Princely guards

The Saxonian Electors and their princely guards during the era of the Reformation

The exhibition will be enable by the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien and the Kulturraum Leipziger Raum

May 16, 2012 - Oktober 31, 2013
An exhibition by the Rüstkammer in cooperation with the Landkreis Nordsachsen and the Große Kreisstadt Torgau

The exhibition features bladed and pole weapons, firearms, as well as helmets belonging to the princely guards, thereby revealing seldom shown aspects of the Reformation and the denominational politics of the Saxonian Court.

Until the introduction of standing armies princely guards were the only permanently armed troops with the exception of the castle garrison who were directly paid by the court. Similar to other European territories in the electoral principality of Saxony, guards existed in the form of foot soldiers and mounted guards. While the foot soldiers protected the Court, provided service to the Court, and were responsible for the personal protection of the Ruler and his family, the mounted guards - originally called „Traveling Domestics“ would accompany the Elector on his travels to the German Parliament, gatherings of the Princes or on the hunt. The mounted guards were primarily composed of members of the Saxonian, Meissnian and Thuringia knighthood and members of higher Saxonian and foreign nobel families.

In this context, the year 1591 forms a little known and exhibited turning point for European, German and Saxonian history. The German Protestant Religious League, called the Torgauer Bund, founded in 1591 had failed until it was reconstituted as a protestant union in 1608. Saxony lost its leading role in the protestant ranks within the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. A dominant role was played by the „Edlen Pursch“ a princely guard founded by Christian I. who‘s role was to safeguard his denominational politics.

Eine Glanzzeit erlebten die Trabanten in Kursachsen unter Kurfürst Christian I. (1560, reg. 1586-1591), da dieser nicht nur die Anzahl der Trabanten erhöhte, sondern im Zusammenhang mit der Absicherung seiner Konfessionspolitik die Truppe der berittenen „Edlen Pursch“ aufstellte.

Zur Ausstellung erscheint ein Katalog.