Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Codex Guide to the
Medieval Baltic Page 1
Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Codex Guide to the Medieval Baltic
Version 3.62 Volume 1
Copyright 2010 - 2021 Codex Integrum LLC
1/21/22
Contributors Payson Muller, translations from Polish, information on Polish mythology and culture. Dr Jürg Gassmann, valuable information on medieval law, definition of the medieval estate John Atkinson, Medieval economic data Bartek Strojek, Medieval economic data, corrections on Medieval Poland, and translations from Polish Arūnas Bugvilionis, corrections on Medieval Lithuania, Livonia, and Prussia, Lithuanian terms, translations from Lithuanian Martin Kul'ha, Baltic and Slovak history, hospitality in the Baltic (Ordo Sancti Galahadi http://www.galahad.sk/) Copy Editors Willy Rosencrans, Marjorie Dalton The original inspiration Lenny Zimmerman, Charles Philippi, Mark Henry, Marty McCullough, Kenny Latour, Jude Oliver Casual Proofreaders Fabrice Cognot, Jacob Norwood, Willy Rosencrans, Lenny Zimmerman, Christian Trosclair, Dakao Do, Eddie Lozano, John Atkinson, Thom Jason, Joel S. Norman, Michael Curl, Darren Benford-Brown, Bartek Strojek, Richard Marsden Special Thanks to Willy Rosencrans for unconditional support and invaluable assistance. Dr. Ariella Elema for assistance in research and finding documents, and translations. Payson Muller for valued support and advice. Richard Marsden for invaluable help improving the writing in this document. Dr. Jürg Gassmann for advice, corrections, and helpful insights into Medieval Law. Jack Gasman for advice, support and boundless enthusiasm. Jake Norwood for valued support and advice. Dr. Fabrice Cognot for valued support and advice. Patricia Chandler for finally reading a little bit of the book after being nagged. Jan Chodkiewicz* of Fechtschule Gdansk for providing the panoramic Danzig illustration Tomas Baranauskas* Archaeology Department of Lithuanian History Institute, for answering foolish questions. http://viduramziu.istorija.net/en/about.htm Jaspal Ubhi for much valued help in finding documents Dr. Dolly Jørgensen* Department of Ecology & Environmental Science, Umeå University, Sweden for enormous help with data about Medieval town infrastructure and the archaeological surveys of Danzig and Elbląg http://dolly.jorgensenweb.net/medievalsanitation.html Jay Vail for valued support and advice Christian Trosclair for inspiration and making me buy a copy of the Kalevala Shay Roberts for valued support and advice. Filipe Martins for finding typos and valuable feedback. Thanks to Michael Chidester for his work on the Wiktenauer, and to Scott Brown, Jeff Tsay and Jeff Lord for helping me get my foot in the door in the academic world. And my wife Marjorie who put up with me for the years that I worked on this and helped me get it right. (*none of the above experts are in any way responsible for the mistakes found here, nor do they necessarily endorse the Codex or this document. They only provided a small amount of advice or assistance very kindly, for which the author is grateful)
This book is dedicated to my friends Willy Rosencrans, Niels Miller, Water Claiborne and Eric Gochnour with whom I passed many a grand evening in my misspent youth playing role playing games late into the night.
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Table of Contents The Wild Wild North .................................................................................................................................................................11 Historical overview of the region ................................................................................................................................................. 16 From early medieval times to the mid 15th Century ........................................................................................................ 16 The Baltic in 1456 .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 Authors note for the 2016 Edition .......................................................................................................................................... 21 How to use this book .......................................................................................................................................................... 22 The Baltic Sea ..................................................................................................................................................................... 23 Climate ................................................................................................................................................................................ 23 The Countryside ...................................................................................................................................................................... 23 The Forests ......................................................................................................................................................................... 23 The Grauden ....................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Dainava Forest.................................................................................................................................................................... 24 Naliboki Forest.................................................................................................................................................................... 24 The Sacred Linden ............................................................................................................................................................. 24 The Rivers ........................................................................................................................................................................... 25 Bodden ................................................................................................................................................................................ 26 Bogs .................................................................................................................................................................................... 26 Wild Animals ....................................................................................................................................................................... 27 Travel ........................................................................................................................................................................................ 29 Protected and unprotected roads ...................................................................................................................................... 29 Caravans ............................................................................................................................................................................. 30 Ships ................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 Ships and Piracy ................................................................................................................................................................. 31 The Hanseatic Cog. ............................................................................................................................................................ 32 The Pinnance ...................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Schnigge ............................................................................................................................................................................. 33 The Caravel ......................................................................................................................................................................... 34 The Busse ........................................................................................................................................................................... 34 River Boats.......................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Canals ................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 Traveling on a Hanseatic Vessel ........................................................................................................................................ 35 Horses ................................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Palfreys ............................................................................................................................................................................... 37 Chargers.............................................................................................................................................................................. 37 The Coach ........................................................................................................................................................................... 38 Winter Travel ............................................................................................................................................................................ 38 Sleighs ................................................................................................................................................................................ 38 The Troika............................................................................................................................................................................ 38
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Skis...................................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Skates ................................................................................................................................................................................. 39 Snow shoes......................................................................................................................................................................... 39 Travel and Hospitality ......................................................................................................................................................... 39 Feudalism ........................................................................................................................................................................... 41 Raiding ................................................................................................................................................................................ 41 Local raiding ....................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Trade and manufacturing................................................................................................................................................... 42 The Hanseatic League and Trade in the Baltic ................................................................................................................. 42 The Amber Road and Trade with the South ...................................................................................................................... 43 The Silk Road and Trade with the East ............................................................................................................................. 43 Manufacturing .................................................................................................................................................................... 44 Interplay of the three systems ........................................................................................................................................... 44 The Villages ......................................................................................................................................................................... 46 Villages, water and Sanitation ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Castles ................................................................................................................................................................................ 48 Fortified churches and abbeys .......................................................................................................................................... 55 Social Class in the Country ..................................................................................................................................................... 55 Serfs .................................................................................................................................................................................... 56 Peasants ............................................................................................................................................................................. 57 Villagers .............................................................................................................................................................................. 58 Sidebar: The Erdstal ........................................................................................................................................................... 59 Ethnicity in the Late Medieval era ..................................................................................................................................... 63 The Nobility ......................................................................................................................................................................... 65 Gentry ................................................................................................................................................................................. 65 Knights ................................................................................................................................................................................ 65 Esquires and burgher knights ............................................................................................................................................ 68 The Free Imperial Knights .................................................................................................................................................. 69 The knightly demesne ........................................................................................................................................................ 69 Szlachta .............................................................................................................................................................................. 71 The Princes ......................................................................................................................................................................... 72 Hausmacht and Hausmachtpolitik.................................................................................................................................... 74 Prince-Prelates ................................................................................................................................................................... 74 Courtiers ............................................................................................................................................................................. 75 Succession.......................................................................................................................................................................... 77 Elections ............................................................................................................................................................................. 77 Captivity and ransom ......................................................................................................................................................... 78 Princes and Towns .................................................................................................................................................................. 79 Free agents .............................................................................................................................................................................. 87
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Outlaws ............................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Smuggling ........................................................................................................................................................................... 87 Brigands .............................................................................................................................................................................. 88 Cossacks ............................................................................................................................................................................. 88 Robber Knights ................................................................................................................................................................... 89 Social mobility in the Feudal world ........................................................................................................................................ 90 Social mobility from countryside into the towns ............................................................................................................... 90 Social mobility into the aristocracy .................................................................................................................................... 91 Social stagnation in the countryside ................................................................................................................................. 92 Knights Errant ..................................................................................................................................................................... 95 Hunting ............................................................................................................................................................................... 96 Rural government ............................................................................................................................................................... 99 The Rural Estates ............................................................................................................................................................... 99 The rural Assembly ........................................................................................................................................................... 100 Landfrieden ...................................................................................................................................................................... 100 Town and Country ............................................................................................................................................................. 101 The Borderlands ............................................................................................................................................................... 102 Rural life by region ................................................................................................................................................................ 102 Rural Poland ..................................................................................................................................................................... 102 Rural Lithuania ................................................................................................................................................................. 103 Rural West Prussia ........................................................................................................................................................... 103 Rural East Prussia ............................................................................................................................................................ 104 Rural Livonia .................................................................................................................................................................... 104 Rural Sweden and Finland ............................................................................................................................................... 105 Law in the Rural World ..................................................................................................................................................... 105 The Medieval Estate ......................................................................................................................................................... 106 Seigniorial justice ............................................................................................................................................................. 106 Church Law in the Rural World ........................................................................................................................................ 106 The Charivari ..................................................................................................................................................................... 106 The Vehmgericht ............................................................................................................................................................... 107 Coin denominations ......................................................................................................................................................... 109 Bullion currency .................................................................................................................................................................110 Fiat Currency......................................................................................................................................................................110 Credit and cashless transactions .....................................................................................................................................110 Town Life ......................................................................................................................................................................................113 The Towns ...............................................................................................................................................................................114 The rise of the towns .........................................................................................................................................................115 The Merchants .................................................................................................................................................................. 122 Merchant Adventurers and Merchant Companies ......................................................................................................... 124
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
The city comes of age ...................................................................................................................................................... 126 The princes try to reign it all in ........................................................................................................................................ 127 The craft guilds ................................................................................................................................................................. 129 History of the craft guilds ................................................................................................................................................. 131 The Craft Guild and the City ............................................................................................................................................. 132 Guilds and Honor.............................................................................................................................................................. 137 Guild Law .......................................................................................................................................................................... 137 Craft Industries ................................................................................................................................................................. 138 Taxes ................................................................................................................................................................................. 140 Income and wealth of artisans ........................................................................................................................................ 140 Fencing Guilds .................................................................................................................................................................. 143 Shooting guilds ................................................................................................................................................................. 144 Mining Guilds .................................................................................................................................................................... 148 Women in Guilds .............................................................................................................................................................. 149 Bunglers and Day Laborers ............................................................................................................................................. 150 Town Governance ............................................................................................................................................................. 151 The Town Council .............................................................................................................................................................. 151 Urban Oligarchies vs Urban Democracy .......................................................................................................................... 152 The Bankers ...................................................................................................................................................................... 153 Burgomeister .................................................................................................................................................................... 155 Strategy and the town agenda ......................................................................................................................................... 155 Town Militia ....................................................................................................................................................................... 158 The Brotherhood of the Blackheads ............................................................................................................................... 163 Lilienvente of Brunsweik: The Brotherhood of the young men of the Lilly .................................................................... 164 The Town Watch................................................................................................................................................................ 168 Town Leagues ................................................................................................................................................................... 171 Civil Wars and uprisings ................................................................................................................................................... 172 The struggle for control .................................................................................................................................................... 172 Compromise, Peace and Prosperity ................................................................................................................................ 173 Daily Life in town .............................................................................................................................................................. 175 Ethnicity in the Baltic Towns ............................................................................................................................................ 176 Festivals and Carnivals .................................................................................................................................................... 177 Social Class and Citizenship in the city ........................................................................................................................... 179 Production and Industry ................................................................................................................................................... 180 Urban Architecture ........................................................................................................................................................... 182 Sanitation and water systems .............................................................................................................................................. 184 Medicine ........................................................................................................................................................................... 187 Personal Hygiene and Dress ............................................................................................................................................ 190 Bathing .............................................................................................................................................................................. 193
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Brothels ............................................................................................................................................................................. 196 Town Law ............................................................................................................................................................................... 199 The Peace of God and the Medieval Commune ............................................................................................................. 199 The Handfeste .................................................................................................................................................................. 200 The Urban Vehmgericht.................................................................................................................................................... 201 Town Law, Violence and Honor ........................................................................................................................................ 201 The informal duel ............................................................................................................................................................. 202 Town Law and Women ..................................................................................................................................................... 202 Informal marriages and marriage contracts ................................................................................................................... 207 Burgher women and military service ................................................................................................................................... 209 Town law and schools ...................................................................................................................................................... 210 Town Law and the Church ................................................................................................................................................ 212 Bremen vs. the Archbishop .............................................................................................................................................. 212 The Silesian Beer War ...................................................................................................................................................... 214 Town Law in the Territorial Towns .................................................................................................................................... 214 Warfare ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 217 Warfare in the Medieval Baltic ............................................................................................................................................. 218 Captivity, parole and ransom ........................................................................................................................................... 218 Battlefield Dueling ............................................................................................................................................................ 220 Reysa................................................................................................................................................................................. 221 War and Music .................................................................................................................................................................. 222 Cavalry Warfare ................................................................................................................................................................ 222 Heavy Cavalry ................................................................................................................................................................... 224 Knights - Bachelor ............................................................................................................................................................ 226 The Lance ......................................................................................................................................................................... 226 Men at Arms ..................................................................................................................................................................... 226 Demi-Lancers.................................................................................................................................................................... 228 Knights Banneret ............................................................................................................................................................. 228 Brother Knights ................................................................................................................................................................ 228 Druzhina............................................................................................................................................................................ 230 Ministeriales ..................................................................................................................................................................... 230 Light Cavalry .......................................................................................................................................................................... 230 Mounted Archers ................................................................................................................................................................... 232 Crossbowmen ........................................................................................................................................................................ 233 Mounted Crossbowmen ................................................................................................................................................... 234 Infantry Crossbowmen ..................................................................................................................................................... 236 Military Contractors ............................................................................................................................................................... 237 Heavy Infantry ....................................................................................................................................................................... 245 Fähnlein and Rotte ................................................................................................................................................................ 246
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Pavisemen ............................................................................................................................................................................. 248 Mantlets ................................................................................................................................................................................. 250 Gabion ................................................................................................................................................................................... 252 Longbowmen .................................................................................................................................................................... 252 Marines ............................................................................................................................................................................. 253 Light Infantry ......................................................................................................................................................................... 253 Frontiersmen .................................................................................................................................................................... 254 Black Powder ......................................................................................................................................................................... 255 Handgunners .................................................................................................................................................................... 257 The Tábor .......................................................................................................................................................................... 259 The Büchsenmeister ........................................................................................................................................................ 263 Cannon .............................................................................................................................................................................. 263 Wall guns and hook guns ................................................................................................................................................. 264 Trestle Guns ...................................................................................................................................................................... 265 Ribaldaquin / Volley Guns................................................................................................................................................ 266 Swivel gun ......................................................................................................................................................................... 266 Houfnice ............................................................................................................................................................................ 267 Serpentine / Feldschlange .............................................................................................................................................. 267 Siege warfare ........................................................................................................................................................................ 269 Naval Warfare ................................................................................................................................................................... 273 Logistics and Supplies .......................................................................................................................................................... 274 Plague and War ..................................................................................................................................................................... 275 Strategy and Tactics .............................................................................................................................................................. 277 Wars of position and maneuver .............................................................................................................................................. 278 Feudal Armies vs. “Adapted” Armies .................................................................................................................................... 278 Selected Battles of the 13 Years War ....................................................................................................................................... 281 Battle of Konitz ................................................................................................................................................................. 281 Battle of Kneiphof ............................................................................................................................................................ 282 Battle of Świecino............................................................................................................................................................. 283 Battle of Vistula Lagoon ................................................................................................................................................... 283 Representative weapons of the 15th Century Baltic ........................................................................................................... 285 Glossary ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 289 Bibliography.......................................................................................................................................................................311
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Preface The year is 1456. The place is the Southern Baltic. The Free City of Danzig is in rebellion against the BrotherKnights of the Teutonic Order. Privateers flying the Danzig colors patrol the waters of the Baltic all the way from Reval to Denmark. Bearing letters of marque they will intercept any vessels attempting to reach the Ordensstaat: the Monastic State of the Teutonic Order. Their crews are armed with crossbows, firearms, and cannon, and wear the armor of Medieval Knights. Gunboats, similarly armed with swivel guns, crossbows and breach loading cannon, patrol the Vistula River, engaging any enemy forces they encounter. Professional contractors do most of the fighting in this war... Bohemian heretics fight as mercenaries on both sides, and today they are preparing to sell three captured towns to the highest bidder. They are joined by Austrian, Scottish, Dutch, Swedish, and Italian mercenaries, each with their own small private armies. The city councilors of Danzig plot their strategy over a chess game played this evening in their merchant’s guild hall named for King Arthur. Safe behind the mighty walls of their city, the city council composes a letter to their ally King Casimir IV Poland, seeking to coordinate a new offensive. Nearby, burghers drink beer with their wives in the public baths, taking a break from a long day of guard duty on the city walls, or working the foundry in one of the cities water powered mills. At the river front, the seven story high mechanized crane unloads gunpowder, salt, pickles, and four hundred kegs of beer from an ocean going three masted carrack just arrived from Bruges, having crossed the multiple blockades under the safe passage of the navy of the Prussian Confederation and the Hanseatic League. The citizens will celebrate tonight, for tomorrow is the feast of St. Vitus. A few hundred miles to the East in nearby Lithuania, the eerie primordial groves of a vast forest called The Grauden echo with the chants of pagan priests of the wild Samogitians, who still practice their ancient pre-Christian faith. This night they will give sacrifice to their heathen god Kupolė by bathing naked in the river in the moonlight. They dance the wild primal dance around the fire without fear of interference. The Teutonic Knights invaded this land annually for two hundred years in a vain attempt to convert the population to the rule of Christ. Eventually they gave up, and the Samogitians are their own masters this day. Meanwhile in his impregnable three level castle of Malbork, the stern Grand Master of the Teutonic Order, Ludwig von Erlichshausen consults with his mercenary captains and brother-knights. His castle is surrounded by
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enemy forces who occupy the town of Marienburg, but he has plenty of cannon and sufficient supplies to hold out for years, with 100 iron-hard Brother Knights of the Teutonic Order by his side. The rebels dare not try to storm the walls, nor will they be able to stop the armed river boats he is preparing to carry his orders to his other great fortress at Konigsberg. The knights are gathering their mercenaries, raising money, and preparing a mighty counterstroke against the enemies of St. Mary and the righteous Ordensstaat. Down in Silesia, in the range known as the Giant Mountains, superstitious gold prospectors leave offerings to the troll which is said to haunt the mountain range known as the “Giant Mountains”. His name is Krakonoš but it is said to be wiser to refer to him as Herr Johann. They say he can make people disappear, or grant them good luck, according to his whim. Further to the East, Mongol horse-archers of the Golden Horde check their saddles and water their horses as they prepare to make a slave raid deep into Poland. This is what they call ‘harvesting the steppe’. Their vassals in Muscovy not far away, give prayers to St. Vitus as they forge new gun barrels and build up their city walls for the inevitable next violent encounter with their ruthless overlords. Further to the south, escaped Ukrainian slaves in an outlaw Cossack band are making preparations of their own, planning a violent night time raid into the land of the Mongols, to steal horses, rescue Ruthenian women and liberate men who will join the ranks of their growing Cossack army. In the north, Swedish and Finnish fur trappers hunt a wounded wild boar on skis, eager to bring food back to their trapping camp where they have been collecting beaver pelts. Little do they know, a pack of wolves is stalking them, and the alpha male is pacing their group, waiting patiently for them to become separated. Not far away on a hilltop, armed Druzhina from Novgorod watch the drama unfold with the help of a brass spyglass, not sure yet if they will rob the Swedes, or save them from the wolf attack. This is the historical reality of life in the 15th Century Baltic. It’s a tough place, a place where high technology and sophisticated urban life exist only a few miles away from primitive tribesmen, struggling for survival. It is a land of many ethnicities and language groups, religions and social classes, where adventure, honor, and wealth beyond the wildest dreams of fantasy can be won by the daring, but swift death awaits both the foolish and the unlucky.
Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Introduction
Visitors from overseas, Nicholas Roerich
winter forts, fishing towns. The Norse intermarried with the locals and settled in the new land.
The Wild Wild North In the 8th Century AD, the heathen Svear and Goth fleets left the Vik and the Isle of Gotland to cross the wine-dark sea of the Baltic in a new type of longship, sleeker and faster and more seaworthy than anything the Northern world had yet seen. They were heading east and south, bringing the dawn of an age of raiding, exploration, warfare and trade that filtered back to their homeland in tales of great deeds and tragic reversals, a few of which have crossed eleven hundred years to reach us today. It was Western Europe’s first documented introduction to this mysterious region. The fierce men of the land of the midnight sun poured into the coastal communities of the Baltic like a hurricane of death, killing and stealing, reaping the battle harvest, feeding the eagles. But the people they faced here were tough, honorable men and the Vikings found that trade was a surer path to riches than conquest against such hardy warriors. Settlements were soon established, trading posts,
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Norsemen made alliances with local tribes and sold their services as warriors. They traveled deep into the remote wilderness seeking amber, furs, silk, wax, honey, and slaves. Viking fraternities were founded here, the famous Jomsvikings made their base Jomsborg in Baltic Pomerania in the 10th Century to raid coasts from Denmark to Ireland. Within a generation the Norse armed trading bands called varjags, known as varangians to the Greeks, had penetrated all the way to the Black Sea, fighting their way across the steppe, facing horse-nomads, mysterious Wends, the ancient decadent pagan kingdom of the Khazars, and eventually the mighty, mighty walls of Miklagard, the greatest city in the Western Hemisphere, many times larger than all the towns in Scandinavia put together. The Greeks had their own name for this place, Constantinople.
Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
From that time until the time of the setting of this book in the mid-15th Century many generations of raiders, crusaders, traders, adventurers, bandits and villains have shaped this tumultuous region, creating a complex and dangerous landscape of clashing loyalties, worldviews, and agendas which are not always as they first appear. One way to get your head around the reality of life in the Medieval Baltic is to consider it’s similarities with a slightly more familiar genre, the early frontier of Colonial North America. There are many strong parallels to the time of the fur trapping Voyageurs of 17th Century Canada, and to the pioneers, religious “pilgrims”, traders, soldiers and frontiersmen of Canada and New England in the 17 th Century. Like in the old American frontier, the Medieval Baltic is dominated by a system of forts, trading posts and fortified outposts, precariously linked by ships operating along the coasts and rivers, linking powerful Renaissance cities. As in Colonial North America, the mysterious, heavily forested interior of the Medieval Baltic remains occupied by unpredictable and dangerous natives. In both cases the relationship between the Colonial invaders and the indigenous people is characterized by trade and profit, alliance and betrayal, heroic last stands and vicious massacres, firm treaties and sudden reprisals, with an overall pattern of colonization and forced conversion, but also trade and cultural exchange. Meanwhile the threat of betrayal and death remain a constant.
already had the technology of steel making and had horses, guns and crossbows of their own. They also had the diplomatic skill to forge real alliances with the rival colonial powers. Beyond the immediate Baltic region the menace of the Mongols and the Turks lay waiting out on the Steppe, a universal threat capable of wiping out all and enslaving of the peoples of the region whether they were Christian or Heathen.
A burghers Mary and Jesus, from the Balthasar Behem Codex, Kraków 1505
In the Wild Wild North of 1456, the Teutonic Order and the other Colonial powers exercise control of the coastal regions through the means of such high technology as crossbows, firearms, and cannon, to which may be added armored heavy cavalry and large ocean-going ships. They rely on fortbuilding to extend their reach, and have come to prefer brick or stone castles because wooden forts are too vulnerable to fire. The similarities to North America are not entirely coincidental. The fur trade was one of the biggest industries in the Baltic region and this fur trade simply shifted west when the Americas were discovered. The climates are not that different, nor are the geographies. As in Colonial North America, the colonists were losing trust in their own colonial masters. But there is a point at which the comparison breaks down. Unlike in the New World, the natives here in the Baltic
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Krokonoše aka Rübezahl, the guardian spirit and namesake of the Riesenbgebirge aka “Giant Mountains” of Silesian folklore.
Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
Sebastian Munster, Poland and surrounding regions, 1550 AD
The Baltic, an excerpt from Olaus Magus beautiful map the Carta Marina, 1539 AD, from Denmark on the left to Russia on the right. Danzig is in the center of the map near the bottom, indicated by the cities coat of arms, a red shield.
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Codex guide to the Medieval Baltic
“The next Winter, the Lithuanians, after having laid waste Livonia, took many into captivity. The same preacher together with the people of Uexkull, avoided the wrath of the Lithuanians and took to the forests. When the Lithuanians had withdrawn, [Father] Meinhard accused the Livonians of foolishness, because they had no fortifications; he promised them that a fortress would be built if they decided to become and to be considered sons of God. This pleased them and they promised and confirmed by an oath that they would receive baptism. Therefore, stonemasons were brought from Gothland [The Island of Gotland in Sweden] the next summer. The Livonians, meanwhile, confirmed the sincerity of their intentions a second time. Part of the people were baptized before the beginning of the fort of Uexkull, and, after the fort was complete, all promised, though deceitfully, to be baptized. The walls, therefore, arose from their foundations. Because Meinhard paid for the building of a fifth part of the fort, this part was his property. Meinhard had first bought the land upon which the church at Uexkull stood. When the fort had at last been finished, those who had been baptized relapsed; those who had not yet been reborn refused to accept the faith. Meinhard, himself, nevertheless did not desist from the enterprise. At that time the Semgalls, pagans of the neighborhood, hearing of the building made of stones and not knowing that the stones were held together with cement, came with large ship’s ropes, foolishly believing they could pull the fort into the Dvina. But they were wounded by the ballistarii [crossbows] instead and went away after having suffered losses. The neighboring people of Holm [island] cheated Meinhard by making a similar promise. After a fort had been built for them, they profited from their fraud. But at first some were baptized, with whatever sort of intentions, and their names are Viliendi, Uldenago, Wade, Waldeko, Gerverder, and Vietzo. --excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
“The Oeselians [an Estonian people native to the island of Oesel or Saaremaa in the Baltic Sea] assembled from all the villages and provinces and besieged that fort. They sent to the Esthonians on the coast to come to their aid. Some of the Oeselians went into Warbole to study the use of the paterell [Trebuchet] or the machine which the Danes had given to the people of Warbole as their subjects. They returned to Oesel and began to build paterells and machines. They taught others and each of them made his own machine. All of them came together with seventeen paterells; they shot many great stones continually for five days and they gave no rest to the men who were in the fort. The latter had no houses and buildings, nor was there as shelter or refuge within the unfinished fort, and many of them were injured. But many of the Oeselians fell, wounded by the ballistarii [Crossbowmen]. The Oeselians did not, however, cease attacking the fort for that reason. After many days of fighting, the Oeselians spoke thus to the men in the fort: “ Since you in this fort know that you cannot be saved at all from our continued attack, we urge and beseech you that, after making peace with us, you all leave the fort, safe and unharmed, and relinquish the fort and all our land to us.” The men who were fighting under the open sky, lacking houses, in need of everything, accepted these terms of peace. They went out of the fort, brought their belongings with them to the ships, and gave up the fort and the land to the Oeselians. The Oeselians also kept seven of the Danes and Theodoric, the brother of the bishop of Riga, as hostages there for the confirmation of the peace. All of the rest returned to the Danes in Reval. The Oeselians then destroyed the fort on all sides leaving not a stone upon a stone, and they sent this message throughout all of Estonia, that they had taken the fort of the Danish king and had expelled the Christians from their territory. They encouraged the Esthonians in all the provinces to cast the yoke of the Danes from themselves and expunge the Christian name from the land, saying that it was easy to storm a fort of the Danes. The Oeselians taught them to build machines and paterells and other instruments of war, and evils arose in the land.” --Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
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The Southern Baltic, 1456 AD
Between the construction of the two above-mentioned forts, Meinhard was consecrated bishop by the metropolitan of Bremen. After the second fort had been completed, in their iniquity they forgot their oath and perjured themselves, for there was not even one of them who accepted the faith. Truly the soul of the preacher was disturbed, in as much as, by gradually plundering his possessions and beating his household, they decided to drive him outside their borders. They thought that since they had been baptized with water, they could remove their baptism by washing themselves in the Dvina [river] and thus send it back to Germans. As a coworker in the gospel the bishop has Brother Theodoric of the Cistercian order*, subsequently a bishop in Esthonia [Estonia]. Because the crops in his fields were quite abundant and in their own fields dying because of a flooding rain, the Livonians of Treiden prepared to sacrifice him to their gods. The people were collected and the will of the gods regarding the sacrifice was sought after by lot. A lance was placed in a position and the horse came up and, at the signal of God, put out one foot thought to be the foot of life. Brother Theodoric prayed aloud and gave blessings with his hand. The pagan priest asserted that the Christian God was sitting on the back of the horse and was moving the horse’s foot forward; that for this reason the back of the horse needed to be wiped off so that the God might slide off. When this was done, the horse again put forth the foot of life, as before, and Brother Theodoric’s life was saved.” -excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894 * The Cistercian Order was at this time the leaders in Europe in agricultural technology and practices.
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Historical overview of the region From early medieval times to the mid 15th Century Christians and Pagans Toward the end of the Viking Age, the Scandinavian countries who had pillaged the Wends of the southern Baltic converted to Christianity and settled down as feudal Kingdoms. While relations with Germany and France improved enormously after this, it was the opposite with the heathen tribes of the Baltic. The formerly profitable if not entirely harmonious trade relations of the Baltic Viking Age deteriorated at a precipitous rate, for pagan tribes and Christians Kingdoms were like oil and water in these times. There were essentially two networks of law, trade, affinity and alliance, one Christian and one pagan, and the two did not mix easily. Trade swiftly declined and mistrust, raiding and piracy increased sharply. The Norse began to endure serious raids from their cousins among the Baltic pagans. As one historian recently put it, the Viking Age continued on in the Baltic through the early Middle Ages, and it was now the Norse who suffered 1 . By some estimates, most of the coastal regions of Denmark were depopulated by the early 13th Century. Meanwhile Christian Europe was looking eastward to the lucrative Baltic amber trade, and the Pope sought a foothold here before it came under the influence of the ‘schismatic’ Greek church of the Russians. Starting in the mid-12th Century, Valdemar I, the half-Slavic King of Denmark, launched a series of major punitive raids against pagan Slavs in Pomerania and what is now northern Germany. German traders were established in the Baltic by the late 12th Century, and by the early 13th the first German merchants had arrived. Trouble with the native Lets, Livs, Semigallians and Estonians followed soon after the arrival of missionaries following the foundation of the first official German colony at Riga. The initial call ups of mercenaries for remission of their sins led to the foundation of the first Baltic Crusading Order, the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, also known as the Sword Brothers in 1204. Danish raids focused on the Baltic under the reign of Valdemar II “The Conqueror”, leading to the conquest of Estonia by 1219 AD. The invasion expanded dramatically in 1230 AD with the arrival of the ambitious Teutonic Order of Germany. The Northern Crusades had begun. ″Omnia propugnacula, que habebant in illo loco, qui dicitur... circa stagnum Drusine ... occisis et captiis infidelibus, potenter expugnavit, et in cinerem redigendo terre alteri coequavit."
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"All the little redoubts that they had in that place,... and around the Drusine marsh ... frater Hermannus magister assaulted and levelled by rendering them into ash, after the infidels had been killed or captured." Chronicon terrae Prussiae – 1326 AD
The Teutonic Order The Teutonic Order was a brotherhood of militant Knightmonks similar to the more famous Templars and Hospitalers of St. John. Together with the Sword Brothers, they took war to the “godless” pagan Balts and wrought havoc among them. Their first major conquests were against the Latvian and Estonian tribes of Livonia, but soon the Teutonic Order began to focus on Prussia. Prussia was a mixed zone with a (theoretically) Catholic overlord, heathen Baltic natives, and a few fortified towns which had a mixed population of Polish, native Prussian and German settlers, where Low German was the common language. More foreign settlers came in the wake of the slaughter and smoking ruins left by the Mongol Horde in the 1240’s. Many of the great cities of Eastern-Central Europe were founded by (mostly) German merchants and artisans at this time. The Teutonic Order gained control over Danzig, the most important of the Prussian towns in 1308, and soon had dominion over all of Prussia. Most of the 14th Century was prosperous for the region of Prussia, but there were bitter tensions between the Crusading Orders and the native Prussians, and the burghers of the trading towns, self-governing under German Town Law, had conflicts with the Order over political independence and foreign trade. But through bravery, ruthless cunning and great military skill the Order and their crusader ‘guests’ gradually gained control over a vast area of the Southern Baltic from Saxony to northern Estonia, the equivalent distance of Houston to Miami. The Order is challenged One major thorn remained in their side: the intransigently pagan nation of the Lithuanians who lived in a region of dense primeval forests, rivers, lakes and marshes very difficult for the crusaders to cope with. In two centuries of war, the pagans learned to fight both the armored German Knights of the West and the lethal Mongol horse-archers of the East, and they were also skilled in the cunning art of diplomacy with strong links into Latin Europe and the Orthodox Christian zone, as well as out on the Steppe. They were increasing in power.
Though the burghers of the great cities of Prussia appreciated the muscle of their Teutonic overlords, which was often helpful in trade, they begun to tire of financing the perpetual Crusades by the close of the 14th Century. The war had settled down into a pattern of annual reysa or raids, which were conducted seasonally by both sides, for no obvious gain. The Poles, allies of the Order during the early Crusades, fell into bitter conflict with them after the Brother-Knights seized control of Chelmnoland and Prussia in the 1300’s, cutting Poland off from the Baltic Sea. Driven to seek other allies, the Poles formed social and economic ties with their pagan rivals in neighboring Lithuania. In 1387, in a complex political intermarriage arrangement, Poland orchestrated the (nominal) Christian conversion of the Lithuanians, which threatened the very rationale for the Crusades. The Teutonic Knights reacted aggressively, sending legal delegations to Rome to contest the legitimacy of the Lithuanian conversion. Trouble then stirred in northern Lithuania where the Samogitian people, technically under Teutonic control after a treaty, stubbornly resisted assimilation. In 1409 the Samogitians launched a major uprising, supported by the Lithuanian Grand Duke. The Order threatened to invade Lithuania, and the Poles made a counter-threat to invade Prussia.
city-league and knightly league firmly united at last in the aim of independence from the Teutonic Knights, setting in motion a process which would lead to full rebellion. In 1454 war broke out between the Prussian Confederation and the Teutonic Order, initiating what is now called the 13 Years War. Led by Danzig, the Prussian cities made a pact with King Casimir IV to join with Poland in exchange for support against the Teutonic Knights and recognition of their autonomy and self-governance. This book is setup to capture a key moment during the middle of the 13 Years War, in 1456.
The Baltic in 1456 The world we know today is a structured hierarchy, and most of us live within strong states. Whether it is a republic, a sheikdom or a Marxist dictatorship, the state is centralized and the laws are controlled by a small political class. Relatively affluent modern states are at least somewhat consistent in how they are organized across a large area and reasonably predictable. Travel is routine, communication instantaneous.
This was the beginning of a regional war in which the Order faced an alliance of Lithuania with Poland. The Teutonic Knights suffered a spectacular defeat at the battle of Grunwald in 1410, losing their grand master Ulrich von Jungingen and some 200 brother-knights killed, as well as more than 14,000 soldiers captured. If not for the strength of their mighty castles and the resourcefulness of the Komptur of Elbing, Heinrich Reuss von Plauen, the Order would have been completely wiped out. Ultimately, in spite of their great victory, the Polish – Lithuanian army was unable to storm the great Teutonic castles at Malbork and Königsberg and when plague broke out in their camps they returned home. Grunwald was a debacle for the Knights, and in addition to the slain, fourteen thousand soldiers including a hundred Brother Knights of the Order had been captured. The Poles paroled most of the common soldiers – generating goodwill among the German burghers- but the Knights would have to be ransomed, and the price would not be cheap. Rebellion from Within The Order demanded vast sums of money from its best source of revenue, the Prussian cities, to pay all the ransoms and raise a new army. But this time the cities balked. Tension surged dramatically and in 1411 the Order executed the town council of Danzig. This proved to be a fatal mistake, driving an irrevocable wedge between the towns and their masters. A few years later a group of 19 towns founded the Prussian Confederation, a combined
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Loading cargo with a tread-wheel crane, circa 1450
Most of the economy today is dominated by a small number of giant corporations. Only a few remote places remain truly wild and chaotic, and these zones often function as proxy battlefields between large states from other regions. The areas which lack strong governments tend to be dominated by corruption and organized crime. We call them "failed states".
In Medieval Central Europe, it was different. Most people lived under what we would today call a failed state, yet culture art and the economy were thriving, even growing explosively. Kingdoms were weak; there were relatively few strong governments except on the local level. There were many centers of authority however, and a bewildering kaleidoscope of different legal and economic systems and cultural norms. Warlords fought one another for control of lucrative districts, ethnic groups controlled their own autonomous zones, and prelates of the Church held sway over their own mini-theocracies. Most of the larger towns also acted as independent MiniStates, linked to their nominal rulers only by loose affiliation but to one another across national boundaries in ruthless and powerful cartels. Highly organized, wellregulated zones existed side by side with "wild west" areas and feral uninhabited wilderness where robber-knights, bandits, outlaws and dangerous animals still posed a considerable risk to travelers. Wars famine and plague could strike without warning. Travel was uncertain and often precarious, and communication challenging; yet people traveled continuously, communicated across thousands of miles and trade was ongoing at a brisk pace. The intense flourishing of the culture at this time left ample evidence in the stunning achievements in architecture and art that still astound us today. The Baltic in particular was a quilt of different overlapping economic, ethnic and language groups (German, Scandinavian, Baltic, Slavic, Mongol and Turkic) which existed side by side. In the 15th Century there were also four major zones of religious / cultural influence: Latin Catholic Europeans, Greek Orthodox Europeans, an indigenous European pagan zone and a Muslim Central Asian zone. By the 1450’s the pagan zone was in the process of being absorbed by the Latin zone. The Orthodox zone in turn was also being partly absorbed and subjugated by the Muslims. The Latins were ambivalent about this. On the one hand the Orthodox Church was seen as schismatic and corrupt, the Byzantines and Russians were perceived as old enemies of the Latin peoples. Yet they were still at least technically Christian and if they failed completely, it was all too clear where the Mongol / Turkish arrows would point next. Latin Europe was also experiencing an explosion of interest in ancient Greek culture with the spread of Humanism, creating a certain affinity for all things Greek. The powerful players in this region ranged widely in terms of their very nature, their technology, their language, religion, culture, and social structure. Lithuania was a forest realm of farmers, bandits, fishermen, trappers and hunters, with an iron-age level of technology not that unlike
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the Vikings, except that they navigated on horseback rather than ships. The German, Polish and Czech towns were rich, tidy and ambitious. Surrounded by huge stone walls they featured vast brick and stone churches, water mills, granaries, and guild halls. These sophisticated trading and manufacturing centers protected themselves with military technology we would recognize as belonging to the early-modern era: guns, cannon, war-wagons, plate armor. Their culture included art at the very pinnacle of the European aesthetic. The Russian city-states were also well fortified, but made more of wood, and situated closer to the frontier; they were rougher and more ruthless, dealing in slaves as well as furs and lumber. They had trade links with the Latins as well as deep into Asia, and they controlled vast zones of the northern Siberian forests and river networks with their armies. But the largest Russian state, Muscovy, was still under the thumb of the Mongols in the 15 th Century, and the smaller like Veliky Novgorod and Pskov, were under threat by Moscow. The Kingdoms of Poland and Denmark, though prosperous, struggled to control their own lands, balancing relations with their towns and nobles with attempts to consolidate royal power -often without success. They managed the encroachment of their most dangerous neighbors somewhat more effectively. The largely independent landowning gentry of Silesia, Pomerania, Mecklenburg, Masovia and Moravia alternated between periods of banditry and piracy and the peaceful development of their estates in coordination with nearby kingdoms. The old Crusading Orders of the Teutonic and Livonian knights formed one of the most powerful authorities in the region, and they were the closest thing to a modern State, but their regimes were threatened by the rebellion of their own towns. The vast and mighty Empires of the Tartars remained founded on an army of early Iron Age nomadic horse archers which the Romans of Attila's day would have easily recognized. Though archaic in many respects, this system remained effective against the highest technology of the day. The Tartars exercised a merciless control over their Russian subjects, but through stubborn persistence and near suicidal courage, the City of Moscow, destined to become the Grand Duchy of Muscovy, grew stronger and more independent each day, dreaming of full independence. Whereas today our economy is regulated through a sort of package of national laws which we all inherit as citizens of a State, and our political relations extend in a clear hierarchy from the top to the bottom, in medieval Central Europe it was not so simple. One of the most prevalent
modern clichés about the medieval world is that it was far more hierarchical and rigidly structured than our own time, but the reality is almost the opposite. Political, economic and military relationships between equals were just as important and pervasive as those between superior and inferior, in some places (particularly in the towns) arguably more so. In all cases laws and agreements, rights and responsibilities were worked out essentially on a case by case basis between the parties and groups involved, and were subject to sudden change as the power relationships shifted. The rural gentry and the urban patriciate lived well in this precarious time. So did the wealthier free peasants and skilled artisans: guild members in the towns enjoyed working conditions many would envy today: good pay, strict safety rules, and many holidays (literally, holy days) throughout the year, and a variety of perks. As business owners they also wielded political power within their own industries to an extent virtually unheard of in the modern corporate world, and typically had strong influence on town government. On the other end of the spectrum, many serfs and slaves worked in miserable conditions for little if any reward for their entire lives. Status in this world was directly linked to one's ability to face and mete out violence. Slaves and serfs were typically captives taken prisoner during battles or raids (as well as their unfortunate descendants). The rural gentry owed their position in life to their castle and their armed retainers, (and their own skill and fighting kit). They spent much of their money on improving the fortifications of their home, and much of their time augmenting their martial skills, because they knew trouble could arrive at any moment: on horseback, on fast boats, in marching columns of gunners and pikemen with gunwagons. Town dwellers enjoyed many freedoms because of their walls and their guns, their armed militias, and their ability to hire large numbers of mercenaries at a moment’s notice. Urban craft guilds, protected by the city walls, remained armed to the teeth and were always prepared for war both to defend their status within the town, and their rights and their liberty beyond it. Their prosperity in turn depended on trade which was protected by the spears and crossbows of the town militia, and heavily-armed warships and privateers on the rivers and seas. The production and trade monopolies of the towns were imposed by force of arms, but relied on the quality of their
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goods and the reliability of their promises. Towns had alliances with princes and with other towns who could retaliate against any enemies who dared to disrupt their mutual commerce, though this was often put to the test. Towns and gentry alike could switch allegiances from one kingdom to another in a heartbeat if it meant protecting their privileges and status, let alone survival. As a result, their rights tended to be respected by their overlords, who granted more and more privileges, immunities and freedoms over time, because unhappy vassals could join forces with their enemies. This in turn further weakened the kingdoms, contributing to the ‘failed state’ situation. Just as military technology varied widely, so too many other aspects of life. Literacy was commonplace in most towns even for women 2 , and industries in the Latin towns particularly benefited from widespread mechanization in the form of hydro power and wind power. But nearby in the country only a few days’ journey away, literacy was rare even among the clergy, and farmers tilled the soil using wooden plows of an archaic design unchanged since the Stone Age. This was a world of profound contrasts, of many small worlds like universes unto themselves which seemed to belong not only to different eras but to different natural laws, all linked together precariously in vast trade networks that extended across half the globe. It was a world which threatened by doom in the form of the twin Eastern slave empires of the Mongol Horde and the Ottoman Sultanate, but also faced with the possibility of limitless prosperity and technological growth thanks to their thriving culture and intellectual life. In 1456, this very old world of Crusades and conquests was tipping into the new era of economic growth and cultural flowering which we know today as the Renaissance. To a person in the Baltic in 1456, the possibilities of the day must have seemed endless, the risks … unfathomable.
Geography and Travel
Prussia, 1576 Caspar Henneberg
“In the seventh year [1205], about Lent, when these tribes are more accustomed to engage in war, the Lithuanians moved against Esthonia with a force of almost two thousand men. They descended along the Dvina and passed by the city [the at that time - very small town of Riga, little more than a fortified trading post] A certain one of them, a rich and very powerful man named Svelgate, turned aside to the city with his companions. The men of the city went out to meet them in peace, and a certain citizen named Martin offered them a honeyed drink. When he finished it, Svelgate followed the army which was going ahead, and spoke as follows to his companions: "Did you not see the Germans offering us mead with a trembling hand? They had known of our arrival from fama volante [rumor / reputation] and the fear which then struck them still causes them to shake. At the moment, however let us defer the overthrow of this city, but if we conquer the places to which we are going, let us destroy this town and capture and kill its men. For the dust of this city will scarcely satisfy the fist of our people." After a few days, Viesthard, a noble of the Semgals [another Baltic tribe which was at this time allied with the Germans], hearing about the Lithuanian expedition, came hurriedly to Riga and spoke in admonition to the Germans for having permitted the enemy to cross their boundaries peacefully. For now that they had learned the location of the place, they might possibly in the future destroy the city with its inhabitants." --excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
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person and the academic researcher alike, at least as a starting point.
Authors note for the 2016 Edition New Orleans, April 2, 2016 (revised in 2019) When I first started this project way back in 2008 I had no idea where it would ultimately lead. I was like a Polish merchant of 1456 starting out on the first ten feet of the Silk Road. It began as a little research background for a role playing game. I wanted to explore the real world instead of the realms of dragons and goblins. But I quickly learned that this was not something you could easily jump into. There simply weren’t any good sources on the medieval world, except very old, inadequate and outdated ones, let alone any that explained it accurately and succinctly. Instead of books I could use I found something far less accessible or convenient but ultimately far better. Thanks to the emerging capabilities of the internet, new resources provided tantalizing clues leading into a world very different than the one I was expecting to find. A huge quantity of material has rather quietly become available online in the last several years, and I could immediately perceive the wide gap between the pseudo-historical tropes I was familiar with, and the actual data. Primary source documents and academic articles from Universities (particularly the European ones) were coming into view like buried treasure after a receding flood. As a ‘weary old man’ of the Historical Fencing community my basic familiarity with the medieval fencing manuals gave me enough of a toehold on a few things to make some sense of what they unveiled, but only just. It quickly began to dawn on me that everything I thought I knew about the Middle Ages was wrong. The new online resources, of which dozens more are scanned and posted online every day, are truly fantastic, but also very confusing. The world they reveal in fits and starts is so unexpected it’s almost surreal, wildly different from the one I remembered from the genre fiction, games, and films I grew up with. it was a riddle, but it was also much, much more interesting than what I expected to find. As I was putting together the notes that would eventually become this book, I got a lot of help from my friends in the Historical Fencing community in making sense of the data (hence all the names mentioned in the opening page). I also, to be candid, spent enough money on rare facsimiles and out of print books on medieval history to buy a small castle in Estonia. What I’ve written here is obviously not new research of course, but simply the summarized aggregation of a lot of other people’s research -especially transcriptions and translations- into a (hopefully) accessible whole that is intended to be useful for the lay
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For a variety of reasons, most serious researchers seem to have stopped doing this kind of broad-based historical overview some time in the mid-20th Century, and while I can definitely appreciate why this shift occured, I believe it has left us bereft in understanding our own past as a society. There is clearly a need for much more research like this book, based on the intense shared fascination in the culture and especially the warlike aspects of this period specifically, if popular genre entertainment is any indicator. In 2009 I compiled an early and very inadequate version of the book you are reading now and passed it around among my historical fencing friends. As a result of some people’s interest in my research, I was able to do a series of lectures at HEMA events and write some peer reviewed academic papers in the historical journal Acta Periodica Duelletorum out of Geneva / Budapest, in 2013, 2014, and 2015. I also began to write historical articles on the popular Swedish HEMA research website HROARR.com. This along with a full time job and competing in the historical fencing tournament circuit took up a lot of time and energy. Progress on this unfinished book slowed to a crawl and then stopped. By the Winter of 2016 I was finally able to restart work on this document, and return to the familiar territory of the Baltic of 1456. In the course of preparing for lectures and papers I had discovered and acquired many excellent new sources, and connected with numerous researcher friends who know far more than I ever will about specific corners of this fascinating “other place,” so I was able to substantially improve this document. What I have tried to put together here, now in updated and enhanced (though still far from perfect) form, is the basic overview of that other world that I was looking for when I started down this path in 2008. In my original aggregation efforts I naturally made many mistakes, and some of the material in the older editions of this book badly needed correcting. Other parts of the book were woefully lacking in detail, basically ragged holes where big parts of the story should be. This is something I’ve been aware of for years and it has nagged at me all this time, but at last I have been able to start addressing it. A great deal of new material and artwork has also been added to this edition, and more will follow. I should also point out, this a lot of information, but it’s only the start of a much bigger project that I hope my small effort will help to spark. I will personally continue to expand and improve this work as well as long as I can. I have been deep into this for more than ten years now, but every time I read something from a primary source from
this period (which is frequent now) I learn something fairly major that changes my understanding considerably. Only one thing is certain: more will come, either to this book or to new ones, and our perception of this period will continue to evolve. Thanks to the magic of electronic media it is possible to distribute, for free, this heavily updated version to the hundreds of people who bought the older (and much smaller!) versions of the PDF over the last five years that it has been available online. Hopefully most of you who own the PDF will receive the new version through my current distributor, DriveThruRpg. If this is a new purchase clicking “allow updates” will make the new versions available as they continue to come out. We have now also made this book available as a hard copy, you can find it available on the Codex Integrum website. As much as is now possible, I have tried to widen this peep hole into that other, very strange world. You may even be able to crawl in, but remember, the past is a foreign country and we must be careful not to offend the locals. In the mean time, to everyone who participated in the project and everyone who owns the PDF, thank you for helping me get this far, keep your sword sharp and watch out for that Tatar raiding party coming around the corner!
How to use this book Though this was initially intended to be a succinct guide to a specific region in a specific time, I quickly ran into what most researchers on the middle ages find: the fiendish complexity and unfamiliarity of that unique era. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say that the efforts of many other English language researchers, authors, game designers and filmmakers broke up on the proverbial rocks of this particular dilemma, which is a very tricky one. Beyond the general complexity, the medieval period is just very very different from our own in terms of politics, social organization, and culture, and not at all in the ways we have been taught to expect. There are very few anchor points. In some ways, it’s much easier for us to relate (at least superficially) to earlier cultures like the Romans, the Classical Greeks, or the Egyptians, than to a place like medieval Florence or Gdansk. One of the things that makes this all so tricky is that the medieval world was interconnected in ways that are quite different from our own time. Therefore, it is hard to focus on a single region, because they are so deeply and inextricably entangled. But conversely, if you don’t try to restrict the geographic and temporal scope of a book like this, you’ll end up with something totally meaningless. In many respects, cities along the Baltic shore in Prussia had a closer cultural, legal and political connection to other cities in Germany, Sweden, Poland, Bohemia or even Italy
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and Flanders than they did with people living a stones throw away in some castle, abbey or village in the countryside. Similarly, much of the nobility was linked by family and feudal ties to places far to the West and South, or to the East and North, and the Church had connections going all the way back to Rome and to Universities in Poland, Bohemia, France, England, Germany and Italy. Military and political ties combined the (very separate and distinct) worlds, or to use proper medieval terms, estates of the urban burghers who formed the middle class and the nobles who formed it’s (actual and aspirational) elite with all their family and feudal connections throughout Central Europe and beyond. Thus, to understand one place like the Baltic you must expand your horizons to include these other systems which are geographically quite distant. This is reflected in the book in the following way. For the descriptions of the countryside, travel, rural life of the peasantry and so on, it is a guide to the Southern Baltic, to Prussia, Lithuania, northern Poland and Livonia especially. But for the estates of the burghers and the complex and fascinating reality of late medieval towns, this book is a general encyclopedia of late medieval Central Europe. Towns in the Baltic zone shared the same kind of town law as towns in Central Europe right down to their charters and the layout of their streets and town squares. They had the same kinds of governments and militias, were linked by trade and the circulation of citizens, and shared many of the same cultural norms. Of course they were all unique, and had their regional peculiarities, but they had more in common with one another than with the other estates. In other words, the truth is you’ll understand 15th Century Gdansk much better by reading about 15th Century Augsburg, Prague, and Nuremberg than you would by just reading about the Teutonic Knights. Similarly, for the estates of the knights and the princes, this book is again a general guide for Central Europe. Noble families from Poland, Lithuania, Franconia, Bohemia, Saxony, Moravia and Hungary formed most of the aristocratic and military power structure in around Prussia. The world and estates of the Church and the Universities are dealt with in Volume II but there are similar links there was well. Therefore, to reiterate, this book is written both as a local travel guide to Late medieval Prussia, Livonia and Poland, and as a general encyclopedia on the complex but fascinating world of Central Europe, with a strong focus on the towns for a couple of reasons. The towns were the origin of most of the cultural and technological development of this remarkable era, and of all the estates, they are the least understood today by Anglophone readers, so there is a greater need to explain more about them. The towns, including both local militia and mercenaries from nearby Bohemia and more distant
places like Hungary, Flanders, and the German speaking lands, played a central role in the war in Prussia between the Teutonic Knights and Poland that was the principal drama and backdrop of life in Gdansk in 1456. So for anyone interested in Central European history, this book should be a useful guide. If you are focused on a specific question such as guilds, urban militia, women in medieval towns, princes, knights or mercenaries, you can find short essays and either artwork from the period in question or photos of surviving art and architecture that remains from it. You will find many referenced sources and a pretty useful bibliography at the end – enough for a good start. If you are trying to figure out the Southern Baltic or the 13 Years War, you have a bigger task ahead of you, and may need to read the whole book.
The shore of the Baltic Sea tends to have a milder climate than some parts of Poland further south, and is much warmer than Russia (where winter is very very cold indeed). To the North East in Finland or further East in Siberia are some of the most frigid places on the planet, where the pine forests stand in permafrost even in summer, a sub-arctic environment where all the animals have nice thick, soft fur which sells for a pretty penny in the markets of Western Europe. In the Northern forests of Finland or the steppes of Siberia, people survived by the means of trapping, hunting, and herding exclusively, because it was simply not possible to grow any crops. The ubiquity of very valuable furs in these regions and the strong demand for grain there created a unique trade situation for the cities on the Baltic coasts who act as the gateway to this region for the rest of the world.
My hope is that this book will be a resource and an anchor point for deeper and wider research. Use the bibliography, google the names of interesting and unfamiliar people, places, and events mentioned here. Pull up the artwork of the artists who created the masterpieces that are sprinkled through the book. Pay a visit to the North Eastern part of Central Europe in 1456, and you may not ever want to leave.
The Countryside
The Baltic Sea
The Forests
The Baltic Sea is almost literally a cold water lake, hemmed in from all sides by land or ice, except for a single small opening between Denmark and Sweden. Around the southern fringe are lands which remain warm enough in the summers for productive agriculture because the ground here does not freeze. In fact, it is very fertile farm land heavily watered by many rivers and lakes. This geographical oddity makes for a highly navigable sea surrounded by thriving towns with swarming fisheries and fertile lands, while behind this civilized fringe is a nearly endless zone of cold forest and steppe.
Climate Given how far north it lies, the climate of the Southern Baltic is actually far milder than one might expect. The average temperature in the city of Danzig today is roughly between 30 F (-1 C) in the winter to 63 F (17.2 C) in the summer. They usually have one hot month (July or August) around 90 F (35 F) and two months (January and February) down around 5 F (-15 C). Summer lasts May through September, winter is December through March. It is very rainy in the early winter, November and December, then cold in ‘hard winter’: January and February. The spring is cold and rainy again but it gradually dries out in the warm summer typically leading to a good harvest. The climate is roughly comparable to Portland or Seattle in the US or London in the UK.
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The countryside of the southern Baltic is a patchwork of cleared farmland and meadows on the one hand, and marsh, bog, thickets, and forests on the other, divided (and also linked) by rivers and lakes. There were relatively few good roads, as most commercial traffic used the waterways.
This region to this day is a patchwork of dense, brushchoked forests, which are an important source of food (game animals and such provender as berries, edible plants, honey, etc.), as well as the firewood which rich and poor alike required to survive the winters. In the medieval period one could also always find homesteaders and families forced by various circumstances to set up shop in the wilderness. But they were also the home of dangerous animals like wolves and bears, (wolf attacks were common in this region, particularly during the winter), and even more dangerous outlaws. Forests were an asset and the wood and game of a given forest was typically claimed by some kind of owner in most of the region, except in the wilder areas of Prussia and Lithuania.
Mushrooms and berries are plentiful in the forests of the Southern Baltic and formed and important part of the local diet. Here are mushrooms and berries for sale in a roadside in Lithuania today. Photo by Phillip Capper.
In the Baltic, the woods went on for miles, and in their depths offered protection from horsemen. The foliage was often so dense that to travel through them one must know the local paths. So they were literally the local ‘briar patch’, emergency refuge, shelter, supply storage, and larder to the local people, even as they were also a potential threat. But forests and the trees in them were more than just terrain features or sources of game and firewood, they played an important role in the spiritual life of medieval Europeans. Many species of tree were considered sacred by people in the Baltic: the ash, the linden, the birch, the oak, and the hazel are some prominent examples. Sacred groves existed in many forests well into Christian times (see Rural Life, The Sacred Linden).
The Grauden The Grauden is a large primeval forest in Western Lithuania, reaching from the interior to a narrow spit of land along the Baltic coastline between the territory of the Teutonic Order in the West and the Livonian Order in the East. It was the home of the Samogitian people. Look at the map and consider the fact that despite centuries of effort these two mighty German military Brotherhoods were unable to link their territories. It tells you a lot about this area and the people who live here. The Grauden was a typical southern Baltic forest, only more so. The trees had never been cut down here, and soared to great heights. There were hidden groves where no Christian man had ever walked. The brush was dense, marshes, creeks and bodden (tidal streams) crisscrossed the land, and trails through the verge only led foreigners into dead falls, ambushes, and traps. There were creepy stories told about the Gruaden. It was said the overthrown pagan Gods of the Samogitians wandered through the deep forest glades, lonely and forlorn, wailing. People claimed to see ghosts lurking near the many ancient battlefields found there, and there were creepier legends of skulls walking around on spider legs 3 . The place was the site of 200 years of constant war, and if ghosts exist, the Grauden is haunted. (for more on the history of the Grauden see Primary Regional Players, Samogitian Tribal Eldership). It was a place of dread for the Crusaders, but it was and is also a sacred place to the locals, and still is to many who live in this region.
Dainava Forest The Dainava Forest was another frontier forest left feral by the Lithuanians as part of a barrier against the Teutonic Order. Unlike the Grauden in Samogitia the Dainava forest, which is still the largest forest in Lithuania today, is predominantly a pine forest in sandy soil similar to the famous New Jersey pine-barrens. South of the forest lay the infamous Čepkeliai marsh and the two natural
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features effectively blocked easy entry into Lithuania from her southern border with Prussia.
Naliboki Forest The Naliboki Pushcha (wild forest) is another huge forest in Lithuania, mostly a mixture of swamps and pine forests like the Dainava, which stood between the Lithuanian heartland and the territories of the Golden Horde and their vassals, protecting Lithuania from Mongol raids. The Sacred Linden People in Medieval Europe felt a great deal of spiritual awe for nature, and certain types of trees well into the Christian era, in some places into this very day. In fact in many villages part of the legal and social life of the community was centered around a special kind of sacred tree, called by various names including Gerichtslind (court linden or doom linden) or Tanzlind, (dance linden) ThieLinde, Thing-Linde or Tilly-Linde (assembly linden) or often simply Dorflinde "village linden"4. These sacred trees were typically the location of the village courts and the pillory, but also the center of carnival celebrations, village dances during Holy Days, the village assembly and the court of justice. The Dorflinde was also where weddings were celebrated with a dance around the tree. The linden was associated with the goddess Freyja during pagan times, by the medieval era she had been downgraded to the status of a “good fairy”, but is still gravely and respectfully acknowledged during ceremonies at the solstices and during carnival as late as the early 20th Century.
This sacred linden tree in the village of Schenklengsfeld, Germany is over 1,200 years old. It was planted in the 9th Century and its age has been confirmed by tree ring and carbon dating. It was the site of the Thing (Assembly), the Vehmic court, and marriage celebrations and dances during carnival throughout the medieval period. Photo by Rainer Lippert
Linden trees can live for over a thousand years and several of these Gerichtslinde are still standing today that are several centuries old.
The Rivers Many slow-moving, relatively shallow rivers wind through the region, as well as a few larger navigable streams. The largest of these are the principle navigation arteries; the Vistula, the Nieman, the Neva, the Neris, the Daugava, the Dvina, the Warta, and the Bug all flow north and feed into the Baltic, the Dnieper flows south and feeds into the Black Sea. Only the largest rivers were navigable for ocean-going ships, and these were of immense strategic
importance. The Vistula was the most important river in the Prussian region, and was part of a vast system which linked the most powerful towns of Prussia, including Danzig, Elbing, Marienburg, Chełmno and Toruń with the Polish breadbasket and the great Polish cities of Kraków, Warsaw, Nowe, and Dobrzyń, thus establishing the trade route by which the vast agricultural and forest wealth of Poland (and later, Ukraine) would reach the markets of Europe.
Scene from a hunt, The Master of the Housebook / Master of the Amsterdam Cabinet, 15th Century
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Bodden
Nieman River near Dainnava Forest in Lithuania, photo by Julo.
The other key river systems were the Niemen and Neris, which linked the Curonian Lagoon and the Baltic Sea to the major Lithuanian cities of Kaunas and Vilnius; and the Daugava River which connected Riga to the Russian states. The navigable rivers were the economic arteries of the southern Baltic and they controlled nearly all of the major trade. An early monopoly on crossbows, and later guns and cannon enabled the Teutonic Order to control most of the navigable sections of the major rivers during the High medieval period, but with the start of the uprising in 1454 the rivers were the scene of naval battles between Prussian, Polish, and Teutonic Order forces. The Prussian towns had control of much of the Vistula by 1456.
The Melusine’s secret is discovered, from the Romance De Melusine, Guillebert de Mets, 1410 AD
Rivers, like forests, were also considered sacred by the people of Central Europe, particularly fishermen and boatmen and others who made their livings in or near the rivers. There were numerous legends of mermaid like creatures inhabiting sacred rivers all throughout Central and Northern Europe, including in the Baltic. Sometimes they were known as Melusine, the most famous being the Lorelei of the Rhine, situated near a whispering waterfall and a dangerous rock where ships still have accidents today, and the mermaid Sawa of the Vistula river, who was part of the founding legend of Warsaw 5 (see Primary regional players, the Kingdom of Poland). The Little Mermaid of Copenhagen is a similar type of legend.
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Bodden are a special type of brackish bodies of water something like glacial bayous, which are found along the southern shores of the Baltic Sea. These inlets, lagoons, lakes and ponds usually had a depth of no more than 1020 feet. Bodden are rather typical of small bays and estuaries connected to the sea, in that they change temperature and salinity and drain and fill swiftly with tidal and wind action, and the runoff of fresh water during snow melts and rainstorms. Traditionally bodden have been good fishing areas, in modern times they are rich fishing grounds for northern pike, and they were the source of much of the great harvest of fish taken here during the 15th Century. They were less ideal for traveling, being treacherous for navigation unless you knew the local tides, and dangerous to cross for the same reasons.
Cepkeliu swamps near Marcinkonys, Lithuania, not far from Dainava forest. In this photo you can see a wooden path has been created through the swamp, this is what would have been considered a good road for this region in the 15th Century. In the absence of such a path at certain times of years the soil may be soft enough for a horse to sink to his belly with every step. Forests like this could go on for miles and miles. Photo by Wojsyl, 2005
Bogs Wetlands are one of the most important and ubiquitous terrain features in the Baltic. During all seasons except for the heart of winter, they act as boundaries to everyone except those few who live in or adjacent to them and know their individual peculiarities. For medieval people, bogs were not just a nuisance, they could be deadly dangerous, muddy quagmires acted like quicksand, and heavily loaded horses were particularly vulnerable to becoming mired or even sinking to their doom. There was also the serious threat of mosquito borne illnesses which people in the 15th Century did not necessarily understand, but could see the effects of clearly enough. People were generally afraid of bogs and associated supernatural forces with them, there were many eerie tales of ghosts, spirits, and demons haunting
marshlands. Expertise in crossing wetlands was a fairly rare skill possessed by people who specialized in hunting, trapping and fishing in these difficult environs. The particular characteristics of each swamp varied widely from open lakes navigable by boats to reedy bogs to treacherous woodland ground that looks solid but was as soft as pudding. Because of this bogs made very good defensive cover for people living in them. Then as now, wetlands were rich environments for game animals ranging from fish to shellfish to ducks to beavers, and for savvy locals they were lucrative hunting grounds.
during WW I when Russian and German troops had to band together to fight them off.
Wild Animals The southern Baltic of the 1450s teems with wildlife. There were (and are) a variety of important game animals, some which (notably the aurochs) are dangerous, as well as predators such as wolves, bears, the elusive lynx, and a variety of rarer animals which are of some interest.
Wolves in the snow, Alfred Wierusz-Kowalski, 1910. It can get lonely deep in the Polish forest on a cold night, but the wolves will keep you company…
The most important game animals were the bialowieża or lowland wisent (a European type of bison), the aurochs, several species of deer ranging from the very large red deer to several smaller species, reindeer further up north toward Finland and East toward the northern reaches of Siberia, as well as wild boar and a variety of large goats and ‘goatlike antilopes’ which were found in the hills. Smaller game like rabbits, beaver and waterfowl were equally important and highly prolific here. Animals get big in this region, and in the 15th Century there were still in fact what you could with some credibility call megafauna here. These animals had not yet been made as timid and fearful of man as most wild animals we know today in North America or Western Europe. Wolves were probably the single most feared predator in the region, and with good reason. Wolves were much more aggressive than today, and in this region, always been unusually dangerous. Even now in Karelia in Finland there are problems with aggressive wolves. The historical record in Russia and Poland include numerous well documented incidents of significant predation against humans, the most recent being an infamous episode
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Wolves attack a Troika in Poland in this painting by Józef Chełmoński. Wolf attacks remained a problem in the Baltic region into the early 20th Century.
It’s possible that wolves were more aggressive during times of warfare, for the dual reasons that their normal prey was driven away or hunted-out while simultaneously they got used to eating human carrion as an alternate food source. Whatever the reason, the records were full of stories of wolf attacks on both people and livestock. Winter was always the season when wolves were most active and most dangerous. As their prey thinned out wolves would sometimes congregate in large packs around villages and isolated farmhouses to prey on livestock, and it was not unheard of for neighbors to find a farmstead in the spring which had been wiped out by these canine predators during the winter. Of course such incidents were rare, and the most common problem posed by wolves was simply the predation of livestock. (Which was still greatly feared as it could lead to starvation)
The redoubtable Aurochs. One of the most feared animals in Medeival Europe was essentially an angry cow. If you have ever seen a Cape buffalo in a wildlife show on TV, you have an idea why this extinct beast was feared. This is a 19th Century copy of a 16th Century painting from Augsburg.
Their principal threat to people was to isolated travelers. Bears were if anything more dangerous than wolves and nearly as feared but they were not as actively predatory of humans. They were considered most dangerous during the spring when males in rut were following females without heed to anything else, and the females themselves could be guarding cubs and extremely aggressive.
There were both black and brown bears in this region, obviously the latter were more dangerous. Much further north in the arctic regions of Finland and Siberia one could also find polar bears. The preferred method for hunting bears in Poland and Lithuania was to use a fork or a spear with a “stout crossbar”, stab the beast and ‘prop it’ by grounding the spear into the ground. If the spear was properly set the bear would wear itself out pushing against it. If the spear didn't break! Needles to say this was a risky hunting method and it was probably good to have a backup plan.
aurochs was a type of wild cattle once widespread throughout Europe which is now extinct (the last died in Poland in 1627).
European Wisent, Poland, today. Photo by Konrad Kurzacz
Hunting a bear with a crossbow, from Olaus Magnus, 16th Century
"Little Otso, woodland apple, Honeypaw, you dear stout fellow, When you hear this good man coming, Hear me stepping softly near you, Knot your claws up in your fur And your teeth inside your gums So that they can do no harm Even when you're on the prowl.
Aurochs preferred swampy and wet wooded areas and, like modern cattle, could swim for short distances enabling them to inhabit islands within their range. In behavior and aggression, the aurochs was probably comparable to the modern cape buffalo of Africa. These bovines were ornery, and bulls in particular posed a real threat to anyone who had the misfortune to get too close to one accidentally or otherwise. Once they charged they would continue to pursue an enemy until they killed it. It was not unusual for travelers or hunters to be treed by an aurochs bull. It was basically a fearless animal that took insults personally. Also fairly stupid, so anything could constitute an insult. The wisent (bialowieża) was another bovine animal which could be formidable. This large bison still exists today in small pockets in Eastern Poland. In 1456 they were found in the woods in large herds, they are huge creatures and bulls can be aggressive, if not quite to the extent as the aurochs. The very large deer and elk found in this region were another prestige prey animal sought by aristocrats.
"0 my bearkin, you my only, Honeypaw, my little beauty, Just lie down on turfy tussock, Go to sleep on a lovely rock Where the tall pines sway above you And you hear the fir trees humming. There, my Otso, roll about, Twist and turn, my honeypaw Like a hazel grouse on her nest, Like a wild goose in her brooding."
Boars were another formidable and potentially dangerous game animal. As well as being an important food source for both peasants and aristocrats, they were challenging game popular among hunters of all classes. And finally small game of all types proliferate in the area, from waterfowl such as ubiquitous geese and ducks to rabbits, beaver, wild goats and a wide variety of small fur bearing creatures.
Bear-hunters poem, from the Kalevala, traditional Finnish heroic poem. Reciting verses like this was thought to be a form of magic. Bears were a major game animal and an important source of food in the Baltic.
If the wolf was the most feared predator, and the bear the most respected, it was the aurochs which seemed to command the most unease among period writers. The
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Because of the ubiquity of big and small game in this region, game was an important food source for local populations, everything from the prestigious aurochs or stag to the prosaic rabbit, duck or beaver. The people here ate a lot of meat as well as fish, grain, berries and mushrooms, and generally enjoyed a healthy diet which is evident in the good teeth and skeletons they left behind. The challenge and danger inherent in hunting also kept the edge on local men who hunted, contributing to the notorious toughness of the people here.
Travel Perhaps the most surprising thing about travel in the middle ages is that at least some people in this period traveled frequently and widely, despite the difficulties and inconvenience. The biggest impediments to travel in the medieval Baltic were the terrain and the weather. Outside of established trade routes, such as the Hanseatic convoys or the Via Imperii or the Via Regia roads, travel could be quite a challenge in some wilderness areas. In some of the region were vast primeval forests with little undergrowth, relatively easy to travel through during ‘hard’ winter with the right kit, a distant town or trading post was only a sleigh ride away. But within the Baltic zone it was not always so simple. Rivers, forests, bogs, marshes and lakes all potentially infested by bandits or pirates, could seriously impede or inconvenience travelers during spring or summertime. Bridges, roads, inns, and other infrastructure existed, but only in areas well-organized enough to keep them protected and maintained, and only in the places on the land where medieval engineering could manage it. Travel was relatively less difficult by ship around the coastlines, and somewhat along the larger rivers, but could be quite slow overland in the interior. Thus traveling long distance overland, as on the waterways, was something done in groups. Regular caravans left larger towns daily or weekly during the traveling seasons, but tended to stick to the main (royal or imperial) roads. It was also normal for travelers to form up in groups, sometimes meeting in inns or taverns, and travel together for mutual protection. The main risk in overland travel was from gangs of robbers and robberknights, but weather and even wild animals could also impose dangers and delays.
These are some of the major ancient trade routes in Europe, including Via Regia and the Via Imperii.
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Protected and unprotected roads Fairy tales old and new warn the reader to ‘stay on the path!’ and even ‘follow the yellow brick road’ etc., but few today realize that these admonitions may be echoes of an earlier time when staying on the path really did have life or death connotations, and not just about getting lost. In the medieval world one of the many paradoxes was that travel was always perilous, particularly on the roads, however people still had to travel. Trade was a priority, the source of most wealth, so towns and princes attempted to protect commerce in and through their own regions. Sometimes the desperate outlaws or unscrupulous knights were unable to resist the temptation to interfere with commerce by robbing caravans or imposing crippling tolls. Thus there was a constant push and pull of forces seeking to make the roads safer and those motivated to plunder travelers. By the late medieval period however, Landfrieden were established around and between most large communities. These special treaties between local and regional powers typically put strict limits on actions allowed during private wars or fehde, which were usually the excuse for what amounted to widespread highway robbery in the countryside. In particular, once established, Landfrieden usually specified protection for those traveling on certain major roads that were important for trade. Extremely harsh penalties (usually including hanging or death by torture such as being broken on the wheel) were ruthlessly enforced against anyone caught molesting travelers on the protected highways. These were typically maintained by local powers as part of the Landfrieden and protected by the local authorities usually with regular patrols. Locally protected roads were linked together along major international trade arteries like the Amber Road, the various tendrils of the Silk Road, the Via Regia and the Via Imperii. These major trade routes were protected for much of the way by long standing custom and armed support of regional powers. At the same time, many lesser roads and pathways lacked these protections, and protection that had long been in place in a given area could suddenly lapse when a prince or a town that habitually sent regular patrols got involved in a war or suffered some other misfortune. Many illegal roads and paths also existed which were specifically designed to allow smuggling, and needless to say these were neither well protected nor safe. Of course, even the major trade routes were not the kind of roads we know today. In some places we would recognize them as roads with broad, graded, well drained, well maintained pathways wide enough for two carts to pass, with bridges and other impressive engineering work built in. But this was by no means common. By German common law these roads were required to be an
unimpeded passageway the width of the length of a lance, or about three meters wide. But many ‘roads’ in the Baltic in the 15th Century were simply a series of portages, trails, rights of way and crude paths through the wilderness. More like the Appalachian Trail or the Natchez Trace than a modern interstate. Many were originally built by the Romans or even the Celts still remained in use in the late medieval period. Local roads, and local sections of Royal and Imperial Roads, were called hellweg, or helwech in Low German, literally meaning the ‘bright way’. Some salt roads were known as salzweg.
Caravans Regardless of the status of the roads in question, when valuable cargo needed to be moved over land, the go-to method was via caravan. Multiple merchants, soldiers, pilgrims and travelers would band together to form a temporary alliance (called a Hansa) and travel together for mutual protection and support. These bands would elect a leader from among the most prominent merchants or military men in the group, and fight together when necessary against bandits, roaming mercenaries and robber knights, and even wild animals. Though the leadership and other officers were elected, discipline was fairly strict. Individual travelers often joined with caravans for the benefit of protection, as traveling with caravans was much safer - if you were spotted by some miscreant. On the other hand, traveling alone could be faster and if you were able to stay hidden, it could be just as safe. The choice depended on the district and the nature of the trip and the travelers. Most caravans were willing to accept strangers because the more people the safer the trip – but they were also wary of spies who could sometimes be planted among them by brigands or others who hoped to rob the cargo. Anyone traveling with a caravan would be expected to fight in its defense if needed and caravans were often heavily armed.
A section of the Via Regia as it appears today, between Fulda and Neuhof. This is probably not much different from how it looked in the 15th Century. You can follow this road from Moscow to the Atlantic Coast of Spain. Image by Malula Creative Commons.
What made a road a road was most importantly its protected status. In those places where there was a strong regional government of some kind, travel was generally protected. In the Baltic this basically meant Muscovy and the territories of the Teutonic Order, as well as some smaller regions around the larger cities such as Danzig or Torun, or city-leagues like the Lusatian League. Within these areas a sort of pony express was established for rapidly conveying parcels and messages in overlapping stages from town to town or castle to castle. Travelers could take advantage of such postal systems to borrow a horse that needed to get back to its home station for example. At various points in history the Mongols managed to make life safe enough along the Silk Road that the Genoese were able to create very elaborate travel guides covering the entire journey from Europe to China in every detail. We know for sure they made the voyage too from Italian graveyards which were discovered in China in the 1950’s, dated back to the 14th Century.
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Some merchants specialized in thwarting the attacks of bandits. One merchant of Hamburg in the 14th Century was so good at spoiling the ambushes of robber knights in nearby Mecklenburg, that he angered the Duke (who was receiving a cut of the loot captured by the knights). The Duke issued a public threat to hang the merchant if he caught him. The merchant, unphased, had a silver chain forged which he then carried with him from that point onward. He said that if he captured the Duke he would hang him with silver, since hemp was too rude for such a refined neck. Apparently neither threat was ever fulfilled. Disputes over the harassment of mercantile caravans were not limited to individuals, as both towns and princes would routinely intervene with military expeditions against bandits or robber knights who became too bold. Regional wars started fairly often over these kinds of issues, though ultimately they also led to the establishment of Landfrieden in various districts. The maritime equivalent of the caravan was the convoy. Hanseatic ships routinely traveled in armed convoys and even cargo rafts and river boats would travel in groups the same way. During the 13 years war the Prussian cities protected rafts bringing cargo down the Vistula river by establishing heavily armed convoys. According to the famous 20th Century historian of the Hanse, Philippe Dollinger, these bristling convoys made several trips all the way from Warsaw to Danzig in the 1450’s “skirmishing all the way”.
between the (mostly Swedish) Gotlanders and the Baltic pirates. In the 14th century Latinized Christian pirates from that same island and some other coastal enclaves took up where the pagans left off, forming a very powerful pirate group with its own entire fleets of warships known as the Victual Brothers (Vitalen Brüder). The Vitalen Brüder started as allies of the Hanse in the war against Denmark, but ended as deadly enemies of the Hanseatic League, supported by powerful North German aristocrats in Brandenburg and Mecklenburg (and by pretenders to the throne of Denmark). Their motto was "God's friends and the whole world's enemies".
A scale model of the Hanseatic warship Peter Von Danzig, A formidable three-masted ship, there is some debate if it should be classified as a small carrack or a large caravel. In period documents it was often called The Great Caravel, it was one of the largest and most heavily armed vessels of the era, and played a key role in Danzig’s successful naval campaign against England and Holland during the Anglo-Hanseatic war. The ship operated under a letter of marque from city of Danzig in the 1470s. The captain Paul Beneke, a former member of the Danzig town council, captured a famous triptych by the Flemish artist Hans Memling during one of his raids. Note the covered firing platform on the forward prow for hand-gunners and crossbowmen.
The Victual Brothers were finally driven from their base at Wisby in Gotland by the Teutonic Order and the navy of the Hanseatic League in 1394 not long after that. They then fought a series of brutal fights against the cities of Hamburg and Lübeck in the North Sea, and raided as far away as Spain and Norway, where they sacked the city of Bergen three times. By the mid-15th Century however the power of the free-lance pirate brotherhoods had been nearly broken, though a few remnants of the Victual Brothers and Likedeelers still remained active in Friesland (Frisia) and lurking around the island of Rugen.
Ships The most comfortable, most reliable and fastest way to travel in this region was by the large ocean going ships which plied the coastlines and major estuaries where the big cities were located. The second best way was by boat or raft up and down the major navigable rivers. Ships and Piracy Though ships were the best way to move people or cargo, even this method was by no means guaranteed safe or convenient. In addition to the exigencies of weather, reefs, and currents, pirates were something of a menace in the late medieval Baltic. In the early medieval and late Migration era, the Curonians, a Baltic people related to the Prussians and Lithuanians who lived on the Baltic coast near Konigsberg., and the Oeselians, another tribal people related to the Estonians who lived on the island of Ösel (now Saaraamia) were notorious for their piratical ‘Viking’ raids. Curonian pirates to a large extent had control of the Southern Baltic in the 11th and 12th centuries and devastated Denmark and southern Sweden at that time in what were called ‘Viking Raids’6. The Oeselians were still posing a serious threat to the Crusader armies with their Viking style ‘pirate ships’ in the 13 th7. The German Crusaders also complained of an all-too cozy relationship
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Dithmarschen peasants with what may be a piece of flotsam, detail from the Trachten Dithmarschen, Braun and Hogenberg, 1572
Wreckers The most common piracy threat by this time was more prosaic and derived from less well-organized groups of part time coastal pirates and wreckers. The rate of maritime commerce was intense in the 15th Century, thousands of ships, barges and boats traveled through the straits and along the coasts every year, carrying valuable cargo ranging from beer, to furs, to guns, to slaves. A certain percentage of these ships would inevitably wreck, typically depositing survivors and cargo along one lonely shoreline or another, in some areas this happened quite frequently. So frequently in fact that the recovery of such flotsam and jetsam become very important to the local economy in certain regions.
In 1456, the southern Baltic coast was controlled largely by privateers of the Prussian Confederation but was still also threatened by Swedish, Frisian, and Danish raiders. Hanseatic ships were generally the safest way to travel because they were heavily armed and the League had business arrangements with all the warring parties, but even they were subject to attack.
A big raft, several river boats, and two large ocean going vessels (carracks) detail from Bruegel Tower of Babel, Flanders, 1563.
The Hanseatic Cog. The Hansekogge, also known more simply as the kogge, cog or cogge may have originally been designed in Bremen, or Hamburg, or Lübeck, or somewhere in Holland, but it was ubiquitous in all these places by around 1300. The cog was simultaneously the battleship and the supertanker of the medieval Baltic, though it’s a very small vessel by today’s standards of course. Nevertheless, it was a major improvement over earlier ships.
With the intermittent availability of accidental flotsam, and a permanent need for income locals could sometimes found themselves hoping that a passing ship might founder on the rocks… and in some cases it was a short jump from wanting the ship to wreck to.. helping cause the wreck, for example by displaying misleading lights. And it’s not far from that to even rowing boats out to simply capture the ship. People who did this kind of thing were known as ‘wreckers’ and they were found along the coastlines of Frisia, Gotland, northern Saxony, in Finland, and in Livonia, among other places. Though as a rule they were hated by seamen, not all wreckers were automatically hostile to sailors. Special arrangements were made in some areas to ameliorate the worst of their habits and even turn vice into virtue. For example, in the 14th Century the city of Hamburg made an arrangement with the dangerous peasants of the Dithmarschen (see Tertiary regional players, Dithmarschen) to accept a ‘rescue fee’ and safely return cargo and crew for all Hanse ships, while simultaneously reporting on the movements of enemy vessels. As a result, in effect they became political, economic and military allies, and the Dithmarscher peasants were for a while the Hanse “coast guard” in the dangerous shoals and estuaries of their back yard. Privateers Though free lance pirates once nearly ruled the seas of the Baltic, the main pirate threat in the open ocean during the mid-15th Century was from privateers fighting in the war between the Teutonic Knights and the Prussian Confederation. In legal theory, privateers were nicer than pirates since they were licensed by an accountable political entity like a kingdom or a city, though in practice they were still just pirates if you were on the wrong side.
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Modern replica of a Bremer cog of roughly 1380. This is probably typical of the earlier generations of the cog in the 14th and early 15th Centuries. Note the aft castle. Creative Commons by SA 2.5, uploaded by VollwertBIT 2007
The typical Norse style cargo ship which preceded it, called a knorr or knarr held about 24 metric tons, a Baltic cog ranged from 100 to 400 metric tons in capacity. Like the earlier Viking style ships the cog was clinker built of abundant Baltic timber, with a flat bottom and a center mounted rudder. Unlike a knarr the cog was built high above the water and by the 15th Century usually featured wooden fighting platforms or ‘castles’ at both bow and stern. Cogs were fitted with a removable keel and used a square rigged sail usually on a single mast, though this was augmented on larger vessels with up to two more sails. The flat-bottom of the cog made it suitable for sailing into estuaries and up rivers, a design feature common in many ships used in this region.
The cog was rugged and carried a lot of cargo for the time, but being powered usually by a single square sail, was relatively clumsy on the water compared to Viking style rowed longships. The single square-rigged sail rendered a cog basically incapable of sailing into the wind. But in the Baltic the trade winds blow consistently in different directions as the seasons change, and the merchants planned their voyages accordingly. In spite of its somewhat limited sailing characteristics the cog was considered an effective fighting ship. This was largely because it was simply so big and high out of the water that it has a height advantage over smaller longboat type ships still used by most indigenous Baltic tribes and by many pirates, and it carried a large crew and many weapons. The stern and forecastles added to cogs augmented this advantage considerably, making it into a kind of moving castle. A well-armed cog was tough to beat in the open water though they were not very maneuverable close into shore. A typical late medieval Hanseatic convoy included 4 or 5 merchant vessels and one heavily armed warship called an Orlogschiffe or Friedenskoggen, which would also be a cog but larger, with more fighting platforms and guns, and a more heavily armed crew. The Pinnance Small open rowboats that usually had sails as well, the pinnance was used close to shore, into rivers, and as support vessels for larger ocean-going ships. Pinnances were often used during battles to swarm enemy vessels. A variety of similar ships were used all around Europe and nearby regions, such as the balinger, originally a whaling vessel, and the bark or barca, which in the 15th Century just meant a small ship with a sail. These vessels proved useful in war both for fighting and for moving troops and goods, and were also widely used for coastal trade. Schnigge A smaller ship which seems to have been used quite often in sea battles, the precise nature of this vessel during the late medieval period is not yet clear to the author. The term schnigge, which seems to have Frisian origin, has been used for centuries in the Baltic and North Sea zone to describe many different types of large boats or small ships. The early use of the term seems to refer to one of the many variations on the Viking longship which persisted into medieval times. By the 18th Century the term schnigge was being used to describe fishing vessels with swiveling keels on the sides that look something like big paddles or sweeps. These looked a bit like aquatic birds and were sometims called ‘eider schnigge’. The keels
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could be raised in shallow water or lowered when sailing in the open sea. Determining what a schnigge actually was in the 15 th or 16th Century is important because this type of vessel seems to have played a decisive role in some of the most important battles of the era, particularly victories by Danzig and the other Hanseatic towns such as the Battle of the Vistula Lagoon. Similar vessels were also used by the city of Hamburg in the 14th Century during their struggle and ultimate victory against organized pirate groups such as the Victual Brothers and the Likedeelers. All your humble author can say for sure about the 15th Century schnigge is that generally speaking, they seem to have been seaworthy sailing ships which were smaller and more maneuverable than cogs, particularly more agile in shore and estuaries, but probably more formidable as fighting platforms than galleys or longship type vessels like the Busse. They also appear to at least in some cases mounted with guns. There were similar vessels in Scandinavia, the Low Countries, northern Germany, Prussia, Estonia and Finland. If you know anything about these ships, or better yet know of a painting or drawing of them from the era, contact me! The Hulk A hulk is another type of heavy coastal trading vessel which was widely used in the low-countries, particularly by the Dutch, for trading along the coastlines and around the coastal estuaries and islands and along inland canals. Like the cog it was clinker built and has a flat bottom, but it was longer and lower and more specialized for shallow waters, especially the numerous canals and island channels found all along the North and Baltic Sea coasts. This type was sometimes used as a warship. Hulks were of high freeboard and ‘round’ hull construction similar to a Cog, but were generally considered not as seaworthy for deep ocean travel. The Carrack The carrack, called Krak by the Germans and Nau by the Portuguese, was a type of three-masted sailing vessel originally developed either by the Genoese or the Portuguese (depending on who you believe) for their voyages of trade and exploration in the Atlantic and down the African coast. The design was adapted and further developed by the other Atlantic European powers: The French, Spanish, British and Dutch, and made its way through them into the Baltic and North seas.
Smaller than the carrack, the unique thing about the caravel is that it was rigged with at least one triangular lateen sail such as used by the Arabs rather than the square sails used by most European vessels. Caravels were developed in Portugal from fishing vessels, and were closely associated with Prince (Infante) Henry “The Navigator”. Their first documented appearance was in 1451. They were made in several different subtypes, the specialized caravela de armada was a dedicated warship design included both square and lateen sails. Caravels could have between 1 and 4 masts but they tended to be small – smaller than carracks. The lateen sail made them very maneuverable and able to sail across and even up wind. They were also mounted with guns from the very beginning, and were used in most of the Portuguese voyages of exploration in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Caravels were not common in the Baltic but Portuguese merchants did travel to the region and traded with Danzig. Realistic and contemporaneous portrait of a Krak (carrack) from Northern Europe, circa 1460. Note the gun in the aft crows-nest. Though still fairly rare in the Baltic region in the 1450’s, (Most fighting ships were still cogs) this was arguably the dominant warship type.
These vessels were more seaworthy than a cog, with a high prow and stern were capable of riding out the formidable Atlantic gales. Their three masts made them maneuverable and agile in the wind to an extent far beyond most other sailing vessels of the day, carracks could tack and go across the wind, though not quite to the same extent as the caravel. Later model carracks however had an additional lateen sail added which enhanced maneuverability.
The Busse Oared galleys are also used in this region, most basically similar to the older type of Viking Longships of the 8th-11th Century. Mostly these were used around the coastlines and in the rivers. They usually avoided combat with the large coggs, but one advantage that the oared vessels had is that they could use rams just like Mediterranean galleys. These were fast clinker built rowing ships which differed from true (much earlier) Viking vessels only in that they had a proper rudder rather than steering oars. It was common especially when trading in dangerous areas to mount a swivel gun to the prow and / or stern of such a boat, to repel raiders.
The Caravel Like the carrack, the caravel was a new type of ship which appeared in the 15th Century in the Atlantic zone. Like the carrack, the caravel was based on the same basic ship body as the cog, with clinker built hulls and a shallow keel making it capable of operating in rivers and estuaries.
River Boats After the coastal sea routes, the next best thing was riverine travel. Rivers tended to be shallow in the Baltic which limited the draft and thus weight capacity of vessels navigating their waters, but on the other hand, they were not as vulnerable to storms and sailing on the rivers was far less risky than sailing in the Baltic Sea.
A Portuguese caravel with both a square (bow) and a lateen sail (center mast), circa 1501. The most important difference between this and a carrack are the angular lateen sails.
Three river boats loaded with cargo depicted in Prussia adjacent to the Vistula River, from the Carta Marina, 1539 AD
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A variety of riverine cargo vessels, rafts and barges ranging from 90’ long barges to single person flatboats propelled by a pole were used to travel up and down the various rivers, estuaries and bayous of this region. One common type found in the estuaries was the faering, a Norse clinker-built design for four rowers with a shallow draft and provision for a small sail.
A heavily armed war-boat on Lake Zurich, from the Bern Chronicle circa 1470.
Boats intended purely for the rivers were also very common, and some of these were made with warfare in mind. It was not unusual to mount cannon on these boats, particularly pintle mounted swivel-guns and small breachloaders, and from period artwork they also appear to have been built with structures to protect from missiles, sloped wooden shields and fighting positions.
The Palmschleuse lock in Lauenburg, one of the original seventeen locks in the Stecknitz canal, built between 1391 and 1398 to link Lüneburg to Lübeck, allowing salt to be safely shipped there. Lübeck and Hamburg eventually built canals to bypass the Sound between Denmark and Sweden.
Canals Canals were also surprisingly common by the mid 15th Century, and some were quite substantial, featuring complex systems of locks which allowed them to be used to link rivers for example, making it possible to travel widely without ever leaving the water.
Traveling on a Hanseatic Vessel
Riverboat on the Vistula, detail from a map of Warsaw, 16th Century.
Strict discipline had to be maintained on the Hanseatic ships, but there was also a rough kind of democracy. When a vessel put into sea, the captain assembled the sailors and passengers and gave a speech, of which we have this example from the 19th Century German cleric and historian Johannes Janssen: “We are in the hands of God. We are exposed to the winds and
River raft on the Vistula. Detail from a map of Warsaw, 16th Century
One traditional flat bottomed river boat or small ship common on the Vistula was called szkuta (roughly translated as ‘punt’), featuring both a single square sail and 8-10 oars, each manned by a pair of rowers. It could carry a substantial quantity of grain, perhaps 50-80 tons. Another similar type called a dubas was a bit smaller and had a capacity of 40-60 tons. The most common commercial vessels on the rivers were barges, which could be huge. One excavated in the Vistula river in Poland in 2009, and dated to the 15 th Century, was 30 meters long and 7 meters wide. One large type of barge was called a komiega, a rectangular shaped raft with no mast and a cargo capacity of 70 tons., a smaller type was called a galar, with a capacity of 6-8 rafters and cargo of up to 60 tons.
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waves, sharing the same perils; so we are all equal. We may have to confront tempests or pirates. Innumerable dangers surround us; therefore strict discipline is necessary. Let us commence with prayer, and sing canticles unto God, to obtain a fair wind and a prosperous voyage 8 .” After this, with the general consent, a bailiff, four officers, and a judge, invested with the full right to punish, were selected, and maritime law was established9.
Armed riverboat opening fire at targets on the riverbank, detail from the 1578 map of Komarno, Braun and Hogenberg
Cursing was forbidden. No one was allowed to use the devil’s name, to neglect prayer, to go around with lights, to waste food, to encroach on the rights of the quartermaster, to play dice or
cards after sunset, to irritate the cook, to interfere with the sailors; all infringements of these regulations are punished by fines10. Corporal punishment was meted out for sleeping while on guard, making a disturbance on board, using arms, for theft, and for other misdemeanor. 11 Murder or other felonies were punishable by execution. At the end of the passage the judge and other authorities summoned all on board, and the former gave up his authority with the following words:
“Let us mutually forgive any unpleasantness that may have
he has a grievance, he must take complaint, according to ancient usage, to the land authorities and demand judgment before sunset.”
Everyone then ate bread and salt to seal the bargain in the old pagan manner as a sign of friendship, and the purse containing any fines which had been exacted during the voyage was given to the authorities in the port, allegedly to be distributed among the poor 12 . All of these traditions probably dated back to the earliest days of the Hanse caravans, but continued into the 15th Century.
happened during the passage, and let it be dead and buried. Our judgments have been passed with a sense of justice and right; therefore I beg all to lay aside enmity and swear by bread and salt not to harbor ill-feeling. If anyone thinks, however, that
16th Century printed map of Warsaw from Braun and Hogenberg, featuring ships on the Vistula river. The image in the center top depicts the mermaid Sawa which is the symbol of the city and it’s namesake.
Horses Horses were the third best way to travel, after ships and river boats. Horseshoes were required for travel with any but the local species of horses. Unhardened horseshoes were used during summer, hardened shoes during winter. Most of the horses in the Baltic region were of the so called “schweick” variety, a small but tough native species. Ordinary, untrained horses were unsuitable for warfare, because they could not keep their cool in violent and
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unpredictable situations. The species of a horse was only one aspect of it’s suitability as a mount, the European horse “categories” such as destrier, courser, ambler etc. referred to a specific type of training rather than a breed. Horses were used for warfare as much as for travel in this district, and warhorses were of immense importance. Mongolian Aduur this is the war-pony of the Mongols and Tartars, a type of wild horse related to the wild Tarpan native to Mongolia and the Siberian steppe (once native to Europe as well), the Mongolian horse is small, hardy, tough,
agile and quick if not extraordinarily strong. They are inured to extremes of temperature and remain outdoors year round in weather ranging from 30 degrees C to 40 below C.
A Mongol horse-archer mounted in his Aduur
Amblers were the most popular type of riding horse among the Latinized people. These are horses of various breeds which have been trained to walk in this ambling gait, (something that certain breeds also seem to have had a gene for) an even walking gait which the horse can maintain almost indefinitely and does not jolt the rider. Modern ambling breeds still exist today, such as the Tennessee Walking Horse and the Icelandic Pony. Amblers were valuable mounts, and many warhorses were also trained to use the ambling gait.
The Icelandic horse is one of a handful of breeds still around today that can be trained as an ambler
The Schweick. Aka schwaik. These were small but hardy ponies related to the Mongolian tarpan, very common in the Baltic where they were found in the wild. They were considered suitable for riding but not warfare by the Order, but were used as light war-horses by the Lithuanians. Žemaitukas aka the Zhmud, or Zhemaichu (literally, 'little Samogitian’) is a small native warhorse breed developed by the Lithuanians. It is a standard light warhorse, agile and hardy, and used widely by Lithuanian cavalry. Similar to a Schweick but stronger and easier to train.
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Palfreys A palfrey was a type of warhorse capable of riding with the ambling gait (see Ambler) but also trained and physically able to run for long distances, to gallop, and even to charge into combat. Palfreys ranged widely in quality and cost, some were little more than amblers with a little running ability, others were true warhorses with the equivalent value of chargers. Palfreys tended to have good endurance. Chargers Heavy European Warhorses were considered a “strategic technology” in this region due to their importance for heavy cavalry, and great efforts were made to keep the ‘barbarians’ from acquiring them. Stallions were preferred for European warhorses due to their strength and aggression, but all except for a select few breeding horses were sterilized in a special process (not castration) so that if they fall into the hands of the Russians or Lithuanians they couldn’t be used for breeding stock. The Teutonic Order maintained carefully protected stud farms for centuries13. Zhmuds, Aduurs and Schweiks were suitable for light cavalry or horse archers, but for heavy cavalry in the Latin style a charger was required, and the best of these are owned by the Western Europeans. Chargers come in two principle varieties, the Destrier and the Courser. If you compare them to cars the Destrier is the drag racer, bred and trained for the rapid acceleration and powerful charge. The Courser is the Grand Prix racer, fast, agile, and built for continuous speed. Destriers were the most valuable of the European warhorses, very strong, extremely aggressive and spirited, with the instincts of a large, very muscular well-disciplined billy-goat. They were used for jousting and for charging in combat, though not as much for hit and run fighting. The courser was a charger like the destrier, but had more of the endurance and sustained speed of the palfrey, at the expense of pure strength and aggression. Coursers were also often trained to use the ambling gait which was very convenient for traveling. The Ottomans and Arabs also had heavy warhorses which were roughly the equivalent of coursers, fleet and agile if not as strong and psycho as a true destrier. Pure-bread warhorses, particularly chargers could be aggressive beyond the point that most people would expect from a horse today. If you tried to just steal one, you might be happy to make it out of the stall alive. The Teutonic Order also bred special variants of the destrier which could endure cold weather better and had more endurance for longer campaigns. These horses were widely sought after but rarely available in Poland, Lithuania or Russia, though they could sometimes be found in
Livonia, Denmark, or Sweden. Since the revolution of the Prussian cities and the start of the war however true warhorses became more widely available. Heavy warhorses were used by the Teutonic Order, by the Poles, by some of the mercenaries and the small number of Knights of the Prussian Confederation. Arabian horses. The excellent Arabian racing horses were known in this area and are available (at a high price) through the Turks and the Crimean Tartars, and are sought after by the Russians and Poles for use as light or medium cavalry mounts and for couriers, and sometimes as a courser… But most of all as breeding stock for mixed warhorse breeds. Arabian horses were also the basis for several breeds of light and medium warhorses used by Ottoman Sipahi, Mamelukes, and Tartar heavy-cavalry. These horses are roughly the equivalent of Palfreys or Jennets. The Coach The coach type of carriage that we are so familiar with from the 18th and 19th Centuries, actually got its start in the 15th Century in Hungary. The word ‘coach’ comes from the name of the Hungarian town Kocs, which was an important way station for the Hungarian postal service. The Hungarians for various reasons had developed very fast, lightly built wagons with a cabin that was suspended on chains instead of built directly on top of the axles like a wagon. This made for a much smoother ride, making it possible to ride at much faster speeds.
Sleighs The ideal means of Winter travel is the sleigh. A sleigh is a type of carrier or carriage made with smooth runners for traveling over snow or ice. The runners may be made of bone, wood, or copper covered wood, often coated in wax or sometimes covered in fur. During winter time the sleigh was the single most efficient means of transporting goods overland, and in fact made overland transport of commercial goods feasible to an extent not really possible during spring, summer or fall. Sleighs came in many formats, in Finland and Siberia reindeer were often used to pull sleighs. Single draft horses or even oxen were also used in more temperate climes. In the cities small sleighs suitable for one or two persons standing were popular means of travel in the winter. They show up frequently in period art in the 15th and 16th Century. The Troika The fastest and most popular type of sleigh or coach in Poland and Russia was the Troika. Troika literally means ‘triple’ or ‘trio’, it referred to either a carriage or a sleigh pulled by three horses harnessed side by side. Ideally the middle horse would trot while the side horses cantered. In this manner the conveyance could be kept at a high speed for a long time. The troika was thus one of the fastest means of land travel (save for riding solo on a fast horse in a short sprint). They could achieve sustained speeds of over 30 mph over snow carrying a fairly heavy load.
The new design was popularized by the mighty Corvinus family who introduced it to the many European princes and prelates they did business with, and it rapidly spread into Italy and Germany and throughout Northern Europe. But in the mid-15th Century this was very much a process that was just getting started, so the availability of a regular coach traveling between towns would be questionable outside of Hungary or her immediate neighbors. The technology was, however, available and like most successful new innovations, it was quickly adopted by the larger Free Cities and City-States. Certainly by the 1460’s or 70’s, you could expect to see these around the larger Polish, Czech and German towns. A troika sleigh in Russia
Winter Travel During the winter the entire environment of the Baltic changes. Many of the rivers and in particularly cold years, the northern reaches of the Baltic Sea itself ice-over and dangerous storms can make travel by ship very risky. At the same time, the marshes, bodden and lakes which make land travel problematic during Spring and Summer ice-over and are covered in a blanket of snow, making travel and the movement of goods over land possible with the means of special winter equipment.
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Obviously a troika was an expensive means of transport; in fact, traveling on a troika was a status symbol for Russian Boyars, (a tradition which continued into the early 20 th Century). Troika were also used by couriers and people carrying important supplies or passengers during wartime. They were also sometimes used to carry wounded, perhaps you could say a medieval equivalent of a field ambulance. On the opposite extreme was the humble pulk or toboggan used in Finland and Siberia, smaller ones could be pulled by men, larger pulk known as ahkio were often pulled by
reindeer or horses. These were not fast but they were efficient means of carrying heavy goods.
Left, skiing archer from a Viking Age runestone in Sweden, right a Saami woman skiing with a bow, from Olaus Magnus 1555 AD
Skis Skis have been around in this region for thousands of years. They may originally be an invention of the Finnish Saami people; one of the earliest recorded names for Saami was “skridfinner” which means ‘Skiing Finn”. The first depictions of skis are found in Caves in Finland dating back to 3200 BC. So they have been around the Baltic quite a while. Saami often use a bow or a spear as a single skipole, but the use of double-ski poles to help achieve higher speeds is also well known. The type of skiing here is obviously what is called ‘Nordic’ skiing rather than downhill recreational type better known from Winter sports today.
length and covered in fur, which confers better efficiency and quieter travel. Skates Ice skates are another ancient invention, used by the Finns and by the Vikings. A 12-century description of skating in London by William FitzStephen describes Londoners who would "fit to their feet the shinbones of cattle" and propelled themselves with an iron-tipped stick. Unlike modern skates, the bone skates did not cut the ice, so bone skating techniques bear little resemblance to modern ice skating. Skaters used wooden poles tipped with iron spikes to help propel themselves across the ice. There are some references in Viking era Sagas to traders and warriors traveling on frozen rivers long distances on ice skates, and even across the northern Baltic when it froze over during winter. Images from the famous Carta Marina map of Olaus Magnus seem to depict this exact scenario. Snow shoes Snow shoes of the modern ‘tennis racket’ type that we are familiar with today are the invention of Native Americans, so the people of Medieval Europe didn’t have them. Snow shoes as such were not widely used and are relatively primitive in the Baltic.
Skis were an efficient means of personal travel during winter in this period and were used by hunters and also in at least a few documented incidents by small groups of warriors in actions going back to the Viking Age. Skiing was the preferred means of long-distance travel in many areas by the Finns in particular but also by Swedes, Russians, Lithuanians and many others living in the remote fringes of civilization in the Baltic. Left, ice- skating with the help of iron tipped staves, right a horse and a man traversing the mountains with wooden snow-shoes, both images details from the Carta Marina, 1539
Skis were the preferred alternative, but some primitive wooden snowshoes could be used in areas where skis are not appropriate.
Travel and Hospitality
Various forms winter travel in Scandinavia including skis and a reindeer harnessed to a toboggan, an excerpt from Olaus Magus Carta Marina, 1539 AD
One tactical advantage of skis greatly appreciated by hunters is their silence. Skis found in Manttam Finland by archeologists dating from the 6th Century are 161 cm in
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In the more urbanized zones of the Baltic, nearly every village had a village tavern which the Bohemians call a hospoda. It’s was a place which served as a combination pub, restaurant, and hotel. What would be recognizable today as a thriving pub culture was already well developed in Bohemia where the brewing of beer had already been raised to a high art, and in all of the German towns in Prussia, Poland, Livonia and Lithuania, where one could find inns along the more well-traveled roads particularly near the network of trails and roads of the Amber or Silk Road systems.
But in the more remote areas of Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Scandinavia, Finland, Slovakia, Silesia, Hungary etc. there may not have been even basic roads let alone taverns or inns. Yet even in these areas travel was still possible due in part to certain cultural traditions in this region. Travelers in general had sort of sacred role in the pre-Christian traditions of the Baltic, and Slavs in particular had a good reputation for hospitality. The Slavs have a saying "Guest to the house, God to the house", and the common country people took the responsibility to a guest very seriously.
This system evolved because of necessity – it was impossible for anyone to travel in certain areas, especially back during pre-Christian times, if people didn’t provide room and board for travelers. This was even more so during the winter when getting somewhere warm and dry could be a matter of life and death. The bond of traveler and guest was sealed by a traditional gift of bread and salt, after the receipt of which the guest was never to be harmed in any way.
Luna, from De Sphaera, 1472. Near the bottom are two three-masted carracks.
Economy and Trade
Thus warm clothes were important. The finest furs in the world were available in the Baltic region: mink, ermine, sable, and the more prosaic beaver and fox are all valuable commodities. Beaver in particular was a major industrial product used in the production of felt, and had already been largely hunted to extinction in Continental Western Europe thus increasing demand even further.
At its base, the entire economy of the late Medieval Baltic was built upon trade. Furs were a key export; Medieval Europe had an insatiable appetite for furs. Winters are cold and there were no warm cars or trains to travel around in. Land travel was by horseback or cart.
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Other major trade commodities included amber, salt, fish, “forest-products” such as pine resins, pine oil, potash and pine tar, wax, and honey and increasingly, lumber for ship building; as well as grain from Poland and Lithuania. The grain trade grew to such an extent that the Baltic was becoming the breadbasket for Northern Europe. Two other important commodities were ivory from sea-mammals of the far north, and finally slaves for which there was a nearly infinite demand from the Ottomans and Tartars.
A smaller-scale, but still important trade in weapons remained brisk, especially of crossbows and increasingly, firearms, and all types of armor. Textile cloth, animal traps; tools such as axe-heads, plowshares, whetstones, hammer heads, files, nails and saws; and horseshoes, saddles and all kinds of horse harness and horse-tack were sought-after by the Finns and Lithuanians. There were three competing economic systems in the Baltic, which existed side by side, linked in a complex web. They consisted of tenant farming controlled through feudal land-ownership; a remarkably organized and ruthless form of systematic raiding; and a thriving network of commercial manufacturing and trade. Feudalism The Feudal system was established in the Baltic in the 13th Century by the Crusaders and the Crusading Orders: the Livonian Order, the Teutonic Order, and the soon to be defunct Sword Brothers. Land conquered from the Heathen was put under vassalage, and those who survived conquest and conversion resigned themselves to toil for the benefit of their new Christian overlords. “Have they not been slaves of the Devil? Let them now be the Slaves of Christ.” - Informal slogan of the Teutonic Order, 14th Century
The Holy See in Rome was generally disposed toward leniency for converts (forced or otherwise) so that converts would remain true Christians. In the Baltic this was further underscored by emissaries from the Lithuanians who proclaimed interest in conversion but emphasized their preference to be “baptized by water rather than blood”. The Crusading Orders, who had a strong financial interest in perpetual war, and who were intensely distrustful of the Baltic pagans, preferred a far harsher regime. This was all further complicated by the apocalyptic Mongol raids in the 13th Century. Vast zones of Poland Ukraine and Russia were depopulated by the rampaging Tartars, as well as some parts of Lithuania, Livonia, Silesia and Prussia, and all the way down to the Balkans. For decades, fields lay fallow, villages returned to the forest, and wells filled up with dirt. Once the Mongol threat had been pushed back, the vast population of Germany and the Latinized West came to fill the vacuum in the folk movement called the Ostsiedlung. The consensus of historians today seems to be that they were for the most part welcomed (at least by the local lords) as a bulwark against the ravaging steppe nomads, and because of the artisan and trading skills they brought with them. The Latinized German, Slavic, Flemish and Scandinavian peasants who migrated into the Baltic
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region brought with them certain traditional rights. In some cases these were expanded in promotional efforts by the Order or by the local princes (“First year rent free! No money down!”) to lure more and more settlers to the area. That had a downside for the feudal lords, as the feudalistic suppression of Saxon immigrants was more difficult to rationalize or implement than upon foreign, ‘heathen’ Baltic people. But in the long run the rule of the Order remained harsh, particularly toward the Baltic tribes, causing centuries of turmoil in the conquered lands. Assimilation was slow in coming. The Prussian and Estonian peasantry in particular continued to be unhappy with the regime of the brother-Knights and resorted to repeated violent uprisings. This posed its own inherent risks and created serious conflict between the Vatican and the Order. The Great Prussian rising in 1260 AD very nearly led to the overthrow of the Teutonic Order itself. Raiding “Women and children were taken captive, What a jolly medley could be seen, Many a woman could be seen, Two children tied to her body, One behind and one in front. On a horse without spurs, Barefoot they had ridden here, The heathen were made to suffer, Many were captured and in every case, Were there hands tied together, They were led off, all tied up, Just like hunting dogs.’ - The Austrian “poet” Peter Suchenwirt describing the Baltic campaign of Duke Albert III in 1337
The second fundamental economic system of the Baltic was based on outright robbery, murder and kidnapping for profit. The raid or reysa was conducted annually during summer, winter and fall seasons, winter being the most important because it becomes easier to travel when the marshes are frozen over. Conversely in spring large-scale movement was essentially impossible due to heavy rains, leading to a time of sodden peace. Summer was usually the season for building new forts, and in the fall the Lithuanians raid the territory of the Teutonic Order while their Knights were attending their annual gathering in Marienburg. Though hazardous, living in the frontier areas could be profitable, and there was no shortage of settlers willing to take on the risks for the potential reward of owning land and having a hand in the lucrative regional trade. They were also lured by special rights or tax breaks. But the risks were very high because raiding was a regular annual activity from both sides of the border, and raiders had a cold heart.
