All the armour and most weapons depicted in the colour plates are on display in the National Military Museum. Regulations specified blackened armour. To prevent rust, the exterior of armour and the hilts of edged weapons could be blackened by applying a mixture of linseed oil and soot; after heating, this left a permanent black layer. Browning and blueing were more expensive methods; the cheapest and least effective was to simply paint the metal.
A: CIVIL WAR, 1568–87
A1: Officer, 1572
This officer of the first decade of the war wears a burgonet helmet with orange, white and blue plumes attached at the rear; and half-armour of a gorget, rerebraces on the upper arms, breast-and-back plates and knee-length cuisses, decorated by leaving some parts unblackened. He carries a sword and a so-called ‘hunting’ halberd – an officer’s symbol of rank during the late 16th century, like the partisan. He is based on the 1572 portrait of Barthold Entens van Mentheda, an esquire from Groningen province. One of the many Protestants who had to flee for their lives, he came back with a vengeance as a much feared ‘sea-beggar’, terrorizing the northern waters and provinces. He was part of the fleet that landed at Den Briel, commanded the capture of Dordrecht shortly afterwards, and was engaged at Goes and second Manpad (Haarlem). After Stead-Holder Rennenberg and the city of Groningen switched sides, Entens and William Louis of Nassau (the new stead-holder for the rebels) commanded the force that laid siege to the city in 1580. Entens was killed there on 27 May, supposedly when he drunkenly charged the outer works and thrust his head into an embrasure just as its cannon was fired.
A2: Caliverman, c. 1577
Morion, second half of the 16th century; today popularly associated with Spanish troops, in fact this type of helmet was worn by infantry all over Europe and was widely manufactured in Italy. This example has an embossed ‘lily’ decoration left unblackened, and brass rosettes; note too the protective plates on the reconstructed leather chinstrap. (RM)
A typical caliverman of the era; during this period the long trigger-bar was replaced by a short trigger, the bar shape being retained as a trigger guard. He wears the fashion of the time, including the neck-ruff collar, and his morion has been decorated with brass rosettes round the base. The colours are taken from the De Gortter manuscript, a series of contemporary sketches of dress and banners of the units based in Mechelen between 1577 and 1585. Most armour would have been imported from Germany or Italy.
A3: ‘Verrejager’, 1574
This ‘far hunter’ during the siege of Leiden is taken from an anonymous 16th-century painting in that city. The many ditches in the Dutch landscape limited the use of cavalry and also hindered infantry formations. Many were too wide to simply leap across, but vaulting-poles allowed easy crossings (and are still in use today). A disc at the forward end prevented the tip from sinking too deeply into the mud, and adding a metal spike to the other end produced a sort of ‘vaulting-spear’, giving a man both high mobility and a vicious sting – ideal for raids, and when hunting down enemy raiders. Later the ‘hunters’ would also be equipped with a wheellock or flintlock, and served on the flanks or in cooperation with horse, much like dragoons in other armies. At Leiden and elsewhere they were also used as messengers, and to bring much-needed supplies into the city. This man wears civilian clothing with a white handkerchief tied around his arm as a field sign; since raids usually took place during dawn or dusk, quick identification of friend or foe was vital. A sheathed dagger shows under his shirt behind his hip.
B & C: WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, c. 1600
A common type of late 16th-century infantry sword, nowadays called a ‘Sinclair sabre’, although in fact it resembles a cutlass. Note the swordsmith’s marks on the blade, and the crude workmanship of the basket guard. (RM)
While omitting a sword-and-buckler man (see page 17) this otherwise shows the ideal mix of troops for a company, as envisioned by Maurice of Nassau, written down in regulations, and seen on the field at Nieuwpoort.
The caliverman (B1), serving on the outer flank of the shot, has a weapon with a straighter stock than before. The sergeant (B2) would be as heavily armoured as the two front ranks of pikemen, with gorget, rerebraces, breast-and-back plates and tassets. Earning more than them, however, he would probably have more fashionable clothes, and is distinguished by an orange sash and lavish feather plumes. Another sign of his rank was the 8ft (240cm) halberd, in this case with a squared, grooved shaft with rounded-off corners, and two protective langets running down for about 19½in (50cm) below the head. The 18ft (5m) weapon carried by the two front ranks of pikemen (B3) had similar langets; its shaft was about ⅜in (1cm) thicker in the middle than at the ends. The helmet is the ‘stormhoed’ (‘storm hat’), recalling the old medieval ‘kettle-hat’, which offered good protection. Note that the gorget was always worn underneath the cuirass. The men’s swords are simple and straight, meant for both hacking and stabbing.
