15th century mercenary handgunner

[SquirrelsaurusR]

With all the talk of Landsknechts and such, I thought I'd post this here. Albion Small Arms has a set of pictures from a book on their website showing a mercenary handgunner loading and firing his weapon (it features one of the guns Albion makes). I'm not sure if this soldier would be considered a 'Landsknecht' (maybe Thornezilla or Teleoceras can clarify this for me), but the whole uniform/weapon get-up is pretty cool (I especially like that helmet!). Click on this link to see the pictures (takes a few seconds to load):

Mercenary handgunner

 

[Thornezilla]

Nah, he's wearing more of a sorta-kinda English War of The Roses outfit -- and will have seriously singed fingers if he touch-fires without using the serpent (match-holder). Amongst matchlock shooters, touch-firing is usually regarded as the last refuge of the incompetent -- or really new shooters who don't know their gun.

That is one reason why most of my shooters wear thin gauntlets -- it makes handling the burning match much easier, and keeps your attention on the shooting, not the scorching.

The Germans wore really fantastic clothes, often puffed and slashed, sometimes one leg mostly bare and the other one covered -- trying to be "Bad" or scary.

http://www.landsknechts.org/

 

[Stumpkiller]

touch-firing is usually regarded as the last refuge of the incompetent --

Now they use in-lines. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

The Germans wore really fantastic clothes, often puffed and slashed, sometimes one leg mostly bare and the other one covered -- trying to be "Bad" or scary.

I spent two years in Germany when I was in the military. Believe me, some of them weren't just bad or scary 600 years ago, either!

 

[Teleoceras]

With all the talk of Landsknechts and such, I thought I'd post this here. Albion Small Arms has a set of pictures from a book on their website showing a mercenary handgunner loading and firing his weapon (it features one of the guns Albion makes). I'm not sure if this soldier would be considered a 'Landsknecht' (maybe Thornezilla or Teleoceras can clarify this for me), but the whole uniform/weapon get-up is pretty cool (I especially like that helmet!).

That fellow is also featured in the excellent book Powder and Ball Small Arms by Martin Pegler. It is an excellent english book that shows the loading and firing of firearms from the Handgonnes to the BPCR. I recommend it. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif

As mentioned before by Thornezilla, that fellow is garbed more as and english gunner from the War of the Roses period. The Landsknechts were German mercenaries from the 16th and early 17th Century that had some interesting fashion sense.

 

[SquirrelsaurusR]

Powder and Ball Small Arms by Martin Pegler.

That's the book the pictures were taken from. I also have a copy of it; excellent historical info. I happened to acquire one of the last two new copies available in the world at the cover price a few months ago, directly from the author. That situation was an interesting story in itself.