For the Teutonic Order, raiding was a means to an end, the destruction of crops and capture of livestock and prisoners while of course, a pleasure, was principally the means to the destruction of the enemy economy with the goal of their eventual conversion and subjugation. The Lithuanians sought a more direct economic benefit of stealing livestock and food and capturing slaves, and in the process (secondarily) pushing the Order back from their frontier. As well as for the sheer love of bloodyminded mayhem for its own sake, naturally. Most raids in the Baltic were relatively small affairs, due primarily to the difficulty of moving large bodies of troops through the maze-like terrain of bayous, forests, swamps and heavy thickets. With smaller groups, the likelihood of any one group getting lost, being ambushed or trapped by weather or rising water or some other misfortune would have only minimal consequences. When conducting a raid, it was not always necessary to kill or capture enemy soldiers or civilians to cause serious harm. The most telling effect was usually the stealing of livestock and burning of crops which led directly to starvation and depopulation through a fleeing peasantry, because few people outside of the fortified towns or great castles had vast stores non-perishable food in this era. Local raiding Raiding, usually of a less violent nature, was also practiced on a much smaller scale within the various nations of the Baltic. Members of one clan raided a neighboring clan; towns raid the estates of nearby princes and vise versa. Even monks and friars sometimes conducted raids. Pretty much anybody who ran low on food at any particular moment, who had an old score to settle, could decide to go take some by force from the nearest easy mark. This type of raiding was typically not as brutal or destructive as raiding associated with the Crusades or other wars, but it could still cause a lot of damage. Local raids were typically done primarily for a direct profit motive, i.e. to steal ones neighbors’ cattle, or horses, or beer or honey or rye, or sometimes their women.
primary reason why such raids were usually limited in severity and several other respects, the secondary reason is simple common sense: when dealing with neighbors the tables can turn… steal cattle and they may be stolen back. Kill your neighbor’s family and you may find your own dead one day. Trade and manufacturing The 15th Century Baltic, despite all its strife and conflict (and the cold climate), was a hot-zone for trade. Trade filtered down from rural areas where farming, logging, gathering, trapping, hunting and fishing were done, and flowed (quite literally, down rivers) to islands and powerful mercantile towns on the coasts and the big river estuaries. These towns were energetic, vibrant centers of trade and culture, cosmopolitan epicenters of the Renaissance, second only in sophistication to the greatest cities of Italy, Germany and Flanders. It was in these places that raw materials from the hinterland were made into tools, devices, and value added products that increased their value many fold. The Hanseatic League and Trade in the Baltic Huge quantities of amber, pine-resin, wax, ermine, fox and beaver furs, silk, pepper and other goods from the Silk Road, and increasing amounts of beer, grain and lumber were traded relatively free of tariffs over a very long distance. Danzig for example had permanent trade missions in Wisby, Lisbon, Novgorod, Turku in Finland, London England and Bruges in Flanders 14 . Her merchants imported fish, iron, copper, furs, resin, tar, and various types of wood from Scandinavia, and sent out raw wool, wool textiles, beer, silk, velvet, metals, tools, weapons, wheat, rye, flax, hemp, hops, olive oil, Rhine and Spanish wines, spices, and linen 15.
Due to the nature of the law in this time raids of this type were generally considered Fehde, private wars or feuds, and therefore could be limited to the responsibility of the parties directly involved. Nevertheless, it was not unusual for complaints of local raiding to move up the ‘chain of command’, and particularly when these happened across or near national boundaries, they could escalate into larger regional wars. Local rulers therefore attempted to keep these incidents from escalating and would take steps to punish their own constituents if they went too far. This was the
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Traveling on the lonely roads. From one of the many versions of the Tacuinum Sanitatus, Padua late 14th Century.
Danzig vessels (built locally in many cases and also an export product) carried wood, flour, beer, costly furs and
dried fish to Lisbon in Portugal and bring back salt, cork, olive oil, figs, raisins, oranges, and Madeira wine16. They did a vast business on the Atlantic coast of France, particularly with Baie, a seaport town south of Nantes, from which among other things the famous Baien salt was purchased. In the year 1474 seventy-two Danzig ships visited France alone, and fifty one cast anchor on a single day in the mouth of the Vistula17. To England Danzig merchants brought grain and wood in exchange for raw wool and woolen fabrics in huge quantities. In a single year six to seven hundred ships laden with grain were sent from Danzig to England 18 . From Scotland they brought wool and furs, in Flanders they traded lumber for textiles and manufactured goods. In 1481 no less than 1,100 Danzig vessels of all sizes (probably including smaller coastal ships) brought wheat to Holland. In the six year period from 1441 to May 1447, Dutch merchants paid Danzig more than 120,000,000 thalers19* for cargo delivered. The Danzig fleets traveled in groups of 30 to 40 ships each, escorted by heavily armed warships. * A thaler is a large silver coin worth roughly 4 Kreuzer
By 1450 this kind of trade had already made the Baltic trading towns rich, powerful and politically independent. The Hanse cities were ruthless and very resourceful, and gradually through a combination of pressures won a considerable degree of autonomy. Those falling under so-called “Lübeck Law” (see Town Law) were effectively city-states, linked together by the Hanseatic League (Hansa) and its commercial rivals such as the Nordic Union. Even Novgorod was linked to the Hanse, forming its crucial connection to the Silk Road. Trade with the Hansa was valuable; the animosity of the Hansa was dangerous. So most local princes played nice with the trading towns. Thus the Hanseatic League was able to extract concessions and monopolies from many lands in Northern Europe, usually through economic but also sometimes military pressure. Even in Scandinavia, Russia, and Lithuania and as far way as England one could find Hansa Kontor, or counting houses, established with special rules and privileges. For more information about the Hanseatic League see Tertiary Players, The Hanseatic League. The Amber Road and Trade with the South There were three major trade arteries which kept the Baltic region alive, and when all three were flowing, rich. One was with the West, and mostly furs and grain conducted by ship along the Baltic coast from Russia to England and France. The second of these was the north –south trade route from the Baltic leading down into Italy and the Balkans.
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This route goes south from Danzig, bringing amber and furs through Torun, Lublin, Wroclaw, Leipzig, Zwickau, Nuremberg, Innsbruck, Verona, and finally Venice, Florence and Rome. Though it’s called the Amber Road other products were arguably more important, including furs, forest products like resin, pitch and potash, iron and steel tools (including guns, many from Sweden), honey, millstones, beer and salted meat. From Italy they brought glassware (including eyeglasses which were increasingly popular), paper, armor, metal parts for mills and other machines (gears and drill bits for example), complex tools like clocks, and wine. The Silk Road and Trade with the East But the most important trade route, the one that made the others really matter, was the route from China, Persia, and India into Europe: The Silk Road. One major branch of the Silk Road led into Russia and Poland, and this was also a lifeline for the Hanseatic League. Goods from the Far East like silk, pepper and spices were the most consistently valuable trade commodities in Europe. Though there was always demand for fur, grain, amber, lumber, ships, metal tools, beer and other goods from the Baltic region itself, it was the continued flow of trade down the Silk Road that made the difference between mere survival and prosperity.
Sidebar: trade on the Silk Road The Silk Road was one of the most important trade arteries of the medieval world, and thanks to surviving books we have some pretty detailed insight into the trade which was conducted there. One of the most interesting manuscripts to emerge from this trade was the Pratica della Mercatura written by a Florentine merchant named Francesco Balducci Pegolotti, who worked for the Florentine trading firm of Bardi. Surviving records show that he traveled widely, appearing in Antwerp in 1315, London in 1317, in Cyprus from 13241327 and again in the 1330s. His popular and widely copied manual covers basically everything a merchant needed to know about trading in Northern Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and along the Silk Road, including such details as security, weights and measures, currencies and exchange rates, and what trade goods were sought for purchase and available for sale in different ports. Goods listed as being traded to the Chinese (including many items from the Baltic): wax, tin, copper, cotton, madder, cheese, flax, and oil, honey, saffron, raw amber, amber beads, vair-skins, ermines, foxes, sables, fitches and martens, wolf skins, deerskins, and all cloths of silk or gold, pearls, wheat, Greek wine and all Latin wines “sold by the cask”. Malmsey and wines of Triglia and Candia “sold by the measure”. Caviar “sold by the fusco,
and a fusco is the tail-half of the fish's skin, full of fish's roe”. Suet “in jars”, iron “of every kind”, tin, lead, zibibbo “or raisins of every kind, and the mats go as raisins, with no allowance for tare unless they be raisins of Syria. In that case the baskets or hampers are allowed for as tare, and remain with the buyer into the bargain”. Soap of Venice, soap of Ancona, and soap of Apulia “in wooden cases. They make tare of the cases, and then these go to the buyer for nothing. But the soap of Cyprus and of Rhodes is in sacks, and the sacks go as soap with no tare allowance”. The goods purchased in China are equally interesting: Raw silk, silk-gauze, dressed silk, ginger, cubebs, lignaloes, rhubarb; mace, long pepper, ladanum, galangal [an aromatic root], broken camphor; nutmegs; spike (spike lavender? Spikenard?], cardamoms, scam-mony, pounding pearls, manna, borax, gum Arabic, dragon's blood [?], camel's bay, turbit [a drug from the East Indies], sweet-meats, gold wire. Manufacturing Though the Baltic rim itself was not a huge manufacturing zone in the way Flanders, Swabia or Lombardy were, there were important manufacturing centers in this region. Generally, the cities right near the coast concentrated on trade, since it was the quickest and easiest way to make money, while the cities further in the interior (but still on major trade routes) developed sophisticated manufacturing industries for export as their primary means to prosperity. This had a political effect, as the mercantile towns on the coasts were more dominated by the merchants and patrician class, while the manufacturing towns in the interior were often ruled by the craft-artisan’s guilds. Even the larger coastal cities typically had at least one really important manufacturing industry – shipbuilding. Ships had a finite life and some of the best in the world at this time were made by the Hanseatic towns. Though the very best armor came from distant places like Augsburg and Milan, both armor and weapons were made in sufficient quantity to fit out armies in places like Torun, Elbing, Prague, Kraków, Wroclaw, Riga, and even little Stockholm and Wisby in Sweden. Towns like Prague and Kraków which had universities benefited greatly from new designs and state of the art geometry, math etc. which came out of the schools. Other manufacturing industries for beer (a very important cash commodity), metal parts and tools, ships stores, carriages and carts, barrels, textiles and clothing (especially those incorporating silk or furs), among other things, were in demand both to the West in Latin Europe
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but also to the North in Finland and Scandinavia, and to the East in Russia and the Muslim lands. This helped with the flow of trade as locally made goods were more profitable. The local construction industry was well adapted toward making brick and “half-timber” homes, as well as more substantial churches, castles and walls. They spread water-powered mills of all kinds throughout the region, making life easier in a myriad of ways. Interplay of the three systems The Teutonic Brother-Knight making sure his serfs were not hiding any chickens, the Swede attempting to haggle a recalcitrant Danzig merchant downward on a shipment of beer, and a Lithuanian warrior intent on capturing cattle from the Tartars all seemed to be living in three completely different worlds. But these worlds overlapped. While the larger walled towns were relatively safe from raids even by large armies, they were affected when warfare disrupted trade, depleted local resources or triggered higher taxes, (although conversely, warfare also meant enhanced trade of arms and military supplies, and mercenaries spent their stipends in the local shops). For the most part however, the towns grew quickly exasperated by lengthy wars and preferred to avoid them. The Teutonic Order, the Livonian Order, the Church and the secular Lords controlled access to most of the common rural people who farmed the land and gathered the forest products (furs, amber, pine resin, potash, wax, lumber etc.). They in turn provided protection from raiders and sold much of what they earned to the cities and buy arms, armor, tools, and luxury goods. The Prussian towns habitually traded with everybody, locally with the Order (until the start of the 13 Years War) as well as regionally to the Poles, Russians, Swedes and Lithuanians and further afield to the dozens of other cities in the Hanse, the Nordic Union, Burgundy, Holland and England, and even as far away as France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and far off Persia and China. But the truth is they would have nothing to trade if the warlike Knights weren’t protecting the land from the Tartars and the Turks. Though chaos existed on the fringes and in the remote parts of this area, the powerful imposed order upon it for their own purposes. The princes and the towns ensured the peace of the roads along their trade routes by force of arms, creating a network of stable prosperity right in the middle of this dangerous wilderness.
“Among these unfortunates there are many strong ones; if they [the Tatars] have not castrated them yet, they cut off their ears and nostrils, burned cheeks and fore-heads with the burning iron and forced them to work with their chains and shackles during the daylight, and sit in the prisons during the night; they are sustained by the meager food consisting of the dead animals’ meat, rotten, full of worms, which even a dog would not eat. The youngest women are kept for wanton pleasures…” -Armenian priest Xacatur of Caffa, describing the conditions of European prisoners in the Caffa slave markets circa 1650. The slave markets in Caffa were active from the 13th through the 19th Century.
Study of horses, Antonio di Puccio Pisano, circa 1440
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Rural Life
Polish countryside, photo by Zygmunt Put
“The Brothers of the Militia [the Sword Brothers] with the others who had followed them to Sedde returned thinking they would meet the Lithuanians by the Dvina. Together with the members of the Bishops household from Kokenhusen, they laid and ambush and waited three weeks for them. But the Brothers of the Militia became bored and returned to Riga. Theodoric the knight from Kokenhusen, together with the other knights and servants of the Bishop, and a few Letts, went on a journey toward Pskov and spent seven days looking for the Lithuanians. At length they found traces of them and immediately hurried to them. Since there were only fifteen Germans and more Letts, so that in all they were less than ninety, and since there were six hundred of the pagans, the Germans and Letts were afraid indeed of their multitude, but they placed all their hope in the Lord and boldly approached them. The Lithuanians, seeing that the Germans and Letts were coming toward them, arranged their army facing them and placed two hundred of their best horsemen to one side so that they could pursue the Germans when they fled. All the others came in a great crowd to meet the Germans, and the Germans, because of the fewness of their numbers, were unable to fight them. But He*, Who once made one made pursue a thousand and two men put ten thousand to flight, was fighting.” --excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894 *i.e. Jesus
The Villages Unlike the towns, only a few villages in certain areas had real autonomy or independence. Instead villages were
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typically affiliated with more powerful political entities such as a local feudal Lord, an Abbey, the Teutonic Order, or a nearby City, or even a distant Kingdom.
Most of the rural people in Prussia were Kashubians; people of a mixed Baltic-Slavic ethnicity who spoke their own dialect similar to Polish. Some areas near the Polish or Pomeranian border were still enclaves of the original “Old Prussian” culture, and some other rural zones in the Vistula delta near the towns were settled by Germans, or even Scots or Flemish. In Lithuania of course there were Lithuanians and other Baltic tribesmen, as well as Ruthenians and Tartars. Russia was settled by Russians, Ruthenians and Finns. While larger towns throughout the region tended to be dominated by German speakers, the villages tended to be Slavic or Baltic in culture and language. Most villages in the region were administered by a tribal elder called a Starost, who was elected by the more prominent citizens of the village. Some villages especially in Poland and certain parts of Lithuania were ruled by rural petty-aristocrats, often the heads of local clans, who had real political power. Others simply exist in the shadow of a nearby castle or abbey and were ruled by a Vogt, a representative of the lord. There were a very large number of aristocrats in Poland and in Lithuania most ethnic Lithuanians in some areas had a relative with noble blood.
Actual Medieval fortified village of Zumberk in Czech Republic
In the real world of Medieval Europe there were of course actual nomads who are far more ruthless and brutal than any movie nomads have ever been and show up in groups of 2,000 rather than 20 at a time, as the villagers were keenly aware. * except for the Chosen One ™ who will lead a ragtag force to Mount Doom to defeat the ultimate menace…
Pseudo-Medieval Village from ‘The Beastmaster’ © MGM 1982, one of my favorite films when I was thirteen years old. Absolutely nothing to do with a real medieval village.
Anyone who has seen an historical movie or TV show is familiar with the cliché scene of the peaceful village, hastily and crudely put together by some Hollywood craft shop. A filthy peasant in a caveman outfit stacks apples in a wooden bowl on a rough-hewn stall while a crude ox cart rolls by with thick, square wheels, and someone plays bad recorder music in the background. Suddenly, the music changes to an ominous orchestral score cueing the evil nomads who arrive out of nowhere to burn and pillage and slay the shocked peasants*, who die with amazed looks on their dirty faces, astounded that this could have ever happened.
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Scenes of daily life in a medieval village, probably Flemish 14th C.
So villages, like every other type of settlement in the Baltic, tended to be fortified, hidden, relatively inaccessible, or some combination of the above. The craft-shop sticks and mud look we know so well from movies was not widely extant in the Southern Baltic or really anywhere in medieval Europe. By the 15th Century many of these villages had already been in existence for multiple generations or even several centuries, and they had time to build them up fairly nicely. Houses were made of wood, mixed timber and brick, or
stone. Most villages had at least one or two very solid stone or brick buildings (typically a granary or church) which could be used as a citadel in time of duress, and quite a few had walls or stockades around them. Most kept lookouts high in the church tower or on a nearby hilltop. This isn’t to say villages were never raided, they were raided all the time, but they were not quite as helplessly vulnerable as it usually appears in popular genre fiction. There were also of course more primitive settlements of squatters and primitive tribesmen who could be found deeper in the forests, but even these people were generally capable of some rudimentary carpentry skills. The village, dorf to the Germans, wieś to the Poles, obec to the Czechs, was the basis of the medieval agrarian economy. Like towns, they tended to be built in areas which centuries of observation of the local environment, climate, drainage and flood patterns, harvests, trade routes and so on led the locals to believe they had found a good spot to live in. Those in bad spots were usually quickly abandoned or destroyed. Villages, water and Sanitation Although the modern image of a medieval village is roughly synonymous with a pig sty, or perhaps one of the shanty towns in which so many of the modern world’s population dwells today, this was not usually the case in the middle ages. For one thing, overcrowding wasn’t as much of an issue in most places in 1456 as it is today. Like the medieval towns villages also had rules on basic sanitation and what you might call zoning. Privies were cleaned out regularly and sewerage carted outside of the village to be used as fertilizer in the nearby farms. Animals were usually restricted from roaming freely down village streets, allowing pigs for example to roam free in some Polish villages could result in a heavy fine. As in the towns, pollution of the local water supply was considered a serious crime. Smelly or dirty industries like slaughterhouses and paper mills were kept outside of the village limits, so that their smells didn’t make people ill. Most villages and small towns were situated near a good water source, in many cases a natural cool or hot spring which could also be used as a bath or even as the basis for an entire industry such as beer brewing. Many towns in Central Europe situated near natural fresh-water springs have truly ancient beer breweries, dating back centuries. Towns and villages situated at such sites obviously had a major advantage when it came to health, sanitation, and hygiene. Most were at least on a clean river or creek.
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A natural hot-spring emerges from a cave in the small medieval village of Fonroque, France, probably much as it appeared in the 14th Century.
Not all villages were agricultural, some were organized for mining, logging, manufacturing, for regional defense, or for other purposes. A good example of this are the group of fortified villages populated by Saxon immigrants in Transylvania, still populated by their descendants to this day, which were designed for defense, mining and logging. Villages were often linked to towns economically, or sometimes to large abbeys or Cathedrals. Putting-out systems were also common, in which the first stage of production (spinning for example, or dyeing) was done in the villages while the other more advanced stages were done in town craft guild workshops. Village artisans often sent their children to the towns to work as apprentices. Castles According to the Osprey publication German Medieval Armies 1300-1500 in the 14th Century there were over 10,000 castles in the Holy Roman Empire alone. At least several hundred of them remain today, five hundred years after they mostly finished building them, though the vast majority from the medieval period were destroyed, sometimes within mere months or weeks after they were built, and remain only as ruins. A ‘castle’ in the 15th Century could be anything from a small wooden stockade or block-house barely able to accommodate a half a dozen people to a sprawling labyrinthine stronghold like the Teutonic Orders impregnable three level castle at Malbork which almost qualified as a town in its own right. Castles were a fundamental part of the military strategy of the Teutonic Knights and scores of their fortifications were found all over Prussia, Poland and Livonia. Several dozen Teutonic castles still exist to this day. These fortifications reflected the usual mix of sizes and construction types. In the German regions of Brandenburg and Pomerania there were an abundance of castles, these being oft-contested frontier zones. In Poland, Silesia, Masovia, Prussia, and Bohemia there were many castles as well, particularly in the frontier areas.
Castles were used throughout the region as both defensive and offensive weapons. Placing a castle near an enemies trade route or lines of communication conferred the ability to attack at will and return to safety. A small garrison of as few as a dozen men could hold a castle but much larger forces could stage attacks from them. Castles evolved from a more generalized type of open fortified compound which existed back into antiquity. The Romans called their own forts castrum, those of the Celts oppidae. The Slavic equivalent was called a grad, gord or gorod (as in Novgorod) the Germans used Wendish words like gart or gard (as in Stuttgart) but also schloss, burg or hof. The Czechs called them hrad (literally ‘roost’), zámek or věž, the Poles also used wieża, (tower). Many of these places evolved into towns or cities, some remained as castles still around today.
The partially ruined Teutonic Knights castle at Swiecie. The purpose of the towers one usually finds in such forts is both for defense and as an early warning system. The strongest walls are useless if you don’t close the gate in time. Photo by Beemwej
These terms all have specific meanings but in practice generally refer to the same thing: a fortified keep, citadel or stronghold of some type on either a natural or artificial hill or in an inaccessible body of water. This was also known to the ancient Greeks as the acropolis overlooking a somewhat larger walled settlement or suburbum, whose residents could hold out in the stronghold in the event of trouble. This is the cliché “Motte and Bailey” construction of early Medieval England, which is a serviceable if crude archetype of the early castle.
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A reconstructed 12th Century Gord or Slavic ring-fort of mixed timber / stone construction, Lusatia Germany. Photo by Sebastian Schubanz
The most important aspect of these sites and what often really defined them was the location. On a cliff, or a peninsula, in the midst of an impenetrable marsh, on an island in a large river or in the middle of a lake are all good sites. When it comes to castles the rule is location, location, location. One of the advantages of fortifications in the southern Baltic is that the marshy land and high water-table made mining operations, one of the most reliable ways to destroy castle walls, effectively impossible due to flooding (or at least very difficult).
Bobilce castle, a small but elegantly built, and quite formidable border stronghold on the Silesian / Polish border (now Poland). "Zamek Bobolice 061914" by Wilson44691 - Own work. Licensed under CC0 via Wikimedia Commons.
The Lithuanians used Iron Age style hill forts very similar to the old Celtic oppidae called piliakalnis, which actually go back to the Bronze Age. These are shaped or built-up hills with (usually wooden) stockades, typically located on rivers. A line of piliakalniai were set up along the Neman river to fend off the Teutonic Order, and another line along the border with Livonia. The Samogitians also had a string of piliakalniai going through their territory which was constantly under attack during the Northern Crusades. Today there are at least 800 known piliakalniai sites
remaining in Lithuania, most consisting of just the artificial mound or hill where the stronghold once stood.
defenders, even small castles were exponential force multipliers for defense. This was why control of a ‘good’ castle was so politically and strategically significant. For this reason a very small keep, fortalice or blockhouse in the right location could have the strategic importance of an army. Becoming the administrator of a castle, the castellan, meant a major step up in the world. Whether a castle was administered on behalf of a distant Lord or wholly owned by its manager was sometimes a moot point, since whoever controlled the castle effectively owned it. The owners of castles were notoriously fickle. But more often than not castles and their masters were assets of larger powers.
This is an excellent location for a castle, (Cesky Stemberk in Bohemia).
Some fortified redoubts with a truly outstanding location; such as at a natural strongpoint near a confluence of two or more important roads or in an estuary on a major river attracted settlements around them and evolved into trading towns in the long run. Others remained as strongpoints or became the personal homes of warlords or powerful princes.
Many smaller castles were temporary and had short ‘life spans’, often being destroyed or abandoned within a few years or even weeks of their initial construction. Only very well positioned and / or well-built castles lasted long enough to become important permanent fortifications.
As with this castle, Trakai Island Castle in Lake Galve in Lithuania, water forms a critical part of the natural defense of many castles in the Baltic The original fortifications here were built by the Lithuanians when they were still pagan, but they were able to hire Latin artisans.
Due to the large number of castles and towns surrounded by water, it was not unusual to create special ‘siege barges’ supporting siege towers and / or cannon. The one depicted here, called der Bär, (the Bear), was used in a siege in Lake Zurich during the 15th Century. From the Bern Chronicle, Diebold Schilling, circa 1480. The Bär was apparently bigger than it looks in this image since records say it carried 150 men. On the bridge behind the barge you can see a special type of cannon called a feldschlange (field serpent) deployed.
To qualify as a castle rather than a mere fort the natural defense had to be significant; it must also possess a natural water source (which is indispensable in the case of a siege); and it must have a very large capacity for supplies. Some castles in the Baltic were able to hold out for several years during sieges in the 13 Years War. Given these three factors and a few determined
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During the medieval period castles, the ultimate defensive stronghold, were also thought of as offensive weapons. Castles built in the right place could shelter mounted raiders who could repeatedly go out and disrupt nearby activities. Placing castles so as to cause problems for your enemies was a kind of a deadly real life chess game played by princes, towns, and mercenary captains during this period. In the Baltic in particular, castles often relied on water as a major component of their defense. The many lakes, rivers, swamps and bodden in the area made besieging or attacking a castle vastly more difficult (though not impossible by any means, medieval armies were capable of mounting siege towers and cannon on large rafts). Of course attackers, like defenders, were resourceful, so castles were still captured. Castles can be roughly grouped
into a few basic categories representing size and effectiveness, which I’ve given arbitrary names to here.
Replica of an 18th Century blockhouse at Fort Ouitenon in Indiana. Photo by Huw Williams. Small wooden fortifications almost exactly like this were in common use in the medieval period, often quickly built. One can see blockhouses nearly identical to this one in the early 16th Century book Der Weisskonig, commissioned by Maximilian I. If they survived and were in a useful location they could became the basis of larger true castles, more often they were destroyed not long after they were built. But in the medieval period even this small blockhouse would be considered a ‘castle’.
Blockhouses Castles could be made surprisingly quickly. The Teutonic Knights routinely built ‘castles’ over the course of a few weeks during their summer campaigning season. Hastily built fortifications tended to be small, simple and capable of supporting only a minimal garrison. If the location was well-picked and enemy forces didn’t immediately destroy it (which often happened), the castle could later be expanded and improved. Wooden stockades replaced by stone walls, thin stone walls by thicker ones, moats and secondary fortifications added, storage cellars and wells dug, towers built and so on. But some castles for whatever reason never reached those later stages of development. In addition, small manor houses, churches, granaries and other more ancient strong points sometimes played the role of a castle. More extensive fortifications often meant more inconvenience – finding a sweet spot between safety and livability was more of an art than a science, which is why in France many nobles had both a castle and a chateau or palace. Castle-houses In the 15th Century Baltic many homes were partly fortified, enough to stop a small force or slow down a larger one. Villages and small towns also often had a granary, a rathaus, or some other building that was partly fortified. For many reasons, the majority of ‘castles’ found throughout the medieval world actually fell into this marginal category, sufficient to act as a modest force-multiplier, and enable a small garrison to fend off an impromptu committee of angry men, a small raid, foraging party or group of scouts, but not enough to stop a real army of any size for more than a short time.
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The “Topplerschlösschen”, personal home of Heinrich Toppler (13731408), the ambitious and ultimately reckless burgomeister of the German town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The bottom of the building was fortified, of hard stone, with a narrow bridge accessing the house. The land around the house could be flooded in the case of emergency. Photo Creative Commons attribution, user H2k4.
Many of these were built of wood, brick or wattle and daub construction, sometimes further protected by a mound, an earthen dyke, and / or a wooden stockade. Some had a stone first level and even the capability to flood the surrounding area with water. Very generally speaking, these small castles might have had sufficient space and infrastructure to support from a handful to a few dozen soldiers in most cases, in addition to any other occupants. Castles of this type sometimes had small guns but most did not have anything beyond what the troops in them were carrying. Typically, they could fend off a sudden attack by a small or poorly organized force but not a sustained effort by a well-equipped enemy of sufficient numbers. Due to the high cost of building and maintaining castles, the relatively humble castle house was by far the most common type owned by typical knights.
as well as sometimes a surrounding ditch, but usually nothing more than that. No buildings or structures (aside from the well) were typically found inside the walls because nobody usually lived inside during normal times, they were literally a refuge where peasants and others could flee in times of war or during a raid. If an extended period of danger was expected, supplies, weapons and some kind of temporary housing (like tents or sheds) would have to be brought in with the people planning to take refuge there.
The “Bauernburg “Röhrentrup in Westphalia. This is a fortified storehouse built on a fish pond on a rural seignioral estate, which served as a small citadel in times of war.
Refuge Castle Also called ‘farmers castles’. German Fliehburg, also Fluchtburg, Volksburg, Bauernburg or Vryburg. Refuge castles came in two types – the first was a local public building used for some other purpose than defense, for example a mill, a crane or a granary, which was stoutly built enough that it could be used as a fortress in an emergency like during a raid.
Chateau Chillon on lake Geneva. Switzerland. Though strongly built and well designed, this castle ultimately fell to the forces of Bern due to being positioned beneath a high cliff from which cannon could be placed. Photo by author.
Strongholds The next category of castles, which I’m arbitrarily calling ‘strongholds’, included a large number of castles, forts, and the larger fortified homes or other buildings (town halls, granaries, mills, monasteries, abbeys and so on) which had been enhanced with heavier construction: fighting positions, towers, outer and inner walls, thicker walls of stone or brick, moats, layered defenses, well thought-out shooting positions, larger granaries, stables and wells, and so on. Castles of this intermediate level, made of brick or stone, could support between several dozen to a couple of hundred defenders or more, though they could also be defended by a smaller force. How long they could support a larger garrison depended on their capacity for supplies (and how well-provisioned they happened to be at the start of a siege). Most had substantial towers, and had at least a twotiered defense, plus sally ports, escape tunnels, and other useful features.
A small farmers castle in Switzerland, near Basel. This is probably a granary or a fortified farm house. Photo by Author.
The second was a more archaic type was similar to the Lithuanian piliakalnis or the old Slavic ring-forts or Celtic Oppidae. Like most castles these were situated in defensable terrain, like in a marsh, on an island or in a tight riverbend, or on top of a steep hill. They had a wall
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Typically the arsenal of a castle of this ‘stronghold’ level included at least a few small cannon or wall guns and /or other torsion or counterweight powered siege weapons like ballistae, stone throwers and so on, as well as possibly workshops, brick kilns, smithies etc. for making and repairing weapons and walls, building siege (and countersiege) engines, dealing with sappers, and so on. The main defenses in a siege of course was first and foremost with stones, then darts, and all kinds of nasty tricks like molten glass, giant fireworks like fire hoops, spinning mill wheels,
spiked anvils swung from the wall on heavy chains, and so on.
The massive and formidable Corvin castle, an extremely well fortified and situated castle in Romania, associated with the famous Corvinus / Hunyadi family of Hungary. A castle like this, properly garrisoned and supplied, could withstand a siege from a powerful army.
Fortresses of the ‘stronghold’ category were typically made of fired brick or stone with strongly made slate or ceramic roofs that were not easy to burn. These were expensive castles typically owned by at least middle ranked nobility / prelates, or by large towns. Citadels Sometimes a citadel was the fortress component of a town, sometimes it was the highest and best defended tower within a larger fortress. Though the term has a broader meaning historically, I am using ‘citadel’ here to describe the third and mightiest tier of castles. These were the really formidable fortresses designed to act almost as a (defensive) army on their own. Such intimidating bastions, whether they were the hard point of a town’s system of walls or a stand-alone stronghold, were typically designed with layered defense in mind, having a wide outer-ring of defenses, one or more innerrings, and at least one more third level, usually at the highest point(s). The strongest castles were designed so that even if the outer defenses were breached, the defenders in the inner-sanctum could (and often did) massacre enemies swarming in the courtyards and hold out, with separate food and water sources and so on, inside one of the inner fortresses. In some cases, the citadel of a large castle or town often held out against attackers literally for years. Some citadels had multiple towers, creating more than one epicenter of the structures defense. This was often the case with towns. It is also important to note that due to the importance of cannon in siege warfare by the late 14th Century, major castles could not be positioned below surrounding hills or other landscape features. They had to be at the highest point within about a kilometer.
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Hrad Karlstejn in Bohemia (today Czech Republic) is a castle of three levels with independent towers and huge granaries, stables, and facilities for hundreds of defenders. A castle like this, properly supplied and manned, was extremely difficult to capture even for the largest army.
Late Medieval citadels, as defined here, always had cannon as part of their defenses, mostly small caliber weapons but most had larger caliber guns too, such as serpentines and siege mortars. The most prominent had heavy bombards and culverins. Towns in particular often had huge bombards and culverins available to break up attacks from enemy gun positions or destroy large siege towers, as well as possibly other torsion based dart throwing or stone-throwing weapons arrayed against them. Citadels were the most important type of castles and the castellan of such a fortress was typically a knight at the very least, more often a prince or some other important aristocrat. These were strategic assets of crucial importance, and often controlled major border crossings, family seats, and other vital positions. Bergfried In the German or mixed / partly German-language cultural zones (such as in Poland, Livonia, Bohemia, Hungary etc.) there was a particular feature of many castles, a type of tower called a bergfried. These were tall defensive towers with very thick walls, particularly at the base. The late medieval versions of these structures were additionally reinforced against cannon shots. Partly for this reason these towers were usually rounded (cylindrical) though they could also be hexagonal, octagonal, and older ones could be square shaped. Unlike the English keep, the bergfried did not double as a dwelling place, rather these were typically made only for fighting and observation during war or other crisis. Inside accommodations were spartan. A few surviving bergfried had fireplaces which were for the watchmen to keep warm but usually that is it. During normal times the main use for these towers was as an early-warning system, an observation platform for lonely guardsmen.
“The cities of Germany are absolutely free, have little surrounding country, and obey the emperor when they choose, and they do not fear him or any other potentate that they have about them. They are fortified in such a manner that every one thinks that to reduce them would be tedious and difficult, for they have all the necessary moats and bastions, sufficient artillery, and always keep food, drink, and fuel for one year in the public storehouses. Beyond which, to keep the lower classes satisfied, and without loss to the commonwealth, they have always enough means to give them work for one year in these employments which form the nerve and life of the town, and in the industries by which the lower classes live. Military exercises are still held in high reputation, and many regulations are in force for maintaining them.”
-Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince (Il Principe), 1513
A castle with two Bergfried, at Münzenberg in Hesse. Photo by Presse03, GNU Free Documentation license.
During times of war though they were the last line of defense, typically as part of a two or three-tiered defensive architecture. Some castles and fortifications had multiple bergfried, towns could have dozens of them in the form of defensive towers. Bergfried would also frequently hold small arsenals inside of them, including handguns, crossbows and small cannon. Ganerbenburg and Ganerbschaft Another type of castle endemic if not unique to Central Europe was the Ganerbenburg, A kind of condominium for knights, the Ganerbenburg was a co-op castle, usually a major fortification subdivided into multiple separate domiciles. These originally came about due to inheritance laws that split the patrimony between numerous inheritors, but later there were cases where groups of knights and lower-ranking nobles banded together to purchase a major castle that none of them could ever afford alone. One such example was Rothenburg castle in the Franconian Jura during the late 15th Century. Feeling the pressure from the increasingly assertive town of Nuremberg on the one hand and increasingly predatory princes on the other, forty-four Franconian knights banded together with two small towns, pooled their money and bought the massive fortress from Count Palatinate Otto II of Mosbach. The resulting stronghold, already formidable, was now defended by a band of more than two score well armed rittern sworn to mutual protection. In this way, low-ranking nobles renewed their power. 16th
And one mans protection is another menace. In the Century the Imperial Knight Silvester von Schaumberg later described the castle as a “wasp nest” which even princes feared to tangle with.
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Section of the old 14th Century urban defensive walls (inside view), Worms, Germany. Photo by author.
Burghs Or you could call them oppidae, gorods. Garts. Not all castles were primarily military strongholds or the personal homes of aristocrats. Fortified towns played a similar defensive role in much of the Baltic zone. Smaller fortified communities, market villages or towns could all qualify as ‘burghs’, sometimes larger towns with simple defenses were defended by a fortified citadel, in other cases the whole town was defended as a commune with no secondary fortification. Even small fortified towns often had longer walls to defend than castles, but on the other hand, they also typically had more defenders, since all able-bodied citizens were obligated to fight in the militia during an emergency. Towns also tended to be resourceful and well-equipped, since the towns themselves were typically the origin of new military technologies (like improved guns and cannon, and better fortifications and siege equipment) and they also usually had more available cash than most nobles. Smaller towns typically had a citadel where defenders and townsfolk could fall back during an emergency. Towns had multiple workshops of every kind, much more than an ordinary castle and with more skilled (craft artisan) workers, and therefore were often extremely effective at improvised responses to the various crises which occur during a siege.
Several towns in Prussia destroyed their own citadels during the uprising against the Teutonic Order, and left them in ruins permanently in order to prevent autocratic power from taking hold within the city. But the main town walls were improved correspondingly.
Baltic region in general and Poland in particular where abbeys and convents formed regional strongpoints in some areas.
The fortified Benedictine abbey at Tyniec in Poland, near Kraków.
Social Class in the Country Interior view of the late medieval fortifications of the formerly Lithuanian-controlled town of Łuck in what is now Ukraine. Towns like this were among the hardest fortifications to defeat.
Generally, burghs and towns were often the most effective ‘castles’ of all. The city of Danzig for example remained unconquerable for centuries, in spite of many powerful princes and several large armies testing the defenses repeatedly.
The theologians of Renaissance France proposed three estates: those who pray (priests), those who fight (knights), and those who work (peasants). While this is a workable model for the class system in the rural areas of most of medieval Europe at its most basic level, it does not really begin to approach the complexity of medieval life especially in the more economically developed areas of Europe.
Harvesting lamprey’s from a river. Fishing rights were often hotly contested. Tacuinum Sanitatus version BNFLat93333. 15th Century. Defensive tower of the fortified church at Vachdorf, Thuringia, Germany. Photo public domain.
Fortified churches and abbeys Called Kirchenburgen by the Germans. Though today we think of religious leaders as peaceful, even pacifist, in practice in medieval times this was often more of an ideal than a reality. Like the smaller towns, churches, abbeys, monasteries and other religious buildings and communities frequently played a double role as defensive fortifications. This was particularly true in the
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In Italy, and in Central and Northern Europe, where cities were more prominent, another important estate was recognized: the estate of the burgher. In other regions, the rural farming population was politically powerful. So for example in 15th Century Sweden there were four estates represented in the national diet or Riksdag: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers, and the peasants. In practice the subdivision of regional power centers among all three or four categories was like the Gordian knot.
to be free and have traditional rights. In Scandinavia nearly all farmers were free. Attempts to reduce them to serfdom often led to violence and political instability. But in areas where the ruling class and the peasants were of a different ethnicity or religious affiliation, particular Catholic rulers with Orthodox Christian subjects, serfdom was more common.
Harvesting melons. Tacuinum Sanitatus version BNFLat93333. 15th Century.
Most of the rural population was indeed of what the French call “the third estate”, i.e. farmers. They in turn fell into two basic sub-categories: peasants (German bauern), who were free farmers and owned their own land; and serfs (villeins or churls) who were indentured to the estate of a noble. Just below serfs in status were a small number of actual chattel slaves. In the Baltic chattel slaves were mostly Muslim or Tartar captives, though they could also be Russian or Estonian. The ratio of free peasants to serfs varied widely by region, depending on the type of landowner and the size of the local estates, but in the 15th Century serfs were still rare.
Peasants at work in the field, from the Grimani Breviary for June (Venice, Flemish painter circa 1500).
The largest estates in the Baltic were the Latifundia or Folwark type initially established by the Teutonic Order who imposed them upon Baltic pagans. This model was successful economically though and it gradually spread into Poland and Lithuania. In Central Europe, where farmers were more often of the same religion and spoke the same dialect as their landlords, they were more likely
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Generally speaking, the clergy and aristocracy represented a small percentage of the overall population in most of Europe, though in Poland and Lithuania the ratio of nobles was higher than in the West. For those in the first estate, status within the Church ranged from poor monks and friars nearly as destitute as serfs, to archbishops who owned entire cities as their fiefdoms. The 15th century was a boom and bust period for the peasantry in the Baltic. During peace time and normal weather, thanks to the remarkable fertility of the land there and the generous tax breaks and special rights granted to immigrants (and later conferred to locals under a limited form of German law), the peasants could thrive. During wartime crops were burned, villages and farmsteads raided, livestock stolen or slaughtered… famine and hardship ruled the day. Crops could also fail due to droughts or floods and so on. To survive the rural people needed to be wily and cunning. Fortunately, most of them were exactly that.
Peasants toil in a vineyard, with an impressive castle in the background. Grimani Breviary, Venice circa 1500.
Serfs Serfs had a hard life, but on the plus side, they tended to be better protected than free peasants because they were essentially the property of a local warlord. In the Baltic most serfs were foreigners. On the Latin side of the fence that meant Russians, Ruthenians, Turks and Tartars; on the Orthodox side of the fence it meant Germans, Poles, and Bohemians… and Turks and Tartars. The Turks and Tartars
themselves kept mostly Christians of all denominations as “captives”, as keeping fellow Muslims was forbidden by law, but in practice they also had many Muslim vassals who were effectively serfs too, usually from subjugated tribes. The slave trade of captive Europeans was a huge industry in the Muslim world.
Peasants shearing sheep and harvesting wheat, Grimani Breviary, Venice circa 1500.
A peasant plows the field. Grimani Breviary for the month of March. Venice circa 1500.
Similarly, on the Latin side, they were not supposed to enslave fellow Christians, but pagans and “schismatics” fell through the cracks of this rule, and in places like Estonia and Ukraine de-facto slavery was widespread. In Russia and the Orthodox zone, being under Mongol influence (and founded by Swedish slave-traders) slavery was more of a norm. The Duchy of Moscow paid part of their taxes to the Golden Horde in slaves. In the Baltic the line between a serf and an actual slave was somewhat blurred, “captives” were bought and sold like livestock, but once they arrived where they would be living and working, they usually had at least some rights. The number of days they had to work for their lord varied from basically life as a full time employee to something like a sharecropper to something more like a slave. In the Latin zone serfs had rights and even owned a few acres of land, giving them a slim chance for some kind of social mobility. But in the Tartar controlled areas a slave was a slave, not just for his life but for all the lives of his descendants.
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Peasants Peasants owned their own land, which is nice, but were also more responsible for their own safety, which could be very bad depending on the specific location. Like serfs, peasants were usually vassals of a local Lord of some sort, though they enjoyed freedom of movement and spent most of their time working for their own benefit.
Baurenwehr, Germany, 15th Century AD. The baurenwehr (literally, peasant weapon) was a common sidearm of peasants in Northern and Central Europe in the 15th Century. It had a somewhat similar role as a bowie knife did in the American frontier.
In exchange for essentially paying protection money, the peasant could rest assured that his patron would do his utmost to avenge crimes of theft, kidnapping, rape, arson and murder committed against him by raiders from other areas…. Usually by committing crimes of theft, kidnapping, rape, arson and murder against the peasants of the district responsible. But this was of course cold-comfort when the Teutonic Knights or the Crimean Tartars arrived at your doorstep.
but by the 15th Century rent payments had largely reverted to cash. The peasant sold his wheat, cattle, butter, lumber etc., at the local market at the current market rate and then paid his lord whatever portion was due. In addition to rent, most peasants owed time to their lord, which could range from a few days a year to as many as three days a week (one or two days a month was most common in the 15th Century, though it varied widely by region). But the rest of their time was their own and beyond the necessities of subsistence farming, many peasants spent their remaining time industriously growing cash crops, raising valuable livestock, and making “value added” products for sale in the seasonal markets, which could earn them a pretty penny. Thrifty peasant families could gradually become rich after a few generations of scrimping and saving and a lucky few eventually joined the ranks of the landed gentry. Village life, 15th Century
If they were not subject to frequent raids peasants in the Baltic could do quite well. Very generally a peasant could own between 20 and 200 acres of land, with 40 acres being very roughly average across the region. These were usually measured in allotments of land which amounted to as much as a single man could work by himself. This was called a plow, a hide, a lan or a hof but it usually meant the same thing (roughly about 20-40 acres, depending on the type of terrain and the fertility of the soil).
Dussack, Pilsen Czech Republic, 14th Century AD. A common peasant sidearm, for which sophisticated martial arts had been developed.
Peasants dancing at a wedding by Peter Bruegel the Elder, 1567. This is probably a pretty accurate depiction of peasant life at that time in Flanders, which was at a similar economic level to much of the Baltic zone.
During times of strife, free peasants could fight in the levy as pikemen, crossbowmen, or even cavalry. Some become professional mercenaries, and if they survived the experience, used the money they earned and the loot they captured on the battlefield to elevate their status as much as they could. A peasant couple harvesting cabbage, from the Tacuinum Sanitatis, version BNF_Lat9333. 15th Century.
Rents were usually worked out as a share of whatever crop or animal product the peasant produced. In the early medieval period rents were due in ‘corvee’ form as raw materials (bushels of wheat or wheels of cheese),
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Villagers Some peasants live in isolated farmsteads or fortified family compounds, but many banded together to form small communities which by the mid 15th Century had became substantial settlements (see Rural Life, The Villages). Peasants living in a village still owned their own land and
tilled their own fields, but they also held property in common, including communal fields and pastures, sometimes communal barns or mills, common forests and ponds or lakes for fishing, and in many cases, common defenses such as walls, moats and so on, which everyone helped to maintain. Sidebar: The Erdstal There is an interesting clue as to how medieval peasants might have survived in volatile places like the Baltic. Scientists have long been baffled by hundreds of underground tunnels now called Erdstal or Erställe (earth-stall) which are found in villages and churches all over Austria, Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, Slovakia, Saxony, Moravia, and Hungary, and parts of France and Spain. Some are just small bolt-holes of a few meters, many are rather substantial complexes of rooms and tunnels up to a hundred meters or more in length, with defensive features built into them not unlike tunnels used by the Vietcong in the Vietnam War. At least 700 of these have been found in Bavaria alone, up to 2,000 throughout Europe. Today locals call these tunnels “goblin holes” or “toadstool holes”, and consider them a curiosity. Initially some people believed that they were mystical cultsanctuaries linked to the Celts. But recent carbon dating shows us that the tunnels only date back to the medieval period, mostly in the 10th – 13th Centuries. Interestingly the first written record of one is form the 15th, in a tax roll. The new theory is that they are actually emergency hideouts or safe rooms … something like ‘fallout shelters’. When raiders ride up to your gate, your grain, your money, your livestock, maybe your children and your entire family can go into the Erdstal. The entrances are typically well-hidden, as was the very existence of these hiding places until very recently. Many peasants probably waited in safety underground as raiders ransacked their houses above.
and many spoils. The suffocated people of both sexes from all the caves amounted to about a thousand souls.”
Two German Morgensterns, 16th Century, the upper example is very similar to a Flemish Godendag with some added spikes, the lower has a full spear-head. Weapons like this while crude, were quite effective in the hands of peasants.
Some villages were fairly large, up to a couple of thousand people or more, and had a sort of semi-urban culture. They were typically local centers of craft industries or some other industrial activity like mining, either linked to a nearby town, abbey or castle or purely for local consumption. Some villages were even walled like towns. The only thing villages lacked by definition was a regular market … once they had gained the right to hold significant markets they should technically become towns (stadt to the Germans). Many villages in Prussia and Livonia were chartered under Kulm Law giving their residents many of the same rights that burghers had. In certain regions where peasants were armed and relatively prosperous, villages and individual farmsteads were linked into clan associations which the Germans called Landsgemeinde. In Russia the equivalent was called the veche. These are sort of a cross between a farmer’s coop and a gang made up of extended family clans, or several clans in coalition. The Landsgemeinde was governed by a popular assembly, typically all free males who showed up armed could vote.
Erdstalls are not safe hideouts unless they are well hidden and the raiders don’t know where they are. A passage from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia illustrates the grim outcome if an enemy army arrives with full knowledge of the local hiding spots: “Then, leaving there the hostages of that province, we returned to Livonia with our loot. The Livonians’ loot was exceedingly great, for they had besieged the underground caves of the people of Harrien, to which these people were always accustomed to flee. They set fires and made smoke at the mouths of the caves, suffocating them day and night, and they smothered all of the people both men and women. They then dragged them out of the caves, some expiring, some unconscious, others dead, and killed them and took others captive. They took away all their belongings, money, clothing,
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The tough-looking and heavily armed peasants of the Dithmarschen, being given steins of beer by their tall, formidable wives. Detail from a 16th Century print, the Trachten Dithmarschen, Braun and Hogenberg, 1572
The spear was the universal weapon of the pre-industrial world, both for hunting and for war. It was a common weapon for peasants and the gentry and everyone in between. The Poles called this type of spear a Rogatina.
In the heavily forested parts of mainland Sweden, on the island of Gotland, in some German and Dutch settled areas in West Prussia, in Masovia, in the mountains of Silesia and the swamps of Saxony, and in pockets throughout Moravia and Bohemia, the peasants had their own formidable militias which were a serious force to be reckoned with. The vast majority of the population in Latin Europe were broadly speaking members of the peasant estate. In some places like those mentioned above the old clan social structures were still intact and the peasants were still warlike. In fact they weren’t really peasants per say so much as tribesmen or members of their clans, much like they were before the introduction of Christianity and Latin culture. But in medieval legal terms they were peasants.
Armed peasants in Franconia, Albrecht Dürer, 1497. Some of these peasants could get pretty ‘gangster’.
The largest and toughest of these groups in the Baltic region were in the Grauden forest in Lithuania where the ferocious Samogitian peasants lived, and in the Dithmarschen in Frisian Saxony, near Hamburg, where the peasant commune had the equivalent status as a Prince. In the region of West Frisia and Friesland in what is now Holland the peasants were known to be tough
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and also had a great deal of autonomy, as did the peasants in the Tyrol in Austria. The most prominent free peasants in Europe if not the world were in the Swiss Confederation, where to this day two cantons are still governed by Landsgemeinde popular assembles (Glarus and Appenzell Innerrhoden). Townfolk were a bit nervous about the peasantry, who they considered crass (literally boorish, from bauer, peasant) and potentially dangerous. But at the same time, towns often had economic and military alliances with the peasants in their own district and forged important social relationships with them. Peasants were involved in the town economy and the town population was kept up by immigration from the rural areas. The relationship between peasants and gentry could be even more fraught, as it was both closer and more strictly divided. The peasants outnumbered all other classes, and most places they were armed, so everyone monitored their mood carefully.
Harvesting leeks. From the Tacuinum Sanitatus, 14th Century version Codex Vindob. Ser nov. 2644. The accompanying text reads: “Leeks (Pori) Nature: Warm in the third degree, dry in the second. Optimum: The kind called naptici, that is, from the mountains and with a sharp odor. Usefulness: They stimulate urination, influence coitus and, mixed with honey, clear up catarrh of the chest. Dangers: Bad for the brain and the senses. Neutralization of the Dangers: With sesame oil and with the oil of sweet almonds. Effects: They cause hot blood and an acute crisis of the bile. They are primarily indicated for cold temperaments, for old people, in Winter, and in the Northerly regions.”
In some of the border regions, it was not necessarily the peasants arming themselves, but their lord who insisted that they be armed, as was the case apparently in the dangerous frontier region of Moldavia in the late 15th Century:
or a lord, or raiding land under the control of a town. The better off among them owned their own arms and armor, and in some regions peasants were quite well kitted out.
Peter Bruegel the elder, Kermis festival, 1568
“Some years previously, the King had appointed as Voivode of Moldavia a certain Stephen, a member of the Duke of Moldavia’s family. This Stephen’s rule has been so strict and just that no crime has gone unpunished and people now obey his every order. He has insisted that not only the knights and nobility should keep and bear arms, but that farmers and villagers do so as well, for everyone has a duty to defend his fatherland. If the Voivode learns that a farmer does not have a bow, arrows and a sword, or has mustered without a spear, the culprit is condemned to death.“ -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1467 AD
Outside of these special areas, the average peasant was typically very much under the thumb of his lord, who could be a member of the local gentry or the middling aristocracy; or a prince or prelate of the Church, or even a nearby town. The lord collected the rent and acted as a military leader during times of strife. If they were lucky villagers had some hope of social mobility, at least across the generations, but they were also highly vulnerable to raids especially during time of war. When war threatened villagers would often flee to the walled towns, abbeys or castles where they were generally granted sanctuary for the duration of hostilities. Towns in particular would usually open their gates to the nearby peasants when a major threat (like a big army) came near. For example, when Armagnac mercenaries threatened the district of Alsace in 1444 Strasbourg gave shelter to 7,000 peasants for the duration of a local war that lasted almost a year. Many villagers were warlike themselves and raided other villages or the estates of the Church or the gentry. Legal records from the medieval period are full of complaints of villagers raiding other villages belonging to a prelate
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Harvesting grapes, making wine 15th Century. From the Tacuinum Sanitatus, 14th Century.
Typically, farmers fought as archers or marksmen, pikemen, light infantry (as scouts, sappers or pioneers, usually) or sometimes as heavy infantry. More rarely peasants were also able to equip cavalry, even ‘knights’ from among their ranks. The Ditmarschen fielded small numbers of ‘knights’ in several battles according to the chronicles though if it’s unclear if they were mercenaries or the Dithmarschers themselves.
Peasants dancing with their wives, Sebald Beham, Nuremberg, circa 1520. Note the peasant on the left is wearing a sword as a sidearm, the peasant on the right has an agricultural flail.
Surviving records indicate that villagers from 15 th Century Poland were well equipped for battle, with armor and good
quality weapons as opposed to crude modified farm tools 20 . Some villagers had double careers as mercenaries and may have been registered with royal or imperial authorities as freifechter or “Free Fencers” though it isn’t yet clear what that term actually meant.
Flegel: Czech Flail, Prague, Bohemia 1420 AD. The weaponized agricultural flail, closely associated with the Czechs, turned out to be one of the most effective means of killing armored knights.
In Sweden there were specific laws for what gear the leidang or ledung (rural levy) had to bring to muster: a helmet, mail hauberk, shield, spear and sword or axe, and for every row bench* (typically of two men) a bow and 24 arrows. *The Ledung was usually organized on the basis of Ships crews.
Swedish peasants were tough and played a significant role in wars in the region, in the 15th Century this meant especially wars for control of the “Nordic Union” between Danish and Swedish forces, with some participation by organized pirates and city-states of the Hanseatic League. The Norse peasants, particularly miners, developed sophisticated tactics and through defeating Continental mercenaries, acquired good military equipment. This ultimately led to their being represented in the Swedish diet or Riksdag.
A Saint Joseph’s day altar from New Orleans in 2012. In this medieval tradition, members of the Sicilian community create an altar out of cakes, bread, vegetables, wine, and even seafood which is carried around the neighborhood in a procession, then placed in the church, and eventually donated to the poor. Feasts like this were given to the poor during Saints days and festivals several times a year in the Medieval Baltic.
Beggars, Vagabonds and Travelers Beggars were mentioned repeatedly in the Bible and were considered a normal part of life in the middle ages. People afflicted by disease, widows, orphans, the elderly poor and younger men who had suffered debilitating injuries at work or on the battlefield were considered unfortunates deserving of charity. A great deal of money and effort was expended to help and assist the poor, ranging from alms-houses to free public hospitals to the distribution of food and money at the frequent feast days
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and saint’s days which took place every few weeks throughout the year. It was also common from early medieval times for Lords to distribute the left-overs of any parties or feasts they held at the gates of their estate. Major events like weddings, baptisms and other important celebrations typically saw vast spreads of food and wine or beer distributed to the poor, as well as cash gifts. From the 13th Century however laws appeared to crack down on the increasing numbers of ‘valiant’, i.e. able-bodied, beggars who should otherwise theoretically be working. The traditional social rules of hospitality for pilgrims and travelers of all kinds created a loophole which made a nomadic lifestyle appealing for many of these ‘valiant’ beggars who traveled from one place to another and left again before they wore out their welcome. A new nomadic culture eschewed life on the farm for a life of adventure on the roads. Communities of native ‘travelers’ sprang up throughout Europe, from Norway to Spain, from Ireland to Hungary. These people are today often confused for gypsies. The Romani people, the real ‘Gypsies’, also arrived in Europe in the late medieval period. They made it to Bohemia in the 14th Century and to Silesia and Prussia by the 15th. As peaceful and skilled immigrants, the Romani were initially welcomed by most authorities, for example they were given special rights by the Byzantines in 1380 and issued safe conduct by Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund in 1417.
The arrival of the Gypsies in Berne, Switzerland, Spiezer Chronik, 1485 by Diebold Schilling
They were granted privileges and rights in several other districts, where they performed services ranging from clearing forests of nuisance animals to putting on various forms of public entertainment from dancing and singing to ventriloquism and puppet theater. As travelers they also found work as tinkers and handy-men, and did seasonal field work during harvests or haying. Their knowledge of traditional medicinal techniques and astrological practices of the East was valued as were many other skills they had. Less popular however was an alleged propensity for petty crime, unorthodox religious practices, and social disruptions caused by palm-readers, fortune tellers and
various scam artists. The Romani rather quickly became unpopular in some places and were being exiled from several towns and whole regions by the 1450’s. Within a century of their arrival in Europe laws were passed banning them from the Swiss Confederation, the Duchy of Milan, the district of Miessen in Germany, Catalonia, England, France and Sweden. In some parts of Bohemia and Moravia the Romani had their ears cut off. In the harsher climes of Moldova and Transylvania they were simply enslaved. Poland, with its religious tolerance laws proved to be much more hospitable over the long term though the Romani didn’t start arriving there until the 16th Century.
Ethnicity in the Late Medieval era "I am a Christian, but I do not dislike Jewish Rabbis". - Henrich Cornelius Agrippa, 1531
Ethnicity in medieval Europe is tricky to define, it was quite different from the modern concept of race. Being identified as a Scot, or a Swede, a Tartar, a German, a Turk or a Jew had a huge effect on your life, but the idea of race as such was not well formed before the 17th Century. Nevertheless, there were strong prejudices based on religion and national identity which could have a major impact on people’s ability to thrive or even survive. Tens of thousands of European children were captured in this era by the Turks, most to be cruelly used as sexual objects or forced labor, but a select few to be raised as the elite Janissary infantry of the Ottoman army. European slaves were also sold to the Arabs and Egyptians and raised as Mamluk warriors, the Egyptian equivalent to a Janissary. Some of the most famous and feared Corsairs of North Africa were renegades from Holland or Spain, men who had voluntarily renounced their Christian faith, received circumcision and joined Islam. Very few of these people would ever be recognized as European ever again within Christian Europe. But on the other hand, a child of a captive Tartar bride raised in Germany and baptized as a Catholic was essentially considered German, just as a German child raised by the Tartars could in effect become a Tartar. We can see from period art that Europe in the 15 th century was surprisingly multi-ethnic. Tatars, Arabs, Berbers, Malinese, Sudanese, Ethiopians and Turks appear in several 15th and 16th Century paintings and documents including German fencing manuals. There was even a Medici Duke, Alessandro de Medici (1510-1537), who was of mixed African heritage, as was the chief pilot of the fleet of Christopher Columbus, Pedro Alonso Nino (1468-1505).
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Duke Alessandro de Medici, Duke of Florence 1 May 1532 – 6 January 1537
Everyone realized of course that people came in different skin colors and had different physical characteristics, but color did not have the same associations in the 15th Century as it does today. Nor were Africans particularly linked with slavery in the 15th Century, African slaves were only just beginning to be exploited by the Portuguese in the sugar plantations in Madeira (starting in 1441). The Spanish didn’t start enslaving Africans until the 1470’s, and it wasn’t necessarily all that well known beyond Iberia. In 1456, anyone could be a slave, and European’s were just as likely to be the victims of slavery as the perpetrators of it. The capture and trade of slaves was one of the main economic pursuits of the Golden Horde and the Crimean Khanate. The Ottoman Empire imposed a slave tax on all conquered Christian lands. European slaves were one of the most important commodities traded in the Crimean trade colonies of Caffa etc., often with the direct involvement of Genoese merchants. The idea of nationalism wasn’t fully developed either since there were few true States of any kind in Europe and none in the Baltic, with the possible exception of the Teutonic Order. Instead, religion and language, as representations of culture, were the strongest basis of boundaries between groups of people. But we can see even these barriers were not insurmountable, as Christian Europeans and Muslims intermarried and formed business partnerships and military alliances together. Because of the nature of life in the Late Medieval period, it was possible to be many things at the same time. One could simultaneously be German and a Jew, for example, or a Swede and a Russian, or even a Pole and a Tartar. Family links across national and religious boundaries often created these dualities, especially in the urban and aristocratic classes. (for more on this see also Town Life, Ethnicity in the Towns)
On the other extreme, people in smaller towns didn’t necessarily travel far, and many poor peasants and serfs never left their home counties, remaining pigeonholed in their ‘original’ linguistic and religious identity forever. The most persecuted people were members of language or religious groups which differed from that of their landlords, leading ultimately to what would become something more like a true ethnic division. The place where we can see this most clearly in the Baltic is probably in Estonia. Christian boys at the age of eight in Serbia rounded up for the Devshirme, the Ottoman blood tax. In the words of Çandarlı Halil Pasha the Elder: “The conquered are slaves of the conquerors, to whom their goods, their women, and their children belong as lawful possession.” Thousands of captives were taken East every year from Europe by Ottoman and Tartar soldiers, and very few ever returned.
The ability to speak foreign languages and travel to foreign lands allowed many individuals to blur the ethnic boundaries of the day. A cloth merchant in Danzig who did business with a cotton planter in Seville might spend months or even years in a ‘factory’ in Andalusia representing his Company’s interests. He would learn to speak the local Spanish dialect and adopt the dress and styles of his adopted town …. If he later traveled to say, Italy, he could present himself as a Spaniard, a Pole or a German, whichever was most advantageous at the time. We know from period records and letters that people routinely did exactly that. For example, in his autobiography Bartholomaus Sastrow, a Saxon, disguised himself variously as a Walloon, an Italian, and a Bavarian while traveling through 16th Century Europe fraught with religious turmoil. There were many similar trade arteries from the Baltic to the British Isles, and between Scandinavia, Russia, Italy, Burgundy, and Holland, even to France and Spain, in each case blurring those lines of national identity. Many city dwellers could speak (and read and write) multiple languages as part of a roaming mercantile and artisan class. The extent of this varied from town to town, a citizen of a truly international City-State like Venice or Genoa might spend as much of their career in Byzantium, Cypress, Egypt, or Persia as in any European nation. In the 1970’s the grave-marker of an Italian woman found in China was dated to 1342, and subsequently linked to a 14th Century Genoese trade colony there 21 . The aristocracies had their equivalent international layer with overlapping blood-ties across Europe as well.
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The 16th century journal22 of the Ulm merchant Hans Ulrich Kraft gives us some idea of what the life of a Central European merchant was like in this era. A citizen of Ulm from a patrician family, Kraft became an agent of the prominent Manlich trading company out of Augsburg. In 1572 he was sent to the Levant, to Tripoli in what is now Libya, to represent the company’s interests. For two years business went well, Kraft thrived in his trade and forged friendships with Turkish and Jewish merchants that may have later saved his life. Then suddenly in 1574 Manlich trading company went bankrupt. Because he had vouched for shipments of goods that were already paid for, Kraft was on the hook, and was soon sent to prison by Ottoman authorities. Over time however, he was befriended by a series of Jewish merchants and artisans, and in particular a man named Mayer Winterbach. Though Winterbach was Jewish, like Kraft’s creditors, he was from Swabia and could speak the same dialect as Kraft. They were both burghers and knew some of the same people from Ulm. Through his intercession, Kraft ultimately got out of prison, and traveled back to Germany in disguise as a Jewish merchant. Both Kraft and Winterbach could shift between identities to some extent and though there were strong tensions between Jewish and Christian people at the time (to say the least – pogroms against Jewish people were quite common), their shared identity as Alsatians contributed to a friendship that lasted into old age23. A similar incident in 1455 gives us another example of the fluidity of identity in this era. The famous Venetian explorer, diplomat and travel writer Giosafat Barbaro returned to Italy after one of his many trips to Persia and the Crimea. Walking through a market in Venice, Barbaro recognized a pair of Tartar men who were being held as slaves. He secured their freedom, housed them for two months, and sent them home to Tana 24 . Having known these men in a different cultural context he saw them as friends, and acted accordingly.
The Nobility
A sword of War, German, mid 15th to early 16th Century, probably Oakeshott type XX. Swords with a hand-and-half or two handed grip of this type became popular with the Knightly estate in the High Middle Ages and continued to be in wide use through the 16 th Century. Weapons like this were used with sophisticated martial arts systems which have been preserved in dozens of surviving fencing manuals written in the period. In most of these manuals the “long sword” was the primary weapon taught and used as the basis to teach the use of all the others.
Gentry Together with the knights (with whom they overlapped), the gentry or yeomanry were the small landowners who amounted the middle class in the rural areas. These people typically owned the equivalent of two to twenty times the land of an ordinary peasant, normally including a manor house or a substantial fortified compound of some sort. Members of the gentry could actually be rich peasants (bauer), poor aristocrats (in German niederer adel "lower nobility", in Poland Szlachta), retired burghers or mercenary soldiers, rural officials working for a nearby prelate or noble, or adventurers from various miscellaneous backgrounds. All that was required to qualify as a member of the gentry was sufficient land to support a household and a strong enough manor house to act as a base. Being a member of a family with some roots in the region was also helpful.
mounted crossbowmen from a given district were made up of men from the gentry. Most gentry were in turn members of the retinue of more powerful knights or princes. Knights The term ‘knight’ could mean many different things in the medieval world, and included those of noble blood, as well as others who were not nobles by any stretch of the imagination but still had the special social and military rank of knighthood. In a sense you could say that a knight was a member of a special military caste which transcended their class and their estate. In period documents the Latin euphemisms like milites or miles (Roman soldier) or terms like chevalier in French, or ritter in German, (literally ‘rider’) reflected a broad range of people who held the knightly rank, ranging from the lower gentry through mid-ranking aristocrats. In late medieval documents ‘knights’ were also often referred to as an estate or class, though this could really refer to the estates of both the gentry and the higher nobility, or somewhere in between depending on the context.
The gentry usually organized themselves into their own estates, again frequently in conjunction with those of the knights. In some areas such as Livonia these were particularly well organized into politically and militarily strong groups known as the Baltic Noble Corporations (See Secondary Players, Livonia). Most of the gentry owned their land as a fief from a more powerful lord to whom they owed fealty as a vassal. During times of strife they would fight for this lord, at least in theory, though the better organized gentry could exercise considerable autonomy and sometimes acted independently within a given area. Many yeomen were technically knights; most at any rate had horses, armor and weapons, as well as at least a small retinue of armed supporters. Often these men were also their henchmen on the farm, overseers, managers, foremen. When gathered into large groups the gentry could be formidable. Most of the lancers, demi-lancers, and
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The spurs of a 16th Century knight. Spurs and a special kind of belt were the trademarks of the knightly rank. Knight’s spurs were often gilded with silver or gold or in some cases even made of solid precious metals. This was often the first prize sought out when a knight was captured.
ground side by side. But the infidel was a man of amazing strength. He tore himself from my grasp, and we both raised our bodies until we were kneeling side by side. I then thrust him from me with my left hand in order to be able to strike at him with my sword, and this I was able to do, for with the thrust his body was so far removed that I was able to cut at his face, and although the blow was not wholly successful, I wounded him so that he swayed and was half-blinded. I then stuck him a direct blow in the face and hurled him to the ground, and falling upon him I thrust my sword through his throat, after which I rose to my feet, took his sword, and returned to my horse. The two beasts were standing side by side. They had been worked hard the whole day, and were quite quiet.
Somewhat damaged painting of the Swabian Knight Jörg von Ehingen , 1428-1508, praying in his gilded armor harness.
“And when evening came on, certain of our men drew near and reported that a mighty man among the infidels desired to engage in combat with a Christian in the plain between the two hills. Then I begged the captain that he would send me, for I was well arrayed and very apt in tilting-armour. I had also a strong jennet which the King had presented to me. The captain consented and caused the signal to be blown to cease fighting, and the hosts reassembled. Then I made a cross with my spear, and holding it in front of me I rode from our army towards the infidels across the valley, and when the infidels saw this they returned also to their armies. Our captain also sent out a trumpeter towards the infidels, who blew a blast and gave the signal. Then, very speedily, one of the infidels appeared, riding across the plain on a fine Barbary steed. I did not delay, but rode at once to meet him. The infidel threw his shield in front of him, and laying his spear on his arm ran swiftly at me, uttering a cry. I approached, having my spear at the thigh, but as I drew near I couched my spear and thrust at his shield, and although he struck at me with his spear in the flank and forearm, I was able to give him such a mighty thrust that horse and man fell to the ground. But his spear hung in my armour and hindered me, and I had great difficulty in loosing it and alighting from my horse. By this time he also was dismounted. I had my sword in my hand; he likewise seized his sword, and we advanced and gave each other a mighty blow. The infidel had excellent armour, and although I struck him by the shield he received no injury. Nor did his blows injure me. We then gripped each other and wrestled so long that we fell to the
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When the infidels saw that I had conquered they drew off their forces. But the Portuguese and Christians approached and cut off the infidel’s head, and took his spear, and placed the head upon it, and removed his armour. It was a costly suit, made in the heathen fashion, very strong and richly ornamented. They took also his shield and horse, and carried me back to the captain, who was beyond all measure delighted, and clasped me in his arms, and there was great joy throughout the whole army. But on that day great numbers of men and horses on both sides were wounded and shot down. The captain commanded that the infidel’s head, his horse, shield, and sword should be carried before me, and that the most famous lords and knights with their attendants should follow after. I had to ride with them preceded by a trumpeter, and so they carried me in triumph through the great town of Ceuta. The Christians were all greatly rejoiced, and more honour was shown me than was my due. Almighty God fought for me in that hour, for I was never in greater danger, since the infidel was a very mighty man, and I was conscious that his strength far exceeded my own. God, the Lord, be praised in eternity.” Excerpt from the diary of Jörg von Ehingen, describing events in 145725
The famous personal account of the German knight Jörg von Ehingen, an aristocrat and courtier to the Holy Roman Emperor Friederich III, gives an excellent example of almost the ideal German knight. From a noble family, though one also spread out through many other estates, von Ehingen’s account is at once daring and suitably humble. He traveled widely, mostly on business of the Imperial court, to Russia, the Levant, England, Scotland, Spain and Portugal, and traveled with the Portuguese King on Crusade to Ceuta in Morocco, where he fought the single combat described above, as well as fighting with Spanish troops against the Moors in Morocco. Titled knights were most commonly from the low to middle nobility. But they could also be burghers, ministerials (‘serfknights’), or gentry from families of more murky lineage who after a few generations of possession of the land, especially if recognized by some higher legal authority like a prince, would move upward in status. And of course princes themselves were also typically knights.
Self reported annual income of nobles in Poland, for tax purposes 11% 18% 26% 26% 11% 7%
Knights engage in a formal joust, ‘a plaisance’. From “The Travels of John Mandeville”,British Library. Anonymous, Bohemian manuscript, circa 1420
The association between nobility and knighthood varied by region, in France for example most knights were nobles or at least gentry, whereas in Germany or Italy there were at least hundreds of burgher knights, and in Central Europe more generally thousands of ministerial knights (who were technically serfs) and an equal number of knights of somewhat murky background who rose to knightly status as mercenaries or soldiers. In German-speaking areas mid-ranking aristocratic titles included the freiherr (free men, roughly equivalent to barons or baronets) and the so-called graf (equivalent to counts). Counts with immediacy status were known as Riechgraf. Men of this rank who had been granted lands in territories not yet settled by German-Speaking people were given the rank Markgraf. If they could hold on to the ‘mark’, their family would likely move up in status over the generations from the middle to the high nobility.
-
up to 30 grzywien 31-60 gr 61-150 gr 151-600 grz 601-150 gr more (up to 6000) gr
The typical knight was financially and militarily supported by a substantial number of vassals from among the lesser gentry and peasantry. At least a few of these supporters would be well-armed and armored, capable of fighting as lancers or heavy cavalry. These were often hard men experienced in war, from families of the local gentry associated with the same aristocratic clan over many generations. The same men who might be the vogt over a village or two, the foreman of a work crew, or a miller or a blacksmith in the service of a knight during peacetime formed his retinue in war. In theory all knights served a more powerful lord, even if this was only the Emperor or some town. But in practice many knights were independent or caught up in complex social and political organizations than could not be easily defined by the simplistic rules of what most of us today think of as feudalism. In many regions, the estates of the knights were politically powerful in their own right and selfconsciously exercised their own policies in the local diet.
Though not all knights were wealthy by any means, many of knightly rank owned a castle or some kind of fortified home, and a significant amount of land including, typically at least a few villages. It was also common for a knight to own a second more comfortable “living” home, known as a chateau, villa or palace. Sometimes both buildings formed part of the same complex, but more often the real castle was in a more inaccessible and inconvenient area because part of what made a castle a castle was an awkward location hard to attack. Economic data for Polish knights / lower nobility in Poznan region in 1472-1478. For simplicity one grzywna is one German mark, so about 48 groszes (nominally, we know medieval coins weren't exactly stable, and actual currency values fluctuated wildly)
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Coat of arms of the burgher knight Conrad von Grünenberg. Conrad was the son of the burgomeister of the town of Constance (Konstanz) near the Swiss border. He was listed as a town alderman in 1441. Later in 1465 he shows up in records as a knight in the service of Emperor Frederick III. In the coat of arms the closed helmet indicates burgher or ministerial lineage as opposed to nobility. The red Jerusalem cross represents his pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the other symbols show his membership in the knightly orders of the Sepulchre, the Jar, and St. George.
Esquires and burgher knights Burghers were also routinely knighted, particularly wealthy merchants and patricians but also more prominent artisans and their young sons, and even civil servants. Although some burghers did purchase noble titles, burgher knights were not necessarily nobles. By the mid 14th Century it seems that many people from non-aristocratic estates who wanted to have the special status and rights of knighthood took on the rank of ‘esquire’, which seems to have been the lowest rank at which these special rights accrued, but with less obligations in terms of feudal or militia muster than full knighthood. Knights fighting and dying, artist unknown (possibly Durer’s workshop), 15th Century.
Ministeriales During the high middle ages, the German princes and kings armed many of their serfs as henchmen. Though most fought and died as infantry, some of these unfree soldiers were given horses and armor by their lords, and fought as heavy cavalry on the battlefield.
A burgher knight with his coat of arms, from the travelogue of Conrad von Grünenberg, circa 1485. The three tiered hat on top of the helmet may indicate a family with Jewish heritage.
By the late medieval period, the rank of squire or esquire did not necessarily mean a sort of junior or apprentice knight as is typically assumed today, (and as it may have in fact meant in the earlier periods of the Middle Ages). Knightly rank, of which ‘esquire’ seemed to be sufficient, conferred special rights which were useful in feudal and land courts and also the professional courtesy of the military caste, which was convenient on the battlefield. Holding this rank also allowed a person to wear the knightly belt and spurs. A person holding this rank could also own a coat of arms which was recognized in feudal courts, though burgher-esquires (or knights) had to show their burgher status by different type of helmet on their coat of arms (a closed jousting or tilting helmet for artisans, or a barred helmet for patricians). Burgher’s arms also sometimes included house marks of their family house. In Norway, Flanders, Normandy, Switzerland, Firisia and the Tyrol, among some other regions, even some peasants had coats of arms.
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Over time the most loyal, resourceful, and lucky of these men became important managerial and diplomatic functionaries and operatives: supervisors, vogts, administrators of districts, even diplomats and courtiers. And in spite of their serf origin, they were knighted. The whole phenomenon of the ministerial is somewhat similar to the arming of ‘sergeants’ in England by princes or towns, and to other near equivalent practices in Spain and France, but there is something uniquely German about the ministerial knight class. It could also be compared to the original Samurai class in Japan, people who were not technically nobles, and were totally subservient, at least in theory, to their overlord, but who also had a status of high personal honor and special rights and privileges associated with the warrior caste. By the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th Centuries thousands of ministeriales had been granted land by their lords as reward for their service. Others enriched themselves on the battlefield by capturing wealthy prisoners or valuable loot, or became wealthy through theft as ‘robber knights’. So many became landed gentry one way or another that it helped to swell the ranks of the lower aristocracy by the 15th Century. What really mattered most was whether the knight was still a Landesadel, or Feudal vassal to a prince or prelate, or if they were free. Ministerials could become Free Imperial Knights, and autonomy mattered not just for freedom of action, but it also meant the ability to spend time pursuing your own interests rather than that of a prince, to literally fight your own battles and to keep much more of your own
income. And it also meant not being unexpectedly attacked over another mans feuds.
The Free Imperial Knights In the German speaking territories the knightly class included another interesting species, the so called Reichsritter or Free Imperial Knights: low to middle ranking knights of (mostly) noble blood who enjoyed the status of Imperial immediacy. This highlights the complexity of rank and status in the medieval world. On the one hand a Reichsritter might not have had anywhere near the wealth, land or personal power as say, a count, but if that count was directly beholden to duke whose orders he was obliged to carry out, while the Reichsritter owed fealty to no-one except the Emperor, how do you decide which of the two really had a higher status?
Two knights on foot at a tournament, carrying heavy lances. Hans_Burgkmair circa 1520 AD. The lance was the primary weapon of the knight.
It wasn’t very long before the serf aspect of their background was almost forgotten. By the 15th Century many if not most ministeriales were no longer really serfs except in the most technical sense. With each generation the luckiest and most resourceful among them continued to rise in status until they formed a large part of the knightly class in the German-speaking parts of Central Europe, probably the majority.
Von Berlichingen coat of arms. The` bars on the helmet indicate noble lineage.
In effect the Reichsritter owed fealty to nobody but himself, as the Emperor rarely invoked his prerogatives over them, and there was no guarantee they would obey anyway. The Reichsritter could count on friends from his own estate for military support. By the 15th Century however the heyday of the Free Imperial Knight was in decline, and they were finding themselves squeezed between the power of the princes and the wealth of the towns. The knightly demesne While a knight could own (collect rent from) land in fief, managed by vassals among the gentry or peasantry in several different widely scattered areas, the land he owned directly was known as the demesne, which could mean anything from a large district with several villages to a single village or the individual homesteads of up to a few score serfs or peasants. Tenants were obligated to spend time helping to improve local fortifications as well as infrastructure for their lord such as bridges, mills, ponds, roads, and so on.
The famous Free Imperial Knight, Gottfried "Götz" von Berlichingen, 1480-1562, was considered the archetypal Reichsritter or Free Imperial Knight. His colorful career typified the struggle of this class, pinched between the rising power of the princes and the increasing unrest of the lower classes. His life was the basis for a famous anime character.
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Perhaps surprisingly, knights and other low to mid-ranking aristocrats often had a good relationship with the peasants on their own demesne especially if they kept a well-run estate and didn’t squeeze them too badly. Rents were often low in order specifically to make the estates more manageable for the frequently absentee owners. It was not
at all unusual to see peasants enthusiastically siding with their lord in military disputes with towns or rival princes.
expeditions, military sports, lawsuits and local feuds. In the usual time-honored traditions, the typical knight preferred to be with his dogs, his hawks, his horses, retainers and his weapons out in the field, than in the warm comfort of home.
Part of the ruins of Berg Hornburg, on the personal demesne of the famous knight "Götz" von Berlichingen. Photo by author.
A successful lord brought prosperity and safety to the district, a weak or defeated lord could mean mayhem and chaos. However, this varied widely from region to region, and circumstances tended to be more strained where the aristocracy was of a different language or religious affiliation than their tenants (such as in Livonia, Romania or Ukraine).
Opulently attired nobles frolic in the garden, from the Grimani Breviary for the month of April. Venice circa 1500.
The ideal lifestyle of a knight consisted of hunting, gambling, sports and outdoor activities of all types, drinking and tests of skill and daring, combined with the good life in the form of a fine estate, and a well-kept house maintained by servants, good food, music, games, parties, and dances. Boldness, generosity, courage, a refusal to tolerate sleights, and respect for ladies (of the same or higher class) rounded out the most important Chivalric virtues. Having the knight’s rank, wearing the knight’s belt and spurs gave the individual certain legal and social prerogatives which were valuable in and of themselves, and for many this alone was the purpose of knighthood. Not all those who had the status actually ever fought as knights on the battlefield. But in combat, men of knightly rank who did fight typically fought as a knight bachelor or a knightbanneret, leading a small team of cavalry either alone or as part of a larger combined-arms force.
A group of men at arms, from the bible of Wenceslaus IV, circa 1390
Though knighthood by no means automatically meant military activity, most lower-ranking male aristocrats in northeastern Europe were knights in the military sense as well as the legal and social one and most participated actively in the tournament circuit. They also focused on such common rural pass-times as raids, hunting
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On the battlefield a knight would nearly always have at least some armed attendants from among the lower social ranks. A knight wasn’t just another type of troop but usually a special individual, a champion. The size in numbers, appearance, clothing and military effectiveness of a knight’s retinue (not necessarily in that order) directly reflected upon the prestige and power of not only the knight himself, but also his lord if he had one.
Szlachta In Poland and Lithania, the equvalent of the knightly and gentry classes combined together in one big group. The Szlachta formed a larger proportion of the people in Poland and Lithuania than in any other part of Europe. Whereas the nobility made up less than 1% of the population in France, in Poland and Lithuania nobles were as much as 10-20% of the population (depending on the specific district). As result, as a group, politically, the Szlachta were very powerful, having been granted many rights (including veto rights to taxes and declarations of war) by various Polish monarchs during wartime and other periods of duress, especially when their help as warriors was badly needed. The lower nobility in Poland and Lithuania were arguably more independent than anywhere else in the world. Szlachcic na zagrodzie równy wojewodzie. The noble behind his garden wall Is the province governor's equal. -Polish proverb
But it was also true that individually, many of the Szlachta were not major landowners, in fact quite a few were poor, owning little more than a mid-level peasant or in some cases, less than nothing as they were burdened by debts. In theory, all nobles in Poland from the lowest squire to the mightiest Voivode, were part of the Szlachta, and all the Szlachta were part of a brotherhood, on an equal basis. Literally members of a tribe according to the doctrine of Sarmatism. In practice the estate of the Szlachta usually meant the knights or lower-ranked armed nobility, acting in their own specific class interests. "Wettet, biscop Dierich van Moeres, dat wy den vesten Junker Johan can Cleve lever hebbet alls Juwe, unde wert Juwe hiermit affgesaget" ("Know this, Bishop Dietrich of Moers, that we prefer the steadfast Junker, John of Cleves, to you, and hereby give you notice thereof.") -Feud letter posted by the town of Soest declaring their rebellion against their overlord, Dietrich of Moers, the Archbishop of Cologne. Soest won the war but ended up stranded inside of the Archbishops territory.
The Feud The feud, fehde to the Germans, wojna to the Poles, was a mainstay of noble life. Feuds were a type of limited warfare with certain formal steps involved. They were typically announced in a terse public letter called Fehdebrief26.
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So long as the rules of the Feud were followed, killings, injuries and damage to property resulting from it would not be considered crimes, at least in theory:
The feud, whether between knights or between the nobility and towns, had to be initiated by a formal feud letter The killing of innocent parties was forbidden However, the razing of houses and laying waste to the land was allowed, within certain limits. Certain properties such as bridges, mills, granaries and public roads were supposed to be exempt from the feud. During the feud, fighting was not permitted in churches or in the home, and the parties were to be allowed go to and return from church or (princely) court without being molested.
Feuds were almost invariably associated with lawsuits, and often resulted from financial pressure due to loans or debts. Nobles loaned each other money surprisingly often and loans were often made with borrowed money. Given the extreme onus against being in debt in German-language areas in particular, this put fairly heavy pressure on everyone involved in loaning money to repay the loans and in turn, to be repaid. A feud was essentially a violent way to put pressure on the opposing party in a lawsuit such as those resulting over debts. It was an important alternative to the princely courts which the lower ranking nobles often saw as biased against them. The problem was that due to the bewildering, kaleidoscopic array of rights and (real or theoretical) overlordships in Central Europe, many if not most feuds in the Late Medieval world tended to impact parties that had not been involved in the initial dispute that led to the feud and did not expect to be part of or necessarily even know about the feud taking place. Since at any point, dozens of feuds were typically in effect in a given district of Central Europe, it meant that travel and commerce were often seriously threatened. Some places were more badly affected than others, but generally speaking feuds were ubiquitous throughout the Holy Roman Empire and neighboring kingdoms including in Poland, Prussia, Silesia, Mecklenburg and Pomerania. Only strong local authorities, either mighty princes, very large cities or formidable leagues of towns could prevent local feuds from impacting regional and international commerce and communication. If a local baron or knight in Mecklenburg or Pomerania was involved in a feud with say, the Duke of Burgundy, he may have felt well within his rights to attack any caravans or messengers heading in the direction of Bruges, to confiscate their goods and hold the merchants hostage if
he could capture them. But local authorities, such as say the counselors of the cities of Lübeck or Danzig, did not usually see it that way. To the contrary, for them it was a direct threat to their prosperity and ultimately, their continued existence as a free community. This was a recipe for severe and ongoing strife, and in fact it caused what you could describe as a more or less permanent low-intensity and limited war throughout much of Central Europe. The chief moderating factors were the formal rules of the feud, as laid down by Charles IV, and the informal rules of reputation which usually (but not always) kept feuds from getting too far out of hand. Attacks, kidnappings, robbery and damage to property were common, but killings, maimings and destruction of major infrastructure like bridges, churches or mills were relatively rare.
Knights attempt to capture the bishop of Würzburg during a feud, from the Chronicle of the Bishop of Würzburg by Lorenz Fries, German, early 16th Century. The image depicts an incident in the 1420’s when the Bishop had borrowed money from the knights and later refused to repay them. The knights had in turn borrowed the money they lent and had to be repaid or else risked going into debt. In the event the Bishop was captured and repaid the loans.
The men (usually though not always men) pursuing the feuds and the towns or princely authorities trying to control them normally sought to capture rather than kill their rivals, preferably without injury. In the long run feuds were typically settled with cash payments or transfers of property. Normally did not mean always however, and escalation to the point of serious consequences was also not unusual. Knights and princes sometimes killed or maimed captives during feuds, and routinely kept them imprisoned for years at a time. Towns in turn put bounties on knights, jailed them for years, sometimes killed them in fights or even burned down their castles and hanged them like common criminals. In 1523 for example Nuremberg opened their “feud book” and activated the Swabian League in response to a rash of feud related kidnappings led by the infamous Raubritter Thomas von Absberg. With the Leagues help, town militia and mercenaries burned down 31 castles of “robber knights” in retaliation for a long series of misdeeds associated with feuds over the previous generation, including the intentional maiming (severing
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the hands) of some merchants and a town counselor by Absberg and others.
One of many surviving feud letters of fehdebrief, German 15th Century.
Feuding knights who accosted travelers were often perceived as bandits, raubritter or ‘robber knights’ since their income was regularly supplemented by ransoms and stolen cargo, and their interpretation of who to attack in a given feud seemed to cynically correlate with the most lucrative available target rather than the most closely related to their dispute of honor. However, while towns, princes, Christian prelates and the Church writ large all wrote about, passed laws against, and started wars over the damage caused by feuds -most often perpetrated by the lower nobility and knightly estates- they too also conducted feuds fairly routinely. Certain princes such as the Margrave of Brandenburg even instigated feuds between knights and towns as a way to put pressure on certain cities, especially Nuremberg with whom Brandenburg had a long standing dispute (they used to have lucrative burgravate rights over the town but were thrown out in the 1440’s). Some knights and towns learned to live together by moderating their disputes and played by the rules set forth by regional powers, usually settling in court or via negotiation, but others particularly among the nobles felt this was beneath them and did not acknowledge the rights of burghers to even negotiate. By the mid-15th Century pressure was mounting on both sides of the issue. The lower nobility saw the feud as one of their most important rights, and they began to organize to defend their status. The towns and increasingly, the princes saw feuding (and it’s abuse) as an untenable disruption to trade and a threat to public order. The Princes The most powerful nobles in Latin Europe were known euphemistically as ‘princes’, as in the title of Machiavelli’s famous treatise. Prince simply means first, as in the Latin word princeps. These people were the power-players of the age, much in the way corporate oligarchs are today in many countries, only they tended to be much more warlike on the personal level. A prince could have been a count, a margrave, a duke, a bishop or archbishop (prince-prelate) or hold some other
noble rank by title, but what made a noble a prince was his or her level of de-facto territorial power in some substantial district or region. In the case of secular princes, ownership of allodial title to a substantial area of land. Women who held noble rank and equivalent territorial power were also referred to as ‘princes’.
Some controlled the equivalent of entire European countries today; dukes, archbishops, kings, popes and emperors were considered princes, but so were lesser nobles who owned allodial rights to and legal jurisdiction over a particular valley or a town, or who controlled an abbey or bishopric. Most princes were from families of high aristocratic rank, and it was really the families (haus) rather than the individual who made and pursued policies over time. German-speaking families who could trace their lineage as far back as the Migration-Era were known as uradel.
Portrait of the Margrave Casimir of Brandenburg, dressed a little bit like a Wizard of the Orient. Hans Süß von Kulmbach, 1511. Though he looks mild mannered here, he overthrew his father Frederick and locked him in a tower in Plassenburg Castle for 12 years. He was later known for atrocities committed during the German peasant war circa 1525.
Most princes were knights but very few knights were princes. On the other hand, many princes were at least technically men or women of the cloth, holding ranks as abbots (and abbesses), bishops, or archbishops. A prince was defined as someone who had near-total sovereignty or territorial authority over a significant administrative district. Secular princes typically had allodial property rights to the land in their district, meaning that neither the King, Emperor, Pope or anyone else had the right to tax them or tell them what to do on their land – they were true masters of their own domain for good or ill.
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Portrait (detail) of a medieval prince, Ulrich V “the much loved”, Count of Württemberg 1426-1480, portrait circa 1470.
There were many other designations for higher nobility and all had their own unique characteristics. For example the powerful warlords known to the Poles as Voivode, and to the Bavarians as Herzog, held a rank equivalent to an English duke (Latin dux). In both Slavic and Germanic cultural traditions these titles originally referred to men who were elected as war-leaders by their own tribes, but eventually over time the Herzog became a hereditary position of the landed aristocracy, while the Voivode became a post
appointed by the King of Poland, but only to men of the top noble echelon.
were all important parts of the game of Hausmachtpolitik.
A prince’s status did not in any strict way correlate with titles, so someone with an important-sounding title like the King of Cypress might have been a rather insignificant person in terms of power and prestige (with little direct territorial power), while the converse was also true. In the mid 15th Century the Duke of Burgundy was more powerful than the Holy Roman Emperor and most if not all of the kings in Europe in almost every real sense. Not all nobles were warlike either, and many highranking aristocrats in this era were thoroughly civilized, peaceful administrators of their estates, religious recluses, playboys and epicureans, philosophers, eccentric gardeners and so on. Hausmacht and Hausmachtpolitik The term Hausmacht could be thought of as the continuous, multi-generational power struggle between princely families, and to a lesser extent against their rivals from other estates. This was the real-world version of the kind of drama we see in some popular genre entertainment. The ruthless, devious, violent antics now familiar to TV audiences were part of the daily reality of princely families in Central Europe and specifically the Baltic region in the 15th Century. The essence of being a noble lay in knowing your family’s history and your role in increasing its ongoing glory. Knowing who your ancestors were and what their accomplishments had been. A noble considered those who, like him, knew this struggle and worked tirelessly to improve their families honor and prestige, to be the only ‘real’ people. They called peasants and burghers people of ‘undistinguished’ lineage, as in people you couldn’t tell one from the other, rabble who took no active role in the advancement of their heritage, nor even know of it. For a noble, this was the most disgraceful station one could reach in life. It was largely for this reason that the nobles were often cruel to the peasants in particular. It was the nobleman's duty to protect his fiefdom and his rights (including rights over others) by the edge of his sword and the tip of his spear. Not all social advancement was done through assassination and warfare though. Some of the most successful princely families in medieval Europe, such as the Hapbsburgs of Austria (et al), made most of their advances up the chain of power through opportune marriages and mutually beneficial friendships with rich bankers like the Fuggers of Augsburg. Bribes, drugs, seduction, favors called in, whispers in the right ear,
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Otto II ‘The Magnanimous’, Duke of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, circa 1470
Generally speaking, the leaders of the older noble families were extremely aggressive, hard men and women whose will was not lightly thwarted. These very dangerous people champed at the bit for every opportunity to improve their familiy’s status and brooked no insult to their honor. They were best dealt with very carefully. When their agendas were properly aligned and they were sufficiently free of distractions, they were often very capable military leaders. Princes administered their own mini-states and their power in their own domains was considerable. However, this was tempered by the power of rival estates and the impulse toward moderation given to them, to some extent, by the Church, and a sense of responsibility they felt in upholding the honor and multi-generational aspirations of their households. Many princes were bad administrators but some were good leaders both in peace and war. Prince-Prelates In medieval Europe, Church leaders with territorial power, known as prelates, could be every bit as ruthless as secular princes, often came from the same noble houses or families, and participated in the same game of Hausmachtpolitik. It varied widely from district to district, since some prince-prelates were carefully selected, university educated men of letters who governed carefully and well – in fact many of the great Free Cities of Central
Europe started out as thriving villages surrounding the local Cathedral, administered by some wise bishop like his own personal rose garden.
overthrow the rule of the convent (which had Imperial Immediacy) until the guild revolt in 1336. Courtiers One of the most vital weapons wielded by the princes in the game of Hausmacht was the courtier. Courtiers made up the entourage and high ranking support staff of powerful nobles, especially princes. The term ‘courtier’ was somewhat generic and could range widely in meaning from people who were essentially drinking buddies of the prince with few real qualifications other than loyalty, to a semiprofessional (and often somewhat mercenary) cadre of reliable, talented and highly competent individuals who acted on the prince’s behalf in matters of great importance.
Left, Un Sparviero, Jacopo de’ Barbari, circa 1510. Falconry was one of the most popular pass-times among the nobility, and was a highly organized sport with its own rules and language. Right – Frederick I, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach from 1486-1536, wearing a finely engraved plate armor harness. Frederick, who nearly bankrupted the family with his “lavish lifestyle” was deposed by his son Casimir (see above) and imprisoned in a tower for 12 years.
A marvelously devious face. Detail from tomb effigy of Rudolf von Scherenberg, Bishop of Würzburg 1466-1495.
But as with the princes, for every Caesar Augustus, you had a Caligula, a Tiberius and a Nero. A wise bishop was often followed by a fool or a psychopath. Some of the bishops and arch-bishops in the Late Medieval period were truly ruthless warlords. Men like the bishop of Strasbourg Walter von Geroldseck in the 13th Century, the Prince-Archbishop of Bremen Albert II Welf in the 14th Century, and the Archbishop of Mainz Adolph II of Nassau in the late 15th Century, went to war with towns under their titular control for reasons anything but spiritual. Nor were all these ruthless ‘princes of the Church’ men. In the 13th Century the Imperial abbess of Zurich, Elsabeth of Wetzikon, was a prince of some renown in her own time, and ruled over her city with stern and unquestioned authority. Zurich didn’t manage to
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Left, effigy of a Czech knight, late 14th or early 15th Century. Source unknown, right German knight or prince with “face shield”, Konstanz, circa 1470. Image found by Peter Spätling
These latter were often men of formal education and therefore quite often of the church. Others were warriors, secretaries, clerks, artists, or personal servants. A few were women, usually either educated or of noble birth, in some cases courtesans, in others skilled scholars or diplomats. Despite the vague nature and imprecise definition of the term courtier, the courtier was recognized as a profession and a kind of estate of it’s own in period documents. Though the literature defining their precise role in European society became much more well-established in the 16th Century (especially with the publication of Baldassare Castiglione’s Il Cortegiano in 1528) the special social niche of courtiers was already established in Europe by the 15th. Courtiers were part of every princely or royal entourage going back before recorded history, but by the late medieval period they had reached a level of elaborate formality, at
least in some princely palaces, that hadn’t been seen in Latin Europe since the heyday of the Roman Empire. The influence of the Byzantines, the Ottomans, and others from further East no doubt played a role in the development of the elaborate royal and princely court. But the European courtier had his own unique character and peculiarities.
Many traveled widely and having lived abroad for long periods, knew the ways of foreign lands almost like natives.
A courtier was the representative of the prince he or she served, and therefore appearance was of paramount importance. Excellent grooming, the best clothing, overt displays of valuable jewels and fabrics cut in the latest fashions were all staples, though fashions were more sophisticated in some places than others. Courtiers of noble birth or great wealth reflected well on a princely court, but this was balanced by the need for skills (depending on the specific court).
A young nobleman or burgher reads from a heart-shaped book of poetry. Rogier van der Weyden, 15th Century Romantic poetry (and what we would call today Romance novels) were very popular among the nobility.
Duke Heinrich ‘The Peaceful’ of Mecklenburg, Jacopo de Barbari, circa 1514. He was an early proponent of Lutheranism.
One of the most important skills for a courtier was knowledge and practice of etiquette in its many forms – from table manners to skill at dancing, to the art of conversation and all the pastimes of the wealthy and powerful in this era (hawking, board games, singing and a hundred other things). A prince had to deal with people of many cultures without offending them, entertain visitors, send emissaries, and negotiate and resolve disputes with people from far-off lands on a routine basis. Knowledge of the unique etiquette of many people and places was a huge advantage for courtiers.
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Men of letters were also valuable, and literacy was a nearuniversal requirement to be a courtier. Educated men also typically knew other useful and sophisticated skills, such as knowledge of the law, knowledge of drugs and poisons, of military strategy and fortifications, of how to use ciphers and codes, how to memorize using the so-called method of loci technique, and how to communicate in many languages. Latin was most often the language of the largest princely courts, since Latin was the international language of the nobility, but some courts particularly of secular princes preferred to use the vernacular. Courtiers had to uphold their honor, so they also needed to know how to fight and martial arts instructors sometimes became part of a princely entourage. Artists, poets, sculptors, goldsmiths and others with skills associated with creating artifacts of luxury were also sought after. As were lawyers, notaries and professors of law. Knowledge of the law was of the utmost value for princes. The nature of courtiers varied by the court itself. A prince heavily involved in war and highly fraught politics required a different type of courtier than one with a secure domain
who had a greater need to uphold the status and reputation of their house. Thus in one area a courtier was more likely to be a rough and ready agent highly competent at keeping secrets, planning strategy, negotiating with dangerous rivals and managing armies, while another court might require men and women with mostly legal expertise, and yet another would emphasize aristocratic status, fashionable dress, impeccable manners, skills like dancing and poetry and grace in the company of the noble elite.
was alive. Few things were more fraught than the passing of power from one generation to the next in a noble family during the middle ages. Family bonds, oaths of loyalty, acts of bravery and favors done did not necessarily count for anything when it came to the game of … chairs. Raids, burning the land, kidnapping, torture and murder were all routine measures taken to secure advantage during an interregnum. Of course, honor, friendship, long lasting alliances (especially when sealed by marriage), bribes, seduction and so on did also play a role in deciding such matters. Once in a while a fairly generous arrangement would be made between rivals, a losing brother given a comfortable position in the Church or a secondary post in government, though it was more common for the Hausmacht to be played as a zero sum game, with the winner taking everything and the loser as often as not, suffering a grim fate. Elections On the other hand, perhaps surprisingly, in medieval Europe within the Church, within the nobility and among the common folk, the assignment of leadership positions and many major policy decisions were routinely decided by elections. This was particularly common in German, Slavic, and Scandinavian areas, but also routine in Italy and parts of Spain.
A young noble couple, Master of the Housebook, 15th Century. Romance in all its permutations was a very popular subject in aristocratic courts.
Few princes in Central Europe were totally secure in their domains however and many courtiers made dangerous and difficult journeys requiring them to know the rough ways of the road as well as the refined manners of the court. Often these people were colorful characters who left their own marks on history. Some, like the Polish historian and bishop Jan Dlugosz or the famous poet and humanist Aneaus Sylvio Piccolomini, went on to reach the greatest heights of power in their own right. Succession Once a competent prince secured a position of strength and status, it only remained stable as long as he or she
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In some cases it was a habit left over from the old pre-feudal tribal governments. In other cases it was established as a sort of permanent tie-breaker to prevent different factions from going to war with one another or avoid interregnums from devolving into bloody mayhem, as had frequently happened in previous eras. This did not mean however that the elections were fair or on the up and up, or even expected to be so. Among the nobility and the Church in particular, generally the more important the position the more corrupt the election though that also depended on the specific society. The mighty warlord Janos Hunyadi once complained in a letter to his nephew that he had to bribe over 10,000 people to secure his election as King of Hungary. Even the cost of this was peanuts compared to the bribes needed during an election of the Holy Roman Emperor or the Pope. Town council and military or tax policy elections in the larger cities were more on the “up and up” (mainly because they were scrutinized by so many competing factions). But there were also many much smaller and more prosaic elections that took place nearly every day throughout Central and Northern Europe during the medieval period, within clans, within convents, within fraternities and guilds, even within military units (for example when electing captains of militia or mercenary companies).
(which included both gentry and knights, as well as lower ranking prelates) and in the towns. The Church also routinely held assemblies of a slightly different nature within the religious Orders, and as part of sometimes yearslong convocations or Synods in which Church doctrine was sometimes changed substantially. Even mercenary companies and militias under deployment held assemblies fairly routinely.
Zaporozhian Cossacks elect their military leaders in the Sich Rada, a type of public assembly. The Rada also conducted diplomacy, voted on whether or not to go to war, and when to make peace.
Elections were simply another facet of life for all the estates, peasants, aristocrats, clerics, or burghers. Even University students elected their professors in many schools, (notably at the University of Bologna). In a way, from the medieval point of view, an election was perceived as another means of allowing fate to decide the course of events.
Medieval aristocrats enjoy a feast. From the Grimani Breviary for January. Venice circa 1500. Medieval captives of high status would sometimes be treated as honored guests. “Good citizens” voting in an election, from a fresco painted in the Siena city council’s town hall meeting room, Ambrogio Lorenzetti, circa 1320. This fresco is still visible in the Siena town hall council chambers.
By giving over a decision to the whims of the majority, they knew they were putting at least a partly random element into the process, in some ways almost in the same sense as the casting of lots, trial by combat or trial by ordeal. But while those other more barbaric methods faded into disuse, it was the election that proved to be the most stable and long-lasting method of breaking an impasse or potential impasse, and in many cases elections became tradition, continuing long after trials by ordeal or combat had become almost unheard of. Elections didn’t exist in a vacuum, but were most commonly and routinely associated with the various assemblies or diets which were held in rural areas
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Captivity and ransom One of the most important aspects of the Chivalric code was the unwritten promise during wartime to capture fellow members of the military caste, rather than kill them. This very important courtesy was extended, usually, to family of the same class and sometimes their direct servants, though usually not to their common vassals of lesser status. Captivity was such a part of medieval life that it was almost routine. Nor was it necessarily restricted to nobles, studies published in the early 21st Century revealed the elaborate systems of ransom used by even the lowest ranking common soldiers among the French and English armies fighting in the 100 Years War27.
A Venetian burgher, Jacopo de’ Barbari, circa 1500.
Parole was also a common practice, though by no means guaranteed. When there were too many captives to supervise, it was not unusual to allow them to depart the battlefield, minus their arms, and upon swearing some kind of oath not to fight for a certain period of time. The other option, of course, was to simply slaughter them and that was also done on occasion, as was wounding them, either superficially (cutting noses or ears) or by permanent maiming such as hamstringing or blinding. These practices could backfire though and did quite famously on a few occasions, when men refused to surrender for fear of such a fate. In Northern Europe and in the Baltic, among the Latin people, it was more common to simply parole military captives. Captivity among the nobility could range from conditions of extreme comfort, where the captive would be literally treated as an honored house guest, to the kind of brutal privations which the term ‘medieval’ has become so closely associated in the popular imagination today. Many of the gentry made their living from capturing and ransoming merchants, and these people too could expect a wide range of conditions in their captivity, though more often than not, they weretreated well. Ransoms could sometimes be moderate or token as a Chivalric gesture, but it was more typical that they were ruinously expensive. Princes and Towns The relationships between towns and princes in NorthCentral Europe and specifically around the Baltic zone were complex and often fraught. On the one hand, princes greatly appreciated towns and wanted them in their territory. Towns brought money into the district, even if you weren’t directly taxing them. For example, nobles living around Nuremberg, which was a major manufacturing center particularly for metals, made a lot of money just selling firewood and charcoal to the city and it’s merchants and craft guilds.
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A mixed group of cavalry including lancers and mounted crossbowmen, with three musicians. Philipp Mönch - Kriegsbuch - cod. pal. germ. 126. Circa 1496
Larger towns were communications and travel hubs where information was efficiently gathered and where it was easy to secure transportation to the four corners of the Earth. Towns provided local markets where luxuries, economic necessities, and useful things like weapons, armor and warmachines could be purchased or sold. Towns were major fortresses in and of themselves and had skilled, wellequipped militias, and could therefore be valuable military allies.
Still life with partridge and gauntlets (and a crossbow bolt), by Jacopo de’ Barbari, Venice 1504. Hunting was popular both with the nobility and the burghers, war and hunting had a close overlap in this period.
The money that towns brought to a princes realm however, was probably the single most important benefit. Princes, after all, made most of their money directly and indirectly from agriculture, from whatever they could squeeze from what were effectively not much more than subsistence farmers and their equivalent. The agriculture system of the Late Medieval world was much improved over the Roman or migration-era practices, but it was not exactly efficient.
to the district. But if they were allowed to build walls and join a powerful league such as the Hanse, they could quickly become so formidable that the prince could not longer control them at all.
Fortifications of a town, Philipp Mönch - Kriegsbuch - cod. pal. germ. 126. Circa 1496
Princes could supplement their income with whatever they could seize from the unlucky, unable, or unwary in battle or acts of outright banditry, but these opportunities were unpredictable and not always easy to secure. So even a small town with a few hundred inhabitants could provide more revenue to a princely estate than the taxed labor of thousands of peasants or tens of thousands of serfs. This was not lost on the princes, however they despised the peculiar race of “shopkeeper” who inhabited urban communities.
Urban defensive tower, Speyer, Germany. Built circa 1500. Gate towers often featured clocks. A tower like this would usually have an arsenal including several small and medium sized cannon. Photo by author.
