Open AccessHonour and Fighting Social Advancement in the Early Modern Age
Author(s) -
Jürg Gassmann
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
acta periodica duellatorum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2813-5970
pISSN - 2064-0404
DOI - 10.36950/apd-2015-005
Subject(s) - honour , knight , feudalism , estate , context (archaeology) , government (linguistics) , history , law , political science , military service , sociology , classics , politics , archaeology , philosophy , linguistics , physics , astronomy
The article considers the importance of military service in social advancement, here understood as filling the role of “prince” in feudal law and thus participating in the government of an estate, in the transition from the Late Middle Ages to the Renaissance or Early Modern Age. In the context of a city burgher or a petty noble or knight advancing into a government role, did honour require that the individual have experience in fighting – in war, military organisation and leadership? How did mercenaries figure? What role, if any, did Fechtmeister, Fechtbücher, Fechtschulen or Kriegsbücher play?