Misplaced Pages

#973026

62-597: The term Gugler is derived from the appearance of the knights dressed for winter, wearing hounskull ( German : hundsgugel ) helmets and cowl -like hoods, Gugle (or Gügle ) being a Swiss German term for cowl or point. During lulls in the Hundred Years' War , unemployed knights and soldiers of free companies often rampaged and plundered the French countryside until they were again engaged and paid by French or English overlords to do their bidding. De Coucy gathered

124-468: A great helm . The bascinet is differentiated from the cervelliere by having a higher, pointed skull. By about 1330 the bascinet had been extended lower down the sides and back of the head. Within the next 20 years it had extended to the base of the neck and covered the cheeks. The bascinet appeared quite suddenly in the later 13th century and some authorities see it as being influenced by Byzantine or Middle-Eastern Muslim helmets. The bascinet, without

186-510: A bascinet with a type of detachable nasal (nose protector) called the bretache or bretèche made of sheet metal. The bretache was attached to the aventail at the chin, and it fastened to a hook or clamp on the brow of the helmet. According to Boeheim, this type of defence was prevalent in Germany, appearing around 1330 and fading from use around 1370. The bretache was also used in Italy; one of

248-470: A high degree of protection, but at the cost of very restricted vision and agility. The lighter types of bascinet gave less protection but allowed greater freedom of movement and better vision. The practicality of a man-at-arms being able to take off a great helm during a battle, if he wanted to continue fighting wearing just a bascinet, is unclear. By the mid 14th century the great helm was probably largely relegated to tournament use. However, Henry V of England

310-550: A mercenary army of such knights to enforce his inheritance rights versus his Habsburg relatives. De Coucy's goal was to gain the Sundgau , Breisgau and the county of Ferrette . According to a treaty they had belonged to his Habsburg mother Catherine , daughter of Leopold I, Duke of Austria , but were retained by her relatives Albert III and Leopold III . The French king Charles V encouraged and financed de Coucy as he hoped to move these free companies off French lands. There

372-696: A month of the battle, in December 1315, the Confederates renewed the oath of alliance made in 1291, initiating a period of growth within the Confederacy . In March 1316 Emperor Louis IV confirmed the rights and privileges of the Forest Cantons . However, Leopold prepared another attack against the Confederacy. In response, Schwyz attacked some of the Habsburg lands and Unterwalden marched into

434-401: A more pointed apex to the skull, and it extended downwards at the rear and sides to afford protection for the neck. A mail curtain ( aventail or camail) was usually attached to the lower edge of the helmet to protect the throat, neck and shoulders. A visor (face guard) was often employed from c. 1330 to protect the exposed face. Early in the fifteenth century, the camail began to be replaced by

496-425: A new memorial at the site of battle. There was some dispute as to the appropriate location (not least because the "battle" was an attack on a marching column stretched out for some 2 kilometres), with both the cantons of Schwyz and of Zug claiming the site of the battle. A monument was eventually inaugurated in 1908 at the southern shore of Lake Ägeri, in the village of Hauptsee , in the canton of Zug. On this occasion,

558-407: A new type of visor used with the bascinet, the "klappvisor" or " klappvisier ". The open-faced bascinet, even with the mail aventail, still left the exposed face vulnerable. However, from about 1330, the bascinet was often worn with a "face guard" or movable visor . The "klappvisor" or klappvisier was a type of visor employed on bascinets from around 1330–1340; this type of visor was hinged at

620-428: A plate gorget gave rise to the form of helmet known as the "great bascinet". Many other scholars consider that the term should be reserved for bascinets where the skull, and baviere – if present, was fixed to the gorget, rendering the whole helmet immobile. Early gorgets were wide, copying the shape of the earlier aventail, however, with the narrowing of the neck opening the gorget plates had to be hinged to allow

