The Size and Maintenance Costs of the GDL Mercenary Army During the First Stage of the Livonian War (1557 –1569)

The history of soldiering is not limited to just researching military actions but also pays a good deal of attention to the problems of maintaining an army. We chose as the object of our research the first stage of the Livonian War as better illuminated by sources compared to earlier wars but considerably less studied compared to the second stage of the war. The main aim raised for the work was to calculate the size of the GDL mercenary army and the cost of maintaining it. Two studies were additionally made: to ascertain how the cost of a mercenary soldier changed and who financed the Polish mercenary army in the territory of the GDL. The size of the GDL mercenary army was calculated by co-ordinating the available sources among themselves and on the basis of the calculation of the army’s size according to the captains’ (rotmistras) list while the infantry was further calculated by how many of them were required on average for castle garrisons. It was established that Livonia had GDL garrisons in 21 castles during the entire war, with garrisons being maintained in about 10 castles at any one time on average. Around another 11 castle garrisons were maintained on the border with Moscow. During the study, it was calculated that 3000 infantrymen were required for these castle garrisons. The calculation of the size of the army according to the captains’ list used the compilation of a biennial captains’ list and the establishment of the average size of a cavalry company: 158 soldiers or 150 infantrymen. After evaluating all the sources, it was revealed that the GDL had hired from around 3000 soldiers during the Pasvalys military campaign to 11 000 soldiers in 1565. It should be mentioned that this is the average size of the army and the number could have been somewhat larger. Wages for one horseman ranged from 180 to 360 groats[...]Vytauto Didžiojo universiteta