There I Paul Dolnstein Saw Action The SK

University of North Dakota

UND Scholarly Commons

Theses and Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects
January 2012

"there I, Paul Dolnstein, Saw Action." The

Sketchbook Of A Warrior Artisan In The German
Renaissance
Danielle Mead Skjelver
Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses
Recommended Citation
Skjelver, Danielle Mead, ""there I, Paul Dolnstein, Saw Action." The Sketchbook Of A Warrior Artisan In The German Renaissance"
(2012). Theses and Dissertations. 1271.
https://commons.und.edu/theses/1271
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been
accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected].
“THERE I, PAUL DOLNSTEIN, SAW ACTION.”
THE SKETCHBOOK OF A WARRIOR ARTISAN IN THE GERMAN
RENAISSANCE
by

Bachelor of Arts, University of North Dakota, 2010
A Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate Faculty
of the
University of North Dakota
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of
Master of Arts
Grand Forks, North Dakota

May
2012
Copyright 2012, Danielle Mead Skjelver
ii
This thesis, submitted by Danielle Mead Skjelver in partial fulfillment of the
requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts from the University of North Dakota, has
been read by the Faculty Advisory Committee under whom the work has been done and
is hereby approved.
______________________________________
Chairperson, Dr. Hans Peter Broedel
______________________________________
Dr. Ty Reese
______________________________________
Dr. Olaf Berwald
______________________________________
Dr. Michelle M. Sauer
This thesis meets the standard for appearance, conforms to the style and format
requirements of the Graduate School of the University of North Dakota, and is hereby
approved.
__________________________________
Wayne E. Swisher
Dean of the Graduate School
__________________________________
Date
iii
PERMISSION
Title "There I, Paul Dolnstein, saw action." The Sketchbook of a Warrior

Artisan in the German Renaissance
Department History
Degree Master of Arts
In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate

degree from the University of North Dakota, I agree that the library of this university
shall make it freely available for inspection. I further agree that permission for extensive
copying for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professor who supervised my
thesis work or, in his absence, by the chairperson of the department or the dean of the
Graduate School. It is understood that any copying or publication or other use of this
thesis or part thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written
permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the
University of North Dakota in any scholarly use which may be made of any material in
my thesis.

April 25, 2012
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………..............……….. vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………….….............………….………………. x
ABSTRACT ……………………………..……….............….……………… xii
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION ………………………………...............……. 1
II. THE SKETCHES ………………………...............…………….. 38
Discussion of Sketch 1 ……..................…………………. 39
Discussion of Sketch 2 …………..……................……….. 52
Discussion of Sketch 3 …………..............……………….. 62
Discussion of Sketch 4 ……………………..........……….. 68
Discussion of Sketch 5 …………………………..........….. 79
Discussion of Sketch 6 …………………………..........….. 92
Discussion of Sketch 7 ………………………..........…….. 98
Discussion of Sketch 8 …………..........………………….. 104
Discussion of Sketch 9 ………………..........…………….. 119
Discussion of Sketch 10 ……………………..........……… 126
Discussion of Sketch 11 ………………..………..........….. 130
Discussion of Sketch 12 …………………….............……. 136
Discussion of Sketch 13 …………............……………….. 154
v
Discussion of Sketch 14 …………………............……….. 167
Discussion of Sketch 15 ………………………….............. 170
Discussion of Sketch 18 ………………………............….. 199
Discussion of Sketch 19 ………………………............….. 209
III. CONCLUSION ……………………...................……………..… 221
APPENDIX ……….…………………………………....................….……… 235
BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………...................…….……… 239
vi
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure Page
1. Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1544, Torgau Bridge across the Elbe..…..………... 11
2. Sketch 1, Title Page………………..……….…………………………..……..…. 39
3. Sample Mason’s Marks.……….……………..…….………………………….… 41
4. Brunswick Monogrammist, Tavern Scene, ca. 1540…………………………...... 42
5. Bumerker...................................................................…………………………..… 43
6. Hans Holbein the Younger, Erasmus' Hands, 1523.…………………………..… 48
7. Albrecht Dürer, Detail: The Apocalypse: Breaking of the Sixth Seal, 1498…...… 50
8. Sketch 2, Two Halberdiers……………..…….…………………………..……...… 52
9. Albrecht Dürer et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 31, 1516-1519…..... 56
10. Albrecht Dürer, Elsbeth Tucher, 1499…………………………………..……….. 57
11. Hans Burgkmair, et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 7……………..…. 58
12. Sketch 3, Standard Bearer and Halberdier in the Field.…..…………………..… 62
13. Urs Graf, Standard Bearer, 1514………………………………………..……..… 64
14. Sketch 4, This is a Swede.…………………………………………...………….… 68
15. Urs Graf, Horrors of War, 1521…..……………………………………..……..… 74
16. Staff Weapon with Spiral Languet, 1520………………………………..……..… 75
17. Sketch 5, Michael von Coburg and Wolf von Zwickau………………….……..… 79
18. The Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 135……………………………….………… 82
vii
19. Detail, Sketches 5 and 2……...…………………………………………...……… 87
20. Sketch 6, Two Pikemen………..…………………………………………..……… 92
21. Detail, Sketch 6..…………………………………………………………......…… 95
22. Sketch 7, Halberdier, Wilhelm von Straßburg………….………………….....…… 98
23. Die Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank, Plate 81……………….……………..… 100
24. Detail, Sketches 7, 2, and 5………..………………………………………….… 102
25. Sketch 8, Woman, Man, and Child on the March……..………………..…….… 104
26. Detail, Sketch 8..…………………………………..………………………….… 110
27. Daniel Hopfer, Soldier and His Wife, ca. 1530; and Urs Graf, Standard Bearer
with Boy at Wayside Cross, 1516…………………………………………….… 112
28. Vigil Solis, A Boy and a Woman of the Baggage Train..……………...….….… 114
29. Sketch 9, Fife and Drum………………………………………………..…….… 119
30. Sketch 10, Junker on the March……………………………………..…….…… 126
31. Detail, Sketch 10. Halberd Head………………………………………..……… 128
32. Sketch 11, Four Pikemen…………………………………………………..…… 130
33. Sketch 12, A Field Array of Men…………………......………………………… 136
34. Jost Amman, An Army on the March. 1573…………………………..……....… 141
35. Sketch 13, The Siege of Montfort, Holland……….……..………………….....… 154
36. Detail, Sketch 13………………………………………………………….…..… 161
37. Detail, Sketch 1………………….………………………………………..…..… 162
38. Sketch 14, Knight and Landsknecht……………………………………….….… 167
39. Sketch 15, Landsknechts Fend off a Swedish Assault………………….….….… 170
40. Sketch 16, A Close Call Outside Landshut……………………………..…….… 184
41. Detail, Sketch 12………………………………………………..…….....……… 188
viii
42. Lances, Sixteenth Century……………………………………………………… 189
43. Sketch 17, Siege of Castle on Western Coast of Sweden………………….….… 192
44. Topographical Map of the Öresten Castle Site.………………………………… 196
45. Sketch 18, Siege of Arnschwang………………………………..…………….… 199
46. Detail, Sketch 18…………………………………………………….…..……… 205
47. Detail, Sketch 18………………………………………………….……..……… 206
48. Detail, Sketch 18..................…………………………….……………………… 207
49. Sketch 19, Siege of Älvsborg…………………………….……………………… 209
50. Topographical Map of Älvsborg Castle Site ………………………………....… 216
51. Detail, Sketch 19……………………………………………..………………….. 218
52. Hans Holbein, Fight of Landsknechts…………………………..………..……… 225
53. Possible Interpretation of the First Array.…………..………………………...… 236
ix
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I was unaware of how collaborative a process research is until I ventured into this
project. Paul Dolnstein’s sketches had captured my imagination almost a decade before I
walked into Dr. Hans Peter Broedel’s office to discuss possible thesis topics. Without Dr.
Broedel’s encouragement, I would have set this topic aside as impossible. Dr. Broedel’s
solid, consistent guidance and his expertise in a wide array of medieval and early modern
topics allowed me to press forward with this challenging project.
Three scholars shaped my transcription and translation. I am particularly grateful
for Dr. Olaf Berwald’s generosity in time and expertise as well as for his enthusiasm. His
interest in the project did not wane despite the many long hours spent poring over
Dolnstein’s work and my interpretation of secondary sources. Dr. Christopher S. Mackay
of the University of Alberta walked me through a number of fundamentals in Dolnstein’s
handwriting, spending several hours correcting my transcription and word choice. Most
importantly, Dr. Mackay solved the mystery of a word that appears several times in
Dolnstein’s twelfth sketch. Dr. Mackay's persistence, patience, and attentive responses to
my questions over the course of several months made all the difference in this project.
Dr. Shawn Boyd’s expertise in Early New High German was absolutely indispensable.
His guidance with the translation of passages by Dolnstein’s contemporaries and his
interpretation of Dolnstein’s thirteenth sketch were particularly valuable.
For the many hours they spent reading drafts, I wish to thank Dr. Ty M. Reese
and Dr. Michelle M. Sauer. Both of these scholars offered valuable insight that shaped
my research. Dr. Reese’s efforts kept my research on track and ensured a thorough
exploration of the historiography. Dr. Sauer’s early guidance in paleography, her editing
and quick responses to questions were especially helpful.
I would like to thank the staff at the Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar, in
particular Frau Dagmar Blaha and Frau Iris Lemser, for their kind and thorough
responses to my many inquiries. I would like to thank as well Henrik Johansson of the
Armémuseum in Stockholm, Chris Streek of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, Sabine
Benning of the Gesellschaft für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde in Berlin, and
Elisabeth Westin Berg of Livrustkammaren in Stockholm. For his expertise and
willingness to answer questions, I would like to thank Dr. John A. Lynn II of
Northwestern University. For their expertise in weaponry and military matters, I am
grateful to Peter Johnsson of Albion Swords, Rob Mead, and Jeffrey D. Skjelver. I would
also like to thank Elizabeth Mjelde for her observations about the physical properties of
Dolnstein’s sketchbook.
Several colleagues, friends, and family members guided my reading of foreign
language sources. Chief among them are Ottar Dahl who trudged through my readings of
Scandinavian works and did some rapid translation for me, and Daniel Staberg, to whom
I am indebted for his assistance in research. I would like to thank Dr. Caroline Campbell,
x
Dr. Ineke Justitz, Monika Hancock, Lennart Siegle, and Harry LaClair for their time and
commentary as well. However, regardless of the guidance and expertise of the people
named above, the role of verification is mine, and any errors this thesis might contain are
entirely my own.
The active interest of the following professors has been tremendously
encouraging: Dr. James Mochoruk, Dr. William Caraher, Dr. Birgit Hans, and Dr.
Sebastian Braun. For their commentary and support, I would like thank my friends and
colleagues, in particular the members of my Writers Group: Amber Annis, Robert
Caulkins, Chris Gust, Thomas Harlow, Sonja Hathaway, Katherine Nedegaard, and Peter
Stordahl.
Finally and most importantly, I wish to thank my family. From start to finish, this
has been a family project. The enthusiasm of my mother, siblings, and in-laws has
buoyed me in challenging times. Above all, my husband and children have actively
contributed to this project through their curiosity, patience, and teamwork. My long
distance travels to campus and the many late and early hours have required an
extraordinary commitment of the family. They have risen to the challenge and embraced
it. Without their support, I could never have completed this project.
xi
To Joan Elizabeth Wilson
My Mother, My Foundation
ABSTRACT
This thesis provides analysis, transcription, and translation of Paul Dolnstein’s
early sixteenth century annotated sketchbook. The study offers insight into one ‘type’ of
German Renaissance mercenary, the sedentary type. Known as Landsknechts, German
Renaissance mercenaries were prized for their discipline on the field and for their
commanders’ ability to provide well equipped and well trained armies for the battlefields
of Europe. As opposed to roving Landsknechts who followed the drums of war year in
and year out, the sedentary Landsknecht retained his roots and returned to civilian work
in his town of origin between campaigns. He might serve in only a few military
campaigns, or he might serve in several. In all his warring, the sedentary Landsknecht
maintained his ties to a particular locale and occupation, often that of an artisan.
This study argues that at least one such sedentary Landsknecht, Paul Dolnstein,
saw his world through the lenses of both warrior and artisan. His experience as both
master craftsman and mercenary shines through his sketches and accompanying
commentary. In support of this argument, the thesis analyzes Paul Dolnstein's military
sketchbook in the context of his civilian role as a highly regarded master craftsman,
concluding that even as he is a warrior on the march, he sees military engagements
through the eyes of master builder. Further, the very existence of this sketchbook
demonstrates that the warrior in the artisan who has seen battle never ceases to exist. The
soldier in this craftsman lived on in his memory, scars, and stories.
xii
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Five hundred years ago, an early Landsknecht and master bridge builder named
Paul Dolnstein captured his wartime experience in image and text. This document,
housed at the Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar, provides what appear to be first
hand accounts of four sieges, a skirmish, instructions for a pike formation, and depictions
of men and women who appear to be Dolnstein's comrades. Dolnstein's sketchbook has
captured the imagination of military history enthusiasts in the trade press and in digital
communities. Yet, it has received little attention from scholars, and it has never been
published in its entirety.1 The fascination among military history enthusiasts is not
surprising, given the drawings' ability to draw in anyone with even a passing interest in
the era. Thus, the limited scholarly attention is puzzling. The one hundred ten lines of text
in Early New High German have never been translated into English, nor have they been
fully translated into modern German. Perhaps the text's brevity has caused scholars to
pass it over in favor of meatier works. Brief though it is, the sketchbook's personal
nature, the author's artisan background, and his first hand perspective merit academic
attention. This thesis provides the first English language academic interpretation of the
work. Each of the nineteen sketches receives transcription, translation, and commentary
with an aim toward understanding the document's purpose and its illumination of the dual
lenses through which German Renaissance warrior artisans observed their world.
1
Lars-Olof Larsson, “Paul Dolnsteins dagbok,” Göteborg förr och nu 18 (1982): 73.
1
The notebook holds value for scholars in what it suggests about the people who
served as Landsknechts and why they joined. His sketches are also important for their
bridging of two eras, the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. Dolnstein sets human
subjects drawn with a Renaissance preference for natural detail against landscapes drawn
in the medieval style. He offers historians the opportunity to see the Renaissance as it was
happening, through the eyes of one who was not a professional artist. His drawings also
demonstrate the impact of early artistic depictions of Landsknechts on mercenaries
themselves. Further, Dolnstein’s drawings and language demonstrate his dual identity as
warrior and master artisan. The term 'identity' in this thesis applies to roles and
occupations as among the means by which people defined themselves. He emphasizes his
martial experiences. Indeed, they seem to be the very purpose of his sketchbook, and yet
his artisan identity is apparent both in overt signs, such as the builder’s mark on the title
page, and in his attention to the kinds of structural detail a master builder would notice.
Whether the sketchbook is an intentional expression of warrior artisan identity, or
whether its purpose was to emphasize only his military adventures, Dolnstein’s dual
identity shines throughout the work.
The examination of Paul Dolnstein's sketchbook is an examination of the man, for
while the events of his life may not have been exceptional, his sketchbook is certainly
unusual among surviving artifacts from warrior artisans. In this thesis, I focus on the
historical rather than linguistic significance of the work. Hence, while Dolnstein’s
sketchbook is the center piece of this essay, this is not a linguistics or philology paper. It
is a history paper. As such, it begins with a historiographical survey followed by
descriptions of the sketchbook and an overview of Paul Dolnstein's life. Second, there
2
will be historiographical surveys of the Landsknecht's origin and the meaning of the term,
of the Landsknecht in art, and of the Landsknecht in social history. Third, the body of the
study will comprise nineteen brief essays, one for each sketch. Each essay will include a
reproduction of the sketch itself, transcription, translation, and commentary. Finally, a
conclusion will follow, emphasizing the importance of Dolnstein's work to the fields of
military, social, and art history. The conclusion will also suggest areas for further
research.
HISTORIOGRAPHY OF THE SKETCHBOOK
Two scholars have examined Paul Dolnstein's sketchbook in depth. In a 1929
article entitled, "Das Kriegstagebuch eines Deutschen Landsknechts um die Wende des
15. Jahrhunderts," Helene Dihle explores what the sketchbook might offer historians of
clothing and weaponry. She also suggests the notebook's value to "the precise dating and
location of events," depicted in Dolnstein's sketches.2 Drawing on the records the Saxon
princely court, Dihle uncovers some of Paul Dolnstein’s background. She also includes
copies of twelve of the nineteen sketches for which she provides historical context.
Dihle's 1930 article, "Zur Belagerung von Elfsborg i. J. 1502," takes a closer look at
Dolnstein's sketches of events in Sweden.3 Her primary focus in both articles is the
clothing and weaponry of Dolnstein's comrades and opponents. She transcribes much of
the text, translating it into modern German. It is on Dihle's work that all other research
has depended. The other scholar to explore this sketchbook in detail is Lars-Olof Larsson.
His 1982 article, "Paul Dolnsteins Dagbok," expands on Dihle's work, expanding
2
Helene Dihle and Adolf Closs, "Das Kriegstagebuch eines Deutschen Landsknechts um die Wende des
15. Jahrhunderts," Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und Kostümkunde 3, no 12. (Jan., 1929): 1-11.
3
Helene Dihle, "Zur Belagerung von Elfsborg i. J. 1502: Aus den Papieren eines Deutschen
Landsknechts," Fornvännen (1930): 108-113.
3
particularly on the historical context of Dolnstein's sketches of the 1502 Danish
suppression of a Swedish revolt.4 With some variations from Dihle's interpretation,
Larsson transcribes portions of the sketchbook and translates them into modern Swedish.
Both scholars describe the sketchbook as a war diary or war journal. Larsson calls
it "the oldest known written German war diary."5 The term 'diary' does not seem fitting.
The name Meister Heinrich on the first page suggests that the sketches are a gift or are
dedicated to a fellow master artisan.6 Diaries are generally private affairs. Further, this
collection of sketches covers a period of between nine and fourteen years, depending on
when they were made. Given only nineteen sketches in so long a time span, the term
'diary' seems wanting. The German Tagebuch and the Swedish dagbok can also be
translated as 'journal'. The German can also mean 'log book'. If one views the terms
‘journal’ and ‘logbook’ as meaning ‘regularly kept records of events,’ they too fall short
of defining what this sketchbook is, for there are lengthy and irregular gaps of time
between events in the document. The terms ‘sketchbook,’ ‘illustrated notebook,’ or
‘annotated sketchbook’ seem the most reasonable, and I use them interchangeably in this
thesis.
There are also brief mentions of Dolnstein in works about clothing and military
history, and in annotated bibliographies. Typically these entries consist of reprints of a
few of Dolnstein's sketches and one or two lines, or perhaps a few paragraphs.7 Christian
4
Larsson, 71-90.
5
Dihle and Closs, 1; Larsson, 71; Dihle, 71. I take ‘diary’ to mean a daily or near daily personal log,
whereas a ‘journal’ or ‘log book’ may receive entries only as important events occur.
6
Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl.
1r.
7
Inga Arnö and Gunnel Hazelius-Berg, Folk Costumes of Sweden: A Living Tradition (Malmö, ICA
bokförlag, 1976), 29; Olle Cederlöf, “The Battle Painting as a Historical Source,” Revue internationale
d'histoire militaire 26: (1967), 134. Sven Ekdahl, “Die Bewaffnung der Schwedischen Bauern im
Mittelalter,” Fasciculi archaeologiae historicae, 11 (1998): 23-25, 33; Sven Ekdahl, “Die strategische
4
Lovén draws on Dolnstein's sketches in his archaeological work on Swedish fortifications
in the Middle Ages. He devotes several paragraphs to narrations of Dolnstein's images as
they relate to the Swedish castles Älvsborg and Öresten.8 In a footnote, he suggests the
possibility that Dolnstein might have created his sketchbook with the intention that it
could serve as a foundation for woodcuts.9
It is worth mentioning that a number of popular press military history books have
quoted Dolnstein or depicted his sketches. At least two popular press works erroneously
attribute a statement by Sebastien Schertlin to Paul Dolnstein.10 The Osprey series,
however, have relied on the three existing scholarly articles in their exploration of
Dolnstein's sketches and have made some of his sketches available to military history
enthusiasts.11 Among the Osprey books, John Richards' 2002 book, Landsknecht Soldier,
1486-1560, gives Dolnstein the most space. Richards draws on Dihle's and Larsson's
articles, shedding light on the costume of the Landsknecht and translating brief portions
Bedeutung der wichtigsten schwedischen Burgen,” in Budownictwo i budowniczowie w przeszłości, ed.