682-473: A plate metal gorget , giving rise to the so-called "great bascinet". The first recorded reference to a bascinet, or bazineto , was in the Italian city of Padua in 1281, when it is described as being worn by infantry . It is believed that the bascinet evolved from a simple iron skullcap, known as the cervelliere , which was worn with a mail coif , as either the sole form of head protection or beneath

SECTION 10

#1732787482974

744-512: A relatively flat profile with little projection from the face. They had eye-slits surrounded by a flange to help deflect weapon points. From around 1380 the visor, by this time considerably larger than earlier forms, was drawn out into a conical point like a muzzle or a beak , and was given the names "hounskull" (from the German hundsgugel  – "hound's hood") or "pig-faced" (in modern parlance). The protruding muzzle gave better protection to

806-455: A series of night attacks, first defeating the Guglers at Buttisholz on Christmas night . The canton of Bern subsequently formed a citizen army, killed several Guglers with apparently only minor losses at Ins on the night of 25-26 December, and led a decisive attack on Fraubrunnen Abbey on the night of 26-27 December. Owain barely escaped, but another 800 knights were slain. These setbacks,

868-471: A single point in the centre of the brow of the helmet skull. It was particularly favoured in Germany, but was also used in northern Italy where it is shown in a Crucifixion painted in the chapter hall of Santa Maria Novella in Florence , c. 1367. Its use in Italy seems to have ceased around 1380, but continued in Germany into the 15th century. The klappvisor has been characterised as being intermediate between

930-483: A version of the great bascinet, usually with a cage-like visor, remained in use for foot combat in tournaments into the 16th century. Battle of Morgarten 47°05′24″N 8°37′59″E  /  47.090°N 8.633°E  / 47.090; 8.633 Forest Cantons ( Swiss Confederacy ): The Battle of Morgarten took place on 15 November 1315, when troops of Schwyz , supported by their allies of Uri and Unterwalden , ambushed an Austrian army under

992-447: A visor, continued to be worn underneath larger "great helms" (also termed heaumes ). Unlike the cervelliere, which was worn in conjunction with, often underneath, a complete hood of mail called the coif, early bascinets were typically worn with a neck and throat defence of mail that was attached to the lower edge of the helmet itself; this mail "curtain" was called a camail or aventail. The earliest camails were riveted directly to

1054-495: A visor, was the most common helmet worn in Europe during most of the 14th century and the first half of the 15th century, including during the Hundred Years' War . Contemporary illustrations show a majority of knights and men-at-arms wearing one of a few variants of the bascinet helmet. Indeed, so ubiquitous was the use of the helmet that "bascinet" became an alternative term for a man-at-arms. Though primarily associated with use by

1116-636: Is disagreement about the size of the army De Coucy put together, Tuchman estimates them to be a force of about 10,000 men, a contemporary Alsatian document names 16,000, and other writings place the numbers much higher. As the army was plundering in groups it may not have presented a unified entity. The mercenary forces assembled in the Alsace and plundered the Sundgau in October and November 1375. Forty villages were wrecked and people were killed or raped. Leopold

1178-577: Is now known as Morgarten, but this is in reference to the battle. There is some evidence to suggest that the attack at Morgarten involved the first recorded use of halberds against knights, the weapon that would become iconic of the Old Swiss Confederacy. Matthias of Neuenburg writing in Latin around 1350 uses the term jesa to describe a type of polearm used by the Confederates; this has been interpreted as referencing an early form of

1240-401: Is over the distance of 300m. In addition, a pistol competition over a distance of 50m was introduced in 1957, taking place in the territory of Schwyz, near the battle chapel. A large celebration for the 600-year anniversary of the battle was organised in 1915, held in two locations at the chapel and the monument. In the context of the 650-year anniversary in 1965, efforts were made to preserve

1302-481: Is reputed to have worn a great helm over a bascinet at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. He was recorded as receiving a blow to the head during the battle, which damaged his helmet; the double protection afforded by wearing two helmets may have saved his life. By the middle of the 14th century, most knights had discarded the great helm altogether in favor of a fully visored bascinet. The bascinet, both with and without

