SIEGE OF TURIN 1706 - THE TURIN'S MILITIA: PART 1 THE UNIFORMS

 In preparation for compiling an order of battle of the troops assigned to the defence of the City of Turin, I have begun carrying out some particularly interesting research into the city’s urban militia. These units constituted an important support for the regular troops, since they performed mainly guard duties—thereby allowing the regular soldiers to rest—as well as a range of other service tasks.

As usual, when dealing with Piedmont, the Duchy of Savoy, and its army, the surviving sources are remarkably precise and detailed. The same is true of Turin’s urban militia: by bringing together the extensive documentation I have gathered from several different sources, it has been possible to arrive at a fairly precise reconstruction of both their uniforms and their flags.

There is an illustration in the 1765 Genta manuscript depicting the Turin Militia of 1706 in a red coat decorated with yellow. Guido Amoretti (thethe foremost scholar of the events aboutthe Siege of Turin)cautions, however, that this image cannot be applied literally to the uniform worn in 1706 (figure on the right).

Let's see it in details

In fact, Amoretti’s assertion is based on doubts concerning the cut and style of the uniform—which is obviously more modern than one dating from 1706. This view is partly understandable, and I hope Amoretti’s admirers will forgive me for saying so. Genta probably reproduced the correct colours used in 1706, but applied them to a later style of uniform, much as medieval artists depicted Roman or Greek soldiers wearing the armour and clothing of their own time.

Although it is evident that the figure depicted by Genta is an ordinary militiaman rather than an officer, this does not exclude the possibility that the artist used the appearance and equipment of a common soldier to represent the colours worn by the officers of the Urban Militia. The annotation accompanying the figure confirms that the colour scheme shown—namely a red coat with yellow cuffs and yellow trim—referred to the officers and not necessarily to the ordinary militiamen. It is therefore reasonable to conclude that the officers of Turin’s Urban Militia wore red uniforms with yellow cuffs, even though the figure itself is represented in the guise of an ordinary soldier.

The handwritten text does indeed read: “Uniforme delli Officiali della Militia Urbana ma non ij soldati” (“Uniform of the Officers of the Urban Militia, but not of the soldiers”), with an evident Piedmontese usage in which ij corresponds to the Italian dei. It is therefore explicitly stated that the uniform shown was that of the officers. The annotation, contemporary with the painting, may be understood as a correction: the figure was recognised as that of an ordinary militiaman, but the accompanying note clarified that the colours represented belonged to the officers, evidently on the basis of documentary sources or uniforms that were still in existence at the time.

It is therefore possible, for the very first time, to reconstruct the uniform worn by the officers of Turin’s Urban Militia.

Duchy of Savoy/Piedmont - Officer of Turin's Urban Militia 1706

Contrary to what Amoretti maintained at the time, the troops of Turin’s Urban Militia also had a uniform. Turin and Piedmont were, in fact, a veritable war machine, and the citizens courageously rallied to defend the city walls. As regards their uniform, an interesting annotated document has been identified in Pelet:

This list of troops includes a “Torino Regiment”, although no such regiment existed among the forces of the Duke of Savoy, nor does it appear in the list of units assigned to the defence of the city.

Also the amounts of men (consider just Piedmontese troops) matches 7981 vs 9.500

Returning, then, to the uniforms of the Urban Militia, Pelet’s annotation appears particularly significant. Indeed, this is the only unit for which he explicitly records the uniform, presumably because the uniforms of the other regiments were already well known. It is described as grey with red facings ("habillé de blanc et parements pourp(u)rés").

Turin's Urban Militia 
First version

Turin's Urban Militia 
Second version

It should also be borne in mind that Piedmont had a strong tradition of raising militia units—known as Provincial Regiments—which were regularly supplied with uniforms. But there is more. Referring specifically to the Urban Militia, Pelet himself states that “Son Altesse lève à présent sa milice”—that is, “His Highness is now raising his militia.” In other words, His Highness, Victor Amadeus II, had personally undertaken the formation of “his” militia.

This passage is particularly significant, since it shows that the sovereign himself played an active and diligent role in organising these units, presumably also providing them with uniforms or the town of Turin. It is moreover reasonable to suppose that grey coats could easily have been obtained from the well-stocked municipal stores, or recovered from units stationed in the city, particularly from wounded soldiers. Since the officers wore red uniforms, the same red cloth could have been used to make the militia’s cuffs and facings. Concerning the uniforms of the drummers, firstly I believed to be those with the livery of the Duke of Savoy, since this was expressly described as “his militia.” and because all Regiments wore that livery.

Drummer in Duke of Savoy's Livery

However, I was fortunate enough to recover a book—whose pages are literally beginning to fall apart—which deals in great detail with Turin’s Urban Militia and also contains references to both its drummers and its standards.

First of all, it should be noted that the Urban Militia—formed by citizens of Turin—was unpaid unless its men were required to serve outside the city walls, in which case they became part of the Suburban Militia. Alongside these forces there also existed the paid Milizie Paesane, namely regiments raised to support the regular Ordinanza units. The Urban Militia had been established by Victor Amadeus II by decree of 9 February 1703, well before the Duchy of Savoy had even entered into alliance with the Empire.

On 4 October 1703, the Duke summoned the Syndics of Turin to inform them that the Duchy had declared war on France. This came shortly after the loss of some of his best troops on 29 September 1703 at San Sebastiano Po, where they had fallen victim to a French ambush. On that occasion, the Duke formally set out the need to organise an Urban Militia for Turin.

Don Gabriele d’Este was placed in charge of its organisation. On 11 October 1703 he requested that the “Congregation”—that is, the City of Turin—provide drums and drummers, as well as muskets to be taken from the city arsenal, standards, and “other expenses”, a wording which can reasonably be understood as including the clothing of the militia troops themselves.

On 12 October 1703, the Duke appointed Count Piossasco d’Ajrasca colonel of the boroughs of Beinasco and Grugliasco and of the District of Turin. On 11 October, Don Gabriele d’Este also ordered the city to provide one hundred muskets to Count Provana’s battalion, one standard to Count Morozzo’s battalion, and six drums for the units as a whole, since a formal review was to take place on the following Sunday.

Finally, on 21 October, the Duke of Savoy appointed Don Gabriele d’Este, Marquis of Dronero, commander-in-chief of all the militias of the District of Turin and its dependencies.

Taken together, these documents and orders clearly show that the Urban Militia of Turin was far from being a mere collection of civilians carrying muskets. Rather, it consisted of militarised units with a defined chain of command, standards, drummers, weapons and, evidently, uniforms, even if these were probably simpler than those worn by the regular army.

From the above, it is evident that the organisation, assignment and clothing of the drummers of the Urban Militia were the responsibility of the City of Turin. It should be remembered that Turin’s distinctive colours were—and still are today—blue and yellow; for this reason, the officers wore yellow facings on their militia uniforms.

It is therefore equally reasonable to reconstruct the drummers’ uniform as reflecting the colours of Turin: retaining an economical grey as the basic colour, but adopting yellow facings, as worn by the officers, together with blue decorative elements. Also the drum followed the colours of Turin and the distinctive bull. (see further). From all this, here we are with the correct Turin's Militia Drummer

Turin's Urban Militia Drummer 1703 - 1711