Andrzej Abramowicz (Łodz: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii Nauk, 2002), 143-144.
8
Christian Lovén, Borgar och befästningar i det medeltida Sverige (Stockholm: Kungliga Vitterhets
Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1996), 118-120, 122-123.
9
Lovén, 119, note 2. This is a reasonable idea, particularly given the artistic climate of Frederick the
Wise’s Saxony.
10
At least two authors erroneously credit Dolstein with Sebastien Schertlin's statement about May 6, 1527,
"...we took Rome by storm, put over 5,000 men to the sword, seized all that we could find in churches ...
and burned down a great part of the city, taking apart and destroying all." R. G. Grant, Warrior: A Visual
History of the Fighting Man (New York: DK Publishing, 2007), 110; Chris McNab, ed., Knives and
Swords, a Visual History (New York: DK Publishing, 2010), 167. Sebastien Schertlin's observation reads,
"Anno 1527 ... Den 6. tag May haben wir Rom mit dem sturmp gewunnen, ob 6000 man darin zu tot
gschlagenn, die gantze statt geplündert, in allen kirchen vnd ob der erd genomen, war wir gefunden, ain
guten tail der statt abgeprant, vnd seltzam haussgehalten, alle copistereien, register, brife vnd cortisaney
zerrissen, zerschlagen." Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach, Leben und Thaten des weiland wohledlen und
gestrengen Herrn Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach, durch ihn selbst beschrieben. Nach der eigenen
Handschrift des Ritters, ed. Ottmar F.H. Schönhuth (Münster: Aschendorff'schen Buchhandlung, 1858), 7.
11
John Richards, Landsknecht Soldier, 1486-1560 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002), 2, 6, 9-10, 23, 29,
44, 51-52, 54, 59, 61-62; David Lindholm and David Nicolle, Medieval Scandinavian Armies (2): 1300-
1500 (Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003), 11, 21; David Lindholm and David Nicolle, The Scandinavian
Baltic Crusades 1100-1500 (Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2007), 20-21; Paula Regan, ed., Weapon: A Visual
History of Arms and Armor (New York: DK Publishing, 2006), 109.
5
of Dihle's modern German rendering of Dolnstein's battle commentary.12 In their 2007
work, The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades, 1100-1500, David Lindholm and David Nicole
refer to the sketches as "Paul Dolnstein's famous drawings."13 These few sources round
out the historiography of Paul Dolnstein's illustrated notebook.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SKETCHBOOK
The notebook consists of nineteen sketches with about one hundred ten lines of
legible text as captions on coarse cloth paper.14 One sketch is missing, but it does appear
in this study as a black and white copy extracted from Dihle’s articles.15 According to
Dagmar Blaha of the Weimar Archive, the notebook was bound in a form of protective
cardboard at the beginning of the twentieth century.16 The Weimar Archive provided me
with digital images of the sketchbook of such excellent quality that even the finest details
are sharp and clear. The digital images are of such quality that some text that Helene
Dihle and Lars-Olof Larsson seem unable to discern with the naked eye is now clear,
though there are still portions that remain illegible. Because I did not hold the document
in my hands, I rely on Dihle's description for its physical characteristics:
The notebook has nineteen ink drawings made with a quill pen, of which five are
siege and battle scenes. The remaining fourteen depict all kinds of war folk,
especially Landsknechts. The notebook's bound double pages, parts of which are
empty, consist of coarse paper of yellow-reddish tone; every page measures
22x32 centimeters [8.661 x 12.598 inches]. In addition to the drawings that reveal
a lack of practice, there are often commentary and names, all of which are of the
same handwriting. Some parts are illegible because they cover the margins of the
papers, but the margins were apparently once damp and frayed.
12
Richards, 2, 6, 9-10, 23, 29, 44, 51-52, 54, 59, 61-62
13
Lindholm and Nicolle, 20-21.
14
The texture is visible in the high quality scanned images from the archive.
15
Larsson notes eleven blank pages from 13v-18v. He does not provide a citation for this particular
comment, but he does state generally that the images in the article follow the originals in the Weimar
archive. Larsson, 73-74. According to the archive, the sketchbook comprises only pages 1r-13v. Dagmar
Blaha via electronic correspondence, 30 March, 2012. The sketch appearing in a black and white copy
seems to have been lost in World War II. Dagmar Blaha via electronic correspondence. March 4, 2011.
16
Correspondence from Dagmar Blaha, Weimar Archives. August 10, 2011.
6
Undoubtedly the drawings were first finished after the pages were bound together.
Apart from the fact that even the slightest rearrangement of these drawings that
stretch over two pages would tear apart the image, there are small indicators such
as printed ink stains, and again drawings that stretch across, as evidence.
The captions clearly prove that the drawings were produced in the first decade of
the 16th century. Already in a Repertorium17 from the end of the sixteenth
century, which can be found in the Weimar Archive this notebook is mentioned
with the description: "Paul Dolnstein's collected summaries of numerous
Landsknechts in their armor; it is also described how the attack and defeat of the
Swedish people at Elfsborg in Norway happened, also how another house three
miles away from Elfsborg was captured by means of combustibles18 set ablaze.
And also the village of Arenschwangk, 1 mile from Kams that Herr Hans
Weigsdorff of Schamburg captured."
The drawings of which only a part could be reproduced due to their lack of
clarity, are all from the same hand save one, which could be in doubt. This
drawing depicts a pacing Landsknecht in a waving cloak with shouldered lance,
whose original model can perhaps be found in a 1505 woodcut.19
The object of Dihle's doubt is the tenth sketch, which pictures a Junker on the march.20
Seeing a strong resemblance to artist Mattäus Zasinger’s work, she searched a Berlin art
gallery for this woodcut’s potential model.21 However, she did not find such a model and
concludes that Dolnstein was picturing his comrades and experiences from his immediate
observation or memory rather than by copying of woodcuts.22
Dihle makes the statement that Dolnstein's drawings reveal a lack of practice. She
describes them as being of "obviously amateurish character." Elsewhere she adds that
they have "no artistic goal," or artistic value.23 Her point that he was obviously not a
17
A Repertorium is an archival finding aid. With regard to the dating of the Repertorium, Dihle gives as
her source, "According to the friendly information from the Archives Director Dr. Pischel, Weimar." Dihle,
1, n. 2.
18
The word here is Feuerwerk. Dihle, 1.
19
Dihle, 1.
20
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 6r.
21
The museum where she searched for a model among Zasinger’s works is "Berlin, Kupferstichkabinette.
Deutsche Schule. 16. Jahrh." Dihle and Closs, 1, n. 3.
22
Ibid.
23
Dihle, 1-2.
7
professional artist is accurate. Even so, his work exhibits the artistic climate of his period
when medieval style was giving way to the classical. His melding of medieval landscapes
with Renaissance attention to detail in individual faces, weaponry, and attire might in fact
be of artistic value. He is clearly a man living on the cusp of a new concept of what it
means to depict human subjects and landscape.
Facial details throughout his illustrations demonstrate that Dolnstein was drawing
from personal memory of specific individuals if not from immediate observation of
them.24 She also believes that the battle and siege scenes must come from his own first-
hand experience, and that at least some of them were written shortly after battle while the
images were still fresh in his mind.25 Neither she, nor Larsson, nor I doubt the
authenticity of Dolnstein's claims to have been present at the events he captures in image.
Lars-Olof Larsson restates Dihle's physical description and her conclusion that the
images were completed after the pages were bound. However, he finds all the writing to
be in the same hand whereas Dihle does not.26 For, Dihle notes that the handwriting in the
upper right hand corner of the last page, the page now missing, is not in Dolnstein's
handwriting and is a later addition.27 In my own observation, this appears to be the case,
and there are a number of other places where the handwriting looks different, possibly as
a result of a poor writing surface.
To these descriptions, I can add that the coarse paper is a rag paper and that there
are occasionally faint pencil images visible. These are particularly striking in the fifth
sketch where one can see two faces in the background, and on the eighteenth where a
24
Ibid.
25
Ibid.
26
Larsson, 71-90, especially 71-73.
27
Dihle and Closs, 3.
8
penciled symbol may represent the cardinal directions, a builder's mark, or something
else entirely.28 Another observation is that some time before Helene Dihle did her
research, each page of the notebook was stamped with a number in the bottom right
corner of the facing or recto side of each page. These numbers appear in the copies of
sketches in Dihle's articles. The nineteenth sketch, however, has no stamp in Dihle's
copy. This drawing may have been loose when Dihle saw it, which might have
contributed to its loss. The stamps run from 1 to 13, skipping the number 12, at least in
my copies from the archive. Lars-Olof Larsson observes one empty portion of the
notebook, which would explain the lack of a number 12 in my copies.29 The empty page
appears to be immediately after the seventeenth sketch.30
WHO WAS PAUL DOLNSTEIN?
As was common at the time, the author of this illustrated notebook wrote his
name as he wrote most words, with variation. He wrote his name "dolnstain,"31 "pawl
vom dolnstain,"32 "pawlß von dolnstain,"33 "pawl dolnstain,"34 and "pawls von
tolnstain."35 In the court records of Frederick the Wise, Dolnstein appears as
"Dolenstein"36 and "Tolnstaynn."37 Dihle replaces the 'a' with an 'e' in an orthographical
adjustment to modern spelling. Most writers have followed her lead, writing the name
28
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3r; Bl. 12v-13r.
29
Larsson, 71-90, especially 71-73.
30
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 11v.
31
32
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 9v-10r.
33
34
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 11v, 12v-13r.
35
Helene Dihle, "Zur Belagerung von Elfsborg i. j. 1502. Aus den Papieren eines deutschen Landsknechts."
Fornvännen: Meddelanden Från K. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, ed. Sigurd Curman
(1930, issue 25): Figure 36, unnumbered page.
36
The name appears as "Paul Dolenstein Baumeister," "Paull Dolenstein," and as "Paul von Dolenstein" in
Robert Bruck, Friederich der Weise als Fördereer der Kunst (Straßburg: Heitz & Mündel, 1903), 31, 254,
255.
37
The name appears as "Der Baumeister Tolnstaynn" in Bruck, 255.
9
"Dolstein,"38 "Tolnstein,"39 and "Dolnstein." Larsson and Dihle both spell it
"Dolnstein."40 This change provides an association with the Bavarian town of Dollnstein,
which appears as “Dolnstein” within the last two centuries in both German and English.41
According to Christopher Mackay, orthographically, the modern word would be
Dohlenstein, which is the name of a mountain in Thuringia.42 Whatever the origin of his
name, Paul Dolnstein has amassed enough of a following under this particular modern
spelling of his name to justify its continued use.
Dihle asserts that Dolnstein likely came from Torgau.43 This is plausible, although
he could have come from anywhere, including the Bavarian town of Dollnstein. We first
encounter Paul Dolnstein at the 1491 Siege of Montfort, Holland.44 He places himself
there in his sketchbook but gives no date for the event. According to Dihle's research,
from 1496 to 1498, Paul Dolnstein served the elector Prince Frederick the Wise of
Saxony in his rebuilding of the bridge at Torgau.45 Below is the Torgau Bridge as it
appeared in 1544. One can see that it is a wooden structure consisting of several piers.
38
Richards, 2, 6, 9-10, 23, 29, 44, 51-52, 54, 59, 61-62; Regan, 109; Grant, 110; McNab,167.
39
Dihle, 108.
40
Dihle and Closs, 2-9; Larsson, 71-89.
41
Joseph Anton Eisenmann, Neueste Geographie des Königreichs Bayern (München: Joseph Lindauer,
1811), 105; Friedrich Ohlenschlager, "Der Name 'Pfahl' als Bezeichnung der römischen Genzlinie," in
Neue HeidelbergerJahrbücher, ed. Historisch-Philosophischen Vereine zu Heidelberg, Jahrgang 4
(Heidelberg: G. Koester, 1895), 66; James Playfair, A System of Geography, Ancient and Modern, vol. 4
(Edinburgh: Alex Smellie, 1812), 255; Encyclopaedia Perthensis; or Universal Dictionary of the Arts,
Sciences, Literature, etc., vol. 7 (Edinburgh: John Brown, 1819), 419.
42
Per electronic mail communication with Christopher S. Mackay, University of Alberta, July 15, 2011.
43
Dihle and Closs, 2.
44
Dihle and Closs, 2.
45
This project was begun in 1494. Ibid.
10
Figure 1. Lucas Cranach the Younger, 1544, Torgau Bridge across the Elbe.46
Dolnstein served as both Baurechnungsführer, an overseer of accounting matters related
to building, and as master bridge builder for this project.47 In 1499, he ran low on money
for the bridge project. He wrote to the electoral governor protesting that if he did not
receive any funds, he would not be able to continue building, and that what he had built
so far would be destroyed.48 The problem seems to have been solved by the prince's
designation of funds for the bridge.49 However, the potential to run low on funds must
have been frustrating and may have contributed to his return to mercenary activities. We
find him again in his sketches in 1502-1503. The King of Denmark has knighted him and
his fellow Germans for crushing Sten Sture the Elder’s Rebellion in Sweden. He states
46
Lucas Cranach the Younger. Detail: Hirschjagd des Kurfürsten Johann Friedrich. 1544.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie.
47
Dihle, 108; Dihle and Closs, 2. I associate the term Baurechnungsführer with accounting or financial
reckoning as does Shawn Boyd, University of North Dakota. Olaf Berwald, University of North Dakota,
sees this word as being akin to a general contractor. Dihle observes that Dolnstein had finished two bridge
piers in 1498. Dihle and Closs, 2. Robert Bruck states that one pier was finished in 1499 but later that two
were finished in 1498. Bruck, 31, 254. Ingetraut Ludolphy also states that the first pier was finished in
1499, saying that this bridge was very difficult to build. Ingetraut Ludolphy, Friedrich der Weise: Kurfürst
von Sachsen, 1463-1525 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984), 127.
48
The passage reads: "falls er kein Geld erhalte, konne er nicht weiterbauen und musse befurchten, das bis
jetzt Errichtete ginge dann zugrunde." Bruck, 31.
49
The funds came from Buttergeld, which Bruck notes was the name given to money set aside officially for
building a small chapel to St. Anne but in reality was used for bridge construction. Bruck, 30-31, 255;
Ingetraut Ludolphy, Friedrich der Weise: Kurfürst von Sachsen, 1463-1525 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck &
Ruprecht, 1984), 127.
11
that he made camp for the besieging army. In 1504, his sketches place him in the
Landshut War fighting against the Count of Palatinate. 1509 and 1511 see him again in
Saxon court records. In both years, he received from the Saxon court English cloth for
Italian, French, or Swiss style clothing.50 In 1513, he receives more English cloth, this
time for French style clothing.51 In the winter of the same year, he again received English
fabric, some of which was specifically for hose and a doublet.52 Dihle notes that each of
these were gifts for court vestments, made as they were of imported cloth and for a
cosmopolitan style.53 Describing his receipt of such gifts as irregular, she speculates that
he was not normally at court but rather a craftsman who enjoyed some favor.54 For, these
vestments were the sort of clothing worn by noblemen.55 The term “französischer” is
even more unusual than the general gift of court garments. In this year, only Dolnstein
and an important painter, Lucas Cranach the Elder, received this particular gift.56 From
these gifts and his seeming association with Lucas Cranach, Dihle speculates that
Dolnstein enjoyed favor.57 He then disappears from the records and is not mentioned in
reference to the bridge's 1517 completion.58
50
The entry reads: "lündisches Tuch zum welschen Rock auf Befehl des Herzogs Hans." Dihle and Closs,
2. ‘Welsch’ could be Italian, French, Swiss, or simply foreign. There was a distinctive Swiss style, and the
nobility copied it. The Venetian ambassador wrote of Henry VIII, “His doublet was in the Swiss fashion,
striped alternately with white and crimson satin, and his hose were scarlet, and all slashed from the knee
upwards.” J.S. Brewer, ed. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII, vol. 1
(London: Longman, Green, and Roberts, 1862), xxix. It could also be French.
51
The entry reads: "lündisches Tuch zum französischen Rock," Dihle and Closs, 2.
52
Dihle and Closs, 2.
53
Dihle and Closs, 2.
54
Dihle and Closs, 2.
55
Dihle and Closs, 2.
56
Dihle and Closs, 2. In this year Lucas Cranach the Elder began work on his painting, Adam and Eve.
Peter Moser, Lucas Cranach: Sein Leben, seine Welt und seine Bilder (Bamberg: Babenberg Verlag, 2004),
77.
57
Dihle and Closs, 2.
58
Ibid.
12
Dihle describes Dolnstein as "an almost unknown man.”59 She also describes him
as being “without importance,” but it is probably wise to infer here that she means that he
was not a nobleman or a burgher.60 Certainly, he was an artisan and a man whose name
would mean little were it not for his illustrated notebook, but Dihle notes the association
of Dolnstein with the likes of Lucas Cranach. Larsson sees Dolnstein as a man of at least
military importance. Referring to Dolnstein's caption in which he states that he made
camp, Larsson notes that erecting a military camp would not have been entrusted to just
any Landsknecht.61 He is confident that Dolnstein was an officer of sorts within an early
form of an engineer corps.62 Larsson's view seems plausible. Dolnstein's drawings exhibit
his awareness of the structure of fortifications and defensive positioning. There is
evidence that Paul Dolnstein moved among the higher ranks: his remarkable (but sadly
not fully legible) instructions for arraying four hundred men, his appearance in full armor
and on horseback, and his having received such fine quality fabric as to be on par at least
in appearance with the likes of an artisan like Lucas Cranach. All of this evidence
suggests that Dolnstein at least moved among the head men. The question, quite possibly
unanswerable, is then whether Dolnstein was an engineer with the Landsknechts, or a
Landsknecht with a valuable ancillary skill.
Dolnstein appears to have risen in the world, but this is a conclusion I draw based
on an assumption. In this thesis, I make the assumption that when we first meet Paul
Dolnstein at Montfort, he is a relatively young man and likely a journeyman.63 There is,
59
Dihle, 108.
60
Ibid.
61
Larsson, 89.
62
Larsson, 89; Dihle, 108.
63
The length of time spent as journeymen varied widely from two to seven years with some holding this
status for life. Given such variation, I use thirty as a rough estimate of the age by which Dolnstein would
have become a master. S.R Epstein, and Maarten Prak, eds., Guilds, Innovation, and the European
13
in fact, no way of knowing that this is the case. His age requires guess work. It is very
easy to imagine that commanders in need of skilled but not terribly expensive men to
make siege works would have hired journeyman builders for such work. Based on the
abundance of artisans in mercenary service, I also make the assumption that he is a
Landsknecht. Again, there is no way of knowing that this is the case. He could have been
a civilian auxiliary for a portion or the entirety of his martial life. His claim to have been
wounded by an arrow, and his claims to have seen action or to have participated in
military engagement do not limit him to the role of Landsknecht.64 Civilian auxiliaries
would have been in harm’s way and certainly could have claimed participation in any
engagement. Based on these tentative assumptions that he was a journeyman and a
Landsknecht at Montfort, it does appear from the Saxon court records and from
Dolnstein’s self-portrait in Sketch 16 that he has risen in the world.
One wonders if he required court clothing for his role as Baurechnungsführer, or
if he was simply an interesting person whom the prince wanted at his court at least
occasionally. Though it is the only evidence, the sketchbook is enough to set Dolnstein
apart from his contemporary artisans. Dolnstein has been knighted, and he is expressive
enough, at least with a stylus, to presume that his experiences are worthy of preservation.
He is also daring enough to try his hand at the artist’s game, particularly in the
illustrations on the title page, and also in depicting himself. Dihle sees the gifts of fabric
Economy, 1400-1800 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 7-8; James R. Farr, Artisans in
Europe, 1300-1914 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 36.
64
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 8v, 11v, 12v-13r; Dihle,
Figure 36, unnumbered page.
14
as evidence of Dolnstein's strong reputation. She notes that fabric for French style
clothing seldom appears.65
Based on her research in the Saxon records, Dihle assumes that Dolnstein
practiced his trade only sporadically.66 It seems possible, however that Dolnstein was
working in another's employ as Baurechnungsfuhrer or master builder. This is an area for
further research. It would also seem that Dolnstein would have depicted more of his
military experiences if there had been an abundance of them over several years. Perhaps
Dihle is correct though. Perhaps he preferred military service and simply did not find all
of his experiences memorable enough to record them, or perhaps he did record them and
those sketches are missing. I would argue that Dolnstein did not practice his trade
sporadically. Rather, he practiced his artisan trade while serving as a Landsknecht. In the
service of Albert the Bold and the King of Denmark, his pay was certainly no less
reliable and was quite possibly more reliable than in civilian service to Frederick the
Wise. Dolnstein erected camp, an absolutely necessary task. As long as there was war,
there would be the opportunity to use his skills as a master builder.
Paul Dolnstein was at once an artisan and a warrior. He memorializes his martial
experiences because they are important to him or to his audience or to both. Were one to
examine this sketchbook without the benefit of Dihle's research, one would still detect
Dolnstein's artisan background. While he does not directly mention his experience as a
master bridge builder, his title page or cover page would provide indicators of such a
background. Dolnstein has drawn a builder's mark squarely in the center of the page.
Here, he has also written the name of a fellow artisan, Meister Heinrich. A peasant or
65
Ibid.
66
Dihle and Closs, 2; Larsson, 71.
15
bridge worker with his implement appears next to a Landsknecht with his sword. The tool
and sword cross neatly. Finally, two sets of initials, possibly for a guild motto, appear on
the right hand side of the page. In other sketches, one might detect his artisan background
through the manner in which he depicts fortifications and siege works. In other words, he
does not ignore his artisan identity as he displays for his audience a second aspect of who
he is, a Landsknecht. His audience may never have seen this martial side of Dolnstein in
action. His audience may have found it fascinating and may have asked Dolnstein to
describe his years at war. Perhaps he recorded similar experiences from his artisanal
work, but if he did, we do not know it. All we know is that this, the martial side of the
man, was singular enough to Dolnstein or to his intended audience for him to go to some
length to preserve it.
HISTORIOGRAPHICAL SURVEY
The Landsknecht has long fascinated historians. Bernard Guenée characterizes
Dolnstein’s period as, "between the age of the feudal army and that of the standing army .
. . the era of the contract army."67 These military contractors came onto the scene in
Germany by 1470, and after contracting themselves to a prince, recruited men to fight
under their own command.68 There were also commanders who recruited first and then
sold the services of the unit "to the highest bidder."69 These men, the German
Landsknecht whose style was based on the Swiss Reisläufer, fought in phalanxes of pike.
They were among the best foot soldiers in Europe. In his 1971 article, "The Landsknecht:
67
Bernard Guenée, States and Rulers in Later Medieval Europe, trans. Juliet Vale (New York: Basil
Blackwell, 1985), 142.
68
Ibid.
69
Ibid.
16
His Recruitment and Organization, with Some Reference to the Reign of Henry VIII,"
John Millar credits their success to having:
done something which no other infantry in Europe could do; they had combined
shock with mobility. In these troops were united the attributes which had made
the mounted knight the prince of medieval battlefields. The compact mass and
serried pikes of the landsknecht regiment gave it the solidity and weight
heretofore only enjoyed by men-at-arms. Coupled with this was rapidity of
movement, the ability to execute maneuvers coolly, and discipline, which
medieval horsemen lacked. The pikeman's competence in meeting and defeating
heavy horse had in fact established his reputation, and it was this singular skill
which first brought him into favor with the paymasters of Europe.70
Millar's assertions are in line with scholarly consensus. David Parrott's 2010, "War, State,
and Society in Western Europe, 1600-1700," discusses the matter as well. Parrott
emphasizes the "weight of impact" from a solid mass of troops, the "steam-roller" effect
of Swiss tactics in transforming, "mercenaries from secondary force-enhancers such as
Genoese crossbowmen, into the dominant weapons-system of the early sixteenth
century."71 In his 1920 work, History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century, Hans
Delbrück argues that German soldiers had been "held in low regard" in the 1470s and
rose to prominence in the sixteenth century.72 John Lynn describes the Landsknecht in his
1995 article, "Recalculating French Army Growth During the Grand siècle, 1610-1715."
One of their greatest selling points was that they arrived in units already, "fully armed
and fully trained, ready to put in the line."73 Delbrück observes something else the
Landsknecht possessed: a confidence and warrior ethos new to the common infantryman.
70
John Gilbert Millar, "The Landsknecht: His Recruitment and Organization, with Some Reference to the
Reign of Henry VIII," Military Affairs 35, no. 3. (October, 1971): 98.
71
David Parrott, "War, State, and Society in Western Europe, 1600-1700," in European Warfare, 1350-
1750 ed. Frank Tallett and D.J.B. Trim (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010), 80.
72
Hans Delbrück, History of the Art of War, vol. 4. Translated by Walter J. Renfroe, Jr. (Lincoln:
University of Nebraska Press, 1985), 5.
73
John A. Lynn II, "Recalculating French Army Growth During the Grand siècle, 1610-1715," in The
Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern Europe, ed.
Clifford J. Rogers (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), 135.
17
This came in no small measure from the actions of their founder, Holy Roman Emperor,
Maximilian I. At Guinegate in 1479, then Duke Maximilian, "himself took spear in hand
and obliged his nobles to join the unit of foot soldiers in order by this camaraderie to
heighten the soldiers' self-confidence and to inspire them with a touch of the warrior
spirit carried over from knighthood.”74 Keith Moxey's 1989 study, Peasants, Warriors,
and Wives: Popular Imagery in the Reformation, also affirms the rise of the infantry who
became, "the primary instrument of warfare."75
While the term ‘Landsknecht’ existed before Maximilian, he is almost universally
seen as the father of the Landsknecht.76 Their creation arose out of what Charles Oman
calls Maximilian's "disastrous acquaintance with the Swiss phalanx."77 Hans Delbrück
agrees that the, "first battle in which the Swiss combat methods appear in use by other
than Swiss warriors is the battle of Guinegate, two and a half years after the battle of
Nancy."78 The Burgundians had lost at Nancy in January of 1477, and Maximilian's
father-in-law, Charles the Bold had been killed.
One scholar does not see Maximilian as the founder of the Landsknechts, though
he does see him as their developer and patron.79 Max Laux argues in his 1901 work, "Der
Ursprung der Landsknecht," that the Landsknechts evolved slowly, and that it was
inconceivable that the young Maximilian so harried with political troubles had the time to
74
Delbrück, 8. On Hauptleute fighting on foot with footsoldiers, see Friedrich Blau, Die Deutschen
Landsknechte: Ein Kulturbild, 3rd ed. (Vienna: Phaidon Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion,
1985), 39-41.
75
Keith Moxey, Peasants, Warriors, and Wives: Popular Imagery in the Reformation (Chicago: University
of Chicago Press, 1989), 71.
76
Bert Hall, Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics
(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), 122; Günther Franz, "Von Ursprung und Brauchtum
der Landsknechte," Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 61 (1953): 87;
Martin Nell, Die Landsknechte: Entstehung der ersten deutschen Infanterie (1915; repr., Vaduz,
Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1965), 253; Nell, 277, 269-283; Millar, 95.
77
Charles Oman, A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century (New York: E.P. Dutton, 1937), 73.
78
Delbrück, 4.
79
Max Laux, "Der Ursprung der Landsknecht," Zeitschrift für Kulturgeschichte 8 (1901): 21-23.
18
create such an institution.80 However, he seems to have done exactly that. Constantly at
war throughout his rule, facing the Turks and uprisings in the Netherlands as well as his
Swiss lands, Maximilian recruited help from among the Swiss in creating the German
mercenary units of what would come to be called the Landsknechts. Laux is correct in
noting the relatively limited usage of the word in Maximilian's reign, and that the term
came into prolific use in the sixteenth century. Rather, the terms Knecht, Fußknecht and
Dienstknecht appear more commonly in Maximilian's era.81 Paul Dolnstein also uses
Knecht, Deutscher, and Mann instead of Landsknecht.
The origin of the term Landsknecht is much debated. Most scholars agree that the
term appeared in the early fifteenth century in administrative or military functions, but it
did not assume its precise meaning of the disciplined pikeman fighting within a massive
square of pike and halberd until the fourth quarter of the fifteenth century.82
Disagreement also arises over the term's meaning. Variations in spelling add to the
debate. One point on which modern scholars agree is Max Laux's assertion that the term
has nothing to do with the lance. Laux rejects this because these footsoldiers used spears,
not lances, and in the writings of the era, the term Spieß is used with regard to pikemen.83
Hence, the lanzknecht is not a 'lance servant' but rather lanz is a spelling of lands, as are
lants and lant. Laux concludes therefore that the term Landsknecht means 'servant of the
land'.84 Martin Nell argues in his 1915 work, Die Landsknechte: Entstehung der ersten
deutschen Infanterie, that the Land in question is specifically German land.85 The
80
Ibid., 20.
81
Ibid., 22.
82
Ibid., 17; Oman, 74-75; Laux, 17; Delbrück, 7-8, 10; Franz, 87.
83
Laux, 17.
84
Ibid.
85
Nell, 273, 282.
19
Landsknecht for Nell is a German-national footsoldier.86 Günther Franz in his 1953
article, "Von Ursprung und Brauchtum der Landsknechte," agrees that the term was
intended to distinguish these mercenaries as servants of the German land, as opposed to
Bohemian and Swiss soldiers.87 Delbrück disagrees that the term has anything to do with
distinguishing these men as distinctly German because Germans were not the only troops
to fight as Landsknechts; Swiss in particular fought as early Landsknechts.88 He also
rejects other common meanings such as, "soldiers for the defense of the country" and
"soldiers who serve the country."89 Oman affirms Delbrück's view that the term does not
indicate "men of their own land," or "men for the defence of the land," or "men not raised
by the towns but by the countryside."90 Oman insists that the term was vague in its
meaning when Maximilian chose to use it, "perhaps to disguise the fact that he was
raising a permanent standing army, for whose appearance the Diet of the Empire had no
particular enthusiasm."91 Larry Silver enters the discussion in his 2002 work, "Shining
Armor: Emperor Maximilian, Chivalry, and War." Silver observes, "It is significant that
[Maximilian] uses the same term, Knecht, for his stable-hand as he uses for his infantry
land forces in battle, the Landsknechte."92 There is little consensus on what the term
meant, but there is abundant criticism of the notion that the term applied specifically to
German regions.
86
Ibid., 282.
87
Franz, 87.
88
Delbrück, 7.
89
Ibid.; Franz, 87.
90
Oman, 74.
91
Ibid.
92
Larry Silver, "Shining Armor: Emperor Maximilian, Chivalry, and War," in Artful Armies, Beautiful
Battles: Art and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, ed. Pia Cuneo (Boston: Brill, 2002), 72-73.
20
Combating nationalistic ideas of the Landsknecht as "the first German infantry,"
as defined by Martin Nell is Charles Oman.93 Oman observes, "The most extraordinary
fact about the landsknechts is that, unlike the Swiss, they seem to have been singularly
indifferent about their nationality. Except in their normal civil wars between canton and
canton, the Confederates would not fight each other."94 For the Landsknechts, doing
battle against one another posed little problem.95 As their fame spread and they were
more readily available than the Swiss, thousands of Landsknechts even fought against
their own emperor.96 John Millar agrees that they were true mercenaries and "frequently
took service with the enemies of their country."97 However, it would seem that the term
Landsknecht could indeed refer to German lands. Simply because Germans were
indifferent about their masters does not mean that the term could not have arisen out of a
hope to raise troops who did indeed serve the land of one master, specifically
Maximilian. Their early period from 1480-1520 was a period in which Landsknechts
were depicted heroically, as representing imperial power, and as distinct from the Swiss
Reisläufer. Hence, "servants of the land" seems a plausible if naïvely hopeful meaning.
Regardless of the connotation behind the term at the turn of the sixteenth century, its
meaning for our purposes is the highly prized German mercenary trained to fight in pike
formation. Two areas of Landsknecht historiography provide helpful context for the
exploration of Paul Dolnstein's sketchbook: the Landsknecht in social history and the
Landsknecht in art. A theme of the ensuing discussion will be the reasons that a career
among the Landsknechts might have appealed to Dolnstein.
93
Nell, 282.
94
Oman, 77.
95
Ibid.
96
Ibid., 79.
97
Millar, 95.
21
THE LANDSKNECHT IN SOCIAL HISTORY
There is scholarly consensus that Landsknechts were primarily men like Paul
Dolnstein, artisans, and peasants.98 Hence, the study of Landsknechts, as a study largely
of common men, is a kind of social history. Scholars have explored the reasons why such
men joined and have found Landsknecht culture and social cohesion among the reasons.
Social cohesion within military units played an unquestionably important role in the
success of the Swiss and its near replication among the Landsknechts.99 The
Landsknechts did in fact come close to duplicating Swiss cohesion because they shared
similar culture and customs. This is in part because, as scholars agree, the early
Landsknechts came primarily from those German areas bordering Swiss lands, and early
German units often contained Swiss troops.100 Bert Hall argues in his 1997 work,
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics that
Germans coming from these regions, "had much the same sort of esprit de corps as the
Swiss had, the same devotion to themselves first, and the same professional indifference
to the politics of their employers."101 Following the Swabian War of 1499, and as
Landsknecht armies began to emulate their Swiss models with a little too much success, a
savage rivalry ensued.102 Bernhard Kroener's 2006 work, "Antichrist, Archenemy,
Disturber of the Peace - Forms and Means of Violent Conflict in the Early Modern
98
Delbrück, 8; Fritz Redlich, The German Military Enterpriser and His Work Force: A Study in European
Economic and Social History, vol. 1 (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag GMBH, 1965), 456-457.
99
Franz, 80, 89; Delbrück, 588.
100
David Potter, Renaissance France at War: Armies, Culture and Society, c.1480-1560 (Rochester, NY:
Boydell Press, 2008), 128-132; Redlich, 16-17; Delbrück, 7, 11; Millar, 97; Hall, 225; Dennis Showalter,
"Gunpowder and Regional Military," in The Military and Conflict Between Cultures: Soldiers at the
Interface, ed. James C. Bradford (College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1997), 71.
101
Hall, 225.
102
Potter, 128-132. Gunther Franz notes the chopping up of an enemy flag and eating it in a salad at
Marignano. At this same battle, Landsknechts rubbed their pikes and boots with the belly fat of an enemy
commander. They then poured oats into his belly and let their horses eat oats out of the enemy
commander’s stomach. Franz, 90-91.
22
Ages," discusses the rivalry between Swiss and Germans. As with other scholars, he finds
it ferocious in the extreme. However, he does not see their rivalry as springing primarily
from proto-nationalistic pride or from the Swiss drive for independence as do other
scholars. Instead, Kroener argues that their brutality was economically driven, "this was a
conscious war of annihilation between two professional formations organized on a
business basis, whose market value was calculated according to their willingness to
pursue the battle to the ultimate extreme."103 Regardless of the motivations behind Swiss-
German rivalry, its intensity added to unit cohesion. This cohesion came not solely from
rivalry or the culture of their geographic origins but also from the culture within
Landsknecht units.104
Larry Silver notes the influence of military musicians as "the rise of drummers,
fifers, and trumpeters as instruments of military cohesion."105 Dolnstein finds fifers and
drummers important enough to depict and name them. David Potter's 2008 work,
Renaissance France at War: Armies, Culture and Society, c.1480-1560, asserts that
Landsknechts were independent in thinking and "were apt to form committees and
intimidate royal commissioners. Even their own commanders were wary of them."106 In a
1993 work entitled, "Caste, Skill, and Training: The Evolution of Cohesion in European
Armies from the Middle Ages to the Sixteenth Century," Dennis Showalter insists that
103
Bernhard R. Kroener, "Antichrist, Archenemy, Disturber of the Peace - Forms and Means of Violent
Conflict in the Early Modern Ages," in Transcultural Wars from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century, ed.
Hans-Henning Kortüm (Munich: Akademie Verlag, 2006), 68-69.
104
If units contained considerable numbers of men from the same guildhall, this too would have
contributed to unit cohesion. By means of pageantry, games, ceremony, communal feasting and drinking,
rituals, and symbols, guild life progressively bound members together through the ranks of apprentice,
journeyman, and master. Kieser, Alfred. “Organizational, Institutional, and Societal Evolution: Medieval
Craft Guilds and the Genesis of Formal Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 34 (1989): 558;
James R. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 238, 258-
275.
105
Silver, 81.
106
Potter, 132.
23
there was a supplanting of "the community with the regiment."107 He also finds group
cohesion to be, "both a survival mechanism and a career facilitator for the common
Landsknecht."108 The draw of belonging to a distinct and bonded group may have been
quite strong for many potential soldiers. Certainly, for all the hardships of military life,
such an atmosphere would have been inviting.
Launching oneself on a military path was not solely a matter of appeal, however.
There were also factors driving men into mercenary service. Showalter insists as does
Fritz Redlich in his 1965 The German Military Enterpriser and His Workforce that
underemployment and a population explosion pushed men into the ranks.109 Redlich
argues that at the beginning of the sixteenth century, the Landsknecht wage was much
higher in terms of purchasing power than at the end of the century. Hence, even though
recruits typically had to provide their own weapons, the real cost of weapons was not as
prohibitive as later in the century.110 Further, the Landsknecht’s bargaining power was
stronger in this early period.111 Redlich also notes the comparatively higher status of the
Landsknecht in the final decades of the fifteenth and early decades of the sixteenth
century than in the second half of the sixteenth century.112 In this early period between
1480 and 1520, the period of Dolnstein’s activity, there seem to have been comparatively
more attractions drawing men to mercenary service than necessities pushing them into the
ranks.
107
Showalter, 72.
108
Ibid., 74.
109
Showalter, 71-72; Redlich, 73, 140.
110
Redlich, 121. B. Ann Tlusty, The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany: Civic Duty and the Right of
Arms (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), 2, 174.
111
Redlich, 121.
112
Redlich, 120-121.
24
Landsknechts reveled in their status outside civilian society, a status that freed
them from many moral constraints. Showalter describes military life in this era as "an
affirmation of the soldiers’ personal freedom -- their right to drink and gamble, to defend
their honor in duels, to wear outrageous clothing, and to swagger at will among the
women."113 Discussing Landsknecht units, Showalter observes,“Landsknechte were not a
sworn egalitarian brotherhood. Their complex internal structure of rights and privileges
reflected the order of civil society as much as any independent group dynamic."114
Showalter's view would seem to temper that of Franz, who asserts that there was almost
no regard for birth as he emphasizes the emperor's dramatic moment of shouldering the
pike himself. Indeed, Franz sees Maximilian as giving knightly honor to the
Landsknecht.115 Redlich argues that there was a different kind of class structure among
these warriors than in civilian society, going so far as to call the creators of early
Landsknecht units, "unusually outrageous innovators," and "deviants."116 He explains, "In
this way some of the spirit of knighthood was transmitted to the new infantry whose
battle morale thus reached a level unknown to the rabble of the foot soldiery of the
Middle Ages."117 Such a spirit of knighthood, such a bold blurring of class lines, as well
as the resulting bravado in bearing would have appealed to potential recruits.118 Hans
Delbrück agrees, arguing that Maximilian endowed these foot soldiers with honor unlike
anything they had ever experienced in the Middle Ages. They "were no longer regarded
as a simple supporting arm but developed a warlike esprit de corps which caused them to
113
Showalter, 72.
114
Ibid., 74.
115
Franz, 89.
116
Redlich, 16-17.
117
Ibid.
118
Ibid., 462-463.
25
appear as something new."119 They carried themselves with a boldness indicative of this
new status and of their status as being outside the moral constraints of civilian society.
In his 2010 study, "The Transformation of Army Organization in Early-Modern
Western Europe, c. 1500-1789," Olaf Nimwegen describes the Landsknechts'
separateness from civilians even when among them. He emphasizes their discipline on
the field as contrasted with their utter lack of discipline off the field.120 They "themselves
elected some of their officers and were directly involved in the administration of military
justice."121 Nimwegen suggests that this made Landsknechts more difficult to control
than most mercenaries, possessing, as it were, almost a class counter-culture. Similarly,
Hale argues that men were attracted by, "women, drink, dice, finery."122 Hale also
suggests that German soldier songs may have made military life alluring, as they
conveyed, "the holiday mood of the military alternative society. Buttressed by the
conviction that their bravery and stamina made them 'ritterlich', knightly, the songs
celebrate the joys of the open road: a dog, a woman, a boy servant, wine, cash, freedom
to roam to the exhilarating sound of fife and drum."123 Many of these elements of
Landsknecht life appear in Dolnstein’s sketches.
John Lynn's 2008 work, Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe,
supports the view of the army and its train as constituting an alternative society,
particularly for women. Lynn asserts that women were an integral part of armies. They
119
Delbrück, 8.
120
Olaf van Nimwegen, "The Transformation of Army Organization in Early-Modern Western Europe, c.
1500-1789," in European Warfare, 1350-1750 ed. Frank Tallett and D.J.B. Trim (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2010), 163-65.
121
Nimwegen, 164-165.
122
J.R. Hale, Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1990), 1;
J.R. Hale, "The Soldier in Germanic Graphic Art of the Renaissance," Journal of Interdisciplinary History
17, no. 1 (Summer 1986): 96.
123
Hale, Artists and Warfare, 23-26.
26
followed armies as wives, sutlers, laundresses, sometimes soldiers, and as occasional or
full-time prostitutes.124 So-called May Marriages may have offered one of the most
appealing options for both men and women. In such an arrangement, a woman and a
soldier would pair off for a single campaign.125 Women were drawn to the adventure, to
opportunities for collecting booty, and to the wild life of tagging along with a military
man. Men enjoyed companionship and the benefits of having someone to protect his
booty, do his laundry, and tend him if he should be wounded or fall ill.126
Keith Moxey asserts that clothing, too, may have been an attraction. Attire
separated soldiers from civilians and identified them with the aristocratic warrior class.127
This conscious, outward identification with noblemen made sense because Maximilian
had endowed the Landsknecht with an unofficial ennoblement. Silver notes that, "nobles
had become career soldiers, and professional soldiers ennobled."128 One sees this
ennoblement in the Landsknecht's appearance in art as well.
THE LANDSKNECHT IN ART
At the same time that the Landsknechts were coming into being, we see for the
first time since the classical period, the individual soldier becoming an object worthy of
artistic depiction.129 Dolnstein’s depictions of his fellow Landsknechts, while not in the
realm of fine art, follow the patterns of artists like Albrecht Dürer and Urs Graf, who was
himself a mercenary. As do professional artists, Dolnstein emphasizes clothing,
weaponry, the natural features of individuals, and conveys a sense of martial glory. If
124
John A. Lynn II, Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe (New York: Cambridge
University Press, 2008), 40-41, 216-220.
125
Ibid., 76-77.
126
Ibid.; Nimwegen, 168-169.
127
Moxey, 72.
128
Silver, 79.
129
Hale, Artists and Warfare, viii.
27
only for his limited audience, Dolnstein injects his comrades and himself into the visual
conversation about the common soldier. The prevailing view among scholars is that the
emergence of the Landsknecht in art is related to his personification of imperial power.130
Maximilian himself was a patron of artistic depictions of mercenaries as representatives
of his might. Hence, the common soldier appeared in a becoming light, and this is yet
another reason why Dolnstein may have inclined toward mercenary service. As a result of
their association with the emperor, depictions of the Landsknecht in their early period
were overwhelmingly positive and heroic.131
Keith Moxey's 1989 study, Peasants, Warriors, and Wives: Popular Imagery in
the Reformation, acknowledges that later images of Landsknechts were frequently
negative, mocking or chastising mercenaries for drunkenness, gambling, lechery, and
irreverence.132 However, this early period between 1480 and 1520 witnessed primarily
heroic depictions of Landsknechts often standing alone and "accompanied by flattering
texts."133 Such positive, glorious depictions reflected the identification of mercenaries
with imperial power and with a burgeoning German cultural and linguistic identity
evident in German humanist writings, "The fighting ability of the German people, a
quality they discovered in reading a newly found and recently published Roman work,
the Germania of Tacitus, was much stressed in their support of Maximilian's projected
crusade against the Turks."134 In this distinctly German light, Landsknechts were even
depicted as virtues personified; poems, too, appeared praising their prowess.135
130
Moxey, 71.
131
Ibid., 67-100, especially 69, 72.
132
Ibid., 72, 80-95.
133
Ibid., 72.
134
Ibid., 72-73.
135
Moxey, 72-75; Hale Artists and Warfare, 28-31.
28
As to the audience for such images, Moxey suggests that perhaps they were used
as interior decorations for homes and may have appealed to members of any class.
Focusing his study on Nuremberg, an imperial free city, Moxey asserts that
Nurembergers, “would have viewed the image of the heroic imperial mercenary as an
attractive sign of the vitality and power of a new civilization.”136 Further, for many
artisans:
the swashbuckling gestures and splendid costumes would have combined with the
descriptions of high pay and plunder to make the mercenary's life appear highly
attractive. Such images may well have encouraged them to disregard the miseries
of war, thus contributing to their decisions to abandon their trades.137
For Moxey, the soldier appears as a legitimate object of art because of his representation
of imperial power and because of the artists' ability to produce for a larger market outside
the traditional aristocratic patron. For John Hale as well, new markets were a factor, but
so was the new art of war.
In his 1990 work, Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance, John Hale argues that
representations of the common infantryman in art followed changes in the art of war.138
As the infantry began to take the place of cavalry as the decisive arm of the military, so
too were works of art acquiring "an unprecedented command over description and
expressiveness."139 Further, "a novel market" owing at least partially to pro-German
cultural sentiment allowed artists "to choose their own subjects and express their own
attitudes outside the normal constraints of patronage."140 This pro-German cultural
sentiment produced a demand in local markets for images of successful German warriors.
136
Moxey, 100.
137
Moxey, 100.
138
Hale, Artists and Warfare, viii.
139
Ibid.
140
Ibid., viii, 46-48, 55.
29
Further, artists could now create images for cheaply produced woodcuts, allowing artists
more latitude than work for a patron might provide. Hale sees the allure for artists to
study the soldier as coming partly from the soldier's status as an outsider, not unlike
gypsies, criminals, and witches, and also as "the most interesting of wayfarers."141 Artists
depicted soldiers in scenes of daily life in camp, women cooking, soldiers chatting.142
Hale further argues that, free to explore their own themes, artists had little reason to
depict knights. As urban artisans, artists probably did not personally know well or relate
to knights who were often, "natural predators on townsmen."143 They could, however,
abundantly identify with their fellow artisans who became Landsknechts.144 Further, the
world of a Landsknecht was interesting in a way that a knight's world may not have been.
The common soldier's business, and that of the women who followed him, offered
fascinating moments to portray visually: "serving a cannon, gossiping away the time on
the march, pitching camp, lolling within the opening of a tent, looting."145 Artists were
interested in these figures beyond hard and fast matters like siege works, artillery, and
logistics; they wanted to tap social interactions and day-to-day life among common
soldiers.146
Guy Wilson also sees art following the art of war.147 In his 2002 work, "Military
Science, History, and Art," he argues that images of the common foot soldier changed
with new information, "Bruni's De militia (1421) . . . broke through the medieval
interpretation of Roman authors by demonstrating that the Roman miles was an armored
141
Ibid., 26-27, 54.
142
Ibid., 10-11.
143
Ibid., 68.
144
Ibid.
145
Ibid., 42, 55.
146
Ibid., 44.
147
Guy Wilson, "Military Science, History, and Art," in Artful Armies, Beautiful Battles: Art and Warfare
in Early Modern Europe, ed. Pia Cuneo (Boston: Brill, 2002), 13, 29.
30
foot soldier of common origin and not a mounted, heavily armored knight."148 Further,
"Where the earlier generation was most interested in the outcome of battles or the glory
of war, the new generation . . . were interested in the battles themselves -- how they were
fought and in what bred victory or defeat."149 War moved from stylized practice and
depiction of war to a greater "emphasis on detail, military units, terrain, and the things
unique to a given battle," consistent with general tendencies toward natural depiction in
the Renaissance.150 He is careful, however, not to overstate military influence on changes
in the depiction of war. For Wilson, the Renaissance was a time of tremendous cultural,
societal, political, and artistic change, and changes in the art of war were certainly
reflected in artistic depictions of war.151
Larry Silver emphasizes Maximilian's impact on the emergence of the common
foot soldier as an object worthy of artistic depiction.152 Through Maximilian's
commissioned works of art, specifically The Triumphal Procession, the Landsknecht
comes to embody imperial strength.153 Silver observes that Landsknechts began to wear
armor, albeit in a less sophisticated style, and much of this armor came from the
foundries of Maximilian's Innsbruck.154 As have other scholars, Silver attributes to their
clothing a, "particular pride and visibility."155 Also in the path of other scholars, he finds
that military glory and honor were newly accessible to commoners, "the common trait of
valor linked both infantry soldiers and noblemen . . . Nobles had become career soldiers,
148
Ibid., 13.
149
Ibid., 30.
150
Ibid., 13, 29-30, 32.
151
Ibid., 30-33.
152
Silver, 61-86.
153
Ibid., 62, 72.
154
Ibid., 73.
155
Ibid.
31
and professional soldiers ennobled."156 This ennoblement, albeit intangible and
unofficial, came in large part from Maximilian and from a new kinship with the noble
warrior.157 Through the medium of the Landsknecht, Maximilian put military glory and
honor within the grasp of the artisans who filled his pike squares.
DOLNSTEIN AS WARRIOR ARTISAN
The warrior artisan identity was not uncommon among the Landsknecht at the
turn of the sixteenth century. Fritz Redlich describes two varieties of mercenaries in this
period: sedentary and roving. The roving variety, "if not already pulled up, were uprooted
as soon as they began to follow the colors."158 Redlich finds this type to comprise "roving
folk" who "made war their profession."159 When not employed at war, these soldiers
spent their days in, "inns and taverns where recruiting agents could find them."160 They
included all ranks of society including the nobility, and particularly artisans.161 Often
these tavern haunters included criminals, debtors, and political exiles. Their nearly
universally shared characteristic was need, whether a financial need or a need to be on the
run.162 Having lost their homes and livelihoods, if they ever had them, these men found a
brotherhood in mercenary companies which often stayed together when commanders
disbanded the troops for the winter or at the end of a war.163 Staying together offered
Landsknechts both bargaining power in negotiation for pay, and a sense of security in
156
Ibid., 79.
157
Ibid., 80.
158
Redlich, 115.
159
Ibid., 117.
160
Ibid.
161
Ibid., 117-118.
162
Ibid., 118.
163
Ibid. In his discussion of English troops, John Hale describes mercenaries as not adjusting well to life
after years of soldiering.⁠ One wonders how many of those found themselves marred physically and
psychologically, unfit for any work but military service even when opportunity awaited them at home. For
Dolnstein and at least one of his comrades, this seems not to have been the case. They returned to their
civilian work, and Dolnstein appears to have done well. Hale, 44.
32
numbers.164 Often these troupes of disbanded mercenaries, "formed robber bands, until
hired by another war lord or perhaps annihilated by an army of knights raised for that
purpose or by other means."165 They posed a dangerous nuisance from the turn of the
sixteenth century through the Thirty Years' War as they harassed peasants and begged or
robbed for their sustenance.166
Redlich describes the second kind of mercenary, the sedentary lot, as maintaining
their local ties while serving as mercenaries.167 Their contemporary, Sebastian Franck,
noted that they served as, "the subjects of a prince, who in need has ordered them to do
military service, return to their work once the war has come to an end."168 German
princes had "the right to call up for military service a certain proportion of the male
inhabitants of their realms."169 This was Paul Dolnstein's type. Like the Swiss Reisläufer,
the sedentary Landsknechts had work to which to return in their home communities.
Their behavior on the battlefield was also noted in their home communities, for better or
for worse. It could very well have been Dolnstein's military performance away from
home that put him in a position to be placed on par with Lucas Cranach the Elder if only
in terms of payment in cloth for a particular style of gown. Dolnstein could occupy this
space on par with Cranach because of the particular kind of artisan he was. Dolnstein
occupied a singular Renaissance ground between artisans like bakers and brewers and
those who made stained glass, painted altar pieces, and printed books. He was among
those skilled craftsmen on the fringes of the artistic world who combined technological
164
Redlich 119.
165
Ibid.
166
Ibid.
167
Ibid., 115.
168
Sebastien Franck in Redlich, 115.
169
Redlich, 116.
33
expertise with artistic expertise. When I use the term ‘artisan’ in this sketchbook, these
are people to whom I refer.
Some sedentary troops would "come close to being professional soldiers" if they
found the martial life to their liking.170 In other words, these sedentary soldiers would not
need to be summoned a second time but would rather volunteer for service.171 That
Dolnstein found his martial experience important enough to record it and that he
disappears from Saxon records of civilian work for a decade, perhaps suggests that
Dolnstein was among this latter type of sedentary mercenary, welcoming military work.
For the sedentary Landsknecht, at least in Dolnstein's case, it appears that there
were inducements both for and against military service. Among the attractions of military
service was the comparatively high status of the Landsknecht in the final decades of the
fifteenth and early decades of the sixteenth century.172 Their numbers were comparatively
low, and the demand was high.173 One might expect, therefore, that Dolnstein could have
earned more as a Landsknecht than as a master builder, or at least earned more
consistently. It is strange to think of a mercenary, so frequently unpaid, as having greater
financial security than an artisan employed by a prince, but this may have been the case.
Mercenaries could also supplement their income with authorized (or, with some risk,
unauthorized) looting and the capture of burghers and wealthy peasants for ransom. Even
if they had to turn some of these captives over to military authorities, Landsknechts
170
Ibid.
171
For example, "Nevertheless he might still remain rooted in his village or town. We know for certain that
when the Schmalkalden War was threatening, Schertlin recruited Alpine miners who took part in other
wars too and of whom some had joined the peasant uprisings of the 1520's. These men surely returned
home when the war was over, since mining was flourishing at the time and carried prestige." Ibid.
172
Ibid., 120.
173
Ibid.
34
received some form of compensation.174 Further, unpaid Landsknechts in the first half of
the sixteenth century were not without recourse. Rioting, refusing to fight, or threatening
to force battle prematurely would often produce the demanded payment.175
Necessity may have been one of Paul Dolnstein’s motivations for serving, perhaps
even the primary motivation. Although Dolnstein was gainfully employed by Prince
Frederick the Wise, he may not have had financial security. As noted above, Paul
Dolnstein wrote to the electoral governor complaining about a lack of money for the
Torgau Bridge project. That Paul Dolnstein could not be certain of a steady income for
himself and his crew; that by erecting camp, he could practice his trade in military
service; and that Landsknechts in this period had considerable bargaining power and were
held in fairly high regard, all suggest a combination of push and pull factors leading to
Dolnstein's years of military service. He seems an excellent example of Redlich’s
sedentary mercenary serving as needed, likely crossing over into a professional soldier
for a few years, and returning to the community in which he had remained rooted.
Thanks to Maximilian, to artists, and to the success of Landsknechts and
Reisläufer on the battlefield, honor was now available to common infantrymen. The
Landsknecht, by his very existence as a successful copy of the Swiss Reisläufer, glorified
Maximilian, his creator. By association with Maximilian who has shouldered the pike
himself, the Landsknecht is ennobled. In art, he is lionized. In his garish version of
aristocratic attire; in his new role as the primary weapon of war; in his ability to take
down knights; in the democratic elements of Landsknecht governance; in all these ways,
174
Ibid., 131.
175
Ibid., 132.
35
he is elevated to a new and very appealing status. In crafting his sketchbook, Dolnstein
entwines himself in this subset of his society.
In all of the six war scenes, Dolnstein places himself at the scene of action,
occasionally with the words, “There I, Paul Dolnstein, saw action.”176 Scholars agree that
the writers of Renaissance military memoirs were primarily noblemen who focused on
individual feats of valor.177 Unlike noble memoirs, Dolnstein’s collection of memories
does not focus on individual valor. It does not even focus on Dolnstein. Rather, he
celebrates collective action. Perhaps this is because Dolnstein did little in his own right
that he thought worthy of note. Or, perhaps the emphasis on his comrades and the body of
men as whole suggest the esprit de corps of the Landsknecht pike square in which all
worked as a single body, sacrificing individual honor for that of the whole. Dolnstein was
not noble, but he may have come to see himself as quasi-noble, having been knighted -
albeit by a foreign king - and being apparently welcome in the Saxon court. And yet, his
sketchbook is that of an artisan. His observation of structures, the individuals he pictures
and names, and the complex set of images on the title page all suggest a man who is at
once a master craftsman and a soldier. Though we do not know his intended audience, he
appears to have had one. This is not a work for himself; it is not a document in which he
preserves memories for his own future recollection. His language is explanatory, not
reflective. At times, it is even instructional, as in Sketch 12.178 His comments are not
lines one would write to oneself. Though we do not know for whom he composed this
176
He writes variations of, “do⁠ pin ich pawl vom dolnstain peÿ gewest.” This might be read a number of
ways, such as “There I, Paul von Dolnstein, participated,” or, “Then I, Paul von Dolnstein, was there.”
177
Hall, 17; Potter, 187-191; Yuval Noah Harari, Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History, and
Identity, 1450-1600 (Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2004), 4-5, 18 40-41, 129, 180-186, 196-204; Nadine
Kuperty-Tsur, Se dire à la renaissance: Les mémoires au XVIe siècle (Paris: J. Vrin, 1997), 9-17. Claude
Gaier, "L'Opinion des chefs de guerre français du XIVe siècle sur les progrès de l'art militaire," Revue
Internationale d'Histoire Militaire 29 (1970), 723, 730.
178
36
illustrated notebook, he did have an audience in mind, and it may have been Meister
Heinrich.
Paul Dolnstein's notebook allows scholars the opportunity to examine what one
Landsknecht found important enough to preserve. Of interest to social historians,
Dolnstein’s sketchbook combined with other records of his life, suggests both practical
and intangible reasons why people joined or followed mercenary armies. For scholars in
the field of art history, his sketches allow a glimpse into the Renaissance as it was
unfolding through the eyes of one who was neither an artist nor a scholar. Dolnstein
illustrates people as individuals and takes care to represent their natural features, a
development of the Renaissance. At times, however, his foregrounding and use of scale
with structures and human beings is decidedly medieval.179 His depictions of sieges and
battle, and his commentary on how to array four hundred men, which is among the
earliest known depictions of a sleeve of shot, add to the discourse on military history.
Precisely who the audience was, how many unrecorded military events filled Dolnstein’s
arsenal of memories, where he was born and apprenticed, and what ultimately became of
him all remain a mystery. Despite these facts, the images of his comrades and scenes of
action offer scholars a unique opportunity to see the world through the eyes a
Renaissance warrior artisan.
179
In the sketch from the missing page, Dolnstein draws people, ships, and buildings in a manner reflecting
an integration of Renaissance ideals of natural scale. Dihle, Figure 36, unnumbered page.
37
CHAPTER II
THE SKETCHES
38
Figure 2. Sketch 1, Title Page.180
180
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 1r. Blatt or Blätter, recto and
verso. This page is stamped with a 1.
39
Text
Maister Heinrich 1
Ein Hunderd 2
SIW181 3
SWW182 4
Translation
Master Henry 1
One hundred 2
SLW 3
SWW 4
Commentary
Paul Dolnstein's sketchbook opens with what appears to be a title page. Given that
the pages were bound together before Dolnstein made his sketches, it is likely that this is
the intended first page. In its subject matter and in the employment of artistic images such
as the sun and a hand holding a stylus, it is different from all the others. Dolnstein's other
pages depict named individuals, fortifications, and battles. They convey a practical
message of what his comrades looked like, what kind of fortifications and weapons
appeared in various settings, and what Dolnstein experienced or observed in specific
sieges or battles. On this first page, however, the sun and hand seem to serve a more
fanciful purpose. Even the human figures seem like characters in a story. Central on the
page is a symbol surrounded by the words Maister Heinrich: Ein Hunderd and what
appears to be a cast of characters. Looking down over all is a medieval sun wearing a hat
181
This could also be SLW.
182
Baufeld: suw is sau. This would probably not be a suitable reading.
40
in a rakish fashion characteristic of the Landsknechts. A woman, halberdier, worker, and
writing hand ring the page. Unique from the other pages though this title page may be, if
I may call it a title page, it shares with the rest of the contents of the sketchbook an
attention to detail and display of Dolnstein's dual identity as Landsknecht and craftsman.
Though Dolnstein's sketchbook is devoted to his martial experiences, clearly his
identity as a master builder matters to him. This is evident in the object Paul Dolnstein
places in a focal point, the craftsman’s mark just below the blade of the halberd.
Figure 3. Sample Mason’s Marks183
Above are several examples of mason’s marks, which are one form of artisan’s
marks. Used as a form of quality control and a way to claim credit for one's work, marks
appear on the work of craftsmen dating back to antiquity. It is possible that the particular
mark on Dolnstein’s title page, if I may call it that, is Meister Heinrich’s. Indeed, it stands
183
W. S. Geddie, Mr R Johnstone. W. S. Geddie was once Provost of Fortrose. Groam House Museum
Photograph Collection.
41
in the middle of his name. Because builders' marks took both responsibility and credit for
the craftsmanship of the object on which they appeared, it seems equally likely that the
mark emblazoned on the page is Dolnstein’s, claiming the sketchbook as his own work.
Dolnstein may be demonstrating to Meister Heinrich the mastery of a set of skills
Heinrich taught to Dolnstein, or he may be illustrating stories he has shared with Meister
Heinrich. Craftsmen may also have used builders' marks as a form of graffiti in artisanal
haunts, perhaps as a way to say, "I was here." Below is a mid-sixteenth century scene
from a tavern that suggests such informal use.
Figure 4. Brunswick Monogrammist, Tavern Scene, ca. 1540.184
Note the upper right section of the painting where several builders' marks appear around
the door frame.185 Perhaps some tavern owners encouraged the leaving of one's mark as a
way to identify themselves with master craftsmen, especially those of some renown. It is
184
Berlin, Staatliche Museen Preussischer Kulturbesitz.
185
I must disagree with Keith Moxey's description of these markings as "sexual drawings." These appear to
be builder's marks. Moxey, 93.
42
worth noting that throughout Europe many people, not solely craftsmen, used marks. For
example, in Scandinavia bumerker were used to mark ownership.
Figure 5. Bumerker.186
A bumerke was an identifying mark associating objects with, for example, a person,
family, or farm.187 There is a bewildering array of such marks. The marks above are
complex whereas some are simpler. Note that mark 13 bears a resemblance to the mark
on the Title Page of Dolnstein’s sketchbook. Given that he devoted four sketches
spanning six pages to his experiences in Sweden, it is not out of the realm of possibility
that the mark on the Title Page is a bumerke. Even so, this is an artisan’s sketchbook, and
the most probable interpretation of this mark is that it is a builder’s mark, and likely his
own.
On either side of the mark on Dolnstein’s title page is "Maister Heinrich." The
name does not seem to belong to any of the people depicted later in the work, although it
186
Svendsen, H. Blom, and Oscar Albert Johnsen, eds. Sem og Slagen: En bygdebok, 2 vols. Papirutgave:
Tønsberg: Tønsberg Aktietrykkeri, 1948. Elektronisk utgave: Tønsberg: Høgskolen i Vestfold, 2004.
187
Ibid.
43
is possible that his is among the illegible names. Were the sketchbook about Meister
Heinrich, his name would probably appear more than once. Rather, Paul Dolnstein seems
to have dedicated the sketchbook to him or to have given it to him as a gift. Covering the
lines of other images as they do, it appears that Meister Heinrich, the builder's mark, and
Ein Hunderd were written on top of the drawings. Perhaps giving the book to or
dedicating it to Meister Heinrich was an afterthought. This fellow master artisan could be
a friend whom Dolnstein had regaled with stories of his days as a soldier, or a master
from Paul Dolnstein's days as a journeyman. It is possible that this sketchbook was an
exercise as part of a foray into learning a new level of drawing beyond architectural
drafting. Such an exchange of skills would have been possible in the culturally rich
environment of Frederick the Wise’s Saxony.
There are a number of Meisters Heinrich mentioned in the building projects of
Saxony. Torgau is where we place Dolnstain with certainty, and though there are
Meisters Heinrich in Torgau before and after Dolnstein's time, I find no certainty of a
Meister Heinrich in Torgau when Dolnstein was there.188 One interesting figure appears
in the list of artisans working on the goblins and ornamentation for Prince Frederick's
church in Torgau in 1487, a Meister Heinrich Krebs.189 Certainly, this Meister Heinrich’s
work was artistic. He would have known how to draw in order to create models for his
carvings. This is the sort of person Dolnstein may have known from his days as a
journeyman when his name would not have appeared in the records of Prince Frederick’s
projects. Such a Meister Heinrich could have been teaching Dolnstein to draw beyond the
188
Bruck, 241-242, 244-245, 318.
189
Ibid., 318.
44
architectural drafting he would have known as a builder. Enticing as this particular
Meister Heinrich may be, we simply do not know who Dolnstein's Meister Heinrich is.
Another mystery is the reference to "One Hundred." There is not another mention
of a hundred in Dolnstein’s illustrated notebook, though there are certainly references to
hundreds of men, but not specifically one hundred or a hundred. Nor do there seem to be
one hundred of anything in the sketchbook. "Ein Hundred" may suggest that the
notebook is not a complete work. Perhaps Paul Dolnstein had intended to depict one
hundred events or one hundred people. There is also the possibility that Ein Hunderd
refers to the German Hundred as a political unit.190 Perhaps the most likely answer at
present is that Paul Dolnstein campaigned over the years with a nucleus of one hundred
artisans. One might further focus this by proposing that these artisans were his peers and
perhaps his own journeymen or workers. Indeed, they may have come from either ducal
or electoral Saxon lands. This would mesh well with the value Dolnstein places on
people. Eleven of nineteen sketches depict specific individuals with one other sketch
being a self-portrait. Perhaps Dolnstein's subjects were people Meister Heinrich knew.
For these individuals, Dolnstein records only their names. Perhaps Dolnstein needed to
write no more description than names because Meister Heinrich knew them or knew them
from hearing Dolnstein's stories.
Dolnstein may have told scores of adventure tales and perhaps talked about
women. The faded image of a woman may suggest one of the attractions of the march,
the libertine lifestyle associated with camp life and with the women who followed
mercenaries. Wearing the head dress of an upper class woman, she follows the
190
For the hundred as a political unit, see Edward Jenks, “The Problem of the Hundred,"
The English Historical Review, 11, no. 43 (July, 1896): 510-514.
45
conventions of Landsknecht adoption of aristocratic attire. One of three women in this
sketchbook, she may represent a companion. She could also represent the work camp
followers did that kept an army going. Though it is difficult to determine whether or not
she is a finished sketch, she is clearly not an afterthought. 'Maister' covers the lines that
make up her figure, rather than vice versa, meaning that she was drawn before Dolnstein
wrote ‘Maister.’ As with the two other human subjects, she appears to be an individual
rather than a type, and she does not resemble any of the named figures in the illustrated
notebook.
Below the woman is a halberdier in light armor, typical of that worn by other
halberdiers in the sketchbook. He is at once carefully and carelessly clad. His shirt collar
gathers neatly above his breast plate while the tail of his shirt hangs down through his
pant leg. His thigh appears to be bare. There are no feathers in his cap. The fabric of his
clothing is plain, unlike the striped and slashed attire elsewhere in the sketchbook.
Sporting a short beard, he has unique features. Of the eleven sketches of individuals,
eight include or depict exclusively halberdiers, suggesting their importance to Dolnstein
or simply the age and experience of his comrades. Halberdiers tended to be drawn from
the more experienced soldiers. Hence Dolnstein’s companions may have served on a
number of campaigns. The idea that Dolnstein’s comrades were experienced soldiers fits
well with the span of events from the Siege of Montfort through the Bavarian War.
Next to the halberdier is a peasant, laborer, or possibly a journeyman. Looking
less concerned with his appearance, the worker's attire seems suited solely to
functionality. He also appears to be barefoot. To the right of this central figure is the
faded remnant of something circular. It is tempting to see this remnant as a drum. There
46
also appears to be part of a foot under the object. The worker is central on the page, but
given that part of the page has been covered in repairs, it is difficult to say whether or not
he is Dolnstein’s intended focal point of the page. The worker too has unique features but
does not resemble any of the named figures. This worker, journeyman, or peasant is the
largest of the figures on this page, and he is the most perplexing. Larsson describes him
as a "man with a pickaxe,” while Dihle says he is, "apparently a worker, holding in his
right hand a pickaxe with two prongs."191 She suggests that Dolnstein may be depicting
one of his bridge building workers.192 Perhaps he is indeed one of Dolnstein's workers or
a journeyman. His implement resembles a two-pronged hoe more than a pickaxe. Despite
the ink blotch, there is no extension on the other side of the tool as there would be on a
pickaxe. The tool therefore seems at first glance to be that of a peasant. However, there
are no other German peasants in the sketchbook, and the tool closely resembles siege
defense building tools from Sketch 13.193 If the central figure is a journeyman or a laborer
and his tool was used in building, he fits perfectly within the context of the sketchbook. It
may be inferring a step too far, but these two men seem to represent the two halves of
Dolnstein’s identity. The crossing of the halberdier's sword and this man’s implement
suggests the dual identity of the sedentary Landsknecht, the crossing of two roles in one
life.
Next to the peasant, on the far right of the page is the striking image of a hand
holding a stylus and writing, "SIW," or "SLW" above the letters, "SWW." The letters are
not precisely clear, and their meaning is a puzzle. It is possible that they are builder’s
191
Larsson, 74; Dihle and Closs, 8.
192
Dihle and Closs, 8.
193
47
marks. Turning the page 180 degrees, the letters resemble builder’s marks.194 When
viewed as depicted above in Figure 2, they do appear to be letters. In this era before
middle names were common, it seems the three letters are not the initials of people. They
could, however, represent the first letters of the words in a guild motto. The hand itself is
nearly identical to another drawn within a few years of Dolnstein’s sketchbook.
Figure 6. Hans Holbein the Younger, Erasmus' Hands, 1523.195
Above, we see Hans Holbein’s hand holding a stylus. This hand, believed to be drawn
after the other two, is part of Holbein's study of Erasmus' hands.196 One wonders if
drawing a hand holding a stylus was a common exercise for builders learning the art of
drafting. Or, perhaps Paul Dolnstein had seen an artist make such a drawing. Perhaps he
was learning in person from such an artist, or perhaps this was an exercise suggested by
Meister Heinrich. There are other images of hands holding a stylus, including Albrecht
194
Per electronic correspondence, Ineke Justitz, North Dakota State University, February 24, 2012.
195
Paris, Musée de Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins, Inv. 18.698.
196
Christian Müller, and Stephan Kemperdick, Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel Years 1515-1532
(New York: Prestel, 2006), 288.
48
Dürer's image of Erasmus writing. However, these hands are not disembodied like
Dolnstein's and Holbein's. Dolnstein could have come up with the idea himself, but given
the efflorescence and copying of art, it is wise to consider that Dolnstein may have been
copying an image of a hand holding a stylus. That Dolnstein saw this particular drawing
seems unlikely, given that there is no reason to think it was ever near Saxony and that the
last event in Dolnstein’s sketchbook occurred in 1504 and Holbein’s hand was drawn
after 1523.197 While Dolnstein, who clearly had exposure to lands beyond Saxony, may
have seen Holbein's drawing, it is more likely that he saw a similar image by a different
artist in the artistic clime of Prince Frederick’s Saxony. He may have observed this motif
in time spent in the presence of master artists known to be in Saxony. We have already
seen that Dolnstein and Lucas Cranach received the same gifts of cloth in the same year,
both for court clothing. It is likely that Cranach and Dolnstein knew each other to some
degree.198 Dolnstein may well have spent time with other artists in the pay of Frederick
the Wise. Through discussion or observation with any of these artists, Dolnstein may
have come across a hand holding a stylus.
Indeed, Dolnstein’s world in the Saxony of Frederick the Wise was a richly
artistic place. At least one author places Albrecht Dürer in the princely court at
Wittenberg in 1503.199 Jacopo de’ Barbari also worked in the princely court at
Wittenberg, and more importantly he worked in Torgau.200 The purpose of this is not to
suggest that Dolnstein learned to draw from these masters. His wanting to draw has no
need of explanation. Rather, the purpose is to illustrate that Paul Dolnstein came from a
197
Ibid.
198
Cranach worked in both Wittenberg and Torgau, as for instance for four weeks in 1513. Peter Moser,
Lucas Cranach: Sein Leben, seine Welt und seine Bilder (Bamberg: Babenberg Verlag, 2004), 75.
199
Bruck, 165.
200
Luigi Servolini, Jacopo de’ Barbari: oevre katalog (Padua: Le Tre Venezie, 1944), 59-60.
49
heavily artistic environment in the Saxon court. Robert Bruck called Wittenberg the
birthplace of the German Renaissance.201 This was, of course, roundly disputed by
Berthold Daun, for pride of place goes unquestionably to Nuremberg.202 But Bruck had
reason for seeing Wittenberg in Saxony as highly influential in the German Renaissance.
Dolnstein’s prince, Frederick the Wise was a great supporter of the visual arts. It must be
remembered that artists were artisans. Dolnstein may have met these artists and may even
have seen them at work. At the very least, Dolnstein saw those of Dürer's works which
Prince Frederick had commissioned for his church in Torgau. Frederick the Wise was a
great patron of Dürer. Indeed, the prince met Dürer in Nuremberg in April of 1496 and
as, "the first notable German prince to recognize the young Nuremberger's talents
commissioned a half-length portrait.”203
Figure 7. Albrecht Dürer, Detail: The Apocalypse: Breaking of the Sixth Seal, 1498.204
Equally interesting as the hand is the sun, set in the clouds and shining benevolently
down on all. The rays extending around the sun in Dolnstein's depiction are similar to
201
Bruck, 83; Berthold Daun, “Wittenberg die Geburtsstätte der deutschen Renaissance?” Kunstchronik:
Wochenschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe 16 (1905), 151.
202
Daun, 156.
203
Larry Silver and Jeffrey Chipps Smith, eds. The Essential Durer (Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvaia Press, 2010), 131.
204
Willi Kurth, ed., The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer (New York: Dover, 1963), plate 110.
50
those in Dürer's sun above. The stylized image on the title page is Dolnstein's own
interpretation of the personified sun, a common image in both medieval and Renaissance
art. The eyelashes of Dolnstein's sun are themselves rays. With the addition of the jaunty
hat, this common motif takes on a unique quality, becoming a Landsknecht’s sun. The
orb is content and warm, perhaps suggesting the intangible appeal of the freedom of life
in Landsknecht service. The sun taken together with the hand suggests Dolnstein's
attempt to display his artistic skill or new training, perhaps specifically for Meister
Heinrich.
Each of the images on this page suggests either Dolnstein’s mercenary or master
craftsman identity. The woman faces the same direction as the halberdier who is
seemingly setting off on the march. The worker, peasant, or journeyman too is in motion,
perhaps following the mercenary. This journeyman figure taken with the Landsknecht
may represent the two halves of the warrior artisan identity of the sedentary Landsknecht.
The mercenary’s sword and the central figure’s implement cross, suggesting that the two
meet in some fashion, perhaps in the same person. The hand inscribing what may relate
to a craftsman’s guild demonstrates Dolnstein’s potential exposure to great artists. With
the exception of this hand, his drawing shows no more skill than a builder would be
expected to possess. This hand, however, is different, suggesting that he received some
insight from one of the many artists in his world. The sun draws on artistic themes as it
claims the Landsknecht persona. The dedication to Meister Heinrich and the craftsman’s
sign suggest an artisan audience. Taken as a whole, this page with its complex set of
images demonstrates that even as Paul Dolnstein stepped out of one world, into another,
and back again, he remained rooted in both the civilian and military worlds.
51
Figure 8. Sketch 2, Two Halberdiers.205
205
52
Text
Most of the text on this page is illegible.206
Commentary
In this and the following sketches, we see Dolnstein’s dual identity as master
builder and warrior. On this page, Dolnstein expresses his military identity as he does
throughout the sketchbook, in the very act of drawing armed Landsknechts. He expresses
his craftsman’s identity in the attention he gives to details, a trait that a master craftsman
of Dolnstein’s caliber would possess, and in his portrayal of the appeal of being part of
the Landsknecht world.207 Here he depicts two comrades in typically outlandish
Landsknecht garb. As discussed in the Introduction, their attire marked these men as
206
Top Left:
wo... ...erk or wu... ...erk von
...en...burg
Translation:
..... ..... von
.....burg
possibly Wolf ...erk von Renkburg
Top right:
glatt⁠ jorg pau... [The ‘p’ is unclear.]
Translation:
Glatt Jorg .....
Glatt, meaning “smooth,” could be a playful commentary on his the other man’s choice in facial
hair. Glatt is also the name of a tributary to the Rhine River and of the Glatt Valley in modern Switzerland.
Glatt or Glatten is also the name of a site in Baden-Württemberg.
On Chest:
PAVLS
W⁠
Translation:
Paulus
W or simply a design
Bottom Right:
pang... or paug... [The last letter could be an ‘o’, ‘e’, ‘a’.] glugen⁠ or glogen or gligen [The stroke at
the end is likely an abbreviation for “-en.” Per January 17, 2012, electronic correspondence, Christopher S.
Mackay, University of Alberta.] gip or gyp⁠ or gifyn or gisn
Translation:
There are so many possibilities that it is unwise to venture very far here. I would cautiously suggest
that this line might refer to banquet attire as pange could refer to Panget, which is Bancket, or "banquet."
Gipn could be gippen, which is joppen for Jacken, meaning "jacket."
207
Dihle and Closs, 2.
53
belonging to a separate group, in this case a group of men Dolnstein portrays as militarily
quite successful. All of the event sketches are of victories. Taken together, the drawings
of Dolnstein’s comrades and of military scenes present a very appealing picture of
Landsknecht life. These images are evidence that Dolnstein the guildsman never left
behind his military persona. Whether he crafted this sketchbook years after the events had
taken place or whether he made the sketches from present observation, he did so in the
interest of maintaining the connection to his martial side as he re-entered the civilian
world. Sketch 2 is the first of what I loosely term the Comrade Sketches. I include in this
category sketches 2 − 11, and 14.208 In this essay on Sketch 2, I will first discuss the
above men as halberdiers, and then I will move from left to right across the page,
exploring the sketch.
On this and subsequent pages, Dolnstein depicts named individuals from his
military world. Their names appear at the top of the page as is the tendency throughout
the Comrade Sketches. Here, he also provides an annotation on the bottom right side.
Unfortunately, most of the words on this page are illegible. This page is typical of the
other pages depicting Dolnstein's comrades in another way -- the men’s weaponry. Most
of Dolnstein’s Comrade Sketches portray a pair, at least one of whom is a halberdier. The
halberd, a weapon much used by the Swiss typically measured eight feet and included a
sharp point on the top. John Millar characterizes the weapon as a "combination short pike
and battle-axe" with an "iron hook attached to the blade . . . to drag armored horsemen
208
I group the sketches into Comrade and Event Sketches by the order in which Paul Dolnstein presents
them and by their content. For instance, Sketch 4, an illustration from the Swedish campaign, could have
fallen under either the Comrade Sketch or Event Sketch category. Dolnstein does not name either of the
figures in this sketch, and it is from a specific event, which he depicts in Sketch 15. However, he presents it
with the sketches of his comrades. Likewise, Sketch 14 could fall under the Event Sketches because he
presents it with them. However, there are only two figures in the sketch, as is the case with many of the
Comrade Sketches, including Sketch 4, and Dolnstein does not attach it to any particular event either with
text or imagery.
54
from their saddles."209 Charles Oman describes its usefulness in support of pikemen, "If
the enemy succeed in checking the onset of the pikemen, it was [the halberdier's] duty to
pass between the front ranks and throw themselves into the fray."210 The Feldweibel, or
sergeant, used a halberd to keep troops in line. Halberdiers also used the flat of their
weapons to maintain the shape of the pike square. Halberdiers were typically experienced
soldiers, and typically therefore a little older than the average troops. The fact that there
are so many halberdiers in Dolnstein's sketches suggests that his comrades were older and
were veterans.
Moving from left to right, we see first a halberdier with a slashed sleeve and
multicolored stocks with apparently matching codpiece. It is impossible to determine
whether hose adorn his calves and lower thighs, or whether his legs are bare from the
stocks down. One hand rests on the hilt of his sword while the other grasps his halberd.
On this page note Dolnstein’s attention to detail, for instance the manner in which he
defines the blade edge of the halberd, its decorative inner circle, and finely crafted hook.
The languet pins and grip here are visible as well. He carefully draws the fine lines of the
gathers in the fabric at his neck and of his single plume. Assuming that his halberd is of
standard height, his feather reaches nearly eight feet in the air. This adornment, nearly
half his own height, combines with the fertile mole on his right cheek to lend him a
potentially comic appearance. Humor may not be the intent, for Dolnstein is not playful
elsewhere, and he illustrates a nearly identical patch of facial hair on a man in Sketch 5.
However, if glatt in the name of the second man is a nickname for "Smooth," the word
could be a wry comment on the decidedly non-smooth cheek of the first man.
209
Millar, 98.
210
Charles Oman, The Art of War in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378-1515, rev. ed. (Ithaca: Cornell University
Press, 1960), 78.
55
An interesting feature this sketch shares with Sketch 8 is an inscription across the
chest. Dolnstein has written PAVLS across this man’s breast. Paulus could mean that this
mercenary was in the more or less permanent service of a lord named Paul. In The
Triumph of Maximilian I crafted between 1516 and 1519, one sees a soldier with 'MA'
appearing clearly on his chest in the same location as PAVLS in the sketch above.
Figure 9. Albrecht Dürer et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 31, 1516-1519.211
There appear to be more letters on the other side of his weapon, but these letters are
illegible. These letters are probably part of Emperor Maximilian’s name, or 'MA' alone
could stand for the emperor’s daughter Margaret of Austria, regent of the Netherlands.
Women, too, wore names or initials across the breast.
211
Stanley Appelbaum, The Triumph of Maximilian I: 137 Woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair and Others (New
York: Dover Publications, 1964), 31.
56
Figure 10. Albrecht Dürer, Elsbeth Tucher, 1499.212
In Dürer's portrait of Elsbeth Tucher, we see the initials ’N T’ of her husband, Nicolaus
Tucher, as part of her clasp. This symbol of ownership by or loyalty to a lord was not
uncommon in military and civilian circles. Another possible explanation is that Dolnstein
was signing his work, so to speak. Artists used their initials or a monogram to sign their
work, and Dolnstein may have been mimicking the practice.
212
Harald Meller, ed. Luther in Mansfeld, Forschungen am Elternhaus des Reformators (Halle, Saale:
Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 2007), 67; Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel, Gemäldegalerie Alte
Meister (accessed 22 March, 2012).
57
Figure 11. Hans Burgkmair, et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 7.213
Rather than the bold monograms of Albrecht Dürer and Urs Graf, some artists used their
initials to sign in a simple fashion. Here, we see the letters 'H' and 'B' on the breast collar
of a horse. Hans Burgkmair signed his work with this simple monogram in The
Triumph.214 These are two of the more likely explanations for the lettering: that PAVLS
represents this man’s lord or that Paul Dolnstein is signing his work.215 It is important to
remember that Landsknechts stole clothing as part of booty, so this could be a stolen
garment, that PAVLS meant something for the original owner but not for this man.216
Ultimately, we do not know the meaning of these letters, but they further demonstrate
Dolnstein’s attention detail.
213
Stanley Appelbaum, The Triumph of Maximilian I: 137 Woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair and Others (New
York: Dover Publications, 1964), 7.
214
Alfred Aspland, ed. Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I (London: Wyman and Sons, 1875), 131;
Appelbaum, 39, 41, 48, etc.
215
While it is not directly relevant to the discussion of an individual name on clothing, it is perhaps worth
mentioning that artists also used words on clothing, banners, and weapons as a means of communicating
the point they were trying to convey with their images. See for example, Christiane Anderson, Dirnen,
Krieger, Naren: Ausgewählte Zechnungen von Urs Graf (Basel: GS-Verlag, 1978), 26, 31, 39.
216
A less likely possibility, though one worth mentioning, is that Paul Dolnstein is depicting himself as this
halberdier with the unusual set of whiskers and soaring plume. Though the face here does not closely
resemble the face in Dolnstein's self-portrait in Sketch 16, it is a possibility.
58
Moving to the right, we see an even more abundantly feathered cap, which also
reaches nearly to the top of its owner’s halberd. This second man’s halberd is similar to
that of the first man. The two weapons may be identical, but the top of the hook in the
halberd on the right is obscured in the man’s plumage. This man wears a sword as well,
and there are bands at the bottom of the scabbard. He wears a fashionable cloak, and his
attire may be the topic of the largely illegible line at the bottom of the page.217 The last
two words of the largely illegible line at the bottom of the page may refer to the man’s
outer garment. The first word seems to refer to a banquet, so the caption may suggest
appropriate feasting attire. His shoes, resembling the peasant Bundschuh, are unique in
the sketchbook. The rest of the men's footgear are the typical Kuhmaul or cow-mouth
shoes worn by Landsknechts and the nobility. These shoes appear out of place with the
balance of this man’s garb; however, Landsknechts made modified rules of fashion as
they pleased.
Landsknechts did not have uniforms, a fact which Dolnstein's sketches bear out in
the variety of attire, headgear, footwear, and armor.218 Redlich estimates that in the
second half of the sixteenth century, each suit of clothes would cost about one month's
wages.219 Landsknechts’ wages rose from three to four florin per month by 1503.220 In the
late sixteenth century, a halberd cost approximately 45 kreuzers.221 A sword cost 1.5 to 4
florin.222 Pikes cost 36 kreuzers.223 Armor cost 10 to 12 florin, and typically only those
217
Neither Dihle nor Larsson questions the continuity of authorship on these pages, but the handwriting
seems different if only because of the writing instrument or surface. The handwriting at the bottom
resembles the handwriting on Sketch 17.
218
Redlich, 129.
219
Ibid.
220
Ibid., 122.
221
1 florin in these examples is equal to 60 kreuzers. Ibid.
222
Ibid.
223
Ibid.
59
Landsknechts on the outer edges of the pike square wore armor; they also received
double pay and were hence called Doppelsöldner.224 Redlich theorizes that weapon and
armor prices were "probably much lower" than these in the early sixteenth century.225
Soldiers had to purchase their own attire and weapons except in unusual situations such
as Duke Albrecht of Saxony's 1495 requirement of Emperor Maximilian that the emperor
provide Albrecht’s men with two suits of cloth per year or the funds to pay for them.226
Dolnstein seems to relish in the clothing his fellow Landsknechts wore and the
weapons they wielded. Here, he captures fine clothing with lavish feathers, abundant
even by Landsknecht standards. Later in the sketchbook he illustrates the audacity of
bared thighs and intentionally tattered finery. Dolnstein takes care to note the details of
weapons, finding halberds of particular interest. Halberds commanded attention as signs
of experience in warcraft but also in their aesthetics. Swordsmith Peter Johnsson notes
the flash of light that the details on a halberd could produce:
On the halberd of the landsknecht at this time, nails and rivet heads were used as
‘bling’ factor. They were among many such details that made the equipment of
the landsknecht look impressive: lots of little details to catch light and glitter, file
work and cross hatching to render the weapon sharp and expensive looking. This
was also a canvas for the weapon smith to show his professionalism and skill.227
Dolnstein clearly admired the canvas on which craftsmen of weapons demonstrated their
skill. In both clothing and weaponry, the Landsknecht’s style appealed to Dolnstein. He
found the details of their attire and weaponry worthy of recollection, and thus he
preserved them. With the craftsman’s eye for detail, Dolnstein draws either from present
observation for future recollection, or from memory of a part of his life of which he was
224
Ibid., 122, 124.
225
Ibid., 130.
226
Ibid., 129.
227
Electronic correspondence with swordsmith Peter Johnsson, Albion Europe, January 27, 2012.
60
quite fond and proud. There are fragments of pencil lines still visible on this page. For
instance, under the left shoe of the second man, we can make out the penciled draft of the
shoe. Pencil markings appear throughout the sketchbook, suggesting that Dolnstein made
drafts of his images before setting them down in ink. Dolnstein also recorded the names
of his subjects. Whether or not he wrote them to accompany the stories he might have
shared orally with Meister Heinrich or other companions, Dolnstein found these men
worthy of remembrance. Clearly, Dolnstein the builder valued the experiences and the
people he knew as Dolnstein the Landsknecht.
61
Figure 12. Sketch 3, Standard Bearer and Halberdier in the Field.228
228
62
Text
As with the preceding sketch, most of the text on this page is illegible.229
Commentary
In this Comrade Sketch, Dolnstein provides the first of two sketches of a standard
bearer and a halberdier. The second is Sketch 5. This is a logical pairing, given that in
pike squares halberdiers surrounded the standard bearers for protection of the colors.
Standard bearers were highly important, and the role was one of honor. As with
halberdiers, standard bearers were veteran soldiers and were older than the average raw
recruit. Again, this demonstrates Dolnstein’s set of peers. His comrades are elite
infantrymen, for standard bearers and the halberdiers who protected them were known for
their courage. Dolnstein does not depict his leaders. There is no named image of Sigmund
List, Hans Weichsdorf, or Duke Albrecht. Dolnstein seems therefore not to be
highlighting the head men but his own comrades, thereby associating himself with the
best of the Landsknechts in his unit. This makes Dolnstein the builder not just any
Landsknecht, as the company he kept was exceptional.230 This essay will explore the role
of the standard bearer and then discuss the specific figures in the sketch.
The importance of the standard is evident in the language of military organization.
A Fähnlein was a unit of approximately four hundred Landsknechts. The term Fähnlein
literally means “little flag.”231 Moxey notes that, “Soldiers chosen to bear the standard
229
Top Left:
pwrtl or pwrtß? f...yssch jn veld
Translation:
..... ..... in the field
Top Right:
petter? ... rat? .....
Translation:
Peter ..... .....
230
Again, it is possible that he was not a Landsknecht at all but a civilian auxiliary of sorts.
231
Moxey, 71.
63
were paid five or six times the ordinary rate and were provided with bodyguards and
substitutes to take their place should they fall in battle."232 He goes on to describe how
standard bearers were depicted and why, asserting that these figures represented, "an
idealized image of a member of a military elite."233 Depending on when Dolnstein crafted
his sketchbook, he may have seen any number of artistic depictions of Landsknechts, and
perhaps he saw the oft repeated image of the standard bearer.
Figure 13. Urs Graf, Standard Bearer, 1514.234
Above is a typical example of a standard bearer in art. Fully celebrating the glory of his
role, the uncommon warrior takes a long stride and runs his hand behind the colors with
which he has been entrusted. Though Dolnstein may not have seen this particular image
by Swiss Reisläufer and goldsmith, Urs Graf, the image is representative of the way
232
Ibid.
233
Ibid.
234
Anderson, 32.
64
standard bearers appeared in art. Artists’ singling out of those Landsknechts entrusted
with the colors was warranted. John Millar notes that after new recruits took an oath to
obey the letter of articles that had been read to them, “the company standards [were]
entrusted to the ensign-bearers, the latter swearing a special oath to defend their flags
unto death."235 Such was the ferocious defense of the standard expected of the ensign.
“Seldom shown wearing armor, he was expected to die with the standard wrapped around
him so that it would not be borne away as a trophy by the enemy.”236 Yet, crucial though
the colors were to each unit, in the thick of battle, a standard bearer had little ability to
defend the flag if he came under attack. Armed with a sword, he could hardly wield it
effectively in one hand while holding the standard pole in the other. Thus, halberdiers
accompanied the standard bearer to do for the colors what the standard bearer could not.
This pair, unlike their counterparts in Sketch 5, strides with aggressive purpose.
Their manner, the fluttering of the banner, and the facial expression on the standard
bearer suggest swift movement. While the text has faded into almost complete illegibility,
the words jn velt, “in the field,” are still visible above the standard bearer. Relying on
words to place the pair in the field, this page conveys a sense of movement and direction
absent in the preceding sketches. Dolnstein seems to be taking his audience progressively
into the world of battle. This is a scene of action.
As ever, Dolnstein’s picture offers detail. The flag bears the St. Andrew's cross
and appears swallow-tailed as one point extends beyond the top of the page and the other
sweeps up behind the halberdier’s head, almost seeming to brush his weapon. From the
top of the image downward, Dolnstein provides shading on the banner, on the standard
235
Millar, 97.
236
Hale, “Soldiers in German Art,” 87.
65
bearer’s cap, along his back, at the waists of both of the men, and along their buttocks,
thighs, and calves. He details as well the tapes connecting the sleeves to the doublet and
the upper and lower sleeves around the elbow on both men. He also draws thin lines to
demonstrate the presence of fabric underneath these tapes. Likewise, the tapes connecting
the stocks and hose are visible exposing what he suggests with shading is bare skin on
one thigh for each warrior. Both men employ chin straps to secure their caps. The plain
headgear of the standard bearer contrasts with the ruffles, feathers, and what appear to be
ribbons in the cap of the halberdier. The halberdier seems generally more unbound as the
slashes of his sleeves have gone to the extreme, setting the strips of fabric free to flow
from his arm. There is another significant difference between the ensign and the
halberdier: armor. The halberdier wears both breast and back plates.
The ensign, however, does not. Dolnstein includes a point on each of the standard
bearer’s shoulders. These points could be the upper edges of a breast plate. However,
Dolnstein shows no leather straps securing it to the ensign’s body. This is not the sort
omission Dolnstein would make, for he reprsents with care the fabric on the ensign’s
back. Note the eyelets and tapes. Dolnstein takes his time with this, drawing twelve
distinct eyelets on the standard bearer’s shoulders. Dolnstein may simply be depicting
clothing with his usual attention to detail, or he could be emphasizing the bravery of the
ensign. For, though the man grasps his sword, everyone knows he cannot use it without
dropping the colors, something he is unwilling to do. His vulnerability, his lack of armor,
illustrate both the ensign’s dependence on others to protect him as he bears the flag, and
the ensign’s valor in his willingness to live and die with the colors.
66
These are the men with whom Dolnstein wants his reader to know he keeps
company. Whether his sketchbook is a collection of memorable people and engagements
as a gift for Meister Heinrich or another party, Dolnstein the artisan wants to be seen as
the companion of men of valor. In this image, we see Dolnstein’s attempt to capture the
essence of the ensign in the field. He associates himself with this highly important figure
in the martial community. He knows this man’s name; he knows the name of the
halberdier chosen to assist him in guarding the colors. These are his comrades. Both men
bare their skin, and the halberdier has the characteristic Landsknecht's audacity to walk
erect with pride while his clothes hang in tatters. Their clothing marked them as part of
the Landsknecht world, and their roles within that community marked them as among the
elite warriors within that community.
67
Figure 14. Sketch 4, This is a Swede.237
237
There is no stamp. The image is on the recto side of the page. ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und
Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 2v.
68
Text
Top Left:
das ist ein schwed
Translation:
That238 is a Swede.
Commentary
In Sketch 4, Baumeister Paul Dolnstein captures the memory of a significant
wartime experience. This sketch is an illustration from the Swedish campaign, an event
so important to Dolnstein that he devotes four sketches comprising six pages to it. These
sketches (4, 15, 17, and 19) depict battle and siege scenes on what is today the west coast
of Sweden. Dolnstein refers to the area as Norway.239 This region of Sweden was part of
Norway at the time and fell under a frequently contested Danish rule.240 In 1502, King
Hans and his son Prince Christian of Denmark hired German and Scottish mercenaries to
suppress a rebellion in western Sweden.241 This sketch and its three related sketches
depict a series of events in which Dolnstein seems proud to have participated. Placing
himself at the scene of action with the phrase, “There I, Paul Dolnstein, saw action,” he
clearly wants to demonstrate his active military involvement in an event that he may have
seen as one of the most important of his life. That he would want to commemorate this
action is of little wonder, for he and his countrymen were victorious against what was
238
By using das, 'that,' Dolnstein seems to suggest a degree of separation between himself as the deictic
center of this statmenet and the Swede.
239
Larsson, 76; ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 9v-10r; 11v;
Dihle, Figure 36, unnumbered page. The events of the suppression are discussed further with Sketches 15,
17, and 19.
240
Knut Helle, The Cambridge History of Scandinavia: Prehistory to 1520 (New York: Cambridge
241
Larsson, 75-77; Dihle and Closs, 4.
69
according to him, an enormous majority of 14,000 Swedes to 1800 Germans.242 The
Danish force prevailed in putting down the rebellion, and Dolnstein relates in Sketch 15
that the Danish king knighted Dolnstein and at least some of his comrades. He says “us,”
likely comprising all 1800 Germans he mentioned nine lines earlier.243 For an artisan,
such a victory, such honor must have constituted the experience of a lifetime. This essay
will explore the way Dolnstein represents the fundamental differences between the
opponent and Dolnstein’s fellow Landsknecht. Those differences are professionalism in
Renaissance warcraft, and the lines of class that Landsknechts were able to transcend on
campaign.
In this sketch, Dolnstein pictures a Swede and a German. While we cannot be
certain, Dolnstein seems to mock the Swedish peasant. The overburdened peasant seems
to stare blankly as though he is totally unprepared to meet the challenge before him. Yet
mocking him too strongly would render the German victory less remarkable. Thus
Dolnstein represents the Swede as a well armed, though ill prepared, foe, whom the
professional German dispatches with a dismissive jab to the crotch, a dismissal of his
very manhood. It bears noting that this move may have been common. Sketch 6 portrays
a pikeman directing the point of his weapon into the buttocks of his opponent. Had the
man turned to face the front, the pike would have hit the same target as the halberd in this
sketch. Dolnstein may not intend this move as a dismissal specifically of the Swede, or an
attack on his particular masculinity, but an attack on an opponent’s manhood it was, no
matter how common the maneuver.
242
243
Ibid.
70
The Swede, burdened with an ill-fitting helmet, a pack on his back, wooden
canteen, and not one but two very large weapons seems at a great disadvantage in
meeting the lightly clad halberdier. Both men have breastplates, the peasant’s being about
a generation out of fashion.244 The peasant’s breastplate is secured across his shoulders
by leather straps. While the Landsknecht wears no head protection, the Swede wears a
helmet that seems to obstruct his vision as much as it protects his skull. Dolnstein may be
representing what a disinterested third party might have seen, or he may be intentionally
mocking the Swedish peasant as naïvely unprepared to meet a professional German
soldier.
The Swede is unprepared not only in training but in his overburdened state.
Swedish peasants are the only foes Dolnstein depicts as wearing canteens. Both the
canteen here and in Sketch 15 bear an inscription. The perhaps hastily drawn inscription
on Sketch 15 is an X, probably marking the place of an inscription rather than an actual
X. The inscription here is drawn with care, and Larsson explains that this was a
bumerke.245 Returning to the canteen itself, this man had to carry his water with him
because he had no one to carry it for him. Landsknechts had servants either in reality or
after a fashion. Women and boys followed Landsknecht armies and carried their
equipment and booty.246 This Swede certainly had no such servant. Both men wear
swords. The German’s is a Katzbalger, a short sword for close combat favored by the
Landsknecht; in contrast, the Swede wears an extremely long sword, so long as to be
almost useless in close combat. From surviving swords of this era, swordsmith Peter
244
Per electronic correspondence, swordsmith Peter Johnsson, Albion Europe, January 27, 2012.
245
Larsson 78.
246
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare, 34-35, 160-163, 219.
71
Johnsson finds the length of the sword exaggerated in Dolnstein’s depiction.247 Indeed
the weapon looks likely to trip the man if he were to take a step backward. It is important
to note that if this sword’s size is exaggerated, this particular mockery may have its roots
in the mockery of peasants in Dolnstein’s own culture. B. Ann Tlusty observes the
laments of noblemen against peasants who wore swords, “so long that they ‘rang out
against the heels.’”248 The modern viewer of Dolnstein’s sketches must bear in mind how
little is known about the context for this illustrated notebook. This particular image seems
ideal for regaling one’s friends at the tavern. The seeming exaggeration of the Swede’s
hampered state combined with the German’s thrust to the genitalia belittle this man,
dispatching his prowess together with his virility.
Yet the most prominent object on this page, both in its imposing size and the
winding band running the length of the shaft, is the Swedish peasant's staff sword. The
staff is thicker than that of the halberd, and the massive S-guard creates a striking
appearance. Dolnstein does not depict languets or languet pins on the staff sword here or
on the staff swords in Sketch 15.249 One reason Dolnstein may not have depicted the
languets or pins on the staff sword could be that they did not reflect light in the same way
as did perhaps the grooves in both breastplates or the pins on halberds. Unlike the
decorated pins on the halberds of the Landsknecht, these pins would have been simple,
flat objects.250
247
248
Tlusty, 171.
249
Johnsson theorizes: “I am not sure lack of pins in the drawing means there were none. Of the remains of
staff swords that I have seen, all had nails or holes for nails. Nails were used to secure the blade in the haft,
and to secure languets to the haft. It is not an exact science, but it is definitely a trend. Many of those nails
I’ve seen from hafts of pole arms and spikes from spiked clubs show this feature. My impression is that
nails would have been as common on staff swords as on halberds.” Per electronic correspondence from
swordsmith Peter Johnsson, Albion Europe, January 27, 2012.
250
Ibid.
72
As with the peasant’s sword, Johnsson finds the staff sword to be drawn out of
proportion.251 It seems to me, however, that Dolnstein is not mocking this weapon. The
weapon is quite long as evident in Sketch 15. In Sketch 15, he describes these
instruments of war as, “good pikes made of swords.”252 And indeed they were. Johnsson
describes their construction:
The construction is not fundamentally different from that of a halberd, other than
that the staff sword has a short broad tang secured into a slot cut in the top of the
haft. Of those that I have seen, the tang is not very long, perhaps 15-20 cm. It is
the width of the haft, or slightly narrower.
At the top of the haft is a short tube-like socket. This holds the top of the haft
together and also serves to further secure the blade. One of the nails goes through
this socket/tube. The arms of the guard are also formed on this tube. The tube is
driven on from below after the blade is inserted (a haft that swells slightly at the
very end) or from the top at that same as the blade. In this case the haft is perhaps
slightly tapered at the end to make the tube/socket sit more securely the more it is
driven down over the haft.
Pins, rivets or nails could be used to name these little fastening devices. Perhaps
tacks? They are like small nails, formed so the stem curves inside the wood as
they are driven in. The point of the stem is slightly asymmetrical and parts the
wood unevenly. This makes the nail bend. This is good, since it makes the small
nail sit better.253
It is probable that Dolnstein genuinely admired the craftsmanship of these unusual
weapons, that he was not mocking them, for it seems that their craftsmanship was worthy
of admiration. One can see from the image below that languets were not always enough
to secure the blade of a weapon to its shaft.
251
Ibid.
252
253
73
Figure 15. Urs Graf, Horrors of War, 1521.254
In the center of the image, near the foreground is a halberd head that has come off in
battle. The broken tools of war -- human, animal, metal, and wooden -- lie scattered on
the battlefield. This alternative representation of armed conflict from Urs Graf’s
experience vividly captures the ferocity of Renaissance combat and demonstrates the
force weapons had to withstand. Hence, an additional measure to secure the edged part of
a staff weapon would be useful. Below is an example of such a solution, the spiral
languet.
254
Hans Peter Treichler: Abenteuer Schweiz. Geschichte in Jahrhundertschritten. (Lausanne, 1991), 159;
Hans Koegler, Hundert Tafeln aus dem Gesamtwerk des Urs Draf (Basel: Urs Graf Verlag, 1947), 55.
74
Figure 16. Staff Weapon with Spiral Languet, 1520.255
The spiral languet winds around the shaft in addition to the standard languets running
straight down the shaft. Johnsson describes the spiral languet as, “a narrow and pretty
thin strip of iron that is shaped around the haft and secured with small nails. The purpose
is to reinforce the wood and stop cuts."256 Though the staff sword may not have been the
place for exhibiting fine, decorative grooves to catch the light the way a halberd was,
Dolnstein admired these weapons. He makes the Swede’s pole arm the most prominent
255
Board of Trustees of the Armouries, “Foot Combat Armour of King Henry VIII. English, Southwark,
1520,” Royal Armouries Collections Online.
256
75
object in this sketch, and in Sketch 15, he calls the weapon “good.” One must note,
however, that though Dolnstein may or may not mock the weapon itself by exaggerating
its size, he does seem to depict the Swede as handling it with incompetence. The Swede
appears not even to have launched his attack when the halberd is already embedded in his
genitalia.
In contrast to the Swede, the Landsknecht is professional, compact, and agile in
Dolnstein’s depiction. Unencumbered by any pack or canteen, bearing a short sword and
a halberd, he strikes first and effectively. His armor is more up to date, and his halberd is
different from many of the others in this sketchbook.257 Dolnstein illustrates it with a
capped end bearing a spike, and the fluke is more decorative than most. It resembles the
halberd in Sketch 14, though it is not as elaborate as that in Sketch 7. The pair of men in
this sketch contrast as starkly as men from different classes and different lands might be
expected to contrast. The separation between these two combatants is cultural and
linguistic to be sure. Helene Dihle refers to the pointed, wooden shoes and wide, baggy
pants of the Swede, the latter of which she argues were unusual in German lands.258 The
German’s attire was both distinctly German and distinctly noble.259 In 1540, Henry
Worton observed of the ‘Almain’ or German style that it, “must needs be a good sight, to
see a lantzknecht, his cap full of feathers, his doublet and hosen cut and jagged, his sword
by his side…”260 Though this halberdier’s attire is not as jagged as many of his peers in
this sketchbook, he still possesses the distinct appearance of Landsknecht. Further, that
his hose and doublet are not as jagged as those of his fellows imparts to him a certain
257
Ibid.
258
Dihle, 111.
259
Maria Hayward, ed., Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII (Leeds, UK: Maney, 2007), 15-16.
260
James Gairdner and R.H. Brodie, eds., Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry
VIII, vol. 18, Part 2 (London: Mackie and Co., 1902), 9.
76
restraint that elevates his style. Landsknecht style was gaudy, garish, and intentionally
ragged. This halberdier like Wilhelm von Strasburg in Sketch 7 keeps a more restrained
and thus a more noble appearance.261 This illustrates another separation, that of class,
whether actual or only in the world apart that Landsknechts inhabited. This Landsknecht
may indeed have been noble. More likely, however, he was an artisan or even a peasant
like his opponent. Artisan and peasant were different, and yet not as different as artisan
and noble or peasant and noble. This Landsknecht could be any of these things, and yet
he appears noble in his attire, in his access to servants, and in his military association
with the nobility through his Landsknecht identity. The ability of the Landsknecht to
inhabit two worlds is striking here. For whatever he is or was in his civilian life, he is
here something altogether different. He is akin to nobility. He outclasses this peasant in
appearance and skill to a degree he may not in his other life.
The ability to outclass another human being, another male, to such a degree must
have been among the attractions of the military life for an artisan. It must have been
especially so for those who had work and lives awaiting their return to the civilian world,
meaning that they could return home between campaigns. Among their artisan colleagues
who may not have gone off to war, Dolnstein would have had stories to tell. In the
instance of the Swedish revolt, he returned home an authoritative witness of something
exotic. Further, he was now part of a body of warriors who had done something
remarkable. If his report is accurate -- and he does not exaggerate elsewhere in the
sketchbook -- 1,800 Germans defeated 14,000 Swedes. Defeating a single man in combat
was a badge of honor. For Dolnstein’s comrades to have defeated 14,000 would have
been an extraordinary event, the sort of story an old warrior might tell over and over.
261
77
Devoting four sketches to the Swedish campaign, Dolnstein demonstrates the
significance of this event in his life. The craftsman who left Saxony, trekking all the way
to Sweden where he witnessed such a profound difference between the men with whom
he fought and the men against whom he fought, must have been extremely proud to have
been part of this small group of victors. Indeed, the Swedish campaign may have been
one of the most significant events of this craftsman’s life.
78
Figure 17. Sketch 5, Michael von Coburg and Wolf von Zwickau.262
262
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3r. Stamped with a 3.
79
Text
Top Left:
michel263 von koberg
Translation:
Michael von Coburg
Top Right:
wolf von zwickaw
Translation:
Wolf von Zwickau
Commentary
Here again Paul Dolnstein, Baumeister, makes known the sort of fellows with
whom he passed time on campaign. Another ensign and halberdier pair greet the viewer
in this sketch. With less damage than other pages, this sketch offers legible names and the
penciled images of two faces Dolnstein drafted onto the page. This page also offers
evidence that Dolnstein fought with men he knew as craftsmen. Here, Dolnstein has
preserved the image of the only figure besides Dolnstein himself whose name has been
found outside the sketchbook. This master craftsman, Wolf von Zwickau, also worked for
Frederick the Wise. It remains unknown how many others, if any, in this sketchbook
were craftsmen working on the building projects of Dolnstein's prince. Dolnstein and
Zwickau, however, seem to have fit the definition of Redlich's sedentary Landsknecht.
For Zwickau to have been a halberdier, he would have been a veteran of some
experience. Thus, it seems that we can safely say that both men went on campaign more
than once and both men returned to their civilian work, exactly as Redlich describes the
263
Dihle sees Michel.
80
sedentary Landsknecht's pattern. Artisans who took pride in having fought would have
embraced their military side long after their campaign experiences were over. Such a
pride would be natural in a “culture of arms” as that of early modern German towns.264 In
this essay, I will further discuss the standard bearer as the sort of man with whom
Dolnstein would want to associate himself. I will also briefly address the “weapons
culture” that existed in early modern German towns.265 This “weapons culture” tied
masculine and cultural identity to weaponry, shedding light on the rights and
responsibilities Dolnstein likely already had as a citizen of a German town.266 I will argue
that for men like Zwickau and Dolnstein, mercenary service may have been a natural
extension of their responsibility as guildsmen to bear arms.267 Following these
discussions, I will address the sketch itself.
In the essay on Sketch 3, I discussed the status standard bearers enjoyed as a
result of the bravery for which they were known. In this sketch, I will address another
role they enjoyed, that of a glorified figure of masculinity. Artists in this period often
characterized masculinity as threatened by women. Artists achieved this by employing
images of women winning physical battles over which mate was to wear the pants,
images of Phyllis riding Aristotle and carrying a whip, and images of men performing
feminine gendered tasks such as washing diapers or spinning.268 Visual art offered heroes
of gendered roles as well such as the ensign, so often depicted as an idealized form of
masculinity.
264
Tlusty, 6.
265
Ibid., 9.
266
Ibid., 8-9.
267
Ibid., 6-9, 16.
268
Andersson, 63-65; Moxey, 108; Koegler, 60, 72; Lynn, 100-103.
81
Figure 18. The Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 135.269
The standard bearer in Figure 18 is not solely an idealized masculine type. While not all
images of standard bearers explicitly represent an idealized masculinity, this image does.
The ensign here typifies a form of virility and serves as a champion of masculinity under
threat as he raises high a flag bearing a pair of pants.270 A woman clings adoringly to his
arm. Together they demonstrate a pair fitting into their gendered roles perfectly. He is
strong, virile, and protective. She is adoring, submissive, and supportive. Further, one
could make the assumption that she is no prostitute, that he is a prized male and does not
have to pay for sex. This man and the woman at his side have no quarrel over position.
269
Appelbaum, 135.
270
Moxey, 82.
82
He is the master in their relationship. He represents the man who has successfully won
the battle for the pants, carrying the banner for his gender.
From the Urs Graf image of the standard bearer (Figure 13) and from the one
above, it is clear that the ensign was an important figure. That soldiers cut up and ate an
enemy banner as a salad at the Battle of Marignano in 1515 illustrates that the colors
were infused with enormous meaning for each unit.271 Ensigns earned the honor of
carrying the colors through demonstrated bravery. As Moxey states, these men were an
ideal type of elite within the Landsknecht world.272 The standard bearer was something of
an apogee among early modern masculine types. Soldiering offered one way to express
virility.273 Certainly, the standard bearer was elite among soldiers. But there were many
ways to express one's masculinity, not solely in war. Scholars and clerics used force of
language and skillful argument as evidence of their virility.274 Miners were masculine,
and peasants typified a kind masculinity that was mockable but always with the potential
to sow disaster. Peasants were seen as prone to violent disorder at festivals and to
rebellion, particularly in Germany.275 Guildsmen like Dolnstein and Zwickau, with or
without military experience, also represented a form of virility.
In fact, B. Ann Tlusty argues that in many towns, “By the end of the Middle
Ages, for all but the most elite members of society, the right to be a tax-paying citizen
271
Franz, 90-91.
272
Moxey, 71.
273
Allyson M. Poska, “A Married Man Is a Woman: Negotiating Masculinity in Early Modern
Northwestern Spain,” in Masculinity in the Reformation Era, ed. Scott H. Hendrix and Susan C. Karant-
Nunn (Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2008), 12; Nimwegen, 159-180.
274
Danielle Skjelver, “German Hercules: The Impact of Scatology on the Image of Martin Luther as a Man,
1483-1546," Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review,14, no. 1 (Summer 2009), 55-68.
275
Skjelver, 48-50; Peter Blickle, Obedient Germans? A Rebuttal: New View of German History, trans.
Thomas A. Brady Jr. (Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1981), 62-76.
83
required membership in a guild."276 Membership in guilds was carefully guarded and
regulated, carrying with it a sense of honor and obligation.277 These medieval and early
modern organizations were more than merely associations of craftsmen. They trained
generations of young people for skilled trades; they protected product quality, prices, and
trade secrets; they provided for members and their dependents to varying degrees in
sickness or death; and they often served as gatekeepers to offices of civic government,
and as stated above to citizenship itself.278 Citizens were the defenders of towns, and thus
played a masculine role.279 In early modern German towns, there was a culture of
weapons in which most townsmen were armed when they went out on the streets.280
Adult men identified mature masculinity with wearing weapons.281 Journeymen, shop
keepers, students, and men of all ranks openly carried at least a knife.282 The sword,
which Tlusty describes as a "symbol of civic freedom for townsmen, came to equal
'academic freedom' for students."283 Indeed, Martin Luther carried a sword as a student,
276
Tlusty, 16.
277
Further, James R. Farr observes of the exclusivity of guilds, “Would-be masters with insufficient
quantities of either capital or goodwill from existing masters found themselves confronting exclusionary-
minded masters who were interested in bringing only enough young men into the charmed circle of
mastership as were minimally necessary to continue the community. … Masters keen on restricting access
to mastership and governments … demand exorbitantly expensive banquets hosted by the prospective
entrant, or require increasingly difficult and expensive masterpieces of the candidate for mastership.” James
R. Farr, Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 35, 33-37; Alfred
Kieser, “Organizational, Institutional, and Societal Evolution: Medieval Craft Guilds and the Genesis of
Formal Organizations.” Administrative Science Quarterly, 34 (1989): 559.
278
S.R Epstein, and Maarten Prak, eds., Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, 1400-1800 (New
York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 7-8; Ulrich Pfister, “Craft Guilds, Theory of the Firm, and Early
Modern Proto-industry,” in Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, 1400-1800, ed. S.R Epstein,
and Maarten Prak (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008), 45-46; Farr, 32-34, 160-165; Sheilagh
Ogilvie, “Guilds, Efficiency, and Social Capital: Evidence from German Proto-Industry,” The Economic
History Review, New Series, 57, no. 2 (May, 2004): 288- 331; Kieser, 551, 555-556.
279
Tlustly, 3.
280
Ibid., 174.
281
Ibid., 63.
282
Ibid., 70-71, 174.
283
Ibid., 168.
84
professor, and renegade monk.284 The culture of arms of early modern towns was also a
culture of disorder.285 Lyndal Roper asserts that masculinity was expressed in unruly
behavior and was viewed as something difficult if not impossible to control:
What first strikes the historian of the early modern town about masculinity is its
sheer disruptiveness. Men posed a serious public order problem, young bloods
endangering the safety of the streets at night, drunken husbands beating their
wives to within an inch of their lives, guilds fostering a male brotherhood which
might even foment political unrest.286
Though craftsmen typically far outnumbered their fellow townspeople in arrests for
violence with weapons, it fell to men like Dolnstein and Zwickau to keep order.287 The
right to bear arms was tied to the responsibility to use those weapons to prevent and stop
disorder.288 Guilds were required to see that their members fulfilled their responsibility to
the town by standing watch. Indeed, guild members were required to be armed in order to
protect their towns from external and internal threats.289
Tlusty asserts that "the requirements of local defense systems socialized all
townsmen to identify with the sword."290 It seems then that serving one's prince or his
allies in his wider realm, or even beyond his realm, was a natural extension of a
craftsman's right and responsibility to bear arms. More than responsibility, the allure of
honor played a role in drawing men to the recruiter's drum. According to Tlusty, “For
citizen soldiers…demonstrating courage by seeking danger on the battlefield and
verifying physical prowess through close combat were the paths to honor, status, and
284
Henry Worsley, The Life of Martin Luther, vol. 1 (London: Bell and Daldy, 1856), 45; Heiko A.
Oberman, Luther: Man between God and the Devil, tran. Eileen Walliser-Schwarzbart (New York: Image,
1989), 327.
285
Tlusty, 6-9.
286
Lyndal Roper, Oedipus & the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early Modern Europe (New
York: Routledge, 1994), 107.
287
Tlusty, 160.
288
Ibid., 2, 160.
289
Ibid., 16, 171-173.
290
Ibid., 91.
85
material reward."291 It seems then that joining a Landsknecht army, particularly one
called up by one’s own lord, would merely be an extension of one’s existing duties as an
arms bearing townsman. The two men in this sketch, Michael von Coburg and Wolf von
Zwickau are now veterans of the battlefield. As standard bearer and the halberdier
selected to protect him, they represent the successful demonstration of prowess through
close combat that Tlusty describes.
In this sketch, both names are legible. The ensign is Michael von Coburg, and the
halberdier is Wolf von Zwickau. Though at present, none of the other names have been
connected to records outside this sketchbook, Wolf von Zwickau's name appears in Otto
Wanckel and Cornelius Gurlitt's study, Die Albrechtsburg zu Meißen. This source names
a Wolf von Zwickau as a stone mason working on the castle in Wittenberg in 1515.292
This suggests the possibility that some of the other named people in Dolnstein's sketches
are his professional peers in the civilian world even as they are his comrades in the
military world. Many of Dolnstein’s subjects seem to have come from Saxony and
Bavaria as is the case with this ensign and halberdier. Coburg is in Bavaria, and Zwickau
is in Saxony. This would fit with both the ideas that sedentary Landsknechts returned to
their work when military service for their prince was done, as seems to have been the
case with Wolf von Zwickau, and that most of the early Landsknechts came from the
south as would be the case with Michael von Coburg.
The standard bearers in both Sketch 3 and Sketch 5 project their status in their
posture. They do so in different ways, however. While the man in Sketch 3 marches
forward with aggressive focus, this ensign takes a courtly pose. Adopting the ‘proto-
291
Ibid.
292
Dihle and Closs, 7. Otto Wanckel and Cornelius Gurlitt, Die Albrechtsburg zu Meißen (Dresden:
Wilhelm Baensch, K.S. Hofverlagsbuchhandlung, 1895), 25.
86
balletic’ stance of nobility, this ensign reminds Dolnstein’s viewer of the association of
the Landsknecht with the nobility.293 In stepping into this mercenary corps endowed by
Maximilian with imperial glory, the artisan took on an air of nobility. Because of his
status as ensign, it seems strange that Dolnstein would draw him with a mole growing a
thick patch of hair a few inches long. The crop of facial hair seems most out of place.
This may, however, not be a mole, but rather a fashion in whiskers. For two men to have
a hairy mole in the same spot on the same cheek would be extraordinary.
Figure 19. Detail, Sketches 5 and 2.294
Here is the same sort of facial hair that Dolnstein depicts in Sketch 2. Assuming that
Dolnstein would not likely have mocked a standard bearer, one begins to wonder if this
was a beard of sorts, a mark of fashion. In other words, perhaps what appears to be a
mole is simply a dot Dolnstein drew as a point from which an unusual beard would
extend. Will Fisher argues that, “in the Renaissance, facial hair often conferred
293
‘Proto-balletic’ is my term for the elegant manner and pose which the nobility, leading citizens of
German towns, and Landsknechts often adopted in visual representation from this period. Hayward, 16;
Moxey, 48-50, 90. 126, 139; Jane S. Peters, ed, The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 19 (Part 1) [Formerly Volume
9 (part 2)] (New York: Abaris Books, 1987), Pl. 260 (275), 284 (281), 285 (281); Maximilian I, Die
Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank: Kolorierter Nachdruck der Gesamtausgabe von 1517, ed. Stephan
Füssel (Köln: Taschen, 2003), Plates 113-115, 118.
294
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3r, 1v.
87
masculinity; the beard made the man.”295 He notes a bewildering array of beard styles.296
Yet, I find no evidence of this as a style in this period.297 Perhaps it was a patch of beard
these men did not shave for the duration of a campaign.298 It is also possible that these
two men are the same man at different stages in life. The names on Sketch 2 are illegible.
Those letters that do appear are not certain. Thus, there is a remote possibility that these
two are both Michael von Coburg.299
Also striking in von Coburg’s appearance are his bare legs and codpiece. From
the middle of the thigh to the shoes, both men sport this daring style. In the above image
from The Triumph, (Figure 18) the same fashion appears on the ensign, a pikeman, and
boy. In The Triumph, however, the hose hang down over a tied band holding them in
place below the knee. Coburg and Zwickau dispense with both the band and the hose.
Their clothing reflects a conscious attempt to self-identify as Landsknechts. Moxey says
of Landsknecht appearance:
This style of clothing, which echoes northern Italian fashions of the late fifteenth
century, was popular in aristocratic and wealthy burgher circles in southern
Germany between 1500 and 1520. . . . Whereas the fashion for slit clothing was a
passing whim among the upper classes, it was appropriated by the mercenaries,
and they retained it long after it had been abandoned by other social groups. A
short-lived aristocratic fashion thus became a lasting identifying characteristic of
the military profession.300
295
Will Fisher, “The Renaissance Beard: Masculinity in Early Modern England,” Renaissance Quarterly,
vol. 54, No. 1. (Spring, 2001): 156, 167-8, 172-3, 184.
296
Ibid., 159-162.
297
See Fisher, 155-187; Bill Severn, The Long and Short of It: Five Thousand Years of Fun and Fury over
Hair (New York: David McKay Company, 1971); Reginald Reynolds, Beards (London: George Allen and
Unwin, Ltd., 1950); Jacques Antoine Dulaure, Pogonologia, or A Philosophical and Historical Essay on
Beards, translated by Edward Drewe (Exeter: R. Thorn, 1786); Richard Corson, Fashions in Hair: The
First Five Thousand Years (London: Peter Owen Limited, 2001).
298
Reynolds notes that men have at times taken oaths not to cut their beards until they saw the victory of
their side in a conflict. Reynolds, 240-241.
299
It seems a stretch to make this name fit what text in Sketch 2 is visible.
300
Moxey, 72.
88
This style is not precisely noble. It goes beyond the neat slashing of the nobility and is
precisely Landsknecht. Both men also wear pronounced codpieces as do the other figures
in the sketchbook. Some more modest sixteenth century writers blasted such attired as
obscene.301 Their clothing, specifically their hose, were symbols of a loose life.302 So
unusual and striking was this clothing to the early Landsknechts' contemporaries that
Quaas argues that no other kind of clothing received so much attention from artists as that
of the soldier.303 J.R. Hale likewise comments that soldiers dressed in ways that reflected
their libertine and often cruel lifestyle outside the rules of civilian society:
In those countries where artists… recorded soldiers with some degree of realism,
they showed the sexually aggressive strut, the bulging codpiece, the suggestive
sword-hilt, the mixture of tousled peasant hairstyle with flamboyant costume that
marked them as defying civilian morals and the everyman-in-his-place social
restrictions of the sumptuary laws.304
Though taboo, it may have also been implicitly sanctioned when one's own prince calls
for your service. In other words, sedentary Landsknechts experienced periodic freedom
from the restraints of town life when they went on campaign. Among Landsknechts,
craftsmen like Dolnstein and Zwickau could behave in ways that would meet with
opprobrium or criminal charges in civic life. They could dress in a carefree and
outlandish manner. For awhile they stepped into another world, never leaving behind the
artisan background to which they returned, but temporarily setting aside its strictures.
The penciled faces to the left of Michael von Coburg and between the ensign and
Wolf von Zwickau pose questions. As with other pencil images in the sketchbook, the
301
Thomas Lüttenberg, “The Cod-piece — A Renaissance Fashion between Sign and Artefact,” The
Medieval History Journal 8, no. 1 (2005), 50-63.
302
Gerhard Quaas, Das Handwerk der Landsknechte: Waffen und Bewaffnung zwischen 1500 und 1600
(Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1997), 64-65.
303
Ibid., 65.
304
Hale, War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450 - 1620, 127.
89
face on the left appears to have been drawn before the ink images. The face in the middle,
however, may have been drafted into the ink sketch. The lines on the forehead and right
eye do not extend through Michael von Coburg’s feather. Perhaps Dolnstein considered
making this page a scene of several men on the march. Perhaps this central figure was to
have been a woman.
The halberdier accompanying the ensign wears similar attire, though not as
thoroughly slit. Their breastplates and shoes are of like design. Zwickau's headgear, while
lacking the plume is equally sumptuous. What is most interesting about the halberdier is
his bent sword. Perhaps the bend indicates nothing more than Dolnstein's attempt to fit it
entirely on the page after finding that he had not planned for enough space. Perhaps it is a
wry attempt at humor. Regardless, this Wolf von Zwickau is among the most fascinating
men in Dolnstein's illustrated notebook. His is one of the first two names that have not
disappeared in damp or torn edges. Indeed, his name has been located in another record,
giving the Landsknecht another identity, that of stone mason. Equally important is the
location of his work. That Zwickau worked for Dolnstein's prince raises the possibility
that others of these men did as well. It is possible that many of these men were
Dolnstein's colleagues from the realm of Prince Frederick the Wise. At least one of these
men shared Dolnstein's life of two worlds. Wolf von Zwickau was simultaneously master
craftsman and mercenary. He returned to his civilian life and took part in the building of
his prince's castle.
That these men are ensign and halberdier suggests that they have marched on
several campaigns. That at least Wolf von Zwickau is a fellow master from Saxony’s
building trades suggests that Dolnstein may have known the men in his sketchbook from
90
years of campaigning together, not necessarily from isolated events. Dolnstein may have
campaigned with them since Montfort in 1491 or before. One wonders if there was a
warrior artisan culture in Wittenberg and Torgau. It would seem that such a culture might
exist in any town from which commanders recruited the sedentary variety of
Landsknecht. Such men would come from their artisan worlds, join the martial world for
a time, and return to the craftsman’s world where they would likely maintain ties to local
comrades from the march.
91
Figure 20. Sketch 6, Two Pikemen.305
305
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3v-4r. Stamped with a 4 on
the recto page.
92
Text
Top Left:
jost jag den tewffl von gretz306
Translation:
Jost “Hunt the Devil"307 of Graz308
Top Right:
stein jeglein309 von eÿstet
Translation:
Stein Jeglein of Eichstätt
Commentary
This is the first sketch of pikemen. These men, like the preceding pairs, are the
sort of men with whom an artisan would want to associate himself in his martial
memories, because they represent a masculine ideal. Coming as Paul Dolnstein does from
the weapons culture of early modern German towns, he chooses to keep company with
men who are masters of their arms. Presenting a tidier appearance more akin to the men
in Sketch 2, these two pikemen have at each other. There seems to be the continuing
geographic connection, if not from Dolnstein to each person, then from one person to
another. The geographic connections support the view that most Landsknechts came from
the south, and many joined together and stayed together. In a brief exploration of Sketch
6, this essay will address the names and then discuss the men themselves.
306
This could also be greiz.
307
This could be “Give ‘em Hell.” It may also be a “sentence name.” Bahlow, 504. One such sentence
name might be “Jost chases the devil out of Graz.” Electronic correspondence, Ineke Justitz, North Dakota
State University, February 24, 2012.
308
This could also be Greiz. See below.
309
Jeglein could be a nickname of sorts or a surname. Bahlow does not list this precise spelling but
provides a few starting points. Bahlow, 248-249.
93
Here we have a peculiar name, Jost “Hunt the Devil” von Graz. Among the
legible captions, this is the only name that appears to be something akin to a nom de
guerre or a nickname. Fritz Redlich describes among the roving type of Landsknecht men
who, “would hang around inns and taverns where recruiting agents could find them.
Impoverished noblemen were numerous among them. These were the men who dropped
their names and assumed noms de guerre, often nicknames, often names boasting
symbolically of all sorts of horrible and devilish activities or more or less unacceptable
character traits.”310 Certainly this man could have been a roving Landsknecht leading a
life of warring and waiting for war. It is equally plausible that men also earned and gave
nicknames among sedentary Landsknechts. Just as in Sketch 2 where glatt could be a
sideways comment on the strange whiskers of a man, it seems that Dolnstein has added a
commentary about Jost’s aggression. The nickname would be literally, “Hunt the Devil”
and may be understood in an admiring “Give ‘em Hell” sense, or it could be "Jost chases
the devil out of Graz."311 In the transcription, the name is quite clearly von gretz. Gretz is
indeed a Germanic surname. It is possible that this name could also be a place name such
as Graz just as are so many of the other names in this Sketchbook.312
Immediately below Stein’s name, we can make out the pencil draft of headgear
that is nothing like the helmet on which Dolnstein settled before making his ink drawing.
310
Redlich, 117.
311
The latter comes from Ineke Justitz, North Dakota State University, via electronic correspondence,
February 24, 2012.
312
Because it is difficult to determine whether this is Gretz or Greiz, it should be noted that there is a town
called Greiz within a one or two day walk of modern Zwickau. In other words, if this man is Jost von
Greiz, he may have had a connection to Wolf von Zwickau before and/or after their military experiences.
Another potential geographic connection presents itself in the name Stein Jeglein of Eichstätt. As
mentioned above, Paul Dolnstein or his family may have come from the town of Dollnstein in Bavaria.
Dollnstein was so near the Bavarian town of Eichstätt in the sixteenth century that today it lies within the
Eichstätt district. There may have been comfort in or enthusiasm for traveling and fighting next to one’s
own countrymen if indeed many of the men in this sketchbook came from Saxony and the surrounding
regions.
94
Figure 21. Detail, Sketch 6.313
The penciled hat is of a style similar to that of the halberdier in Sketch 3. The chin strap
reaches nearly to the top of the helmet Dolnstein drew in place of the hat. Instead of the
drafted flamboyant headgear, Dolnstein has depicted Stein in a helmet and breast plate,
skirt of tassets, and a pair of what appear to be cuisses over his thighs.314 Though
Dolnstein does not make it clear, it is hard to imagine that Stein is not also wearing
monochromatic hose as opposed to nothing at all under these cuisses. In typical
Landsknecht style seen in innumerable representations from the period, his sword rests
on his cod piece.315 Stein wears two crosses of seemingly identical style, one on his
breastplate and one of his scabbard. This cross is similar to the cross over Albert the
313
314
Charles John ffoulkes, The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth Century (London:
Methuen and Co., 1912), 34, 52-53, plate 9.
315
Andersson, 32, 35, 39, 44-45, 49; Peters, 121; Koegler, 2, 20, 26, 28-29, 45, 48-49, 53, 62, 70.
95
Bold’s name in Sketch 13 and to that on the Swedish banner in Sketch 15. As he engages
Jost, Stein is well armed and better armored than had he been wearing the proposed cap.
Jost, in contrast, does indeed wear a feathered cap and no armor at all. Jost too
bears the marks of plans that Dolnstein changed in the final product. The stripes on his
doublet were sketched horizontally at first, as one can see along the shoulders. Jost’s
sword was originally drawn lower and longer, extending down over the calf. There are
three X’s on Jost’s scabbard. These markings look similar to those on the scabbards of
Wolf von Zwickau in Sketch 5, Balthasar Strauss in Sketch 8, and Jorg in Sketch 11. It is
tempting to see these as crosses, given that Stein’s scabbard so clearly bears a cross.
Further, he displays a St. Andrew’s cross of Maximilian on his right buttock.316 The
scabbard markings may be St. Andrew’s crosses, but the are most likely cords criss-
crossing and binding the scabbard.317 Jost’s presumably quite colorful attire offers him no
protection, as was common. These men, like other men in the sketchbook, represent the
widely varying degrees of armor Landsknecht wore. Jost thus engages his opponent
equally well armed but without any armor whatsoever.
Aiming his pike at Stein’s neck, Jost seems likely to succeed, but at a cost, for
Stein’s pike is about to find its mark in Jost’s buttocks. The maneuvering of weapons is
strikingly similar to the combat image between the Swede and the halberdier in Sketch 4.
Copared to the Swede, Jost is facing the opposing direction with his shoulders turned to
the left, and his pike is positioned to deliver a more effective result than the Swede seems
likely to achieve. Nevertheless, it is similar, for the opponent on the left aims upward
while the opponent on the right aims below the belt. A striking difference between the
316
Moxey, 70.
317
Per electronic correspondence with swordsmith Peter Johnsson, Albion Europe, February 3, 2012.
96
pairs is that these two make eye contact. Perhaps the drawing is simply clearer than
Sketch 4, but it is obvious here that these two are engaging eye to eye, as equals. Though
Stein is aiming at Jost’s buttocks, there is nothing dismissive in his manner. While
Dolnstein seems to portray the Swede as almost bumbling, these two men are on par.
In this sketch Dolnstein continues to position himself as the military colleague, if
not companion, of men worth knowing. In their sparring, presumably in training, these
pikemen exhibit intensity, skill, courage, and aggression. Aggression is a key trait here.
While unrestrained aggression could wreak havoc in a military formation, aggression
brought properly to heel could heighten one’s willingness to hold the line, and could
mean the difference between a timid and effective thrust of the pike. In Lyndal Roper’s
discussion of masculinity in early modern German towns, physical aggression is a mark
of virility.318 A world where aggression is rewarded with financial gain, plunder, and
honor would be an appealing environment for an early modern artisan. That one might
enter this world and leave it after only a short stay would add to its appeal. Though it is a
dangerous world where one might die of disease or wounds, the sedentary Landsknecht
would enter it knowing that if he survived, he would not have to stay long if he did not
wish it.
318
Roper, 108-120.
97
Figure 22. Sketch 7, Halberdier, Wilhelm von Straßburg.319
319
98
Text
Top:
wilhalm von straspürg
Translation:
Wilhelm von Strasburg
Commentary
In Wilhelm von Strasburg’s name, dress, and weaponry, many of the more
attractive aspects of Renaissance mercenary warfare coalesce. The Landsknecht had the
singular opportunity to play at being noble and to rub shoulders, quite literally in the pike
square, with his superiors. As with all other names containing ‘von’ in Dolnstein’s
sketchbook Wilhelm von Strasburg’s name could be a place name, could indicate
nobility, or could serve as a means of pretending to nobility. There are a number of
locations that might match Dolnstein’s straspürg. Among the possibilities are Straßberg
in modern Baden-Würtemberg, Strasbourg in modern Alsace, and Straßburg in modern
Austria. His appearance in manner and selective use of extravagance suggests that von
Strasburg is more than a place name and that he is more than a pretender to a class that is
not his own. If he is not noble, he plays the part well in this image.
In contrast to the extreme slashing and bare legs of the carefully crafted image of
carelessness in Sketches 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 14, Wilhelm von Strasburg presents
himself not as a Landsknecht putting on and destroying the dress of nobility, but rather as
a nobleman. He shows no intentional indifference to his doublet or gown, none of the
extreme slashing or tattered hose of the Landsknecht. Wilhelm’s gown is like that of
99
noblemen in the late fifteenth century Tudor court.320 Such gowns were common among
the nobility across western Europe.
Figure 23. Die Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank, Plate 81.321
320
Hayward, 74.
321
Maximilian I, Die Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank: Kolorierter Nachdruck der Gesamtausgabe von
1517, ed. Stephan Füssel (Köln: Taschen, 2003), Plate 81. By way of explanation, Campbell Dodgson’s
description of Theuerdank is concise and helpful. “Theuerdank, printed at Nuremberg in 1517, is a
disguised autobiography of the Emperor Maximilian I in the form of a rhymed romance, illustrated with
100
The above image of Emperor Maximilian as Theuerdank displays both the epitome of
noble battle attire and examples of the wide variety of clothing among the Landsknecht
and Reisläufer. The soldiers opposing Maximilian wear clothing similar to many of
Dolnstein’s comrades. Wilhelm’s attire, however, is not that of his fellow Landsknechts
but of the nobility among these men. Wilhelm’s gown is of Maximilian’s style. His
sleeves are intact, and he appears to wear a breastplate with Maximilian’s St. Andrew’s
cross across his torso. His headgear is modest, and he gestures in a manner common to
depictions of nobility. Wilhelm thus demonstrates a difference between those
Landsknechts who convincingly marked themselves as noble and those who appropriated
the attire of the nobility with intentional indifference.
Wilhelm's weaponry also projects genuine origins in the noble class. The quality
of his sword and exceptional quality of his halberd suggest that he is not only of the
nobility but also that he has means. The fine detail on the scabbard, the caps on the ends
of the S-guard on his sword hilt, and the detail on these caps all suggest painstaking and
time consuming craftsmanship. His halberd is among the most exquisite in Dolnstein's
sketches. There seems to be a butt spike as on another elaborate halberd in Sketch 4. The
St. Andrew's cross adorns a large and detailed fluke.
118 woodcuts by Beck, Burgkmair, Schäuflein and others, which depict Maximilian’s prowess in the chase,
exploits in war, and various adventures in his travels…” Campbell Dodgson, “Some Undescribed States of
Theuerdank Illustrations,” The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 84, no. 491 (Feb., 1944): 47.
101
Figure 24. Detail, Sketches 7, 2, and 5.322
Dolnstein illustrates the edge of Wilhelm's axe blade more precisely than in other
drawings. The above halberd heads from Sketches 7, 2, and 5 offer a representative
sample of those halberds Dolnstein drew in detail. Moving from left to right, the amount
of detail decreases. Johnsson describes details in the pins and on the heads of halberds as
providing detail to designed to impress. These are the details that Johnsson stated earlier
would, "catch light and glitter — file work and cross hatching — sharp looking and
expensive looking. This was also a canvas for the weapon smith to show his
professionalism and skill."323 The comparative level of detail on the halberd in this
image, Sketch 7, would have expressed both wealth and status. The same can be said for
the sword. Wilhelm von Strasburg's weapons were designed to impress and to reflect that
he comes from the nobility.
Tied together with his tasteful clothing, Wilhelm von Strasburg's weaponry and
name project high social status. Marching with men of this class and fighting alongside
them with the freedom to copy their attire to the desired and feasible degree must have
322
See Sketch 7. ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 4v, 1v, 3r.
323
Per electronic correspondence with swordsmith Peter Johnsson, Albion Europe, January 27, 2012.
102
been among the appealing factors for artisans who chose to join the ranks of
Landsknechts. Dolnstein himself may have had an appearance very much like this, if not
on campaign then in the civilian world. What Wilhelm is wearing is likely the fashion
meant by "English cloth for a French style gown" in the references to items Dolnstein
received from the Saxon court. Though Dolnstein's origins were probably not humble for
him to have become a master of his craft, a process requiring such support as was
normally not available to the poor, he was not a nobleman. Yet he, like Lucas Cranach,
enjoyed at least some of the accoutrements of nobility. One can only speculate as to
whether social connections or a positive reputation from years of campaigning aided him
in his civilian pursuits. It is a worthwhile consideration, speculative though it may be,
that the opportunity to march with, fight with, and perhaps drink with members of the
nobility might have contributed to his success and might have been among the attractions
for fighting in more than one or two campaigns.
103
Figure 25. Sketch 8, Woman, Man, and Child on the March.324
324
104
Text
Top Left:
elß von winn
Translation:
Else von Winn325
Top Center:
paltasar strowß gut326
Translation:
Balthasar327 Strauss Gutt328
Next to Boy:
nigl gutt329
Translation:
Nigl330 Gutt331
Commentary
Here Dolnstein pictures the second of three women, the first being on the title page,
and the third in Sketch 12. With her are a halberdier and a boy. The exploration of this
page will begin with brief commentary on each of the figures moving from left to right:
Else, Balthasar, and Nigl. Next in a more corporate view of the trio, I will discuss the
325
See Bahlow, “Winne, Winnen, Winneke = Wenne(ke), [short form] of Win(n)emar, Wen(n)mar. Patr.
Winni(n)g; but also [compare place name] Winningen (Koblenz). Winninghusen (Han.) A [place name]
Winekendonk near Kevelaer.” Hans Bahlow, Dictionary of German Names, 2nd ed., trans., Edda Gentry
(Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002), 556.
326
This is not clear, and Dihle does not transcribe it. She writes, “Balthasar Strauss.”
327
Balthasar was still a fairly common first name until about 1700. Bahlow, 27.
328
Again, this is not entirely clear.
329
Dihle ventures no transcription for the boy.
330
Nigl is a variant of Nikolaus. “Nigg, Nigli. (freq. Alem.-Swiss): sh.f. of Nikolaus. Likewise Niggl (Bav.,
Aust.)." from Balow, 347. This name is primarily of Austrian origin. Konrad Kunze, DTV-Atlas
Namenkunde: Vor- und Familiennamen im deutschen Sprachgebiet (Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003),
80.
331
Gut(h) is a surname, “Guth, Gutmann: the good one as such, also the ‘free-man.’” Bahlow, 178.
105
roles that women and boys played in Landsknecht armies. Here the attractions of the
march for an artisan become clear: in particular, women, servants after a kind, and
freedom from moralizing oversight. While the connections are unclear, Balthasar appears
to share Nigl’s family name. It is only clear that they march together, however
permanently or temporarily. The women of Landsknecht armies adhered to a different set
of norms than women in civilian life. While occasionally acting as warriors themselves,
camp following women enjoyed a great deal more freedom and experienced a more
flexible set of gendered roles. Far from the eyes of their families, these women were both
more vulnerable to assault and free to indulge in their own sexuality. The opportunity to
socialize and carouse in the company of such women would have been attractive to many
men, but sexuality was not the only domain in which women saw less restriction. They
assumed many physical roles assigned to men in the civilian world. These women had to
be exceptionally strong and tough. For some men, the physicality of camp following
women may have been attractive. For others, it may have been something to overlook.
Regardless, the presence of women who were free from moral oversight was extremely
attractive.332
Else von Winn's name may indicate nobility, pretension to nobility, or a location.
There are a number of possible locations for Winn. As with so many other figures in the
sketchbook, she may have come from Bavaria; there is today a small village called Winn
outside Geisenhausen in Bavaria. Else von Winn resembles many representations of
women with Landsknechts. Her skirts are hitched up to facilitate walking; she is dressed
in at least some finery; and she carries a load. She also does not appear to have a weapon.
In images of camp followers, women do appear with weapons, whether a dagger or the
332
Hale, “The Soldier in Germanic Graphic Art of the Renaissance,” 96.
106
occasional sword, and Else could very well have a small blade hidden in her skirts.
Although Dihle refers to Else as a sutlerin -- a purveyor of goods to soldiers on the march
-- her modest burden suggests that she is more likely a companion.333 Else carries on her
head a bundle of provisions looking to be sufficient for no more than herself or, at most,
for the three of them. She strikes me therefore as a companion rather than a sutler.
Further exploring Else's burden, unlike the Swedes' bundles in Sketches 4 and 15, Else's
is bound in the middle rather than at the ends. The left hand with which she balances it
bears a dark band across the wrist. Possibly a piece of jewelry or a band of cloth, this
could also be a slip of Dolnstein's stylus. Curiously, Dolnstein draws her right hand in
such a manner that it is difficult to determine whether he draws four fingertips on a
deformed hand, or if, more likely, her hand reaches into a purse with gathers or bells at
the bottom. Else wears a hat similar to those of the male musicians in Sketch 9, although
her hat appears to have bells or another form of bauble. These are visible on the strips of
fabric around her face. The hats of the musicians in Sketch 9 bear no such decoration.
Around her neck is a collar or necklace with a tab or pendant extending downward.
What is particularly striking about Else von Winn are the letters across her chest.
Beneath abundant breasts which Dolnstein has drawn both above and below Balthasar's
halberd staff, are the letters ALM. Like the letters PAVLS in Sketch 2, these letters
presumably are a form of identification with another person. Though it is not possible to
determine what the letters indicate, it is worth a little space at least to offer some
possibilities. The letters do not match the initials of anyone else in the sketchbook, nor do
they match what Dolnstein calls her, Else von Winn. 'A' could be for another spelling of
333
Dihle and Closs, 8.
107
Else, but none of the other letters match Dolnstein's name for her.334 Hence, the letters
probably do not refer to her own name. The letters might refer to a husband who has died,
to a husband she has forsaken, or even to her father. A likely explanation, given her
presence among Landsknechts, is that her clothing is stolen, that she or Balthasar looted
it. Ultimately, we do not know what these letters mean.
Balthasar strides next to and behind Else. At their feet are sprigs of grass and in
the shape of what appear to be eyes and a line for a mouth. As with the dark area on
Else's wrist it is difficult to determine whether Balthasar sports a particularly generous
mustache or if Dolnstein's stylus had a little more ink than he intended in this area.
Balthasar carries his halberd in a relaxed manner, differently from Dolnstein's other
halberdiers who hold their weapons in more crisp fashion. Balthasar drapes his arm over
his halberd as it rests on his shoulder for the march. His Katzbalger scabbard has the
same criss-crossing as in Sketches 5, 6, and 11. As do other warriors in this sketchbook,
Balthasar Strauss Gutt sports a bare thigh. The hose on his right thigh gather over a band
tied at the knee, leaving his thigh only partially covered by ragged fabric. The rest of his
clothing appears to be tidily maintained. His hat billowing with feathers hangs over his
back, which is covered in a doublet similar to the one Jost von Gretz wears in Sketch 6.
Following Balthasar Strauss Gutt and wearing a hat full of feathers himself is Nigl
Gutt. One must note that though this figure appears to be a child, Dolnstein may be
foreshortening Nigl. He is behind and above Balthasar as one would portray a person in
the distance. However, Else is also behind and above, and she is not foreshortened. Also,
the dog on Nigl's tether is clearly a lap dog and as such, serves as a good point of
reference. Dolnstein draws the dog in proportion to Balthasar and Else as the dog would
334
This does not appear to be the case from a perusal of Bahlow.
108
appear in comparison to adult humans. The dog’s size is also proportionate to how a lap
dog would appear in comparison to a human child. It seems safe then to call Nigl a boy.
Nigl seems to be the son or at least a relative of Balthasar. The only child in the
sketchbook, Nigl wears none of the slashes of Balthasar’s clothing, although it is possible
that the object hanging from the top of his thigh is ragged material. It is difficult to
determine if Dolnstein was drawing the scalloped edges of a pouch or the characteristic
tattered fabric over the thigh. There are two lines running across the top of the pouch or
hose and extending under the buttock. These lines suggest the bottom of stocks. Hence,
this may be the intentional display of fashionable (among the Landsknecht) tatters rather
than a pouch. The portion of Nigl's doublet covering his chest is nearly identical to
Balthasar’s. His shoes are the same as well, and he even wears a codpiece and a small
sword. He looks the very picture of a miniature mercenary. Hale asserts that both soldiers
and camp followers, "aroused curiosity, part fearful, part admiring or envious…"335 This
boy on the march -- walking through villages where other boys could see him sporting a
codpiece, feathers, a colorful doublet, and a sword -- may have been the envy of many
little boys. Nigl holds in his right hand a lead attached to the collar of a little dog. This
dog with bells on its collar seems a mark of some extravagance, for it can offer only
companionship and entertainment. Prostitutes as well as noblewomen are frequently
depicted with lapdogs. The boy holds in his left hand a canteen or flask of sorts.
335
109
Above is a slightly enhanced detail of the canteen. This container bears a mark like that
on the Swede’s wooden canteen in Sketch 4. Again we see the use of one in a myriad of
symbols to mark an object. This symbol could be a decorative design, a hallmark, a
personal mark, or any other among the myriad symbols used to mark objects in this
period. It would seem wise to have some sort of identifying mark on anything that would
be out of one’s hands for any length of time.
These three individuals appear to the reader as a group. Like the ensign and
halberdier pairs, this trio functions together and for each other’s benefit. They are an
example of, if not a family unit in the strictest sense, a set of people who have migrated
toward one another for mutual support and security. Else von Winn may or may not be
biologically connected to Nigl Gutt, but it seems that Balthasar and Nigl are related. With
Else walking at the head of this trio, it is Balthasar not Nigl who immediately follows her.
336
110
Balthasar is the common factor in the trio, not Nigl. I am inclined to think that Dolnstein
is depicting a relationship between Else and Balthasar that is of a long term and sexual
nature. Both she and Balthasar are to some degree sexualized. Dolnstein takes care to
draw her torso facing his audience, allowing him to give Else a narrow waist and
abundant, though awkwardly drawn, breasts. Balthasar’s codpiece is particularly
prominent, and he wears his sword in a suggestive manner. Hence, they appear to share
physical companionship. Dolnstein knows her name and remembers her. She was part of
the community of mercenaries in this sketchbook. However briefly or permanently she
was attached to Balthasar and Nigl, she completes the trio as Balthasar’s companion, and
unlike any other woman in the sketchbook, she was memorable enough to Dolnstein for
him to remember her name.
Critical members of the army train, Else and Nigl provide support for Balthasar.
Balthasar carries only weapons. Referring back to the Swede in Sketch 4, the peasant was
burdened while he fought. He carried his own gear, all of it. He carried it everywhere,
including into battle. Such a burden must have put him at a tremendous disadvantage
against the Landsknechts who carried only their weapons into combat. The
Landsknecht’s ability to go into battle unencumbered was not solely a tactical advantage,
but also another means of copying the nobility. He had, in effect, servants.337 Else and
Nigl likely march with Balthasar because of familial and/or romantic ties to him rather
than as paid servants. Yet, regardless of why they march with him, they function as
servants at least in some measure. Dolnstein depicts in this sketch one of their roles,
carrying things.
337
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare, 34-35.
111
Figure 27. Daniel Hopfer, Soldier and His Wife, ca. 1530; and Urs Graf, Standard Bearer
with Boy at Wayside Cross, 1516.338
The unencumbered Landsknecht accompanied by a woman or boy carrying his things
was a common motif in art.339 Above we see both a woman and a boy carrying all the
gear their soldier requires, whether as his kin or employee. In other words, Balthasar
copies the nobility not only in dress, but also in having servants.340 Unlike the peasant
soldier in Sketch 4, the Landsknecht is a professional requiring support just as would a
knight. Though neither Else nor Nigl are as heavily burdened as the woman and boy
depicted in the Hopfer and Graf images, they are nonetheless carrying gear while
Balthasar carries only his weapons. Landsknechts appear in formal works of art and in
338
Ibid., 161; Andersson, 33.
339
John Lynn notes, “at times boys outnumbered women,” as servants of Landsknechts. Lynn, Women,
Armies, and Warfare, 218.
340
It should be noted that in sixteenth century Germany, even modest artisans, bakers, tavern keepers,
millers, would have had at least a girl servant to help with cooking and cleaning. The point remains
however, that servants are not merely functional but are a mark of status as well, particularly in a moving
army.
112
Dolnstein’s sketches as similar to the warrior class in their unburdened state on the
march. In other words, when the Landsknecht comes face to face with a Swede or any
other opponent lacking the sort of support Landsknechts had, the free physical movement
afforded the Landsknecht is another mark of his ability to suspend class distinctions in
this martial world.
Quass explores the roles of women as they cooked for Landsknechts and served
as nurses when Landsknechts fell ill.341 It was a dangerous life. They were subject to the
Hurenweibel or Whore Sergeant, who was to provide both disciplinary supervision and
some level of protection for women and children in the train.342 Lynn finds women
playing crucial roles in armies not merely as companions or prostitutes but also as nurses,
sutlers, laundresses, cooks, trench diggers, and transporters of ammunition in the heat of
battle. This is where Lynn sees women in the military world crossing boundaries of
gender roles while men did not:
Camp women were to comport themselves as women and choose male sexual
partners, defer to their male companions or husbands, perform certain gender-
defined tasks, and concern themselves with their children, if they had any. Camp
women could fight [with one another], but they had to refrain from the deadly
violence employed by men -- feminine women poked, punched, and pulled, but
they did not draw swords as a rule.
… this overlap was essentially one-sided. Women were expected to display

