Magazine devoted to military history, uniformology and war equipment since the Ancient Era until the 20th century

Publishing Director: Bruno Mugnai

Redational Staff: Anthony J. Jones; Andrew Tzavaras; Luca S. Cristini

Collaborators: András K. Molnár; Ciro Paoletti; Riccardo Caimmi; Paolo Coturri; Adriana Vannini; Chun L. Wang; Mario Venturi; Chris Flaherty; Oleg Airapetov; Massimo Predonzani

Cover: Sonia Zanat; Silvia Orso.

* * * Scientific Committee: John Gooch; Peter H. Wilson; Bruce Vandervort; Frederick C. Schneid; Tóth Ferenc; Chris ; Guilherme d'Andrea Frota; Krisztof Kubiak; Jean Nicolas Corvisier; Erwin A. Schmidl; Franco Cardini.

#8–2016

PUBLISHER’S NOTE

None of images or text of our book may be reproduced in any format without the expressed written permission of publisher. The publisher remains to disposition of the possible having right for all the doubtful sources images or not identifies.

Each issue Euro 3,90; Subscription to 11 issues Euro 40,00 .

Subscriptions through the Magazine website: www.historyanduniforms.com or through Soldiershop ,by Luca S. Cristini, via Padre Davide 8, Zanica (BG).

Original illustrations are on sale. Please contact: [email protected]

© 2016 Bruno Mugnai

HaU_008 Web Magazine ISSN not required.

Contents:

Warriors and Warfare of the Han Dynasty (part two) Chun L. Wang

Four Centuries of Italian (12 th 15 th century) (part two) Mario Venturi

The Venetian Army and Navy in the Ottoman War of 168499 (part nine) Bruno Mugnai

The Austrian Light Infantry, 17921800 (part one) Paolo Coturri and Bruno Mugnai

Origins of the French Zouaves Chris Flaherty

Forgotten Fronts of WWI: the Balkans, 1916 (part one) Oleg Airapetov

Book Reviews

The Best on the Net

Dear Reader, Dear Friend:

A pause due to a sudden change of program resulted in a new index for Issue 7, while now a hacker attack caused a new delay for completing issue 8. No problems, because History & Uniforms is able to resolve any menace... In this issue we introduce a new work by Chris Flaherty on the French-Ottoman connections concverning the Zouaves uniforms, and a new entry represented by Oleg Aiarpetov, who relates about a very less known front of WWI based on unpublished sources. Another impressive article, is the formidable analysis about the Italian Medieval by Mario Venturi containing the unpublished, gorgeous, Coelho’s artworks. In this article the author approaches the transitional age between 13 th and 14 th century: a matter still to investigate.

Bruno Mugnai #H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Warriors and Warfare of the Han Dynasty (part two) By Chun L. Wang

The Eternal Scourge from the Northern Steppe

The policy that dominated the relations between Xiongnu (or Hsiungnu) and Han in the early Former Han period was one of appeasement and accommodation in which China became a virtual tributary of the Xiongnu. This policy eventually had to be abandoned and why the Han dynasty needed to turn to more aggressive strategies. Two factors emerge: first, the ripening of conditions that on the political, military, and economic levels enabled China to invest more of its people and resources in an allout war effort; and second and most important, the ideological shift that accompanied the realization that the ho-ch’in policy of appeasement did not guarantee peace. Several explanations have been

4

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS offered to account for the Han endorsement of a military stance, and this chapter will explore why the ho-ch’in policy did not work, by looking more closely at the Xiongnu side. From an Inner Asian perspective, it appears that the ‘appeasement’ policy failed owing to a structural incompatibility between Xiongnu and Han understandings of their mutual international obligations. The Chinese Han dynasty’s establishment of peaceful conditions in the second century BC, had to face the always problematical steppe horsemen. These fierce warriors might intervene suddenly, harassing the defences and plundering the villages. The Han promoted the development of military structure along the eastern stepping stones of the Silk Road in order to defend the empire, supported by civilian settlements 1. Soon established himself on the throne as emperor, Gaodi (247195 BC) faced a major challenge from the Xiongnu. In 209 BC, a new and dynamic leader, or shanyu, named Maodun (209–174 BC) had emerged. He won over rival tribal groups and expanded his territory to include the strategic Gansu Corridor that leads to the heart of China. His presence and his establishment of a capital at Lung Cheng in Outer Mongolia had the effect of attracting Chinese dissidents, particularly those who had suffered under the establishment of the Qin and Han empires. The list even included the king of the former state of Han. This Gaodi chose not to ignore, and in 200 BC he mounted a massive punitive expedition, which he led in person. At Pingcheng, his army was surrounded for a week by the Xiongnu cavalry, and only by good fortune did the emperor extricate himself. Clearly, the Xiongnu were not going to be easily defeated, and a diplomatic solution was sought. This involved a treaty, in which it was agreed to send a Chinese royal princess as a wife to the Xiongnu leader, provide gifts of silk and food, recognize the equality of the Han and the Xiongnu states, and agree on the frontier line of the Great Wall. This treaty was renewed with each new emperor, at which point a further princess would be sent to the Xiongnu, with increasingly expensive gifts that included pieces of gold. The increasing quantity of gifts is a measure of the regard of the Han for the disruptive power of the Xiongnu. Indeed, before his death in 174 BC, Maodun’s demands steadily increased. He was succeeded by his son, Jizhu (174–160 BC), who is named in the official histories as Laoshang and then Junchen 2. Until 134 BC, there was an uneasy relationship in which

1 When the archaeologistexplorers Sven Hedin and Sir Aurel Stein reached the deserts of far western China a century ago, they encountered the remains of walled cities, roads, even ancient vineyards. Letters and royal orders on wood and leather have survived, in an Indian script dating to the third century AD. These illuminate the kingdoms of Shanshan, Sogdiana, and Hotan and their oasis cities at Niya, Endere, Panjikent, and Loulan. 2 Other important written documents, such as the Han shu , have not been considered as a main source. Nonetheless, I do not wish to give the impression that the Han shu is not an important source (Author’s note).

5

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS the Chinese adopted a policy of bribery and appeasement, while the Xiongnu mounted incursions beyond the frontier at will, even reaching close to the Han court.

Han Emperor Wu-ti (156 – 85 BC) A new great campaign against the Xiongnu was carried out by Han Wuti and his generals. Its duration, territorial expansion, forces employed, and expenses required are nothing short of exceptional even considering the intense military activity that had marked the history of China until then. As the Han armies marched through the deserts of Kansu and showed their insignia at the gates of the oasiscities of the Western Regions, a new world opened to China’s imagination. By reaching as far as the T’ienshan and the Tarim Basin, Han Wuti’s expansion dwarfed even the feats of two of the most blatantly expansionistic preHan rulers, Duke Huan of Ch’i and the First Emperor of Ch’in. The motivation for such an accomplishment cannot be ascribed solely to megalomania. The Han political and

6

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS strategic choices and the decision to fight a protracted war occurred in a climate of changing policies aimed at consolidating imperial unity and strengthening China’s economy. These measures were arguably essential in allowing the Han to sustain the war effort. Internal political events within the court, after the death of the empress dowager in 135 BC, and the waning of her influence also were factors. Han strategy in the war with the Xiongnu has been ascribed to these climactic changes which took place during the first twenty years of Wuti’s role. Concurrently, however, it is essential that we take account of Inner Asian political and economic realities, which exposed the Xiongnu to weaknesses that the Han were able to exploit, especially in the early phases of the confrontation, with considerable success. Finally, this chapter outlines the restructuring of the northern frontier as it began to take shape in Wuti’s period, including the new administrative organization of the frontier areas. Under the emperor Wuti, however, there was a major change in policy. In 127 BC, his general Wei Qing led a successful campaign against the Xiongnu, who were forced to retreat from the frontier. Six years later, the Han forces again defeated them. Despite almost insurmountable problems of food supply in these remote regions, a further campaign in 119 BC again scattered the Xiongnu, and the Han were able to establish themselves in new commanderies across the western regions. The Han dominance thereafter had much to do with the fragmentation of the Xiongnu confederacy into factional kingdoms, whose rulers ceased to acknowledge the supremacy in the area . There was also the problem so often faced by the Han themselves, that the Xiongnu succession was formally passed from father to son. This opened the possibility of succession of a very young ruler; the shanyu Hu Hanye (58–31 BC) decree that the leader should be succeeded by his younger brother protected the succession. However, between the victories under Wuti and the end of the Western Han dynasty, repeated efforts by the fragmented Xiongnu to negotiate a renewal of the treaty on the basis of equality foundered, because the Han insisted on the formalization of a client relationship in which the Xiongnu acknowledged a vassal status. The Southern Xiongnu were now provided with annual gifts in return for peace and subservience. They were even encouraged to settle south of the wall and underwent a gradual process of assimilation into Chinese culture, accelerated by the regular rotation of Xiongnu princes for periods in the Han court. This vital buffer insulated China from the Northern Xiongnu, who lived beyond the pale of civilization. Control over the Xiongnu was necessary not only to protect China from invasion, but also to provide access to the Silk Road. With a compliant Xiongnu and military successes over the semiindependent states of the Turpan and Tarim Basins, trade burgeoned. In 60 BC,

7

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS the Han court created a new office, known as the protector general of the western regions. The process of Han expansion involved the settlement of agricultural colonies, the construction of roads, and the extension of the Great Wall as far west as Dunhuang. Again, Han weakness during the interregnum of Wang Mang and the tribulations that followed led to a slackening of control over the western regions; control was reasserted only in 73 AD and the following years with military intervention. The relations between the Han and the states of the Silk Road were cemented by the dispatch of gold and silk as gifts and the return of tribute missions bearing jade and wine and leading Ferghana horses. The Han were also actively engaged in imperial expansion to the south and southwest. While the local tribes never posed the same threat as the Xiongnu, they were fiercely independent, accustomed to fighting one another, and controlled by powerful chiefs. Sima Qian, the great Han historian, devoted a chapter to describing the Han conquest of these areas. He noted, for example, that the Yelang and Dian people wore their hair in a bun, lived in fixed settlements, and cultivated fields, while the Kunming had plaited hair and adopted a pastoral life with no large settlements or chiefs. These descriptions have been confirmed by archaeological excavations at such Dian sites as Shizhaishan and Lijiashan. Han policy was to appoint the local chiefs as rulers of newly formed Han commanderies, with gold seals of office for the leaders of Yelang and Dian. One such seal has been recovered from a royal grave at Shizhaishan in Yunnan. Persuasive gifts were offered, including silk and mirrors. Local rebellions were harshly punished, and Chinese officials were dispatched to assist in the administration of these newly won tribal areas. In the northeast, the Han expanded into the Korean Peninsula. Already during the Warring States period in the late fourth century B.C.E., trade contacts with Korea grew, as is seen in the number of coins that found their way into the peninsula from the northeastern kingdom of Yen. During the Qin and early Western Han, it is said that a Chinese nobleman called Weiman founded a kingdom with a capital at Wangxian, near modern Pyongyang. In 109 BC., under Emperor Wuti, it was claimed that the kingdom of Weiman was acting as a magnet for deserters from China, and this was used as an excuse for a military campaign into Chaoxian, the name given to the northern part of the Korean Peninsula. The grandson of Weiman was defeated, and five new commanderies were established. Two of these survived only until 82 BC Within the remaining three, known as Lelang, Liaodong, and Xuantu, the typical commandery structure was put in place. Archaeologically, this move can be documented by Hanstyle brick tombs with Chinese mortuary offerings, a trend that is precisely matched in the contemporary settlement of the Hong River Delta in northern Vietnam. With the Wang Mang interregnum and the civil wars

8

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS leading to the establishment of the Eastern Han dynasty, Chinese control over the Korean commanderies slackened, and the populace suffered from attacks by the newly formed state of Koguryo.

Han dynasty’s mural (1st2nd t century BC) depicting warriors of the Emperor’s army, main topic of the next article of this series.

9

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Four Centuries of Italian Armours (12 th -15 th century) Illustrations from an Unpublished Research devoted to the Development of the Western European Medieval Armours in : a Tribute to Lionello Boccia and Eduardo Texeira Coelho (part two: 1250 – 1330) by Mario Venturi

Sketch by E. T. Coelho after the Cenotaph of Guillaume Durfort (Author’s collection)

10

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Towards the middle of the thirteenth century, across Europe occurred simultaneously an actual turning point in the evolution of the mounted medieval warrior defensive armament, even without a rapid acceleration. The equipment destined to who went in battle on foot was not completely free from specific processes of modernization, but armours and weapons carried by the noble knight and his horse received the major benefit from the technological advances. This is an obvious response to the same progress achieved in terms of effectiveness by the offensive weapons. Moreover, the consolidation of municipalities through more structured organization – like the Italian with its army ‘of the people’ population increasing, social tensions, and political struggle resulting in the confrontation between the papacy and the empire, determined an increase of the war activity, increasing a huge variety of experience and development of weaponry. It is from an increasing use of the infantry municipal, feudal levy or mercenary – and its role in the battlefield that the war becomes more lethal. The fine hours of the noble chivalry, characterized by challenges among the high society, was going to end: the outcome represented in most cases by the capture of a contender resolved with a ransom was now just a memory. If before the death in battle could be considered as an accident of course expected but still an accident now the knight on horseback, well trained and well armed, could be defeated by rain of arrows and projectiles from bow and crossbows, targeted precisely by the infantrymen: city pedites or, even worse, peasants from the countryside. Therefore, technological progress and new forms of social organization combine to make the war a more dangerous activities. To cope with this, the knight should wear a more effective protective equipment, but leaving at the same time the least possible freedom of movement. At the end of the twelfth century the evolutionary lines had evolved, as seen in the first article of this series, with the improvement of the in iron mail fitted with its ventail, with sleeves ending in mail gloves or muffles, all complemented by stockings and also in iron mail. This aspect testify as early as how the medieval warrior was experimenting the development of more effective protections. According to a similar path, made possible by the technological progress, also the head protection changed from the simple hemisphericalogival with nasal to the great staro close helm. Then, at the halfway point in midthirteenth century the defensive weapons of the European knight undergo a first acceleration, gradually leaving behind the era of mail and close helm, and entering in the age of small rigid plates and articulated for the helm, finally moving to the era of the large metal plates, the camail (the independent head section of a mail coat), the and the . The guidelines since traced here, marked by the passage of time as well as marked by the succession of , civilmilitary relations

11

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS which influenced each other, and now in more tangible territorial specificities, will determine the main battle for the knights lived in the period discussed in this article. Returning for a moment to the foot soldiers, at the end of the thirteenth and early fourteenth century, they would have seen their defence strategies rely more on the deployment on the field and the use of mobile structures pitched (among all the pavise) rather than to specific metal protections and dress. This article will address generally the topic at European level, drawing information and iconographic references where these might appear the most significant, following the timely progress of the Eduardo T. Coelho’ artworks, which represent subjects mostly belonging to the Italian scenario. In the study of evolution of medieval weapons, like all the historical disciplines, the written documentary sources are the most important. Notary acts such as inventories, donations, sale or purchase private and public documents often contain lists of war materials of various typologies. Even the contemporary, or a little later lived chroniclers relate about items used and worn in war by the knights. However, in the course of this studies, reading these documents, or rather the interpretation advanced by some modern authors, may turn the scholars to confuse ideas more than enrich their knowledge. The preparation of these documents, written in medieval Latin or in vulgar spoken languages of not immediate understanding – moreover, due to the pen of personnel not expert in the matter proposes often generic terms of obscure meaning and far from the right significance. The various forms of the words and adjectives 'iron' and 'leather' contribute more than others to form a comprehensive scenario. For example, if the generic translation ‘iron armour’ from a sentence in Latin, or perhaps in archaic French, found in some 1200’s documents, cannot refer to a full , the same phrase in a document of midfourteenth century does not describe anything specific item. In order to avoid confusion caused by the overlapping of the ancient with the modern terminology of various schools, in this essay I adopt the terminology proposed by Lionello Boccia in his works 3. Rather than written documents, I prefer to turn the investigation to the rich iconographic documentary sources: paintings, frescoes, miniatures, statues, bas reliefs, funerary monuments, seals. They abound in the depictions of characters, battles, tournaments and other military figures. However, as seen in the previous episode, various problems induce caution in dating the items. Moreover, there are a lot of poor workmanship artifacts difficult to dating correctly, in my opinion the iconographic repertoire is the primary source of documentation for planning the study of the medieval panoply. I refer to the extant images from the pictorial arts, including primarily the miniature and sculpture,

3 Boccia L. G., Dizionari terminologici: armi difensive dal Medioevo all’età moderna, Firenze 1982. The coat of arms is represented often also on the pennon of the lance and the horse cover.

