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Albrecht of Brandenburg, Kriegs Ordenung, on the management of an army, in German, illuminated manuscript on paper
Description
Provenance
This is the long-lost and hitherto unsuspected missing first volume of Berlin, Staatsbibliothek, Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Ms boruss. fol. 441, which was published in facsimile and transcription in 2006, in the belief that it was the whole text (H.-J. Bömelburg, B. Chiari and M. Thomae, eds., Die Kriegsordnung des Markgrafen zu Brandenburg Ansbach und Herzog zu Preussen, Albrecht des Älteren – Königsburg 1555, 2 vols., Braunschweig, 2006). The Berlin volume is on military strategy and troop movements. The present text is the fundamental and in many ways more interesting introduction, on equipping and managing an army, and it is apparently unique, unrecorded, and unpublished.
provenance
Illuminated for Albrecht of Brandenburg (1525-1568), first Duke of Prussia, Elector and Margrave of Brandenburg, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, patron of science, founder of the university of Königsburg, the first German head of state to embrace Lutheranism; with his arms and portrait on pages 4-5. Although not explicitly stated, it is evident that Albrecht is to be understood as the author, and that this and the Berlin volume were the duke's own copies. The second volume was completed in 1555 in Königsburg (on the Baltic, former capital of East Prussia, now Kalingrad, or Królewiec, between Poland and Lithuania). Volume II remained in the family and it has the armorial ex libris of Georg Albrecht Markgraf von Brandenburg-Bayreuth (1617-1666).
(2) The subject of a printed monograph, Description of an Important Manuscript on Military Science, written for Albert of Brandenburg, 1st Duke of Prussia, in the Possession of Bernard Quaritch, August 1908, but the manuscript was possibly sold before publication of the description, which appears to be very rare.
(3) From a private collection; and by descent to the present owner.
Condition
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Catalogue Note
text
The sixteenth century marked the great change from essentially medieval chivalric and feudal warfare into the creation of modern professional armies, based on gunpowder and scientific strategy. The political background here is the defence of Central Europe against the advancing armies of Turks. The text is attributed, either literally or courteously, to Albrecht of Brandenburg himself. It is derived from a tradition of manuals on warfare, which extend from the fourth-century De re militari of Vegetius to renaissance works by Michael Ott von Achterdingen (1479-1532) and Leonhard Fronsperger (c. 1520-1575). The latest date mentioned in the text is a proclamation dated at Villach in Carinthia on 4 June 1552 (p. 513), naming Charles V as the present emperor (he abdicated in 1556). Volume II in Berlin is described in R. Leng, Ars Belli, Deutsche taktische und kriegstechnische Bilderhandschriften und Traktate im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert, II, 2002, pp. 51-55. That part was also translated into Polish by Maciej Strubicz in 1561, which is known in two manuscripts. As far as we can tell, the present text is unique, at least in the form given here.
The verse title-page here reads, "Kriegs ordenung bin ich genant / wer kriegt und ist in mir bekant / Der kan nach der Zeit und gestalt / all sein schlachtordnung machen balt / Auch brauchen manchen vortheil gut / dem feindt zustillen sein obermut", 'I am called the rules of war: whoever makes war and knows me, then in time and fashion can form all his battle order, and use me also to other good advantage, to quell the arrogance of the enemy'. The preface on p. 7 is addressed to all warlike princes, lord, generals, captains, lieutenants, and to the commanders, officers, and common soldiers in their regiments. The author says that if the princes and potentates of the fatherland had cared more about their subjects and their protection, rather than self-indulgence, then the frontiers of Christendom would have stretched further and now be less molested by barbarians.
