When Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I formed the first Landsknecht company in 1487, he intentionally exempted the soldiers from harsh laws regulating consumption on clothing and food. Because their lives tended to be “brutish and short,” the emperor urged them to wear distinctively outlandish garb. Not only did slashed sleeves and bold colors unify the troops, but the attire made the Landsknechte an ostentatious and recognizable force fighting in the emperor’s name.
