Swiss Mercenaries Cross the Alps

Schweizer Reisläufer überqueren die Alpen

Reisläufer (from the Middle High German "reise" meaning military campaign) was a term used to refer to Swiss mercenaries who participated in several European military campaigns up to the 17th century. This illustration from the Swiss Chronicle of 1513 depicts a group of mercenaries crossing the Alps.

Swiss Mercenaries Cross the Alps, coloured illustration, 1513, artist: Diebold Schilling the Younger; source: Luzern, Korporation Luzern, S. 23 fol., p. 661 – Eidgenössische Chronik des Luzerners Diebold Schilling (Luzerner Schilling), Digitalisat: e-codices, https://www.e-codices.ch/de/list/one/kol/S0023-2, https://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/de/kol/S0023-2/661/0/Sequence-1291, Creative Commons Some Rights Reserved Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.