Who were the shadow agents of Renaissance war? In this pioneering
collection of essays scholars use new archival evidence and other
sources, including literature, artworks, and other non-textual material,
to uncover those men, women, children and other animals who sustained
war by means of their preparatory, auxiliary, infrastructural, or
supplementary labour. These shadow agents worked in the zone between
visibility and invisibility, often moving between civilians and
soldiers, and their labour was frequently forced. This volume engages
with a range of important debates including: the relationship between
war and state formation; the 'military revolution' or transformation of
early modern military force; the nature of human and non-human agency;
gender and war; civilian protection and expulsion; and espionage and
diplomacy. The focus of the volume is on Italy, but it includes studies
of France and England, and the editors place these themes in a broader
European context with the aim of supporting and stimulating research in
this field.