Spanish Bourbon Infantry Uniforms at Almanza

[Arthur]

Having just bought some of the excellent Ebor WSS Spanish infantry figures with the intention of painting them for Almanza, I'm currently trying to determine whether the recently introduced white coats had fully or partially replaced the old coloured uniforms. Most Spanish sources depict the Bourbon infantry dressed in white coats at Almanza, but the occasional reconstruction also shows older uniforms such as these, which seem a bit anachronistic for 1707 :




To be more specific, here are the regiments I'm interested in : can any of you learned gentlemen confirm the uniform info below is substantially correct ?

1/ Regimiento de Castilla (formerly the Tercio de los Morados Viejos): the grey/white coats with purple facings would appear to have replaced the old purple coat with red cuffs by 1707. The plate below shows a grenadier drummer (on the left) wearing what is essentially the old uniform with added lace. Would musicians have retained the old purple coats while the rest of the men adopted white coats ?



Another plate shows a Castilla grenadier wearing the new white coat next to an officer clad in the old Morados Viejos uniform. I suspect the latter would have also worn the white coat by 1707, or am I mistaken ?



2/ Regimiento de Badajoz (originally raised as Estramadura Viejo in 1694) : grey/white coats faced pale blue as shown below. Would the musicians have worn a specific livery, or just the enlisted man's coat with added red and white lace ?



3/ Regimiento de Murcia (raised 1694 as Tercio de los Azules Nuevos): grey/white coats lined blue, replacing the former pale blue coat lined dark blue. The fifer on the left seems to be wearing the 1690's pattern coat. Again, would the musicians have retained coloured coats while the rest of the rank and file switched to white ? The yellow breeches and red stockings seem to indicate an order of dress that would not have been seen after 1704/1705.

[simon boulton]

Arthur,
It will be interesting to see if anyone comes up with specific information but I suspect we don't really know which uniform they were wearing and the choice will be yours. The old uniforms are very colourful though!
Best wishes,
Simon

[Arthur]

Hi Simon

I posted a similar query on the LAF and got a couple of replies there, though they mostly confirm what I already knew : although a royal warrant dated December 1706 ordered the Spanish infantry to switch to white uniforms, some - perhaps even most - regiments at Almansa had not fully made the transition and fought in their old coloured coats - unless of course they had already adopted white uniforms between 1704 and 1706, which seems to have been the case for quite a few units.

As you predicted, the bottom line is that nobody knows for sure. I'll opt for white coats with various coloured facings and jazz things up a bit by giving the musicians slightly more colourful liveries, even if most of these are historically dodgy at best. In the case of the Castilla regiment, I think I'll give my drummers purple coats lined red with red and white lace (as illustrated above) since these provide a nice visual contrast to the rankers' white coats and purple cuffs.

[Clibinarium]

I don't know very much about the Spanish army, but I can see one of the illustrators is a big fan of the late great McBride!

[Motorway]

There's some more info in the Spanish booklet "La guerra de sucesion espanola" by Ruben Saez Abad, Almena Publishing. I admit to have bought the book for the pretty pictures, as my spanish reading is too sow to really enjoy the text...but from what I have gathered the book basically confirms the white uniforms from 1707 onwards.