ABSTRACT
This chapter examines logistics and resources against the background of the development of early standing armies and widening participation in the military life, with the principal focus on a comparison of the methods adopted by France and Spain, the two main protagonists, for the creation, management and resourcing of their armies. The indications are that in the first half of the sixteenth century it was fairly easy to find recruits for the armies. The implications of more permanent warfare in the fifteenth century for logistical and administrative support for armies, had already been considered by Louis XI’s government in France in the 1470s and 1480s. The solution worked out was designed for war within the frontiers; it involved compulsory contributions from communities all over the state being brought together by merchant provisioners under contract. The Italian Wars produced unprecedented mobility of large armies, but there were also long periods of inactivity and normality.
