These lovely images from the NYDG are intriguing. Did the Dutch army still use the musket rest and issue pot helmets to its shot or is this a peacetime parade type of thing that would be abandoned in wartime? As I understand it the Dutch only had a very small peacetime army so maybe this is not typical of a wartime appearance. The look is archaic and expensive to say the least. Was the Dutch musket particularly heavy? A lot of this stuff - helmets, tassets, rests, were abandoned by the English during the Civil War...maybe the Dutch hadn't had this experience of protracted warfare to come to these conclusions? Interesting to see the cassock still being worn...I think the Danish army also wore them at this time.
Did not the Dutchs even endvisaged -yet at an earlier date?- to reintroduce the shield? In the "Reveries" De Saxe alludes to this when advocating for the distribution of vinegar-hardened 'targes' to his 'Legionnaires'.
ReplyDeleteI believe you are indeed correct re the Danes!
ReplyDeleteAlan
p.s although I have not commented much can I say what a super blog you have produced of late- many thanks!