Hi Pete
thanks for your answer.
Would a group like this be part of a particular military unit? City militia maybe?
Look first this link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch" target=_"blank" class="SmlLinks">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Watch Thats was my inspiration :cool:
Although this group is indeed an Amsterdam rifle company dar
but such vigilantes were everywhere.
In Germany, (almost) every town had such a troop.
The citizens had to defend their own city. For this purpose, there were built arsenals in which the weapons of the citizens were kept. The city walls and gates were divided into sections. For each section was a district or certain guilds (craftsmen associations = predecessors of social welfare) responsible. Every able-bodied man had the duty to follow his watch / fire service (or to provide a substitute man). These companies were also gladly ordered by the sovereign rulers into their armies. Later, big, rich cities paid servants for watch duty.
The numerous old rifle clubs have mostly emerged from the old civil defense units. Even in my hometown, which is actually a fairly small town, the oldest shooting club can be traced back to 1390.
The annual shooting festivals were the highlight of the year and were generously considered by the sovereigns. The respective marksman king was exempted from all taxes and duties for 1 year. For this, the shooters and civic companies had once a month to hold a military exercise. The shooters had to wait
In Franken, the civic militia lives even today in the historic civic militia groups
Greets from Germany
Werner