A young knight of the Rehlinger family, armed with a longsword and an axe, and wearing an exquisite Maximilian style field Harness. Anonymous, German, 1540
The problem was that towns were made up of commoners who did not seem to know their place. If they were allowed to become powerful, from the princes point of view they became arrogant, pushy, stingy with their wealth and overly cautious just when they were needed most to help in schemes of Hausmachtpolitik. The wisest princes knew there was a fine line to be walked when dealing with towns. If kept under tight control, they would often fail to develop, unable to provide much military assistance or cultural / economic development
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If they were antagonized too badly, the burghers could also look to the enemies of the prince (such as, perhaps, a hostile brother in law in a nearby county) for support when disputes arose. Therefore, the most astute princes kept the towns in check just enough (if they could), and kept up a certain constant pressure on them, while avoiding outbreaks of open conflict. Culturally, the burghers and the nobility really existed in different worlds in the 15th Century in Central and Northern Europe. The lords saw the burghers (and all commoners) as inferiors or demi-humans. The aristocrats referred to townsfolk derisively as ‘shopkeepers’ and did not recognize their family lineages. Conversely, the wealthier merchants in particular openly looked down on the nobility as illiterate thieves with no honor, and even when they purchased titles (or married their children into noble families) for purposes of diplomacy, they did not use the surname ‘von’ or call themselves ‘duke’ or ‘count’, as this was looked down upon by their urban peers. This kind of contempt continued right up until WW II in some towns like Lübeck and Hamburg. The reason that
burghers did purchase or marry into aristocratic houses is that it conferred necessary rights within the princely courts, which often failed to formally recognize town folk as an estate. On the one hand, a prince didn’t have to have control over a town or be at war with it to derive great wealth from it. For example, the Franconian nobles who owned land around Nuremberg derived significant income just from selling wood and charcoal for the many forges and furnaces in the city. Carefully managed forests around the town produced a steady amount of fuel without using up the wood. Nobles in Thuringia managed plantations of woad which they sold to the five färberwaid towns of Erfurt, Gotha, Tennstedt, Arnstadt and Langensalza, whose main industry was dying wool. There was another major woad market at Görlitz in Lusatia, where both nobles and burghers grew wealthy in a mutually beneficial trade. Even wise princes frequently seemed to forget that the townsfolk had a certain hard-won status and refused to be treated like servants. This led to some really ugly incidents and could sometimes prove very costly to everyone involved. For example, Andrzej Tęczyński, a prominent Polish knight who was the field commander of the Polish forces during the 13 Years War after 1455, got himself killed in a bloody riot in Kraków after he and several of his servants roughed up an armorer there (twice) over a dispute related to an ill-fitting harness. The incident was bad for the burghers too because after tense negotiations with King Casimir they had to turn over 8 of their own to be executed in retribution.
defeated at the Battle of Doffingen in 1388 or when Mainz fell to her own archbishop in the 1460’s. And on the fringes of the Holy Roman Empire, in places like Hungary, France, England and Spain, towns were increasingly being forced to knuckle under to powerful princely monarchs. The Central European burghers were keenly aware of this threat. So they in turn were very cautious in dealing with the princes. This caution meant that it would be completely inaccurate to characterize the towns as being in some kind of permanent revolutionary struggle against the princes. That was not the case. For one thing, the town fathers knew if the princes formed broad alliances of the 2nd Estate as they did against the Swabian League leading up to the Battle of Doffingen, they could very well defeat the towns militarily, if not overtopping their walls, at least squeezing trade to a halt, and this was the death knell of a city. The risks of such an engagement were therefore too high. The towns would only fight the princes when they thought it was absolutely necessary for their own survival (or continued prosperity, which they saw as almost the same thing). As often as they fought against them, the towns also relied on the princes for military and diplomatic support (especially against other princes), and frequently formed mutually beneficial trade alliances with them as well. This was particularly true in the Baltic zone where the great princely ‘Folwark’ farming estates of Prussia, Lithuania and Poland provided the grain shipped down the Vistula river which was increasingly the wellspring of trading wealth for Danzig and the other towns of the Prussian Confederation, enriching everyone involved (except the serfs on the Folwark).
Prince Eric II, one of the Griffin Dukes of Pomerania, lost most of his entourage one day in 1456 when he decided to barge into forests owned by the city of Griefswald on a hunting trip, and angered the town’s formidable burgomeister Heinrich Rubenau. Even the mighty Duke Philip “The Good” of Burgundy nearly got himself killed in Bruges in a riot after some of his men got a little heavy-handed with the populace (town chroniclers allege he was actually trying to take over the town directly). The Kings of Denmark and England also learned the hard way about pushing around Hanseatic merchants while in a fit of pique, when they lost costly wars against the Hanseatic League in the 1380’s, 1420’s, and 1470’s. The King of Denmark had to flee Copenhagen when his harbor was bombarded and his entire fleet sunk by Hanseatic warships in 1427. And Charles the Bold was ultimately killed by the militia of the Swiss towns of Bern and Zurich during the Burgundian Wars. Conversely the princes sometimes got the better of even large cities, such as when the Swabian League was
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Urban fortifications, Murten, Switzerland, built circa 1440. Photo by author.
It is more accurate to say that neither the towns nor the princes fully understood one another most of the time, and while they often cooperated, they were also often rivals,
generally speaking. Most of the towns, with a few notable exceptions, were really not interested in seizing territorial power beyond what they needed to keep trade flowing. They just wanted their merchants to have the freedom of the roads and for the princely, clerical, and royal authorities to respect their hard-won rights. That was more than enough of a challenge for most towns! They knew that the game of hausmachtpolitik. was something that required infinite commitment, and carried extremely dire risks. Their interests were more in building a good life and creating a beautiful and safe environment to live in, than in finding glory in the conquest of strangers. If the towns did not grasp the great mission of the lordly families, it was also true in this period that most of the princes pointedly had no interest, (yet), in the intricacies of carrying on trade, at least not in terms of direct involvement. So their agendas lay to a large extent in different realms. As a result, though this too caused friction, more often than not, the towns and nearby princes treated one another with a certain wary respect, even if they did not like or understand one another very well. Princes were nevertheless tempted by the wealth of nearby towns frequently, due to the constant financial crises they suffered through, usually but not always caused by feuds and wars. But a single prince on his own usually lacked the resources to knock over a strong town, even if he desperately needed to, and as an estate, the princes lacked sufficient unity to form lasting alliances against the cities most of the time. Towns on the other hand could form alliances with each other too and, often had no trouble at all finding rival princes to help face down a princely threat.
cannon to nearby Duke C, whose family has hated yours for generations, this could rapidly spell doom to your entire lineage. Towns could almost always afford to hire mercenaries and thereby attack princes and burn their estates at little risk to their own greatest asset- their citizenry. If things did get truly desperate, the burghers could deploy their often formidable militia, and they had an uncanny ability to develop new and dangerous weapons during times of crisis. For example, one of the first really large bombards ever built in the 14th Century was forged in Cologne when they were under threat by a neighboring prince in 1377. The powerful weapon came as a nasty surprise when the town successfully attacked what had been thought to be an impregnable castle. On another occasion, in 1382, the city of Ghent rather suddenly deployed 200 cart-mounted organ guns, or multi-barreled cannon, which they used to defeat Count Louis II of Flanders at the Battle of Beverhoutsveld. Nobody had ever seen such weapons used on that kind of scale before. These factors, combined with the cautious and skilled diplomatic and legal maneuverings of the town fathers, often conducted in a deliberate and strategic manner over many generations, allowed the wealthiest and most resourceful of the towns to thrive for centuries in the midst of the cut-throat world of princely families.
Castle, Philipp Mönch - Kriegsbuch - cod. pal. germ. 126. Circa 1496
Bombard built by the city of Cologne in 1377. This was one of the first operationally significant large calibre cannon used in Europe. A gun like this which could knock down castle walls in a matter of days or even hours, was greatly feared.
If you, Duke A declared a feud with town B, which caused that city to make a generous gift of 1,000 well-mounted and hard bitten mercenaries, and 5 castle-wrecking
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Though the burghers as an estate could not do much to prevent the princes from fighting one another and laying waste to the countryside in the process, most towns beyond a certain size were able to retain their independence and the cities peace (burgherrecht) inside the perimeter of their own walls. They were also able most of the time to tackle the much more difficult task of keeping the roads open for commerce, though they had to turtle up when major wars
broke out and rely on their walls and carefully hoarded supplies. The First Margrave War “Fire adorns war, as the Magnificat adorns the Vespers.” – Margrave of Brandenburg- Ansbach Albrecht III “Achilles”, while burning villages in the Margrave War, 1449.
Coat of arms of Nuremberg, above the entrance to the Mauthalle. The greater (left) and lesser (right) coat of arms of the city are beneath the Imperial Coat of Arms (center)
One famous example of the perils of war between prince and town occurred right in the middle of the 15th Century between the Imperial Free City of Nuremberg, and the formidable Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach, prince Albrecht III “Achilles”, of the House of Hohenzollern. Albrecht had a personal beef with Nuremberg, his family had traditionally owned some lucrative offices within the city itself which had been subsequently taken over by the town council. Albrecht wanted these revenues back and he wanted Nuremberg taken down a peg as a regional power. To gain support for his cause, Albrecht devised what you might call a populist strategy.
Margrave Albrecht III “Achilles” of Brandenburg, (later prince-elector of Brandenburg) looking uncharacteristically pious, was the leader and chief instigator of the war against Nuremberg.
Well aware that many of the lower ranking nobility in the region were clashing with the towns over their ‘rights’ to
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conduct feuds (and thus kidnap travelers and rob caravans crossing through the contested areas), Albrecht wrote incendiary missives decrying the pretensions of the burghers and the overreach of city power into the prerogatives of the 2nd Estate. Many knights and lower ranking nobles, as well as a few formidable princes in the north flocked to his banner as war loomed. Nuremberg, in turn forged alliances with several nobles and a few (mostly smaller) towns, mobilized their militia and hired mercenaries. The first stages of the war went well for Albrecht and his cavalry-heavy force, and he won 8 skirmishes in rapid succession against the Nuremberg militia and mercenaries through the summer of 1449. His victories inspired him to greater ambition, culminating in a siege of Nuremberg itself later that year with 7,000 men. The siege was overthrown when several of his cannon were destroyed in a sortie and supplies began to dwindle. Undaunted Albrecht ravaged the nearby countryside, burning dozens of villages and small market towns to the ground. He also captured the important castle of Lichtenau, which Nuremberg held somewhat provocatively near his territory. However, in 1450, the mighty prince lost a pitched battle against the Nuremberg forces near the monastery of Pillenreuth (in whose pond he had declared he wanted to fish). The war ended in a peace treaty in 1450 at Bamburg wherein Albrecht was forced to return all the lands he had captured and pay compensation, suffering a certain degree of humiliation. He may have also been wounded by a crossbow bolt during the battle according to one source.
Map of the Pillenreuther Wiher, where the final battle of the First Margrave War took place, in 1450.
The overall impact of the brief war was to devastate the lands of thousands of peasants and the estates of dozens of knights in the region, to economically damage Nuremberg, to curtail trade in the district and sour relations
between the burghers and the nobles in that area for generations to come. Orchards, farms and mills were burned, villages depopulated, some for long periods, and the overall wealth of southern Brandenburg and much of Franconia declined.
was able to retain control of her estate in the temporary or permanent absence of her husband or higher-status male relative, depended on the specific region and its local laws, and of course the power of her own personality and that of her family.
Albrecht himself also suffered setbacks in the short term but ultimately benefited, as partly through inheritance, and partly through machination, he later became Elector of Brandenburg. His descendants’ policies would continue the animosity toward the towns within his own district and neighboring Pomerania and Franconia, into which they gradually extended control. The Electors of Brandenburg suppressed their own small trading town of Berlin for example, stunting its growth for many generations to come, rather than face burgher upstarts in their own backyard. But Albrecht never tangled with Nuremberg again.
Though the laws didn’t always explicitly support women of the aristocracy, and sometimes to the contrary, a woman with a sufficiently forceful personality could still rise to great heights of power in Northern and Central Europe. There were hundreds of formidable lady-princes in Late Medieval Europe, at all levels of the nobility. Queen Margaret I of Denmark was by far the single most powerful and effective Scandinavian monarch of the late Medieval period. Philippa of England supervised the successful defense of Copenhagen during the 1428 bombardment by the Hanseatic League after her husband Eric of Pomerania (King of Denmark) fled the town.
Many centuries later, Brandenburg would merge with Royal Prussia to become the nucleus of the new German Empire. The once small and suppressed town of Nuremberg became the royal capital.
Duchess Margaret of Savoy, daughter of Hapsburg Emperor Maximillian I and aunt of the mighty Emperor Charles V. In her role as regent and administrator of the Hapsburg Netherlands from 1507-1515 and again from 1519 to 1530 she was considered one of the most astute and effective princely leaders of her era, as well as an important art patron. Anna of Masovia, a striking and somewhat Gothic Polish noblewoman (szlachcianki), early 16th Century. Artist unknown. Detail from a portrait of the Last Masovian Piasts.
Women in the Aristocracy Women in the medieval aristocracy could have substantial rights and were often quite powerful. There are records of noblewomen defending castles during wartime in their husband’s absence or as widows, and even leading armies and naval fleets. Many Ladies became powerful political figures. Whether a Lady (a lady count was a Gräfin, a lady knight a Freifrau/Freiin)
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Some zones under Salian (one variant of Frankish) law denied women the right to own inheritable estates. This was the reason why there were never any ruling female monarchs in France. In other regions, notably among the Norse, Frisians, Bohemians or Saxons, there were no such legal restrictions, and the only thing holding a woman back was tradition, her popularity (as with so many things did in medieval Europe), and her individual strength of character.
The best conditions for women in terms of local laws and customs were probably in Scandinavia, in Flanders, and in the Western Slavic kingdoms like Poland and Bohemia. For some examples of powerful Ladies of this period, see People of the Medieval Baltic. Angering a noblewoman, particularly if she was your wife, could be a risky matter, even for a powerful Lord, as one anecdote from Jan Dlugosz makes abundantly clear: “Duchess Gryfina, wife of Leszeck the Black, Duke of Sieradz, having summoned an assembly of the nobles, knights and gentry, tells them that for almost six years she has lived with her husband yet is still virgo intacta. She accuses her husband to his face of being impotent and frigid, accusations he accepts in silence. So, removing the hood, with which, as a wife, she covers her head, she thenceforth goes about with her head uncovered, living as a maiden and avoiding the company of Leszek. Her aim is to have her marriage dissolved.”
adolescent son Matthias, not yet of age and languishing in the Kings prison, she took a page from her husband’s book: “Shattered by the news of the fate of her two sons Hunyadi’s widow, instead of having recourse to womanly tears, takes up arms. Having the huge fortune collected over the years by her husband, she hires several thousand mercenaries, some of whom she installs as garrisons in her late husband’s castles, and with the others, still a considerable army, she declares war on the King, who has to bring in troops from Bohemia and Austria to stop her from besieging him in Buda. Eventually, peace is restored.” -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1457 AD
-Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1271 AD
Left, Jadwiga Jagiellonka, Duchess of Bavaria from 1479-1502, daughter of King Casimir IV of Poland. Anonymous portrait, public domain. Right, German noblewoman, 1515 Lucas Cranach the Elder
Queens did not necessarily have to wait until their husbands died in order to (literally) go on the warpath, as we see in this example from 1391: “While her husband is thus occupied in Lithuania, Queen [of Poland] Jadwiga, intending to enlarge her kingdom, assembles another army of knights and gentry, who are so attached to her that they obey all her commands, and with this invades Ruthenia. Within a short time, she has captured Przemysl, Jaroslaw, Grodek, Halicz, Trembowla and Lwow, thanks, in part, to the generalship of a Hungarian knight, called Bebek. She removes all the Hungarians and Silesians installed there by her father and the Duke of Opole and replaces them with Poles, thus reuniting lands unjustly torn from the kingdom of Poland.” -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1457 AD
Saint Hemma von Gurk, wearing the Order of the Swan, by Sebald Bopp, 1490. The device around her neck means she is a member of the Order of the Swan. Married women typically covered their hair in medieval Europe. The actual model might be a burgher or a noblewoman.
Women of the high nobility could become warlords in their own right, as was the case with the widow of John Hunyadi. When he unexpectedly died after his great victory at the siege of Belgrade in 1453, she was beset by his many enemies from all sides, and her son Lazlo was beheaded. In order to protect herself and her
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One interesting aspect of the lives of some high ranking female aristocrats is that because of the nature of marriage among the nobility, the wife was often from a family in a distant region, and in many cases, another country. She might speak a separate language, follow a different religious sect, eat different food, and live by different customs. As a result, typically in particular among the high nobility, the princely or magnate level, ladies would often have their own entire separate household. They would have their ladies of waiting of course, but also household staff, guards,
cooks, servants, administrators and even their own diplomats. They would often dine with their own entourage, separately from their husband, who in many cases would be away on various types of business.
children, and promises that in the future she and her husband will be loyal and energetically help the King against the [Teutonic] Knights.
The beautiful Christine of Saxony, Queen of Denmark, 15th Century, artist unknown.
In pagan Lithuania, this may have been taken to an even further level. According to the Italian cleric and diplomat, (and later in his life, Pope Pius II) Aneaus Sylvio Piccolomini, Lithuanian Ladies of Ducal rank had special ladies in waiting who were known as ‘marital assistants’, with whom it was expected that they would enjoy intimate relations. Conversely, Piccolomini noted, it was considered disgraceful for any of the males to engage in such practices. We can’t be certain about any of this but it’s what Piccolomini recorded in his History of Europe in the mid-15th Century. Aristocratic women could also make use of their sex appeal for diplomatic purposes, as we can gather reading between the lines a bit in this account of a punitive expedition by the King of Poland into Pomerania to punish Duke Eric, who had allied himself with the Teutonic Order. “While there, some volunteers and a party of Tatars, having nothing to do, set about devastating the countryside; they even capture the fortress at Szczecin and other forts, and acquire considerable loot. As they are taking this back, they are attacked by some of Duke Eric’s Saxons, many of whom they capture and hand over to the King, while the loot is sold. Frightened by this reverse, Duke Eric’s wife, Sophia, goes to the King in his camp, admits that her husband has been guilty of a serious breach of faith, to which she was no party, and begs the King to have mercy on the Duke, herself and their
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St. Barbara reading a book, detail from the Werl Tryptich, Cologne circa 1438, by Flemish master Robert Campin. Wealthy or middle class women were presumed to be literate in this era, and Campin often portrayed women reading books in his paintings.
The Duchess is as pretty as she is eloquent, and shows humility. After much discussion, it is agreed that Duke Eric is to be forgiven. It is said that the King, seeing the cleverness and beauty of the Duchess, regretted not having chosen her when she was suggested as his bride; for, apart from her beauty, she would have brought him the large amount of gold which came to her on the death of her grandfather, King Eric of Romania, as well as the lands of Szczecin, themselves no mean dowry; yet he sets aside his regrets, remembering the love and modesty of his wife Elizabeth, mother of his five children.” -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1461 AD (or at any rate, this is what the official story was!)
Young men, probably knights, engaged in a risky type of joust, done with minimal armor, popular in Central Europe, while others of lower status race. From the Von Wolfegg Housebook, circa 1490.
Free agents Outlaws Like in the American Wild West of the 19th Century, justice was harsh in Medieval Europe, and life was full of ups and downs. It was fairly easy to get into a serious bind you could not get out of, especially if you were poor or fell into debt. If desperation caused you to steal or kill, and you didn’t want to be hanged or have your hands cut off, sometimes the best solution was to run off to the woods. Formal exile was also a common punishment left over from pagan laws, either temporary (usually for a year and a day) or permanently (a hundred years and a day). An exiled person might not be able to rejoin a new community especially if they were poor or lacked skills, or if they had been marked as a criminal, so this sentence was feared and could effectively lead to outlawry. And as serfdom was gradually introduced to this region in the 15th Century, many peasants ran away from their farms rather than live under the yoke of thralldom. As a result, just like in the Wild West, the hills and forests of the medieval Baltic teemed with outlaws, some of whom were very dangerous people. Most outlaws were
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simply desperate exiles or refugees attempting to eek out a precarious existence as poachers and smugglers, or as charcoal burners (a common occupation for outlaws) or if they were lucky, guides. Smuggling was a more lucrative business, but also riskier as it could attract the attention of a nearby prince, town or abbey. Smuggling The medieval economy is hard for modern people to understand, because it was a curious mix of completely unregulated activity, what we might today call laissez faire capitalism, with what some historians describe as a kind of hyper-regulation. An outlaw was literally “outside the law” which meant he or she was deprived of all legal rights. Outlaws had no legal recourse to any wrong done to them, and others could kill or rob them on sight as if they were a wolf or other wild animal. On the other hand, an outlaw wasn’t typically under any compunction to obey the laws and rules of the day. Both the trading towns and the local aristocrats made sure to control the flow of goods through their territory and took a cut of anything which was traded through or near their strongholds. When it was legal this was called the staple right, and it took a small bite out of those traders not part of the network of protected merchants. But nobles didn’t always obey even these niceties and could take whatever they wanted, often robbing travelers or even kidnapping
them, or in other cases assisting smugglers to evade the ‘rights’ of a nearby town or prince.
Leute, ‘harmful people’ by town authorities) were far more dangerous than mere outlaws because they could be armed and supplied by their patrons, and they benefited from larger intelligence networks. Brigands operated more like privateers than pirates, in that they had an arrangement (which was in some cases written and formal like a letter of marque) allowing them to operate in enemy territory, under the arrangement that they did not ‘shit where they eat’ to use a vulgar colloquialism. Brigands thrived in borders between nations as well as a border between a criminal underworld of outlaws with that of irregular soldiers or guerrillas. As among the nobles, captivity for ordinary people seized by brigands could range from remarkably polite and easy to incredibly brutal. Though brigands and bandits were a problem throughout Europe, in the Baltic region they were an even more sinister threat due to their association with the slave trade. In places near the fault lines between language, religious or ethnic groups, the reality of dealing with brigands was much more perilous. The fires are burning behind the river—The Tatars are dividing their captives. Our village is burnt. And our property plundered. Old mother is sabred. And my dear is taken into captivity.
(Ukrainian folk-song) Returning travelers are greeted with ‘yellow wine’, from one of the many versions of the Tacuinum Sanitatis, 15th Century
Smuggling was done not so much to bring in contraband, but to avoid tariffs or fees, or to bypass monopolies or guild-mandated quality standards. More like the smuggling of tobacco in the US today to avoid tax stamps than the smuggling of illegal drugs. Merchandise made by the guilds tended to be suitable for export, and of high quality but also expensive. As a result there was a local demand for black market goods of lesser quality, this was somewhat addressed by the “bunglers” who operated in the fringes of the towns (see The Town, Bunglers) but their supply-lines were not always legitimate (hence the need again for smugglers). As a result, smuggling went on at a brisk rate through the countryside for a wide variety of goods and commodities. The surviving court records of local towns and abbeys are filled with references to illegal trails and roads which constantly appear mysteriously through nearby forests and swamps which they were constantly trying to shut down. Brigands Some outlaws formed more dangerous and well organized robber gangs, (again, just like in the Wild West), and some of these were backed by regional powers ranging from robber knights to princes to protoStates like the Teutonic Order, the Tartar Khan, or the Grand Duke of Lithuania. These more organized, professional brigands (sometimes called schädliche
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Where affinity group relationships existed, it was more likely that ransoms could be arranged and hostages treated humanely. But where these did not exist, particularly in the borderland between the Greek / Orthodox or Latin world and the Mongol Golden Horde or Crimean Horde, captives could expect brutal hardship at best. The economy of the Steppe Nomad hordes was based on sustained raiding of neighboring lands and permanent slavery for captives, a practice they called “harvesting the steppe”. Modern historians estimate that an average of 20,000 people per year were captured from Europe by Steppe Nomads and brought down to the Crimean slave depots from from the 15th Century through the 18th. People in what are now Ukraine and Belarus bore the brunt of this savage practice, but Poland, Lithuania and Russia and German speaking areas in Prussia and Livonia felt the bite as well. Bandits in the border areas of these zones were often tied into the slave trading networks. Conversely Polish knights, Cossacks, Saxon burghers and Czech mercenaries operating near the border areas gave bandits, particularly Muslim or Muslim affiliated bandits short shrift, and swift death was often the best they could hope for when captured during one of their raids, or in counter-raids which were increasingly launched against Mongol or Turkish controlled territories particularly by the Cossacks. Cossacks In the late 14th Century a new and interesting type of “outlaw republic” began forming in the no-mans land at the
cataracts of the Dnieper and Don Rivers. Two major groupings of these unique outlaws, called Cossacks existed in 1456, but the group most relevant to the Southern Baltic was the Zaporozhian Cossacks on the Dnieper. These men were runaway slaves and serfs, mostly Ruthenians, who had fled both the feudalism of Poland and increasingly, Lithuania, as well as the outright slavery of the Russians and (especially) the Tartars.
Cossacks were basically like (arguably) slightly nicer versions of the guys from Mad Max, except they used horses rather than motorcycles.
Though the Cossacks became known, and are known today, chiefly for their fantastic light cavalry, in the 15th Century it was their well-disciplined infantry and what you might call ‘marines’; armed men raiding on ships down the rivers of Ukraine and the Crimea, who were most widely respected and feared. On land, Cossacks relied on tactics adapted from Czech Hussite mercenaries who operated in the region, including the use of war-wagons heavily armed with guns and crossbows. Though wild and independent, they were known for their excellent battlefield discipline. On the rivers they also armed and fortified their boats and rafts in a similar manner as the war wagons. Cossacks were a kind of military fraternity, but they also had civilian lives. Many Cossacks were skilled artisans, others were farmers, traders or fishermen. They formed self-reliant communities in the Sich and also dispersed among the peasants of the region between raiding seasons. Though they mostly targeted Muslim nomads and the Ottoman Empire in their raids, they were a rough bunch who could be suspicious and territorial, and it was better to have contacts in the Cossack areas before entering them. For more on the Cossacks and their fighting tactics, see Tertiary Players, The Zaporozhian Cossacks.
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Robber Knights Owning a castle created a great temptation, because the safety it conferred offered a degree of impunity for many crimes one may have wanted, or needed to commit. Even for knights, life was difficult in the medieval Baltic and has its ups and downs. Peasants run away or are captured by Tartars, wild bison eat this year’s entire crop of rye, a flood or a bad harvest leaves you facing starvation. Gambling debts get out of hand. Sometimes, with or without such motivating factors, it was simply too tempting to ignore that humble caravan rolling ever so slowly through the valley below your keep. One day you give in to temptation, ride down and rob everybody, maybe even kill them- So far so good. But if you missed one porter who got away to tell everyone what you did… oops! Well now you are a Raubritter (Robber Knight). While most knights defended their right to feud while trying to maintain plausible deniability that they were actual bandits, there were also many who crossed over into the status of Robber Knights throughout Central Europe. In the Baltic they were particularly common in Silesia and Pomerania, but could also be found in Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania. Mecklenburg was famous as a ‘robbers nest’. The key to their success was a strong castle. The castle allowed the knight and his men to hold up when there was danger around (punitive expeditions from cities, Royal forces etc.) and then emerge when the opportunity for plunder returned. Sometimes Robber Knights created protection rackets where they could charge a ‘tax’ to travelers or merchants passing near their strongholds, declaring faustrecht or “fist law”. Some put a chain across a nearby river to stop boats. In some documents from the 14th Century it was recorded 10 or 12 such ‘tolls’ were required on the Rhine merely to travel between towns two or three days-journey apart, and one could never rely on a Robber Baron to keep his side of the bargain. The situation was intolerable for the towns and they took measures to strike back. Once towns began to crack down successfully some robber knights became folkheroes. In 1372 Eppelein von Gailingen was captured by Nuremberg after robbing merchant caravans for several years. In a scene right out of an action movie, he famously escaped execution just when he was about to be hanged high up in Nuremberg castle. Facing death, von Gallingen asked to sit on his horse one last time before the noose was put around his neck. When they granted him his last wish, he spurred his mount into a daring leap over the wall and into the moat, from which he escaped. He was later captured in 1381 and put to death by being broken on the wheel, but the famous 1372 escape lived on to become legendary and was celebrated in songs in the 15th Century as tensions between nobles and towns were
escalating. Another robber knight named Fritsche Grad was executed by the city of Görlitz in 1430. About to be beheaded, he exclaimed his love for his boots, his spurs and his 'gute Gesselen', which led his captors to mock him for forgetting his wife and children 28. He too later became a folk hero celebrated in songs and poems.
Social mobility in the Feudal world One of the more persistently elusive mysteries of the medieval world was the nature of social mobility from the lower ranks of society to the higher, especially in the countryside. This was never a simple or easy process, the mechanisms changed and became increasingly complex over time, and there was always a gap between the theoretical means and the actual realities. At their simplest, the urban doctrine of ‘Stadtluft macht frei” defined entry into the cities and the estate of the burgher and urban citizenship, while Lords rewarding land and titles for service in vassalage was the route into rural land ownership and ultimately, the nobility. Social mobility from countryside into the towns “Stadtluft macht frei” meant any commoner or even serf who was able to reside in a town for a year and a day became free and earned the right to remain there as a denizen. Potentially with luck and hard work this meant to become an artisan or merchant and thereby a citizen. This was real on the face of it, and some famous and very mighty urban families got their start exactly this way, for example the Fuggers of Augsburg. However, there were many complicating factors in becoming a burgher, and it was no longer routine in the 15th Century for people to just show up and become a resident. Towns had a carrying capacity in terms of infrastructure, the market demands for labor, and their capacity for food, clean water and sanitation- and they were very aware of it. There is a reason why many towns in German speaking areas and within Poland had fairly low population levels of five or ten thousand residents for a typical ‘medium sized town’, and rarely more than twenty or thirty thousand for a ‘large city’, growing very slowly if at all sometimes for multiple generations. On the other hand, apparently for cultural reasons towns had a much lower birth rate than the countryside. With a few exceptions, most Central European barely managed to achieve demographic replacement throughout most of the middle ages29, particularly after the Black Death in the mid 14th Century. This meant that a steady trickle of immigrants was needed and did come in from the rural population, and sometimes such as after a war or an epidemic, that trickle became a flood for a while until town populations were built back up to the optimal level again.
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The most common way to become a citizen the town was as a servant, and women were more likely to get in that way than men. This was routine but hiring was typically done through some kind of affinity connection. Second most common was as day-laborers for which there was some demand in the town (more when they had big construction projects going on or during an economic boom period), who were usually though not always younger men. The third most common and most sought after avenue was as an apprentice, and these would be children. Typically bright, well behaved and capable children, and also most often the children of servants or day laborers and others who had gained respect in the town.
Coat of arms of the von Parsberg family. In the late 1440’s Werner von Parsberg successfully led Nuremberg militia and mercenaries against the Margrave of Brandenburg and his allies. Image public domain.
Another method increasingly common in the 15th Century was via different forms of “outburgher” status. People from the countryside would be granted provisional forms of citizenship for various reasons. The most common form of outburgher was as a military ally: lower ranked nobles or gentry often formed alliances with larger nearby towns based on military reciprocity – the town got their military support and the use of their castles or fortifications if they had any 30 , and in return the knight got some legal protection under town law, the military support of the town, the right to put their family safely behind town walls during times of war and possibly the right (or obligation) to build a house in the town. Aside from the small number of knights granted ‘Burgerecht’, there was also a larger and less clearly defined strata of soldiers and military adventurers who worked in a paramilitary capacity for the towns as mounted henchmen, known to the nobles as hetzrüden or “Stag Hounds”. The typical euphemism for these men in the town records was that they were “given a horse” by the city, meaning they were armed and equipped as a lancer or a mounted crossbowman in times of war, (even if they typically did their duties less heavily armed). Nuremberg routinely sent patrols of 7-12 such men to secure roads
around the city, and kept roughly 100 on payroll at any given time31. These retainers were sometimes granted citizenship or at least denizen status in the town if they performed good service or proved to be particularly reliable (and were deemed suitably civilized).
so much in their finances that they could no longer maintain their status.
There was another type of outburgher linked to the town on an economic rather than military basis, called the paleburgher. Paleburghers were usually commoners, often peasants, who were integrated with the towns markets by either growing industrial crops for the town (like hops or barely for the brewers, madder for dyers or flax for linen weavers and paper mills) or were involved in putting out systems either for merchant companies or for the craft guilds. These could include such industrial activities as mining, iron or copper smelting, manufacturing sheet metal in rolling mills or metal wire in wire-pulling mills, cloth fulling operations, wool spinning, or processing lumber into boards in a sawmill. As putting out systems became more organized in the rural areas, sophisticated manufacturing complexes were established mainly in river valleys by craft guilds and urban mercantile companies, almost all powered by water wheels. Within these operations, ordinary peasants who were competent and diligent enough could move up the ranks from unskilled labor to skilled labor or management. These people often became paleburghers and some ultimately moved into town as full citizens, or secured apprenticeships for their children. Finally urban trading companies also employed people from the countryside as scouts, caravan guards, local fixers, agents or servants in remote entrepôts and so on. Such “company men” who were competent, especially if they were also literate, and who had earned the respect and trust of their merchant bosses, also had a good chance of moving up in the organization and of thereby becoming citizens. Some rose to the rank of merchants themselves. Social mobility into the aristocracy Members of the ‘gentry’, the wealthier yeomen farmers, millers and country blacksmiths, armed retainers of nobles, mercenaries, dienstmann and clerks in the employ of princes and so on, formed an aspirational strata just below the lower nobility and closely linked to the aristocracy they served. Like the burghers, hereditary noble families often (though not always) seemed to suffer a gradually declining birth rate after a generation or two of living a relatively comfortable life, and it’s clear that the overall number of noble families both shrank in size and declined in total numbers from the High to Late medieval period. Nobles also faced various economic hardships and sometimes fell behind
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Left, waterwheel powered mine hoist, Right, machinery from a mining operation. Both images from De Re Metallica, Georgius Agricola, 1555. Images public domain.
Though nobles certainly didn’t mind having less peer competition, it was potentially awkward when entire family lineages died out for example leaving the peasants in a given valley with no overlord, a situation which the commoners sometimes took brisk advantage of as happened in Switzerland, in Frisia and in Swabia among other places. Therefore it was necessary from time to time to replace and replenish the noble ranks with fresh and vigorous (if not precisely blue) blood, and there were two means this typically happened. One was that members of the poorer noble families married members of their clan to rich burghers or far more rarely, peasants, of some financial means, thus exchanging status for land or wealth. Second and more common, nobles and princes granted titles and / or land to commoners in return for money or for good service of some kind, particularly military service. The granting of titles was routine enough that nobles made a sharp distinction between those recently enfoeffed and those from families who had been designated as aristocrats in the far distant past. For example, the most elite Chivalric tournaments required proof that all four grandparents were of noble blood in order to participate. Newly titled nobles had a kind of ‘asterix’ next to their name which tainted them, though how much that really mattered depended a great deal on the individual or family involved. The same ambition and drive which got them the title to begin with could also overcome aristocratic prejudices to some extent, especially for powerful and / or extremely rich (like a banker) or potentially violent men (like say, a successful Condottiere captain).
Social stagnation in the countryside For much of the High to Late Middle Ages very generally social mobility remained fairly brisk, due largely to the rise of the towns and the (more broadly speaking) rising prosperity driven by improvements in agriculture. But there were also more regressive and sinister trends in play. The ongoing chaos in many areas, including natural weather disasters like floods or droughts, and military disruptions such as the annual Crusader raids in Prussia and the Lithuanian response, (and slave raids by the Mongols, knightly feuds, princely wars and the steady encroachment by the Ottoman Empire…) all held back certain rural areas from developing sufficiently for people to get ahead. One step forward, two steps back. Another inexorable influence was the agenda of the most powerful princely families and their pursuit of Hausmacht. The princes, seeking larger and more stable income streams, increased their utilization of both naked military force with ‘reforms’ of Roman law via professional lawyers coming out of the Universities, to gradually squeeze the lower nobility and the peasants harder and harder. Under late Roman law the prince had all the power and most of the medieval concepts of either feudal or tribal rights didn’t exist, nor was town law recognized. Princes gradually made changes to the rules in their territories governing their relationship with peasants that increased their obligations and rents while decreasing their ability to roam and so on. Which probably isn’t a surprise. What is less well known is that in many of the German speaking areas the princes and prelates (the Dukes, margraves, counts, and archbishops) also put considerable pressure on the lower nobility (freiherr / barons and baronets) and on the knightly estates. The latter were largely made up of ministerial families which the princes looked down on anyway. Those who were Free Royal or Imperial knights were viewed with particular suspicion. In many cases princes directly pressured knights to give up their Imperial immediacy status and submit to vassalage. For example Eltz castle in the Rhineland-Palatinate, is a famous Ganerbenburg “condo-castle” which was home to several ministerial knightly families. In 1331 the castle came under siege by the Prince-Elector of Trier, Archbishop Baldwin von Trier, during the “Eltz feud.” The Archbishop demanded that the knights give up their immediacy status and submit to him as vassals. His initial attempt to storm the castle in 1331 was repulsed. Unfortunately for the knights their powerfully built castle was situated below higher peaks in the surrounding hills, and the archbishop’s forces built a tiny siege castle called Trutzeltz or Baldeneltz in 1335, from
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which to lob stones with a siege engine of some kind, as well as possibly a few crude cannon. No amount of courage could overcome gravity and after two years, the knights of the Eltz, Ehrenberg, Schoneck, and Winningen families submitted to the Archbishops authority and became his Landesadel or Lehnsmann – direct vassals.
Eltz castle, on the Moselle river near Trier, Germany in the Rhineland Palatinate. Built in the 12th Century, it became a Ganerbenburg in the 14th, as co-residence of several different knightly families. Photo by author.
Vassalage brought with it a whole host of problems. An excerpt from an eloquent letter by the Humanist knight Ulrich von Hutten (1488-1523) gives us some insight into the difficulties faced by vassal knights in the Late medieval and Early Modern period in a letter he wrote to Willibald Pirckheimer in 152032: The people from whom we earn our livelihood, are very poor farmers, to whom we lease our lands, vineyards, meadows and fields. The return from them is very low for the amount of effort involved, but the farmers look after them and toil away to produce as large a return as possible, because we have to be extremely prudent economically. We also serve a prince, from whom we hope for protection; I do not provide that, so everyone thinks he can get away with anything and everything against me. In addition, for the prince's liege man, this hope is combined every day with danger and fear. For if I put just one foot out of the house, there is the risk that I will come across people with whom the prince has had disputes and feuds, and that they will attack me and take me away as a prisoner. If I am unlucky, I could lose half my possessions to pay the ransom and so the protection I am supposed to enjoy would turn out to be quite the opposite.
"We therefore keep horses and buy ourselves weapons, and surround ourselves with a large retinue, all of which costs a great deal of money. We cannot leave even two acres of land unguarded for very long, we must not visit a farm without being armed, and, when hunting and fishing, we have to wear armour. The quarrels between foreign farmers and our own never cease, no day goes by without reports of quarreling and strife, that we try to settle with the utmost care. For if I defend myself or pursue wrongs too vigorously, there are feuds. But if I am a little too patient or even give up what is due to me, I am encouraging unjust attacks against me from all sides, because whatever I abandon to one person, is immediately seized upon by all as a reward for their injustice. "No matter whether a castle stands on a hill or on the plains, it is definitely not built for comfort, but for defense, surrounded by moats and ramparts, inside oppressively small, packed with livestock and stables, its dark chambers crammed with heavy rifles, pitch, sulfur and all other kinds of weapons and warlike equipment. Everywhere, there is the whiff of gunpowder; and the smell of dogs and their muck is not sweet, I think. Horsemen come and go, including robbers, thieves and highwaymen, because our houses are usually open to all sorts of people, and we do not know the individual particularly well or do not especially look after him. And what a noise! Sheep bleating, oxen bellowing, dogs barking, workers in the field shouting, wagons and carts creaking, and, at home, we can even hear the wolves howling. Every day you worry about the next, you're always on the go, always anxious.”
In addition to direct control, princes wielded a strong and growing indirect power by extending their status as regional magistrates. Some such as the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg even claimed jurisdiction over all the German speaking lands. Needless to say this was contested but comparatively poor Baronets, ministerials and Freiherren often lacked the resources to contest decisions made by the princely courts, which was one of the reasons the feud was so important to them. In Poland and Lithuania the situation was slightly different. There the princely families, who came to be known as magnates, gained power indirectly by being appointed high Royal positions such as the Voivode or very roughly, the governor, of a given region or town. Many of these same people were also landowners of large and growing farms known locally as Folwark, but more generally to modern academics as Latifundia on the old Roman model. The workers in many cases were
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speakers of a different language and either considered not fully Christian (such as Muslim converts or the Estonians and some of the Old Prussian families) or to be ‘Schismatics’, members of the Russian or Greek Orthodox Church, such as many of the Ruthenians in what are today Ukraine and Belarus. Here the princes were beginning to manage their large estates as a business. Certain lands in Poland and what are now Belarus and Ukraine, conquered by the Lithuanians and Poles from the Golden Horde, had an incredible fertility rate especially for cereal grain cultivation. The rivers, especially the Vistula (Wisla) river which flows north 650 miles from it’s source in the mountains near the Bohemian (today Czech) border all the way to Danzig and the Baltic Sea, proved a highly efficient highway for sending grain out to the four corners of the earth.
Portrait of a Cossack Woman, Serhii Vasylkivsky 1900, image Public Domain.
Certain Polish and Lithuanian families were already accumulating princely wealth and power by the midfifteenth Century but this could not be wielded as blatantly against other nobles. The principles of the Szlachta, and the related notions of Sarmatism, were codified into Royal Law in Poland and required that all nobles treat one another as equals, at least in theory. The lower to middling German speaking aristocracy in Prussia and Livonia, often collectively known as “Junkers”, also began to involve themselves in what you might call today “agribusiness” on a scale hitherto relatively rare in the lands West of the Elbe with similar grain farms. In this way the family of the squire became that of a prince over a few generations.
A marvelous medieval hunting scene, Jagd und Fischereibuch (hunting and fishing book) of Maximilian I
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A hunting scene from Meester van het Hausbuch, 1485 AD
brought with him, eight years before he became King of England. Obviously it was a dangerous game for the knights to play and an intolerable situation for the merchants, who began to organize serious punitive raids in the second half of the 14th Century. Several of the Town Leagues of this era were formed specifically to deal with Robber Knights (See The Towns, Town Leagues). It is also important to emphasize that not all ‘Robber Knights’ remained robbers indefinitely, many respectable landowners fell into this role temporarily during hard times, or chaotic times, or during a period of impishness, only to be ‘reformed’ when there was some change in the political situation, when a treaty was signed and so on.
This handsome fellow is King Henry IV. Before he was King of England, he was mugged (‘shamefully mishandled’, according to his chronicle) by Robber Knights in lower Saxony
Robber knights could be a problem even for powerful and wealthy travelers. The English Prince Henry of Bolingbroke was robbed and ‘shamefully mishandled’ by robber knights in Saxony while on his first trip to Prussia for the Baltic Crusades in 1391 1 and lost the entire treasury he had
1
Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land made by Henry earl of Derby (afterwards King Henry IV.) in the years 1390-1 and 1392-3. Being the accounts kept by his treasurer during two years, Introduction
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Princes as well often got fed up with robber knights and it was not unusual for them to ally with the towns to wipe them out. Knights Errant Another type of knightly menace on the roads was the knight-errant, literally a ‘free-lance’, a concept familiar from Chivalric mythology of the troubadours, in which brave knights seeking fame roamed about the countryside seeking out dragons to slay and damsels to rescue. In reality, dragons being even rarer than virgins, these were
men who owned armor and a horse, without necessarily much else. They traveled around picking fights, sometimes singly, more often in intimidating groups, in theory to engage in honorable combat with another knight. If they won such a duel they were legally allowed to claim their victim’s armor and horses.
There are also interesting episodes where for example peasants hired knights-errant to defend their village against brigands or some rogue prince. Jan Dlugosz describes some episodes like this which sound like the plot from Kurosawa’s 7 Samurai (or the Magnificent 7, take your pick). The Russians and Ruthenians had their own version of the knight errant which they called Bogatyr. Like the knights errant they were portrayed as heroic men in epic poems called Bylina, but they tended to be depicted more as resourceful adventurers than as noble paragons of chivalry. This literary tradition dates back to the Kievan Rus and continued in Novgorod into the 16th Century. The reality in the case of a Knight Errant or a Bogatyr is the same: a tough guy for rent, literally a “free lance”, useful when you need to hire him, not necessarily somebody you want to run into in the forest by yourself.
Viktor Vasnetsov: A Bogatyr at the Crossroads (1882)
Obliging opponent knights were not as rare as dragons or virgins but the risk to reward ratio was higher attacking caravans, pilgrims, and other travelers and taking their possessions with or without an honorable contest. Thus the Knight Errant became in practical terms another menace to the peace of the roads.
A knight and his lady, by the Master of the Housebook, late 15th Century. Detail of a battered Bohemian knight, his horse wounded by a crossbow bolt. Possibly Czech,1470’s. I believe this guy is a saint but I don’t know which one.
Like everything else in medieval Europe though this more sinister type of knight-errant was not a hard and fast rule and some were closer to the ideal in their motivations and behavior, though few if any were as saintly as the paladins of medieval romances. Some knights errant were members of the Reichsritter or Free Imperial Knights (see Rural Life, The Gentry). Many temporarily joined the entourage of one Lord and then moved on to another, as strife in one district settled down and war in another breaks out.
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Hunting Hunting served many purposes in the medieval world: to enhance prestige, as a source of food and certain precious animal products (and prizes to give away as patronage), as quasi-military training, for entertainment, and to remove pests and dangerous animals. Hunting was highly organized in the medieval world and used very specific terminology which was defined in the many books of the day (“Livres de La Chasse” and “Jagdbucher”). Hunting was very popular and hunting territories were fiercely guarded. Poaching was considered a serious crime
and game carefully preserved. In the German-speaking areas a special type of game warden called the jaegermeister protected hunting preserves and forests and punished poachers. Nor was it just the nobility who were jealous of their hunting rights. In one famous case in the 15th Century the colorful and controversial burgomeister of Griefswald, Heinrich Rubenow, led an impromptu expedition of Griefswald and Stralsund militia against Eric II, the Griffin Duke of Pomerania-Stolp when the latter barged into the city of Griefswald’’s territory uninvited and began forcing the local peasants to assist him in the chase. Several of the Duke’s entourage were captured in the ensuing violent melee though he managed to escape. Many varieties of animals were used for hunting, including several types (it’s unclear if they were actual breeds) of dogs, horses (typically coursers), and a wide variety of hawks and other predatory birds.
A cross between antlers, detail from the Paumgartner altar, Albrecht Dürer c. 1500. The symbol comes from St. Hubert, who was said to have converted to Christianity when he saw a cross between a stag’s horns. It became a sacred symbol of the hunt in Latin Europe.
Types of hunting dogs included the greyhound, a bigger and more dangerous beast than the racing greyhound of today, though mild mannered enough compared to some other dog breeds of the time as it was a popular pet. Greyhounds were used to chase down prey such as deer. The Alaunt, a medium sized hunting dog but crazy and aggressive, willing to worry even very hazardous prey animals like boar or bears, but considered not entirely safe to be around (think of a meaner version of a pit bull). The mastiff, a bruiser used to deal with large and dangerous prey animals such as wolves, bears, aurochs or boar. The running-hound, a medium sized dog capable of great endurance, and the lymer, a tracking dog which was essentially a bloodhound. Smaller dog breeds including terriers, harriers and spaniels were used to catch small rodents, or creatures like martens or foxes, and fowl such as ducks, quail or partridges. These dogs could plunge into thickets and crawl down into dens and so on.
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Hunting big game could be perilous, people were fairly routinely killed and seriously wounded during large hunts particularly in really wild places like Poland, Lithuania or Finland. In the Baltic the terrain could be treacherous and many very dangerous species were still found in large numbers, including aurochs, bears, bison and huge boars.
A ‘sauschwert’, literally a ‘pork sword’, a specialized weapon used for hunting boar, usually on foot.
This didn’t give pause to the hunters though, to the contrary, they intentionally courted the danger. Both bears and boar were hunted during the spring when their young were born and they were extra aggressive, for the added challenge and prestige. Bears were often hunted on foot in Poland by stabbing them with a spear and propping it against the ground, when they could have just as easily been shot from horseback, and it was traditional for hunters to dismount to finish off boars as well, usually with a sword or a dagger. All this is because hunting was seen as a way to hone warlike skills and spirit. The crossbow became a popular hunting weapon in the Late Medieval period when new spanning tools made it easier to use from horseback, and hunting with firearms was just beginning to become popular by the mid 15th Century. Special ammunition was used for bows, crossbows and firearms for hunting different types of game. Many specialized and unique hunting weapons were also made, including butchering knives, specialized swords like the jagdschwert and the sauschwert, a spear-like sword used specifically for hunting boars. Women hunted as well as men. Both noblewomen and burgheress seem to have participated in hunting for sport and food, and peasant women helped their men hunting and fishing for food. We know women also independently hunted because they frequently show up in legal records in disputes over hunting and fishing rights. All estates participated in hunting, the princes, lower nobility, burghers, peasants, even university students and clerics. Hunting could be done individually or in small groups, or in very large groups with multiple specialized personnel such as beaters, dog handlers, net carriers, trackers and so on. Hunting was considered sacred by the nobility in particular and for many, it was the ideal way to spend time. The Lithuanian born kings of Poland in particular seem to have been addicted to hunting. It was fundamental to the medieval way of life on many different levels.
A 19th Century depiction of a medieval Sejmik assembly in a Church in medieval Poland. Jean-Pierre Norblin de La Gourdaine
Women hunting, miniature from a 15th Century manuscript.
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The vision of St. Eustace, Antonio di Puccio Pisano, circa 1428. The cults of St. Eustace and St, Hubertus helped sanctify the craft of hunting, and by extension, the lifestyle of the nobility, within the Christian tradition.
Study of a boar, Pisanello, ~1430
Rural government
vassalage to many different lords, and these overlapping fealties could cause conflicts. Or be interpreted to one’s advantage at any given moment.
The Rural Estates In theory, all of the nobility owed fealty to a king or a prince and held their land as fiefs of their lord in a sort of vertical pyramid of feudalism. Knights (usually from the gentry) owed fealty to barons who in turn owed fealty to dukes who owed fealty to princes and so on. But in practice in Central Europe it was usually much more complex and chaotic. It was possible for one aristocrat to be linked by bonds of
Noble families also died out, were replaced, or moved to different regions, and absentee rulers were particularly common in the Baltic. When this first happened, either suddenly (such as the start of the war between Prussia and the Teutonic Order) or gradually as with the end of a noble line, it could lead to a violent interregnum as the locals started to fend for themselves – and typically sought
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to increase their own station and rights at the expense of one another. The rural Assembly Sooner or later during an interregnum or some other period of chaos various factions would band together for mutual support: the lords and the gentry joined knightly leagues, the peasants created veche or Landsgemeinde, and the cities formed temporary cartels or permanent städtebund. Truces were created within and between estates, until (ideally) a general truce was established, leading to the creation of local parliaments or diets sometimes called Landtag, Tage or Hoftage by the Germans. The equivalent for the Poles was the Sejmic, the local version of the Sejm or parliament. In other parts of the Baltic there were other names for these local assemblies: the Slavic veche, the Norse thing, the Lithuanian Laukas, but it all meant the same thing. Factions with power in the region: princes, knights, strong peasant clans, church leaders, and towns, would gather together in some place, often under a Linden tree or in a big Church, to settle disputes, vote on policies, hash out new laws and settle lawsuits. Sometimes these were regular meetings that took place on a weekly, monthly or annual schedule. More often they were thrown together on an ad-hoc basis as needed. The Polish Sejmik’s for example often convened when their perpetually roaming king showed up on his travels. When faced, as they often were, with a prolonged (total or partial) power vacuum, the various estates or factions decided on rules to limit the extent of private wars, called fehde by the Germans, and established rules to protect the main roads used for commerce. Courts were set up and each estate contributed military forces or money to pay for the policing to enforce the new rules. This was the basis of the Landfrieden. Landfrieden In the 15th Century, special legal constructs called Landfrieden by the Germans33, or Landfrýdy by the Czechs were established by these assemblies34. They came about in the form of local truces between the different factions with the goal of establishing peace in the district, and also played a crucial role as the basis of general military defense against predatory outside interests. Landfrieden could also be imposed from without by a king, a powerful prince, or by a mighty prelate such as a bishop or archbishop, but more commonly they were established by a coalition of estates dominated by the towns. In spite of their independence Landfrieden were generally supported by neighboring kings and princes since they were usually good for business, but in some areas they were rivals to princely power35.
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Once established, the Landfriede replaced ‘private’ justice in matters under its jurisdiction, creating a collective monopoly of force. The first agenda was to establish the relative rights and obligations of each of the estates within the district, in order to establish peace between them. These generally reflected the true power relationships between each estate and individual entity. The second was to establish the ‘peace of the roads’, to protect commerce in the district. Third was to protect agriculture and the food source, and fourth, infrastructure such as bridges, cranes, granaries and mills.. Perhaps the strongest motivation for forming these diets based upon such “politics of strange bedfellows” was to prevent famine and outbreaks of plague. The experience of the Black Death in 1348-50 made famine even more feared than before among everyone, rich or poor. Even those with the means to store food for years (as many could do), feared a general famine because famine has a well-known association with plague. In the Baltic there was a striking example of this after the so-called “Hunger War” between Poland and the Teutonic Knights in the summer of 1414. Scorched-earth policies on both sides led to widespread starvation which in turn led to an outbreak of plague that lasted the next winter and for six years thereafter, causing general deprivation and ruin throughout the region. To prevent this kind of catastrophe the Landfriede enforced grievous punishments for violations of public peace. Private feuds were allowed, but buildings such as churches, mills, and bridges were off-limits. The Imperial or Royal roads, and those traveling upon them (especially priests, pilgrims, merchants, women, farmers, hunters and fishermen in the exercise of their profession) were offlimits. When these rules were violated all parties of the Landfriede were sworn to punish the lawbreaker.
Raising chickens, from the Tacuinum Sanitatis.
These rules were enforced through special courts, and appointed magistrates called “justices of the peace the country”. The office of Justice of the Peace in the United States derives from a similar idea in English Common law. Violating rules of the landfrýdy was a good way to become unpopular, always a bad idea in medieval society. Most Robber-Knights operated in areas lacking strong, well established Landfrieden.
remote citizenry which typically involved sharing castles and the right to shelter behind the town walls during war. Knights with outburgher status usually remained closely allied with the towns they were linked to.
Notable Landfrieden in the Baltic included the Baltic Noble Corporations of Livonia, the Prussian Confederation in Prussia and the Lizard Union in Culmerland, the diet in Warmia, the landfrýdy of Brno in Moravia and Bohemia, and the various regional estates of Sweden. Much of the Kingdom of Bohemia was governed by landfrýdy from the late 14th century onward, and after the Hussite wars Bohemia was divided between Catholic landfrýdy at Pilsen and several Hussite landfrýdy in Eastern and Central Bohemia. Brno was one two centers for the Moravian estates in the 14th Century and remained the seat of the Moravian landfrýd in the 15th. These assemblies or diets made political, legal, and financial decisions in the district and were responsible for aspects of its administration, including keeping the roads in decent repair, maintaining legal records and securing communications between settlements. During times of war they mobilized the estates against common enemies. In times of stability the Bohemian landfrýdy generally cooperated with the King of Bohemia (at least until the resumption of anti-Hussite Crusades by Matthias Corvinus in 1469). Town and Country The larger towns left a big footprint on the rural economy. Most towns had direct control over a large swath of land around their walls called the feldmark, usually marked off by a hedge or a palisade of some sort. Within this territory some of the gentry were related to the burghers or were burghers themselves with country estates, everyone else owed fealty to the town just as if the town was a prince. Peasants living within the feldmark were considered subjects rather than citizens of the town. Some towns especially in Livonia were harsh overlords to their peasants, while in other places the peasants had rights, in fact most of the villages in Prussia and Poland were chartered under Kulm law so they had many of the same legal rights as the burghers and were also economically integrated with the town in various ways. It depended a lot on the internal politics in the town and on how tough the local peasants were, among other things. Tougher peasants got better deals. Some knights and even a few peasants were given ‘outburgher’ status by nearby towns, a special type of
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A man and a woman harvest asparagus. From a 15th Century version of the Tacuinum Sanitatis. The accompanying text reads: “Asparagus (Sparagus) Nature: Its nature is moderately warm and moist in the first degree. Optimum: The fresh kind whose tip is turned downward toward the earth. Usefulness: It influences coitus positively and removes occlusions. Dangers: It is bad for the stomach lining. Neutralization of the Dangers: Boiled and then seasoned with salted water.”
The ‘feldmark’ zone around a town was subject to the Town Law which was aggressively enforced. Most important were the laws protecting their citizens and the freedom of the roads (Landfriede). Any harassment, robbery, impromptu taxes or tolls imposed upon travelers on the roads were responded to by force from the town. The town considered itself the sole legal authority in these cases. Fights between rural people and urban travelers could be interpreted by the town as an assault upon the Landfriede. Punishments for such crimes tended to be harsh and corporal: death, maiming, floggings. Conversely, local lords often tried to impose tolls or fees upon travelers, or raid caravans or villages within town lands. If the town was strong enough they would respond by sending punitive forces to capture and punish the malefactors, sometimes leading to tit for tat raids and protracted hostilities. In one famous case in the 14 th Century, the Duke of Mecklenburg became so angry about a merchant of Hamburg’s repeated foiling of robbery attempts by raubritter, that he openly acknowledged his own banditry and made a vow that he would hang the merchant by a hemp rope he always carried with him for that purpose. The merchant, unflapped, had a strong silver chain forged, he said, for the benefit of the delicate neck
of the great nobleman, when he hung him for a thief. In the event apparently neither got the opportunity to carry out their threat. The gentry, the Church and the town might disagree over jurisdiction in a given legal dispute, such as a fight in a rural tavern, in which case small wars could once again start, possibly escalating into regional conflicts. The most common cause of strife between towns and peasants was the imposition of the staple right (see Life in the Towns, Town Law). Trade and certain types of craft production in the region surrounding the town were regulated by the town itself, at least in theory, but this was often resented by the local peasants and sometimes the gentry, who undermined the town monopolies with smuggling trails and ‘bungler’ industries. The Borderlands Borders in this era were not well defined like today in most modern States with check-points and visas. In the 15th Century Baltic a border merely represented a region of the diminishing influence of one power (a Free City, a Prince, a Kingdom etc.), and the increasing influence of another. These boundaries were often contested, in some places more or less continuously. Borders were often though not always defined by natural barriers, a range of hills, a swamp, a river, a forest. These frontier areas were often occupied by a mixture of robber Knights, outlaws or bandits per above, or sometimes by a hardy breed of free tribesman such as the Czech Psohlavci and the Polish Gorali highlanders (see Warfare in the Baltic, Frontiersmen) who specialized in coping with the unique tactical peculiarities of the specific border terrain and served the interests of the power of one side or the other (or both) in exchange for special rights and privileges. Regardless of such arrangements, smuggling and various other types of unsanctioned activities always took place near the frontier which was a special place where almost anything could and did happen.
Rural life by region
Modern Illustration of the family home of a typical Polish peasant (Kmiecie / Kmieć) circa 1520 AD
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Rural Poland Poland was about 75% rural at this time. Free Peasants in Poland were usually living under German law and therefore had significant rights including the right to bear arms, own their own land and hunt and log in their own forests. In Poland a typical peasant farmed one to four Lan. A Lan was the amount of land one man could work on his own, roughly equivalent of 40 acres. Very generally speaking, productivity of the land in Poland was high, particularly for wheat, so peasants could do reasonably well. One Polish peasant in the early 16th Century owned four old and two young oxen, five milch cows, six dry cows, four pigs and five horses36. A typical 15th Century Polish peasant of the middle-ranks could earn 20-30 florins per year37 from the sale of lumber, wheat, various animals, meat, eggs, honey, butter, fruit and vegetables –all over and above their own subsistence needs and the rent required by the Lord. By law peasants also had to work (or provide laborers) for two days a week for their lord, as well as 3 days for fall plowing, 6 days for the grain harvest, and a few days through the year for haying 38 . They also helped with the Lords hunt and assisted in military emergencies. The relatively low rents in Poland provided an incentive for peasants to work harder for themselves which contributed to a general and rising prosperity in the second half of the 15th Century leading into the boom of the 16th39.
A peasant, his wife and their son sewing a field, from a 14th Century Bohemian document.
Serfs could own some livestock and a little bit of land (a few acres) but usually had work for richer peasants as sharecroppers. Most rural districts had a bailiff called the soltys (like the German vogt) who looked after the lord’s interests, kept the peace, and fought as a lancer in wartime. In Poland the gentry were called ziemiane, most owned modest estates of 3-4 Lan though some had considerably more. Most ziemiane were of the Szlachta (nobility), but some were burghers or wealthy peasants. By one estimate 70% of Polish knights in the early 15 th Century owned property worth more than 60 marks, while 44% owned property worth more than 150 marks40. One relatively poor Polish knight who owned a single village had
3 haubergeons, one complete plate harness and 3 helmets. Rural Lithuania Lithuania was about 90% rural in the mid-15th Century. In Lithuania in this time there were two overlapping systems of rural land ownership. Under the old tribal system, a Free Peasant (Laukininkas) typically owned between ¾ to 3 lan, equivalent to 30 – 120 acres of land. Laukininkas did not work for the benefit of a lord, each had their own fields for farming, but forests, waters and meadows belonged to the village commons. In war each village "Laukas" elected their own war-leaders, and joined with neighboring villages to form one warlike band, each individual clansman or Laukininkas armed with a spear, javelins, and axe or a sword, and usually at least two or three horses suitable for war (most often Zhmuds or schweiks). This system of the Laukunkas was disappearing in the 15th Century but still existed in some parts of Lithuania, notably in Samogitia. Since the late 14th Century there were many ‘small’ gentry in Lithuania called bajorai who owned estates of between 3-5 Lan. These were armed either as knights (but in the Russian style) or as light cavalry, and typically owned a significant number of horses, up to a dozen or more.
owned these massive estates were called kunigai (singular - kunigas); princes equivalent to Polish magnates. The kunigai were members of the Council of Lords, the real power ruling Lithuania, divided into rival clans such as the Radziwiłł and Goštautai families. Rural West Prussia Prussia was about 60% rural in the mid-15th Century. In West Prussia in the territory of the Prussian Confederation conditions were generally good by the mid-15th Century until the outbreak of war in 1454. Due to a Vatican order to preach in Prussian in 1426 many people still spoke the Old Prussian language and thanks to the publication of several catechisms in Prussian many were literate in it as well41. As a result the Prussian culture was still very much alive in spite of the brutality of the Crusading period. We know from the Elbing-Preußisches Wörterbuch (see Law in the Rural World) that the native Prussian language was known to the burghers of the Prussian towns and still in use at least as late as 1400 AD, probably well into the 16th Century. In West Prussia there were rural industries and a class of peasants in the villages who worked as blacksmiths, brewers, carpenters, weavers, brick makers, stonemasons etc. Some served the local economy; or as part of a distributed assembly line for export industries in a nearby town. Many were able to get their children into apprenticeships in the towns, thus contributing to social mobility. In Prussia free Peasants of all ethnicities (German, Polish, Kashubian, Prussian, or Lithuanian – even Scottish and Dutch) owned from one to six huf (hooks) of land equivalent to 90- 270 acres, though some rich peasants owned up to 40 huf42.
A peasant digs with a spade while his wife spins wool. From a Bohemian document, 14th Century.
Bajorai were supported by special semi-free peasants called veldamai (who were usually but not always captive Germans, Tartars, Russians, Ruthenians, or other foreigners) assigned by the Grand Duke to work their lands. Veldamai owned as much land as the Laukininkas but did not have the right to move freely from estate to estate, and worked the land of Bajorai for up to three days per week. They were semi-free peasants, on the verge of serfdom. Below them in status were the kaimynai, true serfs working on the huge (40-120 Lan or 1600 – 4800 acre) latifundia style estates called Folwark. They were essentially slaves, typically foreign captives, and owned no land of their own beyond a small garden plot and a hut. They worked for benefit of the Great Lords of Lithuania, their basic needs were taken care of but they were not allowed to leave the estate nor were their children. The greater nobles who
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Milking sheep, from the Tacuinum Sanitatis.
Peasants here could be of any ethnicity so long as they accepted Christianity. Land in Prussia was not as
productive as in Poland, but most of the rural population were well off due to special rights granted to immigrants to these risky areas. They carried arms and usually owned a significant amount of livestock, many were able to hire wage labor to work their land (usually relatives) 43. Polish settlers were preferred by the Order over native Prussians because they used more advanced farming techniques and were less likely to revolt, so there were many Poles in Prussia. Polish and Kashubian villages in Prussia were under German (usually Saxon) law just like most in Poland. In Prussia there were a large number of Reichsritter or „Free Imperial Knights“ and other warlike and independent members of the lower Aristocracy in knightly leagues such as the Lizard Union of Culmerland, but the nobility owned relatively small estates. This was due to the historical policies of the Teutonic Order who preferred to keep the local nobility relatively weak.
Teutonic Knights even centuries in the past were recorded in tax rolls as “Prussians” and suffered restrictions; but Prussian-speaking natives from ‘friendly’ families were recorded in tax rolls as “Germans” and were given more rights and therefore more opportunities to prosper 46. This was particularly the case for those who gave military service to the Order. The Teutonic Knights distributed many small fiefdoms to their supporters and friends, but they were kept small in order to prevent the Prussian gentry from becoming a rival to their authority 47. The small gentry in Prussia typically owned land on average about four or five huf. These small landowners were called Juncherre or Junkers (meaning young Lord, or essentially country squire), some were rich peasants, some were ministeriales or armed servants of the Order, and some were the descendants of Prussian natives who had served the order in warfare. Even ‘small’ Junkers usually owned a warhorse, though the regulations of the Order only required one light cavalrymen per two farms48. In spite of the policies of the Order the estates of some Junkers grew over time to encompass up to ten or more huf. Most were German, some were Scots, Dutchmen, Bohemians, Swedes or other foreigners who either arrived during the Crusades or emigrated for trade.
Peasants plowing a field, from a Czech document, 14th Century.
Two peasants threshing grain using agricultural flails, from the Tacuinum Sanitatis
The scale of the grain trade was huge. In the year 1400 alone the records of the Teutonic Order showed that they handled the export of over 700,000 bushels of grain (mostly rye) from Prussian ports44. About 75% of the grain exported from Poland through the Vistula system was sold to towns in Flanders and Holland, 25% ware sold to other Baltic ports and Scandinavia45. Rural East Prussia East Prussia was similar to West Prussia in its general prosperity, but status there was more closely tied to ethnicity. Under the rule of the Teutonic Knights Prussian heritage was not necessarily a barrier to social status, but being an historic enemy of the Teutonic Order was. Natives whose families participated in uprisings against the
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Prussian junkers were forming a new class of entrepreneurial landowners who made good money by selling grain through the river systems to the port cities on the Baltic coast. This system was quickly becoming a lucrative trade route to Western Europe, and the increasing demand for grain had a major effect on the rural economy of both Prussia and Poland. Serfs in Prussia comprised maybe 10% of the population. Employees working for an estate were treated like servants of the estate and were subject to corporal punishment. Courts in the villages were presided over by the local Starost (elder) mediated petty disputes between the gentry and the greater and lesser peasantry. More serious legal issues could be taken to higher regional authorities such as a representative of the Teutonic Knights, a town or an abbot. Rural Livonia “They [the Crusaders] proceeded into Ungannia, which they despoiled no less than the former army had and they took no fewer captives than the earlier ones had. They seized the people who were coming out of the forests to their fields or villages for
food. Some they burned, while they cut the throats of others. They inflicted various tortures upon them until the Esthonians showed them all their money and until they led them to all the hiding places of the woods and delivered the women and children into their hands.” -Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
Livonia was similar to Eastern Prussia only harsher. Most of the gentry (junkers) were German and most of the peasantry were Liv, Lett, or Estonian and highly oppressed, though as allies of the Order the Lett and Liv (Latvian) tribes received better treatment. The towns such as Riga and Dorpat exercised dominion over their own local districts much as the gentry and the princes did, and unlike in Prussia where country people could get into the towns, there was little social mobility for the native Estonians (somewhat more so for the Letts and the Livs). “Since the Swedes were in the middle, with the Livonians [i.e. the German colony at Riga] on one side and the Danes on the other, they began to have but small fear of the pagans. It happened one day [Nov 8, 1220 AD] at the first light of dawn that the Oeselians came from the sea with a large army. They besieged these Swedes, fought with them, and set fire to their fort. The Swedes went out and struggled with them, but they were unable to resist such a multitude. The Swedes fell, killed by the Oeselians. The fort was captured, the duke fell, and the bishop, slain by fire and sword, entered (as we believe) the company of the martyrs. The Danes came a little while later, collected the corpses, and with sorrow, consigned them to the grave. The Rigans, likewise, hearing of the slaughter of the Swedes, mourned and groaned for them for many days. About five hundred were slain, though a few of them escaped by flight and made their way to a Danish fort. All of the rest perished by the edge of the sword. May their memory be blessed and their souls rest with Christ.” -Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
Rural Sweden and Finland Most of Sweden was made up of free peasants, there were few serfs and the aristocrats were relatively poor. In Sweden, the local aristocracy had a mostly good relationship with the peasants, but the Swedish peasants were temperamental. Danish royal forces attempting to administer the vast territory of Sweden under the Kalmar Union brought in German, Scottish and even Italian mercenaries to oversee their royal holdings, but their heavy handed behavior upset the delicate balance between the estates leading to repeated violent uprisings. In 1434 the aristocracy joined the Dalarna rising led by mine owner Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson, and eventually took it over for their own purposes. But the Swedish peasantry had proven their ability to fight and had to be taken into account. The peasants were added as a fourth estate in the Riksdag, the Swedish parliament, in 1436.
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Most peasants in Finland whether Swedish or Finnish were also free. Nobody, even the Swedes, wanted to spend a lot of time chasing crafty Finnish natives around their own frozen forests for weeks on end trying to collect taxes. Most Finnish peasants were hunters, trappers, loggers, (reindeer) herders, and other types of ‘forest folk’ who did not necessarily have a permanent address (or a farm that could be burned). This made strict taxes and a system of serfdom even more difficult to enforce. So an arrangement was made: the Finns come up with a certain minimal quota that they can live with, of “tribute” in the form of furs and reindeer and lumber* and so on, and in exchange they got access to the ports with their international markets and the foreign products that they needed or craved, such as textiles, iron tools and weapons, beer, butter, and grain of all types. This was an arrangement which suited both sides reasonably well and there was little strife in Finland in the 15th Century, what there was came either from border disputes with the Russians in Karelia or spill overs from the political wrangling within Sweden or between Sweden and Denmark. *and of course, the occasional Father Christmas
Law in the Rural World Under medieval laws the concept of equality before the law did not exist. In the 15th Century, each person is subject to different laws under sometimes overlapping jurisdictions, and has different rights and obligations depending on his or her birth, order of birth, sex, office, profession, marital status, property and other external factors. Each member of society lived according to their estate, a package of rights and responsibilities which they either inherited or achieved through work, through negotiation, or force of arms. (Special thanks to Jürg Gassmann for providing this excellent description of the medieval estate)
One good source for law in this area is the MS known to the Poles as the Księga Elbląska, also known in German as the Elbinger Rechtsbuch, a famous document found in the 19th Century in the town of Elbing. This is essentially a legal dictionary written in the second half of the 13th Century which includes side by side German law, derived mostly from the Saxonspiegel, and Polish Common law. It is considered the first known document depicting Polish Law, and was used by the Schöffe as a legal guideline. The bilingual nature of the Elbinger Rechtsbuch document tells us something about the nature of urban and rural life in this era. We also have another interesting document from Elbing, the Elbing-Preußisches Wörterbuch or Elbing vocabulary, which is dated from circa 1400 AD. It is a sort of phrase book translating 802 Middle Low German words and phrases into Old Prussian (Baltic) equivalents. This
again tells us that the Baltic language was still alive at this time and people in the towns were using these languages. The Medieval Estate The sum of a person’s rights and duties defined his or her “estate”. In modern times, “estate” is used to refer to a land or to a person’s assets and liabilities at the time of their death. In medieval times, the meaning is much broader: The word is derived from the Latin “status”, which nowadays means a person’s social standing and has no legal connotations. In medieval Europe, a person’s property status, social status and legal status were inextricably linked and as a whole formed their “estate”. Communities and Princes, too, did not have standardized sets of rights and powers – at each level, the community or prince might have a different set of “liberties”, i.e. rights and entitlements. The full panoply of sovereign liberties, prerogatives and authorities nowadays vests in government as a matter of course as a package; not so in feudal times. Each is dealt with separately. (Special thanks to Jürg Gassmann)
Seigniorial justice One of the most important rights of the aristocracy which came with allodial property rights was that of administering justice in their own domain. In the rural areas, the local lord was also the magistrate of the region, and the ability to rule in criminal and civil cases conferred great power. It was also a very important source of income as the magistrate had the right to collect fines he imposed in civil and criminal cases. Unsurprisingly they were extremely jealous of this right. This gave nobles the ability to help control their estates, punish their enemies and grant clemency as a favor to the influential or the useful. This helped assure the smooth operation of the estate and allowed the lord to maintain his or her power base. It also guaranteed that the lord and his family were largely free of the threat of legal attacks (though see also, the Vehmgericht) since the lord himself was the Law. In order to retain control of larger estates, lords appointed henchmen to enforce their laws and rules, usually in the form of a bailiff (called vogt or landvogt by the Germans, or soltys by the Poles) who acted as rural magistrates and administrators. They were also often commanders of forts or castles, i.e. castellans. Another representative of the Lord as protector of the wild areas was called the jaegermeister. The jaegermeister patrolled the woodlands and wild areas belonging to the lord and prevented poachers from hunting out the game and kept peasants from logging all the wood. It was largely because of the preservation of princely hunting estates that Europe still has so many forests today.
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Church Law in the Rural World The Church also administered its own justice. The ‘chain of command’ of the Catholic Church was disrupted several times in the 14th and 15th Century by major schisms and splits. More than once two or more men held the title of Pope simultaneously and declared their rivals as antipopes or even the anti-Christ. In Central Europe some ‘Church’ districts were effectively small theocratic states whose prelates had the status of imperial or Royal Immediacy. Senior members of the Church were generally not subject to the authority of secular princes or towns. Depending on the degree of jurisdictional overlap peasants, gentry and even burghers could sometimes choose to submit to Church justice as an alternative to secular magistrates. This might be a preferred alternative because the Church tended to be more lenient, requiring penance and pilgrimage even for serious crimes instead of maiming, exile, or death. On the other hand the Church was stricter than secular courts for some civil matters such as those involving reputation (Fama) or heresy. One of the most important things about Church Law in the medieval period is that it remained relatively consistent from one parish to the next, whereas local laws could be different in each town or fiefdom. This was a big problem in civil disputes between merchants in different cities. The Church was in effect a court of appeals, and could claim jurisdiction as soon as any litigant swore an oath, since perjuring an oath meant putting ones soul in jeopardy. Because the Church, like the lord or the schöffencollegium of the town, collected fines levied during legal proceedings, this created an intense three way competition for legal ‘business’, which contributed to tensions between the estates. The Charivari Informal punishments were much more common than formal ones and were mostly based on different forms of social pressure or ostracism, especially for crimes deemed as anti-social. A couple could wake up to a racket one day and find themselves being razzed in a Charivari for living together out of wedlock. A woman might be placed in the stocks for a few hours for spreading vicious gossip (with a sign around her neck explaining why she was there). A man known to beat his wife could be driven from his house with clubs and chased around the streets by his neighbors, dressed up as women. Echoes of these practices made it over to the new world, to be tarred and feathered for example, as was done in the American Wild West and in the original American colonies, was a punishment which goes back to this very tradition: The Charivari. It was usually meted out to a petty thief or sometimes to an unwanted tax collector. Charivari were originated by the
aristocracy in the early Medieval period (the first tarring and feathering on record for example was ordered by Richard I of England while on Crusade in the Holy Land in 1189 AD*) but were embraced by the peasants and the gentry. The Charivari was another means of community control to curtail what it perceived as aberrant behavior, and it was not unheard of sometimes for the aristocrats themselves to be subject to Charivari, particularly during carnival time when such rules were relaxed.
The langes messer, or ‘long knife’, was a popular weapon with peasants and rural folk. These weapons featured a long grip with no pommel, and a nagel or ‘nail’, a small horizontal steel plate which protected the hand.
The Vehmgericht “It is hidden justice, that by common fashion is habitually referred to as vehma or vridinc” -from a 15th Century document.
The villages were usually subject to the Seigniorial or Church justice system, meaning that the landlord was also literally the judge, jury and executioner (see Rural Life, Aristocracy). But there was in effect another means to challenge the Seigniorial system, a kind of court of appeals. In the villages the Vehmic court (see also The Law, Vehmic Court) provided the underground alternative to the official regime.
Vehmic Court in 1375 AD, the sword on the table will be used for execution if the accused is judged guilty. Scan aus: Wolfgang Schild – Die Geschichte der Gerichtsbarkeit, Hamburg: Nikol Verlagsgesellschaft 1997 S. 151 ISBN 3-930656-74-4
A Lord cruel to his vassals or a merchant harsh toward his servants could find his home surrounded by a loud mob beating on pots and pans. Often such events, took on a pointedly theatrical aspect, which helped to drive home the message. Peasants and burghers organized Carnival parades with satirical floats and processions which taunted the powerful. Such satire had the power to temporarily override the existing social order, and even change the power relationship in the district. This type of practice continues in Carnival in many parts of the world today such as New Orleans, Nice or Rio. *but by far the weirdest anecdote of tarring and feathering, of a sort, was from Spain in 1623, of a certain "boisterous Bishop of Halberstadt," who, "having taken a place where there were two monasteries of nuns and friars, he caused divers feather beds to be ripped, and all the feathers thrown into a great hall, whither the nuns and friars were thrust naked with their bodies oiled and pitched and to tumble among these feathers, which makes them here (Madrid) presage him an ill-death."
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The Sacred Linden Gerichtslind in Lucerne, Switzerland Diebold Schilling the Younger circa 1470. The Linden was associated with Freya in pre-Christian times, and in the Middle Ages was believed to be safe from lightning strikes.
The Vehmgericht was the ‘hidden’ court of the rural countryside, and its members included both peasants and gentry. The ‘Holy Vehm’ did not often interfere in legal rulings, but if the community in general was not happy about a judgment that was made by a regional authority, or felt that a guilty party had gone unpunished, this other court convened. The Vehmgericht had two very important abilities, to overturn a conviction from another court, or to convict and execute a guilty person. It took 21 men to speak for the accused in order for them to be acquitted, but if the Vehmgericht (also called fehmgerichhte in some areas) ruled that someone was wrongly convicted of a crime, precious few will oppose its will.
For the Vehmgericht is one of the most feared institutions in Central Europe. In some cases, the majority of free men in a given parish are sworn members, and going against the will of the court was enforced by the death sentence. Summons to the court often came in the form of a note nailed to a tree or pinned by a dagger. The dagger was inscribed with the letters S.S.G.G., supposed to mean Stein, Strick, Gras, Grün (stone, rope, grass, green). The court itself is usually held during daytime in an open air space at a hilltop, a special tree near the village, or most often a sacred linden tree in the center of the Village called the Gerichtslind. Unless it was one of the rare secret courts, all free men and women of the district were admitted, whether they are initiated or not. The Vehmic court was presided over by a temporary chief judge called the Freigraf (the free count), who is elected by a panel of judges called the Freischöffe (the free magistrates). These men were really effectively something like jurors. Any free man native to the district of good character and no debts could join the Vehmgericht and thereby become a Freischöffe. The Freischöffen had the duty to warn miscreants who have the attention of the court, and vote for guilt or innocence in trials. Typically the court would issue up to three warnings before action was taken against someone, except in the most severe cases. Freischöffen were taught secret signs, by which to recognize one another. It was not particularly difficult to get into the Fehmgerichhte but once in, you had to obey the rules. This practice originated in Westphalia in the High medieval period during a time of rampant violence, chaos and strife; by the 15th Century it was strongly established in villages throughout Central Europe and in the Baltic. Eventually it was also established in several cities as well (see Town life, The Urban Vehmgericht). It even received the sanction of the Emperor, who perceived that supporting this institution placed him in an advantageous position against the Princes. Several Vehmic courts have been recognized by the Emperor by the 15th Century. Vehmic courts moved swiftly, and there were only two possible outcomes, guilt or innocence, and there was only one punishment: death. If the Freischöffen rule against the accused, he was immediately executed either by beheading or hanging. A knife with the cabalistic letters was left beside the corpse to show that the deed was not
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a murder, because by German common law any violence done in secret was in itself a crime. The Vehm did not act frequently but few wished to thwart the will of this body. In special cases such as when moving against powerful figures, the court was held in secret, even in the more common public trials… the accused might be surprised to learn who was arrayed against him when he appeared before the court. The accused were given 60 days to appear before the court. Failure to appear by that time resulted in an automatic death sentence. It was dangerous to become unpopular in Medieval Europe. Clan and Chieftain In some parts of rural Central Europe in this period, mostly fairly remote areas where the natural environment like mountains, heavy forests or swamps, enhanced defense, Feudalism never fully took hold. In these places, which could be found in Frisia, in Finland, in Lithuania (particularly in the Samogitian zones) and in parts of Sweden and Saxony, the old clan system remained in place. Rather than nobles or princes or their lawyers, the last word on what did or didn’t happen or who was in the right in a dispute came from the clan patriarch or matriarch. The clan chief in turn was heavily influenced by the public mood, as expressed in clan assemblies. When they had unity rural clans could be very powerful, in spite of technically having the status of peasants. Often however there were different factions, themselves organized on family lines. In Poland this phenomenon took a different form with the Szlachta. Members of this Estate, unique to Poland and surrounding areas, started out as clansmen, part of the pre-Christian West-Slavic tribes living in the area. With the conversion to Christianity they lobbied for their rights, and remaining armed, they leveraged the need for their military services to accrue more and more privileges. By the Late Medieval period, somewhat analogous to the German ministerial knights, the Szlachta as a group had managed to elevate their status to that of minor nobles or gentry, and consolidated their rights in the regional Polish assemblies or Sejmik, and the national assembly, the Sejm. The result was a unique fusion of a clan based and feudal political order, which spread to some extent into Lithuania and Ukraine, but existed nowhere else.
Economy and Commerce Trade was done with several types of barter, using amber, gunpowder, salt, wax, and furs. Coins were also popular, and even letters of credit were in wide use by the towns in particular.
1 Skojec = 2 Prague groschen = 6 pennies = 36 dinari 1 Thaler = 4 kreuzer = 16 pennies = 96 dinari 1 Mark / Grivna = 40 kreuzer = 80 groschen = 160 pennies = 960 dinari = (theoretically) 12 ounces of silver. 1 Guilder (gulden / florin) = 60 kreuzer = 120 groschen = 252 pennies = 1440 dinari = 16 ounces of silver. Dinari = Small bronze or silver coin worth .26 grams of silver, 6 dinarius = 1 pfennig. Bronze dinari are the size of a dime, silver dinari are very small, 1/3 the size of a dime. Pfennig (penny) 240 pfennigs to 1 lb of silver, each pfennig equals 1.6 grams of silver. This can mean either a thin silver coin the size of a dime (‘wiesspfennig’) 12-16mm, or a thick bronze coin the size of a modern nickel, typically 18-22mm.
From the left :Danzig Silver Gulden, Danzig 10 Kreuzer coin, Elbing 6 Kreuzer coin, Prague Groschen (value of 3 pfennig), front and back, silver Pfennig from the city of Augsburg, front and back, silver Pfennig Bavarian 1450. The main inscriptions on the Prague Groschen read DEI GRATIA REX BOEMIE ("By the grace of God the King of Bohemia") and on the verso GROSSI PRAGENSIS ("Prague groschen"). All coins are actual size, all coins are 15th Century.
Groschen = Aka groat, gros, denaro grosso, groszy (Polish): large thin silver coin size of a nickel but only the thickness of a dime. Worth 2 pennies, 12 dinarius or 3.2 grams of silver. Typically 25-30mm Prague Groschen = Larger groschen minted in Prague, from silver out of the Kutna Hora silver mine, 3.7 grams of silver of high purity. Worth 3 pennies. Kreuzer = 4.4 pfennigs = 7 (roughly) grams of silver, typically 16mm. This is a larger, thick silver coin, size of a dime 16mm. Many coins are minted in multiples of kreuzer, such as the 3 kreuzer coin which is the size of a quarter. Thaler = 4 kreuzer = 27 grams of silver, typically. This is a very large, very thick silver coin which appeared in the early 16th Century. They got bigger over time, until by the end of the 16th Century they were worth equivalent of a gulden.
Three Grivina in the form of silver bars, excavated from Veliky Novgorod, dated to the medieval period (photograph).
Coin denominations Most of the coinage used in the Baltic was silver, though there were also bronze and gold coins. These are actual coin denominations used in the 15th Century Baltic. The ratios have been adjusted slightly (rounded off) to make the math easier. Keep in mind also that relative values of gold and silver fluctuated widely from year to year and place to place, and it’s the same for the purity and weight of many of the silver coins. So these values are at best a ‘snap shot’ of a highly dynamic system. 1 Heller = ½ dinari 1 Dinarius= 1/6 penny = 2 heller 1 Penny (pfennnig) = 6 dinari 1 Groschen (small groat)= 2 Pennies = 12 dinari 1 Prague groschen = 3 pennies = 18 dinari 1 Kreuzer = 2 groschen = 4 pennies = 24 dinari
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10 Kreuzer This is a common coin worth 10 kreuzer. It is a heavy coin with 70 grams of silver (2.5 ounces), it is the size of a quarter but twice as thick. Mark worth 160 pfennigs, it is worth 352 grams or 12.4 ounces of silver. This is usually just a unit of book-keeping but is also issued as a gold coin the size of a modern penny, or a silver bar known to the Russians as a grivna and to the Poles as a grzywny. Gulden / Florin = 60 kreuzer = 240 pfennigs. A gold coin weighing 3.5 grams of gold, about the size of a nickel. It is theoretically worth 1 lb of silver. It is also the rough equivalent in medieval currency of a ‘pound’ (such as the Sterling pound) in England or the livre Tournois in France or the lira in Italy. The gulden (Flemish) and the florin (Italian) are also of roughly equivalent value though they could vary. Gulden were called złoty (“golden”) in Poland. There could be as much as a 30-40% difference in value
with different types of gulden or florins, which were general smaller.
in most of the important cities in the Baltic including Danzig, Torun, and Elbing.
Furs as currency Furs were also used as currency particularly in Russia and Lithuania, with three common denominations: the nogata (ногата, pelt of a large animal such as a bear or а wolf), and the kuna (куна, pelt of a small animal such as a mink or а sable; c.f. Croatian kuna). The smallest unit was veksha (векша, squirrel pelt).
Credit and cashless transactions Credit in various forms was also in pretty wide use throughout Latin Europe, though it was much more popular in the Mediterranean area and in Southern Germany than in the north. The Hanseatic League didn’t really trust credit in the sense of cash loans as they thought it had the potential to destabilize trade and get people in trouble with debt. Loans from Italian and Jewish moneylenders could often be at ruinous interest rates, which was still considered usury in much of Latinized Europe. There were even repeated attempts to block the use of credit in several Hanseatic ports including in Prussia, and though there were also some banks, most eventually failed.
Bullion currency At this time, most cash money was effectively ‘bullion currency’, in the sense that its actual value is derived from its weight in silver or gold. It is essentially still a form of barter. There is still an element of fiat (Government mandated) currency in the sense that a town or lord who minted the coin guarantees the value it is supposed to represent, but coins known to have less actual precious metal (more lead than silver for example) quickly become infamous, to the devaluation of the currency and the diminishing reputation of whoever issued it. This was a problem in the Baltic as the towns frequently devalued their currency by adulterating the metal, particularly after incurring large expenses. After the Battle of Grunwald the Prussian cities, which had been forced by the Teutonic Knights to pay the ransoms for thousands of soldiers and hundreds of Brother Knights, severely devalued their currency and paid their rents and tariffs with nearly worthless coins for several years, until 1418 when a new law was passed regulating the currency. But this was once again quickly undermined. The flip side is also true, the Prague Groschen is a popular coin because its silver content is unusually high, due to the highly productive silver mine in Kutna Hora in Bohemia, which strengthened that region economically and politically. Another effect of bullion currency is that the money is often pilfered in the form of shaving. This is considered a serious crime if caught: people shave tiny flakes of silver or gold from their money, thus devaluing it. Counterfeiting is another widespread problem and considered a very serious crime. Fiat Currency Some business is done on the basis of fiat currency as well. The Holy Roman Emperor sometimes issues large payments in Marks as bookkeeping entries rather than hard currency their value can fluctuate in time of war. The banking systems of the Bank of St. George in Genoa, the Fugger family of Augsburg, and the Medici of Florence allow the use of checks, draughts and promissory notes in lieu of currency, much as one would use a credit card today. These banks maintained large cash reserves in Flanders, Italy, and Southern Germany and had smaller bank outlets
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However merchants, especially from larger more established families or trading companies, routinely relied on ‘trade credit’ in the form of Bills of Exchange and even a simple handshake to make deals on mercantile trips. Among the merchant class in the North, business was done on the basis of honor and reputation, and that alone was often sufficient. By the 15th Century it was commonplace for ships to leave port without currency of any kind exchanging hands, only goods or even a promise of goods or later payment.
A carpenter, joiner or some other kind of wood-worker, using a treadlepowered lathe. Circa 1500.
Money was kept on ledgers much the same way as it exists electronically in trade today, and trading families and trading firms did deals for one another remotely even when they didn’t have formal arrangements. Several Hanseatic towns did record these kinds of debts in a public office, which facilitated the largely informal arrangements made between the merchants (and also gives researchers today a useful window into their activities). The important role of reputation and personal honor in business is remarkable in the Baltic and North-Sea zones.
A few wages and prices Wages (these are wages for non-guild workers, i.e. unskilled or semi-skilled labor). Days wage for a Carpenter in Klosternaubourg 20 deniers in the summer (23 kreuzer per month) 16 in the winter (18 kreuzer per month). Day wage for a Carpenter or a mason in Saxony 2 groschen and 4 dinari, plus two jugs of ‘hornet’ beer, 3 groschen per week as bath money. Monthly wage = 29 kreuzer per month (assuming a 5 ½ day work week and not counting the beer). Day wage ‘odd jobbing’, 4 kreuzer, “carting sand” 4 kreuzer, 6 dinari, ‘shifting earth’, 6 kreuzer A sheep, 56 dinari49 Bushel of flour (1423) 6 kreuzer (144 dinari)50 Side of bacon, 1 Mark (40 kreuzer)51 Cubit of fine linen (30 kreuzer)52 Pair of shoes (16 kreuzer)53 Bushel of wheat 84 dinari54 Sword 20 kreuzer55 3 Tons of beer, 1 mark (1377, Hanseatic League law) Crossbow (not sure what specific type) 1 mark / 40 kreuzer56 Coat of plates (platendienst) 12 kreuzer Cuirass with pauldrons, 39 kreuzer Mail haubergeon 2-7 marks ‘special’ hubergeon (possibly tempered or fine links) 10 marks Half-armor ‘of proof’ 90 kreuzer Milanese harness 4 florins Milanese harness ‘of Proof’ 7 florins, 4 kreuzer Equipment for a mounted crossbowman, 11 florins, Equipment ‘for a lancer’ 30 florins A house in a medium sized town – 150-250 gulden57 Payment to a master tailor in Strasbourg 1460 for 1 week’s (6 out of 7 days) work: 144 pfennig. Outlay for apprentices, hired workers and worker meals, 29.5 pfennig. Net pay 115.5 pfennig or 26 kreuzer, which works out to 104 kreuzer per month. Weekly earnings in Silesia, second half of 15th century: 24 Prague groschen – carpenter (roughly ½ mark / 18 kreuzer)58 18-35 Prague gr - master mason* (roughly 13-26 kreuzer, 104 kr per month) 8.5 gr Prague gr – non-guild worker 3.7 Prague gr- carter
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* A master mason will often receive 2 or 3 times his normal pay because he will receive wages at his own rate for each apprentice or journeyman in his employ. Some prices from Luxumbourg in 1393: Two bridles – 12 groschen Shoeing a horse with one horseshoe – 2 groshen 10 liters of wine, 4 groats Prices from Cologne 1462: Horse halter with a strap – 8 groschen Meal for 4 mercenaries - 6 groschen Rental fee for a travel horse - 4 groschen per day Pair of shoes - 4 groschen 2 loaves of bread – 1 groschen Mercenaries pay Hungarian Black Army: Light Cavalry 2 Florin per month (120 kreuzer per month) Gunner 3 Florin per month (180 kreuzer per month) Halberdier 3 Florin per month (180 kreuzer per month) Leutzule (guide) 2 Florin per month (120 kreuzer per month) Lancer* 10 Florin per month (600 kreuzer per month) Knight (‘Lance’)* 20 Florin per month (1200 kreuzer per month) “Give heed and see, you who hold dominion and magistracy in Her land. Do not unduly oppress the poor, I mean the poor Livonians and Letts, or any other converts, the servants of the Blessed Virgin, who have hitherto borne the name of Christ Her Son to the other peoples and who still bear it with us. Give deep, fearful consideration and recall to your minds eyes the cruel death of some who were harsh to their subjects. The Blessed Virgin does not, indeed, delight in the great tribute which converts are accustomed to give, nor is She appeased by the money taken from them by various exactions, nor does She wish to impose upon them a heavy burden, but one which is sweet and easily borne. Her Son says: “My yoke is sweet and My burden light.” He simply demands of them that they believe in His name, that they acknowledge HIM to be the one true God with the Father, and, believing, may have live in his name, Who is blessed world without end. Amen.” -excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894 * Lancer must have a horse, Knight’s pay includes pay for 3-4 armed vassals
Detail of a painting of Zurich showing a large undershot water mill mounted on a bridge, Hans Leu the Elder circa 1480
The Fountain of youth, from de Sphaera Mundi, circa 1472
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Town Life
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. Medieval Town by Water, 1830
“At the beginning of the eleventh century the towns of Europe were small clusters of miserable huts, adorned but with low clumsy churches, the builders of which hardly knew how to make an arch; the arts, mostly consisting of some weaving and forging, were in their infancy; learning was found in but a few monasteries. Three hundred and fifty years later, the very face of Europe had been changed. The land was dotted with rich cities, surrounded by immense thick walls which were embellished by towers and gates, each of them a work of art in itself. The cathedrals, conceived in a grand style and profusely decorated, lifted their bell-towers to the skies, displaying a purity of form and a boldness of imagination which we now vainly strive to attain. The crafts and arts had risen to a degree of perfection which we can hardly boast of having superseded in many directions, if the inventive skill of the worker and the superior finish of his work be appreciated higher than rapidity of fabrication. The navies of the free cities furrowed in all directions the Northern and the Southern Mediterranean; one effort more, and they would cross the oceans. Over large tracts of land well-being had taken the place of misery; learning had grown and spread. The methods of science had been elaborated; the basis of natural philosophy had been laid down; and the way had been paved for all the mechanical inventions of which our own times are so proud. Such were the magic changes accomplished in Europe in less than four hundred years.” -Pyotor Kropotkin, Mutual Aid (1902) pp 252-256
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The City of Danzig (aka Gdansk) in the 18th Century
The Towns It can be said that whereas the heart of High Medieval culture beat in the Abbeys, the heart of Late Medieval culture beat in the towns. There were roughly 4,000 towns in the Holy Roman Empire in the mid 15th Century, and another perhaps 2,000 spread out through Bohemia, Poland Hungary, Silesia, Livonia, and Prussia59. Of these, only roughly 150 were Imperial Free Cities, Royal Free Cities or Free Cities, and another 200 or so were important market towns of one type or another with membership in the Hanseatic League or a powerful Städtbund (CityLeague). These top 350 towns usually had trading rights under Town Law and tended to be the largest ‘cities’ in Central Europe. Most were small dense towns with populations from as low as 6,000- 8,000 to up into the range of the 25,000 – 30,000, and a size of around 100150 Hectares60. Imperial or royal Free cities had the status of Immediatstädt meaning a town with Imperial or Royal immediacy, the same as a Prince. The lesser ‘territorial’ towns or mediatstädt, which owed allegiance to a regional lord range from as many as 10,000 people to as small as 500. By way of comparison the largest trading towns in Italy and Flanders had up to 200,000 people or more in this same period and the big Royal Capital of Paris had nearly 100,000 people at this time, while London had around 50,000. Nearly all towns in Germany including the Territorial towns were autonomous to a large degree, but the Free Cities and Imperial Free Cities were effectively City-States. Towns were linked to the countryside in many ways and were not hermetically sealed behind their walls, although there was a distinct and separate urban culture. Towns and their individual citizens typically owned land around the town itself, including large numbers of villages. For example the city of Lübeck and its citizens owned 49 regional villages in the surrounding area and received revenues or rents from another 120 villages.61
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The villagers were (usually) not citizens, but were considered subjects of the town, though they had the potential of social mobility through economic links with the town and were often given at least some town rights. The forests and farmland around a town was its supply base, known as the Feldmark. The size of these territories could vary widely. Some large towns like Strasbourg and Augsburg didn’t have large territories, whereas some smaller towns such as Ulm had very large swaths of rural land under their control. Usually it is a good bit of land ranging in size from 200- 400 km or more62. The Feldmark was typically surrounded by a barrier called a Landwehr, consisting of a rampart planted with hedges and reinforced with lookout towers called Warte63. “Boleslaw the Bashful, wishing to develop Cracow which he cannot do under Polish law, appoints a vojt to supervise the change to German law, he alters the arrangement of the buildings and moves some that have been erected here and there without plan or order; but first he delineates the city square and then the corresponding streets.” -Jan Dlugosz, Annals, entry for 1257 AD
Most of the towns in the Baltic region had a substantial German-speaking population made up of merchants and artisans from the Holy Roman Empire or Flanders. Germanspeaking colonists arrived in the Baltic in a series of settlement waves known by scholars today as the Ostsiedlung. By the 15th Century most Central European towns had a mixed ethnic makeup64 but almost all the larger towns in Lithuania, Hungary, Sweden, Bohemia, Livonia, Silesia and Poland used German as a primary language, had a substantial number of German citizens and fell under German Town Law. As shorthand they were considered ‘German’ by many of their contemporaries and by modern historians, though this is not entirely accurate. Prussian and Livonian towns had Polish and native Baltic citizens and residents, and a certain number of former Crusaders and their families from all over Western Europe (including England, France, Burgundy, Flanders, Scandinavia and Italy) as well as a substantial and politically powerful
number of German, Dutch, and Scottish settlers. The towns were divided up into gate districts for town defense (see Towns, Town Militia) which sometimes acted as enclaves for the different ethnic or language groups within the city.
The rise of the towns "The Commune, is an oath of mutual aid (mutui adjutorii conjuratio). A new and detestable word. Through it the serfs (capite sensi) are freed from all serfdom; through it they can only be condemned to a legally determined fine for breaches of the law; through it, they cease to be liable to payments which the serfs always used to pay.” -Guibert of Nogent, 1115 AD
In the aftermath of the turbulent Migration Era, near the end of the first millennium, the town was only a memory in much of Europe. North of the Alps, cattle grazed in the streets of once mighty Roman civitas and colonae, birds roosted in the ruins of the forum and the aqueduct. There was only a trickle of international commerce still coming along the trade networks such as the Amber Road, Via Regia, and Silk Road. A handful of small trading centers in the Baltic region still catered to this trade. Most of major towns of Prussia, Livonia and Poland were only tiny settlements at this time. These were found near the forts of local chieftains, clustered around the handful of Cathedrals and Abbeys, or situated at traditional trading-centers like at Birka in Gotland or Hedeby in Denmark. Small communities of peddlers and artisans congregated at these sites, providing for the needs of the steady stream of pilgrims, petitioners, mercenaries and messengers who came to do business with the warlord or bring tithes to the church. Men and women set up stalls near the churches to sell food and trinkets to religious pilgrims come to see relics of saints. It wasn’t long before these little markets became a draw in their own right. Peasants came from around the countryside to bring their wool, their lumber, or their butter to see what they could get for it at the seasonal fairs. With their earnings in hand they strolled around to see what new and interesting things they could buy for their families or to make their farm more efficient. The seasonal markets gradually became monthly, and then weekly affairs. The little trading centers were competitive, and to improve commerce they organized themselves, making rules to standardize the local trade to ensure visitors would get a fair deal in the marketplace. As local trade normalized somewhat, it became clearer that each community had a surplus of one thing, and too little of another
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Left, a merchant with a big messer pays his toll to the gatekeeper, and gives him a traditional gift of an egg. With his laden cart in the background. From 1426. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg. Right, the Ostsiedlung depicted in the Sachsenspiegel. Upper part: the locator (with a special hat) receives the foundation charter from the landlord. The settlers clear the forest and build houses. Lower part: the locator acts as the judge in the village.
Towns on the coast had fish but wanted lumber to make boats… towns up the river in the forests had plenty of lumber but needed salted fish to eat in the winter. They all wanted cloth and iron. “Mainz [Maghanja] is a very large city, partly inhabited and partly cultivated fields. It is in the lands of the Franks, on a river called the Rhine [Rin]. Wheat, barely, rye, grapevines and fruit are plentiful. … It is extraordinary that one should be able to find, in such far western regions, aromatics and spices that only grow in the Far East, like pepper, ginger, gloves, nard, costus and galingale. These plants are all imported from India, where they grow in abundance.” -Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub, “The Book of Roads and Bridges”, 965 AD65
Recognizing this, a certain subset of the peddlers and stall keepers who were more ambitious than the rest began to raise stakes to buy quantities of surplus local goods. They formed little armed groups to take still risky voyages to the next little town down the river, or over on the other side of the mountain. A brave and lucky few won small fortunes this way and some of them reinvested their stake to finance longer voyages of trade to still more distant towns. A single voyage of a few-days journey could pay enormous dividends because there was so much pent-up demand. It was enough after one or two successful trips to leave the retail business behind and become a full time wholesale broker of furs, fish, amber, wax, iron weapons, salt, and so on. Thus that unique and contradictory species, the medieval merchant, was born. The canniest traders made friends in distant towns, and gradually established affinity networks from town to town which evolved into the precursors of the Hansa of the merchants, the first incarnation of what became the Hansa of the cities or the Hanseatic League. They protected each other on the roads, and made reciprocal deals to treat each other fairly in their markets. With the collusion of local Princes, they started to create monopolies
Ambrogio Lorenzetti, the “Peaceful City”, from a Fresco painted in the Sienna town council’s meeting room, circa 1320. This is probably a pretty good (if slightly idealized) glimpse into what a wealthy European city looked like in the early 14th Century.
Amber, the most precious commodity of the Baltic, washes up on the beach
An overshot water-wheel powering a mill, from a manuscript circa 1220 AD
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A clock-makers workshop, from De Sphaera Mundi, circa 1472
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A map of Central Europe in the Baltic region circa 1450 indicating some of the larger towns, with territorial towns, Imperial or Royal free cities, Free Cities, and City-States indicated by color. Towns with the Hanse banner beneath them are part of the Hanseatic League. Cities on the coasts were connected by river systems to cities further in the interior. The terms Reichsstädte and Frei Städte refer to specific status within the Holy Roman Empire, and here represents the equivalent level of autonomy in Prussia, Bohemia, Sweden, Livonia and Poland in towns under identical town charters. Lübeck Law is equivalent to Free City Status, Magdeburg Law plus membership in the Hanseatic League is roughly the equivalent to Imperial Free City or (Polish, Hungarian or Czech) Royal Free City status.
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Danzig town wall, outer ramparts, 1687 AD
Mechanization and Prosperity In the 11th and 12th Centuries, the Cistercian Monks were intent upon bringing about a Golden Age. To this end, they set about with remarkable zeal to spread the revolutionary new technologies of the wind-mill and the overshot water-wheel throughout Christian Europe. The latter device in particular was a very important innovation in the Baltic, increasing the horsepower of the water wheel by a factor of six for the same flow of water. A single overshot waterwheel could grind more grain than 50 Roman slaves had been able to do by hand. Small watermills could now be set up at raised ponds or small streams, larger water mills on rivers became very powerful. Windmills also reached economic significance in certain areas where the wind was consistently strong, such as near the coasts, significantly in the LowCountries and Prussia.
meant that large quantities of raw materials could now be processed faster and more efficiently than ever before. Stone wheels ground all day long turning bushel after bushel of rye and wheat into fine flour. Saw-mills processed logs into boards in minutes instead of hours. Mechanical, waterpowered bellows and trip-hammers vastly increased the scale and output of the bloomery forge, flooding the markets of Europe with good quality iron.
A woman sells salted fish in the marketplace. From a 15th Century version of the Tacuinum Sanitatis (BNF NAL 1673)
A candlemakers workshop, from the Tacuinum Sanitatis, 14th Century.
With the spread of these machines the small administrative centers, especially those associated with an abbey or a church friendly with the Cistercians, acquired an important new role. The presence of the mill
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This had two important effects on the town. First many more farmers and loggers than ever before came to the town to process their raw materials. Second, increasing numbers of artisans arrived and settled in the towns to create new secondary industries making things out of the raw materials. Large ovens were built next to the grinding mill to bake bread. New shipyards rose up around the sawmills where skilled men built new more efficient types of trading vessels and
warships. Blacksmiths and ferriers set up shop near the bloomery forges. Weavers and spinners built up new textile industries next to the fulling mills, carpenters and masons came to build new houses, bridges, walls. All this brought in still more people to buy the finished goods. Butchers set up shop to slaughter cattle to feed the throng. The next effect was that trade exploded, and the towns grew.
A draper, with two apprentices or family members, makes clothing from linen cloth. From the Tacuinum Sanitatis, early 15th Century. Version BNF NAL1673.
An apothecary and his wife sell ‘Theriac’, from the Tacuinum Sanitatus.
Others acquired such rights as parts of deals struck during military alliances or as concessions granted by princes or bishops after successful revolutions.
As the trade increased, prosperity arrived among the common people in the Baltic towns. This was welcomed by princes and the Church, for the towns brought wealth, luxuries and valuable new resources into the region. These included such useful items as non-perishable foods like hard cheeses, pickles and salted fish, top quality weapons, armor and horse harness, iron tools, wooden carts and ships, artists, musicians and a thousand other specialists. The expertise of the town also meant the availability of significant engineering capabilities for building castles and fortifications. And when the town walls were raised these little castrum became important military allies to local rulers in their own right. It had become clear at this time that market towns prospered best if left to govern themselves, and few feudal princes had any interest in micromanaging trade in the early days of the medieval towns, which they considered beneath them. For these reasons many towns were granted Town Rights in the boom times of the 13th Century, giving the town the legal right to hold a market and to call itself a city – and sufficient autonomy to get their own affairs in order.
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A cloth merchant, Nuremberg 1443 AD. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
But in spite of the great value of the towns to their princes, strife was not unusual between the cities and their overlords. Bishops and princes tried to crack down to curb the pretensions of the burghers, while at the same time trying not to ‘kill the goose that laid the golden egg’. Some prosperous towns were smothered that way.
Danzig Town wall, outer ramparts, 1687 AD
But most of the richest towns staged rebellions to free themselves from the rule of their lords. In the HRE, in Italy, in Flanders and in the Baltic numerous small ‘private’ wars (fehde) took place as towns fought for more independence in the 12th and 13th Centuries. The cities which had walls were able to rely on militias, plenty of money and as many friends as they did enemies. The merchants made skillful use of diplomacy and their network of contacts. With the lubrication of their wealth they managed to play the Church, the princes and the gentry against each other, and hire mercenaries. Many of the towns were ultimately successful in these disputes.
German Hanse merchant, late 15th Century Hans Burgkmair
By the mid-13th Century most towns in Prussia featured a large merchant hall, a sort of special club-house to which only merchants were admitted. In Danzig, Elbing, and Torun this building was originally the House of St. George, but later became the Artushof, or Artus Court, named
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after the mythical King Arthur, and dedicated to those idealized notions of chivalry which he represents. In these halls the merchants held their feasts, feted their guests, formed alliances, and made new deals to increase their wealth and power. From the early days through the end of the 13th Century the merchant halls were the real powercenter of the town. From here the new leaders of the city took on the role of magistrates, ruthless business leaders, and architects of the military and trade policy. Sidebar: the Scania Market and the birth of the Hansa After centuries of disruption during the Viking Age, trade in Northern Europe gradually started anew in a few key locations in the 11th and 12th Century. One of these places was on a sleepy spit of land in the Southern tip of Sweden, well known during the early middle Ages as an outstanding place to catch fish. Fish swarmed here through the narrow channels known as the Öresund, the body of water which separates the southern tip of Sweden from the Danish Island of Zealand.
Pieter Bruegel the Elder, “De grote vissen eten de kleine”, 1556 AD
Each fall, vast schools of herring would spawn in the sound, just off the Falsterbo Peninsula near the small Swedish towns of Skanör and Falsterbo (though always in a slightly different spot each season), attracted by the mixture of salt water from the North Sea with the much ‘sweeter’ (lower salinity) water of the Baltic.
It was said66 that so many herring swarmed through here each fall that one needed only to dip a basket into the sea to pull it up stuffed with wriggling fish. Local markets sprang up in September and October to sell vast quantities of fish to locals, and increasingly, foreign traders. By 1200 AD a sort of temporary city of booths was erected every year to process the fish harvest. The key to the international trade was salt, without which the fish could not be shipped anywhere. Thousands of barrels of salt were brought by annual convoys from the German towns, mostly originating from the big salt-mine in Lüneburg.
amber, lumber, beer, guns and steel and wax and glass… The great Northern trading network had been born. Around this time small groups of families in each town consolidated their status. They granted themselves special rights and privileges and enacted rules preventing others from entering their ranks. They banned aristocrats from owning property in the town, and banned artisans from joining the town council or entering their exclusive merchants halls. It was no longer possible to rise to high status in the town on the basis of money alone.
