Petercsák Tivadar - Berecz Mátyás (szerk.): Tudomány és hagyományőrzés - Studia Agriensia 26. (Eger, 2008)

VÉGVÁR ÉS KULTÚRA A 16. SZÁZADBAN - BAGI ZOLTÁN PÉTER: Vázlat a császári haderő élelemellátásáról a tizenöt éves háború időszakában

Zoltán Péter Bagi

PROVISIONING THE IMPERIAL ARMY DURING THE FIFTEEN YEARS WAR

Provisioning has always been an important consideration in the running of an army, and during the course of the Fifteen Years War there were com- paigns whose success depended upon it. The court tried to ensure the feeding of its troops from a number of sources. For the organization and direction of these operations a complicated apparatus was put into operation whose activities sometimes overlapped one another. It was during the campaigns themselves that any problems in the system were encountered, and when suggestions for corrective measures were made. Among those making the suggestions in our study is Zacharius Geizkofler, one of the financial geniuses of the period, who in his bulletins explains his plans in some detail. His plans were never realized, however, as the combined effects of price speculation, the poor harvest that accompanied what amounted to a mini ice age, and the destruction of the forces of production, all conspired to further increase the price of foodstuffs, in so doing forcing the court to increase soldiers’ wages. There was no opportunity to build storehouses of any size, and this was something that was only achieved during the second half of the 17th century.

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