The Landsknecht were Mercenary soldiers of the Holy Roman Empire, famed for their bravery and the resplendence of their fashion. In addition to their iconic attire they carried a distinctive arsenal of weapons from the early to mid-16th century. The wielded halberds, large two-handed swords called Zweihanders, and iconic one-handed swords known as Katzbalgers. Here at Arms and Armor we've been making various versions of these weapons for decades, making sure that modern day Landsknecht are as well armed as their Renaissance forebears.
Engraving by Albrecht Durer, Death and a Landsknecht
Landsknecht and Kampfraus of the Bristol Renaissance Festival
Recruited by the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian the First, they represented the cutting edge of military capacity in the late 15th and early 16th centuries and famously ran roughshod over the conventional militias of the time. Below you can check out some examples of Landsknecht arms that we have made, some of which were custom orders, others are standard catalogue items.
A well armed Landsknecht in an engraving by Urs Graf
Nathan Clough, Ph.D. is Vice President of Arms and Armor and a member of the governing board of The Oakeshott Institute. He is a historical martial artist and a former university professor of cultural geography. He has given presentations on historical arms at events including Longpoint and Combatcon, and presented scholarly papers at, among others, The International Congress on Medieval Studies.
Craig Johnson is the Production Manager of Arms and Armor and Secretary of The Oakeshott Institute. He has taught and published on the history of arms, armor and western martial arts for over 30 years. He has lectured at several schools and Universities, WMAW, HEMAC, 4W, and ICMS at Kalamazoo. His experiences include iron smelting, jousting, theatrical combat instruction and choreography, historical research, European martial arts and crafting weapons and armor since 1985