Documentation and Research

Research

As a Living History organization, we put a great deal of effort and research into our camp, clothing and accessories. To do our research we use extant pieces (very rare), primary sources (books, woodcuts and other drawings/paintings from the 16th century) and secondary sources (books about the 16th century, drawings made in later periods - i.e. the Braun & Schneider book - and existing replicas). If you find anything you think interesting or have some research to share with us, please e-mail us.

Although Landsknechts were prevalent throughout the sixteenth century, our unit focuses on the first half of the century. Specifically, we reenact the year 1529. This gives us a good historical base to work from and places us firmly in the earlier Landsknecht style.

For a fascinating and very thorough article on the Holy Roman Empire, please go to the Encarta article.

Artists

One of the best sources for Landsknecht research is historical woodcuts. We owe a great debt of gratitude to Albrecht Dürer. He was a very prolific artist and one of our major sources. Here is a list of artists you may wish to look for. It is by no means comprehensive, but it's a start. If nothing else, looking at the work of these artists is a great way to get a feel for how the people of this time looked at their world.

  • Albrecht Altdorfer, c. 1480-1538
  • Matthias Grünewald, 1470/80-1528
  • Albrecht Dürer, 1471-1528
  • Hans Holbein the Younger, 1497-1543
  • Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1525/30-69
  • Urs Graf, C.1485-1529
  • Titian, c. 1477?-1576

Albrecht Dürer, 1493
Self-portrait

Web

You can find a lot of information on the web. There are many other Landsknecht pages (please see our Links page) up. You can also find copies of books from the period floating around the web, usually on a college's server. Many museums also have some of their collections on the web.

Try searching with different words, phrases and combinations. Try different spellings of Landsknecht like the French "lansquenet".

Museums

Museums are also a very good source. Many have paintings from our period (the Renaissance), and some have other items from this period.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a whole, permanent collection of European Arms and Armor FROM OUR PERIOD. The National Gallery of Art is another place with lots of great paintings. Their website is particularly useful. Also of interest, The British Museum of Art, The Louvre, The Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum, theKupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) and the CGFA, a virtual art museum.

Occasionally the Landszeug Haus in Graz, Austria, which has the Imperial collection of arms and armor, sends out the armor to other museums. This is a wonderful exhibit if you get the chance to see it.

Documentation

Ideally, you should have three pieces of documentation for each item in your kit. It's great for those times when someone wants to know where you found "that great cast iron pot" or those "terrible shoes." It's also useful for your own research purposes, as you can keep adding to it as you learn.

It is a good idea to start a notebook when you first join the unit (or start your persona). You will want to put copies of woodcuts/pictures/etc. in it, along with your character worksheets and other info. It helps to keep everything together. The DNR has a large notebook that we present to the judges at Jamestown that has our documentation in it. It includes:

You may wish to include some of these things in your notebook.