A pikeman’s corselet might have a hook on which he could hang his helmet while on the march. No helmets have yet been found with a hole in the brim for this purpose, but the evidence of period prints is explicit. (Detail from a Savery print, 1630s; RM)
Most pikemen (C1) in the body of the block did not have arm or leg armour. Unlike the caliverman, the musketeer (C2) serving in the inner flanking files carries his charges individually measured into the ‘apostles’ or cartridge-bottles strung from his bandoleer together with a bullet-bag and spare match, and has a forked musket rest. Various helmet designs were used in different units, since the arsenals still purchased throughout Europe. The unit’s ensign (C3) would probably be a young nobleman, and thus wears clothes of finer quality, and in this case his armour is decorated with brass rivets and edges. He carries the national banner prescribed for all Dutch regiments in 1600 (see F6); the finial was a functional pikehead, and, characteristically, the staff exposed below the silk is only about 10ins (25cm) long, with an egg-shaped counterweight.
D & E: COALITION WAR, c. 1625–35
Typical felt hat of the first decades of the 17th century. This example, of a greyish-beige colour, belonged to the Stead-Holder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz. He was wearing it when he was fatally shot through the head while peering over a parapet during the siege of Roermond on 2 July 1632. (RM)
In Frederick Henry’s army the troops’ equipment became ever more standardized. Dutch factories were now mass-producing regulation equipment, and national arsenals were able to supply whole armies in a matter of days (e.g. Mansfeld’s 10,000-strong corps in 1622). Helmets and armour were mechanically made, with water-powered hammers beating single plates into shape. The result was simple and cheap, of a quality perhaps not as good as some earlier products, but consistent.
Musketeers (D1) were still supposed to wear helmets, but it seems that most ‘forgot’ to bring them along. Their muskets had now developed the rounded-shape trigger guard still used today. All pikemen (D2) now wore the same armour: breast-and-back plates and tassets, over a heavy leather ‘buff coat’. Although regulations called for blackened armour, some period paintings show it like this. The helmet was developing into the simple ‘pikeman’s pot’; losing the comb, it would soon degenerate further into the model that continued to be used for another century. Officers (D3) now seemed to prefer buff coats to the heavier half-armour worn in the previous decades, and carried a partisan as well as their sword (here belted at the waist, under the costly sash). Period engravings show the hat brim extravagantly flared up at the front, and officers in portraits wear very broad lace collars.
Dragoons (E1) were a short-lived experiment in Maurice’s army. Infantry now and then hitched a ride with cavalry, like the 500 men who took Mons in 1572, or those who stole a march on the enemy in 1606 to occupy Bredevoort castle just in time. But it was not until 1606 that the States’ Army decided to follow the foreign trend, and converted two foot companies into dragoons: Elderen (Capt Hoboken’s old company of Ostend veterans, whose banner is shown in the De Gortter manuscript – see under F5), and Otmarson (the Scottish company of Col Sinclair, also Ostend veterans). These were most probably armed with a slung snaphaunce, already a popular weapon among Scots entering Dutch service; John of Nassau-Siegen said it was a prerequisite for dragoons. He also mentioned that they should not carry banners, and only a small drum. The companies had neither pikes nor armour, but Elderen’s (in Frisian pay) complemented their firearm with the vaulting-spear, to enjoy even more flexibility of movement. Apparently their horsemanship had improved enough by 1615 to convert both units into full horse, as carabineers. This ended the use of dragoons in the army, their function of mobile infantry being taken over by foot equipped with vaulting-spears.
Hardly any uniform colours are mentioned in period texts, but in 1629 men recruited in north-west Germany and the Netherlands to serve in Gustavus Adolphus’ Swedish army (E2) were referred to as ‘black clothed’. Before they left, Frederick Henry hired them to garrison some of the cities threatened by Montecuccoli’s failed invasion (intended to relieve the siege of ’s Hertogenbosch). These so-called ‘Swedes’ totalled 2,600 men in three regiments (Van Falkenberg, Dietrichson and Hall) of eight companies each, and served Frederick Henry from July until October 1629. Only the two companies garrisoning Amersfoort actually met Montecuccoli’s troops.
The ‘skirmisher’ (E3) is from the ‘vuurroer’ company of the Guards Regiment in the 1640s. He is equipped with a flintlock and still uses a bandoleer, although cartridge-bags (as worn slung to his hip by E1) seem to have been introduced in flintlock units at about this date. The standing army had two regiments and several companies of flintlock skirmishers, who operated on the flanks, or – with carabineer horse – in independent flying brigades. Many if not most also had the vaulting-spear, or – where those were impractical – the 6–8ft-long (180–240cm) spear called a ‘third pike’ (because it was around one-third the length of a normal pike). It seems that the 1,000 musketeers detached in the 1620s to serve as marines in the navy had also received flintlocks by this later date.
