Mmm... "touché" Rob, it wasn't until 1856 that purple dye was synthesised, and could be cheaply produced. Maybe Dan Schorr can shed some light on this matter.
Jeff, Interesting question. I have no pictorial evidence for coloured hat tape, it was usually white, silver or gold. Yet I found a small note saying that when William III returned from England to Flanders in 1696, he brought along 100 'royal volunteers'; their flag was sprinkled with golden hearts ...
The Blue Guards were the only Dutch unit with a separate grenadier company. All other battalions had 6 grenadiers per company. They usually deployed with their parent battalions in battle, but were sometimes converged in grenadier companies in siege warfare. A 1689 States General (government) resolu...
In fact, there were several 'national' flags. Remember that at this date, The Netherlands were merely a union of several provinces, the United Provinces, under the (military) rule of several stadholders, of whom William III was the predominant one. The national colours were defined though: red, whit...
For all of you who're interested in the wars in the east in our beloved period I've discovered a beautiful german site. It shows the trophies won by Markgraf Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden-Baden and Herzog Julius Franz von Sachsen-Lauenburg in the Great Turkish Wars of 1683-1692: http://www.tuerkenbeute.de...
I doubt whether too many of the Moors in the 17th century would have had firearms. What I understand is that there was an abundance of the stuff in the coastal areas. As early as the late 16th century, North Africans were exporting fire arms to the trans-saharan african kingdoms. But their use may ...
Hi Ad, I think the Zanzibari mercenaries in Foundry's Darkest Africa range offer a great start for creating Moorish troops of the time. Of course you need to alter their rifles, add some powder bags, but that's doable. You could mix in some Perry Bedouin cavalry from their Crusades range for the feu...
Great source, the accounts on battles I read so far are consistent with the Dutch accounts.
It's my profession after all... 