Landsknecht myth busting: the Doppelsoldner

"Where's the Doppeldsoldner?!" "What is a Doppelsoldner?!" "Why is a Doppeldoldner?!" On one hand Iike doing context videos: they are super interesting and add a lot of knowledge to a very noisy YouTube. On the other hand, well, damn, they take a lot of work. At least I had some fun shooting some background footage with a bunch of Florin tokens to represent Sold and Doppelsold, including a cameo of a fan favourite: Emma the Maine Coon. Just like with the Messer, I wanted to make a myth busting video to deal with some of the most persistent ideas surrounding Doppelsöldner. Especially with games like Elden Ring recently coming out, a lot of people seem interested in great swords and of course the same old stories about Landsknechte, "zweihanders" and pikes are going to pop up as a result. I hope to add some well researched information this way. P.S. I did actually try out some anti-pike fighting with a greatsword last weekend at Winterkamp and it went even worse than I expected. When both formations had broken down though, well that was quite a different story. The experimental value of these pike drills is a bit limited, but it does hint to my ideas in this video having some merit. :) If you'd be interested in supporting me and get access to aditional content, have a look at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/virtualfechtschule?fan_landing=true 0:00 Intro 1:17 Background on the Landsknechte 1:41 What is Sold and Doppelsold? 4:06 The Verlorene Hauffen and Disrupting pike blocks 7:44 Doppelsold for Fencing Masters 8:32 Doppelsöldner had the best arms and armour 10:43 Special campaign or battlefield roles 11:51 Conclusions Sources: Baumann, Reinhard, Landsknechte. Ihre Geschichte und Kultur vom späten Mittelalter bis zum Dreissigjärigen Krieg (1994) Eltis, David, The military revolution in sixteenth century Europe (London 1998), Jörgensen, Christer, Pavkovic, Michael F., Rice, Rob., Schneid, Frederick C., Scott, Chris L., Fighting techniques of the Early Modern World (2006). Malett Michael, ‘the transformation of war’ in: Christine Shaw (ed.), Italy and the European powers. The impact of war, 1500-1530 (2006) Dead end internet links for the Meisterbrief hypothesis: https://www.thearma.org/essays/2HGS.html (08-04-2022) http://www.swordforum.com/vb4/showthread.php?101346-Marxbr%FCder-zweihanders-and-the-Doppels%F6ldner (21-12-2021) http://fechtfabrik.de/meisterpruefung/ (21-12-2021) https://www.marxbrueder.de/1566-meisterbrief-karl-wack/ (21-12-2021) Period images in order of appearance: - Hans Burgkmair, Triumph of Maximilian 1518 - Unknown artist, Battle of Pavia after 1525 - Urs Graf, Werbung 1521 - Idem - Albrecht Altdorfer, Triumph of Maximilian 1515 - Urs Graf, Returning Landsknecht 1519 - Hans Holbein the Younger, Bad War early 16th century - Unknown artist, Schweizer Kronik, Sturm Einer Stadt, 1548 - from Freydal: exhibition match between 'French' pikemen and Landsknechte - Unknown artist, Battle of Pavia after 1525 - Hans Holbein the Younger, Sketched study for Bad War early 16th century - Urs Graf, Werbung 1521 - Paul Dolnstein, Battle between Landsknechte and Swedish peasants early 16th century - Unknown artist, a Landsknecht judicial court last halve of the 16th century - Hans Burgkmair, Triumph of Maximilian 1518 / Erhard Schön Buchsenschütze and Doppelsoldner 1530 - Unknown artist, Landsknecht Hauptmann around 1540-50, Erhard Schön, Feldwaibel 1530, Kallenberg, Weissenberg's standard bearer - Unknown artist, Frontispiece from Paurenfeyndt's fight book 1516 - Daniel Hopfer, Landsknechte 1530 #greatsword #montante #zweihander # knife #HEMA #Historical #European #Martial #Arts #Historical #Fencing #Historical #Fencing #Westernmartialarts #Middleages #medieval #Martial #Arts #Martialartist #Instructor #Athlete #Fitness #Fightingfit #Fighter #warriors #knights #Swordplay #machete #technique #Training #lecküchner, #history #historical #research #swordfighting #sparring #context