SECTION 20

#1732787482974

1364-607: The Bernese Oberland . Neither side was able to prevail against the other, and in 1318 the isolated Forest Cantons negotiated a ten-month truce with the Habsburgs, which was extended several times. By 1323 the Forest Cantons had made alliances with Bern , and Schwyz had signed an alliance with Glarus for protection from the Habsburgs. Within 40 years cities including Lucerne , Zug and Zürich had also joined

1426-408: The bavière (contemporary usage was not precise). This bavière was directly attached by rivets to the skull of the bascinet. The combined skull and bavière could rotate within the upper part of the gorget, which overlapped them. A degree of freedom of movement was retained, but was probably less than had been the case with the mail camail. In the view of Oakeshott the replacement of the camail by

1488-454: The "knightly" classes and other men-at-arms some infantry also made use of the lighter versions of this helmet. Regions where rich citizens were fielded as infantry, such as Italy, and other lands producing specialised professional infantry such as the English and Welsh longbowman probably saw the greatest use of bascinets by infantrymen. The basic design of the earlier, conical version of

1550-429: The 1340s records the decision of Schwyz to hold a yearly commemoration. The existence of a chapel at the site of the battle is recorded in 1501. Writing in 1530, Joachim Vadian suggests that the first such chapel may have been built immediately after the battle, with the proceeds from the spoils. The modern chapel dates to 1604. In 1891, in the context of the 600-years anniversary of the Confederacy, plans were made to erect

1612-405: The Confederacy. The Confederate victory gave them virtual autonomy and, for a time, a peace with the Habsburgs that lasted until the Battle of Sempach in 1386. As the first military success of the Confederacy, Morgarten became an important staple of Swiss patriotism in the early modern period. Records of formal commemorations of the battle go back to the 14th century; Johannes von Winterthur in

1674-539: The Gugler War showed that the epoch of the medieval knight was coming to a close. When questioned by the chronicler Froissart many years later, Enguerrand de Coucy flatly denied he had been in Switzerland at all. Hounskull The bascinet – also bassinet , basinet , or bazineto  – was a Medieval European open-faced combat helmet . It evolved from a type of iron or steel skullcap , but had

1736-527: The Habsburg army. Historian Hans Delbrück estimated in 1907 that the Habsburg army consisted of only 2,000–3,000 men, but that these were mainly well-trained and -equipped knights. Delbrück's view is shared by Kelly DeVries . The Confederates of Schwyz were supported by the Confederates of Uri and Unterwalden. The size of the Confederate force is unknown, with estimates ranging from 1,500 to around 3,000-4,000. Regardless of numerical considerations,

1798-646: The Handsome , a Habsburg prince, each claimed the crown of the Holy Roman Emperor . The Confederates supported Louis IV because they feared the Habsburgs would annex their lands (which they had tried to do in the late 13th century). War broke out after the Confederates of Schwyz raided the Habsburg-protected Einsiedeln Abbey . The conflict with Einsiedeln had begun when settlers moved from Schwyz into unused parts of

1860-505: The Nidau counts. Resistance was also given by Petermann I von Grünenberg whose attempt to displace the Guglers from St. Urban was thwarted. The pillage by the roaming Guglers affected the western part of the Aargau, where the towns of Fridau and Altreu were completely destroyed. The local populace organized to strike back and, although outnumbered, were able inflict significant damage in

1922-604: The area around the Gotthard Pass , as it offered the shortest passage to Italy. However, the Confederates of Uri , Schwyz and Unterwalden , which had formalized the Swiss Confederacy in 1291 , held imperial freedom letters from former Habsburg emperors granting them local autonomy within the empire. In 1314 tensions between the Habsburgs and Confederates heightened when Duke Louis IV of Bavaria (who would become Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor ) and Frederick