masculine hardiness and to perform certain hard physical work such as digging
trenches and mounting cannon. Not only were these forms of masculinity
accepted, but a woman who fell short in performing hard camp labor could be
beaten by military authorities. However, a man who performed characteristically
feminine tasks such as washing clothes risked ridicule. The military environment
of the camp required women to take on some mannish ways, but would not allow
men to compromise their own masculinity.343
341
Quaas, 57.
342
Ibid., 57-58.
343
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, 55.
113
So, as Else was probably expected to perform female-defined tasks such as cooking,
laundering, and nursing, she was also probably expected to assume the role of
supervising Nigl to whatever degree needed at his age. A few images from the period
depict mothering on the march.
Figure 28. Vigil Solis, A Boy and a Woman of the Baggage Train.344
Here, a woman walks smilingly forward, walking stick in hand, a dog tied presumably to
her belt, a canteen in her hand, and a heavy wooden cradle on her back. The physical
strength required to mother young children in an army train must have been
extraordinary. In light of such necessary fortitude and stamina, it is perfectly logical that
344
Walter L. Strauss, ed. The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 19, part I (formerly vol. 9, part 2), (New York:
Abaris Books, 1987), Pl. 251 (274), 119.
114
the Hurenweibel would find them capable of demanding physical labor, even those tasks
normally assigned to men in the civilian world.
Among women's tasks were mothering, pillaging, and acting as custodian of
resources. The woman above may be mothering more than the infant on her back. With
this woman is a boy, perhaps a servant, perhaps her son. Lynn surmises that the boy is
carrying “the sword and armor of his master.”345 It is also likely that he is her son or the
son of the soldier she is presumably following.346 Lynn notes the rooster hanging from
the boy’s belt as “a characteristic image of pillage.”347 Pillage was what Lynn calls “the
ultimate family economy of the campaign community” and was characteristic of
following an army train.348 Pillage, Lynn explains, “was a nearly universal occupation
involving the entire campaign community before 1650…”349 Hence, it was not only men
who pillaged. Women played an active role in the capture of booty, pillaging “alongside
their men or entirely on their own."350 Women both procured booty and protected it, often
trading it for more portable wealth like money.351 Thereafter, women protected their
mate’s wealth.
This last role, that of custodian of family resources, had parallels in the civilian
world where the artisan managed production and his wife tended the market end of the
business.352 Guilds recognized the competence of women in running financial affairs for
345
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare, 219.
346
She may not be following a particular soldier. She may be a prostitute carrying her bastard child. Olaf
van Nimwegen, "The Transformation of Army Organization in Early-Modern Western Europe, c. 1500-
1789," in European Warfare, 1350-1750 ed. Frank Tallett and D.J.B. Trim (New York: Cambridge
347
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare, 219.
348
Ibid., 63, 145.
349
Ibid., 145.
350
Ibid., 147-148.
351
Ibid., 148-150; Hale, “The Soldier in Germanic Graphic Art of the Renaissance,” 100.
352
Lynn, Women, Armies, and Warfare, 62-63.
115
their spouses to the degree that many guilds allowed widows to maintain their deceased
husband’s shop.353 On campaign, women appear to have been responsible for watching
over the pay and loot of their soldiers.354 In Sketch 8, Dolnstein provides no purse for
Balthasar. Hence, if Else’s hand is indeed inside a purse as it appears to be, she is playing
precisely the role she would play in the civilian world. Further, she and Balthasar match
the type of so-called team Lynn discusses, “in woodcuts showing partnered teams of
Landsknechts and women, the men carry their weapons as if ready for battle, but they
have no visible purse; women are usually drawn with fat purses.” Daniel Hopfer’s
illustration, Figure 28, is exemplary of this. Hanging from the woman’s belt is a large
purse while her soldier carries nothing but his weapons. Lynn concludes that women in
the world of warriors acted in the same capacity as women in the world of artisans, as
custodians of money.355
It appears that there was a great deal of cross-over in female roles between the
military and civilian worlds. This cross-over meant that women did considerable physical
labor on the march, but it also afforded them many of the same freedoms men enjoyed as
they stepped into the martial sphere. Women were among the appealing aspects of army
life.356 Perhaps the presence of children in the train was also an attraction for both men
and women. That children, too, accompanied armies meant that having a family did not
necessarily preclude one from going on campaign. Certainly artisans went to war to
353
Ibid.
354
Ibid.
355
Ibid.
356
Andrew Morrall theorizes, “The civic ideal of the stability of marriage and profession is rejected for the
glamour and brutality of the soldiering way of life, spiced by the thrill of illicit sexual union and the
conscious rejection of social respectability, exchanged for the tenuous promise of better fortune.” Andrew
Morral, "Soldiers and Gypsies: Outsiders and their Families in Early Sixteenth Century German Art," in
Artful Armies, Beautiful Battles: Art and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, ed. Pia Cuneo (Boston: Brill,
2002), 166.
116
support their families, but having to leave them behind may have been terribly difficult.
Knowing that their wives and children could accompany them on the march might have
encouraged otherwise reluctant men.
Else and Nigl provide examples of what even young wives or children may have
found exciting in the idea of going off to war. Else wears what is presumably rather fine
attire and has the freedom to wear what she likes on her head, for the cap resembles
men's attire more than women's. Nigl is dressed like a miniature warrior complete with
sword and feathers. Some of those women and children seeing them walking through
villages may have found their lives enviable in spite of its dangers and hardships.357 The
potential enthusiasm of young families to go on what they saw as an adventure may also
have encouraged fathers to go on campaign. The presence of children also meant that one
could hire them as servants.358 It also may have mitigated the concerns of men who did
not want to leave their families behind. The presence of women also offered the
opportunity to bring a sweetheart or wife or to hire women to do what the soldier did not
want to do. Likely the strongest draw women provided was the opportunity for sexual
encounters.
As artisans stepped out of the civilian world into the military one, women came
with them. In the midst of the obvious dangers of disease, rape, and violence, women
enjoyed a similar kind of moral freedom on the march as men did. Away from the
watchful eyes of parents and townsfolk, women experienced independence, freedom to
drink, to carouse, to behave unchastely, and the opportunity to acquire and flaunt
extravagant clothing, whether by their own pillaging or as gifts from the men to whom
357
358
Lynn, 34-35.
117
they attached themselves.359 These women had to possess physical strength as they
performed masculine labor along with their exclusively female tasks. Their
independence, position far from home, and physicality may have drawn out more vibrant
personalities in otherwise retiring women. The army train was a hyper-masculine world
where women were expected to defer to men. And yet, outside civilian society in a world
where women could cultivate a different identity from that of peasant or maidservant,
these women may have been more vibrant and daring in their gait, attire, and behavior.
The march represented a life that was a world apart for men, women, and children.
359
Redlich, 462-463.
118
Figure 29. Sketch 9, Fife and Drum.360
360
119
Text
Top Left:
jan flemÿng
Translation:
Jan Fleming
Top Right:
fritz361 von wü362rmeß
Translation:
Fritz von Würmess363
Commentary
Baumeister Paul Dolnstein here depicts two musicians. His intention with their
inclusion may have been to illustrate the excitement of his life as mercenary or to
continue his catalog of ‘types’ that he encountered in Landsknecht armies. Dolnstein may
not have been communicating that these two men were his peers but that they provided
atmosphere and had an important function in the army. Music called men to mercenary
life and continued throughout their time in military service. This essay will follow my
now familiar method of discussing the named individuals moving across the page from
left to right. Because I have already discussed many of the aspects of their appearance
that are common to other individuals in the sketchbook, I will keep observations to a
minimum. After this discussion, I will briefly explore music as an integral part of
Dolnstein’s military world, specifically addressing the status of musicians, their roles in
recruitment, morale, and on the battlefield.
361
The 'i' is not dotted; it could be a 'v.'
362
This could be any number of things including mürnieß.
363
No locations readily appear to match this. Dihle sees this as "Wurmik." Dihle and Closs, 7.
120
Fully bearded Jan Fleming and clean shaven Fritz von Würmess appear to wear a
livery, a uniform of sorts that marked men as retainers.364 Their attire closely resembles
that of Jost, “Hunt the Devil,” von Gretz in Sketch 6. Even their hats are similar to Jost’s,
though the tabs appear to be wider on Jost than on Jan and Fritz. This headwear is also
similar to Else von Winn’s, though Jan Fleming’s is more abundantly frilled on top, and
none of the men wear the bells that appear to adorn Else’s cap. Jan’s and Fritz’s sleeves
and doublets match one another as they also match Jost’s. All three men’s upper stocks or
hose match on their left sides. Their footwear, so similar to most of the men’s, is identical
to Jost’s. They wear the same Katzbalgers though not necessarily with the same binding
on the scabbard. They all wear St. Andrew’s crosses, Jan and Fritz on their right thighs,
Jost on his right buttock. It is possible that all three wear St. Andrew’s crosses in the
same places on the front and the back. It may also be that the left side of the upper stocks
match Jost as well. The similarities seem to end here. The left leg from the buttock down
does not match Jost whose leg is covered by monochromatic hose. Jan and Fritz drop the
left hose over the band below the knee, leaving their left thigh bare but for a tattered flap
of fabric. It is impossible to be certain of the degree to which their attire is of a kind
because we can not see the front of Jost or the back of Jan and Fritz, and they may all be
of different colors. Thus, they may not appear alike at all in color. It should be noted that
what they wear may be a livery of sorts, for if they are of the same colors, they are
certainly of similar pattern.
These two men as pipers and drummers were not of the same standing as the other
men Dolnstein includes in his notebook. Trumpeters enjoyed a standing more akin to
364
Hayward, 244-248.
121
standard bearers than did their fellow musicians such as pipers and drummers.365 This is
in spite of the fact that pipers and drummers were to remain close by the colors and
standard bearer whether in camp or on the march.366 Raymond Monelle argues, “Military
and court trumpeters were musicians of high standing, and would not wish to lower
themselves to playing with the infantry.”367 Note that the trumpeter in Sketch 12 is astride
a horse and rides with the heavy cavalry.368 Monelle asserts that there was a class
distinction between trumpeters and other musicians.369 His argument holds with artistic
representations of military musicians where pipers and drummers are depicted together
and with the infantry, while trumpeters are notably absent from their company.370
Musicians like these were crucial to the infantry. Before men even joined the
march, drums called them to recruitment.371 Millar describes the role of musicians in
calling men to commanders, summoning them to recruitment: “After the countryside had
been informed in advance, they set off with fife and drum and copies of their
commissions in search of volunteers.”372 The sound of drums echoing through a town or
across fields called men to a life of excitement and honor. Though the life of a soldier
was harsh, open to disease, hunger, heat, cold, and thirst, the thrill of the drums must
have quickened the blood and drowned out whatever awareness a recruit had of such
difficulties. Music not only drew attention to the recruiting commander’s presence but
365
Raymond Monelle, The Musical Topic: Hunt, Military and Pastoral (Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 2006), 116.
366
Friedrich Blau, Die Deutschen Landsknechte: Ein Kulturbild, 3rd ed. (Vienna: Phaidon Akademische
Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1985), 50.
367
Monelle, 116.
368
369
Monelle, 116-117.
370
Hans Koegler, Hundert Tafeln aus dem Gesamtwerk des Urs Graf (Basel: Urs Graf Verlag, 1947), 62;
Jane S. Peters, ed, The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 19 (Part 1) [Formerly Volume 9 (part 2)] (New York:
Abaris Books, 1987), Pl. 116; Jane C. Hutchison, ed., The Illustrated Bartsch vol. 9 (Part 2) (New York:
Abaris Books, 1991), 17; Moxey, 68-69, 77, 98.
371
Potter, 297.
372
Millar, 95.
122
encouraged men to join through the exciting and lively summons. Artisans like Dolnstein
would have joined with veterans, peasants, nobles as well as the rootless and
unemployed.373
Musicians were also important in lifting spirits, creating group cohesion, and
possibly in keeping time on the march, though Monelle would argue against any modern
notions of men marching in time on the campaign trail.374 Musicians were important to
military cohesion because they created group cohesion.375 On the march, pipes and drums
kept time and built cohesion if only in physical movement.376 Landsknechts sang in camp
as people sang in taverns, creating bonds and memories together.377 Musicians added to
camaraderie by accompanying men and women as they reveled. Commanders used music
to calm men who needed to maintain composure.378 Music accompanied victory in, “the
swagger and celebration by which music was used to amplify the grandeur of victories,
treaties and formal entries into conquered cities.”379
Music was an integral part of communication as well. Pipes and drums marked
the trials of Landsknechts and their punishments.380 Men knew what various rhythms
indicated, and they sounded advance and retreat.381 They also communicated troop
movement, and Landsknechts had to learn what each sound signified.382 Musicians were
crucial to keeping pike squares together as they changed position in a body of men that
373
Millar, 95; Redlich, 118.
374
Franz, 98.
375
Silver, 81.
376
Monelle argues that Landsknecht armies did not march with the same leg on the same beat. Monelle
views the meaning of the term “march” as “maneuver” and sees Romantic era collections of Landsknecht
marches as dubious in authenticity. Monelle, 113-115.
377
Peter Burke, Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe, 3rd ed. (Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2009), 73.
378
Potter, 287.
379
Ibid., 290.
380
Franz, 94.
381
Potter, 290.
382
Ibid., 287-288.
123
could not break formation.383 Each man had to know what each sound meant in order to
keep the square intact. In the heat of battle, drums were the primary instruments used to
transmit commands for maneuvers.384 In preparation for battle as in battle itself, fifes,
drums, and trumpets encouraged men, building their will to combat, and communicating
orders for troop movement. Over the massive noise of battle, musicians were
indispensable in communicating orders. It is almost impossible to overstate their value in
maintaining the integrity of troop formations as pike squares numbering in the hundreds
and thousands maneuvered across the battlefield.
Potter argues that music could bolster men’s aggression and that, “It was widely
thought that no army was complete without the din of wind instruments.”385 Weapons
contributed to a symphony of battle as “cannonades, volleys of arquebus, trumpets and
drums” combined for a powerful, thrilling, heartening storm of sound.386 Violent sounds
of booming guns, of men and horses crashing together, of trumpets shouting orders and
rallying troops, are impossible to recreate in the mind. These sounds must have made an
enormous impression on men, one they would have remembered the rest of their lives.
Musicians played an integral part in military life. Naturally Paul Dolnstein would
want to include musicians in a sketchbook about his wartime experiences. Dolnstein here
presents for his reader what he seems to view as a happy constant in his military life -
music and musicians. Throughout a man’s military experience, from beginning to end,
musicians played a role. They called men to the march, kept time on the march, lifted
morale, and communicated orders. Musicians were integral to an army’s tactical and
383
Ibid., 288.
384
Monelle, 113, 115-117; Redlich, 118.
385
Potter, 290.
386
Ibid., 287, 286-297.
124
psychological success. Further, in creating a celebratory atmosphere in camp and infusing
the sounds of battle with strains of glory, they provided an atmosphere that likely rivaled
anything civilian society had to offer.387 These two men, Jan and Fritz, performed a
crucial service on the battlefield and provided an exciting element to Dolnstein’s military
experience.
387
Monelle, 113, 115-117; Redlich, 118.
125
Figure 30. Sketch 10, Junker on the March.388
388
126
Text
Central Line:
juncker trawsnig
Translation:
Junker Trausnig389
Commentary
In Sketch 10, Paul Dolnstein presents an intriguing military figure as his comrade.
Junker Trausnig looks ragged even by comparison to Landsknechts. Junker Trausnig’s
exaggerated disheveled state may be a matter of Dolnstein’s attempt to convey age.
Dolnstein is also drawing fur rather than fabric for the first time in the sketchbook here as
well, and this, too, may contribute to the ragged look. Junkers were landed nobility
among the lower aristocracy in north-eastern Germany.390 They do not seem to have been
more prone to poverty in this period than earlier, but Landsknecht armies were a haven
for impoverished noblemen seeking a means to earn their bread.391 Hence, Trausnig could
be either a genuinely impoverished Junker, or he may have simply adopted the
Landsknecht’s cultivated look of indifference. Dolnstein created this illustration using
quavering lines. The Junker’s clothing has none of the clean, tight lines of Wilhelm von
Strasburg (Sketch 7) or that of the many other figures in the sketchbook.
Indeed, Junker Trausnig’s appearance is more akin to that of Balthasar Strauss
(Sketch 8) than to anyone else. The lines here are very similar to those in Balthasar’s
389
Dihle sees Trausing or Treusing. Dihle and Closs, 7. This is a difficult name. Nothing appears a likely
match in Bahlow, and the text is unclear.
390
Bodo Nischan, “The Case of Brandenburg” in Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620, ed. Andrew Pettegree,
Alastair Duke, and Gillian Lewis (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994), 184; F. L. Carsten, “The
Origins of the Junkers,” The English Historical Review, 62, no. 243 (Apr., 1947): 145.
391
Carsten, 145-171; Redlich, 117.
127
sleeves. However, the lines on Balthasar’s hose are clean and crisp whereas Junker
Trausnig’s hose appear loose. His hat sags, and he has a generally unkempt appearance.
The fabric hanging over his bare right thigh is more tattered than that on any other subject
in the sketchbook. Like many other Landsknechts in this illustrated notebook, the
Junker’s weapons are what appear to be a Katzbalger and a halberd. It is difficult to make
out either weapon. Junker Trausnig’s cloak covers most of his sword, and the halberd
head is faded.
Figure 31. Detail, Sketch 10. Halberd Head.392
Altering the contrast as above, however, one can make out the head of a halberd.
Returning to the comparison to Balthasar, Junker Trausnig holds his weapon with the
same relaxed manner with which Balthasar holds his halberd. His left arm draped over
the shaft of the weapon, Junker Trausnig balances his halberd on his shoulder as he
walks. As does Balthasar, Junker Trausing walks with purpose.
392
128
His cloak appears expensive and is unique in the sketchbook. Dolnstein draws it
with jagged lines to indicate either fur or wear. His face bears the marks of age or
disease. The curving line above and to the right of his mustache indicates the wrinkled
cheeks of age, severely pockmarked skin, or a scar from a wound. If the Junker is an aged
warrior, he may not be serving out of an inclination for the lifestyle, but rather because he
has no other means of support. However, he could be serving out of both. Whether his
face is marked from disease, a wound, or age, Junker Teusnig has survived and has
survived well. He moves with vigor, taking a long stride, and hailing someone in the
distance, someone whom he is eager to see. The image is a particularly happy one. So,
whether the Junker fights from necessity or not, Dolnstein characterizes him as enjoying
his life on the march.
There seems to be a fondness in this sketch of the ragged Junker. Dolnstein
portrays him differently from anyone else. His shabbiness does not reflect negatively on
the man. He is is hearty and virile. His waving hand gives him a gregarious appearance,
and his clothes would not set him apart from the ranks of the Landsknechts. Though he is
a junker, he appears to be one of the men. This figure represents one of the attractions for
artisans, the opportunity to play at being a nobleman while rubbing shoulders with them
in the pike square. As with Wilhelm von Strasburg, Junker Trausnig’s presence in
Dolnstein’s sketchbook suggests that some of Dolnstein’s companions were men of rank.
129
Figure 32. Sketch 11, Four Pikemen.393
393
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 6v-7r. Stamped with a 7.
130
Text
Some of the text on this page is illegible.394 Dihle names a Hans von Ulm in the
sketchbook but does not indicate the page on which she finds him.395 Larsson places
Hans von Ulm on this page.396
Top Center Left:
claß freÿ vom atten wald
Translation:
Klaus Frei von Attenwald
Top Center Right:
palethain
Translation:
Palatine
Top Center Left:
jorg .....397
Translation:
Jorg .....
Commentary
The men in the sketch add the same intensity and controlled aggression to
Dolnstein’s identity as the pikemen in Sketch 6, the halberdier in Sketch 4, and the
halberdier and standard bearer in Sketch 5. As with Sketch 6, this drawing shows
pikemen engaged in practice or possibly combat. The pike is an unwieldy weapon for
394
Top Left: ...vg h...ß von k... It is possible that this is Hans, but Ulm does not seem a likely last word here.
395
Dihle names a Hans von Ulm without stating on which page she sees the name. After a first illegible
word, this could be Hans von Ulm. Dihle & Closs, 7.
396
Larsson places him with “Clas Frey vom Attenwald” on this page. Larsson, 74.
397
The rest is illegible. These letters may begin the next word: asde... Ultimately, it is simply illegible.
131
individual combat. Its length and single, small point make it ideal for squares of men
defending against or attacking a cavalry charge but an unlikely choice for hand to hand
combat. Hence, practice seems the most likely description for the activity in which the
men are engaged. This essay will explore the image briefly and then discuss the meaning
of the term “Palatine” and its potential interpretations for Dolnstein’s sketch.
The man on the left edge of the paper is wearing something similar to the attire of
the musicians in Sketch 9 and Jost in Sketch 6.398 The doublet appears to be identical to
the doublets of Jost and the musicians. The hose are similar as well. Hanging from this
man’s waist is a sword with a plain scabbard. On the left is a man who wears wears his
hose connected to the stocks, revealing no bare skin. The stocks and headwear are
different from those in the other sketches. The headwear seems to be unique in the
sketchbook, and the stocks have intricate slashing as opposed to stripes. The stocks of
Klaus Frei are similarly slashed. Excepting the trademark tatters, he bares his right thigh.
Klaus’ doublet is abundantly colored and slashed, and he wears a unique cap full of
feathers. He seems to have shaped his beard in an angular fashion coming to a point
below his chin. His scabbard has narrow horizontal bands along the length. All of the
pikemen on this page hold their pikes across the front of their bodies with the left hand
behind the right, as do the two pikemen in Sketch 6. Most interesting here are the
interlocking legs of these pikemen. Both pairs of men appear to have the back leg of the
forwardmost man behind the front leg of the rear man. The back leg of the forward man
appears to be supporting the front leg of the rear man and vice versa. Dolnstein does not
appear to have drawn this method of support elsewhere. In the pike squares of Sketches
398
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3v-4r, 5v.
132
12 and 15, he does not make a point of depicting this maneuver. If it is occurring, it is not
readily apparent.
The pikeman next to the word "Palatine" appears to wear a doublet, hose, and
stocks of the same style as the man on the far left. Though covered by a breastplate
bearing a St. Andrew's cross, the stripes of his doublet are apparent over the top of his
armor. The sleeves are like those of the man on the left, and the hose match his style as
well. Colors, of course, may have been wildly different as Landsknechts were known for
their flamboyance.399 The man by the word "Palatine" appears to be wearing a plumed
helmet, and he sports a closely trimmed beard. He wears a Katzbalger with a dark
scabbard. Also wearing a Katzbalger is Jorg on the far right. His scabbard bears the criss-
crossing wires or leather bands like those in Sketches 5, 6, and 8.400 Jorg’s hat is lavishly
plumed, and he sports a full mustache. He wears a breastplate and bares a thigh in similar
fashion to the standard bearer in Sketch 5.401 Rather than tatters hanging over the thigh,
Jorg seems to have secured loose fabric from the stock of his right thigh with some sort
of tacking. The hose on his right thigh hang down over the band at his knee. Faintly
visible on his his left thigh is a St. Andrew's cross, which likewise appears on his
breastplate. Jorg's cross seems to be made of strips of cloth running diagonally across his
breastplate from shoulder to waist in the same manner as Wilhelm von Strausburg has
marked himself with the St. Andrew's cross. Jorg’s breastplate bears similar stylish
embellishments to those of the men in Sketches 1, 4, 5, and 12.402 Some of the plates bear
a single line of engraving while others such as Jorg's have two.
399
Moxey, 87.
400
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 3r, 3v-4r, 5r.
401
402
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 1r, 2v, 3r, 7v-8r.
133
The St. Andrew's crosses are particularly interesting in this image because
Dolnstein associates them with the word "Palatine." Since Maximilian took sides against
the Count Palatine in the Bavarian war, his crosses seem out of place on men of the
Palatinate. Perhaps by placing the word 'Palatine' near the center of this sketch, Dolnstein
intends to communicate that these men are from his experiences in the Bavarian War.
They could be either his comrades or enemy troops. Dolnstein’s use of the word
‘Palatine’ requires the consideration of the possibility that he is depicting combat with the
enemy. In the Landshut War of 1503 − 1505, Dolnstein fought against the Count
Palatine. In Sketch 17, he mentions encountering the count’s watch and coming away
without harm.403 In other words, this would imply that the men on the right hand side of
the image would have been on the opposing side in the Bavarian War. It suggests that
actual combat is what Dolnstein is depicting: a glimpse of battle, a moment when pike
squares clashed, just a slice of the melée. Given that the sketch following this one
pictures a pike square about to come into contact with a cavalry charge, a micro-picture
of two pike squares clashing seems plausible.
Another possibility is that these men fought for the Count Palatine, were captured,
and fought now against him. Though mercenaries might have had preferences for which
commanders they followed, as a general rule, they followed the money. As stated in the
Introduction, Oman observes, "The most extraordinary fact about the landsknechts is that,
unlike the Swiss, they seem to have been singularly indifferent about their nationality."404
Captives were often placed in the unit that captured them.405 Hence, the men on the right
side of this sketch may have been prisoners of war, freed in order to fight against their
403
404
Oman, 77.
405
Redlich, 470-472.
134
former employer. Or they may simply be Dolnstein's comrades from the Bavarian War.
Because Landsknechts fought for virtually anyone who would pay them, either scenario
is likely. In either of these latter two scenarios, this sketch would be a sparring or training
scene. That these men were his comrades or fought with him after being captured would
explain how Dolnstein knew at least one of their names. It is worth noting, however, that
Dolnstein may very well have known the names of men in enemy units if he had served
along side them in another campaign.
In this image, Dolnstein associates himself with four skilled warriors. In depicting
and naming these men, he informs his reader that he knows these men and that he
understand what they are doing. By his assertions elsewhere in the text that he was there
at the scene of action and that he himself saw action, he also implies that he is one of
their kind, that he can do what they do.406 Landsknechts’ training made them highly
prized mercenaries on Europe's battlefields.407 To be one of these warriors, often glorified
in art from this period, fighting side by side with nobles, being truly skilled in the art of
war was something of which to be proud. Dolnstein captures several characteristics of
Landsknechts in this image: their glamorous devil-may-care attire, their brashness in
intentionally baring skin and doing so with pride, their courage, aggression, and skill. In
attaching these characteristics to men he clearly knows, Dolnstein associates himself with
these characteristics. Without overtly claiming that he is courageous, aggressive, and
skilled, or that he wore similar flamboyant clothing, he implies these things through his
choice of comrades for inclusion in his sketchbook.
406
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 9v-10r, 11v, 12v-13r,
407
Hall, 225.
135
Figure 33. Sketch 12, A Field Array of Men.408
408
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 7v-8r. Stamped with an 8 on
the recto page.
136
Text
Zy 400 man kr... & ..... .. .....409 zu ein veld ornung 1
xi jn ainglid von 198 spiess 18 glid410 2
pleibn 42 spieß damit dech das veld...411 3
vff paidi saitn mit 3 Item nÿm 75 4
halbartn mach do man acht glid v jn 5
ein glid pleibn 35 dy orn zwisch 6
di spiess412 Item 75 hantbüxn 7
schützn 3 jn ain glid wirt 8
25 glid neben dy ornung 9
so wirt dj ornung 29 glid lanck 10
vnd 14 man jn eÿn glid inyg413 6 man 11
se da an [crossed out word] stat zust414 7 in i glid 37 glid spiß 12
xj glid hilbarn 13
xi glid schutz 14
.....415 4 man 15
Translation
409
Faintly one can almost see “c spie…” which may refer to 100 pike.
410
My thanks to Christopher S. Mackay, University of Alberta, for clarifying this difficult word. Electronic
correspondence, July 14, 2011.
411
Illegible. There may be something tacked on to the end of veld, or it may be something that changes the
word from veld to another word.
412
Possibly spieß.
413
Possibly inyg for innig. This word is not clear. It may be the same word that begins line 15. However,
this word appears to have a ‘y’ before the ‘g’, and the word in line 15 does not.
414
zuerst.
415
Possibly inyg for innig. This word is unclear and may be the same as the possible word inyg in line 11.
However, this word does not seem to have a ‘y’ before the ‘g’ and the word in line 11 does.
137
Because not all of the text on this page is legible, possibly leaving out 100 pike in
the first line, I leave the translation below in literal form and offer other possible
interpretations in the notes. This will allow readers as many options as possible in
interpreting Dolnstein.
There are 400 men ..... & .. ..…416 for a field array. 1
11 to a rank from 198 pikes, 18 ranks. 2
There remain 42 pikes. With that cover the field… 3
on the sides with 3. Item, take 75 4
halbards, as makes 8 ranks 5 5
per rank.417 There remain 35, the ranks among 6
the pikes. New item, 75 handgun 7
soldiers, 3 per rank, make418 8
25 ranks beside the array. 9
And so the array becomes 29 ranks long 10
and 14 men per rank including419 6 men. 11
They then420 instead421 at first 7 in one rank. 37 ranks [of] pikes 12
11 ranks [of] halberds 13
11 ranks [of] handguns 14
.....422 4 men.423 15
416
There may be another 100 pike here. See note above.
417
This could be a separate unit of 40 halberdiers.
418
Literally, "is made.” Electronic correspondence with Christopher S. Mackay, University of Alberta,
August 2, 2011.
419
Though this could also mean ‘encompassing’ or ‘in the middle,’ ‘including’ is a suitable interpretation
per Shawn Boyd, University of North Dakota, electronic correspondence, February 25, 2012.
420
Or ‘there.’
421
Or ‘in place.’
422
Possibly ‘encompassing’ or ‘in the middle.’ It seems to mean with 6 more than 400.
138
Commentary
In this sketch, Dolnstein explains for his reader how to array four hundred men
for a pike square. Such an explanation seems an exercise he would not undertake for
himself, but rather something he might do for a friend, presumably Meister Heinrich, who
wanted to understand how these pike formations came together. Indeed, this friend could
have fought inside a pike square at some point in his life without knowing how exactly it
was laid out. Dolnstein’s understanding of this process indicates that he was not always
within the square in his work as a mercenary. In this image, Dolnstein continues to attend
to details, and his years of training as a builder shine through the fine lines in roofing,
windows, and walls. His attention to detail appears in his drafting of human subjects as
well. Five and even six rows deep into the pike square, faces are visible. Dolnstein
clarifies the standards six rows deep to the degree that one can see the point at the top of
the standard pole. He differentiates among weapons far into the square as well. The
castles, fanciful though they may be, exhibit an awareness of how structures work. This
appears to be a setting from his imagination as he offers no location, at least not in the
legible text. In this essay, I will first discuss pike squares themselves and how Dolnstein's
knowledge of their assembly suggests that he drew on his craftsman’s background in his
capacity as a mercenary. Second, I will address the sleeve of shot on the right hand side
of the square as one stands in the square and will very briefly touch on possible
interpretations of the text here. The Appendix provides further exploration of the text.
Third, I will discuss the sketch itself, following the pattern of moving generally from left
to right across the image.
423
Or: In the middle there are 4 men in ranks.
139
To provide the reader with a context for Dolnstein’s array, it is worth taking a
moment to explore the idea of the pike square as a military formation. In Dolnstein's
instructions and image, we see something like the pike square David Eltis describes:
Sixteenth-century pike-squares were made up of several layers. In the exact centre

