Camisado: July 2026

With the 500 year anniversary of the Battle of Mohács approaching today's post is a unit of twenty four Hungarian arquebusiers. I am hoping to game a refight of part of the famous battle and this unit will be great for representing some of the infantry in Louis II's Hungarian army.

There were probably between 12-13,000 infantry in the Hungarian army at Mohács a substantial portion of which would have carried arquebuses. In his chapter on the Hungarian Army in "On the Verge of a New Era. The Armies of Europe at the Time of the Battle of Mohács" (which can be downloaded for free from here: https://www.academia.edu/91840792/On_the_Verge_of_a_New_Era_The_Armies_of_Europe_at_the_Time_of_the_Battle_of_Moh%C3%A1cs) János B. Szabó explains that laws were passed in the 1490s which required Hungarian prelates and barons to provide troops from their banderia, these being their privately raised forces, when the government standing forces were unable to defend the country. The only type of infantry such laws mentioned were arquebusiers with Szabó stating "The few references to infantry in the laws concern only “gunners” (pixidarii; in fact, arquebusiers), as in the list of types of troops that may be mobilized for the army included in Act 11 of 1526. There were only three categories: heavy cavalry, hussars and handgunners". Szabó continues saying that even some peasant forces were armed with handguns.

King Louis II left Buda in July 1526 accompanied by infantry contingents and German landsknecht. In his account of Mohács, István Brodarics, the king's chancellor, who was present at the battle, describes how 4,000 troops were recruited with Papal money for the battle with Brodarics stating (translated from Latin) "Also came other infantry troops – a total of four thousand – of His Holiness, they were powerful and elegantly equipped soldiers". It seems these were Poles, Czechs and Moravians. Brodarics continues to describe how of this Papal contingent 1,500 Poles were led by Lenard Gnoienski, "the excellent pioneer Polish Gnoynsky, who commanded one thousand and five hundred infantry", whilst 1,300 were led by Annibale de Este di Padovana Cartagine, who Brodarics refers to as Cyprian in the Latin. More Papal troops were under the command of Ambrus Sárkány. Prelates and nobles also provided infantry contingents with John Zápolya's brother, György Zápolya, Count of Szepes, who unlike his sibling did make it to the battle, bringing 1,200 infantry and Bishop Fülöp Csulai Móré of Pécs providing 400 men. Shortly before the battle the Croatian Ban, Ferenc Batthyány, (Bans being being the military governors of the Hungarian Kingdom's outlying territories) arriving with nobles János Tahy and the Royal Cup-bearer János Bánffy and around 3,000 Slavonian infantry whilst the master of the Hungarian Treasury, Elek Thurzó, sent 200 infantry although he himself was not present.

Of these infantry it is likely many were arquebusiers. Returning to Szabó's chapter on the Hungarian army I will quote at length his comments on the armaments of the various mercenaries employed. It is clear they carried a far higher portion of firearms than any Swiss or landsknecht forces of the period:

"The Bohemian and Polish darabonts, described by the Venetian diplomat Massarro as the best in Central Europe, “stand in armour from head to toe. Most of them have good arquebuses, others have sharp maces made of hard iron, attached to a pole by a chain, like a flail; they can give a blow that can bring down a man in armour. Some carry halberds and shields, and when in combat, always seek contest with the enemy even if the latter is in superior number.” In the 1526 campaign, the Bohemian mercenaries who came to Buda were mostly arquebus-bearing “shooters” (scopietieri, scopetieri), along with pavise-bearers (targoni longi et grossi, targoni grandi quanto uno huom[o]), and heavy infantry with pikes and polearms (armati benissimi con meze piche, longo ferro; armati con meza picha).

Polish and Czech historians state that only about 25% of these troops were heavily-armed foot soldiers with polearms and standing shields (tarpajzs in Hungarian), and 70–75% of them “shooters”, among whom the arquebus had almost universally replaced the traditional crossbow by the end of the fifteenth century. The Bohemian and Polish infantry mercenaries in service with the Hungarian army thus had much greater numerical firepower than the renowned Swiss or German infantry of the time, of which every fourth or fifth man carried a firearm even in the 1540s.The Bohemian mercenaries of the king and the count of Szepes were similarly equipped in the 1520s."

The count of Szepes referred to in the above quote was one of the two commanders in chief who was appointed to lead the Hungarian army along with the Franciscan friar Pál Tomori, Archbishop of Kalocsa. As stated above he brought 1,200 infantry with him, many of whom are likely to have been arquebusiers.

The problem we run into in relation to wargames figures is what did these different groups of arquebusiers look like? As the forces were a mix of Hungarians, Poles, Czechs, Slavonians and Moravians there was undoubtedly lots of regional difference. Gyozo Somogyi's excellent "The Army of King Matthias 1458-1526" includes some great images of arquebusiers, some of which are clearly based on contemporary images. I have been able to find a few images that the figures can be based on. A great source, that has been referenced before on this blog, is the Battle of Orsha painting, depicting the clash in 1514 between the Muscovites and forces of Lithuania and Poland. Thought to have been painted between 1520-1534 it would be contemporaneous with Mohács and contains some fantastic images of Eastern European arquebusiers in the 1520s, which can be seen in the first two pcitures below. The second two images are both from Hungarian armorial shields of the 16th century, and are reproduced in Gyozo Somogyi's book. The first shows a Hungarian arquebusier fighting an Ottoman archer whilst the second shows a man shooting a bird with an arquebus. Gyozo Somogyi describes this man as a hunter of the Royal Court from c.1514.

Detail of arquebusiers from the "Battle of Orsha, 1514", c.1520-1534. Note how the barrel of the gun being loaded by the arquebusier on the viewer's right, has a small hook for when it is fired from behind a wall or pavise.

Detail of arquebusiers firing from behind pavises from the "Battle of Orsha, 1514", c.1520-1534.

The Radak family arms showing a Hungarian arquebusier fighting an Ottoman archer.

The Bicskey arms showing a hunter of the Royal Court from c.1514. The hunter appears to be wearing a hair net and is using an arquebus.

My representation of Hungarian arquebusiers are a mixture of old Essex Miniatures Poles and Warlord Games new 28mm Poles. The figures are quite different in size so the Essex ones have had their bases heightened a little. The different styles of the two manufacturers helps to make the unit look less uniform. Thirteen of the figures have had their heads swapped with Perry plastic Wars of the Roses heads or metal early 16th century heads from the Assault Group. Any of the helmeted heads that did not originally have moustaches have had these added on with green stuff whilst the heads that were not swapped have had longer hair added as this was the style in early 16th century Hungary. Some of the caps have been altered by having different plumes of feathers added to them. The lengths of some of the guns have also been shortened to make these troops look like 16th century arquebusiers as oppose to 17th century musketeers.

The resulting unit is shown in the photos below and I am pleased with the result. It is a real shame no one makes 28mm figures for the Hungarians of the 1520s but I feel when this unit is combined with my other converted Hungarian units, like the Hussars, the army will look the part. Now I just need to figure out how to turn the epic clash at Mohács into a playable wargame...