From Knight to Landsknecht: How and Why the Medieval Knight Gave Way to Mercenary Armies
Update: 2025-08-16
Description
This podcast is the first in a series that describes the evolution of armies, beginning with the decline of the medieval knight and the rise of professional mercenary forces between 1300 and 1600. Advances in tactics, gunpowder weapons, and siege warfare shifted the battlefield to disciplined infantry like Swiss pike squares, German Landsknechts, and Spanish tercios, funded by emerging fiscal-military states and replacing knights as the core of European armies.
See the full written article here: Home | Substack
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