of the pike-square stood the ensign. Around him men with halberds formed an
inner square, protecting him against attack from all four directions. Outside this
central box of halberdiers stood the pikemen, who lacked defensive armour, then
came a layer of pikemen with corslets of armour plate and finally the outer
coating of muskets and arquebusiers, whose job it was to shelter under the pikes
of their companions ready to discharge when the time came. The unarmoured
pikemen were called piche secche in Italian military parlance. Their job in battle
was to push on the backs of the picche armate in front and push forwards into
their places if they were killed. If there was a shortage of corslets picche armate
were paced [sic] only on the front and rear of the pike-square and not on the
sides.424
Though Eltis’ description is of pike squares from a few decades later, Dolnstein’s image
reflects many of Eltis’ observations. Dolnstein portrays the men in the outer rows and
columns in armor. It does appear that the man fourth from the right as one looks at the
square may not be wearing a breastplate. His upper body seems to be clad in something
like the style of Jost “Hunt the Devil” von Gretz, Jan Fleming, Fritz von Würmess, and
two of the men in Sketch 11.425 However, what appears to be fabric could also be heavily
decorated armor. The band across the top resembles the band across the top of breast
plates far more than it does the plain, single line Dolnstein uses to mark the top of a
doublet.
Looking closely at Dolnstein’s drawing, one can see the ensign if not in the center
of the square, at least several rows deep. As Eltis describes, halberdiers surround him,
though not with an inner square as Eltis discusses. In Dolnstein’s image, halberdiers
424
David Eltis, The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-Century Europe (New York: I.B. Tauris, 1998), 54.
Redlich makes many of the same observations, particularly in his discussion of the pay of nudi or nudati as
he calls the piche secche. Redlich, 124.
425
140
comprise the third row with two ranks of pike between them and the standards. On either
side of the standards in Dolnstein’s drawing are halberdiers. One cannot be certain
whether Dolnstein is drawing this square as accurately as he can rank by rank, or if he is
drawing something representative of the square. In order to depict the standards clearly,
in order that they not be lost to the viewer in the sea of heads in the pike square, he may
have drawn the standards closer to the front than they actually stood. However, they may
actually be close to the front. The image below illustrates that standards were placed in
the center of formations but not exclusively in the center.
Figure 34. Jost Amman, An Army on the March. 1573.426
426
Illustrations to Fronsperger's 'Kriegsbuch,’ British Museum, German XVIc Mounted Roy.
141
In the image above, we see standards in a variety of positions within pike formations. In
formation G, they are near the front. This image also demonstrates that pike formations
came in a variety of shapes. Above, we see squares and rectangles as well as a formation
marching in a protective body around what appears to be ammunition. For the sake of
simplicity, I will follow convention and refer to pike formations as pike squares
regardless of their shapes unless shape is specifically relevant.
Returning to Eltis’ description of a pike square, it is important to note that Eltis is
describing the pike square of the middle of the century. Two particularly important
differences between the pike squares of Dolnstein's era and those of later decades are the
sizes of these squares and the integration of gunpowder technology into the square. First,
the number of men in pike squares grew dramatically over the course of the sixteenth
century.427 In Dolnstein's era, squares comprised numbers well under a thousand, whereas
later in the sixteenth and throughout the seventeenth centuries, squares numbered in the
thousands.428 Dolnstein's array of four hundred reflects the range of size in his era.429 The
other difference was in the integration of gunpowder technology, specifically handguns
or as Dolnstein calls them hantbüxn with pike squares.
The current scholarship agrees that the use of arquebusiers with pike squares
emerged sometime in the third or fourth decade of the sixteenth century. Paul Dolnstein's
sketchbook seems to place this development before 1505. Geoffrey Parker describes the
years after Ravenna (1512), Marignano (1515), and Bicocca (1522): "within a few years,
most nations had added files of 'firelocks' to defend their pike squares, although at first
427
Eltis, 52-53.
428
Redlich, 39, 75-78.
429
Redlich, 39, 75-78. For numbers specifically matching Dolnstein’s 400 see Millar, 96-97.
142
the ratio was only about one to three."430 Parker describes files of gunners like those on
the far end of the pike square Dolnstein has drawn.431 Bert Hall likewise notes:
One tactical innovation since Pavia [1525] had been to intermingle arquebuses
(the term probably referred to muskets as well, at least on the imperial side) and
pikemen in modified versions of the square formations pioneered by the Swiss
pike companies. Ideally, once battle was decided upon, an officer known as the
sergeant major would dispose of the troops in balanced formations, making
squares of his troops according to equipment and experience. (This is one reason
why printed tables of square roots become a staple of the publishing industry
during this period.) To each square of pikemen a complement of arquebusiers
would be assigned; they were expected to fire at advancing enemy formations and
then retire within the squares for protection."432
Hall refers here to an intermingling of firearms, and to a complement of gunners that
would retreat into the pike square after firing. This is similar to what Dolnstein draws,
though gunners are not intermingled but stand in a sleeve along one side. Paul
Dolnstein’s gunners hold their ground with the pikemen. They are supplied with reloaded
weapons by the man and woman just below the text.
The man is tamping down the powder and shot into the barrel of the weapon
while the woman walks toward the rear of the pike square, carrying two guns presumably
loaded and ready for use. It appears thus that after firing, Dolnstein’s gunners would
retire into the square for protection as Hall describes. The front three probably shouldered
their weapons, with the gunner closest to the pikemen turning ninety degrees and slipping
between the pikes and the files of guns, followed by the other two gunners. Staying
between the gun and pike columns, they would side step their way to the rear of the
square. There they would exchange their expended weapons for fresh ones from the
woman and man Dolnstein pictures readying guns. The second rank of gunners would
430
Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution: Millitary Innovation and the Rise of the West: 1500-1800,
2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge, 1996), 18.
431
Ibid.
432
Hall, 186-187.
143
step forward to take their place, fire, move to the rear in like manner, and the process
would continue.
Though we do not know when Dolnstein created his sketchbook, and he could
have made these sketches later, he disappears from the records after 1513. It seems safe
to place the dating in the first two decades of the sixteenth century. Further, Dolnstein is
typically correct in his depiction of period details, and the last event in his sketchbook
takes place in 1504. Hence, we have good evidence here for very early integration of
sleeves of shot into pike squares, as early as the first half of the first decade of the
sixteenth century.
Dolnstein draws this formation as a man of experience. His awareness of how to
array men suggests that he was not always inside the pike square during battle. Dolnstein
is standing outside the square here, presumably with men in command. If he does not
have experience actually assembling 400 men under his own command, then he has
observed others making the commands, and has watched men fall in at the precise spot
where they are supposed to be. Through his Comrade Sketches, Dolnstein has identified
himself with the warriors on the field of battle, men standing inside the pike square. In
possessing the knowledge of how to place men in the right order for battle, Dolnstein
now identifies himself with a specific kind of warrior, the experienced sergeant,
halberdier, or their superiors, who would have understood how to assemble a pike
square.433
433
Millar, 97-99.
144
While some of the rank and file pikemen may have had a general understanding
of how the whole square was arrayed, the sort of instruction Dolnstein gives illustrates
his association with men of the middling and higher ranks.434 Eltis observes that:
To form such a complex body out of a multiplicity of individual companies in line

