2.1 The Tercio of infantry

2.2 The Cavalry

2.3  Infantry of the Nations

2.4 The Artillery

2.1 The Tercio of Infantry

The Tercio was the basic unit of the Spanish infantry from 1534 to 1704. It consisted of a permanent staff (a novelty in 1534) and a variable number of combat companies. The Tercio was an administrative as well as a tactic unit, especially in the XVI century.

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2.1.a Staff of the Tercio

The permanent staff was an innovation in 1534-1536 when the Tercios were created. The staff comprised the administrative function (payment, intendancy etc..) and military direction of the unit. The staff was composed by the:

Maestro de Campo	He comands the Tercio and has a personnal guard of 8 men. The Maestro de Campo is also the captain of the first company. In general the Tercio may have his name like Mendoza, Zuñiga, Velasco, Mondragòn .....
The major sergeant  (El sargento mayor)	He is the second officer of the Tercio. He organises tacticaly the Tercio and he is the captain of the second company.
The paymaster  (Fiscal militare)	He is in charge of the finance of the Tercio. He has 3 men to help him.
Chief of the military police (barrachel de campaña)	He is responsible of the discipline. He has 6 aids.
Chief Chaplain	He has two ordinary chaplains.
Chief Clerk  (furiel mayor )	In charge of the intendancy.
Chief Surgeon  (cirujano mayor)	Medical duties.
Chief Drummer  (tambor mayor)	In charge of all the musicians of the Tercio and the transmition of the orders.

In total the Tercio had a staff of 29 men.

2.1.b The combat companies 1534 - 1632

The Tercio has two different types of company: a company of pikemen and a company of harquebusiers. Between 1534 and 1536, 3 Tercios were created with 8 companies of pikemen and 2 companies of harquebusiers of 300 men each. In 1567, 4 Tercios were sent to the Flandres and in 1568 they had, in theory, 10 companies of pikemen and 2 companies of harquebusiers of 250 men each. The other Tercios, in Italy, had still 10 companies of 300 men.
All the companies have the same staff:

1 captain and his page,
1 alférez (lieutenant),
1 sergeant,
1 abanderado (ensign),
3 musicians,
1 clerk,
1 chaplain and 1 barber, in total 11 officers

Each Spanish company was divided in "escuadra " or group of a maximum of 25 men commanded by a "cabo". A 250 men company had 10 cabos and a 300 men company had 12 cabos. The Spanish had also an unofficial structure of half dozen of men called las camaradas, it was not a combat structure but a group of men from the same company sharing the food, the bed, the training, the friend ship. The camaradas were important to maintain the moral and the famous esprit de corps of the Spanish soldiers.

A: Composition of a Tercio of 12 companies of 250 men: 2 x [11 officers, 224 harquebusiers and 15 musketeers]  10 x [11 officers, 111 corselets, 108 single pikemen, and 20 musketeers]   B: Composition of a Tercio of 10 companies of 300 men:  2 x [11 officers, 35 single pikemen, 239 harquebusiers and 15 musketeers] 8 x [11 officers,  135 corselets, 44 single pikemen, 90 harquebusiers and 20 musketeers]

The corselet  is a pikeman with a full armour, and the single pikeman had very few pieces of armour or not at all.

Note: in the Tercio there were also "soldados particular" (gentlemen volunteers) who fought as a single soldier with whoever they chose, normaly a commander with a good reputation. They got no pay and did not actually answer to anybody for their actions. Also you have "soldados reformados" who where officiers without command and fought as single soldiers, they had a pay of captain or alférez .

The next table presents the summary of the composition of a complete Tercio of 12 companies (12 x 250 = 3000 men) from the Army of Flanders and of a Tercio of 10 companies (10 x 300 = 3000 men)  from Italy.

Theory	12 companies Tercios		10 companies Tercios
Officers / Staff	159 men	5.2%	137 men	4.6%
Corselets	1110 men	36.7%	1080 men	35.7%
Single pikemen	1080 men	35.7%	400 men	13.2%
Harquebusiers	448 men	14.8%	1220 men	40.3%
Musketeers	230 men	7.6%	190 men	6.3%
Ratio Gun/Pike	0.31		0.95

From the table we can say that there was an average of 24% to 49% of gunmen.

In reality the number of men was quite different. Like in other armies of the time, illness and desertion reduced the number of men available. Also the Tercio had the tendency to have more harquebusiers or musketeers to increase the firepower.