The text is in six books. Book I opens on p. 13. It speaks of the philosophy of war, and the necessity of fighting the Turks (p. 32), the discipline and strength of the Turkish armies (pp. 34-40), and how the Christian and Muslim armies compare (pp. 41-49). It deals with the various officers, beginning with the supreme commander, who needs to surround himself with skilled an experienced soldiers. It describes the benefits which the supreme commander may take personally from victory (all captured castles, for example). The supreme commander in his picture on p. 54 is clearly Albrecht himself, wearing the Prussian colours of black and white. The treatise continues with accounts of duties and role of the commanding general, his staff and what they should be paid – 12 orderlies, for example a shield-bearer, a chief scribe, a Christian preacher (24 guilders a month), an interpreter, pipers and drummers, and so on, to a full cost of 362 guilders a month for the commanding general's personal staff. Accounts are given for the duties, qualifications and expenses of the lieutenant general, councillors of war, recruiting officers, the paymaster, the quartermaster general (whose duties include provisions for horses as well as people), the provost marshal (who was there to enforce discipline) and the herald. All these fall within the entourage of the supreme commander and the commanding general, and cost a total of 2,126 guilders a month.
Book II begins on p. 103. It is concerned with the officers of the cavalry regiment. The first of these is the field marshal. He too is shown here with the heraldic colours of Prussia (p. 105). His personal staff includes a scribe, a surgeon, a preacher, an interpreter, and a trumpeter. He is entitled to two carriages, which cost 24 guilders each a month to maintain. Other cavalry officers include a lieutenant field marshal, sentry officer, cavalry quartermaster, a cornet (who carries the flag for a cavalry captain, and should be well-bred, 'but not foolhardy', p. 134), a burning-master, who helps his prince by setting fire to the enemy's towns and castles (but must not distress the local peasant population), various officers for the enforcement of discipline, and so on, which, assuming a cavalry of 10,000 mounted horses, together with supply trains and all staff, will cost a grand total of 155,514 guilders a month. There are interesting tables from p. 161 onwards on the huge amount of space that a cavalry regiment requires for marching, manoeuvring and camping.
Book III is on regiments of artillery (p. 171). It opens with an account of an arsenal, how it should be constructed and made secure, both from accidents and treachery. It describes in detail the different cannons, mortars and other guns, their weight and fire power, field guns, hand guns, even hunting guns, and the methods of safely transporting gunpowder and its ingredients (always to be kept in separate barrels), ammunition, materials for ignition, tools for repairs, harnesses and horse trappings, and so on. Advice is given on the different armaments to use in various situations, including sieges, open battles, etc. From p. 190 the manuscript lists the sizes, weight and cost of operating specific guns. Those for sieges include sharp-massacres, basilisques, nightingales, singers, great cannons, mortars, and fire-snakes. Other guns are suitable for open battle or in defending a wagon circle. The regiment will also require armour, pikes (10,000 are recommended, in ten wagons, half mounted with metal tips, half unmounted), halberds, cudgel- and feather-pikes, tournament lances, hatchets, picks, shovels, wheel barrows (for carrying cannonballs on the battlefield), storm ladders, fire-pans, stretchers, lanterns, bridge-building equipment and portable pontoons, and 600 wagons, all of which will cost 20,832 guilders a month. In addition, there are salaries for officers including the master of the ordnance and his staff, gun-masters, the provost of the artillery, powder-watchmen, trench-master, harness-maker, cooper, and so on. All this brings the cost of taking the artillery into war to 67,806 guilders a month. There is an interesting army custom recorded on pp. 307-8. If someone has been accidentally killed in a brawl among soldiers (about money, slander, or girls, 'as is frequently the case') the perpetrator can seek sanctuary in the artillery and he will not be prosecuted, unless he has killed a superior officer, or has committed treason.
Book IV is on the infantry (p. 311). Again, the text describes the various officers, their specific duties and privileges, and their salaries. There are sections on the implementation of marshal justice. On pp. 344-48 the text describes markets and the sale of produce when the army is camped for a long time in one place, specifying the profits that a trader may take on wine, bread, meat, butter, eggs, fish, and so on. Pages 350-51 are on the supervision of the trains of whores and boys who follow and army, on how they must be kept from interrupting the marching of troops, or use straw, lumber or other material intended for the soldiers. Pages 386-87 describe the life of an army surgeon, who should be properly trained, not merely a barber's assistant. He needs a house where he can tend the sick and wounded. The total cost of the infantry regiment, including the hire of mercenaries, is 320,478 guilders a month.
