1st Edition

Soldiers and Migrants Foreign Mercenaries in the Principality of Transylvania (1541-1690)

By Florin Nicolae Ardelean Copyright 2027
210 Pages
by Routledge

210 Pages
by Routledge

This book provides a detailed account of foreigners who performed military service in the Principality of Transylvania over almost one-and-a-half centuries. It explores their social and cultural background, their motivation for seeking employment in these parts of the continent and their performance within the ranks of an army fighting on the borderlands of Christian Europe. By focusing on the... Read more

Introduction

Chapter 1: The Army of the Transylvanian Principality: organization, recruitment, motivation

Chapter 2: Foreign soldiers in the service of Transylvanian rulers (1541-1593)

Chapter 3: Giovanni Battista Castaldo and his mercenaries in Transylvania (1551-1553)

Chapter 4: Transylvania and the Long Turkish War (1593-1606): the recruitment of foreign troops

Chapter 5: The Golden Age of the Principality and the rise of the German mercenary (1606-1660)

Chapter 6: Foreign soldiers in Transylvania during the last decades of the autonomous principality (1661-1690)

Conclusion

 

 

Biography

Florin Nicolae Ardelean (Babeș-Bolyai University) is a historian of early modern military and social history. His main research subject is the military organisation of the Principality of Transylvania (1541-1690) with an emphasis on the social impact of warfare and the circulation of military knowledge and technology in East-Central Europe. He is the author and editor of several monographs and collective volumes, including From Medieval Frontiers to Early Modern Borders in Central and South-Eastern Europe (2022) and The Army of Transylvania (1613-1690): War and Military Organization from the "Golden Age" of the Principality to the Habsburg Conquest (2024).