F & G: FLAGS
As the army changed from a mercenary Landsknecht-type organization gathered for each campaign into a drilled standing army, so too did the unit flags (aka ensigns) carried by the troops develop. The old banners were carried on short pike-headed poles, used as weapons if need be, and were meant to convey regulated signals for movement orders (a practice that still survives as traditional flag-waving competitions around Europe). Companies lost their individuality in the new regiments, and the banner’s visual messages were replaced with drill and voice commands. As a result the ensigns grew smaller, but the poles grew longer – or at least that was true of the leading banner, the colonel’s ensign. This was carried apart from the company ensigns, which were all grouped together in the central pike block, officially between the third and fourth ranks. If regulations were followed the company flags were all pretty much identical, no doubt leading to some confusion on the march. Towards the end of the period only the regimental banner may have been retained, with companies using simple coloured flags to avoid confusion. This was certainly the case among the WIC troops, the regiments sent to Venice, and – still later – urban civic guards. The flags were renewed whenever necessary; some survived for as long as 16 years before a new captain or colonel decided to change them.
F1: William the Silent at the battle of Dalheim in 1568, based on descriptions and Hogenberg’s print. His ensign bears the motto ‘Pro . Rege . Lege / et . Grege’ (‘For King, Law / and People’), as used in his 1568 pamphlet calling on the people to resist Alva’s Spaniards. Since the king himself represented order and authority, however, he was still considered to be on the ‘good’ side. At Heiligerlee, William’s brother Louis used ‘Nunc aut Nunquam’ (‘Now or Never’), and ‘Recuperare aut Mori’ (‘Regain or Die’).
F2: Captain Wolter Hegeman at the siege of Deventer, 1578, from a contemporary painting. Born in Harderwijk in 1542, he was banished by Alva in 1566, when his father was the city’s burgomaster. He became a rebel, was a hopman (captain) by 1572, and colonel of the Gelderland Regiment by 1579. He died at the siege of Bronkhorst, shot by a deserter. Illustrating the chaotic nature of the early Civil War period, Hegeman fought against the royalist Robles in Friesland, the rebel Schenk in Gelderland, and both Spanish and rebel troops (under Entens, see A1) in Holland. Most rebel ensigns of the early period were like this, with two or more bands in two to four colours.
F3: Captain Van den Tempel’s ensign in 1580, from the De Gortter manuscript; this officer recaptured Mechelen from Spanish troops in that year. The diagonal stripe was inspired by Huguenot banners, and the crescent near the top of it refers to the crescent-shaped badges that ‘beggars’ started to wear in 1566 as a sign of rebel allegiance. The yellow letters ‘. L . T . D . P . ‘ stand for ‘Liever Turks dan Paaps’ (‘Rather Turkish than Papist’) – a fine example of the war of words often waged on banners of this period. Don Juan’s banner at the battle of Gembloers in 1578 bore ‘In hoc signo vici Turcos, in hoc vincam haereticos’ (‘In this sign I defeated the Turks, in this I will defeat the heretics’).
F4: A Walloon company from Stead-Holder Rennenberg’s force at the siege of Deventer, 1578, from a contemporary painting. The early army displayed many of these ‘Burgundian cross’ flags, since officially it still was loyal to the King of Spain. Rennenberg would soon show that loyalty by betraying the rebel cause and switching sides; he thus handed Spain the strategically important provinces of Groningen in the north-east and – through his family – Henegouwen (Hainaut) in the south-west.
F5: William Stewart’s regiment in Mechelen, 1580, from the De Gortter manuscript. The source shows a yellowish orange, perhaps interpreting it as yet another orange-white-blue banner, but Stewart of Houston’s livery colours were actually yellow, white and blue. (The banner of Capt Hoboken’s company at the same date was illustrated with the same rounded fly, in 15 straight horizontal stripes – white, blue and orange repeated five times each.) Stewart’s unit had fought in Zeeland, then went to Poland in 1577 to fight for King Stefan Batory at Danzig, before returning in 1579. It was merged with another Scottish unit in 1583, when Stewart returned to Scotland to become captain of the king’s guard.