An enterprising trader could buy a load of salt in Lübeck, sail it to Scania, and return the same year with enough money to become a citizen. As the market expanded the Hanse merchants brought with them so-called ‘gillwomen’ who cleaned and gutted the fish, and those brave enough to make the trip (and lucky enough to survive it) could change their life, in much the same way that young people take the risky job of fishing king crabs off the coast of Alaska each winter today. By the 14th Century the scale of the Scania herring trade had become enormous, in a good year Danish records showed an export of 300.000 barrels of fish 67 . Each winter the ships would return to the rivers of Germany bearing barrels of salted fish to be eaten on Fridays and Holy Days when meat was forbidden, or taken on voyages as one of the few non perishable foods of the day. This link between Scania, Wisby, Lübeck, and other trading towns in the Baltic was the spark plug which began to stimulate the earliest formalized international trade networks in the far North, and led directly to the birth of the Hanseatic League. The network which led to the annual Scania fish market incorporated barrel makers, lumber mills, shipwrights, salt mines, and artisans of all types, sparking general economic growth. The annual trading missions quickly expanded to include cities from Scotland and Britain to Flanders and all the way to Novgorod in Russia, and to encompass many other goods from Finnish furs to Scottish wool to Flemish textiles and Rhenish glassware. Amidst this lucrative trade, the Danish Kings established the Sound Dues, a series of taxes on ships using the sound which became the Golden Goose of the Danish Monarchy. Strife over the herring trade led in part to two wars between Denmark and the Hanseatic League and from 1370 to 1385 the Hanse won direct control of the Scania market, eventually losing it again to the Danes. But then suddenly near the turn of the 15th Century, the herring stocks collapsed, and the Scania fishing industry died almost overnight. But by then, the Hansa was trading in hundreds of other markets, for cod, for silk, for grain,
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Nuremberg Schöffe and patrician Levinus Memminger, painted by Michael Wolgemut, circa 1485
The Merchants Today the word merchant usually refers to a shopkeeper, somebody with a pretty prosaic job. But in the medieval context it also meant people who were wholesale dealers, and even we would call today brokers or bankers, who were also in many cases ship captains, war-leaders, bosses of dangerous expeditions and jurists. As in modern times regional and international trade in the medieval world was controlled by a highly privileged class of people, mostly wealthy town folks known as ‘patricians’. These merchants
formed an urban elite in the middle ages who quickly ascended to new heights of wealth rivaling that of the princes. They were able to devote many resources to living well, they built great houses and public buildings, sponsored artists and authors, educated and clothed their children in style, and established a lifestyle which soon inspired the jealousy of powerful men.
the corresponding sum of credits, an error has occurred. It’s a very good way to keep track of who owes you money. There is debate today as to who invented this system. It first appears in the public records in 1458 in the journal of a Dalmatian (Croatian) merchant named Benedikt Kotruljević, but there is some evidence that this system was known in some Italian cities and to the Arabs as far back as the 12 th Century. In the 14th Century the secretive Venetians appear to have known this technology and their merchants made good use of it, contributing to their inexorable rise in economic power. It was in the Serenìsima Repùblica of Venice where both the Fuggers and the Medicis learned the technique68 For example, in Swabia in the late 15th Century the average estate of the nobility was valued at less than 200 guilders, while the marriage of a single Augsburg merchant, wealthy but not the richest in the city, cost 991 gulden 69. The new urban elite had real money and real power, and not everyone among the old rural aristocracy or the Church appreciated this new reality.
The formidable Jacob Fugger ‘The Rich’ of Augsburg, painted by Albrecht Dürer circa 1518. Jacob left assets worth the staggering sum of 2,032,652 gold guilders to his nephew Anton when he died. This is the equivalent of seven tons of gold, worth billions in modern currency. He was one of Albrecht Dürer’s principle patrons.
Sidebar Double-Entry Bookkeeping Sometimes it’s not swords, guns, or castles which build empires, but more subtle technologies that confer hidden advantages. Two of the wealthiest and most powerful families in Europe during the early Renaissance were burgher clans, the Medici’s of Florence and the Fuggers of Augsburg. They owed their amazing economic success in part to a just such a secret, the humble technology known today as double entry bookkeeping. This is a system of accounting in which each financial transaction is recorded twice in a ledger, once as a credit, and once as a debit. It helps enormously in detecting errors, if at in any period the sum of debits does not equal
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Merchants in their shops, detail from De Sphaera, the plate for Jupiter, circa 1472.
Interestingly however, studies of medieval town records show us that although many merchants were very wealthy and as a class they were extremely powerful in the towns, the wealth of most such families typically didn’t last more than a few generations. Often it would come and go in three generations: the grandson squandered the wealth accumulated by the grandfather. Only a few families managed to accumulate wealth steadily without going off the rails. Those that did achieved a new and uniquely formidable kind of power. But the fact that most didn’t meant that even the Hanseatic towns still had upward mobility and a certain amount of churn in the leadership.
Oswolt Krel, a merchant in the “Grand Ravensburg Brotherhood” (Die grosse Ravensburger Gesellschaft) who traded all over Europe in the 15th Century. His family crest features the Wild man, or Woodwose, a kind of medieval Bigfoot character which was very popular in medieval art. The Woodwose is perhaps emblematic of the dangers of the eerie, mysterious roads and pathways of Central Europe, which men like Krel had to travel to make their living. Albrecht Dürer circa 1499.
Merchant Adventurers and Merchant Companies The paradox of being a merchant in the Middle Ages was that in order to make money, you had to take great personal risks. Travel was hazardous in the medieval world, but it was just these hazards that meant there was such great demand for products of one town just a few days ride away in another. If you had the wherewithal to travel long distances and make it back home again, you could become rich very quickly. The obvious solution to this dilemma would be to send employees, such as a clerk to carry your goods from one place to the next. Of course merchants did rely on agents, but it was risky to do so all the time. Your agent or clerk needed to not only be honest and loyal, and capable of coping with the often considerable dangers of the road, but also to have the wit and wherewithal to negotiate complex business deals and cope with capriciously shifting market conditions when they arrived where they were going. Since the fortunes of the family could sometimes hinge on a single deal or a single caravan load, many merchants felt you couldn’t always trust an employee to do all that.
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A merchant, left, still dressed for the road, presents a Polish nobleman with a shipment of cloth. Codex Picturatus / Balthasar Behem codex. Kraków 1505. The noble looks a little narrow because the page was slightly bunched up during the scan.
Two systems arose to help alleviate these problems. One was an apprenticeship system in which the younger men (bachelors) from the merchant families would brave the
dangerous and uncomfortable road conditions while they still had the energy and courage (or folly) of youth to help them through it. As much as possible, trips would be carefully arranged in advance through long distance written communication by their older and wiser relatives. So the youths made fewer financial decisions under duress, with their every move plotted out well in advance. They were very carefully groomed and educated so that whatever decisions they did have to make were shrewd enough to forestall catastrophe.
conditions imposed by the Peace of Stralsund upon Denmark until 1385.
The other system emerged with the help of ever-improving math skills, written communication and accounting practices, complex networks of personal alliances, built into a sophisticated web of interconnections, allowed multiple merchant families from different towns to share risk and mutually support one another in the marketplaces and on the dangerous roads in merchant companies. The Italians were the first to start doing this (as with so many other innovations) but they were quickly followed by the Flemish merchants and soon after, by German-speaking and other Central European families.
1) First, concerning the general diet to be held on 5 March with the common towns in Lübeck: are we to be represented by delegates or merely by letters? It was unanimously resolved that delegates should be sent to this diet, because of the many matters which concern us, the common towns and the merchants.
Sidebar: Three documents of Hanseatic correspondence, from Philippe Dollinger, the German Hanse, 1970
ABSENTEEISM AT THE HANSEATIC DIET 1383 – Letter from Lübeck to Danzig from the delegates at the Hanseatic diet meeting at Lübeck.70 You know well that a diet was held here after Easter of this year, as had been agreed between your councilors and ourselves. Nevertheless you sent no one. For this reason another diet was resolved on, to be held here at the present time [May], and you were informed of this in writing so that you might send your delegates: this you failed to do. And yet the delegates of the town of the Zuiderzee have come to this meeting, and the councilors of Cologne, Dortmund, Munster and many other towns have sent their delegates to this diet. Therefore we ask you to fix yourselves the date of an assembly which you and the other associated towns will be able to attend without fail, here in Lübeck, between now and next Michaelmas to discuss the same affairs and matters of which you have been informed by letter. Do not fail to fix the date for this diet, for it is of great importance to us all and to the common merchant. Be so good as to give us early notice of the day you choose, so that the other towns can be informed in time to send their delegates. The messenger who bears this is to bring us your decision and reply. 1384 – Letter from the diet of the Prussian towns, held at Marienburg mainly to propose a continuance of the
A REGIONAL DIET AS PREPARATION FOR A GENERAL DIET In the year of Our Lord 1384 the delegates of the Prussian towns assembled in Marienburg on the Sunday before Christmas and discussed the following articles:
2) Further, are the castles in Skania to be surrendered on the date fixed in the treaty?... On this matter it seems best to us to keep the castles as long as we can and not to return them, unless the merchants are compensated for their losses, for the castles were pledged to the towns by the father of the queen [Margaret of Denmark / the Nordic Union] and not by the Queen herself …. 3) As for the alliance formed by the towns, contained in the Treaty, is it to be continued or not? On this point we believe that the alliance should be continued in its present form. 4) Shall we continue next year to levy poundage as before? We think that it should be levied as before, under oath. 5) Concerning the warships, shall we continue to fit them out or not, etc.? It seems good to us to fit them out and to pacify the seas as far as is possible, as has been done before, and to ask the common towns to undertake the equipment of them as before, etc. 6) As for the ban on the manufacture of cannon (geschossbuxen) in the common towns for the use of foreigners: our opinion is that the decision and consent of our lord the Grand Master [of the Teutonic Order] be accepted … 7) As for the vessels which sail up and down the Vistula with herring or other cargo, when they are wrecked or ice-bound: on what terms are the skippers and crews to receive wages and subsistence, how long are the crews to be allowed to use wood from the banks, if the channel is blocked? On this question each delegate is to consult his own town council about what is to be done, and also whether the town has anything written on this matter [In their laws]. Each delegate is to bring these documents or a reply to the next diet and there report on the matter.
TRADING PARTNERSHIP FORMING A COMPANY Page 125
1358 – business partnership between a ‘sleeping’ and an active partner In the year of Our Lord 1358, on All Saints’ Day, Arnold Lowe paid 800 Lübeck guilders into a ‘true partnership’. Rudolph Wittenborch paid nothing in but received the 800 guilders from the above mentioned Arnold in order to trade with it to the profit of both. If Rudolf were to die in the meantime, Arnold will have a prior claim on the 800 guilders out of the assets of the firm. All profits gained by the grace of God belong in equal parts to the two partners. If losses are incurred – which God forbid – they also fall equally upon the two partners; they have both pledged themselves to this freely and in full accord as the Book of Debts bears witness.
Barcelona, Zaragoza, Valencia and Antwerp, as well as Nurembeg, Frankfurt and Ulm closer to home. By the middle of the 15th Century over 10 towns and 100 families were directly involved in the company.
A good example of this type of merchant company was the famous Grand Ravensburg Brotherhood (Die grosse Ravensburger Gesellschaft) of the Bodensee (Lake Constance) area in Southern Germany. This group came together out of what were originally informal arrangements made between textile merchants dealing in linen and fustian from the relatively small towns of Ravensburg (the Humpis family, who dominated the company) Buchorn (the Mötteli) and Constance (the Muntprat). Gradually the company spread its influence far beyond their headquarters in Ravensburg, where they built a highly profitable paper mill in 1401.
Portrait of an attractive patrician woman, possibly another depiction of Saint Hemma von Gurk, Artist and model unknown (possibly Sebald Bopp). Late 15th Century.
We happen to know a great deal about this company, unlike several of their apparently very similar competitors, because a trove of their records was discovered in the 1890’s, covering the periods of 1427-1480, and 1497-1527. These were apparently interesting enough to inspire no less than 5 historical novels, several scholarly books and reams of academic articles, almost all of them in German. Sadly your humble author has yet to find any of these in easily accessible English, but is still looking!
Patrician woman of Nuremberg, 1501. She was the wife of the Münzmeister, the master of the mint.
By the 1430’s they had field offices or warehouses called Geliegern as far away as Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Livonia and Bohemia, and they had trading links with Bruges, Lyon, Avignon, Vienna, Venice, Milan, Genoa,
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The city comes of age After defeating their regional prince-prelate overlords in the 13th Century, the 14th Century brought many new challenges for the Flemish, German and Czech towns and their patrician rulers. Regional trade routes were disrupted by the predatory activities of aggressive robber-knights. Wars created chaos in many districts. The towns also faced serious encroachment by powerful princes and bishops (like at Doffingen), and there were several more wars.
Once again most of the Northern cities were able to fend off the external threats, though there were perilous battles fought and a few towns were brought violently to heel. For the most part once again strong walls, powerful friends, money, able leadership and well-equipped militias saved the day. Yet inside the city walls there was a new and more serious challenge to the patrician regime. The craft guild organizations of the artisans had become more powerful and influential in this period, leading to social strife between the classes which began to seriously undermine the established order. The princes try to reign it all in None of this pleased the princes, and they prevailed upon the Emperor to curtail democratic trends. In 1356, Emperor Charles IV issued his Golden Bull which banned “conjurations, confederations and conspirationes”, meaning the increasingly powerful Städtebünde (town leagues) and other republican Landfrieden or diets, as well as the ‘conjuration’ ceremonies which joined guilds together. This legal blow against the burghers signified a power struggle that had begun between the princes and the towns. It all came to a head a generation later in a small but important battle near a village in Southern Germany in 1388. During this period various town-leagues had been growing in influence and increasingly, clashing with the princes and the other estates over issues of regional control. This came to a head at Doffingen, where a powerful league of forty towns led by Augsburg, Ulm, Nuremberg, and Regensberg, faced an even more potent coalition of princes, led by the formidable count Palatinate of the Rhine, Rupert II, Eberhard II, the count of Wurttemberg, the Burgrave of Nuremberg and the Archbishop Frederick of Cologne. Significantly, the prince’s army also army included a substantial number of Swabian and Franconian peasants as well as the usual knightly heavy cavalry. The size of the battle and number of casualties were relatively small, with armies of maybe three thousand soldiers on each side, and the loses of less than 2,000 men (mostly mercenaries) on the side of the towns and about 600 on the side of the princes. But in spite of the relatively small scale of the engagement, the consequences were indeed substantial. The towns and the princes were striving to see who would dominate the Holy Roman Empire, and Doffingen did decide that question in favor of the princes, at least in that region and for the moment.
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Many smaller towns in southern Germany lost their rights in the aftermath. In the nineteenth and twentieth Centuries historians often cited this battle in combination with the Golden Bull of Charles IV as the time when the power of the towns was broken. The reality was rather different. Though a serious defeat, Doffingen was a small and comparatively cautious battle, and none of the leading towns had their walls breached or lost their rights. The towns were unable to dominate a dozen major princes acting together, but the princes were almost never so closely unified. Towns like Danzig, Wroclaw, Hamburg, Lübeck, Augsburg, Nuremberg, Ulm and Regensberg remained powerful and independent Free Cities which probably didn’t even peak in power for more than another 100 years. Informal town leagues such as the mighty Hanseatic League, and permanent formal ones such as the Swiss Confederation, the Pentapolitana, the Decapole, the Lusatian League, and many others, continued to support each other, to defy Popes and Emperors, and to wage war upon and defeat princes well into the 17th Century. Doffingen gave the princes the upper hand in electing the emperor, but the towns still wielded formidable power in the HRE and neighboring kingdoms, including Prussia, Poland, Bohemia, Austria, Hungary and Livonia. Though the princes continued to accumulate and concentrate political and military power at the expense of the other estates, gradually crushing the peasantry and the knights in the 16 th Century, it was only in the Western Kingdoms of France, England and Spain where the ruling Monarch consolidated power sufficiently to cow the cities. In Central and Northern Europe the towns continued to be formidable centers of innovation, cultural growth and economic activity. Politically, they had the counterweights of the Hanseatic League, the Swiss Confederation, and the Republic of Venice to play off against the regional princes, and the rivalries between the great kingdoms often occupied the latter. As the military situation deteriorated in the 16th and 17th Centuries out in the countryside, many of the once mighty medieval towns remained oases of peace for centuries to come. Danzig in particular continued to thrive, largely on the basis of the agricultural wealth of Poland and Ukraine, and maintained a profitable collaboration with the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth, albeit punctuated by a few serious disputes, well into the Early Modern Era.
A water powered wire-pulling mill complex near Nuremberg, Albrecht Dürer watercolor 1494. The production of metal wire advanced rapidly in the medieval world with the spread of the draw plate in the 13th Century. By the 15th Century complex machinery based on water mill power allowed near complete automation in the production of wire. Major manufacturing centers like Nuremberg relegated the early stages of iron production and that of precursor materials like wire to “putting out” operations in the countryside, while the more advanced stages of manufacturing (such as making mail armor, precision tools or clocks) were done by skilled craft artisans in the town.
"German cities are completely independent, don't have much territory around them and obey the emperor only when it suits. They are not afraid of him, nor any other powerful rulers in the area. This is because these towns are so well fortified that everyone realizes what an arduous wearisome business it would be to attack them. They all have properly sized moats and walls; they have the necessary artillery; they have public warehouses with food, drink and firewood for a year; what's more, to keep people well fed without draining the public purse, they stock materials for a year's worth of work in whatever trades are the lifeblood of the city and whatever jobs the common folk earn their keep with. They hold military exercises in high regard and make all kinds of arrangements to make sure they are routinely practiced." - Niccoló Machiavelli on Assessing a state's strength, the Prince 1532
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Lübeck, as it was believed to appear in the 15th Century, from the Civitates Orbis Terraru, 1572
As external military pressure increased during power struggles with kings and dukes, the cities were increasingly dependent on the ‘confrere’s militaria’ of the craft guilds which were the foundation of the town militias. This was seen perhaps most dramatically in the Battle of Golden Spurs in Flanders in 1302. After their great victory against the French king the artisans of the Flemish towns, keenly aware of their role in the success, immediately took seats in the town councils. The arrival of the Black Death in 1348 shattered the social order across Europe, further destabilizing the political situation in the towns which were hardest hit by the plague (some towns were rather miraculously spared, perhaps attributable in large part to draconian quarantine efforts taken by town authorities). From the 1350s through 1400 there were many uprisings and small civil wars in most of the towns, and by the dawn of the 15th Century the craft guilds emerged as the new dominant political force in the urban body politic in almost all the large Flemish and German cities, with the notable exceptions of Nuremberg, Frankfurt, and Ulm71. Craftsmen perform a variety of tasks. From the Paduan picture bible, 15 th century. Medieval craftsmen kept their shops open to the public while they worked.
The craft guilds The craft guilds of the 15th Century were organizations of artisans in the various industries of the town, and together they controlled the production and service industries of the late medieval city as well as a lot of the politics. In some towns the craft guilds ran the city outright, in others the guilds had a power sharing arrangement with the merchants and the patrician clans, with a lot of push and pull behind the scenes. In some the patricians held the power. Craftsmen from the Paduan picture bible, 15th Century.
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City of Cologne from The Martyrdom of St Ursula at Cologne, 1411. Note the floating water-mills in the Rhine river at the lower left.
well as financial support and credit) 2) to bargain with commercial partners, 3) to enforce quality, and 4) transmit technical skills to its membership. The well being, prosperity and physical safety of the membership was paramount, and in this sense they were not unlike a modern trade union only more so. What differentiates a guild from a union though is that the guild masters were not just workers, but also business owners, with an interest in assuring the highest possible standard of quality for what they produced and to thereby ensure their success in commerce. This has left a legacy of craftsmanship and a corresponding reputation for quality that remains so well established in certain parts of Europe today (German and Czech beer laws for example).
-Tailors Workshop, from the Codex Picturatus, Kraków, 1505 AD
Formal associations of urban artisans appeared maybe as early as the 11th Century, grew in strength all through the 13th and 14th Centuries, and become a force to be reckoned with by the 15th, which was essentially the heyday of the artisan classes in Central and Northern Europe. Craft guilds (as distinct from the previously established trading guilds of the merchants), were known by several names in the Baltic: ampt, zunft (plural zünfte), einung or innung, cech, gilde, genossenschaft, brüderschaft, and gesellschaft were the most common German, Flemish and Slavic terms. These associations were a major part of the culture of the German speaking Medieval Baltic towns, and were also very significant in Czech, Flemish, Polish, and Scandinavian cities. The craft guild was a type of co-op business for the whole craft industry, which served four fundamental purposes: 1) for mutual support of the members (including social as
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-Swordmakers workshop, from the Codex Picturatus, Kraków, 1505 AD. The apprentice or journeyman on the left appears to be a Moor or a Turk
Though guilds of all kinds had a terrible reputation in the 19th and 20th Century as impediments to economic progress, more modern economists now consider them to be “cost sharing” rather than “rent seeking” organizations72. Their main economic role seemed to be training and quality control for the industry. They did not rely on captive markets because there really weren’t any in the major export industries. If the blacksmiths in one town made bad armor or overcharged people would buy it from another town where they made it better. So the guilds made significant efforts to make sure their craft industry and their town had a good reputation.
The well preserved medieval Free Imperial City of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in southern Germany, gives visitors a pretty good idea of what a medieval town felt like.
History of the craft guilds In ancient times there were organizations of artisans and merchants known in Greece and Rome and ancient Egypt, going back into the Bronze Age. These are not considered guilds by modern historians because they were mostly family based and were often not independent of town or royal government. Guilds also existed in China, India, the Middle East, Ottoman Turkey and in Africa 74 but this was after the medieval period. The guild appears to be a uniquely European, medieval invention. The earliest ‘proto-guilds’ in Europe were Roman craft workers fraternities in Italy called collegia. During the declining years of the Roman Empire in the 6th and 7th Centuries, these urban fraternities may have been adopted by the invading Lombards and Visigoths who found this new social form better adapted to the alien environment of large towns than the old tribal kin-groups. The guild seems to have been a new way to make a type of kin group out of groups of strangers with shared (financial) interests. Whatever the influence of old Roman traditions in Italy, the guilds clearly had indigenous precursors among the barbarian tribes of the far North, because they became established early-on in Saxony, Flanders, and Swabia 75. The Medieval European craft guilds were unique historically and in the world in that they were the first business organizations founded on the basis of free association rather than family, tribal or ethnic affiliation76.
Just as the Artus Court was the center of social and political life for the merchants, the artisans had their guild hall which was the center of their social life. These were places for drinking, communal rituals, and the organization of public events such as carnival parades and various forms of charity. Guild members were bonded together and felt a sense of brotherhood and community. The craft guild was first and foremost a brotherhood, but it was also a business, something like a gang, and a center of religious devotion focused upon their patron saint, who was seen as the personification of the guild. The guild was also a patron of charity and public works, the guilds helped build new buildings and water systems in the cities, repaired and upgraded the town walls, and bought or fabricated arms for the town militia. The guilds founded a variety of confraternities or ‘benevolent associations’ which commissioned art and church choirs, funded alms-houses, hospitals and cemeteries, and took care of widows and orphans (particularly those associated with the craft). At the turn of the 16 th Century there were over 70 such benevolent associations in Lübeck, 80 in Cologne, and over 100 in Hamburg 73. This is all for the social welfare of the city, and to enhance the glory of their craft among their fellow citizens.
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A wine seller offers samples to a customer. From the Tacuinum Sanitatis 14th Century Paduan (Casanatense 4182)
The early barbarian guild members pooled their gold like a clan or a war-band, the term guild derives from ‘geld’, for the gold stored in their guild chest. They swore fearsome oaths of mutual defense and support, forming a new type of urban
tribe. This custom worried the Church and records survive from as early as the 8th Century documenting the denunciation of the guilds by Christian bishops for the swearing of oaths known as “conjurations” which took place in an annual ceremony held on December 25 during the feast of Yule or Saturnalia.
From the earliest records of craft guilds we can see a certain stratification of industries. In the 12th Century there were already sharp distinctions between crafts, for example the neumeisters, who made new shoes, considered themselves superior to the slipper makers who Lorded it over the mere cobblers (who only repair shoes).
"Let no one dare to take the oath by which people are wont to form guilds. Whatever may be the conditions which have been agreed upon, let no one bind himself by oaths concerning the payment of contributions in case of fire or shipwreck." -Carolingian Capitulary, 779 AD
According to Church records early efforts to Christianize these ceremonies were unsuccessful, leading to tension between the towns and the first estate. But the conflict between the guilds and the authorities gradually eased with the introduction of patron saints for each guild. Guilds seem to have become thoroughly Christian by the Late Medieval period, at least on the surface, though some latent heathen overtones of many guild practices contributed to the inherent political hostility and distrust that remained between the towns and the Church.
Two men practice sword and buckler fencing, from the Tacuinum Sanitatus, 14th Century Paduan. Burghers often practiced fencing both for exercise and to hone skills needed for self defense and on the battlefield.
In the 13th Century the linen- and the wool-weavers formed two distinct guilds, and the wool-weavers further subdivided themselves into two classes: the makers of fine (think ‘high thread count’) Flemish or Italian cloths intended for export, and the makers of the coarser homespun for the rural markets. These were in-turn further subdivided into fullers, carders, dyers and etc.
-A shopkeeper, Codex Picturatus, Kraków, 1505 AD The 19th Century cleric and historian Johannes Janssen tells us that craft guilds first appeared in German records in the 10th Century. The first to receive a formal charter was the guild of the watermen of Worms, chartered in 1106 AD. The shoemakers of Würzburg received their charter in 1112; the weavers of Cologne, in 1149, and the shoemakers of Magdeburg, in 1158. German craft guilds remained relatively marginal until the 13th Century when they suddenly became much more numerous and politically important. The first powerful craft guilds were those connected with the manufacture of textiles. In the larger towns production exploded in the 15th Century, for example in the year 1466 there were 743 master weavers in Augsburg alone77.
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The Craft Guild and the City In the mid-15th Century the guild was a well-established component of urban society in all of Central Europe, and to some extent in the rural zones as well. Every guild had its patron saint, its feast day, and its guild-hall. The guilds were integrated with the other factions in the town in a close-knit economic system. Merchants bought raw materials and contracted with the craft associations to create the valueadded products which they then sold to foreign markets. This could mean something as comparatively simple as turning logs into boards or wheat into flour, (the main export businesses of Danzig), or such complex artisanship as the creation of fine wool, silk, or linen textiles, the building of ships, beer-brewing, gun forging, the crafting of locks,
nautical instruments and other mechanical devices, glass lenses or drinking vessels, and so on.
1. 2.
3.
4.
5. 6. 7. 8.
Bohemian artisans making glass bottles, from “The Travels of John Mandeville”, British Museum, Czech, anonymous circa 1420.
The craft guild never entirely died out in Continental Europe, and after briefly being suppressed by the Nazi’s during WW II, the phenomenon enjoyed a resurgence in the late 20th Century. The carpenters guilds in Germany, Switzerland and France (among others) still have elements of the old medieval structure today, including the practice of traveling journeymen tramping on the road for a fixed period of time before achieving the status of a master craftsman. Though the tradition is not so well established in the Anglo –American world, there are some traces of it. The closest modern analogies in the US today are groups like the Screen Actors Guild, the State Bar Associations and Lawyers Guilds, the Writers Guild, the American Medical Association, and the harbor Pilots associations in most major port cities. These groups have something like the apprenticeship structure of a real guild but they are only shadows of the old institution. There are also carpenters guilds in the US which are something of a hybrid between a guild and a trade union. Regulations of the guild of skinners from Copenhagen 1440- 1495 AD78:
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9. 10.
11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16.
“First, that no furrier or skinner shall work here in Copenhagen unless he satisfies the requirements for membership. As soon as a brother in their guild dies, two brothers shall watch over the corpse, and all the brothers and sisters shall contribute to that, and no one shall go away before it is buried. Whosoever goes against this shall give 2 groschen to the guild, or be held in arrears. All those who aspire to this office, men or apprentices, shall perform two pieces of work or labor in the alderman’s workshop or place of business: a woman’s leather kirtle and a swaddle. If they perform the work flawlessly, they shall be accepted as full guild brothers; if they do not, then they shall go their way until they can improve their skills. Before their admission [they must give] 10 groschen, and a meal worth about 6 pfennigs, and 4 marks worth of wax, at the behest of the Guild master, to acknowledge their service. No one shall do poor workmanship on a woman’s leather kirtle; whoever should do this must pay a tun of beer for each offense. If anyone shall hire another man’s apprentice before his appointed day, he pays a tun of beer. An apprentice shall give a half tun of beer and two marks worth of wax. He, whom the alderman makes the keeper of the candles for the chandelier in the church, shall pay one mark worth of wax as often as he neglects to light the candles. Those who do not come to a meeting on time when they have been summoned shall pay a pfennig. When they drink in their company, if it happens that someone offends another by his speech, he shall pay a tun of beer, whether or not the wronged party complains to the bailiff or the mayor before he complains to the alderman. He who drinks until he is so drunk that he vomits shall pay a half tun of beer and one mark worth of wax. No one shall invite guests unless they are worthy of the company and inform the alderman who they are. He who doesn’t give the alderman silence, as soon as he bangs on the table for attention, shall pay a mark worth of wax. No one shall hold a meeting of guild brothers, unless there is a rademan [leader] present, who can advise them about the rules of order. The alderman may have two guests and a stoellsbroder [warden’s assistant] one guest. He who does something against his honor shall be as closely associated with the profession of the guild as the members desire.
Craft guild structure Members of 15th Century Baltic craft guilds could achieve up to three ranks in their lifetime: apprentice, journeyman, and master.
Apprentices made up a large portion of the labor pool in most towns. These youngsters worked while learning their trade for a fixed number of years (one, three or as many as seven years, varying widely by profession and by town). An apprentice was essentially the indentured servant of a master, who sponsored their limited citizenship status in the town and literally took them into his or her family. They were not considered full citizens until they completed their apprenticeship. It was a great privilege to be taken in as an apprentice because it represented the potential for social mobility and a path to becoming a citizen of the town. But it was also hard work. Apprentices were unpaid except for room and board while learning their trade. If an apprentice was ‘fired’ or ran away during his or her apprenticeship, he could lose his citizenship or even be made an outlaw. If they worked hard and kept their nose clean during the apprenticeship (German: lehrjahre, literally "learning years") he or she was absolved from apprenticeship obligations in a ceremony known as the freisprechung, literally "free pronouncement", during which the apprentice was ceremonially armed as a representation of citizen status, usually with a sword, a messer or a dagger. At this stage the apprentice graduated to the status of a free citizen and a craftsman.
countryside from place to place, looking for work and adventure. During their wanderjahre they wore a special uniform and carried a log book called a wanderbücher which was stamped at the guild-house of each city they visited. When a journeyman entered a new town they had to check in with their local craft, present the log book and try to find work. Some towns were more welcoming than others, and this could vary widely from one year to the next depending on local economic conditions. But as skilled laborers journeymen were usually welcome wherever they went. On the road journeymen had a special status, generally tolerated by the authorities and permitted entrance into the towns and villages. They were usually well received in the countryside as well as the towns and they were also supported by their own associations while on the road.
This pub Na Slamniku in Prague has been in operation since 1570 AD. It used to be the site of a rowdy Carnival celebration by journeyman of the tailors Guild. They would create a straw mattress with a figure of a man and his girlfriend around which they would dance late into the night.
While tramping journeymen could stop at farms or villages along the way and do work for villagers in exchange for room and board, which put them on relatively good terms with the populace. The peasants and gentry in turn gave them handouts of food, let them sleep in the stables or barns for free, gave them rides from passing carts etc., This actually served an important function of creating much-needed friendly cultural links between town and countryside. Two Journeymen of the carpenter’s guild in traditional costumes, in Germany in 2006. Photo by A.Stemmer.
Journeymen A craftsman who wished to one day become a master, and who had no debts, no children, and was unmarried could become a journeyman. Journeymen left their home town to spend their journeyman years, known as wanderjahre or auf der walz sein, tramping down the roads of Europe (and beyond) with other gesellen (‘roadcompanions’), practicing their trade in distant lands and learning how things were done in other places. The young journeymen had to remain at least 50 miles away from their home town through this entire period, usually lasting a year and a day to three years and a day depending on the craft, spent tramping across the
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The constant circulation of journeymen between towns in Central Europe also contributed to the spread of technology from region to region, town to town and guild to guild, and helped establish a sense of fraternity between the cities of Central Europe. As just one example it is believed that traveling journeymen helped rapidly spread the technology of the printing press through Europe in the second half of the 15th Century. Under the journeyman system skilled labor could go where it was most needed: journeymen gravitated toward places where the economy was thriving and they could find work. As recently as the 1970’s many academics believed that medieval society was largely static and thought people lived relatively stationary lives79, but in more recent years this has been thoroughly debunked80. The journeymen tramped far and wide, and it’s hard to overstate the importance of the
cultural links they created. Many of the artistic techniques of what we call today the renaissance were spread by journeymen of the painters guilds for example. When staying in a foreign town, the journeyman joined the local workmen’s club, a special hall for journeymen and apprentices. These clubs maintained hostels which could help the young journeyman out with a place to sleep, a meal and a ‘traveling penny’ if he or she was on hard times. If a journeyman fell ill they would be taken in by the family of a guild master and cared for by his brother guild members until he recovered. Journeymen and labor unrest Not everything was sweetness and chicken soup between the guilds and the journeymen though. Strikes were not uncommon. The 19th Century historian Johannes Janssen 81 gives us some interesting insights into the details of medieval labor unrest. In most cases disputes of this sort would be settled amicably by arbitrators, for example when the shoemakers of Emmerich went on strike in 1469, the city authorities mediated a settlement, and the two groups (journeymen and masters) had drinks:
guild in Nuremberg in 1475 after a wage cut resulted in the eventual decline of the tinsmiths industry in that town. A group of journeymen tailors on strike in Metz in 1505 were blacklisted and banished from the trade. 19 towns were on the look-out for an agitator named "Henry Ruffs of Worms"83 who was stirring up journeymen in several towns. A lot of the labor trouble was about food. A coordinated strike by the powerful association of watermen in several cities of the Rhine in 1469 left us a rather amusing complaint from ships masters made to the Margrave of Baden: "…although receiving a florin a day, they are not contented at their meals with a soup, a good vegetable, together with meat, bread and cheese, but demand also a roast and dessert. This seems unreasonable, we cannot afford to give all this." Whether this represents the
actual situation or just poor-mouthing by the ship masters is hard to say.
“after much discussion, through mutual concessions peace was re-established, much to the joy of masters and workers, who drank together and were as good friends as ever."
A carnival scene from the Nuremberg Carnival, 16th Century
Burgher and noble. A Polish noble (left) and a burgher from Kraków (right), from the Balthasar Behem Codex, 1505.
A strike of journeymen of the tailor’s guild in 1503 in Wesel am Rhine over better food, pay and working conditions was arbitrated by the Burgomeister. He noted that 'the journeymen of the tailors are more restless and more inclined to disturbance than others, but the masters are also to blame because they overpower the journeymen with work and do not give them three good meals in a day.' He also
threatened fines to the guild masters if they slapped or pulled the hair of journeymen who had refused to work on Sunday or on a Holy Day82. But it wasn’t always that easy. An unresolved dispute between the journeymen and masters of the tinsmiths
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Labor disputes and clashes between urban estates could get nasty. Journeymen like all free men carried arms, and there is evidence that they knew how to use them. Both the shoemakers journeymen in Frankfurt am Main and the smiths journeymen in Nuremberg danced the ‘sword dance’ during carnival 84 . The shoemakers guild in Leipzig was offended by some members of the University, and challenged the doctors and masters to “show the reason why they carried arms and to defend the honor of the profession85.” It is unclear if the scholars took up the challenge. We also have a Frankfurt city council regulation in 1511, stating "on account of the riots, hereafter no master or journeyman belonging to the shoemakers' guild shall carry a sword or dagger longer than that which was designated on the Roemer*."86 *The Roemer is the townhall in Frankfurt.
Journeymen were normally held to a high standard of behavior by the guilds and by their own journeyman's associations, and there were many checks and balances set up to enforce the stability of this curious system. For example, before setting off they were given an earring which could be ripped out if they disgraced themselves on the road, leaving a scar to mark them for life. To prevent impostor from infiltrating their ranks, journeyman were taught secret handshakes, signals, signs and marks that were traditionally
used to identify each other. Today in the surviving craft guilds it is considered disgraceful to teach the signs to someone outside the guild, in the 15th Century it was a crime punishable by death in some cases. Journeymen established at work in a foreign town were in a somewhat ambiguous position. On the one hand, they were outsiders, but on the other, they had a fairly high status as respectable burghers, and they made up a substantial part of the population, on average about 7% overall and about 20% of the active working adults 87 . They also remained linked to their families in their home towns, which gave them a certain ‘diplomatic’ cache as representatives of these places (and their guilds). Just as there were women in the medieval craft guilds, so too there were female journeymen, who were known as kämmerinnen. They appear in the records of journeymen associations and guilds throughout this period in Central Europe 88 . It is unclear which industries this may have been restricted to or how many kämmerinnen there were however, since most female craft guild members seem to have come into the guild as widows or through their fathers or uncles.
took great pains to prevent their markets from being flooded to the economic detriment of their craft, so competition was fierce. To become a master meant moving up in society: more money and power and political influence. Becoming a master craftsman was like having a PhD (or more precisely, a masters degree) in say, glassblowing or weaving or carpentry or whatever the craft was. If a journeyman was lucky enough to find a slot (and finding one was part of the point of roaming around), he must then create his or her own masterpiece (‘meisterstück’) which would be judged by the existing guild masters. If he passed the test, he became a master in his own right and could open a shop and take on apprentices. Thus the new generation was created. Not all master artisans of course were major businessmen, many ran small shops consisting of themselves, an apprentice or journeyman, and maybe their wife. It depended greatly on the industry and the specific town.
Left, famous self-portrait of the Flemish artist Robert Campin, circa 1438. This is probably a pretty good example of what a prosperous Northern European artisan really looked like in the mid-15th Century. Records from his hometown of Tournai show that Campin had a tumultuous life, being prosecuted at least 5 times, once for adultery in 1432, leading him to be exiled for a year, and four times for rebellion (as part of guild uprisings). In the long run he returned however and he died as a prominent citizen in 1444. His apprentices included Jacquelot Daret and Rogier van der Weyden. Right, a potter at his wheel, Balthasar Behem Codex Kraków 1505.
St. Joseph portrayed as a master artisan at work, Robert Campin, circa 1428, detail from the Mérode Altarpiece triptych. This gives us a good idea of a carpenter’s tools and workshop at this time, as the carpenter is building a mousetrap. In the background the city-scape gives us a view of early-15th Century urban life.
Master After completing 1 to 3 years and a day on the road (depending on the craft), the young journeyman could either return to their home town, or select a new city to apply for the status of a master. The number of masters in a given city was strictly controlled by the guilds who
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Alderman Each guild also had some aldermen who were elected by the membership, and a handful of guild officers to enforce their rules. The aldermen were charge of discipline within the guild and maintaining the guild laws (see Town Law, Guild Law) and presided over the frequent club events and parties. The aldermen managed the business of the guild, purchasing raw materials, arranging sales contracts with merchants and trading companies. When necessary, aldermen also led the guild into combat usually as part of the militia (but sometimes also in internal disputes within the town).
book called the Kunstbuchleinn or Kunstbuechlein (literally arts-book or book of secrets). These included the admission requirements, an outline of the guild organization and the craft, rules for training and teaching, traveling, the journeyman years, the rules for apprentices, guidelines for professional practice, and on how to become a master.
Slaughtering a sheep in a butcher’s shop, From a 14th Century Paduan version of the Tacuinum Sanitatis.
Guilds and Honor Honor was a palpable force in Medieval Europe, and though the guilds of the 15th Century were no longer barbarian fraternities they did still swear an oath annually, and inside the guild, business was done on the basis of a handshake (this was true both in the craft guilds and the merchant guilds). A bad reputation, for lying, treachery, cowardice, theft, or any serious vice could ruin a guildmembers career permanently. Losing honor was listed in the charters of many guilds as grounds for expulsion. The guild itself fought hard to maintain its honor. For example the bakers guild of the town of Colmar went on strike in 1495 when they were excluded from the annual procession of Corpus Christi, and remained on strike for ten years, depriving the town of bread until the strike was finally resolved in 1505, the guild paid a fine of 166 florins, but they got their position in the parade back89. Guilds are not just work associations, members of the brotherhood are also expected to support one another in times of difficulty and danger and when necessary to fight together like a military unit. Trust had to remain a strong bond for the guild to survive. To further support this trust guilds provided pensions, hospitals, alms houses (the medieval equivalent of a retirement home) and Christian burials for their members; as well as pensions for widows and orphans of guild-brothers and so on.
Guild Law Each craft guild has their own internal laws some of which were public, and some of which were known only to the guild members, and they had their own internal courts and judges90. As in all forms of Central European Law, the courts had to be open to the public and they were typically held in a Church or in the guild chapel91. The statutes and rules of the craft guild were written down in a special guild
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The Kunstbuchleinn also outlined provisions for the guild court and assessors, the General Assembly and guild elections, penalties for misconduct within the guild, competition rules, security (see, Town Life, the Town Militia), customer protection, economic activity, social security such as pensions, insurance and funeral plans, harmony and guild morale. More relevant to those outside of the guild, the guild itself enforced the rule that anyone who wished to work in their particular craft within their town had to join the guild and follow the craft statutes. The guild book finally goes into great detail describing all the secrets of their craft known to the particular guild as well as guidelines on how the work should be done and not done, and what practices or methods were forbidden. Guild Law differed widely from place to place and from profession to profession quite significantly. In some guild towns the guild Laws of several crafts became part of the constitution of the town, such as in Bruns guild constitution in 14th Century Zurich, or in the constitutions of Cologne or Strasbourg. Guilds had strict rules for quality control, including inspectors who protected the consumer and thereby the reputation of the craft. ‘In the laws for the inspection of meat it is ordained that when a cow or bullock is killed two or four judges shall decide the value of each pound- three or two pennies. The price and the quality of the meat shall be notified on a board, so that the customers, (like so many fools) may not purchase cow for bullock meat.’ -Excerpt from the butchers guild regulations at Nuremberg, 15th Century92
Butchers were forbidden to be cruel to the animals they slaughtered, Danzig butchers guild regulations forbade the smothering of animals killed for the market, they had to be stabbed in the neck, similar to the way a modern Kosher or Halal butcher does today 93 . Dead calves too young for butchering were to be thrown away*. Faulty goods were routinely destroyed and mistakes or fraud were punished. In Danzig goldsmiths were fined a pound of wax for each piece found with a flaw94. *unlike in the modern meat packing industry today In the textile industry there were 31 grades of wool, 40 grades of cotton, 10 of fustian, and 18 grades of silk. Wine found to contain birch, sulfur, clay, eggs, milk, salt, chalk or any other substance was banned, because as it says under the Basle guild law “each wine shall remain as God made it grow” 95 . All commodities had to be properly graded and labeled, Different grades of materials were carefully regulated, in 15th Century Augsburg for example there were six different grades of bread96. The legacy of all this quality
control can be seen throughout modern Europe, in German and Czech beer laws for example.
A winemaker at work, 1477, and a beer brewer 1425, Nuremberg (the Star of David may be a magical talisman associated with beer brewers). From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
A baker and his wife put loaves in the oven.
Rules were also established for the room board and clothing of apprentices. The Strasbourg carpenters guild law of 1478 for example stated that the master was obliged ‘… to give his apprentice, besides his salary of four
In Prussia brewing, felt-making and ship-building were three of the most important export craft industries, though the bulk of the exports from this region were of raw materials such as fur, lumber, grain and various forest products. In towns with more of a balance of key industries there could be several powerful industrial guilds of equal power and influence.
marks yearly, shoes and white stockings, four yards of grey cloth for a coat, four yards of ticking for a smock; he must also give him an axe, a saw, a rule, a gimlet, and finally, at the close of every week, two pennies pourboire’97 (spending money for a
beer or a visit to the public baths). The aspect of craft guild Law perhaps most relevant to non-guild members is their rules on competition and enforcing their local monopoly on their craft. The first clue that someone violated a guild law may be when armed guild members suddenly erupted from around a corner in an angry mob, as not infrequently happened between the guilds and groups of bunglers or the clerics or merchants who set up rival ‘putting-out’ businesses. It was even possible to be kidnapped by the guild and brought before a guild magistrate. How perilous this was depended on who you were and whether you were in a guild town or a patrician town, or one in which power was shifting one way or the other. Craft Industries Guilds varied enormously according to their specific craft industry. In most towns, a few key guilds dominated the economy and politics, and there was most definitely a hierarchy of crafts. On the top were the two or three largest craft guilds which controlled the principal industries in the town, such as the weavers and dyers in Bruges or the weavers, armorers and iron workers in Augsburg.
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Two women make pasta, from a 14th Century Paduan version of the Tacuinum Sanitatis.
On the next level were the prestigious crafts dealing in luxuries, professional services, and engineering. Luxury crafts included the gold and silversmiths, the jewelers, etc. In Danzig the amber craftsmen and pearl embroiderers guilds filled this niche. After that in importance were the guilds representing highly skilled service industries, the doctors, opticians, surgeons, and apothecaries, the artists
guilds consisting of engravers and painters, sculptors, frieze makers and mosaic makers and etc. There was also usually a guild of strategic crafts such as ironworkers, armorers, glass-blowers, architects, stonemasons, shipbuilders, etc. Finally most towns have a ‘great guild’ which is an association of up to a score or more of the lesser guilds in the town. Here is a small sampling of the various types of crafts which could be found in a large town: Victuallers The victualling industry included alewives), winemakers, butchers, hostelers, hucksters, millers, taverners, vintners, and many specialties.
bakers, brewers (and fishmongers, graziers, regraters, tapsters, other more obscure
Weaver 1513 his name was Enndres Mader, he appears to be of African origin. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
Surgeon ‘Wundarzt’ 1436. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
Medical crafts Apothecaries, pharmacists, ophthalmologists, midwives,
barbers,
surgeons,
Maritime crafts Mariners, lightermen, ferrymen, ships captains, navigators, harbor pilots, sailmakers and shipwrights. A master tailor and her apprentices and journeymen (and /or daughters) make clothing out of linen. From a 14th Century Paduan version of the Tacuinum Sanitatis.
Textile Crafts Broggers (wool-sellers), cappers, carders, drapers, dyers, embroiderers, fullers, hatters, hosiers, knitters, litsters, mercers, shearmen, spinners, tailors, tapiters, vestmentmakers (clothing for the church), stringmakers, ropers and weavers.
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Tanner, 1423. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
Leather workers Bottlemakers, bowgemakers (bagmakers), cardmakers, chapmen, cobblers, cordwainers (shoemakers), curriers, girdlers, glovers, horners, leatherworkers, parchmentmakers, patoners, pointmakers, pouchmakers, saddlers, sheathers, skinners, tanners, tawers, and whitawers. Construction and woodworkers Builders, carpenters, cartwrights, carvers, dawbers, dykers, earthwallers, glaziers, groundwallers, joiners, masons, pavers, plasterers, reeders, sawyers, tilers, wheelwrights, bowyers, coopers, fletchers,
Armorers (platner) 1423, 1535. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
Metal Workers Armorers, bell-founders, bladesmiths, brakemen, braziers, coppersmiths, cutlers, ferbers, ferrours, founders, glaziers, goldbeaters, goldsmiths, hookmakers, ironmongers, latoners, lockyers, lorimers, marshalls, painters, pewterers, pinners, plumbers, silversmiths, smiths, swordsmiths, spurriers, stainers, wiredrawers.
Left, Carpenter, 1424, right Mason mixing mortar, 15th Century. From the housebook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg.
And a few miscellaneous: Scribes, bookbinders, booksellers, lawyers, notaries, moneychangers, pawnbrokers, chandlers, soap makers, actors, musicians, and glassblowers. Taxes Taxes in Augsburg to pay for Burgundian Wars, 1475: Type Mendici Craftsmen without property Burgher (recently married) Burgher (craftsmen) Burgher Burgher Burgher Burgher Burgher Burgher Großburgher Großburgher Großburgher Großburgher
Tax (Gulden) 0 0 0.5 1 3 6 10 15 20 25 30 40 60 70
No 107 2700 420 532 266 98 59 48 26 16 15 14 4 3
Total on the Tax roll, 4,485. Total population of Augsburg at this time, circa 20,000 – 25,000 Income and wealth of artisans The base pay or income for a craftsman varied widely by craft and by town quite a bit but in most cases was fairly low. However there were many ways to enhance cash flow and most craftsmen were able to do so over time if they lived long enough and were good at their jobs. The first and most important method was to simply extend their production output by leveraging available labor, namely
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his wife, apprentices, journeymen, servants and children would help him. The master craftsman guaranteed the quality of their work and would be paid as if it were done directly by the master he or herself. So in effect, one competent master craftsman might receive the wages or income of 4 or 5 master craftsman typically, with most of the work done by apprentices, servants and family members (of course these people had to be fed, clothed and taken care of as well). Economic strata in medieval Baltic towns (based on records from Riga, Talinn, Stockholm and Lübeck, 14th16th Century)98 Percentage of population Type 12-20%
Wealthy elite citizens: wholesale merchants, ship owners, scholars, patricians, elite professionals, artisans (elite crafts), aldermen, magistrates
30-42%
Middle class citizens: craft artisans (honorable crafts), ship skippers & officers, shop owners, mid-level professionals, local merchants.
40-56%
Poor denizens / residents: Day laborers, artisans (marginal crafts), servants, peddlers, guards
Craftsmen also specialized (for example a blacksmith could become a locksmith, a gunsmith, a cutler, or a silversmith), and they organized sophisticated networks of niche subcontractors to greatly increase either the volume or quality of production (depending on the market) or both.
Robert Campin, circa 1438, portrait of a woman. This may have been what a typical woman of the wealthier end of the artisan class looked like. It is possibly Robert Campin’s own wife.
Craft artisans also invested in and shared machinery, sometimes owned by the guild or the town. For example, a treadwheel crane used by masons or a water-powered trip hammer used by smiths. These were labor-saving devices and could also be used to add value at low cost. Craft guilds also frequently invented new labor saving machines and techniques which gave them an edge in production. For example, the draw-plate for drawing wire (as opposed to hammering it out on an anvil) and the vise for holding objects in place were both invented by blacksmith’s guilds in the late 14th Century, and quickly spread around Europe by journeymen. Both inventions increased production efficiency by at least an order of magnitude, making a lot of money for the blacksmiths.
So if they were doing piece work of some kind, a mason being paid to finish a house for example or a cutler being paid to make a certain number of swords, they were able to do so much more quickly and efficiently (and at higher quality) by relying on specialists who each did one part of the job, than if they had done the whole thing on their own.
Left, Jan Van Eyk, portrait of a man in a blue Chaperon, 1430. The subject of the portrait was a goldsmith, so this is probably another good example of what a wealthier craftsman looked like in this era. Right, hook and wire makers workshop, Balthasar Behem codex, 1505 Kraków
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Finally, once well –established, most craftsmen and women were able to network within their guilds and guild confraternities, and between different craft guilds and merchant families, to find additional ways to make money. This typically meant either via importing or exporting goods, adding value to existing goods (for example, importing exotic wootz steel to make swords or damask
fabrics to make clothing) identifying and exploiting emerging niche markets, and running other business on the side. Many artisans wives brewed and sold beer on the side, while some dabbled in “alchemy” and made brandy or gin. In these ways, by one means or another, barring misfortune artisan families often rose to higher station. Social mobility in the towns was still fairly high in the 15th Century.
Die Augsburger Monatsbilder (detail), “Winter”, Jorg Breu the Elder, circa 1520
A merchant caravan, escorted by cavalry, arrives at it’s destination. From the chronik der bischöfe von würzburg, 1495
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City of Danzig, town gate, 17th Century
Fencing guilds sparred with special blunt weapons for safety, like the one depicted here. Fights were judged by the highest bleeding wound or red mark, though they were rarely fatal. These special fencing swords, which allowed unarmored fencing to be safer, may have had a lot to do with the rise in prestige of fencing as a sport in the 15th Century. These weapons were flexible and light, and balanced toward the handle, all safety features.
codex 44 A 8, which also included teachings of Liechtenauer, Andres Lignitzer, and the Jewish Ringen (grappling) master Ott Jud. “Von Danzig” may have been a pseudonym for one of the other masters.
Coat of Arms of the Marxbrüder, 1474, with the Winged Lion of St. Mark on the top, holding a sword.
Fencing Guilds Medieval fencing schools were still perceived as somewhat disreputable in many parts of Europe, being associated with the kemphe or hired sword. But in the mid 15th Century a respectable and politically powerful fencing guild called the Brotherhood of St. Mark or Marxbrüder arose in the city of Frankfurt, and it is likely that this group also existed in several other German cities before that time. We know of at least one important Fencing Master possibly associated with Danzig, Master Peter von Danzig, listed as a member of the famous Society of Johannes Liechtenauer, whose treatise on armored fencing is included in an anonymous fencing manual or Fechtbuch in 1452 AD, known today as the
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Fencing and grappling were popular leisure activities among the urban classes and serious training was done routinely with the longsword (a two handed or hand-and-a-half weapon about four feet long) the dussack, (a leather and wood version of the Czech machete-like saber, about two feet long), the dagger, the staff, the sword and buckler,the poll-hammer, and in unarmed fighting including grappling techniques similar to jujitsu.
Left, workshop of a cutler from the Hausbook of the 12 Brothers of Nuremberg. This cutlers name was Nicolaus Pruckner, he died in 1523. Behind him is a lion with blue wings holding a pair of longswords. This is the symbol of the Brotherhood of St. Mark, or Marxbrüder for short, a fraternity of fencers who organized tournaments called fechtschuler. Right, Matthias Schwarz, an accountant of the Fugger banking family of Augsburg, practices fencing with a training sword, circa 1518
Guild-sponsored training and competition events called fechtschuler were a popular feature of many festivals and saints days, involving a rather rough form of competitive fencing called schulefechten. The goal of these tournaments was to inflict a red mark or split the scalp of the opponent without causing serious injury. The fencers would spar with special federschwerter (feather swords), blunt spring-steel swords made specifically for training and sport fencing, or with leather and wood dussacken. These Fechtschuler could be rowdy affairs which gradually came under the purview of the formal fencing guilds such as the Marxbrüder. “There were more Marxbrüder present than Federfechters and they were eager to Fight! With Trumpeters in the Town Square, all the people had their seats with windows thrown open to see this spectacle. Through the streets went men with armfulls of Swords, Rappiers and Staffs, There were two Royal Spears full of hanging Dussacks, and what's a Fechtschule without them!!!). All the Parties put their Capes and Swords in a pile. The Fechtmeister was holding onto a wooden Halberd. The trumpets blared, Just then the Old Prince Georgen zum Brigg, marshaled in the event and together with the Bishops of Preslaw, a pair of Reichs Tallers were offered as the Prize to every winner, so long as Blood was drawn, the loser should live with his shoddiness in defeat. The youthful Dussack fencers got out of control at one point and had to be halted by the Fechtmeister. So great was their thirst for 2 Gold Thaelers [Thaelers, worth about 2 gulden or gold ducats each], but yet they brought little blood and so little Gold was awarded to the Dussack fencers. The Rapiers, Staffs and Longswords however, proved very bloody, and much Gold was awarded. The best was a Marxbrüder, a Schlosser with his strong handworks and his stork from above; he landed strikes on their heads. He was awarded two gold thalers and was ready to go to the Pub; just then a short, little hat maker, from Nerlingen (Swabia) came at him with longsword, and gave the Schlosser, the spitze or point. The fechmeister halted the fight instantly and said " Landsman, whats with this reckless and wild start? Have you not seen that he who is without Art only stabs at the head? The reply was: Ich Lieg noch nitt. ["Sorry, I don't lie still”]. As no blood was drawn, the match continued with the little Hat maker, splitting the Marxbruder's Nose in two! For all to see. So, off to the Pub He went!! Then there came an accidental retaliation, a Marxbrüder, while Staff fighting, put out an eye of a Federfechter! And the sight of how high the clear, eye fluid went was horrible to behold.” -Description of a 16th Century Fechtschule in Troppau, Silesia, in the present day Czech Republic. From the memoirs of Hans Ulrich Krafft Reisen und Gefangenschaft.published 1583 AD99.
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Shooting guilds More important and prestigious than the fencing guilds were the shooting guilds, which often formed elite societies in the towns, and sponsored important shooting contests which could have vital diplomatic significance and were also money-makers for the towns. In most cities, the patron saints of these ‘martial’ (mostly shooting) guilds followed a familiar pattern: St. George was the saint of the crossbow shooting guild, St. Sebastian for archers, St. Barbara for hand-gunners. In Bruges there was also a guild of St. Michael for Halberdiers.
A Hapsburg sponsored shooting contest, 16th Century.
This was notably the pattern for towns in Flanders, in Switzerland, and in much of the Rhineland. In some other regions however different saints were named as patron, but the importance of these guilds tended to be the same – very high. In Bruges and Ghent only the most prestigious citizens could get into the shooting guilds. In towns in the Baltic there was a bit more flexibility but they still tended to be elite and expensive to join. The exact purpose of military guilds and the quasi-military festivals they organized and participated in has been debated for a long time in academic circles. But the hard emphasis placed upon such ‘games’ in terms of honor, money, and risk of injury and death, suggests that they had serious military as well as diversionary or cultural purposes. In addition to helping individual citizens elevate personal skill with weapons to a very high level, the group dynamics of such competitions and sports tended to build esprit de corps and morale, even unit cohesion. The same crafts, merchant households, guilds and townneighborhoods or quarters which competed together in military sports also fought together as units on the battlefield. In fact they used the same banners in sport as war. A lifetime of risky, violent martial competitions helped solidify a sense of mutual respect and trust which was essential for the militia on the battlefield. It also hardened the citizenry and helped them realize they could count on one another under duress.
(usually bad) poem about the whole event. Many of these are recorded in books which were later printed in the 19th Century. The jester had the right to spank anybody who broke the rules including princes and bishops.
Schutzenfest “Fun Facts” (Source: Johannes Janssen) •
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According to Johannes Janssen, the first urban tournament in the German Speaking areas was documented in Magdeburg in 1279 first prize was “a maiden”. In this event ‘Sophie’ was married by the contest winner, a merchant from Goslar. Janssen says he paid her a substantial morning gift (reverse dowry). Magdeburg means town of the maiden. The tournament in 1387 was an archery or crossbow contest. At the same time a knightly tournament was held by the bishop on the other side of town. First prize in the shooting contest was a ‘maiden’ once again. However professor Ann Tlusty notes that women so frequently participated in the shooting that many of the prizes were oriented for ladies (no data on what happens if a woman wins a maiden.) First prize in many early contests was originally just a horse, or a calf, or some other symbolic token. The secondary prizes were more substantial amounts of cash. Many other cash prizes were given out. Cash prizes got higher and higher. The prize at Augsburg in 1425 was a golden ring, in 1440, 40 gulden (horses and cattle were lesser prizes at the same contest). 101 gulden in Augsburg in 1470, 110 gulden in Zurich in 1504. “Prizes” were also given out for the worst shooting (often a sow). Another prize was awarded for whoever cold tell the best lie
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The earliest contests were archery contests, then crossbow, then firearms.
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Entry cost substantial money, 5-10 gulden. Invitations were sent out with the size of the target, the size of the foot on it (actual size), size of the target and what the prizes and costs were. (Example below the 1st prize is two oxen)
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Shooting contests between two contestants were called ‘tilting’. Marksmen were divided into ‘banners’. Each round of shots was called a ‘course’, prizes were called ‘ventures’
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The Jester (pritschmeister) was there to keep the safety and other rules intact. Jester wrote a
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Prostitute racing was a commonplace entertainment for the crowd.
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Events for the children – a fool with a leather club allowed anyone to try to hit him with a lance, (then he would beat them up with the club). A wild man who threw balls in his mouth, manikin on a horse to be knocked over
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Other events included broad jumping, hurling heavy stones, wrestling (ringen), fencing matches (fechtschuler), foot races, horse races, also with large cash prizes (45 gulden for a horse race in a shooting contest in Augsburg in 1446)
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In the medieval period the princes participated in the contests and did all the ridiculous things like broad jumping etc. same as everyone else. Later on they held their own more elite events which were much less rowdy
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Fencing masters were paid to conduct fechtschuler by the host
These events were important for diplomacy. Strasbourg conducted two key alliances with the Swiss Confederation immediately after inviting Swiss cities (Berne and Lucerne) to shooting contests. Zurich handgunners famously arrived in a boat with warm porridge, supposedly in 19 hours boat trip down the Rhine.
Invitation to a schützenfest, early 16th Century. The prize (two oxen) is shown in the bottom right, the size of the target (as a circle) and length of a foot are shown in the bottom left, and the weapons to be used are shown on the top left. The center of the left side is text explaining all the rules and listing all the other prizes.
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(this page and previous page) Two marvelous roughly contemporaneous 15th Century paintings of the fantastically productive silver mine at Kutna Hora, in Bohemia (today Czech Republic). These images help convey the frenzied ‘gold rush’ feeling of the mines at that time, having just been re-opened due to advances in engineering and chemistry which allowed them to become productive again.
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Mining Guilds Guilds were basically an urban phenomenon, but there were some exceptions. An interesting example of a rural guild is the mining guilds of Saxony and Bohemia. Statistics in surviving records indicate their power when you compare them to mine-workers conditions in the 19th -20th Century or even today in this very dangerous industry. Detailed stipulations for hygienic conditions in the mines, ventilation of the pits, precautions against accident, and bath-houses were all explicitly spelled out. Work hours were limited to eight hours a day — sometimes less, with mandated breaks every so many hours. The records also show generous wage scales and pensions for sick and disabled miners. Burning of seams (to form cracks) was only done on the last day of the workweek so that the mines would be clear of fumes by the time the miners came back. Mining was one of the most sophisticated industries in medieval Europe and silver mining in particular required high technology and a skilled workforce. One of the more curious aspects of medieval economics was that Europe as a whole ran a severe cash deficit with other parts of the world. Though trade was brisk with the Middle East, North Africa, and down the Silk Road, the trade of currency, specifically precious metals, was decidedly uneven. Europeans, particularly the Italians, made a fortune on that trade, but they were exporting millions of coins to China, Persia, South Asia and the Middle East in exchange for pepper, silk, spices, and so on. The Eastern potentates did want many European goods as well, but they paid for them in barter, whereas for silk and pepper, they would only accept gold, silver, or copper.
metals, notably silver, were running out, and surface level mining was becoming increasingly impractical. As a result deeper mines were required, the depths considered safe continued to increase, 100 feet, 200, 300. By the mid-15th Century some silver mines were as deep as 600 feet100. A mine that deep required special techniques and machinery. Horizontal shafts called adits needed to be dug to drain and ventilate the mine. Pumps, often powered by water wheels, had to be made to pump the water out of the mine shafts. The people who ran these operations were experts, their skills mysterious. Many of them were part-owners of the mining operations and even regular workers could make a lot of money mining in this era (a very different situation from the Industrial Age). Machines needed to be put into place to winch ore and supplies in and out, bracing and tunnel construction became much trickier and more difficult. Increasingly sophisticated (usually hydro-powered) machines enabled drainage and ventilation, and geared wheels provided smashing power to hammers of up to 200 pounds to process the ore, contributing to a technological race in the mining industry which would ultimately lead directly to the Steam Engine in the 17th century (yes the 17th Century101). Some exotic animal powered arrangements were also made, one mine in 15th Century Austria had spiral ramps like a modern parking garage going down the equivalent of 8 stories into the rock, the 90 oxen were led down the ramp every day to pull wheels on giant machines to pump out water and drive ventilation fans. The veins of ore themselves were found through divination, by dowsers with y-shaped sticks. Some of the largest silver mines in Europe were allegedly found this way. During the 15th Century coal mines in Flanders began to approach similar depths, and other mining operations for the extraction of salt, alum, lead, and tin expanded through Europe. Copper mining reached new importance when advances in metallurgy (derived from alchemy) made it possible to extract silver from copper ore.
One of the miner’s chapels inside the huge Wieliczka salt-mine near Kraków, this chapel was carved out of the salt in the 14th Century. The tunnels in this salt-mine extend for over 250 km.
This meant there was a severe drain on precious metal reserves in Europe, and a corresponding pressure on the relatively few available mines to produce more and more. By the 14th Century, the pure veins of some precious
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A woman visits a shop in the city
They even had all-female guilds of their own. The charter of the butcher’s guild of Cologne, written in 1397, specified equal status and pay for male and female members 104. In Cologne four prominent all-female guilds were also chartered from 1397 to 1456: the yarn twisters, gold spinner’s, silk spinners, and silk throwers. The latter three were prominent ‘luxury’ guilds, though none of the female guild masters were recorded as members of the town council.
Francesco del Cossa - Allegory of March - Triumph of Minerva (detail) – 1476. In this depiction of women's labor, in the background women can be seen weaving and spinning, in the foreground binding books.
Women in Guilds Contrary to popular opinion, women did participate in medieval guilds well into the 16th Century, though many guilds voted to exclude women later in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Female guild masters were relatively rare in England and France compared to Central and Northern Europe, but at least two examples of guild masters survive in records from England: Isabella Nonhouse, was registered as a master weaver in the city of York in 1441, two years after the death of her husband. Agnes Hecche also of York was registered as a master armorer in 1466102. There are also records of at least 7 female craft guilds in Paris by the 14th Century103.
-A shoemakers workshop in Kraków, from the Balthasar Behem Codex aka Codex Picturatus 1505 AD. It’s noteworthy that the proprietress of this workshop is a woman.
In Central Europe and in the Baltic region women seem to have been somewhat better off politically than in the West and could be members of more important guilds.
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“This indenture witnesses that John Nougle of London, habderdasher, has put Katherine Nougle, his sister, as apprentice to Avice Wodeford, silkthrower of London, to learn her art and to dwell with her and serve her after the manner of an apprentice from the feast of Pentecost in the fiftieth year of the reign of King Richard II [2 June 1392] until the end of seven years thence next following and dully complete. During which term Katherine shall serve Avice as her lady and mistress in all things lawful and honest, well and faithfully, courteously and diligently to her power everywhere, keep her secrets, and gladly do everywhere her lawful and honest commandments…. She shall not waste inordinately the goods of her mistress nor lend them to anyone without her order or special commandment. She shall not commit fornication or adultery within the house of her mistress or without during the said term nor play any unlawful or unseemly games whereby her mistress might suffer any loss. She shall not customarily frequent a tavern except to do the business of her mistress there, nor shall she contract matrimony with any man during the said term except with the assent … of Thomas Nougle, citizen and tailor of London, uncle of the apprentice. She shall not withdraw unlawfully from the service of her mistress, except for reason of matrimony during the said term, nor absent herself by day or by night. She shall not buy or sell with her own money or other’s during the said term without the license and will of her mistress nor knowingly keep any secret that may be to the loss or prejudice of her mistress. But she should well and faithfully, honestly and obediently bear and hold herself both in words and deeds towards her mistress and all hers as a good and faithful apprentice ought to bear and hold herself according to the usage and custom of the city of London, during all the said term. And Avice shall diligently teach, treat, and instruct Katherine her apprentice in her art which she uses by the best and most excellent means that she knows, or cause to be instructed by others, punishing in due manner. And also she shall find the same apprentice sufficient victuals and apparel, linen and wool caps, shoes and lodging, and all other necessaries during all the said term as is fitting to be found for such an apprentice of that art according to the custom of the said city…. Adam Byell, citizen and tailor of London, shall be pledge and mainpernor, binding himself, his heirs and executors for the said apprentice, by those present, and the said apprentice binds herself firmly by all her goods present and future wherever they may be found. In witness whereof the aforesaid parties together with the forenamed pledge to these indentures interchangeably have put their seals.” -Excerpts from an apprenticeship Contract for a female Silkthrowers apprentice in London, 1392105
A tax roll from (relatively small) city of Stockholm in 1460 listed 193 guild masters by name from 14 different crafts, of whom 13 were women. The women included 4 brewers, 1
tailor, 1 brawn-maker, 1 bagpipe-maker, 2 seamstresses, 3 weavers, and 1 ‘blood-letter’106. Women could also be members of mercantile associations and many acquired the ‘freedom’ to trade, going back to the 13th Century. In fact, women recorded investments in nearly one-quarter of over 4,000 surviving ‘commenda’ partnership contracts in Genoa dating from 1155 to 1216 AD 107 . Women also provided 14% of capital in seafaring ventures in Genoa at that time. Generally speaking, most guilds in the larger towns in the 15th Century Baltic region did accept girl apprentices and almost all of them had some female masters. By one estimate approximately 15% -20% of the craft guild members in Germany and Bohemia in the early 15 th Century were women108. Many were either the widows of guild masters who inherited the business or daughters or nieces of connected guild masters who were sponsored through the system, but others came on as new apprentices the same way as men and made their way up the ranks by luck or talent like everyone else. There were limitations – for example in some towns women could lose their property rights if they remarried outside of their guild. All in all however, women in this time still had substantial economic freedom and could become powerful in the urban world on their own merit, but this freedom did not last much beyond the medieval period. After the Reformation and Counter-Reformation changes in religious culture would see women gradually banned from many (though not all) of the guilds in the 16th and 17th Centuries, and increasingly relegated to a much more subservient role in society in general. Bunglers and Day Laborers One of the really interesting things about the economy of late medieval cities is that due to the multiple jurisdictions of the different municipalities which were effectively all part of the same city, you had completely different economic rules and regulations in place virtually adjacent to each other. So for example while the guilds held monopolies within the walled part of most of the big trading cities, outside in the suburbs it could be a different municipality under a different version of Town Law and not necessarily subject to guild rules at all. These ‘new cities’ (Nowe Miasto in Polish, Neustadt in German)
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are the home of the bungler. The derisive term ‘bungler’ was used by the craft guilds to refer to unskilled or semi-skilled artisans who produced their wares outside of the guild system, and sold their cloth, beer, armor, glass, furniture etc. in markets usually right outside of the town gates. This irritated the guilds, who sometimes emerged in armed groups to crack down on bungler ‘excesses’ even occasionally starting major riots. But bunglers were often supported or employed by certain patrician families, or the Church or the regional lord, if any, and were even sometimes tolerated by the guilds because it was understood as just another part of the economic system of the town. The ‘bunglers’, who included immigrants, foreigners, Jews (who were banned from the guilds in many cities) as well as other people who had been thrown out of guilds for various reasons, for the most part made cheaper products for the local consumption of poorer rural people. This was in contrast with the handiwork of the guilds which was often made for export and basically guaranteed to be of a high quality due to the complex system of checks and regulations in place under the careful custodianship of the valuable reputations of the guild and the city. But guild-made goods also tended to be more expensive. Though generally speaking day-laborers were the poorest workers in the town, not all ‘bunglers’ made poor products either. Jewish artisans often produced fine goods, and merchants often brought in very high quality merchandise from distant markets which were competitive with the best local wares. So long as the ‘bungler’ remained part of a subordinate economic system, they were usually tolerated. Putting-out system A far more serious threat to the guilds was posed by the verlag or putting-out system. Merchants, princes and prelates set up workshops using unskilled labor, often with the help of expensive machines and large carefully organized sweat-shops, which were designed to compete directly with the craft guilds like a sort of medieval Walmart.
Strasbourg, 1493 AD, from the Nuremberg Chronicle. “Argentina” was sort of a local nickname for the town, derived from the Roman name of the old Celtic Oppidum at this site, Argentoratum (due to a local silver mine).
The workers could be poor peasants given hasty training, or the servants of local gentry or monks or nuns from a local Convent (particularly when more highly skilled labor was needed). In some cases, the owners of the verlag would finance ‘dumping’ of cheap inferior goods on a local market temporarily in order to try to break the economic power of the craft guild or the town itself, and to take over the local export industry. This could lead to violent strife and bloodshed between the guild and the princes or merchants – as this was a direct challenge to the artisan class or the town itself. Putting-out systems were often organized in the countryside, in literal ‘cottage industries’, and the craft guilds also had their own putting out systems as part of subcontracting networks in the rural areas. Much of the economic history of Europe after the medieval period was defined by a back and forth struggle between organizations of skilled artisans, i.e. the craft guilds, on the one hand and the merchants and patricians on the other, (for whom the putting out system was more convenient). Whether the former or the latter took precedence in a given area had to do mostly with who controlled the town council, and how strong the town
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itself was politically and financially. In some towns with strong export related crafts, the high standard of quality and the corresponding reputation put local merchants on the side of retaining the guild system.
Town Governance The Town Council In modern times, town councils decide where to put stop signs and who to appoint for school superintendent. In medieval Free Cities or City-States town councils (Stadtrat) decided matters of international trade, war and foreign policy. So there is a significant difference between the quality of the people and the importance of their position between then and now. The town councils of the free medieval cities were made up of men called Ratsherren in German. Many were also magistrates, called Schöffe in German (Alderman in English, Échevin in French, Schepen in Dutch, Scabino in Italian, Šepmistr in Czech). The town hall, typically a large, fortified building located on the town square, was the Rathaus in German or Ratusz in Polish. (When you read this and similar words think of ‘ratification’ rather than rodent). These councilmen
(exclusively men) acted as the town parliament as well as fulfilling a role as judicial magistrates. In strong monarchies like France or England they were only representatives of the Royal authority, but in the Free Cities and Royal Free Cities in Prussia, Bohemia, Hungary, etc. in 1456 the Ratsherren were simply representatives of the various factions within the town. And the town made its own foreign policy. Urban Oligarchies vs Urban Democracy Most medieval towns were republics, with at least some degree of self management. Though medieval republics in general tend to be dismissed as oligarchies by modern scholars, as this is what many of them eventually became in the Early Modern Era, during the medieval period it was not always the case – and in some ways medieval democracy was more direct and more active than the modern version we know today.
Each type of urban government had its merits and flaws. Patrician governments tended to be more stable and cautious, but also more repressive, while artisan controlled administrations tended to be more energetic but could be volatile and also sometimes were more warlike. In a few cases demagogues rose to power after successful revolts who were irresponsible or dangerous. Banished factions could enlist the support of princes or prelates of the Church and instigate all kinds of trouble. In the long run inability to reach compromise could lead to the capture of the city by a prince and the loss of town-rights.
The number of city councilmen (Ratsherren) in a medium sized town could range widely from as few as 20 or 30 councilors to as many as 200 or more 109, depending on the nature of the town government. The city council was typically elected, though the proportion of electors who were represented in the political system (and could vote) also varied considerably. Typically in a patrician town like Nuremberg or Ulm, only members of the elite urban landowning class could vote, perhaps only a few hundred people. Definitely an oligarchy in other words. But in an artisan guild town – such as Strasbourg, Cologne, Zurich or Hamburg, usually everyone with at least half-burgher citizenship had a vote110 and was represented in the council, including all the members of the craft guilds, most of the smaller merchants and shopkeepers, even the journeymen; in all as many as two thirds of the male population.
Left, the Burgomeister of Zürich, Rudolf Stüssi, defends the bridge of St. Jakob, near the city of Zürich, against the forces of the Swiss Confederacy during the Battle of St. Jakob an der Sihl (1443). Few mayors today are this hard core. Illustration from the chronicle of Wernher Schodeler c 1515.
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The musicians of Bremen. A bronze statue commemorating the Brothers Grimm version of a much older folk tale. The four animals, a donkey, a dog, a cat and a rooster, were mistreated on the farm and on the verge of being slaughtered. So they decided together to flee to Bremen to become musicians. The story had a happy ending though they never did reach Bremen. Its popularity in Bremen relates to the famous freedom of the town, and the status of serfs who gained the town freedom if they were able to stay in the town for a year and a day. This law was enforced by the city of Bremen who went to war more than once to prevent serfs being reclaimed by their former masters. The freedom of the town was an important avenue for social mobility from the countryside. The popular Musicians of Bremen story was a symbol of the Republican ideal of Northern European cities.
Though guild regimes took hold in most Central European towns in the 1390’s – 1420’s, some were short lived, and a few were re-captured by the patrician faction. Most often, neither a total guild victory nor a total patrician victory stood the test of time. The most common type of urban republican government by the mid 15th Century was a hybrid – the patricians and wealthy merchants shared power with the largest craft guilds and other middle class organizations and families. Once they achieved a lasting compromise which meant political stability, sometimes after generations of turmoil, these cities could reach elite status. Diminishing political turmoil correlated with increasing social mobility, economic dynamism and prosperity, and political clout.
This didn’t mean all was equal however. Even in an artisan government the largest and richest guilds still typically got the most seats and had the most influence, it’s just that there were much more people in the leadership strata. Day to day business was handled by the burgomeisters and the council, but elections of the whole voting population were routinely held for important matters such as going to war or raising taxes. The number of representatives in each faction on the council was determined in negotiations much as we see in modern parliamentary Democracies with proportional representation today -with various coalitions etc. Precisely who held these powerful positions was a closely contested matter that could sometimes lead to chaos or violence since every faction in a medieval town was heavily armed. But they also knew the limits of urban politics. In Central Europe it was rare to push things beyond a certain point in town squabbles. Medieval democracy had little to do with the modern concept of Universal Suffrage. Rather, it represented the formal process of compromise between various factions within the community, according to the organized social, military and financial power of each group or individual. On the one hand, in the medieval world not everybody had a vote. On the other hand, medieval democracy was active and ongoing, it was not a matter of electing representatives and then forgetting about them and just trusting them to take care of the management of the government. Instead it was a continuing process of nervous oversight, maintaining pressure, hashing out compromises, jostling, maneuvering for position… threats, demonstrations, and showdowns, and most of the time ultimately, the Rezeß, ultimately peace. In spite of their ability to compromise, the balance of power in the towns often remained tense for decades, sometimes even centuries. Johannes Janssen tells us that in the city of Kraków, every year for almost 400 years, on the major holiday of the feast of Corpus Christi, all of the guilds formed a procession through the town streets, marching in ranks, dressed in splendid livery of uniform colors, each guild under the banner of their patron saint, and each guild brother or sister carrying a drawn sword in their hand111. This was justified by the important role the craft guilds played in the town militia. The guilds sponsored marksmanship competitions and provided arms and armor for the town defense, and individual guilds defended and maintained each of the key town gates. For example the main gate of Kraków, the Brama Floriańska (St. Florian’s gate) was built, defended and maintained by the furriers guild (starting in the 13th Century112); the St. Nicholas gate was defended by the butchers guild113 and so on.
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Of course the annual guild processions were also a message to the other factions in the town: the crafts were ready to fight for their rights. This is why it was so important to march during coronations, the first goal of the craft guilds at such times was the confirmation of their traditional rights by the new King or Emperor when they were at their most vulnerable (and therefore their most generous). The Bankers The 15th Century is often noted as the era of the rise of modern banking, and many merchants were involved in the financial ‘industry’ during this time. There were several important banks in Europe, but four in particular stand out, the Bank of St. George in Genoa, the bank of the Fuggers of Augsburg, the bank of the Welser family also from Augsburg, and the famous bank of the Medici family of Florence. All four of these outfits routinely loaned money to princes, even kings, emperors, and the Pope, though the Fugger bank was by far the largest and most powerful in the long run. Technically their operations were all actually giant “pawn shops”, since usury (lending for interest) was considered a sin in Catholic Europe (until a Fugger supported Pope changed the rule the 16th Century). Almost all loans were therefore ‘secured’ by property, and the equivalent of interest usually came in the form of ‘transport fees’, ‘storage fees’, and property that the borrower was willing to part with, (either movable property or real-estate). Thus these early banks were also large landowners, and they tended to accumulate special types of land such as gold and silver mines which could make them richer still. The bankers also bought up sources and trade routes for such extremely valuable commodities as alum, tin, silk, sugar, and in some cases, slaves (including European slaves mainly from Eastern Europe). In the Baltic some assets related to the amber and fur trades were owned by the Fuggers and the Medici, and the Bank of St. George was a significant player in the slave trade in the Crimea, which directly affected Prussia and Poland via raids by the Crimean Horde. If someone you knew was captured by the Crimean Tartars and if they survived the ordeal of being taken to market, the Genoese were the ones to approach about getting (buying) them back.
In order to make real money in this era, one had to face the perils of the sea, which you can sense in this depiction of Antwerp (16th Century)
Banking was a very risky business and even the largest banks failed routinely. Having large debts that you couldn’t repay was a recipe for catastrophe in the medieval era, and this was a distinct risk for bankers and their employees during the inevitable rise and fall of economic ventures. Loaning money to powerful princes was also very risky in another way since they could always default or even decide to kill you instead of paying their debts. Many major banks including the Medici, the Bardi and the Peruzzi of Florence failed catastrophically when conditions turned against them, and unlike today, there were no government bailouts. Bankers with failed enterprises could end up in very bad personal situations, imprisoned or worse. Only a few like the Fuggers of Augsburg, the Bank of St. George of Genoa and the Monte dei Paschi di Siena stood the test of time. But while they were up, bankers wielded extraordinary power on a scale the medieval world really hadn’t seen before, or at least since Charlemagne. Their wealth decided Imperial and Papal elections, shifted the balance of power between princely houses, won wars and could make or break kingdoms. The rise of the bankers was very controversial, not only due to the laws and religious prohibitions against usury, but because of the sinister effects of their collaboration with the princes, the new professional class of lawyers emerging from the Universities, and the elite leadership of the Church (who were often from the same families). For example the rise of the Hapsburg family of Austria was facilitated largely by the financial support of the Fugger banking family of Augsburg, and the Hapsburgs policies became more and more of a direct problem for a lot of people around Europe as they used legal tricks and naked political power grabs to enrich themselves at the expense of others from every estate. Much more money for the princes, combined with the increasing implementation of Roman law via the Universities, meant harder times for the peasantry and an increasing disruption of the carefully balanced medieval system. The knightly classes, the smaller territorial towns, the religious Orders, and every other estate in medieval society began to feel the
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squeeze of the combined strength of the princes and the bankers. They did not like it and they pushed back.
Hans Holbein the younger, Nuremberg woman
However, one of the surprising things about the bankers in Central Europe is that, in spite of their power in the feudal world outside of the town walls, they were unable to really dominate politics within the larger towns to the extent you might expect. This was in stark contrast to Italy, where for example the Medici went from being bankers in the 15 th Century to princes in the 16th, when the Medici Dukes ruled Florence and the surrounding district as a feudal fiefdom. Thus ending the Golden Age of that once glorious town. By contrast, even though the Fugger family of Augsburg was ten times wealthier than the Medici, they were unable to take over political control of their home town. They may not have even wanted to, but it would not have been easy if they did. In addition to the lesser merchant families and the craft guilds, they had two other powerful rival banking families within the same small city, the Welsers and the Hochstetters. The Fuggers knew if they overplayed their hand the other powers within Augsburg would unite against them and that might be more than they could handle. But perhaps the real reason was that their main protection against the princes they were doing financial deals with was the town walls and militia of the city itself. Only a large city with a formidable militia could offer enough defensive capability to protect a merchant banker from a major prince. No castle was strong enough. Augsburg managed to maintain it’s independence into the 18th Century, and much as the Alps protect the Swiss banks today, the town walls protected the medieval banks, for better or worse.
City of Kraków, Poland 1495 AD, from the Nuremberg Chronicle. A printing press was established here in 1473.
The halberd, along with the pike, crossbow, and handgun, were the main weapons of the Late Medieval urban militia
also played an important role in military leadership as well as regional and international trade and diplomacy.
Right Johann Ferber, Burmistrz Danzig 1430-1501, anonymous artist, St. Mary’s Cathedral, Gdansk
Burgomeister Aka Bürgermeister (German) Burmistras (Lithuanian), Posadnik (Russian, Novgorod), Burmistrz (Polish) is the mayor of a given town, positioned just above the town council and elected from their ranks. It was not unusual for each municipality within a given city to have a different (guild vs. patrician) administration or even to be dominated by a different ethnicity, and being under different forms of Town Law they often competed with each other economically, which could make for interesting frictions. This being the late Middle Ages, bürgermeisters
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To further complicate matters, larger municipalities typically had at least three bürgermeisters, the präsidierender bürgermeister or presiding bürgermeister, the incumbent from the last administration and the next upcoming bürgermeister who has just been elected, all of whom governed together (and kept an eye on one another). For example, Danzig had at least 6, one for each of the five major municipalities (the Old Town, the Main Town, the New Town, the Osiek Hakelwerk, and the Old Suburb) plus an additional presiding mayor over the others Some of the biggest cities went further than that with a post of erster bürgermeister or ‘first’ presiding over an executive college of lesser mayors. There were strict term limits for this post and various checks and balances in place to assure that the bürgermeister had enough power to lead the town militarily and politically, but not enough to try to take over (which, unlike in Italy, rarely happened in the Baltic or the HRE). Strategy and the town agenda Medieval towns typically existed in very dangerous neighborhoods, fraught with tension and strife, and
dominated by powerful princes, violent knights, restive peasants and scheming clerics. But just as noble families gained advantage from crafting and pursing multigenerational plans, so too did the towns benefit from a consistent strategic policy over a long period of time. One which thanks to the (usually) gradual and incremental replacement of city councilors, furthermore was less subject to routine disruption by sudden interregnums or the vagaries of human reproduction than the primogeniture system of noble households.
while the people were often more rash. But the leadership also recognized the need to be decisive and act when necessary to uphold the economic interests, safety, and even the reputation of the town.
Town Militia from Lübeck, depicted in a document from 1492. Note the two handed swords and the firearm on the right.
The militia was often effective in battle, and it could be tempting to use them to gain territory and cow rivals. But it was also a dangerous tool to use, both because the militia, and the craft guilds who made up it’s hard core could itself become unruly and threaten the regime of the council (especially in victory), and also because a severe enough defeat could cause such a crippling manpower loss to the city as to set it into an economic death spiral. Battles always had a random element. Urban militias were often the best marksmen available in the medieval world, and princes were always leaning on towns to get involved in their wars. But the urban militia’s ranks were made up of the town’s elite citizenry: merchants and skilled craftsmen who made up the backbone of the town society and economy.
The fairy tale like towers of the Holstentor, the famous Holstein gate of Lübeck., built in 1464. Gates like this, also known as portus or ports, controlled access to the city and were vigilantly watched by town militia – mercenaries were not trusted with gate defense in most Central European towns. Crossing through such a gate put a visitor firmly within the zone of the stadtfrieden or “Freedom” of the town, and thus the stern authority of the town council. Each gate had its own ‘personality’ reflecting the direction of trade it faced and therefore the people who typically traveled through it and the type of goods they brought. Entrance into the town with goods usually required a small fee or gate toll. Often individual craft guilds guarded and maintained each gate, collected the gate tolls and were responsible for its upkeep.
The city council saw itself as acting on behalf of the whole town, the town as an entity, as a family or even as a kind of collective organism. Strategic agendas were pursued for lifetimes, in some cases for centuries, even construction projects such as cathedrals and town walls, could go on for several generations. This kind of long view, particularly when it involved several towns acting in a sustained alliance, like Hamburg and Lübeck, or Danzig, Elbing and Torun, helped compensate for other strategic deficiencies, such as the need to appease the population and various economic imperatives. The town council usually strove for moderation and caution, especially in military matters,
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Rather spooky looking ruins of the Teutonic Orders castle at Torun, Poland. The castle was destroyed by burghers in 1454 at the beginning of the 13 Years War and has been left that way ever since. Image by Jerzy Strzelecki, Crative Commons attribution.
Therefore the militia needed to be used sparingly, and so whenever they could, when expeditions outside of the walls were needed the town relied on mercenaries, leveraging their other main advantage over rival estates – a large amount of ready cash, weapons and gear. But mercenaries could be dangerous as well for a whole host of other reasons, and were never fully trusted. For this reason the militia, or a
combination of militia with mercenaries, was often in the field at any given time, particularly in volatile border regions like Prussia. Fortifications were arguably the most important part of town defense, since they were such a powerful force multiplier for the defenders. Well designed fortifications meant that a small number of defenders could defeat a large attacking army. Entrance into the medieval town was carefully controlled through a series of strongly built gates built along the main roads or waterways. Lookouts pulled regular duty at the tops of towers, which also doubled as arsenals. Taxes and income from gate-tolls helped maintain and improve the fortifications on a more or less continuous basis.
29. And if any brother begins to mix it up after the militia has been quieted, he owes 40 sous to the confraternity, saving that which is owed to the lord. 30. And at the hour when the mayor and the aldermen order the brothers to arm, he who does not arm owes 10 sous.
Arsenals in the town gates would include weapons for the use of non-citizens such as servants and day laborers, as well as extra weapons for the guild. In addition, typically at least some small cannon and several firearms, potent ‘wall crossbows’ and other weapons would be stored in the towers as well, along with a generous supply of ammunition. Of course the gate tower armories were backups, because the main weapon arsenals were in the guild-houses and homes of the citizens. Excerpts from the craft guild regulations for the shearers of the Flemish town of Arras in 1236 AD give us some hints as to what militia duty was like for the rank and file: 114 7. And whichever brother of this fraternity of shearers does not come to the militia when it is called, shall not remain in the city, unless it is through the aldermen of the city, 20 sous should go to the confraternity. 25. And each master should have his arms when someone summons them. And if he does not have them, he owes 20 sous. 26. Whichever of the brothers does not go around with the burgomeister, the first night that the militia overnights, owes 10 sous. 27. Whichever of the brothers leaves the district by land and by day, and will not embark, owes 10 sous to the confraternity. 28. And whichever of the brothers takes the weapons of the fraternity, if he does not return them on the day that he took them, he owes 20 sous to the fraternity, unless he is keeping them with the consent of the burgomeister and the aldermen.
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Market Gate, ‘Brama Targowa’, Old Town Elbing. One of the original gates of the fortification system of the old Hanseatic Town, it is the only part of the old town wall still standing today. Built in 1309, enlarged in 14201430, it was heavily damaged in WW2 (though it remained standing) and repaired in the 1990s. Image by Spitfire303 Creative Commons attribution.
One somewhat fraught issue was the storage of black powder. Needless to say, black powder being extremely volatile, and town authorities very concerned about fires, extra special care was taken in the storage of significant quantities of gunpowder. Usually the town militia had certain experts in the use of cannon, called the Büchsenmeister. These people would often be artisans involved in the production of cannon. Typically, as experts in making gunpowder they were in charge of storing it.
15th Century urban militia, note the musicians, hand guns, swords as sidearms. Philipp Mönch - Kriegsbuch - cod. pal. germ. 126. Circa 1496
Town Militia “…not only every noble, but even every burgher in the Guilds has an armoury in his house so as to appear equipped at every alarm. The skill of the citizens in the use of weapons is extraordinary.” -Enea Sylvio Piccolomini, the future Pope Pius II, commenting on the state of military preparedness in Germany in 1444 AD.
In a time when 10,000 or 15,000 soldiers was a big national army, a city of 20,000 citizens sworn to mutual self defense was always a force to be reckoned with … even if the reality was that most of the burghers could not be spared to fight except in emergencies. There is a common trope today that medieval merchants were weak and fat, and all other commoners were filthy and toothless, while (much cleaner) nobles and knights did all the fighting and governing. Like most common beliefs about the medieval world, this could not be further from the truth. Most members of the merchant class were quite warlike, they owned warhorses, played a leadership role in the militias and participated in raids and knightly tournaments115. Most free people in general in this period had exposure to military training and politics, commerce and war were all closely linked. Merchants made their living traveling on the dangerous seas, rivers, or roads of the countryside. The craft guilds, similarly, held on to their share of power in the cities by the strength of their unity and willingness to fight for their rights. As members of the militia they were experienced in war and they honed their skills in constant contests and martial sports. All of the towns in the medieval Baltic were heavily fortified and all citizens were obligated to fight, and to be wellequipped for battle. Cities and guilds clothed their militias in colorful uniforms, both to be recognizable on the battlefield and to awe onlookers with their wealth and power. The backbone of the militia were the military brotherhoods (‘confrere’s militaria’) of the guilds, augmented by the warlike members of the patrician families who fought as heavy cavalry organized into
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konstafler societies (see below). The guilds arrived at muster under their own guild banners116, the konstafler under their family crests or heraldic devices, on their own horses. Each quarter of the town was obligated to defend one or more of the town gates. In times of war the quarter was mobilized under the command of a viertelmeister (quartermaster) appointed by the town council. Depending on the local politics the viertelmeister might be a patrician, a mid-level merchant, or a senior craft-guild alderman. Unlike in some of the Italian towns where professional Condotierri provided military leadership by the late Medieval period, in Central Europe and the German-speaking areas, this duty was considered too important to trust to a non-citizen, so the leadership strata of the towns had to study and practice martial arts, military strategy and all the arts of war. Town citizens had to swear an annual oath to obey the alarm bell and maintain suitable body armor for muster. When the bell rang they reported to their ward boss with weapons and armor ready. Each citizen also swore an annual oath that the arms he presented to the inspectors were his and not just borrowed to pass muster, and that they would not sell their armor to a foreigner or any non-citizen resident not eligible for military service117. Female heads of households, widows and lady guild members and so on, were also obligated to have arms and armor for their household, though typically younger men from the house (journeymen etc.) would be sent to the muster in their stead. From the city council rolls of Rostock, circa 1450. The council obliges the craft guilds to provide armored men for the militia, at the following rates118: De dregher (porters) 150 De shoemakere (shoemakers) 40 De smede (smiths) 40 De beckere (bakers) 30 De haken (retailers) 30 De kremer (haberdashers) 20 De peltzer (furriers) 20
De knockenhouwere (butchers) 20 De boddekere (coopers) 20 De remensnydere (bridelmakers) 20 De scroder (taylors) 20 De gerwer (tanners) 20 De wullenwever (wool weavers) 20 De vischere (fishermen) 20 De kannegetere (pewterers) 16 De lynnenwever (linen weavers) 16 De repere (hoopers) 10 De murlude (masons) 10 De tymmerlude (carpenters) 10 De oltscrodere (old taylors) 10 De bertscherer (barbers) 6
resources and skill set (and on the prestige of their craft). Town records from the city of Wismar from 1483 indicate that the konstafler (cavalry) of this town was dominated by the wealthier members of the butcher’s guild who were obligated to maintain war-horses, and went into battle "accompanied by one councilor and a council employee." In 1491 the wool weavers craft of Wismar had: "two tons of armor including seven complete sets of armored harness, five proofed gorgets, eight smaller pieces, two proofed bevors, a bow and an iron helmet."
There were 40 more guilds on the list with a quota of 2 or 3 armed men each, for a total of 622 militia... dominated by porters. An odd concept! The total number of guild masters was probably about 1,000 at this time, total population of Rostock at the time was about 12,000 people, of whom less than half were citizens.
The rank and file members of the guild fought together as infantry, as did the lower-ranking merchants, clerks, and shop owners, typically as heavy infantry, gunners, or arbalestiers. Forty six percent of the population of Frankfurt in 1380 owned property worth between 12 and 20 florins119 (roughly the value of between four to six cows, or in terms of the current bullion value of the gold very roughly $5,000 $8,000) and would probably fall into this category. Unaffiliated peddlers, artisans and day laborers (the bottom twenty percent economic bracket in the town) fought as second-tier glaivemen or crossbowmen, though they would only be deployed in a serious emergency.
Closeup of the city-walls, Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Creative Commons license, image by Ji-Elle.
The town walls of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, with two defensive towers visible. Walls like this, properly manned, were not easy for attackers to cope with. Creative Commons license, original image by Besse.
The town maintained large public arsenals to equip these men (and in some rare cases, women) which were usually kept inside the gate towers. Towns spent an enormous amount of money on civic defense. In 1379, 82 percent of Cologne’s civic spending went toward upgrades to the cities fortifications. In 1437 the city of Rostock spent between 76 and 80 percent of their budget on two new towers and improvements to the walls, as well as guns, body armor, and crossbows120.
The arms and armor required by each citizen was determined according to their wealth and social rank. Patricians fought as konstafler or heavy cavalry with the responsibility to provide their own horse and armor, or hire and equip a substitute. Guild masters either also fight as konstafler or as heavy-infantry, depending on their
In Poland, after clashing with Czech Hussites in 1427 during one of their so called ‘beautiful rides’, and experiencing with some shock their formidable new ‘Tabor’ gun wagon system, the town council of Kraków met to discuss upgrading the town arsenal, and adding some of the more current Czech style weapons.
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From their notes we know that it was determined at that time that the entire town only had 2 ‘hand boschen’ (hand guns) and none of the two-handed Hussite war-flails or flegels. So the town elected to purchase 87 new ‘hand boschen’ and 147 battle flails to augment the existing guild arsenals, and allocated a substantial amount of money to buy or make them 121. The shift from crossbows to guns remained gradual though, at a muster in 1443 each citizen was ordered to appear with both “pixides” (pavise shields) and “balistas” (i.e. crossbows)122.
records include stipulations that the burghers wanted to be back behind their walls by nightfall!
Merchants and artisans fighting as heavy – cavalry often formed special cavalry societies known as konstafler (as well as by several other names). They fought equipped like knights with full body armor mounted on armored warhorses and accompanied by a small group of attendants. The term konstafler has the same etymological root as constable (comes stabuli, “count of the stable”). They were usually well-trained, a certain subset of urban merchants actively participated in knightly tournaments. The craft guilds sponsored archery and marksmanship competitions and fechtschuler and appeared to be linked both to fencing guilds (see Fencing Guilds) and archers and marksmen’s guilds such as the guilds of St. Sebastian and St. George in Bruges and Ghent 123 . Town militias frequently, in some regions almost constantly fought in skirmishes and raids and full scale wars were not rare, so combat experience was normal among the burghers.
Pieter Brughel the Elder, the Suicide of Saul, closeup detail showing close combat with pike and lance. This kind of fighting required intense discipline and esprit de corps.
We have some surviving records of this type of militia. For example the City of Strasbourg in 1363 fielded 81 ‘lances’ from among the patricians, 21 from the craft guilds, 5 from the boatmen, 4 from the storekeepers, and 4 from the wine merchants, for a total of 115 lances 124 , a force comparable to what would be raised by a major prince. The forces of a city would not range far afield though, the same
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Craftsmen, possibly apprentices, ‘shooting the popinjay’ outside of Kraków, Balthasar Behem Codex Picturatus, Kraków 1505 AD.
Nevertheless, the town militias were no joke. The urban militias of Bruges and Ghent wiped out the flower of French Chivalry in the battle of Courtrai in 1302 AD. The burghers of Bremen faced down their regional gentry in the late 14 th Century, as did the townsfolk of the Lusatian League in upper Lusatia in the early 15th. The militias of Zurich and Bern were the terror of Italy and Central Europe. The naval forces of Venice dominated the Mediterranean and those of Lübeck dominated the North Sea. A recent estimate by one military historian concluded that in the second half of the 14 th Century German towns in Mecklenburg alone destroyed the castles of over 100 robber Knights125 (see The Countryside, Robber Knights). "Two disasters now strike the city of Cracow. On the day the new bishop, Thomas Strzepinski is elected, a fine bell with a very pleasant ring, a gift of the late Cardinal-bishop Olesnicki, is dislodged and falls and breaks the upper part of one ear, thus making it useless, until it can be recast. Then, on the following day, fire breaks out in the house of Thomas the Armourer, which is close to the church. The attempts to put it out are only half-hearted, for almost all the apprentices are outside the city shooting at a popinjay or watching others do it; then the wind goes round to the north and the flames break out again, and the fire spreads rapidly. Some of the houses affected have gunpowder stored in them and this only increases the blaze. People are more concerned to rescue the contents of their houses than to put out the fire, which, in the end, consumes over a hundred houses and four churches, as well as the college of the students of canon law, only two of the canon's houses being saved, one that of the cantor and the other that of Canon Jan Dlugosz [i.e. the author]. The fire spreads as far as the
castle, killing many, especially those who take refuge in their cellars. Many attribute the outbreak to the hurt done to God's name, when the Jews, who used to deposit most of their possessions with Thomas the Armourer, were granted their liberty." -Jan Dlugosz, part of the entry for 1455, The Annals of Jan Dlugosz, page 523
But generally speaking, though skirmishes and raids were common, the militia were cautious about fighting pitched battles except in genuine emergencies and would fully mobilize only when the town itself was under dire threat or when mercenaries could not be trusted to do the job for some reason. For example, the city council of Danzig had to threaten its citizens with forfeiture of their citizenship to get them to mobilize for war in the beginning of the conflict with the Teutonic Knights in 1454.
Left, hilt of a Czech longsword with sidering, circa 1470 AD. Longswords with complex hilts were popular with town militia and town guards, and were also carried as sidearms by citizens. Right, urban militia man in blackened harness, from the Balthasar Behem codex, Kraków 1505 (detail)..
This was partly because the towns really couldn’t afford large numbers of casualties among skilled weavers or
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glass blowers or gunsmiths or members of their own merchant elite who made up the backbone of their economy. Often when towns took offensive military action it was in concert with other towns (see Town Leagues) and / or in alliances with leagues of knights, local princes, or powerful clerics, and they usually augmented their forces with large numbers of mercenaries, especially for larger and more ambitious campaigns. Though warlike, a burgher’s principal role was that of merchant or an artisan, and his ambition was not to die gloriously in battle, but wealthy and comfortable in a safe urban home. The burghers fought, and they fought often, but the purpose of fighting was to secure their lifestyle and the safety of their families, rather than for conquest.
Portrait of Jean le Fèvre de Saint-Remy, Rogier van der Weyden. Though Jean was a noble, this is a pretty typical costume for a wealthy patrician or merchant of Flanders, He carries a vaned javelin or an arrow in his left hand, which also holds the hilt of a messer. Rogier van der Weyden, 15th Century.
‘Epitaph’ of the Brotherhood of the Blackheads of Talinn, 1561. Each of the men depicted in the foreground of this painting was killed during a battle with the forces of Moscow in 1560. Their names are listed in two square sections to the right and left of the cross. The Brotherhood, which consisted of bachelors from the merchant families, defeated the Muscovites in the ambush and again during sieges in 1571 and 1572. Among the dead was Blasius Hochgreve, city councilor of Talinn. Talinn can be seen in the upper left, and a depiction of the battle in the upper right. Painting by Lambert Glandorf.
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Warlike merchants While the bulk of the rank and file of urban militia infantry was made up of craftsmen, many of the leaders and most of the cavalry were merchants. Contrary to the cliché, medieval merchants did not tend to be fat, bald, or easily frightened. To the contrary, these were men of action who spent their youth traveling dangerous highways and byways to far off places, facing bandits on the roads, pirates on the open seas and often unpredictable and violent conditions in the remote foreign port cities where they plied their trade. As they matured they became active in the Chivalric tournament circuit, commanded warships and privateers, and as leaders in their community, led urban militia into combat. I previously mentioned the story of the 13 th Century Hamburg merchant who had gotten very good at thwarting the predatory efforts of robber knights. The Duke of Mecklenburg, who had been up to that point secretly in league with them (and collecting a share of their take) publicly threatened to hang him with a hemp rope. The merchant, far from intimidated, had a silver chain forged which he promised to hang the Duke with (since rope would be too vulgar for his fine neck).
One of the more thoroughly documented of these societies was the Brotherhood of the Blackheads, a confraternity or sodality of (mostly) journeyman merchants originally founded in Livonia, which had chapters in twenty towns in Livonia including Riga, Revall (today Talinn), Dorpat (today Tartu), and Pernau (today Pärnu). The Botherhood of the Blackheads was so named due to their patron saint, St. Maurice, who was typically portrayed as a sub-Saharan African. According to his legend, St. Maurice was a soldier and like St. George and a handful of others, was usually depicted as a knight and therefore a patron of knightly and martial virtues. Though little known in the English speaking world today, St. Maurice remains an important saint in the Catholic parts of Germany, Switzerland and Austria and in parts of Poland and the Baltic States. The Brotherhood of the Blackheads The Brotherhood of the Blackheads was an urban cavalry society formed in Riga during the infamous St. George’s night uprising of 1343-1345. During this uprising many of the native population of Livonia, especially ethnic Estonians, tried to exterminate the foreigners who had (to be frank, very cruelly) ruled over them for centuries in a violent rebellion.
Front gate of the House of the Blackheads in Riga today, with the Virgin Mary on the left and Saint Maurice on the right.
Knights and men at arms do battle, from the bible of Wenceslaus IV, 1390
Merchants formed quasi-military clubs or guilds which met in great halls such as the King Arthur guildhall (Artus Court) of Danzig, Torun, and Elbing. These groups had combined social and military functions, but essentially amounted to the informal leadership strata of the militias, particularly in the Hanseatic Towns.
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Though the uprising was aimed mostly at the Crusaders such as the Livonian Knights and other aristocratic rulers, the towns faced attack as well and had to fight through desperate sieges. Though the uprising ultimately failed it wrought a great deal of havoc, numerous castles were smashed, churches burned and several smaller towns were overrun. Many were killed and the whole thing left a mark, one of which was the creation of the brotherhood. The brotherhood consisted of younger unmarried or journeymen merchants, ship captains, foreigners and some of the more elite craft artisans of Riga and Talinn such as goldsmiths and butchers. They were active in the town watch and fought as cavalry in the militia, in support of the agenda
of the town. We know that the Blackheads remained active well into the 17th Century and they played an important role in the brutal Livonian War in the 16th Century.
documented military actions which were critical to the survival of the town. Braunschweig (known as Brunsweik in Low-German and called Brunswick by English-speakers) was a medium sized Hanseatic town in North-Western Germany, (population circa 16,000 in the mid-15th Century) loosely allied with it’s larger and more powerful neighbors in the Hanseatic League, notably Magdeburg, Bremen, Hamburg, and mighty Lübeck.
The Brauncshweiger Lion, forged in the 13th Century, remains the symbol of the city to this day.
As wealthy young men, they also contribued arms to the defense of the town. In 1526 the Brotherhood presented the city council of Tallinn with 8 rock-hurling machines, 20 cannon-carriages, and 66 small-caliber guns. Money was donated for casting more cannons for Narva, and it was stipulated that the Blackheads' coat of arms be on all the guns. 126 Like all medieval guilds and sodalities, the Brotherhood of the Blackheads also served religious and community functions, and one of their innovations in this realm was the first documented use of a Christmas tree in this part of Europe, in 1441. They had a big party in front of the tree, danced with the local maidens, and then burned it in a cathartic (and perhaps, somewhat pagan) Christmas ceremony. Later in the 16th Century the Brotherhood proved its value on the battlefield, during the perilous Livonian War, first in a bloody but succesful ambush of Muscovite forces in 1560, and then by the successful defense of Talinn led by the brotherhood in 1570 and 1571, and again in 1577. Lilienvente of Brunsweik: The Brotherhood of the young men of the Lilly The Lilienvente was another similar and very interesting cavalry society 1400 kilomoters to the South West of Riga in Brunswiek, aka Braunschweig, in Lower Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire, in what is today Germany. Despite the long distance between these regions, there were strong similarities to the Blackheads. The Lilienvente came together in the late 14th Century as a result of a major crisis, it was made up of young unmarried men from the more prominent urban families (though it was apparently a little bit less strict in membership requirements than the Blackheads), and it was involved in successful and well-
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Braunschweig was one of those towns in kind of a twilight zone between a Free Imperial City and a Territorial town. Originally the seat of the Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg, going back to Henry the Lion of the House of Welf (from whom the town got it’s Lion coat of arms), Braunschweig gradually asserted more and more independence in the 13th and 14th Centuries. Thanks to her fortuitous position astride important land and riverine trade routes that linked the urban manufacturing centers in the interior of Germany with the northern coastal trading towns, the city became a member of the Hanseatic League in the 1250’s, and was sending members to the Hansetag by 1356. The economies of the coastal Hanseatic towns further north were dominated by trade, and therefore generally ruled by their merchant class, but much like Cologne and some of the Rhenish and South-German towns (Strasbourg, Augsburg), Braunschweig itself was both a trading nexus and a manufacturing center. This meant that there was a rough parity in power between the patricians and merchant exporters on the one hand, and the craft artisans and small merchants on the other. Important export industries in Braunschweig included textiles, ironworking (with weapons and armor a speciality), and beer-brewing. Notably a type of beer known as Braunschweiger Mumme, known for not spoiling for a long time, become a major regional export by 1390. As manufacturing for export became more important, the artisans rose in wealth and resources, but the patrician oldguard still controlled the town hall and refused to share power. The crisis which led to the formation of the Lilienvente started with a craft guild uprising against the patricians in 1374. The trigger for the uprising was a conflict over the budget and debts accrued going back to the Black Death in the early 1350’s. The town fathers tried but failed to put down the revolt, and during the urban strife eight city councilors were killed. The majority of the city council and patrician class were exiled. As was typical at the time, the exiled city council was able to get the Hanseatic League to punish the new regime by exiling the city from the Hanse, in a type of boycott called Verhansung.
layer around the city and protected two villages, Lehndorf Ölper and Melverode. Guards stationed in towers along the road controlled traffic to and from the town and could signal the town from the village churches, St. Catherine and St. Martini, so the town could close their gates in time if necessary. This helped the citizens fight off the robber knights and bandits who were encroaching as well as fending off more serious probes by the princes. The Landwehr is still there in places and can be seen to this day. In addition to the walls it incorporated several defensive towers, the first of which in Ölper was completed in 1384. Family crests or ‘wappen’ of the 8 city-councilors of Braunchweig, killed in the artisans uprising of 1374. From a document in 1515.
This boycott had devastating consequences for the city. First, it meant a sharp and abrupt decline in trade revenue, and second, it meant that Braunschweig could no longer count on the considerable military and diplomatic clout of the Hanse as backup. This was grim news which led to an almost immediate spike in predatory ‘robber knight’ activity by the regional gentry. It also coincided with the renewed and unwelcome interest in the town by certain powerful princely families. Merchants started getting robbed on the roads or kidnapped and held for ransom, villages and abbeys within the territory controlled by the city were sacked and burned, and general mayhem threatened its survival. The militia was hard pressed, and the already precarious financial situation quickly became desperate. To save themselves Braunschweig formed a town-league, a städtebund in 1376 with seven other towns: Aschersleben, Goslar, Halberstadt, Hannover, Hildesheim, Lüneburg and Quedlinburg. Together they enforced a new Landfrieden over the district.