12

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS such as the warlike funeral monuments. All these put properly in connection with even scarce available evidences, enable for sufficiently clearing and detecting the evolutionary lines of the medieval European and, specifically, Italian weaponry 4. For the knowledge of all these types of second and third choice, we may turn to the miniatures, especially the Grandes Chroniques de France , the Codex Balduini Treviriensis , the Chigiana Codex and others. By careful observation of these miniature emerge, alongside those highly prevalent, typological variations also very pronounced. The coexistence of the latter sources with other more widespread and reliable can be a certificate of reasonable historical evidence.

Fig. 1 – Bronze ewer, 12751300, Rijksmuseum, Amterdam.

4 Lionello Boccia warned against a possible mistake to reduce the history of the medieval weaponry to a mere sequence of a few well known models, each logical evolution of the previous one. In fact, the styles which have emerged and have been passed down as such are the result of the selection of a series of experimental types gradually fallen into disuse, in favour of other which prove most functional evolution of the warlike practices.

13

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

1) Knight; bronze ewer, 12751300, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam.

14

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

2) Guillaume de Durfort; Cenotaph of unknown author, portico of the Santissima Annunziata cloister, 1289; . (Reproduced with the kind permission of Edizioni Scramasax)

15

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 1b Holy Sepulchre Guardian, wooden polychrome sculpture, 12501300; Niedersachsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover

16

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

This long introduction is helpful now, because this second article and the next one will focus the era from 1250 to the last quarter of the fourteenth century. This is the most prolific period for the experiments in weaponry. The increase and the widespread use of heterogeneous materials, variously processed and assembled, opens an era including leaps forward, setbacks, failures, in attempt to achieve the most successful experiences and to establish it successfully. It was the starting point of a evolutionary process for different military equipment components. Furthermore, between 13 th and 14 th century, craftsmen developed the practice to decorate the surface of the various defensive parts, in addition to the predominant heraldry elements reserved to the shield and to the coat. All these aspects show the obvious complexity of the topics covered in this article 5. Thus, around 1330, the progressive changes that will affect both armament and development, except for some areas in Eastern Europe, to profoundly change the appearance of the knight. This change appears more strong if we compare the typical post1330 knight with the one of the previous half century. In this regard it will have to wait for almost a century to see an equally significant change. The account given below will address to the evolution of each component as well as the ones relating to the head protection, trunk and limbs will be addressed each separately. The task of showing the overall appearance of the knight, caught at various times of the period covered by this article, is reserved to the illustrations made by T. Eduardo Coelho and the related explanatory commentaries. The evolution of the shield and the principal offensive weapons will be reserved in future paragraphs in the next articles; the same criteria will be applied to everything concerning the horse and its equipment.

Chest Protections By now for some decades, the idea has established that rigid structures to defend the trunk were already in use in more ancient times. An actual date about the resurgence of this type of protections is now impossible and it has already been a topic in the first article of this series. In the preceding article, we left one of our 1250 dated milites protected by a rigid structure visible under the wide sleeve round of the coat. It was the funerary monument of an English knight dated around midthirteenth century. During the second half of the century, iconographic sources show some elements which, although the actual structure is still below a textile, indicate beyond any reasonable doubt the presence of additional rigid protections for the body added to the hauberk and other iron mail parts. Even the written documentary sources of the second half of thirteenth century contain information about it,

5 Concerning t he material construction for this armor, Boccia and Coelho have expressed doubts in their investigations, arguing that it could be leather but also of sturdy fabric, existing thirteenth century Florentine documents which testify it.

17

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS but, as already said, the terminology used to identify these items is much less clear than the iconographic evidence and artefacts which will be examined below.

Fig. 2 Guillaume de Durfort; Cenotaph of unknown author, portico of the Santissima Annunziata cloister;, 1289, in situ; Florence

These are four examples of various periods and different with each other. These are perfect for the knowledge of experimentation and evolution of the chest armour of this period. A Period to be considered as transitional and completely defined just in the midfourteenth century by some convergent synthesis processes joined in a single dominant trend, which will lead to the development of the perfect war machine known as 'white Italian armour'. These are the four examples: Holy Sepulchre guardian, wooden polychrome sculpture, preserved in the Niedersachsisches Landesmuseum, Hannover, dating 12501300 (fig. 1b); Guillaume Berard de Durfort’s cenotaphy, Santissima Annunziata, Florence, 1289 (fig. 2); Saint Maurice, sculpture (with polychrome residual), Magdeburg Cathedral Museum, 1275 1300 (fig. 2b); rests of armour of the battle of mass graves, Island, 1361. Obviously, other examples similar to these four main ones are present and will be discussed.

18

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 2b Saint Maurice , sculpture (with polychrome residual), Magdeburg Cathedral Museum, 12751300

All these examples have in common the fact that the protections of the trunk are more or less hidden by a layer. From these examples deviate others belonging to a different line of tendency: the lamellar plates (in metal or leather). Avoiding for now to talk about the plates (favourite as defensive weapon in the Oriental world) the scales armour have scarce diffusion (except in East Europe) but remain in vogue in the Iberian area (especially in Catalonia) and also in Italy, like the sensational Fontevivo’s gravestone (Illustration 4) which will be discussed below. In Western Europe the lamellar structures and scales will be reintroduced later in the light armour known as and which will be discussed in the next articles. The statuette of Hanover is to be considered the first unequivocal example of one of the most important late thirteenth trends in the production of of the trunk, that is, the 'reinforced overgarment'. This protection presents on the front from the shoulders to the abdomen of three plates (metal, leather?) arranged in rectangular files, fixed below the surface of the garment by pairs of rivets, the heads of which, like the traces of the polychrome, highlight both the vertical pattern.

19

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 3 Knights in tournament, frescos attributed to Azzo di Masetto, 128992; Sala di Dante , Palazzo Comunale, in situ, San Gimignano (Tuscany)

As discussed before, the probable date of the Hannover’s statuette is around 1300, but it is widely believed that other elements present in the item could anticipate the date of a couple of decades. Some Scandinavian examples 6 can be assimilated to the type of dress with chest protected by underlying riveted rigid elements, as well as the early fourteenth century Tuscan one depicted by Simone Martini: ‘Renunciation of Weapons’ fresco in the lower church of S. Francesco, Assisi, dated 1317, (Figure 5) masterfully reconstructed by Coelho (Illustration 5). Two rows of large rivets to the height of the shoulder and the denote the presence of rigid plates below the surface. How can be imagined the sequence of layers making up this protection? Some documentary sources written and a few fragmentary items come to our aid, adding other indications to what we suggest similar later artefacts, fortunately more common. Assuming that under the protection are worn the hauberk, or the coat to arm () or maybe both, is possible to assume that, starting from inside, the armour plate has the following layers.

6 Logum Monastery, ; church of St. Mary, Sigtuna, .

20

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

3) Knight, 12891292, after the frescos attributed to Azzo di Masetto, Sala di Dante . Palazzo Comunale, in situ, San Gimignano (Tuscany)

21

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

4) Guidone Pallavicino (+ 1301); gravestone, Fontevivo Abbey, (Parma)

22

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 4 Guidone Pallavicino’s Gravestone in red Veronese marble, 1301; Fontevivo Abbey (Parma)

23

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

5) Man-at-arms, after Simone Martini “Histories of Martino”, frescos in the San Francesco Lower Church, 1317; Assisi.

24

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 5 Histories of Saint Martin by Simone Martini: ‘Renunciation of Weapons’ fresco dated 1317 in the lower church of San Francesco, Assisi.

Concerning the Magdeburg’s St. Maurice we have already moved to a later stage, one in which the protection of the chest, identified some constructive principles, presenting a clear view of any textile covering. This apparel can be finally called ‘armour’ and more specifically ‘plates armour’: it has the style and is worn as a . Two large underarm flaps each half back and then are joined one another thereby blocking the elements. A lining glued fabric or stitched to the overlying layer; a layer of skin or leather to whose,

25

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS inside or outside, the metal plates are fixed, which about form and dimension shall be discussed shortly; all covered with a textile for protection and decoration. Rivets have the primary function of holding together all these layers; the geometric pattern of the rivets also performs the secondary function of decorating the surface. Unlike the Saint Maurice of Magdeburg, in the following years the amount and distribution of the rivet on the surface, when visible, will be crucial for further important classification of rigid chest protections. About the armour transition from the ‘poncho' style armour, remains to say that what is visible in the painting of the soldiers guarding the tomb of Christ, in the Constance Cathedral, dated about the same age. Here, the width of the garment bottom and the apparent absence of rivets is a reminiscent of the 'outer reinforced garment' rather than an actual armour plates. It seems more questionable, in my opinion, the presence of a rigid protection in the knight represented in the Florence’s SS. Annunziata: the legendary Guillaume de Durfort. Boccia and Coelho were sure about the presence of a rigid protection under the coat, and thus: ubi major! These are the clues in favour of their thesis: stiffness in the sense of lack of coat drapery in the upper section, unlike the tucked and fully draped low section; possibly, French lilies decorating the coat were actually rivet’s heads formed lily (an item found in Visby contains something similar); the presence of rigid and very modern protection for the lower limbs, usual in the age and in the area of the Durfort’s origin, namely Provence and Anjou Naples 7 (fig. 2). For now, I will focus briefly on the exceptional quality of the items found in the Visby mass graves concerning the early 1300 rigid protection for the chest, reserving to the next article further discussion on this topic. The Visby finds are now universally considered one of the central points for studying Western European medieval weaponry. The armour of Visby, both the item virtually recomposed, both fragmentary, have provided definitive answers on armour design principles during the transitional period, enabling scholars to also formulate a precise typological classification. The date of the battle, 1361, on the one hand places the armour evolution much more ahead, while on the other permit us to assume that the finds are considered at least a generation old, considered Gotland as peripheral area and the participants in the battle of low lineage, therefore they belong to the most recent period discussed in this article. What is important to introduce at this point is the problem of terminology. Depth analysis allowed by Visby materials appear as indispensable for the development, in some ways revolutionary, introduced by Lionello Boccia in his Dizionari Terminologici 8, particularly regarding the defensive armament of the chest.

7 No objection on my part; simply saying that if I must to describe the protection of Durfort’s chest I would not know what to say. 8 Armi Difensive dal Medioevo all’Età Moderna , Florence, 1982

26

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

6) Robert (+1306) o William (+1326) de Setvans; brass, St. Mary Church, in situ, Chartam, Kent (England)

27

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

First of all, I would like to define the meaning of the term ‘’, its etymology, following the translation and clearing the field by its modern usage, improper in most cases. It is quite clear that the word is derived from the French ‘cuir’ (leather) and it is precisely because the first rigid chest protections were made from this material and the term came into use in the thirteenth century. In the Beginning of the thirteenth and well into the next century, the leather has remained in use, perhaps as a support of metal parts, in the construction of the chest defences. The term ‘cuirass’ is so remained in the language even if it has gradually been joined and then replaced by ‘a pair of plates’ (English term pair of plates had long been in vogue). Thus the term alluded to two incontrovertible facts: metal plates with the back also protected. No man in the fifteenth century would have called ‘cuirass’ his white as the term went out of use only to reappear a few centuries later. Today ‘cuirass’ means the protection of the chest of a heavy knight, namely a cuirassier; the term is now part of the current vocabulary and there is nothing to complain when used in this sense. On the other hand, if we read novels or movies in which someone says about medieval knights wearing “shining cuirass”, this is improper and even a little ridiculous.

Fig. G Tone di Giovanni’s adjutants, Otto di Guardia e Balìa ’s knight, relief on a bifora in the Bargello Palace, in situ, Florence. (Author’s archive)

28

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

7) Filippo de’ Desideri (+1315), after the gravestone by Arriguccio da Treviso, Civic Museum, .

29

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 7 Arriguccio da Treviso, Filippo de' Desideri’s gravestone (+1315)

Returning to the terminology used by Lionello Boccia, in his Dizionari Terminologici he proposed a rational solution to avoid misunderstandings with the myriad of definitions, more difficult to interpret, present in written medieval documents. In fact, the version of a

30

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

‘pair of plates’ is the prevalent in contemporary documents but it is not the only one. Therefore, according to the number of metal plates with which the protection is manufactured (and consequently by the number of these) Boccia identifies two terms. They are precisely ‘corazzacuirass’, in the case of a high number of smallsize plates and ‘lamierametal sheet’ if the plates are few and large; in both cases secured with leather or upon a leather support anyway.

Fig. F Graphic reconstruction by E.T. Coelho after the knights of the Roman de Tristan (Reproduced with the kind permission of Edizioni Scramasax).

In the next article we will turn to this topic, because there is more to be said on the cuirass and the metal sheets, but for now I would like to conclude with a mention about two Italian scales armour. This defensive weapon seems to have been widespread throughout Europe, although to a lesser extent. Often the iconography shows this protection referring to biblical characters. At the same time, this two Italian examples are of great interest. The first is the knight of the Otto di Guardia e Balia (the eight municipal police officers) depicted in relief on the window of the Bargello Palace in Florence, dated between 1322 and 1326 (Fig. G). The knight wear a scales armour accompanied by a similar called ghiazzerino 9. The other is the gravestone of Oberto Pallavicino from which Eduardo T.

