CC 003 Dopplesoldner lansquenet

During the 15th and 16th centuries, European warfare underwent a profound transformation. Infantry gradually regained its importance on the battlefield, challenging the supremacy that heavy cavalry had enjoyed for centuries.

One of the best-known episodes in this change was the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, during the Hundred Years' War. English archers, armed with their powerful longbows, inflicted enormous losses on the French cavalry. Later, compact formations of Swiss pikemen demonstrated their ability to withstand and defeat some of Europe's most powerful cavalry forces.

In this new military environment, the German Landsknechts became increasingly prominent. These mercenary infantrymen were organised into large formations of pikemen. Their discipline, weapons and tactics made them one of the most recognisable military forces of the European Renaissance.

During the Italian campaigns, Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, the Great Captain, observed and adapted these new methods of warfare. His reforms reorganised Spanish infantry by combining pikemen, swordsmen with shields, arquebusiers and artillery. These innovations became one of the fundamental foundations of the future Spanish Tercios.

Among the Landsknechts were the Doppelsöldner, a German term meaning «double-pay soldiers». They received higher wages in return for undertaking particularly dangerous duties in battle. Some fought with enormous two-handed swords, known as great swords, and could occupy advanced positions within infantry formations.

Their role could include engaging enemy pikes, creating openings in opposing formations and allowing their comrades to advance. The use of these great swords required strength, skill and considerable courage, as their wielders faced especially high risks.

The Doppelsöldner remain one of the most distinctive images of Renaissance mercenary infantry, an era in which new tactics, firearms and large pike formations transformed European warfare forever.