Some examples of the reality:

- In 1567, before the beginning of the march to the Flanders, the Duke of Alba had 4 Tercios with 49 companies numbering 8795 men in total (an average of 180 men/companies) with some735 musketeers (8.4%).

Tercio Name	Companies (co)	men (m)	m/co
Lombardia	10	2204	220
Napoles	19	3194	168
Sicilia	10	1641	164
Sardinia	10	1756	175

- From 1567 to 1598, the Spanish sent more than 63 000 infantrymen for the Spanish Tercios of the Army of Flanders (in total we have 23 Tercios, the name of each ones can be found in the site of J.L. Sanchez).  For the 31 years the average number of men per company, for each reinforcement, was 134 men, far away from the theorytical number of 250 men.  

- Next figure shows the composition (pikemen, musketeers, harquebusiers) of the 41 companies of pikemen and the 9 companies of harquebusiers from the 4 Tercios (Napoles, Lombardia, Sicilia and Flandes ) of the Army of Flanders in 1571. The 50 companies numbered 7509 men in total with an average of 150 men by company.

At the same year, in 1571, for the naval expedition to Lepanto, the Tercio of Lombardia (in Italy) sent 1756 men in 12 companies (146 men/company).

Composition of the 7509 men from the 50 companies of the 4 Tercios of the Army of Flandres in 1571. We have 28% of gunmen and 66% of pikemen (33% of corselets and 33% of single pikemen). The ratio Gun /Pike is 0.55.

- For the operation of the invasion of England in 1588, the Army of Flanders had 4 Tercios (Bobabilla, Queralt Leyva and Manrique) with 82 companies (17 of which where of the harquebusiers type) numbering 8710 men. That means an average company of 106 men far away from the theoretically 250 men in each one. Only 6 000 infantrymen will be used in the invasion army.

- Next figure gives the composition of the 4 Tercios (Coloma, Messia, Villar and Velasco) which invaded France in 1596. In total, there were 4910 men in 44 companies (16 companies for the first Tercio, 14 companies for the second, 8 companies for the third and 6 companies for the last one). That means an average of 100 men (28 pikemen, 6 musketeers and 66 harquebusiers), excluding the officers, by company.

Composition of the 4910 men (530 officers and 4380 privates) divided in 44 companies (4 Tercios) for the invasion of north France in 1596. In this case the ratio gun / pike is 2.56.

2.1.c The companies from the ordinance of 1632

The royal ordinance of 1632 reorganised the structure and composition of the companies of a Tercio. There was only one type of company with all the different type of weapons.

Composition of a Tercio of  15 companies  2 x [11 officers, 159 harquebusiers and 30 musketeers] 13 x [11 officers, 69 pikemen, 120 musketeers]

The Tercios of the Army of Flandres and of Italy had 15 companies of 200 men. The Tercio from the Iberic peninsula had normally 12 companies of 250 men. Still, we stay with the mytic 3000 men for a Tercio. In 1636 the Gobernor of Flanders, the Cardinal Infante Fernando, reorganised the Spanish and Italian Tercios in 15 companies of 200 men: 13 companies of Pikemen and 2 companies of Harquebusiers

Company  of 250 men:  11 officers, 90 corselets, 60 musketeers and 89 harquebusiers
Compagnie of 200 men (Italy) :  11 officers, 70 corselets, 40 musketeers and 79 harquebusiers
Company of 200 men (Flandres 1636):

Harquebusier:11 officiers, 159 harquebusiers and 30 musketeers
Pikemen: 11 officiers, 69 pikemen / corselets, 120 musketeers

Tercios Theory	15 companies		15 companies (Flanders)		12 companies
Officers / Staff	194 men	6.4%	194 men	6.4	161 men	5.3%
Pikemen	1050 men	34.7%	897 men	29.6	1080 men	35.6%
Harquebusiers	1185 men	39.1%	318 men	10.5	1068 men	35.3%
Musketeers	600 men	19.8%	1620 men	53.5	720 men	23.8%
Ratio Gun/Pike	1.7		2.1		1.7

 

Like before the reality was very different.

- At the battle of Nordlingen in 1634 the Tercio of Napoles had 1450 men (12.2% of officiers and 87.8% of cabos and soldiers) in 17 companies and the Tercio of Lombardia had 1 800 men (14.7% of officers and 85.3% of cabos and soldiers)  in 26 companies. So we have an average of 85 men by company for the Napoles and 69 men by company for Lombardia. The proportion of pikemen was probably 30 - 32%.

