New to the SCA, seeking reference material on german mercena

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 4:41 pm

Greetings,
I've recently joined the SCA(Kingdom of the Outlands), and i'd like to base my persona on that of a german mercenary during the late transitional period. I've been having some trouble finding reference material, and i was hoping someone here might be able to direct me to some good reference sites. Thanks all, i appreciate it.

Erik Schmidt · Post by **Erik Schmidt** » Sat Apr 27, 2002 10:16 pm

Some of the armour depicted here, especially the helm would be in your period;
http://www.isd.net/cdavis/authentic.html

Gaston de Clermont · Post by **Gaston de Clermont** » Mon Apr 29, 2002 3:45 pm

Hi Edmund,
I'd look at the places German mercenaries had major opportunities. France employed many during the Hundred Years War, as did Burgundy. Italy had many of its own mercenaries, but you might find German mercenaries fighting in the city state wars.

I wouldn't take Osprey books as the final word, or the only resource, but as a starting place these titles might help you get a better feel for the era:
The Armies of Medieval Burgandy 1364-1477
German Medieval Armies 1000-1300
German Medieval Armies (yes, they have two titles with virtually the same name)
French Armies of the 100 Years War
Nicopolis 1396
Crecy 1346 : Triumph of the Black Prince
Agincourt 1415
Swiss at War 1300-1500
http://www.warweb.com/books/osprey/men-at-arms.html

Beyond that, the Churburg armory holds some of the few remaining pieces from the 14th century, and it's in the Italian Tyrol, which isn't too far from Germany and Austria. It has several examples of gear that might be appropriate for you. The newly rereleased book on the battle of Wisby has a wealth of examples of armour from the 1360s, and goes into some detail regarding adjacent decades.

National styles were hard to distinguish until the last quarter of the 14th century, so you might be doing OK to look at French and English styles.
English brasses:
http://www.mbs-brasses.co.uk/pic_lib/picture_library.htm
Gaston de Clermont

Chinua · Post by **Chinua** » Mon Apr 29, 2002 9:20 pm

Welcome to the Outlands Edmund. Where in the kingdom are you? What type of information are your looking for? Check out Mad Matt's (http://www.geocities.com/madmattsarmory/). Hed does german transitional and may be able to point you in the right direction for reference materials. Also, if you are in the al-Barran area (Albuquerque, NM) come to fighter practice and talk with Sir Aleric. He also hangs on this board from time to time some you may here from him here. He does 14th century (IMO) quite well and also may be able to point you in the right direction. Good luck in your quest.

Chinua

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Apr 30, 2002 2:46 am

Chinua, im in Caerthe(Denver, CO), though i mostly attend meetings and practices in Hawks Hollow due to my work schedule. I've got my armor on order currently, so thats covered, but i haven't found a whole lot of information on non-armor garb that i would typically wear either off the field. Im also interested in finding out if any items were typically worn with the armor for deocrative reasons. I know that the landsknects tended to be outrageous in their clothing both in and out of armor, but my period is about 100 years early for them and i haven't found much information on that period of german mercenaries other then that they were employed extensively by France and Burgundy during the hundred years war.

Gaston de Clermont · Post by **Gaston de Clermont** » Wed May 01, 2002 3:32 pm

You might want to pick up a copy of "Fasion in the Age of the Black Prince." It covers English and French fasions in detail up to the prince's death, and splashes into surrounding eras and countries.
Gaston