CC 001 Crossbowman

In the early years of the sixteenth century, Carlos de Habsburgo, son of Felipe I and Juana I of Castile reached the Spanish throne after the death of his grandfather Fernando el Católico reigning as Carlos I of Spain, who later on after the decision of the princes German electors would also rise as emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

The territories inherited by the Spanish part that included the newly discovered American colonies, and the Mediterranean territories of the ancient crown of Aragon, southern Italy, Sicily, etc. it was necessary to add the Flemish and Northern Italian territories inherited from his grandfather Maximilian of Austria.

Carlos met with an army, Spanish highly professionalized and prepared, with almost a millennium of war continuing against Islam and with the preparation acquired after the wars in Italy under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, and masterly organized by the measures taken by Fray Francisco Ximénez de Cisneros.

This crossbowman is part of the contingents with which the future emperor counted after his arrival in Spain, experienced in the African campaign led by Cisneros culminated with conquests as important as the taking of the Plaza de Oran.

Dress a Brigantine or breastplate of metal sheets covered with leather and studded outwards. A helmet or headpiece as a headwear and colorful trousers following european especially Italian fashion.

Its crossbow uses a zipper loading mechanism, or crankshaft that allowed to tighten the metal bow by using a crank.