Landsknecht und Troßbube, [Lansquenet and Baggage train boy, Augsburg], 1521 from Flugblatter der Reformation und des Bauernfrieges

1975

Private Collection

Leipzig: Insel-Verlag Anton Kippenberg

Here Weiditz the Younger (1495-c.1537) satirises the lansquenets, mercenary soldiers in the wars of the Middle Ages. One such fellow is depicted as being pot-bellied, having a huge nose and jutting chin, lacks a sword yet still wears the scabbard, and is still holding his halberd. Behind him, Sancho Panza-like, is the baggage train boy, a dwarf-like copy of his master. The text conveys the message that these guys are losers and dropouts, who after squandering everything (home and land), are now out to make money as mercenaries. This leaflet was printed four years before the Peasants’ War of 1525.