Spanish succession - Portuguese Infantry
Portuguese Infantry generally wore an off white coat, breeches and waistcoat ( or vest as it is referred to in U.S sources). Officially the colour was called alvadia or white/gray and is described as "um branco sujo" - a dirty white. this colour replaced the blue which had dominated portuguese uniforms since the war of independence fro, Spain (1640 - 1668) - there were exceptions however. stockings were white linen as was the shirt although officer's shirts were often silk. Shoes were either black or "castanho" a chestnut brown colour. The information I have is a bit patchy and there may be more out there now but it is a bit more informative than the WRG book "From Pike to Shot" by C.S. Grant which has absolutely nothing on the subject. List of Infantry Regiments Campo Maior ( same as French mestre de camp) Blue coats faced red Serpa alvadia coats, green facings gold lace Almeida alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Moura alvadia coats, vermilion facings gold lace Olivencia alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Elvas alvadia coats - distinctions unknown Castelo de Vide alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Castro Conde de Cascais alvadia coats blue facings silver lace Lagos alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Faro (Conde de Vimiero) alvadia coats vermilion facings silver lace Porto alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Junta da Commercio - probably blue coat - red facings? Peniche alvadia coat - distinctions unknown Setubal alvadia coat - distincions unknown Corte Real alvadia coat, vermilion facings, silver lace Evora alvadia coat, - distinctions unknown Estromez alvadia coat - distinctions unknown (Silva da) Portalegre alvadia coats, purple facings silver lace Braganza alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Pinhel or Pinheiro alvadia coats, green facings silver lace Jeremenha alvadia coats - distinctions unknown Caminha alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Nova de Moura alvadia coats vermilion facings, gold lace Lisboa (Lisbon) light blue coat, white facings silver lace Vasconca alvadia coat, black facings silver lace Bras da Silveira alvadia coats, vermilion facings silver lace Castel Braco alvadia coats, blue facings gold lace Conde de Ilha alvadia coats - distinctions unknown Silva da Vagos - no information at all Conde de Areiras alvadia coats, purple facings silver lace The facings and lace colours are deduced from the livery colours of the regiment's colonel as this system is followed where the facings of units are known. It can be seen that vermilion is a popular colour but it should be noted that in portuguese heraldy vermilion or vermelho is a bright scarlet red and the dark red we think of as vermilion is referred to in portuguese as carne or encarda literally flesh or raw meat to round of the infantry there was the Armada Real, or Royal navy regiment which had green coats with yellow facings

Grant has since the WRGH Pike and Shot tome done two volumes that are a bit better and include several color plates. His coverage of the portuguese is pretty good in them too. I got mine from On Military Matters , but they are here in the US, however if you are in England, I am sure you can source them there. Look here and you can see the exact titles - they are catalog item 1-75431 and 1-75432 http://onmilitarymatters.com/pages/ Hope this helps, Terry

Oops, type alert. The catalog numbers for those two Grant books in my previous post are 1-74531 and 1-74532. Sorry! Terry

thanks for the info Terry - I knew that grant has done some more work but i have not had a chance to check them out. most of my info pre dates 1985 - when i got married and money for books and figures dried up - kids are more expensive than wargaming. I will try to get hold of these books - even if only from the library. If I can improve on what I have started here i will do - to me that's the whole point to share and increase knowledge. I intend to finish of the Portuguese and then move on to Spanish, French, British and dutch in the Peninsula - plus the odds and ends of allies before looking at other theatres and periods between about 1667 and 1780's which is what my rules cover. any additional info is very welcome

Fitzjames, Yes, family can put a dent in gaming as I all but put it aside when my son was born. But he's grown now and I'm retired so I am back into it full swing and enjoying it more than ever. So don't give up, and remember to keep the family first! The thing that grabs me more than anything else about the WSS and he Wars of William and Mary, are the uniforms. They were really just coming into being and were greatly influenced by so many things It is not uncommon to find a multitude of colors/uniforms within a countries army. For example the British were not all in red coats and it seems some had crimson while others had red and I think one had scarlet. For example, during the William and Mary time (1690's) the British even had two that I know of in gray coats, and one with yellow cuffs and the other in purple cuffs, breeches and stockings. I recently picked up this little gem and as you can see for a very reasonable price. The text is printed very small and so hard to read at times, but a real wealth of info. 1-15320 Condray, Pat editor & compiler WARGAMERS INTRODUCTION TO THE AGE OF MARLBOROUGH Packed with uniform detail, flags & standards etc.Covers the French, Dutch, Austrian & British.1 vol, 40 pgs 1988 VA, EDITIONS BROKAW NEW-softcover ......$10.00 I also noticed this one available, but I've not seen it. Might be of interest to you though if you are wanting to do the Portuguese? 1-19810 Condray, Pat editor & compiler PORTUGESE ARMY DURING THE WAR OF SPANISH SUCCESSIO Packed with uniform detail, flags & standards etc.1 vol, 25 pgs 1992 VA, EDITIONS BROKAW NEW-softcover ......$5.00 What rules are you planning to go with? I am using DBA-HX, and am looking forward to getting some troops painted and seeing hem in battle. More on this to foll low, Terry

Hi Terry - I have a few of the Editions Brokaw booklets - including the one about the Portuguese. They are a mine of information but as you say difficult to read - one, I can't remember which is virtually impossible and the pictures are much too dark - looks like photocopies of copies of copies! probably they were produced in A4 and shrunk down to A5. I'm sure that the poor production values have made people think twice about buying them which is a pity

Uniforms in this period are colourful because it was a relatively new idea. the Portuguese had just switched from blue to this dirty off white - an economy measure that was followed in quite a few places. Interestingly the English army's scarlet was the cheapest cloth available here it would seem - thats why it was so extensively used by the New Model in the ECW and by the first standing armies after the restoration. As you say though some were more crimson and a couple were grey info i have points to blue coats for the 10th up to 1691 white for the 17th blue for the 23rd grey for the 27th these numbers of course are what they were known as later but i do not know the colenels names of the top of my head. regiments that did not survive to be numbered include Castleton's grey with purple lining Lisburne's blue with orange lining Ingoldsby, Drogheda and Bolton - all blue coats Lindsay's white coats cavalry was also quite a mixture. Most regiments were all in red by 1701 although one - Lillingstone's was possibly still in grey at the start of the war.

lillingstone's was an inf regiment by the way - did not make that too clear