The Landed Army () was the

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from ''cheval'' meaning "horse") are groups of soldiers or warriors who Horses in warfare, fight mounted on horseback. Until the 20th century, cavalry were the most mob ...

of the

Grand Principality of Moscow The Grand Principality of Moscow, or Muscovy, known as the Principality of Moscow until 1389, was a late medieval Russian monarchy. Its capital was the city of Moscow. Originally established as a minor principality in the 13th century, the gra ...

and

Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Moscow, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. ...

in the 15th to 17th centuries.

Background

In the second half of the 14th century, the ''

druzhina A druzhina is the Slavonic word for a retinue in service of a chieftain, also called a ''knyaz'' (prince). Kievan Rus' ''Druzhina'' was flexible both as a term and as an institution. At its core, it referred to the prince's permanent perso ...

'' was replaced by feudally organized units headed by

boyar A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal nobility in many Eastern European states, including Bulgaria, Kievan Rus' (and later Russia), Moldavia and Wallachia (and later Romania), Lithuania and among Baltic Germans. C ...

s or dependent princes, and these units consisted of landed gentry (so called "''boyar's children''" or "'' service people''") and their armed servants ( "military slaves"). In the 15th century, such organization of detachments replaced the city regiments. 01 098 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops

01 098 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops

01 092 Book illustrations of Historical description of the clothes and weapons of Russian troops

Foundation

A completely aristocratic army, based on this local system, was formed under

Ivan III Ivan III Vasilyevich (; 22 January 1440 – 27 October 1505), also known as Ivan the Great, was Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1462 until his death in 1505. Ivan served as the co-ruler and regent for his blind father Vasily II be ...

, the

grand prince of Moscow The Grand Prince of Moscow (), known as the Prince of Moscow until 1389, was the ruler of the Grand Principality of Moscow. The Moscow principality was initially established in the 13th century as an appanage within the Vladimir-Suzdal grand prin ...

. The process of reforming the army was associated with the unification of the Russian lands. Eventually, the Grand Principality of Moscow included new petty princedoms, courts of independent princes were dismissed, and " service people" passed to the grand prince. As a result, the appanage princes and

s were transformed into state servants, who received estates for service in conditional holding (''"pomestye"'' – military fief). In 1482, the landed army (

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

: Поместное войско) was formed, the bulk of which were noblemen and "boyar's children" ( "hereditary servitors"), accompanied by their armed slaves. They were usually equipped as mounted archers.

Organization

The system of conscription, when a certain number of warriors (with horse and weapon) was provided from a certain area of the land, or a certain number of households, prevailed in the 15th–17th centuries. It was usual to provide one warrior for each 100–200 quarters (0.5 ha) of land, or every 3–30 households.

Equipment

The landlords armed themselves and armed their people at their own expense. The main weapon of this militia cavalry, from the end of the 15th to the beginning of the 17th century, was the

composite bow A composite bow is a traditional bow made from horn, wood, and sinew laminated together, a form of laminated bow. The horn is on the belly, facing the archer, and sinew on the outer side of a wooden core. When the bow is drawn, the sinew (s ...

. After the

Time of Troubles The Time of Troubles (), also known as Smuta (), was a period of political crisis in Tsardom of Russia, Russia which began in 1598 with the death of Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I, the last of the Rurikids, House of Rurik, and ended in 1613 wit ...

, firearms became common, including

wheellock A wheellock, wheel-lock, or wheel lock is a friction-wheel mechanism which creates a spark that causes a firearm to fire. It was the next major development in firearms technology after the matchlock, and the first self-igniting firearm. Its name ...

pistols and

arquebus An arquebus ( ) is a form of long gun that appeared in Europe and the Ottoman Empire during the 15th century. An infantryman armed with an arquebus is called an arquebusier. The term ''arquebus'' was applied to many different forms of firearms ...

es. Armour included the

brigandine A brigandine (sometimes spelled "brigantine"), also called a brigander, is a form of body armour, in use from the late Middle Ages and up to the early modern era. It is a garment typically made of heavy cloth, canvas, or leather, featuring s ...

, mail and plate and

mirror armour Mirror armour (, , meaning "mirror"; zh, 护心镜, , meaning "protect-heart mirror"), sometimes referred to as disc armour or as or ( meaning "four mirrors"; whence , ), was a type of cuirass used mainly in Asia, the Middle East, and Easter ...

, while poor noblemen and combat slaves only had padded protection.

Size

At the end of the 16th century, the number of noblemen and boyar children did not exceed 25,000, so the Landed army numbered up to 50,000 men, including combat slaves. These forces, however, were dispersed over a large territory, so that only a part could be mobilized for a campaign at any time. About 10,000 militia cavalry took part in the

Battle of Moscow The Battle of Moscow was a military campaign that consisted of two periods of strategically significant fighting on a sector of the Eastern Front during World War II, between October 1941 and January 1942. The Soviet defensive effort frustrated H ...

in 1612.

Decline

Poor performance and discipline of noble cavalrymen during the

and

Smolensk War The Smolensk War (1632–1634) was a conflict fought between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia. Hostilities began in October 1632 when Russian forces tried to capture the city of Smolensk. Small military engagements produced mix ...

led to the establishment of professional army units (

Reiter ''Reiter'' or ''Schwarze Reiter'' ("black riders", anglicized ''swart reiters'') were a type of cavalry in 16th to 17th century Central Europe including Holy Roman Empire, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Tsardom of Russia, and others. Cont ...

Dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

Pikemen A pike is a long thrusting spear formerly used in European warfare from the Late Middle Ages and most of the early modern period, and wielded by foot soldiers deployed in pike square formation, until it was largely replaced by bayonet-equipped ...

and

Musketeer A musketeer ( ) was a type of soldier equipped with a musket. Musketeers were an important part of early modern warfare, particularly in Europe, as they normally comprised the majority of their infantry. The musketeer was a precursor to the rifl ...

s) according to Western European military standards. Most of the '' hereditary servitors'' were included in the new, professional cavalry units, while the last remnants of militia cavalry were disbanded by

Peter the Great Peter I (, ; – ), better known as Peter the Great, was the Sovereign, Tsar and Grand Prince of all Russia, Tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first Emperor of Russia, Emperor of all Russia from 1721 until his death in 1725. He reigned j ...

References

{{Armies of Russia Military units and formations of the Russian Empire Military history of the Grand Principality of Moscow Military history of the Tsardom of Russia