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The Black Band was a formation of 16th century mercenaries, largely pikemen, probably serving as Landsknechts. They fought in the French army for ten years, seeing service in several notable engagements, including the Battle of Marignano and the Battle of Pavia.
The Black Band was created as the Black Guard in 1514 by George, Duke of Saxony, to fight for his claims in East Frisia against Edzard I, Count of East Frisia, in what was to become known as the Saxon feud.
It is not clear whether the band was newly founded or a continuation of the Great or Black Guard that had been founded in 1488 by Landsknechts formerly in Imperial service with Maximilian in Flanders. It fought in Northern Germany and Denmark, often against rebellious peasants, until its defeat at the Battle of Hemmingstedt on 17 February 1500. It is possible that at least some Fähnlein of the Black Guard survived during these fourteen years and were part, if not core, of the new formation.
This Black Guard took part in the campaign in East Frisia in 1514 and devastated large parts of it in the process. When the participation of George of Saxony in the Saxon Feud ended in 1515 at the mediation of Charles II, Duke of Guelders and Francis I of France, Charles of Guelders hired them and led them in support of Francis to Italy, where they entered French service. There they joined an existing contingent of 12,000 Landsknechts in French service, originally drafted for a planned invasion of England under the Yorkist pretender Richard de la Pole, that was aborted after the Anglo-French peace treaty of St Germain-en-Laye in 1514. Many of these Landsknechts were originally sent "on loan" to the French by Maximilian between 1512 and 1513 for service in Italy, notably at Brescia and Ravenna, and had defied his recall to Imperial service. Some of the members of the Black Band also chose not to enter French service and heed that recall.[ clarification needed ]
The distinction between both contingents gets lost and most sources call the whole French Landsknecht contingent the "Black Band" or "Black Legion" at the time of the Battle of Marignano.
The full Landsknecht contingent of Francis I. army in 1515 was initially 17,000 men strong, composed of 12,000 pikemen, 2,000 arquebusiers, 2,000 two-handed swordsmen, and 1,000 halberdiers. Landsknecht contingents are organized in companies or Fähnlein of up to 500, with actual numbers often being lower than the nominal full strength.
Captain of the Black Band in 1525 was Georg Langenmantel, but it was also placed under the command of French officers, such as at Pavia, when it was nominally led by François de Lorraine and Richard de la Pole. By the time of the Battle of Pavia, they are described by Delbrück as 5,000 strong, by Konstam as 4,000 strong.
The Black Band marched into Italy in 1515, led by Asche von Cramm, in time to fight alongside King Francis I at the Battle of Marignano, where, defending the ditch and supported by artillery, they nonetheless recoiled from the attacking Swiss, but did not break. Eventually they were relieved by the charge of the French gendarme heavy cavalry into the flank of the Swiss attack column.
Ten years later they were still in French service and appeared as the lead French infantry square at the Battle of Pavia, led by Francois de Lorraine and Richard de la Pole. In this battle they found themselves heavily outnumbered by two blocks of 12,000 Imperial Landsknechts opposing them, led by Georg von Frundsberg and Max Sittich von Ems. Before the battle Georg Langenmantel, Obrist of the band, stepped out and tried to challenge Frundsberg or Ems to single combat, but was killed by the Imperials in response. Struck in both flanks -- “seize[d] … as if with tongs”—and hacked to pieces, the Black Band was killed almost to the last man, including both of their leaders, and ceased to exist.
It was refounded and fought with a strength of 4,000 under Lautrec in the campaign against the Imperial army in Naples. The destruction of that army in August 1528 saw some 2,000 survivors, many of whom found service with the Imperial Landsknechts.
The Landsknechte, also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were Germanic mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line was formed by Doppelsöldner renowned for their use of Zweihänder and arquebus. Originally organized by Emperor Maximilian I and Georg von Frundsberg, they formed the bulk of the Holy Roman Empire's Imperial Army from the late 1400s to the early 1600s, fighting in the Habsburg-Valois wars, the Habsburg-Ottoman wars, and the European wars of religion.
The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies.
Swiss mercenaries (Reisläufer) were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially the armies of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Later Middle Ages into the Age of Enlightenment. Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss' advantages. Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican.
The Battle of Marignano was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai and took place on 13–14 September 1515, near the town now called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan. It pitted the French army, composed of the best heavy cavalry and artillery in Europe, led by Francis I, newly crowned King of France, against the Old Swiss Confederacy, whose mercenaries until that point were regarded as the best medieval infantry force in Europe. With the French were German landsknechts, bitter rivals of the Swiss for fame and renown in war, and their late arriving Venetian allies.
The War of the League of Cognac (1526–30) was fought between the Habsburg dominions of Charles V—primarily the Holy Roman Empire and Spain—and the League of Cognac, an alliance including the Kingdom of France, Pope Clement VII, the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of England, the Duchy of Milan, and the Republic of Florence.