F6: Regulation ensign, North Holland Regiment, 1600 (reconstruction). In April 1591 it was decided that national and Scottish regiments should have ensigns bearing the red Dutch lion, and thereafter all new foreign regiments would carry these regulation flags. (This is the same lion that had become the country’s coat of arms in September 1578, on a yellow field.) In March 1599 it was further decided that each regiment should have all its ensigns of the same basic colour, which implies that different companies within at least some regiments had previously used different colours. At first the lion had a crown and 17 arrows, one for each rebellious province; by 1591 it had lost ten of the arrows and its crown. The red lion’s sword, arrows, claws and tongue would often be rendered in blue. Because it looked so much like the provincial coat of arms of Holland, it was decided in 1617 to reverse the colours: the United Provinces’ banner would henceforth show a yellow lion on a red field, often with the details in white. New ensigns from that date on can be assumed to have borne the yellow lion. If a rectangular ensign was used, the lion was not usually placed centrally but closer to the hoist (pole).
F7: Company of Captain De Vries, 1605–16, from the sketches of Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz (see under G).
F8: West Indies Company ensign, 1630s–40s, from a sketchbook in the New York Historical Society’s collection. The GWC monogram is the abbreviation for Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie (‘Chartered West-Indies Company’). The sketchbook shows many company ensigns like this, using combinations of orange, blue, green and white, with four flames converging from the corners or the sides (some flames shorter than this example). Some have the coat of arms of one of the five WIC ‘chambers’ instead of the monogram.
F9: Civic Guard of Amsterdam, District 5, 1642, from a Backer painting. Civic guard ensigns show a wide variety, while those of paid militias were regulated and supplied by the government when the unit was created. For example, Holland’s paid militia in 1596 had a ‘traditional’ orange-white-blue tricolour banner with the red national lion in the white band.
G: EVOLUTION: ERNST CASIMIR’S COMPANY ENSIGNS
Finely decorated powder flask, c. 1600; note the spring-loaded catch on the nozzle, enabling the musketeer to control the flow of powder. While flasks might be made of iron, wood or leather, materials which better resisted damp were superior, such as brass for the fittings, and for the body cow’s horn, which could be softened in boiling water and then re-shaped as required. The large tasseled knots often illustrated at the ends of the suspension cord helped hold the flask steady. (RM)
Regulations clearly stated how an ensign of the standing army should look; however, many provincial units ignored these instructions despite several official requests. Among these were the units of Ernst Casimir, Count of Nassau-Dietz, who upon the death of William Louis succeeded him as Stead-Holder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. In 1621, when hostilities resumed, he decided to create a unified design for the ensigns of the companies under his command. For units from his stead-holder provinces he chose blue and yellow, with the Frisian wreathed double lions (e.g. G2, G5 and G8), but for his own German units he used blue and white. His personal collection of sketches, with both the previously existing and the new designs, has been preserved, but never before published. This Men-at-Arms book is the first time any of those illustrated here have been seen in public, showing some unique examples of design evolution.
G1: Captain Atte Hettinga’s company, c. 1615.
G2: Captain Atte Hettinga’s company, 1620s.
G3: Captain Hennemarck’s company from Ernst Casimir’s own German regiment, 1620s.
G4: Captain Sageman’s company, 1604-20. It is unclear from the sketch whether the ends of the individual stripes were cut in a dagged shape, merely represent wear-and-tear, or both. The crescent motif tells us that the captain used to be a ‘sea-beggar’.
G5: Captain Sageman’s company, after 1621.
G6: Captain Hanecrot’s company, 1620s. He was the sergeant-major of Ernst Casimir’s own German regiment.
G7: Captain Donia’s company, 1610–21.
G8: Captain Donia’s company, 1621–28, in which year another commander took over.
G9: Captain Resten’s company, 1620s – another of Ernst Casimir’s German companies.
H: BRAZIL, c. 1640
H1: European musketeer
H2: Mulatto musketeer
H3: Allied Tupi warrior
In the Americas, Africa and Asia Dutch activities were a mixture of trade and war, and from the start alliances were made with local rulers. In Brazil, European soldiers fought alongside mulatto musketeers and Indian warriors. The latter, mostly Tupis, proved decisive in at least one battle, and were an integral part of flying brigades and patrols hunting down Portuguese guerrillas. As part of the WIC’s regular army they even accompanied the troops shipped to Angola. Elsewhere – in North America, Ghana, Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan and Indonesia – local allies helped the Dutch against local opponents only. In Asia the VOC organized civic guards in its new cities, composed of the same mix as the people living there; for example, the Batavia (Jakarta) civic guard had Dutch, Chinese and local members. Outside of Brazil, the only other non-European professional soldiery were the Japanese mercenaries working for the VOC; these proved just as troublesome as mercenaries back in Europe, being loyal only to whoever paid them the most and quickest.