9 Numerous iconographic and written sources also attest to the use of variously designed collars in

31

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Coelho composed his beautiful illustration (Illustration 4). Simultaneously, the advent of the aforementioned cuirass, further rigid defences are introduced also for the abdomen, worn over the lower hauberk. The latter has been gradually decreasing in length to stop, around 1340 and not without some exceptions at mid leg. In the first phase of this period, cuirass and lamieri ending down between the ventral area, extending in some cases to cover the entire front of the pelvis (see also the Visby examples) or to wrap it all up to the pubis. Some English tombs of the third decade of the fourteenth century, including the beautiful brasses of Sir John de Creke (1325) and Sir John of Abernoun (1327), are typical examples of this solution. During this period, in French and English area states the to significantly shorten the front of the ‘cyclas’ prefiguring the advent of the typical 1300 surcotto . This protection allowed to see the lap portion of armor with its lower edge and with the surface of studded metal roses, being these reinforcing elements or rivets underlying the metal plates. This solution appears even in a miniature of a French Lancelot du Lac (BNF Ms.Fr. 122) dating few years later. Between 1320 and 1330, after the adoption of rigid protections, appear very often in Italy and Germany, less in the rest of Europe, the arms chains. The chains were attached to the chest armour plates; when double, these chains secured sword and dagger, if three or four also the behind his back. In the latter case the chain terminates in a metal traversino element going to stop in a specific slot (or two) of the helmet. The coat or follows the evolution of the chest protection. At a certain time is the same coat as, properly reinforced, to become armor. Once this phase, and sometimes exceeded a period in which the armour has any covering (fig.f), the coat becomes shorter. Sometimes the openings are on each side, front and rear in other cases. Around 1330 the most common form of is the one outlined above, with the long rear part down to the flexor and over, while the front ends in certain cases to cover the pelvic area. It is the English ‘cyclas’, represented also in the Italian iconography; however, about this clothing does not exist an Italian term. the native variant of this solution is the one proposed by the menatarms reproduced on the panels of the Mausoleum of the Aretine Bishop Tarlati (Fig. 9). The coats, in this case long about the knee, have the front abundantly open and form a large inverted "v" with the point to the stomach, which allows the complete observation of the in the chest armour. For the heraldic decoration and other concerning this and other period the reader is referred to the next items.

chain mail, imbricate scales or otherwise. See also in the illustration 5.

32

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

8) Knight after the Pietro Lorenzetti’s Pala del Carmine, 1329, Pinacotaca Nazionale, Siena

33

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Head Protection

In the first article of this series we left our noble European Knight 1250 with the examples depicted in the Maciejowski Bible. The knights on horseback depicted in this extraordinary source appear mainly as protected by great helms. The , in its typical perfectly cylindrical form, appears as the optimal and final result of an evolutionary process lasted about half a century: a process that is likely to continue. At this point it is essential to clarify how the close helm was not the only solution adopted. Issues due to the climate opportunities, warfare, wealth and other factors developed the use of other forms of head protection, such as with nasal, or iron . These defences continued to be widely used even among the knights and other warriors on horseback. This clarification is necessary to understand why, in what ways and to what extent in its subsequent evolution, the great helm has beaten the hybridization with the other aforementioned head protection, as well as it followed its main road, and obtaining solutions of extraordinary effectiveness and longevity. I am referring to the helm with mobile visor and to the bascinet (and later the barbute), the latter destined to establish itself on European battlefields during the whole fourteenth century and beyond. The linear evolution of the great helmet is destined to finish in the midfourteenth century, at least in its forms suitable for war. This evolution is primarily concerned with the profile of its upper part. The front, the upper one over the eyes, folds back into a kind of asymmetrical truncated cone, more anatomical compared to the 'pot helm' depicted in the Morgan Bible: this is the elmo a staro (in German Totpfhelm ) also known as helmet Dargen, the best preserved specimen extant 10 . Similar to profile, but not for construction technique, it is also the fine item preserved in the Museum of Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome, manufactured in Bolzano and dated 1300, with its characteristic air holes to form small 'littorio fasces' both to right and left in the plates protecting the face. In the Dargen and Rome helms the is flat, and this solution coexist with more or less pointed tip at the centre, until to the helmets of ogival shape. Any helm of this type, to my knowledge, has survived, and the most numerous and significant representations are depicted in French miniatures between 1290 and 1320, especially the ones concerning the pointed helm. As for England, just refer to the helms shown on the seals attached to the famous 1301 Barons' Letter : practically all the knights wear variations of this type of great helm 11 .

10 This helmet is currently kept at the Deutschen Historischen Museum in Berlin, and is dated to the last quarter of the thirteenth century. 11 Si tratta della lettera inviata a Papa Bonifacio VIII da parte di 96 baroni inglesi e che rivendica il buon diritto del re d'Inghilterra a dominare sulla Scozia. In buona parte dei sigilli apposti è raffigurato un cavaliere montato. Vedi: H. De Walden (a cura di), Lords and Their Seals , Bristol

34

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Concerning the Italian fortune of these types, the reader may refer to the illustration commentaries, unless mention two matrices seal both preserved at the National Museum of the Bargello in Florence. The first seal belonged to Cavalcante de 'Cavalcanti, dated 1250 1260, which proposes a classic Dargen great helm. The second seal (12751300), shows Guilfredo da Lomello wearing a helmet with a tall conical artifact, demonstrating another typological variation. The next evolutionary step was to provide the great helm of a mobile visor, introduced with the clear function of making most comfortable the use. Boccia identifies a helmet of this type worn by the knights of TuscanAnjou area depicted in the frescoes of Dante Room in the Palazzo del Popolo in San Gimignano, dated 12881292 (Figure 3). This iconographic source is unique, very innovative in all its components and therefore such as to merit the maximum focus and to which the reader may refer to the commentary. For now, with San Gimignano’s knights, we are facing one of the first, if not the first actual representation of a helm with visor. The visor is pivoted up and down in the temporal area of the helm, and once lowered allows vision thanks to an eye slit. Subsequently another solution also appears, in which the sight is made possible by the free space between the lower edge of the helmet and the top of the visor, in correspondence of the eyes. The beautiful knight depicted in the illuminated code known as 'Convenevole from Prato' (in the version preserved in the British Library in London) wears a visor helm of the first type (Fig.H). Mobile visors follow the curvature of the helm circumference and progressively, to facilitate lifting, shape the helm in the ogival form, turning backwards. Afetr the introduction of this helmet the crest is gradually abandoned. Its presence affected negatively the visor lifting; the ventilation holes are always present on the surface of the visors. The use of the crest has remained in vogue during the second half of the thirteenth century. On the one hand, the introduction of more formal variations and the enrichment of its symbolic system and identification, has created really spectacular examples (mainly Germans), but its presence on the battlefield gradually disappeared, so the participation in various types of warlike game (jousting, tournaments) or parades, becomes the only opportunity to show off decorations. The advent of mobile visors further reduce the use of the crest. It suffice to say in conclusion, that the preferred type of crest in Italy, at this time, is the ventail. In the rest of Europe, except in Germany, this form of crest is widespread (see the aforementioned Barons' letter ). In Germany, in contrast, the horns, in all possible variants, are the decorative element in vogue. Simultaneously also the use to paint the helmets in bright colors gradually comes out of fashion, but does not disappear altogether.

1984.

35

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Alongside with the aforementioned evolution, something else happened in the head protection scenario of the Western European knight.

Fig H Miniature from the Carmina Regia code, attributed to Convenevole da Prato, 13351340, BNL, London

We are located between 1290 and 1300, when some English funerary monuments show the iron mesh cuff, usually integrally connected to the hauberk, it is now separated from the latter, eliminating sometimes the ventail and extending down a collar above the coat and extended to protect the shoulder. For this item Lionello Boccia suggest as definition the term barbuta di maglia (mail barbute): now the hauberk ends on the knight's neck doubling the layer of iron in that area 12 . Moreover, in this way, the total weight of

12 Barbuta is the term proposed by Lionello Boccia in his dictionary for the whole camail bascinet. In this case I will not follow the dictates of my teacher, and later in this essay I will use the traditional

36

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS armament in chain mail is probably better distributed. In other hands, the arming cap changes its position respect to the chain mail (below instead of above) and modifies its shape to an actual . Sometimes, below the mail coat but more often above, a light metal piece covering the head, or cervelliera , is added. Known in Italy also like ‘segreta’, this protection is unequivocally shown in several English gravestones. Therefore, it is certain that such an equipment can or better must be worn under the great helm but, at the same time, this solution offers a sufficient protection even without the helm, especially for alternative military operations, such as the fighting with the lance either in battle and tournament. After this news, the top of inventions relating to protection of the head follows in this transitional era. It was decided to strengthen the head defence in order to hang the mail barbute, independent by the hauberk, to the lower edge of the head leaving free the face from temple to temple: the camail was born. The use of the camail spread throughout the early fourteenth century West Europe, alongside and then supplanting the newly completed great helm with mobile visor. It is possible that especially in Northern France and in Germany the permanence of large helms will be more protracted, while in the warmer Mediterranean areas various kinds of iron (like the cabacete and the crestuta ) share the preference with the camail. Right at the end of the period, the secret, no longer such (for size and profile), has become bascinet. The connection of the camail to the bascinet will result in the defensive apparatus that Boccia, not without documentary evidence, defines barbuta 13 . On the extraordinary diffusion of this kind of head protection in the fourteenth century, with all its variants and area of origin, will be subject of the next article. For the moment it is interesting to mention that before the introduction of the mobile and variously shaped visor plate to cover the face, the helm has adopted for protective purpose plate or iron mail nasal. These, if lowered, were hanged to the camail to which they are attached and then put into function to cover the nose and the central part of the face, fixed to a hook placed in the front of the bascinet. Basically, with the advent of the camail bascinet (or barbuta ) the head protection evolved according to two different guidelines, although not without contacts and reciprocal hybrids. While the great helm, increasingly less used in battle, will arrive in specialized characteristics for various forms of warlike game, the bascinet will proceed its evolution in the profile and in the various forms of visor.

terms of bascinet and camail, assuming that the bascinet is always provided with its camail, unless otherwise indicated. 13 Boccia L.G./Coelho E.T., L'armamento di cuoio e ferro nel Trecento italiano, in L'illustrazione italiana, Anno 1, n. 2, 1974.

37

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

9) Men-at-arms ; Bishop Guido Tarlati’s mausoleum, by Agostino di Giovanni e Agnolo di Ventura, 13271330, Arezzo Cathedral (version one)

38

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Arms and Legs Protections It remains to deal with what happens in these eighty years about the protections of the limbs. As early as around 1250, at the sleeves and the iron mail stockings begin to be added small plates reinforcement. In the arms will protect elbows with flat disks (wheels guardacubito) and shoulders with spallaroli as those of Fig. 7. These embryonic armor can be stitched or fastened to the iron mesh or, in the case of , also in some way connected to the armor. Padded slings leg protections, already in use in the first half of the thirteenth century, begin to be reinforced; also they adopt leather or metal knee protections. A trial starts at this point, made of a thousand different solutions, characterized by the use of metal in the same time in the form of plates, scales, lamellar, iron mail, hardened leather, quilted or felted fabric. The arm is wrapped in rigid protection made of composite materials which totally or partially envelop the arm, forearm and leg (Figure 7). Sometimes these rigid structures are placed above the sleeve or of iron mail; sometimes below, with a series of variants really difficult to list. Hand protection before loses its original shape then is separated from the sleeve going to continue in its own gauntlet. Small plates and very small defences of iron or leather fixed on a structure of skin or leather (Illustration 7 to 10) are introduced in rapid succession. A particular shoulder protection, designed to exert a protective synergy with the large helmet, comes into use at the beginning of 1300. This is a sort of rigid plates of rectangular shape, dimensions between 15 and 25 cm. about, be sure at the height of the shoulder. This accessory, soon fallen into disuse and almost absent in Italy, were designed to deflect the direct blows toward the upper part of the knight (fig.6). It is certain that in the case of a single protection for a forearm, or a leg, this could be either in or metal (Illustration 9 and 10). In the iconography is not always possible to determine with certainty which of the two materials had been used for manufacturing the item represented. Thanks to the numerous depictions and written documentary evidences, we known that in Italy the leather protections were widespread. This is equally true with all the Mediterranean area, while the rest of Europe seems to have preferred the metal. Significant at this regard is the fact that Coelho devotes two illustrations for the menatarms of Tarlati bishop's mausoleum, in which he proposes the metal protection in the first and the leather one in the second illustration (910). Foot protection also follows the events described, and therefore compounds apparatuses of plates or scales alternate with riveted ; not uncommon in Italy even the unprotected foot. For the study of the Italian leather protections it is of great importance the Cenotaph Durfort’s Cenotaph (Illustration 2) and San Gimignano frescoes (Illustration 3). Both

39

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS works, homogeneous and contemporary setting, witness to a precise style variously defined Provencal, TuscanAngevin or Neapolitan. Menatarms equipped with protections of this kind coming to Italy with Charles of Anjou, and later became permanent presence with the creation of the Angevin reign in Naples. Here, then, these kind of equipment will spread rapidly in the southern Italian peninsula, superimposed upon local experiences from Arab and Byzantine origins. Moreover, Florence and part of Tuscany adhered to the Guelph party, in the well known dualism GuelfGhibellines in which Italy was divided. This aspect favoured the spread of this style throughout (Illustration 8). Even then, though devoid of the typical decorative elements of this style, leather will continue to be widely used in the same area for manufacturing defensive armament for arms and legs. However, the use of metal protection was not unknown in Italy, but certain structures so refined and elaborated with decorative elements are due to the southern French penetration, facilitated by their proven functionality and especially by the appeal of the chivalric culture in the municipal Italy 14 . For a focus on the construction features and decorations on leather protection in Durfort and San Gimignano knights the readr may tirn toe the illustration commentaries. For the moment it is interesting to give a quick notice regarding the construction technique used: "The boiled leather could be molded into shapes of wood and let dry out, becoming hard and forming light but strong protection. These were of great decorative value being embossed, painted or imprinted. This technique was introduced by the French along with the long sword and dagger and its major production centres and Guelph strongholds were precisely Florence and Naples; in the latter, indeed, this protection continued to be used when the full metal armour had replaced the leather." 15 With regard to the specific Italian scenario, it is precisely in this area that, during the last years of the thirteenth and the beginning of the fourteenth century, the experimentation is more lively than the rest of Europe. Proof of this activity is the probable invention and its rapid spread of the camail bascinet in addition to the Italian effort to join strength and lightness for arms and legs protections. In the fourteenth century will explode the long conflict between France and England, the Hundred Years War. This remarkable episode ensure the passage of the leadership in the innovation and strengthening of defensive weapons in that cultural context, first by virtue of a new warfare practice.

