The Holy Roman Empire’s Hidden War Machine - Late Middle Ages

From Kings and Generals

Kings and Generals, an animated historical documentary series on the history of the medieval period and the Holy Roman Empire, continues with a video on the Army of the HRE in the Late Middle Ages. In 1475, Charles the Bold’s Burgundian army was besieging Neuss when Emperor Frederick III summoned a relief force of roughly 30,000 men. But the Holy Roman Empire had no permanent standing army. So who actually answered the call, and how did this famously fragmented Reich mobilise for war? This medieval military history documentary reconstructs the forces behind the Siege of Neuss. Follow armoured nobles and their retainers, urban militias organised by guilds and city wards, armed rural communities, and mercenaries drawn from every rank. Muster rolls and contemporary accounts reveal what knights, burghers, craftsmen, peasants, gunners, crossbowmen, wagoners, and servants brought on campaign, how they trained, and who paid the enormous cost. The evidence overturns familiar myths about defenceless peasants, helpless townspeople, and a dysfunctional Holy Roman Empire. Citizens faced armour inspections, villages stored communal weapons, and city militias could fight effectively, although discipline sometimes collapsed in spectacular fashion. By examining military obligations, equipment, wealth, status, and local organisation, this video shows how late medieval Germany turned society itself into an army. The relief of Neuss was more than a campaign against Burgundy: it was a rare demonstration that the Empire’s decentralised system could unite when the Reich was threatened.