THE SOLDIER TRADE IN THE LITERATURE

The preceding two chapters have established that if a prince were to achieve his dynastic and political aims, he required a large army and a full treasury. To secure these he needed large revenues. If his existing revenues were inadequate, or he was unable to exercise full control over them, he was forced to look for outside assistance. The most important and politically significant form of such assistance was the subsidy treaty.

Subsidy treaties originated in the ‘pensions’ paid by the king of France in the late fifteenth century to the leaders of the Swiss cantons in return for mercenaries for his army. From then on, the treaties developed a number of different forms, but always retained the same basic characteristic – one party provided military assistance in return for financial or political advantage from the other.

This has been one of the most misunderstood areas of early modern international relations. Traditionally, the subsidy treaties of these princes have been regarded as a Soldatenhandel, whereby the princes sold their subjects to foreign powers to ‘increase their revenues and satisfy their [desire for] luxury’. This interpretation has profoundly influenced the historical view of the lesser German princes and their role within the Reich and the European states system. Only recently has it begun to be revised.