The essays in this volume explore the extent to which the chivalric ethos and military professionalism were incompatible, as well as their relative significance for developments in the art of war, and the rise of the state. Essays explore the armies and societies of late-medieval and early-modern France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany, England and the Netherlands. They examine both the theory and practice of war, using literary, archival and artistic evidence. Overall the volume probes what constitutes military 'professionalism'; assesses the real long term significance of developments in...

Together, and for the first time in any language, the 24 essays gathered in these volumes provide a composite picture of the history of religion in ancient China from the emergence of writing ca. 1250 BC to the collapse of the first major imperial dynasty in 220 AD. It is a multi-faceted tale of changing gods and rituals that includes the emergence of a form of "secular humanism" that doubts the existence of the gods and the efficacy of ritual and of an imperial orthodoxy that founds its legitimacy on a distinction between licit and illicit sacrifices. Written by specialists in a variety of...