Subject: Trabantengarde noble bodyguard
Culture: German Saxon
Setting: Reformation, Germany late 16th-early 17thc
Context (Event Photos, Primary Sources, Secondary Sources, Field Notes)
* Higgins Armory Museum > Great Hall
"The duke-electors of Saxony were powerful German princes who maintained a personal bodyguard unit (Trabantengarde), which during the reign of Christian I and II numbered 200 horsemen and footsoldiers."
Armor
* Imperial Austria 1992 p51
"By at least the fourteenth century, arms and armour had been made for the sons of important individuals who aspired to the knightly class. Such items were not intended as war equipment, but mirrored faithfully the full-sized items used by their fathers. Also used in great numbers were armours made for the retinue and bodyguards of important officials and nobilitiy, such as the Trabants (subordinate commanders) of Georg Khevenhüller zu Aichelberg, Baron of Landskron and Weinberg."
* Higgins Armory Museum > Great Hall
"The bodyguards' armor and uniforms are generally black with gold decoration, as these are the heraldic colors of the Saxon ducal coat-of-arms."
Rapier & Dagger
* Coe/Connolly/Harding/Harris/Larocca/Richardson/North/Spring/Wilkinson 1993 p58 (Anthony North, "From rapier to smallsword" p58-71)
"The armoury in Dresden has an almost unparallelled collection of swept-hilt rapiers. These have been so carefully looked after since the day they were finished that they are preserved in virtually pristine condition. A number of duplicates were sold off earlier this century, giving museums and collectors the opportunity to acquire rarities from this hitherto closed collection. These included swept-hilt rapiers and accompanying daggers made for the Electoral Guard. The hilts on these weapons are very well made, but often quite plain, the decoration being limited to an engraved wave pattern, or to blueing and silvering."
Costume
* Peter Finer: Provenance p 28
"The late sixteenth-century and early seventeenth-century electors of Saxony, respectively Augustus (1526-86), Christian I (1560-91) and Christian II (1583-1611), were lavish in matters of ceremony and appearance. Enormous sums of money were spent to equip not only the participants in the era's great state tournaments and hunts, but also those aristocratic members of the elite light cavalry troop of the Trabantenliebgarde, the personal guard of the prince electors. This stylishly presented guard of loyal young Saxon aristocrats and noblewomen were uniformed in black doublets and yellow trunk hose, and had available to them richly decorated armour, weapons and accessories, including etched and gilt comb-morions, inlaid pistols, ornate powder flasks, and decorated swords and daggers."
Pistol
* Tarassuk/Blair 1979 p370
"For most of the 16th century the great mass of pistols was produced in Germany, while elsewhere, partly because of restrictive legislation, local differentiation did not become evident until the latter part of the century. In the German wheel-lock pistol, the angle between butt and barrel was greatly increased, the barrel was lengthened, and the lock was improved by the adoption, among other things, of a V-spring for the cock. In the second half of the century, the 'puffer,' characterized by a big ball on the butt, became the favorite cavalry weapon; the ball gave the horseman a solid grip as he drew the weapon out of the holster. Of interest in that period was the production, also centered in Germany, of all-metal pistols; the wooden stock was replaced by a stock of steel or brass, which made the weapon stronger, though more expensive."
Cup
*
