Bandes d'ordonnance

Bandes d'ordonnance (French) or Benden van ordonnantie (Dutch) were elite heavy cavalry formations recruited from the aristocracy in the early-modern Low Countries. They were originally formed by Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and became an integral part of the military organization of the Low Countries from the mid-fifteenth to late-sixteenth centuries, up to the first years of the Eighty Years' War. They continued to exist into the seventeenth century with far less military importance, although a command in a Bande d'ordonnance was still a considerable social distinction.

References

External links

The New York Public Library Vinkhuijzen Collection of Military Costume Illustration contains the following images:

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, April 15, 2012. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.