Ca. 1500 to 1650: Bandeliers for Arquebusiers and Musketeers

[Matchlock]

A French bandelier of fine workmanship (location unknown) and another of average make, together with a caliverman's flask and a ball mold, at the Archäologisches Landesmuseum Brandenburg.

Some period artwork depicting musketeers, from top:

- Danish musketeers in array for exercise, ca. 1660
- a musketeer, by Johan Boxel, ca. 1650
- a French musketeer, ca. 1660 - a date confirmed by the rounded form of the buttstock of his matchlock musket
- four colored engravings from the exercise manual by Estienne Mignon, 1674

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[Matchlock]

A good bandelier from the same series as the ones in post #19 is in the Landszeughaus Graz.

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[Matchlock]

In Great Britain, leaden caps for the wooden power holders on musketeers bandeliers of the Cromwellian Age are often excavated but complete bandleier charge holders made of lead are rare on the island as well. Of course they meant a considerable weight for the man to bear, in spite of the damp climate.

http://finds.org.uk/database/search/...objecttype/cap


The last two samples attached here very much remind me of the earliest charger caps in my collection, shown at the beginning of this thread: early 16th c. at the latest. As the patina denotes, they too are made of a thin copper alloy (brass).


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[Matchlock]

A detail showing a musketeer with his musket, matchcord and bandelier, from the painting of the Relief of the Fortress Löwen near Vienna. The artist, Pieter Snayers, was one of the most prolific painters of Thirty Years War scenes.

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