Gugler - Misplaced Pages Continue

1984-417: The bishop. The bishop reacted by including Uri and Unterwalden in the excommunication. Frederick's brother, Habsburg duke Leopold of Austria , led a large army to crush the rebellious Confederates. Johannes von Winterthur 's chronicle of the battle puts the Habsburg forces at 20,000, although that number is likely an exaggeration. A 19th century account by Rudolf Hanhart states that there were 9,000 men in

2046-426: The bretache nasal and the side pivoting visor. Sources disagree on the nature of the klappvisier . A minority, including De Vries and Smith, class all smaller visors, those that only cover the area of the face left exposed by the aventail, as klappvisiers , regardless of the construction of their hinge mechanism. However, they agree that klappvisiers , by their alternative definition of 'being of small size', preceded

2108-401: The camail rather than replaced it. The bascinet fitted with a camail was relatively heavy and most of the weight was supported directly by the head. Plate gorgets were introduced from c. 1400–1410, which replaced the camail and moved the weight of the throat and neck defences from the head to the shoulders. At the same time a plate covering the cheeks and lower face was introduced also called

2170-506: The citizen army of Bern and Solothurn . The successful defense of their lands against foreign invaders helped the Swiss in strengthening their budding independence. They confirmed, after their previous successes at the battles of Morgarten (1315) and Laupen (1329), that well organized armies of common men could defeat knightly armour, a feat they would repeat a decade later at Sempach on their route to Swiss independence. The engagements of

2232-439: The cold weather, and the obvious resolve of the Swiss populace, led to the retreat of the Guglers; their main army and Enguerrand were not even involved in any pitched battle along the line of retreat. In January 1376 the Guglers dissolved and returned to plunder the French countryside. Enguerrand compromised with Albert III in 1387 and received domain over Büren and part of the town of Nidau which he lost after only one year to

2294-526: The column, frightening the horses by throwing rocks from above and engaging the mounted knights with halberds . About 1,500 men were said to have been killed in the attack; according to Johannes von Winterthur (writing ca. 1340), this number does not include those drowned in the lake. According to Karl von Elgger, the Confederates, unfamiliar with the customs of battles between knights, brutally butchered retreating troops and everyone unable to flee. He records that some infantry preferred to drown themselves in

2356-704: The command of Leopold I, Duke of Austria on the shores of Lake Ägeri , in the territory of Schwyz. After a brief close-quarters battle, the Austrian army was routed, with numerous slain or drowned. The Swiss victory consolidated the League of the Three Forest Cantons , which formed the core of the Old Swiss Confederacy . Toward the end of the 13th century the House of Habsburg coveted

2418-403: The early bascinets were designed to overcome. It is thought that poorer men-at-arms continued to employ lighter bascinets with mail camails long after the richest had adopted plate gorgets. Soon after 1450 the "great bascinet" was rapidly discarded for field use, being replaced by the armet and sallet , which were lighter helmets allowing greater freedom of movement for the wearer. However,

2480-421: The edge of the helmet, however, beginning in the 1320s a detachable version replaced this type. The detachable aventail was attached to a leather band, which was in turn attached to the lower border of the bascinet by a series of staples called vervelles . Holes in the leather band were passed over the vervelles, and a waxed cord was passed through the holes in the vervelles to secure it. This illustration shows

2542-435: The face from blows by offering a deflecting surface. It also improved ventilation, as its greater surface area allowed it to have more holes for air to pass through. From about 1410 the visor attached to bascinets lost its pointed hounskull shape, and became progressively more rounded. By 1435 it gave an "ape-like" profile to the helmet; by 1450 it formed a sector in the, by then, almost globular bascinet. Ventilation holes in

Gugler - Misplaced Pages Continue

2604-558: The first representations of it is on the equestrian statue of Cangrande I della Scala , who died in 1329. It is also shown on the tomb of Bernardino dei Baranzoni in the Museo Lapidario Estense in Modena, created c. 1345–50. An advantage of the bretache was that it could be worn under a great helm, but afforded some facial protection when the great helm was taken off. Use of the bretache preceded and overlapped with that of

