| Prince Alberts Revenge | 21 Aug 2007 1:29 p.m. PST |
How are these books? A lot of illustrations? Would these be good guides for French Wars of Religion, Muscovites, etcm? I own the Gush book, but looking for more! Thanks! |
IGWARG1   | 21 Aug 2007 1:36 p.m. PST |
There are few illustrations of of 16th century warriors in Funken, very little history abut that period, if at all. But books concentrate on Western European armies and only one color plate about Russians. Great for overall information about the development of arms and armor. You want "The renaissance at war" by Thomas Arnold, published by Casselll's history of warfare. Get hard cover, not soft cover. Full of contemporary color paintings. |
| Condottiere | 21 Aug 2007 1:45 p.m. PST |
How are these books? Nice resource, but a little dated perhaps. Better than Gush (IMHO). A lot of illustrations? Would these be good guides for French Wars of Religion, Yes. Lot's of decent illustrations. Muscovites, etcm? No. As mentioned above: only one plate covering Muscovites. |
| Gustav A | 21 Aug 2007 3:42 p.m. PST |
The books are quite dated but richly illustrated. The texts are outdated and the illustrations range from average to poor as far as the quality of the reconstructions are concerned. Much of the artwork is based directly on historical images by noted artists such as Jost Amman but lacks the accuracy & details of the originals. For example while Reiter armour is accurately illustrated the pistols are both wrong size and shape and saddles and holsters belong to the 17th century rather than the 16th Century. The very limited eastern european section is very poor. Wether they are usefull or not depends on what you want from them? |
| Mark Watson | 21 Aug 2007 3:48 p.m. PST |
You're better off with the relevant Ospreys. The Arnold book is excellent – nicely produced and a good read – but not a great reference for uniforms. |
| Lentulus | 22 Aug 2007 9:32 a.m. PST |
If you can get them at a reasonable proce, by all means do so. My main recollection is that they have the only illustration or mention of a "monk's gun" that I have ever seen. |
| Condottiere | 22 Aug 2007 9:42 a.m. PST |
You're better off with the relevant Ospreys. They are often filled with inaccurate info too. My favorite source is "Artists and Warfare in the Renaissance" by JR Hale. Has a ton of plates, pics, etc., and lots of great information. One of the better painting guides for the period, in my opinion. Many of the paintings upon which the Osprey and Funcken books rely can be found in Hale's book. |
| Condottiere | 22 Aug 2007 9:43 a.m. PST |
…although the Osprey Landsknecht Warrior is excelent. (The older Landsknecht Osprey is so-so). |
| Gustav A | 22 Aug 2007 5:11 p.m. PST |
Since there are no "relevant Ospreys" as far as the French Wars of Religions are concerned (except for an overview of the war) one is clearly not better of takign the Osprey road. I agree that the Warrior series book on the Landsknechts is great but despite the "1486-1560" in the title it does not cover the post-1540 period which saw huge changes both in the dress, equipment and efficiency of the Landsknechts. The older MAA on Landsknechts has some text and images covering the post 1540 period but not much. Hales' book is a very good source for period images as is the various art books which contains the works of Jost Amman. For historical and military background the best book by far is Wood's "The King's Army" which is a superb study of the Royal army in the 1560's and 1570's.
A good introduction to the armies of Henri IV is Love's "All the King's Horsemen":The Equestrian Army of Henri IV, 1585-1598. (Published in the 16th Century Journal) It does suffer from a bit of hero worship but is by far the best english text on the subject. |
| ravachol | 23 Aug 2007 6:48 a.m. PST |
try this link
link some of the stuff might be revelant |
| ravachol | 23 Aug 2007 6:51 a.m. PST |
for eastern europe (polish + links)
link |
