Robert Knecht for Longman (Modern Wars In Perspective) As usual with this series good analysis together with a strong narrative which puts together the story from Francis I to Louis XIII. It is in many ways a series of connected threads that link the wars. Certainly religion is ever-present, but so is the usual noble faction fighting. The use of the Guise uncles of Francis II as regents instead of the Bourbon family, and the blood feud between the Guise and the Châtillon branch of the Montmorency, might have existed without religion, but religion gave them access to popular support. Although the nobility of France seems very powerful they seldom (the Valois of Burgundy apart) managed to do much in opposition without foreign help. The collapse of the Constable faced by Francis I showed that. For the French monarchy the difficulty in suppressing a popular revolt backed by nobles (even if the Godly were only 10% of the population) was one common to all states of that period, tapping and using finance to maintain a large enough army in the field. It was by no means uncommon for an army of 20,000 to end the year with 4,000 without fighting a battle or hard siege. Money was undoubtedly the sinews of war, but the early modern state was singularly spavined. Running behind this is the attempt to find a middle way, something for which Catherine de Medici strove. For both sides though certain policies rebounded by ensuring the other would fight to the death. If the Surprise of Meaux convinced Catherine that one could not trust the Huguenots then the Massacre of St Bartelmey convinced the other side that the Crown could not be trusted. This passed a weakened inheritance to Henri III, with his "right wing" possessed by the dual Guise-League faction, and the "left" by the Bourbon and the Godly he was left with the middle ground. And the middle-ground is the least willing to pay for its beliefs, since it has none. Old Duffer's Book Corner Book Reviews The Punic Wars The Northern Wars 1558-1721 1688: A Global History Richelieu And Olivares Warfare At Sea 1500-1650 Louis XIV The Renaissance At War The Great War and Modern Memory Battles of the Greek And Roman Worlds Histoire Militaire des Guerres Puniques Dictionnaire des Maréchaux de France The War The Infantry Knew 1914-1919 The Great War The Byzantine Wars The French Civil Wars The Somme The Myth of the Great War The Wars Of The Ancient Greeks Histoire de l'armée française de 1914 à nos jours To The Last Man: Spring 1918 Flodden 1513 Verdun 1916 The Mediterranean In The Ancient World The National Army Museum Book Of The Boer War La Bataille d'Abbeville Soldier Sahibs The Celtic Empire The Imperial War Museum Book of 1918 War And The World: Military Power And The Fate of Continents Back to Perfidious Albion #103 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com