- During the first invasion of Catalonia in 1640, the Tercio Viejo of Tejada had around 1 500 men subdivided in 16 companies (90 - 100 men per company).

- In 1643 a review of the Army of Flanders give 190 officers and 1206 soldiers subdivided in 18 companies for the Tercio of Alonso de Avila (an average of  10 officiers and 67 soldiers per company)

- In July 1644, in a review of the army of Flanders, the company of Francisco de Santander had 10 officers and 55 soldiers and the company of Jerónimo del Castillo had 10 officers and only 41 soldiers. 

- In the second battle of the Dune in 1658, the Spanish "battalion" of Bonifaz of  some 450  men had only 11 companies (40 - 45  men per company).

- In 1661 the 4 Spanish tercios of the army of Flanders numbered 5480 men, we have an average of 1370 men per Tercio.

 

2.1.d The new Tercio from 1635 and 1663 in the Iberic Peninsula

With the war against France in 1635 and the uprising in Portugal and Catalonia in 1640, the Spanish monarchy had to fight in the Iberic peninsula and find new troops.

- In 1633, the Spanish monarch appealed for noblemen to raise 16 regiments of infantry (first time that this word appears for a Spanish unit) of 1375 men. These units were of poor quality in campaign.

- From 1635 the spanish will form the "Tempory Tercio" later called "Auxillary" Tercios made up of 1 000 men in 10 companies of 100 men. These Tercios were raised, generaly by provinces, cities (milicians) or noblemen. For example in 1639, Catalonia sent 5000 men divided in 5 Tercios (de Pagera, de Rocaberti, de Llupia, Xamar, and de Guilla) of Milician for the siege of Salces.
Also the province of Aragon (310 000 habitants at the beginning of the XVII century) which formed and pay from 1643 - 1648,  2 Tercios of 1000 men oof 10 companies and 500 horsemen for the Catalonia Campaigns as well as 4 800 militias.

- In 1637  "Provincial Tercio"  were created with a staff of 11 men and 12 companies of 100 men. The recruitment was more selective and they were of better quality than the tempory tercio. They would form the bulk of the peninsular army. 

- Finally, in 1663, 5 "Fix Provincial Tercio"  were created (Burgos, Sevilla, Valladolid, Madrid and Toledo) with 1000 men in 16 companies each. The Staff of the tercio numbered 8 men and each company had 1 capitan + 1 page, 1 Alférez, 1 sergeant, 2 drummers and 56 cabos and privates.  These Tercios were known by the color of their uniforms . In 1690-1694, ten more tercios (Burgos Nuevo, Valladolid Nuevo, Cuenca, Léon, Murcia, Sevilla Nuevo, Gibraltar, Jaén, Toledo Nuevo and Segovia) were raised and numbered 11 200 infantrymen.

The next table gives an idea of the real number of men: 

Campagne / date	Numbers of  Tercios	Troops	Ratio men/tercio
Catalonia 1640(1)	20	23 000 men	1150
Extremadura1643(2)	12	8 095 men	675
Extremadura 1659 (3)	14	7 270 men	519
Extremadura 1662(4)	17	8 890 men	523
Extremadura 1663(5)	23	11 120 men	483
Spain 1667(6)	5	3 090 men	620

(1): During the first Invasion of Catalonia  in 1640 - 1641, the main Royal Spanish field army had 23 000 infantrymen, 3 100 horsemen and 24 guns and the army was divided in 3 corps

A Vanguard of 500 horse [1 "regiment" of cavalry] and 8 000 foots [2 Regiments of Infantry (De los Velez and Conte de Oropesa), 1 Regiment of the Royal Guard called also Conde-Duque de Olivares, 3 Spanish Tercios (Castilla, Guipúzcoa and de los Arcos) and 1 Irish Tercio (Tyron)];
A Bataille of 1 300 horses [2 "regiments" of cavalry and 1 Guard company] and some 9 500 foots [6 Regiments of Infantry (Medinaceli, Infantado, Prior de Castilla, Pastrana, Morata and de Sesa), 1 Tercio "Viejo" (Lesaca) and  2 Spanish Tercios (Toledo and ?).]
A Rearguard of 1 300 horses [2 "regiments" of Cavalry] some 5 500 foots [1 Tercio "Viejo" (Tejada), 1 Walloon Tercio, 1 Portuguese Tercio, 1 Spanish Tercio (Mesia de Acevedo), some Italians companies] and the qrtillery train with 24 guns

