ABSTRACT
Lazarus Schwendi and Raimondo Montecuccoli's lives are separated by roughly a century, and their lifetimes span the period of Europe's religious wars and continuing Turkish expansion into Europe. Schwendi and Montecuccoli were born on either side of the Alps, which formed a linguistic barrier at lower levels of society. Lazarus Schwendi was the son of a local nobleman, Rutland/Rudland/Ruland Schwendi von Hohenlandsberg, who in turn was the younger of two sons and thus not the heir to his father's fortunes, a castle of the same name in Swabia. The Discourse on War was dedicated to Charles of Zerotin, Lord of Namiest and Rossitz in Moravia, a rich scion of the Protestant nobility at the Imperial Court in Prague. Montecuccoli's works fall into three sections: one concerning regular warfare with Christian princes of equal standing; one concerning insurgencies; and a third, concerning the particular challenge of warfare against the sprawling Ottoman Empire.