of march, each with a share of the several types of men, was a difficult task not
lightly undertaken. It required a good understanding of mathematics and
systematic records. Knowledge of multiplication and division and square roots
were essential. Yet these skills were far from widespread in early modern Europe.
This is an as yet little-charted field.435
A master builder would have possessed such knowledge, and it is possible that Dolnstein
held a leadership role requiring him to array men for battle. We know that he was a
Baurechnungsführer, a leadership role involving financial and organizational figures, for
the Torgau Bridge building project. Hence, he would have possessed a good
understanding of both mathematics and systematic records. In Sketch 19, Dolnstein
claims to have been responsible for making camp. His skills as a master craftsman seem
to have made him useful in roles beyond the interior of a pike square.
Dolnstein’s background as a builder is apparent in the attention he pays to
structures whether they are real or imagined. We can see this scene as an actual event, as
depicting a physical location. Sven Ekdahl views this scene as a battle between Swedish
knights and German Landsknechts, because he interprets the cross on the flag born by the
mounted knights as the blue and yellow royal Swedish cross.436 One can reasonably view
this sketch from either perspective. Dolnstein provides roads for each of these castles, all
434
It also illustrates his comfort with mathematics. Mathematics is something he would have had to have
known for his work in bridge construction. Eltis, 54; Even today when troops receive intense training and
have at least some mathematical education, few privates could describe a 400 man formation, a general
battalion sized formation, in detail. Per Jeffrey D. Skjelver, USMC RET, on infantry training, 2 February,
2012. Mathematical knowledge in the German Renaissance was far more limited, and thus one cannot
expect the rank and file to have understood large unit formations in much detail.
435
Eltis, 54.
436
Ekdahl, “Die Bewaffnung der Schwedischen Bauern im Mittelalter,” 24-25.
145
seeming to lead loosely toward one another. With the three castles even a few miles from
one another, Dolnstein could depict them as part of the same landscape. It is certainly
possible that Dolnstein is depicting a moment from his Swedish experiences as
exemplary of the moment when a pike square was a split second away from engaging
heavy cavalry. However, we might also see this sketch as a fictional location conjured for
the display of this tense moment. The cross here is not an uncommon cross. Dolnstein
draws the same cross over Albrecht of Saxony's name in Sketch 13 on the Siege of
Montfort, Holland.437 Unlike in the following event sketches, Dolnstein offers no location
or date in this sketch as he does in other Event Sketches. He also uses only the present
tense in this sketch whereas in the other Event Sketches, he uses the past tense. Further,
the sketch has a dramatic geography with three castles in close proximity. This seems
more in keeping with a medieval motif than a physical location.
Fictional or not, these castles are replete with detail. Dolnstein has included flags
turrets, roof tiles, square paned windows, arrow slits, a gate on the rightmost tower as
well as a main gate, and a curtain wall on the castle on the left. A road leads out from the
gate facing the reader and winds down the mountain, splitting in two directions just
above the lance points of the third rank of knights. Another road leads into a forest of
lances just behind and to the right of the castle as the reader sees the page. This road may
extend from a gate on the other side of the castle or may be a continuation of the road we
see in front of the castle. This road seems to lead to the central castle which likewise
exhibits roof tiles on one tower. Each of the three front towers has eight visible and
symmetrically placed arrow slits in two rows. The supports under the alcove jutting out
437
146
from a wall, the supports under the wall walk and the top of the central tower or turret
likewise show attention to the sort of detail a builder would notice.
The castle on the right side of the image combines the elements of both of the other
castles. A road leads to it from some point hidden from view in the center of the image.
One of the lines making up the road extends through the bodies of the woman carrying
guns and the man loading a firearm and just beyond the gun itself. Like the first castle,
this one has a curtain wall, and like the second castle, it appears to have a wall walk
around the left most part of the wall. Dolnstein illustrates this castle’s gate with fine
horizontal lines rather than a simple darkened area. Like the first castle, this structure has
square paned windows and roof tiles on a turret, on the main building, on the small
structure atop the far left segment of the curtain wall, and on the walkway stretched
between the main structure and the tower on the right. The roof of the central tower has a
unique appearance with bands across the top. This tower also has arrow slits running the
length of the stairway inside the tower. There are two diagonal rows of three arrow slits
each stretching across the tower following this inner set of stairs. There are faintly visible
two arrow slits in the square tower to the left of the main structure. There also appear to
be arrow slits in the right most tower and either windows or arrow slits in the walkway
suspended between the main structure and this tower.
Like the windows of the castle on the left, the three windows on the left side of this
structure appear to be square paned. The windows on the right hand side of the main
structure appear to be in two parts. The upper third of the windows is divided in half, and
Dolnstein has drawn the lower two thirds with diagonal lines going in only one direction.
Finally, this castle exhibits supports under the turret and wall walk. These supports could
147
represent the presence of machicolations if the floor is open between the supports.438 In
these structural details, Dolnstein’s identity as a builder emerges from the sketch.
Dolnstein’s attention to detail continues elsewhere in the image such as in the
terrain around the bases of structures as well as in beards on faces, styles of weaponry,
and details of armor. Note the knight in the foreground. The mail beneath his armor is
visible on his thigh. The details of his saddle and rivets on his horse’s armor and his own,
his spurs, as well as the varying styles of helmets on the knights and mounted
crossbowmen, the trumpeter with his gown and the girth strap on his horse, the docking
of his horse’s tail, and the tassels at the tips of lances Dolnstein takes care to draw on
nearly every lance are just a few of the many elements Dolnstein includes in this rich
illustration.
He also shows the angles of the lances at a particular stage in a charge. It is
interesting to note that both of the front two ranks of knights in the foreground couch
their lances straight ahead, while the third rank still holds their lances vertically.
Directing our attention to the body of knights behind the rock near the trumpeter,
however, we see that the second rank holds theirs at a 45 degree angle, and the following
ranks hold theirs vertically. This may reflect a different point in the approach to engaging
the enemy. Between these two bodies of knights, there is a formation of mounted
crossbowmen set off from the knights by hills on either side.439 There appear to be three
lances in the center, flanked by crossbows on each side and followed by crossbows.
438
Machicolations are open areas in the floor, “for dropping missiles,” onto attackers. Hugh Kennedy,
Crusader Castles (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 154.
439
Ekdahl describes these crossbowmen as “Fußvolk mit Armbrüsten.” Ekdahl, 24. He may not have had a
clear copy of the image, unless by Fußvolk, he means ‘common troops,’ who happen to be mounted.
Rather, these are mounted crossbowmen. The manes of their horses are visible below their crossbows. They
also ride with knights carrying lances.
148
Looking across at the pike square about to engage the mounted force, one can not tell
where the sleeve of shot is firing: at the knights or at the mounted crossbowmen.
Again, we can not determine whether this is a drawing of a general scene or of a
specific moment. If it is a general depiction from Dolnstein’s imagination, the numbers in
the image may be irrelevant. It may be that he is only trying to convey that there were
knights and mounted crossbowmen in many engagements, and that they sometimes
approached in three formations. If it is a specific moment, perhaps Dolnstein skewed the
square in order to make room for the text and for the individuals responsible for readying
guns. At least for the cavalry side, there seems to be no reason to think this is anything
but a general depiction. In the front rank, there are five knights. There appear to be eleven
behind them if one counts their lance tips. Among the crossbow formation, there is
similar irregularity in number within ranks.440
In the pike square, however, Dolnstein’s drawing matches his verbal description, at
least as far deep into the square as he is able to clarify weapon types. Dolnstein’s
commentary seems to cover two different formations. I address only the lines discussing
the first formation here, and only briefly. I expand on this formation and on the second
formation in the Appendix. We see here similarities in the commentary and the image.
There are 400 men ..... & .. ….. for a field array. 1
11 to a rank from 198 pikes, 18 ranks. 2
halbards, as makes 8 ranks 5 5
per rank. There remain 35, the ranks among 6
soldiers, 3 per rank, make 8
440
There are six apparent with four lances visible among the knights approaching in the background, five in
the rank behind them. So, for the mounted formation, there seems to be no consistency, suggesting that the
mounted formations are representative of an idea not of an actuality.
149
and 14 men per rank including 6 men. 11
Note that Dolnstein says in line 2 that for a formation of one hundred ninty-eight pikes,
there will be eighteen ranks of eleven men to a rank. True to this description, he draws
eleven men in the first rank quite clearly. Counting helmets forward from the rear, one
can also make out at least eighteen of these ranks. Dolnstein also illustrates ranks of
handguns next to the square. These gun ranks each have three men. Adding these to the
eleven in the standard ranks gives the reader fourteen per rank. It is not entirely clear
what Dolnstein intends for the remaining forty-two pikes as one covers the field. They
are not in the drawing. There are other puzzles such as how to place thirty-five halberds
in “ranks among the pikes,” and how best to incorporate lines 12-15 into a plausible set
of formations. The Appendix provides further discussion of possible interpretations.
Dolnstein uses this image to convey not only how to array four hundred men but
also the intensity of this moment. Pikes and lances have already crossed. Foot soldiers
brace themselves. In the blink of an eye, pikes will encounter horseflesh. The sheer force
these men are about to receive is almost inconceivable. War horses were enormous
animals, often weighing in excess of 1,200 pounds.441 Bedecked in armor as they were,
bearing mounted warriors also covered in armor, a single war horse carrying a knight
would have been an intimidating sight. The men in the front ranks were veterans for a
reason. Commanders had to know that these men would stand their ground. Though
facing down a mass of charging cavalry was undoubtedly a terrifying experience, the
441
Clifford Rogers, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military Technology, vol. 1
(New York: Oxford University Press, 2010), 272.
150
square could not break.442 Courage then came from the mass of men behind and around a
soldier having second thoughts. One could not escape a pike square if one were not near
the edges, and this is why commanders placed veterans who would not break on the
perimeter. Halberdiers were there to keep order, and pikemen deep in the square pressed
forward on the backs of the men in front of them.443 Hence, if one did not have the
courage to get through his first military experiences, chances were high that someone
would be there to supply the courage for him until he could muster it on his own. Millar
asserts that Hapsburg armies had been, “the laughing stock of Germany and of
Europe.”444 This is no longer the case in Dolnstein’s years as a fighting man. In this
sketch, common men ennobled by the ranks of noblemen standing with them in the front
ranks, are about to take on knights and hold their own against them. The battlefields of
Europe no longer belong to the knight, to the nobleman, and the common German
Landsknecht can take much of the credit for that. Just as important to the honor of the
Landsknecht is that he can not only take down the knight, but that he can do so face to
face with an edged weapon.
Commoners had brought down many a knight with crossbows and longbows long
before the advent of the pike square. But this was not the means to honor. Hall notes that
for the medieval knight, close combat with edged weapons was the true source of
honor.445 Dying by missile fire was not an honorable end either. Dolnstein seems to share
this view. In Sketch 13, Dolnstein suggests that dying by arrow fire would leave much to
442
Franz, 97-98; Hall, 158; Hans Delbrück, History of the Art of War, vol. 3. Translated by Walter J.
Renfroe, Jr. (Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1982), 588.
443
Eltis, 54.
444
Millar, 95.
445
Hall, 15-17.
151
be desired.446 He also chooses not to depict gunners among his comrades. One wonders if
this was because pikes and halberds were where the honor was.447 In other words,
Dolnstein may not have held gunners in the same esteem in which he held his halberd and
pike wielding comrades. He reserves his Comrade Sketches for men who fight with
weapons of honor.
It is easy to see why Paul Dolnstein would want to associate himself specifically
with pikemen, halberdiers, and ensigns. They, not gunners, typified the reputation that
Landsknechts had for courage and discipline. To refresh the reader’s memory, I repeat
Millar’s description of the remarkable discipline and professionalism of Landsknechts:
who, with the Swiss, ranked as the finest foot soldiers. They had done something
which no other infantry in Europe could do; they had combined shock with
mobility. In these troops were united the attributes which had made the mounted
knight the prince of medieval battlefields. The compact mass and serried pikes of
the landsknecht regiment gave it the solidity and weight heretofore only enjoyed
by men-at-arms. Coupled with this was rapidity of movement, the ability to
execute maneuvers coolly, and discipline, which medieval horsemen lacked. The
pikeman's competence in meeting and defeating heavy horse had in fact
established his reputation, and it was this singular skill which first brought him
into favor with the paymasters of Europe.448
This was not the warfare where commoners fired crossbows and longbows from afar. Nor
was this the warfare of gunners hitting their targets at a distance.449 Commoners as
Landsknechts now fought knights up close and with honor. Further, they often excelled
knights in coolness and discipline.
It would have been natural for Dolnstein, coming as he did from a “culture of
arms,” to want to be part of a body of foot soldiers renowned for possessing the courage,
446
The passage reads, “In front [of the fortress] was I, Dolnstein, shot with an arrow under the right arm.
With such foolishness, may one end in some braver way.” ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und
Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 8v.
447
While they were not a sword or a lance, these were edged weapons designed for close combat.
448
Millar, 98. This quote also appears in the Introduction.
449
It is important to note that handgunners were not shooting from a great distance across the battlefield,
but they were still not fighting in close combat. Rather, they fired and retreated to the rear of the formation.
152
discipline, and skill required to face down a cavalry charge.450 From his perspective in
viewing the field and his perspective in knowing numerically how to array these men,
Dolnstein demonstrates that he was not a warrior with a single role as a fighter. Dolnstein
stood in a place where he could see the pike square from the same perspective as those
who gave the orders that assembled the square. Dolnstein may have been one of these
men to assemble squares. His experience as Baurechnungsführer gave him the skills to be
useful to a commander requiring a man who could think systematically and
mathematically. Whether or not he actually gave the orders to assemble, Dolnstein
demonstrates that he served at least on occasion in a capacity outside the square, with
commanders, and thus demonstrates his competence in both the civilian and military
worlds.
450
Tlustly, 6.
153
Figure 35. Sketch 13, The Siege of Montfort, Holland.451
451
154
Text
Top:
vor müntfort jn holand hat hertzog 1
albrecht452 von saxn ein veste bastein abgrabn 2
mit gewalt dar auß dribn453 da vor ward 3
ich dolnstain under dem rechten arm 4
mit eynem pfeil geschosen mit solche 5
Batzen454 mag man etwas tapfers endn455 6
Translation:
In front of Montfort in Holland, Duke 1
Albrecht of Saxony456 dug under457 a strong bastion, 2
[and] with violence forced [the enemy] out. In front [of the fortress] was 3
I, Dolnstein, shot with an arrow 4
under the right arm. With such 5
foolishness, may one end in some braver way. 6
Line above cannon:
schantz
Translation:
earthwork
Commentary
452
There is a cross over his name, presumably indicating that he has died. He died in 1500, dating this
sketch or at least this notation after 1500.
453
Dihle sees this as drabn.
454
Dihle does not transcribe this, nor does Larsson.
455
The downstroke after a final 'd' indicates an 'n' per electronic mail correspondence, Christopher S.
Mackay, University of Alberta, August 24, 2011.
456
Duke Albrecht of Saxony is also known as Duke Albert the Bold, Herzog Albrecht der Behertzte.
457
I thank Shawn Boyd, University of North Dakota, for this interpretation.
155
In this sketch, Dolnstein illustrates the Siege of Montfort, paying close attention
to the details of siege apparatus, tools, wicker baskets, and wooden screen, as well as
guns in action and his wounding. As with all of Dolnstein's sketches, he seems
uninterested in the reasons why he is there. What matters to him is the immediate
moment, the action itself rather than the reasons for it. In this essay, I will provide a brief
background to the event Dolnstein pictures for his audience. Then, I will follow the same
approach I have used in preceding essays. Moving left to right across the sketch, I will
discuss the image and Dolnstein's text as they relate to his craftsman and warrior
backgrounds. Because of the way Dolnstein sets the scene with tools and siege works on
the left and the opponents' stronghold and cannon on the right, this familiar pattern of
moving left to right across the image lends itself to a two part discussion. First, I will
explore the evidence Dolnstein leaves of his background as a builder in the defenses he
draws for the besieger, in his interest in the peculiarities of weapons, and in the tools he
illustrates. Second, I will examine how Dolnstein exhibits his martial identity, not solely
in the setting but also in his apparent preference for a braver death than one by missile
fire.
The scene of action is the 1491 siege of Montfort, Holland, in the modern day
Netherlands.458 Maximilian I had sent Duke Albrecht of Saxony to suppress yet one more
in a long succession of rebellions that had consumed Maximilian's Burgundian holdings
and had even resulted in the captivity of both Maximilian's son Philip the Fair, and
458
There seems to be some disagreement about the year of this siege with numbers ranging from 1490 −
1493. Dihle and Closs, 3; Adelbert von Keller, ed. Die Geschichten und Taten Wilwolts von Schaumburg
(Stuttgart: Literarischen Verein, 1859), 102-103; C.M. Davies, History of Holland From the Beginning of
the Tenth to the End of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 1 (London: John W. Parker, 1841), 310-311.
156
Maximilian himself in Bruges in 1482 and 1488 respectively.459 The inhabitants of his
Burgundian territories had resisted Maximilian's rule since he acquired their lands
through his 1477 marriage to Mary of Burgundy.460 Among the revolts in the Netherlands
in this period was the Cheese and Bread Folk rebellion of peasants and day-laboring
townsfolk against the ruitergeld.461 This ruitergeld was an additional tax on an already
burdened population in the depths of an economic recession. Its purpose was to pay for
Maximilian’s suppression of a revolt against his authority in Flanders. In spite of the fact
that Maximilian stopped collecting the ruitergeld, the rebellion gained steam.462 Nobles
joined the cause as well, and delegates from nearly all the Northern Quarter towns helped
in organizing the opposition to Maximilian.463 Duke Albert of Saxony was Maximilian's
right arm in the Netherlands as he succeeded in crushing the rebellions by the end of
1492.464 The castle at Montfort comes into this discussion through its role as one of the
last refuges for the rebels.465 Dolnstein’s contemporary, Ludwig van Eyb, notes four
thousand men and many horsemen in Albrecht’s force.466 Eyb recalls that Albrecht
created earthworks and ditches, using catapult and canon to lay siege to the stronghold
459
Davies, 297-299; Pia F. Cuneo, “Images of Warfare as Political Legitimization: Jörg Breu the Elder’s
Rondels for Maximilian I’s Hunting Lodge at Lermos (CA. 1516)” in Cuneo Artful Armies…98-99; Henk
F.K. van Nierop, Treason in the Northern Quarter: War, Terror, and the Rule of Law in the Dutch Revolt,
trans. J.C. Grayson (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2009.), 24-25; Charles Tilly, European
Revolutions, 1492-1992 (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell, 1995), 57. “Factionalism and state power in the
Flemish Revolt (1482-1492),” Journal of Social History (June, 2009) 32; George Edmundson, History of
Holland (Cambridge University Press, 1922), 12-14.
460
Cuneo, “Images of Warfare as Political Legitimization,” 98-99; Edmundson, 12; Davies, 305.
461
Van Nierop, 24. The Cheese and Bread Folk were so called because the combatants painted cheese and
bread on their banners and wore bits of bread and cheese secured to their clothing to broadcast that this was
what they wanted. Their aim was to have something to eat. Davies, 314-316.
462
Van Nierop, 24.25; Adelbert von Keller, ed. Die Geschichten und Taten Wilwolts von Schaumburg
(Stuttgart: Literarischen Verein, 1859), 102.
463
Van Nierop, 24.25; Von Keller, 102; C.M. Davies, History of Holland From the Beginning of the Tenth
to the End of the Eighteenth Century, vol. 1 (London: John W. Parker, 1841), 297- 325.
464
Gelderland, however, remained unbroken. George Edmundson, History of Holland. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1922) 12-14; Von Keller, 102-103; Redlich, 19, 59-60.
465
Davies, 310. Von Keller, 102.
466
Von Keller, 102.
157
for sixteen weeks from April to August.467 A farmer from the area crafted a mill for
Albrecht which drained the moat around Montfort in three days.468 The loss of the moat
combined with the bombardment of the castle walls to put the rebels in a frame of mind
to surrender when they heard of the crushing naval defeat of their fellow insurgents.469
Before and after the siege of Montfort, Albrecht methodically addressed location after
location until he had suppressed the revolt. The ruitergeld was reinstated with exacting
severity; further fines were imposed; all active participants in the rebellion were
executed; citizens were required to tear down protective walls around several towns
which also lost privileges; town governments were replaced; and Maximilian's authority
was firmly established in the person of Albrecht of Saxony.470 It was under the command
of this brutal, effective leader that Dolnstein participated in the capture of Montfort. To
what degree or in what capacity he participated we do not know, for only this page
recording his time at Montfort survives of anything he wrote or sketched about his
experiences in the Netherlands.
Moving from left to right across the page, the first things that greet the viewer are
tools, cannon, a protective carriage equipped with wooden screen for a cannon, and three
types of siege defenses. All of these things illustrate a coupling of Dolnstein’s
background in the building trades and his experience as a mercenary. Dolnstein does not
mention whatever active role he may have played in the following:
In front of Montfort in Holland, Duke Albrecht of Saxony dug under a strong