 (2): A review of the Royal army of Extremadura in 1643 give, for the infantry, a total of 956 Officers and 7139 soldiers subdivided in: 1 Tercios viejo (Extremadura) of 597 men, 8 Tempory Tercios (Pulgar, Conde de Luna, Espinar, Torrejon, Agüero, Burgo, Xeoler and Gall), 1 Irish Tercio (Geraldino) of 398 men, and 2 Italian Tercios (Carrula and Peñatelo).  The highest Tercio had 1491 men (101 officers and 1390 soldiers) and the weakest had only 398 men (119 officers* and 279 soldiers). To the 12 Tercios we have to add 66 officers and 669 soldiers coming from independant companies.

(3): Before the campaign of 1659 in Extremadura (battle of Elvas), the infantry numbered 7 600 men subdivided in: 4 Tercios of the Extremadura milicia (2083 men), 5 Provincial Tercios (2 900 men), 4 Infantry regiments of aristocrats (1390 men), the Royal guard regiment (900 men) and at last 11 Tercios of which 2 were Irish with only 327 men in total.

(4): In a review of 1662, the Spanish Army of Don Juan José de Austria numbered only 8 890 infantrymen subdivided in: 1 Tercios viejo (Armada) with 484 men, 1 Tercio of Aragon (10 companies) with 503 men, 9 provincial or tempory Tercios with 5 106 men (an average of 567 men per Tercio), 3 Italian Tercios with 1523 men and at last 3 German Tercios with 1270 men..

(5): Before the Battle of Estremoz in 1663, the Spanish Army had 11 120 infantrymen subdivided in 15 Spanish Tercios with 202 companies (13.5 companies per Tercio), 5 Italian Tercios with 58 companies and 3 German Tercios with 26 companies.  In total we have 286 companies with an average of 39 men per company.

(6):  The Tercios are the first 5 Fix provincial Tercios created in 1663. In 1667 they numbered 636 officers, 332 reformados and 2122 soldiers subdivided in 92 companies:
      Tercio de Toledo        ==> 21 companies and 143 Officiers, 65 reformados and 493 cabos and soldiers
      Tercio de Madrid       ==> 21 companies and 137 Officiers, 70 reformados and 515 cabos and soldiers
      Tercio de Burgos        ==> 17 companies and 118 Officiers, 65 reformados and 523 cabos and soldiers
      Tercio de Valladolid   ==> 17 companies and 125 Officiers, 62 reformados and 223 cabos and soldiers
      Tercio de Cordoba     ==> 16 companies and 113 Officiers, 70 reformados and 368 cabos and soldiers
Per company with have an average of 6.5 officers, 3.6 reformados and 23 cabos / soldiers.

*note: At that time the number of "soldados reformados" was important and could formed as much as 50% of the total of the officers corps.

2.1.e   The last Tercio 1685 - 1704

A royal Ordinance of 1685 reorganised the companies (see below) of the Tercio and the Tercio's staff  changing from 29 men to  some 11 men: 1 maestro de campo, 1 mayor sergeant with 2 assistants, 1 chief clerk, 1 chief surgeon, 1 chaplain, 1 Chief of the military police with 2 assistants and 1 chief drummer.

Composition of a company

1 x Captain and his page          
1 x Alférez                             
1 x Sergent                             
1 x Abanderado
1 x Drummer
1 x Clerk and 2 cabos
57 - 63 privates

Normally the soldiers were made of 1/3 of pikemen, 1/3 of harquebusiers and 1/3 of musketeers, but in the 1690 decade the companies used to have (at least in Flanders) 5 grenadiers armed with the flintlock musket and the bayonet.
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In total we have a theoretical company of  6 officers and between 60 and 66 soldiers. A Tercios had normally 12 companies outside Spain and the Provincial Tercios in Spain had 13 companies + 2 castillan/reserve companies. The total number for a Tercio was in theory, from 900 to 1 100 men.

Possible Organisation of a Tercio from the army of Flanders in 1690.  Each company had a staff of 6 men (1 captain, 1 alférez, 1 abanderado, 1 sergeant, 2 drummers) and 66 cabos and privates. In Theory, following the Conde de Clonard a tercio could field  2 squadrons or battalions.  In reality a Tercio could, most of the time, only field 1 battalion.

