Who was this Ernst Casimir fellow?

Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Dietz (1573-1632) was stadtholder of the Dutch provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe and an outstanding military leader during the Dutch Revolt, aka the Eighty Years War. He served under his cousins Maurice (1567-1625) and Frederick Henry (1584-1647) of Nassau, Princes of Orange.

He became a field marshal in 1607 and was second in command of the Dutch army. He was killed at the siege of Roermond while inspecting the trenches.


Portrait of Ernst Casimir, count of Nassau-Dietz
Circa 1609-1633
Workshop of Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt (1567-1641)
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

How it all began

In 1624 a sketchbook was presented to Ernst Casimir of Nassau-Siegen, stadtholder of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe. It contains sketches of 48 company colours and 6 cavalry squadron standards of the stadholder’s Frisian, German and Swiss infantry regiments and cavalry regiments. The sketchbook still survives in the Archives of the Royal Family in The Hague, The Netherlands.

When we saw the vivid designs and vibrant colours, set against the Thirty Years War raging in Europe, we immediately knew we finally had a destination for the pile of unpainted ECW/TYW miniatures in our collections. Our aim is to recreate some of Ernst Casimir’s forces in miniature, (probably) based upon the Pike & Shotte rules by Warlord Games. This blog is intended to record our progress.

Barry & Mats