Well....in the period of mid-1400s to early 1600s (figure 150 years)....they were private German men who hired themselves out as contracted 'security'. Some people use the term mercenary....I'd probably use the term 'hired-sword' or professional thug.
Both the Catholic Church and the new Lutheran Church...as the Thirty-Years War (1525-beginning) opened up....used guys like this.
The general problem with contracted situations like this? They all required your contracts and financial obligations to be honored. If you failed to pay....they didn't fight for you.
A lot of historians think of these folks as being in smaller groups (several hundred)....but if you go back to the late 1400s....the 'Black Guard' were noted with almost 8,000 members.
Similar in nature to the French Foreign Legion of today? I would suggest that. You might run into aristocrats who served as Landsknecht members....or former bakers....or just teenage guys on an adventure path.
What happened to end the era for the Landsknechts? As each generation came and went....they went to lower standards. From the aspect of professionalism and training, things reached a point where Kings were able to train their own folks....without hiring out a contracted force.
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