ENGLISH

The De Re Militari of Vegetius: The Reception, Transmission and Legacy of a Roman Text in the Middle Ages

By Christopher Allmand

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2011
ISBN
1107000270, 9781107000278
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3200752 bytes)
Pages
412\412
Topic
History
Scanned
yes
Time added
2014-01-20 13:44:48

Description

Vegetius' late Roman text became a well known and highly respected 'classic' in the Middle Ages, transformed by its readers into the authority on the waging of war. Christopher Allmand analyses the medieval afterlife of the De Re Militari, tracing the growing interest in the text from the Carolingian world to the late Middle Ages, suggesting how the written word may have influenced the development of military practice in that period. While emphasising that success depended on a commander's ability to outwit the enemy with a carefully selected, well trained and disciplined army, the De Re Militari inspired other unexpected developments, such as that of the 'national' army, and helped create a context in which the role of the soldier assumed greater social and political importance. Allmand explores the significance of the text and the changes it brought for those who accepted the implications of its central messages.

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