Second Hand The Chivalric Ethos and the Development of Military Professionalism

A substantial scholarly collection examining the relationship between chivalry and the emergence of military professionalism in medieval and early modern Europe. Edited by military historian D. J. B. Trim, this volume brings together contributions from leading specialists exploring how military values, social status, education and professional conduct shaped European warfare from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century.

Topics include the origins of chivalric military culture, condottieri and captains in Renaissance Italy, Portuguese military power, military engineering, the French armies of the Renaissance, Tudor military practice, and military professionalism in Electoral Saxony. Drawing upon archival research, contemporary military treatises and historical analysis, the essays challenge traditional assumptions about the incompatibility of chivalry and professional soldiering.

Part of Brill's respected History of Warfare series, this is an important reference work for researchers and enthusiasts interested in military history, the evolution of officer culture and the development of European armed forces.