The reality was even more complex and the Spanish had an accurate problem of manpower especially in the Catalonian front:

In 1689 at the begin of the Augsburg war (1689 - 1697),  the Dutch General Waldeck had in his army field army of Flanders 2 Spanish Tercios of 600 men.
In 1689 -1690 the city of Barcelona raised 2 Tercios of 700 men and the Province of Valencia 1 Tercio of  500 men (10 companies) 
In 1690 the 5 Fix provincial Tercios consisted in 4 405 men, so 880 men per Tercio (15 - 20 companies). 
In the 1690 decades de la Cuesta said that the Spanish companies in the army of Flanders had only 40 - 50 men at best.
In the 1690 decade the Spanish Tercios in Milan had between 500 and 1 000 men with an average company of 50 men.
In 1694 for the battle of the river Ter, the Spanish had some 12 300 infantrymen subdivided in 29 Tercios so an average of 424 men per Tercio. 
In 1694, the Garrison of Gerona had 11 Spanish Tercios of Infantry and 4 000 men, so 363 men per Tercio.
In 1703 the Tercio of Ceuta had 2 companies of milician from Ceuta (138 men), 8 companies from Castilla (446 men) and a staff of 18 men. In total we have 10 companies and 602 men.

The important fact was that the field squadron or battalions numbered only 460 men (see chapter 5 ) and that most of the Tercio had this number of men or less especially in Spain.

The last reform was for the Tercios of the Army of Flandres in 1699. A Tercio numbered only 444 men and was made up with 12 companies of 36 men including the officers and the grenadiers, we are fare away from the Tercio of the XVI century.....

Following  Juan Luiz Sánchez Martín, in 1700 the Spanish army consisted of 28 Spanish Tercio and 30 Tercio of Allied nations:

Spanish Tercio	in Spain	in Italy	in Flanders
Tercio Viejos (Old)	-	4	3
Tercio Auxiliares Viejo (Old Auxillary)	-	2	3
Tercio Provincial Fijo (Fix Provincial)	14*	-	-
Tercio de la Armada (Navy)	2	-	-
	16	6	6

* Following some authors (Clonard, de la Cuesta ....) we have 5 more Spanish Tercios in Spain

 

Allied Nation Tercios	in Spain	in Italy	in Flanders
Italian Tercios	2	6	3
Walloon Tercios	2	-	6
Swiss and Grison Tercio	-	2	-
German Tercios	4	2	3
	8**	10	12

** Following some authors (Clonard, de la Cuesta ....) we have also 1 Irish Tercio, 3 Italian Tercio in Spain and only 1 German Tercio.

Concerning the number of men in Each Tercio, we have a  review of december 1700, for the Army of Flanders and a review of january 1701 for the army of  the State of Milan. In Flanders the 6 Spanish Tercios had 72 companies with a total of 341 officers, 592 reformados and 1217 soldiers, an average of  358 men per Tercio. On the contrary the 4 Spanish tercios of  Milan had 69 companies with a total of 3593 men, an average of  898 men per Tercio.

In Flanders, the rest of the infantry was divided in 3 italian tercios (24 co and 1023 men), 6 walloon tercio (60 co and 2463 men) and 3 german regiments (30 co and 1322 men) with  4808 men and 20 free company with 1369 men.In Milan the rest of the infantry was made of 2 Italian Tercios (21 co and 1669 men), 1 Grison Tercio (15 co and 789 men), 2 German regiments (24 co and 2213 men) and some 16 free companies with 1110 men.

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In 1704, by a royal ordinance the new Spanish King Philip V (granson of Louis XIV king of France) cancelled the name of Tercio and replace it by regiment of infantry using the French model ==> 1 or 2 bataillons of 636 men (11 companies of line and 1 company of Grenadier).