14 The kingdom of Naples, siding with the Pope against the Emperor become the main reference power for the Italian Guelphism. 15 Boccia L.G., Hic iacet miles, in AA.VV., Guerre e assoldati in Toscana 1260-1364, Florence,1982.

40

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

10) Men-at-arms ; Bishop Guido Tarlati’s mausoleum, by Agostino di Giovanni e Agnolo di Ventura, 13271330, Arezzo Cathedral (version two)

41

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Fig. 9 Agostino di Giovanni e Agnolo di Ventura, Bishop Guido Tarlati’s mausoleum, 13271330, Arezzo Cathedral, in situ

42

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

I would like to conclude this second article with the words written by Lionello Giorgio Boccia regarding this last topic: far more effective words of mine: "It is a process which involved all Europe, but precisely located on the Italian Peninsula, where, for a combination of historical circumstances ranging from the wealthy economic structure to the laboratory of warfare favoured by the presence of menatarms from all over the continent, the armour development found its resolutive conditions". 16

Illustrations Commentary

1) Knight; bronze ewer, 1275-1300, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. The impressive crest, half horns and half a vaguely floral artifact, places this knightewer preserved in Amsterdam in the German area, or at least in north Europe. The head protection helm is a classic Dargen helm with reinforcement in the shape of a cross and golden rivets. The classic hauberk with sleeves ending in muffles and the waist ending well below the knee, gives to the knight a look anything but modern. This particular should not be surprising, since the miniature of the Hidelberg Code, also known as Manesse code, dated around 1300, show very similar knights. Although the scholars tend to consider the miniatures of the Manesse code with some years of delay, it cannot go unnoticed that other images contained in the Codex Balduini Trevirensis , back about thirty years, contained similar subjects. Indeed, thanks to the observation of sculptural sources, the persistence of this trend signals the German delay of about a quarter of century respect the Mediterranean area (Catalonia, Provence, Italy) in the chivalry fashion. Broche spurs are in line with the era, while the leg protection structure is obtained by assembling heterogeneous materials and appears rudimentary and not very functional, although they show an innovative will.

2) Guillaume de Durfort; Cenotaph of unknown author, portico of the Santissima Annunziata chiostro (already inside), 1289, in situ, Florence. (Reproduced with the kind permission of Edizioni Scramasax) As part of the study of chivalry dress in medieval Italy, the funerary monument of Guillaume de Durfort is one of the most famous and best preserved threedimensional evidence of the thirteenth century. The Annunciation cenotaph and contemporary frescoes in San Gimignano, are key to the knowledge of the extraordinary and innovative style emerged in Italy after the arrival of Charles of Anjou. Guillaume was the baliv of Aimery de Narbonne, namely the commander in chief of the Guelph League during the battle of Campaldino. A premonition led him to leave the funds and precise instructions to the Annunciation monks in the event of his death; which, unfortunately for him, happened after the wound caused by a Ghibellines crossbow projectile. Guillaume wearing the hauberk with metal cap and gloves with sleeves ending in separate fingers, close fastenings, and knitted stockings of iron mail. The head is protected by a secret slightly cusp and flare, which could also be worn under a closed helm, absent here. The coats embroidered of lilies, but only on the chest could be either a heraldic decoration but also rivetslily shape. Guillaume could wear a coat or a reinforced armour like a pair of plates. It is testimony of the part of the outer garment. Completely new in the baliv armament is the set of leg protections, which here are not in metal, but in decorated leather and painted or gilded "in fine and good gold". The leg protection form a complete defensive system, while the is reinforced by metal accessories. Sword and dagger are of the type introduced by the the French Angevin knights. For concluding, a quote by Boccia: "The dialectical debate between defence and offense, between function and form, is one of the most characteristic of the armour transformation process. We have always to remember, however, that behind this process there exist particular conditions and far more incisive and more complex general reasons, both structural and cultural "( Hic iacet miles , in: Guerre e Assoldati in Toscana, 12601364 , Florence 1982). The Durfort rides a fully covered war horse, as usual for a personage of his lineage. The colours of the background and of the two millstones on the shield (widespread heraldic element in Southern France) have still not been found.

16 Ibidem.

43

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

3) Knight, after the frescos attributed to Azzo di Masetto, 1289-1292, Sala di Dante , Palazzo Comunale, in situ, San Gimignano (Tuscany). The San Gimignano frescos include two pairs of knights facing one with sword and the other with lance, all on horseback with textile covers, and a fifth knigh riding a uncovered horse. The graphic reconstruction by E. T. Coelho has the latter character for subject. The knight wears a helm of small size in the top slightly pinned and fitted with rotating mobile visor positioned in the temporal area of the head protection. Two large rectangular circles allow the sight while for ventilation throughout the visor surface, the knight’s helm is provided with thin rectangular slots. The chain mail hauberk is traditional. Arms and legs as well as the mail coat are protected by supplementary protection in decorated leather in “fine and good gold", like above for Durfort. The arm protection includes a and a globular defence to protect the elbow. Leg protections are more complex and consists in a sort of quilted breeches ending below the knee, presumably manufactured with soft leather to facilitate the knee movement. On the breeches is fixed a round toggle decorated with a human face, or maybe the moon. The have a very modern the wheel spur. Note the detail of the shield and the internal side with the "H" handle very common in Italy.

4) Guidone Pallavicino (+ 1301); gravestone, Fontevivo Abbey, in situ , Parma. Catalan sculpture and miniature show a more widespread presence of these types of weapons, although probably of marginal use or perhaps allusive representation of mainly biblical subjects. Although in the case of Pallavicino we have a smaller scales armour, it is interesting to confront it with the one worn by the Otto di Guardia e Balia Florentine Knight (Fig.G). Having said this, the armor of the knight buried in Fontevivo is something really unusual. What to say about the hauberk and the underlying quilted garment, long up almost to her ankles, and the gauntlets, so modern and particular with the small sphere placed on the outside. The pommel of the sword denotes an oriental taste (Bohemia). I know, and the development of the illustration shows it, that Boccia and Coelho, had any doubts (or almost) on the authenticity of this impressive gravestone, except not excluding that the large scales of this unique protective weaponry could be in leather and not in metal. In both cases, we have to wonder how the poor Guidone could move with such armor!

5) Man-at-arms, after Simone Martini “Storie di San Martino”, frescos od the San Francesco Lower Church, in situ, 1317, Assisi. The Coelho’s graphic reconstruction operates some changes for some particulars proposed by the fresco. He does not show the single chain of arms but introduces a different . The head protection is integrated with a and above all a high collar in iron mail; a solutions inspired by other images, such as some Giotto’ fresco in the Upper Basilica. I consider as important reference also the miniatures of a French Roman de Tristan dated 13001325 (Ms. Fr. 755, BNF, Paris). It is a impressive source for the additional graphic reconstruction propsed by Eduardo Coelho (figures. E, F). The large rivets in groups of four between the shoulders and breast show that this chest protection is a "armoured overcoat". The traditional chain mail sleeves (despite the glove fingers) contrast with the modern leg protection and the foot plates, all in metal, reflecting the actual transition period. Wheel spurs are confirmed by the authors.

6) Robert (+1306) o William (+1326) de Setvans. Brass, St. Mary Church, in situ, Chartam, Kent (England) Like other contemporary English brasses, the Setvans’ one proposes an iron mail hood which deserves to be considered. What is certain is that it is separate from the hauberk and that it is fixed on upper edge of the dress but, as it appears, is not a mail barbute nor a camail. I consider reasonable to believe that this is a mistake made by the artist who painted the brass, who not considered the barbute to be worn under the close helm. The accessories fastened on the shoulder (note the particular to left) are typical of England in these years, like the shape of the outer garment. The underlying layer of the iron mail, as it is engraved on the brass, does not dissolve the doubts whether this is a padded or a leather item; the colour attributed by Coelho turn apparently towards the latter. The drapery of the coat does not suggest the presence of an armour, without excluding it completely. The protection of the limbs, in addition to iron mail stockings, includes a padded leg protection just visible, and a metal kneepad embellished by golden decoration. The suspension belt strives sword in a nontrivial balancing system and its decorations in golden metal heraldic rosettes anticipates the advent of the next to come jewel belt, alongside the beautiful embossed scabbard. The spurs are of ‘broche’ type. The heraldic charge of his coat of arms, a winnowing (tool to ventilate the grain), is visible nine times in the original source: 2 on the shield, 5 on the coat and 2 on the shoulders.

44

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

7) Filippo de’ Desideri (+1315), after the gravestone by Arriguccio da Treviso, Civic Museum, Bologna. The study of the Filippo de' Desideri’s gravestone puts the scholars in front of a dilemma: either we are faced with the most modern imaginable, or the date, 1315, engraved on the plate is not true. The first hypothesis would require to move back of several years (1020) the Italian armour history and it is not irrelevant. It is rather likely that between the death of Filippo and the manufacturing of his gravestone passed twenty years, condemning the scholars to the uncertainty. Therefore, the modern bascinet, of very compact design, completed by camail, like the protection of the upper limbs; not just for the metal spaulders, but for arms and hands, are usual in early 14 th century. Similar complexity is presented in the leg protections, with the simultaneous use of plates of iron and leather. Notable the scales shoes. It remains to describe the chest protection, where all leads back to typologies still to come, as the coat lengthiness, already likely to announce the later doublet with chains arms. If further discoveries led to confirm the reliability of the date for the Filippo de’ Desideri’s gravestone, it would not be the first time that the medieval armament history undergoes moving back a few decades.

8) Knight after the Pietro Lorenzetti’s Pala del Carmine, 1329, Pinacotaca Nazionale, Siena. This is the only leather decorated representation of the beginning of 1300 which Coelho proposes in the illustrations forming the main theme of this article, in addition to the examples preserved in the SS. Annunziata in Florence and the frescoes of San Gimignano. Here the typologies of clear Angevin origin have undergone the typical changes introduced in central Italy. A series of Tuscan gravestones (in Florence, Lucca and Pescia), although in poor condition, were investigated by Boccia and Coelho. These sources are contemporary to the Carmine Pala or few years later, and they trace the evolution of leather protections in this region. The Lorenzetti’s knight can be rightly considered a starting point for a new development. Here, quite modern elements coexist again (considering the date 1329), as the decorated leather protections, alongside other, as the very broad and long coat and muffle gloves. Typically Tuscan, and in line with the age, appear both spaulders and limbs protections in enveloping the anatomical forms, or in the contoured spiral on the knees. The little winged crest (dragon, swan) is one of a kind: this is placed at the top of his head coming out of the chain mail hood, and securely anchored to a secret.

9) Men-at-arms; Bishop Guido Tarlati’s mausoleum, by Agostino di Giovanni e Agnolo di Ventura, 1327-1330, Arezzo Cathedral, in situ . With the menatarms of the Tarlati bishop's mausoleum the transition phase reaches a first point of arrival. The trial has finally found the path from which will not deviate in the future. Adjustments, improvements, area variants: everything still will aim to the full armour of iron plates, the socalled 'white armour of Italian style'. Also with regard to the Italian typologies, the Aretine menatarms show what were the solutions which from now, and for about the next fifty years, will mark the Italian armour. As we will discuss later, the South of Italy maintained its own peculiarities, but in the rest of the country this style become the prevailing one. The figure on the left wears a helmet of very modern style, while the other one wears a bascinet which is of already mature design and connected to its camail, characterized by the typical Tuscan additional reinforce of iron mail on both sides. The chest is protected by an armour (or pair of plates) and the design is coherent with the period, but of typical Italian fashion. The upper limbs maintain the wide sleeve of iron mail with rigid protections in iron or leather, both placed above and below the mail: a characteristic which in Italy will continue throughout the fourteenth century and beyond. Also the shoulder protections are typically Italian. These details are still in transition, such as the leg protections, and this despite manufactured in metal. Note the arms chains on the left personage crossed on his chest, and his not armoured feet.

10) Men-at-arms; Bishop Guido Tarlati’s mausoleum, by Agostino di Giovanni e Agnolo di Ventura, 1327-1330, Arezzo Cathedral, in situ . Compared with the previous illustration, the protection for legs and arms are in leather or strongly reduced. The kneepads are forged in one piece and the leg of the figure on the right is reinforced by a metal plate. The close helm of the figure on the left suggests an use above the bascinet.

45

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

The Venetian Army and Navy in the Ottoman war of 1684-99 (part nine) by Bruno Mugnai

Flag with the coat of arms of the Zakynthos’ Provvedoitore Michiel Costanti (dated 17011703); size 194x196 cm. Ensigns like this were carried by the militia ordinances, in the Mainland and in the Overseas State. (Zakynthos City Museum)

The Milizia delle Ordinanze The establishment of the Venetian militia dated already in the Renaissance age. Under the influence of Machiavelli, even in Laguna the government joined the concept that a state had to provide themselves "thanks to their weapons", believing that there may not be best and most trusted soldiers than his subjects. In Venice as in Florence, the militia took the name of Ordinanze (Ordinances), and the term was long applied to these contingents together cernide in the Mainland and Craine in the Oversaes state, the latter introduced definitively in 1570 17 . The clear distinction between the militia and the regular army,

17 In 1593 were promulgated the rules called Ordinationi et Regole in materia di Ordinanze , this document, except for a few changes, continued to be adopted for almost two centuries. Even amid lights and shadows, the militia absolved their tasks admirably in the war against the Habsburgs in 161518. The basic unit of the ordinances was the centuria , formed by 100 men. The required obligations were represented by five annual mostre (reviews) and a preliminary training of one week. The age limits were initially set from 16 to 40, but the family heads were released from the

46

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS composed of mercenaries, it is clear at the financial level, attended by a Savio all’Ordinanze , distinct from the official who was in charge of economic issues for the army, the Savio alle Scritture 18 . Similarly there was a commander in chief, with the rank of Governatore delle Ordinanze (Governor of the Ordinances). The relationship between civil society and the ‘Military’ had always been a sensitive nerve of the Venetian policy. Although contemporary commentators exaggerated about the alleged mistrust of the Venetian subjects to the military service 19 , the government's decisions regarding the militia were often hesitant and conditioned by conflicting factors. First, there was certainly the desire not to turn the civilians to regular and continues military exercises, but the only necessary for the formation of a force not merely representative, so turning the labour power away as little as possible from its activity. This concerned especially the Mainland’s population, because Venetian citizenship was excluded from service in the militia. In addition to these economic precautions, the government was also pressed by the need not to endanger the consensus between the dominant and the periphery. At the end of the century was still very vivid memory of the severe measures introduced in the Italian provinces during the Candian war regarding the service in the cernide . The militia was mobilized for the first time in 1645 to face a possible Ottoman raids in Friuli. Then it was again called to play a constant service in arms during the 1657 58 biennium, when the government doubled the number of men in the companies. In 1668, for finding new recruits to be sent to Candia besieged, the government was forced to resort to the "hated measure of Decimation", drawing lots a 'voluntary' every ten militiamen as a replacement for the regular infantry which defended the city. This decision was greatly opposed in the Senate and provoked many moods; some disorder took place in the Mainland campaigns, however, the method to find troops to be sent into the Cretese furnace remained until the end of the hostilities. The mobilization of the militia returned to be matter for Venetian policy in 1684, at the eve of the new war against the Porte. The mobilization of regular troops, that anywhere in the states of the Ancien Régime also absolved the maintaining of public order, required the presence of an armed force that would replace it in that duty. However, the Militia was very decayed after the Candian war. As in many other Italian states of the time, the militia was the receptacle of problems and inequalities deriving from the civil society. The introduction of a fee to prevent the service had the effect of transferring the whole weight of military obligations on the poorest people. Further, several drawbacks occurred in the provinces service and the government avoided to mobilize more than one man per family. Seasonal workers were also excluded, because "due to the poverty they change home every year." 18 See in the article two published on History & Uniforms 1. 19 See in the article one published on History & Uniforms 0.