A 19th Century depiction of one of the towers of the Brunswick Landwehr, the Ölper tower. The towers were destroyed in the 19th Century.
These measures allowed the city to hang on, but the crisis lasted 6 bitter years, the population declined and grass was growing in the streets before Braunschweig was finally allowed back to a Hansetag in 1380 in Lübeck. Burgomeister Ludolf von Ingeleben oversaw the construction of 7 more towers on the Landwehr. But they needed something more.
The original charter of the Lilienvente, from 1384.
Part of the Brunswick Landwehr as it appears today, in Ölper forest.
In addition, the city built a kind of extended wall, actually a system of 3 walls and 3 ditches, called a Landwehr which went around their territoriy in a ring from 3 to 10 km around the city. The Landwehr added an extra defensive
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Haunted by the misery of this period, the citizens, under their new burgomeister, Herman von Vechelde, orchestrated a realignment of the internal politics and strategic posture of the city. The new town constitution of 1386 specified a power sharing arrangement for the Rathaus: Of 103 seats in the city council, only 25 were still reserved for the patricians, 31 were for the ‘new money’ (drapers, moneychangers and goldsmiths), and 47 for guild aldermen from various crafts 127.
family), and Albert of Saxe-Wittenburg (of the Ascanian family), would mediatise the towns and make them into their princely capitals, thus ending the autonomy of the burghers. Magnus gave a clear indication of what his rule would be like when he started demanding generous loans and gifts from Lüneburg. The towns resisted, supported by nobles of the Wittenburg family, and bitter fighting ensued.
An illustration from a printed chronicle of Braunschweig from the Saxon Chronicle, 1492, showing two members of the Lilienvente, wearing armor and bearing shields with the lion of Braunschweig prominently displayed.
In addition to the political reorganization or Rezess, which represented a compromise between the cities internal factions, the new town regime decided that a new military guild (a confraternity or sodality) was to be founded: this was the birth of the Lilienvente. Initially 60 young men were chosen from the “most vigorous families” as the chronicle says, and they were equipped by with the best available armor and weapons by their families and guilds, and mounted on good horses. These men were the founding cadre of the ‘young bachelors of the lily’, the Lilienvente. Though most of the original group were young unmarried men, some of the leadership were veterans, including the Burgomeister Herman von Vechelde. The establishment of the Lilienvente in 1384 represented a conscious shift in military policy toward a more aggressive and warlike posture. The resolve of the young men of the Lily was put to the test right away, during what became known as the Lüneburg War of Succession. This was a complex, and for the towns, highly perilous conflict, ostensibily between two princely families disputing rights over a new Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. To consolidate their power, two ambitious princes announced their intentions to make the two largest regional towns, Brunswick and Lüneburg, into their residenz. According to their plan, the princes in question, Duke Magnus II “Torquatus” of Brunswick (of the powerful Welf
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Left, Duke Magnus, in a 19th Century portrayal. Right, monument to his dearth at Leveste, now Gehrden, Germany.
In 1371, the town watch of Lüneburg failed to detect the approach of Duke Magnus Torquatus, who managed to pass through the town gates with a substantial force before the alarm was raised. Three city councilors, two burgomasters and many others died before the Duke could be forced to retreat after a savage street battle. The war continued, and Magnus himself was killed in battle just three years later in 1373. His ally Albert continued the fight, with two other regional princes siding with the towns. Shortly after the foundation of the Lilienvente in 1384, fighting flared up again. Robber knights of the Mandelsloh family began attacking Brunswick territories, and Prince Albert launched a punitive expedition against their castle of Ricklingen in 1385. During the siege Albert was struck by a stone launched by a catapult and killed. The cities then allied themselves with young Friedrich of Brunswick-Lüneburg, against his guardian, Albert’s brother, Otto the Quaden. The Lilienvente played a key role when the Brunswich militia met Otto’s forces for a rare open-field engagement in the battle of Winsen an der Aller in 1388128. In that battle the cavalry society fielded 400 horses 129 and Herman von Vechelde of Brunswick personally killed several knights. Otto was decisively defeated. After that, the war soon ended and both Brunswick and Lüneburg strengthened their political and military position considerably thereby.
By the later 16th Century, the city walls of Brunswick had been updated to the formidable modern standard well capable of resisting artillery.
and martial sports throughout this whole period. In celebration of their victory over the Duke they held a schützenfest in 1441 at the feast of St. John’s (shooting at the popinjay). Again in 1446 on the Pentacost they are recorded as holding the town’s first ‘multi-weapon’ schützenfest with both crossbows and firearms 131. In these cavalry societies we can see an interesting combination of three functions: that of a social club like a modern masonic lodge or rotary club; that of a sort of school for martial sports like shooting and fencing tournaments; and of an elite cadre of the town militia which played a key role in the defense of the city. In these two cases, the Lilienvente and the Society of the Blackheads, the cavalry society was in large part responsible for the town’s very survival. This is the curious nexus between sport, celebration and war that so characterized the medieval era and the way in which men trained for conflict, and was one of the ways the town elite projected power both internally and externally.
The supergun ‘Faule Mette’ or ‘Faule Metze’, meaning ‘Lazy Whore’ due to its unwieldy massive size, helped ensure the safety of Brunswick alongside their intrepid cavalry society.
But it was still a very dangerous ‘neighborhood’ and Brunswick took additional measures to ensure their protection. In 1411 the city blacksmiths forged a massive bombard, considered one of the greatest medieval superguns, called the Faule Metze (“Lazy Whore”) as insurance against any full scale attack by a regional prince or even an Imperial or Royal army. The gun remained in the town arsenal for centuries, and though undoubtedly difficult to put into position, it was formidable. Shortly before it was melted down in 1717 they shot a 725 lb stone ball 2400 meters with it130. In spite of the improved conditions, the Lilienvente didn’t go away either, as it shows up again in 1440 when Brunswick was besieged by Duke William of BrunswickWolfenbuttel. The Lilienvente led the successful defense of the city and the Duke was driven off. The Lilienvente also continued to actively participate in and host warlike games
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Left, Matthäus Schwarz, accountant to the Fugger banking family of Augsburg, stands watch in his armor as a house burns down in the background. From the Trachtenbuch of Matthias Schwarz, circa 1520. Right, two members of the town guard (detail) Balthsar Behem Codex, Kraków 1505. Note the beautifully painted shields.
The Town Watch Not all martial duties were so exciting as a full scale war or even a cavalry raid. One of the dullest responsibilities which come along with (burgher) citizenship was watch duty. Incidents described above such as the raid by Magnus Torquatus during the Lüneburg war of succession illustrate the vital importance that a vigilant and alert town watch played to the very survival of the town. But that didn’t mean it was interesting. Townsfolk hated to be on the town watch.
thieves and bandits were an epidemic in many rural areas and robbery was much more common. The job of the militia and the town watch was to keep the peace inside the walls and keep the rural chaos out.
Records from this era are full of attempts to keep people from selling their watch duties, from playing dice and cards during watch, from drinking or sleeping on the watch, from bringing their wives or prostitutes into watch-towers and so on. The watch served a dual-purpose. Direct military threats to the town while obviously fairly rare, could be a serious catastrophe. Fire was another very real threat every single night in the town, and this is what kept the town watch alert and on their toes (because it kept the citizens on top of their neighbors who were doing watch duty.) Every town dweller feared fire. Watch duty came around every few weeks, and usually started with reporting to a watch commander in the evening, lining up with the other citizens and standing for inspection of armor and weapons like when at militia muster. Then the night passed sitting up in one of the cities towers and keeping watch along the ramparts all night, with occasional patrols along the walls, or down in the city streets. Medieval towns were not lit up all night the way modern cities are, and usually only some inns, a few civic or church buildings, and some of the great houses of the patrician families had lanterns burning outside after nightfall.
Hunting bears the hard way – on foot with a spear. From the Bern Chronicle, 1353. Burghers liked to hunt just as much as nobles and peasants did. Certain polities like Bern which used the bear in their coat of arms may have had a kind of bear cult incorporated into their town folklore.
For the most part the streets were shrouded in darkness in the night. The town watch tramping around with a lantern on a pole also had the secondary duty of keeping the peace, which included breaking up fights, calming domestic disputes, arresting drunks and rowdies or the occasional real criminal and taking them to the town jail or the ‘fools house’. The jail was usually located inside one of the watch towers. In the medieval city violent crime rates were a little lower than that of cities in North America today, but there were more honor related crimes than property crimes, less secretive crime of any kind, and violence tended to skew upward toward the upper and middle classes. The countryside, by contrast, could range from peaceful to near total mayhem, but feuding knights, professional
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Forces of the Swabian League burn the castle of a robber knight in Franconia for a history of violations of the Landfrieden, 1523. Painting by Hans Wandereisen, painter and ‘war correspondent’ who witnessed the events of what was later known as the Franconian War. The troops on the left with the red and white striped flag are probably Nuremberg militia.
The Ransom of Wisby Karl Gustaf Hellqvist 1882. This painting depicts an event in Wisby, Gotland in the 14 th Century but it s actually a pretty good depiction of a larger Northern German city of the early 15th
The glaive was another popular weapon with town militias. One of the guards in the painting of the Ransom of Wisby (above) is also carrying one.
The Amsterdam town watch in 1531 (Cornelis Anthonisz). Urban militias tended to be pretty well equipped. The bad haircuts and the scowls may be attributable to their being Calvinists by this point, ...
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The Marketplace at Veliki Novgorod, Appolinary Vasnetsov, 1909 This is probably a reasonable approximation of how Novgorod would have appeared in the 15th Century.
“Danislav Lazutinich went with his troops beyond the Volok to collect tribute, but Great Prince Andrew sent his army against them. And it came to a battle. There were only four hundred men of Novgorod against seven thousand soldiers from Suzdal, but God helped the Novgorodians, and the Suzdalians suffered thirteen hundred casualties, while Novgorod lost only fifteen men. Novgorod retreated, but then returned and collected tribute (beyond the Volok), and received tribute also from the peasants of Suzdal. All returned home in good health. In the same year in the winter the army of Suzdal, under the command of the son of Prince Andrew, Prince Mstislav, and Prince Roman, and with troops from Smolensk, Toropets, and Murom; the armies of Riazan led by two princes, the Prince of Polotsk with his armies, and men from the entire Russian land all approached the city of Novgorod. But the people of Novgorod were firmly behind their leader, Prince Roman, and their Posadnik, Yakun. And so they built fortifications about the city. On Sunday the emissaries of the princes of Suzdal came to Novgorod to negotiate, and these negotiations lasted for three days. On the fourth day, Wednesday February 25th, the day of St. Tarasy, Patriarch of Constantinople, the Suzdalians attacked the city and fought the entire day. Only toward evening did Prince Roman, who was still very young, and the troops of Novgorod managed to defeat the army of Suzdal with the help of the holy cross, the Holy Virgin, and the prayers of the Right Reverend Bishop Elias. Many Suzdalians were massacred, many were taken prisoner, while the remainder escaped only with great difficulty. And the price of Suzdalian prisoners fell to two nogatas*.” * A Nogata is a bearskin or a wolf-pelt -Chronicle of Veliky Novgorod 1169 AD
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Location of Lusatia in Europe, image by Ernst Schütte
forces, the larger towns of Bautzen and Görlitz held out behind their more formidable walls (though witnesses claimed that Bautzen was saved by the intervention of the Archangel Michael). After the Hussite Wars petered out in the 1430s the Lusatian league began to rebuild and re-assert its control of the region. By 1456 it represented a powerful economic and military force once again, with new industries creating a surge in trade and the rebuilt military forces of the towns effectively in control.
Town Leagues Though towns were formidable in defense, a single city alone was not a strong offensive force in regional European politics on a strategic level. One way for cities to achieve a greater level of strategic muscle was to form a Städtebund, a Town League, either temporarily or permanently. There were several important Town Leagues in Central and Northern Europe in the late Medieval and early Renaissance period. The most important and famous was the Hanseatic League (though it wasn’t actually a Town League at all, it’s much more informal), and in the Baltic context of course the Prussian Confederation. Other significant leagues in the region included the Lusatian League, the Rhenish league, and the Pentapolitana. The Lusatian League, also known as “the league of six towns of Upper Lusatia” was the dominant political force in Upper Lusatia, a region on the borderland between Germany, Poland, and Bohemia. The league was formed in 1346 by six medium sized to small free cities which joined forces to fight off predatory robber knights plaguing the region at that time (see the countryside, robber knights). Of the six Bautzen, Görlitz, Löbau, Kamenz and Lauban had mostly German populations, and Zittau was predominantly Czech. After a period of brisk warfare the six towns succeeded in destroying the castles of several robber knights and gentry with whom they had disputes. Soon peace and prosperity were restored to the region, as the remaining noble families paid fealty to the towns. One of the unusual features of the Lusatian League was that all six towns had roughly equal power, though of the six Bautzen, Görlitz, and Zittau were considered ‘big towns’ and Kamenz, Lauban and Löbau were considered ‘small towns’. They were all small towns actually, in the range of 4,000-7,000 people each. The Lusatian League expanded trade well beyond the region and presided over a local economic boom, to the extent that they acquired the nickname as "Die Reiche" ("the Rich"), until the Hussite wars broke out in 1420 (for more about the Hussites, see Secondary Regional Players, the Kingdom of Bohemia). The Lusatian League sided with the Catholics, and was attacked by the Bohemian Hussite armies during the infamous reprisals called “Beautiful Rides”. Zittau, Kamenz, Lauban and Löbau were all sacked by the Hussite
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Lady with a young Landsknecht, Albrecht Durer, 1497
The Pentapolitana was a similar league of 5 Hungarian Royal Free Towns (essentially identical to Imperial Free Cities in the Holy Roman Empire) in the area east of Bohemia in what is now Slovakia. The five towns of Košice, Bardejov, Levoča, Prešov and Sabinov formed a pact of mutual defense and trade in 1445, led and dominated by the town of Košice. In contrast to the Lusatian League the Pentapolitana was on the side of the Hussites in 1456, and the area was later settled by the largely Hussite forces of Jan Jiskra, a Czech mercenary who had been fighting in Hungary (not to be confused with the similarly named Jan Žižka who led the Hussite forces in the 1420’s. See People of the Medieval Baltic, for more about Jiskra, he was an interesting character in his own right.) This region was a Hussite stronghold in the mid-15th Century and the home to many Hussite mercenaries who had left Hungary, Bohemia or Poland. The industries of these towns supplied Hussite mercenaries with weapons and other gear, and acted as markets for their pay and loot. While the Lusatian League and Pentapolitana were essentially ‘permanent’ Leagues, the Confederation of Cologne is a good example of the other more common type, the temporary Town League. Formed in 1362 to counter the increasing aggression of the King of Denmark, Valdemar I in
the Baltic, a formidable coalition the cities of Lübeck, Rostock, Straslund, Wismar, Chełmno, Toruń, Elbing, Kampen, Harderwyk, Elborg, Amsterdam and Briel signed a confederatio during the Hanseatic League meeting in Cologne and agreed to pool resources and hire mercenaries. Over the next several years they conducted a successful campaign against Denmark and forced King Valdemar to flee his own land temporarily during what came to be known as the first and Second Danish – Hanseatic wars. The wars ended finally with the signing of the treaty of Straslund in 1370, on favorable terms for the league, after which it dissolved. The Rhenish League was a similar temporary association of cities along the Rhine, formed and later dissolved several times through the 13th and 14th Centuries to defeat Robber Knights who were charging excessive tolls along the Rhine River. The Rhenish League and its successor the Swabian League were successful in destroying the castles of scores of Robber Knights but failed in more ambitious contests with German princes (notably at the Battle of Doffingen), and inevitably fell into internal disputes and was dissolved to be reformed again when the need arose. The Swiss Confederation is perhaps the ultimate example of a Städtebund; it was a sort of super Städtebund called the Eidgenossenschaft, which incorporated several French and German speaking cities and formidable rural cantons across the Alps during the 15th Century. Städtebund were considered suspicious by the aristocracy and were banned in an Imperial “Golden Bull” issued by Emperor Charles IV in 1356. This imperial law placed a prohibition against “conjurationes, confederationes, and conspirationes”. The law and subsequent actions by German princes, (notably in the Baltic the Prince Elector of Brandenburg) helped to slow the spread of the Städtebund but fortunately for the towns did little in the long run to end the phenomenon. Civil Wars and uprisings Such urban strife would seem to be a recipe for disaster, and in fact it nearly was. Most of the larger trading towns of Central and Northern Europe suffered periods of violent civil strife over control of the city. In the 14th Century, most towns suffered some degree of civil unrest of this type as the craft guilds increased in power at the expense of the patricians. We know from records of at least 240 risings in 40 towns, though there were undoubtedly many more 132. But there was a limit to the severity of the civic power struggle and in the end compromise often ruled the day. The Hanseatic city of Köln (Cologne) experienced 4 fullfledged civil wars between the 13th and 15th Centuries: in 1297 AD the Merchants evicted the Prince-Archbishop in the battle of Worringen and created a new government by the Patrician class133.
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In 1370 there was an uprising by the artisans of the weavers guild, which was suppressed by the town council. In 1380 two patrician families fought each other in an open war and one was virtually annihilated after entering the town with a small army through a tunnel. In 1392 all the major guilds (spinners, weavers, and dyers, the woollen-drapers, goldsmiths, sword-cutlers, and armorers) joined forces to seize power from the “Patrician” mercantile class and formed a new government by the guilds.
Civil conflict within towns could get very dangerous, as is clear in this image depicting violence between Guelphs and Ghibelines in Bologna in the 14th Century.
The struggle for control In some places the craft guilds permanently took total control, for example Liège in Flanders won a war against their Prince-Bishop in 1345 and created a government consisting exclusively of 32 guilds which shared power equally, while the patricians were kept out of the town council. This lasted more than 120 years until nearly the entire city was put to the sword by Charles the Bold in 1468 during a political dispute between Burgundy and France. On the opposite extreme, the guild-rising of 1349 in Nuremberg was suppressed and the patricians executed 23 guild masters and sent another 100 into exile. There were good reasons for different factions to fight for power in the cities, as the stakes for control of the town and its markets are very high. But there is also a very strong force limiting the extent of urban conflict and underscoring the need to try to achieve harmony. Beyond the walls, powerful warlords are eager to conquer and pillage the rich towns and their free citizens, and punish them for their pride and their sins of usury and rebellion. Many of these men considered the towns their personal fiefdoms and would seize upon any sign of weakness or disunity to capture them and bring them to heel. For example, in 1371 the northern Hanseatic city of Lüneburg was almost captured by a regional lord, Duke Magnus Torquatus. In 1366 the large trading town of Bremen was briefly captured by the Prince Archbishop Albert II when he managed to take advantage of a dispute between
the guilds and the Patricians and was able to sneak into one of the town gates with the help of some exiled city councilmen. The old town council of Bremen managed to recapture the town shortly afterword in 1368 and soon achieved an internal peace.
were gradually recognized by the guild administration as reintegrated into the town council (and it’s militia). Permanent accommodation to the patricians with some seats on the town council was part of a peace settlement in the later 15th Century135.
During a dispute within the city of Mainz over the election of a new Archbishop for the district in 1461, the city was captured by their former Archbishop Adolf II of Nassau. Adolf was able to enter with a small army when the town watch was caught napping in 1462. The Archbishop plundered the city and killed 400 inhabitants, and then held a tribunal in which those who had resisted his rule lost all their property which was divided among his supporters. The rest of the prominent citizens including Johannes Gutenberg were exiled or thrown into prison (Gutenberg moved to Strasbourg). The new Archbishop then revoked the city charter of Mainz and put the city under his direct rule. They lost their autonomy forever on that day. The events at Mainz set off a panic in many of the other Free Cities and led to a vast increase in defense spending.
Even the ‘Queen of the Hanse’, the city of Lübeck suppressed craft guild uprisings in 1376, 1380, and 1384, followed by a major revolt in 1408 which saw two thirds of the town council thrown into exile, a new Constitution drafted and the city under guild administration for 8 years 136. By the end of this period a compromise was reached between the patricians and the guilds in Lübeck, thanks to pressure from the Hanseatic League heavily favoring the patricians, and the city entered a long period of prosperity. In fact many of the biggest and most famous Continental European cities were Free Cities which achieved a reasonable level of stability during the 14th or 15th Century by reaching a successful political equilibrium.
Compromise, Peace and Prosperity Those towns which survived as Free Cities were the ones which could reach a stable equilibrium between the different factions within the town, in a process known to the Germans as a rezess (literally ‘backing down’). Perhaps surprisingly, most of them did. Ultimately Cologne for example worked out a stable arrangement between the classes. The patrician families lost direct political power by 1396, but in order to keep the peace the craft guilds agreed to fund the creation of a new university under patrician control. The University of Cologne would later come to wield a great deal of soft or indirect power over the next two centuries and play a major role in the CounterReformation. Strasbourg fought a series of wars against her bishop in the 13th Century, culminating in the Battle of Oberhausbergen in 1262 AD. The city was granted the status of a Free Imperial City that same year by King Philip of Swabia as the result of a strategic alliance. In 1332 the guilds managed to take power from the patricians and declared the city a “free republic”, starting a chain of events which would lead to a total guild victory in 1419 when two thirds of the town council (mostly patricians) were expelled from the city 134 but those who remained
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The most common pattern by the 1450’s was that in coastal cities the patricians and merchants held power, but with some accommodation for certain guilds, while in the manufacturing towns of the interior, a coalition of the artisan’s craft-guilds officially held power, but in practice this also sometimes meant a mixed government. Some towns (especially the Hanseatic cities) were ‘patrician’ towns, run by the merchants, many more – especially manufacturing towns, were ‘guild’ towns, run by the craft guilds, but typically in both cases a few of the most powerful merchant patrician families, the richest merchants and the largest most populous guilds had the lions-share of seats on the city council, and all the lesser guilds were united into a ‘grand guild’ association which shared one or two seats137. While the patricians pursued the agenda of regional and international trade, the craft guilds regulated production and controlled much of the internal city planning. The University (if any) and the Church entities pursued their own agendas. Each faction sought their own advantage but so long as they remained careful not to step on the toes of the others beyond necessity, the city prospers, and this is indeed the case in most cities in Prussia, Poland, Bohemia and Northern Germany in the 15th Century. For despite all the urban strife, everyone knew beyond the city walls, the hungry wolf howls in the forest… the princes, nomads and robber knights watched, avid for any sign of weakness.
The famous story of Aristotle and Phyllis, in which Phylis easily manipulates the man who was from the medieval point of view wisest man in history, into an utterly ridiculous display of his own venality, was very popular in the medieval period and in one form or another decorated many city council chambers and even some princely palaces. The story was considered a reminder to the great of how easily they could be humbled by their own vanity and vices. It is hard to overstate how revered Aristotle was, particularly by the educated and powerful, in the Middle Ages. The wide popularity of depictions of this story in High and Late medieval art has been interpreted a variety of different ways by modern scholars. By the Master of the Housebook, circa 1460.
“Confiding in Him, they raised their banner, approached, and began the battle. Men fell at first on
one side and on the other in equal numbers. Since the road was narrow, because of the nearby forest, the Germans went first into the battle and all the Letts followed, shouting as they had been taught in the German language to seize, ravage, and kill**. The Lithuanians were extremely frightened by the noise and thought that many men were following the Germans. They turned in flight and the strongest of them fell, along with about a hundred of the others. The rest threw away their weapons and fled through the woods. The Germans collected all of their spoils, and what they could not carry with them they burned in a fire. They caught about four hundred of the enemy’s horses and brought them with them, praising Him Who fought for them. Three of the Germans, however, were slain there. May their souls rest in peace with Christ Amen. Since it was now winter, the Lithuanians who escaped through the woods, because of the difficulty of crossing the Dvina, either drowned in the Dvina or hanged themselves in the woods, that they might return to their own land.” * This is a reference to Deuteronomy 32:30 ** “zu ergreifen, zu verwüsten und zu töten” -Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
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Children at play in the medieval city. From a painting by Peter Bruegel, 1560
Daily Life in town Late medieval towns were not the type of anonymous metropolis we are familiar with today. Your status was literally on display on your clothing. Your social standing, legal rights, and even your personal safety can all depend on your personal affiliations. All towns in this era were divided up into various economic, political, and ethnic factions, sometimes in a friendly and harmonious network, sometimes not so much. This being medieval Europe, such relationships were often extremely complex, in some towns there were periods of tension or even civil war between different factions, though this waxed and waned. It was important when operating within a town that you were aware of the boundaries, both visible and invisible, which divided the city, know the limits of your own status, and paid proper attention to etiquette and diplomacy. The people who ran the city made sure that the public order was maintained and trade allowed to flourish.
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The downside of living in a medieval city (and a Free City in particular) is that everyone was into your business. In the modern world, if my neighbor is sleeping all day while on the clock, that is really none of my business, it’s between him and his employer. If my co-worker keeps fifty cats at home that is an issue between her and her landlord. I don’t really care. Even if I see 8 city workers standing around while one digs a hole, I may grumble about it to somebody later but I don’t make a fuss about it, it’s between them and ‘the city’. In a Free City like Danzig or Lübeck or Basel it was different. A medieval trading town was like one great big co-op business, everyone had an interest in what their neighbors were or weren’t doing, because their prosperity and safety were bound up in the community. If you are drunk while on fire watch it’s a threat to my life. This can obviously become a bit oppressive and could lead to strife between neighbors, which is one of the reasons boundaries between citizens were codified into the laws such as strict laws against gossiping (see Cities, Town Law) to an extent which might seem intrusive to a modern reader, and which makes it all seem even more claustrophobic.
The Church often perceived town life as frivolous and sinful
Burghers knew how to party. Backgammon, cards, music, food, booze, sex… Urs Graf, Mercenary love and memento mori, 1521 AD
But the citizens of medieval cities are well aware of this problem and didn’t want to be oppressed by their neighbors either. So laws were in place as much to establish what you couldn’t annoy your neighbor about as what you could. There were many mechanisms put in place designed to allow citizens to let off steam, to find the elusive luxury of privacy, and to settle conflicts in nondestructive ways. This was also successful to an extent which might surprise modern readers. It is the origin of the rowdy feasts and festivals found in towns throughout medieval Europe to this day, for example Carnival.
This is probably a fairly typical census, further north you might substitute Dutch, Swedes, and Scots for Hungarians and Italians, and to some extent Prussians for Poles. It is worth noting that Slavic and Baltic families were sometimes recorded in the tax rolls as ‘German’ after a few generations in the town 139 , which further muddles our modern conception of ethnicity. Nearly all townsfolk in the Baltic zone were bilingual and had both Slavic and German versions of their family names, and most had intermarried with local families or other immigrants after a generation or two.
Ethnicity in the Baltic Towns A lot of ink has been spilled on the ethnicity of the towns of the Medieval Baltic. The battle in academia over the identity of Copernicus / Kopernik has gone on for centuries already and shows no signs of being resolved amicably. The truth is towns here developed their own cultures and were melting pots to some extent like so many trading cities were historically. But we do have some statistics to go on, an analysis of records from Kraków138 in the 14th Century (including the two suburbs of Kazimierz and Kleparz) revealed the following ethnic breakdown: Poles 8,500; Germans 3,500; Jews 800; Hungarians and Italians 200; others 500.
Men and women drink together in a late medieval pub, detail from Die Augsburger Monatsbilder, Augsburg in the Spring, by Jörg Breu the Elder, circa 1520. It was not unusual for men to drink with their wives in medieval
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towns, and women could go drinking with male relatives, though women drinking alone could be considered somewhat scandalous. It is also worth noting from this image, that medieval town dwellers tended to dress well and colorfully, in contrast to their depiction in genre fiction and TV.
As strange as it may seem from a modern perspective, the truth is that many of these towns simply had their own cultural and even ethnic identity as a town, which they fostered with legends and mythology, symbols and iconography all their own. Most of the towns in the region were dominated by a German-speaking elite and middle class, but these people may not actually have been of German ethnicity themselves, and in Prussia, alliances and economic partnerships tied them to local Slavonic or Baltic speaking people within the town and neighboring municipalities, and the nearby rural estates. Burghers had a great deal of loyalty to their own city first and foremost. Ideas of national, religious, or lingual identity were sometimes secondary or tertiary.
Mōdraniht, Mothers Night 140 ) in others, in which in some towns in Central Europe to this day, allegedly, married couples take off their wedding ring for that one day of the year. In Cologne today women are legally allowed to kiss any man they like on Carnival day and may go around town cutting off men’s neckties. These are merely pale reflections of much rowdier celebrations during the medieval period (which in turn, were but shadows of the earlier, even wilder pagan traditions). Various forms of mock combat were also common at festival times. The most famous of these perhaps are the bridge fights in Venice, where groups of artisans did battle with sticks (called guerra di canne) over control of some bridge between two neighborhoods. Pamplona in Spain is famous for it’s running of the bulls, Buñol in Valencia is known for its big tomato fight the Tomatina.
However, it is also true that the German-speaking minority in most Eastern European and Nordic towns often tried to dominate the non-German speaking population in the town, with mixed success, and they tended to form the economic and political elite. Most of the guild aldermen and “Great” merchants for example were Germanspeaking. Over time the gradual population change contributed to ‘Polonization’ and equivalent processes whereby the townsfolk began to prefer to speak the language of their rural neighbors but this could take many generations.
Carnival costumes from the Nuremberg Carnival, 16th Century.
In Central Europe the sword dance became popular, usually practiced by the fencing guilds like the Marxbrüder, and it often involved two fencers held aloft on a platform made from sort of web of swords, fighting one another in front of a big crowd. There are several surviving depictions of this, particularly from Nuremberg.
The Palio di Siena, a semi-annual horse race and festival held in the medieval city of Siena in July and August since the 12th Century. Horse races like this were extremely popular urban events.
Festivals and Carnivals Carnival today is called Fasching in some German cities, or Weiberfastnacht ("Women's carnival night" which may be linked to a much earlier pagan festival in Saxony called
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These are really reflections of earlier traditions going back to the Middle Ages (though obviously the tomato was a later innovation introduced from the New World). In the Alps on 12th night the celebration of Frau Holle is held, and young men dressed as hairy monsters called Perchten or Krampus roamed the streets and the forests in rowdy groups, clanging cow bells, brawling with town lads with birch branches, and looking for unmarried girls to swat on the bottom with horsehair whips.
Carnival day the companions of the shoemakers guild in Nuremberg held a 'bath-walk.' Meeting at the guild-inn they marched in white bath cloaks and hats, accompanies by fife and drum, through the city to the public baths and back to their inn, where they regaled themselves143. Costumes were carefully designed to uphold the glory of the association. The coopers guild danced their hoop dance dressed in red cotton stockings, fine white shirts, and green Hungarian caps with bands on the side. In Hamburg the brewers celebrated every two years what they called the 'Hoge', which lasted full eight days, and consisted of public processions, dancing, and sports. A shooting contest, German, 16th Century. Many other forms of activity can also be made out in this image, including foot races, weight lifting, and dancing. Races for prostitutes were a common sight at these events, which were big money makers for the towns.
The cities of the Baltic all had contests or antics of this sort for the artisans, while of course the patricians and their friends among the gentry participated in the more structured and formal world of pageants, balls, and tournaments, in which competitions of jousting, fighting at the barriers, single combats, and more risky feats of arms were performed. From the mid 15th Century onward, much of the activity during Carnival was sponsored by ‘benevolent societies’, known to the Church as sodalities or confraternities, which were mostly formed by the guilds and the journeymen’s associations141. Town records from Frankfurt am Main document the typical pattern of the formation of these groups in the Central European towns: The banner-bearers benevolent association was founded in 1440, that of the shoemakers and tailors in 1453, that of the painters in 1455, the butcher-boys in 1455, the cotton weavers in 1460, and many others were founded about the same date142.
A woman sells pretzels and pies to a Franciscan Friar, 15th Century. Street food was a thriving business in medieval towns.
These groups held colorful and elaborate processions on Carnival and on other major Saints days (such as Corpus Christi). For example Johannes Jannsen tells us that on
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One of the stranger combat sports of the middle ages was water jousting, still practiced in some towns in France.
These celebrations were typically combined with charitable acts. On New Years Day the bakers of Friburg went in procession through the town carrying an enormous cake (bresel). A beautifully dressed Christmas-tree was shaken by the oldest member for the poor, who gathered up the cakes and fruits that fell from it. Wine was distributed to everyone, and the day was closed with dancing144.
Men and women frolic half naked in an outdoor pool in Augsburg, circa 1520, Die Augsburger Monatsbilder ‘Summer’ (detail) Jorg Breu the Elder. His son Jorg Breu the Younger painted some of the scenes in the fechtbuch of Paulus Hector Mair. If you look very closely at the guy in the center left with the checkered coat and the red hat, he haas a longsword with a sidering or possibly a katzbalger ‘figure 8’ hand guard.
Another popular activity for city dwellers of all classes was hunting, and the towns jealously guarded the prerogative of their citizens to hunt in nearby forests. For example, the town of Griefswald got into a brief war with a Duke of Pomerania when he attempted to hunt in their forests without permission. In the Baltic, each year in the spring when the first grain barges of the year came down the Vistula River toward Danzig, the merchants held a great race. The barge which arrived first got the best prices for their grain, so all the crews would race down the river. Along the way the crews of the boats could get a little rowdy with one another, boat crews and spectators did a lot of drinking and a great deal of gambling was done on the outcome - all of which was treated with a wink and a nod so long as not too many people got seriously hurt. All of these traditions (and far too many others to mention here) helped to relieve the social pressures of urban life and bond the citizens together as participants in these unique and picturesque events, along with the usual feasts, parties, and holy days (holidays). As someone from a city which still shares many such archaic traditions, I can say from personal experience, they do enhance the quality of life. Social Class and Citizenship in the city Towns had a different class system from the feudal countryside. In parallel with the informal social hierarchy, there was a more important form of rank legally: the specific form of citizenship held by the individual under Town Law. Everyone who lives inside the town walls is a free person legally, there are no slaves or serfs. In most towns under German Town Law, aristocrats were legally banned from owning property within the town walls. Aristocrats normally did not want to live inside a town anyway unless they or their Lord owned it, because residence inside the town walls put them under the legal authority of the town council, and therefore subject for example to interrogation under torture in a lawsuit. In some cities however aristocrats tried to become burghers and burghers also acquired noble titles in the countryside. An aristocrat with burgher citizenship – known as Burgerecht. represented an alliance between town and gentry, and reciprocal military support. In legal theory, all burghers were well below the status of any aristocrat, but in practice, if the city was powerful so were its citizens, and citizenship conferred many rights. Burghers were a privileged class, becoming a citizen of a medieval town was a substantial honor. Citizenship was not just given out to anybody who showed up. There were several forms of citizenship which varied from town to town and charter to charter, but the three most common types can be summarized briefly.
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Crossbow-makers workshop, Balthasar Behem Codex, Kraków 1505. The man with the apron is the guild master. His wife does the books in the upper left corner. The tho in the center with the long robes are nobles, to their left is a vassal. The rest in the workshop are apprentices .
The richest merchants from the oldest and most elite urban clans, euphemistically called patricians (‘patrizier’) had the right to own property within the city walls, including grand townhouses or “hôtels”. The most powerful patricians usually held the top level of citizenship: the ‘great burgher’ (‘großbürger’) which was also sometimes held by prelates (such as bishops, abbots or priors) residing in the town, the schöffe (magistrates), and senior members of the town council, including the burgomeisters and the aldermen of the most important craft and merchant guilds. This form of citizenship conferred many special privileges, exemptions and immunities, but it was very expensive and required individual approval of the town council. The equivalent rank in territorial towns was ‘burgess’, usually citizens who owned land inside the town walls and were on the town council. The next level of citizenship was the full burgher, which also required paying a significant fee and swearing the oath of citizenship, as well as substantial obligations to the town defense. Burghers received numerous rights including the rights to buy and sell inside the town walls and to vote in all town elections, as well as limitations on criminal prosecution and punishment. And curiously, the ‘right’ to pay taxes, as only taxpayers were truly free. These were the professionals like ship captains and physicians, the lower ranking merchants, and the members of a broad artisan class which made up the bulk of the urban population. Artisans had the most potential social mobility in
the town. They varied widely in importance from the guild aldermen of the prominent crafts who could be very wealthy, to ordinary guild masters and shop owners who ranged from middle class to working class, to the rank and file journeymen, craftsmen and the lowly apprentices. Journeymen living in a given city were usually citizens of a foreign town (see Craft Guilds, Journeymen) and held a special type of temporary citizenship something like a work-visa in the town where they resided. Apprentices, servants and the lower-ranking monks, friars, nuns, priests and lay brothers of religious Orders held a limited (often half) citizenship through their patron – the guild-master, merchant or prelate who employed them. The burghers, particularly Ratzherren, church prelates and the patrician families had many servants including armed retainers who were called ministeriales. In some towns as much as half of the population were servants of some kind or another, most of them women, who worked not only for the rich, but even for the middle and working classes, as well as for the Church and the town government. These people were known as denizens, meaning legal residents of the town but not citizens.
Left, a sophisticated spinning wheel, from the Mittelalterliches Hausbuch von_Schloss Wolfegg, 1480 AD, Right A water wheel powers a mine hoist, from De Re Metallica, 1566. Mines required some of the most sophisticated machinery of the day.
Production and Industry Production in the towns of the Southern Baltic was mostly controlled by the craft guilds (see Craft Guilds). Much of the production was mechanized – perhaps surprisingly, the medieval period was very much a machine age. Water wheels, wind-mills and mechanically augmented animal power were the three most common sources of power for machines, hydro-power in particular was really the key to late medieval industry, and there were literally thousands of water mills of various types throughout Central Europe in the 15th Century.
Four watermills in the river, detail from map of Zurich, 16th Century.
Even simple artisans usually hired a maid, cook, or scullion, and in fact they routinely trained their servants as helpers in their craft, even though that was typically against guild rules. Foreign merchants, mercenaries, and visiting members of the clergy also resided in the town under “denizen” status, the latter primarily in the suburbs outside of the town walls. Outsiders on an extended stay were unofficially given a partial or provisional citizenship, or simply ranked according to their feudal social status, if any, or their status in another city or the Church.
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Waterwheel on a bridge, detail from map of Zurich, 16th Century
Mechanically enhanced human power was also used extensively, increased many fold by the use of gears and machinery like the cam shaft reduction gear, the escapement, Archimedes screw and so on. This could range from something as simple as the treadle on a sewing machine, to a treadwheel (with or without complex clockwork gears), powering a crane or trip-hammer. But in the towns it was the water wheel particularly, brought by the Cistercian monks in the early Middle Ages, which were critical for
production. This is why almost all of the major medieval towns were (and are) situated on rivers or estuaries. The process of creating an artifact, whether it was an article of clothing or a suit of armor, was broken up to as many component steps as was feasible, in what amounted to a distributed assembly line. Certain crafts specialized in only one step of this process, carding, spinning, weaving and dying for example were all done by separate guilds in the textile industry. Though there was some automation and a great deal of specialization, the artisans who made cloth, weapons, ships, furniture etc. were trained experts whose work was held to a very high standard.
world was built in the Kingdom of Aragon in Catalonia, possibly as early as 1144 AD146. By the mid 13th Century they had spread to Italy 147 , where the paper making business quickly grew into a very prosperous export industry. The first proven paper mill north of the Alps is usually said to be one built by Ulman Stromer in Nuremberg in 1390, although there are records of ‘stamping mills’ as early as 1320 in Cologne and Mainz 148 which may have also been paper mills. By the mid 15th Century there were paper mills in the towns of the Iberian Peninsula, Italy, and throughout Central Europe including the Baltic. The revolutionary importance of Gutenberg’s movable type press is well known today, but the real revolution in literacy in Europe was already in full swing when it first appeared in 1460. The paper mill was the reason: paper was much cheaper than vellum or parchment and was a vastly better material for books and letters. Due to the increasing proliferation of cheap paper, books and pamphlets were being copied by the hundreds in copy-houses called scriptoria in nearly every town in Late Medieval Europe. It had become feasible for common people to write letters.
A watermill in Germany. Photo by Markus Schweiss
Production reached levels which are a bit beyond what one tends to expect in a medieval context. For example in the relatively small south-German town of Ulm towards the end of the 15th century, 200,000 pieces of linen were prepared in a single year. The products of the largest towns are of great value and sell briskly in the export market, even to distant foreign lands, as far away as China 145.
An automated (water-powered) bellows is used to smelt iron in a large bloomery forge, from the Mittelalterliches Hausbuch von_Schloss Wolfegg, 1480 AD. Such devices could produce massive amounts of iron.
Perhaps the most overlooked manufacturing industry in the 15th Century in terms of importance was the paper mill. Like many of the key technologies in the iron working industry (the Catalan forge and the Barcelona hammer for example) the first true hydro-powered Paper mill in the
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This is the first ‘proven’ water-powered paper mill built north of the Alps, established in Nuremberg by Ulman Stromer in 1390. The image is from the Nuremberg Chronicle in 1493. Other paper mills may have existed in France and Germany as early as 1330 but it has not been clear enough if they were just stamping mills or actual paper mills.
Smaller businesses were corresponding with customers and suppliers further and further away and much more often than ever before, providing great benefits for all kinds of international and inter-regional commerce. In just a twenty year period in the mid-14th Century, a single trading company called the Datini from the town of Prato near Florence, left us over 150,000 letters from correspondences between the
home office and Mediterranean149.
field
agents
throughout
the
Hydro-powered paper mills were established in Ravensburg and Strasburg by at least 1407, in Liegnitz (Legnica) in Silesia in 1420, Basel in 1440, Bautzen in Lusatia (see Town Leagues, Lusatian League) in 1443, and Augsburg in 1468. (Bautzen and Liegnitz being the two most relevant to the Baltic region). In the second half of the 15th Century the spread of the paper mill dovetailed closely with the spread of Gutenburgs movable type press and both industries took off explosively throughout Europe. Arguably the most important industry in Europe in the 15 th Century was the production of textiles in several varieties. Flanders and Northern Italy were in an increasingly intense competition for who could produce the best wool cloth, while southern Germany and the Rhineland specialized in linen and fustian. Other major industries included mining of silver, gold, iron, copper, coal, salt, and alum (see Town Life, Mining Guilds), metalworking including smelting and manufacturing of steel, iron, bronze, and precious metals, the brewing of beer and production of wine, manufacture of gunpowder, the production of glass (with specialized sub-industries of making drinking vessels and windows, as well as eyeglasses, spy glasses, binoculars*, and other lenses), salted fish, salted pork (and a related industry of ships-stores) the processing of wood, armor and weapons manufacture, the production of salt, and the construction of houses and ships. *yes binoculars. The museum of the city of Elbing in Prussia has a pair of 15th Century binoculars on display though I have so far been unable to find a photo of them.
All of the above were sometimes produced in large mills or complexes of workshops, and sometimes in smaller, more humble workshops that lacked the benefits of hydro or wind-power. But many medieval workshops were already something like small factories. In fact the largest factory in the world at in the mid-15th Century was the famous and massive Arsenal of Venice, but many complexes north of the Alps especially for the ironworking and textile industries were reaching a similarly large scale at this time. Though individual guild workshops were limited in size by guild rules, they worked around this through all of the subcontracting.
Urban Architecture Stone was considered the ideal construction medium for medieval homes, but it was a relatively rare commodity in much of the Baltic, where most of the major public buildings and churches, and quite a few of the castles and fortifications were made of brick. These structures were not that unlike the larger type of brick churches one sees in older cities of the United States from the 19th Century. They could be quite formidable and some of the most
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important castles were of brick in this period, including the apparently impregnable three layer fortress of the Teutonic Order at Malbork. But the majority of urban buildings, townhouses, homes and shops, are made in the mixed timber-framed style known as Fachwerkhäuser to the Germans and Mur pruski to the Poles. Most people associate this look with old German towns specifically, but it was actually commonplace throughout Europe in the late medieval period. This style is very similar to what Americans call the Tudor architectural style, as it was also popular in England during the late 15th and 16th Century. These were sturdy houses well insulated against the cold winters and relatively cool in the sometimes hot summers, and also afforded at least some protection against hostile visitors.
The 15th Century Toruń Ratusz (Town Hall) is a fairly typical example of the large brick public buildings in the region.
They could be of wattle and daub construction between the beams, or sometimes more substantial brick, and typically plastered over. Often though not always the beams are left exposed, and the plaster is frequently painted in striking murals or designs. These may include elaborate scenes from mythology, religious themes, or characters from local legends. In Danzig most buildings of this type of construction were replaced by elegant Dutch Mannerist style town homes which became very fashionable in the 17th Century.
A beautiful painted timber-framed house in Slovakia. Stylistically this is kind of a combination of the German and Slavic architectural traditions.
But medieval townhouses could be pretty fancy too. The Great houses of the patrician families would often have their own names.
Left, A very fancy late 15th Century townhouse in Legnica, Silesia, in what is today Poland. Right, Urban fortifications. These two towers in the city of Bologna date back to the 13th Century, during a period in which the most powerful families of the town were at odds with one another and all built defensive towers for protection. In 13th Century Bologna at one point there were scores of these towers.
Houses of this type could be quite substantial, and many of the great houses of Patrician families of this era are still standing today in various European towns.
A formidable Fachwerkhäus in Epping, Germany, from the 16th Century. A house like this might have held an entire small manufacturing and exporting business. Photo by Peter Schmelzle.
Many amenities would be built in, quite a few in the walled part of the town in Danzig and Elbing had water pipes connected to the property, usually to a fountain in the garden in the back courtyard, sometimes to bathing tubs and basins in the house. In the larger cities it was common to paint elaborate scenes on buildings. It was also common to have statue of a protective saint built into the house, usually on a corner or sometimes in the front façade.
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Two houses in the Fuggerei, Augsburg, Germany.
Even housing for the poor could be quite substantial. The Fuggerei in Augsburg is sort of a housing project founded on the grounds of a Fugger family compound by Jacob Fugger ‘the Rich’ in 1516 as housing for the poor. It is paid for to this day by a trust he set up 480 years ago – further evidence of the financial skill of the Fuggers. Residents live in the small 700 square foot apartments for only 1 Euro per year in rent.
They must be Catholic and be indigent but without debt, and they must say three prayers a day to the Fuggers. They also close the gates every night at 10 PM. Many old people live there today.
Sanitation and water systems Sanitary conditions in medieval cities varied widely by region and individual town but they were generally much better than modern depictions would leave you to believe. The worst conditions were bad, like what one might find in a modern shanty-town or favela in the Third World today (the normal cliché image of a medieval urban environment). But most of the big trading towns were extremely well organized and tidy, with excellent drainage and good hygienic standards. The towns in Prussia fell into this category, and perhaps surprisingly they were not the filthy mud-pits of the popular culture depictions.
Water pipes for municipal water systems were made out of hollowed out wooden logs, like this one from a castle called ‘stolpen’ dated to the 16th Century.
A 2008 archaeological survey of the cities of Danzig and Elbing mapped out their public waterworks that dated back to the 13th Century, consisting of hollowed-out pine logs made into pipes which distributed fresh water to public wells, private residences and businesses throughout the city 151 . This type of system was common in the wealthier medieval towns, and even some far on the periphery of Europe. For example there are even records of a similar system in Dublin in the 14th Century152. To provide pressure sufficient to pump water into higher elevations the cities built water towers, with water pumped to the top by water-wheels, from which it could be distributed under pressure throughout the town. Augsburg had two massive water towers into which water was pumped by waterwheel power, then distributed down through wooden pipes all over the city at a consistent pressure. Bautzen, one of the six towns of the Lusatian League had a water tower dating from 1495. Lübeck had two towers, one dating to the 13 th Century and another added in the 16th.
Bruges, in what is now Belgium. Many medieval towns were built on water and used canals to extend the range of the waterway, which was invaluable for moving heavy cargo, and also helped greatly with sanitation.
These towns were in fact considerably cleaner than the larger more crowded cities of Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th Century. Drainage was well understood and the cities were built on rivers and / or estuaries with ample water supply. City workers swept the streets every day and cleared out the gutters to keep the drains flowing. In the 15th Century towns in Prussia typically had wooden or cobblestone streets with both open stone gutters and covered sewers which were well drained and maintained. Every town also had a primary water supply distinct from the main waterway in the form of a spring fed stream or aqueduct, and a good secondary water supply in the form of springs or wells within the town walls. This was a basic necessity for sieges as well as for industry and daily life150.
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Hollowing out wooden logs to make water pipes, with a drill powered by a water wheel. From a 16th Century woodcut.
The main water source for a town, usually a spring or a smaller non-navigable stream, was protected by strict laws and regulations from being contaminated. Often windows facing the stream would be bricked up, and anyone throwing trash or offal into them was subject to severe fines or even exile. In Danzig the penalty for polluting the Rudunia stream, one of two which supplied drinking water to the city, was execution.
The old water tower in Bautzen, one of the towns of the Lusatian League of cities. This water tower was built in 1515 to replace an earlier wooden tower that was damaged by fire. Water was raised to the top of towers like this to create sufficient pressure to distribute water through the system, with power supplied by water-wheels.
Most houses had privies usually located in an outhouse in the back yard. Some of these were connected to the urban sewer systems, others were just cess-pits filled with lime. Town authorities would periodically divert streams to clean out cess-pits in certain neighborhoods. Towns were divided into districts based on the industrial activity which took place there, rather like modern zoning laws. Messy or stinky businesses like abattoirs, tanners or dye yards were located on the periphery or in the suburbs (outside the city walls). All of this was standard for Latin towns.
A surviving part of the medieval drainage system in a town in Germany. If you look closely you can see a (still functional) overshot water-wheel near the center of the photograph, beneath the house. This system probably dates from the 14th Century.
Waterworks were often originally put in for business, the water system in Lübeck for example was originally built for the brewers. Disease was the other main reason for the water pipes and all the concern over public cleanliness in general, since the time of the Black Death of 1348-1350, plague was closely associated with filth and bad smells. Great care was therefore taken to control and segregate bad smelling industries and substances from the center of town. Another important reason for the strictness of municipal sanitary regulations was the fear of fires, clutter was associated with fires and fires were one of the greatest threats to any town or city.
This was a municipal water fountain, the largest of two, built for the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia by a Neapolitan architect named Onofrio della Cava, in 1438. It brought water from 12 miles away via an aqueduct / pipe supported by 16 stone maskerons. The water was used for drinking, washing, and for fighting fires.
Some other towns in the region, notably certain of the Russian cities, were not as well organized and as a result suffered more often from plagues and outbreaks of disease.
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The two municipal water-towers of Lübeck, the brewers tower (brauer wasserkunst) on the left was built by request of the brewers guild in 1294, shortly after the river Walkenitz was dammed in 1291. The burghers tower (Bürgerwasserkunst) was added in 1531 to supply water to 284 houses on the other side of a hill beyond the reach of the older system. These systems and the two 20 meter towers remained functional until the 19th Century, when the river became polluted therefore requiring a new water system. They were finally demolished in 1874.
Water systems that distributed water to public fountains on every street corner in town helped in enormously in putting out fires. This was also the reason for strict building codes or regulations on the type of tiles used on roofs for example, such as were enacted in Danzig in the late 14 th Century.
would typically have at least two main sources in case one became compromised for some reason. In some cases however water had to be brought in from far away, and Roman style aqueducts were built to bring it in. For example the Dalmatian / Illyrian city of Ragusa (today Dubrovnik, Croatia) on the Adriatic coast had a water system that piped water in from a source 12 miles away. In most cases the public water systems would feed public fountains, though some were connected the water supplies of great houses (‘hotels’) of the patricians, and others were diverted to power water wheels owned by the city or by prominent craft guilds. In addition to springs and wells most towns had large stone rain cisterns, sometimes fed by gutters on the roofs of houses and town walls, in which water could be stored during sieges and droughts. A great deal of water infrastructure in Central and Northern Europe was completed or improved in the 13th and 14th Centuries. In 1272 Breslau / Wroclaw completed a new water system. In 1332 Brunswick / Braunschwaig updated theirs, Nuremberg completed a major project in 1331, Bern in 1393, and Bremen in 1394. In 1399 Kraków built an aqueduct from the Rudawa river and channeled it by pipes to the royal palace and wells and private homes around the city153.
A large underground cistern of the Fontebranda public water fountain in Siena, built in 1246.
A marvelous drawing of the “Black waterworks” (Schwarze Wasserkunst) of Leipzig, featuring a cut-away view of the entire machinery. Water-wheels at the ground level pumped water up pipes (made of hollowed out pine logs) to the top of the tower, from which it was then distributed under sufficient pressure to get through the municipal water system. This was one of two main water towers built in the 17th Century. The drawing dates from the 18th.
Most water systems were supplied by streams either originating within or near to the town walls. Larger towns
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A particularly beautiful urban water system is exemplified by the large public ‘fountain’, (or perhaps more accurately, spring) of Fontebranda, developed by the wool-makers guild (Lana) in the city of Siena in 1246. The water is brought from several kilometers away into town by an underground viaduct which feeds a large brick structure of three arches and a crenelated roof, covering over a vast water cistern which holds tens of thousands of gallons of fresh water. The fountain was mentioned by Dante in the Divine Comedy.
subterranean ice-houses where massive blocks of ice were kept in the summer time that could be used for preserving food and making special deserts and drinks. These were usually built of stone or brick, deep into the ground in special places like the side of a hill or behind a wall which always remained in the shade. The ice was packed in straw and apparently was able to stay frozen for months during the summer.
Fonte Gaia, Siena, photo by author. This fountain still provides potable water.
The Fonte Gaia (fountain of the world) is another famous water fountain in Siena. The underground conduits bringing water from 25km away, and the first fountain featuring a statue of Venus were completed in 1342. The current fountain was finished in 1419 was decorated with exquisite reliefs representing the Virgin Mary and the Cardinal Virtues by Italian artist Jacopo Della Quercia. It is still functional today.
Entrance to a 17th Century ice-house in England. Ice Houses were used in Italy going back to Roman times. They could store ice all summer, packed in straw and snow. Most of the actual ice-house would be underground, usually positioned in a naturally shaded area.
“Meister Joachim Gelhar, Excellenzhirugus in und ausserhalb Landes berumbt, nachdem er mit dem Punkteisen.. wie tyeff die Wunde exploriert, und das gerunnen Bluth herausser geholt, heilt er mich unter einem Kolblat mit Druncken” (Master Joachim Gelhar, a surgeon of surpassing fame within and beyond this land, explored the wound deep… with an iron point and removed the coagulated blood, then healed me under a cabbage leaf and potions.) -Bartholomaus Sastrow, describing the treatment of a stab wound in the thigh by a Stralsund surgeon.154
Medicine Medicine in 1456 was obviously very primitive by modern standards, most ‘hospitals’ were more like something we would call a hospice today. Basically these were places where you could rest, be fed and washed and taken care of while you tried to get better. Some medical treatment was avaliable, and some was helpful, but if you had appendicitis or kidney failure, you were just going to die.
Still functional urban water fountain, Murten, Switzerland. Fountain and water system dates from 1420. There are a dozen such fountains in the old town of Murten. Public fountains like this would be found every few hundred meters in Late medieval towns. Photo by author.
Water was not the only amenity provided to urban dwellers, they even had the means of preserving ice. There were
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Most Late Medieval medicine was based around ensuring the nutrition, metabolism and physiological health of the patient so that they could heal themselves more quickly. Diet, exercise and sleep regimens were routinely prescribed by the physician and had to be strictly followed, special medicines were also administered, often with the intent to purge the body in various ways. In many ways, no doubt these were quackery. However there were some more sophisticated cures that we now know did actually work.
Drawing of the human brain indicating the five parts of the brain representing five types of thought: Common sense, imagination, cogitation, estimation, and memory. From a 14th Century Irish manuscript.
An apothecary, from a 15th Century document, German
There were four primary types of healers in 15 th Century Europe: physicians, empiricists, barber-surgeons, and midwives. Physicians were trained in the University and studied the works of Hippocrates, Galen, and Avicenna. They examined patients, gave advice and wrote prescriptions for medicines (to be obtained from an apothacary), diets, and procedures (to be caried out by surgeons) but did not normally perform surgeries on their patients. Aristotlean medicine as interpreted by Avicenna, called Unani, is still taught in Universities in India and South Africa, and still practiced by thousands of physicians there and in other countries to this day. Empiricists, who did more hands-on work than physicians, were also University educated in most cases, but based their cures upon experiments based observation of nature and ‘Natural Philosophy’ in the manner of the NeoPlatonists, rather than relying purely on the wisdom of Galen or Avicenna. The origin of the medieval empiricist movement has been traced by modern scholars to a 13th Century translation of Averroes (aka 12th Century Moorish scholar Ibn Rushd) commentaries on Aristotle’s Physics, De Caelo, DeAnima, and Metaphysics, which concluded that man’s knowledge derives from the perception of his senses. Barber-surgeons (also called ‘leeches’ in England) were not University educated, being members of the craft guilds who learned practical techniques of treating illnesses, conditions and wounds of the skin, hair, nails, and teeth through the master and apprentice system. They were considered merely technicians, and while they famously did blood-letting, they also sutured, bandaged, set broken bones and so forth, both under the instruction of physicians and independently.
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Midwives dealt with childbirth as well as all health care specifically related to the female gender. There hasn’t been enough documentation on their activities transcribed and translated yet, and we know the Church persecuted them in some places, but we also see midwives showing up on payrolls of medieval cities by the 15th Century, particularly in Flanders and some of the German and Slavic towns where women had more rights (especially wherever Beguine and “Sisters of the Common Life” communities were established.) In addition to the four professions listed above, there were two more important for health: apothecaries and pharmacists provided medicines to the community. These people knew how the mix the ingredients to make medicines perscribed by the physicians and empiricists. They also typically distilled alcoholic spirits which they sold as very popular ‘medicine’ (precursors of brandy, gin and other ‘medicinal’ drinks) and one of their best sources of income. Archeological evidence tells us that opium poppies, ergot fungus and marijuana were all cultivated in or near hospitals and were provided as medicine by apothecaries as well, along with alcoholic spirits and a host of other more exotic drugs from the Far East that we might consider at least partly recreational today. We unfortunately don’t know many details about how they were used yet. But we we know from forensic and chemical analysis that at least some of their remedies perhaps surprisingly did in fact work. Jars exacvated from medieval hospitals have been found to contain mixtures of opium and animal grease (a strong topical analgesic) as well as potions with mixtures of opium and other drugs which would work as a general anesthetic – albiet a dangerous one (since if you take too much you’ll never wake up). Another jar found at a monastery in Scotland contained a combination of ingredients which seems to have been an abortificant. One formula for an eyesalve discovered in a 11th Century Saxon manuscript was reconstructed in a lab in 2015 and rather famously shown to kill the antibiotic resistant MRSA staff bacteria (the formula is now the basis of a new drug being tested in drug trials). Another excavation of a medieval monastic hospital in England showed that their treatments successfully cured
intestinal worms. Dead worm cysts were found in a lead sewer pipe, along with an herb called tormentil which is known to kill the worms and also heals intestinal bleeding and stops diarrhoea. Medieval medical manuals such as the Tacuinum Sanitatus recommended tormentil as being effective at ‘slaying worms and checking fluxes.’ So it seems that the University trained physicians were not all quacks, in fact some of them must have been skilled, quite knowledgeable about medicines (within certain obvious limits), and fairly well informed of the nuances of nutrition and metabolism, but they did not perform surgery, they merely gave advice. Surgeons were obviously very crude by today’s standards and not as respected as physicians but they could treat many of the physical injuries caused by war or violent accidents. Bones could be set, sword wounds could be treated with a fairly reasonable hope of survival, bullets, arrows and crossbow bolts could all be removed with at some possibility of a successful recovery, and even serious infections seem to have been treated effectively in many cases, though it is not entirely clear how. Limb amputations were fairly routine, and probably not all that different in terms of risk, from those performed in the 19th Century. We know this because of literary evidence (records and letters and so on), but also forensic evidence from medieval cemeteries; bodies show signs of having recovered from very serious wounds and infections 155.
many cases these techniques were worked out initially and perfected by the medieval equivalent of veterinarians who did surgeries on animals. The original idea for the nose surgery apparently came from a 6th Century Indian medical manual, but learning how to safely perform such procedures seems to have often come from the veterinary world. In 1597 an Italian empiricist and professor of surgery and anatomy named Gasparo Tagliacozzi published a book describing the rhinoplasty technique using a bicep muscle pedicle flap, the graft required the patient to have his arm connected to his face for 3 weeks. Despite this awkward and uncomfortable process the treatment was popular due to the prevalence of syphilis which first struck Europe in the early 16 th Century. But there were never enough competent University trained physicians (or empiricists) around compared to the need. Danzig had only a handful of physicians plus about three dozen apothecaries, barbers and surgeons to deal with a population of up to 30,000 people. Medical care in the hands of a barber or a surgeon acting without the direct advice of a physician could be far more risky, and regardless of the skill of the physician many common types of injuries were untreatable. Any wound which pierced the gut, a puncture wound to the lungs, throat or head in which air was escaping, or any serious spinal or head injury was almost certain to be fatal. This is perhaps the reason why the most common body armor in this era covered the head and torso.
Physicians, empirics and barber-surgeons also used brass, copper and silver instruments by preference. The 'purifying' properties of silver were pointed out by Hippocrates, who along with Galen and the ninth century Arab physician and philosopher Avicenna, were the primary auctores or authorities of medical training in medieval Universities. Hippocrates advocated irrigation of wounds with wine or boiled water, Galen stated that he boiled instruments prior to using them on wounded Roman gladiators, and both recommended the use of silver and brass instruments for surgeries. We now know that silver and brass have very strong antimicrobial properties, and that boiling kills microorganisms. Back in the 15th Century, this was merely a ‘superstitious’ practice with only a marginal basis in the ‘science’ of medicine, but we know from period records that it was nevertheless practiced by many surgeons and physicians. So while germ theory didn’t exist, practices in sync with it were actually not unusual. Even certain types surprisingly ambitious surgeries were performed on a fairly routine basis going back at least to the 14th Century, including the removal of cataracts, the removal of hypertrophied or ruptured spleens, the removal of bladder stones, and a primitive form of rhinoplasty involving a skin graft from skin on the cheek or the arm. In
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A patient undergoes a painful post-surgical rhinoplasty technique which apparently worked. From a 16th Century medical manual.
The most common treatments for sword wounds were that the wound was cleaned of bullets, arrowheads or any foreign objects using surgical instruments, irrigated with wine, vinegar, or (sometimes boiled) water, packed with fat and salt, and then sutured and bandaged with cloth, usually linen which was thought to have cleansing properties. This is described several times by Bernal Diaz in his famous account of the initial invasion of Mexico under Cortez, The Conquest of New Spain. The combination of fat and salt is
almost immune to bacteria or fungus, for the same reason that bacon grease doesn't rot when you leave it in a jar. In Poland they used bear fat or beaver fat by preference, some documents mention using spider webs. In some other places goose fat was mentioned. When an infection set in bleeding was done to drain the puss. Turpentine and honey were also mentioned. A surgeon in England called John Bradmore described how he saved the man who would become King Henry V of from a very serious arrow wound to the face in his treatise on surgery called Philomena. He said the wound was beside the nose on the left side, and the arrow had penetrated six inches into the face. He used probes soaked in rose honey to enlarge the wound, and made a tool similar to a corkscrew to pull out the arrowhead. After the arrow was removed, he cleansed the wounds with white wine and a mixture of bread, barley flour and honey, plus turpentine156. Honey and turpentine are of course, potent natural antibiotics and anti-microbials. Wine has mild antiseptic properties. In any event Henry V survived both the wound and the treatment and went on to become famous thanks mostly to Shakespeare… Of course some physicians and surgeons were quacks and many common medicines of the day contained dangerous elements such as mercury or lead. Blood letting didn’t help much and often made things worse. So visiting the doctor in this period was something of a crapshoot. The best healers had patients who were still alive to praise their skill! Reputation was very important in the medical professions as with all others.
Personal Hygiene and Dress Appearance and hygiene were important in this era, and having a sense of personal style was an important aspect of honor. The better dressed one was the more respect one had. Most manuals of etiquette of the era emphasized cleanliness and a good appearance, including washing your hands before every meal, cleaning your nails and your teeth. Appearance directly correlated to social class. In theory there were laws in effect, called sumptuary laws, which restricted the type of cloth, colors, and even patterns of clothes people could wear based on class or estate. Though these were often ignored, and even flaunted in some of the more powerful cities, they were more strictly enforced in much of the countryside. It was in fact the immunity from sumptuary laws granted to (normally lower class) Landsknechts that caused them to dress so outlandishly in the 16th Century. Aristocrats were expected to be fit and athletic in build, obesity was looked down upon in all classes. Cleanliness was considered a virtue. Combs are one of the most commonly found artifacts in the medieval context in cities in Prussia, people here tried to look good (combs also helped you deal with lice). In the 15 th dressing as well as possible was crucial in diplomacy and etiquette. Dressing in a slovenly manner reduced ones social standing and honor, a ‘fresh and clean’ appearance with expensive and elegant attire increased it. Sometimes a gold chain, a fur coat and similar ‘bling’ could directly correlate to an elevation in status, but there were also specific fashions and of course, etiquette related to clothing which could be quite complex. It was considered extremely bad manners not to wash ones hands before eating, and it was normal to remove shoes before entering a house in the city. Here are a few examples of clothing from the 15 th and early 16th Centuries:
Left, a scribe wearing eyeglasses, detail from a painting by Tomasso De Modina, 1352. Right, Conrad von Soest Brillenapostel uses his eyeglasses to read a book, 1403
With enough money one could also get eyeglasses ground to a prescription from an actual optician. Eyeglasses were invented some time in the 13th Century, probably in Italy, and by the 15th Century they are being exported by Venice in enough numbers that their cost was in the range of what the middling burgher could afford 157. Pain relief was also available in the form of opium (and its various derivatives) as well as cannabis and some other drugs.
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Left, Gondoliers in Venice, from “The Miracle of the Relic of the Holy Cross” Vittore Carpaccio (detail) 1494. The gondolier on the left appears to be African. Right, even soldiers tried to look good. Detail from “The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian” by Hans Holbein the Elder, 1516
Left, Madonna des Kanzlers Nicholas Rolin (Detail) Jan van Eyck 1435 Right, the extremely wealthy Duchess Mary of Burgundy, Michael Pacher circa 1490 AD. Black was the most expensive color for fabric in this time.
Left, the famous “Arnolfini Portrait”, Jan Van Eyk, 1434, of the Italian merchant Giovanni Arnolfini and his wife. The artist can be seen in the mirror in the back. Note the ridiculous dog and awesome sandals or clogs, which were apparently used for walking outdoors as kind of overshoes. Right, Szlachcianki (Polish noblewoman) early 16th Century.
Left, Antoinne, Bastard of Burgundy was not as handsome as his rash brother but he makes up for it with a superb hat, by Hans Memling, 1467 AD. Right, St. Eligius in his goldsmith workshop (detail), showing a typical wealthy Burgher couple, 1442 AD. A lot of male burghers wore ‘chaperon’ hats kind of like turbans in this period.
Master of the Třeboň Altarpiece, Prague 1390, Saint Catherine, Mary Magdelene, and St. Margaret, who seems to have a pet dragon.
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“Portrait of a Man and Woman at a Casement”, Fra Lippo Lippi, 1440 AD
A fantastically attired pair of bookbinders, Balthasar Behem Codex, Kraków 1505
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Hans Baldung Grien, Portrait of a young man, 1509
A knight wih a longsword sidearm, from the Hofkleiderbuch of Dukes Wilhelm IV and Albecht V, 1551 (Cgm 1951)
The Founatin of Youth, by Lucs Cranach the Elder. It is also simultaneously a portrayal of the actual outdoor, spring-fed public bath at Baden, Switzerland. Such scenes were common throughout central Europe in the medieval period.
Bathing Contrary to popular myths, bathing was a common practice in medieval Europe and most people bathed at least once per week. Johannes Janssen tells us that every market town, borough, and village had its public bath-house. Even the poorest artisans and servants typically went to the bath every Saturday. The craft guilds had a special fund for ‘bath-money’ (badegeld) to which the journeymen were entitled on completion of a major task, and were allowed to leave work early to enjoy it158. Bath-houses were ubiquitous in the towns. For example, according to surviving documents in the 15th Century there were 12 public bath-houses in Kraków, which was a small city by the standards of the day159. From the end of the thirteenth century the city of Lübeck had a bath-house in almost every street; in Ulm (another small city), at the close of the Middle Ages, there were eleven public bath-houses, in Nuremberg twelve, in Frankfurt am Main at least fifteen,
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and Vienna twenty-nine160. The first record of a bath-house in Danzig was from the Teutonic Order in 1386 though archaeology shows they existed for at least three centuries before that161. Amazingly, even the destitute were able to keep clean, thanks to charitable contributions by the craft guilds and town governments. Janssen tells us that the mayor of Frankfurt am Main for example had a sack of silver pennies each Saturday, from which he doled out a penny to each poor person entering the public bath-house. Records show that apprentices were given a small sum of money for baths. The records of Regensberg state that ‘…they must use this money which they receive well, for every labourer, whatever his age, must keep himself clean in body, which cleanliness also ministers to the soul’s good.’
Charitable bequests provided for baths for the poor, as well as treats, as in the city of Erfurt: ‘ Three troughs filled with wine and biscuit should stand by the bath-house’. These charitable baths were provided either four times per year, or as often as
every eight or fourteen days, depending on the town. According to the chronicle of Baden-Baden, site of one of Germany’s most famous mineral baths, in 1488 “From the most ancient times the sick poor were allowed free entrance to the baths for the love of God.” All this concern for public cleanliness probably arose at least partly in reaction to the Black Death in the 14th Century, as plague was associated with filth. Some Historians think baths actually spread disease, but this is just speculation. Visits to the baths and saunas probably helped control fleas and lice, which in turn helped limit the spread of disease.
Even monks enjoyed both the licit, and illicit pleasures of the bath-house, as seen in this image from the Knihovna Národního Museum, Czech Republic, “Monks in the bath”, c 1490
Two women bathing a man, from the Bohemian manuscript Codices Vindobonenses 15th Century
Lords had private baths of their own in their castles or palaces. In Lithuania, Poland, Bohemia and Russia the Banya, a bath-house with a steam bath similar to a sauna, is a popular fixture. Bathers soaked in steam and beat themselves with aromatic birch twigs. The Banya sometimes included a bathing tub or a hot spring, as well as the sauna.
Many private residences had baths as well, called Hausbadestüblein, for the use of the household and house-tenants. In the year 1489 there were as many as one hundred and sixty eight of these in Frankfurt. The ‘bath-linen’ was a very important part of the wardrobe for every respectable artisans wife. Soap was a major export product of Genoa and Venice in the High Middle Ages and is a valuable export commodity from Sweden and several Hanse towns the 15th Century Baltic, though it was less widely used in the southern part of Central Europe.
A similar scene from a 15th Century German manuscript Handschrift von Valerius Maximus
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Modern thermal bath at Bad Dürrheim, Germany, today. Public bathing never fell out of style in Central Europe, it just became something like an open secret. Many hot springs in Central and Northern Europe were turned into spa resorts like this in the 19th and 20th Centuries, though this particular spa is fed by water from a salt mine.
Another similar bath-house painting
Records also show complaints by clergy of bathers of both sexes sometimes running out to roll in the snow naked to cool down, a practice still known today in some parts of Europe. In many respects, bathing practices of the Middle Ages and early Renaissance are more ‘liberal’ than modern practices today (outside of Sweden or Japan). Though some public baths were segregated by sex (sometimes different times of the day are designated for men or women) most bathhouses in the Northern part of Central Europe were “co-ed” and men and women of all classes bathed together in the nude (segregation by class was actually more likely than by gender). Illuminations in German and Bohemian books frequently depict male and female bathers together.
Some ‘scandals’ could be more severe than others, such as occasional assassination attempts. Duke Henry the Bearded and Duke Leszek Bialy of Masovia were attacked in the bath in 1227 AD162. Even in Russia where there was a much more conservative social climate, the practice of co-ed public bathing seems to have been commonplace. The Stoglav Church Council of 1551 prohibited men and women and specifically monks and nuns from bathing together, proclaiming those who did so as 'without shame.’
The bath house in this time was a place to socialize almost as it was in Roman times. They were the scene of feasts and festivities, and a certain amount of prostitution. Johannes Janssen tells us that ‘The Christian Exhorter’ suggested “…baths in the house are much preferable to the public establishments, where many go for health or pleasure, and where many scandals occur. The latter kind are unnecessary for the healthy, but not so the former in order to preserve health, to cleanse the body after work, and to refresh the spirit.”
The source of the Donau (Danube) river, a cool spring in the village of Donaueschingen, in the Shwarzwald (Black Forest) in Germany, first settled in 889 AD.
But it seems that the common people did not observe this prohibition, and men and women continued to bathe naked together, because such pronouncements continued year in and year out. It was not until 1650 AD when Russian bathhouses were divided into separate men's and women's baths. The Teutonic Order officially frowned on the practice of public bathing in general and co-ed bathing in particular,
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which is forbidden in towns under their direct control, but in practice public baths were apparently impossible to control because the continued existence of numerous bath-houses in all of the Prussian, Polish, and Livonian cities has been verified by archaeologists163. Like towns and castles, villages were almost always built around some type of water source. Otherwise, since nobody delivers Perrier in the Middle Ages it becomes extremely inconvenient to drink, bathe, cook, or wash clothes. Like towns, many villages also relied on rivers or creeks to help transport goods to market.
This was the basis of the rationalization, at any rate. Based upon this argument, local authorities in most of Central Europe adopted a policy of limited tolerance to the practice. Some towns banned brothels within the town walls, but allowed them in the suburbs. Others regulated prostitution and restricted it to specific streets or town blocks, along the line of the traditional ‘red light district’ of many cities in more recent times. In the Middle Ages the city of Wroclaw / Breslau in Silesia for example had a popular district called Venusberg which was legally sanctioned until the 16th Century. Here prostitution was regulated by town authorities and practiced and taxed like any other industry.
‘Special solicitude for the laboring and artisan classes, as well as for the poor people, has resulted in the erection of baths in all the villages – and it is a praiseworthy habit to bathe at least every two weeks.’ -The Christian Exhorter, 15th Century
Many old settlements in Central and Northern Europe were built around spas or springs, others had bath-houses situated on rivers or creeks. There are a lot of thermal springs in Central and Northern Europe, and most of the 91 towns and villages in Germany with the name bad or Baden are sites which have been occupied for 1,000 years or more (some with baths dating back to Roman settlements or before), precisely because they are located where an endless supply of hot (or cool) water comes out of the earth for free. Cool springs which remained the same constant temperature year-round were also extremely useful as water sources for example for beer breweries.
Brothels Brothels are also well documented in this region during the 15th century as in most other parts of Europe. Prostitution was considered a sin and disreputable, but the Catholic Church generally followed the doctrine of St. Augustine that it was a lesser sin than sodomy, masturbation, or rape, and in the words of St. Augustine: "If you expel prostitution from society, you will unsettle everything on account of lusts.”
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In this brothel scene in 16th Century Germany, mercenary soldiers and a Franciscan monk are entertained by prostitutes.
The well endowed Agnès Sorel, courtesan to Charles VII of France, as depicted by Jean Fouquet in his “Virgin and Child Surrounded by Angels” circa 1450. The idea that she was a virgin is an extreme example of artistic license. Agnès was said to have single handedly drawn King Charles out of a severe three month depression he had fallen into at the end of the 100 years war. She bore him three children before dying under suspicious circumstances.
You could really see the De Wallen district in Amsterdam today as not so much a postmodern expression of 21 st
Century liberalism, but rather merely a return to an ancient tradition in Northern Europe. Legal brothels near towns were always regulated to some extent and had to follow strict rules. The sex workers were examined by physicians on a regular basis and licensed to do their work. It was understood that prostitution could cause the spread of disease and there were limitations put into place to limit their negative effect on the public morality. Prostitutes were also taxed and sometimes restricted in their dress in specific ways according to special sumptuary laws. The tax rolls from Stockholm in 1460 list 150 female prostitutes with such names as Anna svandunet "the swan-down", Birgitta rödnacka ("red-neck"), and Katarina papegojan ("the parrot")164.
Lecherous old man and a young lady who is eyeing his wealth. Master of the Housebook, 15th Century. This was a common theme in medieval art.
The curious case of Els von Eystett Surviving legal records from the town of Nordlingen shed light on a very interesting legal case in 1471 which gives us a fascinating insight into the life of urban prostitutes in medieval Central Europe. Els von Eystett was a young woman who had become a prostitute to help pay her father’s debts. She had worked in Frauenhaus (town regulated brothels) in Ulm and Augsburg, and then Nordlingen where she moved in 1469. In 1471 she became pregnant, and then had an abortion late in her pregnancy, in the 20th week165166. Abortion per se was not normally illegal in Central Europe until later in the 16th Century 167 , or at any rate prosecutions for it were extremely rare, but ending a pregnancy that late was considered infanticide. She told one of her clients about it and eventually the story came out, and Els was put on trial for infanticide. During the trial several of the other prostitutes working at the Frauenhaus testified that the manager and his wife had been stealing their money, beating them, and had broken a host of town rules on brothel operations. They were charging the prostitutes for baths, clothes, food, lodging
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and contraception, to the point that they were perpetually in debt. They also testified that the manager’s wife had forced Els to drink an abortificant, described as a potion of Vinca, carrots, laurel and cloves168. Perhaps surprisingly, the town council sided with Els and the other sex-workers. The brothel manager was exiled from the city, his wife was branded on the forehead and exposed in the stocks, and then driven out of town. Els was acquitted and allowed to remain in the city, though we don’t know what happened to her later in life. Outside of the Frauenhaus, illegal or unregulated prostitution also took place, sometimes on an impromptu basis but also as part of organized crime. Prostitutes also acted as camp-followers who traveled with armies so routinely that in the 16th Century mercenary Landsknecht companies had a rank of ‘whore’s sergeant’ who was in charge of managing the camp followers. On the opposite extreme from camp followers, courtesans were on a completely different level, of a much higher status than common prostitutes, often educated, almost analogous to Geishas in Medieval Japan. Courtesans were more often from higher social classes, burgesses or aristocrats, and typically had many skills. They could become very rich. Some reached the status of the ‘favorite’ of a rich patrician or wealthy nobleman, or even in some famous cases the King or the Pope. It should be noted that the tolerance shown toward prostitution in European cities declined precipitously with the arrival of syphilis from the New World in the early 16th Century. Europeans had no resistance to the new disease and it was a deadly scourge which had major social impact and was very bad news both for prostitutes and their customers. Prostitution never went away, of course, but the relatively pragmatic management of it did, and life for sex workers became much harder.
Urs Graf, Dirne tritt ins Wasser 1520
“The University and Hanseatic City of Griefswald” a trading town in Eastern Pomerania the 15th Century, with only the major buildings shown on a gridlayout of the streets. The layout of the fortifications, walls, market square, major buildings and town streets are all typical of one of the smaller cities in this era. The University in Greifswald was founded in 1456, year of the setting of this book. This town has a population of about 8,000 people in 1456.
An excellent modern depiction of a 15th Century Hanseatic port , possibly Dutch (specific origin unknown – possibly Hanzestad Kampen, J.H. Isings, published by Wolters Noordhoff). The vessel (a Hanseatic cog), the millstones, quarried rock, beer, pickles, and the use of the treadle-crane are all accurate.
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The Peace of God and the Medieval Commune
Town Law Town Law or the Stadtrecht was both something like an internal constitution for each town, delineating the rights, privileges and obligations of its burghers (citizenry), and an external contract between a given town and any feudal lord who (at least in theory) held sway over the town or the general region. The actual town charter document itself is known as a Handfeste and several survive from the Middle Ages. Town Law originated from certain northern German cities but was adapted by hundreds of towns throughout Eastern and Central Europe including in Poland, Lithuania, Sweden, Hungary, Russia and Bohemia. By law in nearly all towns in Central Europe, the permanent population of the city were free. There was a saying “The town air makes you free”. Under Town Law, anyone living in the city for a year and a day was no longer under any feudal obligations. Town law at its most fundamental basis was a military contract. Members of the commune, (which included all the permanent residents of the town with or without burgher citizenship), swore an oath of mutual defense of the town and the district immediately surrounding the town (to protect commerce). During times of war, towns opened their gates and peasants from the countryside were permitted to shelter within the town walls, though in most cases they were not citizens of the town or members of the commune. Town law traveled with burghers as they moved around the world. Under town law, a trader from Danzig was subject to the laws of Danzig even if he lived in London. It was the same for a journeyman butcher from Danzig working in Bremen, but he was subject to a different set of rules – as a journeyman. He would not for instance be allowed to marry or open his own shop in Bremen until he became a master butcher. (Special thanks to Jürg Gassmann) Beyond the basics, the specific nature of the Handfeste contract could range from very complex rules outlining strict micromanagement of the economic and legal life of the city by the local Bishop or Count, to essentially “you leave us alone, we leave you alone”. Since the 13th Century few of the largest towns remained under control of regional aristocrats or prelates, and most of the larger towns in Prussia were under Kulm Law, Magdeburg Law or Lübeck Law which granted either partial or nearly complete political autonomy. Those towns designated as Free Cities handled their own defense but also expected support both from the local prince and (usually) from other nearby cities with whom they were allied. The reverse was also true as the princes often relied on the towns for support, particularly for naval assets, firearms and cannons.
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“The Commune, is an oath of mutual aid (mutui adjutorii conjuratio). A new and detestable word. Through it the serfs (capite sensi) are freed from all serfdom; through it they can only be condemned to a legally determined fine for breaches of the law; through it, they cease to be liable to payments which the serfs always used to pay.” -French Benedictine Abbot and minor noble, Guibert de Nogent, commenting on the loss of taxes caused by the formation of the Medieval commune, precursor to the town, 1115 AD.
Catholic theologians argue that religion was a significant element in the formation of the medieval ‘communes’ which were the legal basis of the villages and towns and ultimately, the Free Cities. There were certain close similarities to the legal arguments and social framework of the secular “freedom of the roads” doctrine (Landfriede) which is the basis of the commune and ultimately Town Law, and the Peace and Truce of God movement (Pax Dei) which was an earlier attempt by the Church to reign in the violence of private war by nobles in the early Feudal system169. The medieval Church saw the sins of pride, envy and wrath as the origins of violence. Medieval communes also sought to ameliorate these sins to foster cooperation among their members and reduce civic strife. The burghers emulated certain aspects of the lifestyle of monks too, but with a twist. Whereas the monks relied on the sacred rite of Confession in which the malefactor confessed his or her sins before God and a superior within the Church hierarchy, the towns made use of public confessions for a similar purpose. Miscreants were forced to describe the crimes they committed against their neighbors and ask their forgiveness in public, in the town square or city hall. Punishments such as exposure in the stocks were extensions of this same idea. But the Landfriede of the commune was maintained not by prayer, but through the doctrine of an eye for an eye, enforced violently against knights or bandits who preyed upon townsfolk or their trading partners. This harsh expedient gradually came to establish the commune as a zone of safety for its members, visiting merchants, and peasants under the protection of the town. Most though not all towns in Central Europe grew up around Cathedrals, abbeys or churches, but in the 12th and 13th centuries many towns fought revolutions against their prelate-overlords170, completing the break from the authority of the Church over urban life. As the humanists of the 14th century introduced a more positive view of the individual, new religious doctrines developed in the Universities helped communes find the balance between the requirements of the community and the individualism inherent in increasing commerce and wealth.
The Handfeste There were several standard town charters or handfeste contracts, most named after German towns where they were established. Lübeck Law which has been mentioned above also infers membership in the Hanseatic League, with provision for self government within the town itself and a self-administered legal system. Kulm law named for the town of Kulm (aka Chełmno) was a somewhat more limited version often granted by the Teutonic Order, allowing partial autonomy and trading rights but mandating that the Order (or other lord) was allowed to retain a castle and significant legal authority within the town or commune, notably the judgment and punishment of criminals. The rights outlined in the Handfeste could include the right to hold court (and over whom); the right to hold a market, along with the authority over weights and measures; the right to mint coins; the right to operate a mill or smithy; the right to mine salt or metals; the right to levy tolls or excise on roads, fords, bridges and ferries; the right to build fortifications (any stone or brick building may be considered a fortification); the right to hunt – all these are separate and could, for the same locality, be held by different persons. Another really important right was the ‘sword right’ - the right to avenge your citizenry by violence, to execute criminals and offenders against your sovereignty. On the other side are the duties: The obligation to render personal service, whether as labour for agriculture or construction, or as military service; the obligation to pay taxes, whether as money or in kind; the obligation to furnish soldiers and their equipment. The more “liberties” a town managed to amass, and the more duties it managed to avoid, the freer it was. (Special thanks to Jürg Gassmann for this list). The most sought-after right of all was the right of the town to administer its own justice. There are certain features which were common to all forms of Town Law. Perhaps the most famous was the right of manumission (i.e. freedom) for any serf who could reside in the town for a year and a day, an important rule which helped establish the urban population in the early years during the 12th and 13th Centuries and which existed even in the small territorial towns. Trade was strictly controlled, foreign merchants coming into the city were not allowed to trade on their own, but had to first offer their goods to local buyers, (if any wished to buy them). Many towns had the staple right, which forced merchants traveling through the area with their carts to stop in town, unload their wares, and offer them for sale for a certain period. This applied to all goods except for food. (The staple right was often the reason for a great deal of smuggling in the countryside). Town Law also covered criminal statutes. Disturbances of the public order were swiftly punished, unless clearly justified (or tolerated according to local
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cultural traditions). Though openly carrying certain weapons or wearing armor could be restricted inside the town walls in some cases, Town Law also delineated the rights of citizens to own and bear arms. In most cities with Town Rights by law all citizens were required to own arms and armor171. Markets were only open on certain days (usually at least one day every week for a given commodity during the appropriate season), feast-days and religious holidays were mandatory, and agents of a foreign city or Kingdom had to be formally recognized by town authorities before entering the town gates. Most crimes resulted in a cash fine, but serious infractions of the public order: assault, theft, murder, rape etc. were swiftly dealt with. All of these cities had a town jail and also stocks, gallows and whipping posts. Danzig had a ‘torture house’ established in 1450 AD.
Though it looks like this could be a bar, this is actually a goldsmith’s workshop in Kraków, from the Balthasar Behem Codex, 1505. Craft workshops were usually open to the public as part of guild-rules.
Miscreants were taken before the Schöffe (town magistrates) for judgment which was usually swift and harsh whenever guilt was obvious in a serious crime, but lenient and mostly cash based for misdemeanors. Legal technicalities were not a likely path to freedom for a serious malefactor, except when it was possible to establish an alternate jurisdiction. But burghers (town citizens) usually could not be tried in any court other than that of the town, and basically had to be caught in the act to be prosecuted for any crime. This was something of a double edged sword – great if the local lord or bishop wanted to give you a hard time on trumped up charges, not so good if you got in trouble with town authorities (unless you could physically get into Church property before being arrested, in which case you may be able to fall under Church jurisdiction). Patronage and cold hard cash could be somewhat more effective, popularity in the town or with some faction of it
also helped a great deal, but there were limits to what even princely support could do for the clearly guilty. Even knights and high ranking nobles were routinely hung or beheaded by town authorities for highway robbery committed against merchants. The burghers of the Renaissance were stern when it came to maintaining the peace and prosperity of their cities, though they could also be reasonable and were capable of leniency in ambiguous cases. The best defense was the support of popular witnesses. Either temporary or permanent exile was often seen as an alternative to corporal or capital punishment in serious cases where guilt was not certain or extenuating circumstances existed for a major crime.
women who worked for him in a tavern in a quarrel over their wages, then fined again for a dispute with another woman over a fishery, and shortly afterword he was locked up for 6 days for threatening, taunting, and insulting his Lord, the Abbot of Tegernsee, and refusing to pay all of his rents and dues 173. Peck was released after paying the money owed and swearing to cease antagonizing his Lord. He then moved from an outlying village to Holzkirchen proper where he was soon in court again for using a stick to beat up a certain Hans Kirchmair and his cousin (both town citizens) one night in his tavern174. Shortly afterword Kirchmair and cousin were themselves fined for breaking into Hans Pecks home and creating a ruckus175 (see Rural Life, the Charivari).
Debt was considered particularly disgraceful in all forms of German law. In pagan times going into debt could lead directly to slavery. Debt was still considered disgraceful in the medieval period and could result in ostracism or exile. For more on the Legal system in the Medieval Baltic see Life in the Medieval Baltic, Law.
The role of the magistrates was to manage such petty altercations so that they caused as little social damage as possible, while respecting the requirements of individual honor at all levels of society to an extent that seems strange today. Medieval German law seeks to contain violence, not necessarily to prevent it. It was more important that Hans Peck’s family or guild didn’t get involved in a feud with the Kirchmairs over an individual squabble than to prevent two men from coming to blows.
The Urban Vehmgericht Vehmic courts (see Rural life, Vehmgericht) also existed in the cities and in towns which were still subject or partially subject to Seigniorial or church justice, the urban Fehm provided an important counterweight to aristocratic authority. The Vehmgericht actually originated in the town of Dortmund, and quickly spread to Frankfurt (1386), Cologne (1387), and Lübeck (1399). By the mid-15th Century it was firmly established in Danzig and most of the larger Prussian towns, including Chelmno which allegedly carried out the assassination of the Condottiero Bernard von Zinnenburg after the 13 Years War on orders of the Fehm. Town Law, Violence and Honor In modern times we may think of an obsession with honor and saving face as trait associated with non-”Western” cultures, but these were extremely important concepts in all parts of 15th Century Europe duly recognized by law. Insults could receive higher fines in the courts than physical violence, because an insult left unanswered could lead to real harm. Losing face had very real commercial and social ramifications. An individual or family in disrepute was at a disadvantage in buying, selling, in court, and in all other forms of negotiation. In the 15th Century records of a small market town called Holzkirchen in Bavaria a married woman named Frau Kleslein was walking down the street when a passing man called her a hundin (bitch). She responded immediately physically attacking him 172 . In court, the Schöffe ruled in favor of Frau Kleslein, the rude man was fined 2 Marks. A certain tavern keeper named Hans Peck got into a lot of trouble in this district. He was fined for insulting two young
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Though bullies or anti-social elements were dealt with by the authorities, legally, a fight between equals was seen as a private affair, (Fehde). This was true when a city went to war with an archbishop or when a guild went to war with a patrician family, or two men fought over a drunken insult. Largely this was a pragmatic adaptation to the reality that the State was simply not strong enough in the Holy Roman Empire, in Poland, or inside the town, to mediate let alone micromanage every dispute. Yet it was critically important to retain some level of stability, for the towns this was a matter of survival. This ‘containment’ philosophy was the reason Judicial Combat remained part of the legal system, albeit as a very rare occurrence. But one of the curious aspects of this obsession with honor was that a cash payment was often sufficient to settle a wound to one’s reputation, because it was perceived as an admission of guilt by whoever pays. This was also an ancient custom in pagan Germanic society which went back to the idea of Wergild during the Migration Era. The ability to settle a potentially violent conflict with a fine helped to keep such conflicts from getting out of hand.
A ‘cut-thrust sword, circa 1550. Weapons like this were popular sidearms for medieval burghers, most male town citizens including journeymen carried a sword.
The informal duel Due to the proliferation of swords in medieval towns, particularly in the towns under German town law (as found all over the Baltic), and the expectation of people to maintain their honor, it was necessary for a series of written and unwritten laws to be in place to prevent utter mayhem from breaking out. It became frowned upon among the Germans in particular to stab someone in a fight unless it was a life or death matter. Most fights over insults or arguments were expected to be carried out by striking with the flat of the blade, at least initially. There was a fairly strong social prohibition against even drawing your sword, thus preventing a fight from escalating. In fact, by the Late Medieval period there were a whole slew of prohibited actions that were considered precursors to a fight, all of which could make you subject to a substantial fine of three gulden. Illegal provocations: 1. Placing your hand on your hilt 2. Opening your coat to reveal your sword 3. Placing your sword on the table in a threatening manner 4. Making a verbal threat to kill or wound someone 5. Striking or scraping the cobblestones or walls to make sparks 6. Placing three gulden on the table176 However, dueling itself was not always seriously punished among the citizen class. If you were sufficiently provoked, you were expected to fight for your honor. If you were in a fair fight (according to witnesses) and someone was hurt, you could get away with it, particularly if the witnesses sided with you. In fact as a burgher you were expected to fight with your sword, it was considered dishonorable (unburgerlich) to fight with your fists or with some other impromptu weapon like a beer mug or a fire poker. Getting into a private fight with a gun or crossbow within the town walls was almost unheard of and was a very serious crime. There were also a wide range of other laws and rules which helped prevent fighting and dampen the negative impact of fights. When citizens saw people fighting, they were obliged to call for peace, much in the same manner as they were obliged to call “Fire!” if they saw a fire burning and for kind of similar reasons. Fighting after the call for peace could get you in much more serious legal trouble. Many places were also considered part of the stadtfrieden, or the zone of peace / control of the city authorities: the market place, chapels and churches, guild halls, the town gates, and so on. If you fought in these places, again, you could find yourself in serious trouble. So fights and informal duels tended to be controlled, short, and limited in terms of the damage they caused. Nevertheless, the homicide rate was
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fairly high, comparable to that of modern cities in North America.
Left, portrait of a “foolish virgin” holding a lamp upside down, by Martin Schongauer 1480 (later copied by Urs Graf). Right, a lady artisan pulls a face, (detail) from the Balthasar Behem codex, Kraków 1505.
Town Law and Women Women had a contradictory fate in medieval society, which varied widely from place to place and even within the same jurisdiction. On the one hand, there were still strong traditions, sometimes very old, which give women almost mystical legal powers, but on the other hand a great deal of the canon law, civil law and common law of the era was heavily stacked against the feminine sex. It was acceptable under feudal law in Poland and Bohemia to kidnap a woman and make her your wife. But, if you were caught doing this and she said you kidnapped her against her will in Bohemia she had the right to personally cut your head off 177 . In Poland and Bohemia, a condemned man could be saved from the gallows by a virgin throwing her shawl over his head (as a sign of willingness to wed). A man being summoned to court could avoid his fate if his wife was pregnant or if he hid his head beneath his wife’s skirt178. A pregnant woman was usually acquitted of any crime in Bohemia179. “Let it be known that should the one cited be found with his lawful wife and she has embraced him or covered him with her skirt he must not be taken from her, nor must any complaint be allowed against him, nor is he to suffer any grief.” 180 - excerpt from the 14th Century “Order of the Land Law”, a common law treatise from Bohemia. This is a very good reason for a husband to stay on his wife’s good side!
These strange mystical and no doubt pre-Christian laws were actually enforced well into the Late Medieval era in some places. In Bohemia in 1433, Margaret, the virgin daughter of the widow Lady Anna of Lomnice (a noblewoman), apparently fell in love at first sight with a low ranking knight who was about to be hanged for robbery. The town chronicle reports that “with tears, sighs and
lamentations”, she asked the City Council of Prague to spare his life so that she could marry him. She vouched for his good behavior as her husband. The council put it up for a vote by the citizenry, who approved, and the two were married in the Town Hall.181 Unfortunately I have no data on how the marriage turned out... Women often ran the household finances in urban guild workshops, and by ancient tradition were typically acknowledged in court records as the ultimate authority over the household. This was the basis of the right to allow the husband to be taken to court or jail – though if the wife sided with her husband as they usually did (obviously depending on the crime) she was joining her fate to his. The will of a cooper named Andrew from Prague in 1492 listed some loans he was owned and added “my wife knows how much money I have in the house.” And in another will from 1523 a man named Jon Zidka wrote “about these debts and others and about the loans my wife knows best.” Outside of the household or family business power was more limited under town law. Women were not allowed membership in the town council, were rarely (at least, formally) in the leadership strata of the merchant or craft guilds, and were almost never allowed in the militia. They could vote in some elections but that depended on the town. Aside from those specific limitations women were recognized as citizens and full legal entities in most forms of German or Czech Town Law in the 15th Century. They could testify in court, file lawsuits, and own and inherit property, and hold all forms legal citizenship in the town, so long as they met the other requirements. This was not always the case in the countryside and was in some cases contrary to the normal rural practices under Feudal law. Nevertheless, it was the reality in many of the towns as we can see in the records of actual court proceedings, and was officially recognized in some common law documents and town law charters (handfeste). Legal records from the Bohemian Land Court from 1389 – 1495 show that of 455 cases, 109 (24%) were women,78 were plaintiffs and 30 were defendants. In the Chamber court from 1472-1482 80 out of 382 cases were women182. We can see that women owned property, indeed this was the safest form of insurance for the wife in a marriage as a ‘morning gift’ which was owned by her and her alone. We also see many cases in Bohemian courtly and town records where widowhood was acknowledged as the basis for acquittal for minor crimes, and the magistrates often sided with widows in disputes between relatives, fairly or unfairly183.
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Elizabeth Tucher, prominent burgheress of Nuremberg and an art-patron, 1478, Michael Wolgemut
We know for example of a case of a successful lawsuit in 15th Century Bohemia by a female bath attendant in Prague against a squire who was trying to confiscate the deed to some property that she was holding for the family of a deceased client. Despite the fact that the squire had the backing of a powerful Duke, the court ruled in favor of the lowly bath attendant.
A man chastises an enraged woman, who bites a rag to quell her fury. From the Tacuinum Sanitatis, Paduan version late 14th Century. This is from the entry on ‘Anger’.
When a woman was married her family paid the husband a dowry, but in Poland and Bohemia the husband in turn paid a kind of reverse dowry called a ‘morning gift’ to his bride, usually the equivalent of twice the amount of the dowry, which was held as a sort of pension for the wife (usually as a special type of mortgage on his property which was protected against foreclosure in case the husband couldn’t pay his debts). It was fairly easy for a wife to get an annulment in cases of spousal abuse, proven infidelity or impotence, in which case the morning gift or the dowry was
forfeit to her. More often, the money was for when the wife was widowed as men generally had a much higher death rate in medieval towns. Though such traditions were well established in Bohemia, where the Hussite heretics conferred more rights to women, they were not universal in the German speaking parts of the Holy Roman Empire, where traditions seem to have varied widely from town to town and county to county. In any event all of the above gradually changed for the worse for women in the 16th and 17th Century.
Another portrait of Elisabeth Tucher, this one by Albrecht Dürer, 1499 AD. Frau Tucher was a member of a powerful patrician family of Nuremberg. In Central Europe, married women typically covered their hair in public, so as not to tempt strangers to flirt with them, whereas available women, maidens, wore their hair uncovered.
The Morning Gift was very important because it might be the only money the wife gets if she was widowed. By most forms of German Law priority in inheritance went to the children, and sometimes even the siblings or family of the deceased husband claimed some or all of his estate. In practice however this is often ameliorated by custom. For example if the widow’s husband was a member of a craft guild, in many cases the guild would protect her from lawsuits and admit her as a member and assure by guild law that she could retain custody of the house and any property related to the practice of her husbands craft or trade. Women also had special protections under the law. Assaults or injuries against pregnant women which led to complications in childbirth were among the most severely
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punished crimes in common law and medieval town law, usually by death sometimes in gruesome form such as breaking on the rack. Rape of a married woman or any citizen of the town was another of the relatively few crimes which were punishable by death, usually beheading or hanging, in Danzig (the other capital crimes included murder, arson, treason, and poisoning the city water supply). Women who were unarmed in town had a special legal protection similar to priests, they were under the towns stadtfrieden, meaning if they were attacked physically it was the same as attacking the city. Women could choose to carry a sword but if they did so this removed their special protected status.
Portrait of a wealthy patrician woman, 1525, artist unknown.
Adultery was a crime by law but in Northern Europe (as distinct from the Mediterranean areas) usually only prosecuted in the case of violence between spouses, infanticide or some other serious social harm resulting from the indiscretion. Culturally there was a double-standard in that adultery by men (especially with prostitutes) was considered much less scandalous than adultery by women, but the authorities tended to mind their own business in such affairs generally unless they were forced to intervene. Prosecutions for either gender were rare.
artisans and some merchants, and this may have been typical for larger medieval cities from the late 14th through the 15th Century.
Painting of a nude woman from a medieval German alchemical text.
Spiritual women, including both Christian mystics such as nuns, and spiritual leaders from lay communities such as the Beguines or the Sisters of the Common Life, could often find support or large followings in the town. Surprisingly, women with certain ‘special’ skills such as midwifery were not only often tolerated by medieval town authorities, they could even find employment from them. In several cases, Central European towns put midwives on the payroll and employed them to help burgher women with childbirth and to perform medical care for all other medical issues specifically related to the feminine gender. This curious arrangement did not always persist into the Early Modern era and was largely gone by the 17th Century but is well documented in the High to Late medieval period in certain towns. Women with at least partial burgher citizenship could own their own business or even (mercantile) trading enterprises, though the latter occurred most often through inheritance. Some female merchants, usually widows, owned ships and mills, some owned fleets. Quite a few female artisans owned their own workshops. Many married women also worked and frequently operated ventures ranging from small breweries or bakeries to full fledged guild enterprises (see Women in Guilds). The widow of a master artisan could take over her husbands shop but she could also lose control of the business if she remarried outside of the guild. Most quickly remarried and often made money in the process, as many young men were eager to buy into the guild, and marrying a guild widow was one of the fastest ways to do so. However some did not and there were always a significant number of lady masters. Records from medieval Florence indicate that 16% of households were headed by women in 1427184.. In Central Europe this seems to have been a bit more common, tax records from 15th Century Frankfurt, Speyer, Trier, Basel and Friedburg show that about 25% of the taxable households in those cities were headed by women 185 , mostly craft
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Though most of the Universities in Latin Europe, were barred to women, there were a few important exceptions. Of the schools in or near the Baltic, the primary exception was Charles University in Prague which was open to female scholars. However the important law-school at Bologna in Italy, arguably the most important in Latin Europe, was also open to women and had several female lecturers186, as was the prominent secondary school in Uppsala, Sweden, which became a University in 1477, partially with the help of a powerful aristocratic female donor. There is evidence from the 1410’s of one female student who attended University in Kraków in drag187, when her deception was revealed she was determined by authorities to have had such an impeccable record she was later made the abbess and magistra (judge) of a convent in town. Burgher girls received free primary school education just like boys, though usually only to the age of 10 or 11. Wealthier families would educate their daughters in private schools typically up to the age of 16. This included arithmetic, reading and writing in the vernacular (in Prussia that would usually be both German and Polish), as well as some more advanced subjects including Greek and Latin literature, geometry, rhetoric, and astronomy. As early as the 13th Century literacy was widespread enough among urban women even of the artisan class that it was common practice among wool weavers to assign their wives to do the workshop’s books 188 . Women of the merchant class also participated in business from quite early on, as an analysis of 4,000 commenda contracts from Genoa from as far back as 1155-1216 shows us that over 1,000 of them (25%) included women signatories189.
Three Mighty Ladies from Livonia, by Albrecht Dürer. These ladies are probably ethnic Germans though they could also be Danish, Estonian or Latvian. Their exotic costumes are characteristic of the region in the late 15th Centuries. It’s worth pointing out as well, the covering of the face was not for modesty, but as protection against the brutal Livonian winter.
It was not at all unusual for women in the higher reaches of the patriciate and aristocracy to receive very good tutoring, with the result that several of the prominent humanist circles of the medieval period included women, usually clergy (abbesses or nuns), burghers or aristocrats such as the famous Christine de Pisan, a Venetian born noblewoman living in France who was one of the most important and influential Humanist authors of the early Renaissance (as well as an open and avowed feminist).
found legal and extralegal means of exerting their influence both collectively and individually. And in the towns collective action could be decisive.
If a woman was part of a very serious legal dispute and needed to challenge someone or was challenged to a judicial combat, she could call upon a male relative, hire a champion, or fight herself. Though judicial combat was very rare in the 15th Century and doubly so for women, it did occasionally happen and we do have records of at least one judicial combat involving a woman. In Switzerland a woman fought a man with sword and buckler and won (this is mentioned in the Landrechtsbuch of Ruprecht von Freysing from 1328190). A woman reveals a card to a man. Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, German circa 1472
One good example occurred in Prague in 1420 during the Hussite Wars. It was a dangerous moment, moderate and radical Hussite factions were at odds, with the council dominated by the radical faction and determined to start trouble. An enemy Crusader army was approaching the city and unity was crucial. The council was on the verge of engaging in a civil war which would doom the city. Negotiations between factions were going nowhere, and disaster seemed imminent. According Count Lützow’s treatise The Hussite Wars (1912), the women of the city took action. “When in July John of Zelivo accompanied the army and left Prague a temporary reaction took place. It is very characteristic of the social condition of Bohemia at the period of the Hussite Wars that women took the lead in this movement.
Woman spinning and visitor, Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, German circa 1470
Women and power politics Even in the relatively “liberal” towns under craft guild administration women were officially banned from membership in the town council and the militia, and were only rarely able to ascend to the status of guild aldermen. In theory this blocked them from influencing public policy or exercising power in the political arena, But medieval society was more flexible than the law books indicate. Women
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Several widows and other zealous women called many of their friends together, and walking in procession to the townhall requested a hearing of the town-councilors. When they had been admitted, one of the women read out a letter, signed by all, which complained of the injustice with which the faithful priests of the churches of St. Michael, St. Nicholas and St. Peter on the Poric had been treated. They then reminded the councilors of the ordinance which the city had passed in March forbidding the propagation of heresies in Prague, and accused them of partiality in their administration of the town, and specially of summoning only their partisans to the meetings of the citizens and of the aldermen. They ended by demanding that all these grievances should be remedied. The councilors, who all belonged to Zelivo’s party, were greatly displeased by this demonstration. They caused the women to be arrested, and ordered them to separate. Those who were married were to stand apart, and
the other ones also. All were shown where to stand. The women refused to obey this order and declined to separate. The town councilors then ordered the women to deliver to them the letter which had been read out, but this they also refused to do. The councilors then became angry. Leaving the town hall, they gave the order that the crowd of women should be locked up in the council-chamber. They were however, after two hours allowed to leave the council chamber unharmed. The courageous initiative of the Bohemian women proved successful. The priests of the Utraquist [moderate] Church were reinstated in their parishes, while the agitators either retired to Tabor or continued to be led by their ringleader, the priest John, to cause disturbances in Prague.”191
As Count Lützow himself noted, women taking such aggressive and indeed leading political roles in times of social upheaval were not unusual in Bohemia. To a some extent you see this in most of the more urbanized parts of Central Europe in the Late medieval period (either for good or ill), particularly in the towns. Though formal systems did not necessarily grant them avenues of political access or expression, women in Central European towns could show remarkable solidarity and determination and frequently took it upon themselves to find unorthodox means to get what they wanted. In this particular case they collectively helped Prague avert disaster.
Nor were they necessarily opposed by townsmen in doing so. There was a tension between burghers, who in this era still perceived their female relatives or spouses as advancing the causes of their own associations or families, (and saw any wages paid to their wife or daughter as beneficial) vs the Church in it’s various incarnations, which railed against aggressive and overbearing women in their sermons and as a kind of Trope in Late medieval religious literature. One which resonated far less in Northern Europe than it did in Italy or Spain. This may in part be a reflection of differing cultural practices in Southern Europe, where much of the higher Church leadership originated, and Northern or Central Europe where pre-Christian tribal traditions offered a different set of rights and special protections for women. That is not to say however that women always had a benign or moderating influence on town politics. In another incident in Prague in 1471 there was a tense confrontation between members of the butcher’s guild and some cattle owning gentry whose cows were about the slaughtered against their will as payment of a feudal military obligation to the town. As tensions boiled over a married woman named Machna Chodovska seized a sword from one of the town bailiffs and killed several people during the resulting skirmish192. Informal marriages and marriage contracts Another curious aspect of life for women and men at this time was the practice of informal marriage. Young people from noble or patrician families were usually betrothed in arranged marriages carefully put together for political and economic reasons. Reasons of Hausmacht. But somewhat surprisingly, many marriages in the towns, even among people of some means, seem to have been informally arranged for reasons of love, lust or caprice, not by families but by the lovers themselves.
A wife overthrows her husband while the dog looks on and a Devil offers encouragement, Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, German circa 1471
Women routinely found and made use of these avenues to get their needs met in medieval towns, whether in Charivarilike demonstrations such as in the above case in Prague, or in more subtle and sustained manner within families, companies and guilds.
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Left, a female physician or surgeon letting blood, 1425 AD, right, a female artisan uses a bellows, (detail) from the Balthasar Behem codex.