bastion, [and] with violence forced [the enemy] out. In front [of the fortress] was I
467
Ibid., 102-103. It is intriguing that Dolnstein does not bother to draw catapults. One would think that
these would be fascinating to him.
468
Ibid. I thank Shawn Boyd, University of North Dakota, for guidance with this text.
469
Ludwig von Eyb describes the event as destroying walls and the negotiations required that the castle not
be rebuilt for nine. Von Keller, 103; Dihle & Closs, 3. Davies, 311.
470
Davies, 312-316.
158
Dolnstein shot with an arrow under the right arm. With such foolishness, may one
end in some braver way.
Rather than clearly stating his function, Dolnstein emphasizes Duke Albrecht’s digging
or mining under the bastion. Dolnstein limits commentary on his own role to a passive
receipt of an arrow wound. Further, Dolnstein describes the victory as entirely that of
forcing the rebels out, and thus demonstrates one of two things. Either contrary to Ey’s
account, the rebels within Montfort were on the verge of surrender regardless of the naval
defeat their fellow rebels suffered, or Dolnstein was not privy to the extenuating
circumstance that drove the enemy to surrender. It also possible that Dolnstein’s
observation was thoroughly accurate, that the naval battle was incidental, and was
stressed by those who may have wished to diminish Albrecht’s achievement.
Dolnstein’s illustrations may tell the reader more about his role than do his words.
Eyb mentions a master builder who was instrumental in Albrecht’s victory, but Dolnstein
neither names another builder, nor suggests in words that he was this man.471 Dolnstein
may have been only a journeyman at the time of this event. Whether this Baumeister,
whom Eyb mentions but does not name, oversaw the role Dolnstein played here, or
whether Dolnstein was this Baumeister himself is unknown. Whether Dolnstein played an
active role in this siege or was simply displaying an interest in the tools of siegecraft, it is
clear that he remembers this as a builder’s event. Tools lie on the ground, carefully drawn
in the mix of weapons and protective apparatus. A large wooden mallet lies next to a
barrel. In the foreground is a large shallow basin. An ax with a cross on its head lies with
a saw before the earthwork and wicker basket. All of these are tools a craftsman in the
building trades would use in both civilian and military roles.
471
Von Keller, 102-3.
159
Barrels of what are probably gunpowder and stone shot stand behind three
cannons. For mobility, the two cannons in the foreground are mounted on gun carriages
with trails. The third cannon appears to be lying on the ground. It has handles in the
center though it appears to be quite heavy. This cannon’s vehicle for movement may be
the wooden apparatus directly behind it. Resting on rolling timbers, this object has a
hinged panel with a rope or cord attached to it. A gun mounted beneath the pivoting door
would allow artillery men to reload under cover by pulling the wooden cover up to
expose the barrel of the gun for firing, and lowering it over the barrel again for
reloading.472 Though the mobility must have been limited by the primitive board and
rolling timbers, this protective carriage was mobile. The three dark lines along each of the
timbers under the carriage box were probably slats into which a thin board or iron blade
could be inserted to move the carriage. Protecting this apparatus, the cannon, the builders,
and the artillerymen are a tall wooden palisade wall, an earthwork in the foreground, and
protective wicker baskets filled with earth to absorb artillery fire.473 All of these things,
the earthwork, the wicker baskets, and the wooden palisade required construction.474 By
depicting these things so prominently, Dolnstein may be communicating his role either in
support as a journeyman or as a master builder.
The presence of tools among constructed wooden objects demonstrates the role
that building played in besieging a place. Note these tools lying at the base of the wooden
wall.
472
I am grateful to John A. Lynn II, Northwestern University, for the suggestion of what this might be.
Electronic mail correspondence, March 5, 2012.
473
Geoffrey Parker, The Military Revolution: Millitary Innovation and the Rise of the West: 1500-1800,
2nd ed. (New York: Cambridge, 1996), 18; Clifford J. Rogers, "The Military Revolutions of the Hundred
Years War," in The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of Early Modern
Europe, ed. Clifford J. Rogers (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1995), 67-68.
474
Rogers, 67-68.
160
Here we see two tools that are similar to the implement the worker holds in the first
sketch. The above detail from Sketch 13 includes a shovel and what seems to be a two-
pronged hoe. The shortest of these implements is a hoe or a pickaxe of some sort. Both
the two-pronged hoe and pickaxe-like instrument resemble the tool the worker in Sketch
1 holds.
475
161
Although the points on this implement are finer than those in Sketch 13, the tools
resemble one another. This resemblance strengthens the idea that the man on the first
page is not a peasant but a laborer or a journeyman. To what degree and in what roles
Dolnstein participated in the actual digging under of the bastion or building of defensive
works for the besieging position, Dolnstein does not explain on paper. What he does
make abundantly clear is that builders were valuable in war and that he was wounded.
In the center foreground lies a fallen standard bearer. His flag bears the St.
Andrew’s cross of Maximilian, representing his authority over the rebels in the castle.
His standard pole is broken, and he has apparently been hit with artillery fire. Unless
there are more casualties lost to water damage underneath the twentieth century tape, this
476
162
lone casualty seems to represent the general violence of the scene.477 Two gunners take
cover behind a mound as they fire at the siege position. Projectiles fly from their weapons
through the air toward the siege position and the fallen standard bearer. Behind the men
at the rear of the image is a bridge across a moat. The bridge leads leads to a gatehouse
and a curtain wall protecting smaller structures within the walls. Extending off the top of
the gatehouse is a link between this sketch and Sketch 14. The precise nature of this
object is unclear. In front of, and presumably protecting, this gatehouse is a semi-circular
wooden structure known as a demilune.478 Detached from the castle itself and standing in
front of the curtain wall, the demilune, as its name would indicate, was a half moon
shaped outwork often constructed of earth or wood.479 It was designed to protect
entrances like this gatehouse that bastions left exposed.480 Foregrounded to depict its
distance behind the artillerymen, it is a substantial structure boasting what appears to be a
covered wall walk and arrow slits. The viewer catches a glimpse of large doorways in the
interior.
At the rear of the demilune and toward the foreground of the image is probably
the bastion of which Dolnstein speaks. He recalls, “In front of Montfort in Holland,
Duke Albrecht of Saxony dug under a strong bastion, [and] with violence forced [the
enemy] out.” This is not “the ‘proper’ bastion,” the trace Italien, of the early modern era
but the medieval bastion of stone or masonry.481 The bastion of Dolnstein’s era was a
477
Eyb attests that that many nobles and soldiers were killed. Von Keller, 102-3.
478
Dennis Hart Mahan, A Treatise on Field Fortification Containing Instructions on the Methods of Laying
Out, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking Intrenchments, with the General Outlines also of the
Arrangement, the Attack and Defence of Permanent Fortification, 3rd ed. (New York: John Wiley, 1856),
138-141.
479
Ibid.
480
Ibid.
481
Philippe Contamine, War in the Middle Ages, trans. Michael Jones (Cambridge, MA: Blackwell
Publishers, 1984), 204-205.
163
tower that projected outward from the exterior wall of a fortress in order to give
improved fields of fire. The very purpose of the demilune may have been to protect this
bastion, thus accounting for Dolnstein's description of it as a "strong bastion." The most
difficult and hazardous part of the fight may have been the struggle to clear the approach
so that mining could begin. Hence, Dolnstein's image captures the peril of the moment.
Behind the siege screen, presumably out of range of the defenders' fire, all is quiet. Just
on the other side of the earthwork, however, lies danger.
Throughout the sketch, Dolnstein expresses what is important to him: the danger
of these sixteen weeks as illustrated by the fallen standard bearer, a man who would have
been well protected, the defenses of the object under attack as illustrated by the
artillerymen with their castle and wooden structure, the siege guns of his own army, and
the craftsman’s role in building and maintaining protective siege structures. It is also
clearly important to him that he was wounded with an arrow. “In front [of the fortress]
was I, Dolnstein, shot with an arrow under the right arm. With such foolishness, may one
end in some braver way.” His comment seems a kind of laconic humor at his own
expense, suggesting that he may not have been particularly careful. Though he does not
depict his own wounding, he tells us with what and in what part of his body he was
wounded.
He also expresses what seems like disgust at the potentiality of dying in this
manner. He does not tell us what he was doing when he was wounded. He does not tell us
if the area under his right arm was unprotected, or if he was close enough to enemy fire
for the arrow to pierce whatever armor he may have been wearing. He does not tell us if
he was in combat, if he was firing artillery, or if he was reinforcing defenses. But he does
164
express that he finds this manner of death less than desirable. This view is in keeping
with views of close combat as carrying more honor than fighting from a distance with
missiles.482 Curiously, given that an arrow pierced him, Dolnstein is singularly
uninterested in arrows in this picture. Contrary to Sketch 15 where arrows fly thick, here
he is fascinated with gunpowder weapons, depicting five of them. Close combat was the
way of valor.483 Having chosen a military path, however temporarily, if an artisan were to
die, a death in a pike square at end of a pike, halberd, sword, lance, or Katzbalger would
have been active, aggressive, honorable, and fitting for a Landsknecht who to a degree
thought of himself as ennobled. To die of missile fire was passive. Given Dolnstein’s
emphasis on artillery in the very scene where an arrow struck him, he may have thought
that to die of an arrow as opposed to a gunpowder weapon was passive and not even
interesting.
The sketch illustrates two things: what interested Paul Dolnstein and the value of
builders to a siege. Guns, structures, and tools fascinate him as evident in the attention he
gives them.484 It seems that sieges generally fascinated Dolnstein, given that four of his
Event Sketches depict sieges.485 Because Dolnstein was wounded, it is conceivable that
of all that happened in the Netherlands during this campaign, Dolnstein participated only
in this single event.486 This seems highly unlikely, however. Rather, Dolnstein may depict
this event because it is a siege, and sieges involved his skills in a way that other
482
Hall, 186-187.
483
Ibid.
484
For example, Dolnstein even demonstrates how the temporary palisade siege wall is secured. Whether
these are bands or nails, he depicts by means of heavy ink where the posts are fastened together. Further, he
draws what appear to be walkways on the back of this structure, and he depicts their supports. With
scrawls, he depicts mounds of earth or rock behind the wall.
485
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 8v, 11v, 12v-14; Dihle,
Figure 36, unnumbered page.
486
Duke Albrecht the Bold was Maximilian’s savior in the Netherlands. Redlich, 54.
165
engagements did not. A siege would seem to be more of a builder’s action than would a
battle on the open field be.487 If Dolnstein was writing to an audience with a background
in building, it would make sense that sieges would also be the most interesting military
actions. Dolnstein captures here what any builder would find fascinating: structures, the
tools to build them, and the weapons to bring them down. Sieges required the direction of
a master in construction who could produce standard screens and improvise clever
protection such as the cannon bed just below the text. Whether Dolnstein built this
innovative object and those around it or simply found it intriguing, this sketch more than
any other demonstrates the active role that a builder’s background fed into his work as a
warrior.
487
Much of what Albrecht did in the Netherlands was ravaging the countryside. Perhaps Dolnstein saw
sieges as more memorable or more honorable than, "exercising unbounded license and rapine, and
consuming the little that was left of the exhausted resources of the country," as Davies describes the taking
of the villages around Haarlem. Davies, 315.
166
Figure 38. Sketch 14, Knight and Landsknecht.488
488
167
Commentary
In the last sketch, Dolnstein wishes for a braver end than dying by arrow fire.
Sketch 14 sketch captures precisely the sort of moment that might result in that braver
end. This moment is also one of the attractions of the Landsknecht life, fighting a knight
as his equal. This is the only page without text; perhaps because Dolnstein felt that it
required no text. The Landsknecht could be any man, and the knight could be any
nobleman. The knight’s sword appears strange. While drawn with Dolnstein’s usual
attention to detail, there is no hand holding it. The knight’s right hand is visible, but his
left is not, and the sword seems almost disembodied. Where the left hand should be on
the hilt, there is nothing. It is as though the knight has lost his grip on it. This, coupled
with the knight’s downward gaze and doubled-over posture, makes him appear wounded
or caught off guard. The Landsknecht’s halberd seems in this moment to catch the
knight’s elbow. Though the knight’s sword is clearly aimed at the Landsknecht, there is
no indication that the sword has made contact. In contrast to the knight’s stooping posture
with face toward the ground, the Landsknecht stands erect, looking over the knight as
though he has already dispatched him and is moving on. The victor here is the non-noble.
Characteristic of Dolnstein’s drawing is the detail. There appears on the lower left
hand corner of the page something like a ladder. It extends just into Sketch 13. It seems a
strange object to have here, and I am not at all certain what it is. The straps across the
knight’s hamstrings secure his leg armor on both legs. His spur indicates that he has been
unseated from his horse, perhaps by this Landsknecht, and is not a man at arms
intentionally fighting on foot. Dolnstein takes care to draw rivets and styling on the
knight’s armor and even the chain mail over his buttocks. His plumes are the only way in
168
which this noble warrior’s appearance matches that of the Landsknecht. The Landsknecht
meets this knight in battle completely unprotected. This moment typifies the
Landsknecht’s bravado and mobility. His face and head unprotected, we can see his
beard, hair, and all of his clothing. Unless there is a breastplate for which Dolnstein gives
us no evidence in the form of straps to secure it, the Landsknecht is without armor. He
goes into combat completely unarmored. Armor offered protection, but it also limited
mobility. The Landsknecht has total freedom of movement and unlimited vision. In this
moment, he has the advantage. Wearing the typical colorful and intentionally tattered
clothing, with a fully bared left leg beneath the tattered fabric on his thigh, the halberdier
attacks and overcomes the knight. Given that so many Landsknechts were artisans, and
given that their prowess against the knight was still a comparative novelty, it is perfectly
logical that Dolnstein would memorialize this moment when his fellow Landsknecht
takes down a knight. Quite possibly, his fellow artisan takes down a nobleman. It seems
that words were not necessary for this sketch. It does not really matter who the men were.
The fact was that any Landsknecht could hope to do the same as this one, and the
possibility must have been infinitely attractive in their bellicose world.
169
Figure 39. Sketch 15, Landsknechts Fend off a Swedish Assault.489
489
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 9v-10r. Stamped with 10 on
the recto page.
170
Text
jtem in [crossed out word] norweden habn wir jn a...h...w... ein vest 1
sloß gewunen daß haist elßpurgk daß hab wir490 vor491 2
prant vnser warn xviij hundert tewtscher 3
do vber vielen vnß die schwedischen bawrn jm 4
lager xiv492 tawset starck jn solcher gestalt wie 5
hie493 ernstlich vnß an grifen gab vnß gott den sig 6
vnd er slugen sy des meisteil gar zu tott 7
wir heten all Rück vnd krebb vnd hirn494 8
hawben vnd arm schin vnd sy 9
hatn495 armbrost vnd gut spieß 10
von schwertn gemacht dar 11
nach schlug vnß der kunig 12
von tennmarck zu Ritter vnd 13
tat496 vnß groß er vnd betzalt 14
vnß wol vnd ließ vnß vber 15
die see setzen jm xv c iij jar 16
do497 pin ich pawl vom dolnstain 17
490
This word is not entirely legible. Both Dihle and Larsson agree that it is wir.
491
Dihle transcribes this as ver.
492
Dihle sees xv. Larsson sees xiv.
493
Larsson sees that as hie, as do I. Dihle saw it as hier. It is a form of heir as Baufeld discusses.
494
Dihle sees hürn Larson sees hirn, with the downstroke coming from the 'h'. I am tempted to see hÿrn,
but the downstroke belongs to the ‘h.’
495
Dihle sees hetz; Larson sees hetn.
496
This could be tet. Götze gives töten for this, which does not work.
497
This could be either do or da. Both Larsson and Dihle see this as do. Shawn Boyd, University of North
Dakota, explains that do and da were fairly interchangeable in their meanings of “then/there” in Middle and
Early New High German. Electronic mail correspondence, January 29, 2012.
171
peÿ gewest her sigmunt 18
list waß oberster habtman. 19
Translation:
Item in Norway we captured ..... a strong 1
castle that is called Älvsborg, which we burned. 2
Of us there were 18 hundred Germans. 3
Then the Swedish peasants, 14,000 strong, fell upon us in 4
the camp in such a manner as 5
here.498 They formidably attacked us. God gave us victory, 6
and he smote the greater part of them completely dead. 7
We all had backplates and breastplates and helmets 8
and arm braces. And they 9
had crossbows and good spears 10
made of swords. 11
Afterwards the king 12
of Denmark knighted us, and 13
he did us honor, and paid 14
us well and transported us over 15
the sea in the year 1503. 16
There I, Paul von Dolnstain, 17
saw action. Lord Sigmund 18
List was high commander.499 19
498
Referring to the sketch.
172
Commentary
In Sketch 15, Dolnstein illustrates an attack by Swedish peasants on the German
army in camp. For Dolnstein’s audience, presumably Meister Heinrich, a fellow artisan,
that 1800 Germans had fended off an attack by 14,000 Swedish peasants would have
been thrilling and would have appealed to a pride in being German. It is noteworthy that
the Germans are 'Germans' while the Swedes are 'Swedish peasants.' To Dolnstein, they
are not the equal of Dolnstein’s army. They are peasants. While many Landsknechts may
have come from peasant origins, they stepped into another identity as Landsknechts. This
essay will begin with a brief overview of the historical background of the event in this
sketch. Next, I will discuss the sketch and text, generally following the pattern of moving
from left to right across the page.
The events in Sketches 4, 15, 17, 19 take place on what is today the west coast of
Sweden. Dolnstein refers to this area as Norway as indeed it was called at the time. This
part of Sweden was within Norway’s border, and Norway was under Danish rule at the
time. The 1397 Kalmar Union among the Norwegian, Danish, and Swedish kingdoms
technically placed Sweden under Danish rule. But Sweden was enjoying some measure
of independence under the regency of Sten Sture the Elder. From the dawn of the union
and before its formation, the power relations among the three were often contentious.500
Birgit and Peter Sawyer describe this union as, “in effect a revival of the Danish
empire…with some measure of direct control in Norway but often more than an
499
There are a variety of ways to translate this from "colonel" to "captain general." Jonathan W. Zophy,
“Lazarus Spengler, Christoph Kress, and Nuremberg's Reformation Diplomacy,” The Sixteenth Century
Journal Vol. 5, No. 1 (Apr., 1974), 40. I prefer the choice of Fritz Redlich, “high commander.” Redlich, 11,
n. 15.
500
Birgit and Peter Sawyer, Medieval Scandinavia from Conversion to Reformation, circa 800-1500
(Minneapolis, University of Minnesota Press, 1993), 71-72.
173
overlordship in Sweden.”501 Though initially viewed as a means to avoid war and
promote trade, over the course of the fifteenth century, a number of factors caused the
Swedes to wonder about their future in the union. The Danish monarch increased taxation
while debasing the coin of the union and rewarded Germans and Danes with Swedish
lands.502 Rebellions broke out in both Norway and Sweden, but in Norway the aristocracy
allied themselves with Denmark to crush such revolts while in Sweden revolts often
included the aristocracy.503 This proved to be a trend where the aristocrats of Denmark
and Norway largely supported the union, but it was never fully accepted in Sweden.504
In the second half of the fifteenth century, there was a tenuous agreement that
Sweden was allowed to have its own king while Denmark-Norway was under the Danish
crown.505 Upon the death of the Swedish king, however, the union was to be restored, but
when that death came, the Swedes were not prepared to submit to King Hans of
Denmark.506 In the course of the second half of the fifteenth century, Norwegians, too,
began to find Danish rule objectionable as when, for example, the Danish King
mortgaged Norwegian lands to Scotland.507 By the turn of the sixteenth century, revolts
in Norway were increasing, most notably as the Norwegian noble Knut Alvsson
501
Unifying the three kingdoms under the Danish crown, Erik of Pomerania being king at the time, the
councilors from each of the three kingdoms had rights of consultation in foreign relations. Ibid., 71-72, 93.
502
Ibid., 74-75.
503
Ibid., 75.
504
Ibid.
505
Helle, 760-761.
506
Ibid.
507
Sawyer, 76; Knut Gjerset, History of the Norwegian People, vol 2 (New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1915), 83; Hjalmar Hjorth Boyesen The Story of Norway (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, The
Knickerbocker Press, 1886), 479-481; C.F. Allen, De Tre Nordiske Rigers Historie: Under Hans,
Christiern den Anden, Frederik den Ferste, Gustav Vasa, Grevefeiden, 1497-1536. Vol. I
(Copenhagen/Kjøbenhaven: Gyldendalske Boghandel, 1864), 267.
174
participated in the 1501-1502 Swedish revolt against King Hans’ rule, which this sketch
depicts.508
Sten Sture the Elder, regent of Sweden, had checked a Danish bid to reassert royal
authority in 1471.509 Sweden became then under Sten Sture the Elder, “more clearly than
ever before an aristocratic republic with a council of bishops and magnates presided over
by a regent.”510 Sweden’s independence was not a settled matter, however, and in 1497
Hans reasserted Danish royal authority and was declared king of Sweden after defeating
Sten Sture the Elder.511 Hjalmar Boyesen recounts:
Three years later, however, he suffered a terrible defeat in Ditmarsken (1500),

whose inhabitants opened the dikes and called in the ocean as their ally. Four
thousand Danes were here slain or drowned, and enormous treasures were lost.
This was the signal for renewed risings both in Sweden and in Norway. The
Norse knight, Sir Knut Alfsson, of Giske, who derived his descent from the old
royal house, united with the Swedes and defeated Duke Christian, the king's son,
in Vestergotland.512
This Knut Alvsson was present at Älvsborg. He was later killed by the Danes under a
false promise of safe conduct and became a martyr to a growing dream of Norwegian
independence.513 In his opposition to to this renewed Danish attempt to assert its royal
authority, Sten Sture the Elder drew to him an army consisting in large part of
peasants.514
508
Sawyer, 76; Gjerset, 83-84; Magne Njåstad, "Resistance in the Name of the Law: Peasant Politics in
Medieval and Early Modern Norway," in Northern Revolts: Medieval and Early Modern Peasant Unrest in
the Nordic Countries, ed. Kimmo Katajala (Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2004), 90-93.
509
Sawyer, 77; Boyesen, 480.
510
Sawyer, 77. Helle, 759.
511
Boyesen, 480-481.
512
Ibid.
513
Ibid.; Henrik Bernhard Jaeger, Henrik Ibsen, 1828-1888: A Critical Biography, translated by William
Morton Payne (Chicago: A.C. McClurg and Company, 1890), 93-95; Theodore Jorgenson, Henrik Ibsen:
Life and Drama (Northfield, MN: St. Olaf Norwegian Institute, 1945), 88; Allen, 266-280.
514
Larsson, 75-77.
175
Western Sweden was swallowed up in this conflict. Employing German
mercenaries, King Hans of Denmark in the person of his son Prince Christian took
Älvsborg and Öresten Castles which Dolnstein portrays in Sketches 17 and 19
respectively.515 Sketch 15 pictures an attack of Swedish peasants on the Landsknechts in
their camp at Älvsborg. From the spring of 1502 through early June of the same year,
Christian drew his army of German and Scottish mercenaries together.516 Frederick the
Wise sent List with 500 men to aid the King of Denmark.517 That Frederick the Wise sent
List and that List was in the ongoing employ of Frederick the Wise suggests that many of
these 500 may have come directly from Saxony.
By July, Christian had this army partially in place at the mouth of the Göta
River.518 The Danish force successfully pushed its way toward Älvsborg, one of the
castles the Swedish rebels held.519 The Danish army arrived on the evening of Thursday,
14 July, 1503.520 This castle was significant to both Denmark-Norway and Sweden, and
Sweden currently had 140 men stationed inside the fortress.521 King Hans also joined the
fight and headed for Stockholm.522 For the Swedes under Sten Sture, Älvsborg was at this
point one of its most significant strongholds in Western Sweden, in part because Sweden
also held the adjoining area.523 It was also a well situated castle with cliffs and a water-
filled moat for defenses.524 Knut Alvsson and Åke Hansson were not far off, offering
515
Ibid.
516
Ibid.; Dihle and Closs, 4. Allen, 267.
517
Dihle, 112; Sigfried Hoyer, Reform, Reformation, Revolution (Leipzig: Karl Marx University, 1980), 34,
n. 10.
518
Larsson, 75.
519
Allen, 267.
520
Larsson, 75; Allen, 270.
521
Allen, 274; Lovén, 117.
522
Allen, 267.
523
Larsson, 75-77.
524
Ibid.
176
hope of relief in case of attack.525 The castle was under the command of Erik Eriksson,
who vacillated in his loyalty, though at present he sided with Sweden.526 Seeing,
however, the threatening proximity of Christian’s army, Eriksson surrendered the castle
on Sunday, July 17, to Christian without a fight.527 On Monday, July 18, the Danish force
occupied Älvsborg with much of Christian’s siege force remaining encamped outside the
fortress. Erik Eriksson and about sixty others made their way to the nearby Swedish
force, who promptly killed him.528 The Swedish force immediately marched to Älvsborg
to retake it.529 They failed in this endeavor, and it is their attempt that Dolnstein captures
here. The Danish force led by Prince Christian succeeded in putting down the Swedish
resistance.530
Dolnstein draws his fellow Landsknechts on the left side of this sketch which spans
two pages. He draws the Swedish peasants on the right. The front row of Landsknechts
on the left have lowered their pikes while the second and third rows hold theirs vertical.
The pikes in in the first and second rows show shadows as do the bills among the Swedes
and the post on which their cock is fastened.531 The fourth and fifth rows of Landsknechts
are halberdiers and standard bearers.532 As Dolnstein describes, they are indeed all
wearing breastplates, though we can not see the backplates. The Landsknechts wear skirts
525
Ibid.
526
Ibid.
527
Ibid.
528
Ibid.
529
The Swedish force heard the news on the night between Monday and Tuesday. They attacked on
Wednesday. Larsson, 75-77.
530
Sawyer, 75-77. In 1523, Sweden would win its independence from Denmark, which was then under the
rule of this man. As king, he was known as Christian the Tyrant. Knut Helle, The Cambridge History of
Scandinavia: Prehistory to 1520 (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 759-762.
531
The cock was a symbol of lust and appears frequently in images either mocking Landsknechte or
associating them with death and lust. Moxey, 80-82. For images and descriptions of the bill as a weapon,
see Christer Jörgensen, Michael F. Pavkovic, Rob S. Rice, Frederick C. Schneid, and Chris L. Scott,
Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World, AD 1500 - AD 1763: Equipment, Combat Skills, and
Tactics (New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005), 9.
532
It appears that there is another row of halberds faintly visible behind the fifth row.
177
of armor and cuisses to protect their thighs. Though they are not identical, their helmets
are visible and are similar to one another in style. The rearmost man in the second row
and the man just in front of him both lack face guards. An arrow pierces the eye of
former and the cheek of the man just in front of him. Blood streams from their wounds,
but the men do not fall. Though Dolnstein writes of arm braces in his text, it is difficult to
make out braces in the image. Dolnstein draws an arrow in the forearm of the man whose
cheek is wounded. This man has also received an arrow just above the knee, and yet he
marches stolidly forward. An arrow still flies suspended in the air, shooting directly for
his hip. A broken arrow lies on the ground at the feet of the men in the front row. A
Landsknecht has fallen, and an arrow point appears through the back of his head. In his
hand is a faded weapon. Arrows pierce the lower thighs and shins of Landsknechts in the
front row, blood streaming from their wounds. Yet, still they maintain their hold on the
pikes. Incidentally, the Landsknechts do not all grasp their pikes the same way. The
hands of the first and second men in the front row face the reader. Farther back, the rear
hands face the reader, and the front hands face away from the reader.
In the center of the page are three Swedes, identifiable by their chest plates and
baggy trousers. Two lie on the ground. The fallen man in the middle has an arrow
through his calf. An arrow flies over him and toward the front rank of Landsknechts. At
the foreground, a Swedish peasant is about to join him on the ground as the frontmost
Landsknecht pierces the still upright Swede through the neck with his pike. The peasant
warrior loses his grip on his crossbow as the pike makes contact. The front rank aims
crossbows at the Landsknechts. There is a crossbowman on both ends of the second row.
Neither of them yet take aim. Inside the second row are bills and a number of these “good
178
pikes made from swords.”533 The third row seems to have crossbowmen protecting their
standards. Moving from the foreground into the image, the third rank has four
crossbowmen. All of them still have their weapons shouldered, as they stand with an
ensign, a man carrying a rooster on a post, and four more crossbowmen. The standard
displays a common cross, which Sven Ekdahl sees as representing the Swedish royalty.534
Behind this rank, men armed with staff swords and bills seem to make up the ranks,
interspersed among one another with no apparent regularity. One of the Swedes wears his
bundle and canteen. Perhaps this is intended to suggest that they all wore them, but only
one is drawn with these items. They wear similar breastplates, shoes, and wide-legged
pants like those of the Swede in Sketch 4. Their helmets are varied and come from an
earlier period.535 But the Swedes are well armored and well armed with bills, crossbows,
and staff swords.536 Several of these men appear to wear swords. Though Dolnstein
characterizes the Swedes as motley; they are not undisciplined. In this initial moment of
collision, they hold their own. The Swedes still maintain their ranks in an orderly fashion,
though given Dolnstein’s claim that 1800 Germans defeated 14,000 Swedes, disorder
among the peasant army must have followed hot on the heels of this moment.
Assuming that Dolnstein describes and illustrates what is important to him or to
his audience, we can assume that he wishes to communicate the details of how his
German comrades and Swedish opponents were matched. Curiously, the tactical manner
by which the Germans won is not of interest to him at all. God, not superior discipline
and training, is why they won. That the Germans were so heavily outnumbered by an
533
Dihle and Closs, 10-11.
534
Ekdahl, “Die Bewaffnung der Schwedischen Bauern im Mittelalter,” 24-25.
535
Dihle and Closs, 10.
536
Ibid., 10-11.
179
army that he represents as armored and well equipped interests Dolnstein. Whether it is
humility or a genuine sense that God was responsible for the German victory, Dolnstein
offers nothing to explain the means by which the German victory came about. In
describing the enemy as well equipped and numerous and as something requiring God’s
intervention to overcome, Dolnstein emphasizes the greatness of the victory. If the
Swedish peasants were not armored and were not well armed, it may still be a feat for
1800 well trained, well armed, and well armored men to fend off 14,000 of them. In
giving the Swedes their due, the German victory is that much more impressive. Dolnstein
describes the Swedes’ converted swords as “good pikes made from swords,” portrays the
peasant troops as wearing at least breastplates and helmets, and calls their attack
formidable. 1800 men defeating 14,000 is impressive on its own, but if these 14,000
attacked “formidably,” were armored and well armed, then such a feat is even more
impressive.
Item in Norway we captured . . . a strong castle that is called Älvsborg, which we

burned. Of us there were 18 hundred Germans. Then the Swedish peasants,
14,000 strong, fell upon us in the camp in such a manner as here. They formidably
attacked us. God gave us victory, and he smote the greater part of them
completely dead. We all had backplates and breastplates and helmets and arm
braces. And they had crossbows and good spears made of swords. Afterwards the
king of Denmark knighted us, and he did us honor, and paid us well and
transported us over the sea in the year 1503. There I, Paul von Dolnstain, saw
action. Lord Sigmund List was chief colonel.537
Indeed, so impressive is this feat that the King of Denmark knights Dolnstein and his
comrades, doing them honor, and paying them well before sending them on their way.
Stories of this sort told at the tavern and in the guild hall must have been appealing to
men considering a stint in mercenary service. Further, the telling and retelling of war
537
180
stories is an example of how the warrior in the artisan who has seen battle never ceases to
exist. The soldier in the civilian lives on in his memory, in scars, and in stories.
This is the only sketch in which Dolnstein mentions God. So surprising a victory
against such overwhelming numbers must have been a terrifying and thrilling experience.
That God gave them victory, that God killed most of the Swedes is interesting. Giving
God the credit for an otherwise inexplicable victory was hardly uncommon, but it is also
possible that Dolnstein actually thought that God was on his side. He describes how the
Swedish peasants attacked “us” in camp, and he gives God the credit for the victory.
Nowhere else does he do this. It seems that Dolnstein was in serious doubt of victory at
this point, and that God’s intervention is the natural explanation, particularly when
Dolnstein is on the side of upholding God-ordained authority against rebellion.
Mercenary though he was, Dolnstein was never on the side of rebels in his
sketches. In fact, he is always in every sketch, on the side of authority. In Montfort, he
fights to uphold Maximilian’s authority. In the Landshut or Bavarian War, he is on the
side of Maximilian, upholding Maximilian’s ruling in an inheritance case. In Sweden, he
is on the side of the King of Denmark, sent by Frederick the Wise to help the king.
Dolnstein happened to live in the realm of the allied cousin of the emperor. Clearly,
Frederick the Wise would not have been likely to allow commanders to recruit in his
lands for campaigns that would undermine his own interests. Because Frederick was
allied to the symbol of authority, nominal though Maximilian’s authority may have been
at times, commanders recruiting in Frederick’s realm were apt to recruit for campaigns on
the side of authority. Thus it is not peculiar that Dolnstein was always, at least in the
181
sketches he provides, on the side of authority.538 Indeed, he himself seems to have been
that Landsknecht so lauded in art, that Landsknecht who represented Maximilian’s
imperial power and the upholding of order.539
Dolnstein illustrates his fellow Landsknechts with beards, and most of the
peasants have none, raising the question of age versus style. Perhaps the peasants were
younger as a rule than Dolnstein's comrades in the front few lines of the pike. There is
shading on helmets, armor, clothing, and weapons. As mentioned earlier, attention to
detail would have been a major part of Dolnstein's work as a master builder. As in
Sketches 13, 17, 18, and 19, he mentions his commander, in this case Sigmund List.540
Dolnstein places himself with this commander at the scene of action with his phrase,
“There I, Paul von Dolnstein, saw action.” Dolnstien's mention of Sigmund List, who was
in the service of Frederick the Wise during the same period that Dolnstein was, 1494 -
1502, may in this instance have been a familiar, local name to Dolnstein's audience.541
Sigmund List might have been well known in Torgau and throughout Frederick’s lands.
List’s name suggests the possibility of a connection between ‘A Hundred’ or ‘One
Hundred’ on the title page and the men of Saxony. He worked as a military commander
for Frederick the Wise from 1494 through 1502.542 He may have commanded a number
of Dolnstein's forays into the military world if indeed Dolnstein fought more than he has
depicted here. The ‘hundred’ could have been a group of men, perhaps even mostly
538
Further, while Maximilian was perennially wanting for funds, money was generally more readily found
among authorities than rebels. Since Landsknechts followed the money, so to speak, it is natural that one
would find them often on the side of authority.
539
Moxey, 100.
540
Sigfried Hoyer, Reform, Reformation, Revolution (Leipzig: Karl Marx University, 1980), 34, n. 10.
541
Dihle, 112.
542
Ibid.
182
Saxon craftsmen from the building trades serving intermittently under commanders like
List working for Frederick the Wise.
Whether Ein Hunderd refers to a body of men in and out of military service or
not, Dolnstein’s mention of Sigmund List brings the reader back to Saxony where
Sigmund List was a local man. In naming this particular commander as in naming
Albrecht of Saxony and Hans Weichsdorf in Sketch 18, Dolnstein continually
demonstrates his status as a sedentary Landsknecht. He does not uproot himself in the
pay of the highest bidder. He retains his ties to his home as he goes off to war. Even as he
is fully warrior in this moment, he will return, if he lives, to his artisan world.
183
Figure 40. Sketch 16, A Close Call Outside Landshut.543
543
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 10v-11r. Stamped with an 11
on the recto side.
184
Text
pawlß von dolnstain jm pawrschn krieg 1
stieß vor lantzhut auß dj pfaltz greffysch wartt 2
kam an schadn ab 3
Translation:
Paulus von Dolnstain in the Bavarian War 1
bumped into the Count Palatine’s watch outside Landshut, 2
[and] came away without injury. 3
Commentary
In this sketch, Dolnstein demonstrates that he has achieved the means to afford a
horse and armor. Perhaps he had always had the means, for instance if his father was a
successful builder. It is not unreasonable, however, to propose that Dolnstein has had to
earn whatever status he holds in this image.544 Whether economic success has come from
his work in the pay of Frederick the Wise as a master builder or from his battlefield
earnings of pay and booty we do not know. Dolnstein was clearly successful in his
civilian work as we see his name with that of Lucas Cranach the Elder as the only two
people to receive gifts of English cloth for a French style of robe in the year 1513.545 But
we also know from his 1499 letter expressing his concern that building would have to
halt, that funding was not reliable in his civilian work. Landsknechts too did not always
receive the pay they were promised. They had other means of compensation, however.
Booty could be lucrative, though it rarely brought the kind of wealth it was rumored to
deliver. Thus, we do not know if Dolnstein obtained the means to acquire horse and
544
Note again the possibility that Dolnstein may have been a mounted civilian auxiliary for the entirety of
his career.
545
Dihle and Closs, 2.
185
armor through military or civilian work or through both. It is likely that his success as a
master builder and his presumed presence at court paved the way for his success in his
martial service, particularly if he was known to his military commander and respected by
him in the civilian world. Of the three commanders he names, Sigmund List and Hans
Weichsdorf served Frederick the Wise. It is thus entirely possible that they knew
Dolnstein in his role as a skilled civilian entrusted with the prince’s building projects. As
member of a guild and a man at the princely court, however periodically, Dolnstein was a
man of some favor. It is entirely possible that whatever success he achieved, whatever
level of trust he enjoyed in his military and civilian worlds augmented one another. This
essay will follow the pattern of providing a brief historical background to the sketch
followed by an exploration of the sketch itself.
This sketch and Sketch 18 depict events from the Bavarian or Landshut War of
1504. Sparked by a failure to honor a treaty between the Dukes of Bavaria-Landshut and
Bavaria-Munich, the Bavarian War brought Paul Dolnstein into conflict through his
service to Hans Weichsdorf under Maximilian I.546 Duke Georg of Bavaria-Landshut had
named his daughter Elizabeth and her husband Ruprecht Countess and Count of the
Palatinate, making them his heirs to these lands.547 When Georg died in 1503, Ruprecht
asserted his claim to the Palatinate.548 However, Georg’s leaving the Palatinate to his
daughter and son-in-law was a violation of an agreement between the Bavaria-Landshut
and Bavaria-Munich duchies. This agreement had stipulated that without a male heir, the
546
Joachim Whaley, Germany and the Holy Roman Empire: Volume I: Maximian I to the Peace of
Westphalia, 1493-1648 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 78; ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und
Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 12v-13r.
547
Whaley, 78; Andrew L. Thomas, A House Divided: Wittelsbach Confessional Court Cultures in
Bavaria, the Palatinate, and Bohemia, c. 1550-1640 (Ph.D. diss., Purdue University, 2007), 30-31.
548
Heinrich Ulmann. Kaiser Maximilian I, vol. 2 (Stuttgart, 1884-91), 178-181.
186
Palatinate was to go to Bavaria-Munich. Thus, after Georg’s death, his cousin Duke
Albrecht of Bavaria-Munich was the legal heir.549 The disagreement turned into war
when Ruprecht, in an alliance with King Jagiellon Ladislas II of Bohemia, resorted to
force to assert his claim, capturing the town of Landshut.550 The event Dolnstein pictures
here occurs at Landshut.551 Albrecht found support in Emperor Maximilian, who chose to
assist the weaker party in this affair. 552 Ruprecht died of dysentery on the 20 of August.
th
Elizabeth followed him on the 15 of September.553 Already losing the war, the Palatine
th
force withdrew.554 Maximilian’s forces with which Paul Dolnstein served succeeded in
capturing the town of Landshut.555 Brief though it was, the Bavarian War was a
devastating affair, laying waste to the countryside.556 Dihle also notes that this brief war
was characterized by clashes exactly like the one Dolnstein almost experienced here --
violent encounters among small detachments and patrols.557
Here Dolnstein captures the moment when he encounters the enemy watch,
"Paulus von Dolnstain in the Bavarian War bumped into Count Palatine’s watch outside
Landshut, [and] came away without injury." On the left page of this sketch are three
armored riders. The hindmost and foremost carry crossbows while the middle of the three
is armed with a pole arm, the top of which is not visible. This rider with the pole arm also
549
Thomas, 31; Whaley, 78.
550
Whaley, 78. Wiesflecker, vol. 3 (1971-86), 175-176.
551
Incidentally, it was here that Gotz von Berlichingen lost his hand. Stuart, H.S.M., ed. The
Autobiography of Götz von Berlichingen (London: Duckworth, 1956), 24-25.
552
Whaley, 78; Volker Press, "The Habsburg Lands: The Holy Roman Empire, 1400 - 1555," in Handbook
of European History 1400 - 1600: Late Middle Ages, Renaissance and Reformation, vol. 1, ed. Thomas A.
Brady, Jr., Heiko Al Oberman, James D. Tracy (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994), 448.
553
Wiesflecker, 191.
554
Whaley, 78.
555
It may be of interest that both Maximilian and the city of Nuremberg gained territory by assisting
Albrecht in this fight. Charles Zika, Exorcising Our Demons: Magic, Witchcraft, and Visual Cutlure in
Early Modern Europe (Leiden: Brill, 2003), 558.
556
Dihle & Closs, 7; Thomas, 31; Richard Hoffmann and Georg Hager, Die Kunstdenkmäler of Oberpfalz
and Regensburg, vol. 6. (München: R. Oldenbourg, 1906), 6.
557
Dihle and Closs, 7.
187
wears a sword. All three wear helmets with visors of differing styles. They wear full
armor on their upper bodies, though it is difficult to determine the extent of armor on
their lower bodies. Their horses appear to be completely unarmored. Dolnstein draws the
fetlocks of two of the horses and details the tack on them all. There is a line leading from
the breast of the foremost horse down across the second page into the writing at the
bottom of the second page. This line seems to indicate that the three enemy horsemen are
on a hill. Were it not for this line, it would not be clear that these two pages are part of
the same sketch. With the line and the text, it is clear that these three are the watch of
Ruprecht, Count Palatine, to whom Dolnstein refers.
Above his text on the right page, Dolnstein portrays himself as a horseman. Here,
'von' could be taken as a claiming of his newly acquired knightly status. Though being
knighted by a foreign king would not have held the same tangible benefits as having been
knighted by his own prince, Dolnstein is now a knight in status if not in military rank.
Note that his weapon is not a lance; it is neither as thick nor as long. Below is an example
of a lance.
This segment from Sketch 12 is of the frontmost knight. Note how the knight's lance
widens gradually from the tip to where it reaches the rider's hand. In this image from the
Royal Armouries, one might see more clearly this widening.