47

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS close to the border. The most frequently abuse concerned the case of militiamen who were enrolled in the Venetian Ordinances 20 to enjoy the privileges accorded to the cernide , but they avoided the regular service and exercises declaring their domicile in the neighboring state 21 . Also the efficiency of the companies was unequal and conditioned to different eventualities. They were not rare cases in which the officers complained the presence in the ranks of an aged replacement in place of the son or even the nephew. In 1684 the government acted with greater caution and foresight regarding the militias, establishing more modern criteria focusing in the formation of Infantry Regiments in every major center of the Mainland. Therefore, in order to find recruits to replace the troops destined in the Levante, the government instituted the socalled ‘ allettanze ’ (alluring) in the Mainland in order to form corps of 3,000 soldiers organized into foot regiments. Since the summer of 1684, the government issued each year to the communities the order to raise the contingents. The term employed already expressly stated the end of a "meritorious service for the public" 22 . The ordinance prescribed that every urban center was 'allured' by conceding to civilians not only the traditional privileges already recognized to the militiamen hunting license; suspension for the debts processes; allowing to carry a sword but also with other more tangible rewards, such as the exemption from extraordinary taxes, which always coincided with military spending. The admission age was established by a minimum of 18 years to a maximum of 35 for privates, while officers was elevated up to 45 years. The service lasted at least three years, renewable for another three up to a maximum of 12 years and was carried out according to a schedule that had to be made available in a reasonable time at least one third of each regiment. The constitutive project also included the appointment of special staffs; ranks could be purchased, but the major functions were elected in every city, subject to ratification by the Provveditore and finally by the Senate. The first allettanze were formed in Padua, Vicenza, Verona and Friuli; the following year regiments were raised in Treviso, Bergamo and Crema, Brescia in 1686, and Legnago, Peschiera and Cologna Veneta in 1691. The regiments strength depended obviously by the density of the population, so the city regiment of Padua was able to present the review of February 1685 "845 men around", divided into companies of 100 privates, NCOs and musicians; on the other hand the territory of Crema, the small Venetian enclave in Lombardy, fielded only three companies in 1690; finally Cologna Veneta had only one company in 1691 23 .

20 In the ‘Book of Ordinances’ were recorded the names of the militiaman, individual's age, hair colour, height and special signs. 21 E. Concina, Le Trionfanti Armate Venete , Venezia 1971, p. 47. 22 ASVe, Senato, Ordinanze , f. 124. 23 Ibidem, f. 132.

48

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Foot militiaman of the Reggimento Offerto dalla Città di Padova , end 17thearly 18th century. The earliest records concerning the for the cernide date back to the early 18 th century, when the conflict between Austrian Hapsburgs and FrenchSpanish Bourbons in forced the government to mobilize the Mainland’s militia regiments. However, it is not unlikely that uniforms and equipment received after 1701 were the same received years earlier, when the allettanze were created in the mainland domains (Reconstruction from contemporary documents).

49

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

1) Craina ’s officer from Kotor ; 2) Militiaman, Novigrad bourgeois militia . At the end of the 17 th century, no uniform was prescribed for the Croatian or Eastern Adriatic Craine , however the militiamen were recognizable for their provenance by their dress. 3) Headgears: a) Croatian kalpak ; b) capa of Zadar; c) Sebenik; d) Kotor. 4) Croatian benevreche pants; ab) details. 5) Dimie breeches from the interior region of Dalmatia. 6) Scaffoni . 7) Footwear: a) opanka ; b) papuzza ; c) leather shoe.

50

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

These units tasked primarily to the internal surveillance in the towns and in the countryside and, since 1691, also to garrison the forts on the western border, interested by the passage of belligerent armies during the League of Augsburg’s war. Apart from some minor border accidents with foreign soldiers that had strayed into Venetian territory, the Mainland’s cernide never supported fighting. The same caution shown towards the subjects of the Mainland was not adopted in the overseas provinces. The Dalmatian craina as the rest of the Eastern Adriatic militia followed a pattern similar to the cernide regarding to the appointment of the officers, but did not enjoy the same privileges and above all were mobilized in large numbers regardless of the economic environment. This happened not only whenever the Venetian domains was threatened, but also for operations across the border, as happened during the unsuccessful expedition against Duare in 1684 and at the siege of Valona (today Vlore in Albania) in 1690. The military scenario in the Levant provinces and even in the Greek islands was very different from that of the Italian Mainland. Were in fact the overseas communities those that had faced the constant Ottoman pressure on the borders and therefore the level of mobilization was physiologically higher in those regions. On the other side of the Adriatic, cautions used by the Mainland’s Superintendents constituted for their overseas colleagues a negligible concern. It was the Dalmatian craine which supported the first encounters of the new war against the Porte as early as the autumn of 1683, when it took place between Obravac and Duare accidents between the BosnianOttoman frontiersmen and the militia of Split and Klis. Normally, access to the ranks of the ultramarine troops was effected by the passage of volunteers directly from the craine . Even in the Greek islands the militia represented an institution already established and well organized and effective in average. Corfu, Kefalonia and Zakynthos provided on several occasions not only militia units in support of the army in campaign, but also for volunteers to form boarded pickets on the fleet and also as pioneer for sieges that one after another invested the Ottoman Ionian fortress and the Peloponnese. In the spring of 1684, during the first campaign of war, the Greek islands militia was reviewed between June 8 th and 12 th by the Provveditore Straordinario Domenico Mocenigo, fielding a total of 6,000 men "all well equipped." 24 The conquest of Santa Maura (Lefkas), attended by 1,500 members of the Greek village militias under Anastasio Animo; the contagious enthusiasm pushed to join the corps also 150 Orthodox priests led by the Bishop of Kefalonia 25 .

24 Michele Foscarini, Degli Historici delle cose Venetiane , Venezia MDCCXXII, p. 160. 25 Ibidem.

51

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Ensign of the Perasto’s militia, after Coronelli (1694). Note the mix of Western and southern Adriatic clothing worn by the officer.

The social structure of these communities, organized in clans or 'extended families’, in case of mobilization was much more functional than elsewhere, because the chiefs were identified as the natural military leaders. This feature was reflected more often by slaves and Albanian populations which, on several occasions, were the only to guard and defend the border with the Ottoman Bosnia. Although it was normal to expect a level of unequal efficiency between the different units, and normally the Venetian commanders were aware of the limitations of these troops in an open field, the craine , if well commanded, could be used in the defence of fortified towns like the regular troops. The Dalmatian militiamen fought fiercely in 1684 for the defence of Trau, Castelnuovo and Signa (Senj), rejecting all Ottoman attempts to seize the strongholds. In the course of the war, militiamen of Eastern Adriatic provinces of Dalmatia and Croatia benefited also the guide of prepared officers, like Count Francesco Possidiaria, appointed as commander of the Croatian craine in 1685. Since 1686 he was active in the reorganization of the militia, cooperating with Girolamo Corner when the latter held the position of Extraordinary Superintendants in the province. In last years of the seventeenth century, the Dalmatian, Croatian and Albanian craine ould put in arms a force of 24,000 militiamen on foot, with arsenals and depots in Zadar, Split, Klis and Kotor 26 .

26 ASVe, Savio alle Ordinanze , f. 56.

52

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Maps of the Morea Kingdom (Peloponnese) and Attica , conquered by the Venetians in the war of 168499. In each province a militia system was created, but poor funds and bad organization left the provinces without an effective militia system. Only in Attica, the Serenissima organized a militia regiment garrisoned in Athen, which performed frontiers surveillance and public order duties. Despite the lack of discipline in Morea, in the Venetian Mainland and other overseas domains penalties for those who do participate to reviews or tried to avoid exercise and mobilization could also be very strict. The first recall involved a financial penalty; three rope stretches after a second recall and up to eighteen months at the oar of a galley in case of relapse.

Venturieri and other Volunteers Like other states engaged in the war against the Porte, even Venice welcomed volunteers both from their domains and abroad 27 . The chronicles give much prominence to the presence of volunteers already in the early stages of the war, when the departure of the fleet to Corfu embarked with the troops also dozens of young people from prominent Venetian families, like Bembo, Vendramino, Foscari and Pasqualigo 28 .

27 The presence of volunteers was indeed a tradition started already during the Candian War and boasted illustrious and glorious examples. One of the most notably case was represented by Lazzaro Mocenigo, who in 1656 had fought as a simple governatore di nave (governor of sail ship) under Lorenzo Marcello during the extraordinary campaign ended with the resounding victory in the third battle of the Dardanelles, fought on June 20th between the Ottoman and Venetian fleets. 28 Foscarini, cited work, p. 149.

53

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Foreign Venturieri ; somewhere in Greece, 1686 (Author’s reconstruction) Most paid on board the fleet their service, but together with other young aristocrats from the Mainland, many of them took part in field operations as ‘demi lances' in the infantry regiments. The reasons that underlay behind the phenomenon of volunteers were manifold. Generally they were cadets that the primogeniture had deprived of inheritance rights of the father's properties and therefore they were in front of the choice between ecclesiastical and military career. Since the seventeenth century there were no schools or military institutions in the

54

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS modern sense. People who wanted to learn the profession of arms in order to ascend to the officer’ ranks, presented themselves as volunteers to participate in a war campaign. The service inside the army, perhaps as an Adjutant or simply as an Ensign would long remained 'the forge of the commanders', according to a characteristic definition of the period. In fact, running the biographical notes of volunteers serving the Serenissima, careers unfolded through very similar contexts, which allows us to form a range of homogenous range of cases. However, the biographies leave silent or avoid to report the economic conditions of many gentries of the time, and it was the actual motivation that pushed many young aristocrats to the profession of arms. Economic difficulties and adverse conditions encountered in their countries of origins, were the cause which turned the volunteers to get in the army a position suited to the rank of their family. Although they were not only economic reasons to push these volunteers to risk their lives in the service of Venice or the Emperor of Austria, but also the desire of glory and adventure typical of the young generation of all time, at the end were the meagre prospects of a life as a cadet to push these young people to risk their lives in battle. A powerful motivational lever was certainly religious faith and the spirit of crusade that pervaded every conflict against the Ottoman Empire. The war not only was fought on the battlefields, but it was relived from afar, like a collective participation, which marked the emergence of new forms of culture, thanks to the first information tools in full development, such as the countless printed gazettes and monitors published everywhere. The victory of Vienna or the conquest of Athens aroused throughout Europe an enthusiasm that is not improper to define mass, so as to constitute a powerful attraction magnet which led many young aristocrats to choose to undertake an uncertain but still glorious military career. These took place through a script unchanged: the volunteer leaves the hometown comforted by the applause of the most conspicuous citizens; his letters pass from hand to hand and the progress in career flatters the municipal pride. Alerts prints, poems, ceremonies emphasized his achievements, or lamented his death in battle. The volunteer, in turn, did not interrupt the relationship with his city of origin, arranging to be joined by family, friends and fellow citizens, thus perpetuating the phenomenon. A characteristic feature of the volunteer in the Venetian army and navy was that, like other belligerent powers, the government received not only Venetian and other Italian subjects, but also foreigners, creating a truly unique case in the Italian military history of the seventeenth century. In 1684, together with the Venetian volunteers and others from Ferrara, Tuscany, Milan and Rome awaiting to embark for Corfu, it is recorded the presence of a Swedish venturiere 29 . The following year, at the siege of Kalamata, there were also

29 He was the “Baron Walter” in: Nicola Beregani: Historia delle Guerre d’Europa dalla Comparsa

55

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

"the Chancellor of Denmark’s son, an English Milord and two Marquises of Fenelon 30 . The presence of prominent personalities had been qualified in 1685 by the presence of a cadet from the House of Savoy, the Prince Philippe, who fought in all major actions of the campaign, exposing themselves to the dangers of war and especially to the Greek climate, which caused in August his transfer to Zante for convalescence.

Physiognomic study by the unknown author of the drawings collected in the Cassigoli collection (National Central Library, Florence), dating 168486. Portraits of passengers, sailors and volunteers embarked with the Tuscan Fleet which joined the Venetians in the first phase of the war against the Porte.

Although they were voluntaries, the respect and attention normally reserved to 'quality people' were always maintained. This caused some inconvenience in the internal organization, however the presence of volunteers took a huge propaganda value for the Republic of Venice and of course it was very useful in the maintenance of that network of relationships that have always distinguished the foreign policy of the Serenissima . In this regard, the presence in Greece as a volunteers of Prince Louis Philippe de Turenne and dell’Armi Ottomane nell’Hungheria , l’Anno 1683. Venezia MDCXCVIII; parte I, p. 156. 30 Ibidem, p. 392.

56

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Henry d’Harcourt from Lorraine, represented an added value of great importance, because both the young French aristocrats illustrated himself with considerable value acts, which was given wide resonance of all the chronicles of the time, pushing other volunteers to join the Venetian army. The loss of the princes, which occurred along with that of many others, in the unfortunate campaign of Negroponte, was mourned by the whole army and the bodies, transported to Venice, they were honoured with a solemn ceremony. The high turnover required by the war campaigns, resulting in the availability of free place of officer, to allow some coriaceous, and lucky, volunteers to take over the command of companies and regiments. Everything was functional for the Venetian army, which had always turned abroad for recruiting officers of all levels. Of course this caused inconvenience and unpleasant episodes, due both to the lack of controls on the origin of the volunteers, as well as the imponderable human compartments. The most important negative case involving a foreign venturiere , happened in November 1685 off the coast of Ragusa (od. Dubrovnik), which put in danger the life of the General Captain Francesco Morosini. On the general’s galley had been boarded 120 infantry soldiers under the orders of Captain De Wilnotz " a Provencal Calvinist, and man with any faith" who, as relates the historian Beregani, had been promoted to that rank after his arrival the previous year in Venice as volunteer "even though honoured by Morosini with more decorous treatments" 31 . The officer had developed a plan including the mutiny of the company, the seizure of the military treasure and, first of all, the kidnapping of the Venetian commander to safe their flight to Algiers. With him even the two subordinates were part of the conspiracy: the Dutch Louis Temesmans and Simon Van Mayr. During the night, the three officers tried to penetrate in the Captain General room, but the courageous resistance of the servants and the grandson of Morosini did fail the kidnapping. De Vilmotz was killed almost immediately, while the other seditious, after a fierce resistance aboard the galley, were eventually overwhelmed by sailors and other soldiers from the nearby galleys: "the battle lasted for three hours, until many grenades launched trough a window of the room, where the rebels were barricaded (...) forced them to retreat in the bow castle, and finally they were overwhelmed by the ultramarine soldiers". Both Dutch officers were chained and in the next morning thrown into the sea, while the body of De Wilnotz was torn to pieces and hung on the galley’s mainmast. It is difficult to determine the numerical amount of volunteers, but evidences from the sources are such that it can be regarded as relevant. The presence of these adventurers appear higher in the early stages of the war, and then decreased with the unwinding of the Venetian offensive after 1689.