We know about this due to two types of records. Successful informal marriages which lasted beyond the honeymoon phase were often later sanctified by priests or friars who were paid to officially record the marriage, so that future
offspring would be considered legally legitimate. Very helpfully, these priests (or a scribe) often also wrote down the details of how the marriage was originally arranged including the sometimes amusing stories of the original tryst or encounter that led to the marriage. Not all priests were so easy going of course. Many in the Church frowned upon this practice, which they called “clandestine marriage” and in their frequent railing against it in written sermons (also thankfully preserved for posterity) we have some hint of the moral climate: “For they flirt indecently and fornicate… Today’s people live without shame and without fidelity, flirting and in shameful fornication, in dancing, wandering from fair to fair, festivity to festivity and from tavern to tavern in bawdy insolence, lewdness and pandering; girls promise themselves to boys without the consent of their elders, and if they do not have permission and freedom from them, they immediately run after the boys everywhere in order to fornicate.”
feast day or big party like a wedding or a saints feast day. These broken promises, seemingly just based on a tryst, an informal remark or even a gesture, were common even in the higher ranks of society. For example the famous inventor of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg, a fairly high ranking citizen of the merchant class, was sued by a Strasbourg woman over a broken marriage “contract” in 1436. Such misunderstandings could be quite simple. For example, Elizabeth of Lipa accepted a gift of two gold rings from a man she met during carnival. Apparently he assumed they were engaged, she indicated otherwise- later in court testifying that she was under no such illusion. The Schöffe found that they there was no promise of marriage but also ordered her to return the rings193.
-Bohemian priest Peter Chelcicky, circa 1450
Anonymous (Swabian) portrait of a lady, circa 1470. This woman may have been a noblewoman or a burgher.
The second most common type of marriage records we have derive from what you might call “missed connections”. Medieval court records are full of lawsuits over proposals or promises of marriage which were later reneged upon. Like the informal marriage contracts, these seem to have been often the results of casual trysts or even mere flirtations. In both cases; broken promises or successful marriages, the origin of the romance was often a fling during Carnival when social taboo’s were generally relaxed, or during some other
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Nuremberg woman in a house dress, Albrecht Dürer
The stories of more successful rendezvous could be equally simple, as we can see in this testimony of the marriage of Margaret of Benesov and Oswald of Tundorff. Asked by the court how they were married, Oswald’s testimony was recorded by a Franciscan friar in Prague in 1423: “One time, several days before they had made the contract, he [Oswald] had been out walking, carrying a certain green tree called May. When Margaret saw him, she asked him to whom the tree belonged? He answered, ‘to a beautiful
maiden.’ Margaret then said ‘if you will bring me one like it, I will do all that you command’ and he responded the same way to her, ‘I want to do all that you command and want to take care of you to the end of my life.’ Four or five days after these things happened, Oswald brought a tree to Margaret and said to her, ‘that which I said to you before I say to you again, I want to take care of you and be faithful to you.’ Asked [by the friar] what he meant by these words, he responded that he meant matrimony.
Dürer, the cook and his wife. Circa 1496. This might give us an idea of the appearance of what slightly poorer urban dwellers might have looked like, although these two may have been military camp followers.
Female musicians, with a jester, 15th Century
And to these words Margaret responded, ‘if you are not making a joke with those words, then I want to do your will in all things and be faithful to you, just as you to me until the end of my life.’ After this, they joined hands together as a sign of the contract. The next day they went to the house of Oswald’s father and mother and repeated and received the words again. Margaret confirmed all these words which were spoken by her opposite, saying that they signified matrimony, and that she intended to contract and had in fact contracted marriage.”194 In many cases, at least in Bohemia, we know from these records that informal marriages were often presided over by women, often older women known as “healers”, perhaps something like midwives, who would perform a simple ritual in one of the lovers private home. Both bride and groom would wear a wreath (sometimes with valuable coins woven into it). The older woman would put a veil on the bride’s head, and then conduct them to their marriage bed. The wedding guests then proceeded to enjoy a sometimes wild party. One priest complained that such weddings typically included “violin music, pipers, dancers, bugles, drink, incredible food, excessive banquets and other pleasures.” In at least some cases, guests sang songs over the marriage bed as the marriage was consummated195. Generally speaking, the medieval burghers attitude about sex could be summed up with the maxim: “Si non caste tamen caute, - if not chastely, cautiously.”
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Burgher women and military service As a rule, women were exempt from service in the militia and the town guard. This was a bit of a problem for the towns because for a variety of reasons quite often the majority of the urban adult population were women. We do occasionally see individual women performing town watch duty though it was very rare. Service in the militia was almost unheard of for women for the most part, the only significant exception known to the author was in Bohemia among the Hussite heretics, who included women in their armies especially in the early days of the Hussite Crusades back in the 1420’s. Women do also occasionally appear in the Swiss Chronicles among the militia, mostly as camp followers but they are occasionally shown bearing arms. Although they were not normally expected let alone forced to deploy with the militia, women did help with town defense during sieges and other major crises. More routinely, female citizens still had a militia obligation, it was just not one they fulfilled in person. For example, on April 23, 1444 Anna von Krauchthal, one of the wealthiest citizens of the city of Bern in Switzerland, was asked by the town council to provide a high quality armor harness to the town armoury in lieu of military service 196 . Town archives indicate she formally agreed to purchase harness for six men, noting “sechs mann harneschs volkommer werschaft, nemlich panzer, tschaladen, armzug unt hentschen”, i.e. full armor harness including body,
head, and limb protection as well as gauntlets.
Town law and schools The Late medieval world was surprisingly literate, and this is largely due to the efforts of the towns. The first two municipally funded public schools that we know of were founded in Pistoia and Florence some time around 1120. A public school was founded in Ghent, in Flanders, in 1179. By the 13th Century public schools for young children up to the age of 12 were commonplace in the more urbanized regions of Italy, Castile, Aragon, Flanders, the Rhineland, Swabia, lower Saxony, and in various places around the Baltic including Prussia, Poland, Silesia, and Bohemia.
What appears to be a woman carrying an arquebus with a group of Swiss militia. Berner Chronik, Diebold Schilling Mss.h.h.I.16 circa 1486
More often women who were the head of a household of the middle or upper strata of town society would send a younger male member of their household, typically a relative, a journeyman or sometimes a trusted servant, to do their required duty in the town watch or militia. This person would be armored, armed, and if necessary for a higher status household, mounted with a good horse by the lady of the house. Lower class women and female servants not on the tax rolls had no militia obligation. Interestingly women did participate in martial sports such as the Schützenfest or shooting contests. In the Martial Ethic of Early Modern Germany Professor Ann Tlusty noted that women were so often part of the shooting competitions in Augsburg that as many as half of the prizes offered were oriented toward female shooters, including clothing, jewelry and shoes197.
A contemporaneous historian Giovanni Villani noted that in the late 14th Century, the city Florence was paying for the education of 8,000 – 10,000 boys and girls every year198. Schools for young people up to the age of 12 were often called “song-schools’. These were the equivalent of grammar schools. Kids were initially taught to sing hymns and to count and recite their alphabet with rhyming songs. But fairly quickly, the work got harder, including reading and writing in the vernacular, math, and then more complex subjects. The urban school in Wroclaw, established in 1267, taught a broad curriculum of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, grammar, logic, philosophy, and physics 199 . By the late medieval period public education was no longer seen as a form of charity, but was rather considered necessary to uphold the economic and political power of the town, much in the way the town built up their walls and public buildings, and provided clean water to the population. Most long distance commerce was carried on through correspondence of one sort or another, invoices and letters of credit and receipts were all commonplace business practices. The increasingly widespread use of paper, due to the spread of waterpowered paper mills was an important aspect of the spread of literacy. Numeracy and an understanding of basic arithmetic was also necessary for running any kind of business, down to the most humble artisan workshop. The most popular text book for math during the Late Medieval period was Fibonacci’s Liber Abaci, which was translated into the vernacular dialects of 15 languages. This text helped European cities replace the use of Roman numerals with the much more efficient Hindu-Arabic numerals of 0-9, as well as introducing a much easier method of calculating fractions.
Schoolteachers sign from Basel, 1516, painted by Ambrosius Holbein. The sign reads: ‘"If anyone be desirous of learning to write and read German ... whatever they be, whether burgher or journeyman, woman or maiden whoever need this skill, enter and find here honest teaching at a reasonable price, and if they cannot learn due to being slow, they may receive their money back. Anno Domni 1516"
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As my father was a public official away from our homeland in the Bugia customshouse established for the Pisan merchants who frequently gathered there, he had me in my youth brought to him, looking to find for me a useful and comfortable future; there he wanted me to be in the study of mathematics and to be taught for some days. There from a marvelous instruction in the art of the nine Indian figures, the
introduction and knowledge of the art pleased me so much above all else, and I learnt from them, whoever was learned in it, from nearby Egypt, Syria, Greece, Sicily and Provence, and their various methods, to which locations of business I traveled considerably afterwards for much study, and I learnt from the assembled disputations.
In most towns, boys stayed in school a bit longer than girls did, often boys got school until they were 12 and girls until they were 10 or 11, though it varied from place to place. Women of some means, including middle class burghers, could also receive private tutoring by very qualified instructors. Women participated in the spread of literacy primarily through the offices of the Beguines, and later their colleagues in the Sisters of the Common Life. The Beguines were often hired as schoolteachers, particularly in Flanders where they originated, and later in many cities of the Rhineland and in Bohemia, where many of them fled after suffering persecution in France and Italy. The Sisters of the Common Life spread the popularity of religious texts such as psalm books and books of hours, which they also manufactured in scriptoria which spread rapidly along with the growth of the popular ‘Devotio Moderna’ movement.
School mistresses guide children to their classes, note the wax tablets hanging from the children’s belts.
But this, on the whole, the algorithm and even the Pythagorean arcs, I still reckoned almost an error compared to the Indian method. Therefore strictly embracing the Indian method, and attentive to the study of it, from mine own sense adding some, and some more still from the subtle Euclidean geometric art, applying the sum that I was able to perceive to this book, I worked to put it together in xv distinct chapters, showing certain proof for almost everything that I put in, so that further, this method perfected above the rest, this science is instructed to the eager, and to the Italian people above all others, who up to now are found without a minimum. If, by chance, something less or more proper or necessary I omitted, your indulgence for me is entreated, as there is no one who is without fault, and in all things is altogether circumspect. The nine Indian figures are: 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 With these nine figures, and with the sign 0 which the Arabs call zephir any number whatsoever is written. -Excerpt from the Liber Abaci of Fibonacci Another standard textbook was Aesop’s fables, either in Latin or translated into the local vernacular (German or Polish for example). This was used for teaching young kids reading and writing and grammar. And presumably, certain moral or ethical lessons.
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Education in this period was sharply divided between the vernacular dialects like German, Flemish, Italian or Polish, and Latin. Children in town schools usually learned a year or two of Latin, enough for basic familiarity but not literacy, and got the majority of their education in the local vernacular dialect.
A wax tablet and stylus of the type used in medieval schools. Many of these tablets ended up in latrines, perhaps dropped there by unappreciative students, and they have proven extremely useful to researchers.
Only people literate in Latin were considered truly “literate”, and originally vernacular literacy was mostly confined to business uses such as invoices and so on. But the spread of vernacular literature by respected scholars such as Petrarch and Dante in the 14th Century stimulated the growth of vernacular literature. By the 15th Century vernacular literature was a rival to Latin.
Town Law and the Church The relationship between the medieval town and the Church was complex. On the one hand, every Sunday bright and early the patricians, artisans, clerks, soldiers and servants of the town would stream into the churches, chapels and cathedrals for mass. They went to the church for weddings, for funerals, to celebrate public holidays (holy days) and for the baptism of their children. The Church was where many of the children of the burghers were educated and was often the center of the best available public entertainment in the city including the best theater and the most sophisticated music. But there was often political, social, and economic tension between the Church and the burghers. The origin of this lay partly in the independent status of the town itself, which in many cases was won back in the 13th or 14th Century through force of arms at the expense of a local PrinceBishop or Prince-Archbishop200. Though these events were in the distant past by the 15th Century, in many cases the inheritor of position still resided nearby and wished to reestablish control of the town the same way it was taken away (i.e. by force of arms), which actually happened on a few occasions such as in the city of Mainz in 1461 when Archbishop Adolf II Von Nassau recaptured the city and killed 400 inhabitants, and something similar happened briefly in Bremen in 1366. Even where this sort of existential threat was not looming, tensions between Church and town remained high. Church officials generally perceived mercantile activity, particularly banking, to be a form of usury. This created a constant low grade tension as the Church attempted to curtail the excess of the urban capitalist enterprises. In addition to a cathedral, most large towns had several major churches, abbeys monasteries and / or convents which had been given property and special rights and immunities by some mighty prince in the distant past, and their rights were protected by regional territorial powers as well as the Vatican. The church itself and any property they owned within the town was a special zone of immunity, outside of town jurisdiction. As a result there was the rather awkward situation for the town of having rival jurisdictions and even economic systems within their town walls. Churches and abbeys had their own law and their own servants and staff who were not necessarily restricted by the towns or guild manufacturing or trading monopolies, and in some cases were not even obligated to help defend the town walls. They often took full advantage of these loopholes. The Church in her many forms also mandated payment of rents or certain taxes (such as ironically enough often a percentage of tavern proceeds) in addition to the normal tithes and money raised by such dubious activities as the selling of indulgences.
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The Church had its own legal jurisdictions and it was not unknown for malefactors fleeing from town justice to claim sanctuary in the church, choosing to be judged by the ecclesiastical authorities rather than the Schöffe or town magistrate. Sometimes a particular church, abbey or convent would even take advantage of their immunity from town regulations to create their own rival craft industries of monks, nuns, or lay brethren in direct competition with the towns guilds (see Bunglers). This could sometimes lead to serious strife, particularly over the issues of rents and trade monopolies, often leading to riots and public disturbances. Danzig experienced at least two major riots in the early 15th Century between citizens of town municipalities and the Brigitine Convent associated with the Oliwa Cathedral. The city of Bremen so distrusted the Church that they created a special extremely narrow gate called the Bishop's Needle (aka Acus episcopi) some time in the 13th Century which was first mentioned in a document in 1274 AD. All clergy entering the city including the Prince-Archbishop were required to use this gate, which was made so narrow to prevent cavalry to enter (such as in the armed entourage of the prince archbishop). Bremen vs. the Archbishop As an example of the difficult relationship between town and Prince-Bishop, the history of Bremen in the second half of the 14th Century is enlightening. In 1362 the major Hanse trading city made the fateful step of enlisting the support of their Prince-Archbishop Albert II in a dispute between the town and count Gerard III who had been holding several important burghers in captivity since 1358. Albert confirmed the cities privileges and brokered peace between the town and count Gerard, but the price was steep and the town spent several years raising the money to pay, leading to an uprising by the guilds in 1365 over a new tax to finance the ransom. This uprising was crushed by the town council after some violent street battles, but in 1366 some of the councilors who had been exiled to appease the guilds appealed to Albert for help. He decided to use this as a pretext to take the city for himself, and on the night of May 29, 1366 Albert managed to sneak through one of the main town gates with a large military force and reclaim Bremen as his own personal fiefdom. He forced the city to officially render him homage and had the famous Bremer Roland statue, symbol of the cities autonomy, burned. He then appointed a new town council made up of his own supporters including some of the former exiles. Things were looking pretty grim for Bremen when the new council immediately made a stupendous ‘loan’ of 20,000 marks to Albert. But the burghers of the town were cunning and resourceful, and the original city councilors residing in exile in nearby Oldenburg managed to raise the support of several regional counts, who were not eager to see Albert II increase so
dramatically in power and wealth, and with their support the burghers recaptured the city in 1368. The puppet city council were beheaded as traitors, and the cities famous statue of Roland was replaced with an improved stone version by the town authorities. Bremen had been an autonomous city for centuries, but after these events the city began to behave as a fully independent city-state and a territorial power, further enraging Albert. Albert tried to attack the city again, but no longer had allies within the town and lacked sufficient support for a major siege as his family the Welfs were busy fighting a similar (and equally unsuccessful) war against the nearby town of Lüneburg. The city then adopted a new strategy. It seems that during his brief stint as owner of the town Albert developed a remarkably extravagant lifestyle which he found difficult to afford on a mere archbishops salary. By 1369 the Albert began to pawn some of his significant realestate holdings, starting with his key strongholds and castles.
specifically the towns of Wisby, Stralsund, Riga, Greifswald, Elbing, and Bautzen all have Roland Statues in 1456
Unbeknownst to him, Bremen was secretly buying these strategic properties and manning them with soldiers. Albert continued to live the good life and pawned his villages and castles (all collected by Bremen) to keep the wine flowing. Bremen accumulated territory and fortifications and by 1377 they had purchased all of his significant castles and had become the de-facto ruler of the entire Bishopric. But a new problem quickly manifested itself. By 1380 robber Knights in the region led by the von Mandelsloh family (who were also creditors of the wild living archbishop and wanted his assets) had begun to challenge the authority of the town as a regional power, plundering villages and robbing and kidnapping Bremen citizens and visiting merchants. The city launched a punitive campaign in 1381 and managed to capture the castles of Bederkesa and Kranenburg (which Bremen held until the 17th Century) ending the reign of terror of the Robber barons.
Wroclaw Rathaus (Town Hall), built in 1328. The cellar of this town hall contains what is allgedly the world’s oldest continuously operating tavern. Left: the famous Bremer Roland statue in the city of Bremen is considered the symbolic protector of the cities independence and freedom. The statue represents the famous Carolingian hero Roland known from the wildly popular chanson du jest ‘The Song of Roland’. The original was burned by the Prince- Archbishop Albert II when he temporarily captured the city in 1366; this stone replacement was erected in 1404 after the Burghers regained control of the town. It is claimed that an extra copy of this statue is kept locked in a cellar somewhere to quickly replace it should it be damaged, lest the city go unprotected. Right: another statue of Roland in Brandenburg An Der Havel, built 1402. Statues of Roland (Rolandsstatuen) specifically represented a symbol of opposition to the authority of the Church, and their popularity in Central Europe speaks volumes about Church–Town relations in the middle Ages. Rolandsstatuen were built in over 250 castles and towns in Central Europe, in the Baltic region
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In 1386 the City consolidated its hold on territorial power when the gentry and knights of the estates in Altunburg and Elmlohe paid fealty to the town as vassals. From this point on Bremen had direct control over the equivalent territory of a major Prince, and it remained one of the most powerful Hanse cities with the status of an Imperial Free City for the next two Centuries. Albert, meanwhile, continued his heavy drinking and dissipated lifestyle. In 1376 he was was publicly accused by the dean of the Bremen Chapter of the Catholic Church Johann von Zesterfleth, of being a hermaphrodite, and had to go through embarrassing public examinations in several places, before he died nearly broke
in 1395. For more on the cities see The Towns of Medieval Prussia for more on Prussia see Primary Regional Players, The Prussian Confederation. The Silesian Beer War The roots of conflict between Church and town were often quite prosaic. Another interesting and probably typical example of Church-town conflict was the Silesian Beer War of the 1380’s. The region of Silesia had shifted from Poland back to the nominal control of Bohemia in 1327, and the regions most dominant town had become increasingly independent in the 14th Century. Known by most people today by its Polish name Wroclaw it was Breslau to the Germans for many generations, and was called Vretslav (a Czech name) in the medieval era.
The oldest continuously operational pub in the world, the Piwnica Świdnicka in Wroclaw, Poland.
From the founding of the city, the city council of Vretslav did a brisk business in beer sales in the town, which were conducted on both a retail and wholesale level exclusively from a beer cellar in the basement of the town hall. This place is still a functioning pub today and claims to be the world’s oldest continuously operational tavern, the Piwnica Świdnicka. But a problem arose in 1380 when the Bishop, who controlled certain church owned properties within the town and in adjacent municipalities, began to undercut the sale of the dependable Schweidnitz beer favored by the council with a more popular brand known as Schöps, from Ostrów Tumski, which apparently Vretislavians couldn’t get enough of. The real issue was that due to the special rights of the Bishop, this beer was cheaper because it was tax free. Unlike the situation in Bremen, the Bishop in this case was in a militarily weak position, being based in Poland while the town was in theory under Czech control as part of the Kingdom of Bohemia. Wroclaw objected to the undermining of their lucrative monopoly and tensions rose precipitously. The bishop was unphased by a visit from surly representatives of the town militia, and continued to sell the delicious Schöps ale. The town council escalated the dispute by confiscating his supply of beer in the town and placing sanctions on its production and sale. The enraged Bishop responded with the rather extreme step of placing the entire city under interdict 201 , meaning that mass, extreme unction, weddings and so on conducted in the town officially had no meaning.
Populated by an ethnically mixed cross section of Germans, mainly Saxons from Lübeck, local Slavonic people from the Silesian region who mostly also spoke German, as well as Czechs, Poles, and the usual assortment of foreigners (especially Italians and Hungarians) who were associated with international trade, the town had been independent for generations and like so many civitas of that era had formed it’s own distinct ethnic identity. Wroclaw was somewhat unusual in the region for its ardent, aggressive Catholicism which kept it from unifying with the Hussite-dominated kingdom of Bohemia. Nevertheless, their hostility toward heretics did not translate to strict obedience to the Vatican or local prelates.
Tensions remained high when the town was visited by Czech King Vaclav IV in 1381. Lobbied by the town council, Vaclav sided with Vretslav, and ordered the bishop to lift the ban. But the bishop refused, leading the King to send his personal bodyguard to attack the brewery and the Cathedral at Ostrów Tumski. Reportedly drunken Bohemian soldiers were seen roaming the streets dressed in looted clerical vestments. In spite of the violence, the Bishop remained unphased and refused to lift the ban until the Pope issued a Bull in 1382, enforcing a compromise in which the Bishop was allowed to sell beer to his own dependents and employees but not to anyone else, and in return he lifted the ban, thus saving the souls of the thirsty citizens of Vertslav.
Despite the volatile political and military environment of Silesia, as a rich mining region lying between Bohemia, Poland and German territories of the HRE, Wroclaw or Vrteslav as it was known then was a prosperous and powerful city in the 14th Century. Situated on the river Oder, Wroclaw or Vretslav is right on the confluence of two major trade routes, the Amber Road (linking Rome to Danzig) and the Via Regia (which links Paris to the Silk Road). The wealth it acquired through trade was translated into excellent fortifications, enhancing its formidable natural defensive position on an island in the river.
Town Law in the Territorial Towns Territorial towns had much the same laws and politics as the larger free cities and league towns, but obviously on a smaller scale and there were some other differences. The major difference is that in mediatstädt, justice and town administration, to varying degrees, were carried out by representatives of the prince or prelate who owned the town, known as advocates or vogts. The advocate took precedence over the town council in favor of the agenda of the Lord, though in practice the towns often exerted
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powerful pressure to undermine this authority, usually with some effect unless the town itself was a Residenz of the prince in question. The town of Piła in the region called Neumark in Northwestern Poland was a fairly typical territorial town in the Baltic. It first shows up in Church records as a small Slavic fishing village in the early 12th Century. Situated on the river Gwda, a mere 11 kilometers from where it joins the Notec River, it grew somewhat in importance during the 13th Century as a trading center and was granted several privileges. But in the 14th Century Piła was beginning to be surpassed in importance by the towns on the larger and deeper Vistula and Warta rivers which could handle much larger boats. Piła first received a town charter in 1380 possibly directly from Queen Jadwiga of Poland, by which time it apparently had a mixed German Polish population living in two separate municipalities. Records in 1449 indicate that the town had built a water powered sawmill, and in 1455 during the 13 Years War, the Teutonic Order sold Neumark to the powerful Elector of Brandenburg Friederich II of Hohenzollorn who thereby became the new landlord. Piła was then a mediatstädt, which was the technical term for a town which was still directly owned by the regional Prince, in this case a Polish Duke named Maciej Opalinski. But de-facto control was evidently not very well established. In 1456 Prince-Elector Friederich wrote a letter to Bishop Andreas of Poznań and to the local Starost, Lukasz Gorka (who was also the royal constable), in which he complained that the burghers of Piła and another town called Snydemolewere raiding his lands in the Neumark during peacetime. What if anything was done about this remains a mystery. In 1480 Piła became an Immediatstädt, a royal town. It was a step up in status but not without a downside. In 1485 the burghers of the town were accused and penalized for tax evasion dating back to 1480. During the period many Jews from the Iberian Peninsula, Bohemia and Germany settled in the town and the accusation may have had religious - sectarian motives. Piła was finally granted Magdeburg rights in 1513, during which the Charter explicitly eliminated separate rules for Polish and German burghers, putting all citizens under the same rules, and granted the town the right to appoint its own schöffencollegium of local magistrates. Territorial towns like this tended to aspire toward autonomous status and greater trading rights, but many failed to fully achieve the goal. They still retained substantial autonomy, but ultimately they were beholden to the local aristocrats to a much greater degree than the Free Cities. The lonely hangman Corporal punishment, especially execution, was by no means unusual in the medieval world. A relatively large
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town like Danzig might execute a criminal once a month. Then as now, people committed serious crimes as well as trivial misdemeanors, and when someone was caught “red handed” in a murder, a rape, arson, an act of treason, or even if they were discovered to be a habitual thief, they were likely to be executed by the town authorities. A big Free City was often responsible for justice for a wide zone around the city itself, so crime in the rural countryside was also added to the docket, and if necessary dealt with at the town gibbet. The person who carried out the execution was treated with a strange mixture of respect and abhorrence. There was typically one executioner in each medium sized to larger town, whereas smaller towns might have to share one who operated on a kind of circuit. In every case, the person who carried out the executions, as well as most corporal punishments reserved for lesser but still very serious crimes – including but not limited to maiming or whipping etc., was in a uniquely isolated social position. Almost like a pariah cast in India, the executioner was literally untouchable. Corporal punishment of any kind was considered corrosive to Ehren, or honor. The social ‘taint’ of it so to speak was so severe that it was extended to the hangman himself, and even his family. Though a respected civil servant, usually, and reasonably well paid, nobody wanted to touch this person, be seen talking to them, or as much as possible, interact with them in any way. So the hangman led a strange existence. Common thieves and murderers would usually be hanged, whereas nobles or higher ranked burghers could expect beheading, which was considered a better way to go. Some especially heinous crimes like child abuse etc. were punished by torturous death such as being broken on the wheel or drowning. Nevertheless, condemned prisoners would typically be given a special drugged drink so they didn’t necessarily feel the pain. Execution was in part a ghastly spectacle for the benefit of the crowd. Mediation through Mead On the opposite extreme from the grim work of the executioner, is the role that beer played in civil and criminal court proceedings. One of the things one learns as a researcher of this period is that the law as written and the law as practiced were (as they still are) two different things. When law books like the Saxon Mirror were first discovered, historians believed that medieval justice was extremely harsh, since so many crimes called for draconian, often brutal punishments and interrogations. But from the records of the Late Medieval period it was abundantly clear the reality was that such punishments were comparatively rare. City magistrates handled cases every day where either the crime itself was minor, or it was hard to be certain of guilt, or punishment would cause social disruption, or quite often all three factors were in play. These could often be dealt
with by a fine, but sometimes a more informal punishment was called for. So for example in Nuremberg when a team of carpenters was tasked to build a new gibbet for the hangman, a crowd of onlookers gathered and began taunting them due to the opprobrium attached to the project. They hurled abuse for hours and even started throwing things, thus damaging the Ehren of the increasingly angry carpenters and potentially leading to violence. The town council got wind of the incident and had the watch arrest the crowd and summon them to the council chambers. Under interrogation it was clearly a mixed group of people with an unevenly distributed level of guilt, but the carpenters were mad and their honor besmirched. The solution was typical of the era – the bullies were ordered to stand beers for the carpenters at at a nearby pub. The carpenters took the rest of the afternoon off and drank until the pub closed at the expense of the people who had been taunting them. In the end they all drank together, and the dispute was quickly put behind them. The next day the carpenters finished their work unmolested. Beer was the solution in this manner for a wide variety of disputes and incidents. Forcing somebody to buy beer for people they had been picking on or had dishonored, was an
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indirect way of making them pay what would once have been called ‘Wergild’, while at the same time contributing to camaraderie and good fellowship. It helped right petty wrongs, and it was kind of funny in a way that appealed to the medieval sense of humor. Somebody got drunk and pissed on their neighbors door? Maybe it’s time for that guy to spend his beer money on them for a week or two. Labor disputes between masters and journeymen were often handled this way, minor disputes between rival families, arguments between officials, even arguments between husband and wife. The wife insulted the mother in law and violated her Ehren? She is forced to buy her beers. The husband kicked the wife’s cat? He is ordered to take her to the pub and buy her beers for the evening. It’s unclear what the cat gets. Beer wasn’t that cheap for an average burgher, it was a luxury, not to mention an important export product in most Central European towns, but a luxury that was within reach and also very popular. Beer with hops (a medieval invention) helped alleviate the aches and pains of the hard days work. And also helped remove the sting of an insult or some minor abuse. For the malefactor, buying beers for a large group of people for a single evening might use up all the disposable income for a month, but it seems to have been an easier pill to swallow than shelling out the actual cash in a formal fine.
Warfare
War wagon and militia, Phillip Mönch Kriegsbüch, 1496
“The Germans gathered on a little knoll by the river, awaiting the arrival of their men who were following. They arranged their army a second time, so that some on foot, some on horses stood opposite the Russians. Whatever Livonians and Letts came up the little knoll by the river, where the battle lines were formed, when they saw the size of the Russian army, immediately drew back, as if struck in the face by a mace, turned their backs and fled. Each one of them fled after the other one, seeing the Russian arrows coming at them. At length all of them joined the flight together. The Germans, of whom there were only two hundred, stood alone. But some of these also withdrew, so that barely a hundred remained and the whole weight of the battle was turned against them. The Russians began to cross the river and the Germans allowed them to do so until a few had come across. Then, all at once, they drove them as far as the river and killed some of them. Some others again crossed over the river to the Germans and again were driven back by them. A certain very powerful man from Novgorod crossed the river to explore. He circled the Livonians from a long way off. Theodoric of Kokenhusen encountered him, cut off his right hand, with which he held his sword, followed him, and struck as he fled. Others killed others. Whoever crossed the river to the Germans was struck down. The Germans fought with them around the river in this manner from the ninth hour of the day until nearly sunset. The king of Novgorod, seeing about fifty of his men killed, forbade his army to cross over to the Germans thenceforth.” -Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
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brutality paled in comparison to the astounding wholesale butchery of the Mongols.
Warfare in the Medieval Baltic ... et recens mare purgatum fuit ab insultu infidelium ... "and the Vistula Spit was purged of the insult of the infidels..." -Chronicon terrae Prussiae
The size and skill of armies has waxed and waned across the centuries, changing dramatically with the military technology, political systems and economic circumstances of each era. Some periods of world history were dominated by huge armies of unskilled warriors who swept across the landscape driving all before them, others were noted for smaller armies that were more skilled and better equipped, sometimes conferring enough of an advantage to defeat the hordes. In the mid 15th Century most Latinized European armies were small, expensive, and well equipped, skilled craftsmen if you will. An entire national army in 1450 might be no larger than two or three Roman Legions from the Classical era, or a single conscript infantry division in WW II. But in this period, most warriors including infantry had a high level of expertise, were extremely well-armed by the standards of their day and well-protected by body armor. Their skills originated from rural or urban militias, from the feudal system and the tournament circuit, warlike games, hunting and constant low-intensity warfare. There were few large standing armies in this era and during wartime the feudal levy of a Kingdom or Duchy was augmented by urban militias and by hiring foreign mercenaries. This is what happened in the war between Prussia and the Teutonic Knights. Generally warfare in the late Medieval period was fought on a relatively small scale, casualties tended to be low and action (between sieges and static deployments) of fairly low intensity. But fighting could be unusually cruel and vicious by modern standards especially when it took place across religious \ cultural boundaries as often was the case in the medieval Baltic. Sometimes brush fire wars flared up into huge apocalyptic battles for this reason. Cruelty and Atrocities During the first two centuries of the Northern Crusades generally speaking no quarter was asked or given on either side. Defeat meant almost certain death or enslavement, ransom was rarely offered and Chivalry was all but nonexistent. One can debate who first set this ruthless tone, there can be little doubt that the Teutonic Order played a major role in establishing it, but the pagan Baltic tribes were not exactly gentle themselves, and their considerable
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The Russians and Czechs were also known for their cruelty in war (although the Czech Hussites insisted they always spared women and children). Parallels can be seen in the Indian Wars of North America, and the spread of atrocities such as scalping, burning alive and flaying alive captives, which some claim was established by the French, others by the Iroquois or the Huron. In the long run it didn’t matter who started the practice; you really wanted avoid being captured! But things got somewhat less extreme after the cruel early days of the Crusades. A turning point was in 1329 AD when King John of Bohemia, on Crusade with the Teutonic Order insisted on sparing the lives of 6,000 Samogitians who surrendered at the Battle of Medewage 202. From that point onward, it was increasingly rare for Latins to massacre captives wholesale. But captivity could be harsh and not always distinctly preferable to death, particularly for the heathens. In 1336 in a scene reminiscent of the fall of Masada, the Lithuanians at Pilene slaughtered their own wives and children and committed mass suicide 203 rather than surrender and fall into the rough hands of the Order. Captivity, parole and ransom This underlies the basic reality of being on the losing end in a war in the Baltic. The Lithuanians at Pilene were pagan, and could expect little more than slavery and humiliation or death at the hands of the Teutonic Order. Teutonic Knights suffered a similar fate when captured by the Lithuanians or the Tartars – swift martyrdom was usually the best result they could hope for. But between Christian opponents, there was sometimes, perhaps more often than not, mercy. A captured knight or any lord would usually be held for ransom rather than being killed, (under conditions which varied widely depending on the captor, from being chained in a horrible basement for months to being treated to feasts and gifts as a valued and honored guest). There were no POW camps in this time so there were only three choices when capturing common soldiers who could not afford ransom: kill them, enslave them, or release them (with or without an oath not to fight you again). Captivity between Latin Europeans was typically a temporary condition. And even across ethnic lines ransoms could be arranged. In some cases, even a head was sufficient to buy the freedom of a VIP… “The Lithuanians thereupon collected an army and crossed the Dvina into the province of Lennerwarden. They caught the Livonians in their villages, killed some of them, drove the women,
children and flocks away with themselves, and carried off much booty. They also took captive the elder of this province, Uldewene. But Volquin, the master of the Militia of Christ [i.e. Sword Brothers], whose Brothers had come up the Dvina with the merchants, came upon the scene. The master and a few men pursued the Lithuanians, attacked them from the rear, and fought with them. The prince and elder of the Lithuanians fell and was killed, and many men fell with them. The rest who were in the first ranks fled and escaped, taking Uldewene with them.
word and treat captives fairly. John Hunyadi, a mighty and ruthless warlord from Hungary accustomed to winning victories in the ultra-high stakes battlefields of the Balkans against Turks, Germans and others, was feuding in the northern part of his realm against a powerful Czech mercenary captain, John Jiskra. Hunyadi's reputation for cruelty to the defeated ended up causing him a problem
The head of the Lithuanian who was killed was afterwards given for Uldewene’s ransom, so that at least when they had received the head they could celebrate the funeral rites for him, according to the pagan custom, with drinking bouts.” - Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus
is suspected of having tried to kill Giskra while he was attending the wedding of the latter’s widowed sister. After this, Giskra occupies the monastery at Luzeniec and pronounces Hunyadi his enemy. Hunyadi then invests Luzeniec town which is protected neither by Nature nor by artificial defenses; but the fort there is defended by 500 brave and resolute men, who repulse all assaults. Hunyadi surrounds the fort with a double ditch, fenced and reinforced with baskets of earth, and expects it to surrender. The defenders, many of whom are Poles and Czechs, though short of water and provisions, are afraid that if they surrender they will lose eye, nose, face or hands, and so they fight on.
(Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894
It was illegal for Christians to hold fellow Christians as slaves, which reduced the options to two (at least in theory) kill or release. Prudence might seem to recommend the first option, and certainly this was the modus operandi of the Tartars from whom the third option, enslavement of captives, remained a way of life and linchpin of their economy. But many Latin leaders decided that in the constantly shifting alliances of the Baltic it was wiser to show mercy than to despoil the defeated, for today’s enemy could be tomorrows desperately needed ally. So in several famous cases in the 14th and 15th Century large numbers of prisoners were paroled or released en masse. Perhaps the most famous example was the battle of Grunwald in 1410, 14,000 prisoners including German, French, Prussian Bohemian, Scottish and Dutch captives were set free by the Polish King Jagiełło, under the condition that they report to Kraków by 11 November 1410. Only those who could afford a ransom were kept as captives, but those of means had to pay dearly indeed, the German mercenary Holbracht von Loym had to pay sixty times the number of 150 Prague groschen 204 , amounting to more than 30 kilograms of silver.. In Russia it was more likely for captives to be enslaved, if the local slave markets are saturated there was always an infinite demand for slaves from the Ottomans and the Tartars. The Tartars themselves typically killed large numbers of captives and took only civilians, choosing the fittest of the peasants and the choicest women and children as slaves because they were worth the most on the markets of the Sarai. But in any part of this region there was always a good chance that a given commander would simply decide to massacre all of his prisoners in the heat of the moment. So it was a good idea to avoid being captured. This excerpt from the annals of Jan Dlugosz, written in ~1480, on his entry for 1451 is a good example of the price you could pay for not being willing to stick by your
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"Janos Hunyadi and Jan Giskra are again at loggerheads. Hunyadi
In the meantime, Giskra has assembled a scratch force of some 4,000 foot and horse obtained from outside, and advances against Hunyadi's army, reputed to number some 17,000. Hunyadi is ready to do battle and issues from behind his rampart, leaving only a handful to guard the camp and the waggons, and small force to see that the besieged do not make a sortie. But this is just what the desperate besieged do and attack their besiegers. Hunyadi sends the latter reinforcements, but when the besiegers see them, they think they are fleeing, not coming to their assistance, and so themselves take to their heels; whereupon the rest of Hunyadi's troops follow their example. Giskra's men become exhausted with killing and taking prisoners, one of whom is the Bishop of Eger. Hunyadi's camp is given to the troops to loot, Hunyadi himself escapes."
On the one hand, Hunyadi usually had the element of fear on his side, since he was known to be harsh to those who crossed him (and he rarely lost). But Jiskra, also a successful commander, was known for being loyal to his troops, and the latter had the tough defensive discipline for which the Czechs (and Poles) were known. In the subtle game of morale that these battles often hinged on, Jiskra's strategy proved to be more successful at least in this case. Armies misbehaving Armies traveling across the countryside often seemingly couldn’t help themselves from looting, burning, robbing and raping. In fact the only way to stop them was if their own leadership (or someone else) demonstrated an almost eager willingness to hang miscreants. Bad behavior by ‘friendly’ armies often caused major problems for military leaders so the motivation to impose such harsh discipline was certainly there. But of course so was the fear of the army itself. The Polish chronicler Jan Dlugosz was bitterly critical of the armies of his day for their brutality against civilians, and he often criticized the Polish armies for doing this as much as the Germans or the Russians. Tartars, even ostensibly
friendly units operating in their Allies territory, were often singled out in the records for their insatiable depredations.
Battlefield Dueling Battlefield duels were a common occurrence during wars in the medieval world. Period chroniclers described routine battlefield duels during sieges and before pitched battles, often conducted with a certain formality. Battlefield duels could influence the morale of armies and contribute to the dissolution of besieging armies through constant attacks and challenges. This actually seems to have been a regular tactic. Though dueling formally on the battlefield seems like a hopelessly romantic and impractical gesture to us today, it made perfect sense in the social context of the medieval period. Honor can be perceived as overlapping with reputation. Much honor could be gained by winning a duel, enough to justify the risk. Conversely, declining a challenge could diminish one’s honor. Honor had real value in terms of support, always a critical thing in the medieval world, especially for the nobility, as well as morale which was always critical in warfare but especially in the medieval period. Jan Dlugosz describes several interesting accounts of battlefield dueling in his annals. A typical example is during the 13 Years war, in the entry for 1454, during the initial revolt by the Prussians against the Teutonic Order: “An army is immediately sent to Malbork to lay siege to the castle there. Meanwhile, Chojnice, which has not submitted, is reinforced with a thousand cavalry sent to help the Master [of the Teutonic Order].The Voivode of Inowroclaw then arrives with 1200 horse and 700 foot and occupies Tuchola and Sluchovia. In a series of duels, his champions repeatedly defeat those of the Chojnice garrison and this prevents the crops there being destroyed." -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1457 AD
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The assumption here seems to be that members of the knightly estate (in whatever version) would fight at least some of these duels in a semi-formal manner.
A battlefield duel on a bridge between two armies. From the Bern Chronik, Diebold Schilling 1478.
In the entry for 1463 it sounds like the Poles got the worst of it: “In response to complaints from Prussia, especially from the people of Gdansk [Danzig] and Torun, that those who hold Gniew [Teutonic Knights forces] are hampering their ships from sailing the Vistula, the King sends a force of mercenaries to the town and castle of Gniew, which has a garrison of 500 excellent soldiers. Though this force is helped both by land and water units from Gdansk, the besieged repeatedly sally out to do battle or fight individual duels, and the King's men see no hope of capturing Gniew nor of starving it out." -Jan Dlugosz, Annals of Poland, from the entry for 1457 AD
In some cases large, organized group duels would be orchestrated. The most famous case of this by far was the legendary Combat of the Thirty described by Froissart, between Breton and English soldiers during the 100 Years War. But Jan Dlugosz gives us a similar example from Poland in the early 15th Century. This is from Jan Długosz' entry on the year 1410, it was a skirmish that took place in the aftermath of the battle of Grunwald, before the prisoner release. Both sides were somewhat in disarray after the big battle, and a force of mostly German mercenaries on the Teutonic side was fighting the Poles, Lithuanians and Tartars in the midst of the chaos, trying to take control of various strong points as each side attempted to assert (or challenge) new boundaries. The skirmish is now called the Battle of Koronovo. From the entry on 1410: "...the Order's troops hasten back to their horses and start to withdraw. Their idea is that, if the Poles, who are on foot, get far enough from the town, the rest of the garrison will be unable to come to their assistance should fighting start. However, the Polish archers fire flight after flight of arrows at the withdrawing Knights
which wound many of them and allow the Poles to get in among them and kill many more. Every time the enemy turns to attack the archers, these withdraw in among their own knights, where they are safe, and from where they emerge later and start shooting again. This skirmish continues for over a mile, until the enemy reaches a village, Laczko, belonging to the monastery at Koronowo. Here they reform and await the Poles' attack, confident that the terrain will give them an advantage. However, instead of advancing straight at them, the Poles make a detour to the steeper side of the hill. The men of both armies are well experienced in the art of war, men who will fight with the greatest courage. However, before the two sides actually engage, Conrad of Niemcza, a Silesian [German, more or less] in King Sigismund's army, on his own initiative rides out and challenges the Poles to a duel. The challenge is taken up by Jan Szczycki, who unseats the challenger and tramples him. The two ranks then close with great shouts. Each stands firm and the outcome is long uncertain, for the two sides are equal in armament, skill and experience; but eventually they become exhausted and fighting stops, as if a truce had been agreed. One is then arranged, and for a short period the ranks separate, wipe away their sweat, and rest. After a while, the truce is declared at an end and fighting resumes. Many are killed or taken prisoner. When exhaustion again overcomes them without Fortune having given any indication of where the advantage lies, a fresh truce is arranged, during which the knights rub down their horses and themselves, bandage wounds, rest, talk, exchange prisoners and captured horses, send each other wine and clear up the ground of the wounded and those thrown from their horses and unable to get up, lest these be trampled when the fighting resumes; indeed, the scene is such that all of them might have been thought the greatest friends, instead of enemies. Fighting then starts up for a third time. None can remember so bitter a struggle between two armies of veterans experienced in the profession of arms, who fight on until wounded or taken prisoner. Still the fight is equal, each side fighting under a single standard, that of the Poles a dark-red dual cross stitched to a white background, that of the Teutonic Knights a white and red field joined diagonally, which is borne by Henry a knight of French origin. Suddenly, a Polish knight, Jan Naszan, knocks the enemy's standard-bearer from his horse, seizes the standard, rolls it up and fastens it to his saddle. At once the Poles begin to have the advantage and, the enemy begins to think of retreat. Then as fear begins to outweigh shame, the enemy starts to withdraw and so their defeat becomes a certainty. Many are killed or taken prisoner; the others forced to flee, pursued by their victors as long as these have the strength to run and kill. Then nightfall hides the fugitives. Later, the family of the knight who lost the Knights' standard reproaches him for it's loss; and he would, indeed, have been accounted dishonoured, had not King Wladislaw, at the man's own request, given him a letter absolving him of the shame. Experts in the art of war consider this battle more important than that fought at Grunwald; and if you consider the danger, ardour and endurance of the combatants, it certainly should rank higher."
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Left, St. Eustace kitted out as a knight. Detail from the Paumgartner Altar by Albrecht Dürer, circa 1500. Note the spiked knuckles on the halfgauntlets. Elegance and lethality went hand in hand. Right, detail of a knight, Der Weisskonig of Maximilian I, art by Hans Burgkmair, circa 1516.
Reysa By the 15th Century, most war in the Baltic consisted primarily of raids but occasionally pitched battles were forced (or accepted, depending on the nature of the two combatants). The simple raid was the most common tactic, it caused limited, usually just incremental harm to the enemy, but at relatively low risk to the attacker. Raids were difficult to prevent or intercept, but during times of war in particular, patrols were sent out in the border areas. In 1456 there was an active war between the Teutonic Order and their mercenaries on one side, and the alliance of the Prussian cities and Poland with their mercenaries on the other. Patrols from both sides were active near the border areas and throughout their own territories, and raids were even more common during the raiding seasons. The standing armies were small however and spread pretty thin, so patrols tended to be relatively small, as few as 4-6 lances of heavy cavalry or a squadron of a score or so light cavalry, or slightly larger numbers of 50 -100 infantry usually on gun wagons (see Tábor). Their job would be to make contact and send riders to the nearest stronghold to organize a response.
War and Music One curious aspect of medieval warfare which seems to have become at least incrementally more important by the Late Medieval than in previous era’s, was the increasing presence of music on the battlefield. In the records, whenever troops were dispatched on a mission, even in small numbers of ten or twenty, it seems that musicians were almost inevitably included. Fifers, flute players, bagpipers, trumpeters and other horn players, and above all drummers were commonplace on medieval battlefields, particularly among the Latin armies but also the Ottomans. First-hand accounts of the early years of the Northern Crusades in the Baltic identified music as playing a key role in maintaining morale of the Latinized forces and at the same time, unnerving the pagans. In one battle, a small force of German knights supported by Liv allies routed a larger contingent of Lithuanian warriors when the latter recited a chant taught to them by their Crusader friends: “Seize! Crush! Kill!” over and over as they marched forward. The Lithuanians, on the verge of slaughtering their opponents, lost their nerve and collapsed under the assault.
place, less in the other... up against a natural obstacle like a stream or a hillside in one place, or out in the open on the other.
St. George (Left) and St. Florian (Right) kitted out as knights in blackened harness, with longsword sidearms (and halos). Fresco from the Roman Catholic Church of Pónik (now Slovakia) 1478
In other battles, sieges and skirmishes described in the Chronicles of Henry of Livonia, pagan forces were again and again routed under the influence of martial music played by the Latins. During one siege a priest affiliated with the Teutonic Knights even played an organ. But music was a double-edged sword. In 1431 at the battle of Domazlice an entire Crusader army of mostly German knights and mercenaries collapsed and fled without a single shot being fired upon simply hearing the Czech war-song, “Ktož jsú boží bojovníci” (Ye who are warriors of God’). of the approaching Hussite heretics. Nor were the Latin forces the only ones to make use of musicians. The Ottomans developed brass band music called the Mehter, or Mehter Marsi, which sounds a bit like John Phillip Sousa marches but apparently had a very unnerving effect on their Christian enemies.
Cavalry could suddenly concentrate forces where the opponent is weakest. On a smaller scale this can be as simple as the cavalry sweeping down on the tail end of a column and ganging up on the few guys there just long enough to do some damage, then sweeping away again before strong opposition can be organized. On a larger scale, an army can be caught for example while they are crossing a river, with half their forces on one side and half on the other, one side struggling with the baggage train and one ready to fight. The cavalry can go for the former and wreak havoc.
Cavalry Warfare The whole point of cavalry was the incredible mobility of horsemen, so unlike what you may see in video games or films, it is not very realistic to show cavalry simply riding up next to one another, standing there and duking it out, though that did sometimes also happen (and was a tactic for certain types of 'heavy' cavalry in the 18th and 19th Centuries).
“And when the Emperor [Sultan Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire]
More generally though, cavalry warfare was all about achieving local numerical superiority. Putting your numbers where the enemy is weak and avoiding where they are strong. Your enemies forces are positioned just so: stronger here, weaker there; more organized in this
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For this reason, situational awareness, battlefield communication and battlefield intelligence were extremely critical for cavalry warfare. It's why cavalry used flags, bugles, drums, and so on to coordinate their activities well into the more familiar 19th Century. heard that Uzun Hasan was marching after him, he turned about against him, and Uzun Hasan’s son began to do battle with him. Uzun Hasan himself also arrived there, and they fought for two days until Uzun Hasan was overcome, and his son Mustaffa was killed on that plain. All the Emperor’s cavalry were decisively defeated, and had it not been for the Janissaries, the Emperor himself would have been taken or killed. And Uzun Hasan, having turned to his army, said to them “I did not know that the Turkish Emperor would be so weak against me in cavalry; but in his infantry he is my master, and especially in the mountains.” And then having turned back he marched to his own land, and the Turkish Emperor likewise across the mountains to his own lands.” -Excerpt from “Memoirs of a Janissary”, page 63. This is from the personal account of Konstantin Mihailović, a former Janissary captured by the
Hungarian King John Hunyadi, who published this account in 1490. This describes a battle which took place between Uzun Hasan, Mongol Timurid ruler of Persia, and the Ottomans under Mehmet II at the Battle of Otlukbeli in 1473. The Mongols were defeated largely by Janissary firearms in this battle which was instigated in part by Venetian diplomacy.
Cavalry was specialized for different roles, heavy cavalry was known on the Steppe since the time of Cyrus the Great, though Latin Europeans had made some major innovations to that role. Horse archers go back before Attila the Hun, and light cavalry was around since people first started riding on horseback. Though the light cavalryman was often unarmored, wielding the light lance, the lasso, javelins or darts, light maces or axes, and the ubiquitous saber, they still had a deadly niche in warfare. “The Turkish raiders are called in their language akandye which means ‘those who flow,’ and they are like torrential rains that fall from the clouds. From these storms come great floods until the streams leave their banks and overflow, and everything this water strikes, it takes, carries away, and moreover, destroys, so that in some places they cannot quickly make repairs. But such sudden downpours do not last long. Thus also the Turkish raiders or ‘those who flow,’ like rainstorms, do not linger long, but wherever they strike they burn, plunder, kill and destroy everything so that for many years the cock will not crow there.” -Excerpt from “Memoirs of a Janissary”, page 89
Cavalry armed with bows of course, capable of shooting at the gallop could attack from a distance, could shoot pursuers with the Parthian shot, could kill from close in or far away. Coordinating attack, evasion and pursuit, this was the innovation which dominated the Steppe for nearly 1,000 years. This is where the Mongols really excelled. They used whistling arrows, flags, smoke, flares, and so-called 'arrow riders' (battlefield or Tactical couriers) to communicate, and were really superb at detecting weakness in their enemy’s ranks. Long range missiles could help create these weaknesses, which is of course one of the ubiquitous tactics of the Central Asian steppe, and the Mongols, Ottomans, Mughals, and various nomadic groups thereof. Flight arrows rained down from a distance could create panic among enemy fighters (and their horses) which the Mongols could practically smell...
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Many of these tactics, like the couriers and signaling arrows were quickly adopted (or maybe they already existed and were re-emphasized) by Europeans who had to face Steppe nomads, particularly in Poland and Hungary, who developed their own versions of light cavalry of the Central Asian style (uhlans and light hussars), while the Poles in particular refined their own version of Latin heavy cavalry to work better against it (what would eventually become the famous winged hussars). The Czechs, like the Swiss, went the other direction and emphasized infantry with war wagons and crossbows (later guns) which properly coordinated, could resist and annihilate cavalry charges, and could apparently maneuver against and crush horse archers as well, though it’s not precisely clear how that was done. The charge of the heavy cavalry was also part of cavalry tactics, and it was ideally used at the wavering enemy line, on the flank or the rear. It was a more decisive move, and had been part of cavalry tactics for centuries, and actually also originated on the Steppe - the Scythians, Sarmatians and Parthians all had heavy cavalry (see cataphract and clibinari). This was something the Latin Europeans really perfected, though against more sophisticated cavalry they had to learn to put this type of fighting in its proper place – to strike only when the time was right. The other big factor in cavalry warfare was morale. Infantry tended to be more steadfast, because they had to be. A lot of cavalry fighting involved mad chases, confrontations, deceptions, backing down, regrouping, false retreats, sudden splits of formations and coordinated maneuvers... the outnumbered side suddenly became the larger force, and vice versa. The morale of both the riders and their horses could abruptly fluctuate: a sudden fusillade of guns, a steady rain of flight arrows, sinister enemy maneuvering which looks like it's cutting off hope of escape. Any of these could trigger a catastrophic panic. Many cavalry battles seemed to hinge on swift changes in morale. This is why strong personal leadership was so important, which in turn was perhaps part of the reason for the code of Chivalry and why the best heavy cavalry came from feudal aristocracies; the best light cavalry from nomadic tribes, and the best infantry from republics.
Polish Knights battle Russian Druzhina at the battle of Orsha, detail of a painting by Hans Krell, 1514 AD,
Heavy Cavalry "When the Semgalls saw their great multitude, many of them trembled and, not daring to fight, wished to seek safer places. Thereupon certain of the Germans approached the knight Conrad and begged insistently that they go first into battle with the enemies of Christ. They asserted that it was better to go to death gloriously for Christ than, to the confusion of their tribe, to take flight dishonorably. Conrad, with his horse and himself well-armored, like a knight, attacked the Lithuanians with the few Germans who were on hand. But God sent such fear into the Lithuanians and they were so dazzled by the brightness of the German arms that they turned away on all sides. The leader of the Semgalls, perceiving that the Lithuanians were so terrified through the mercy of God, exhorted his men bravely into battle with them. Thus the army was assembled and the Lithuanians were dispersed on all sides of the road like sheep. About twelve hundred of them were cut down by the sword. A certain member of the bishop's household, Theodoric Scilling, came upon Svelgate, who had said that he would overthrow the city of God, saw him sitting in a cart and pierced his side with a lance. Certain of the Semgalls saw him quivering, cut off his head, and put it on one of their wagons which they had loaded only with the heads of Lithuanians, and went into Semgallia. They killed a great many of the Esthonian [Estonian] captives with the sword, since they too were enemies, working at all times against the cultivators of the Christian name. Thus the Christians, joined with the pagan Semgalls, obtained a full victory over both countries, namely Lithuania and Esthonia.
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-Heavy cavalry of the Teutonic Order routed by the Poles at the battle of Tannenburg, 1410 AD
After the slaughter of the Lithuanians and Esthonians, the Germans and the Semgalls turned to the spoils of each tribe. They took untold loot, both in horses and flocks, likewise in clothing and arms, and then all returned to their homes safe and unharmed, and having been saved through the grace of God, they blessed God. A certain priest named John who at that time was held captive in Lithuania reported that fifty women had hanged themselves there because of the deaths of their husbands, without doubt because they believed that they would rejoin immediately in the other life."
---Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894, describing what may have been the Lithuanians first introduction to Latin armored heavy cavalry.
Heavy cavalry was the still the king of the battlefield in the Southern Baltic in 1456. It was limited in many ways: heavy cavalry could neither escape from nor catch light cavalry in the open; it had limited or no ranged weapon capability, and could be ineffective against strong wagonbergs (see Tábor) or pike squares. It was also difficult and expensive to support, not easy to get into position, and certainly not ideal for many tactical environments found there like swamps or heavy forests.
hand weapons which had any chance of piercing mid 15 th Century plate harness at least some of the time. The riders were very difficult to harm and their horses were nearly as well protected as the riders on their body and head (though their legs remained exposed and killing the horse was still the best way to stop heavy cavalry). When possible traps or pits were dug, caltrops were also apparently in pretty wide use in the Baltic going back to the early Crusades. Failing that massed pikes, war-wagons, or simple escape on a fast horse were the preferred methods of coping with them.
But the bottom line is that heavy cavalry was absolutely lethal when cut loose in the right place, far out of proportion to their numbers, and ultimately the armored horseman were the key to decisively controlling an open battlefield. The only thing which could stand up to the mailed Knights of this period in the open was a very disciplined infantry company in pike square or a Tábor. Lacking such a hardened defense, it was wise to avoid combat with Latin heavy cavalry whenever possible. Against disorganized opponents they could defeat up to ten times their own numbers or more. To visualize what a charge by a banner of heavy cavalry might look like, imagine a group of roughly 30 or more horsemen clad in tempered-steel plate harness, pulling down their visors and charging in formation on armored warhorses (Destriers or Coursers). As they thunder toward their target at full speed, each rider levels an 18’ long lance to concentrate all of the energy of horse, rider and armor into a single sharp point, which will strike with immense accuracy (aimed at the face, the throat, the groin…) These riders are supported by an additional 150 or more lightly armored demi-Lancers also wielding lances as well as crossbows and firearms, following on the flanks and close behind, shooting, chasing down stragglers from the enemy. As the 30 or 40 lances of the banner strike almost all at once, the length of the lance usually guarantees that they strike before their enemies do. The initial lance strike (which often breaks the lance) is instantly followed by sword cuts, axe blows and the crushing impact of maces and hammers, wielded by fit, highly aggressive riders who are nearly impervious to wounds due to their armor. After they have wrought havoc with their first charge, these knights wheel around for a second pass. Their servants quickly replace any broken lances and check gear for damage. They put their visors down once more and charge again. And again, and again, until the enemy formation breaks up, which is when the real slaughter begins…. And the hunt. Striking from horseback roughly doubles the speed of a hand weapon and the couched lance itself is one of the few
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Gothic armor for horse and rider, 1470 AD. It is extremely difficult to kill a cavalryman who is this well protected. Swords, axes and spears are useless, only specialized armor-piercing weapons such as halberds or poll-hammers can deal with them, bows or guns must be at point-blank range to even have a chance of piercing this armor, and the horse is protected almost as well as the rider. The only reliable way to kill a lancer like this is by another horsemen wielding a couched lance, or by pulling him off of his horse (such as with a lasso or the hook on a halberd) and finishing him on the ground with daggers.
All of the major powers in the Southern Baltic made use of heavy cavalry, (just as all of them made use of light cavalry and cavalry archers in one form or another). The most effective and numerically significant were the BrotherKnights of the Teutonic Order, the Polish Towarzysza pancerni (‘mailed Companions’, similar to knights) who have proved to be their equal in recent conflicts, and the foreign Crusader or mercenary Knights, particularly those from France and Burgundy. The Russian Druzhina were not far behind, they could very nearly hold their own in a pitched battle with Knights and were faster and lighter with more tactical flexibility due to their bows. The Tartars also had some heavy cavalry as well but it cannot contend with the European type at close quarters (which is why they were almost never caught in close quarters). The Turkish Sipahi were tough shockcavalry armed with bows as well as lances, similar in tactical capabilities to the Russian Druzhina.
Knights - Bachelor ‘Knight’ was both a social rank as well as a type of heavy cavalry, and this can obviously lead to some confusion. In Latin Europe a knight had a specific legal and social status and may have been a member of the aristocracy or the gentry and a property owner of some importance. Knights were typically affiliated with a more powerful patron, who could be a prince or lord, a city, or a member of the clergy, though there were also so called ‘Wild Knights’ (see Robber Knights and Knights Errant) and independent knights such as the Free Imperial Knights of the Holy Roman Empire who as direct vassals of the Emperor were effectively autonomous (technically having the status of ‘immediacy’). To wear the knights belt and spurs had great significance and carried with it several rights, immunities and privileges. A knight’s word carried legal weight in a court of law, a knight had the right to carry a sword even where normally forbidden (sometimes even as a captive) and knights captured on the battlefield could expect to be held for ransom rather than killed (one of the most important features of the system of Chivalry). Knights bachelor were at least some of the times literally bachelors, as were many young soldiers, their unmarried status making it more acceptable to put their lives at risk. A knight of course was not necessarily a warrior at all, there were many knights in 15th Century Europe who never set foot on a battlefield and merely held the title as a social rank. Knights could be churchmen, merchants, administrators or landowners who didn’t have the least interest in ever fighting anybody. There were also many poor knights who couldn’t afford a warhorse and armor, particularly in Poland, Lithuania and Prussia where the aristocracy was large and relatively poor, and in Germany where “ministeriales” (serf-knights) were armed by their patron. But those who did fight were part of the elite warrior class of the Latin European world. Their numbers were measured in tens and hundreds rather than hundreds and thousands as with other troops, but just a few of them could make a big difference in a fight. A knight and his attendants were usually referred to in period documents as a Lance. The Lance Latin heavy cavalry came in three types, the full lance (also known as a Gleve or a Helm); the individual men at arms or lancers; and similar but less formidable demi-lancers. A lance (Gleve / Helm) was actually small team or unit of three to five horsemen centered on a knight- bachelor,
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while men at arms and demi-lancers normally fought as solo riders or as support for knights. In the Baltic the lance typically had a few more riders and consisted of at least four or five riders, sometimes as many as six or ten. The lance was usually led by a knight - bachelor, Ritterbrudern (brother Knight) or Constaffler (burgher Knight) who was the center of the unit; he fought in fullarmor on an armored warhorse. He was accompanied by one or two lancers or demi-lancers who fought as armored riders on unarmored horses; and usually at least one mounted crossbowman who was armored but rode an unarmored horse; and finally at least one unarmored attendant or valetti. In the Baltic it was not unusual for knights to carry a crossbow of their own on their saddle as an additional sidearm, a backup ranged weapon. (These would later be replaced in the same role by pistols in the 16th Century). A knight’s personal servant or valet (valetti) carried 3 extra lances for the knight, to be replaced when they broke as they frequently did, and normally also led extra riding horses and at least one pack animal such as a mule or a donkey. A really well-equipped knight traveled on a palfrey or an ambler and only mounted his destrier or courser when about to fight. After lance charges the knight would continue to fight with axe, sword, mace, estoc or warhammer, supported by his armed vassals. Knights and their horses wore colored livery, head-pieces, and / or banners bearing their colors and coat of arms (their own or that of their patron), to identify them on the battlefields so that they would receive credit for their deeds and would not be attacked by their own side, and so their enemies knew that they could pay a ransom. Bright, fashionable, elegant clothing also enhanced the honor of a knight or any warrior, and a lot of attention was paid to looking good when about to fight for life and death. Men at Arms The term “men at arms” is used here, somewhat arbitrarily, to refer to a specific type of heavy cavalry who often comprised the secondary members of the lance supporting the knight. Sometimes they would be the leaders of the lance themselves. Very generally speaking, there were four types of men at arms in Latin cavalry armies: the basic lancer, the sergeant (serviens), the demi-lancer, and the squire (esquire or scutifer). In Poland these men were all called pocztowy, meaning members of the knights poczet (fellowship or retinue).
Czech Hussite propaganda showing their heavy-cavalry smashing a huge army of 100,000 baby-killing Crusaders, Battle of Domazlice 1431. Source Codex Jena (pro-Hussite Czech, late 15th Century).According to records, the Crusaders fled when they heard the songs of the approaching Hussite army.
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Africa riding toward him wearing a helmet with a crown of gold and many precious stones. His saddle was silver, and his stirrups gold, while his jubbah was crimson and embroidered with large oriental pearls. When the king saw Tirant's troubled face, he approached him and said: "Are you the captain of the Christians?" Tirant did not reply, but instead looked at his men who had left him, and all the dead bodies and banners scattered over the ground. That day, they had scarcely defended themselves against the Moors. In a loud voice that the Moors and the wounded could hear, he cried out: "Oh, poor men! Why do you bear arms? Oh, sad, vile men: you will be rightly condemned for this day on which you die so miserably, and your reputation will suffer greatly!" -Excerpt from Tirant Lo Blanc, by Joanot Martorell, published 1490 AD, Valencia Demi-Lancers, Germany 1480 AD
Lancers could be a knight, or an ordinary cavalryman, in the latter case they still normally carried their own gear though they could have non-combatant servants accompanying them. Lesser ranked lancers typically fought on lightly or partly armored horses. A basic lancer typically owned his own personal body armor and at least one horse and could fight as a mercenary, a vassal, or a paid retainer. Sergeants were equipped by their patron who could be a noble family, an abbey, or a town, so they didn’t usually own their own horse or armor. Many sergeants were ministeriales who were technically bound to the service of their patron as serfs. Squires originally meant essentially ‘apprentice knights’, but by the 15 th Century the rank of squire was prestigious and somewhat similar to that of a knight. Not all squires were in the direct service of a knight, Constaffler, or brother-knight, and most owned their own equipment. In some armies (notably Burgundy) Constaffler sometimes fought as ‘squires’ in support of knights. Demi-Lancers The third tier of heavy cavalry was the demi-Lancer. Like the other terms used here demi-Lancer had different meanings in different times and places. In the 15th Century Baltic a demi Lancer was a partially armored heavy or medium cavalryman riding an unarmored warhorse. A demi-Lancer typically had a helmet and a cuirass or platendienst (coat of plates), or at least a coat of mail, and rode on an unarmored or lightly armored (i.e. with textile barding) warhorse with no attendants. The demi-lancer was often an attendant for another man-atarms, though they sometimes fought as scouts or in independent groups. He fought with the lance first and foremost, and also carried a sword (and other sidearms); he may have had a crossbow or even a firearm in some cases as a ranged weapon.
Knights Banneret When Tirant saw his men fleeing that day, and that he could not keep them in order, he went to the river. He saw the King of
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A knight-banneret was a knight who served as a field commander of a number of lances, typically in North Eastern Europe between 12 and 30 lances, or between 60 and 150 individual men at arms (though it could vary widely). The Banneret carried a square banner identifying his standard, men fighting under this banner would rally to it on the battlefield. Losing the banner was considered a great dishonor to all those attached to it.
Left Teutonic Knights Enter Malbork Castle, Karl Steffeck, 1818, Right, reproduction of a Teutonic Knight from the Castle at Malbork. Photo by Lvov;
Brother Knights The Ritterbruden (Brother Knights) of the Teutonic and Livonian Orders had their feet in two worlds, they were both knights and monks. Ritterbruden had the same knightly privileges as any secular knight, had the same standards for defending their honor, could participate in tournaments and had to be treated with the same etiquette. But they also lived according to their monastic Rule. In the field Ritterbruden were more disciplined than most secular knights because they were organized into a single army. They were also members of a picked elite who lived under martial discipline and trained regularly so they tended on average to be more effective man for man than most other heavy cavalry.
Two of the three panels of Paulo Uccello’s fantastic depiction of the Battle of San Romano, circa 1440 - 1455. These depict heavy cavalry typical of the mid 15th Century in action, with crossbowmen and other infantry in the background. Creative Commons attribution VivItalia1974.
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Ritterbruden were spread thin, generally, typically acting as leaders for lesser troops such as Prussian auxiliaries, mercenaries and urban or peasant militia. But when concentrated in some numbers, even a small force of Brother Knights could be a game changer in a battle. Druzhina The Russians and to a lesser extent, the ‘White Russians’ (Belorussians), Lithuanians, and Ruthenians (Ukrainians) had a special type of cavalry called Druzhina. This was medium cavalry in terms of armor, usually clad in yushman, klibaniion, or backhterets, reinforced mail, or lamellar over mail, but they were heavily armed with an unusual combination of weaponry. They carried the lance of the Latin knight, but also the composite bow of the steppe, and they were also skilled with light maces, lassos, sabers, and swords.
Light Cavalry “The Lithuanians flew around on their speedy horses. As was their custom they rode about here and there, sometimes fleeing, sometimes pursuing threw their lances and javelins and wounded many. The Germans, however, grouping themselves into a single wedge and protecting the army from the rear, protected the Semgalls to go ahead.” -Description of a skirmish from the records of the Teutonic Order, 1207 AD.
Light cavalry are the principle scouting branch of armies in the Baltic and a very effective military force in their own right.
Sketch of a Tartar Horseman from the workshop of Albrecht Durer, circa 1485
Muscovite Cavalry, 16th Century
As a result the Druzhina were extremely versatile troops, heavily armed and armored, able to cope with Tartars or Teutonic Knights on a roughly equal footing, and tactically dangerous in a wide variety of situations. The Druzhina were originally the entourage of a prince or Khagan and were a professional warrior class. They were the elite of the Russian war machine in the 15th Century. Ministeriales Many knights, men at arms and demi-Lancers, and quite a few Ritterbruden of the Teutonic and Livonian Orders were actually strangely enough of the serf class. These so-called ‘unfree knights’ were legally obligated to serve either a prince, an abbey, or a town in the capacity of soldiers, in a status somewhat analogous to Samurai in Feudal Japan. By the 15th Century many Ministeriales had been granted fiefdoms and comprised part of the gentry, but technically they were still members of the serf class. Most of the military entourage of German knights (the supporting riders in a ‘lance’) were of this status, as were many of the knights themselves.
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By the 15th Century the Lithuanian military included large numbers of Light Cavalry and they had the best in the region. The Teutonic Order relied extensively on “Old Prussian” auxiliaries for Light Cavalry, the Russians and Tartars also had their own equivalent. Light Cavalry fought both with short-range missiles (javelins and darts primarily) as well as lassos, and with lances and close-in melee weapons like swords, sabers, maces, and axes. They tended to be heavily armed but lightly armored and they did not normally stand and fight in a toe-to-toe engagement, rather they would harry and hit and run. The Lithuanians were the exception to this rule and would sometimes form up and charge their enemy when they sensed morale ready to break. This could be more perilous than it sounds however. One of the most dangerous things about cavalry in general and experienced Light-Cavalry in particular, was their ability to cut-off and single-out stragglers and small groups in a given party and achieve temporary local numeric superiority very quickly and decisively and then melt away again before a rescue or counterattack can be affected. Sidebar: Female Knights? "It was not always necessary to be the wife of a Knight in order to take this title. Sometimes, when some male fiefs were conceded by special privilege to women, they took the rank of chevaleresse, as one sees plainly in Hemricourt where women who were not wives of Knights are called chevaleresses." -Claude-François Ménestrier, Histoire civile ou consulaire de la ville de Lyon, 1622 AD
Were there female knights? Women in the aristocracy were fairly routinely given knightly rank and often led the defense
of fortifications under certain circumstances. There were even Knightly Orders which included women, such as the Order of the Hatchet (Orden de la Hacha) of Catalonia. Founded in 1149 by Raymond Berenger, count of Barcelona, to honor the women who fought for the defense of the town of Tortosa against a Moorish attack. The dames admitted to the Order received many privileges, including exemption from all taxes, and took precedence over men in public assemblies.
One of the most interesting characters I ran across during research for this project was a certain Onorata Rodiana of Cremona, Italy. A female fresco painter and artist who after thwarting an attempted rape became a condotierra (mercenary soldier) for several years and eventually was a successful condotierre captain or mercenary contractor. So the answer to the question ‘were there female Knights’ is probably yes, in both senses of the question, but not very often.
In Italy, the Order of the glorious Saint Mary, founded by Loderigo d'Andalo, a nobleman of Bologna in 1233, and approved by Pope Alexander IV in 1261, was the first religious Order of Knighthood to grant the rank of militissa to women. This Order was suppressed by Pope Sixtus V in 1558.
A female Knight was rare but not unheard of, a female warrior from the lower classes was a bit more common but still unusual. Someone who was both of knightly rank and a fighter was extremely rare but so are lottery winners, and we do see them. The bottom line is that in the medieval world, there really was no supreme authority to enforce cultural rules beyond a certain point. It was as much as they could manage to bring murderers and heretics to justice. A woman with the drive to assert herself in the Chivalric realm faced the inertia of culture, and the much more daunting physical challenges of cavalry warfare, but if she could master those obstacles, there was little in place to stop her.
In the Low Countries there were even Knightly Orders open exclusively to women of noble birth, who received the French title of chevalière or the Latin title of equitissa. In his glossarium (s.v. militissa), Charles du Fresne, sieur du Cange notes that still in his day (17th c.), the female canons of the canonical monastery of St. Gertrude in Nivelles (Brabant), after a probation of 3 years, were made Knights (militissae) at the altar, by a (male) Knight called in for that purpose, who gave them the accolade with a sword and pronounced the usual words. In England between 1358 and 1488 there were 68 cases of female Knights recorded. We also know that women fought, though most of the examples on record were of common girls, such as ‘Jeanne Hachette’ (Jeanne Laisné), who helped defend the town of Beauvais at a critical moment during a siege by none other than Charles the Bold of Burgundy. According to the legend, a Burgundian soldier had scaled the wall and planted the Burgundian flag, when she hacked him in the neck with a hatchet and flung him from the wall, rallying the militia who fended off the siege, thus annoying Charles the Bold to no end. In the Baltic region, we know that the Bohemians (specifically the Hussites) also had significant numbers of women in their armies, even as commanders. But they were typically commoners. Women also fought in the Baltic, as shown in this excerpt from the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia: “The citizens, the brothers of the militia, and the ballistarii, few though they were, together with the clerics and the women, all had recourse to arms, and having sounded the bell which was run only in time of war, they assembled the people. They went out to meet the enemy on the banks of the Dvina and wounded many of them with ballistas [Crossbows]. The Kurs [Curonians], leaving their ships in the Dvina, organized their army in the field. Each of them carried before him a wooden shield made out of two planks and, to support this shield, a staff, like a pastoral staff.”
Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, page 97
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The Ottomans used both light and heavy cavalry with extremely effective tactics.
Light Cavalry native to this region were familiar with all the tricks of the steppe, the feigned retreat, the Parthian shot, the ruse, the feint, the ambush. Leading pursuers into bogs and deadfalls. They communicated with whistles and hand signals and coordinated their actions in a masterful ballet of death. Horsemen from outside this region were extremely vulnerable to all of these tricks, and unwarned, easily fell prey to their destruction. Even experienced fighters of the Baltic were hard pressed to maintain proper discipline and
situational awareness when under attack by experienced Light Cavalry. In the mixed terrain of the Baltic Light Cavalry could emerge from a hidden trail in a woodland or from behind a thicket, attack, and then disappear again either permanently or temporarily, only to attack again in a moment from another direction. This was the tactic which the Lithuanians used with success against both the Tartars and the Teutonic Knights. When facing light cavalry attacks it was critical to maintain discipline and good communication and make proper use of the terrain, for a mistake (like blundering into a bog) meant almost certain death.
A mongol warrior executes a ‘parthian shot’ at his pursuer, one of the characteristic techniques of the Steppe Nomads.
“It was now the prelates’ twenty fourth year [1222] and the land did not yet rest in tranquil peace. In that same year the Tatars [Mongols] (who are said by some to be the Parthians and who do not eat bread, but feed on the raw flesh of their flocks) were in the land of the Valvus pagans. The Tatars warred upon them and defeated them and slew them all with the edge of the sword and others fled to the Russians, seeking aid from them. Word went out through all of Russia that they should fight with the Tatars, and the kings of all Russia went out against the Tatars. The Russians were not strong enough to fight with them and fled before them. Mstislav, the great king of Kiev, fell*, together with forty thousand men who stood by him. The other King Mstislav**, of Galicia, escaped by flight. About fifty of the other kings [Knyaz] fell in the same battle. The Tatars pursued the Russians for six days and killed more than a hundred thousand men, whose numbers God alone knows; the rest fled. The king of Smolensk, the king of Polozk, and certain other Russian kings sent their emissaries to Riga seeking terms of peace. Peace was renewed throughout all the areas as it had prevailed in earlier times.” ---Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894 * Mstislav III of Kiev and two other princes were actually captured alive by the Tatars in the Battle of the Kalka, stretched on the ground and covered with boards upon which the Tatar chiefs sat for a banquet. The Rus princes smothered to death205.
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** After the Mongols had surrounded the Rus forces, Mstislav the Bold managed to cut through the ring of Tartars with a small group and escape206.
Mounted Archers The best mounted archers in the Baltic zone were the Tartars, but the Russians, Poles, and Lithuanians also have some riders with this unusual skill, and the Turks, on the fringes of this region, raised the military art of horse-archery to an even higher level. Mounted Archers fought unarmored or in lamellar armor, mounted on fast ponies, and armed with powerful recurve and / or heavy composite bows, as well as lances, sabers, lassos, maces and axes. “The Tartars wage war in a way quite different to that of other nations. They fight from a distance, pour a rain of arrows around and on the enemy, then dart in to attack and swiftly withdraw; and always they are on horseback. Often they pretend to flee and then wound or kill those who thoughtlessly pursue them. They use neither drums nor trumpets. Often they leave the battlefield in the full fervour of the fight, only to return to it shortly afterwards.” -Jan Dlugosz, from the entry for 1287
Mounted archers were absolutely lethal in the open steppe, and some parts of this Baltic region particularly in its Southeast extremities featured fairly large expanses of open plains and gently rolling hills which this type of cavalry owned. But in the closer terrain which was more common in Prussia, Livonia and Lithuania, Mounted Archers were on a roughly equal footing with more conventional Light Cavalry and could be occasionally cornered and decimated by Heavy Cavalry or even infantry.
Archers from the Jami’ al-twarikh, 14th Century
Nevertheless, the Mounted Archers of the Tartars, Mongols and Turks were widely feared in the Baltic, their weapons had some armor-piercing capability at least at point blank range, were lethal at both close and very long distance, and their notorious cunning, situational awareness and tactical acumen are on par with that of the Lithuanians and Old Prussians, their determination and ruthlessness knew no equal.
Tartar horses had a formidable endurance and they were known to go on raids deep into German, Polish, or Lithuanian controlled territories, to attack with decisive speed and ruthless cruelty. They often arrived with long strings of ponies, as many as 6 horses per rider, in order to be able to continually have a fresh horse. This necessitated that they keep moving though because they always had to find fresh fodder for the large number of horses. The need for fodder, made more difficult beyond the steppe, was one of their few Strategic weaknesses. By the 15th Century the Poles, Cossacks and other unfriendly neighbors of the Mongols had learned to attack their cavalry when it dispersed to collect fodder. “Certain Livonian scouts, indeed, came back to the king saying that all the fields and roads around Riga were full of little three pronged iron bolts [Caltrops]. They showed some of them to the [Russian] king, and said that these hooks had everywhere gravely pierced both their horse’s feet and their own sides and posteriors. Fearing this, the terrified king did not descend to Riga with his army. The Lord thus freed those who believed in Him.”
greatest military skill they had was situational awareness and their ability to read their enemies disposition and morale so they knew when to wait, when to flee, when and where to apply pressure and when to go in for the kill. The Tartar horse-archers were organized according to the decimal system in groups of ten, one hundred, one thousand and etc. Each grouping had its own commander and discipline was extremely strict, violation led to instant death. As a result Tartars were capable of many tactical skills of great value, riding in complete silence, executing feigned retreats with prefect timing, waiting for long periods while enduring conditions of great discomfort, laying down with their horses for sustained periods, going without sleep or food and so on. Though not unique in any of these abilities, the Tartars took this kind of thing to a higher level than most other forces in the region, and with their powerful composite bows which were used with a variety of arrows for different purposes, they proved extremely lethal and dangerous opponents, feared by anyone who had to face them.
---Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894. Caltrops were one effective method used to deal with enemy cavalry.
Target practice with crossbows, circa 1475. Town governments encouraged a culture of target shooting with huge shooting contests that paid large cash prizes to the winners. By the 14th century most towns had crossbow shooting societies, often associated with St. George.
Crossbowmen Albrecht Dürer. A Tatar horse-archer, early
16th
Century.
Unlike Light Cavalry, who normally relied on constant harassment and attrition as a tactic, Mounted Archers definitely also had a ‘shock’ role. They engaged with their bows, first from a long distance using whistling arrows to harry and demoralize, then closer-in with armor piercing arrows to kill men and horses, and when they sensed the enemy cohesion breaking, they would move in decisively for the kill with lance, mace and saber. Perhaps the
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Crossbowmen arguably formed the most important soldiers in the Latin armies. The crossbow was one of the principal weapons introduced to the region by the Crusaders which enabled the conquest of the Baltic by Christendom. Skilled crossbowmen were an excellent defense against every type of cavalry except heavy cavalry in the open. Recruited mainly from the militias of the towns and hired from abroad as mercenaries (notably from Bohemia, Switzerland, Germany and Italy), and from the auxiliary levies of the Teutonic Order, they fought in nearly every Latin army formation of any size.
In the 14th Century the Samogitians captured a German artisan who agreed to teach them how to make and use heavy crossbows in exchange for his life. Since that time the Lithuanians also had crossbowmen of their own, both mounted and on foot (the latter particularly used for sieges and attacks on towns, both offensively and defensively). The Russians also adapted the weapon but primarily for siege warfare. But the crossbow was really a weapon of the Latin West, and in the 15th Century was perhaps the single most important tool of warfare for the Germans, Poles, Czechs, and above-of all the town militias. Towns went to great expense to encourage a thriving culture of marksmanship, sponsoring large, expensive, elaborate shooting contests on a routine basis.
Mongol recurves or English longbows, and could kill horses with a single shot. Mounted Crossbowmen Crossbowmen came in four general types. Mounted arbalestiers were an elite with nearly the status of knights, and were available in equivalent (small) numbers. They carried stirrup crossbows or the very powerful stachel (aka ‘stinger’, cranequin arbalest) crossbows which a skilled marksman could reload on horseback.
A mounted crossbowman and a demi-Lancer, detail from the Von Wolfegg Housebook, 1480 AD. Note the crossbow is kept covered to protect it from the elements until it is used.
Mounted crossbowman shooting on the move, detail from the Spiezer Chronik, Diebold Schilling, 1478. Note full Gothic harness armor and longsword as sidearm.
The crossbow was a feared device; it was mentioned more than any other Latin weapon by the Mongols in their secret history and other surviving records, and forensics from the late medieval period show that crossbows were one of the most common causes of death on the battlefields excavated in the Baltic. In a personal correspondence one Polish researcher working out of England told the author of this book that they have been able to trace the course of some running battles from the 13th and 14th Centuries by finding the iron bolt-heads of crossbows with metal detectors, some still embedded in ancient trees. The very heavy stachel or halb rustung (‘half-ton’, as in draw strength) crossbow arguably had the longest range of all the portable missile weapons in the Baltic and may have had the best armor piercing capability, though it lacked the rate of shots of the bows and the intense shock effect of massed firearms. The even more powerful siege crossbow, though slower and more ungainly to span, had the ability to out range even the most powerful
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They could ride armored horses though lightly or unarmored mounts were more common (for better speed) and the marksmen themselves usually wore full armor, either plate harness or at minimum a platendienst (coat of plates). They typically carried swords as sidearm’s, and were usually accompanied by at least one attendant and sometimes a demi-Lancer for protection as well.
Latin version of the Parthian shot, from Talhoffer’s 1467 Fechtbuch.
The second type, mounted marksmen equipped with heavy crossbows (knottelarmbruste) or stirrup crossbows (steigbügelarmbruste,) were much more common. They
made up the numbers in most raiding parties and cavalry formations. Using the ‘goats-foot’ or gaffle spanner with slightly less powerful weapons, and they could reload on horseback. Generally, they would rely on their horses to get them out of trouble rather than standing their ground with pavises (though they could fight dismounted behind cover depending on the circumstances).
Armored riders using crossbows with pyrotechnic bolts to ignite fires in the roof of a besieged castle or town. From the Bern Chronicle, Diebold Schilling circa 1472.
Mounted crossbowman. Once again, the Latin armies had their own version of the Parthian shot…. (Talhoffer)
This second tier of mounted crossbowman probably comprised the single most important class of soldier in Prussia on both sides of the conflict between the Teutonic Order and the Prussian Confederation. They typically wore a mail shirt or a breast plate with a gambeson and helmet, and carried a sword, dagger, falchion, or messer as a sidearm.
In the Baltic a moving military column would have mounted crossbowmen working as scouts out front, on the sides, and in the rear. Crossbowmen used the whistling bremsen bolts or fire-bolts to signal distant comrades, another technique learned from the Mongols. Mounted crossbowmen also frequently accompanied lancers, men at arms, or knights, as indispensable support against enemy light cavalry or horse archers.
Mounted Crossbowmen, detail from a plate of the Spiezer Chronik, Diebold Schilling, 1478
…and when that failed, the longsword was good backup.
Mounted crossbowmen were widely used as scouts. We know from surviving records that in 1420 AD Jan Žižka gave captured German warhorses to Bohemian crossbowmen and trained them as scouts.
The hard-hitting crossbows of the late medieval era could kill people and horses at a long distance and posed a serious threat to mounted archers. New types of spanners like the cranequin, wippe, and ‘goats foot’ allowed skilled marksmen to quickly span their weapons on horseback, making them much more effective in the field. "I was not above a dozen paces distant from the Enemy when I gave them this Volley, by which (as it appear'd by the testimony of the Prisoners, who were taken a few days after) above fifty Horses were kill'd, and wounded, and two Troopers slain, an execution that a little cool'd their courage, and caus'd their Troops to make a halt. In the mean time Captain Carbon had leisure with his party to retire full gallop towards the brook I had pass'd over to relieve him. . ." -Excerpt from Commentaries de Messire Blaise de Montluc, by Blaise de Montluc, published 1592, Bordeaux (page 8)
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Contrary to popular opinion, the crossbow could be and was used for indirect shots, sometimes referred to as ‘shower shooting’, though they were less effective at this than self-bows, due to their slower rate of shooting.
Infantry Crossbowmen The third type, professional Infantry crossbowmen, was a bit less common in the Baltic, and used primarily in sieges and for the defense of cities and castles. These elite infantry arbalestiers operated in units of two or three, a marksman armed with a stirrup crossbow (Steigbügelarmbruste) or an “English winder” (windlass crossbow) and a shield man who handled the pavise and could reload a second crossbow while the marksman shot the first. Sometimes there was also a third man who carried the bolts and other gear. This marksman was typically armored like a lancer and carried a sword or messer as a sidearm, the shield man and porter if any were unarmored and armed with a messer, a baselard or a dagger.
The weapons on the left and right are crossbows meant for cavalry, (and / or for mounted hunters). The weapon on the right has a steel prod, the one on the left has a composite prod. These weapons were formidable, spanned with a cranequin, they hit as hard as an arquebus. The huge one in the center is a siege crossbow, an order of magnitude more powerful, more like a modern rifle in terms of range and hitting power. Weapons like this had a longer effective range than any bow.
With infantry crossbowmen a larger category of weapon was sometimes used, very heavy, very powerful weapons usually spanned with a large cranequin or a windlass, with a draw weight possibly as much as 2000 lbs or more, these wallcrossbows or siege crossbows could kill horses and men as far away as 380 meters or more. In the early 20 th Century a historian named Ralph Payne Gallwey shot a weapon of this type across a river over 400 meters. Payne Gallwey also noted that in the medieval period, when shooting at a target the size of a forehead of a man at 50 yards, period literature noted that the bolt should not drop lower than his chin.
". . . and this I will prove by one Crossbow man that was in Thurin, when as the Lord Marshall of Annibault was Governour there, who, as I have understood, in five or sixe skirmishes, did kill and hurt more of our enemyes, then five or sixe of the best Harquebusiers did, during the whole time of the siege. I have heard say of one other only that was in the army that the King had under the charge of Mounsieur de Lautrec who slewe in the battaile of Bycorque a Spanish Captaine called John of Cardone, in the lifting up of his helmet. I have spoken of these two specially, because that being employed amongst great store of Harquebusiers, they made themselves to be so knowne, that they deserved to be spoken of: what would a great number of such do?" -Excerpt from Commentaires de Messire Blaise de Montluc, by Blaise de Montluc, published 1592, Bordeaux Two crossbowmen, one spanning a stirrup crossbow, the other aiming a smaller cranequin arbalest which has already been spanned. The crossbowman on the left appears to be of African or possibly Turkish origin. Note the fur covered quiver, the cranequin on the ground, and the cut-thrust sword carried as a sidearm. Crossbowmen at the Martyrdom of St Sebastian. Detail of a painting from Upper Bavaria by an unknown artist, circa 1475
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This gives us an idea of the lethal accuracy of these weapons, which explains their very wide popularity throughout Europe at this time, particularly in Italy and Central Europe East of the Rhine, where a culture of competitive marksmanship was part of nearly every town and in most of the countryside as well. “When the fort was closed, ballistarii [Crossbowmen] mounted the ramparts and wounded many. The Russians, however, were ignorant of the art of the ballista, being rather with the bow. Yet they wounded many on the fortification during the many days they fought and, bringing up a huge pile of wood, they tried to burn down the fort. Their labor was in vain, however, for many of them fell wounded by the ballistarii as they gathered wood. The king, therefore, sent messengers to the people of Treiden, to the Letts, and to the pagans round about, urging them to join in an expedition against the [German] people of Riga. Accordingly the people of Treiden at once came happily to the king and this one task was enjoined among the newcomers, namely to bring up wood and set fire to the fort. As they brought up the wood, many of them, being without armor, were killed by flying arrows.” ---Excerpt from The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894.
Finally, during times of full war mobilization the fourth type emerged, the ordinary infantry crossbowman. There were perhaps four ordinary crossbowmen for every mounted crossbowman or heavy-arbalestier though they were much more rarely used in battle. These men were recruited mostly from the wherpflictige (rural levy) and generally armed with a basic knottelarmbruste or a heavy stirrup crossbow spanned with the aid of only a belt-hook or a goats-foot. They would carry an axe, a short sword or a messer as a sidearm, and wear light textile armor if anything. These men could kill from the battlements but weren’t really skilled enough for the open battlefield.
Military Contractors One of the curious aspects of the armies of the middle ages is that is that so many of the warriors who made up their ranks were part-timers: peasants, country gentlemen, merchants, or artisans who were doing their militia duty or who took time off from their normal vocation for a season or two campaigning. An artisan or a peasant could earn more than a year’s normal wages in a matter of a few weeks with a mercenary company (if they got paid). Potentially much more than that if they captured a wealthy man in battle or were lucky enough to seize valuable loot. Even some of the aristocratic knights were really planters or ranchers who took time off to fight when necessary, and didn’t live for war. Of course, many nobles in the 15th Century did still make a career of war, and certainly the military Orders such as the Teutonic Knights were professionals, though even
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they split their time between administration and campaigning. Political leaders in the towns, the burgomeisters and city councilors, also often led a doublelife as military leaders, and many seem to have been competent commanders. But the majority of the real military leadership in wars in the Baltic, including the 13 Years War, was made up of professional military contractors, of the type the Italians called condottierre. These men were often of relatively humble origins, from the gentry, lower nobility or knightly classes who rose to positions of power on the strength of their sword arm so to speak, though some were burghers and a few even came from the ranks of the peasants. As a rule, they were competent and resourceful men. These were dangerous fellows with bands of killers under their command, and while the stronger princes and the more resourceful part-time burgher leaders could face them them on equal terms, they were hard to deal with on the field except by hiring other condottierre. Condottieri could also keep a war going full time whereas a burgomeister or a prince had other responsibilities to attend. Some contractors specialized in certain aspects of war, such as sieges, or raids, or the construction of forts, or naval warfare, or the management of big cannon (the highly sought after so called büschen-meister). Some controlled specialized companies of heavy or light cavalry, gunners, crossbowmen, pikemen or halberdiers. Others commanded mixed formations. Many condottierre in the Baltic were simply referred to as hauptmann, or “Captain”. In the Prussian wars a lot of the “hauptmen” seemed to be from Moravia, Austria, or Bohemia, though some were local men, some were Saxons, Italians or Flemish, and a few came from various parts of Germany or even as far away as Scotland or Spain. Like all mercenaries, these contractors became unpredictable and troublesome when they weren’t paid. At one point in the 13 Years War Bohemian mercenary contractors sold three towns they had captured from the Prussian Confederation back to Poland when the Teutonic Order was unable to pay them. Other than a lack of pay however, which voided the contract, they usually stuck by whoever hired them, since their reputation as professionals required that they show loyalty. Unlike in Italy, contractors in the Baltic rarely tried to seize power for themselves, probably because the towns maintained formidable militias and a very healthy distrust of foreign military men, while neither the princes nor the Order wanted capricious mercenary lords as their neighbors. Contractors could be decisive in battle and their presence or lack thereof could have operational or even strategic significance in a given conflict. Some of these colorful characters are covered in Volume II, in the section Selected people of the Medieval Baltic.
Dismounted knights, preparing for combat. Der Weisskonig, Maximilian I, art by Hans Burgkmair circa 1516
The war-flail or Flegel, though simple, was a formidable infantry weapon, quite deadly in close combat and something of an equalizer due to it’s efficacy against even well armored warriors. First widely adapted by the Czech Hussites during the Hussite Crusades in the 1420s, it’s effectiveness especially in the hands of a peasant experienced at threshing with agricultural flails, made it popular throughout Central Europe. From the book of Armaments of Emperor Maximilian I.
“The following summer, the Semigallians agreed to attack Terwetein. The said castle was located in their land. It happened on a day which had been previously agreed upon. In the settlement before the castle walls nothing which could be called Christian survived, being captured or slain. A dishonorable man called Bertold was there, the Semigallians liked him because he was a bowman, he became useful to them. If he would come over to them, they would spare his life. He did this and was glad. In a short while the Semigallians found plenty of crossbows and arrows in the dwellings outside the castle. Very swiftly they gathered them together. They were glad about the crossbows. The renegade Christian then took as many archers as there were crossbows. All those who did not know how to use them he began to teach to bend and to shoot. Because of this they let him live.” Livonian Rhymed Chronicle, 1343
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Forces of the Swabian League, led by Nuremberg and Augsburg, burn Burg Dietenhofen, the castle of of a robber knight accused of repeatedly breaking the Franconian Landfrieden. Painting by Hans Wandereisen, artist and ‘war correspondent’ who witnessed the sacking of 31 castles during the 1523 campaign.
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Table 1: Comparison of 7 types of high-velocity missile weapons used in the 15th Century Baltic
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Stirrup Crossbow Composite prod construction, 150 Kg draw weight, 90 cm prod 80 gram bolts at 160 fps initial velocity Single target effective range 80m at 140 fps Max effective range 150m at 120 fps Max range with flight bolts (bremsen) 220m at 100 fps
This ubiquitous weapon has good strait line direct-shot accuracy and good armor penetration capabilities, but the heavy, thick bolts lose energy suddenly and cannot be shot in a very high arc so their maximum range is limited and they are not as effective for area shooting as a (self) bow is. At maximum ‘flight’ range the velocity of the bolt is so low (100 fps) that it’s really only a nuisance weapon. Crossbows are also slower to reload than bows and shoot at roughly one third the rate, (or closer to 3/4 the rate with the help of an assistant and an extra weapon as they are sometimes used.) Still at 80m the direct shot range is almost twice the accurate range of a bow and at these medium ranges the crossbow is a feared weapon. It could also easily penetrate light (i.e. textile) armor, all but the heaviest shields, and in many cases lamellar as well out to its maximum effective range (roughly 150m). Stirrup crossbows were also used from horseback, relying on goats-foot or wippe type spanners, vastly increasing their tactical effectiveness. In addition to regular or armor-piercing ammunition, all crossbowmen in this region used light whistling harassment bolts (called Bremsen, ‘gadfly’) at long ranges, which frightened men and horses and helped to demoralize the enemy. Then they switched to heavy armor-piercing bolts as they closed to shorter ranges. A large organized force of crossbowmen was often able to effectively neutralize Light Cavalry and Horse-Archers because they could quickly injure and kill many of their horses, sometimes breaking up charges with a single volley. Cranequin Arbalest Steel prod or composite construction, 500 Kg draw weight, 80 cm prod, 80 - 120 gram bolts at 230 fps initial velocity Single target effective range 150m at 200 fps Max effective range 200m at 180 fps Max range with flight bolts (bremsen) 350m at 150 fps
The more powerful types of crossbow, including the small cranequin arbalest had a much higher direct-shot effective range than the stirrup crossbow. This is the Latin armies answer to the recurve bow. Inside 150m this is a very scary weapon indeed, because a high percentage of shots could kill. Even out to 200m neither men nor horses wanted to get near marksmen armed with these high velocity crossbows (the vicious hornet like sounds the bolts make going by often panicked horses). This beast was at its best at close quarters such as during a siege, when protected by a Tábor, or in relatively close terrain of mixed forest and fields. The heavy statchel (‘stinger’) crossbow had the advantage when the marksmen had some cover to reload, but in the open steppe the recurve bow had the advantage. This is why both weapons remained in use for so long; they each had a specific niche. Nevertheless, mounted crossbowmen became increasingly important in the Late Medieval period and their ability to quickly dispatch horses with a single shot from a heavy arbalest proved to be a potent antidote to steppe cavalry. Compared to other types of crossbows, the cranequin arbalest had the advantage of being relatively easy to use from horseback (being spanned by a jack rather than a foot stirrup) and mounted crossbowmen gave the weapon far greater tactical flexibility by being able to get closer or further away from their target as the situation dictated. In 2016 a researcher named Andreas Bichler made an accurate replica of a small cranequin arbalest with a 1,200 lb draw which achieved an initial velocity of 69 mps / 226 fps with an 81 gram bolt. As far as the author is aware this is the first time a modern repro performed this well. Siege Crossbow Steel prod or composite construction, 500-800 kg draw weight, 100-120 cm prod 120 - 250 gram bolts at 250-300 fps initial velocity Single target effective range 200m at 250 fps Max effective range 300m at 180 fps Max range with flight bolts 450m at 160 fps
The large siege crossbows, in German-speaking areas sometimes called ‘Wall Crossbows’ or ‘English Winders’ (meaning windlass based weapons which were roughly equivalent in power but clumsier to reload), with the
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possible exception of the larger wall-guns, had the longest range of any missile weapon used in the Baltic in the mid-15th Century, and would retain this role until the arrival of true muskets in the 16 th Century. Tricky to span and somewhat dangerous to use, (since a mistake spanning or a broken prod could cause lethal injuries) these weapons were usually used by skilled mercenaries or expert marksmen. Due to the large size and complexity of this weapon they were often used in siege warfare, though they are also sometimes used in the field (for example with war wagons). This is the crossbow which could apparently out range all the self-bows at least with military grade bolts, though it is still debatable as some of the more powerful recurves have claims of incredible distances using flight arrows. It’s difficult to be certain today since few people are willing to risk tests with incredibly expensive and potentially fragile antiques, and the techniques for making these remarkable weapons have not yet been fully reconstructed. One major academic study done with composite prod crossbows failed to create weapons that worked for more than a few shots. In another 2015 study a researcher named Andreas Bichler created a 1298 lb draw siege crossbow shooting very large and heavy 260 gram bolts at 57 m/s (187 fps) for 488 joules which is closer to medieval performance. By comparison the more powerful modern hunting crossbows available today achieve from 150 to 200 joules. Heavy Composite Recurve Bow Composite construction, 63 Kg draw weight, 121 cm string 40 gram arrow, 220 fps initial velocity Single target direct shot 50m, 210 fps Max Effective range war arrows, lofted / area shots 250m, 200 fps Max range with flight arrows 320m, 160 fps
The recurve bow of the steppes was designed for use on horseback and both for shooting long-range flight arrows and shooting rapidly at point blank range. The weapon represented here is the most powerful type, a very heavy long-range weapon with a 140 lb draw. As with all bows, this is largely but not exclusively an area-shot weapon, though they were also used quite a bit close-in. That is to say, it’s most effective and common use is to shoot ‘indirectly’ into an area like a mortar or light artillery. Then after they sensed their enemies were softened up by long-range harassing shots, the Mongols in particular liked to come very close and shoot armor-piercing arrows directly at point blank range to finish off their opponents. Because bows shoot in a higher arc than crossbows or firearms, they maintain their velocity much better through the arrows entire flight path. Even at maximum range the velocity of arrows remains high because the arrow is shot in a ballistic arc and is aerodynamic. Shooting lofted shots into target zones presents certain advantages and disadvantages. On the negative side, it is fairly wasteful of arrows, some are always going to miss the target (people and horses), so it takes some time and a large number of arrows to have the desired effect (which is one of the reasons why Mongol archers were made to carry so many arrows, up to 60 per rider). The angle of attack was high which further reduced the armor-piercing abilities and could be negated by overhead cover such as a building or the mantlet of a war-wagon (or even a thick canopy of trees). However plunging shots had the considerable benefit of being able to go over walls, over the sides of ships and boats, or other groups of troops (such as your own allies or enemies wearing armor). This presented certain important tactical advantages which along with their high rate of shots, led both the Mongols and the Turks to continue to use recurve bows well into the firearms era. The Ottomans continued to make heavy use of bows into the 17th Century as they had a certain niche on the battlefield which was only very gradually superseded by firearms (which they also used). In an open field situation, the recurve bow could out-range most of the crossbows or the arquebus by using flight arrows with harassing shots. So long as enough ammunition was available and there was enough space to move, (and their enemy lacked heavier weapons) the horse-archer could continue to rain flight arrows down on their enemy with an incremental effect on the morale of men and horses with no way to answer back. The mobility of the fast Mongol horses meant they could stay at this range indefinitely. This is a recipe for death. As soon as morale of the enemy army began to waver, the Mongols would charge in sowing panic and destruction with armor piercing arrows, lances, and sabers. If the opposing force wasn’t equipped with crossbows or guns, the Mongols can come much closer and use war-arrows, which accelerated the process considerably. However, in a closer-range situation such as during a siege, or where a pass or a bridge has to be forced, in an ambush or in the small fields between forests that one often sees in Lithuania, Northern Poland or Prussia, crossbows and firearms caused casualties much more rapidly. This is also why the Tábor became so important when fighting
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the Mongols, because the overhead cover they provided forced archers to come much closer to the danger zone to cause damage, putting them in harm’s way from crossbows and firearms. English Warbow Compound construction, 70 Kg draw weight, 182 cm string 65 gram arrow, 200 fps initial velocity Single target direct shot 60m, 190 fps Max range with war-arrows, lofted shots, 250m, 180 fps Max range with flight arrows, 280m, 160 fps
Similar in effect to the recurve, it is not as efficient of a design so even though the bow may have a higher drawweight, the effective ‘push’ conferred to the arrow is actually a little bit less. English longbows however shot longer and heavier arrows, and this gave them some enhanced armor penetration and wound-causing ability at long range. Trained archers could also maintain a high rate of shots with this weapon and were trained to target areas effectively. ‘Compound’ construction refers to different types of wood which are sometimes inserted into the compression point of the weapon, though the stave itself is usually made of heart of yew. Arquebus 80 cm barrel length 30 gram lead bullet, 700 fps muzzle velocity Max aimed fire range 20m Max effective range 300m
Short range accuracy was pretty bad for early firearms, and lofted area fire was not a realistic option, but due to the high velocity of the bullet the weapon was lethal out to a long distance and at point-blank range could probably punch through all but the very best plate armor. They also hit hard enough to kill horses. Thus firearms were very useful for defending strongpoints because a well-timed volley of guns could break up almost any attack. They were also feared for harassing fire because while they were not super accurate, they remain lethal a long way out. Gradually the most experienced gunners figured out how to take advantage of the unique characteristics of these weapons by firing in volleys and fusillades, which became the firearms equivalent to area fire. It should be noted when comparing energy (velocity and weight) of firearms with bows and crossbows, that bullets required much more energy to pierce armor than arrows or bolts did. This is because arrowheads are hardened and pointed whereas bullets are soft and round. Dopplehaken / Wall gun / Arquebus a Croc 100 cm barrel length 50 gram lead bullet, 950 fps muzzle velocity Max aimed fire range 30m Max effective range 310m
This category represents the larger wall guns, hand-guns and hand-culverins. This heavy-hitter was the most lethal anti-armor weapon at short to medium range and when using the aiming stake or firing from support (over the edge of a wall or a wagon for example) made firearms much more accurate. Even with the stake it’s still not as accurate as a crossbow, but the new Ottoman long barreled muskets were another quantum-leap ahead in that department (not included here because they had not yet arrived in any numbers in the Baltic by 1456). This category of firearm also included so-called ‘trestle guns’ and the larger hook-guns. Weapons of this power had substantial armor-piercing capability and could definitely kill horses with a single shot. Though of limited accuracy they could reach very far and hit very hard.
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The Strasbourg militia deploys in columns of wagons and on horseback, sketch of a now destroyed stained glass window from the Strasbourg Cathedral. The craft guilds deploy riding on wagons under their craft banners, shearers, coopers, boatmen, cutlers etc., the patricians on horseback under their family coats of arms. This represents a deployment of the militia in 1392.
German Landsknechts and knights assault Czech Hussite mercenaries in an early 16 th Century woodcut, this may have been an incident in Bavaria during the Landshut War of Succession around 1504.
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Heavy Infantry Heavy Infantry was not quite the major fighting force in the Baltic as it was in some other regions of Europe in the 15th Century, but it definitely had its role. The Teutonic Order, the Swedes, the Czechs, the Prussian burghers, the Poles, and (especially) the Russians all fielded strong heavy infantry in some numbers, mainly for the defense of cities, for assaults, for special commando raids and for use as marines (i.e. infantry delivered by ships or boats, see Marines). In these roles they were extremely useful. No other type of fighting force was as effective for close combat in the confined areas of towns, castles, and narrow hills and valleys. Out in the open however they could be vulnerable to cavalry which was a major problem in the Baltic and Eastern Central Europe more generally. This was mostly dealt with by including war-wagons in the mix, but more on that in a moment.
awl-pikes or pollaxes, or mini-pavise or bullet-proofed steel target shields with swords, messers, war-picks, axes or maces as sidearms. The second tier of heavy infantry included men with partial armor such as a sallet or kettlehat helmets, with a mail shirt, coat of plates or breast plate, and a gambeson, and possibly some other miscellaneous limb armor (gauntlets were surprisingly common, while legs were the first part of the body to be left without armor protection, to enable faster movement). They were armed with pikes, spears, and two handed weapons such as hewing-spears, glaives, halberds, flails, morgensterns, berdyches (sparth-axes), awl-pikes or pollaxes. A few also carried bucklers or shields, usually of the mini-pavise type or more rarely, steel rotella, while a sword, messer or axe would serve as a sidearm. These men had an intermediate level of training, often as townmilitia or mercenaries.
Two heavily equipped veterans duel on the sidelines of a battle, from one of the 15th Century editions of Froissart.
The best marksmen arguably came from the towns and their urban militias, and certain towns also fielded formidable infantry. But some of the best heavy infantry seems to have come from peasant clans. The urban militias had the best equipment and organization, and some towns in particular were very warlike though they would usually only fight on behalf of the town itself and didn’t like to move far from the town walls. Some of the more warlike peasants were far more willing to take risks especially where the potential of loot was in play, and in particular the fanatics such as the Czech Hussites or the Cossacks had excellent morale. The first tier or “elite” type of heavy infantry sometimes also included dismounted knights or men-at-arms who acted as leaders and as shock-troops. Elite heavy infantry were high-status soldiers with good armor protection (half armor or full harness), armed with weapons like glaives,
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Czech urban militia, from the Bible of Wenceslaus IV (Vaclav IV), late 14th Century. The overall look is similar to that of the Flemish.
The Russians and the Swedes fielded a lot of heavyinfantry, perhaps more than anyone else in the region. The Russians liked to fight with the giant two-handed axe or berdyche, which in later eras also doubled as a gunrest. They traveled on boats, carts, or sleighs in the winter, or even on skis, or sometimes for small commando raids down rivers on ice skates. Bone skates were used in the Baltic since at least Viking times, cross-country skis were more common in Finland but were known in Russia as
well and could provide excellent mobility in the winter time.
an important role in storming fortifications and making decisive attacks at key points in some major battles.
Flemish town militia, circa 1320. Their weapons are not spears but ‘godendag’ - large two-handed maces with spear points. These were the weapons used to defeat French knights at Golden Spurs.
During major pitched battles in the open heavy infantry in the Baltic were almost always deployed in combination with crossbowmen and / or gunners, the two types of troops supported one another in combat
Detail from the High altar, Schwabach - City church: Christ and Veronica (1506-08) by the workshop of Michael Wolgemut. The face on the shield carried by the infantryman is something that shows up frequently in period artwork. Modern scholars have suggested that the images are a form of ‘apotropaic’ magic, like a gargoyle. Note also the brutal looking short war hammer, as well as apparently a Saber or a sword worn as a sidearm. Photo by Wolfgang Sauber, Creative Commons attribution.
Fähnlein and Rotte
A small column of heavy infantry in an illustration from 1480 AD, armed with a mixture of weapons including spears, halberds, pollaxes, and at least one axe in the hand of the feldweibel. They are also wearing helmets and body armor.
Although pikes were not in as wide use in the Baltic as Central or Southern Europe they were used. Shorter, more general-purpose polearms, particularly halberds, bills, awl-pikes, and glaives were ubiquitous as were large twohanded bludgeoning weapons such as morgensterns and flails, and all of the above weapons were used to discourage cavalry charges, though not always effectively. Whenever possible heavy infantry relied on terrain, buildings, or war-wagons (see Tábor above) to avoid being caught in the open by cavalry. Though cavalry was more dominant in Northeast Europe, Heavy infantry did have
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Though less organized infantry formations were sometimes called ‘Haufen’ or ‘Haufe’ (gang), the German term Fähnlein (Norse Fänika), meaning literally “small banner”, referred to a particular type of better organized military unit very common in medieval Central Europe. These were usually though not always infantry units, which varied widely in size but were roughly equivalent to a modern battalion, with between 400-600 fighters. Each fähnlein would be broken down into Rotte or rows, very roughly equivalent to squads. Each Rotte could have 6 Doppelsöldner or 12 regular soldiers, or sometimes more. Medieval urban militias were often organized by street, then quarter. A quarter was sometimes deployed as a fähnlein depending where and when precisely. Rows (rotte) were typically recruited from lanes (gassen) in the town and had their own leaders, usually called sergeants (feldweibel) or a corporal (‘gemeinwebel’), who was usually a guild alderman or a competent young bachelor from a merchant family, and could be mounted. Streets in medieval towns were often organized by craft
industry - so you would have one street with butchers, one with bakers, one with cutlers and so on. Certain crafts seemed to excel in warfare more than others. Butchers for example were almost always prominent in the militias. Cutlers, crossbowmakers, furriers and weavers were also typically prominent though it varied from place to place. Each craft / or lane would also often specialize in different weapons or types of fighting, though for urban militia crossbows or guns were the most prestigious weapons.
