Fribourgian Crossbowmen

Behold the brave men of the crossbow unit for my Swiss army for Lion Rampant. They have come from all over the Zugewandte Orte Freiburg (Associate State Fribourg) as is witnessed by the various crests upon their pavises.

Coats of Arms of the Baillages of Jounn, Murtten and Uberstein

Coat of Arms of the Baillage of Corsery

Coat of Arms of the Baillage of Orbach

Coat of Arms of the Baillage of Granson

These heraldric designs are taken from the Freiburg Fähnenbuch (Fribourg Livre des Drapeaux) and to be found online here. The book itself was made around 1647-48 by the hand of Pierre Crolot and has a page which lists and shows the Coat of Arms from the 28 baillages, under the rule of a bailiff, of Fribourg. The inner circle are the parishes then in existence by the 17th century, although none but one are illustrated.

Courtesy of http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch

Although there is almost 200 years between the period I'm working in and the making of the book, I don't believe that the crests will have changed a lot, if anything. Who cares anyway, as long as these men can hit the freckles on a Burgundian's face at 200 paces.

A discarded pavise bearing the Coat of Arms of the Baillage of Plaffeyen

Angrily shaking a fist obviously causes terror in the enemy line.

"Burgundians, thousands of 'em..." "Don’t shoot until you see the whites of their eyes!" *

Next up are Swiss halberdiers.


* Not a lot of people know this but the Burgundians would've won if they kept their eyes closed.