PLATE COMMENTARIES
All the armour and most weapons depicted in the colour plates are on display in the National Military Museum. Regulations specified blackened armour. To prevent rust, the exterior of armour and the hilts of edged weapons could be blackened by applying a mixture of linseed oil and soot; after heating, this left a permanent black layer. Browning and blueing were more expensive methods; the cheapest and least effective was to simply paint the metal.
A: CIVIL WAR, 1568–87
A1: Officer, 1572
This officer of the first decade of the war wears a burgonet helmet with orange, white and blue plumes attached at the rear; and half-armour of a gorget, rerebraces on the upper arms, breast-and-back plates and knee-length cuisses, decorated by leaving some parts unblackened. He carries a sword and a so-called ‘hunting’ halberd – an officer’s symbol of rank during the late 16th century, like the partisan. He is based on the 1572 portrait of Barthold Entens van Mentheda, an esquire from Groningen province. One of the many Protestants who had to flee for their lives, he came back with a vengeance as a much feared ‘sea-beggar’, terrorizing the northern waters and provinces. He was part of the fleet that landed at Den Briel, commanded the capture of Dordrecht shortly afterwards, and was engaged at Goes and second Manpad (Haarlem). After Stead-Holder Rennenberg and the city of Groningen switched sides, Entens and William Louis of Nassau (the new stead-holder for the rebels) commanded the force that laid siege to the city in 1580. Entens was killed there on 27 May, supposedly when he drunkenly charged the outer works and thrust his head into an embrasure just as its cannon was fired.
A2: Caliverman, c. 1577
Morion, second half of the 16th century; today popularly associated with Spanish troops, in fact this type of helmet was worn by infantry all over Europe and was widely manufactured in Italy. This example has an embossed ‘lily’ decoration left unblackened, and brass rosettes; note too the protective plates on the reconstructed leather chinstrap. (RM)
A typical caliverman of the era; during this period the long trigger-bar was replaced by a short trigger, the bar shape being retained as a trigger guard. He wears the fashion of the time, including the neck-ruff collar, and his morion has been decorated with brass rosettes round the base. The colours are taken from the De Gortter manuscript, a series of contemporary sketches of dress and banners of the units based in Mechelen between 1577 and 1585. Most armour would have been imported from Germany or Italy.
A3: ‘Verrejager’, 1574
This ‘far hunter’ during the siege of Leiden is taken from an anonymous 16th-century painting in that city. The many ditches in the Dutch landscape limited the use of cavalry and also hindered infantry formations. Many were too wide to simply leap across, but vaulting-poles allowed easy crossings (and are still in use today). A disc at the forward end prevented the tip from sinking too deeply into the mud, and adding a metal spike to the other end produced a sort of ‘vaulting-spear’, giving a man both high mobility and a vicious sting – ideal for raids, and when hunting down enemy raiders. Later the ‘hunters’ would also be equipped with a wheellock or flintlock, and served on the flanks or in cooperation with horse, much like dragoons in other armies. At Leiden and elsewhere they were also used as messengers, and to bring much-needed supplies into the city. This man wears civilian clothing with a white handkerchief tied around his arm as a field sign; since raids usually took place during dawn or dusk, quick identification of friend or foe was vital. A sheathed dagger shows under his shirt behind his hip.
B & C: WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE, c. 1600
A common type of late 16th-century infantry sword, nowadays called a ‘Sinclair sabre’, although in fact it resembles a cutlass. Note the swordsmith’s marks on the blade, and the crude workmanship of the basket guard. (RM)
While omitting a sword-and-buckler man (see page 17) this otherwise shows the ideal mix of troops for a company, as envisioned by Maurice of Nassau, written down in regulations, and seen on the field at Nieuwpoort.
The caliverman (B1), serving on the outer flank of the shot, has a weapon with a straighter stock than before. The sergeant (B2) would be as heavily armoured as the two front ranks of pikemen, with gorget, rerebraces, breast-and-back plates and tassets. Earning more than them, however, he would probably have more fashionable clothes, and is distinguished by an orange sash and lavish feather plumes. Another sign of his rank was the 8ft (240cm) halberd, in this case with a squared, grooved shaft with rounded-off corners, and two protective langets running down for about 19½in (50cm) below the head. The 18ft (5m) weapon carried by the two front ranks of pikemen (B3) had similar langets; its shaft was about ⅜in (1cm) thicker in the middle than at the ends. The helmet is the ‘stormhoed’ (‘storm hat’), recalling the old medieval ‘kettle-hat’, which offered good protection. Note that the gorget was always worn underneath the cuirass. The men’s swords are simple and straight, meant for both hacking and stabbing.
