Bujdosné Pap Györgyi et al.: Mozgó frontvonalak. Háború és diplomácia a várháborúk időszakában 1552-1568 - Studia Agriensia 35. (Eger, 2017)
Florin-Nicolae Ardelean: On the Foreign Mercenaries and Early Modern Military Innovations in East Central Europe. Castaldo's Army in Transsylvania and the Banat
of Castaldo. He only took 4 falcontes with his army while the heavier pieces were left on the east side of the Tisza River. The Italian general estimated that a number of300 peasants were necessary to transport his guns.50 After the Habsburg troops retreated from these territories some of the larger guns, if not all of them, were left behind. When the Habsburgs reconquered Temesvár in 1716 they found 5 usable guns fabricated before 1552.51 52 Some of them were probably brought there during the sieges of 1551 and 1552. Another important contribution of Castaldo to the military modernization of Transylvania was the organization of the arsenal in Nagyszeben. The arsenal was a centralized military institution, a place where tools of war were manufactured and stored. The activity of the arsenal was coordinated by Conrad Haas, who held the office of Zeugwart.sl An inventory made by Conrad Haas in 1555 mentions an impressive number of weapons: 45 cannons, 2 mortar guns, 186 double harquebuses, 1327 smaller harquebuses and other fire hand weapons and 5191 spears.53 As Zeugwart of the arsenal in Nagyszeben Haas was responsible for supplying other fortifications with weapons and ammunition. Materials ofwar were sent as far as Temesvár.54 The arsenal also kept tools and materials needed for the construction and modernization of fortresses. Thus Conrad Haas was in contact with the Italian architects who worked in several locations in Transylvania and the Banat. On April 1552 Haas sent different tools to Antonio Buffalo, who was supervising the modernization of the fortification in Gyulafehérvár.55 Many historical sources, official documents and narrative sources, contain information about the negative impact of the Habsburg army in Transylvania. Abuses committed by Habsburg soldiers against the local population, the increase of war taxes and contribution and the assassination of local leaders are some of the most common facts emphasized by historians concerned with the exploits of Castaldo in Transylvania. The positive aspects of the Habsburg presence in Transylvania in 1551-1553 have been rarely mentioned. A careful re-examination of sources and their analysis in a wider European context will offer a different image of Castaldo and his army and their role in the military modernization of the Transylvanian principality. The Habsburg troops in Transylvania were an active factor in the process of transfer ofmilitary knowledge and technology. Soldiers of different origins (Spanish, 50 ÖStA HHStA Hungarica AA Fas. 60, Konv. A, £ 38-40. 51 Fenesan 2012.258-259. 52 IvAnyi 1926.24. 53 Abrudan-Sontag 1974-1975.129. 54 JAN Sibiu, col. Brukenthal, R-S, nr. 157. 55 Ciure2015. 252. 124