A small but formidable looking company of infantry, including pikemen, spearmen, halberdiers and handgunnners, ready to engage. This is not inviting for cavalry to approach. Philipp Mönch - Kriegsbuch - cod. pal. germ. 126, circa 1496.
was over. If attacked they could fend off cavalry, but unless they were approached by the enemy they may not end up doing anything in the battle. In the 15th Century infantry was typically made up of mixed formations – pikemen protected the perimeter, but behind the sharp forest of pike points were men with big two handed swords, brutal war-flails and morgensterns, halberds, bills, axes, glaives, and other lethal blades on a pole, ready to swing down and hack off the limbs or split the faces of anyone who got near. Nor was it safe to circle outside the reach of the pike points or attack from a distance, because the formation would charge in an instant, and these formations included marksmen with powerful handguns and crossbows that could bite from far away. In the Baltic or North Eastern Europe, there was also more of an emphasis on large pavise shields and war wagons or mantlets to help protect against guns, crossbows, or showers of arrows shot by nomadic horse archers. Armor offered good protection against arrows but infantry often didn’t wear any on their lower legs or faces, so the extra protection of a pavise or wagon shield was ubiquitous here.
The quarter had a commander called the quartermaster (viertelmeister) who sometimes lived outside the quarter and often was a member of one of the cavalry or marksmen s societies. Most of these men were from the patrician families as well as some from the more elite craft guilds. They fought under a banner carried by an ensign (fähnrich) who was also usually a youngster from one of the prominent patrician or merchant families. The commander himself would typically be called a "Captain" - Hauptmann. Depending on the strength of the troop type (light or heavily armored, and elite vs. less trained) a Rotte might have anything from 6 to 20 men. Most Central European medieval mercenary companies from 1300-1550 were organized this same way - Fähnlein and Rotte, Landsknecht companies in the 16th Century were as were the Reislauffer companies (often explicitly on the urban model). Pike armed infantry of this era was different from the pike squares of the more familiar pike-and-shot era known in military history circles from the 17th Century. Whereas during the Early Modern era infantry formations were armed either with pikes or muskets almost exclusively, and tended to stay in place once deployed, medieval infantry formations were more complex in their makeup and more dynamic in their capabilities. During the 30 Years War it was typical for a pike formation to march out to a position and park themselves there until the battle
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German Pavise, from the village of Deggendorf, 1450, depicting a giant or wildman wielding a club and his own painted shield
Infantry in this era did not simply march to a fixed position next to the cannon or the banner and await attack. They were usually sufficiently motivated and competent to roam out into the open field and face the active threat of cavalry, other infantry or marksmen without flinching. Late medieval infantry were capable of enveloping enemy formations, attacking from the flanks, probing and skirmishing, and exploiting weaknesses, just as well, (if not as fast) as cavalry. The unit cohesion of town-dwellers
in their guilds, or warlike peasants organized by clan, helped weld them into disciplined formations capable of standing firm and holding the line on the march in spite of taking casualties and in the face of such dire threats. Without strict discipline and trust in their mates, infantry of this era was doomed, they lived or died as a unit.
protection against them. Both marksmen / gunners and special designated pavisemen used to carry them into battle.
Infantry typically deployed in columns. For major battles several Fähnlein would be grouped together in three larger formations, the vorhut or van-guard, had most of the gunners and archers, the gewalthut (‘power guard’ or ‘violent guard’) was in the center and was the largest formation with the heaviest fighters, and the nachhut or ‘after’ column brought up the rear. In addition smaller units of skirmishers and heavy fighters called ‘forlorn hope’ (verlorener haufen / "lost haufen") which would range out ahead of the main columns and melt back into them when danger threatened. The usual pattern was that the ‘forlorn hopes’ would find the enemy and make (violent) contact. Then the vorhut would move forward quickly to the attack (if possible), and if they couldn’t make contact provoke the enemy by making a major nuisance of themselves with firearms and crossbows, trying to provoke a charge. Once they became engaged, their job was to pin the enemy while the gewalthut would hit them in the flank. The nachhut could be deployed against the opposite flank or held in reserve or to cover a possible retreat. When outnumbered or faced by savvy cavalry or horse archers, they could all join together to form a defensive square, circle or other formation usually behind pavises and war wagons, and fight with guns and crossbows while awaiting their chance to make a flanking move or counter attack. Changes in tactics were typically sudden and decisive – they had to be, as if the infantry were hit in the flank by heavy cavaly when they weren’t ready, they were vulnerable to destruction. In defensive actions near towns the gewalthut and nachhut may be held in reserve behind the walls until just the right moment, with the battle coordinated by lookouts often positioned high in church steeples or defensive towers. Formation and tactical shifts would be signaled with trumpets or drums, as well as flags, whistling arrows or crossbow bolts, and sometimes fireworks. Pavisemen Though shields were not as common in the 15 th Century as they had been in previous eras, they were definitely still around, and one type in particular arguably reached it’s peak of popularity in the Late Medieval period, the pavise. The reason for their sudden rise in the 14 th-15th Century and fairly rapid decline in the 16th was probably firearms and crossbows, and later increasingly cannon. Pavises were used by marksmen and also acted as
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Two knights do battle with longswords and hand-pavise type shields. 15th Century
Pavises seem to have often been made of a composite construction consisting of layers of heavy cloth, wood, and possibly some kind of animal fibers. One 15th Century pavise in the Beyerisches Nationalmuseum in Munich consisted of stout pine backing upon which was a kind of paste made of chalk, broken glass, iron filings, sinew and bone-meal, covered with overlapping layers of rawhide. These seem to have been able to stop crossbow bolts and the bullets of early firearms (most of which had the equivalent power of a shotgun firing slugs). As the energy of firearms, particularly muskets and small cannon, began to increase to levels approaching modern rifles in the 16th Century, the pavise became less effective and declined in use. Eventually the only reliable protection became dirt filled gabions or something like sandbags. Pavises were in their heyday though in the 15th Century and were often elaborately painted featuring depictions of saints such as St. Barbara, St. Martin, St. Florian, St. George, St. Maurice, or the coats of arms of cities or princes, or sometimes humorous or provocative art such as religious slogans or insults.
15th Century Pavise, probably Czech, depicting a naked woman. Provocative artwork was not unusual on these shields. Such images may have been meant to provoke or shock Muslims or Catholic Crusaders.
A ‘handpavise’ from the city arsenal at Schongau in Bavaria. Circa 1500.
The Czech Hussites in particular were known for painting elaborate and often beautiful images on their pavises, sometimes saintly religious art, or shockingly realistic faces, but also including provocative images like nude women or even female genitalia. Pavises typically had a specific shape with a broad central ridge.
The ‘hand-pavises’ were used by infantry (including crossbowmen) but also by cavalry. The art on pavises, which could be religious (usually invoking a saint), heraldic such as the coat of arms of a city or noble house, or purely artistic and quite often, provocative, could perhaps be thought of as roughly analogous to WW II bomber art.
There was another type of smaller pavise, or a pavise-like shield which seems to have come out of Lithuania, sometimes called a ‘mini-pavise’ or a ‘hand-pavise’. Like the standard pavise, these shields usually had a composite construction and seemed to have some enhanced protective value against high energy missiles like crossbow bolts and bullets. Pavisemen often accompanied crossbowmen, gunners, and archers, who relied on them to provide cover. Heavy infantry also frequently advanced behind a protective wall of pavises, particularly when facing archers. This was a tactic used by Czech mercenaries against the Turks and Mongols. The job of being out front was risky and the men who carried pavises were often paid more than the regular soldiers. It was part of their job to keep an eye on enemy marksmen and cavalry and position the shield accordingly.
Two 15th century pavises of the Teutonic Knights, on display at Malbork castle in what is today Poland. The larger one on the left is definitely a ‘stand-alone’ pavise while the smaller one on the right might be of the type that could also be used in hand.
The hand-pavise became widely adopted in the 15th Century throughout Central Europe, and may have had a
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double function as a pavise which could be used as a static shield and also a more conventional shield which could be used in hand-to-hand combat.
Left: a pavise owned by the city of Ravensburg, 15th Century. Right, another 15th Century Pavise in the Musee de Cluny, source Guillaume Blanchard, Crative Commons attribution.
The use of the pavise seems to have varied by region, whereas in Italy and apparently at least some of the time in Hungary, it was mostly the special ‘pavisemen’ who carried the shields and used them to protect the other troops. In much of Germany and the western Slavic Kingdoms like Bohemia and Poland, the marksmen, gunners or archers themselves seem to have frequently carried their own pavise. Pavises were frequently found in the town armories and many beautiful examples survive today. Lines of pavises, both hand-held and static types, would often be placed at the front of infantry columns, acting as a barrier against both missiles and lances.
A 15th Century Pavise from the city arsenal of Enns (upper Austria) depicting St. George slaying the dragon. Such themes were very common. This pavise shows some damage on the left side. Photo by Wolfgang Sauber, 2012 Creative Commons license.
Mantlets The next step from carrying around a shield that was almost too big to handle, was to carry around a kind of wall that was definitely too much for one person to lug around on their own. That was the mantlet, a kind of portable shelter which ranged from a simple wall or barrier maybe with a stabilizing bar or spikes on the bottom to ground it, to a wheeled box something like a war-wagon or a little tank.
Although steel shields like the rotella were available and also popular (particularly in Southern Europe) and were potentially more effective against higher energy missiles like bullets fired from firearms, they were also heavy and could not be made as large as a pavise while still light enough to handle easily.
Most were kind of in between, usually a sort of wall on wheels. Mantlets were mostly used in sieges since they were too cumbersome to travel very far across the open countryside, though there were also light mantlets intended for field use, usually to protect small cannon.
For a good part of the 15th Century the pavise seems to have been an essential tool in the arsenal of the medieval army, at the sweet spot between portability and protection.
More complex mantlets sometimes included guns or cannon built in, such as pintle mounted breach loaders or sometimes heavier guns. These in particular had very limited mobility and were not normally used in the field like war wagons were, but instead just for sieges.
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Detail of the Hussite mantlet. Note the hole in it presumably for pushing spears through, and the spikes on the bottom, probably for grounding.
Mantlets seem to have become suddenly much more important with the dawn of the open field use of firearms during the Hussite wars in the 1420’s.
Militia from Prague engaging Crusaders during the Hussite wars, both sides using huge mantlets. Note the spikes on the bottom of the mantlets to stabilize them in the ground. John Hartlieb, Buch der Kriegskunst 1436 Wien Codex 3062
Early mantlets were really simple and primitive, though shapes meant to help withstand bullets quickly became part of their design, similar to sloped armor used on modern tanks. Many of them amounted to little more than a big board with a reinforcing bar or two, and a spike at the bottom to stabilize it in the ground. Mantlets were also routinely built into cannon carriages, sometimes designed with hinges to open up for cover while reloading. Interestingly, while most seem to have been made of wood or laminated wood and textile construction, some mantlets also included iron or steel protective plates. This may have been due to the increasing use of small cannon on the open battlefield as well as firearms and the increasingly formidable crossbows. Mantlets of all types were cumbersome and saw only limited use in the open field. In Central Europe however some were floated on rafts making them useful in riverine combat.
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Another detail, of a gunner at the top of the painting. This small mantlet or gun-shield is also fascinating, in that it appears to have a sloped shape and may be made of steel or iron, with an integral gunport. It brings to mind armor on a WW II tank. Perhaps in a way it is true that there is nothing new under the sun.
More sophisticated mantlets like little tanks, with wheels, overhead cover and sometimes emplaced guns became commonplace in period artwork by the 1440’s, though they show up in some military manuals like the Belifortis as early as 1410.
Medieval gabions with cannon.
Some mantlets were much more complex, with wheels and overhead cover. A siege mantlet full of soldiers assaults a stoutly defended castle wall, which is also under fire from a large bombard and teams of arquebusiers. Note a large stone ball from the bombard embedded in the castle wall. Detail from the Bern Chronik, Diebold Schilling circa 1475.
Dirt or sand is an excellent means of absorbing ballistic energy, and to this day the gabion is still in wide use by modern armies as field protection. The downside of course, is that you can’t quickly move one once it is set up, but the modular nature of the medieval design means it’s pretty easy to take off the wicker cover and just set another one up somewhere else.
Mantlets of the simpler type were already standard on European, Middle Eastern and Asian battlefields going back into antiquity, and larger siege engines featuring mantlets were used in major sieges back to Babylon. But by the 15th Century even small Latin field armies seem to have been able to put together quite effective and sophisticated ones on short notice and if the artwork is to believed, made extensive use of them. Mantlets were limited in value though. While they certainly could be made strong enough to protect against rocks, javelins, most firearms, crossbows, and small caliber cannon like trestle guns and wall guns; more powerful cannon such as culverins and bombards could smash them with relative ease, providing they could be aimed accurately enough. To protect against cannon balls something more drastic, and at the same time, more crude was needed. Gabion The simplest answer to this dilemma was the gabion, a crude but effective means to quell the wild kinetic energy of the cannonball reliably and consistently. A gabion consisted typically a wicker shell, which could be woven together in the field if necessary but were often carried already made with traveling armies. These were simply curved into a barrel shape and then filled with dirt. Viola: instant barrier.
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Bohemian town militia guarding a town gate, give alms to traveling pilgrims arriving from far away. Note the ahlespiess, the longsword with chape, and the specific type of armor. From the “Travels of John Mandeville” in the British Library, anonymous Bohemian, circa 1420.
Longbowmen Longbowmen fought in the Baltic Crusades several times, usually brought there by English, Scottish or Burgundian Lords on Crusade as part of their personal retinue. The Teutonic Order wrote admiringly of the effectiveness of
these troops during campaigns in Lithuania and they were considered elite warriors commanding double pay in the 15th Century. They were never deployed there in really large numbers but were available in at least the several hundreds on a few documented occasions Notably, Lord Henry of Bolingbroke (later to be King Henry IV of England) went on Crusade with the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic twice, and on the first voyage in 1390 he brought at least 400 Longbowmen with him who saw action at the siege of Vilnius of that same year [he wrote a book about his Crusading days too, but unfortunately I have not been able to find a translation from the Latin – author].
Swiss heavy- infantry cross a lake near Zurich in a well-armed assault boat, notice the guns in the front. Diebold Schilling, 15th Century
In the 15th Century this tactic was used by the Russians, both from Novgorod and Moscow, and gained a new momentum with the advent of firearms, heavy crossbows and swivel guns. During the second half of the 15th and through the 16th Centuries the Russians would begin to conquer much of Siberia and Central Asia by this timehonored method. If the Druzhina were the backbone of the Russian armies, what you could most realistically call Marines were the right arm.
Another group similarly equipped, with somewhat more body armor, mostly on the upper part of the body, a messer and a sword are visible as sidearms. I think I see a mallet in there as well.
The effectiveness of the longbow in the Baltic terrain was somewhat limited by the relative lack of wide open spaces where the excellent range of the weapon could be used to fullest advantage, but in the right circumstances (especially siege warfare) they were deadly, and in general they were found to be useful against both cavalry and infantry, as noted in period records by the Teutonic Knights. Marines An ancient military tradition was possibly introduced to the Baltic by the Swedes during the Viking Age, and later by the Rus Varjag bands. This was the fast-moving fleet of shallow-draft ships and boats, rowing swiftly down the rivers to take an enemy by surprise in a sudden raid by heavily armed and armored, highly motivated shockinfantry, who smash, grab, and then disappear back down the rivers before pursuit can be effectively organized.
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Boats armed with small culverins, swivel guns or large hook-guns were becoming increasingly common in the mid 15th Century and shifting the balance of power in favor of the Russians somewhat since the Tartars were slow to adopt firearms, and cavalry doesn’t swim into rivers very well. The combination of heavy shock-infantry, guns, and boats enhanced the strategic importance of the river network even beyond what it already was.
Light Infantry Light (unarmored) infantry played a limited role in the Medieval Baltic. Anyone planning to fight for a sustained period on foot in open terrain would acquire armor if at all possible, because doing so without was tantamount to suicide. Hit and run fighters fought mounted if at all possible. Crossbows, firearms, recurve bows and cannon made the battlefield a very dangerous place for even the well-protected warrior, and ubiquitous cavalry of excellent quality make fast light infantry such as the peltasts of velites of Classical times almost obsolete in this area, (though not in other parts of Europe in this time). The one area where Light-infantry were still found to some extent in European armies were as specialists of the mountains and dense forests, where cavalry could not maneuver, heavy infantry had difficulty penetrating, and anyone who
did not know the peculiarities of the terrain was more easily evaded or ambushed. Another type of light infantry which was seen on 15th Century battlefields was the Azap. These were Ottoman irregular infantry, usually peasants. Sometimes known as “the bachelors”, they were allowed to come and go as they pleased. Some were archers, others were armed with spears and sabers or the Ottoman equivalent of a halberd (balta). Their pay was whatever loot they could claim on the battlefield. They were not very effective, but were essentially cannon fodder whose function seemed to be to absorb enemy cavalry attacks and wear enemy forces out before the main engagement.
A painting of a Chodov of the 16th Century, with his loyal Chodenhund dog (Bohemian Shepherd) and his cakana in his hand...
to the Czech Psohlavci who are called Gorali. Like the Psohlavci these highlanders carried the traditional ‘shepherds axe’ known as cakana to the Czechs, or as ciupaga (eng. pron. 'chew-paga') or cekanka to the Poles. This was basically a combination walking-stick / tool / weapon pretty closely analogous to a tomahawk in the old American frontier of the 18th and 19th Century. The Gorals live in the highland border region of Southern Poland and Northern Bohemia, and had similar political arrangements as the Psohlavci. Arrangements like this existed with specific tribes or ethnic groups on the borders of many nations, it was in fact the same type of agreement which was eventually worked out between the Poles and the Cossacks (and much later, reneged upon by the Poles), namely, a tribe was willing to fight off threats in the frontier in exchange for a certain degree of freedom and independence. In Finland and the wilder parts of Prussia and Lithuania, there was another special class of men known as fringemen, specialists in the forests who often hired on as guides, trackers, and scouts. These were usually men who made their normal living as trappers or hunters, but also took military service of this type, very much in the fashion of the famous Kit-Carson scouts of the American Wild West. These men were very independent and tended to be at least half-way immersed in local indigenous culture and (pre- or non-Christian) religion, but in the more remote parts of Finland and Siberia, during the winter, they could make the difference between a successful campaign vs. a catastrophic failure, because the nature of the wilderness environment was so harsh that ordinary armies could perish or become lost, even without being ambushed.
Frontiersmen The most common type of light infantry in the region could be classified generally as frontiersmen, men who were experts in the local terrain and used the dense forests, hills and swamps of the region to their tactical advantage. One good example of this type of warrior was the Chodov, men of the Chodsko region of Bohemia in the thickly forested mountains along the Bavarian border. Also known as Psohlavci, ‘Dog Men’, these farmers are given special rights by the Bohemian king (or other regional authorities) to log, to hunt, to bear arms and manage the border crossings in this area. When necessary they proved excellent at fighting off foreign invaders foolish enough to attempt to traverse the difficult region. In Poland they had a similar ethnic group
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Robber knight castle Burg Gattendorf, being burned down by Swabian league forces under Nuremberg and Augsburg, 1523.
Forces of the Teutonic Knights sortie from the mighty Malbork Castle during the 13 Years War, circa 1460. Photo by Wisielec 97. Note the widespread use of large pavises, decorated with the cross of the Teutonic Knights.
Russian Cossacks battle Tartars on the Don River in the 17th Century, nearly identical battles took place back on the rivers of Russia going back over 1,000 years. The Varangian Rus carved out their nation in raids like this, centuries later the Russians used raids of this sort to conquer most of Siberia and Central Asia in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Black Powder When people think of warfare in the middle ages, images of knights in armor, swords, maybe crossbows, longbows, and halberds come to mind. The last thing most people envision is any kind of gunpowder weapon.
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But the late medieval battlefield was if not dominated, certainly saturated with guns, cannons, and a wild variety of other pyrotechnic weapons. The crack of gunshots, bright flares of pyrotechnic sparks and colored smoke, explosions, and booming cannon were regular features of battlefields all over Europe throughout the 14th Century, and by the 15th few if any armies deployed without at least some guns. The widespread adoption of firearms actually probably had something to do with the development of
plate armor with which people so closely associate the middle ages. Though the Mongols brought black powder weapons of some kind with them in the Battle of Mohi in 1241, one of the first documented experiences of actual firearms by Europeans was recorded in 1262, when King Alfonso X of Castile was besieging the Moorish stronghold of Niebla in what is now Spain. The Moors used the new “boom stick” weapon effectively, to the dismay of the besieging Europeans: “..The Arabs threw many (iron) balls launched with thunder, the Christians were very afraid of, as any member of the body hit was severed as if with a knife; and the wounded man died afterwards, because no surgery could heal him, in part because the balls were hot as fire, and apart of that, because the powders used were of such nature that any ulcer done meant the death of the injured man... .. and he was hit with a ball of the thunder in the arm, and was cut off, and died next day: and the same happened to all of those injured by the thunder. And even now the story is being told amongst the host…”
the war wagons of Bohemian (Czech) Hussite heretics. Their shocking successes in battles during the Hussite Crusades in the 1420’s and 1430’s created an instant market for Czech mercenaries, as all of their neighbors scrambled to adopt and deploy the new technology. Firearms began to rapidly improve with such features as the touch-hole, the serpentine lock, the slow match, the firing pan and proper gunstocks appearing in rapid succession in the early 1400’s. Many new types of small, medium and large cannon also made their debut around the same time. But it was after the Hussite Wars that one of the most important innovations in the history of firearms began to spread.
Hand-gunners wearing plate armor aim their firearms from a castle wall, holding them over their shoulders. Detail from the Bern Chronicle, Diebold Schilling, circa 1470.
The first niche that firearms and cannon found was in siege warfare as in the above example. Early gunpowder weapons were tricky to use and ungainly, and relatively few people, mostly from the wealthier urbanized European zones like Flanders, Italy and for Northeast Europe most importantly, Bohemia, knew how to use them. The towns and princes from those urbanized zones however, like the cities of Bruges and Ghent in Flanders, the Teutonic Knights in the Baltic and the Valois Dukes of Burgundy, began making increasingly effective use of gunpowder weapons in the 14th Century, which forced everyone else to figure it out too. But it was in the 15th Century that the weapon first broke out onto the open battlefield on a large scale, carried on
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Four different guns, and the powder, and shot that goes with them, carefully marked. These appear to be touch-hole firearms, as no lock is visible. From the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
In the very early days of firearms, the forms of powder used were not only relatively ineffective compared to later formulas, but also tended to separate out into their component elements over time especially when moved around a lot. After riding a few miles on a horse, explosive black powder would become so much inert salt of st. peter, sulfur and charcoal. As a result, gunners and artillery men had to mix their own powder in the field with mortar and
pestle, thus vastly increasing the likelihood of any number of problems.
neglected the technology, any more than they did armor or horses.
Handgunners in the Swiss Chronicles are often depicted carrying their guns barrel-down on the shoulder, as in this image from the Bern Chronicle, Diebold Schilling circa 1470. Note the powder horns and the fuse held in one hand.
In the second quarter of the 15th Century the earlier types of powder like serpentine powder began to be replaced with crumbled and corned power. This new type was premixed, moistened with alcohol, pushed through a filter and dried into tiny pellets of uniform size, different grain sizes being useful for different applications. The advent of corned powder made firearms and cannon much more predictable and easy to use. Gunners began to premeasure out portions of powder for each shot and carry them in tiny little pouches on belts and bandoliers, sometimes with a second (finer grained) priming portion and an individual bullet tied up in the same bundle. This was the basis for what very gradually became the bullet cartridge. Cannon rapidly became much more reliable as well as cannon forging (for iron) and casting (initially only for bronze) began to become a more and more sophisticated routine, and quality and reliability improved dramatically. Firearms, cannon, mortars, and various types of thrown explosives and pyrotechnics established the permanent niche on the battlefield by the 1440’s that would only increase through the next few centuries until gunpowder became the king of all weapons. But that was a very slow and gradual process. What was already very clear however by 1450 was that guns and cannon were there to stay, and no army that had plans of conquest or victory
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Early matchlock firearms from the municipal arsenal of Nuremberg, from the Zeugbuch of Maximilian I, Bartholomaus Freysleben 1502. These weapons probably have bronze barrels. Some of them have serpentines.
Handgunners Though handguns were used in some parts of Europe since at least the late 13th Century for siege warfare, it was not until the Hussite Wars in the 1420s that handgunners were firmly established in Europe as open-field infantry. This was usually done in conjunction with Tábor wagons, in a kind of mobile siege warfare using the tactics of the Hussites. Handguns were also widely adapted for use from boats, and once the first wheel-lock weapons appeared they were quickly adopted by cavalry (starting in the 16 th Century). Though back in the 15th Century, the crossbow remained the most popular and prestigious missile weapon on the Latin side of the border and the composite bow of the horse-archers on the Greek (i.e. Russian) and Muslim side, the firearm was gradually making headway throughout the region. In the Battle of Kulikovo Field in 1380, the Tartars invaded the land of the Grand Duchy of Moscow with a huge army. They expected to overrun the Russian forces of Knyaz Dmitri in short order.
Plans for a breach-loading firearm very similar to the antique from Nuremberg, by Lorenzo Ghiberti, 15th Century Shooting practice, from an early 16th Century German book. One person shoots while another hiding behind a wall marks the hits. Most town dwellers of the citizen classes participated in shooting practice with either the firearm or the crossbow.
But the Muscovites made great use of hand-culverins and fended off several Tartar assaults, helping them to win a huge victory – killing 100,000 Mongols, a slaughter of the fearsome steppe nomads on a scale unheard of in Europe up to that point. The Muscovites were severely punished a year later, when they ultimately lost a siege due to a ruse by fellow Russians in the employ of the Tartars (as was so often the case in Russia) and virtually the entire city felt the edge of Mongol swords in the ensuing massacre. But the survivors and witnesses of the event took note of the huge toll taken on elite Mongol cavalry by the Russian cavalry and primitive hand-culverins and hook-guns, creating a love affair with firearms that the Russians would never lose.
The Teutonic Order, stung by defeats at the hands of the firearm-happy Bohemians, also took to the weapon and developed a great fondness for it. Their knack for innovation made them early adopters on a large scale of the matchlock ‘hackenbusche’ (proto-arquebus) which were being manufactured in Ordensstaat armories and Prussian cities under their control at a large scale as early as the 1430’s. Later on the Germans would become enthusiastic early-adopters of the first wheel-locks, which became favored for cavalry weapons (pistols and petronels) in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
Handgunners and a few crossbowmen march to war, 1480 AD An actual surviving antique breach-lock firearm, Nuremberg, 1480 Guns this sophisticated would not become common until the 19th Century. Weapons like this were obviously very rare.
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Encounters with the Hussites seem to have had a stimulative effect on the Poles as well. Records from Kraków indicate that in 1427 after clashing with Hussite forces, the city council of Kraków decided to purchase 147 flails and 300 handguns207. In larger battles Handgunners were still most often used in some kind of fortification, be
it on the ‘Medieval APCs’ of the Tábor, or on a boat or from some kind of stronghold of fortification, but they were creeping into wider use into the open field.
during combat, (though only a handful at the most could actually ride inside the wagon) and they could also help push it around when horses weren’t available.
Matchlock weapons had proven to be an order of magnitude more reliable and simpler to use than the older touch-hole firearms, which allowed much faster and more standardized training of handgunners. In the 15th Century professional gunners, notably came from Bohemia, but also Flemish, German and Italian cities, brought guns, as did those from the Ordensstaat. This would of course only accelerate into the 16th Century.
" …we regard the armored heavy infantry as a wall, who never give up their place, even if they are slaughtered to the last one of them, on the very spot they are standing. Light soldiers perform breakouts depending on the occasion, and when they are already tired or sense severe danger, they return back behind the armoured soldiers, organizing their lines and collecting power, and stay there until, on occasion, they may break forth again. In the end, all of the infantry and shooters are surrounded by armoured and shielded soldiers, just as those were standing behind a rampart. Since, the greater pavieses, put next to each other in a circle, show the picture of a fortress, and are similar to a wall, in the protection whereof the infantry and all the ones standing in the middle, fight like from behind tower-walls or rampart, and they occasionally break out of there." — Matthias Corvinus: in this case from a letter to his father-in-law king Ferdinand I of Naples in the 1480s
Gun wagons organized into a wagonberg, from the Wolfegg Housebook, circa 1490.
The Tábor The Tábor was special type of war-wagon formation which proved to be the defensive antidote to both the heavycavalry charge of the Latinized knights and the arrows of the Tartar horse-archers. Essentially the war-wagon was the armored personnel carrier of the Late Medieval. This system was pioneered in Bohemia during the Hussite Wars of the 1420s -1440s and proved an effective remedy to cavalry from that time well into the 17th century against German Heavy Cavalry, Tartar Horse Archers, Russian Druzhina and Ottoman Sipahi. The system was based around a specially built wagon, which carried boxes for ammunition and special protective wooden mantlets or panels which could be raised or lowered to conceal crossbowmen and gunners above or below the chassis. The wagon was supported by 12-19 soldiers and crew who deployed in and around it
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The wagons acted as a mobile arsenal and a barrier, especially to arrows and other missiles. They enabled infantry to retire behind protection while simultaneously carrying heavier ordinance such as light pintle mounted cannon and small ‘howitzers’ or houfnicze. Usually wagon formations included both heavier battle wagons and lighter supply wagons, the latter kept in the center of the columns while the former faced potential threats bristling with guns. "The third form of the army is the infantry, which divides into various orders: the common infantry, the armoured infantry, and the shield bearers.... The armored infantry and shield bearers cannot carry their armor and shields without pages and servants, and since it is necessary to provide them with pages, each of them requires one page per armor and shield and double bounty. Then there are the handgunners... These are very practical, set behind the shield-bearers at the start of the battle, before the armies engage, and in defense. Nearly all of the infantry and arquebusiers are surrounded by armored soldiers and shieldbearers, as if they were standing behind a bastion. The large shields set together in a circle present the appearance of a fort and similar to a wall in whose defense the infantry and all those among them fight almost as if from behind bastion walls or ramparts and at the given moment break out from it." — Letter from Matthias Corvinus to Gabriele Rangoni, Bishop of Eger
Antique hand-culverin, 15th Century, German or Czech. Note the hinged cover for the touch hole. This weapon was probably originally fitted with a serpentine (primitive matchlock). This weapon is very typical of mid-15th Century handguns.
A rather fanciful war wagon from Konrad Kyeser: "Bellifortis" (Clm 30150), 15th Century
A more primitive illustration of a Czech Tábor. The goose on the flag is a Hussite symbol, as is the Chalice. Notice the different weapons, a flail, a rock, a hand-culverin, another firearm which may be a pistala, a morgenstern, and two crossbows. Notice the triangular shooting slits under the wagons.
Infantry were armed with simple but deadly weapons like morgensterns, glaives, and the special Bohemian style two-handed flail (‘cep’ to the Czechs or ‘flegel’ to the Germans). Larger guns like the houfnicze, trestle guns, organ guns, culverins and bombards were deployed between the wagons (see Cannon, below).
War-wagons could be locked together into a laager or a tabor or vozová hradba, a type of instant fortress, with infantry deployed in and behind the wagons and cannon typically set up between and beneath them. This combination proved to be extremely formidable defensively, and the Czechs in particular won numerous battles by simply turtling up into their fortified wagon circles, fending off attacks, and then emerging to crush the disorganized and demoralized enemy.
This could be a Hussite style tabor wagon or it could be an Italian Carroccio, either way it conveys a dramatic sense of the war wagon on the move. Source unknown, est. late 15th C. Two short handled 15th Century ‘kolf’ handguns. These are kind of the equivalent of carbines or sawed off shotguns.
The crew included armored gunners equipped with pistalas and heavy hook-guns (hackenbusche and Dopplehacken) who may have used steel gun-shields; as well as crossbowmen and arbalestiers who were in turn protected by armored heavy-infantry and light-infantry fighters.
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The Czechs relied on urban militia for gunners and crossbowmen, and on peasants skilled in threshing to wield their powerful two-handed flails and two-handed morning stars to dissuade close-attackers. The less heavily armored members of the crew (including apparently women) also threw rocks stored in boxes inside the wagon. The wagon was pulled by oxen or more commonly, horses when traveling but was light enough to be pushed around by its crew in an emergency.
Swiss militia face off against the Burgundian army across a river, the Swiss making use of a Tabor / wagonberg featuring small (probably pintle mounted and breach-loading) guns mounted on the wagons, as well as deploying long-barreled arquebus, and two bronze feldschlange (field culverins) of medium caliber in the foreground. From the Bern Chronicle, Diebold Schilling, 1478
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cannon, strengthened to cope with the recoil and so on. Some had multiple guns, some had a single large or medium-sized gun.
War-wagon festooned with blades and gun barrels drawn by horses who are in turn protected by barriers. Though this looks a bit fanciful, war wagons protected from cavalry attack by ‘scythes’ like this were described by many reliable source, including Jan Dlugosz and Aneaus Piccolomini. From the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500.. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
The Crusaders here seem about to wipe out these heretics in their tabor, but in the reality it rarely went down that way.
When facing repeated cavalry charges the wagons were chained together in a circle and strong Tábor or wagonberg was established. Friendly cavalry waited inside the circle to emerge after an enemy had exhausted themselves and began to waver. They charged out for the counterstroke at the ideal moment and wiped them out.
An extravagant German variation on the basic Tábor wagon, from the Mittelalterliches Hausbuch, 1480
It is a common misconception however that the Tábor were only used in a static defense as the wagonberg, but in many key battles during the Hussite Wars and afterword during the Hungarian ‘Crusade’ into Bohemia in the 1470’s these wagons were used aggressively, advancing in columns to flank enemy formations. The Czechs also had some other innovations, like filling some of the wagons with rocks as ‘ballast’ wagons, to help keep enemies from tipping over a line of them, and putting iron rims on their wagon wheels to make them more robust. Some war wagons were made specifically for carrying
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When under fire too heavy to use horses the large crews could push the wagons at a walking pace over most terrain, and wooden mantlets were also created to protect horses from enemy gunfire.
In what may be the first depiction of the use of firearms from horseback (from before 1453), Sienese polymath Mariano di Jacopo, aka “Taccola” shows us a man at arms contending with the various challenges of using firearms on a horse. The weapon is secured to his armor by a hook and balanced with a metal or wooden rod connected to his saddle, as he attempts to fire it with a slow match – notice no hands are free for the reigns! Taccola was considered one of the major influences of Da Vinci.
We do see some limited evidence of the use of firearms on horseback as early as the 1440’s, but due to the nature of firearms at the time, particularly the requirement of the use of a slow match, at the risk of making an assumption - it seems like it must have been a fairly rare practice. There was clearly an interest and a need though, as the use of firearms from horseback
exploded in the early 1500s with the arrival of the wheellock.
decisive in Late Medieval battles as that of a mighty Condottiere.
Three breach-loading cannon, with their breaches removed. Early 16th Century. Note the aiming brackets. The breaches look something like beer mugs. Cannon like this were common going back to the late 14th Century in the more sophisticated armies.
A particularly realistic depiction of war–wagons and war-mantlets in action, Spiezer Chronik, Diebold Schilling.
The Büchsenmeister In Central Europe a very specific type of officer arrived on the battlefields along with gunpowder weapons, the Büchsenmeister. These were men who traveled with the cannon in particular, who manufactured and watched over the precious gunpowder, who estimated the ballistics and directed the production of carved stone (and later, cast iron) balls used as ammunition. These rare and very capable experts (who rarely numbered more than a handful or so even in very large armies) could make the difference between success and failure in a siege for either attacker or defender. As firearms and cannon moved into the open field and began to decide the outcome of pitched battles in the 15 th Century, the importance of these men became even greater. In many cases these were not mere soldiers, but they were the very same smiths and craftsmen who cast or forged the cannon to begin with. Just another artisan taking the field in a military capacity as part of their militia obligation, or as a mercenary hired out to a prince for personal gain. So they knew the ins and outs of their weapons better than any mere soldier ever could. Some of these men, such as the infamous gun founder Orban, even sold their services to the Turk. Their skill in some cases could be as
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Cannon In 1456 cannon were just beginning to reach their stride in war. In siege warfare, the French and Burgundians pioneered the effective large scale use of large bombards, some made of cast iron in the first true large scale blast furnace facilities in Europe, and mounted on wheeled carriages for greater mobility. They used iron shot (instead of stone) to actually break down thick town and castle walls in a short and predictable period of time, reducing the length of sieges in some cases from several months to a matter of a few days or even hours. Needless to say this was an alarming development for both nobles and burghers, though the partial answer was for towns to equip themselves with sufficient cannon to keep a besieging army at bay, which many of them were spending a great deal of money to do as quickly as possible in the 15th Century. The longer term solution was improved fortification designs developed in Italy during a French invasion there, which came to be known as ‘Trace Itallianne’. But that was not fully developed until the 16 th Century.
It’s unclear if these guns were used from the wagon or just being carried on the wagon.
On the open battlefields cannon hit an early peak of efficiency with the light field guns of the Bohemians that would remain unsurpassed until Gustavus Adolphus arrived in the 17th Century with his wheeled guns. Advances in cannon surged forward in the late 14 th Century with the increased mining of coal in the Low Countries, necessitated by a shortage of wood for charcoal. Coal-fired blast furnaces developed at this time were capable of producing cast iron cannons which were immediately put to good use by the Duke of Burgundy, and soon after, by the King of France. Forged iron cannon were still being made in large numbers though and bronze remained the most popular material for cannons for a long time. Another war-wagon from the von Eyb manuscript, festooned with guns, featuring scythes on the wheels and pulled by men on armored horses.
The feldschlange, or ‘field serpent’, was analogous to a culverin or a serpentine in English use. Though the technical specifications varied widely by region and time period, This was typically a medium caliber gun, 4-10 cm in caliber, designed for longer range and greater accuracy than other cannon.
A war wagon, bristling with guns, spears, and iron spikes. Such images, though seemingly fanciful, may have been closer to reality than once suspected. From the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
In the Baltic in 1456, cannon were not as ubiquitous as they were in Flanders but are they were widely distributed. The Czechs in particular developed a robust industry of handgun and cannon production from the 1420’s. Czech Hussites developed hook-guns and light field howitzers (the houfnicze), and most nations in the Baltic had assault boats and war-wagons armed with swivel-guns and hookguns, all of the walled towns and cities had cannons for defense ranging from hook guns and trestle guns to enormous bombards and culverins. German towns like Nuremberg had become major centers of cannon and firearm production by the mid -15th Century.
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Cannon could be floated on rafts and barges and this is how they were often deployed in the Baltic, meaning that any site on a major waterway was an area where cannons could quickly be put into action, and this obviously affected strategy and planning a great deal. One important side effect of this was that polities upriver gained an advantage since it was easier and quicker to float cannon downriver than up. This was for example an advantage for the (still pagan) Lithuanians from the later 14th Century. They were able to get cannons into position against Teutonic Order strongholds quickly and take them out before defensive guns could be moved into place. Smaller cannon on boats or rafts also apparently provided effective defense against light cavalry and cavalry archers, particularly when deployed in combination with mobile fortifications of some type (even light wooden barriers) and lots of handguns or crossbows. Mobile gun-boats became an important tactical weapon in the Baltic as well as in Southern Europe where they were a crucial part of the defense against the Turks. Apparently John Hunyadi had fleets of hundreds of such craft on the Balkan river systems in his Black Army by the 1460’s. Very large siege cannon (see Bombards) of the type used by the French or the Ottomans were somewhat rarer in the Baltic particularly for offensive operations simply because of the difficulty of moving them around in the local terrain, but the Teutonic Knights, the Poles and Lithuanians, and the larger Prussian towns did have weapons of this type, including several famous named guns, often referred to as ‘superguns’ by modern scholars. Wall guns and hook guns The first and most common types of cannon in wide use in the medieval world were the hook-gun and the wall gun. These were simply oversized hand-guns, usually in the 1220mm caliber range, which were a little too heavy to carry around. Many of these oversized guns had a built-in hook
so that they could be steadied over the edge of a wall for aiming.
A double barreled cannon mount, probably of the houfnicze type, From the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
Hussite Taranice ‘Trestle Gun’
Trestle Guns A trestle gun was an intermediate type of firearm in between something like a wall-gun and a full-fledged cannon. This was basically a heavy arquebus mounted on a stand or ‘trestle’, requiring a two-man crew to operate. These were of 15-30mm caliber, they often had fairly long barrels and with the help of aiming calipers, could shoot with some accuracy at a long distance. Some trestle guns were mounted on carriages for easier movement and setup, though they did not often seem to get the larger wheels associated with larger guns.
One can often recognize these weapons by the two-stage shape of the barrel and / or a handle on the breach which looks like the handle of a beer mug. They were, as a general rule, more efficient and faster loading, because several ‘chambers’ or cartridges could be prepared in advance and deployed for rapid-fire, and the operators didn’t have to wait as long for the cannon barrel to cool down before putting another charge back in. But this was still an era of experimentation with cannon, every cannon was hand-forged (or cast) usually in a small workshop and the reliability of an individual weapon was always in doubt until it was tested. Due to the difficulty in sealing the breach under high pressure, breach-loading guns in this era were usually of relatively small caliber, typically 5 -6 cm or less. A proven, reliable breach-loader was a potent weapon, especially when several were used together, as a high rate of fire could be maintained by a skilled crew. Breachloading cannons of small to medium caliber seem to have become quite widespread in the Late Medieval period and were particularly popular for naval ordinance.
An actual antique Czech houfnicze, circa 1460. Note the handle of the removable breach sticking up in the back.
One of the major innovations in cannon technology to appear in the late 14th Century was the breach-loading cannon, meaning cannon in which the powder charge could be loaded from an opening or ‘breach’ in the gun barrel rather than down the muzzle of the barrel. In 1456 this consisted of weapons which had a separate mugshaped chamber or ‘bottle’ into which a pre-measured portion of gunpowder was placed, then loaded into the cannon and fired (the cannon-ball would still be loaded from the front / muzzle).
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A multi-barrel volley-gun. Volley guns with dozens of barrels were not unheard of in this era. Weapons like this were sometimes used to defend merchants-convoys from robber knights. From the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
Firing multiple barrels in volley also increased the effective accurate range of the volley-gun since multiple guns firing at once created a kind of shotgun effect. Most medieval volley-guns had an odd number of barrels set up in parallel, like the pipes of a pipe-organ, hence they were sometimes called organ guns. Volley guns were used all over Europe but were particularly popular in the Baltic, where they were often deployed with war wagons along with other light and medium artillery. A heavy organ gun was used by Stephen the Great of Moldovia during a siege in 1475.
A forty barreled volley gun, with accompanying horse harness and ammunition box, late 15th Century. Bartholomaeus Freysleben: Inventarium über Büchsen und Zeug im Kaiserreich zur Zeit Maximilians I. Innsbruck 1495-1500. Ratsbibliothek Regensburg, Cod.icon. 222, Seite 051;
Ribaldaquin / Volley Guns Medieval warriors quickly figured out that one way to make guns with smaller barrels more effective was to bundle rows of them together on a carriage, so that they could all be shot at once (or in series). The volley gun, a gun carriage with anywhere from 3 to 50 or more small to medium sized gun barrels, was a fairly ubiquitous weapon in this period and was noted for its usefulness in breaking up cavalry charges. In some forms it was effectively the medieval version of a gatling gun.
Swivel gun Swivel guns were usually smaller cannons used for antipersonnel actions often firing shot in the manner of an oversized shotgun, mounted on something like a modern pintle-mount for a machine gun, a swivel which could elevate up and down and side to side. These were very popular weapons for ships in the 15th Century and were often seen on riverboats in the Baltic. They were also deployed on war-wagons, and could be found mounted permanently or temporarily on fortifications at key strongpoints like gates, barbicans or major defensive towers.
A river boat with armored rowers and a swivel gun, from the Carta Marina, Olaus Magnus 1539 AD
Though this would change later, in the 15th Century it was still fairly common for swivel-guns to be breach-loaders (and vice versa) making them effectively both faster-firing and more versatile weapons, and weapons of this type proved to be extremely effective particularly on boats to repel boarders. The Russians, the Poles, the Czechs, and the Cossacks had already begun to mount heavily-armed shipboard expeditions against the Tartars down rivers in the 15th Century, with boats packed with crossbowmen and gunners and mounted with two or more powerful swivel guns. This pattern would continue to develop over the next several hundred years, leading ultimately to the vast expansion of Polish-Lithuanian and Russian territories at the expense of the Mongols and Turks. Two three barreled volley-guns shown deployed in a battle in one of the Flemish editions of Froissart, circa 1500. In the battle depicted volley guns played a critical role. Volley guns of this type could shoot up to 9 or more barrels in rapid succession, creating an effect not unlike a gattling gun or a crude machine gun.
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medium caliber weapons such as the feldschlange or ‘field serpent’, also called a serpentine or a basilisk in English (although these terms were also used to describe some larger types of culverins). The feldschlange was usually not breach-loading and typically included a wheeled carriage that sometimes had an integrated defensive shield made out of wood, that could be raised when reloading or aiming the gun. These were medium caliber guns typically in the 3-10 cm range, usually light and mobile enough to move quickly from one position to the next, but a little bit too big to fit on a war wagon. Replica of a Czech houfnicze, the world’s first modern light fieldhowitzer. These are light and fast to set up and deploy. Note the ranging bracket on the back, which could be set to different elevations with a peg. The small houfnicze was far more tactically significant than the large siege guns. These are usually 30-40mm caliber guns, though sometimes larger.
Houfnice Another distinct subtype of medieval cannon was the houfnice, the (Czech) name of which gives us the term ‘howitzer’. Like a modern howitzer, the houfnice was a relatively light but powerful gun capable of being quickly moved into position or shifted to shoot in another direction. Like all medieval cannon it fired solid shot rather than explosive shells in the manner of modern artillery, initially mostly stone balls but later, increasingly, more effective lead or iron balls were used. In the mid 15th Century a well-equipped army would have some lead shot or iron cannonballs but stone was more typical. The houfnice had a relatively short range and a small caliber usually around 3 – 6 cm (though larger guns of up to 15 cm were not unusual). It was mainly used defensively for breaking up cavalry charges and infantry attacks, though it could also be used offensively. Houfnice were often made with breach-loading barrels which allowed for faster shooting.
Photo of an antique serpentine gun, late 15th Century. This appears to be a cast bronze gun though it’s hard to be certain.
Serpentine / Feldschlange Another common type of cannon seen on the Late Medieval battlefields was the class of long-barreled,
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A 15th Century forge-welded iron feldschlange located at Chateau Chillon on lake Geneva, Vaud Switzerland. The barrel is 10 cm thick but the bore is only 25mm. This weapon was used in action by the Savoyard garrison against the forces of Bern when the castle was liberated by the Swiss in 1536. Photo by author.
Serpentines had long, often tapering barrels made to generally more sophisticated fabrication standards than the barrels seen on smaller guns like the houfnice. Some were of cast iron or cast bronze, older ones were made in the hoop and stave (forge welded) style. As a result of their length they were generally more accurate and could be used to pick off enemy marksmen, destroy towers or other key spots on enemy fortifications, fire cannon balls into windows, or to target enemy artillery or VIP’s. Due to their relatively good effective range, feldschlange were also used in a naval context, according to legend when Hamburg defeated the famous pirate Stortebecker they captured a 19-foot long feldschlange from his ship. Bombards Bombards were the largest type of cannon, often so heavy that they were quite a challenge to move around and get into position, with calibers ranging from 15 cm to 30 cm. The larger bombards (large siege-mortars and siegecannon) of this time period could effectively knock holes in the older vertical walls of castles and fortified towns built in the 13th and 14th Century but still found in the 15th Century in the Baltic region, especially when using iron shot. Many of the larger towns of the Baltic in particular had huge siege cannons designed to discourage concerted efforts at sieges, and for the towns to use against the castles of Robber Knights.
Left: Breech loading cannon from the Book of Armaments of Maximilian I, Bartholomaeus Freysleben, circa 1502. Right, pike staves and gunpowder.
Left, halberds, right, dopplehacken arquebus.
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But even these rigs were still unwieldy, and when a large gun was being set up, it gave time for the defenders to reposition their own guns if they had any, and of course they tended to be vulnerable to cavalry. This contributed the rules of a complex chess game of timing, geometry and gun placement, but in the major conflicts of the Baltic the advantage seemed to often still be with the defender.
Teutonic Order ‘supergun’ Faule Grete in action in the 15th Century, from a pretty realistic 19th Century illustration. Weapons of this size could actually knock down castle and town walls. Note the gabions on either side of the gun. Image by Hedwig Bode
The Teutonic Order had at least two ‘superguns’ of this type during the 15th Century, one known as Faule Grete, the other Große Büchse (‘Big gun’, it’s also a pun on Gross Bosche ‘Big German’) both of which were huge siege cannon with bores as much as 70 cm, firing stone balls up to 500 kg to a distance of about 600 meters. But there were still two problems with these formidable weapons. Probably the first and foremost the larger the cannon was and the more powder it used, the hotter it got when fired. Very hot cannon were very dangerous to put gunpowder into. Therefore, some of the largest and most effective bombards could only be fired two or three times a day.
This incredibly powerful Bombard-Mortar of the Knights of Saint John of Jerusalem, Rhodes, 1480, saw action at the unsuccessful Siege of Rhodes by the Ottomans of that same year and apparently played a significant role in defeating the Turks.
Siege warfare Siege warfare was ubiquitous in the Baltic, as it was throughout the medieval world, but was not as sophisticated or elaborate as in some other regions such as Italy largely because the terrain made it so difficult to move siege equipment from place to place efficiently, and because all the major towns and castles were so well equipped with cannon and guns to repel sieges.
Polish Artillery shelling Malbork Castle in 1410 AD (from a 19th Century illustration)
This compounded the second problem, that very large and heavy canons were very hard to move. This was to some extent addressed by the French and Burgundians, who put functional wheeled carriages on some of their larger bombards, thus making them a little bit easier to transport. This led to some spectacular successes in several major sieges in France in the late 15th Century.
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What looks like an old iron culverin is used as a battering ram in a siege in the 15th Century. Meanwhile in the background you can see the wall being overtopped by a siege tower.
Despite the difficulty in moving huge siege towers across muddy swamps and forests, large scale sieges were still common in the Baltic during times of war, particularly between Latin polities. Certain fortifications and cities, such as Danzig and the Teutonic Knights three-layer citadel of Malbork in Marienburg acquired a well deserved reputation of defensive invincibility, whereas other major castles or towns which had been breached once tended to fall over and over again.
matched by better fortifications and countermeasures and vice versa, if the defenders were sufficiently competent and prepared, war very generally speaking did still favor the defense as previously mentioned. What this meant is that if you were facing a threat, and you were outnumbered or in some other kinds of unfavorable or uncertain situation, your most likely move was to button up in every available defensible position you had and abandon all the indefensible territory to the enemy. Then wait for the invader to make a mistake or leave.
Siege warfare was offensive as well as defensive, and part of the strategy was building castles in places which would cause problems for the enemy. Strings of small fortifications could be erected in a surprisingly short time across enemy supply lines or lines of communication. As with castles, for towns the rule was location, location, location. Those situated in the best defensive positions fared the best and ended up also receiving the most trade (because it was a safer place to risk your money, like banks in Switzerland today) thus their prosperity increased and they could afford to build bigger walls, buy larger guns, and so on in a virtuous cycle. Siege warfare was practiced at the highest levels by the Latin armies, who could import engineers from the Universities at Kraków or Prague, or if necessary as far away as Cologne, Bologna or Padua. The Lithuanians and Russians were originally less adept at sieges but by the later 14th Century they acquired a taste for cannon and a talent for their use which would gradually begin to give them something of an edge in siege over the next few decades. Starting with the letters of Gediminus the Lithuanians imported skilled labor until they too were catching up in this important area.
Rather elaborate field fortifications, from the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Elaborate wooden fortifications like this were sometimes called Letzi. Much (though by no means all) of the Kriegsbook is derived from the much earlier Belifortis of Konrad Kyeser, 1405. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
Though the balance shifted first one way and then the next, as new types of cannon and siege techniques were
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Siege ladders, with and without hooks and telescoping construction. from the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Much (though by no means all) of the book is derived from the much earlier Belifortis of Konrad Kyeser, 1405. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangenNurnberg.
This meant that most medieval wars were somewhat limited and consisted of mainly ravaging those lands, villages, pastures etc. which were not easily defensible. Strongpoints and fortified positions were generally avoided because defense could be truly diabolical. To get just a hint, from an earlier era than the Late Medieval, read this excerpt from the “Kings Mirror”, a Norwegian book of advice for young princes, from the mid 13 th Century: “Those who have to defend a castle may also make use of these weapons which I have now enumerated and many more: trebuchets both large and small, hand slings and staff slings. They will find crossbows and other bows, too, very effective, as well as every other type of shooting weapons, such as spears and javelins both light and heavy. But to resist the trebuchets, the cat, and the engine called the ram, it is well to strengthen the entire stone wall on the inside with large oaken timbers, though if earth and clay are plentiful, these materials had better be used. Those who have to defend castles are also in the habit of making curtains of large oak boughs, three or even five
deep, to cover the entire wall; and the curtain should be thoroughly plastered with good sticky clay.
A series of odd looking siege engines and war boats from a sketch by the Sienese engineer Mariano di Jacopo, aka “Taccola”, circa 1450.
To defeat the attacks of the ram, men have sometimes filled large bags with hay or straw and lowered them with light iron chains in front of the ram where it sought to pierce the wall. It sometimes happens that the shots fall so rapidly upon a fortress that the defenders are unable to remain on the battlements; it is then advisable to hang out brattices made of light planks and built high enough to reach two ells above the openings in the parapet and three ells below them. They should be wide enough to enable the men to fight with any sort of weapons between the parapet and the brattice wall, and they should be hung from slender beams in such a way that they may be readily drawn in and hung out again later, as one may wish. The hedgehog will be found an effective device in defending a castle. It is made of large, heavy beams armed along the ridge with a brush of pointed oak nails; it is hung outside the parapet to be dropped on anyone who comes too near the wall. Turnpikes made of large heavy logs armed with sharp teeth of hard oak may be raised on end near the battlements and kept ready to be dropped upon those who approach the castle.
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Siege of a castle, from the bible of Wencelaus IV, 1390
Another good device is the briar, which is made of good iron and curved thorns as hard as steel with a barb on every thorn; and the chain, from which it hangs, as high up as a man can reach must be made of spiked links, so that it can neither be held nor hewn; higher up any kind of rope that seems suitable may be used, only, it must be firm and strong. This briar is thrown down among the enemy in the hope of catching one or more of them and then it is pulled up again. A running wheel is also a good weapon for those who defend castles: it is made of two millstones with an axle of tough oak joining them. Planks sloping downward are laid through the openings in the wall; the wheel is rolled out upon these and then down upon the enemy. A shot wagon is also a good device. This is made like any other wagon with two or four wheels as one likes and is intended to carry a load of stones, hot or cold, as one may prefer. It must also be provided with two firm and strong chains, one on each side, which can be depended on to check the wagon even where it has a long track to run upon. It is meant to run on planks set with a downward slope, but one must be careful to keep the wheels from skidding off the planks. When the chain checks the speed, the wagon shoots its load out upon the men below. The
more uneven the stones are, some large and some small, the more effective the load will be. Canny men, who are set to defend a wall and wish to throw rocks down upon the attacking line or upon the penthouse, make these rocks of clay with pebbles, slingstones, and other hard stones placed inside. The clay is burned hard enough on the outside to endure the flight while the load is being thrown; but as soon as the rocks fall they break into fragments and consequently cannot be hurled back again. To break down stone walls, however, large, hard rocks are required. Similarly, when one hurls missiles from a stone fortress against an opposing wooden tower or upon the axletrees which support siege engines, towers, scaling ladders, cats, or any other engine on wheels, the larger and harder the rocks that are used, the more effective they will be.
These are to be thrown down upon the wooden engine in which the plowshares are likely to stick fast, while the beams may be hoisted up again. This attack should be followed up with pitch, sulfur, or boiling tar. Mines dug in the neighborhood of a castle are also an excellent protection; the deeper and narrower they are, the better it is; and where men are showing mounted engines toward the walls, it were well if there were many mines. All mines should have a number of small openings, which must be covered so as not to be visible on the surface. They should be filled with fuel of the most inflammable sort, peat or anything else that burns readily. When a castle is attacked at night either from wooden towers or scaling ladders or any other engine on wheels, the defenders should steal out and fire the mines. Now if it should happen that the enemy’s stones come over the battlements with such violence that the men cannot remain in the open to defend the wall, it is a good plan to set up strong posts cut from thick oak and to lay large and tough cross beams upon these, then to roof the whole over with firm oak timbers, and finally cover the roofing with a layer of earth not less than three or four ells in depth, upon which the rocks may be allowed to drop. In like manner the attack of a wooden tower that is moving toward a castle may be foiled by setting up strong, firm posts rising considerably higher than the attacking tower. But a more effective contrivance than all the engines that I have now described is a stooping shieldgiant which breathes forth flame and fire. And now we shall close our account of the engines that are useful in defending castle walls with the reminder that every sort of weapon with which one can shoot, hurl, hew, or thrust, and every kind that can be used in attack or defense may be brought into service.” -Excerpt from the King’s Mirror, Konungs skuggsjá, Norway circa 1250.
Another siege, from the bible of Wenceslaus IV, Bohemian, 1390. Note the face on the shield in the upper-right. Apototropic magic.
Boiling water, molten glass, and molten lead are also useful in defending walls. But if a cat or any other covered engine which cannot be damaged by hot water is being pushed toward a castle, it is a good plan, if the engine is lower than the walls, to provide beams carefully shod with iron underneath and in addition armed with large, sharp, red-hot plowshares.
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Two proto-hackenbusche, or arquebus hook-guns, the top painted red and black. From Maximilian's Zeugbuch, 1502
The main difference between the rather horrifying devices, expedients and methods of the 13th Century Kings Mirror and siege warfare in the mid 15th Century Baltic is that the
latter was even more complex and diabolical and featured a huge diversity of scary pyrotechnic and gunpowder weapons in addition to everything that came before. Cannon were, of course, the single most important items and the largest ones could be considered Strategic or at least Operational weapons in the same manner that large siege engines were in the Classical era. But aside from cannon, there were also firearms, grenades, mines, and explosives used in mining, and flares and smoke bombs used for signaling, starting fires, illumination and concealment. There was a wide variety of even stranger and more fiendish pyrotechnic devices in wide use by the 1450’s, for example some kind of short ranged flame-thrower type weapon called a ‘trump’ which could burn like a giant blow torch through attacking troops (for example when they were trying to climb up a siege ladder). There was a sort of flaming ‘hula hoop’ soaked in saltpeter and linseed oil which, lit on fire and flung over the battlements with tongs could envelop groups of attackers crowded beneath the walls and burn them alive. These were used to great effect against the Turks in sieges in Malta and Rhodes in the 15th and 16th Century. Military manuals also show some kind of rocket powered wheeled machines covered in blades and hooks which could fly into a crowd attempting to rush a tunnel or a gateway, slicing through feet and legs. Many other complex devices shown in the war-books of the day are as yet not understood by scholars. What all this boiled down to was 1,000 reasons not to storm a well fortified defensive position unless there was no other option. Depiction of naval battle in Northern Europe from the 15th Century. Note the use of large spears, javelins, rocks, longbows, and that most of the combatants are wearing armor.
Naval Warfare
The final phase of a typical naval battle in the 15th Century, from one of the illustrated versions of Froissart's Chronicles.
Naval Warfare was widely practiced in this era; in the Baltic it was done differently than the Mediterranean where the oared galley was king. In Northern Europe the roundship dominated the seas, not the standard merchant vessel but warships with enhanced fighting positions for up to 400 men; 150 or more gunners, bowmen and crossbowmen, as well as the inevitable horde of 100 or more armored skirmishers or marines for fighting in boarding actions, plus as many as 50 armed sailors to round out the crew.
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The goal of most naval engagements in this era was not to sink enemy ships with cannons but to board and capture them. Thus naval battles were often organized like miniature sieges. However, cannon and firearms were becoming more and more important kit for warships. It’s unclear precisely when European ships started using cannon to sink one another in battles, but guns big enough to do so seem to have been mounted (or at least carried) on warships as early as the late 13th Century. It’s unlikely that it was commonplace before the second half of the 14th Century, but at some time during the 14 th Century it seems to have become a ‘thing’. The chronicle of Hamburg claims that a cannon, a serpentine or ‘feldschlange’, recovered from the warship of the pirate Stortebecker in 1400 was 19 feet long. Although the roundship, meaning the hulk and the cog, and their more sophisticated cousins the caravel and the carrack, dominated the fighting in Northern Europe, the oared Mediterranean war-galley did also make appearances in the North Sea on several documented
occasions. In one famous battle in the 1470’s a krak from Danzig, commanded by the city councilor Paul Benacke, overcame and captured a Florentine war-galley which was picking up valuable cargo, including an epic painting by Hans Memling, the “Last Judgment” triptych, which to this day is housed in a church near Gdansk.
passengers could be ransomed, but often the ships themselves were the biggest prize sought after. Few ships were created purely as warships. Most naval military assets were actually privateers fighting under letters of marque, and these in turn were typically merchant ships ‘militarized’ by adding fighting platforms, guns, and other extra military gear. It paid to ascertain who controlled any waterways one planned to travel through well in advance of any trip, to better forestall misunderstandings. The Hanse routinely sent 2 or 3 heavily-armed warships with every merchant convoy throughout the Late Medieval period. "The main and principal point in war is to secure plenty of provisions for oneself and to destroy the enemy by famine. Famine is more terrible than the sword." -Vegetius, De Re Militari
A siege raft in action with two culverins, source unknown but probably Swiss circa 1450. This may represent an incident in the Zurich war. Note a wounded man, guns in the town facing the lake, and barriers
As crazy it may seem to us today, men involved in naval battles in the medieval period seem to have typically worn armor. This obviously meant falling into the water was a death-sentence, but perhaps that was true regardless in the frigid waters of the Baltic (at least in Winter). In the Hamburg Chronicle’s account of the capture of the famous pirate Stortebecker, it relates that both Stortebecker and his opponent, a Hamburg city councilor, had broken their swords and poll-axes, and unable to harm one another, were grappling on the ground. The enormously strong Stortebecker had the advantage, but just as he was about to kill his enemy the rest of his crew were defeated and he was quickly overpowered by Hamburg men, sealing his fate. Of course Stortebecker had another form of protection, or so he believed. During a raid in Spain he and one of his pirate brothers had captured relics which they believed made them invulnerable to bullets! By the mid 15 th Century independent pirate groups like the Victual Brothers of Stortebecker were no longer as powerful or as menacing to trade as they had once been, but privateering was still a widespread practice. Like in the Wild West, one warring faction would put a bounty on another, and it would be open season on their ships. The cargo’s carried by merchant ships were of great value, and the crews and
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Victualing the troops, from Speizer Chronik, Diebold Schilling, 15th Century
Logistics and Supplies Contrary to the general assumption, and even the beliefs of at least one very intelligent military historian who should have known better, European Medieval armies did in fact bring their own supplies with them into the field and did not rely exclusively on pillaging, in fact the supply train of even a small army was considerable. Nevertheless, supplies ran out quickly so armies still had to forage, and
horses in particular were hard to feed, especially during sieges. We have detailed records of the muster of a small army from Regensburg on campaign during the Hussite Wars in 1431. The force consisted of 73 horsemen, 71 crossbowmen, 16 handgunners, and a mixed group of smiths, leatherworkers, a chaplain, pike-makers, tailors, cooks, and butchers, for 248 men in total. They brought 6 cannon, 300 lbs of cannonballs and 200 lbs of lead shot. Forty one wagons carried powder and lead, 6,000 crossbow bolts, 300 fire-bolts, 19 handguns, cowhides, tents, and horse fodder for six weeks. Supplies for the 248 men included ninety head of oxen, 900 lbs of cooked meat, 900 lbs of lard, 1200 pieces of cheese, 80 stock-fish, 56 lbs of uncut candles, vinegar, olive oil, pepper, saffron, ginger, 2 tuns and 73 “kilderkins” of Austrian wine, and 138 “kilderkins” of beer. The total cost of this campaign was 838 guilders208.
An army besieging a small castle, Phiipp Monch Kriegsbuch 1496
“To begin with, two hundred crossbows, thirty heavy crossbows with spanning devices, and one hundred others which use belt hooks. Item, two hundred thousand quarrels, or bolts, and one thousand large bolts. Twelve quite new spanning frames for shooting the crossbows, thirteen cranequin spanners, fifty belt hooks. Item four hundred pounds of Antwerp cord for making bow strings. Fifty goats foot spanners to bend crossbows. Item three hundred handbows, each provided with three strings. Item a provision of eight hundred more strings for the bows. Item twelve hundred thousand arrows. Item twelve hundred iron hooks to be placed on the ground for defense [Caltrops].” -Christine de Pizan, The Book of Deeds of Arms and of Chivalry, 1410
Plague and War
A baker and his wife selling pies from a portable oven, with pretzels hanging from a rack above. Mobile ovens like this were used by armies in the field to feed the hungry soldiers.
A bit later in the 15th Century we get an interesting perspective on logistics on a little bit larger scale from the Renaissance “feminist” courtier and natural philosopher, Christine de Pizan. In her early 15th Century war-book, Livre des faits d'armes et de chevalerie, she gives us some insight into the logistics necessary for a siege on a somewhat larger scale:
One of the more depressing realities of warfare in this time is that it often leads to Plague. There is very close link historically between Plague and famine. Apparently people who are starved are much more easily infected and when Plague appeared it seemed to always happen among malnourished people. Any kind of warfare in this area beyond the simple raid (which is the most common) usually involves a siege. Besieging armies camped out for long periods in often unhygienic conditions are particularly susceptible both to famine and to outbreaks of disease; cholera, dysentery, malaria, and the most feared of all, the Black Death. Many sieges in this period in fact ended when the besieging army contracted Plague, at which point the only wise course of action was to disperse. The Black Death itself started in Europe in 1348 when the Mongols catapulted infected heads over the walls into the Genoese colony of Caffa in the Crimea during a siege. These were the heads of their own men who had contracted the deadly disease. The Genoese sailors fleeing the Plague brought it back to Italy and France.
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Miraculously for some unknown reason the original cataclysmic outbreak of the Black Death in 1348 seems to have partly bypassed Poland, which may have been relatively lightly affected though historians debate the evidence. The Black Death pandemic also ‘skipped’ certain other cities in its first and by far most devastating wave, but for more obvious reasons, namely draconian quarantine methods. These towns included Milan, Bruges, and Venice among others. The Doge of Venice had certain families walled up alive in their own homes to prevent the spread of Plague, providing inspiration for Edgar Allen Poe by this gruesome expediency, but it saved many lives. However, the plague came back again and again, and ultimately nowhere was safe from it. Though the vast devastation of the original 1348-1350 pandemic was never repeated, subsequent outbreaks were also extremely deadly and recurred with frightening regularity, nearly once a generation in most places. In many cases, plague broke out during war time, in a close association with famine caused by widespread devastation of infrastructure like mills, and of crops and livestock.
‘Hunger Wars’ of the 1430’s. Doctors in this time period had little idea how to treat Plague and the only way to control outbreaks was quarantine and / or escape from the infested area (the two agendas often clashing). During times of Plague ships were strictly quarantined in port for a fixed duration of time. Armor, swords, and hand-to-hand fighting Detail about hand to hand combat in this era is a massive subject worthy of an entire book on its own, but it is worth quickly noting a few points here. Regarding armor, it is not true that armor was worn to protect against ‘glancing blows’. The top quality Latin European armor in this era in particular was extremely effective against almost every weapon, only powerful guns or specialized armor-piercing weapons could defeat it and even then it was very difficult. But relatively few combatants had full ‘head to toe’ plate armor coverage, most had either partial armor and / or armor of lesser quality such as a coat of plates, or ‘munitions grade’ plate harness, or a mail haubergeon.
A man hurls a spear at another man’s face in a judicial combat, depicted in Hans Talhoffer’s 1467 Fechtbuch. Judicial combat was rare by this period but it was used as a basis to teach fencing
Mail could protect against most hand weapons, or arrows from a distance, but not against firearms, heavier crossbows, or bows shot at close range. Infantry even when well equipped typically did not usually wear armor on their lower legs so they would still be vulnerable.
A realistic portrayal of urban warfare in the 15th Century Baltic. Gunners, crossbowmen, heavy cavalry (a Knight), and heavy and light infantry are all in play. Painting by Josef Mathauser..
In the Baltic the siege of Malbork in 1411 ended when Plague broke out among the Polish and Lithuanian troops. Jan Žižka was killed by Plague during the Hussite wars in the 1420’s, and Plague broke out again during the
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The best Eastern armor (lamellar or mail-and-plate ‘backhterets’ or ‘yushman’ type armor for the most part) was also effective if not quite as invulnerable as the top quality European armor. But far fewer of the Asian warriors wore full armor, many light cavalry and cavalry archers from Central Asia went without armor entirely or wore lamellar corselets made of leather or ox hide which was not sufficient to protect against crossbows or guns. All armor harness was expensive but it was not out of the financial reach of common burghers or professional soldiers of Latin Europe, or even in many cases peasants, so most Latin armies had armor.
Two men grappling on horseback, from Talhoffer’s 1467 Fechtbuch. The man on the right has trapped the sword of the man on the left under his right arm and is about to ride off with it.
Swords weighed from 2-4 lbs and both the single-handed and two-handed varieties were typically well balanced, made of good steel and very sharp. Like all hand weapons in this era they were used with sophisticated martial arts techniques which we now know a lot about from period fencing manuals. Swords and sabers were sidearms, but very important ones and extremely popular with all factions fighting in this region. Other popular hand weapons included spears and lances of all types, various types of axes, war-hammers, poll-hammers and poll-axes, halberds, glaives, awl-pikes, flails and maces of all kinds. Steppe nomads and Russians often threw maces as well as using them for close combat.
Field fortification, from the Kriegsbuch of Ludwig von Eyb, circa 1500. Much (though by no means all) of the book is derived from the earlier Belifortis of Konrad Kyeser, 1405. Image from Universitatsbibliothek erlangen-Nurnberg.
On the other hand, given some kind of preparation time, and a degree of competence, war in this era favored the defense very generally speaking. Once those gates were securely shut and even a small force was safely behind castle or town walls, they could resist or even break much bigger armies, and the odds of success flipped suddenly in favor of the defenders. The same 100 guys who could be so easily smashed in the open field could now destroy your fine army of thousands of men by dropping rocks (and maybe molten glass) on their heads from atop a wall, or picking them off with hook guns, crossbows and cannon as they tried to hustle ladders up to the ramparts.
Smaller blades including messers, dussacks, hauswehr and baurenwehr knives (somewhat analogous to bowie knives) were also popular both with soldiers and civilians, and the dagger or knife was probably the single most ubiquitous hand weapon for all European militaries at this time, the roundel, ballock, and baselard type daggers all being extremely popular as probably the best tool for dispatching armored opponents and a reliable civilian and military sidearm.
Strategy and Tactics Military strategy in the medieval period tended to be an odd combination of courageous elan expressed in decisive, spontaneous action on the one hand, with extreme caution and calculated idleness, carried out with an almost supernatural patience on the other. There were two fundamental realities that broke it down this way: In the open field, with an enemy not quite ready for battle, a swift charge- could frequently carry the day. Very small forces of organized heavy cavalry in particular, (and sometimes infantry too), could defeat much larger forces when the latter were poorly organized. At ratio’s like ten to one or even better. Even powerful fortifications, mighty castles and so on, were sometimes captured by a sudden and bold rush through an open gate.
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Landsknechts engaged with dismounted knights, Der Weisskonig, Maximilian I, art by Hans Burgkmair, 1516
By the second quarter of the 15th Century, the most disciplined infantry were even making themselves into kind of forts in the open field, either out of a forest of pikes or a line of war-wagons (in both cases backed by guns and powerful crossbows), and this made the wild attack even riskier. On the steppe, the nomads knew that if Latin heavy cavalry could corner them in some kind of tight spot, they were doomed – even if they had the numbers by a wide margin. But given a little room to maneuver, they also knew only too well how to avoid that first charge, stretch out a knightly attack with feigned retreats and other
stratagems, which could be used to exhaust, confuse and disorganize their enemy, and thus put him into that elusive vulnerable state in which they could be crushed. Easily and decisively crushed.
each other to pieces, esprit de corps could be slippery, needless to say. "It is better to beat the enemy through want, surprises, and care for difficult places (i.e., through manoeuvre) than by a battle in the open field" Vegetius, De Re Militari, 390 AD
So captains needed to have decisive advantage to risk battle. That could mean spotting an enemy army just at the perfect moment of hesitation and confusion, or it could mean knowing an enemy was forced for some reason to try to storm your powerful citadel, or that they would be passing through a ford in a river or some other choke point at a given time… or any of the other scenarios outlined above. Or just knowing for sure that if you waited long enough they were going to starve.
Hungarian Hussar, one of the important new types of light cavalry. Note the characteristic shield and szabla saber. Detail from Die Weisskonig of Maximilian I, art by Hans Burgkmair, 1516
Wars of position and maneuver
Thus the chess game. Placement of cannon, finding ground good for cavalry vs ground good for infantry. Interrupting communications, timing actions with perfect weather, concealing the arrival of reinforcements, planting spies and counter-spies, spreading false rumors and portents of doom, or their opposite, were all stratagems used by experienced commanders. The complexity of war in this era is part of the reason for the heavy reliance on military contractors, experts in the art of war. And by this time, it really had become an art.
Once upon a time, Latin armies blundered into such dangerous situations routinely, and got slaughtered as a result, but by the Late Medieval period experienced military men knew most of tricks and pitfalls of the battlefield pretty well and ‘rookie mistakes had become a bit rarer. Instead a real life chess game had become the norm, with commanders and captains balancing optimal vs sub-optimal conditions like so many knights and rooks on a chess board. The goal was to make your opponent fight when it was terrible for him and great for you.
Feudal Armies vs. “Adapted” Armies
Military commanders did not want to fight if they had only incremental advantage, incremental advantages were no good because there was too much of a random element in medieval combat. Many factors, heat, cold, hunger, thirst, the behavior of horses, the death of a key individual, weather, signs and portents, and everything directly or indirectly to do with morale, could suddenly and capriciously affect the outcome of a battle, and many famous engagements more or less hinged on totally random moments.
Man for man, heavy cavalry was probably the best, toughest and most effective type of warrior on the battlefield in the middle ages in Europe if not anywhere on earth. They were also the most expensive to arm and equip, with the special horses in particular (chargers) as well as the armor and other gear, beyond the means of most other estates. The nobles, furthermore, had by far the most experience in the type of cavalry shock warfare favored by these warriors than anyone else.
Even ridiculous accidents, misunderstood signals, reinforcements mistaken for the enemy, mysterious plumes of dust on the horizon, mass-hallucinations of angels or saints in the clouds, almost anything could suddenly tilt morale one way or the other. In era where men fought largely by standing toe to toe and hacking
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There were two types of armies in the Middle Ages, and both existed side by side, fought against one another and together on the same side for centuries. Feudal armies were based around aristocratic lords and their vassals, and were made up mostly of cavalry, with a hard core of armored heavy cavalry, often supported by a peasant levy. Leadership was often based on aristocratic rank, and tactics revolved largely around the honor and prestige, or sometimes whims of the leaders.
And for most of the military action within Latinized Europe in the medieval period, they were effective. The vast majority of engagements were small scale raids, which cavalry was ideal for, and heavy cavalry in particular since they were fairly invulnerable to any but the most determined attacks.
Chivalry. By the early 14th Century, a series of battles proved that well organized Latin infantry could also defeat aristocratic heavy cavalry in a nose to nose, pitched battle. Increasingly powerful guns and crossbows put holes in the proverbial knightly armor during sieges. And in the 1420’s, the Bohemian Hussite heretics demonstrated how warwagons could be used to bring firearms and light cannon into the open field, backed up by highly motivated infantry, to create a juggernaut that neither Latinized Feudal armies nor even elite Steppe nomads like the Mongols and Ottomans had a real answer to for most of the 15 th Century.
The Ottomans did not fight according to the rules of Chivalry. Battle of Krbava Field in Croatia, 1493, Leonhard Beck. Image Public Domain.
Two examples of why fighting the Turks wasn’t popular
The other common type of warfare was the siege, and while cavalry wasn’t ideal for sieges, once again the armor was helpful, as was the mobility of cavalry in keeping a cordon tight around a besieged castle or city. While knights may not have been heavily focused on sapping or the use of siege engines, they were familiar enough with all the processes of siege warfare to make good supervisors for the lesser troops.
An adapted army was one which adapted it’s means to it’s situation. The adapted army was usually what would be called in modern times a ‘combined arms’ army, because they recognized the need to utilize every troop type they had available, with the best possible tactics they could devise, all other considerations being secondary. Though medieval armies were often labeled as being made up of their dominant troop type, the truth is that all of the polities mentioned above had combined arms forces.
Experience had taught the nobles that a charge by a few hundred knightly heavy-cavalry could smash armies of thousands of infantry or light cavalry, especially I they could hit them in the flank. So it stood to reason that a great army made up around a large number of well trained, well-equipped heavy cavalry lancers would wipe out any other type of force without much trouble. But it didn’t work out this way in the Late Medieval period. The other type of medieval army was what I call the adapted army. This was an army which was based around a realization that each type of medieval warrior had its advantages and disadvantages. Heavy cavalry may have been the best in a one-on-one engagement but in larger battles, armies did not fight a series of one-on-one or small engagements. They fought as groups, as units. And every type of warrior had its limitations. Heavy cavalry was fantastic in a charge, when they could come to grips with the enemy, in the open field. But they could not usually catch light (unarmored) cavalry in the open. They in particular had a hard time dealing with cavalry archers who could stay out of reach and shoot them and their horses. The English demonstrated very famously how longbows could be used against the Latin elite of
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The Swiss were known for their pike and halberd infantry, but they also made excellent use of gunners and crossbowmen, and they did have knightly cavalry. The Bohemians, similarly, were known for their infantry and war-wagons, but made good use of cavalry as scouts and had knights waiting inside their wagonberg to perform the counterattack when the enemy wavered. The Mongols and Ottomans relied on horse-archers but they too had their own heavy cavalry, and the genius of the Ottomans was that they also had formidable infantry – the ruthless slave soldiers called Janissaries.
An Ottoman Akinci cavalryman, pulls a knight off of his horse with a lasso. From the Suleymanname illuminated book, Topkapi museum, Istanbul (image public domain)
Though some historians will claim that the armored heavy cavalryman was defeated by the longbow, or the crossbow, or by guns, or by the Steppe nomads or by horse archers, or by cannon or Swiss pikemen or the Bohemian war wagons in the Late Middle Ages… this was not actually the case. The last Strategically significant, successful knightly heavy cavalry charge was by Polish Winged Hussars at the Second Siege of Vienna in 1683. Their charge of 16,000 cavalry, fronted by 3,000 winged hussars led by King Jan Sobieski himself, smashed a gigantic besieging army of 140,000 Ottoman Turks, forcing the Sultan to lift the siege and saving the city (and probably a lot of Latinized Europe). So heavy cavalry could be very effective within and as a component of an adapted army, or what in military tactical jargon is called a combined arms force. In the Late Medieval world, the French in particular had arguably the best heavy cavalry in Europe, but suffered agonizing defeat after agonizing defeat in the 14th and 15th Centuries, against the English, against the Spanish, against the Swiss, and against the Turks. They could not understand how they were repeatedly beaten when they clearly had the best mounted, best equipped, most skilled and most chivalrous knights. It started to become clear that a lack of infantry and marksmen was part of the problem, but they had such contempt for peasants that they could not seem to field their own. It was not unusual for French knights to run-down their own infantry in the excitement of battle. But what hurts teaches, and even the French did eventually learn. They hired the Swiss to be their mercenary infantry, they adopted cannon in a big way, and they modified their feudal system for something more systematic and organized called the gendarmes. The greatest adapted armies were the ones facing the greatest, most existential threats. The Swiss rose to their high level of competence as the result of the imminent danger of being wiped out by first the Hapsburgs, and then the Duke of Burgundy. The Poles, threatened both by the Steppe and by the Teutonic Order, fine tuned their cavalry force, eventually transforming their knightly horsemen into the much feared winged hussars. The Bohemians were facing a Crusade from nearly all of Latinized Europe when they rose to the occasion with their war wagons,
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pistala guns, and two handed flails. But arguably the best example of the adapted medieval army was the Fekete Sereg, the Hungarian Black Army. The Black Army was led by a man from a relatively low ranked knightly family with land near the borders most actively threatened by the Turks, in what is today Romania. The Hunyadi / Corvinus family rose to prominence (and ultimately to the Hungarian Monarchy) due largely to their skill at fighting the huge, very deadly, and extremely well adapted armies of the Ottoman Empire. When the mighty City State of Venice was also threatened by the Sultan both on land and in the sea, they saw clear to help finance a force that Matthias Corvinus, son of the great Jan Hunyadi envisioned. His creation was a very special, ‘bespoke’ army. They had Swiss pikemen, German and Polish heavy cavalry, Hungarian and Serbian light cavalry, Italian cannon masters and military engineers, and especially, Czech gunners and war-wagon riders. The ‘Black Army’ had the highest proportion of handgunners for their time of any Latinized Army, and their successes spurred the Ottoman Janissaries to develop their own highly successful firearm force. Though adapted armies could be nominally egalitarian like the Swiss or the Bohemians, or under the domination of a ruthless aristocratic warlord like Mathias Corvinus, either way their leadership was based on some kind of meritocracy. The Fekete Sereg was led by the King, but Matthias Corvinus was the King because he was the guy who could take on the Turks. Feudal armies that went up against the Ottomans, conversely, were catastrophically defeated again and again. Names like Nikopolis and Varna still send a chill through people in certain parts of Europe today. But the Ottomans were kept at bay because of lesser known victories at Hermannstadt in 1442, at Nish and Vaskapu in 1443, at Jajce in 1463 and 1464, at Vasui in 1475, at Sabac in 1476, at Breadfield in 1479, and so on. Though the Fekete Sereg was often outnumbered three to one or more, they won more often than they lost. The ‘adapted’ Latinized army was capable of punching far above it’s weight.
Selected Battles of the 13 Years War Battle of Konitz Year Forces, Poland: Commanders, Poland: Forces, Teutonic Order: Commanders, Order: Victor:
1454 16,000 cavalry, 1,200 infantry, Prussian Confederation 500 militia Gdansk, 2000 Frisian and Saxon mercenaries King Casimir IV, Chancellor Jan Koniecpolski and Polish Knight Piotr von Szczekociny 8,700 mixed cavalry, 6,000 infantry (Bohemian mercenaries) Second force: 50 Teutonic Knights, 300 ‘Old Prussian’ cavalry Mercenary captain Bernard von Zinnenburg, Teutonic Komptor Heinrich Reuß von Plauen Teutonic Order
The Battle of Chojnice (Battle of Konitz) was the first major battle of what came later to be called the Thirteen Years' War between Poland and the Prussian Confederation on one side, and the Teutonic Knights on the other. It took place on September 18, 1454 near the town of Chojnice (Konitz to the Germans) which was the site of a small Teutonic Order stronghold. The forces consisted of 8,700 cavalry and 6,000 infantry, mostly Bohemian Hussite mercenaries on the German side, commanded by Bernard von Zinnenburg (aka Bernard Szumborski), plus a small garrison of 50 Teutonic Knights and 300 ‘Old Prussian’ cavalry in the castle under Heinrich Reuß von Plauen. The Polish army had 16,000 cavalry, 1,200 Polish infantry plus 500 German mercenaries and burgers from Danzig and 2,000 Frisian and German mercenaries hired by the Prussian Confederation, all under the theoretical command of King Casimir IV, but in practice controlled by Chancellor Jan Koniecpolski and the Polish Knight Piotr von Szczekociny. The Polish commanders were counting on their decisive numerical superiority in cavalry and assumed that the battle would be carried by their Towarzysza pancerni (heavy cavalry) as had been the case in several smaller battles with the Teutonic Oder in the previous 20 years. They made a haphazard disposition of their artillery and infantry and most egregiously, largely ignored the large infantry force of Bohemian and German mercenaries fighting for the Teutonic Knights. At the beginning everything went as expected, following the pattern of many other battles between the Poles and Teutonic Knights in the 15th Century. The Polish cavalry charged successfully, breaking the Teutonic lines, killing Prince Rudolf von Żagań and even capturing Bernard von Zinnenburg. The Teutonic Knights cavalry then desperately tried to break through Polish lines and escape to Chojnice, but their situation looked bleak. The battle hinged however on the Bohemian infantry grouped at the Teutonic Wagenburg. The Tábor successfully resisted several charges from the Polish cavalry, inflicting many casualties and creating consternation in the Polish ranks. Then as the Polish knights were milling about in confusion, the gates of the castle suddenly opened and von Plauen led the Teutonic Knights garrison at Chojnice in a sudden sally. They charged into the disordered Polish army, causing a panic. Bernard von Zinnenburg managed to escape and organized pursuit of the now fleeing Poles (though he did not personally participate in the fighting from this point onward, since he was technically still a captive); hundreds of Poles, including Piotr von Szczekociny, were killed during the rout or drowned in the nearby marsh. According to Jan Dlugosz, the Polish King Casimir IV fought on with great personal courage and his knights had to force him to leave the battlefield in order to prevent his being captured. The Poles escaped with most of their army but they had suffered a major defeat, 3,000 Polish cavalry were killed and 300 Polish knights were captured by the forces of the Teutonic Order, including three important Polish knights-Banneret: Mikolaj Szarlejski, Łukasz Górka, and Wojciech Kostka von Postupice. The Teutonic Knights lost only around 100 men. Bernard Von Zinnenburg was however formally a Polish prisoner, since he gave a knight's word. Years later several of the prominent Polish captives were later traded for his ‘release’. The battle proved once again the value of disciplined infantry and specifically of the Tabor. The Poles paid the price for ignoring a lesson that had been taught to many others in this region many times before. The battle of Chojnice disrupted the momentum of the Polish / Prussian side of the war and bought time for the Order to reorganize their lines and stabilize their dire situation, creating the stalemate which would continue for the next few years.
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Scale model of medieval Kneiphof, from the kalliningrad museum, photo by alexy, GNU license (watermarked image)
Battle of Kneiphof Year Forces, Poland: Commanders, Poland:
1455 600 militia infantry from Königsberg, 400 infantry from Danzig, 9 ships from Danzig. Kneiphof’s Burgomeister Jürgen Langerbein, Königsberg Burgomeister Andreas Burnau
Forces, Teutonic Knights:
300 “Old Prussian” or Sambian cavalry, 500 infantry from the Livonian Order, 1 ship from Denmark Teutonic Knight Heinrich Reuß von Plauen, Saxon knights Balthasar of Sagan, Hans and Adolf von Gleichen, Johann von Wartenburg, and Botho von Eulenburg Teutonic Order
Commanders, Order: Victor:
At the time of the rebellion of the Prussian cities against the Teutonic Knights, the city of Königsberg, one of the two main bastions of the Knights in Prussia, was divided in its loyalties between its three municipalities and various estates within them. The merchant class, led by their burgomeister Jürgen Langerbein, wanted to join the rebellion, but evidently some of the craftsmen, particularly in the municipality of Kneiphof thought they were getting a raw deal and did not. A sort of urban civil war broke out over this issue in late March of 1455. Sensing an opportunity, the resourceful Teutonic Knight Heinrich Reuß von Plauen mustered a small force of 300 “Old Prussian” cavalry, led by 5 formidable Saxon knights, and started a siege. Von Plauen attempted to storm Kneiphof on April 13, but was repelled by the militia. More fighting broke out again on 18-19 April, but then nine ships arrived from Danzig arrived with supplies, guns, and 400 infantry, reinforcing Langerbein’s original force of 600. Von Plauen attacked again and captured two bridges, reinforcing them with block-houses to stop further assistance from getting into the town. A supply fleet arrived from Danzig, consisting of 15 small ships, and the town militia recaptured one of the two bridges, but took heavy losses and retreated after fighting for four days. The rebels of Kneiphof, starving due to lack of supplies and fed up by a lack of further help from Danzig, finally surrendered in a negotiated truce on July 14th, and were given generous terms: none were prosecuted, and both soldiers and citizens (including the two burgomeisters) received amnesty. Von Plauen however did replace the town council shortly after and exiled 11 burghers due to continued conspiracies with Danzig.
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Battle of Świecino Year Forces, Poland: Commanders, Poland: Forces, Teutonic Knights: Commanders, Order: Victor:
1462 62 Polish knights, 500 cavalry, 400 Bohemian infantry with war wagons, 50 urban knights from Danzig and Torun, 600 militia crossbowmen from Danzig, 100 peasants. Polish knight Piotr Dunin, Danzig city councilor Mathias Hagen 30-50 Teutonic Knights, 1,000 mixed cavalry, 400 heavy infantry with war-wagons, 1,400 peasant-infantry. Austrian mercenary captain Fritz Rawenak, German knight Kaspar Nostyc Poland \ Prussia
This was a small but very important battle in the 13 Years War which took place in 1462, near the site of the earlier battle of Konicz in 1454. The Poles under command of the new Polish ‘Royal’ Condottiero Piotr Dunin had a force of 62 heavily armed Polish knights, 500 mixed cavalry, and 400 Bohemian mercenary infantry. This was reinforced by militia forces from Danzig under the city councilor Matthias Hagen, consisting of 50 Konstafler (urban heavy cavalry… similar to the knights) and 600 well equipped crossbowmen and heavy infantry, plus some Kashubian charcoal burners who served as scouts and guides. The Teutonic forces under the normally resourceful and creative Fritz Rawenak consisted of mostly mercenaries: 1,000 mixed cavalry and 400 hard core infantry with some fighting wagons, plus another 1,400 ‘auxiliary infantry’ made up of peasant levies. There were also an unknown number of Brother Knights, probably less than 50. Both sides deployed their war-wagons into tabor, though the Polish / Prussian tabor was larger. Before the battle, each side positioned themselves around a lake, and prepared positions, felling trees, creating log barriers, and positioning their light guns. Finally on September 17 the two armies moved into contact. First the Polish cavalry charged, but were beaten back by the German tabor; then the Teutonic cavalry counter charged, but suffered heavy casualties from crossbow shots from the Danziger infantry. During this fight Fritz was wounded by a crossbow bolt. He rallied his forces and charged the Prussian Tabor a second time, but this time he was killed and his cavalry force was wiped out. The Polish cavalry then successfully charged the German tabor and broke it, completing a total rout of Teutonic forces. The Teutonic side lost 700 infantry and 300 cavalry, with 50 captured, plus both Rawenak and his subordinate Kaspar Nostyc were killed. The Poles and Prussians lost just 100 soldiers, but another 150 later died from wounds. Among the dead on the Polish side was the councilor Matthias Hagen from Danzig. The Polish knight Piotr Dunin was also wounded twice, but luckily for Poland he recovered and went on to win many more battles against the Teutonic Knights. The battle of Świecino had major strategic importance because it relieved pressure on Danzig, allowing them to use their forces to patrol the Vistula River and to take offensive actions, and it cut one of the major supply lines for the Order. It was also the first major victory in an open field battle by the Polish / Prussian forces during the 13 Years War.
Battle of Vistula Lagoon Year Forces, Poland: Commanders, Poland: Forces, Teutonic Knights: Commanders, Order: Victor:
1463 30 Prussian ships, mostly ‘Schnigge’ fishing boats, 700 armed militia from Danzig and Elbing, plus 600 sailors Gdansk ship captains (probably city councilors) Vincent Stolle and Matthew Kolmener, Elbing ship captain (and probably councilor) Jacob Vochs 44 Teutonic Order war-galleys, 1,500 men, another 2,500 galley rowers and sailors. Grand Master Ludwig von Erlichshausen, Condotierri Captain Bernard von Zinnenburg, and Teutonic Knight Komptur, Hans Hetzel, Komptur of Memel Poland \ Prussia
Though a relatively small engagement, this naval fight proved to be one of the last crucial turning points of the 13 Years War, shifting momentum to the Polish \ Prussian side decisively. The battle started when the Prussian burghers were besieging the town of Mewe from the river, with ten ships and about 500 militia involved, well-armed with firearms and crossbows. The Teutonic Orders fleet appeared from the lagoon with 44 “galleys” – these may have been the Viking style ships or something
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more like small Mediterranean galleys, it’s unclear from the sources but more likely the former. Badly outnumbered, the Danzig sailors, thinking quickly, blocked the channel from the lagoon to the river by sinking one of their ships in it. They managed to keep the Teutonic Knights occupied by this hazard and brisk shooting long enough for a reinforcing flotilla of 20 more (small) ships to arrive from Elbing, with a further 200 heavily armed militia, and possibly some cannon. Von Erlichshausen’s ships were bunched up awkwardly as the Gdansk and Elbing burghers sailed out of the river and into the lagoon, forming a crescent shaped formation. They began to rain light cannon, arquebus and crossbow shots onto the Teutonic Knights fleet, some of which ran aground as the tide began to change. Ultimately all the Teutonic Order’s ships were destroyed and 550 men were captured, including the Komptur Hans Hetzel. In the aftermath of the battle, the Condottiero Bernard von Zinnenburg and several other key mercenaries elected to make a separate peace with Poland, and abandoned the Knights, spelling doom for their war effort. The war finally ended three years later, in 1466.
Modern depiction of the battle of the Vistula Lagoon. Image by Wisielec.97, Creative Commons Attribution.
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Representative weapons of the 15th Century Baltic
Georgian Kindjal
Battle Axe
Mace
Ruthenian Shashka Saber
Lithuanian Sword
Lithuanian Bearded Axe
Muscovite Berdyche
Hewing Spear
Lithuanian and Ruthenian Weapons, 11th – 16th Century
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Roundel Dagger
Flanged Mace
Langes messer
Cut-Thrust sword
Kriegsmesser
Longsword
War Sword
Arbalest (Statchel)
Glaive
Halberd
German Weapons, 15th -16th Century
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Czech Dussack
Bohemian Flanged Mace
Polish or Hungarian Szabla saber
15th Century Polish Pallash sword
Bohemian Bastard Sword
Bohemian Longsword
Flegel
Bohemian Hussite hand-gonne/ pistala
Polish Berdysh
Bohemian Ahlespeiss
Czech Cep / German Morgenstern
Spear
Polish and Czech Weapons, 15th -16h Century
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Arab Jambiya
Arab Dagger
Mongol Khyber Knife
Heavy Mace (Topuz)
Battle Axe
Mongol Dao Saber
Arab Sword
Ottoman Killij
Ottoman Yataghan
Ottoman Balta aka tabar, a type of axe, sometimes described in literary sources as a ‘halberd’.
Spear or light lance
Mongol, Tatar, and Turkish Melee Weapons, 14th -16th Century
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Glossary A note on terminology Certain terms used in this book have a variety of meanings. One of the most confusing is “Prussian”, because it refers to different people in different contexts (and in different periods). Prussian originally meant a heathen, Baltic tribal people a little bit like Vikings who lived in an area that is now northern Poland. Most native Prussians were annihilated during a series of extremely brutal Crusades, uprisings, and crackdowns during the Middle Ages. Those who survived settled under German colonial rule where they became known as “Old Prussians”, (to distinguish them from foreign settlers, mostly German, who also called themselves Prussians) or fled to Lithuania where large colonies of Prussians were established. Many Central Europeans were brought into the area in two waves, first to repopulate it after the Crusades and then a second time after apocalyptic raids by the Mongols in the mid-13th Century partly depopulated the region. In the later Middle Ages the citizens of the Prussian trading towns continued to call themselves ‘Prussians’. They were still mostly German but also somewhat mixed, the cities included some “Old Prussians”, as well as Flemish, Scots, German and Spanish Jews, Poles, Czechs Scandinavians, and other Western and Southern Europeans who had settled in this area during the Crusades or emigrated to work as artisans or merchants, as well as other local people from Lithuania, Livonia and even Russia. Eventually the ‘Prussian’ towns formed their own German dialect called (no big surprise) Prussian and developed a regional identity separate from the Holy Roman Empire (the mostly German-speaking Central European kingdom which very roughly corresponds to the borders of Germany today). They also spoke Polish in these towns and at the end of the 13 Years War they became part of the Kingdom of Poland, though retaining their special German dialect and a “mostly German” culture. So within this document the term Prussian can refer to an “Old Prussian”, to a “New Prussian”, or to the Old Prussian Baltic language, or to the ‘Prussian’ dialect of German. The terms Tartar or Tatar are also bandied about here in a similarly confusing way, more or less interchangeably with the term Mongol. Tartar refers first and foremost to members of the Mongol Horde, which in the context of this document specifically means either the Golden Horde or the Crimean Khanate, as well as to certain ‘rogue’ Tartar tribes within Lithuanian territory (the so-called Lipka Tartars). Most Tartars were not actually Mongols but were members of one of several specific local ethnic groups (the Tatars, the Kipchaks, the Cumans, the Pechenegs and so on) and also to numerous other tribes of Turkish, East
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Asian, Middle Eastern, Siberian, Eastern European or even South Asian origin. The term Tartar also specifically referred to actual Mongols from Mongolia who dominated the Golden Horde. Tartar was a general pejorative by Latin Europeans (referring to Tartarus) under the belief that the Mongols were literally devils from hell. But the Tartars were really a system, a certain nomadic way of life spread throughout Asia by Genghis Khan starting in the 13th Century. By the 15th Century they were no longer any particular ethnic group if they ever were. But the elite of the hordes are the actual Mongols from Mongolia and their descendants (the ‘Golden Horde’ was so named due to it’s dominance by the ‘Golden Family’ consisting of direct descendants of Ghenghis Khan). Other mighty Mongol leaders in the late medieval period, such as Timur the Lame (Tamerlane) were not Mongol but rather of Turkic blood. For more on this subject see Ethnicity in the Renaissance. One of the reasons why understanding the Baltic is so difficult is that there were so many different languages in use simultaneously. The city known to the Germans as Danzig is known to the Poles as Gdansk. The Condotierri known as Bernard Von Zinnenburg to the Germans is known as Bernard Szumborski to the Poles. And the Russians, Lithuanians, Tartars, Bohemians, Danes, Latvians and Estonians all have their own names for these same places and people. In some cases, as a researcher, I have tried to determine if a particular entity is German, Polish or Prussian and been unable to do so. Is Danzig / Gdansk a Polish town or a German town? In spite of hundreds of hours of research on this subject, I’m really not sure. It’s both, it’s neither. Was the famous astronomer Nicholas Copernicus German or Polish? Whole careers have been spent trying to sort that one out over the course of several centuries, and more than one person has died over the dispute surrounding it, without settling the matter. Since it would be impossibly cumbersome to use two or three names for each person or place, for convenience I have chosen one, more or less arbitrarily. This inevitably puts a sort of language bias on the document, but as much as possible I have alternated between Polish and German terms, since they were the most powerful cultures in Prussia where the emphasis of this document is placed. Where appropriate I’ve also used a few Lithuanian, Swedish, Czech, or Russian terms. There will also be cases where two or more names of a given entity are used by necessity, and this unfortunately puts a burden on the reader to keep up.
How to use the glossary
accurate, and equivalent in power to a firearm. Crossbows of this type no longer exist except as antiques.
This period is a long time ago and for most people reading it, also very far away, as the saying goes, and therefore is full of unfamiliar terms and concepts. A glossary is therefore necessary for the modern reader, but this section isn’t meant to be read from beginning to end – it’s meant as a reference. Of course you can read through if you want to, but it might be overwhelming. The reason the glossary is here is simply to look up a word or a concept when you run across it elsewhere in this book (or in any other book) if you want to get a quick explanation as to what it means. This being a book about the late middle ages, many of these terms and concepts are closely linked to others, so sometimes I tried to show those links. You might end up reading 5 or 6 related entries to get a solid idea of what a new term actually means. Also please note, these are very short explanations and most of the same terms and ideas are covered in more detail in other sections of the book. Amber Road A series of roads, trails, and portages leading from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, which was associated with the trade of Amber from at least Roman times. In the 15th Century the Amber road was both symbolic of the overland trade links between the Baltic region and the Mediterranean, and also remained a functioning travel corridor, though the majority of European trade had shifted to ocean-going ships and riverine boats and barges. Alderman An elder leader of a district in a town, typically a senior member of one of the craft guilds or professional associations. Acting as both political and military leaders, aldermen also played a role as judges. Allodial A type of land ownership that is independent of any intervening authority such as a feudal lord, community, or State. Most princes in Central Europe held allodial title to their own land, as did some lesser nobles. Many Free Cities and City-States also effectively had allodial title to their land, though in some cases they owed technical fealty to a major prince such as a King or Emperor, this was often unenforceable in practice. Many estates and individuals with Royal or Imperial Immediacy also held allodial title to their land generally speaking. Arbalest A very powerful type of crossbow, usually spanned with a mechanical device called a cranequin. Expensive, highly
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Arquebus (Also called handrohr, hacken-busche, hacke-butt, pistala and by a number of other names) a generic term for a fairly broad category of medium sized handgun, like a primitive carbine, usually matchlock or touch-hole fired and smooth bored. In the 15th Century an arquebus could range in appearance from a crude-looking hand cannon or hook-gun with nothing but a short pole or crossbow tiller for a stock, to later, closer to the 16th Century, something vaguely resembling a modern firearm with a true gunstock and a kind of lever called a serpentine which acted as a trigger. Though crude by today’s standards the arquebus was a lethal weapon, roughly equivalent to a single-shot shotgun firing slugs. Though generally not as powerful as a musket, the arquebus was far more common and was a critical part of every Latin army by the mid 15th Century. Artisan Called handwerker in German. rzemieślnik In Polish or řemeslník iIn Czech, a common worker but also a skilled craftsman, typically in the manufacturing or service industry. The term generally referred to craft industry workers (or worker-owners) who were often citizens of towns and members of the urban craft guilds, although some lived in market villages or town suburbs outside the walls. As workshop owners, artisans formed the largest part of the urban middle class in the Late Medieval period, though they could also be found in rural areas as well. Artus Court Polish Dwór Artusa, German Artushof. Literally “King Arthur's Court”. An elite social house found in several prominent Free Cities in North Eastern Europe, notably Danzig / Gdansk, Torun, Elbing, and Stralsund. Only merchants from established mercantile houses, ship captains (skippers) and professionals were allowed entrance to the Artus court. Nobles, peasants and artisans were banned. Baltic Can refer to the Baltic sea, to the people native of the southern shore of the Baltic (such as Estonians, Livonians, Prussians, Latvians, Curonians, Samogitiains and Lithuanians, among others) and / or to the Latinized city states and petty kingdoms which surround the Baltic sea, especially along the southern Baltic shore. Bohemia A northern European kingdom which was the homeland of the Czechs and a major part of the Holy Roman Empire, situated in North Central Europe between Poland, Germany,
and Hungary. Very roughly corresponds to the modern day Czech Republic and parts of Poland, Germany and Slovakia.
noble outburghers might be allowed to have townhouses inside the town walls.
The name Bohemia derives from the Boii, a Celtic tribe who inhabited the region during Roman times. Populated mostly by West-Slavs, with substantial minorities of Germans, Flemish and others, Bohemia was surrounded by mountain ranges which helped keep the Kingdom relatively free of foreign invasions during the Middle Ages, with the notable exception of the (unsuccessful) Hussite Crusades. Technically the Kingdom of Bohemia also included the regions of Lusatia, Moravia, and at least part of Silesia, though control of these regions were contested.
In exchange, they would swear an oath of loyalty similar (but not identical) to that of regular town citizens, and would have a reciprocal military obligation. In the case of nobles, knights, or warlike peasant clans, this would include access by the town militia to their castles (Offnungsrecht) and obligation to provide certain numbers of troops. In the case of convents, abbeys and monasteries it was usually the form of a financial contribution to pay for mercenaries and supplies in times of war. Rural peasants with burgerecht (sometimes called paleburghers) provided food and certain raw materials and often worked for the craft guilds in ‘putting out’ systems or cottage industries.
Brotherhood of the Blackheads (Estonian Mustpeade maja). An elite social-military club found in many Free Cities in the Baltic particularly in Livonia such as Riga, Talinn and Dorpat, dedicated to Saint Maurice. Each Brotherhood had its own dedicated clubhouse, a prominent building near the town center. Membership was highly restrictive, consisting primarily of bachelors of the prominent merchant houses, as well as ship captains and professionals. Nobles and peasants were banned, and only certain elite artisans were admitted. Burgher Also burger. May refer either simply to any city-dweller, or more specifically to town citizens, usually also members of the artisan, professional or merchant patrician classes in the cities. Technically referred to anyone who held full citizenship in a town including craft artisans as well as those with partial citizenship such as journeymen. Sometimes the term was used more broadly to include all residents of a town such as servants and day laborers as well as citizens. Burgerecht Also called ius burgense, ius civile in Latin. Could refer to basic citizenship within a town. Also a special type of alliance or contract between a town, usually a larger town or a powerful Free City, and a person or polity in the neighborhood. Princes, knights, prominent peasant clans, abbeys and convents and other entities which either lived or operated near a town (for example, if they regularly traveled or conducted trade across the territory of a town) would often enter into this type of arrangement. The Verburgrechteten or outbugher, the person or entity receiving the rights, would be conferred a limited form of town citizenship, including criminal and civil rights under town law, protection by the town militia, the right to shelter behind the town walls during times of war, and access to town markets. Depending on the specific town and its rules,
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Burgess A town-dweller, usually means a prominent citizen in a high political position, typically a land owner and often a merchant patrician or guild alderman. The term burgess was usually applied to citizens of territorial towns, as the more elite members of the citizenry who had some a say in town affairs. In autonomous and especially guild controlled towns a larger proportion of the citizenry had political rights and this term (or equivalent) wasn’t applicable. Burghut The military garrison of a major castle or citadel. Usually under the direct command of a Burgrave (burggraf), and typically in the employ of a prince, prelate or large town that owned the castle. Burgmann A burgmann was a type of feudal vassal, a lower ranking castellan who held a castle, keep or blockhouse on behalf of a more powerful lord. The type of castle controlled by a burgmann was usually a purely military fort, often a smaller castle or fort in a more remote area, though provisions would usually made for a house (burgmannsitz) or a living place within the fort for the burgmann and his family to reside in, in exchange the burgmann committed to ‘residence duty’ (residenzpflicht), the ‘duty to be present’. The burgmann would collect tolls or fees associated with travelers passing by the castle, collect intelligence on activities in the district, and in the event the castle was attacked, defend the fortification with his life. Aside from members of their own household the burgmann could call upon men (usually peasants or villagers) from the district for support during times of strife. Most burgmannen were themselves lower ranking vassals at the dienstmann or sometimes ministerial level. Their lord could be a noble, a prince, an abbey or a town.