A pikeman’s corselet might have a hook on which he could hang his helmet while on the march. No helmets have yet been found with a hole in the brim for this purpose, but the evidence of period prints is explicit. (Detail from a Savery print, 1630s; RM)
Most pikemen (C1) in the body of the block did not have arm or leg armour. Unlike the caliverman, the musketeer (C2) serving in the inner flanking files carries his charges individually measured into the ‘apostles’ or cartridge-bottles strung from his bandoleer together with a bullet-bag and spare match, and has a forked musket rest. Various helmet designs were used in different units, since the arsenals still purchased throughout Europe. The unit’s ensign (C3) would probably be a young nobleman, and thus wears clothes of finer quality, and in this case his armour is decorated with brass rivets and edges. He carries the national banner prescribed for all Dutch regiments in 1600 (see F6); the finial was a functional pikehead, and, characteristically, the staff exposed below the silk is only about 10ins (25cm) long, with an egg-shaped counterweight.
D & E: COALITION WAR, c. 1625–35
Typical felt hat of the first decades of the 17th century. This example, of a greyish-beige colour, belonged to the Stead-Holder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe, Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz. He was wearing it when he was fatally shot through the head while peering over a parapet during the siege of Roermond on 2 July 1632. (RM)
In Frederick Henry’s army the troops’ equipment became ever more standardized. Dutch factories were now mass-producing regulation equipment, and national arsenals were able to supply whole armies in a matter of days (e.g. Mansfeld’s 10,000-strong corps in 1622). Helmets and armour were mechanically made, with water-powered hammers beating single plates into shape. The result was simple and cheap, of a quality perhaps not as good as some earlier products, but consistent.
Musketeers (D1) were still supposed to wear helmets, but it seems that most ‘forgot’ to bring them along. Their muskets had now developed the rounded-shape trigger guard still used today. All pikemen (D2) now wore the same armour: breast-and-back plates and tassets, over a heavy leather ‘buff coat’. Although regulations called for blackened armour, some period paintings show it like this. The helmet was developing into the simple ‘pikeman’s pot’; losing the comb, it would soon degenerate further into the model that continued to be used for another century. Officers (D3) now seemed to prefer buff coats to the heavier half-armour worn in the previous decades, and carried a partisan as well as their sword (here belted at the waist, under the costly sash). Period engravings show the hat brim extravagantly flared up at the front, and officers in portraits wear very broad lace collars.
Dragoons (E1) were a short-lived experiment in Maurice’s army. Infantry now and then hitched a ride with cavalry, like the 500 men who took Mons in 1572, or those who stole a march on the enemy in 1606 to occupy Bredevoort castle just in time. But it was not until 1606 that the States’ Army decided to follow the foreign trend, and converted two foot companies into dragoons: Elderen (Capt Hoboken’s old company of Ostend veterans, whose banner is shown in the De Gortter manuscript – see under F5), and Otmarson (the Scottish company of Col Sinclair, also Ostend veterans). These were most probably armed with a slung snaphaunce, already a popular weapon among Scots entering Dutch service; John of Nassau-Siegen said it was a prerequisite for dragoons. He also mentioned that they should not carry banners, and only a small drum. The companies had neither pikes nor armour, but Elderen’s (in Frisian pay) complemented their firearm with the vaulting-spear, to enjoy even more flexibility of movement. Apparently their horsemanship had improved enough by 1615 to convert both units into full horse, as carabineers. This ended the use of dragoons in the army, their function of mobile infantry being taken over by foot equipped with vaulting-spears.
Hardly any uniform colours are mentioned in period texts, but in 1629 men recruited in north-west Germany and the Netherlands to serve in Gustavus Adolphus’ Swedish army (E2) were referred to as ‘black clothed’. Before they left, Frederick Henry hired them to garrison some of the cities threatened by Montecuccoli’s failed invasion (intended to relieve the siege of ’s Hertogenbosch). These so-called ‘Swedes’ totalled 2,600 men in three regiments (Van Falkenberg, Dietrichson and Hall) of eight companies each, and served Frederick Henry from July until October 1629. Only the two companies garrisoning Amersfoort actually met Montecuccoli’s troops.
The ‘skirmisher’ (E3) is from the ‘vuurroer’ company of the Guards Regiment in the 1640s. He is equipped with a flintlock and still uses a bandoleer, although cartridge-bags (as worn slung to his hip by E1) seem to have been introduced in flintlock units at about this date. The standing army had two regiments and several companies of flintlock skirmishers, who operated on the flanks, or – with carabineer horse – in independent flying brigades. Many if not most also had the vaulting-spear, or – where those were impractical – the 6–8ft-long (180–240cm) spear called a ‘third pike’ (because it was around one-third the length of a normal pike). It seems that the 1,000 musketeers detached in the 1620s to serve as marines in the navy had also received flintlocks by this later date.