2666-405: The halberd. Konrad Justinger , writing in German in c. 1430, cites the use of halberds explicitly: "the Swiss held in their hands certain most terrible murder weapons, known in the vernacular as helnbarten , by means of which even the best armed opponents were cut apart as with a razor blade, and hacked to pieces: this was no 'battle', but, for the reasons mentioned, so to speak a mere butchering of

2728-439: The helmet became more close-fitting, and narrowed to follow the contours of the neck. Around 1350, during the reign of John II , French bascinets began to be fitted with a hinged chin- or jaw-piece ( bevor (sense 2), French : bavière ), upon which the visor would be able to rest. The visor and bevor that closed flush with each other thus provided better protection against incoming sword blows. This type of defence augmented

2790-408: The helmet to be put on. Early great bascinets had the skull of the helmet riveted to the rear gorget plate, however, some later great bascinets had the skull forged in a single piece with the rear gorget plate. The gorget was often strapped to both the breast and backplate of the cuirass. In this late form the head was relieved of the entire weight of the helmet, which rested on the shoulders; however,

2852-421: The helmet was intended to direct blows from weapons downward and away from the skull and face of the wearer. Later versions of the bascinet, especially the great bascinet, were designed to maximise coverage and therefore protection. In achieving this they sacrificed the mobility and comfort of the wearer; thus, ironically, returning to the situation that the wearers of the cumbersome great helm experienced and that

2914-442: The helmet was rendered totally immobile and the head of the wearer had only limited abilities to move inside it. Though very strongly constructed, this type of helmet imposed limitations on the wearer's vision and agility. Bascinets, other than great bascinets, could be worn beneath a great helm. However, only those without face protection, or those with the close fitting bretache, could be worn in this manner. The great helm afforded

2976-674: The lake rather than face the brutality of the Swiss. The earliest mentions of the battle, in chronicles of the 14th century, identify it as having taken place in the land of Schwyz, or Schwyz and Uri ( Peter of Zittau has Sweicz et Uherach ). The name of Morgarten is recorded by Konrad Justinger in the context of the written warning attached to arrows. The toponym Morgarten originally refers to an alpine pasture near 47°06′30″N 8°39′29″E  /  47.1083°N 8.6581°E  / 47.1083; 8.6581 (now Chli Morgarten ). The name translates to "pig corral", "enclosure for swine". The entire passage between Lake Ägeri and Sattel

3038-555: The larger forms of visor, which almost exclusively employed the double pivot, found in the latter part of the 14th century. The side-pivot mount, which used two pivots – one on each side of the helmet, is shown in funerary monuments and other pictorial or sculptural sources of the 1340s. One of the early depictions of a doubly pivoted visor on a bascinet is the funerary monument of Sir Hugh Hastings (d. 1347) in St. Mary's Church, Elsing , Norfolk , England . The pivots were connected to

3100-519: The main army that headquartered at Saint Urban's Abbey , Jean de Vienne led the second unit and was stationed at Gottstatt Abbey , and Owain Lawgoch , the commander of the third unit, stayed at Fraubrunnen Abbey . Some local nobles left their castles and fled to join Leopold, leaving the countryside open to the Guglers. Others resisted, among them Rudolph IV of Nidau , who was killed as the last of

3162-416: The main contrast between the two forces was that a well-equipped and trained medieval army was meeting an improvised militia of farmers and herdsmen. According to the 15th-century Swiss chronicles , Leopold upon reaching Ägeri debated with his nobles how to best invade Schwyz, with several possible routes under consideration. After the decision was taken to take the direct approach, marching to Sattel from

SECTION 50

#1732787482974

3224-409: The men of Schwyz, with the support of 600 men of Uri and Unterwalden, hurried to Sattel to intercept the enemy. Between Lake Ägerisee and Sattel, where a small path led between a steep slope and a swamp, they prepared an ambush. The marching army would have been stretched out in a column of some 2 km along the path when the vanguard encountered a roadblock near Schafstetten. The Confederates attacked

