Sunday 25 July 2010

My 16th Century Book List


My main interest here is the Italian Wars (chiefly between 1494 and 1525). But books on this subject can be VERY hard to find. However, this is what I have:

The Art of War in the Sixteenth Century - Sir Charles Oman. [This is a must have.]
The Art of Renaissance Warfare - Stephen Turnball. [Good.]
The Art of War in Italy 1494 - 1529 - Frederick Taylor. [Very good, especially useful for Ravenna 1512.]
The Renaissance at War - Thomas Arnold. [Good.]
Renaissance Armies 1480 - 1650 - George Gush. [My first book on Renaissance warfare, it is aimed at the wargamer.]
Mercenaries - Anthony Mockler. [Two good chapters.]
Mercenaries and their Masters - Michael Mallet. [Mainly deals with mid to late 15th century Italian Condottierre, but gives great insight into Italian state war craft.]
The Spanish Centuries - Alan Lloyd. [A few bits in here.]
Henry VIII and the invasion of France - Charles Cruikshank. [Good insight into the mechanics of renaissance campaigning.]
The Sack of Rome - Judith Hook. [Very good.]
Prince of the Renaissance - Desmond Seward. [Biog. of Francis I.]
Louis XII - Frederick J. Baumgartner. [Biog.]
Caesar Borgia His Life and Times - Sarah Bradford. [Fantastic biog. A real page turner and insight into the Papal State.]
The Grand Captain - Gerald de Gaurey. [Biog. of Gonsalvo de Cordoba.]
The Battle of Pavia - Jean Giono. [Very good account of the whole campaign.]
The Great Siege - Ernle Bradford. [Siege of Malta.]
The Siege of Malta - Francisco Balbi di Corregio. [Contemporary account.]
Siege Warfare - Christopher Duffy. [First chapters deal with Charles' advance through Italy 1494 - 95.]
The Dutch Revolt - G. Parker. [Not read.]
The French Civil War - R. J. Knecht.
The Dawn of Modern Warfare - Delbruck. [interesting first chapters]
Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe - Bert S. Hall [A good history of gunpowder weapons and tactics in the later middle ages and 16C and the effects of same on armies and warfare].
The Italian Wars 1494 - 1559 - Michael Mallet and Christine Shaw [Started by Mallet, then he died, and finished by Shaw. This book is a well written gem. It covers the whole of the wars, not just the French and Spanish bits.]
The First and Second Italian Wars 1494 to 1504 - Julian Romane. A new book to join the available pantheon: Published in 2020. Brings a lot of less well known stuff together, including Cesare Borgia's campaigns in the Romagna. I'm enjoying reading selected chapters in this book because it doesn't just do the well known French bits - I'll read it all eventually.
The Italian Wars Volume 2: Agnadello 1509, Ravenna 1512, Marignano 1515 - Massimo Predonzani & Vincenzo Alberici (English translation). Superb book this one and a pity it's only 150 packed pages. Best description of Agnadello I've ever seen with very detailed OOB. Just buy it.

General histories for flavour:

War and Society in Renaissance Europe - J. R. Hale. [Good.]
Machiavelli - Sydney Anglo. [Very interesting book this one.]
Renaissance Europe 1480 - 1520 - J. R. Hale. [Worth reading for diet in, travel in, etc.]
History of Europe 1450 - 1660 - P. J. Helm. [I think this is an old 'O' or 'A Level' text book.]

Ospreys [If you like that sort of thing.]

Landsknechts.
Landsknecht Soldier. [Better than Landsknecht IMHO]
Pavia 1525.
Fornovo 1495.

Other Pamphlets:

Marignano 1515 The Battle and Commanders - Published by The Lance and Longbow Society. [Nice little booklet with colour plates of flags.]
Renaissance Battles 1494 -17 Vol.1 - Peter Sides. [DBR scenarios; a different slant on a lot of battles, but OK to check numbers, etc. I guess.]
The Battle of Pavia - Published by the Ashmolean Museum Oxford. [A booklet about the restoration of the very famous picture with colour pics and a bit of history. The museum has an online shop and the pamphlet cost £3.95]

2 comments:

Robert Sulentic said...

Yeah, that's about it for the books available in English.

Robert Sulentic said...

Looking at this again, I've recently obtained the following; but have not read them yet:
"Defenders of the Faith: Charles V, Suleyman the Magnificent and the Battle for Europe, 1520-1536" by James Reston
"European Warfare 1350-1750" edited by F. Tallet and D. Trim
"The Great Captain" (a bio of Gonzalo de Cordoba) by Mary Purcell
"History and Warfare in Renissance Epic" by Michael Murrin