31 Beregani, op. cit. parte I, p. 394395

57

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

A volunteer portrayed in the Cassigoli Collection tries to defeat his possibly first enemy: boredom

58

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

The Austrian Light Infantry, 1792-1800 (part one) by András K. Molnár

Despite in the first half of the eighteenth century the army of the House of Austria deployed considerable contingents of light infantry, the raising of permanent units composed by soldiers trained for light infantry and marksman’s tasks occurred very late compared to other Europeans armies. The presence of the Hungarian infantry and later the frontiersmen and other irregular infantry the Kroater and the Panduren had helped to inhibit the need for light infantry organized in large units. Even when the availability of these troops had failed because a war commitments on several fronts, the Kaiser had resorted turning to the Frei-Corps and other ad hoc formations temporarily formed with volunteers from the Habsburgs’ domains by special commissioned officers. However, the poor results achieved by these more or less improvised corps, led the Austrian general staff to raise units trained to modern tasks of light infantry, and to fight both in open order and more specifically as sharpshooters, modeling them to the contemporary Prussian and British light troops. In particular, the experiences accumulated by the light infantry during the campaigns in North America pushed the Austrian army to increase the number of foot soldiers trained not only for fighting on rough and difficult terrain, but also able for successfully harassing the opponents with targeted faire at key points of the march lines. The complex and often contradictory genesis of these units has generated a substantial shortage of information about the Austrian Light Infantry between 1790 and 1798, related not only to the uniforms, but also to their history during the first coalition war against France. Also important works, such as TeuberOttenfeld Die Osterreichische Armée , devoted to these corps before 1798 only a few fleeting notes. Other authors contribute to make unclear the matter, including in the light infantry the free corps created since 1792 with volunteers from Militärgrenze (the Military Border) in a not always coherent way32 .

The Jäger The first comprehensive project for the creation of corps of Gelernte Jäger professional chasseurs dating back to 1758, during the Seven Years War 33 . These corps of Feld-Jäger were created after the personal initiative of some infantry commanders, however, it was

32 Also in the excellent Jeremy Black consultant’s work An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Uniforms of the Napoleonic War by DigbySmith, the story and the development of the Austrian light infantry contains errors and misunderstandings concerning the Leichte Bataillone and the Jäger Corps . 33 It should be recalled that in Geschichte der K. u. K. Wehrmacht , Vol. II, p. 504, Alphons von Wrede actually cites as the first Jäger unit of the Austrian army the Deutsche Jäger-Compagnie under the Hauptmann Pfeiffer, formed in 1741 and then dissolved seven years later.

59

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS still experimental and homogeneous units comparable to the contemporaries Frei Corps 34 . In the following years, similar units were organized during local crises or for operations which today we would call 'peace keeping' 35 . They had a common short existence and modest strength of a few companies. A first turning point in the history of the Austrian light infantry took place on November 1 st , 1787, during the war against the Ottoman Empire. The order signed by the emperor Joseph II prescribed the transformation of two line regiments in light infantry. The regiments were the 'German' Nr. 37 and the Tyrolean Nr. 46. The project was designed to set up a corps of 2,5003,000 men divided into 2025 companies. Budget constraints and other problems delayed and changed profoundly the creation of these regiments. The first units completed and ready to leave the quarter for the Eastern Front took the name Deutsche Jäger von Sinzendorff and Deutsche Jäger Dandini . Both units were sent in campaign still incomplete, and for this reason in the order of battle of 1789 are registered as individual companies. A third unit, called Coburgische Jäger-Division was raised in Wallachia in 1788, and the following year a light battalion, formed with 500 Serb volunteers, was set up by the Oberstlieutenant Andreas Boër, former captain of the Infanterie Regiment Nr. 37 . The Serbian light infantrymen were assigned to the 'Army of the Banat’, where they appears until 1790 as Boër'sches Scharfschützen-Corps 36 . In the following April, at the end of the war against the Porte, new experimental Jäger corps were formed. The first of these, the Deutsche Jäger-Corps was established on a strength of 10 companies; in the original project they had to be allocated among the infantry battalions in campaign. The corps received quarter and deposit in Pressburg (today Bratislava in Slovacchia). Officers and NCOs for more five companies were later transferred to the Tyrol for forming the local Scharfschützen. Although both units survived just 10 years, the tradition of the corps, and subsequently the actual Jäger regiments, could be considered now begun with the standing presence of this kind of infantry in the House of Austria’s army.

1) Deutsches Jäger-Corps The corps was raised in April 1790 with the light companies assigned to the Army deployed

34 It was the Deutsches Feld-Jäger Corps formed by General Wacthmeister Moritz von Lacy and the similar corps under the Hauptmann Michael Otto. However, only the first can be considered a true Jäger unit. It included 10 companies in 1760, while the other units included a single Jäger company, then transformed into Chevaux Legers and finally hussars. Both corps were dissolved in 1763. 35 They were the Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps under Mayor Geitner, and the Corps der Mährish- Schlesien Gebirgsjäger , formed in 1778 during the short Bavarian Succession War and both disbanded in 1779. In 1784, during the border controversial on the Schelda RIver, two companies were formed with volunteers under the title Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps von Geppert, disbanded the following year. 36 Merged into the Infanterie Regiment Nr. 33, Ungarische Sztáray Infanterie .

60

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

1) Hauptmann of the Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps ; 2) Jäger Gemeiner of the Deutsches Jäger- Corps , 179098; a – b: equipment details. Both figures are reconstructed after the Viennese Manuscript preserved in the Albertina Collection in Vienna. This source shows probably the actual Hechtgrau adopted for the uniforms of the Jäger Corps since 1760. Note the long bayonet issued to the private footmen. The officer carries the minimalist officer’s rank as usual in the Austrian army.

61

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS against the Ottomans, forming a 10 companies unit. The corps was disbanded and amalgamated in the summer of 1801 in the newly formed Tyrolean regiment ( Tyroler Jäger Regiment Nr. 64 ).

Commanders : Menrad von Geppert (1790); Pompeo Dandini (1790); Wilhelm Mahony (1792); Philipp Plank (1797); Constantin D’Aspre (1799); Franz Kurz von Traubenstein (1801)

Deployed on the border with Silesia together with the observation corps, the following year the whole unit marched to the Austrian Low Countries, fighting against the insurgents at Assesse. In 1792 a part of the corps participated in the fighting of MonsQuaregnon and Florennes, the onslaught of Orchies and the expedition in the Champagne. Before the year the corps fought at Düren, where some companies are mentioned for their valour under captains von Sinzendorff and Thiery In 1793 the corps fought at Aldenhoven, siege of Condé and defence of Maubeuge and Marchiennes. In May of 1794 a part of the unit was involved in the fall of Maubeuge. In 1795 the corps was transferred to the High Rhine and the following year marched to Italy: battles of Bassano and Castiglione; the following fights at Rivoli, where three companies surrender to the French. In 1799 the corps participated in the major actions in Northern Italy; six companies fought at Verona, the other four at Legnago, Cassano and in the encounters on the Trebbia River. Some companies participated at the defence of Mantua and at the siege of Alexandria. In 1800 the corps was assigned to the Ott division participating in October at the Ligurian campaign, where it is present at conquest of Ceresara and in the encounter on the Mincio River.

Uniform (1792): Hechtgrau with Stahlgrün facing ; brass buttons.

2) Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps The Imperial Resolution dated November 18th 1789 authorized the formation of a independent corps of Jäger with 10 companies strength. For the corps establishment the Tyrolean recruits were merged with the five companies from the Deutsche Jäger-Corps . Regulation and tasks were the same as set for the German unit. In the spring of 1790 the corps had reached the established strength, maintained until 1801, when officers and soldiers were joined together with the German corps in the Tyrolean Jäger regiment just formed.

62

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Commanders : Menrad von Geppert (1790); Thomas Brady (1793); Philipp Fenner von Fenneberg (1794)

From 1790 the corps was assigned with the observation army in Moravia and the following year transferred in the Austrian Low Countries. In 1792 a part of the corps was present at the siege of Gent, but did not participate in the fighting. In 1793 the Tyrolean Jäger fought at the battle of Tirlemont and in the encounters of Comines, NauveEglise, Poperinghe and Dünkurchen. In 1795 the unit was transferred to the High Rhine theatre and then assigned to the Clerfayt Army Corps in front of Mannheim. In 1796 the corps fought against the French at UckeradtKircheip and Altenkirchen. It remains on the Rhine until 1798, when the whole unit was sent in Swabia taking part at the conquest of Schaffhausen; encounters of Andelfingen, Offenburg and the conquest of Bruchsal. In 1800 the corps fought at Iller, Ulm and Hohenlinden, and then it was involved in rearguard fighting at Schwanenstadt and Kremsmünster.

Uniform (1792): Hechtgrau Jacket with Grasgrün facing ; brass buttons.

Grey and green were the typical Tyrolean colours, employed for the uniforms of the Jäger Corps since its foundation. Stahlgrün (iron green) and Grassgrün (grass green) distinguished the units: a) Deutsches Jäger-Corps had brass buttons; b) Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps and Niederländisches Jäger Corps had brass button too, while c) Lombardisches Jäger-Corps had tin buttons; d) jacket for Hornist of the Lombardisches Jäger-Corps ; e) kaskett front with alternative badge, after Johann Karger, Die Entwicklung der Adjusterung, Rüstung und Bewaffnung der Österreichische-Ungarischen Armee, 1700-1809 .

63

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Jägerstutzen mod. 1769 . The shortage of the rifle turned the Austrian command to issue the Infanterie Gewehr infantry musket mod. 1794 modified. Overall length 1,050 mm.; calibre 14,6 mm.; weight 4,14 kg.

3) Niederländisches Jäger Corps With an half company of 50 men formed by volunteers from the infantry regiments in the Austrian Low Countries, in November of 1789 it was formed the nucleus of a new Jäger corps. Initially established with a strength of three companies in overall, the following spring further 60 soldiers were incorporated from regiments Württemberg and Murray Infanterie . In 1793 the corps was increased to six companies and then dissolved and amalgamated in the Tyrolean Regiment together with the previous corps in 1801.

Commanders : Jean Le Loup (1790)

Posted in the Austrian Low Countries against the insurgents, in 1792 the corps participated at the conquest of Bavay and Valenciennes the following year; encounters of Cysoing, Colichy and Marchiennes. In 1794 was garrisoned in Valenciennes, the following year the whole unit moved on the Rhine; fighting in the assault of Mannheim and in 1795 during the defence of Freudenstadt and the encounter of Aschaffenburg. In 1797 the corps marched to the lower Rhine and in 1799 to Tyrol. Swiss campaign and fighting of Taufers and the Saint Gotthard. In 1800 the corps was sent to northern Italy and assigned to the Vukassovich division, participating at the encounter of Turbigo.

Uniform (1792): Hechtgrau Jacket with Grasgrün facing ; brass buttons.

4) Lombardisches Jäger-Corps Formed in September 1796 in Mantova with volunteers from the infantry regiments of the

64

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Army of Italy, the corps, still incomplete, was disbanded in the following spring.

Commanders : Antonio Corti (1796)

Assigned to the Mantua’s garrison until the winter 17961797, the corps was transferred in the Venetian State.

Uniform (1796): Hechtgrau Jacket with Stahlgrün facing ; tin buttons.

Alongside the Jägerstutzen , other special weapons were projected for the Jäger corps, like the Repetierwindbüchse mod. 1779 . This air rifle, invented by the Italian Bartolomeo Girandoni, was issued in limited number to the first Jäger units during the campaign against the Porte in 1788 and Italy after 1796. The advantages of a high rate of fire, no smoke from propellants, and low muzzle report granted it initial acceptance for the marksman tactics required to the Jägers. Mechanical problems determined its removal. Notwithstanding this failure, the Girandoni air rifle was exported in United States and produced under license by Lewis and Clarke for the war against the Natives. Overall length 1,222 mm. calibre 11,5 mm.; weight 4.6 kg.

5) Tyroler freiwilliges Sharfschützen-Corps Formed in the fall of 1799 with volunteers from the Landesschützen companies, the corps was initially recruited for six months service, then extended to a year. The initial strength comprised 24 companies, then reduced to 15 of 120 men each. The corps was dissolved in 1801 in Borgo Valsugana.

Commanders : Johannes von Luth (1799)

65

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Sent to northern Italy, the corps participated in 1800 at the conquest of the bridgehead of Piacenza.

Uniform (1797): Hechtgrau Jacket with Stahlgrün facing ; tin buttons.

6) Italienisches Feld-Jäger Corps The corps was formed in the summer of 1799 with volunteers from the dissolved army of the Duchy of Savoy. The strength provided a 6 companies. In 1801 the corps was disbanded in Friuli.

Commanders : Philipp von Brentano (1799); András Máriássy (1800)

Assigned to the Klenau Army Corps in Liguria, in 1799 the unit fought at Genoa and at the encounter of CornuaTorriglia. The following year the whole unit took part in the encounters of Voltri; it was present at Marengo.

Uniform (1799): Hechtgrau Jacket with Stahlgrün facing ; brass buttons.

7) Niederösterreichischer Scharfschützen-Corps Formed in Vienna in September 1800 with a strength of three battalions and an instruction deposit company, the corps was then dissolved in 1801 without having taken part in any military action. Each unit carried a different denomination.

Commanders : Johann Kostalowsky ( Sharfschützen-Bataillon ); Ernst von Herberstein (Niederösterreichischen Landstände Bataillon ); August Beckh ( Jäger Bataillon ); Johann von Nattorp ( Handlungs-Sharfschützen Compagnie )

Uniform (1800): for the Jager battalions Hechtgrau racket with Blassroth facing; brass buttons. Trainingdeposit company: Dunkelgrün racket with black facing. 8) Erzherzog Carl Legions Jäger-Corps Frmed in 1800 as a light infantry corps for the Archduke Charles of Austria’s volunteers legion, the corps had a strength of three battalions. Two battalions were deployed in Bohemia and one battalion in Moravia and Silesia. In 1801 the corps was dissolved with the whole legion.

