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Oh dear. This touches on one of the most doubtful of the troop gradings,
that of Sh(I). To quote from the definition:
'Entirely or mostly armed with matchlock arquebus or caliver or earlier
firearms, or raw recruits armed with muskets.'
So why are the Spanish shot graded as inferior? The easy answer, of course, is that they used the arquebus. But think a little deeper. The gradings are supposed to take into account differences in morale, training equipment or mobility, not prestiege alone. The Spanish were thought to be the finest infantry in Europe of their age. Apart from the mutinies for lack of pay, they were well trained, in continuous service and had a good esprit de corps.
I hear you cry 'yes, but the range of the arquebus was so much less than that of the musket!'. Was it?
This difference in range seems to rely on a passage in Oman, on the
battle of Muhlberg, 1547. To quote the passage:
'... a thousand Spanish infantry, some armed with the long-range musket
which was just coming into use (2). These skirmishers opened fire on the
Saxon pickets on the other side, and threw them into disorder by repeated
volleys - the Elector's men had rongly supposed that they were out of range
(1).'
(2) Some speak of arquebusiers, some of musketeers. The musket was only just coming into favour
(1) The water being extremely shallow for many yards out on the Imperialist side of the river, the arquebusiers are said to have wadedup to their knees, or even higher, and to have continued their fire actually standing in the river-bed, shortening the range by many yards.
Oman, C., A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century, 1987, Greenhill Books, p249-50.
At first sight, it does indeed look as if the muskets had longer range, and thus scattered the Sxons. But the apparent long range much shortened by wading into the river. Arquebus and musket seem to be used interchangably. There is no major evidence here for a difference in range between them.
Therefore, say I, the Spanish (or any other) arquebusier should not be graded as I because of his possesion of a weapon described as an arquebus.
