Potter mentions in 'Renaissance France at War'
'For the Marignan campaign Bubenberg's troop of 3500 already in France was
reviewed at Lyon in July 1515 along with 5500-6000 Gelderlanders known as
the 'Black Band'*'. here he quotes from a primary source.
....'these were low German Gelderlanders commanded by Tavannes.....Du Bellay
noted that they were 'a fighting unit for 20 years' and they continued until
Pavia - here two primary sources are quoted from, also a potential nucleus of 1494?
He certainly quotes sources, but that does not mean these sources are correct.
The original "Grote Guard" was formed after Maximilian dissolved (or simply did not
pay) his army in 1493, after the treaty of Senlis made a standing army too expensive.
The unemployed German landsknechts choose one of theirs as leader, Neidhard Fuchs, who led the group into Geldern, because he deemed the duke of Geldern an enemy of the Emperor and so assumed Maximilian would not not object - Neidhard told this later Wiwolt von Schaumburg, who emplyed his guard from 98 for the Duke of Saxony and who left an extensive - if hard to read - autobiography.
The Duke of Geldern, faced with this thread, just hired the band and used it in its own wars, and for the next years the different Landsknecht bands played an infamous part in the policies of the region - with Fuchs usually managing to keep a core of his men employed.
They fought for the King of Sweden, the Dukes of East Frisia, Gelderland or Saxony, the count of Oldenburg and various other employers - often against
other bands, though not gladly, more often against peasant levys or town militia, for
in this decade Frisia lost its independence to the Duke of Saxony and many other nobles tried to subdue these peasant republics, too.
Fuchs was killed, trapped by an overwhelming force from Groningen on his way to Emden, in April 99, and Thomas Slentz took over the band. When the King of Denmark was hiring mercenaries to subdue Dithmarshen, Slentz had
8 Fähnlein with some 2800 men in his "Black Guard". Due to ineptitude of the
Danish King they had to fight at Hemmingstedt under conditions choosen by the defending peasants, and the invasion force was crushed decisively. At least 800 of th Guard, with most of the leaders and including the complete command staff, died. The remnants were immediatly reenlisted for service in Geldern, but the two surviving Fähnleins were no longer a comprehensive "band" but acted independent from now on. The payrolls tell us that only 2 Fähnlein of the 8 remained, but both were considerably larger then before, taking up surviving members of the other
six. In total, only 800 Landsknechts were missing, though it is possible that survivors from the feudal or royal contingent of army also enrolled, so losses may be higher. These units stayed in Saxon service for now.
When the new Duke of Saxon created an army for the subjugation of Frisia in 1514, he again created a "Black Guard" in his own territories, as his main force, and a "White Guard" from locally raised men - the latter never played a significant role. It is
possible - even likely - that this "Black Guard" had at least individuals who
had remained in Saxon service for the intermittend 14 years, but I have not found
records to support this (yet).
So these men were NOT raised in or even near Gelderland, but for Saxony in the Empire proper and then led to Frisia, where they earned a notoriously bad reputation, in the best (or worst) tradition of the original black guard.
Among many other misdeeds, they razed the home of a peasant that
would become the "Grote Piet", an infamous pirate and founder of the "Black hope of Amrum".
When this feud ended (for a time), the Black Band was paid and released on July 1st 1515. Several Frisian histories relate that the majority of these Landsknechts were then taken into service by Charles of Gueldern, who joined these to his own force and let his army via Drente through Geldern to Francis. According to the Encylopedia by Johann Samuel Ersch the Gueldric forces joined Francic at Rovata, not at Lyon, as they were late. Charles left them in Francis army under the command of his nephew, Claude de Lorraine, the later Duke of Guise (his mother was the sister of the Duke).
At this point a contemporary witness may well deem all of these to be Gelderlanders,
but to me it seems that the Gueldric forces were rather absorbed by the "Black band" (given the name), and the majority of these men were not Gelderlanders but from the Empire proper, coming from the typical recruiting grounds of Landsknechts.
Regardless their background, I am absolutely sure that THIS black band was
not at Therouanne. There might be another group, similarly named, though I
deem that unlikely. The first date the Black Band could have joined French service is late July 1515.
As there are some 17.000 Landsknechts reported for Marignano (and Potter gives 23000 for French service in 1515 in toral), it makes sense to assume that the 12000 assembled were simply joined by the 6000 of the Black Band.
Either way I think there's potential for the Black band to be involved in the 1514
invasion if it occured; the Duke of Guelders was anti Hapsburg and supported by the
French at that juncture.
As the black band was at this time still devastating East Frisia for the Duke of Saxony, I fear I must disagree here.
we know that the black band were destroyed in 1525.
Indeed. One of the great mysteries to me is that the name "Black band" is not
mentioned anywhere in French service in between 1515 and 1525 - at least I have
not found it yet.
What I DID find were two references in histories on the Netherlands - written
in Germany in the early 19th century - that the Black Bands did return to
Gueldern after Marignano and were involved in the figthing there. It may be
that some of the pretty gruelsom actions that are blamed on the "black band of
amrum" and the Groote Pier were actually committed by the remnant Black bands
in Gueldric service. Allegedly some 1500 were killed during the storming of
Asperen, which was totally razed afterwards - numbers I find unlikely from
a piracy band. After 1518 the references vanish here, too. It can be that
parts returned while others remained in French service.
There is some military action by Gueldern given for 1524, but not much.
One source:
Zwölf Bücher niederländischer Geschichten, Band 2, Heinrich Leo - P283, Halle 1835
When the French raised a new Landsknechts unit for service in Italy in 1527,
they again named it the "Black Band". The Venetian paid mercenaries were
called the "white band", if I remember my Arfaioli correct. Both would
perish to famine and sickness before Naples, though in this case the
survivors were integrated into the Imperial units without the hatred that
made Pavia such a bad affair.
Germans, Swiss and Low Country 'duitslanders' were all Germans as far as the rest of Europe was concerned back then.
Only modern army list compilers draw a distinction.
Contemporary Swiss, Gelderlanders, Frisians, Saxonians or Swabians also drew that distinction, though most saw themself more or less as Germans. They just had different allegiances, especially regarding the Empire and the Emperor. Especially the Swiss - who had given the Imperial call by Friedrich for war against Charles the Bold in 1475 as a reason (though more a pretext) for their declaration of war - considered themself independent. This view was more or less shared by the
Emperor and Empire after the Swabian war of 1499, a pretty bloody affair.
'Black Band' is as common a name for a mercenary company as 'city' is for a football team,
'Bande Nere' Anyone? Possibly in the former they had a single black band on their standard,
Giovanni della Bande Nere had a number of them on his, hence the name being applied.
Not definite of course, but possible.
The "Black Guard" of 1494-1500 called itself the "Grote" (large) or sometimes "German" guard after its creation (to differ it from the Welsch (French/Burgund), English or Italians), and allegedly used the "Black" only after Wiwolt von Schaumburg (acting for Albrecht, the Duke of Saxony) paid them once with mainly black clothing.
The 1514 Guard was probably called "Black" in remembrance to the first unit, when the new Duke of Saxony created it. At the same time he created a "White" guard from local recruits, but that one never had the same military renown as the "Black" guard that included veteran warbands in his service, most likely many individualy among them who did serve in the first band.
That said, "black" was a usual distinguishing name - probably not as "city", but as
"lion" or "guard". There were several other "black" units around, from the dissolved
black army of Corvinus up to small groups with revolutionary background.
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