Book V begins on p. 421. This is on the bureaucratic administration of an army. It describes oaths of loyalty, commissions, and contracts of employment. Some actual examples are given, including examples of commissions issued by Charles V (pp. 507 and 513, dated 1552 and 1527), King Ferdinand of Hungary and Bohemia (p. 523, dated 1541), Count Friedrich von Fürstenberg, commander against the Turks (p. 526, dated 1541), King Christian of Denmark (p. 583, dated 1523), and others. A very interesting section is a translation from Latin into German of the statutes of warfare of Henry VIII, king of England (pp. 544-82). They include rules on the protection of the Holy Sacrament during warfare, on the noises made by the enemy, against brawling, on the illegal ransoming of prisoners, on censure of anyone not wearing the Cross of Saint George, and so on.
Book VI is on court marshals (p. 649). This is a vivid and detailed account. It includes the appointment of a jury, the questions judge should ask them, the examination of witnesses, the penalties of perjury, the arrest of suspects, etc. Special laws apply for the trial and, if necessary, execution of mercenaries, known as 'running the pikes'. It takes place at dawn. The defendant may confess to a priest. Drums are sounded. The prisoner is unchained, and must run through two lines of his fellow soldiers, who stab him with their pikes, until he is dead.
The illustrations are:
1, page 4, The arms of Albrecht of Brandenburg, surmounted by three crests of Brandenburg, Prussia, and as elector of the empire, 291 mm. by 177 mm.; 2, page 5, Albrecht of Brandenburg as supreme commander, on horseback, riding through a landscape with attendant footmen, 294 mm. by 188 mm.; 3, page 54, the commanding general, with four attendants, riding past a river in a landscape, 294 mm. by 192 mm.; 4, page 80, the lieutenant general, with a retinue of four halberdiers, in a landscape, on a path beside a river, 293 mm. by 190 mm.; 5, page 84, a war council being held in a tent, other tents behind, flying flags, 293 mm. by 190 mm.; 6, page 88, the paymaster in his tent, seated with his clerk, distributing silver coins to an employee, with a soldier on guard outside, 292 mm. by 190 mm.; 7, page 92, the supply train of the cavalry, wagons with bread, wine, geese, etc., with a cowherd, butcher and cook by the distant camp, 292 mm. by 190 mm.; 8, page 95, the provost marshal and his orderlies, in a rustic landscape with villages behind, 293 mm. by 190 mm.; 9, page 98, the herald and his two trumpeters, in a windy landscape at dusk, 293 mm. by 190 mm.; 10, page 104, the field marshal and his retinue, in black armour, advancing to the right, 295 mm. by 191 mm.; 11, page 112, the lieutenant field marshal, turning back to face his cavalry as he leads them past a lake, 293 mm. by 190 mm.; 12, page 115, the sentry officer of the cavalry, with horsemen guarding a camp by hiding behind rocks, 294 mm. by 191 mm.; 13, page 122, the quartermaster of the cavalry directing the construction of a camp, with digging of trenches and the erection of tents, 294 mm. by 191 mm.; 14, page 126, the 'Rittmeister' or cavalry captain, with three pikemen in a hilly landscape, 293 mm. by 192 mm.; 15, page 133, the cornet of the cavalry, riding beside a river carrying the Prussian banner, 293 mm. by 192 mm.; 16, page 140, the burning-master of the cavalry, with his retinue, and a castle burning in the background, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 17, page 142, the police sergeant and his assistants keeping the marching cavalry in order, marshalling them into two tightly rectangular formations, on the edge of a village, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 18, page 144, the provost of the knighthood, intervening in a duel between two fighting noblemen, all on horseback, in an evening landscape, 296 mm. by 190 mm.; 19, page 146, cavalrymen arriving at warehouses for supplies, at the edge of a town, 295 mm. by 191 mm.; 20, page 152, four oriental horsemen from Podolia, in the Carpathian mountains, in Russia, 294 mm. by 192 mm.; 21, page 172, an arsenal, a commander inspecting cannons and ordnance outside a storeroom in a castle yard, 292 mm. by 190 mm.; 22, page 186, the artillery setting out for war, six trains of horses hauling canons and wagons of cannon balls, 292 mm. by 191 mm.; 23, page 244, the chief master of the