Florin Nicolae Ardelean - Böcker

This book provides a detailed account of foreigners who performed military service in the Principality of Transylvania over almost one-and-a-half centuries. It explores their social and cultural background, their motivation for seeking employment in these parts of the continent and their performance within the ranks of an army fighting on the borderlands of Christian Europe. By focusing on the particular case of Transylvania, the author offers new insights and data on the global process of military migration and mobility in the early modern world. Readers will find a comprehensive analysis of a military system, situated at the crossroads of Western European and Oriental (Ottoman) influences. Using a wide variety of historical sources, the author reconstructs the complex process of adopting and adapting military innovations through the employment of foreign war professionals. This book is primarily addressed to scholars interested in migration studies, global history and social and military history. It also targets a larger audience consisting of students and passionate readers interested in the history of Transylvania and East-Central Europe in general.

This volume brings together a rich variety of papers, which were given at an international conference entitled «Between Worlds: The Age of the Jagiellonians» in Cluj-Napoca in October 2010. They cover various aspects of the impact of this important dynasty on Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, and its reign in Lithuania, Poland, Hungary and Bohemia between the 14th and the 16th century. Thus, the relevance of the Age of the Jagiellonians for the transformation of Europe between the late Middle Ages and the Early Modern period becomes visible. Various approaches to the overall topic can be found in this volume, be it from the viewpoint of war and religion, frontier studies, politics, theology, historiography or art history.