2.2 The Spanish Cavalry

2.2.1 From 1525 to 1649

Following the territories of the Spanish monarchy the cavalry was divided in three main groups. In each territory the permanent unit were the companies, divided in guards companies, companies of the country, Spanish companies and foreign companies, all of them were at the order of the comisario general de la caballería of the territory: 

- In Flanders we find several guards companies, the companies of ordinance from Flanders (Flemish and Walloon), the Spanish cavalry (Spanish and Italian) and the foreign cavalry unit mainly German.
- In Lombardia we find several guards compannies, the companies of the State of Milan (Spanish and Italian), the companies of the Kingdom of Nápoles and the foreign cavalry unit mainly German.
-  In Spain we have mainly, different gguards companies for the king (Guardia de la Lancilla, and los Archeros de Borgoña) and for the main governor of Spanish provinces and the companies of the Guardias de Castillas.

i) Charles I of Spain (1519 – 1556)
During the reign of Charles I of Spain (1519 – 1556), the heavy cavalry grouped in: The Spanish men at arms of the 24 companies of ordinance of the Guardias de Castillas numbering each in 1530, 37 men at arms (including the captain and the alférez), 1 cornet, 1 armourer and 1 forge man. They were rarely deployed outside Spain. The bands of ordinance of the duchy of Burgundy and bands of ordinance of the county of Flanders with a variable number of lances (a lance had 1 men at arms, 2 archers à cheval). Companies of German men at arms and companies of reiters armed with pistols.
The light cavalry was made of the famous "jinetes", called also "Celadas" the crossbowmen on horse and later the harquebusiers on horse. The basic unit of the light Spanish cavalry was the 100 men strong company (1 captain, 1 alférez, 1 sergeant, 1 cornet, 1 armourer, 1 forge man and 94 troopers) and most of these troops were Spanish or Italian 

ii) Felipe II (1546 – 1598)
In time of Felipe II, the Spanish Cavalry was divides in 5 types of companies of horsemen:
Men-at Arms and Archer à Cheval: mostly from Flanders and Burgundy armed with the lance and a 3/4 armour.
Reiters: mainly Germans with some Flemish, armed with a fireguns (pistols), sword and wearing a 3/4 armour and using the tactics of the caracole or snail.
Celadas and Light horsemen: mostly Spanish and Italian armed with a short lance, a sword and sometime a small pistol and wearing a half light armour and an open helmet.
Herruelos and Harquebusiers on horse: armed with pistol or a small harquebus, a sword and wearing little armour or nothing. They were used normally to skirmish and raids.
All of them were organised in companies of 90 – 100 men and grouped in squadrons of several companies for a campaign. 

On the left we have a Spanish Herruelos with his short harquebus, 3/4 armour, cape and hat. On the right a Spanish men at arm with a complete armour. (Drawing extract from Conde de Clonard 1856)

iii) First half of the XVII century (1600 – 1649)
In the first half of the XVII century, the heavy cavalry was divided in Cavallos Lanzas (armed with a lance and a sword) and Cavallos Corazas (armed with pistols and a sword, like a German cuirassier.). Later the name was changed to Corazza – Lanza when the use of the lance was abandoned. The heavy cavalry used to wear a 3/4 armour and a helmet (close helmet but more and more open) for their protection. They were recruited in Flanders, Germany, Burgundy and even in small numbers in Spain. The harquebusier on horse was also a major part of the Spanish cavalry and they were armed like everywhere in Europe. The company of 100 men (a captain and his et son page, a lieutenant and his page, a cornet and his page, two trumpets, a clerk, a forge man, a chaplain and 88 troopers) was officially the permanent unit and in campaign they were grouped in squadrons called trozos or gruesos de caballería of 2 or 4 companies.

The Reality:

In 1567, before the beginning of the march to the Flanders, the Duke of Alba had also 5 companies of Jinetes, 3 companies of Italian horses, 2 companies of light cavalry from Albania and 2 companies of Spanish harquebusiers on horses, in total some 1 200 horsemen.
In 1573 a document (see Quatrefage 1983) from the Duke of Alba shows that the Spanish had, in the Army of Flanders:
3300 heavy horsemen subdivided in 1 cornete (a company) of 300 horses and 15 ordinance bands (an average of 200 horsemen per ordinance band), 980 light horsemen divided in 14 companies (an average of 70 men per company) and 5 compagnies of  harquebusiers on horse (500 men). So we have in total 4780 cavalrymen subdivided in 35 companies or ordinance bands.
In the battlefield the cavalry was organised in squadron of 2 or 4 companies (100 - 300 horsemen). At the battle of Mook in 1574 the Spanish deployed their cavalry as follow: 3 small detachments of  harquebusiers on horse (170 in total in 4 companies) in first line, behind them 3 squadrons of Celadas (ie lancer) with respectively 170 (3 companies), 115 (2 companies) and 110 horsemen (2 companies) and a squadron of 200 German horsemen Reiters . In total the Spanish cavalry had 11 companies numbering in total only 595 men (an average of 54 men per company).
In 1590, the Duck of Parma had 5 companies of  Heavy cavalry from Flanders in his army in France: Count of Aremberg with 200 horsemen, Count of Boussu with 120 horsemen, Count of Berlaymont  with 120 horsemen, Marques of Renty with 120 horsemen and Baron of Barbançon with 90 horsemen, in total 240 men at arms and 530 archers.
For the battle of the Dune in 1600, the Spanish vanguard had 614 horsemen subdivided in 9 companies (an average of 68 men per company).
In 1643, in the review of the Army of Extremadura, the Spanish had 6 companies of the Castille Guards (16 officers and 125 troopers), 23 companies of "heavy" horsemen (86 officers and 905 troopers), 6 companies of Harquebusiers on horse (18 officers and 279 troopers) and 9 companies of Italian horsemen (52 Officers and 328 troopers). In total 44 companies with an average company of 4 officers and 37 troopers.

