In the middle of the eighteenth century the Spanish army numbered some 70 regiments. Of the 41 infantry regiments, only 29 were Spanish units; in the typical style of the cosmopolitan armies of the period the others comprised 4 Walloon regiments (including the Walloon Guards), 2 Italian, 3 Swiss and 3 Irish. The latter traced their history back to the year 1709, when Philip V, forced to defend his throne in the War of the Spanish Succession, recruited a number of foreign soldiers for his service. In November of that year two Irish regiments were raised by the Spanish Marquis of Castelar; officered by Irish officers from the army of Louis XLV, the regiments were known initially as "Castelar" and "MacAuliffe", and the ranks were filled with ex-prisoners of war: Swiss, Walloons and Germans, together with Irish probably drawn from prisoners taken at the Battle of Almanza in 1707. Later in 1709 two further regiments, those of the Duke of Vendome and Comesford, were raised, making a total of four in all. A fifth was added in 1715 when, with the ending of the war, the French Irish regiment of Francis Wauchopes was transferred into Spanish service. Originally comprising two battalions, each consisting of 13 companies of 50 men each, including one grenadier company, it seems that Castelar was the only unit to adhere to this organisation, the other regiments being of one battalion only. In 1718 the Spanish army was reorganised, the regiments being given territorial titles, and the Irish were renamed as follows: Castelar - HIBERNIA MacAuliffe - ULTONIA (Ulster) Vendome - LIMERICK Comesford - WATERFORD Wauchope - IRLANDA Whereas the Spanish national regiments wore a white uniform, the Irish wore the red coats of the old Jacobite army, from which at least two of the regiments were directly descended, ULTONIA's officers having been drawn entirely from the old French Irish regiment of Galmony, while IRLANDA had originally been recruited in Dublin as the Queen's Regiment of Foot in the Jacobite army. These two regiments had blue facings, whereas the others had green. The musicians wore uniforms of the regimental facing colour, laced with red, and had red stockings. Waistcoat and breeches followed the colour of the coat. Each regiment had two colours: the Royal Colour (identical for all Spanish units) which was white, with a cross of Burgundy in. scarlet. At the end of each limb of the cross was a crown, while between each pair of limbs were the castles and lions of Castile and Leon; the Regimental Colour had a ground of the regiment's facing colour, and in the centre the badge and name of the unit. For the native Spanish regiments this was usually the coat of arms of the town or province after which the unit had been named, but the Irish flags bore instead a harp. Recruiting was always a problem. Though allowed to recruit any non-Spanish soldiers ULTONIA marched to its first campaign over two hundred men below strength, and later absorbed an entire Spanish regiment into its ranks (Santiago) when army reorganisation later called for a 2 battalion regimental establishment. Though many native Spanish were enlisted in the ranks to bolster the always weak battalions, it was not until very late in the century that any commission (bar that of colonel) was given to a non-Irish officer. The Italian campaigns of the War of the Austrian Succession effectively destroyed the last true Irish element of the rank and file. LIMERICK had been transferred into Neapolitan service in 1733, and WATERFORD disbanded in 1734, its men being dispersed to other regiments; ULTONIA was serving in Africa, and so HIBERNIA and IRLANDA took the field together in Italy as a small 'Irish Brigade'. At Campo Santo they fought a hard rearguard action in which HIBERNIA lost about a thousand men from its two battalions and IRLANDA suffered over seven hundred dead and wounded. In honour of this sacrifice the regiments were ordered to display on their colours the motto: "In omnes terras exivit sonitus eorum" ("Their sound has gone out into all lands"). In 1744 these regiments were again cut to pieces, this time at Velletri, when their own army retreated into the town and the Irish were left alone outside with their backs very literally against the wall and the town gates shut behind them. Confronted by an entire enemy army, they refused to surrender, and so suffered the somewhat bloody consequences. After this, the Irish element, officers excepted, disappeared almost completely. In 1792 the regiments were merged with other foreign regiments, though they retained their titles and uniforms. The Jacobite red gave way to light blue in 1802, with yellow facings. The regiments were finally disbanded in 1818. I have unfortunately, been unable to locate any illustrations of any of the Irish regiments. The gentleman in my drawing is based on the ordinary Spanish uniform of the period, and should in no way be taken as an accurate representation of the dress of the Irish, though it is of course a reasonable supposition that they were clothed in much the same way. Lapels were not introduced till 1767. As far as I can tell Spanish grenadiers wore a fur cap rather than a mitre. If there are any Newsletter readers who have access to further information (particularly regarding uniform details) about these troops I should very much like to hear from them. I can offer plenty of mid-18th century European information in exchange. Main References 'Journal of the Royal United Services Institution' Vol. LXIII No. 449, February 1918 - Article by C. Oman. B.M.S.S. Bulletin, June 1965. Others Lloyd - 'Lists of the Forces of the Sovereigns of Europe' 1761 'Cronica del Traje Militar en Mexico del Siglio XVI at XX' Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 165 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1975 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com