The Danish Horse Guard in Collets – Lund 1676

The Horse Guard in Collets - as Møinichen depicted them

As there were two squadrons of the Royal Danish Horse Guard present at Lund, and the evidence on their actual uniform during the battle points in two directions, I decided to paint one of each.

The former blog post shows a squadron of the Guard in their more flashy attire, with red capes and embroidered royal monogram. The uniform rolls and armoury records support this.

Notice the white cloth band around the arm - the Danish Field Sign at Lund

For the second squadron I decided to follow Møinichen’s version from his paintings of the Scanian War. Here the regiment is shown wearing yellowish collets with red facing.
As collets were very popular among cavalry due to their protective qualities in melees, it is highly likely that at least part of the Guard would have been equipped in this fashion.

Detail from painting by Claus Møinichen

The official records on the Horse Guard of this period is a little unclear on the design of their standards. Again I had to navigate by using Møinichen’s paintings, giving evidence that both a white (as I used in the former regiment) and a blue – as used in the collet wearing squadron, could be plausible.

Fielding a blue standard - painting by Claus Møinichen

Claus Møinichen was born in Copenhagen 1660 as the son of a surgeon.
Evidently inheriting his father's steady hands, he became a much adorned painter appointed by the Royal Danish Court at the time. He is worth a google image search, offering plenty of fine work of the Scanian War.

I’ll post some more on Møinichen's paintings later on.
Thanks for reading! 

The Danish Horse Guard – Lund 1676

The Danish Horse Guard

Ok, it was time for some Danes now, and since more than two thirds of the troops at Lund were cavalry, what more suitable start than the Danish Horse Guard (Hestegarden).

The excellent source materiel from Hasselager & Snorrason stated that the Horse Guard could have been wearing cloaks in addition to their red uniforms. Also there are evidence in Möinichen’s paintings that some could have been wearing collets at Lund, which were immensely popular among cavalry at the time, as it offered excellent protection against saber cuts in melees.

The Horse Guard - led by Fredrik von Ahrensdorf

Since there were two regiments present at Lund, I decided to do both. One unit wearing the red uniform with cloaks and one in collets. Now, first of was the cloaked unit.

Light sculpting with Green Stuff

Using the Warefare cavalry miniatures Dutch Gard te Paard unit, which have the extra decorative sleeves on the back, I extended these with some green stuff in order to simulate a cape or cloak flowing in the wind as the unit charges forward.

Some handy work - used the thinnest paper I could find (60gr)

Next up I added King  Christian the 5^th’s monogram to the cloaks by using a paint over tip I picked up at Jonas’s blog: "Conflict of interests"

Steady hands, loads of patience and a very thin brush required. But, after a few tests I got to a result that was no too bad for a first go at this technique.

The monograms adding detail to the deep red

The Horse Guard served on the Danish Right Flank under Lieutenant-General Fredrik von Ahrensdorf, and took part in the pincher attack that isolated and decimated a few units on the Swedes left flank, before the Swedish Västgöta Cavalry regiment under Hierta came to the rescue and stemmed the tide.

The Horse Guard also formed the core of the King’s Guard at royal procession, and was indeed to be reckoned as elite. They added elan and back bone to the Danish forces fighting next to them at Lund, and should by no means be held back or spared. Forward boys!

Next up – the Horse Guards in collets

Thanks for reading