3286-521: The men of duke Leopold by those mountain dwellers, as with a herd led to slaughter". In the assessment of John Guilmartin, writing for Encyclopædia Britannica (2015, s.v. "Military technology", section "The infantry revolution, c. 1200–1500"): "[An] important and enduring discovery was made by the Swiss [at this battle. They] learned that an unarmoured man with a seven-foot (200-cm) halberd could dispatch an armoured man-at-arms . Displaying striking adaptability, they replaced some of their halberds with

3348-408: The north, Leopold is said to have asked his court jester , one Cuoni von Stocken, for his opinion. The fool expressed misgivings, quipping that "you have all deliberated on how to reach that land, but none of you deliberated how you will get out again". In order to hide his intentions to attack from the north, Leopold sent a number of smaller detachments in order to create diversions. One such attack

3410-426: The pike, an 18-foot [5.5-meter] spear with a small piercing head. No longer outreached by the knight's lance, and displaying far greater cohesion than any knightly army, the Swiss soon showed that they could defeat armoured men-at-arms, mounted or dismounted, given anything like even numbers. With the creation of the pike square tactical formation, the Swiss provided the model for the modern infantry regiment." Within

3472-477: The retreat and died from his wounds soon after. According to Konrad Justinger 's chronicle, written c. 1430, the people of Schwyz were warned by their neighbours, the lords of Hünenberg . The warning is said to have been delivered by the means of arrows fletched with parchment, with the message written on the fletching, "beware near Morgarten" ( hütend üch am morgarten ), thus indicating the route chosen by Leopold for entering Schwyz. Upon receiving this warning,

3534-505: The territories claimed by Einsiedeln. The settlers cleared the primal forest and established farms or pastures. The abbot of Einsiedeln carried his complaint to the bishop of Constance, who moved to excommunicate Schwyz. As revenge, men of Schwyz under the leadership of Werner Stauffacher raided Einsiedeln abbey on the night of 6 January 1314. They plundered the monastery, desecrated the church, and took several monks as hostages. The abbot managed to escape to Pfäffikon , from where he alerted

3596-485: The village was renamed to "Morgarten" (part of Oberägeri municipality). The authorities of Schwyz refused to acknowledge a site of the battle outside of their territory and did not send any official representation to the monument's inauguration ceremony. Since 1912, a yearly target shooting event has been held on the day of the battle in the vicinity of the monument, the Morgartenschiessen . The competition

3658-465: The visor by means of hinges to compensate for any lack of parallelism between the pivots. The hinges usually had a removable pin holding them together, this allowed the visor to be completely detached from the helmet, if desired. The side-pivot system was commonly seen in Italian armours. Whether of the klappvisor or double-pivot type, the visors of the first half of the 14th century tended to be of

3720-408: The visor tended to become larger and more numerous. Between c. 1390 and 1410 the bascinet had an exaggeratedly tall skull with an acutely pointed profile – sometimes so severe as to have a near-vertical back. Ten years later both the skull of the helmet and the hinged visor started to become less angular and more rounded. Almost globular forms became common by c. 1450. As part of the same process

3782-401: Was sent to Arth , attacking from the northwest, one from Entlebuch attacking Unterwalden from the north, one from Lucerne attacking Schwyz from the west across Lake Lucerne , and one under the command of count Otto von Strassberg was sent across Brünig Pass to Obwalden. When news of the Habsburg defeat at Morgarten reached von Strassberg, he decided to turn back. He was reportedly injured on

SECTION 60

#1732787482974

3844-776: Was unable to defend the Alsace and retreated to Breisach on the Rhine . After Enguerrand's arrival in November some dissension arose about the next course of action. The Alsace had been plundered, winter was approaching, and the knights were unwilling to cross the Rhine. Coucy then led the army south. In December 1375 the Gugler army crossed the Jura Mountains , entered the Aare valley and proceeded in three units. Enguerrand de Coucy led

#973026