558
188
Figure 42. Lances, Sixteenth Century.559
The widening up to the abrupt cutting away for a grip is clearly evident in Figure 42 and
is absent in Dolnstein's weapon. The shaft of his weapon is of even thickness and appears
to be a short pike. This short pike has a point at the bottom similar to the points at the
bottom of several halberds in the sketchbook, for example the halberd in Sketch 4.
Dolnstein's horse is unarmored except for a chanfron across the forehead and face.560
Taking care with the details, Dolnstein includes his spurs and what appear to be nails in
his horse's hooves. Dolnstein draws full tack on his horse: bridle, reins, breast collar,
girth strap, and crupper similar to that on the foremost horse among the Palatine watch.561
Dolnstein does not include spurs on the other riders. He may have neglected to add these
details, or their lack of visibility may be a matter of foregrounding. Dolnstein may be
showing himself as having gotten away, as being beyond the Palatine watch, far enough
that he could not see such details.
When Dolnstein says that he bumped into the Count Palatine watch, it appears
that only one of the watchmen takes notice of him. The two in the rear are engaged in
559
Board of Trustees of the Armouries, “Lances, Tapered, Fluted, Painted, English, 16th Century,” Royal
Armouries Collections Online.
560
Ffoulkes, 8.
561
Charles Johnson Post, Horse Packing: a Manual of Pack Transportation (New York: Outing Publishing
Co., 1914), 11.
189
conversation, not paying attention to their surroundings at all. Only the horseman nearest
Dolnstein notices him. His visor is lowered, and he aims his readied crossbow at
Dolnstein. The watchman's horse looks in the other direction. It is as though the
watchman only thinks he sees Dolnstein, that he is not sure and gazes in readiness.
Dolnstein looks over his shoulder, keeping an eye on the watchmen as he rides away.
Dolnstein either draws his horse's head toward the threat, or the horse turns of his own
accord. Perhaps he has reined in his mount in order to move more quietly, but they appear
to be moving away while remaining focused on the danger. Dolnstein pictures himself
alone but does not explain what he was doing. He is fully armored from the hips upward
and possibly on his legs as well. He appears to have cops on his knees, which must be
connected to armor over his thighs, though it is difficult to determine if the lines on his
knees are hose or armor. What may have been obvious to Dolnstein's audience is not
clear to the modern viewer.
Even so, details are a constant in this drawing as in others, reminding us of his
background as a master builder. He includes elements of the horse tack. For instance, he
varies the width of girth and breast straps, and styles of breeching and reins. It is also
interesting that his horse's tail hangs free while the horses of the watch have docked
tails.562 Dolnstein leaves no doubt as to the gender of his horse or that of the rearmost
horse among the Palatine watch. Perhaps he remembers these details vividly. Perhaps he
adds them for variety with no clear memory of the specific style of tack on the enemies’
horses.
562
Armand Goubaux and Gustav Barrier, The Exterior of the Horse, 2nd ed., translated and ed. Simon J.J.
Harger (Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1892), 171.
190
Well armored and astride a horse, Dolnstein has clearly arrived at an enviable
status for late medieval-early modern guildsmen and warriors. He has enough wealth to
equip himself and his horse nicely. He is a man of some means. In some respects, he is a
military reflection of the status of a successful master craftsman. Whether he has
achieved the means to purchase horse and armor as an artisan or a warrior or both we do
not know. We do not know the degree to which his mercenary service under the
command of Frederick’s cousin Albrecht of Saxony, of Frederick’s commander Sigmund
List, and in Sketch 18 Frederick’s commander Hans Weichsdorf augmented Dolnstein’s
reputation as a master builder. His mercenary service may have had no impact at all. That
seems doubtful, however. These men were all connected to Dolnstein’s prince, Frederick
the Wise. Well executed military service to them at the very least cannot have hurt him in
Frederick’s world.
191
Figure 43. Sketch 17, Siege of Castle on Western Coast of Sweden.563
563
192
Text
Top Left:
jn norwedn
Translation:
In Norway
Bottom Center:
diß slaß leit iij meil von elspurgk 1
waß der swedn ließ her sigmunth lis 2
karb voll fewr bergk an daß tor treÿbn 3
vnd vff geprant domitt er obert ij c knecht564 4
mit jr565 wer566 hin weck laßen ziehn vngefangn 5
darnach daß sloß vor prant dornstag nach jacob 6
...................... ich pawl567 dolnstain peÿ gewest.568 7
Translation:
This castle lies 3 miles from Älvsborg. 1
It belonged to the Swedes. Lord Sigmund List ordered 2
sheaves full of explosives to be taken to the gate, 3
and burned [it and] thereby captured [it]. 4
[We] allowed 200 soldiers to leave uncaptured with their weapons. 5
Afterward the castle burned [on the] Thursday after St. Jacob's Day569 6
564
He uses Ritter for 'knight' and knecht for soldier.
565
Larsson and Dihle see jv as in 4.
566
Both Larsson and Dihle see wag. Larsson translates this as vagnar 'wagons' or 'carts.' Christopher S.
Mackay, University of Alberta, sees wer.
567
I cannot see pawl here even with the aid of photo adjustment. I must rely on Dihle's 1929 transcription.
Perhaps it was less faded when she viewed it. Perhaps Larsson is relying on Dihle's transcription as well.
568
For peÿ gewest I can see enough to verify that it is probably this. It is very faded, however.
569
Larsson marks this as July 25th. Larsson, 84.
193
...................... There I, Paul Dolnstain, saw action. 7
Commentary
In Sketch 17, Dolnstein’s thoughts return to Sweden. Although he does not use the
name Öresten for this castle, the consensus is that he is probably describing the
destruction of Öresten.570 If this is indeed the location, it is called today Slottsberget, the
Castle Hill, and lies on the west coast of Sweden.571 Following the capture of Älvsborg
(Sketches 15 and 19), Prince Christian’s army moved on to nearby Öreseten. This was
another important stronghold for Sten Sture the Elder’s army.572 Dating to about 1365,
this castle had been burned and rebuilt in the fifteenth century during another Swedish
rebellion against Danish rule.573 Christian’s forces, in which Dolnstein was fighting,
captured this castle and burned it.574 Afterwards, there was a mutiny in Christian’s army,
requiring him to depart for Denmark.575 Dolnstein makes no mention of a mutiny.
Instead, he expresses an interest in the structure, topography, and the means by which the
structure could be captured. Once again, the appeal to artisans of belonging to a body of
successful warriors is evident.
Dolnstein illustrates five towers and a curtain wall. A rectangular or square
bastion stands on the far left. Extending backward is a curtain wall on which Dolnstein
has drawn supports, presumably for a walk, on the interior side. Beyond that is a round
570
Dihle, 4-5; Larsson, 83-84; Lovén, 120.
571
Lovén, 120-122. Öresten appears to be about thirty kilometers from Älvsborg. This is within the range
of distance that Dolnstein references. A medieval German mile was about 4.6 modern miles or 7.5
kilometers, though the actual distance varied widely. Ulrich von Zatzikhoven, Lanzelet, translated by
Thomas Kerth (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005), 196, n. 147.
572
Larsson, 84-85; Dihle and Closs, 4. Allen, 275.
573
Larsson 75-77.
574
Ibid. The castle was later rebuilt, and in 1521 the peasants in the surrounding area, received permission
to destroy the castle. For this freedom, so to speak, from the destructive presence of soldiers, the peasants
paid 100 head of oxen to the crown annually. Lovén, 120-121.
575
Larsson, 85-86. Allen, 275.
194
tower that seems attached to an inner structure rather than to the curtain wall. The interior
comprises at least one building equipped with arrow loops. Three windows and two
dormers line the facing wall, and an interior road leads to a doorway between the tower
and the front structure. Above this doorway appears to be an uncovered wall walk. There
is a chimney on the front structure, and a small alcove juts out to the right on the upper
floor on this building.
Behind these is what appears to be a second building with two chimneys and five
visible windows. Next to and behind these buildings is a square tower with a steepled
roof. Moving forward along the curtain wall, we encounter two more square towers and a
gate. With the exception of the rear tower on the right, the towers have arrow loops.
Dolnstein adds shading to these structures, further demonstrating his attention to detail.
The sun appears to be behind and to the left of him. The gatehouse has a roof and two
arrow slits. The gate itself appears not to be the strong oak door one would expect.
Rather, one can see right through it. Dolnstein has drawn a portcullis with horizontal bars
across only the bottom third. There are cannons of a sort perched at angles on a rise or
ridge on both sides of the road leading to the gate. Dolnstein has drawn circles on either
side of large boards running underneath each barrel. These circles are presumably bolts.
The cannon are part of the artillery of the Danish force.576
The castle is on a short but steep rise as Dolnstein represents it. Christian Lovén
provides a topographical map of the castle site:
576
The mountings are puzzling. The cannon appear to be bolted to the rock. At present, I do not have an
explanation for this.
195
Figure 44. Topographical Map of the Öresten Castle Site.577
We see the concentric rings and a varying rise of about 25-65 feet in the half mile around
the highest point. This is part of an area of rolling hills, and the castle lay on a seemingly
easily defensible position.
Dolnstein illustrates but one approach to this castle. A steep road leads up to a
reinforced gate. Yet, under the command of Sigmund List the Germans in the Danish
force were able to take it. Dolnstein pictures no men in the castle, no men on the
ramparts. At Montfort, Dolnstein drew defenders outside the castle. Of the at least 200
Swedes inside this place, however, Dolnstein pictures none. He is interested in the
structure and his comrades' part in capturing it.
This castle lies 3 miles from Älvsborg. The Swedes held it. Lord Sigmund List
ordered sheaves full of explosives to be taken to the gate, and burned [it and]
thereby captured [it]. [We] allowed 200 soldiers to leave uncaptured with their
weapons. Afterward, the castle burned [on the] Thursday after St. Jacob's Day
...................... There I, Paul Dolnstain, saw action.
577
Lovén, 121.
196
He does not show the place burning. He does not describe what the burning sounded and
looked like. The effect of such a sight does not make its way into his notebook. What
interests Dolnstein, what he sees as worthy of preservation, at least for his artisan
audience, are primarily the structure itself and how his commander captured it.
He states the castle’s distance from Älvsborg and that it was in Norway. He notes
which men held the stronghold but not their commander. He also records who his own
commander was, and how his side captured the castle: by using explosives to burn the
gate, which may have been a wooden portcullis. Dolnstein does not mention how many,
if any, Germans were wounded in the conveyance of explosives to the gate. Such a task
would have been a dangerous one. Surely the defenders did not simply allow the
Germans to walk up to the gate without offering some sort of resistance. They must have
fired on the Landsknechts hauling explosives to the gate. Dolnstein includes these
German soldiers who carried the necessary fuel. Perhaps Dolnstein makes them a focal
point them because their action was so courageous.
Though Dolnstein does not explain what fewr bergk are, a reasonable conclusion
might be gunpowder treated kindling and firewood or a large clump of gunpowder inside
the firewood. A single gunshot hitting such bundles in their arms could conceivably have
ignited the powder, adding to the standard danger of facing fire. Yet he does not describe
any fight at all. They burned the gate and allowed 200 Swedish soldiers to walk away
with their weapons. Interestingly here, Dolnstein does not describe them as Swedish
peasants. They are Swedes and soldiers. One wonders if this was the Swedish peasant
army or a different class of men. Dolnstein notes the day of the castle's burning, Thursday
after St. Jacob's Day. The sound and sight of this place burning must have been
197
extraordinary. Perhaps for a warrior, however, or for anyone in this period the mere
mention of it was enough. Dolnstein also notes that he was here; he saw action here. He
engaged in combat. These are the things that matter to him and to his audience.
Dolnstein's calm description of this event, his drawing of the structure not burning
but as it was when they captured, it is fascinating. He draws no men except those of his
own side. It is worth mentioning that the handwriting here appears different from
elsewhere in the sketchbook. It is similar to that on the bottom of Sketch 2. However,
perhaps it is merely a matter of writing surface. The next page is blank, indicating that
perhaps he left space for another drawing later.578
578
Larsson, 74.
198
Figure 45. Sketch 18, Siege of Arnschwang.579
579
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 12v-13r. Stamped with 13 on
recto side.
199
Text
Left by Palisade:
Item580 Diss ast581 ein grab und wal
Translation:
Item. This is a ditch and wall.
Far Left:
Diss dorff heist arn schwangk j meil von kamb 1
hat her hanß weygsdorff von straw burg auß gewünen582 2
Dj wer sein hultzn mit dickem claÿb vnder der erde genug583 3
hie soln noch 23 slagn und falkenetth stenn da pin ich pawl dolnstain584 4
peÿ gewest ist alzeÿt ein r...ler eÿ... ............ 5
.................... 6
Translation:
This town is called Arnschwang 1 mile from Cham. 1
Lord Hans Weichsdorf of Straussberg captured [it]. 2
The defenses are made of wood, the thick clay underground being
sufficient. 3
Here 23 guns and falconets are also supposed to be standing. There I, Paul
Dolnstein, 4
saw action. There is always a ..... ..... ............ 5
580
Dihle sees Ith. Itz would be jetzt in Baufeld.
581
Dihle: ist. Ast is a branch.
582
Dihle: ausgenummen.
583
Dihle: grams.
584
da pin ich pawl dolnstain is illegible now. This comes from Dihle's 1929 transcription. The shadows are
there for these words, but I can not verify them.
200
.................... 6
In the Middle:
Der platz
Translation:
The Square
On the Outer Wall Lower Right:
pfar kirch
Translation:
parish church
Bottom Right:
dj kam585 gat586 var vber jn grabn.
Translation:
The ridge gate was over a ditch.
Commentary
This sketch returns the reader to the Landshut War of 1503 - 1504. The Bavarian
town of Arnschwang is about 750 miles from Öresten Castle, and Dolnstein may have
gone directly from Sweden into preparations for this war. Arnschwang was among the
towns that Ruprecht and Elizabeth’s forces had siezed.587 Dolnstein was fighting on the
opposing side, that of Ruprecht and Elizabeth’s cousin, Duke Albrecht of Bavaria-
Munich. Hans Weichsdorf appears to have been Dolnstein’s commander, and he captured
this town for Duke Albrecht of Bavaria-Munich. Weichsdorf and Dolnstein were serving
585
This seems to be a noun, not the 3rd pers. pret. of kommen. Grimm: Kamm is a noun. Baufeld offers m.
Kamm for crest or ridge.
586
Götze provides gater: m. n. Gittertor, which is a paled gate.
587
Ruprecht had also siezed Cham at this time. Dihle & Closs, 7; Hoffman and Hager, 17.
201
among the forces Maximilian had sent to assist Duke Albrecht of Bavaria-Munich. In
1503, Weichsdorf left the office of Schultheiss of Nuremberg, and went into the service
of Frederick the Wise.588 Here Dolnstein's background as a builder is apparent in both the
sketch and text.
With the primary text inscribed along the outer edge of the left page, the sketch
fills two pages. The text reads:
This town is called Arnschwang 1 mile from Cham. Lord Hans Weichsdorf of
Straußberg captured [it]. The defenses are made of wood, the thick clay
underground being sufficient. Here 23 guns and falconets are also supposed to be
standing.589 There I, Paul Dolnstain, saw action. There is always a .....
As he has in every Event Sketch, Dolnstein identifies the location. He may have provided
a date as well, but if he has, it is illegible now due to water damage. He identifies his
commander, Hans Weichsdorf, and states that the action was successful. Weichsdorf
captured the village. Dolnstein describes the defenses here as he does in Sketch 19. As a
builder, he knows soil types, and he asserts that, “the thick clay underground is
sufficient.” This seems to mean that the clay is thick enough to hold the wooden palisade
posts in place. Having built and overseen the construction of foundations in his civilian
life, particularly the building of Torgau Bridge which involved the erection of bridge
piers, Dolnstein would know the varying supportive qualities of soil. Next, Dolnstein
describes the weapons: “Here 23 guns and falconets are supposed to be standing.” In
588
Georg Wolfgang Karl Lochner, Lebensläufe berühmter und verdienter Nürnberger, (Nuremberg: J.L.
Schrag, 1861), 28; Willibald Pirchkeimer, Willibald Pirchheimers Briefwechsel 1940), 185, n. 18; Cecil
Headlam, The Story of Nuremberg (London: Aldine House, 1899), 62; Christopph Wilhelm Friedrich
Stromer on Reichenbach, Geschichte und Gerechtsame des Reichsschultheisenamtes zu Nürnberg
(Nuremberg: Johann Gottfried Stiebner, 1797), 93.
589
In other words, Dolnstein may be saying that he has not drawn all of the guns, that there are supposed to
be 23 guns and falconets, and he did not draw them all. As noted above, because noch can also carry the
meaning of ‘still,’ this could also mean that Dolnstein is writing years after this event and that the guns are
still there. However, falconets are not cannon to stand outside for years on end. Hence, ‘also’ or ‘in
addition to’ is a better interpretation of ‘noch.’ Shawn Boyd, University of North Dakota, per electronic
correspondence, March 8, 2012.
202
other words, in addition to the previously mentioned defensive works, there are supposed
to be 23 guns and falconets standing here. He seems to be explaining that he did draw all
of the artillery that was present at this town. As in Sketch 17, Dolnstein places himself
here as a warrior, not just in depicting the scene but in claiming his participation: “There
I, Paul Dolnstein, saw action.” The rest of the text is illegible.
Above and to the right of the text are pencil markings. The letters “vg” also
appear. The pencil drawings may be builders' marks or even doodling. They do not
appear to be cardinal directions. According to Google Earth, North-South would roughly
follow the street Dolnstein calls Der Platz.590 Next to the main text, Dolnstein has drawn
two cannons. Above these are the words, "Item. This is a ditch and wall." He has drawn
the ditch with a simple line between his text and the wooden palisade. This wall is bound
together and has a look similar to the posts in Sketch 13. Beginning at the bottom of the
left of the page, there is a road which the cannon overlook. The wall wraps around part of
the village, extending to an area Dolnstein characterizes as mountainous or at least hilly,
and indeed it is.591The wooden wall wraps around several groups of houses: one near the
road at the bottom of the sketch, another between the two leftmost towers, a group
between the two towers near the top of the sketch, another group in the middle of the
sketch, and two more groups near the castle.
The wall surrounds five square towers, at least the tops of which are wooden. The
tops jut out from the tower walls and have no visible supports for the protrusions. All of
the towers have what appear to be very small arrow loops.592 There are two square towers
590
“Arnschwang.” 49º 16’22” N and 12º 48’56” E. December 31, 2009. Google Earth. (accessed April 4,
2012).
591
Ibid.
592
These small marks could also be the ends of interior support beams.
203
outside the palisade wall as well. They are at the bottom of the sketch, one on the crease
of the two pages, the other on the right page. Of particular interest is what appears to be a
hay bale hanging by a thick rope from the upper part of this tower. One possible
explanation for this hay bale's peculiar location is that it serves as a protective, makeshift
covering for a hole in the tower wall. Dolnstein illustrates doors on these two outlying
towers. He draws the door of the upper of these two towers with horizontal and diagonal
lines. The lower tower door he pictures with only horizontal lines. The door on the tower
along the road marked “der platz” has only horizontal lines as well. The tower at the
bottom of the right page is clearly wooden as Dolnstein portrays it with horizontal
boards. Around this lower tower Dolnstein has drawn curving lines, which he seems to
use in other sketches such as Sketch 17 to convey steep or rugged terrain.
These towers are curious. A wooden palisade surrounds them all, except the one
at the bottom of the page, and each of these towers stands on its own small rise. They are
reminiscent of a collection of miniature motte-and-bailey castles, though they are not
motte-and-bailey.593 While wooden walls would splinter into dangerous projectiles when
ordinance made successful contact, stone walls would create far more deadly shrapnel. In
other words, these wooden walls would do less damage to the defenders if blown apart by
cannon fire. Further, Dolnstein’s portrayal of this elaborate wooden defensive complex
suggests that wooden fortifications were virtually as effective against ordinance as thin
stone walls.
593
Motte-and-bailey construction would have been primitive technology indeed by the time of Dolnstein’s
writing. Hence, it is not at all likely that these are motte-and-bailey, but they resemble what we see here.
Stephen Morillo describes the upper portion of motte-and-bailey castles as, “topped by a wooden tower and
a palisade around the top rim of the mound.” Stephen Morillo, Warfare Under the Anglo-Norman Kings,
1066-1135 (Rochester, NY: The Boydell Press, 1994), 86. Castles like this had been widespread in western
Europe, not solely in England or Normandy. Walter Janssen, “The International Background of Castle
Building in Central Europe,” in Danish Medieval History New Currents, ed. Niels Skyum-Nielsen and
Niels Lund (Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1981), 195-197.
204
A second wall extends from the tower along the road marked “der platz” to a
heavy wooden gate closing off the square or main road. Also connecting to this gate is a
wall extending to the tower in the middle of the page and a wall reaching to the
fortifications around the parish church. The bottom portion of the church wall on which
Dolnstein has written “pfar kirch” still exists today with the stream running beneath it.594
A wall or bridge appears next to the church on the left side near the largest group of
houses, complete with windows and doors. This may be another wooden palisade at the
base of the hill on which the church stands or a wooden bridge along this hill. Thus the
town seems to be divided into sections, each with varying levels of protection. Dolnstein
has drawn windows and doors on the houses between the church and main road or square
just as he has on a few of the houses in other parts of the town. There appear to be three
roads or paths. Two of them lead to the gate protecting the main road or square called der
platz. Dolnstein draws three different styles of bridge. The first connects these roads to
the gate.
This bridge appears to be short and simple, of timber logs or planks as indicated by the
circles on the edge of the bridge. Dolnstein draws no supports for this bridge. The second
bridge connects three roads to the parish church.
594
“Arnschwang.” 49º 16’22” N and 12º 48’56” E. 31 December, 2009. Google Earth (accessed April 4,
2012).
595
205
This bridge is longer and has heavy supports underneath it. It does not display the same
circles on the edge that would indicate logs. Dolnstein has written next to this bridge and
under the church wall, "The ridge gate passes over a ditch." Dolnstein draws the church
gatehouse door like the door of the tower with the haybale on it. He uses both horizontal
and diagonal lines. The outer protective wall around the church appears to have a wall
walk connecting it to the gate house and adjoining tower or bastion. The church’s
protective wall also has two small wooden structures requiring supports. One is a turret,
and the other is a small rectangular room. The church itself boasts a steepled square tower
with windows or arrow loops. Windows adorn the church: three large windows on the
facing wall, two smaller ones on the left wall, and a circular window at the top. There is
also a small structure on the roof of the church.
At the back of the village across a ravine is a castle. Straddling this ravine is a
wooden bridge with supports.
596
Ibid.
206
This bridge appears to combine the styles of the two other bridges. It is heavily supported
like the bridge at the parish church. There are circles on the edges indicating planks or
logs, though these must have been smoothed for the hooves of horses. Underneath this
log or plank surface, we can see a smooth board like that on the bridge of the parish
church.
The bridge leads to a portcullis. Unlike the gate or door, which appears to be a
partial portcullis in Sketch 17, this is a full grid all the way to the top. There are arrow
loops around the base of the exterior wall of the castle. The gatehouse also has arrow
loops on either side of the portcullis and above it. The house inside these walls boasts
windows of varying styles. The lower two on the facing wall are of small grids, while the
top three and the two on the left wall have four large panes each. Above these windows
are five turrets, and behind them all is a square tower with arrow loops.
Again with his focus on structures, we see Dolnstein's identity as a master builder
shining through his military memories. In the text accompanying this sketch he also
displays his knowledge of the reinforcing capabilities of different soil types. It is
indicative of his background as a builder that he knows that the thick clay at Arnschwang
is enough to hold the palisade walls. He draws this fortified town with care. The doors,
597
Ibid.
207
portcullis, and gate are all closed. It seems that once again, Dolnstein draws a town
before it has been taken. In other words, if these structures were destroyed, he illustrates
them before this happened when they were still sound buildings. It seems that Dolnstein
spent a good deal of time walking or riding around this town once Weichsdorf had
secured it. Dolnstein seems less interested in the many houses than in the church, castle,
towers, wall, and most of all, the bridges. These structures piqued his curiosity more than
did the basic house. One could characterize his variation in the bridge styles, particularly
their covering, or in the doors he drew with only horizontal versus horizontal and
diagonal lines, as merely dashing off a drawing as quickly as he could. This may be the
case. It seems, however, that just as he drew different styles of sword scabbards and
halberds, here he was drawing different styles in bridge building and door construction.
Of how ever many engagements Dolnstein saw, he chose to depict engagements
involving buildings more often than engagements on the open field. His choice to portray
this town with its complex of wooden towers and palisades reflects his civilian
background as a builder. This is a man who could no more leave behind his experience as
a craftsman when he went on the march than he could forget his wartime experience in
the guildhall.
208
Figure 49. Sketch 19, Siege of Älvsborg.598
598
Helene Dihle, "Zur Belagerung von Elfsborg i. j. 1502. Aus den Papieren eines deutschen
Landsknechts." Fornvännen: Meddelanden Från K. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, ed.
Sigurd Curman (1930, issue 25): Figure 36, unnumbered page. No stamping.
209
Text
This page was lost in World War II. However, Dihle included a copy of it in her
1930 article. The Swedish Army Museum has one of the few remaining copies of the
article. While I can confirm much of Dihle's and Larsson’s work, I am entirely in their
debt for transcription, because the copy to which I have access is not of sufficient quality
for full transcription. Below is Larsson's 1982 transcription. Other than his adherence to
the original lack of capital letters and use of ‘ß’ there are few differences between his
transcription and Dihle’s. Those differences are noted.
Top Left:
das sloß heist elspurgk 1
jn [crossed out word] norweden 2
habn dj tewtschn knecht 3
ir xviij c geslagen xiiij me599 4
man do600 waß601 herr sigmundt 5
list ein oberster hawbtman 6
das geschach mitwoch vor602 7
Jacobs603 tag do604 man schreib 8
me iiiijc ij Jar605 9
Translation:
The castle is called Älvsborg 1
599
Dihle sees tausand.
600
Dihle: da.
601
Götze, was is war.
602
Dihle: uor.
603
Dihle: Jacobb
604
Dihle: da.
605
Dihle: no iiiije ij jar.
210
in [crossed out word] Norway. 2
The German soldiers, 3
18 hundred of them, vanquished 14 thousand 4
men. There Lord Sigmund 5
List was a high commander.606 6
This happened on the Wednesday607 before 7
St. Jacob's Day in 8
the year one thousand five hundred two. 9
Bottom Right - Center:
adj608 1502 jar 1
das sloß is hultzen vnd ist mit wasen609 gedekt 2
vnd leit610 hoch jn aler gestalt wie hie das hat der 3
list jn dreyn tag genommen611 daß lag612 hat 4
pawls613 von tolnstain mit fleiß gemacht 5
ale venster mit donner püxen.614 6
606
As noted earlier, there are various ways to translate this, from the "colonel" to "captain general." Zophy,
40. I follow Fritz Redlich's lead with, “high commander.” Redlich, 11, n. 15. The Oberster Hauptmann
seems to be a second in command according to Friedrich Blau. Without specifically using the term
Oberster Hauptmann, he describes the Hauptleute as lieutenants who acted as commander in the Obrist’s
absence. Perhaps Dolnstein is here suggesting that the prince was not at this location and that Sigmund List
acted in the prince’s capacity as commander. Die Deutschen Landsknechte: Ein Kulturbild, 3rd ed.
(Vienna: Phaidon Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1985), 39-41.
607
Arrived on the 14th of July and took the castle on the 18th of July. Dihle, 109. Allen also has the Danish
force arriving on the 14th of July. Allen, 270. Per Larsson, the 14th was Thursday. This would make the
18th, the day that the Danes occupied the castle, Monday. Larsson notes that the Swedes encamped nearby
with Åke Hansson received the news on the night between Monday and Tuesday. Hence, the Swedish
attack on Paul Dolnstein’s comrades happened on Wednesday, July 20th. Larsson, 76.
608
Götze: Adi is am Tage. So this could also be more generally, "In the year 1502..." rather than adj as in
anno domini.
609
Götze: wasen is Rasen,Torf, peat.
610
Götze: leit is liegt.
611
Dihle: gewunen.
612
Dihle: lag. Larsson: lager
613
Dihle: pawll; Larsson: paulus
211
Translation:
In the year of our Lord 1502 1
The castle is wooden and is covered with turf 2
and lies high in all parts as it does here. This 3
List took in three days. The camp615 4
Paulus von Dolnstein made with diligence. 5
All the windows [were equipped] with thunder guns. 6
Top Right:
The following is almost certainly a later addition and not Paul Dolnstein’s work.
Dihle states that this text is not in Dolnstein's hand.616 Though I cannot comment on the
handwriting given the quality of my copy, I note that the language and spelling as
Larsson transcribes the passage are unlike Dolnstein’s.617 Though it is not Dolnstein’s
writing, the text merits a place here. According to Larsson, this is a recipe for how to
cook pigeons. I have provided Larsson's cautious transcription but no translation as he
provides the transcription only "with reservations."618 Following is Larsson's
transcription:
The text reads (with reservations):

Item gnommen j fl geglüett vnnd den dawben dy fittichen do mit vorsengit flewgt
eyne wegk wen man sye flitzenn lest
Item leyman clein gecloppffet Salcz wasser ader pruntz wasser honig dar vnder
gemülbe genommen bej den öll slahern vnnd haffer gersten adder wiß dis alleß
vnder eynander gemacht donnc mit dem salcz wasser vnnd daß in daß daw
614
Though Larsson and Dihle do not note the umlaut line, I see one above the 'u.'
615
This can also be "position."
616
Dihle, 110.
617
This writer uses 'an' instead of 'en' for leyman seems not similar. Salcz would be unusual for Paul
Dolnstein. A 'cz' does not appear elsewhere in his writing. Adder instead of oder is not in Dolnstein’s style.
Also unlike Dolnstein, this writer prefers ‘c’ to ‘k’ as in clein.
618
This is a basic recipe for pigeon involving oil, honey, salt water or urine, grain, and a kind of thistle
known as Eberwurzen.
212
ben hawß geschutt auch ist eberwurtz gut dar vnder gesnitten619
Commentary
In this final sketch, Dolnstein's warrior artisan identity is apparent in the same
ways as in Sketch 18. He captures structures with care in his image, and his text exhibits
the builder’s role he played as a warrior. This sketch represents the larger setting where
the Swedish peasant troops attacked Dolnstein's German comrades in Sketch 15. Erik
Eriksson’s surrender of this castle without a fight is what prompted the Swedish peasant
army to attack. They were stunned that their stronghold had been taken so easily, and
they attempted to retake it.620 As in Sketch 17, Dolnstein describes this area as Norway.
Though this castle stood on the west coast of modern day Sweden, the area was part of
Denmark-Norway. Frederick the Wise sent 500 men under Sigmund List to assist the
Danish King Hans in his bid to reassert Danish royal authority over Sweden. Dolnstein
notes 1800 Germans and Sigmund List as a commander. One wonders if List commanded
these 1800, himself, or if he commanded only the 500 who came with him from Saxony.
As noted above, the image here is a copy made in the first few decades of the
twentieth century.621 From the tears in the center, it appears that this page was originally
stitched into Dolnstein’s sketchbook. There is no stamp on the recto page, so it must have
been loose when Dihle copied it and when the archive was making repairs and marking
the pages with stamps. Beginning with the left side of this image, we see three ships and
what may be a boat. The leading ship has three masts and what appear to be seven guns.
Dolnstein has drawn waves in front of this ship and the second ship, perhaps indicating
movement. The first ship displays what may be a rudder. There is a boat to the side of
619
Larsson, 90, n. 5.
620
Larsson, 77; Lovén, 117.
621
This sketch appears in both of Dihle’s papers. It is not known when the copy was made.
213
this ship, and it almost appears to be on land. Perhaps it was a landing vessel for the
Danish forces. Älvsborg stood on a river beach, and the sources describe ships landing
men at Älvsborg.622 There is a single word in front of the leading ship and above a low
lying building. The text is illegible from this copy, and neither Dihle nor Larsson seems
to have transcribed it. The ships sail or anchor in a mountainous landscape. Behind the
ships are mounds suggestive of the rugged but not dramatically high topography in this
area.
Moving from the ships to the foreground, we see that Dolnstein has drawn his
camp. It is difficult to determine if the empty area next to his camp is a hill or coastline or
twentieth century repair work. He pictures tents and what appear to be men with pikes.
He has drawn pikes only in the front row. Pikes behind the first row, according to
Sketches 12 and 15, would be vertical. Dolnstein has written an explanatory note here,
but it is illegible, and neither Dihle nor Larsson has transcribed it. These men may be
Dolnstein's comrades, or they may be the Swedes attacking:
This castle is called Elfsborg in [crossed out] Norway. The German soldiers, 18
hundred of them, vanquished 14 thousand men. There Lord Sigmund List was a
high commander. This happened on the Wednesday before St. Jacob's Day in the
year one thousand five hundred two.
Given that he mentions the peasant attack again here, it may be that he is depicting their
assault in camp. Dolnstein here again provides the location and his commander, though
he qualifies List’s role as “a high commander” rather than “high commander.” It is
difficult to know precisely what List’s role was, for in Sketch 15, there is no article.
There, List "was high commander."623 The existence of an article in Sketch 19 suggests
that Dolnstein may be qualifying his statement in Sketch 15, and indicating that List was
622
Lovén, 119.
623
214
not the overall commander here. Rather, as commander of his own unit, List may have
been one of many commanders of a number of different units at this siege. However, it is
clear that List was at the very least Dolnstein’s commander.
Arching over the illegible two lines of text and the men is what may be a
footbridge or perhaps a set of lines indicating a hill. More men with pikes line the lower
left edge of the camp. There are four tents here, an object that seems to be a barrel, and
several cannon behind wicker baskets. Dolnstein has also drawn what appear to be stone
cannon balls. The large circle in front of the big cannon or barrel at the bottom of the
sketch is about the same size as the mouth of the cannon. There are also four cannonballs
of two different sizes just to the right of the next cannon as one moves toward the middle
of the sketch. The camp and armaments are all at the base of a steep rise. Below and
behind the castle is a structure with at least two floors and four guns. The camp is
apparently out of the range of these guns. The camp also must be out of range of the guns
in the castle itself. The fact that the Germans were able to land at all seems remarkable,
given the many cannons in the windows. They may have approached from two directions:
the area where they made camp and the area at the lower right of the sketch.
Lovén has provided a topographical map of the fortress site:
215
Figure 50. Topographical Map of Älvsborg Castle Site.624
The castle sat atop this steady rise. The lower part of this map indicates a steep rise that
would have been easily defended from infantrymen. One can understand therefore why
the Swedish forces would have been so angry with Erik Eriksson for surrendering so
quickly. However, this was a wooden castle as Dolnstein describes below. The three
masted ship appears to have seven cannon on the facing side, and once the Danish force
was in place with its own cannon, some of which were very large indeed, Eriksson would
have had reason to believe that his wooden structure would be blown to bits. It also
appears that he only had 140 men here, and while the Swedes controlled the adjoining
territories, Eriksson could not be certain of rescue.625
624
Lovén, 118.
625
Ibid., 117.
216
Under the castle Dolnstein has written these words on a part of the sketch that has
since been repaired:
In the year of our Lord, 1502