2.2.2 De 1649 à 1704

In 1649 a royal ordinance reorganised the Spanish cavalry and created  24 Tercio of cavalry. Each Tercio of cavalry had 583 men and was organised in a staff of 8 men and 6 companies of 96 men: 1 captain, 1 lieutnant, 1 alférez, 2 trumpets, 1 clerk, 1 chaplain and 1 forgeman, 10 cabos and reformados and 78 troopers. Most of the troops were armed with pistols, harquebus or carabin and swords.

Presentation of Spanish cavalry, a corazza - lanza and a harquebusier on horse or dragoon from the middle of the XVII century. Only the corazza lanza cavalryman had some protection, a helmet and a  cuirass.                                              Drawing extract from Conde de Clonard 1856.

In 1659 the Spanish created the  "trozos de caballería" of 12 companies of 50 men (1 captain, 1 lieutnant, 1 alférez, 1 clerck, 1 trumpet, 1 forgeman and 44 cabos and troopers) with 1 company of carabinier and 11 companies of pistol and sword cavalryman called Coraza - lanza.

With the last of the Habsburg, Charles II, the Trozo of Cavalry were subdivided in 7 companies for the normal cavalry. Normally they were grouped in brigades of 2 or 3. In 1697, in Spain, the Trozos of Cavalry were reorganised in 8 companies of 50 horses.

In 1699 we find theoretically, excluding the guards companies:
in Spain =>  6 Trozos of Cavalry of 8 companies and the regiment of the Guardias of Castilla with 15 companies
in Flanders => 8 Tercios of cavalry of 5-6 companies and 3 German regiments
in Lombardia => 30 companies from the State of Milan, 8 Neapolitan’s companies and  9 foreign companies

The reality:

In 1662, the review of the Army of Extremadura gives 5 530 men subdivided in  40 men of the Guards of Castilla and 11 Trozos of cavalry with 4689 men.
The same year the review of the army of Galicia gives 1487 cavalrymen subdivided in 3 Tercios of Cavalry.
In 1663, for the battle of Estremoz, the 6 144 horsemen of the Spanish cavalry (209 were dismounted) were subdivided in 107 companies (10 Tercios or Trozos and 9 independant companies). We have an average of 9.8 companies per Tercio and 57 men per company.
In 1677 , the cavalry of the Army of Flanders had 8 Spanish Trozos with 1182 horsemen, 15 Walloon Trozos with 1976 horsemen and 9 German Regiments with 1324 horsemen.
In 1694, before the battle of the river Ter, the trozos of Milano and Extremadura could field some 1450 men subdivided in 15 cavalry squadrons (of 3 companies).
 At last, in 1699, the army of Flanders had exactly: 8 Tercios of Cavalry (42 companies) with 134 officers and 1049 troopers, 3 German regiment (15 companies) with 79 officers and 372 troopers, 6 Guards companies with  54 officers and 519 troopers  and 1 provost company with 69 men, in total  64 companies and 2258 horsemen.

 

2.2.3 Spanish Dragoons

From the second half of the XVI century Spanish used to have companies of harquebusiera on horse doing sometime the task of the dragoons of the XVII century. Using the information provided by the Conde de Clonard, we can say that the first unit called Tercio of dragoons was created in 1633 (see next table). Tercios of dragoons used to have from 8 to 22 companies, each company having from 50 to 100 men.

