operations. ... Combatants Catholics Huguenots Commanders Anne de Montmorency, Guise Louis I, Prince of CondÃ©, Coligny Strength Casualties de Montmorency captured Louis I captured The Battle of Dreux was fought on December 19, 1562 between Catholics and Huguenots. ... In the 16th and 17th centuries, the name Huguenot was applied to a member of the Protestant Reformed Church of France, historically known as the French Calvinists. ...

Service in the French army

Swiss soldiers continued to serve as mercenaries with many nations from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. The most famous employer of these mercenaries was the French army, and the Swiss were an intrinsic, elite part of the French infantry forces. The famed Swiss Guard regiment, the most senior of the thirteen Swiss mercenary regiments in French service, was essentially identical to the French Guards in organization and equipment other than wearing a red uniform as opposed to the blue uniforms of the French Guards. The Swiss similarly adopted the musket in increasingly large numbers as the seventeenth century wore on, and abandoned the pike, their ancient trademark, altogether at around the same time as other troops in the French army, circa 1700. Image File history File links Lionmonumentlucerne. ... Image File history File links Lionmonumentlucerne. ... Swiss Guards have been Swiss who fought for various European powers from the 15th century until the 19th century, called up from the separate Swiss cantons and placed at the disposal of various foreign powers by treaties (the capitulations), in return for money payments. ...

The Swiss Guard, loyal to the last, was massacred in the French Revolution on August 10, 1792, dying to protect Louis XVI from the mob and assembled National Guardsmen although, ironically, the king had already fled the Tuileries Palace. Napoleon's army also included Swiss troops, who fought well, and were allowed to keep their distinctive red uniforms (distinguishing them from the French troops, who wore blue), although this caused some confusion on the battlefield --it was the same color worn by Napoleon's enemies in the Spanish campaigns, the British infantry. The French Revolution (1789â€“1815) was a period of political and social upheaval in the political history of France and Europe as a whole, during which the French governmental structure, previously an absolute monarchy with feudal privileges for the aristocracy and Catholic clergy, underwent radical change to forms based on... Louis XVI Louis XVI (August 23, 1754 - January 21, 1793), was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French in 1791-1792. ... Tuileries Palace before 1871 - View from the Louvre courtyard The Tuileries Palace stood in Paris, France, on the right bank of the River Seine until 1871, when it was destroyed. ... For other uses, see Napoleon (disambiguation). ... Red coat is a term often used to refer to a soldier of the historical British Army because of the colour of the uniforms formerly worn by the majority of regiments. ...

Service in the Spanish Army

Another prime employer of Swiss mercenaries from the later 16th century on was Spain. After the Protestant Reformation, Switzerland was split along religious lines between Protestant and Catholic cantons. Swiss mercenaries from the Catholic cantons were thereafter increasingly likely to be hired for service in the armies of the Spanish Habsburg superpower in the later sixteenth century. The first regularly embodied Swiss regiment in the Spanish army was that of Walter Roll of Uri (a Catholic canton) in 1574, for service in the Spanish Netherlands, and by the middle of the seventeenth century there were a dozen Swiss regiments fighting for the Spanish army. From the latter part of the seventeenth century these could be found serving in Spain itself or in its possessions, and fought against Portugal, against rebellions in Catalonia, in the War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Polish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession (in the fighting in Italy), and against Britain in the fighting associated with the American Revolution. Their final role in Spanish service was against the French in the Peninsular War, in which the six Swiss regiments in the Spanish army mostly stayed loyal to the Spanish, and were eventually ground down by years of fighting. The year 1823 finally saw the end of Swiss mercenary service with the Spanish army. The Reformation was a movement in the years of the 16th century to reform the Catholic Church in Western Europe. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Uri may refer to: geography: Canton of Uri is a canton (region) of Switzerland. ... This article or section should be merged with Seventeen Provinces The Spanish Netherlands was a portion of the Low Countries controlled by Spain from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. ... Charles II was the last Habsburg King of Spain. ... The War of the Polish Succession (1733-1738) was a European war and a Polish civil war, with considerable interference from other countries, to determine the succession to Augustus II, King of Poland, as well as an attempt by the Bourbon powers to check the power of Austria in western... Combatants Prussia Spain France Electorate of Bavaria Kingdom of Naples Austria Great Britain Dutch Republic Electorate of Saxony Sardinia Russian Empire Commanders Frederick II Leopold I Leopold II Maurice de Saxe FranÃ§ois-Marie de Broglie Charles VII Ludwig KhevenhÃ¼ller Charles Alexander George II Charles Emmanuel III Empress Maria... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that... Combatants Spain United Kingdom Portugal French Empire The Peninsular War was a major conflict during the Napoleonic Wars, fought on the Iberian Peninsula by an alliance of Spain, Portugal, and Britain against the Napoleonic French Empire. ...

As in French service, the Swiss fighting in the ranks of the Spanish army generally followed its organization, tactics and dress.

Swiss Mercenaries in Modern Times

Since 1859, only one mercenary unit has been permitted under the Swiss constitution, certainly the most famous of all: the Vatican's Swiss Guard, which has been protecting the pope for the last five centuries, dressed in colorful uniforms reminiscent of the Swiss mercenary's heyday. Despite it being prohibited, individual Swiss citizens carried on the tradition of foreign military service into the twentieth century, including participation in the Spanish Civil War, usually on the Republican side. The Swiss Constitution (Bundesverfassung in German) is at the highest level of Switzerlands judicial system. ... Papal Swiss Guards in traditional uniforms Swiss Guards are Swiss mercenary soldiers who have served as bodyguards, ceremonial guards and palace guards at foreign European courts from the late 15th century until the present day (in the form of the Papal Swiss Guard). ... Combatants Spanish Republic With the support of: Soviet Union[1] Nationalist Spain With the support of: Italy Germany Commanders Manuel AzaÃ±a Francisco Largo Caballero Juan NegrÃn Francisco Franco Gonzalo Queipo de Llano Emilio Mola JosÃ© Sanjurjo Casualties 500,000[2] The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict... Anthem El Himno de Riego Capital Madrid Language(s) Spanish Government Republic PresidentÂ¹ - 1931 Niceto AlcalÃ¡-Zamora - 1937-1939 Juan NegrÃn Legislature Congress of Deputies Historical era Interwar period - Monarchy abolished April 14, 1931 - Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 - Surrender to Franco April 1, 1939 Currency Spanish peseta Â¹ Formal...

References

Books

Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (Jan. ... Sir Charles William Chadwick Oman (Jan. ...

Online

The Historical Dictionary of Switzerland is an encyclopedia on the history of Switzerland that aims to take into account the results of modern historical research in a manner accessible to a broader audience. ...

Films

Richard Dindo (born 1944 in ZÃ¼rich) is a Swiss documentary film director. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

External links

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