Burgrave The term burgrave (burggraf – literally count of the castle, equivalent to the English castellan. Polish burgrabia, Czech purkrabi) referred to the commander and governor of a significant castle, keep or fortification. In German speaking areas this person might also be referred to simply as hauptmann (captain), or as burgkommandant. These titles were in addition to and separate from any specific feudal rank that the castellan may have had, most burggrafen were at least ministerial knights, many were nobles. Similar to the burgmann, the burgrave or castellan was first and foremost a military administrator, but with far greater responsibilities as the commander of a substantial garrison or burghut. The Burgrave also typically played a role as a local magistrate, tax collector, and administrator, and was typically in charge of the maintenance of and improvements to the fort. Some burgraves were assigned to the citadel or castle within a large town. In the case of larger Free Cities by the 15th Century the position could be somewhat fraught and / or was eliminated as the town asserted control over its own defense. The urban burgrave, if still in residence, often devolved into a kind of ambassador to the regional prince. Some still controlled certain legal prerogatives (judgment and punishment for certain crimes for example, including the collection of fines levied, or collection of taxes on specific assets). Many assumed purely ceremonial roles or were eventually forced outside of the town. Burgomeister Roughly the equivalent to the mayor of a town or city, usually one of several especially in larger towns which had multiple municipalities. Acting as both a political and military leader, burgomeisters normally held office for a limited time period and ruled in conjunction with the town council (Ratzherren to the Germans) and as part of a ‘college’ of other burgomeisters. Byzantine A once mighty state, comprising the former Eastern Roman Empire, called itself Roman but it was culturally Greek. Technologically and culturally very sophisticated, the Byzantines were under great military pressure throughout the medieval period, mainly from the Turks but also from Latin forces. In the 13th Century the mighty capitol of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople, was overrun by Latin forces led by Venice during the 4th Crusade. Though it recovered, pressure from the Turks and tension with the Latin West continued to weaken the Byzantine State, and in 1453 Constantinople was overrun for good by the Ottoman
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Turks and the Byzantine ‘Empire’ was reduced to a small remnant centered in the Black Sea town of Trebizond. Caffa A large city-state in the Crimean peninsula. Caffa (now called Feodosia) was a major center of the Mongol slave trade in Central Asia, and during most of the medieval period it was under the control of the Venetians or Genoese. In the 15 th Century Caffa was under the control of the Genoese, though it was captured by the Ottomans in the later 15th Century. Cranequin A reduction gear tool for spanning very powerful crossbows (see arbalest), also known as the ‘German winder’, it is a reduction gear device similar to the jack for changing the tire on a car. Chełmno An important city in Prussia on the Vistula River, known as Kulm to the Germans. Part of the Prussian Confederation. Commune Legal term for an estate whose members have sworn allegiance for mutual defense. Communes also ensured the safety on the roads (Landfriede) through their territory, in order to enable commerce in the district. Most communes were urban in nature and represented a town or a market village district. The commune formed the legal basis for medieval towns, though some were also rural. They were roughly analogous to counties in the modern United States in terms of size, though the term has more specific legal and political significance. A county was technically the territory of a count, while a commune was the territory of its own population. Self-managed rural communes were sometimes called Landgemeinde. Unrelated to groups of hippies in the 1960s! Condottieri Italian term which literally meant ‘contractor’, used to refer to mercenary captains from throughout Europe. A condottiero may have controlled as few as a couple dozen men to as many as 5,000 or more. Condottieri typically armed and recruited their own men. In Central and Northern Europe the same type of men (they appear to have been almost exclusively men) were often simply referred to as “Hauptmann” (Captain). Constaffler Roughly the urban equivalent of a knight. Constaffler (sometimes spelled konstafler) was one of many terms used to describe members of special associations of the urban elite, usually merchants but also craft guild aldermen and
other prominent citizens, who fought in the town militia as heavy cavalry like aristocratic knights. Constaffler were obligated to own armor and warhorses, and had to go to muster with a number of attendants. Many of them were in fact knighted, even though most were technically commoners. Cossacks Brigands or bandits formed from bands of runaway slaves and serfs, they created a unique culture all their own and specialized in defeating the Mongols and Turks on the fringes of Europe. Most were ethnic Ruthenians, from what are now Ukraine and Belarus, based on the Dnieper and Don rivers starting in the 15th Century, others were from many other different ethnic groups. They were strategically important enemies of the Tartars and Turks. Cologne German Köln, a Free Imperial on the Rhine on the Western fringe of the Holy Roman Empire. Known for its important University, founded in 1388. Cologne was a guild town in the mid 15th Century with a large manufacturing industry, especially for textiles but also many other goods including cannon and other firearms. Cologne also had a substantial international trade, and was one of the largest cities in the Holy Roman Empire, with a population estimated at roughly 50,000 people behind the walls in 1450. Crimea A region south of Russian and the Ukraine down to the northern coast of the Black Sea. During the mid 15th Century the northern Crimea was mostly controlled by the Crimean Horde of Tartars, though the southern part of the Crimean Peninsula itself was primarily under the control of heavily fortified European trade colonies, specifically from the CityState of Genoa in Italy. Crimean Horde A Mongol horde occupying much of the southern Ukraine and the Crimea, also known as the Crim Tartars or the Krim Tartars. The Crimean Horde was a splinter group which split from the Golden Horde in the early 15th Century. They often raided deep into Poland and Prussia and remained a significant threat in Eastern Europe long after the power of the Golden Horde faded.
Knights, ultimately leading to tensions between the Poles and the Teutonic Order. Curonian Referred to a specific clan or ethnic group in the region of what is now Western Latvia and Lithuania, also refers to the region itself (Curonia). These people are also sometimes referred to as Kurs. The Curonians were a seagoing people who had a reputation as one of the more warlike tribes in the Baltic going back to Viking times. They conducted raids similar to Viking raids, at one-point devastating much of the Eastern part of Denmark. The Curonians were allied with the Oesielians and were sometimes rivals of the Samogitians. The Curonians were active in attacks on Riga in the 13th Century and in the Saint George’s night uprising of the mid-14th Century. Since their territory was conquered by the Livonian knights and Danish Crusaders in the mid-14th Century many surviving Curonians relocated deeper into Lithuania. Danzig The German name for the Hanseatic trading city and Prussian Free City called Gdansk by the Poles, and also known by many other variations of that name. In the 15 th Century Danzig was the largest city in Prussia and the leader of the Prussian Confederation, By Late medieval standards Danzig was a medium sized fortified town of about 25,000 people. Situated on the Baltic coast in the delta of the Vistula River, Danzig was an important trading city. As the leader of the Prussian Circle, Danzig led the towns during the war effort during the 13 Years War against the Teutonic Knights. Danzig was also a key member of the Hanseatic League, and exerted its own assertive foreign policy in the Baltic and throughout Prussia, and well beyond - as far as England, France and Spain. The naval forces of Danzig dominated the Baltic Sea in the 15th Century.
Crim Tartars Another name for the Crimean Horde.
Denizen (German beibasse, plural beibassen, literally ‘sojourner’). A resident of a city, town or market village who is not a citizen, but has been granted some rights normally granted to citizens. Often foreign dignitaries and their servants residing in a town for an extended period, foreign merchants who may have a small colony in the town, or clergy may have this status. Other less prominent people also fall under the category.
Culmerland Region of Prussia surrounding the towns of Torun and Chełmno. Conquered by the Poles during the early Baltic Crusades, Chelmnoland was later annexed by the Teutonic
Diet A diet is an assembly of local power brokers in a given region or district, usually made up of members of at least two estates, often more. It is similar to a parliament except that
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it’s not necessarily presided over by any higher authority. A variety of specific types of diets were found around Central and Northern Europe including the German landgemeinde, the Slavic veche, the Norse thing, the Lithunaian laukas, the inter-urban Städtebund, the regional landfrieden like the Livonian Confederation, and the national parliaments such as the reichtag of the Holy Roman Empire, the sejm of Poland, and the riksdag of the Kingdom of Sweden. Diets did not remain in session continuously and in fact usually only met on a sporadic basis, typically during some crisis such as an interregnum, a war, when ratifying a treaty or in order to establish new laws. However, taxes, laws, criminal and civil courts and even constabularies set up by a diet and administered on behalf of its members could remain active indefinitely. DiendeBrudern A lower ranking member of the Teutonic Order, typically a person of common birth, DiendeBrudern could be local administrators or military leaders especially of infantry levies. DiendeBrudern wore a gray habit with a Tau (T shaped) cross. Dienstmann A generic term for a medieval vassal or retainer, usually referring to lower ranking servants. Dientsmannen could be armed and could have armiger status (as armed retainers), some became burgmannen while a few mounted dienstamnnen were roughly the equivalnet of ministerialis and could become castellans or the equivalent of men at arms. Most were clerks, couriers, managers of villages, foremen of small work crews or held some other minor post. Dobrzyń Land A region in Prussia East of the Vistula River, adjacent to Chelmnoland. The control of Dobrzyń Land was the cause of wars between Poland and the Teutonic Order during the 14th Century. In the mid-15th Century it was part of the territory of the Prussian Confederation. Dorpat A major city in Livonia (today Tartu, Estonia), location of the regional Bishopric, member of the Hanseatic League. Also part of the Livonian Confederation. Elbląg Polish spelling for the Prussian city the Germans call Elbing. Elbing An important Free City in Prussia, known to the Poles as Elbląg. A medium sized town, it was a key member of the Prussian Confederation and a member of the Hanseatic League. Elbing was the second largest city in Prussia, and
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was relatively international in character. Known for shipbuilding, processing logs in its saw mills and grain from the hinterland, it had a large population of English and Scottish merchants, as well as Italians, Hungarians, Russians and Jewish people. Esquire Technically a squire or a junior grade knight, but in practice in the Late Medieval period it often meant something more specific. Burghers, university professors, courtiers, civil servants, mercenaries and other people from non-noble estates who wanted the legal and social rights associated with knighthood were routinely knighted. The rank of squire or esquire held most of the perquisites of knightly rank but with fewer of the obligations for militia muster or related taxes. By the 15th Century more people held the title of esquire than knight, and the rank was considered roughly equivalent. Estate A complex and very important legal concept in medieval Europe. The term estate can refer to real estate in the modern sense, or to the parcel of land and tenants belonging to a noble, but in a medieval context most often means one of the social categories of society in the sense of the Three Estates of France or the Four Estates of Sweden. More literally estate meant a body of rights and responsibilities which defined the social and political role of any individual or group of people – who could be of any class or social standing, but typically these included the burghers or town dwellers, the lower aristocracy, the prominent leaders of the Church (prelates), the upper aristocracy or princes, and sometimes the peasantry (especially leaders of powerful clans or families). Estate can also refer to alliances or confederations of individuals who hold the same estate status, such as estates of the gentry, or a coalition of different estates within a given region, such as the estates of Silesia. Estates Estates is the plural of Estate, but this term was often used as a euphemism to refer to a diet a local or regional assembly of the various estates in the area. When you hear for example of the Prussian estates or the Pomeranian estates, this typically refers to the gentry, prelates, and towns, and any other powerful factions in the area. Who this meant exactly varied widely by region. In some areas the “estates” were weak compared to the central authority, usually a prince or a powerful prelate, in others, it was the reverse and the estates themselves held the real power.
The estates in plural could be made up of shifting coalitions of different factions each based on a specific estate such as the peasants, the gentry, the burghers, the clerics and so on. There were national diets such as the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire but more often, local Landfrieden (or the equivalent) were the political domain of the estates. Estonian People native to the Northeast Baltic, in the area also known as Livonia, according to the Roman author Tacitus they were said to be descended from the Aesti. Their language is related to that of the Finns. Curonians are also ethnic Estonian. Estonians live manly on the Livonian coastline and in some of the Islands off shore. Feud Letter A feud letter, or fehdebrief, is a special type of public notification that a feud has been declared. These would typically be posted in several places and in public meeting places such as the front doors of a church or the outer gate of a town. Feud Book A special book maintained by larger towns in which the names of enemies, malefactors and those who violate the Peace of the Roads are entered, along with their family coat of arms (if any). Once a name has been entered into a feud book, it means the individual merits the attention of the town as a “problem." Franconia German Franken or Frankenland, a region today situated in south-central Germany, or roughly in the middle of the Holy Roman Empire during the 15th Century. Franconia was known for its ethnic group derived from the Frank with their own distinct Franconian dialect. Franconia was dominated by several powerful princes and a handful of mighty Free Cities, especially Nuremberg. The Teutonic Order got its start within Franconia and many of it’s members originated there. Free City Also known as a Free Town, this was a town or city which had achieved total independence, a more complete degree of autonomy than a Free Imperial or Royal City. Usually this occurred after the town forcibly evicted its overlord. Free Cities owed only nominal fealty to the King or Emperor and payed no taxes. These towns existed either within the Holy Roman Empire and in those other parts of Central or Eastern Europe with German Town Law. Danzig, Cologne, Hamburg, Tabor, Bremen, Basel, Worms, Toul, Verdun, Besancon, Speyer, and Strasbourg were examples of some of the Free Cities in Central Europe in 1456.
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Free Imperial City / Royal Free City A Free City owing fealty only to the (Holy Roman) Emperor or the King with the same status of “Imperial or Royal Immediacy” that a Prince had. This included the payment of token taxes or duties to the Emperor and usually an agreement to supply troops in wartime, but also meant local autonomy for the city. There were over 100 Imperial Free Cities (Reichsstädte) in the Holy Roman Empire in 1456, and about 70 which held a similar status in Prussia, Livonia, Poland, Hungary, Silesia and Bohemia. Freibauer Free peasant, equivalent to the English yeoman. Usually a wealthier peasant who has no direct obligation to a feudal landlord, owns his own estate or ‘freihof’ and is usually also of the status of ‘freisasse’, meaning the owner owes no duties to the local Lord. Often overlaps with the rural gentry. Freiherr (Married female Freifrau, unmarried female Freiin). Free noble, a mid-ranking noble rank in the German speaking parts of Central and Northern Europe. Below the rank of a graf but above ministerial level knights, and generally free of vassalage status. Very roughly equivalent to an English Baron, but with a more typically German emphasis on independence or autonomy. Folwark Very large plantations or farms owned by powerful Lords in Prussia, Poland, and Lithuania, worked by large numbers of serfs, usually foreigners from Ukraine or other places. Based on the Roman latifundia. Equivalent in many respects to a large slave plantation in the Americas or Caribbean in the 18th or 19th Centuries, or large Colonial haciendas in Latin America. Though the workers were not chattel slaves and did have some rights. Folwarks were closely associated with the return of serfdom in the Baltic. Fürst (Female fürstin), literally “the first“, derived from the Latin princeps. A powerful German high noble who owns alloidal property rights to his or her domain. Often referred to in English as a “prince“, German fürsten were the leaders of great noble houses called fürstenhaus, and engaged in the intense rivalry between those houses known as hausmachtpolitik. Fürsten were the most powerful nobles within the Holy Roman Empire and many of the other nearby kingdoms such as Bohemia and Hungary. Above them were the Reichsfürsten, princes with Royal or Imperial immediacy, and then the prince-electors, archbishops, cardinals, kings,
the emperor and the Pope, though the latter were also all considered fürsten as well. Ganerbenburg A special type of castle which was the residence of multiple knightly households. A kind of condominium of knights or a fortified knightly village. Typically, different households would live in different areas of the Ganerbenburg, with shared common areas such as the well, chapel, gardens and main courtyard. Gdansk The Polish name for the Prussian city called Danzig by the Germans. See the entry on Danzig for more. Gentry Polish ziemiane. Could mean many things but in this document typically refers to small land owners in a particular region. The gentry could include petty aristocrats and knights, as well as wealthy peasants, burghers, and members of the clergy. The gentry often fought as knights or heavy cavalry in warfare and they overlapped with the aristocratic knightly class. Germany Though technically there was a ‘Kingdom’ of Germany, in reality it was not a country during the 15th Century; Germany was a region, much as one might today refer to Appalachia or New England as a region. Most of Germany was under the rule of the Holy Roman Emperor who was also typically elected “King of the Germans”. In the 15th Century ethnic Germans spoke a variety of similar but distinct Germanic dialects including Middle Low-German (which is the most common the Baltic region as the lingua franca of the Hanseatic League), as well as Middle High German, Swabian, various dialects of the Rhineland (Rhenish), and Franconian, as well as several non-Germanic Languages like Polish, Czech, French, Latin and Hungarian. German Town Law The charter of a city, according to a legal contract (Handfeste) by which towns held varying degrees of autonomy, usually at a minimum the right to hold a market and a right to be administered by a council of its own citizens. German Town Law was used throughout Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe. Town law came in several different formats, specific examples in the Baltic region included Lübeck Law (which conferred the most autonomy and the largest number of rights), Magdeburg Law, and Kulm Law. German Town Law was the basis for the government of most towns in Central and Northern Europe, including in Poland, Bohemia, Silesia, Sweden, Finland, Livonia and Prussia. Many rural villages particularly in Prussia and within the territory of the Teutonic
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Order were also governed by Kulm Law. Towns and villages which had a town charter or handfeste had more rights and freedoms than those which did not. They usually treated the document itself as a sacred object and kept it carefully guarded. Grunwald Name of a small village where the Teutonic Order lost a major battle in 1410 AD. This is also referred to as the battle of Tannenburg. Golden Horde The largest Mongol Horde in the general vicinity of the Baltic in the late medieval period. The Tartars of the Golden Horde were the overlords of most of Russia, with the exception of the city-states of Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, and Tver. The term Golden came from association with the Golden family whose members ruled the horde, Mongols descended directly from Genghis Khan. Gotland A large island off the coast of Sweden which has long been a major trading zone in the Baltic. Once the location of the old Viking trading center of Birka, in the medieval period it was the site of the important Hanseatic city of Wisby. Gotland was also known as a haven for pirates, who controlled parts of the island notably during some periods in the 14th Century. Graf Female grafin. Polish hrabia, Czech hrabě. German noble rank roughly equivalent to an English Count. A powerful midranking noble who typically had control over a large area encompassing tens to hundreds of square miles, and a substantial population of numerous villages or smaller towns. The modern American administrative district of a “county” is based on the medieval concept of the territory of a count. The term Graf was also used formally and informally in German speaking areas to denote temporary or permanent leaders in a wide variety of contexts, such as the leader of a jury or the elected spokesman of a group of people. In this sense it means something similar to ‘chief’ or ‘boss’. Grosskomptur A high rank within the Teutonic Order, the Grosskomptur was the deputy of the Grand Master. Großschäffer A special office within the Teutonic Order, the Großschäffer was the senior trade representative of the Order and often acted as an ambassador to the Hanseatic League, the Kingdoms of England and France, the Duchy of Burgundy, and other kingdoms and trading entities.
Guild Usually refers to a fraternal organization of craft artisans found in most towns, but ‘guild’ can also mean merchant guilds, shooting or fencing guilds, religious or carnival confraternities (or sodalities), or other types of guilds. A craft guild operated as a combination of a labor union and a coop business, and they were usually though not always organized along the industrial lines; weaving, sword making, brewing, etc. In the 15th Century craft guilds had substantial political as well as economic importance, and they were also the basis for military units in the town militias. Handwerker German word for artisan, usually (but not always) more specifically an urban craft artisan. HalbBrudern Singular Halbbruder. Could be thought of as ‘associate members’ of the Teutonic or Livonian Order. These men were often foreign or local knights who took a temporary Crusading vow or were summoned as vassals to the Order, and would fight with the Order for one or more raiding seasons. Like the DiendeBrudern, the HalbBrudern wore a gray habit or gambeson over their armor with a Tau (‘T’ shaped) cross. Hanse / Hansa Derived from Old High German meaning military troop, it originally referred to temporary or permanent merchant guilds organized for mutual defense in the early medieval period, sometimes for a single voyage, sometimes on an ongoing basis. In the 15th Century Hanse was shorthand for Hanseatic, as in the Hanseatic League, which at that time was a loose though powerful association or cartel of mercantile cities. Hanseatic League A powerful but informally flexible cartel of merchant cities in several countries across Northern Europe. Originally the Hanseatic League was an international organization of merchants, (the Hanse of the merchants) but by the late medieval period it became an organization of powerful towns (the Hanse of the cities). The core cities were linked together by trade, and all for the most part culturally German with German speaking populations and leadership strata. In addition, the Hanse included several foreign cities which hosted Hanseatic Kontor or counting houses. These included London (where the Kontor encompassed an entire neighborhood called the Steelyard). Other Kontor included Boston England, Bruges, Ipswich, Bruges, Bergen (Bryggen) and Novgorod (the Peterhof). In the mid-15th Century the Hanseatic League was divided into 9 ‘circles’:
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The Netherlands Circle, the Westphalian Circle, the Saxon Circle, the Wendish Circle, the Margravian Circle, the Pomeranian Circle, the Prussian Circle, the Livonian Circle, and the Swedish Circle. The center and unofficial leader of the Hansa was the German town of Lübeck, but each circle and individual town exercised its own foreign policy. In the Baltic in the 15th Century the Hanseatic League was dominated by Danzig which exercised considerable independence from Lübeck. Riga, Elbing and Torun were also prominent members. Hausmachtpolitik German term for the complex multi-generational rivalries between princely families in Central and Northern Europe. Hellweg Hellweg, or helwech in Low German, literally means the ‘bright way’. It was one of the German terms used for major roads maintained by towns, prelates or princes. By German common law they were required to be an unimpeded passageway a lance’s width, or about three meters wide. These were maintained by local powers as part of the Landfrieden. Hetzrüden (Literally ‘staghounds’) mounted henchmen who worked for towns, especially Free or Imperial / Royal cities. The Hetzrüden were a bit like the burghers equivalent of the Feudal Dientsmannen: retainers and agents who worked on behalf of the city. Most were mounted and armed (holding armiger status) by the city itself, with the euphemism being they were “given a horse” by the city. Though some Hetzrüden were burghers and citizens, most were not, being either denizens, vassals from the gentry in the rural territory of the town, or free lance agents from other districts. The duties of the Hetzrüden were more paramilitary and administrative than purely miltiary. They acted as couriers, messengers, scouts, police (especially in enforcing the Landfrieden of the city on the public roads), arbiters of petty disputes, caravan guards and sometimes tax collectors. The Hetzrüden would also go after people who the town designated as enemies in their Feud Book (Fehdenbuch). There is some evidence that the fencing master Hans Talhoffer was ‘given a horse’ by the city of Nuremberg in the mid 15th Century and got involved in the murder of a nobleman while acting in that capacity, for which he was briefly detained by the mans brother but then released with the suport of an appeal by a nobleman and his wife. Herzog A rank of the high nobility in Bavaria, traditionally equivalent to an English Duke. Back in pre-Christian times a Herzog was
an elected war leader but the position eventually became hereditary. The Herzog of Bavaria was a very powerful prince. High Middle Ages The High Middle Ages represents the first really significant economic, cultural and technological boom period of the European medieval world, and very generally refers to the times between the 11th and 13th Centuries. What qualifies as High Medieval also varies somewhat by region, as for example Northern Italy entered the High Medieval period long before France did. The High Middle Ages were characterized by a major population boom as well as rapid technological and economic development, and the first significant surge of urbanization in Europe since the decline of the Roman Empire. Hofmesiter Could mean the ruler of a castle on behalf of a prince, similar to a vogt. Increasingly in the 15th Century it came to mean a member of the princely staff or court, usually the right hand man or aide de camp of a prince or prelate. It also could carry a meaning of a tutor of royal or princely children. Höfling A somewhat pejorative term referring to a courtier or a habitual member of the princely court. See also the term Günstling meaning protege or minion. Holy Roman Empire A large “mostly” German nation in Central Europe technically ruled by an Emperor elected by seven German Princes. The Holy Roman Empire very loosely controlled most of Central Europe including what are today Germany as well as most of modern day Austria and the Czech Republic, and parts of what are now Poland, Belgium, Holland and Eastern France. The Empire was relatively decentralized and the Emperor had a very limited degree of control over the realm, though it was still one of the most powerful and wealthy nations in Europe in the 15th Century.
Hospoda A type of pub from the Czech tradition, which typically consists of a common room where they sell beer and simple food, such as dumplings, sausages or curds and whey, and where people sing and converse. Most Hospoda have a second story or an outbuilding which serves as a sleeping area for overnight guests, some may also have private rooms available. Some Hospoda have small libraries of books which may be read aloud in the common room for public entertainment. Hussite Members of an Heretical Catholic religious sect in Bohemia, closely associated with some groups of Czech mercenaries and also with the use of the Tábor war wagon. Considered by some modern historians to be ‘proto-protestant’ though they differed in some important respects from Lutherans and Calvinists etc. who came 100 years later.
Immediacy Called Reichsfreiheit or Reichsunmittelbarkeit by the Germans. Special legal and political status which meant that the individual, entity or estate in question owed direct fealty to the King or the Emperor but to no other entity. This effectively meant they were outside of the Feudal system, and immune from most political obligations. Free-Cities (Immediatstädt – with 50 represented in the Imperial Diet) the seven Prince Electors and the most powerful princes, (Reichsfürst, 100 represented in the Imperial Diet) had the status of Immediacy, as did Free Imperial Knights (Reichsritter) as well as many prince-prelates (with 40 represented in the Diet), and some abbeys and Church districts. Immediatstädt German legal term for a Free Imperial City.
HRE Short for Holy Roman Empire.
Jutland The peninsula which comprises a large part of Denmark, and forms part the barrier between the North Sea and the Baltic, also known as the Cimbrian peninsula.
Horde A regional military and administrative grouping of Mongols, such as the Golden Horde of Western Asia or the White Horde of Central Asia. These typically included nomadic people of many ethnic groups, mostly Central Asian, especially Turkic (Kipchak or Cuman) but also European, South Asian, East Asian and others, all organized under the rulership of the Mongol families descended from the days of Genghis Khan.
Kalmar Union Another name for the Nordic Union, the personal union between the royal houses of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, controlled by the Danish royal family, but increasingly contested in the 15th Century by Swedish and Norwegian nobles and peasants. The Kalmar union was created by the mighty Queen Margaret I of Denmark, one of the most powerful monarchs in the Baltic region during the Middle Ages.
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Kanzler A specific rank within the Teutonic Knights, (Chancelor) who was the chief administrative assistant to the Grand Master or one of the regional Duetschmeister’s of the Teutonic Order. Knight German ritter, Polish rycerz, Czech rytíř (literally rider). Latin miles or milites (soldier). A person with a special social and military status as a member of the warrior caste in medieval society. Most knights were from the lower ranks of the nobility, but some were serfs (ministeriales), others were burghers (see also constaffler) and some few were princes. Most high ranking princes and some prelates were also knights, though very few knights were princes. Knighthood was not automatic even for high ranking nobles, but was usually granted or conferred after at least some battle experience. Knights were allowed to wear a special belt and spurs, representing their unique legal and social status in which a person’s honor carried legal weight. Not all knights were warriors, but those who were typically acted as leaders in battle and fought in command of a team of heavy cavalry. Komptur A Teutonic Knight, regional commander of the Teutonic Order, typically in charge of a town or a large castle. Königsberg A large city in East Prussia which was a major power center of the Teutonic Order. Königsberg was originally part of the Prussian Confederation but at the start of the war elected to remain loyal to the Teutonic Order after a brief civil war. Kontor A ‘counting house’ of the Hanseatic League, which acted as something like an embassy of the League as well as a trading post and a warehouse for trade goods in non-Hanse cities such as London, Bruges, Novgorod, and Bergen. The Kontor also sometimes served as a court of law. Konstafler This was one of several names for societies of a type of elite armored lancer or heavy cavalryman similar to a knight but from the urban burgher class, usually patricians but sometimes also the more prominent artisans. Many but not all Konstafler members were also knighted. Kulm German name for the Prussian city called Chełmno by the Poles. It is in the district of Kulmerland or Chelmnoland in
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Prussia. The town charter of Kulm was the basis for the charters of dozens of other towns and villages in the Southern Baltic. Kulmerland A German term for Chelmnoland. Lance A type of spear for use primarily for thrusting rather than throwing, and primarily on horseback, quite often very long, between 12’ and 18’ in length, but they could also be as short as 8’ or less. This term also refers to a military unit consisting of a knight (or armored heavy cavalryman) on an armored horse and 3-5 more lightly armored horsemen. Landesadel Lower ranking nobility, usually knights, who were not Imperial knights (see Reichsritter) but were instead vassals to territorial rulers, usually princes or prince-prelates, or more rarely to towns. Landesadel were under increasing pressure from their princely overlords and many had a hard times making ends meet. Some would engage heavily in feuds as a means to supplement their income, at the risk of being branded a robber knight (raubritter). Landfrieden The legal authority or over the ‘freedom’ of the public roads in a given district. Most often it represented a political union between the estates of a given region which lacked a strong central authority, often though not always dominated by towns. Landfrieden (landfrýdy in Czech) consisted of the nobility, church leaders (prelates) and towns in some type of council or Diet, which in turn appointed “justices of the peace of the roads”. These authorities collectively enforced the peace or ‘freedom’ of the roads, punishing bandits, robber knights and other malefactors whose activities disrupted public commerce. Landmeister A specific rank within the Teutonic Order, a regional commander just below the Grand Master (Hochmeister) in rank. There were three Landmeisters at all times: one for Prussia, one for Livonia, and one for the Holy Roman Empire (called the ‘Deuschmeister’). The Landmeister worked closely with the Grand Master and had military, diplomatic and administrative roles. Landsgemeinde A special type of Diet organized in autonomous regions, usually rural in nature though they could also include some towns. Examples included the rural Cantons of the Swiss Confederation, the autonomous parts of the Tyrol, rural districts in Sweden and Finland, the Frisian marshlands of
the North Sea such as the Dithmarschen, and the independent district of Samogitia in Lithuania. Latin Refers both to the Latin language derived from the Romans, and to the regions of Europe including Central, Northern, and Western Europe under the unifying cultural influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Late medieval Europe was split into a large Latin zone, a smaller but still large Greekinfluenced zone, a small and shrinking pagan zone, and a small but growing Muslim zone. Latin was the international language of the Church and nobility, and the administrative staff of the princes, prelates and kings. Those who could read and write in Latin considered themselves the truly literate, as distinct from people who were merely literate in the vernacular. Late Middle Ages Also late medieval. Very generally refers to the period roughly from the 14th Century through the early 16th Century, though different definitions of this period are used by different scholars. Though the early part of the Late Medieval period, particularly in the first half of the 14th Century was characterized by numerous brutal catastrophes (especially the onset of the Black Death). The second part of this period saw a rapid acceleration of technological, cultural and economic development through much of Europe, as well as a resurgence of urbanization in many areas. Urban zones included Northern Italy, the Low Countries in what are now Belgium and Holland, parts of the Rhineland and Southern Germany, Bohemia, Lusatia Catalonia, and closer to the Baltic, the North Sea and Baltic Coasts of Germany, Livonia, and Prussia. Laukas A form of rural assembly in Lithuania and some of the other Baltic nations, similar to the Norse Thing, the German Landsgemeinde, the Russian Veche, the Polish Sejmik, the Cossack’s Sich Rada, etc. These were the old tribal assemblies where the rural people would vote on policy and / or approve or disapprove of the proposed actions of their aristocratic leaders. A remnant of an older form of tribal democracy which persisted in some areas from prehistoric times. By the Late Medieval period the Laukas was only semiautonomous in a lot of Lithuania, with the exception of Samogitia where the old clan based self-government remained in place. Liechtenauer Society (Gesellschaft Liechtenauers, literally Liechtenauers brotherhood) is a list of eighteen fencing masters found in the introduction to the CGM 1507, the most complete
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surviving copy of Paulus Kal's 1460 fencing manual in which he described Johannes Liechtenauer as the "master of all pupils". Several of the Masters listed as members of the society such as Peter Von Danzig and Sigmund Ringeck went on to write influential martial arts manuals. The list of names included two Jewish grappling masters, several artisans, a cook, a priest, and a handful of knights. Lithuanian People of the powerful confederation of indigenous Baltic tribes who lived Northeast of Poland and West of Russia, in the 15th Century they were usually though not always allied with Poland. The Lithuanians were pagan through most of the medieval period and only converted to Christianity in the late 14th Century, though the Samogitians, who are a subgroup of Lithuanians, remained pagan until 1413 AD. Lipka Tartars Tribes of Tartars who have settled in the forests of Eastern Lithuania (today Belarus) subsequent to the Lithuanian conquest of much of the Golden Horde in the 14 th Century. They often fought in alliance with the Lithuanian Grand Duke and sometimes the Polish King. Livonia A large region in the North-Eastern Baltic analogous to modern day Estonia and Latvia as well as parts of what are now Lithuania, Russia and Belarus, occupied by the Livonian Order. Several major Hanse towns were located here, including Riga, Dorpat, and Reval. In the Late Medieval period Livonia was under the rule of the Livonian Order, and a complex network of organizations called Terra Mariana. Livonian Confederation The Livonian Confederation was a massive Landfrieden which governed Livonia, also known as Terra Mariana. It was ruled by a Diet called the Landtag, and enforced locally by the local powers of each district. The confederation was established after the Battle of Swienta in 1435 when the Livonian Order was badly defeated by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Sigismund Kestutatis, and no longer had the power to control all Livonia alone. The confederation was made up of a combination of the Livonian Order with the Baltic Noble Corporations, the bishops and archbishops of Livonia, and the powerful Hanseatic trading towns of Riga, Dorpat and Reval. Together they kept the peace in Livonia and fended off foreign enemies in their very dangerous Baltic neighborhood. Livonian Order Also known as the Livonian Knights, and originally the Sword Brothers or the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. A religious
order of knight-monks similar to and allied with the Teutonic Order. The Livonian Order occupied the northern Baltic lands of Livonia or the Terra Mariana (‘land of Mary’) during the Northern Crusades in the 13th Century. In the mid-15th Century they ruled over much of the region, governing the Estonian, Latvian and other indigenous Baltic people. They shared power in Livonia with the Livonian Confederation. Low Countries Common euphemism for the many nations, city states and fiefdoms which existed in the lowland river delta regions of what is now Belgium, Holland, and Luxemburg, with some overlap into northern France and northern Germany. During the 15th Century several of the largest and most economically powerful cities in Europe were in this zone, including Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Brussels, Amsterdam, Liege, and Ypres. Prussian cities traded extensively with towns in the Low Countries, particularly Bruges which was closely linked to the Hanseatic League. Many cities in the Baltic and Western Slavic kingdoms like Bohemia were settled by people from the Low Countries, including both Flemish and French speakers. Lübeck The ‘Queen’ of the Hanseatic League, Lübeck was a major trading city in Northern Germany and one of the first Free Cities established in the Holy Roman Empire. Citizens from Lübeck founded several towns in Prussia and immigrated to Danzig in large numbers in the 13th and 14th Centuries. Lübeck had an aggressive foreign policy and a very powerful navy, they did not hesitate to face down princes, even kings or emperors when they thought it was necessary. Malbork The principal castle of the Teutonic Order, located in the town of Marienburg. Malbork is also the Polish name of that town. Magnate Polish – magnat. Powerful aristocratic lords, usually planters or ranchers in Poland or Lithuania, often members of the Senat, owners of massive farms called Folwark. Magnates were a type of Polish prince. Marienburg Aka city of St. Mary, an important trading city in Prussia where the Teutonic Knights castle of Malbork is located. Matchlock A system for firing a handgun, consisting of a lit slow-burning fuse (called a match) clamped to a device called a serpentine
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which touches the powder when a lever is pulled. The matchlock replaced the touch-hole, allowing more efficient and accurate use of firearms, but it still required the maintenance of a lit match. It would be replaced in the 16th Century by the wheel-lock and then the flint lock, which generated it’s own sparks and did not require a match. Masovia Also called Mazovia. An important region in the Baltic which is today part of Eastern Poland and the district of the Polish Capital Warsaw. In the 15th Century Masovia was still an independent Duchy though closely linked with Poland. Masovians are a distinct ethnic group within Poland, and the district is the location of some important Polish cities including Warsaw, Płock and Rawa Mazowiecka. Mecklenburg A district in what is now North Eastern Germany which was an important Duchy in the Holy Roman Empire. Mecklenburg was originally Wendish territory which was conquered by the Saxon Duke Henry the Lion. Over time the Wendish Slavic population began speaking German and many Saxon, Flemish and Frisian settlers moved into the area as part of the Ostiedlung. The region was not well developed in the 15th Century. The Dukes of Mecklenburg were traditionally quarrelsome and the knights were particularly known for robbing travelers. The Hanseatic cities of Rostock and Wismar, located on the northern coast of the Duchy sometimes acted as havens for Baltic Sea pirates. Mediatstädt Also Landstädt A town which is directly owned by a Lord, usually a prince or a prelate of the Church. It may or may not also be a Residenz (residence and / or administrative center) of the same lord. These towns generally had less rights and independence than Free Cities but still had some autonomy. Middle Low-German A Germanic trade dialect associated with the northern lowlands of Saxony and the river estuaries of northern Central Europe during the middle Ages. It overlaps to some extent with Dutch, Frisian and Flemish, and both contributes and borrows loan-words to English, the Scandinavian and Baltic Languages, and Estonian. Middle Low German was the lingua Franca of the Hanseatic League and the Teutonic Knights. Middle High-German A Germanic trade dialect common in Western and Southern reaches of the Holy Roman Empire, associated with Franconia and derived from the Carolingian Franks. High refers to the high-country, i.e. the foothills of the Alps, where the language was a lingua Franca. In the Middle Ages High
German was adopted by the Imperial bureaucracy as the official language of the Holy Roman Empire. By the mid 15 th Century Middle High-German was being replaced by a new dialect known to modern scholars as Early New High German. Miles Also Milites. Latin word for soldier, often used in the medieval context as a euphemism for knights. Miles were people with the recognized role as a military person, sometimes associated with armiger status. Ministerial A type of serf-knight or ‘unfree knight’ known mostly in the German-speaking parts of Central Europe. Also referred to administrative servants of the same kind of origin. In the High Middle Ages many princes armed and equipped their serfs as soldiers (armiger status) and some as cavalry. Many of these were knighted even though they and their offspring were still technically serfs. Many ministerials became functionaries, courtiers, or civil servants as well as soldiers. Over time ministerial families established themselves in the gentry and sometimes titled nobility. By the 15th Century ministerial families made up a lot of the knightly class and most were serfs in name only, while others remained vassals (Landesadel) still under the control of princely overlords. Though equivalent soldiers existed in other regions, the term ministerial is used almost exclusively in a German cultural context. Mongol A nomadic people from Eastern Siberia who conquered nearly all of Asia and parts of Eastern Europe. Also refers to members of the Mongol Hordes which incorporated warriors of numerous other ethnicities, including Kipchaks, Cumans, Turks, Turkmen, Tatars, Pechenegs, Persians, Russians, Armenians, Georgians, Kazakhs, Punjabis and Mordvins, among others.
Century. Though Moscow was not a significant Rus city-state prior to the Mongol invasion (probably no more than a hamlet at that time), it’s designation by the Mongol Golden Horde as the seat of tax collection for the province in the 14th Century gave it an advantage over rival Rus cities which formed the basis of it’s growing power. In the late medieval period Moscow was still a satrap of the Golden Horde but was becoming increasingly independent and aggressive, in spite of the devastating crack-down by the Mongols after the temporary Russian victory in a rebellion in 1380. In the mid 15th Century Moscow was concentrating on controlling and taking over all the other rival Rus city-states, of which Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and Tver were the only significant rival cities remaining. Moscow fielded a formidable army and had great wealth due to her access to the Silk Road and control of fur trading regions in Siberia, which were connected to Latin Europe via the Hanseatic League, mostly indirectly through Veliky Novgorod or Pskov, through Kaunas or Vilnius in Lithuania, or via the Genoese in Caffa in the Crimea. In the 1450’s Moscow was consolidating power and building up the state which would later become the Grand Duchy of Moscow and eventually, the Russian Empire. Münzmeister An important rank and special office within the Teutonic Knights. The Münzmeister was the master of the mint, traditionally based in Thorn / Torun, but since the start of the rebellion in 1454 he would be located in Marienburg or Konigsberg. The Teutonic Order issued its own well-regarded currency notably the Prussian schilling, ‘Moneta Dominorum Prussiae – Schilingen’. Niederer Adel German lower nobility or gentry, often owners of small estates, many were also rittern or knights.
Moravia A semi-autonomous region of the Kingdom of Bohemia with a mixed Czech / German / Slavonic population. Moravia was governed by a Landfrieden (German- also called landfrýdy in Czech) with a diet centered in the town of Brno. Many important mercenary captains and knights involved on both sides in the 13 Years War in Prussia came out of Moravia.
Nordic Union The government of a technically united Scandinavia, under the rule of the King of Denmark, also known as the Kalmar Union. The ‘union’ was fragile and under dispute in the 15th Century as Denmark sought to assert control over Sweden, and this was resisted by nobles and peasants in Sweden and Norway. During the 15th Century the Nordic Union was more a theory than a reality, and Sweden in particular asserted itself independently of Denmark.
Moscow / Muscovy The Duchy of Moscow, also known in the period as Muscovy, was the Russian city-state which emerged dominant in the brutal power struggles over control of the former Rus territories after their conquest by the Mongol’s in the 13th
Nuremberg A powerful and rich Free Imperial City situated in the northern part of the Southern German region of Franconia. In the 15th Century Nuremberg was a patrician town politically dominated by its merchant class. Nuremberg had
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a relatively aggressive foreign policy and frequently went to war with local robber knights and sometimes formidable princes in the region such as Albrecht III “Achillies” of Brandenburg-Ansbach. Nuremberg was linked to many foreign lands through a vast international trade network with particularly strong ties to Venice. It was also widely known as a manufacturing center especially for its iron works and production of sophisticated metal artifacts including all types of hand weapons, firearms cannon and armor, as well as complex devices such as locks, clocks and automata. Nuremberg apparently once included the famous fencing master Hans Talhoffer in the ranks of its mounted henchmen, also known as Hetzrüden (staghounds). While in the employ of Nuremberg Hans Talhoffer was implicated in the murder of a noble, who Nuremberg considered a “raubritter” or robber knight. Ordensstaat One of the names of the regime of the Teutonic Order which was a vast area that technically included both Prussia and Livonia. Order of Dobrzyń Also known as the Brothers of Dobrin. A small Polish Crusading Order similar to the Teutonic Knights, which was founded in the district of Dobrzyń in 1216 AD to fight off raids by pagan Prussians. The Order of Dobrzyń protected Cistercian abbeys from Prussian raids but became part of the Teutonic Order in 1235 AD. Ostiedlung The Ostsiedlung is the modern historian’s term for a substantial wave of migration which brought German speaking (and English, Scots, Norse, Flemish, French and Frisian speaking) settlers into Eastern and Northern Europe throughout the high to late medieval period, from roughly 1100 – 1500 AD. German and Flemish settlers in particular either founded or built-up many of the cities in Eastern Europe during this time and German, Flemish and other Latin settlers occupied many Eastern regions as well, bringing with them their law, language, and culture. Ottoman A powerful dynasty of Turks originating in Central Asia and by the 15th Century, based in Anatolia, in the process of expanding into Eastern Europe in the 15th Century. In 1450’s they were ruled by Sultan Mehmet II ‘The Conqueror’. The Ottomans were the most powerful single State in the Western hemisphere in the 15th Century and their armies posed a direct existential threat to the Holy Roman Empire and especially to the Kingdoms of Austria and Hungary.
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Palatinate Refers to a territorial zone in several different nations, but in the Late Medieval context most commonly refers to a district in the Rhineland what is now southwest Germany and Southeast France along the upper (Southern) Rhine river. The most important district in the territory politically was the Electorate of the Palatinate, ruled by the count Palatinate of the Rhine, one of the seven Prince Electors of the Holy Roman Empire and typically a very powerful prince. Patrician A euphemism for a member of the wealthy urban merchant clans of the cities of medieval Europe. Technically patricians were commoners but many of them were extremely powerful and a few richer than kings. Most were wealthy enough to buy titles from poorer noble families but when they did, they did not use these titles in town due to the political climate which was often hostile to the nobility. The purpose of purchasing titles was mainly to get better rights in the princely land courts and feudal courts. The term patrician derives from the ancient Roman term for the political and social elite. Most patricians were merchants, some were rentiers or landowners in the city, a few were artisans. Patricians tended to look down on nobles, who they considered uncouth and dishonest. They also had a somewhat fraught relationship with the urban artisan working class, who were political rivals, and with the Church who generally speaking they saw as interfering in burgher rights or taking advantage of town policies. Pfundmeister As special office within the Teutonic Order, the Pfundmeister was the Customs master of Danzig, the pfund was a special tariff levied by the Order. After the 1454 uprising the pfundmeister was relocated to Konigsberg. Pomerania Region in the Baltic between the German state of Brandenburg and Prussia, ruled by the ‘Griffin Dukes’ as well as some Free Cities and prelates of the Church. Pomerelia The region on the Baltic Coast East of Pomerania, North of Poland, analogous to Prussia. Prelate A church leader with secular authority over some kind of community or territorial area. A prelate is usually a bishop, archbishop, or abbot / abbess. Prelates wielded power in the real world as territorial rulers and in Central and Northern
Europe they differed little from secular princes in many cases. Prelates typically had their own armies and castles. Primogeniture The Feudal inheritance system by which the first born son inherits control over all or nearly all of the family property, to manage as he saw fit. This had many downsides as it edged out second and third born (etc.) sons not to mention daughters and uncles, mothers, various other family members and thereby contributed to countless very nasty and often fatal disputes over inheritance. Primogeniture was one of the main reasons interregnums could be so fraught in places like England or France. It was maintained so that the family property wouldn’t get split up into many parts and thus diminished to nothing over a few generations. The Central European alternative was often multigeniture, spreading the inheritance through the children. This caused it’s own set of problems. Prince A euphemism for powerful kings, dukes, counts, margraves and other high-ranking aristocrats who had significant territorial power, as well as prelates such as bishops and archbishops, abbots, cardinals and so on. Secular princes held allodial rights to their territory, meaning they controlled it free and clear without anyone or any institution having any other rights over their land. Many though by no means all princes also held the status of Royal or Imperial immediacy. Generally these were people who were not to be trifled with. Princes were major rural landowners; some were high ranking members of the clergy including abbots, bishops, and archbishops, often referred to as prince-prelates. Other than kings, popes and emperors, the most famous and powerful princes were the Prince Electors of the Holy Roman Empire. In Poland the most powerful princes were known as magnates. Prince Elector One of the seven powerful princes who had a vote in the election of the Holy Roman Emperor. Four of the Prince Electors or Kurfürst were bishops, two were counts, and one was the King of Bohemia (who had two votes). The Prince electors were among the most powerful Lords in Central Europe. Prince-Prelate A territorial church ruler (bishop, archbishop, cardinal or abbot / abbess) who had sufficient territorial power to also be called a prince. Though in theory beholden to the Vatican, many prince-prelates were just as independent (and could be just as ruthless) as the secular princes.
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Prussia / Prussian Can refer to the region of Prussia (also Pomerelia), to the native Prussian Language, to the native or “Old” Prussian people, or to the German dialect of townsfolk living in the district of Prussia who were mostly from German-speaking areas within the Holy Roman Empire. During the 15th Century the term Prussian was usually applied to German speakers from Prussia, while the term “Old Prussian” referred to the original native inhabitants of the region who spoke Baltic languages similar to Lithuanian. The region of Prussia was a zone of the southern Baltic extending from Pomerania in the West to Samogitia in the east, centered on the Vistula river delta and the Vistula lagoon. Prussian Confederation A powerful alliance of 19 cities (led by Danzig) and 53 ‘great men’ (powerful figures from the patriciate, the aristocracy, and the Church) who joined together to end the rule of the Teutonic Order in Prussia, leading to the outbreak of what would later be called the 13 Years War in 1453. Raubritter See also Robber-Knight, also known as a “Robber Baron”. Usually petty warlords, members of the aristocracy or gentry who owned strongholds near rivers or roads used for trade, and used them as a means to rob travelers and merchants and / or levy ‘taxes’ or fines on commercial travel in their districts, and then flee back to the safety of their stronghold before they faced retribution. Hundreds of castles of these knights were destroyed by Free Cities or princes in the 15th Century, and many robber knights were shot or hung, but the problem continued. From the knight’s point of view many of them did not consider themselves robbers but honorable noblemen carrying out their right to honorable private war or feuding (Fedhe). Rathaus Ratusz in Polish. The town hall, usually a large, fortified building. Documents such as the town charter were kept there, and the town council met there regularly. The Rathaus was also usually where the town court was, and where the Schoffen met to decide legal cases. Most rathauser had a lookout tower which also sometimes served as a bell tower (belfry) and clock tower featuring a mechanical clock. Ratsherren A member of the ruling town council. Usually very important individuals within town society. For a Free City or Free Imperial or Royal City, these people along with the burgomeisters were the government of the town and conducted diplomacy and foreign policy, led the town into war when necessary, and performed all the other tasks associated with governance and military leadership.
Reichsfürst German term referring to an elite type of prince, meaning a powerful high-ranking aristocrat and territorial ruler who also had the legal status of Immediacy. Reichsritter Free Imperial Knights, usually members of the lower or middle aristocracy who enjoyed the legal status of Immediacy. Since 1422 they were organized as an estate within the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire. Many Reichsritter fought as mercenaries, some roamed the countryside as Knights Errant or Robber Knights. A few were at least locally powerful landowners within their home districts. Residenz The home base of a prince (Fürst), literally ‘place of living’, meaning both their home and seat of government or political capital. Many were in large castles, some were in territorial towns (for example Munich, the Residenz of the Herzog of Bavaria, or Berlin, Residenz of the Elector of Brandneburg), some were in Free or Imperial cities which in some cases later evicted the prince and declared independence. In other cases princes took over formerly free towns and made them Residenz, such as Mainz in 1462, and in other towns fought off such attempts, such as at Lüneburg in 1370. Reval A Free and Hanseatic City in northern Livonia now known as Talinn, the Capitol of Estonia. Member of the Livonian Confederation. Reysa Annual raids conducted by the Teutonic and Livonian Orders against the Baltic pagans, and by the pagans (in the 15th Century, essentially the Lithuanians) against the order. These raids could be small or quite large. Typically, at least two raids a year were launched by the Crusaders, and one by the Lithuanians. Rezeß Also Rezess. This was a special type of political compromise often associated with German towns. It usually represented some kind of power sharing arrangement between rival political factions within the town, such as between two patrician families or between the patricians and the craft guilds. The most famous Rezess familiar to English-speakers is probably the Rezess of Hamburg in 1410 which is considered the foundation of the Hamburg Republic and the establishment of the Hamburg Senat. The Rezess in its many forms was key to the continued independence and
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prosperity of the Royal and Imperial Free cities of Central Europe. Riga A major trading city in Livonia, a Free and Hanseatic city, one of the more important members of the Hanseatic League, also one of the most powerful entities within the Livonian Confederation. Militarily and politically formidable. Ritterbrudern Literally knight – brother, the warrior monks of the military / religious Orders such as the Knights Templar and the Knights Hospitaller of Malta, the Livonian Knights, and the Teutonic Order. In the Baltic the latter two were usually meant. Ritterbrudern of the Order wore white with a black cross. Though small in number they were formidable in combat. Robber Knight Aka Raubritter. Also pejoratively known as “Placker”, “Schnapphähne” or “Stauchritter”, were typically lower ranked nobles or knights who lived temporarily or permanently as bandits. Robber knights were different from knights-errant in that they typically had some kind of stronghold, castle or fortress to call home. They often imposed taxes or tolls on passers by and in some cases would kidnap travelers, merchants or other people traveling near their stronghold, and then hold them for ransom, sometimes for years. The rationale was often a feud (fehde) but the victims may not even directly be involved in the feud itself. This put many knights into conflict with the towns, princes, and the Church. Expeditions against robber knights were routine in the late medieval period and were sometimes very bloody. Whether somebody was a raubritter or merely a knight exercising their right to the feud (Fehde) was often a point of legal and military contention. Members of the knightly estate insisted on their right of the feud and often interpreted the legal and valid targets of a feud with a given entity much more broadly than princes, prelates or especially towns did. Ruthenian A Slavic people analogous to modern day Ukrainians and Belorussians and closely related to the Russians, part of the original Rus Khaganate. Most Ruthenians were members of the Orthodox Christian religion though there were also a small number of Ruthenian Catholics. Rus Members of a mixed Swedish / Slavic / Baltic ethnic group, or the region of Rus city-states which dominated Eastern
Europe from the time of the Vikings until the arrival of the Mongol Hordes. The territory of the Rus is roughly analogous to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. Most of the cities in Medieval Russia were originally Rus city-states from the time of the pre-Christian Rus Khaganate. Russian / Russia In the 15th Century Russia only referred to a region or to the people or culture of the region, as there was no nation called “Russia” in medieval Europe. The Duchy of Moscow was the most powerful polity in Russia. Most of what is today Russia was under the direct or indirect rule of the mongol Golden Horde in the 15th Century, with the exception of the City States of Veliky Novgorod, Pskov and Tver) Sachsenspiegel Literally “The Saxon Mirror”, (Sassen Speyghel in Middle Low German). A series of law books published in several parts of German speaking Central Europe during the Middle Ages, based on two types of law: feudal law (Lehnrecht, the legal relationship between the different estates) and local common law (Landrecht, including civil and criminal law). There are 460 surviving copies of the Sachsenspiegel but only four of the extensively illustrated illuminated versions of these manuscripts. The Sachsenspiegel was the basis for many laws in the Baltic though it was not the only law of the land even in the German speaking districts. The most famous surviving version relevant to the Baltic is the Elbinger Rechtsbuch, a bilingual Low-German/Polish document which includes a version of the Sachsenspiegel as well as the first ever written record of Polish common law. One of the curious things about medieval life is that there was always a sharp difference between the law as written and the law as practiced. When comparisons are made between law books like the Saxon Mirror and surviving court transcripts there is a significant divergence between the two, with law in practice often proving to be more lenient. Samogitia One of the native Baltic regions of Lithuania, along the Baltic coast between Prussia and Livonia. Home to the fiercely independent Samogitians, and the site of several of the major defeats of the Teutonic Knights and Livonian Order. Sarmatism A political doctrine in Poland centered on the belief that they are descended from the Sarmatians. Saxons A German-speaking people in Central Europe, one of several powerful tribal groups of the Holy Roman Empire. The
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Saxons were a pagan tribe who were conquered by Charlemagne in 804, afterward gradually became Christianized and integrated into the feudal system. Many of the German-speaking settlers who ended up in Prussia, Poland, Livonia, Bohemia and other Eastern realms were Saxons, and Saxon Law (see Sachsenspiegel) was influential throughout East-Central Europe. Saxony A region in what is now Germany, meaning different specific districts in different eras, originally the home of the Saxons, (Sachsen) one of the ancient German-speaking tribes in Central Europe. In the late Medieval period there were two regions associated with the Saxons. Upper Saxony was in what is now East-Central Germany in the foothills of the Harz Mountains, upstream on the Elbe and east of the Saale river, on land once occupied by Slavs, and from the High Medieval period traditionaly associated with the powerful princely Wettin family. The other was Lower Saxony, which is low-country on the North Sea where the Saxons seem to have originated, in what is now North-West Germany, mostly just South and West of Denmark. Schiffer German word for skipper, a somewhat vague term which could refer to the captain of a ship or large boat, the temporary pilot of a ship, a navigator, or sometimes another sailor. Most commonly referred to a ship captain who was also at least a partial owner of an oceangoing or coastal ship or a substantial river vessel that engaged in long distance trade. Skippers were generally respected men in Northern European towns and in particular Hanseatic towns, and were sometimes admitted to their elite social clubs or urban merchant associations or military societies. Skippers had a dual role as commercial and military ship captains. In Hanseatic towns such as Danzig / Gdansk or Elbing skippers were sometimes also members of the town council. Schöffe German term for powerful urban magistrates or ‘jurors’, who were effectively judges. Many though not all urban Schöffe were also members of the town council. Councilors who served on the council but were not magistrates were known as Ratsherren. Sejm The Polish parliament, including all members of the Szlachta or aristocracy. The Sejm fluctuated somewhat in power but as various Polish kings, particularly in the 15th Century, granted ever greater rights to the Polish nobility and gentry, the Sejm became the most powerful governing force in the
Kingdom, even as it was increasingly disrupted by foreign influence, especially during the Early Modern period. Sejmic A smaller regional sejm or diet in Poland, similar to the Slavic veche, the Norse thing and the German Landsgemeinde. Senat The upper house of the Polish Parliament or sejm. Also the term for the town councils in certain Free Cities which had a republican government, for example Hamburg, Strasbourg, Wroclaw or Kraków. Šepmistr Czech word for schöffe, a type of magistrate. Sich Ruthenian (Ukranian) word for fortress or citadel usually refers to Cossack stronghold. The Zaparozhian Sich is the homeland and stronghold of a powerful Host of Cossacks located below the cataracts on the Dnieper river in what is now the Ukraine. Sich Rada Seat of government of the Zaparozian Cossacks located at the Zaparozian Sich, situated in a special fort below the rapids on the Dnieper river in the center of Cossack territory. The Rada was a diet or parliament for the Cossacks and their decisions were ratified or rejected by mass-meetings of the host, similar to the Slavic veche. In addition to ruling on disputes and to settling major matters such as diplomacy or declaring war, the Rada managed communal land plots and fishing rights, as well as assigning leadership for the Kurins of the Zaporizhian Host. The Sich Rada elected the Kosh Ataman as the chieftain of the Cossacks. They also elected a senior secretary, a senior magistrate, and a scribe. Silesia A region between Poland and Bohemia with a mixed German, Czech and Polish population. Dominated by the city of Wroclaw / Breslau and a restive, often feuding nobility, known for robbing travelers as raubritter. Silk Road A series of roads, trails, and portages leading from China and India, through Central Asia and to various points in Europe including both Russian and Baltic trading towns. The Silk Road was both symbolic of the historic overland trade links between Europe and Asia and the continued active trade caravan links between Chinese, Persian, and Hindu trading centers. In the mid 15th Century major ports such as the Genoese controlled colony of Caffa in the Crimea and the Rus city-state of Veliky Novgorod in northern Russia formed
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the western terminus and entrepot of the trade route. The ongoing trade of silk, spices, pepper, wootz steel, slaves, fur and lumber was of supreme economic importance in the 15th Century. Interruptions in the flow of goods on the Silk Road was what ultimately led to the development of alternative trade routes around Africa by the Portuguese and eventually, the opening of the Atlantic and Pacific, and the discovery of the New World. Soltys The Polish version of a Vogt, a local rural bailiff. Städtbund A temporary or permanent coalition or confederation of Free Cities. Though these were outlawed by Emperor Charles IV in the mid-14th Century, they continued to thrive in many areas through the 15th and 16th Centuries in some cases forming permanent city-leagues that controlled significant territory, such as the Lusatian League of Upper Lusatia Starost Also Starostwo. Slavic term meaning ‘leader’, ‘senior’, or ‘elder’, but could also be used to mean a burgomeister (more or less equivalent to a mayor) in Czech speaking areas, a village or tribal leader in Poland, or a rural district administrator in Russia, (it was a district within the territory and political administration of the Grand Duke). The rank is somewhat similar to the German Vojt. There were also Starosta Grodowy who were essentially magistrates (see Schöffe). Sublime Porte A reference to the palace gate of the palace of the Ottoman Sultan, from where the pronouncements of the Sultan were read to the public. The term usually referred to the administration of the Ottoman Empire and the will of the Sultan or the administration of the Grand Vizier and government ministers. The Porte was also where visiting diplomats were received, and as such the term became a euphemism for the Ottoman Empire as a whole, or for its bureaucracy or intelligence services. Summus Hospitalarius A high ranking member of the Teutonic Order, in charge of the management of all the Hospitals maintained by the Order. Summmus Marescalcus A high ranking member of the Teutonic Order and a member of the cabinet of ministers of the Grand Master. The Summus Marescalcus, also known as the Marschall, was the chief military commander of the Order.
Sword Brothers Also the Livonian Brothers of the Sword, a monastic Crusader Order similar to the Teutonic Order which was broken up in the 13th Century due to being unruly and being defeated by the Samogitians. Taken over by the Livonian Order by the 14th Century. Szlachta Pronounced “slatch – teh”. The large Polish gentry or lower aristocracy including, something like 1/6 of the population. All members of the Szlachta had the right to vote in the Sejm or Polish Parliament, and eventually, they all had a veto. The lower ranking Polish nobility were a powerful force in Polish polities during the medieval period, and had an almost Jeffersonian obsession with Liberty (for themselves, if not for their subjects). The Szlachta was divided into several powerful clans who exercised power over many generations somewhat in the manner of princely houses in Central Europe, but with a much larger constituency sometimes consisting of hundreds or even thousands of individual families. Tábor A city in Bohemia associated with a faction of the Hussites known as Táborites, also a specific type of mobile wagon fort (aka vozová hradba) used by the Hussites of Bohemia, or any war-wagon armed with guns, or any war-wagon. Tabors or war-wagons were the basis of much of the infantry warfare in the Baltic region during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The word Tabor specifically means hilltop and refers to a hill mentioned in the bible. In the mid-15th Century, Tabor was considered the epicenter of Hussite radicalism, and it was the origin of many of the Czech raiding bands or Hussite brotherhoods which performed mercenary service in Prussia and Hungary, among other places. Tartar A European euphemism for all members of the Mongol Horde, regardless of their ethnicity. Refers to Tartarus as in hell. Often used interchangeably with the term Tatar. Tatar A Central Asian tribe related to the Mongols, and part of the Mongol Golden Horde or Krim Tartar polities, dwelling from Central Asia down to the Crimea. Terra Mariana Six feudal principalities, of which five were Clerical, controlled the majority of Livonia (also known as Terra Mariana, the Land of Mary). These included the archbishopric of Riga, the bishopric of Courland, the bishopric of Dorpat, the bishopric of Osel-Wiek, the duchy of
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Estonia (a Danish fief) and the military state of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword aka the Livonian Order. Together with a handful of powerful Hanseatic towns, especially Riga, Dorpat, and Reval, these six principalities were the real power brokers in Livonia. Toruń Also known as Thorn or Torn. An important Hanseatic trading city in southern Prussia on the Vistula River. Part of the Prussian Confederation, Toruń was a Free City. Thing Regional tribal or clan assemblies in Norse society. Though typically associated with the pre-Christian Viking-Era, the Thing continued to be the basis for local courts and administration in several rural districts of Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Norway well into the Late Medieval Period. By the 15th Century representatives from rural Things composed part of the peasants “estate” in the Swedish Riksdag or national diet. Thorn German name for the city of Toruń. Also sometimes shortened as Torn. Teutonic Order Also Teutonic Knights. A powerful Order of Crusading Knight -monks mostly from German-speaking areas, founded during the Crusades in the Middle East, they shifted their main base of operations first to Hungary and then to Prussia in the 13th Century. In 1456 The Teutonic Order controlled a State larger than many European Kingdoms at that time, incorporating most of the land in East Prussia as well as several castles in Poland, Bohemia, Silesia, Pomerania, and Brandenburg. The Teutonic Order was allied with the Livonian Order, the latter being technically a vassal of the Teutonic Knights but in reality it was a separate entity. Veche The term Veche was the name of a type of Slavic tribal diet or assembly similar to the Norse Thing, the Polish Wiec, or the German Landsgemeinde. In most cases Veche referred to rural clan or tribal assemblies, but the term was also used to describe the mass meeting of citizens in Russian City States such as Veliky Novgorod, Pskov, and Tver. Veliky Novgorod Aka “Lord Novgorod the Great”. Mightiest of the old Rus citystates, never conquered by the Mongols, and still independent in the 15th Century, it was organized as a Republic. A major Eastern outpost of the Hanseatic League, linking it to the Silk Road, Novgorod was a fierce rival to Moscow, and a military rival to Sweden and the Teutonic
Order. But as an important trading partner of the Hansa, it was somewhat protected from aggression by Latin forces. Veliky Novgorod was situated in the far north of the old Rus Khaganate, as a major center of the fur trade over a vast zone of Siberia and parts of Finland. The name Novgorod which translates to ‘new city’ was also used by another smaller Russian city. Vernacular In the medieval context the vernacular (also frequently called ‘vulgar’) refers to the local written and spoken dialects, as opposed to the Classical languages such as Latin and Greek. Before the 13th Century literature in the vernacular was very rare. By the 15th, literature in the vernacular was becoming mature, and most people in the towns had at least basic literacy in their local dialect of German, French, Polish, Russian etc. These people were considered laymen and not truly educated by the Church, which continued to do its business in Latin. Vilnius Aka Wilna. The capitol of Lithuania. A strongly fortified town which resisted the concerted efforts of Crusaders to capture it for many years, Vilnius was founded by the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminus in the 14th Century on the basis of a prophetic dream of an iron wolf howling on a hill, interpreted by a pagan priest. Gediminus made Vilnius into a Free City with a strict policy of free religion and invited merchants and artisans from Europe. Vilnius was attacked by the Teutonic Order and Crusaders from as far away as England in the 1390’s, but with the help of many allies it fended off the attackers. In the 15th Century Vilnius had a large population from throughout Latin Europe, as well as Greeks, Russians, Jews, Armenians and even Muslims from Central Asia. Voivode A powerful military, administrative and territorial ruler, roughly equivalent in stature to a Duke. In Poland and Lithuania the Voivode was a regional governor appointed by and beholden to the King of Poland or Grand Duke of Lithuania respectively. In pre-Chrsitian times the Voivode was elected by the veche, in late medieval Poland he presided over, and to some extent was subject to the Sejmik or local assembly. Voivode’s also acted as military leaders in Late Medieval Polish armies and were often equivalent to knights-banneret. Vogt Usually a type of rural bailiff., the representative of a lord or a prince of some kind. Also called landvogt, or soltys to the Poles. Most vogts were found in rural areas but territorial
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towns (Mediatstädt) would have an urban vogt who represented the wishes of the lord. In rural areas especially the vogt could have a lot of power, and sometimes acted as judge, jury and (indirect) executioner. Visby Also Wisby. An important Swedish trading town on the Island of Gotland, Visby was one of the founders of the Hanseatic League, arguably it was the key founding member before Lübeck. Visby was unusual among the northern trading towns for its very international character; it was not dominated by German traders or Scandinavians or Russians, but included traders from all those regions and many others. Visby was a trading nexus for goods from Sweden and Prussia, as well as from Finland and Novgorod, and was once very powerful, but it was largely broken during bitter wars between the Hanseatic League and the Kingdom of Denmark in the 14th Century. It later became the home base of various pirate groups, including briefly Eric II of Pomerania, King of Denmark, who abdicated his throne to pursue a life of piracy. Wroclaw Also called Breslau by the Germans and Vretislav by the Czechs, as well as by many other variations of all three names over the centuries. A powerful Free City in Silesia, which was the strongest political and military entity in that region. Led the resistance against Czech control of Silesia (even though it was technically part of the Kingdom of Bohemia) and extremely hostile to compromise with the heretical Hussites. Mixed German (Silesian) and Polish citizenry. Often at odds with the largely German Silessian Gentry, the Polish religious authorities, and the Czech heretics (moderate or otherwise) all more or less simultaneously, the city imposed it’s will on the surrounding district with remarkable tenacity. In the 1470’s Wroclaw became allied with the Kingdom of Hungary against the de-facto leadership of Bohemia. Militarily and politically formidable. Zaparozian Sich Refers specifically to the central fortification of the Zaparozian Cossacks, one of the two main branches of the Cossacks. The Cossacks were a formidable self-managed army of Ruthenian peasants, runaway slaves and serfs who operated in the Southern Ukraine. The Zaparozhian Sich itself was the first among many fortresses (Sichi) built on Tomakivka island, below the cataracts (rapids) on the Dnieper river. At one point there was a castle built there called Khortysky castle which was later destroyed by the Tartars.
Period references to the Zaparozian Sich can also euphemistically refer to either the actual fort and organization or the political leadership of the Dnieper Cossacks or the Dnieper Cossack nation as a whole. The Zaparozian Cossacks were unusual in that they were consistently if not invariably effective in combat against the Tartars and the Ottomans. During the 15th and 16th Centuries the Zaparozian Cossacks were often allied with the Poles and Lithuanians.
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Bibliography Academic books The Annals of Jan Dlugosz: A History of Eastern Europe from A.D. 965 to A.D. 1480 [Abridged], Maurice Michael (Translator), Jan Dlugosz, IM Publications LLP, (1997) ISBN: 978-1901019001
Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum IV: Die Infrastruktur Schmidt - Roemhild; (October 2004) ISBN: 3795012651 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795 (History of East Central Europe), Daniel Stone, University of Washington Press (May 29, 2001) ISBN 978-0295980935
Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600, Tom Scott, Palgrave 2002, ISBN: 0-333-585532-1
The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, Hastings Rashdall, Sandpiper books, (1895), revised edition (1936)
Teutonic Knights: A Military History, William L. Urban, Greenhill Books (2003) ISBN: 1853675350
Archery and Crossbow Guilds in Medieval Flanders, 13001500, Laura Crombiw, Boydell Press 2016. ISBN 978 1 78327 305
The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany: Civic Duty and the Right of Arms, B. Ann Tlusty, Palgrave Macmillan (2011), ISBN 1349366471 Augsburg During the Reformation Era: An Anthology of Sources, B. Ann Tlusty, Hackett Publishing (2012) Bacchus and Civic Order, B. Ann Tlusty, University of Virginia Press (2001) ISBN 9780813920450 The World of the Tavern, B. Ann Tlusty, Routledge (2002) The Northern Crusades: Second Edition, Eric Christiansen, Penguin, (1998) ISBN: 0140266534 Arms and Armor in the Medieval Teutonic Order’s State in Prussia, Andrzej Nowakowski, Oficyna Naukowa MS, (Poland), (1994), ISBN 83-85874-01-1
Lithuania Ascending: A Pagan Empire within East-Central Europe, 1295-1345 (Cambridge Studies in Medieval Life and Thought: Fourth Series) by S. C. Rowell (Jun 24, 1994) ISBN 052145011X The Routledge Handbook of Maritime Trade around Europe 1300-1600: Commercial Networks and Urban Autonomy, Wilm Blockmans (editor), Justyna Wubs Mrozewicz (Editor), Routledge History Handbooks (2017) ISBN 113889950X Medieval Russia’s epics, chronicles and tales Serge A. Zenkovsky (includes extended excerpts from the Russian Primary Chronicle and several other Rus Chronicles) Belgian Democracy, its early history, Henri Pirenne, ISBN 978-1-151-91416-3
Cracow, the royal capital of ancient Poland: its history and antiquities, By Leonard Lepszy, 1912
Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 James Richard Farr, Cambridge University Press (2000) ISBN-10: 52142934X
A History of the Hussite Revolution by Howard Kaminsky Wipf & Stock Publishers (April 2004) ISBN: 1592446310
The Feud in Early Modern Germany Hillay Zmora, Cambridge University Press, (2011) ISBN 978-0521=11251-2
The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Jacob Burckhardt, 1860 (translated by S.G.C. Middlemore 1878) The History of the Renaissance In Italy, Jacob Burckhardt, 1867 Saxo and the Baltic Region, a Symposium Edited by Tore Nyberg University Press of Southern Denmark; 1 edition (January 2004) ISBN: 8778389283 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum, I: Stand, Aufgaben und Perspektiven Schmidt - Roemhild; (1997) ISBN: 978-3-7950-1222-9 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum, II: der Handel Schmidt - Roemhild; (1999) ISBN 103795012368
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Renaissance Diplomacy, Garrett Mattingly, Dover 1988 The Hussite Wars, Francis Lützow J. M. Dent & sons, 1914, The Art of Warfare in Western Europe during the Middle Ages from the 8th Century to 1340, J.F. Verbruggen, Boydell and Brewer 1997 ISSN 1358-779X The Battle of the Golden Spurs, Courtrai, 11 July 1302, J.F. Verbruggen, David Richard Ferguson (Translator) Boydell Press (2002) Medieval Warfare: History of the Art of War Vol. III, Hans Delbrück , Bison Books 1982 (originally 1920) Citizens without Nations, Maartin Prak, Cambridge University Press (2018) ISBN 1107504155
The Polish-Lithuanian state, 1386-1795 By Daniel Stone University of Washington Press (May 29, 2001) ISBN: 0295980931
Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, edited by S.R. Epstein and Maarten Prak, Cambridge University press, (2008)
The Martial Arts of Renaussaince Europe, Sydney Anglo, Yale University Press, August 11 200
The Return of the Guilds, Jan Lucassen (editor), Cambridge University Press (2009), ISBN 0521737656
Deutsche Mythologie (4 Volumes) Jacob Grimm 1835, translated by James Steven Stallybrass, 1882
Town and Country in Europe, 1300-1800, S.R. Epstein, Cambridge University Press, 2004, ISBN 0521548047
Mining and Metallurgy in Medieval Civilization John U. Nef, (1987)
Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse, Pimlico Press (2002) ISBN 13: 978 0 7126 9334 9
History of the Mongols from the 9th to the 19th Century, part 2 the So-Called Tartars of Russia and Central Asia, Henry Hoyle Howorth, 1880 (Reprint 2008 by Cosimo Press) Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer's Manual of the Fifteenth Century, Richard Kieckhefer, Pennsylvania State University Press (1998), ISBN 978-0271017518 Fama: The Politics of Talk and Reputation in Medieval Europe, Thelma Fenster, David Lord Smail, Cornell Univ Pr (April 2003), ISBN: 0801488575 James Westfall Thompson, The Literacy of the Laity in the Middle Ages (Berkeley, 1939). Heresy and Literacy, 1000-1530, Anne Hudson, Cambridge University Press, (June 28, 1996) ISBN: 9780521575768 Anne's Bohemia: Czech Literature And Society, 13101420 Univ Of Minnesota Press; ISBN-13: 9780816630547 The German Hansa Philippe Dollinger, 1970, ISBN 9780333064948 Medieval Towns, a Reader, Maryanne Kowaleski (editor), University of Toronto Press (2006), ISBN 1 44260-091-1 Uzbrojenie w Polsce średniowiecznej 1350-1450, “Armaments in Medieval Poland 1350-1450” Andrzej Nadolski, Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej, (1990) Arms and Armor in the Medieval Teutonic Order’s State in Prussia, Andrzej Nowakowski, Oficyna Naukowa MS, (Poland), (1994), ISBN 83-85874-01-1 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896 (translated by M.A. Mitchell and A.M. Christie in two volumes.
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Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness, Arab Trafvellers in the Far North, Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone (translators), Penguin Classics (2012), ISBN 978-0-14045507-6 Dithmarschen, a Medieval Peasant Republic, William Urban, William Mellon Press, (1991) The Hansa, History and Culture Johannes Schildhauer, Dorset Press, (1988), ISBN 0-88029-182-6 Hans R. Guggisberg, Basel in the Sixteenth Century: Aspects of the City Republic before, during and after the Reformation (St Louis, MO, 1982) Chronicles of Three Free Cities, Wilson King (translator) Dutton & Co. 1914– contains abridged chronicles of Bremen, Hamburg and Lübeck from the 13th through 16th Centuries. This was a very good source. Women in Late Medieval and Reformation Europe, 12001550, Hellen M. Jewell, 2007 Palgrave MacMillan Silesian Folktales (The Book of Rubezahl), James Lee and James T. Carey (Translators), 1915, 2016,ISBN 978-1944322-17-5 The Living Past of Tallinn, Elena Rannu, Peroodika Publishers, 1990, ISBN 5-7979-0031-9 Erotic Tales of Medieval Germany, Albrecht Classen, Arizona State University Press, 2007 Medieval Robots, Mechanism, Magic, Nature and Art, E.R. Truitt, University of Pennisylvania Press, 2015 Germany in the Later Middle Ages, F.R.H. Du Boulay, the Athlone Press LTD, 1983, ISBN 0-485-12042-9
Academic Articles, Print Franitsek Olansky, “The Role of John Jiskra in the History of Slovakia”, Institute of Historical Studies, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, Slovakia, (1996) Jennifer Mills “The Hanseatic League in the Eastern Baltic”, (May 1998) “Finding safety in feuding: Nobles’ responses to Nuremberg’s rural security policy in the mid-fifteenth century”, Virtus. Journal of Nobility Studies, Ben Pope 2016 Christopher Nicholson, “Between Menace and Utility: Handguns in Early Sixteenth-Century Bohemia”, University College London (Skepsi Vol 1, Kent University 2010) Sven Ekdahl, “Horses and Crossbows: Two Important Warfare Advantages of the Teutonic Order in Prussia”, published in The Military Orders, Volume 2: Welfare and Warfare (1998) Riskin, Jessica, “Machines in the Garden.” Republics of Letters: A Journal for the Study of Knowledge, Politics, and the Arts 1, no. 2 (April 3, 2010), http://rofl.stanford.edu/node/59 David Eltis “Towns and Defense in Later Medieval Germany”, Nottingham Medieval Studies v. 33. (1989) Cliff Hubby “Violence and Local Society in Late Medieval Bavaria, a look at the evidence” T.A. Brady, 'Patricians, nobles, merchants: internal tensions and solidarities in South German urban ruling classes at the close of the Middle Ages', in Social Groups and Religious Ideas in the Sixteenth Century. Ed. M.U. Chrisman and O. Gründler (1978) Thomas A. Brady, “Ruling Class, Regime and Reformation in Strasbourg” 1520-1555 (Leiden: Brill, 1978) F.L. Carsten, 'Medieval democracy in the Brandenburg towns and its defeat in the fifteenth century', Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 4th ser. 25 (1943), 73-91 F.R.H. Du Boulay, 'The German town chroniclers', R.H.C. Davis and J.M. Wallace-Hadrill ed., The Writing of History in the Middle Ages: Essays Presented to R.W. Southern (1981) Christopher R. Friedrichs, 'The Swiss and German citystates', in The City-State in Five Cultures, ed. Robert Griffeth and Carol G. Thomas (Santa Barbara, CA, London, 1981), 109-42
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M. Groten, 'Civic record keeping in Cologne, 1250-1330', in R.H. Britnell ed., Pragmatic Literacy East and West, 1200-1330 (1997) Peter Johanek, 'Imperial and free towns of the Holy Roman Empire – city states in pre-modern Germany?', in A Comparative Study of Thirty City-State Cultures, ed. Mogens Herman Hansen (Copenhagen, 2000), 295-319 D. Nicholas, The Later Medieval City 1300-1500 (1997) M. North, 'The records of Lübeck and Hamburg, c. 12501330', in R.H. Britnell ed., Pragmatic Literacy East and West, 1200-1330 (1997) F. Rörig, “The Medieval Town” (Eng. trans. from 1964 edn) H.-C. Rublack, 'Political and social norms in urban communities in the Holy Roman Empire', in K. von Greyertz ed., Religion, Politics, and Social Protest (London, 1984), 24-60 J.C. Smith ed., Nuremberg: a Renaissance City, 15001618 (Huntington Art Gallery, Austin, Texas, 1983) H. Stoob, ‘The role of the civic community in central European urban development during the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries’, Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, 23 (1978-9) G. Strauss, “Nuremberg in the Sixteenth Century” (1966) Dr. William Urban “The Sense of Humor Among the Teutonic Knights of the Thirteenth-Century”, illinois Quarterly Michael Toch “Hauling Away in Late Medieval Bavaria: The Economics of Inland Transport in an Agrarian Market” The Agricultural History Review Vol. 41, No. 2 (1993), pp. 111123 John U. Nef ‘Mining and Metallurgy in Medieval Civilization’, The Cambridge Economic History of Europe Volume 2, Trade and Industry in the Middle Ages (1987) Giles Constable, "Forgery and Plagiarism in the Middle Ages," Archie für Diplomatik 29 (1983), pp. 1-41. J. N. H. LAWRANCE “The Spread of Lay Literacy in Late Medieval Castile”, Bulletin of Hispanic Studies, (Liverpool University Press, 1985) Roberto S. Lopez, “The Culture of the Medieval Merchant” Proceedings of the Southeastern Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 8 (1979) “Imperial and Free Towns of the Holy Roman Empire, City States in Pre-modern Germany?”
Peter Johanek, A comparative study of thirty city-state cultures: an investigation The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters, (2000), ISBN 8778761778
1453, the Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West, Roger Crowley, 2005, Hyperion (NY), ISBN 1-4013-0191-6
“Women in Genoese commenda contracts”, 1155–1216, Mark Angelos, Journal of Medieval History, Volume 20, Issue 4, (December 1994), Pages 299-312
Special Operations in the age of Chivalry, 1100-1550, Yuval Noah Harari, Boydell press (2007) ISBN: 978-184383-452-6
Epstein Stephan. R. (2008) “Craft guilds in the pre-modern economy: a discussion”, The Economic History Review, 61/1, 155-174
Gdansk Architecture and History by Stanislaw Klimek, VIA Wydawnctwo, 1997, ISBN 86642-40-8
‘The armour of the common soldier in the late middle ages. Harnischrodel as sources for the history of urban martial culture.’ Regula Schmid, Acta Periodica Duelletorum, volume 5, issue 2 (Dec 2017) ‘The guild and the swordsman’, Jean Chandler, Acta Periodica Duelletorum, volume 2, Issue 1 (2014) ‘The roots of fencing from the Twelfth to the Fourteenth Centuries in the French Language Area’, Olivier Dupuis, Acta Periodica Duelletorum volume 3, Issue 1 (2015) ‘Historical European Martial arts, a crossroad between academic research, martial heritage re-creation and martial sport practices.’, Daniel Jaquet, Claus Sorensen, and Fabrice Cognot. Acta Periodica Duelletorum volume 3, Issue 1 (2015) ‘A comparative analysis of literary depictions of social violence in two important 16th Century autobiographies, from the perspective of the fencing manuals of the Renaissance’, Jean Chandler, Acta Periodica Duelletorum volume 3, Issue 1 (2015) ‘Income and working time of a Fencing Master in Bologna in the 15th and early 16th Century’, Allesandro Battistini and Niki Corradetti, Acta Periodica Duelletorum volume 4, Issue 1 (2016) ‘The collection of Lew the Jew in the lineage of German Fight Books corpus’, Daniel Jaquet, Acta Periodica Duelletorum, Volume 5, Issue 1 (2017) ‘The Saracens of the Baltic: Pagan and Christian Lithuanians in the Perception of English and French Crusaders to Late Medieval Prussia’, Alan V. Murray, Journal of Baltic Studies, Vol. 41, No. 4, Dec 2010
Popular History Books The Mongol Warlords: Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, Hulegu, Tamerlane, by David Nicolle, 1990, ISBN 1 85314 104 6
Torun: Architecture and History by Stanislaw Klimek and Bohdan Rymaszeweski, Wydawn VIA (1998) iSBN 8386642505 Everyday Life of Medieval Travelers, Marjorie Rowling, 1989 Dorset Press, ISBN 0-88029-351-9 Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past, University of Pennsylvania Press; First Edition edition (July 23, 1999), ISBN-10: 0812232240 Medieval Machine: The Industrial Revolution of the Middle Ages, Jean Gimpel, Penguin (1977) Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel: Technology and Invention in the Middle Ages, Francis and Joseph Gies, Harper (1995) Waggish Tales of the Czechs, Rehor Frantisek, Norman Lockridge (translator), Candide Press 1947
Osprey Military Books Teutonic Knight 1190-1561 (Warrior) David Nicolle Tannenburg 1410: Disaster for the Teutonic Knights (Campaign) by Stephen Turnbull and Richard Hook The Hussite Wars 1419-36 (Men-at-Arms) by Stephen Turnbull German Medieval Armies 1300-1500, Christopher Gravett ISBN 0-85045-614-2 Medieval Polish Armies 966 – 1500 (Men At Arms) W. Sarnecki and David Nicolle, ISBN 978-1-84603-014-7 The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500 (Men At Arms) David Lindholm and David Nicolle, ISBN 9781841769882 Medieval Scandinavian Armies (2): 1300-1500 (Men-atArms) (v. 2) David Lindholm, ISBN 978-1841765068 Medieval Handgonnes, Sean McLachlan, Osprey 2010, 978 1 84908 155 9
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Primary Sources (in rough chronological order) Descriptio civitatum et regionum ad septentrionalem plagam Danubii ("Description of Cities and Lands North of the Danube") the Bavarian Geographer, 850 AD
Sketchbook, Villard de Honnecourt, 1235 (see The Medieval Sketchbook of Villard de Honnecourt, Dover (2006) Elbing-Preußisches Wörterbuch (14th Century)
Book of Roads and Kingdoms, Abu Abdullah al-Bakri, 1068 AD, Cordoba, Al Andalus (contains excerpts from the commentaries of Abraham ben Jacob aka Ibrâhîm ibn Ya`qûb aka al-Tartushi from the 10th Century, including his travels in Scandinavia, Poland and Bohemia.)
Chronicon Terrae Prussiae Peter of Dusburg, 1326 AD
Deeds of bishops of the Hamburg Church, Adam von Bremen, 1080 AD
The Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio, 1354
Gesta Principum Polonorum: The Deeds of the Princes of the Poles, Gallus Anonymous 1118 AD, Central European University Press (March 2003) ISBN-10: 9639241407
The Book of Deeds of Arms of Chivalry, Christine de Pisan, 1410 (translated /edited by Summar Willard and Charity Canon Willard) ISBN 0-271-01881-X Pennsylvania State University Press (1999)
Chronica Slavorum, Helmold, 1171 AD, An Arab-Syrian Gentleman and Warrior in the period of the Crusades, Usamah Ibn Munqidh, 1180 AD, Translated Philip K. Hitti, Princeton University press 1987 Elbinger Rechtsbuch (13th Century) The Chronicles of Novgorod BiblioBazaar 13th-15th Century (November 18, 2009) ISBN: 1117019462 The story of the Mongols whom we call the Tartars, Fra Giovanni DiPlano Carpini 1240 AD The Song of Igor’s Campaign, anonymous 13th Century, Vladimir Nabokov (translator) 1960 Gesta Danorum Saxo Grammaticus 13th century The Chronicle of Henry of Livonia, Henricus Lettus (Author), circa 1227 AD. James A. Brundage (Translator), Columbia University Press (January 6, 2004), ISBN-10: 0231128894 Itinerarium fratris Willielmi de Rubruquis de ordine fratrum Minorum, Galli, Anno gratiae 1253 ad partes Orientales. William of Rubruk, 1253 Hypatian Codex 1425 (contains excerpts from the Galician-Volhynian Chronicle from the 12th and 13th Centuries) Sachsenspiegel (various versions) circa 1220-1230 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sachsenspiegel
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Livonian Rhymed Chronicle 1340 AD Chronicles, Giovanni Villani, 1348, translated Rose E. Selfe, Andesite Press 2015 ISBN 978-1297786655
Expeditions to Prussia and the Holy Land, Made by Henry Earl of Derby (afterwards King Henry IV) in the years 13901 and 1392-3 Being The Accounts kept by his Treasurer during two years 1393 Edited from the originals by Lucy Toulmin Smith, printed for the Royal Camden Society M.DCC.XCIV (1894) (English introduction and preface, the rest is Latin) Belifortis, Conrad Kyeser, 1411 Sammelhandschrift zur Kriegskunst (various) 1437 Kunst der Gedächtnüß, Johannes Hartlieb 1436 Ueber die Erhaltung des Sieges Johannes Hartlieb 1443 Kriegskunst und Kanonen Johannes Bengedans - 1448 Banderia Prutenorum, Jan Długosz, 1448 AD Voyages Et Ambassades de Messire Guillebert de Lannoy, 1399-1450, Guillebert de Lannoy (French) Das Buch Aller Verbottenen Kunst, Johannes Hartlieb 1456
Europe, Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini, 1460 translated by Robert Brown, Catholic University of America Press (2013) Chorographia Regni Poloniae, Jan Długosz, 1461
Secret Memoirs of a Renaissance Pope: The Commentaries of Aeneas Sylvius Piccolomiini –
1450’s (Leona c. Gabel (translator) Folio Society 1988 Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae (The Annals of Jan Długosz), 1480 AD (first printed 1701), by Jan Długosz -the definitive Medieval history of Poland and the Baltic region. A Chronicle of the Crusades, Sébastien Mamerot 1474 (translators) Thierry Delcourt Fabrice Mesanes, Danille Queruel, Taschen (2016)
Florentine Histories (Istorie Florentine) Niccolo Machiavelli 1525, Princeton University Press (translation) 1990 ISBN 0691008639 Chroinica regnorum aquilonarium Daniae Sueciae, et Noruagiae, Albert Krantz, 1546 Metropolis, sive Historia de ecclesiis sub Carolo Magno in Saxonia, Albert Krantz, 1548 Kriegsbuch Leonhard Fronsperger 1560
Tirant Lo Blanc, Joanot Martorell, 1490
Historia verdadera dea la conquista de la Nueva Espana, Bernal Diaz, 1568
The Nuremberg Chronicle, 1493 AD (see Schedel: Chronicle of the World – 1493, Stephen Fussel, Taschen (2013))
Braun and Hogenberg: Cities of the World, 1572- 1622 translated Stephen Fussel, TASCHEN (2017)
Chronik der bischöfe von würzburg, 1495. Lorenz Fries (modern translator / transcriber). Verlag Ferdinand Schöningh (1996), Philipp Mönch, Codex Palatinus Germanicus 126 Kriegsbuch 1496 Memoirs of a Janissary, Konstanty Michaowicz, 1463, Markus Weiner Publishers (2010) ISBN 978-1558765313 A Journey Beyond the Three Seas, Afanasy Nikitin, 1475 AD Mittelalterliches Hausbuch von_Schloss Wolfegg, 1480 AD (reprinted 1887) Meester van het Hausbuch, 1485 AD
Chronica der Provinz Lyfflandt, Balthasar Russow, 1578 AD
Other Sources Wikipedia Very limited and careful use was made of Wikipedia though never more than a starting point or to get a general idea of something. A few Polish, German or Lithuanian articles led directly to certain academic references that were used as sources and cited above. Some of the details of Lithuanian mythology were derived in part from Wikipedia pages translated via Google Translate. Wikimedia Commons was used extensively as a source for many public domain images of artwork from the time and places relevant to the focus of this document. Encyclopedia Britannica
Ludwig Von Eyb Kriegsbuch (MS B.26) 1500 Zeugbuch of Maximillian I, Bartholomaeus Freysleben 1502 Balthazar Behem Codex Picturatus Illustrated treatise on guild regulations from Kraków circa 1505
Catholic Encyclopedia (online) Wiktenauer https://wiktenauer.com/ HROARR
Theuerdank: The Epic of the Last Knight Maximilian I 1517, Stephen Fussel (Translator), Taschen 2018
Novels and Historical fiction
Vandalia, sive Historia de Vandalorum jerq origine, Albert Krantz, 1518
The Teutonic Knights aka Krzyzacy Henryk Sienkiewicz – the Translation I had is a bit choppy, affecting the plot of the story, but there are some really interesting moments in this book and it conveys a sense of what the Teutonic Knights were like from the Polish point of view.
The Art of War Niccolo Machiavelli – 1520 Die Saxonia, Albert Krantz 1520 Il Principe (The Prince) Niccolo Machiavelli 1513 / 1532,
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With Fire and Sword (trilogy) Henryk Siekiewicz – the Classic tale of Cossacks and Winged Hussars. This series
is set in 17th Century Poland and Ukraine but it does an excellent job of capturing the feel of the region and the lifestyle of people there which wasn’t too different in the 15th Century. Even translated into English it remains one of the best historical novels I have ever read. Caprice and Rondo: The Seventh Book in the “House of Niccolo” series by Dorothy Dunnet. This series is basically a well researched historical Romance novel, and though not the best historical research it’s all pretty good and covers some events rarely discussed in English – the seventh book actually deals with Danzig and with a rather fanciful version of the privateer / city councillor Paul Benecke. The Walking Drum, Louis L’Amour (yes, that Louis L’Amour) an interesting and pretty well crafted account of an early (land based) Hanse merchant caravan. The Drawing of the Dark, Tim Powers - veering into fantasy from historical fiction but it has the fencing master Achille Marozzo in it and it captures the curious mentality of the late medieval Holy Roman Empire pretty well, I think, including their mystical obsession with beer. The Wayward Apprentice, Jay Vail. A retired knight contends with crime as a coroner in High Medieval England. Well done, realistic fight scenes. The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco (1980) Classic tale of high medieval intrigue, manages to be simultaneously a gripping detective yarn and a profound scholarly foray into medieval philosophy and the rivalries between different factions of the Religious.
The Adventurer, aka ‘Michael The Finn’ aka Mikael Karvajalka, Mika Waltari (1948). An exceptionally erudite and unflinching picaresque novel set in early 16th Century Europe. Similar to Umberto Eco’s work in the sense of the authors magisterial understanding of the medieval mind while skillfully portraying the physical world of that time. For when it was written it is truly remarkable. The Wanderer aka ‘The Sultan’s Renegade’, Mika Waltari (1949). Followup to his previous book set partly in the Ottoman Empire. The Strong Arm, Robert Barr. Short stories but quite good ones about Robber knights and maidens, trickery and hausmachtpolitik along the Rhine. Available at Project Gutenberg here The Cathedral of the Sea, Ildefonso Falcones. An historical novel set in Late Medieval Barcelona. It was made into a TV series. Gets many of the details of medieval Free Cities correct. Historical Films Krzyzacy NTSC "Knights of the Teutonic Order", Alexander Ford: Urszula Modrzynska; Grazyna Staniszewska (DVD - Oct 23, 2007) . This is a Polish film adaption of the novel by the same name by Henryk Sieknewicz. It’s an old movie originally shot in the 1950’s or 60’s but it has a lot to recommend it. Alatriste, Augustin Diaz Yanes, 20th Century Fox, 2006. Though set in the 17th Century, it’s one of the very, very few Western films in which you’ll see realistic pre-Classical fencing and pike combat.
Baudolino, Umberto Eco, William Weaver (translator) (2000) Tricky and beguiling account of an Italian in the time of the IVth Crusade. Tomas Baranauskas in Saxo and the Baltic Region, a Symposium See J. N. H. LAWRANCE “The Spread of Lay Literacy in Late Medieval Castile”, 1985 3 See Krzyżacy, Henryk Sienkiewicz 4 Blätter von Bäumen. Legenden, Mythen, Heilanwendungen und Betrachtung von einheimischen Bäumen., Fischer-Rizzi, Susanne Hugendubel, Munich (1994), ISBN 3880346836 5 "Melusina", translated legends about mermaids and water sprites that marry mortal men, with sources noted, edited by D. L. Ashliman, at University of Pittsburgh 6 Saxo and the Baltic Region, a Symposium, Tore Nyberg 7 See the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia 8 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896, page 51 9“History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 51 10 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 51 11 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 51 1 2
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“History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 51 13 William Urban, Teutonic Knights: A Military History 14 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896, page 49 15 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 49 16“History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 49 17 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 50 18 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 50 19“History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 50 20 Arms and Armor in Medieval Poland 1350-1450, Andrzej Nadolski (1990), page 475 21 Lopez, page 66 22 Hans Ulrich Kraft, Reisen und Gefangenschaft, 1615 12
“Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek Ibn Fadlan and the Land of Darkness, Arab Travelers in the Far North, Paul Lunde and Caroline Stone, Translators, Penguin Classics (2012) 978-0-140-45507-6, pp 164-165 66 Queen Margrete I, 1353-1412, and the Founding of the Nordic Union. Etting, Vivian (2004). Brill, ISBN 9004136525 pp. 39-44. 67 Queen Margrete I, 1353-1412, and the Founding of the Nordic Union, Etting, Vivian 68 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 69 “Towns and defense in late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 70 This is from Philippe Dollinger, the German Hanse, he lists his source as Hanserezesse 1 2, no 264, p. 319. 71 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896 72 See Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, 1400-1800. Journal of Interdisciplinary History, the MIT Press, Volume 40, No 1, Summer 2009, pp. 78-82 73 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896, Volume 2, page 11 74 Epstein Stephan. R. (2008) “Craft guilds in the pre-modern economy:”, 155-174. 75 “Craft Guilds in the pre-modern economy”, Epstein 76 Epstein, “Craft guilds in the pre-modern economy: a discussion”, 155174 77 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 78 Medieval towns, a reader. Maryanne Kowaleski 79 Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, edited by S.R. Epstein and Maarten Prak, Cambridge University press, (2008), page 115-117 80 Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, edited by S.R. Epstein and Maarten Prak, Cambridge University press, (2008), page 115-117 81 See Johannes Janssen, History of the German People at the Close of the Middle Ages. 1910 82 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 31 83 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 30 84 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 23 85 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 24 86 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 24 87 Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, edited by S.R. Epstein and Maarten Prak, Cambridge University press, (2008), page 115-117 88 Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, edited by S.R. Epstein and Maarten Prak, Cambridge University press, (2008), page 121 89 History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages, Johannes Janssen, page 30 90 Catholic Encyclopedia: Guilds, In Germany 91 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, 1896, page 17 92 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 16 93 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 15 94 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 15 95 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 16 96 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 16 97 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 21 98“Protection, Continuity and Gender, Craft trade culture in the Baltic Sea region” (14th-16th centuries), Maija Ojala, Acta Universitatis Tamperensis, Tampere 2014, page 54 99 Reisen und Gefangenschaft Hans Ulrich Krafft , BiblioBazaar (December 8, 2008) ISBN 978-0559736711 64
See “Interfaith encounters between Jews and Christians in the Early Modern Period and Beyond: Toward a Framework”, Daniel Jütte, the American Historical Review, Vol 118, Issue 2, April 2103, Pp 378-400 24History of the Mongols: from the 9th to the 19th century, Sir Henry Hoyle Howorth, Boston, Mass. : Elibron Classics, 2003, pg. 300 25 Malcolm Letts, ed., The Diary of Jörg von Ehingen (Oxford: Oxford University, Press, 1929). 26 For everything in this section about feuds see The Feud in Early Modern Germany Hillay Zmora, Cambridge University Press, (2011) 27 See Prisoners of War in the Hundred Years War: Ransom Culture in the late middle Ages, Remy Ambuhl, Cambridge University Press 2013 23
“Finding safety in feuding: Nobles’ responses to Nuremberg’s rural security policy in the mid-fifteenth century”, Virtus. Journal of Nobility Studies, Ben Pope 2016, page 12 29 Society and Economy in Germany 1300-1600, Tom Scott, page 59 30 Society and Economy in Germany 1300-1600, Tom Scott, page 34 31 “Finding safety in feuding: Nobles’ responses to Nuremberg’s rural security policy in the mid-fifteenth century”, Virtus. Journal of Nobility Studies, Ben Pope 2016, page 21 32 Von Hutten, Ulrich (1518). “Extract of letter to Willibald Pirckheimer”, dated 25 October 1518, Marburg Digital Archive: no. 1275 33 Studies in medieval legal thought: public law and the state 11001322, Gaines Post, The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd. (2006) ISBN: 9780198219583 34 Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State, Alan Harding, page 106 35 Medieval Law and the Foundations of the State, Alan Harding, page 107 36 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 71 37 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 71 38 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 72 39 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 72 40 Arms and Armor in Medieval Poland 1350-1450, Andrzej Nadolski (1990), page 478 41 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 72 42 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 73 43 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 73 44 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 73 45 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 73 46 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 72 47 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 74 48 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 74 49 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen 50 The Hansa, History and Culture Johannes Schildhauer, Dorset Press, (1988), ISBN 0-88029-182-6, page 165 51 The Hansa, History and Culture Johannes Schildhauer, Dorset Press, (1988), ISBN 0-88029-182-6, page 165 52 The Hansa, History and Culture Johannes Schildhauer, Dorset Press, (1988), ISBN 0-88029-182-6, page 165 53 The Hansa, History and Culture Johannes Schildhauer, Dorset Press, (1988), ISBN 0-88029-182-6, page 165 54 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen 55 Uzbrojenie w Polsce średniowiecznej 1350-1450, “Armaments in Medieval Poland 1350-1450”, Andrzej Nadolski, Polska Akademia Nauk, Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej, (1990), page 471 56 “Armaments in Medieval Poland 1350-1450”, Andrzej Nadolski, Polska, page 471 57 “The Crossbow of Count Ulrich V of Württemberg”, Metropolitan Museum Journal, Vol 44 (2009) Dirk H Breiding. Page 71 58 All these wages are from Uzbrojenie w Polsce sredniowiecznej 14501500" A.Nowakowski 59 “Imperial and Free Towns of the Holy Roman Empire, City States in Premodern Germany?” Peter Johanek (2000) ISBN 8778761778 60 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 61 “Towns and Defense in Late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 62 “Towns and defense in late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 63 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 28
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John U. Nef “Mining and Metallurgy in Medieval Civilization” "Power plant engineering". P. K. Nag (2002). Tata McGraw-Hill. p.432. ISBN 0070435995 102 Women, Work and Life Cycle in a Medieval Economy: women in York and Yorkshire 1300-1520, Oxford University Press, P.J.P. Goldberg (1992) 103 Medieval Towns, a Reader, Maryanne Kowaleski, page 223 104 The guild rules in Cologne are well known but the primary source is von Loesch, Diel Kolner Zunfturkunden, 1: doc. No. 57. 105 Medieval Towns, a Reader, Maryanne Kowaleski, page 146 106 Nilsson, Lars and Rye, Margareta (2002) “Staden på vattnet 1, ISBN 91-7031-122-6 107 “Women in Genoese commenda contracts”, 1155–1216, Mark Angelos 108 Artisans in Europe 1300-1914, James R. Farr 109 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 110 Cracow, the royal capital of ancient Poland: its history and antiquities, By Leonard Lepszy, page 50 111 Cracow, the royal capital of ancient Poland: its history and antiquities, By Leonard Lepszy, page 48 112 Cracow, the royal capital of ancient Poland: its history and antiquities, By Leonard Lepszy, page 48 113 Cracow, the royal capital of ancient Poland: its history and antiquities, By Leonard Lepszy, page 48 114 ‘Recueil de documents relatifs à l'histoire de l'industrie drapière en Flandre’, publiés par Georges Espinas et Henri Pirenne. Brussels, 1920. Translation by Ariella Elema. 115 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 116 German Medieval Armies, 1300-1500, Christopher Gravett (Osprey) [See also “Imperial and Free Towns”] 117 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 118 The Hansa, history and culture, 1988 Dorset Press, page 162. They list their source as: Kroppmann, K. : Die Wehrkraft der Rostocker Amter, in Hansiche Geschichtblatter, 1886, p. 166 119 “Towns and Defense in Late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 120 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 121 Uzbrojenie w Polsce średniowiecznej 1350-1450, “Armaments in Medieval Poland 1350-1450” Andrzej Nadolski, Polska Akademia Nauk,Instytut Historii Kultury Materialnej, (1990), pages 470 and 472 122 Armaments in Medieval Poland, Page 472. 123 See Archery and Crossbow Guilds in Medieval Flanders, 1300-1500, Laura Crombiw, Boydell Press 2016 124 German Medieval Armies, 1300-1500, page 14 125 German Medieval Armies, 1300-1500, page 9 126 Rannu, Elena. 1993. The Living Past of Tallinn. 3rd ed. Tallinn: Perioodika Publishers. pp. 23-29. 127 Dollinger, Philippe, The German Hansa, page 138. 128 Hermann Drought: History of the City of Braunschweig in the Middle Ages, p. 652 129 Hans Leo Reimann, unrest and turmoil in medieval Braunschweig, p. 79. 130 Schmidtchen, Volker (1977), "Riesengeschütze des 15. Jahrhunderts. Technische Höchstleistungen ihrer Zeit", Technikgeschichte, 44 (3): 213–237 (221–226) 131 Otto von Heinemann: The Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Braunschweig, Darmstadt 1858, Volume 2, P. 13. 132 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek, page 12 / 306 133 Catholic Encyclopedia: History of Cologne 134 Ruling class, regime and reformation at Strasbourg 1520-1555, Thomas A. Brady, page 58 135 Ruling class, regime and reformation at Strasbourg 1520-1555, Thomas A. Brady, page 58 136 “Towns and defense in late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 137 “Imperial and Free Towns”, Peter Johanek 138 Trade and Urban Development in Poland: An Economic Geography of Cracow, from its Origins to 1795, F.W. Carter, Cambridge University Press (1994) ISBN: 978-0521412391, page 71 139 Polish-Lithuanian State, 1386-1795, Daniel Stone, page 73 140 Jacob Grimm, Deutche Mythologie 141 Geschichte des deutschen Volkes seit dem Ausgang des Mittelalters, “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, 100 101
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Johannes Janssen, 1896 (translated by M.A. Mitchell and A.M. Christie in two volumes, page 26 142 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 26 143 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 26 144 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 27 145 Roberto S. Lopez, "The Culture of the Medieval Merchant", Medieval and Renaissance Studies: Proceedings of the Southeastern Institute of Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Vol. 8 (1979), page 57 146 J. N. H. LAWRANCE “The Spread of Lay Literacy in Late Medieval Castile” 147 Fabriano near Ancona (1268), in Amalfi. 148 Wilhelm Stieda: Mecklenburgische Papiermühlen In: Verein für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde: Jahrbücher des Vereins für Mecklenburgische Geschichte und Altertumskunde. - Bd. 80 (1915), S. 115-184 149 Roberto S. Lopez, "The Culture of the Medieval Merchant", page 57 150 "Private need, public order: Urban sanitation in late medieval England and Scandinavia" Dolly Jørgensen, (2008) 151 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum IV: Die Infrastruktur Schmidt - Roemhild; 152 Medieval Towns, a Reader, Maryanne Kowaleski (editor), University of Toronto Press (2006), ISBN 1 44260-091-1 153 The Later Medieval City, David Nicholas, Longman, New York, 1997. ISBN 0 582 01318 6 CSD 154 The Hansa, History and culture, page 171 155 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum IV: Die Infrastruktur Schmidt - Roemhild; 156 From Medieval Warfare Magazine, Vol VI, Issue 2 (2016) 157 Vincent Ilardi, Renaissance Vision from Spectacles to Telescopes (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: American Philosophical Society, 2007) History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 34 159 Zamoyski, Adam. The Polish Way: A Thousand-Year History of the Poles and their Culture, New York: Hippocrene, (1987), page 58 160 “History of the German People at the close of the Middle Ages”, Johannes Janssen, page 34 161 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum IV: Die Infrastruktur Schmidt - Roemhild; 162 Zamoyski, The Polish Way, page 43 163 Lübecker Kolloquium zur Stadtarchaologie im Hanseraum IV: Die Infrastruktur Schmidt - Roemhild; 164 Nilsson, Lars (ed.); Rye, Margareta (ed.) (2002). Staden på vattnet 1. Stockholm: Stockholmia förlag. ISBN 91-7031-122-6. (Göran Dahlbäck p 17-72, Robert Sandberg p 75-184, Eva Eggeby and Klas Nyberg p 187276.) 165 Ungeordnete Unzucht: Prostitution im Hanseraum,(in German) p 206 166 “Inside the Medieval Brothel”, Page Jamie, History Today, June 2019, Vol 69, Issue 6 167 See The Criminalization of Abortion in the West: It’s Origins in Medieval Law, Wolfgang P. Müller , Cornell University Press 2017 168 Peter Schuster (1992). Das Frauenhaus: städtische Bordelle in Deutschland (1350-1600) (in German). F. Schöningh. p. 92. 169 Duby, "Introduction: Private power, public power", in Duby, ed. A History of Private Life: II. Revelations of the Medieval World (1988:27). 170 Belgian Democracy, its early history, Henri Pirenne 171 “Towns and Defense in Late Medieval Germany”, David Eltis 172 Cliff Hubby “Violence and Local Society in Late Medieval Bavaria, a look at the evidence” 173 Cliff Hubby “Violence and Local Society in Late Medieval Bavaria, a look at the evidence” 174 Cliff Hubby 175 Cliff Hubby 176 Source for all these is Ann Tlusty, The Martial Ethic in Early modern Germany Palgrave Macmillan, 2011. Mostly derived from court records from Augsburg. 158
Klassen, page 119 Klassen, page 122 196 See “The armour of the common soldier in the late middle ages. Harnischrodel as sources for the history of urban martial culture. Regula Schmid, Acta Periodica Duelletorum, volume 5, issue 2 (Dec 2017), page 14. 197 The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany, Ann Tlusty, Palgrave MacMillan (2011), Page 196 198 Lopez, Robert S., Culture of the Medieval Merchant, page 56 199 Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, Norman Davies and Roger Moorhouse, Pimlico Press 2002 ISBN 13: 978 0 7126 9334 9, page 84 200 Belgian Democracy, its early history, Henri Pirenne 201 Microcosm, Portrait of a Central European City, Norman Davies & Roger Moorhouse, Pimlico (2003) page 144 202 Teutonic Knight 1190-1561, Osprey 203 Teutonic Knight 1190-1561, Osprey, page 49 204 "W sprawie okupu za jeńców krzyżackich z Wielkiej Wojny (14091411)" Pelech, Markian (1987), pp 105-107 205 Kievan Russia, George Venadsky, New Haven (1948), page 238 206 Genghis Khan: Conqueror of the World. de Hartog, Leo (1989), I.B.Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-139-6, p 122 see also Subotai The Valiant: Genghis Khan's Greatest General, Gabriel, Richard (2004), Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0-275-97582-7 p. 100. 207 Arms and Armor in the Medieval Teutonic Order’s State in Prussia, Andrzej Nowakowski, Oficyna Naukowa MS, (Poland), (1994), ISBN 8385874-01-1 208 German Medieval Armies 1300-1500, page 10 194
Klassen, John. Warring Maidens, Captive Wives, and Hussite Queens: women and men at war and at peace in fifteenth century Bohemia. New York: Columbia University Press, 1999 178 Klassen, pages 36-39 179 Klassen, pages 36-39 180 Klassen, page 37 181 Klassen, page 39 182 Klassen, page 48 183 Klassen, page 49 184 Medieval Towns, a reader, Maryanne Kowaleski, page 212 185 Society and Economy in Germany, 1300-1600, Tom Scott, Palgrave 2002, page 71 186 Some female professors include Bettisia Gozzadini (Law, 1239), Doretea Bucca (Chair of medicine and Philosophy 1390-1430) Novella d’Andrea (Law from 1392) 187 “A Female University Student in Late Medieval Krakow”, Michael H. Shank, Signs, Vol. 12, No 2.,University of Chicago (1987) PP. 373-380 188 Lopez, Robet S., Culture of the Medieval Merchant, page 55 189 Women in Genoese Commenda Contrats, 1155-1216, Mark Angelos, Journal of Medieval History, Volume 20, Issue 4 (December 1994), pages 299-312 190 Das Stadt- und das Landrechtsbuch Ruprechts von Freising: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Schwabenspiegels, Scientia Verlag (December 31, 1969), ISBN 978-3511006631 191 Count Hrabe František Lützow, The Hussite Wars (1914) London: J. M. Dent & Sons New York, pp 119-120 192 Klassen, page 205 193 Klassen, page 118 177
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