Page 1 of 2

Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 8:10 am
by chema1986
Hello everyone, does anybody know if Spanish Habsburgs had Swiss infantry regiments during the second half of 17 century??
I know philip V and following Bourbon Spanish kings used several Swiss regiments throughout XVIII and XIX centuries but I can't find enough information about Swiss regiments with Philip IV and Charles II of Habsburg... Help!

Apart from the French, who used Swiss regiments during Nine Years War ?

Thanks in advance.
Cheers,

Chema

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 10:02 am
by Clibinarium
Don't know about Spanish service, but there were some in Dutch pay.
Fortunately there's an article on the Wargames Illustrated site about them;
http://www.wargamesillustrated.net/Defa ... rt_id=4210

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 11:24 am
by chema1986
Thank you Clibinarium, So we know about Dutch and French service but no info about the Spanish prior 1700 ...I have found these flags, but they could be from mid XVIII c. (although are labelled as Swiss Tercios, and The tercio was replaced by Regiment in 1704)

http://laorejadejenkins.es/wp-content/u ... C3%91A.png

Cheers!

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 12:41 pm
by danschorr
You might want to have a look at Emmanuel May de Romainmotier's "Histoire militaire des Suisses dans les differens services de l'Europe" 1772. It is available on Google books.

Hope this helps.

Dan

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 1:01 pm
by Friedrich August I.
Eventually You find the informations you are looking for on this website:

http://www.tercio1617.net46.net/war/aow.html

The Battles are with english, french and spanish text

Hope that helps,

Günter

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 4:19 pm
by chema1986
Thank you both, But I have not been able to find anything about Swiss in Spanish service :cry: no info on this period 1665-1700. On the other hand there is plenty of info about Walloons, Italians, Germans, Irish who were typical Spanish allies, but no Swiss at all...
Regards,

Chema

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 4:45 pm
by danschorr
In addition to the book described above, GianCarl Boeri's book, "The Spanish Armies in the War of the League Of Augsburg", lists two Swiss regiments and one Grison regiment in the Spanish army of the State of Milan. His book, "The Army of the Duke of Savoy 1688-1713", has at least one Swiss regiment in the Duke's Army during the Nine Years War.

Dan

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 8:14 pm
by chema1986
danschorr wrote:In addition to the book described above, GianCarl Boeri's book, "The Spanish Armies in the War of the League Of Augsburg", lists two Swiss regiments and one Grison regiment in the Spanish army of the State of Milan. His book, "The Army of the Duke of Savoy 1688-1713", has at least one Swiss regiment in the Duke's Army during the Nine Years War.

Dan
You are right, I completely overlooked that part of the book (which I own! ) regiments Besler and Mayer... and Grison regiment of Sprecher-Capuol.
:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

Should I use "north star 1672" Swiss range for this kind of troops ?? or By 1690 the had left all Pikemen armor ??

Many Thanks

Regards


Chema

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:17 pm
by danschorr
Reference pikemen armour, see page 23 of Boeri's book.

Dan

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:45 pm
by chema1986
danschorr wrote:Reference pikemen armour, see page 23 of Boeri's book.

Dan
Yes, I knew that, but I read that swiss Pikemen were the last to leave the breatplate (and even the tassets in the 1680!)
thanks ;)

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Tue May 20, 2014 9:59 pm
by danschorr
I think you would be safe having your Swiss pikemen in cuirass and possibly a helmet. I think your information might relate to the Swiss in French service.

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Wed May 21, 2014 6:44 am
by chema1986
Yes, you are right, that information was about Swiss fighting for Louis XIV but I thought it would be the same for the Spanish Swiss regiments. Many Thanks !
Cheers


Chema

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 7:24 am
by Motorway
In 1988 in the dutch history and genealogy magazine "Gens Nostra" a very detailed article was published called "Swiss Regiments in Dutch service", by Rob Murray, listing all Swiss regiments and troops up to the French period.

The illustrations look like they have come from the dutch army museum, unfortunatly they are too big to upload, but maybe this can help:

http://www.collectie.legermuseum.nl/asp ... 123360.jpg

Most of the uniforms depicted on the Dutch Armt website is from the 1750-1800 period.

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Thu May 22, 2014 8:55 pm
by chema1986
Motorway wrote:In 1988 in the dutch history and genealogy magazine "Gens Nostra" a very detailed article was published called "Swiss Regiments in Dutch service", by Rob Murray, listing all Swiss regiments and troops up to the French period.

The illustrations look like they have come from the dutch army museum, unfortunatly they are too big to upload, but maybe this can help:

http://www.collectie.legermuseum.nl/asp ... 123360.jpg

Most of the uniforms depicted on the Dutch Armt website is from the 1750-1800 period.

Many Thanks !By the way, you have a wonderful blog, I use to read your articles everyweek (specially those which deal with Spanish :wink: )

Cheers!

Re: Swiss infantry in Spanish or Foreign service

Posted: Sun Dec 09, 2018 3:34 am
by TheRightfulKing2013
The Spanish controlled Duchy of Milan employed Swiss soldiers, but there are conflicting accounts of their uniform. A Papal source from around this time said he witnessed Swiss troops in blue uniforms with a plume in their hats. But a French source in the late 1700s wrote that the Swiss in Milanese service wore redcoats. Source is the ebook "The Spanish Army in the War of the League of Augsburg".