Above are Spanish infantry from 1587. The tercios were infantry units in the Spanish Army numbering 3000 men, hence the name, which means “thirds” in Spanish. They consisted of pikemen and musketeers and were normally arranged in a square, with musketeers on outsides and pikemen in the insides, and it was illustrative of the pike and shot era of the 16th and 17th centuries.
First is an alabardero, or company grade officer. He is armed with a halberd, where his name comes from. He wears a three-quarters suit of armor, which covers his entire body except for his calves and wrists, on which he wears fashionable leather boots and gauntlets. He was in command of about a hundred men and up through the eighteenth century officers in European militaries would be armed with halberds.
Next is a piquero, or pikeman. He wears a suit of half-armor, consisting solely of a helmet and cuirass. His helmet is a morion, the iconic Spanish helmet. As his name suggests, he is armed with a pike. The use of pikes in Renaissance armies was pioneered by the Swiss in the 15th Century. The Spanish adopted them at towards the end of that century. Massed pike formations were used both offensively and defensively in tandem with the musketeers.
One of the mosqueteros, or musketeers is pictured next. In addition to his musket, he is carrying a stand and burning rope for his weapon. Since early muskets were extremely heavy, musketeers carried a tall fork to rest their muskets while they loaded them. The burning rope is for the musket which used a matchlock mechanism. The mechanism would push the burning rope into the powder pan, igniting the powder and subsequently discharging the weapon.
Finally is an alférez, or ensign, a junior officer and standard bearer. In many militaries, it was tradition that the youngest officer carry the standard. Thus why in many past militaries, the lowest ranking infantry officer was called an ensign. He also wears a suit of half armor, complete with a morion helmet. He is armed with an espada ropera, the iconic Spanish sword of the era.
Above are four samurai from 1575, the year of the watershed Battle of Nagashino.
First is Oda Nobunaga, the victor of Nagashino. Nobunaga was Diamyo or Lord of the Oda Clan, which ruled the Owari Province. From humble beginnings as the son of a former peasant, he sought to re-unify Japan under his rule. From his daring and highly successful surprise attack against the rival Imagawa clan in 1560, to his victory against the Takeda Clan at Nagashino in 1575, he established himself as an astute military leader.
Oda Nobunaga would however meet his demise on the 21st of June 1582, when one of his generals Akechi Mitsuhide betrayed him and soldiers under his command ambushed Nobunaga at the Honno-ji temple in Kyoto, burning it to the ground. Taken completely by surprised, Nobunaga committed seppuku among the fiery rubble. Ironic that he would meet his end in much the same manner he distinguished himself.
This suit of armor he is wearing is based on a suit currently on display at the State Museum of Oriental Art in Moscow.
Next is Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Nobunaga’s closest ally and successor. The son of a woodcutter, Hideyoshi joined Nobunaga’s army as an ashigaru, or foot soldier. He was able to work his way up through the ranks and because of this, he is often considered Japan’s Napoleon. He quickly took control of Japan and avenged Nobunaga’s death. He then sought to establish a Japanese Empire in the Pacific. However, his initial invasion of Korea failed in 1592, and then he died in 1598.
His suit of armor is based on a descriptions, which tell of him wearing a helmet with a large golden crest, like rays of the sun. This suit of armor has unfortunately been lost, but visitors to Osaka castle may try on a reproduction of Hideyoshi’s helmet.
Next is Tokugawa Ieyasu, an ally of both Nobunaga and Hideyoshi, and later Shogun of Japan. Although he was at first an enemy of the Oda, after Nobunaga’s first crushing victory at Okehazama, he defected to the Oda. After Hideyoshi’s death, he faced his remaining rivals at one final decisive battle at Sekigahara in 1600. During the battle, three contingents of the opposing force defected to him and he won the battle, thus securing his place as Shogun.
He is depicted wearing a suit of cowhide armor. Although it is believed that he wore a European-style suit of armor, complete with an iron cuirass and morion helmet at his great victory at Sekigahara in 1600, he also owned a suit of cowhide armor. He likely wore this during his campaigns with these leaders, as after defeating the Hojo Clan in the Kanto provinces, Hideoyoshi reportedly taunted him by calling him “The Cow of the Kanto.”
His suit of armor is based on one on display at the Tokugawa Art Museum in Nagoya.
Finally is a horo, one of Nobunaga’s hatamoto. Hatamoto, which means “under the flag” in Japanese, were hand-picked samurai, chosen to serve as the diamyo’s elite bodyguard. However, samurai itself means “one who serves” and the first samurai served as the Emperor’s bodyguards during the Nara Period from AD 710 to 794. Nobunaga’s hatamoto were horse guards called horo. This comes from the Japanese name for the cloak, draped over a bamboo frame and worn on their backs. There were originally were only twenty, but their ranks quickly swelled to sixty. The horo were divided into two squadrons: red and black.
The suit of armor is based on a statute of a horo in Kanazawa castle town.
Finally, I have finished two pieces: Zouaves in the Wilderness and Bloody Dawn, as belated tributes to the sesquicentennials of the Battles of Wilderness in Spotsylvania, in May of 1864.
Zouaves in the
Wilderness depicts the 146th New York Volunteers, engaging Confederate infantry on the opening
day of the Battle of the Wilderness. The Battle of the Wilderness was the first
encounter between both the Union’s and Confederacy’s
top generals: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. The battle lasted
two days and consisted of brutal and bloody hand-to-hand combat. Eventually Lee was
forced to withdraw, after enormous Union casualties. The 146th
New York was one of the most battered Union regiments thrust into the fray. They were one of the
Union Army’s regiments outfitted as Zouaves, with uniforms based
on French regiments in North Africa.
Although these flashy
uniforms may have enticed thousands of young men to join, they did not prepare
them for the carnage they faced.
Bloody Dawn depicts the second engagement between the two commanders: the Battle of
Spotsylvania, a week-and-a-half-long siege of a small Virginia town. On the 12th
of May at the crack of dawn, the Union II Corps assailed the mule-shoe-shaped
Confederate breastworks, at the point known as the “Bloody Angel.” The assault was
initially successful and well-timed, as the Confederates
had just withdrew all their artillery from that section of wall. However, the
Confederates counterattacked later that day and successfully checked
the Union advance. Although once again,
Lee was forced to withdraw.
I am now working on two belated tributes to the 700th and 800th anniversaries of the medieval battles of Bannockburn in 1314 and Bouvines in 1214. I also have a number of tributes to the Centennial of the Great War planned.