The castle is wooden and is covered with turf and lies high in all parts as it does
here. This List took in three days.626 Paulus von Dolnstain made camp with
diligence. All the windows [were equipped] with thunder guns.
Because the roof was covered with turf, it would have been less prone to flaming arrows
than wooden roof. Except for the roof, this structure appears to have been entirely
wooden. Even the outer walls Dolnstein has drawn as wooden.
Well equipped with large guns, the castle surely was impressive. As Dolnstein
states, it stood high above the surrounding area, which would have been to its advantage.
Lovén says that the castle stood on a twenty meter cliff above the beach of the Göta
River, and the south end of the castle was impregnable.627 The outer walls of the castle
have six or seven square towers visible. They have arrow loops and some have guns.
There are several chimneys, and there seem to be three flags over the left, right, and
central parts of the castle. There are a number of smaller buildings within the castle walls,
and there appear to be two gates. One of them at the center of the wall is questionable as
a gate. It appears to be a draw bridge that has been raised. Below it, Dolnstein has drawn
either water or rocks. The other gate, on the far right with a bridge leading to it, is open
and hangs askew.628
626
This is verified in Allen, 274. Larsson notes that Erik Eriksson surrendered the castle on the 17th and
that the Danes occupied the castle on the 18th. Larson, 75-77.
627
Lovén, 119.
628
Lovén sees this gate as either a temporary defense or as having been damaged in an attempt to destroy it
by explosion. Lovén, 119.
217
Dolnstein's knowledge of and interest in bridge construction is apparent here. This bridge
has the same sort of covering that the bridge leading to the church in Sketch 18 has. It has
similar supporting timbers, and Dolnstein has drawn the same span of wood underneath
the surface layer of cross boards. Near the bridge are two groups of men with pikes. One
appears about to cross the bridge, or perhaps they are following the other group, which
seems to be moving in the direction of the German camp. These could be men from the
adjoining lands held by the Swedish rebels, or they could be part of the Danish force.
Because part of this page has been water damaged, and part has been covered by
629
Dihle, Figure 36, unnumbered page.
218
twentieth century repairs, it is difficult to determine what is between these pikemen and
the camp.
Returning to the camp and to the text above, Dolnstein says, “Paulus von
Dolnstain made camp with diligence.” This is the only place where Dolnstein explicitly
describes his role in a Landsknecht army. Elsewhere he says that he saw action,
suggesting combat, but is not clear about what that means, or what role he played.
Dolnstein notes being wounded at Montfort, and he states that he bumped into the watch
outside Landshut. These are all military moments. Here, he tells us that he actually used
his experience as a master builder while at war. This line suggests that Dolnstein’s work
as a mercenary drew upon and reinforced his skills as a master craftsman. Making camp
was no easy task. It would not have been given to just anyone.630 Making camp was more
like establishing a position and erecting a small town in a very short space of time.
Camps had to be out of range of enemy fire and needed good drainage. Landsknecht
camps required orderly layouts, typically following a predictable pattern so that no one
had to wonder where the commander's tent was.631 Millar suggests that many of the
ranking positions in Landsknecht armies were elected by the men. The Fourier, "assistant
to the company quartermaster … among his duties was the assignment of living quarters
in camp," may have been among the roles Dolnstein played.632 These soldiers were not as
yet specialists, however, and served as needed. Hence, Dolnstein likely played a number
of roles. His superiors and peers may have known him from Torgau or from Frederick's
court, and they certainly would have come to know him over several campaigns. His
630
For images of the complexity of military camp, see Jörgensen, 144-145.
631
Millar, 96.
632
Ibid.
219
leaders would have used his skills where they were needed, whether on the battlefield, in
choosing the camp site, erecting siege works, or building and designing gun carriages.
On the march, Paul Dolnstein was a warrior. However, he did not leave his skills
as a builder behind. These skills were of tremendous value to any commander, and they
marked him as a craftsman in the eyes of these men. Someone had to erect the camp;
someone had to lay out and choose the position; someone had to build siege machines;
someone had to build protective walls and devices for sieges, for siege guns, and for
sappers. Someone probably had to build a bridge from time to time. Someone had to
know where a fortification was weak, where best to hit it. That someone would often
have been Dolnstein, particularly as he came to hold roles of responsibility for Frederick
the Wise. His attention to detail would have been invaluable to commanders. His care is
evident when, for example, drawing the outer walls of this castle. He notes the evenly
spaced vertical supports all along the wall. Here and elsewhere, he notes the building
materials of structures, the surfaces on and in which they were rooted, and what it took to
take them down. Noticing these things was part of the fabric of this craftsman. We do not
know how frequently or to what degree Dolnstein used his skills as a builder while in the
pay of military commanders. What we do know, however, is that he always saw military
scenes through the eyes of a builder.
220
CHAPTER III
CONCLUSION
Paul Dolnstein's sketchbook illustrates not only Dolnstein's personal experiences
in war but also his dual identity as a warrior artisan. As a sedentary Landsknecht entering
and exiting military service over several years, Paul Dolnstein surrendered neither his
craftsman nor his martial identity. While not all warrior artisans could practice their
civilian trade on the march as Dolnstein did, many could. Smiths would have been useful
as would have been tailors or bakers or anyone involved in the building trades.633 Stone
masons like Wolf von Zwickau could have provided expertise, guiding sappers as to what
sort of force it would take to destroy a foundation. Their expert eyes could have seen the
best artillery targets in walls, spotting where there were flaws or weaknesses. Coming as
artisans did from towns, they were accustomed to the possession and wearing of arms.
They were enculturated to the responsibility that such a right carried with it. Master
artisans defended their homes and towns and helped preserve the peace by means of these
weapons. For such men to take their weapons and follow the drum of their prince or his
allies would have been a natural way to earn money in lean times and to pursue
adventure. Further, such men were sometimes required to respond to the call of their
lords.634 Dolnstein appears to have done precisely this. His sketches are those of
633
Some armies brought ovens with them, disassembling them for transportation. Parker, 76.
634
Redlich, 115-116.
221
adventure, and he certainly earned money.635 He responded to calls either from
representatives of his own prince, Frederick the Wise, or from representatives of his
prince's allies. Regardless of whether he served only when summoned or volunteered for
service, he seems to have had fond memories of these episodes. His wartime experience
was powerful and left a mark on his memory. Just as he could not leave behind his
identity as a master craftsman when he went on the march, he could not leave behind his
military identity when he had returned to his civilian world. This concluding essay will
provide a brief recapitulation of the evidence for Dolnstein's dual identity and suggest
areas for further research.
On the first page of his sketchbook, Dolnstein lays out two sides of his identity. He
draws two men on what appears to be the title page, a Landsknecht and a man who is
likely a journeyman craftsman. This journeyman gazes out at the reader while the
Landsknecht marches away. These men seem to represent two parts of the sedentary
Landsknecht's life. Dolnstein crosses the civilian's tool with the Landsknecht's sword,
thus indicating the intersection of both worlds in his sketchbook and in these men. In this
way, Dolnstein exhibits the duality of the artisan-Landsknecht's identity. This civilian
tool or its like appears again in Sketch 13 at the Siege of Montfort. We see at Montfort
the physical work that sieges involved. Though Landsknechts left the digging mostly to
women and boys, there was still specialized work in building siege equipment and
protective walls for the besieging camp. This work had to have to have been done at least
partly by men, and certainly men as masters of their crafts oversaw its completion. That
one of Dolnstein's comrades, Wolf von Zwickau, was a stone mason in Wittenberg
demonstrates that Dolnstein was not alone as an artisan from Saxony in his martial
635
222
experiences. The rank of men he chose to depict suggests that among Landsknechts, the
company he kept were men of his own rank in the civilian world. Assuming that at least
some of these men were not roving Landsknechts who had made a career of following the
drum, the men in Dolnstein's sketches were likely masters of their guilds just as he was.
While some of the Comrade Sketches do not display Dolnstein's background as a
craftsman, they exhibit the draw of mercenary service for artisans: women, freedom from
moralizing eyes, a change of scenery, adventure, a change in responsibilities, music,
daring and bold clothing, the glory of being associated with Landsknechts at this time,
and above all the chance to win glory by having served honorably with soldiers of high
reputation. The Comrade Sketches particularly exhibit these last two appealing factors,
glory and association with men of high repute. The Comrade Sketches demonstrate the
kinds of men Paul Dolnstein wanted the reader to associate with him. Paul Dolnstein,
master builder, chose men of high military standing - standard bearers and halberdiers --
to depict and name. Dolnstein chose these men as well as skilled and aggressive pikemen
to represent his companions. Military service was an apotheosis of masculinity in the
culture of arms in which Paul Dolnstein already lived, worked, and served as a master
craftsman.636 As an artisan expected to preserve the peace and protect his town, Paul
Dolnstein strengthened his masculine image by attesting to his warrior experience.
This sketchbook provides fertile ground for historians. My examination of his
illustrated notebook has only scratched the surface, yielding many areas for further
research. I see these areas falling under two principal categories: representation and
archival study. Dolnstein represents people, events, topography, and structures. It is
curious that he does not verbally relate the felt experience of the events. Verbally, he
636
Tlusty, 6-9, 91.
223
offers only fragments of the scene with no indication of what it was like to be there.
Pictorially, however, Dolnstein seems to try to communicate something of what it was
like to experience the events in his sketchbook. Sketch 15 displays men receiving arrow
wounds and falling between the two opposing formations as they collide. Sketch 13
pictures a slain standard bearer lying in the foreground. Yet, this is all there is to his
attempt to take his audience to the moment of conflict. To a modern audience it may
seem peculiar that while Dolnstein mentions the burning of the castle, he does not
describe what it was like to experience this. The reader is left to imagine the sound of a
massive wooden structure all ablaze, with ash and chips of wood soaring into the air on
rising smoke.637 He says nothing of the wind and flames, how the wind carried the
smoke, or of the smell, the feel of heat in the air. Perhaps these things went without
saying for an early modern person for whom fire was a common tool of daily life and
work. Early modern people were also likely to have witnessed large fires. So, such
descriptions may simply not have required expression. But perhaps Dolnstein did not
represent buildings as ablaze because buildings on fire did not interest him. Before he
because a destructor, he was a constructor, and it is possible that standing structures
simply interested him more than those set ablaze. It could be profitable to explore
Dolnstein’s choice to represent structures as whole and intact rather than ablaze when he
states in text that the buildings burned.638
637
See, for instance, Ruprecht Heller’s The Battle of Pavia, Thomas Arnold, The Renaissance at War
(London: Cassell and Company, 2001), Cover Image; Nationalmuseum, Stockholm.
638
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 7v-8r, 8v, 11v.
224
Along these lines, it may strike the modern reader as peculiar that Dolnstein does
not mention the mêlée.639 While he represents the moment just before and just into
conflict, he does not describe what the experience of combat was like.640 One expects that
it must have been rather like this:
Figure 52. Hans Holbein, Fight of Landsknechts.641
Note how the men are forced to expose their torsos in order to wield pole arms. What a
violent, bloody brawl this is. If this is what Dolnstein experienced, he does not tell us. If
639
The degree to which Dolnstein’s sketchbook deviates from the norm in this is the question. "Both
Machiavelli and Leonardo were as concerned with stylistic and theoretical matters as were their mid-
fifteenth century predecessors. Nonetheless, the earlier and the later works differ in tone. It is tempting to
draw parallels between the hypothetical battle, forming the centerpiece of Machiavelli’s Art of War and the
unfinished fresco of Leonardo. In its abstraction, and also in its frenzied action, the hypothetical battle is a
close parallel to Leonardo’s surviving cartoons. It is a hyperkinetic frenzy -- a soldier’s battle in which
warriors act with one will, seemingly without need of a general. The mix of the visual, the kinetic, and the
aural is striking. 'Do you not hear the artillery?' Machiavelli has his narrator ask as he describes the rush of
light infantry and cavalry, 'with as much speed and as much noise as possible,' to overwhelm the enemy's
guns. The vignettes of rushing, fighting soldiers Leonardo sketched in his notebooks could well illustrate
Machiavelli’s words." Wilson, 29.
640
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 7v-8r, 9v-10r.
641
Beatrice Fortescue, Holbein (London: Methuen and Co., 1904), 58-59, Plate 7.
225
this is not what the conflict with the Swedes was like, then what was it like? He
represents the violent moment just as the two formations meet, but at this point they
appear evenly matched. There do not appear to be more of either Germans or Swedes. He
tells us, however, that there were many more Swedes than Germans, so why would he
represent them as equally numbered? Further, he does not explain or illustrate why the
Germans defeated the Swedes. Did the Germans win because they maintained order,
because they held their formation in the square? Why did they win? How did they win?
Dolnstein shares nothing of this. Clearly, the peasants had not received the training that
Landsknechts received, but Dolnstein offers no explanation other than God’s
intervention.
Again, as with burning castles, the sights and sounds of the experience when
German pikes and halberds collide with Swedish staff swords and bills may not require
expression because they are obvious to his audience. Perhaps simply stating to a fellow
master artisan, a man who was familiar with weapons by virtue of being a male of
standing in a German town and who himself may have seen combat, that 1800 Germans
defeated 14,000 Swedes, most of whom God struck dead, conjures exactly the image of
what happened. In other words, perhaps the experience simply did not require explaining.
Or, perhaps, Dolnstein feels that he explains it in the sketches, for there are indeed arrows
piercing flesh and men moving forward in spite of their injuries. Yet another possible
explanation could be that this moment just as conflict is starting is the moment that
matters most to Dolnstein. Perhaps this is the poignant moment, the moment just as battle
is about to occur, just as formations meet or are about to meet that stays with him.642
642
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 7v-8r, 8v, 9v-10r, 11v, 12v-
13r; Dihle, Figure 36, unnumbered page.
226
Indeed, he does not picture the burning in the siege scenes; he does not picture men on
the battlements. Rather he illustrates structures as they are when they are whole, before
he and his comrades destroy them.643 Why is this? It seems to me, but it requires further
research to determine, that this is peculiar to Dolnstein, that this is not the standard
representation of war.
There is a great deal that Dolnstein does not depict. He does not depict drinking,
gambling, or whoring. This is not surprising, for while he may have fond memories of
drinking, gambling, or whoring, they made for derogatory images. In other words, when
artists depicted Landsknechts with whores or at a game of dice, it was not a
complimentary image. Rather, such representations mocked their subjects and often
served as moralizing warnings to live better lives than these men.644 It is not to be
expected that he would depict such memories. Nor is it surprising that he does not depict
the abuse of civilians, for such images were not abundant in the general artistic
discussion. Hence, Dolnstein's not depicting such things is quite normal and does not
require explanation.
However, his efforts to preserve his wartime experience are such that his limiting
of the clash of battle and of destruction of castles does seem peculiar. For, fully engaged
battle and burning castles were frequently depicted. Returning to the discussion of areas
for further research, a thorough exploration of memoirs, writings, and drawings among
the artisan class, particularly those pertaining to war, might shed light on Dolnstein's
selected and excluded subject matter. This study might include the work of Dolnstein's
fellow warrior artisans, Urs Graf and Niklaus Manuel Deutsch. As artists, these craftsmen
643
An exception to this could be the hay bale makeshift repair at Arnschwang. ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau-
und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 12v-13r.
644
Moxey, 72, 80-95.
227
used the visual image to record war. Something akin to Yuval Harari's exploration of
military memoirs among noblemen would be most useful for deepening our
understanding of the master craftsman’s experience of memoir writing and of wartime
experience.645
It may be also worthwhile to explore this sketchbook from a proto-nationalist
perspective. Paul Dolnstein drew his sketch of the Swede very close to the era when
Ulrich von Hutten and Martin Luther were writing their own proto-nationalist
literature.646 We do not know when Dolnstein made his representations of Swedes, and
certainly there is no comparison between the Swedish peasants of Dolnstein’s events and
the Italian clerics against whom Luther and Hutten were writing, but looking at
Dolnstein’s Sketches 4 and 15 with the awareness of a growing pride in Germanic
linguistic and cultural identity may be fruitful.647 It is impossible to be certain, but
Dolnstein does seem to be mocking the Swede in Sketch 4. Dolnstein may mock him
because he is different or because he was easily beaten, but there may be more to it than
that. Paul Dolnstein is clearly proud to have been part of beating the Swedes, proud of the
German professionalism and skill that dispatched so many of the Swede’s countrymen. It
would be intriguing to explore these sketches with an eye to a burgeoning German
cultural and linguistic identity.
Dolnstein’s representations of gender are consistent with artistic norms of
masculinity with one exception, the peculiar hair growth on the cheeks of the two men in
645
See Yuval Noah Harari, Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History, and Identity, 1450-1600
(Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2004). A work similar to this but with a focus on craftsmen would be
valuable.
646
Oberman, 13-49; Skjelver, 37-41, 44, 50-51, 67-71.
647
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 2v, 9v-10r.
228
Sketches 2 and 5.648 Whether these men are intentionally sporting hairy moles or have
shaved their bears to a tiny circle of long hairs we do not know. While it may seem a
peculiar thing to research, as far as I can tell, this is the only representation of such facial
hair in the visual record, and it merits exploration. My discussion of masculinity among
artisans and warriors was cursory at best. This sketchbook could yield so much more. The
Landsknecht was a peculiar and extreme masculine type, displaying his virility in a
number of ways: jutting codpieces that drew the ire of clerics and pastors, shocking
displays of bare skin, bravado, terrific bravery, extreme cruelty, and a libertine lifestyle.
Dolnstein’s representations of femininity do not follow the norm in art. Else von
Winn walks in front of rather than behind her mate, and while she carries a bundle on her
head, she is not heavily burdened. Her bearing is upright and proud like that of a
prostitute. She is not heavily burdened like the women depicted as legitimate wives or
like other women marching with a Landsknecht. Yet, she has none of the abundant
feathers or lavish attire of a whore. Else is a puzzle.649 Further, the woman in Sketch 12 is
actively engaged in moving loaded weapons to the rear of the sleeve of shot. To my
knowledge, this depiction is unique. Depictions of women in such roles are few if extant
at all. Dolnstein shows us a woman in distinctly military action in Sketch 12. For these
reasons, this sketchbook merits a thorough examination through a gendered lens.
Dolnstein’s sketchbook also points historians to further research in archives.
Continuing with the discussion of gender, Paul Dolnstein’s illustrated notebook could
serve as a case study in the connection between the sedentary Landsknecht and the
648
ThHStAW, Reg. S (Bau- und Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 1v, 3r.
649
In discussing the difference between whores and prostitutes, John Lynn notes that, “a ‘whore’ attached
herself to one man for the long haul or for a shorter, but not fleeting, period of time. … in this sense,
‘whores’ were not hired; they were possessed; and they had reciprocal claims on their men as well.” Lynn,
76.
229
artisan. Such a case study could add to Tlusty's discussion of the right and responsibility
to bear arms. An archival exploration of Torgau and Wittenberg along the lines of
Tlusty's research in other early modern German towns could deepen our understanding of
how Dolnstein saw himself as a master builder and a mercenary. The guildsman's world
was a world of weapons, a world in which guild members played a key role in defending
and policing their own towns. Thus, a sedentary Landsknecht’s taking up arms at the
urging of his own prince is not at all the same thing as a professional soldier’s roving
around the region or continent in bands. One could argue that Dolnstein merely extended
his responsibility as an arms bearing man outward to his lord's allies. One might search
archival records to determine to what degree Frederick the Wise encouraged or facilitated
recruiting for his allies’ armies. Another means of determining this extension of civilian
to military responsibilities might be the possible connection of names to occupations in
muster rolls. For instance, it might be fruitful to search for evidence of who could have
been Eyb’s Baumeister at the Siege of Montfort.650
Another area for archival research would be to narrow the window in which Paul
Dolnstein could have depicted the sleeve of shot. In Sketch 12, Dolnstein appears to
depict the use of sleeves of shot in the first half of the first decade of the sixteenth century
as opposed to the third or fourth decade.651 It is possible, however, that Dolnstein drew
this image late in life and projected the development backward onto this period. One of
the first steps in using this drawing to re-date the use of gunpowder technology would be
to search for further references of Dolnstein's life beyond the Saxon court. If he lived
beyond 1513, his inclusion of the sleeve of shot might be less important to the re-dating
650
Von Keller, 102-103.
651
230
of this development. Another problem for military historians is Dolnstein’s portrayal of
the fortified town of Arnschwang. His motte-and-bailey-style towers in and around the
village raise the question: How common were complexes of raised wooden towers and
palisades in the Renaissance? The Arnschwang sketch also begs the question: Were
wooden structures virtually as effective against ordinance as thin stone walls?
Further, it would be useful to determine Dolnstein’s birthplace and year, and
whether or not he married or had children. It would be fascinating and potentially fruitful
to search records for the names of all the people in this sketchbook. Results might
demonstrate the degree to which Dolnstein was normative among sedentary
Landsknechts. How many of the men in his sketchbook were like him and like Wolf von
Zwickau in returning to their civilian trades? Results might further allow scholars to
determine the degree to which bodies of artisans chose to fight together campaign after
campaign. If many of the people in the sketchbook came from the realm of Prince
Frederick the Wise, and if many of them were masters or journeymen, this sketchbook
might demonstrate that groups of sedentary Landsknechts fought together year after year.
In other words, there were not solely bands of roving Landsknecht bands who chose to
fight together and enlist as a body, but there may have been bodies of sedentary
Landsknechts as well who joined and demobilized together campaign after campaign. If
the names in this sketchbook do not appear in Saxon records, then perhaps some of them
may appear in the records of the places from which their names indicate they may have
come. Such results too would shed light on the makeup of Landsknecht armies, if only
confirming the view that many Landsknechts came from southern Germany for instance.
231
Such results would also illustrate the bonds that men forged with soldiers from other
regions while on campaign.
Another area of research Dolnstein's sketchbook and life pose is the correlation
between civilian and military success. One can only speculate that there was a connection
between Dolnstein's success as a master builder and his success as a Landsknecht. The
year when he and Lucas Cranach received the same gifts of cloth marks the evidence we
have for Dolnstein's success as an master craftsman. His ownership of a horse and armor,
and his having been knighted are the evidence we have for Dolnstein's success as a
warrior. There may have been for other artisans a connection between military service to
the prince or his allies and a place in his court. As discussed in the Introduction, the
sedentary Landsknecht, like the Swiss Reisläufer, returned to his home community. His
prowess, skill, or poor showing on the battlefield was noted in his home community, for
better or worse. We know that Dolnstein experienced lean times, and he may have gone
into military service in the hope of financial gain. He may also have joined to develop his
credibility, reliability, and honor. Indeed, military service may have been a way to boost
his visibility as well. If the military men in Frederick the Wise's court knew a man by
name, might this not draw attention to the man? Simply by joining the Landsknechts for a
short period of time, Dolnstein was associating himself with something that was viewed
positively. It would be worth studying the degree to which artisans were selected for
special civilian service or singled out for exemplary work in relation to their having
served as Landsknechts.
Perhaps the greatest puzzle this sketchbook poses is the question of precisely what
it is. In the end, we do not know the sketchbook's purpose or its audience. We do not
232
know if it is a memoir or some sort of adventure book. We do not know if Dolnstein
intended for it to serve as a foundation for a series of woodcuts as suggested by Lovén.652
My tentative conclusion is that it is a collection of memories that Dolnstein had discussed
with his friends at the guild hall or tavern, and that it may have been a gift for a friend,
Meister Heinrich. Indeed, Meister Heinrich may have asked Dolnstein to write some of
his stories down as he was talking about them. Yet, we do not know absolutely that
Meister Heinrich is the audience. Rather, Meister Heinrich could be one of the two men
on the front page. Or perhaps the words "Meister Heinrich" were written by the person
who dashed off a recipe for pigeon on the last page. This sketchbook could have been
Dolnstein's personal diary, and his child or grandchild may have given it to a Meister
Heinrich. We simply do not know. Further adding to the conundrum, we do not know if
Dolnstein drew the sketches all at once or over the course of several years. We do not
know if he carried this sketchbook with him on his military forays and illustrated them
while they were still fresh in his mind or if he drew these a few years after the events
occurred. We do not even know if the notebook is finished.
What we do know is that this sketchbook has received far too little attention. We
also know that just as Paul Dolnstein could not leave behind his artisan background when
he went on the march, he could not leave behind his military experiences when he had
returned to the guildhall. When this master craftsman went on campaign, he took
particular note of structures. Anyone would have observed structures to some degree, but
aside from a visual artist, not just anyone would have drawn structures as Dolnstein did.
He draws supports and bridges and roof tiles and notes the type of soil holding a palisade
wall in place. Dolnstein's depiction of the siege equipment, tools, and wooden wall at
652
Lovén, 119, note 2.
233
Montfort combined with his observation of structures elsewhere and his claim to have
made camp at Älvsborg provide convincing evidence that Dolnstein used his skills as a
builder while in military service. Yet, even if he did not use these skills more than a
handful times, he could not look at the landscape through which he marched with any
other eyes than those of a master builder. His background being that of a builder, it is
natural that structures would capture his interest when besieging a place. Of course, he
gives sieges greater emphasis than other events, for sieges required builders. Naturally,
these things were of more interest to him as a constructor of things than were the burning
of wooden buildings or smashing of stone walls. Intentionally or not, Dolnstein conveys
his craftsman’s identity throughout his warrior's sketchbook. Certainly in the event
sketches where Dolnstein offers the modern reader the most fascinating displays of his
world, Dolnstein's dual identity shines. He is at once warrior and artisan. On the march,
in the siege, and on the battlefield, he is Paul Dolnstein the master builder. In his return
from these adventures, in his life as master builder, he is still the soldier, ever recalling
his experiences.
234
APPENDIX
SUPPLEMENT TO SKETCH 12653
Below is one of a number of possible interpretations of Dolnstein’s text. I have
provided the first eleven lines of the translated text, followed by a visual interpretation
and a brief textual explanation of this interpretation. Likewise for lines 12-14, I have
provided the text, a visual aid, and brief textual explanation. Because a number of the
words are illegible, no interpretation can be certain. There are flaws with the
interpretation I provide below. There are necessarily flaws in any interpretation of this
page because there are illegible and potentially very important words. For instance, there
may be another 100 pike in the first line.
Translation:
There are 400 men ... & …654 for a field array. 1
11 to a rank of 198 pikes, 18 ranks. 2
halberds, as makes 8 ranks 5 5
per rank. There remain 35, the ranks among 6
soldiers, 3 per rank, make 8
and 14 men per rank including 6 men. 11
653
654
Note again that faintly one can almost see “c spie…” which may refer to 100 pike.
235
Figure 53. Possible Interpretation of the First Array.
P = Pike. G = Gun. H = Halberd. E = Ensign. X = Unclear.
The first six ranks follow Dolnstein’s sketch. While the men between the standards are
unclear, and I marked them as 'X,' they are most likely halberdiers. In what is legible of
Dolnstein’s verbal description of the first array, there are 390 men in 29 ranks of 14 men:
• 240 pikes: 198 and 42.

• 75 halberds: 40 and 35.
• 75 guns: 75.
• 390 men total.
This description leaves out ten men. The standard bearers and the two men between them
add four to this total of 390. The "including 6 men" seems to add a final six men to
complete the 400. These six could have men with skills in more than one weapon and
who served where needed.
236
There are in the illustration above 18 ranks with 11 pike in each, for 198 pikes. I
arrayed the 42 pikes throughout the field. As to the halberds, there are eight ranks with
five halberds in them.655 To these ranks, I added halberds from the 35 "among the pikes."
Hence some of these eight ranks of five halberds have more than five halberds. Following
Dolnstein's sketch, there is a full rank of eleven halberds in row three. I have added a
rank of halberds to the rear of the square and two ranks of three halberds behind the guns.
The guns are clear. Dolnstein pictures in them in ranks of three, and 25 columns "beside
the array" make 75 guns. With regard to the final statement, "including 6 men," I read
this as noting that there will be six men beyond the men Dolnstein has described in the
illustration and text. Hence, I have added six pikes to the 240 Dolnstein names in order to
round out the 400 men.
There are obvious problems with the above interpretation. Most striking is the
empty space at the back of the square. However, this could be an intentional gap where
the gunners had space for their rotation as they expended their weapons and moved to the
rear. Likewise "including 6 men" could mean "encompassing 6 men," where the
standards form a core at the center of the square.
Moving to lines 12-15 of Dolnstein’s commentary, he appears to be suggesting
another way to array 400 men or a maneuver on the field:
They then instead at first 7 in one rank. 37 ranks [of] pikes 12

11 ranks [of] halberds 13
11 ranks [of] handguns 14
..... 4 men. 15
655
Ranks 5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26.
237
This is a particularly difficult passage. Ranks only seven men deep could not serve as
pike squares and may represent a set of columns for marching.656 Dolnstein may intend
his audience to picture 37 ranks comprising seven pikes in each rank. This would result in
259 pikes and comes closer to the number of men needed to fill a square of 29 ranks of
14 men. Note that the diagram above uses 254 pikes. It is possible that the first part of
line 12 could mean, “They then instead have at first 7,” meaning 407 men with whom to
array the field. This would make mathematical sense because 407 divided by 37 is 11.
Perhaps the "4 men" could refer to standard bearers and halbardiers. One approach to this
second array might be that all 37 ranks would comprise either a single long formation or
three discrete formations following one another for marching or for maneuvering.
I would like to reiterate that the above views are only possibilities, and they are
flawed at that. With the illegible words, it is impossible to determine precisely what
Dolnstein was conveying here. I offer the above thoughts in the hope that they will
stimulate discussion and prompt other scholars to put forward further plausible
interpretations.
656
“The sources also repeatedly praise the orderly marching of the soldiers. Ranks of four, five, and eight
men are mentioned.” Hans Delbrück, History of the Art of War, vol. 4, trans. Walter J. Renfroe, Jr.
(Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 1985), 10.
238
BIBLIOGRAPHY
THE DOLNSTEIN SKETCHES
Skizzenbuch P. Dolnstein. Thüringisches Hauptstaatsarchiv Weimar. Reg. S (Bau- und

Artillerieangelegenheiten) fol. 460 Nr. 6, Bl. 1v-13r.
SUPPORTING RESEARCH
Allen, C.F. De tre nordiske Rigers Historie under Hans, Christiern den Anden, Frederik
den Første, Gustav Vasa, Grevefeiden: 1497-1536, 5 vols. Kjøbenhavn:
Gyldendal, 1864-1872.
Amman, Jost. Illustrations to Fronsperger's 'Kriegsbuch,’ British Museum, German

XVIc Mounted Roy. http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/
search_the_collection_database/search_object_details.aspx?
objectid=1432196&partid=1&searchText=Illustrations+to+Fronsperger%27s+
%27Kriegsbuch%2c
%E2%80%99&fromADBC=ad&toADBC=ad&numpages=10&orig=%2fresearch
%2fsearch_the_collection_database.aspx&currentPage=2 (accessed February 23,
2012).
Anderson, Christiane. Dirnen, Krieger, Naren: Ausgewählte Zechnungen von Urs Graf.
Basel: GS-Verlag, 1978.
Arnö, Inga and Gunnel Hazelius-Berg, Folk Costumes of Sweden: A Living Tradition.
Malmö: ICA Bokförlag, 1976.
Arnold, Thomas. The Renaissance at War. London: Cassell and Company, 2001.
Appelbaum, Stanley. The Triumph of Maximilian I: 137 Woodcuts by Hans Burgkmair

and Others. New York: Dover Publications, 1964.
Aspland, Alfred, ed. Triumph of the Emperor Maximilian I. London: Wyman and
Sons, 1875.
Bahlow, Hans. Dictionary of German Names, 2nd ed. Translated by Edda Gentry.
Madison: Max Kade Institute for German-American Studies, University of
Wisconsin-Madison, 2002.
239
Baufeld, Christa. Kleines frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch: Lexik aus Dichtung und
Fachliteratur des Früneuhochdeutschen. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer Verlag, 1996.
Baumann, Reinhard. Landsknechte: Ihre Geschichte und Kultur vom späten Mittelalter
bis zum Dreißigjährigen Krieg. München: Verlag C.H. Beck, 1994.
Blau, Friedrich. Die Deutschen Landsknechte: Ein Kulturbild. 3rd edition. Vienna:
Phaidon Akademische Verlagsgesellschaft Athenaion, 1985.
Blickle, Peter. Obedient Germans? A Rebuttal: New View of German History.

Translated by Thomas A. Brady Jr. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia
Press, 1981.
Board of Trustees of the Armouries. “Foot Combat Armour of King Henry VIII. English,
Southwark, 1520.” Royal Armouries Collections Online. http://
collections.royalarmouries.org/index.php?
a=collection&s=item&key=cYToyOntpOjA7aTozNTAwMTA7aToxO3M6M
zc6IkFybW91cnMgb2YgdGhlIFR1ZG9yIGFuZCBTdHVhcnQgS2luZ3Mi
O30=&pg=21 (accessed January 28, 2012).
Board of Trustees of the Armouries. “Lances, Tapered, Fluted, Painted, English, 16th
Century.” Royal Armouries Collections Online. http://
collections.royalarmouries.org/index.php?
a=wordsearch&s=item&key=WYTozOntpOjA7czo1OiJsYW5jZSI7aTo
xO2k6MDtpOjI7YjowO30=&pg=2 (accessed March 20, 2012).
Brewer, J.S., ed. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the Reign of Henry VIII.
Vol. 1. London: Longman, Green, and Roberts, 1862.
Bruck, Robert. Friederich der Weise als Förderer der Kunst. Straßburg: Heitz &
Mündel, 1903.
Brunswick Monogrammist, Tavern Scene, ca. 1540. Berlin, Staatliche Museen

Preussischer Kulturbesitz.
Burke, Peter. Popular Culture in Early Modern Europe. 3rd edition. Burlington, VT:
Ashgate, 2009.
Carsten, F.L. “The Origins of the Junkers,” The English Historical Review. Vol. 62, No.
243 (Apr., 1947): 145-178. http://www.jstor.org/stable/555284. (accessed
March 24, 2012).
Cederlöf, Olle. “The Battle Painting as a Historical Source.” Revue internationale

d'histoire militaire 26 (1967): 119-144.
240
Contamine, Philippe. War in the Middle Ages. Translated by Michael Jones. Cambridge,
MA: Blackwell Publishers, 1984.
Corson, Richard. Fashions in Hair: The First Five Thousand Years. London: Peter
Owen Limited, 2001.
Cranach, Lucas the Younger. Hirschjagd des Kurfürsten Johann Friedrich. 1544.
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien, Gemäldegalerie. http://bilddatenbank.khm.at/
viewArtefact?id=547 (accessed March 23, 2012).
Daun, Berthold. “Wittenberg die Geburtsstätte der deutschen Renaissance?”

Kunstchronik: Wochenschrift für Kunst und Kunstgewerbe 16 (1905): 151-156.
http://digi.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/diglit/kunstchronik1905/0084 (accessed January,
2012).
Delbrück, Hans. History of the Art of War. 4 vols. Translated by Walter J. Renfroe, Jr.
Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1985.
Dihle, Helene. "Zur Belagerung von Elfsborg i. J. 1502. Aus den Papieren eine
Deutschen Landsknechts." Fornvännen (1930): 108-113.
Dihle, Helene, and Adolf Closs. "Das Kriegstagebuch eines Deutschen Landsknechts
um die Wende des 15. Jahrhunderts.” Zeitschrift für Historische Waffen- und
Kostümkunde, 3, no 12 (Jan., 1929): 1-11.
Dodgson, Campbell. “Some Undescribed States of Theuerdank Illustrations.” The

Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs. 84, no. 491 (Feb., 1944): 47-49. http://
www.jstor.org/stable/868849 (accessed April 1, 2012).
Dulaure, Jacques Antoine. Pogonologia, or A Philosophical and Historical Essay

on Beards. Translated by Edward Drewe. Exeter: R. Thorn, 1786.
Dürer, Albrecht. The Apocalypse: Breaking of the Sixth Seal, 1498. London, British
Museum.
------. Portrait of Elsbeth Tucher, 1499. Museumslandschaft Hessen Kassel,

Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. http://www.museum-kassel.de/index_navi.
php?parent=1481 (accessed March 22, 2012).
Eisenmann, Joseph Anton. Neueste Geographie des Königreichs Bayern. München:

Joseph Lindauer, 1811.
Ekdahl, Sven. “Die strategische Bedeutung der wichtigsten schwedischen Burgen im

Mittelalter.” In Budownictwo i budowniczowie w przeszłości. Edited by Andrzej
Abramowicz. 137-147. Łodz: Instytut Archeologii i Etnologii Polskiej Akademii
Nauk, 2002.
241
------. “Die Bewaffnung der Schwedischen Bauern im Mittelalter,” Fasciculi
archaeologiae historicae, 11 (1998): 17-38.
Eltis, David. The Military Revolution in Sixteenth-Century Europe. New York: I.B.
Tauris, 1998.
Encyclopaedia Perthensis; or Universal Dictionary of the Arts, Sciences, Literature, etc.

Vol. 7. Edinburgh: John Brown, 1819.
Epstein, S.R. and Maarten Prak, eds. Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy,
1400-1800. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Farr, James R. Artisans in Europe, 1300-1914. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2000.
Ffoulkes, Charles John. The Armourer and His Craft: From the XIth to the XVIth
Century. London: Methuen and Co., 1912.
Fisher, Will. "The Renaissance Beard: Masculinity in Early Modern England."

Renaissance Quarterly. Vol. 54, No. 1. (Spring, 2001): 155-187.
Foot Combat Armour of King Henry VIII. English, Southwark, 1520. Royal Armouries.
http://collections.royalarmouries.org (accessed February, 2012).
Fortescue, Beatrice. Holbein. London: Methuen and Company,1904.
Franz, Günther. "Von Ursprung und Brauchtum der Landsknechte." Mitteilungen des
Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung 61 (1953): 79-98.
Gaier, Claude. "L'Opinion des chefs de guerre français du XVIe siècle sur les progrès de
l'art militaire." Revue Internationale d'Histoire Militaire 29 (1970): 723-746.
Gairdner, James, and R.H. Brodie, eds. Letters and Papers, Foreign and Domestic, of the
Reign of Henry VIII. Vol. 18, Part 2. London: Mackie and Co., 1902.
Geddie, W. S., and R. Johnstone. Mason’s Marks from Fortrose Cathedral and Chapter
House. Groam House Museum Photograph Collection.
Geijer, Erik Gustaf, Fredrik Ferdinand Carlson, and Ludvig Vilhelm Albert Stavenow.
Geschichte Schwedens. 7 vols. Hamburg: Friedrich Pertes, 1832-1887.
Gjerset, Knut. History of the Norwegian People. Vol 2. New York: The Macmillan
Company, 1915.
242
Google Earth. 6.1.0.5001. http://www.google.com/earth/index.html (accessed
October 17, 2011).
Götze, Alfred. Frühneuhochdeutsches Glossar, 7th edition. Berlin: Verlag Walter de

Gruyter & Co., 1967.
Goubaux, Armand, and Gustav Barrier, The Exterior of the Horse, 2nd ed. Translated and
edited by Simon J.J. Harger. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Company, 1892.
Grant, R.G. Warrior: A Visual History of the Fighting Man. New York: DK Publishing,
2007.
Grimm, Jacob, and Wilhelm Grimm. Deutsches Wörterbuch. 16 Bde. in 32

Teilbänden. Leipzig: Verlag von Hirzel, 1854-1961.
http://woerterbuchnetz.de/ (accessed January, 2011-April, 2012).
Guenée, Bernard. States and Rulers in Later Medieval Europe. Translated by Juliet Vale.
New York: Basil Blackwell, 1985.
Hale, J.R. Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance. New Haven, CT: Yale University
Press, 1990.
------. "The Soldier in Germanic Graphic Art of the Renaissance.” Journal of

Interdisciplinary History 17, no. 1 (Summer 1986): 86-114.
------. War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450-1620. Buffalo: McGill-Queens

University Press, 1998.
Hall, Bert S. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology,

and Tactics. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
Harari, Yuval Noah. Renaissance Military Memoirs: War, History, and Identity,
1450-1600. Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2004.
Hayward, Maria, ed. Dress at the Court of King Henry VIII. Leeds, UK: Maney, 2007.
Hendrix, Scott H., and Susan C. Karant Nunn. Masculinity in the Reformation Era.
Kirksville, MO: Truman State University Press, 2008.
Hoffman, Richard, and George Hager. Die Kunstdenkmäler von Oberpfalz and
Regensburg, Heft VI Bezirksamt Cham. München: R. Oldenbourg, 1906.
Hans Holbein the Younger. Erasmus' Hands, 1523. Paris, Musée de Louvre.
Hoyer, Sigfried. Reform, Reformation, Revolution. Leipzig: Karl Marx University, 1980.
243
Janssen, Walter. “The International Background of Castle Building in Central Europe.”
In Danish Medieval History New Currents, edited by Niels Skyum-Nielsen and
Niels Lund. 179- 206. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum, 1981
Jenks, Edward. “The Problem of the Hundred.” The English Historical Review, 11,
no. 43. (July, 1896): 510-514. http://www.jstor.org/stable/547139 (accessed
June, 2011).
Jörgensen, Christer, Michael F. Pavkovic, Rob S. Rice, Frederick C. Schneid, and Chris
L. Scott. Fighting Techniques of the Early Modern World: AD 1500 ~ AD 1763.
New York: Thomas Dunne Books, 2005.
Kennedy, Hugh. Crusader Castles. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Kieser, Alfred. “Organizational, Institutional, and Societal Evolution: Medieval Craft

Guilds and the Genesis of Formal Organizations.” Administrative Science
Quarterly, 34 (1989): 540-564. www.jstor.org/stable/2393566 (accessed
November, 2011) .
Koegler, Hans. Hundert Tafeln aus dem Gesamtwerk des Urs Graf. Basel: Urs-Graf-
Verlag, 1947.
Kroener, Bernhard R. "Antichrist, Archenemy, Disturber of the Peace - Forms and Means
of Violent Conflict in the Early Modern Ages." In Transcultural Wars from the
Middle Ages to the 21st Century, edited by Hans-Henning Kortüm. 57-84.
Munich: Akademie Verlag, 2006.
Kunze, Konrad. DTV-Atlas Namenkunde: Vor- und Familiennamen im deutschen

Sprachgebiet. München: Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, 2003.
Kuperty-Tsur, Nadine. Se dire à la renaissance: Les mémoires au XVIe siècle. Paris:

Librairie Philosophique J.Vrin, 1997.
Kurth, Willi, ed. The Complete Woodcuts of Albrecht Dürer. New York: Dover, 1963.
Larsson, Lars-Olof. ”Paul Dolnsteins dagbok.” Göteborg förr och nu, 18 (1982): 71-90.
Laux, Max. "Der Ursprung der Landsknecht." Zeitschrift für Kulturgeschichte 8 (1901):
1-27.
Lindholm, David, and David Nicolle. Medieval Scandinavian Armies (2): 1300-1500.
Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2003.
------. The Scandinavian Baltic Crusades 1100-1500. Oxford, Osprey Publishing, 2007.
244
Ludolphy, Ingetraut. Friedrich der Weise: Kurfürst von Sachsen, 1463-1525. Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1984.
Lukas, Joseph. Geschichte der Stadt und Pfarrei Cham aus Quellen und Urkunden
Bearbeiten. Landshut: Joseph Thomann'schen Buchhandlung, 1862.
Lovén, Christian. Borgar och befästningar i det medeltida Sverige. Stockholm: Kungliga
Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 1996.
Lüttenberg, Thomas. “The Cod-piece — A Renaissance Fashion between Sign and

Artefact.” The Medieval History Journal 8, no. 1 (2005): 49-81.
Lynn, John A. II. "Recalculating French Army Growth During the Grand siècle, 1610-
1715," In The Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military
Transformation of Early Modern Europe, edited by Clifford J. Rogers. 117-148.
Boulder: Westview Press, 1995.
------. John A. II. Women, Armies, and Warfare in Early Modern Europe. New York:
Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Mahan, Dennis Hart. A Treatise on Field Fortification Containing Instructions on the

Methods of Laying Out, Constructing, Defending, and Attacking Intrenchments,
with the General Outlines also of the Arrangement, the Attack and Defence of
Permanent Fortification. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley, 1856.
Mannerfelt, Måns. Västgötavägar, 4 vols. Uppsala: Appelbergs Boktryckeriaktiebolag,

1938-1952.
Maximilian I. Die Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank: Kolorierter Nachdruck der

Gesamtausgabe von 1517. Edited by Stephan Füssel. Köln: Taschen, 2003.
McNab, Chris, ed. Knives and Swords, a Visual History. New York: DK Publishing,
2010.
Meller, Harald, ed. Luther in Mansfeld, Forschungen am Elternhaus des Reformators.

Halle, Saale: Landesmuseum für Vorgeschichte, 2007.
Millar, John Gilbert. "The Landsknecht: His Recruitment and Organization, with Some
Reference to the Reign of Henry VIII." Military Affairs 35, no. 3. (October,
1971): 95-99.
Monelle, Raymond. The Musical Topic: Hunt, Military and Pastoral. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 2006.
Morillo, Stephen. Warfare Under the Anglo-Norman Kings, 1066-1135. Rochester, NY:
The Boydell Press, 1994.
245
Morral, Andrew. "Soldiers and Gypsies: Outsiders and their Families in Early Sixteenth
Century German Art.” In Artful Armies, Beautiful Battles: Art and Warfare in
Early Modern Europe. Edited by Pia Cuneo. 159-180. Boston: Brill, 2002.
Moser, Peter. Lucas Cranach: Sein Leben, seine Welt und seine Bilder. Bamberg:
Babenberg Verlag, 2004.
Moxey, Keith. Peasants, Warriors, and Wives: Popular Imagery in the Reformation.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1989.
Müller, Christian, Stephan Kemperdick, et al. Hans Holbein the Younger: The Basel
Years 1515-1532. New York: Prestel, 2006.
Nell, Martin. Die Landsknechte: Entstehung der ersten deutschen Infanterie. 1915.
Reprint, Vaduz, Liechtenstein: Kraus Reprint, 1965.
Nischan, Bodo. “The Case of Brandenburg” In Calvinism in Europe, 1540-1620, edited

by Andrew Pettegree, Alastair Duke, and Gillian Lewis. 181-204. New York:
Njåstad, Magne. "Resistance in the Name of the Law: Peasant Politics in Medieval and
Early Modern Norway." In Northern Revolts: Medieval and Early Modern
Peasant Unrest in the Nordic Countries, edited by Kimmo Katajala. 90-117.
Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society, 2004.
Oberman, Heiko A. Luther: Man between God and the Devil. Translated by Eileen
Walliser-Schwarzbart. New York: Image, 1989.
Ogilvie, Sheilagh. “Guilds, Efficiency, and Social Capital: Evidence from German Proto-
Industry.”The Economic History Review, New Series, 57, no. 2 (May, 2004):
286-333. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3698609 (accessed April 13, 2012).
Ohlenschlager, Friedrich. "Der Name 'Pfahl' als Bezeichnung der römischen Genzlinie."
In Neue Heidelberger Jahrbücher, edited by Historisch-Philosophischen Vereine
zu Heidelberg, Jahrgang 4. Heidelberg: G. Koester, 1895.
Oman, Charles. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. New York: E.P.
Dutton, 1937.
------. The Art of War in the Middle Ages: A.D. 378-1515. Rev. ed. Ithaca: Cornell
Parker, Geoffrey. The Military Revolution: Military Innovation and the Rise of the West:
1500-1800, 2nd ed. New York: Cambridge, 1996.
246
Parrott, David. "War, State, and Society in Western Europe, 1600-1700." In European
Warfare, 1350-1750, edited by Frank Tallett and D.J.B. Trim. 74-95. New York:
Peters, Jane S., ed, The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 19 (Part 1) [Formerly Volume 9 (part 2)].
New York: Abaris Books, 1987.
Pfister, Ulrich. “Craft Guilds, Theory of the Firm, and Early Modern Proto-industry.”
In Guilds, Innovation, and the European Economy, 1400-1800, edited by S.R
Epstein, and Maarten Prak. 25-51. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Playfair, James. A System of Geography, Ancient and Modern. Vol. 4. Edinburgh: Alex
Smellie, 1812.
Poska, Allyson M., “A Married Man Is a Woman: Negotiating Masculinity in Early

Modern Northwestern Spain,” in Masculinity in the Reformation Era, edited
by Scott H. Hendrix and Susan C. Karant-Nunn. 3-20. Kirksville, MO: Truman
State University Press, 2008.
Post, Charles Johnson. Horse Packing: a Manual of Pack Transportation. New York:
Outing Publishing Co., 1914.
Potter, David. Renaissance France at War: Armies, Culture and Society, c.1480-1560.
Rochester, NY: Boydell Press, 2008.
Press, Volker. “The Habsburg Lands: The Holy Roman Empire, 1400-1555.” In The
Handbook of European History, 1400-1600, vol. 1 Late Middle Ages,
Renaissance, and Reformation, edited by Thomas A. Brady Jr., Heiko A.
Oberman, and James D. Tracy. 437-466. Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1994.
Quaas, Gerhard. Das Handwerk der Landsknechte: Waffen und Bewaffnung zwischen
1500 und 1600. Osnabrück: Biblio Verlag, 1997.
Redlich, Fritz. The German Military Enterpriser and His Work Force: A Study in
European Economic and Social History, 2 vols. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag
GMBH, 1964-1965.
Regan, Paula, ed. Weapon: A Visual History of Arms and Armor. New York: DK
Publishing, 2006.
Reynolds, Reginald. Beards. London: George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 1950.
Richards, John. Landsknecht Soldier, 1486-1560. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002.
247
Rogers, Clifford J. "The Military Revolutions of the Hundred Years War.” In The
Military Revolution Debate: Readings on the Military Transformation of
Early Modern Europe, edited by Clifford J. Rogers. 55-94. Boulder, CO:
Westview Press, 1995.
Rogers, Clifford, ed., The Oxford Encyclopedia of Medieval Warfare and Military
Technology. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
Roper, Lyndal. Oedipus and the Devil: Witchcraft, Sexuality and Religion in Early
Modern Europe. New York: Routledge, 1994.
Rublack, Ulinka. Gender in Early Modern German History. New York: Cambridge
Schertlin von Burtenbach, Sebastian. Leben und Thaten des weiland wohledlen und
gestrengen Herrn Sebastian Schertlin von Burtenbach, durch ihn selbst deutsch
beschrieben. Edited by Ottmar F.H. Schönhuth. Münster: Aschendorff'schen
Buchhandlung, 1858.
Servolini, Luigi. Jacopo de’ Barbari. Padova: Le Tre Venezie, 1944.
Severn, Bill. The Long and Short of It: Five Thousand Years of Fun and Fury over Hair.
New York: David McKay Company, 1971.
Sewell, Henry F. Exhibition of Albert Dürer's engravings, etchings, and dry-points, and
most of the woodcuts executed from his designs. Selected from the collection of
Mr. Henry F. Sewall, of New York, and from the Gray collection belonging to
Harvard College. Together with eight original drawings from the collection Von
Franck. November 15, 1888, to January 15, 1889. Boston: Alfred Mudge and
Son, 1888.
Showalter, Dennis. "Gunpowder and Regional Military." In The Military and Conflict
Between Cultures: Soldiers at the Interface, edited by James C. Bradford, 49-88.
College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press, 1997.
Silver, Larry. "Shining Armor: Emperor Maximilian, Chivalry, and War." In Artful
Armies, Beautiful Battles: Art and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, edited by
Pia Cuneo, 61-85. Boston: Brill, 2002.
Silver, Larry, and Jeffrey Chipps Smith, eds. The Essential Dürer. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010.
Simons, Patricia. The Sex of Men in Premodern Europe: A Cultural History. New York:
248
Skjelver, Danielle. "German Hercules: The Impact of Scatology on the Image of Martin
Luther as a Man, 1483-1546." Pittsburgh Undergraduate Review, 14, no. 1
(Summer 2009): 30-78.
Spalatin, Georg. Friedrichs des Weisen: Leben und Zeigeschichte. Edited by Christian
Gotthold Neudecker and Ludwig Preller. Jena: Verlag von Friedrich Mauke,
1851.
Strauss, Walter. The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 17. New York: Abaris Books, 1981.
Strauss, Walter L. and Jane S. Peters, ed. The Illustrated Bartsch, vol. 19. New York:
Abaris Books, 1987.
Stuart, H.S.M., ed. The Autobiography of Götz von Berlichingen. London: Duckworth,
1956.
Svendsen, H. Blom, and Oscar Albert Johnsen, eds. Sem og Slagen: En bygdebok, 2 vols.
Papirutgave: Tønsberg: Tønsberg Aktietrykkeri, 1948. Elektronisk
utgave: Tønsberg: Høgskolen i Vestfold, 2004.
http://www-bib.hive.no/tekster/sem_slagen/index.html (accessed January, 2012).
Tlusty, B. Ann. The Martial Ethic in Early Modern Germany: Civic Duty and the Right
of Arms. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
Treichler, Hans Peter, Abenteuer Schweiz. Geschichte in Jahrhundertschritten. Lausanne,

Migros-Genossenschafts-Bundes, 1991.
Ulmann, Heinrich. Kaiser Maximilian I. 2 vols. Stuttgart, 1884-91.
Van Nimwegen, Olaf. "The Transformation of Army Organization in Early-Modern

Western Europe, c. 1500-1789." In European Warfare, 1350-1750, edited by
Frank Tallett and D.J.B. Trim. 159-180. New York: Cambridge University Press,
2010.
Von Keller, Adelbert, ed. Die Geschichten und Taten Wilwolts von Schaumburg.
Stuttgart: Literarischen Verein, 1859.
Von Langenn, F.A. Herzog Albrecht der Beherzte, Stammvater des königlichen Hauses
Sachsen: Eine Darstellung aus der sächsischen Regenten-, Staats- und Cultur-
Geschichte des XV. Jahrhunderts: grossentheils aus archivalischen Quellen.
Leipzig: J.C. Hinrichs'schen Buchhandlung, 1838.
Von Zatzikhoven, Ulrich. Lanzelet. Translated by Thomas Kerth. New York: Columbia
249
Wanckel Otto, and Cornelius Gurlitt. Die Albrechtsburg zu Meißen. Dresden: Wilhelm
Baensch, 1895.
Wiesflecker, Hermann. Kaiser Maximilian I: Das Reich, Österreich und Europa an der
Wende zur Neuzeit. Vol. 3. Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1977.
Wilson, Guy. "Military Science, History, and Art.” In Artful Armies, Beautiful Battles:
Art and Warfare in Early Modern Europe, 13-34. Boston: Brill, 2002.
Worsley, Henry. The Life of Martin Luther. Vol. 1. London: Bell and Daldy, 1856.
Zophy, Jonathan W. “Lazarus Spengler, Christoph Kress, and Nuremberg's

Reformation Diplomacy.” The Sixteenth Century Journal 5, No. 1 (Apr., 1974):
35-48. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2539586 (accessed October, 2011).
250

There I Paul Dolnstein Saw Action The SK

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

There I Paul Dolnstein Saw Action The SK

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

There I Paul Dolnstein Saw Action The SK

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

University of North Dakota

UND Scholarly Commons

"there I, Paul Dolnstein, Saw Action." The

Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/theses

Danielle Mead Skjelver

University of North Dakota

in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of

Grand Forks, North Dakota

Title "There I, Paul Dolnstein, saw action." The Sketchbook of a Warrior

Degree Master of Arts

In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a graduate

Danielle Mead Skjelver

LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………..............……….. vii

ABSTRACT ……………………………..……….............….……………… xii

II. THE SKETCHES ………………………...............…………….. 38

Discussion of Sketch 1 ……..................…………………. 39

Discussion of Sketch 2 …………..……................……….. 52

Discussion of Sketch 3 …………..............……………….. 62

Discussion of Sketch 4 ……………………..........……….. 68

Discussion of Sketch 5 …………………………..........….. 79

Discussion of Sketch 6 …………………………..........….. 92

Discussion of Sketch 7 ………………………..........…….. 98

Discussion of Sketch 8 …………..........………………….. 104

Discussion of Sketch 9 ………………..........…………….. 119

Discussion of Sketch 10 ……………………..........……… 126

Discussion of Sketch 11 ………………..………..........….. 130

Discussion of Sketch 12 …………………….............……. 136

Discussion of Sketch 13 …………............……………….. 154

Discussion of Sketch 15 ………………………….............. 170

Discussion of Sketch 16 …………………............……….. 184

Discussion of Sketch 17 …………………............……….. 192

Discussion of Sketch 18 ………………………............….. 199

Discussion of Sketch 19 ………………………............….. 209

III. CONCLUSION ……………………...................……………..… 221

APPENDIX ……….…………………………………....................….……… 235

BIBLIOGRAPHY …………………………………...................…….……… 239

2. Sketch 1, Title Page………………..……….…………………………..……..…. 39

3. Sample Mason’s Marks.……….……………..…….………………………….… 41

4. Brunswick Monogrammist, Tavern Scene, ca. 1540…………………………...... 42

6. Hans Holbein the Younger, Erasmus' Hands, 1523.…………………………..… 48

8. Sketch 2, Two Halberdiers……………..…….…………………………..……...… 52

9. Albrecht Dürer et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 31, 1516-1519…..... 56

10. Albrecht Dürer, Elsbeth Tucher, 1499…………………………………..……….. 57

11. Hans Burgkmair, et al, Detail, Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 7……………..…. 58

12. Sketch 3, Standard Bearer and Halberdier in the Field.…..…………………..… 62

13. Urs Graf, Standard Bearer, 1514………………………………………..……..… 64

14. Sketch 4, This is a Swede.…………………………………………...………….… 68

15. Urs Graf, Horrors of War, 1521…..……………………………………..……..… 74

16. Staff Weapon with Spiral Languet, 1520………………………………..……..… 75

17. Sketch 5, Michael von Coburg and Wolf von Zwickau………………….……..… 79

18. The Triumph of Maximilian I, Plate 135……………………………….………… 82

20. Sketch 6, Two Pikemen………..…………………………………………..……… 92

21. Detail, Sketch 6..…………………………………………………………......…… 95

22. Sketch 7, Halberdier, Wilhelm von Straßburg………….………………….....…… 98

23. Die Abenteuer des Ritters Theuerdank, Plate 81……………….……………..… 100

24. Detail, Sketches 7, 2, and 5………..………………………………………….… 102

25. Sketch 8, Woman, Man, and Child on the March……..………………..…….… 104

26. Detail, Sketch 8..…………………………………..………………………….… 110