66

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Commanders : Jean Belloute de Watters (1800)

Uniform (1800): Hechtgrau Jacket with Stahlgrün facing; tin buttons for battalions 1st and 2nd, brass buttons for the 3 rd battalion.

Archduke Karl of Habsburg (17711847)

Company Staff of the Deutsches Jäger-Corps in 1796

1 Hauptmann ; 1 Ober-Lieutenant ; 1 Unter-Lieutenant ; 1 Fourier ; 1 Musterschreiber ; 1 Obrist Feldwebel ; 1 Feldwebel ; 1 Horn ; 6 Korporalen ; 6 Gefreiter ; 100 Gemeiner.

67

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Austrian Jäger, possibly of the Tyroler Scharfschützen-Corps , wearing the uniform issued in 1798 , after the Tranquillo Mollo’s Abbildung der Neuen Adjusterung der K. und. K. Armee . According to Johann Karger’s Die Entwicklung der Adjusterung, Rüstung und Bewaffnung der Österreichische- Ungarischen Armee, 1700-1809 , the colour facing became grassggrün for all the units. The 1798 jacket had high collar and a new design of the turnbacks; buttons were brass for all the units. The new kaskett mod 1798 replaced the old . The soldiers are equipped with the Jägerstutzen rifle mod. 1769, which replaced the short version of the Infanterie Gewehr previously issued to the corps, due the shortage of this weapon. The Jägerstutzen was replaced in 1807 by the new Jäger Karabiner . Equipment in full black leather remained a characteristic of the Austrian Feld-Jäger in the following century.

68

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

The Origin of the French Zouave Uniforms (1830-1852) by Chris Flaherty

Introduction France’s 1er Régiment des Zouaves was created in 1852 in the province of Algiers, and while the origin of this unit dates back to 1830, with the French annexation of Algeria, the distinctive zouave uniform can be traced to the 1853 French Army regulations, which established the familial form that was widely copied and adapted worldwide, till the start of WWI. In the Ottoman Army it was an identical version of the 1853 French Army regulation zouave uniform adopted in 1861 as part of the postCrimean war military reforms (Figure B), for the Imperial Guard infantry and cavalry, artillery, rifle battalions, and navyinfantry. After 1876, the Ottoman 1861 zouave uniform was retained by one regiment of Imperial Guard infantry, as well as by the Imperial Army reserve infantry, which received the uniforms as surplus from the line infantry, and artillery. These old surplus 1861 Ottoman zouave uniforms were still being worn by the Ottoman Imperial Gendarmerie in Lebanon, in 1914. During WW1, the last Ottoman Imperial Army soldiers to wear the zouave uniform was the ‘Camel Raiders’ (Figure A), who adopted a distinctive field brown zouavestyled uniform, and commonly wore this over a wool or cotton cloth pullover , this was even completed with a grey cloth waist wrap. Other Camel Riders, are known to have worn a version of the collarless zouave–styled vest, that buttonedup at the shoulder seam, and under one the arms, which were manufactured in green and/or brown cloth. This was commonly worn with a /neckwrap.

1853 French Army Regulation Zouave Uniform The 1853 French Army regulations establishing the zouave uniform, describe a ‘jacket in Arabic form, made from dark blue cloth (or skyblue for Algerian riflemen), with a 12mm wide flat braid in madder (dark red) wool edging.’ The front of the jacket, ‘is adorned with arabesque braid Daffodil (made from the same 12mm braid as the edging), which finishes was a threeleaf clover (terminating around the wearer’s collarbone).’ The lower end of the lace arabesque braid Daffodil pattern, was designed to forms a loop simulating a false pocket which enclosed a colour patch – used to identify each of the later zouave regiments in the French Army. Classically, the French zouave jacket is a ‘bolero jacket’ pattern. The ‘bolero jacket’ typically ends well above or at the waistline. In the case of the 1853 French Army regulations zouave uniform was designed without a collar.

69

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

70

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

The other key feature of the ‘bolero jacket’ pattern is that its lapels are often worn open at the front, and tend not to be joined or buttoned together. Typically, the ‘bolero jacket’ does not have any buttons provided to close the lapels together. Some versions incorporate a top hook and eye, to close the jacket at the collar, leaving the rest flowing away to the sides, with the underlying or vest showing. Because the ‘bolero jacket’ typically ends well above or at the waistline a broad waist wrap is usually incorporated to cover the waist.

Popular Misconceptions Popular misconceptions as to the actual origin of the zouave uniform, is based on the belief that that this pattern of uniform “varied considerably from that of other types of French infantry uniforms, and originated from the clothing style of the Kabyle people at the time.” 37 The first problem is that French historians have tended not to see the zouave uniform as it finally appeared by the time of the drawingup of the 1853 French Army regulations, and its predecessor version that came into existence in 1830, in Algeria (to cloth the newly formed local troops to support French Army operations in that campaign), as being related to the earlier French Army’s ‘Uniform of the Orient’ (see Figure F), which had been established in the early years of Napoleon’s rule. The second problem is that the actual military dress of the Kabyle people – who were the Zouaoua Berber tribe (who gave their name to the ‘zouave uniform’), in actual fact wore a completely different military dress which is well documented, but relatively unknown, or the connection has not been realised. The actual military dress of the Zouaoua Berber tribe is illustrated with Figures CD, this shows two different versions: Figure C: Represents an infantry soldier’s uniform created by Emir Abdelkader (D'AbdEl Kader, 18321847), who led a force, called the ‘New Army of Algeria’, that was formed in 1832 to resist the French invasion. One of the key features of the D'AbdElKader uniform was the adoption of the typical Zouaoua Berber tribe short loose fitting jacket with hood, which were made in red, grey and black wool cloth. Figure D: Shows a figure, based on an 183040s illustration of one of the Tunisian Army’s several irregular regiments made up of Berber tribal levies (or Zouaoua mkhaznia ). This figure shows the typical Zouaoua Berber short loose fitting jacket with hood (in this case foldeddown), as it more commonly appeared in dark grey/green cloth and decorated in tapetrim, as well as traditional tribal designs. The significant point about the original Zouaoua Berber tribe’s military costume is that it had very little relationship to the early 1830s French Army version (or the later 1853 French Army regulation zouave uniform). The question is – what was the inspiration for the French version of the zouave uniform?

37 Translated from the French ArmeeAfrique website, by the author

71

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

A 19th century illustration depicting an Ottoman Zouave with original commentary: qui vient du mot berbere zouaoua nom de la tribu kabyle qui fournissait les janissaire aux turques .

72

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

One of the most striking differences was that the Zouaoua Berber tribe’s military costume, did not make use of the ‘bolero jacket’ pattern. The basic garments worn by Zouaoua soldiers was a vest, typically seen in Algeria or Tunisia at the time (which as can be seen in Figure C), and was often elaborately embroidered, and used wide tape and rows of small buttons and loops to close the front. Over this vest, was worn the short loose fitting jacket with hood, which could also be buttonup (whereas the ‘bolero jacket’ pattern is opento thefront). It is interesting to note, that among the colour illustration of Egyptian infantry from 1859, in the New York Public Library’s Vinkhuijzen collection; and the Anne S. K. Brown Military collection shows an officer wearing an identical buttoned loose fitting jacket with hood as part of his uniform, and this also has a high collar typical of military uniforms in this period.

The Zouaoua Berber Infantry Before, the origin of the distinctive French zouave uniform can be discussed, and how it came into existence, it is useful to look at the role of the Zouaoua Berber tribe in the Ottoman imperial military system. Most modern historians tend to see the Zouaoua Berber as ‘19th century guerrillastyle fighters’ 38 . The Zouaoua Berber tribe originally inhabited the coastal mountain Djurdjura region of North Africa, and traditionally this tribe provided warriors in service to the ‘Dey’ (the Ottoman ruler of Algeria). However, in 1830 with the French annexation the Ottoman government quickly collapsed, and the Zouaoua were persuaded to provide men for the French Army’s interior campaign. By 1833, two battalions had been formed, now called ‘Zouaves’ by the French, raised specifically as colonial troops. It was this unit, later openedup to French soldiers who eventually became the 1 st , and later zouave regiments in the French Army of North Africa. Even though it is well known how the original Zouaoua came into French Army service, what is not understood, is the actual role of the Zouaoua Berber tribe in the Ottoman imperial military system. Most historians tend to see the Zouaoua as primarily mercenary troops provided to the Dey of Algeria; however, this is a considerable understatement as to their actual role. The Zouaoua likely provided a considerable military presence in North Africa in the Ottoman period, as their soldiers were provided in substantial numbers to all of the Barbary states. Not only did the Dey of Algeria have several battalions traditionally – these were organised on the same basis as the rest of the Ottoman pre1826 Janissary led armies, into Ortas: a Jamissary battalion of musketeers, of approximately 1,000 men each. The Tunisians, before and after their military reforms of 1831, incorporated several regiments of Zouaoua , and these were likely organised into Tunisian Army brigades of

38 Fighting Peacocks – The Colourful History of Zouaves. 2013. MilitaryHistoryNow.com

73

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

1,000 – 2,000 men each. The army created by Emir Abdelkader is said to have had 5,000 regular infantry, who were more than likely the Zouaoua . In Ottoman Libya, likewise the Ottoman Army there was dependent on Arab and Berber auxiliaries. Even in Egypt, the Berber infantry was a significant part of the Ottoman military structure there. All these infantry, had been trained following the traditional Janissary model established as far back as the 1580s for regular musketeer battalions. As a final note, it is a significant recognition of these troops’ military effectiveness, that the commander of the French expeditionary force which had occupied the city recommended, in August 1830 the continued employment of the Zouaoua , raising first a battalion, then a second unit after this.

1830s French Zouave Unforms The 1830s –period French zouave uniforms appear to have been quite similar to the final pattern establish in the 1853 French Army regulation zouave uniform. Interestingly, most illustrations of these show a ‘bolero jacket’ pattern with a much lower cut, reaching down to the waist, and the lapels with broad square ends, much the same as the ‘bolero jacket’ worn by the figure of the Napoleonic period 18121814 Lithuanian Tartars' Squadron (Figure E). By 1853, this feature had changed and the more familiar highwaistcut, with rounded lapel ends were being used. The belief that the zouave uniform had its origin in the French Army copying the military dress of the Zouaoua, as can be seen from Figures C D is not correct; as is the belief that the French zouave uniform was largely without precedent in French military dress, because as will be discussed next, the French Army from the early Napoleonic period had a well established pattern for the soldier’s ‘Uniform of the Orient’ (as it was formally known in the French Army in the period), and this had been created with the establishment of Napoleon’s mameluks.

Link to Napoleon’s Mameluks Many of Napoleon’s veterans were photographed in their original uniforms in 185758. A photograph taken of Corporal Ducel, who had served in the mameluks between 1813, and 1815 in his original uniform is contained in the Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection 39 , and is titled Mameluke de la Garde is Monsieur Ducel who fought between 1813 and 1815. This is believed to be one of the few photographs ever taken of a surviving Napoleonic wars veteran, in his original uniform. Ducel’s Mameluke de la Garde uniform is illustrative as it shows close parallels with the contemporary French zouave uniform, and many of this same features are present on another Napoleonic period uniform, that of the 18121814 Lithuanian Tartars' Squadron

39 Photographs of Napoleon's Veterans https://library.brown.edu/collections/askb/veterans.php

74

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

(Figure E). The squadron of Lithuanian Tartars, was one squadron attached to Konopka's 3 rd Lancer Regiment of the Imperial Guard. It was created at Vilna on October 8, 1812, and raised from the Moslem descendants of Genghis Khan who had settled in Lithuania during the middle ages. The uniforms worn by these soldiers have been represented in various ways, over the last century. Certain elements of the uniforms can be traced to Ottoman uniforms origins, in particular those worn by the mamelukes (see Figure F). Like the mamelukes of the French Imperial Guard, the squadron of Lithuanian Tartars, adopted three key uniform elements, that were typical of the early French ‘Uniform of the Orient’: Highcollar sleeved jersey. Unbuttoned (except for a collar hookandeye), wingedsleeve waist coat, cut as a ‘bolero jacket’ pattern. This however, had a lower cut, reaching down to the waist, and the lapels with broad square ends. As well, this was embroidered with a tape edging. The uniform of the French Army mamelukes also incorporated ‘Russian pants’, and these can be seen on later French zouave uniforms. The wide pants commonly called ‘Russian pants’, was in reference to the Cossacks, and these were widely seen throughout Eastern Europe, and the Ottoman empire. These were different from the knee breeches worn by the Zouaoua infantry. The Zouaoua pants were extremely fullcut, to the point that large extrafolds for lose fabric collected between the leg holes which were large enough for the wearer to put their legs through, and these leg holes were edged in tape, possibly to hold a draw string, to close the holes around the legs just below the knees. Other than that the Zouaoua wore no as was common among Ottoman soldiers in this period, and were barelegged except for yellow leather on their feet.