Tercio of dragoons	creation date	men*	Maestro de Campo*	Deployment area
Tercio of de la Fuente	1633	800	Don Pedro de la Fuente	Italy
Tercio of Bataglia	1640	?	Colonel Bataglia	Italy
Tercio of Vitoria	1640	1 000	Don Pedro de Santa Cecilia	Spain
Tercio of Verloo	1674	1 100	Baron de Verloo	Flanders
Tercio of Hartman	1676	?	Don Nicolas Hartman	Flanders
Tercio  of Villareal	1677	?	Don Manual de Villareal	Spain

              *when they were created

In 1684, the Tercio de Dragones of Scheldon was created in Milano and in 1689  the Tercio de Dragones of Steenhuise in Flanders.

In 1697, the Spanish had 9 Tercios or Trozos of Dragones subdivided in 8 companies of 50 men (1 captain, 1 alférez, 1 cornet, 2 brigadiers, 2 musicians and 43 dragoons), so we have in theory 3 600 men.

In fact the situation of these troops was not as bad as the infantry and in 1674, for the battle of Seneffe, the Tercio of Verloo had some 500 men. In 1700 the 3 Tercios of Dragoon of Flanders had 27 companies and numbered 958 men, 80% of their theoritical number.

2.3 Infantry of the Nations

The Spanish Tercios were an elite infantry and they represented only a fraction of the total infantry of the armies of the Spanish Kings. The rest of the troops coming from Spanish dominions (especially from Italy, and Flanders) or mercenaries like the Germans or the British. They were called troops of the  nations.

Under the reign of Charles I of Spain, 16.7% of the infantry were drawn up from Spaniards. In the army of  Flanders an average of 14.4% of the infantry were Spaniards. In 1572, the duke of Alba used to have 53 000 infantrymen subdivided in 19 500 Walloons, 24 440 Germans and only 9 100 Spaniards (17% of the total). In  1607, the archiduke Alberto used to have 45 000 infantrymen subdivided in 14 000 Walloons, 16 800 Germans, 3 700 Italians 2 440 Irish, 1 500 men from burgundy and 6 550 Spaniards (12% of the total).

The Italians* and the Irish were organised in Tercios like the Spaniards. The Walloons were at first organised like the Germans in regiment of 3 000 men, but by 1602 they changed to Tercios like units. In 1617 a Walloon Tercio used to have 12 companies of 200 men (Figure 13). In 1622, a Walloon Tercio of the Army of Gonzalo de Gordoba had 1386 men subdivided in 15 companies, an average of 9 officiers and 83 soldiers per company. In 1634 during the battle of Nordlingen the two Tercios from Burgundy de la Tour and Alberg numbered respectivelly 840 men in 15 companies and 720 men in 11 companies.

Organisation of a Walloon infantry company of 200 men in 1617.

In 1636 the organisation of a walloon company was changed to 11 officers, 142 musketeers and only 47 pikemen. The Burgundian troops were organised in Tercio of 12 companies of 200 men, by 1598 each company had 11 officers, 107 pikemen, 67 harquebusiers and 15 musketeers.

Later in the XVII century, the allied nation infantry was organised like the Spanish and in 1704 the name of tercio disappeared to be replaced by two battalions regiment.

*notes: the Italian Tercios used to have similar names (Napoli, Sicilia etc..) with those made up of Spaniards adding to the confusion in some history books.

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2.4 The Spanish Artillery

The native spanish artillery doesn't exist really. The native artillery was the artillery installed in fortress or on the ship of the navy. The field artillery was largely in the hand of mercenary from Germany and Austria. During the XVI century the artillery  was desorganised and had a variety of names (see table ).

Imperial gun of 12 pounder firing (en of XVI century). Detail from a drawing of Jacques Callot (1592-1635) .

In open field, artillery was not very effective until the middle of the XVII century. Artillery had several
disadvantages:

- Guns were heavy and difficult to move
- Explosive shell effective against troops were not available until the second half of the XVII century
- The rate of fire was very slow (a gun could fire 8 - 15 time in a hour).
- The quality of the metal was poor and guns had tendency to overheat.
- The technique to appoint was erratic most of the time.

The main advantage of the artillery was that at short distance (50 - 100 m) it was very effective against a compact mass of men and that at longer distance (500 - 1200 m) it could disrupt an infantry squadron. On the contrary the artillery was very efficient for a siege.

 

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