Maß- und Rangierbücher des Dritten Regiments Garde (1786) is a set of administrative military records documenting the organization, personnel structure, and physical characteristics of soldiers in the 3rd Guard Regiment of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel. The material is preserved in the Hessisches Staatsarchiv Marburg under Fonds 10 c, Nr. 72, as part of the broader collection covering the Leibgarde Regiment and its predecessor formations.
These Maß- und Rangierbücher combine two categories of military documentation. The “Maß” (measurement) sections record standardized physical data on soldiers—most commonly height, and in some cases additional bodily characteristics—used for determining suitability for service in elite guard units and for ensuring uniform consistency. The “Rangier” (ranking/organization) sections detail the internal structure of the regiment, listing officers, NCOs, and enlisted men according to rank, company assignment, and seniority.
The 3rd Guard Regiment was part of the Hessian elite guard system, which served both a protective and representational function at court. As such, these records reflect a high level of bureaucratic precision and military discipline. They show how soldiers were carefully selected, measured, and assigned in order to maintain the strict standards expected of a guard formation directly tied to the ruler’s household.
The year 1786 places the document in a period of stable but highly formalized military organization within Hesse-Kassel. Although not a time of major active campaigning, the army was already shaped by earlier 18th-century conflicts and would later contribute troops to foreign theaters, including the American Revolutionary War. These records therefore reflect the peacetime infrastructure that made such deployments possible.