F & G: FLAGS
As the army changed from a mercenary Landsknecht-type organization gathered for each campaign into a drilled standing army, so too did the unit flags (aka ensigns) carried by the troops develop. The old banners were carried on short pike-headed poles, used as weapons if need be, and were meant to convey regulated signals for movement orders (a practice that still survives as traditional flag-waving competitions around Europe). Companies lost their individuality in the new regiments, and the banner’s visual messages were replaced with drill and voice commands. As a result the ensigns grew smaller, but the poles grew longer – or at least that was true of the leading banner, the colonel’s ensign. This was carried apart from the company ensigns, which were all grouped together in the central pike block, officially between the third and fourth ranks. If regulations were followed the company flags were all pretty much identical, no doubt leading to some confusion on the march. Towards the end of the period only the regimental banner may have been retained, with companies using simple coloured flags to avoid confusion. This was certainly the case among the WIC troops, the regiments sent to Venice, and – still later – urban civic guards. The flags were renewed whenever necessary; some survived for as long as 16 years before a new captain or colonel decided to change them.
F1: William the Silent at the battle of Dalheim in 1568, based on descriptions and Hogenberg’s print. His ensign bears the motto ‘Pro . Rege . Lege / et . Grege’ (‘For King, Law / and People’), as used in his 1568 pamphlet calling on the people to resist Alva’s Spaniards. Since the king himself represented order and authority, however, he was still considered to be on the ‘good’ side. At Heiligerlee, William’s brother Louis used ‘Nunc aut Nunquam’ (‘Now or Never’), and ‘Recuperare aut Mori’ (‘Regain or Die’).
F2: Captain Wolter Hegeman at the siege of Deventer, 1578, from a contemporary painting. Born in Harderwijk in 1542, he was banished by Alva in 1566, when his father was the city’s burgomaster. He became a rebel, was a hopman (captain) by 1572, and colonel of the Gelderland Regiment by 1579. He died at the siege of Bronkhorst, shot by a deserter. Illustrating the chaotic nature of the early Civil War period, Hegeman fought against the royalist Robles in Friesland, the rebel Schenk in Gelderland, and both Spanish and rebel troops (under Entens, see A1) in Holland. Most rebel ensigns of the early period were like this, with two or more bands in two to four colours.
F3: Captain Van den Tempel’s ensign in 1580, from the De Gortter manuscript; this officer recaptured Mechelen from Spanish troops in that year. The diagonal stripe was inspired by Huguenot banners, and the crescent near the top of it refers to the crescent-shaped badges that ‘beggars’ started to wear in 1566 as a sign of rebel allegiance. The yellow letters ‘. L . T . D . P . ‘ stand for ‘Liever Turks dan Paaps’ (‘Rather Turkish than Papist’) – a fine example of the war of words often waged on banners of this period. Don Juan’s banner at the battle of Gembloers in 1578 bore ‘In hoc signo vici Turcos, in hoc vincam haereticos’ (‘In this sign I defeated the Turks, in this I will defeat the heretics’).
F4: A Walloon company from Stead-Holder Rennenberg’s force at the siege of Deventer, 1578, from a contemporary painting. The early army displayed many of these ‘Burgundian cross’ flags, since officially it still was loyal to the King of Spain. Rennenberg would soon show that loyalty by betraying the rebel cause and switching sides; he thus handed Spain the strategically important provinces of Groningen in the north-east and – through his family – Henegouwen (Hainaut) in the south-west.
F5: William Stewart’s regiment in Mechelen, 1580, from the De Gortter manuscript. The source shows a yellowish orange, perhaps interpreting it as yet another orange-white-blue banner, but Stewart of Houston’s livery colours were actually yellow, white and blue. (The banner of Capt Hoboken’s company at the same date was illustrated with the same rounded fly, in 15 straight horizontal stripes – white, blue and orange repeated five times each.) Stewart’s unit had fought in Zeeland, then went to Poland in 1577 to fight for King Stefan Batory at Danzig, before returning in 1579. It was merged with another Scottish unit in 1583, when Stewart returned to Scotland to become captain of the king’s guard.
