Of the wars which are usually waged in Europe, the way of setting up an army, and land battles1

This chapter presents an account, by the Japanese travellers, of the wars which are usually waged in Europe, the way of setting up an army, and land battles. The Duke of Alba commanded 70,000 troops during his invasion of the Netherlands in the spring of 1568 to crush the revolt which had started in 1566. In 1574, during Count Louis of Nassau’s invasion of Flanders, the army was nominally 86,000 strong. The invasion force assembled for the enterprise against England in 1588 was 27,000 men. Payment was neither regular nor generous. It was commonly in arrears, often irredeemably so. At the time of the 1576 mutiny, pay for Spanish forces was two years in arrears. In the case of Spain, the nobility were no longer interested in a career in arms or in serving in military engagements in far-off places. By the end of the 16th century a career in arms was looked down upon.