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Mikael Ranelius
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 Posted: Wed 07 Mar, 2007 10:26 am Post subject: Use of looted armour? |
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It seems to be an established fact that medieval armies used to strip their dead and captured enemies (dead comrades as well) of all armour and weapons. So what became of all that looted armour? Were there any rules on how to deal with the loot? Was the armour sold or kept and used by the looters themselves? Would e.g. english archers be wearing armour-parts picked up from dead french men-at-arms after Crécy 1346, or Swiss soldiers using armour taken from the vanquished austrian knights after the battle of Sempach in 1386?
/Mikael
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Norlyn C
Location: Virginia Joined: 20 Feb 2007
Posts: 11
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| Posted: Wed 07 Mar, 2007 5:37 pm Post subject: Re: Use of looted armour? |
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| Mikael Ranelius wrote: | It seems to be an established fact that medieval armies used to strip their dead and captured enemies (dead comrades as well) of all armour and weapons. So what became of all that looted armour? Were there any rules on how to deal with the loot? Was the armour sold or kept and used by the looters themselves? Would e.g. english archers be wearing armour-parts picked up from dead french men-at-arms after Crécy 1346, or Swiss soldiers using armour taken from the vanquished austrian knights after the battle of Sempach in 1386?
/Mikael |
Mikael, I can possibly shed some light on a few of your questions in dealing specifically to the Swiss. It was common for the Swiss troops to wear the armor of their vanquished enemies. Some types were of course more popular than others with Milanese armor being generally considered 'lighter' than comparable Gothic armor. Just how the loot was divided i am not clear on, but i have read of one occasion post battle where one Swiss Cantons troops arrived on the battlefield to find another canton stripping the dead bodies of the enemy . In such cases it nearly ended in pitched battles between the factions in order to assure a fair distribution of the 'loot'. Certainly for the Swiss it made sense to wear the enemies armor as the cantons were mostly soldiered by the 'common folk' versus nobility (although there was plenty of swiss nobility). I would be happy to elaborate more when i am closer to 'my sources' at home. Hope this helps a little.
-Direct decendant of Mustered Swiss Pikeman from Münsingen, canton of Berne during the 16th century.
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Bruno Giordan
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| Posted: Thu 08 Mar, 2007 1:10 am Post subject: Re: Use of looted armour? |
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[quote=\"Mikael Ranelius\"]It seems to be an established fact that medieval armies used to strip their dead and captured enemies (dead comrades as well) of all armour and weapons. So what became of all that looted armour? Were there any rules on how to deal with the loot? Was the armour sold or kept and used by the looters themselves? Would e.g. english archers be wearing armour-parts picked up from dead french men-at-arms after Crécy 1346, or Swiss soldiers using armour taken from the vanquished austrian knights after the battle of Sempach in 1386?
/Mikael[/quote]
Armour was used for several centuries in different european countries, under varying social conditions, so it is impossible to give a single canned answer.
Every period and country has its modern expert that could give you some sort of answer, even if I suspect that historians would not consider this an important issue.
Loot had to be divided under rules set by the winning lord, it was he who decided how to divide the spoils according to his political judgement.
Scavengers who acted against his will most likely could have a very hard time at looting what was to be considered a lordly booty, think of what would happen to poachers in the lord\'s land, death.
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Kel Rekuta
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| Posted: Thu 08 Mar, 2007 6:35 am Post subject: Re: Use of looted armour? |
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| Mikael Ranelius wrote: | It seems to be an established fact that medieval armies used to strip their dead and captured enemies (dead comrades as well) of all armour and weapons. So what became of all that looted armour? Were there any rules on how to deal with the loot? Was the armour sold or kept and used by the looters themselves? Would e.g. english archers be wearing armour-parts picked up from dead french men-at-arms after Crécy 1346, or Swiss soldiers using armour taken from the vanquished austrian knights after the battle of Sempach in 1386?
/Mikael |
There was a thriving market for "recycled" armour in the 14thC and 15thC at least. Datini, the famous Merchant of Prato, sent colleagues to buy up armour cheaply after a major battle. This must have been common practice. Records of punishment inflicted on soldiers who sold their equipment were common. As to distribution of loot, English contracts of indenture specify a third of captured loot goes to the captain, who then passes a third on to his contracted lord. This practice might have been standard in the rules of war but recorded legally for enforcement.
A soldier retaining and wearing looted harness makes sense, should it happen to fit him. If not, it could be sold to purchase other harness or more likely a lot of wine...  Henry V of England forced his men to drop French armour that they could not wear as he didn't want them overburdened for the march from Agincourt to Calais. One envisions archers wearing pieces of fine Milanese plate, struggling under tied bundles of more armour and fine weapons, groaning and whining when forced to relinquish hard gathered prizes. They wouldn't have bothered if there were no means to dispose of this treasure...
Hope that helps,
Kel
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Mikael Ranelius
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| Posted: Thu 08 Mar, 2007 8:48 am Post subject: |
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Interesting replies, thanks! What about captured weapons, would they be treated in a similar way to the armour?
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This is a standard topic