ordnance and his staff, discussing two cannons, beside a lake, 295 mm. by 191 mm.; 24, page 255, the inspector of the artillery giving orders, one man writing it down, others preparing guns, 294 mm. by 191 mm.; 25, page 262, the gun-master directing the loading of cannons, 292 mm. by 190 mm.; 26, page 268, the provost of the artillery directing the transport of gunpowder, 293 mm. by 192 mm.; 27, page 272, the ordnance assistants urging on three trains of horses pulling guns and wagons of cannon balls, 294 mm. by 192 mm.; 28, page 275, the power-watchmen keeping guard over the trains of explosives at night, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 29, page 277, the wagon circle in defensive position in front of a camp, one gun going off, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 30, page 281, the trench-master directing the digging of fortifications in a field near a walled city, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 31, page 285, the harness-master directing the transport and unloading of equipment for the horses, 293 mm. by 189 mm.; 32, page 290, reserve horses being led along beside the wagon train, in a landscape, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 33, page 293, runners at work preparing the guns, jacking and winching them into precise position, 294 mm. by 190 mm.; 34, page 295, a platoon of trench-builders marching information with shovels over their shoulders, past a fantastic castle on an arched rock, 293 mm. by 191 mm.; 35, page 300, craftsmen mending the guns, and wheelwrights repairing the cannon wheels, 293 mm. by 192 mm.; 36, page 312, mercenaries gathered in a circle around their commanding general, acclaiming him to the sound of drums and the waving of flags, 292 mm. by 190 mm.; 37, page 315, the general of the infantry on horseback, with his retinue on foot, 295 mm. by 190 mm.; 38, page 323, the lieutenant-general of the infantry, with his retinue beside a stormy sea, 294 mm. by 191 mm.; 39, page 325, the army judge, with his staff, a clerk, a beadle and a boy, 293 mm. by 192 mm.; 40, page 331, the quartermaster of the infantry, on a hill before an army camp, 298 mm. by 190 mm.; 41, page 334, the sentry-sergeant of the infantry, directing a group of soldiers, 287 mm. by 184 mm.; 42, page 337, the supply-sergeant on horseback directing the arrival of wagons of barrels into the camp, 285 mm. by 184 mm.; 43, page 340, the burning-sergeant receiving a petition from two peasants, whose farm has been set alight illegally, 288 mm. by 185 mm.; 44, page 343, the provost of the infantry, receiving a complaint from two civilians about bad behaviour by the troops, 286 mm. by 185 mm.; 45, page 349, the whore-sergeant, leading a huge group of women following an army as it marches through a windy landscape, 288 mm. by 185 mm.; 46, page 352, the infantry captain leading his company over a crossroads, 288 mm. by 183 mm.; 47, page 360, the lieutenant of the infantry, on a hillside above a river, 287 mm. by 184 mm.; 48, page 362, the ensign of the infantry company holding a vast banner, 287 mm. by 183 mm.; 49, page 367, the sergeant of the infantry company, near a river, 287 mm. by 185 mm.; 50, page 372, two corporals in conversation, 285 mm. by 185 mm.; 51, page 376, the company leader, walking near a pond, 287 mm. by 184 mm.; 52, page 379, the quartermaster-sergeant directing his men to visit warehouses, 290 mm. by 188 mm.; 53, page 382, the company scribe, sitting at a rustic table under a thatched roof writing a letter for two men, 290 mm. by 185 mm.; 54, page 385, the company surgeon performing a head operation on a wounded man in a camp, with a brass dish on a pole, to indicate the presence of the surgeon, 290 mm. by 185 mm.; 55, page 388, two orderlies in conversation, 290 mm. by 185 mm.; 56, page 390, the piper and drummer, 290 mm. by 186 mm.; 57, page 394, the regular, or 'lansquenet', mercenary, in a landscape full of castles, 289 mm. by 189 mm.; 58, page 422, the administration of the oath to the commanding general, the troops standing in a huge circle raising their right hands, 288 mm. by 185 mm.; 59, page 649, a court martial, men seated on benches around a judge, with troops behind, in a landscape, 287 mm. by 185 mm.; and 60, page 708, the execution of a mercenary under the law of long pikes, the prisoner being driven between two rows of troops with staves, 288 mm. by 184 mm.