The Battle of Novara was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on 6 June 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy. A French attacking force was routed by allied Milanese–Swiss troops, the consequence of which was that France was forced to withdraw entirely from Italy.
Georg von Frundsberg was a German military and Landsknecht leader in the service of the Holy Roman Empire and Imperial House of Habsburg. An early modern proponent of infantry tactics, he established his reputation in active service during the Italian Wars under Emperor Maximilian I and his successor Charles V.
The Battle of Bicocca or La Bicocca was fought on 27 April 1522, during the Italian War of 1521–26. A combined French and Venetian force under Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, was decisively defeated by an Imperial–Spanish and Papal army under the overall command of Prospero Colonna. Lautrec then withdrew from Lombardy, leaving the Duchy of Milan in Imperial hands.
The Battle of Ceresole took place on 11 April 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–46, outside the village of Ceresole d'Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy. A French army, commanded by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, defeated the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, commanded by Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis del Vasto. Despite having inflicted substantial casualties on the Imperial troops, the French subsequently failed to exploit their victory by taking Milan.
The Italian War of 1521–1526, sometimes known as the Four Years' War, was a part of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Francis I of France and the Republic of Venice against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Henry VIII of England, and the Papal States. It arose from animosity over the election of Charles as Emperor in 1519–1520 and from Pope Leo X's need to ally with Charles against Martin Luther.
Charles de Bourbon was a French prince du sang and military commander at the court of Francis I of France. He is notable as the paternal grandfather of King Henry IV of France.
The Black Bands, sometimes referred to as the Black Bands of Giovanni, was a company of Italian mercenaries formed and commanded by Giovanni de' Medici during the Italian Wars; their name came from their black mourning colors for the death of Pope Leo X. Composed primarily of arquebusiers—including Europe's first mounted arquebusiers—the company was, by the Italian War of 1521, considered to be the finest Italian troops available. Initially in the service of Charles de Lannoy and the Pope, the company fought at Bicocca in 1522 and the Sesia in 1523. A pay dispute led to it transferring its allegiance to Francis I of France; it took part in the battle of Pavia under the command of Richard de la Pole, White Rose.
Pike and shot was a historical infantry tactical formation that first appeared during the Italian Wars of the late 15th and early 16th centuries, prior to the development of the bayonet in the late 17th century. This type of formation combined soldiers armed with pikes and soldiers armed with arquebuses and/or muskets. Other weapons such as swords, halberds, and crossbows were also sometimes implemented.
The Guelders Wars were a series of conflicts in the Low Countries between the Duke of Burgundy, who controlled Holland, Flanders, Brabant, and Hainaut on the one side, and Charles, Duke of Guelders, who controlled Guelders, Groningen, and Frisia on the other side.
Francois de Lorraine (1506–1525) was the Lord of Lambesc, and a commander in the French army under Francis I of France. He was a son of René II, Duke of Lorraine and Philippa of Guelders. He commanded the Black Band of renegade Landsknechts at the Battle of Pavia, and in the bitter combat that ensued between the Black Band and Frundsberg's Imperial Landsknechts, Lorraine was killed.
The Fähnlein was an infantry unit approximately equivalent to the company or battalion which was used in parts of Europe during the Middle Ages. The size of the unit varied; originally a Fähnlein could consist of as many as 1,000 soldiers, but numbers were generally less, around 500. It was sub-divided into sections or Rotten of between 6 and 12 men.
The Italian campaign of 1524–1525 was the final significant action of the Italian War of 1521–1526.
The Battle of La Motta, also known as the Battle of Schio, Battle of Vicenza or Battle of Creazzo, took place at Schio, in the Italian region of Veneto, Republic of Venice, on 7 October 1513, between the forces of the Republic of Venice and a combined force of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and was a significant battle of the War of the League of Cambrai. A Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano was decisively defeated by the Spanish/Imperial army commanded by Ramón de Cardona and Fernando d'Ávalos.
The Battle of the Sesia or Battle of the Sesia River, took place near the Sesia River (Latin: Sesites or Sessite), situated in north-western Italy, Lombardy, on 30 April 1524, where the Imperial–Spanish forces commanded by Don Carlos de Lannoy and the marquis of Pescara decisively defeated the French army under the Admiral Guillaume Gouffier, Lord of Bonnivet and Francis de Bourbon, Comte de St. Pol, during the Italian War of 1521–1526.
The Saxon feud was a military conflict in the years 1514–1517 between the East Frisian Count Edzard I, 'West Frisian' rebels, the city of Groningen, and Charles II, Duke of Guelders on the one hand and the Imperial Frisian hereditary governor George, Duke of Saxony – replaced by Charles V of Habsburg in 1515 – and 24 German princes. The war took place predominantly on East Frisian soil and destroyed large parts of the region.
