The complete soldier: Military books and military culture in Early Stuart England, 1603--1645

This study explores the proliferation of printed books on the military arts in Jacobean and Caroline England and the impact of these works on military culture in the years before the English Civil War. The work addresses the ways in which English gentlemen soldiers used printed texts to acquire knowledge about the finer points of warfare and identifies strong cross-currents between England and the so called "schoole of warre" in the Low Countries, where English soldiers volunteered for service throughout this period. Fresh from their experiences abroad, these volunteers were responsible for penning a number of analytical treatises on the art of war, as well as drill manuals that were meant to educate young volunteers and members of the county militias. The publication of these books and manuals by private citizens helped to push the Jacobean government into action, leading to the printing of an authorized drill manual for the trained bands in 1623. Books and drill manuals printed in the Early Stuart period played an important role in standardizing and codifying English military practice; a significant first step in the formation of a professional military caste in Britain. Although the English cannot be considered as innovators in the area of military affairs, printed works did provide royalist and parliamentary soldiers with an important didactic tool for training recruits in the first years of the Civil War.;The first chapter of this thesis examines the historiography of Early Stuart military culture and concludes that historians' claims about the backwardness of English martial practice have been overestimated. Chapter Two looks at analytical treatises on infantry warfare and assesses the contributions of veteran soldiers in shaping the discourse on the art of war in pre-Civil War England. The third chapter describes the evolution of the first printed drill manuals in English, examining the role of soldiers, printers and the government in producing manuals used to train soldiers before, and during, the Civil War. The final two chapters detail the books and manuals related to cavalry practice and siege warfare; two areas of the art of warfare that developed more slowly in Britain than on the continent.