Headgear The most visible change in the appearance of the French zouave uniform, compared to the original Zouaoua Berber infantry was in regards headgear. The Zouaoua typically wore a small rounded red wool felt cap with a small tuft at the top, commonly called the ‘Greek cap’ in this period, and some period accounts testify that soldiers could wear up to three of these at a time, one over the other, with the brims folded up. In the case of the French zouave uniform from the early 1830s the red Ottoman fez, which had come into existence with a was authorised. Variations of this headgear, had much earlier forms, and in the 1800s when the mamelukes arrived in France, to form their squadron for the French Army, they wore a tall red conical Ottoman hat, common in the Ottoman cavalry at the time called a Cahouk , with a turban. Interestingly, we can see one of the first alternations to ‘Turkish dress’ in France in this period, when Napoleon issued a decree dictating that the mamaluke hat should be green. The only exception to this pattern was the Zouaoua

75

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS infantry in the Tunisan Army, of 18401850, who wore the large Tunisian fez: tarbash (Figure D). This was constructed like a peakless belltop shako. This was lined, and stiffened inside with cardboard, and was often fitted with gilt chin scales, as well as gilt metal fez plates (to indicate the wearer’s status). It is likely the tarbash also had some type of cotton lining, to help adjust to the wearer’s head. As a final note, the French zouave even in the 1830s tended to use a much smaller Ottoman fez, notwithstanding that a larger ‘’ version (see Figure G), was also popular throughout the Ottoman empire. Figure F: This shows a typical Ottoman lancer encountered by the French in their pre Revolutionary Wars engagement with the Ottoman empire, during the early military missions there. These early missions were considerable. In 1783, Louis XVI sent a French Military Mission to the Ottoman empire providing naval warfare, and fortification building training. In 1784, French engineers were teaching engineering drawings and techniques in the new Turkish engineering school Muhendishane-i Humayun . By 1789, some 300 French artillery officers and engineers were active in the Ottoman empire modernizing and training artillery units. The French Revolution saw a continuation of FrancoOttoman relations, and Selim III, turned to France to modernize, and achieve reforms of his military. In 1796, General Aubert du Bayet with his military mission arrived at the Ottoman court with artillery equipment, and French artillerymen and engineers to help with the development of the Ottoman arsenals and foundries. French infantry and cavalry officers were also provided to train the Spahis (cavalry) and the Janissaries. As can be seen in Figure F, this Ottoman lancer wears the common military dress in the 1800s consisting of a collarless longsleeved jersey and short , combined with Russian paints, and waist wrap. These became the essential elements of the later French zouave uniform. Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt setoff a ‘mameluke craze’ in Parisian fashion, more reflecting well known oriental or Turkish styles notwithstanding that this clothing was more fantasy than reality. Interestingly, when a mameluke noble – Captain Ibrahim was lost on his first visit to Paris, during Napoleon’s First Consulate period, he was confronted by a jeering aggressive crowd ridiculing his strange clothing, shouting ‘that it was not carnival time, so why was he wearing Turkish costume?’; and fearing for his life Captain Ibrahim shot two of the men in the crowd dead (Pawly, R. Napoleon's Mamelukes Osprey Publishing, 2012: 14). It is interesting to note, that in France during First Consulate, the mamelukes who had joined the French Army, wore mostly their Egyptian clothing, which differed greatly from the later dress developed under Napoleon, which Ducel’s Mameluke de la Garde uniform is illustrative. During the First Consulate, the mamelukes, did start to received uniforms issues that ultimately developed into the French Army’s mameluke uniform. Initially, they wore a short waistlength coat called a yelek (in Turkish), which was worn open over the

76

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS waist . This had wide sleeves, and was fur trimmed. They still wore a wraparound Turkish shirt, which left the upper chest and neck exposed; however, this was also worn alongside a shirt which was cut round at the neck, and collarless. Nearly all military uniform historians dismiss the mameluke costume as not being an actual uniform, focusing on the wide variety of colours worn but the original mamelukes. What is missed has been the fact that the mamelukes all wore identical clothing too each other. This same uniform clothing was used by the ‘other’ Turkish soldiers in Napoleon’s army, the Lithuanian Tartars, the Black musicians (dressed like their British Army counterparts as ‘Turkish Musicians’ 40 ), and even Napoleon’s own personal attendant, SaintDenis; Napoleon insisted that he be dress as a mameluke, and gave him the name of Ali (Mameluke Ali), and he wore exactly the same clothing as the rest of the Mamelukes/Turkish in the French Army. The only reason for the wide variety of colours worn was that many of the mamelukes in this exclusive Imperial Guard unit, like many Napoleonic period officers had at least several made in different colour combinations, largely due the Ottomans’ desire to have fresh clean clothing available when needed. The basic transition that occurred between the Napoleonic period and the later French zouave uniform, was a reversal of the pattern, moving the sleeves from the underlying collared jersey (which had been adopted for the Napoleonic mameluke uniform), and fitting these onto the short jacket (previously the over vest). In the case of the later zouave uniform the underlying jersey was retained, and turned more into a true vest which related more to European fashions at the time, as the vest’s closure/buttoning arrangement was actually located under one of the arms, and over the corresponding shoulder. This was the case even though most versions of the French zouave vest actually have tape decoration running down the chest giving the appearance of closure seam.Later, during the Greek Revolution, where the French provided the Expédition de Morée , in Greek Service, 18281833, the common dress of Greek soldiers they encountered, which the French officers soon adopted for themselves, leading these troops, included short near identical to the ‘bolero’ (Figure G). The work of ethnographic and military artists such as Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1815–1884), who was exhibiting in the salons from 1833, and from 1844 popularised Turkish irregular soldiers, in the familiar ‘bolero’ – styled jackets, Russian paints, waist , and turban fez, all of which were the key elements of the French zouave uniform. In closing, the real origin of the zouave uniform was French. This was based on a French imagining of the appearance of the ‘soldier of the orient’, created in the early years of the

40 Flaherty, C. (2015) British Regimental Turkish Musicians. Classic Arms & Militaria Magazine (December/January): 4042.

77

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Napoleonic wars and revitalised in the early 1830s when the French Army raised its first North African troops unformed following a French military convention.

78

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Forgotten Fronts of WWI The Not-Cordiale Strategy in the Balkans, 1916 (part one) by Oleg. R. Airapetov

The Balkan War Theatre, after the Westpoint Atlas of the Great War of 1986.

On the 22nd November of 1915 the British Imperial General Staff received a telegram from majorgeneral Sir John HanburyWilliams, who was attached to the Russian Supreme Headquarters in Mogilev. It contained the proposals of the Chief of Staff of the Russian front general M.V. Alekseev for the next campaign: “The Allies under the present conditions are on both fronts obliged to attack the enemy in the directions where he is strongest and least vulnerable to attack and in positions where he has been strengthening himself by every available technical means. The Allies can, therefore, hardly hope to obtain relevant strategical results even if they are able at great cost to achieve tactical success." 41 Here we need a small interruption. In the military and political leadership of practically all the main participants of the World War I there were two principal approaches to the

41 Liddell Hart Centre for military research, Robertson, I/9/52.

79

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS problem when and how the victory could be gained. The first group thought that the should be won by crashing the enemy in his strongest point. It was the way to the valleys of the Somme and Passchendaele, to the forts of Verdun.

Russia: Officers of the Guard Hussar Regiment in Field Service Uniform; 191517, by D.F. Knötel (From the album published in 1930 by MoritzRuhl)

The second group proposed the blows on the weakest parts of the enemy defence and crushing by this the opposite coalition. They called for the rocks of Macedonia and plains of Russia. In England, France and Germany this groups had got practically the same names of “westerners” and “easterners”. The highest allied military leaders such as W.R. Robertson,

80

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

D. Haig, J. Joffre, R. Nivelle, H. Petain and many others belonged to the first group, while D. LloydGeorge, W. Churchill, H. Kitchener, J. Gallieny, M. Sarrail to the second one. In Russia there also were two approaches to the problem of choice of the main blow direction, which could be called ‘Austrian’ or SouthWestern and ‘German’, Western. The first one, proposing defence on the German front sector and mass offensive on the Austro Hungarian one was more traditional, originated by the first variants of the Russian plan of the great European war of the 19 th century. In the telegram quoted higher proposals to the Allies made by Alekseev allow us to call him to the participants of this very approach. Amongst the main ‘westerners’ of the Russian front there were Great Duke Nicolai Nicolaevich the junior and the War Minister Polivanov. The latter expressed his credo to the French ambassador M. Paleologue in July 1916: “We must concentrate the whole blow of us on the German front; we will gain the decisive victory only when we beat the Germans.” 42 The Russian Headquarter proposed to leave against the Turkey on the eastern fronts sufficient forces to stop any counterpart offensive and “then strike (on the Western front) a decisive blow with strong combined forces in the direction which is most dangerous to the enemy and on the line where he is least prepared for it.” Alekseev thought that this direction was AustroHungary and he proposed to make it the main aim of the great Entente offensive in 1916. Russian Allies following this plan should concentrate at least 10 Army Corps on the Balkans and drive the AustroGerman forces out of Serbia. Then, coming to the Danube they should take the offensive against Budapest. All these actions should open for the Italian army the road to Vienna. The Russian Army should also attack AustroHungarians in the Budapest direction. Allies’ rear should be protected by the Serbians. He thought that the creation of occupation line BrestLitovsk Lemberg/Lvov/Budapest would produce a decisive change in the course of war and have an influence on the neutral Greece and Romania.43 Obviously these proposals were not concrete and they were not supported by the British Command. LieutenantGeneral A. Murray/ stressed that it is not clear if Alekseev computed two or three divisions in an Army Corps and thus the total force of 400 000 or 600 000 men. Even the latter figure did not guarantee the superiority before the offensive as the enemy could send here the Turkish, Austrian and German reinforcements. Murray was afraid that such a concentration of the Allies could not be hidden from the Central Powers and they could move these forces to the Balkans faster than Entente. Meanwhile Germany was not able to use so effectively the AustroHungarian and Balkan railroad system. The Germans themselves calculated that it was far easier for the Allies to move troops by sea to

42 Paleologue М. Tsarskaya Rossia nakanune revolutii . /Tsarist Russia before the Revolution/М.1991. P.152. 43 Liddell Hart Centre for military research, Robertson, I/9/52.

81

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS the Balkans than for them to move troops by rail. Troop shipment from France to Thessalonica averaged a week, from England about twelve days while transportation of any considerable German force to the Balkans needed more than a month. 44 But the British Admiralty considered it impossible to maintain by sea 400.000 men in Thessalonica. Besides, the British Command had great doubt in the possibilities of the successful offensive in such a geographically difficult region as the Balkans and of the passing such a broad and rapid river as the Danube. “The forcing of this line, Murray wrote and an invasion of Hungary in so far from being, as General Alekseef would have us believe, an easier operation than that of breaking through the main enemy fronts in France and Russia.” Coordination of the Allied efforts and military planning progressed very slowly. Personal factor played a great role in this. Ignatiev rightly noticed that though in wartime the personal contacts between Commanders in Chief became one of the key to success for Joffre and his Staff respect Grand Duke Nicolai Nicolaevich. Nicholas II never understood and simply did not know Alekseev, who by the way spoke no foreign languages. 45 For the English side he also was not a wellknown person. His personal contact with English representative in Russian Supreme Headquarters was not effective also by reason that mayorgeneral Sir John HanburyWilliams did not speak Russian. Suddenly, he was appointed here absolutely for himself in August 1914 and judging by his diary had “a very sketchy idea of the country and its people”. There was only one thing he knew for sure about Russia that his greatgrandfather Sir Charles HanburyWilliams was a British ambassador here in the times of Catherine II. He preferred to discuss the problems with the Emperor, “whose personal knowledge of England and the English language made him frequently prefer to go into these questions personally.”46 LieutenantColonel A. Knox the British attaché in Russia since 1911 knew this country, its language and army very well but his rank was not high enough for this post and he could not be promoted to general. However Knox first met Alekseev in Rovno in August 1914, and judging by his diary didn’t know much about him either main facts of Alekseev’s biography. It is very interesting to notice that Alekseev obviously did not know the facts about the struggle between the ‘easterners ‘and ‘westerners’ in England and France, while in January 1915 LloydGeorge made the similar proposals to his Government backed by Churchill and Kitchener. 47 At the same month and the same proposals were made to Viviani and Briand by General

44 ibidem 45 Ignatiev A.A. cited work. М.1952.V.II. P.217. 46 Ibidem. 47 Ibidem.

82

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

Gallieni and later to Poincare during his visit to front by general Franchet d’Esperey. 48

Russia: Lance Corporal, Private and 1st Lieutenant of Infantry, 191617 by D.R. Knötel

There is no doubt that a part of that proposals were and the situation on the Russian front and on the Balkans had greatly changed during 1915, but the absence in Alekseev’s plan even an inkling on the difference in opinions on the Balkan front case among the Russian allies which were far from being secrete. This absence turn us once again to the truth of Ignatiev’s words. Allies did not simply know each other, they did not

48 Liddell Hart Centre for military research, Robertson, I/9/52.

83

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS strive to the real understanding. The refuse to organize the offensive on AustroHungary led to the useless Entente attacks on the German sectors of the Central Powers front, British on the Somme, Russian between the lakes of Naroch and Vishnew. It is very interesting that at this very time when Murray explained to Alekseev unreality of the great allied offensive on the Balkans, he got a letter from Robertson (31 Dec. 1915), who wrote about the necessity of close coordination with the French, while the Russians were not mentioned. Robertson stressed: ”Our General Staff are unanimously of the opinion that this plan (for winning the war) should be based on seeking a decision in the West, and by defeating Germans, and they held it to be both useless and unsound to embark a campaign in the Balkans.” In fact this position was already stressed on the 30th of November 1915 in the General Staff Note devoted to the situation on the fronts: “A defeat in France is irreparable as far as French and British are concerned. A defeat in Egypt, in the Balkans, or even in Russia is of importance only in so far as it diminishes the FrancoBritish strength or sets free German forces for the employment in the West.” 49 Alekseev’s proposals therefore were doomed to gentle but decisive refusal. The Allied military leadership was sure in future victory. “Victory is assured to us, Robertson wrote, if only we make a reasonable and appropriate use of our superiority (men, money, munitions, ships) and we cannot make this use useless and until we have a carefully considered, complete and accepted plan upon both countries (Britain and France) can base their action.” 50 Underestimation of the Balkans as the weakest sector in the defence of the Central Powers led the allies to the unproper use of their sources. The Allied commandment could not get free of the nightmare of the lost Dardannelles expedition. Meanwhile the Entente needed the Passes as the point finally blocking the besieged Central Europe, but much more they were necessary for Russia, which was also practically blockaded. If we count such factors, that the only two Turkish ammunition factories were close to Constatinople, and the country was wholly depended on the German military assistance and its capital on the food supplies from the Balkans thanks to the bad communications, mass draft of the Anatolian peasants to the army. At this regard, Ludendorf noted that in 1917 Germany, AustroHungary and Ottoman Empire were saved from hunger only by the supplies from Romania. Therefore, we can say that the fates of two coalitions were being decided here, and the weakest country of the Central Powers Bulgaria became the key to overwhelm the Central Empires.

49 HanburyWilliams John, The Emperor Nicholas II. As I knew him . London.1922. p.1. 50 A.Knox, With the Russian army 1914-1917 . London.1921. Vol.I. p.49.

84

#H ISTORY &UNIFORMS

BOOK REVIEWS

Murphy, David; GenetRouffiac, Natalie (ed.): Franco-Irish Military Connections, 1559-1945 , Dublin, Four Courts Press, 302 p., ind., ISBN 978184682 1981, Euro 55,00 The connection between Ireland and France is an historic one, which is the most often enshrined in the military links. Distinctively Irish military units served the French with distinction from 1590 until the final exile of napoleon I. Thereafter, the military links was maintained by individual or by Irish units of the British forces fighting besides the French Army during WWI. His military involvement reached its peak in the 18 th century with the formation and service of the famed Irish Brigade. These essays sare based on a conference held at Chateau Vincennes in 2007 and represent the latest research on Franco Irish military connections. It is a notable and welcome addition to the historiography of FrancoIrish military history. (CP)

The Best on the Net A guide to the best websites of military history and uniformology.

Among the site devoted to Military History, the ones focusing to a single period have less visibility respect the generalist websites. However, this is not the case of the excellent pages managed by ‘Ralphus’: http://warsoflouisxiv.blogspot.it/ . Uniforms, reenactment meetings, flags, standards, miniatures and other updates concerning the marvellous age of Louis XIV.

85