F6: Regulation ensign, North Holland Regiment, 1600 (reconstruction). In April 1591 it was decided that national and Scottish regiments should have ensigns bearing the red Dutch lion, and thereafter all new foreign regiments would carry these regulation flags. (This is the same lion that had become the country’s coat of arms in September 1578, on a yellow field.) In March 1599 it was further decided that each regiment should have all its ensigns of the same basic colour, which implies that different companies within at least some regiments had previously used different colours. At first the lion had a crown and 17 arrows, one for each rebellious province; by 1591 it had lost ten of the arrows and its crown. The red lion’s sword, arrows, claws and tongue would often be rendered in blue. Because it looked so much like the provincial coat of arms of Holland, it was decided in 1617 to reverse the colours: the United Provinces’ banner would henceforth show a yellow lion on a red field, often with the details in white. New ensigns from that date on can be assumed to have borne the yellow lion. If a rectangular ensign was used, the lion was not usually placed centrally but closer to the hoist (pole).
F7: Company of Captain De Vries, 1605–16, from the sketches of Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz (see under G).
F8: West Indies Company ensign, 1630s–40s, from a sketchbook in the New York Historical Society’s collection. The GWC monogram is the abbreviation for Geoctrooieerde Westindische Compagnie (‘Chartered West-Indies Company’). The sketchbook shows many company ensigns like this, using combinations of orange, blue, green and white, with four flames converging from the corners or the sides (some flames shorter than this example). Some have the coat of arms of one of the five WIC ‘chambers’ instead of the monogram.
F9: Civic Guard of Amsterdam, District 5, 1642, from a Backer painting. Civic guard ensigns show a wide variety, while those of paid militias were regulated and supplied by the government when the unit was created. For example, Holland’s paid militia in 1596 had a ‘traditional’ orange-white-blue tricolour banner with the red national lion in the white band.
G: EVOLUTION: ERNST CASIMIR’S COMPANY ENSIGNS
Finely decorated powder flask, c. 1600; note the spring-loaded catch on the nozzle, enabling the musketeer to control the flow of powder. While flasks might be made of iron, wood or leather, materials which better resisted damp were superior, such as brass for the fittings, and for the body cow’s horn, which could be softened in boiling water and then re-shaped as required. The large tasseled knots often illustrated at the ends of the suspension cord helped hold the flask steady. (RM)
Regulations clearly stated how an ensign of the standing army should look; however, many provincial units ignored these instructions despite several official requests. Among these were the units of Ernst Casimir, Count of Nassau-Dietz, who upon the death of William Louis succeeded him as Stead-Holder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. In 1621, when hostilities resumed, he decided to create a unified design for the ensigns of the companies under his command. For units from his stead-holder provinces he chose blue and yellow, with the Frisian wreathed double lions (e.g. G2, G5 and G8), but for his own German units he used blue and white. His personal collection of sketches, with both the previously existing and the new designs, has been preserved, but never before published. This Men-at-Arms book is the first time any of those illustrated here have been seen in public, showing some unique examples of design evolution.
G1: Captain Atte Hettinga’s company, c. 1615.
G2: Captain Atte Hettinga’s company, 1620s.
G3: Captain Hennemarck’s company from Ernst Casimir’s own German regiment, 1620s.
G4: Captain Sageman’s company, 1604-20. It is unclear from the sketch whether the ends of the individual stripes were cut in a dagged shape, merely represent wear-and-tear, or both. The crescent motif tells us that the captain used to be a ‘sea-beggar’.
G5: Captain Sageman’s company, after 1621.
G6: Captain Hanecrot’s company, 1620s. He was the sergeant-major of Ernst Casimir’s own German regiment.
G7: Captain Donia’s company, 1610–21.
G8: Captain Donia’s company, 1621–28, in which year another commander took over.
G9: Captain Resten’s company, 1620s – another of Ernst Casimir’s German companies.
H: BRAZIL, c. 1640
H1: European musketeer
H2: Mulatto musketeer
H3: Allied Tupi warrior
In the Americas, Africa and Asia Dutch activities were a mixture of trade and war, and from the start alliances were made with local rulers. In Brazil, European soldiers fought alongside mulatto musketeers and Indian warriors. The latter, mostly Tupis, proved decisive in at least one battle, and were an integral part of flying brigades and patrols hunting down Portuguese guerrillas. As part of the WIC’s regular army they even accompanied the troops shipped to Angola. Elsewhere – in North America, Ghana, Sri Lanka, India, Taiwan and Indonesia – local allies helped the Dutch against local opponents only. In Asia the VOC organized civic guards in its new cities, composed of the same mix as the people living there; for example, the Batavia (Jakarta) civic guard had Dutch, Chinese and local members. Outside of Brazil, the only other non-European professional soldiery were the Japanese mercenaries working for the VOC; these proved just as troublesome as mercenaries back in Europe, being loyal only to whoever paid them the most and quickest.