The Black Detachment ( German: Der Schwarze Haufen , literally the Black Heap ) is an armed peasant formation from the Franconian natives, which constituted the core of the German peasant army during the Peasant War in Germany .
| Black squad | |
|---|---|
 Florian Gayer , commander of the Black Squad | |
| Years of existence | 1525 |
| Subordination | Florian Gayer |
| Included in | peasant army |
| Type of | militia |
| Number | more than 600 people |
| Participation in | Peasant war in Germany |
The leader of the black detachment was the Franconian knight Florian Gayer [1] .
Content
Title
Most of the peasant groups were called the "Light units" ( German: Heller Haufen ), however, the Gaier detachment tried to express its uniqueness and took the name of the Black detachment. The word "Haufen" was translated from German as "heap" - as the peasants called their military units.
Structure
The detachment consisted of about 600 armed peasants and a small detachment of mercenary knights. The leader of the detachment was Florian Gayer, who taught peasants the techniques and tactics of battle, trying to turn militias into professional warriors. Some of the knights were perhaps his vassals.
History
The detachment was formed in 1525 in Rothenburg, where it began its operations. After capturing the surroundings of Rothenburg, the Black detachment headed for Swabia, where it plundered many monasteries and castles, thereby inflicting a serious defeat on the Swabian Union . The peasants brutally cracked down on all who resisted them: for example, in Swabia, a peasant detachment led by Jacqueline Rohrbach massacred 50 knights who had entered the fray. Gayer did not accept such violence and withdrew his troops to Franconia, but the massacre caused by Rohrbach became the reason for the response from the Swabian alliance: the Trukhses (allied foreman) Georg von Wartburg began to persecute all the peasants from the Black detachment and mercilessly destroy them. Soon, Rohrbach himself was caught, who was burned alive in 1525 .
In May 1525, at the Battle of Ingolstadt, almost all the peasant detachments were defeated by the Swabian League, only the "Black Detachment" remained combat-ready. The peasants were forced to retreat to the ruins of the Ingolstadt castle, which they had burned to the ground several months before the battle. The city ended up in an encirclement and survived two assaults, but on the third attempt, the Swabian army, using artillery, made a breach in the walls and broke into the city. None of the defenders survived. Gayer was not in the city at that time, waiting for reinforcements from Rothenburg , but arrived at the walls too late. The detachment actually ceased to exist. Gayer himself died on the night of June 9-10 of the same year near Rimpar, having been ambushed by his relative Wilhelm Grumbach .
Memory
Despite the aspirations of the Swabian feudal lords in every possible way to cross out the names of the heroes of the "Black Detachment", at present they are considered national heroes in Germany. In memory of them, the song “ Wir sind des Geyers schwarzer Haufen ” was written (with it. - “We are Gayer's Black Squad”), which gained popularity in the 20th century .
See also
- The Rise of Wat Tyler
Notes
- ↑ Geyer, Florian // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
Literature
- Geyer, Florian // Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary : in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - SPb. , 1890-1907.
- Florian Gayer Biography Translation
- Engels, Friedrich. The Peasant War in Germany, Germany, 1850; contained in the Collected Works of Karl Marx and Frederick Engels Volume 10, International Publishers, New York, 1978, pp. 397–482
- Franz, Günther. Der deutsche Bauernkrieg, Darmstadt, 1987, ISBN 3-534-03424-4