Banner of Georg Von Frundsberg

I am currently in the process of re-basing some mounted landsknechts and have decided to have one of them carrying the banner of Georg von Frundsberg, a key leader of the imperial army.

The only initial points of reference that I had at my disposal were the Osprey books on the Landsknechts and German Peasants war respectively and they were somewhat contradictory.

Off to the internet I trawled, finally settling upon the following contemporary image as a reliable source;

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allerlay_Wapen_11.jpg

The heraldry shown does slightly contradict that shown in this portrait which is also near contemporary;

http://www.st-max.org/ae-frundsberg.htm

I chose to settle for the first example as it provided some more detail, from this I created the basic black & white design shown above which will require a little more when painting to bring out the finer details, namely the horseshoe's in the Swan's mouths and the detail on the mountains.

Mountains? yes indeed, thanks to Stephan of Pro Gloria Miniatures, the translation of the Von Frundsberg heraldic charge is as follows;

'In gold there is a levitating five mountain (a mountain with five peaks) which is hollowed down under on a crowned helmet with black gold blankets there grows a golden swan'

I will use the above flag on its own but you could also use the following in addition if you were to represent the general (and enjoy a colourful flag filled base);

The flag on the Right is that of the Holy Roman Empire and that on the left is the Renfahnne, a symbol of office (and flag) of the Arch Marshall of the Holy Roman Empire; This position held the responsibility for the protection of the Emperor and the representation of his interests in the field. Georg von Frundsberg held this position under Charles V.

As a point of interest, a later representation of this flag is seen quartered with the arms of the serving Arch Marshall Gottfreid Heinrich Graf Von Pappenheim who held the position during the thirty years war;

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marschall_von_Pappenheim_Siebmacher019_-_Freiherren.jpg


This process has taken me a while so I thought I would share it as there isn't that much out there which is immediately useable for the miniature painter.

I've forgotten how much I enjoyed all things Landsknecht !