Themes and objectives in French military literature of the XVIth century

Abstract

This study of French Military Literature in the XVIth century concentrates upon a restricted number of writers whose works all present different facets of the same theme, that of warfare. All the writers in this study were themselves soldiers. At this period, the French militia was run, though not actually controlled, by members of the lesser nobility, under Royal jurisdiction, though they often had little influence at Court. Generally, it was the less exalted who took up their pens. It is an object of this study to discover why the members of a class normally illiterate and considering itself above the mechanical art of writing took to literature in these years. In view of their similar background, is it possible to discern the germination of a military school of literature? The frequent recurrence of basic themes and the manner of their handling by these writers justify the attempt at a literary assessment of their work. French Military Literature of this period was affected by external factors: the changes in warfare, the civil wars in France, and the uncertain state of recorded history. These writers had to adjust their code of ethics when coming to terms with the spreading use of fire-arms, the employment of force in settling matters of conscience. They had to decide for themselves what it was legitimate to include in their own version of history. The examination of their work has been divided into two sections: the first traces the development of military literature through medieval and renaissance works, placing XVIth century French works in their own context; the second is devoted to a comparison of objectives and thematic material in them. There follows a tentative evaluation of military literature as it emerges from a study of representative works.