War and Society in Renaissance Europe, 1450-1620

Covering the years between the end of the Hundred Years War and the beginning of the Thirty Years War, War and Society in Renaissance Europe explains the part war played in the lives of individuals in early modern Europe. Beginning with a survey of conflicts and an analysis of the "military reformation" in the ways in which wars were fought, it goes on to investigate the problems of recruitment in an age when those taking part in wars formed a society of their own. The book concludes with a study of the impact of war on civilians and the more pervasive but indirect impact of war-induced shifts in the economy, the incidence of taxation, and the nature of government.