Armies and Ecosystems in Premodern Europe: the Meuse Region, 1250–1850

WCP ARMIES AND ECOSYSTEMS IN PREMODERN EUROPE THE MEUSE REGION, 1250–1850 Using the ecosystem concept as his starting point, the author examines the complex relationship between premodern armed forces and their environ- and Conflict in War ment at three levels: landscapes, living beings, and diseases. The study focuses Societies Premodern on Europe’s Meuse Region, well-known among historians of war as a battle- ground between France and Germany. By analyzing soldiers’ long-term inter- actions with nature, this book engages with current debates about the eco- ARMIES AND ECOSYSTEMS IN PREMODERN EUROPE IN PREMODERN logical impact of the military, and provides new impetus for contemporary armed forces to make greater effort to reduce their environmental footprint. “This is an impressive interdisciplinary study, contributing to environmental history, the history of war and historical geography. The book advances an original and intriguing argument that armed forces have had a vested interest in preserving the environments and habitats in which they operate, and have thus contributed to environmental conservation long before this became a popular cause of wider humanity. The work will provide a template for how this topic can be researched for other parts of the world or for other time periods.” Peter H. Wilson, Chichele Professor of the History of War, University of Oxford War and Confl ict in Premodern Societies is a pioneering series that moves away from strategies, battles, and chronicle histories in order to provide a home for work that places warfare in broader contexts, and contributes new insights ARMIES AND ECOSYSTEMS on everyday experiences of confl ict and violence. It encourages scholars of the medieval and early modern periods to push at the boundaries of the study of IN PREMODERN EUROPE war, and shed new light on the practicalities that were so critical to its success or failure. It also provides a home for studies of war’s cultural and social signifi cance. THE MEUSE REGION, 1250–1850 GOVAERTS Sander Govaerts is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of History and Art History, Utrecht University. by SANDER GOVAERTS Cover image: Map of the lordship of Montfort (detail), drawn by the engineer Philippe Taisne in 1625 (Brussels, ARA, Cartes et plans manuscrits, no. 73). Reproduced with permission of the Algemeen Rijksarchief / Archives générales du royaume. arc-humanities.org WAR AND CONFLICT IN PREMODERN SOCIETIES Series Editors John D. Hosler, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College Kathryn Hurlock, Manchester Metropolitan Uni ver sity Louisa Taylor, Universitetet i Oslo L. J. Andrew Villalon, Uni ver sity of Texas, Austin Evaluation and Peer Review The press has every proposal independently evaluated by expert reviews before any formal commitment is made by the press to the author. Further, all submitted manu scripts are subject to peer review by an expert chosen by the press. The press conforms to the peer review best practice guidelines of the Association of University Presses. For further information see archumanities.org/ourseries/arc/wcp/. FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY ARMIES AND ECOSYSTEMS IN PREMODERN EUROPE THE MEUSE REGION, 1250–1850 by SANDER GOVAERTS British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. © 2021, Arc Humanities Press, Leeds This work is licensed under Creative Commons licence CCBYNCND 4.0. Permission to use brief excerpts from this work in scholarly and educational works is hereby The authors assert their moral right to be identified as the authors of their part of this work. granted provided that the source is acknowledged. Any use of material in this work that is an exception or limitation covered by Article 5 of the European Union’s Copyright Directive (2001/29/EC) or would be determined to be “fair use” under Section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Act September 2010 Page 2 or that satisfies the conditions specified in Section 108 of the U.S. Copy right Act (17 USC §108, as revised by P.L. 94553) does not require the Publisher’s permission. ISBN (hardback): 9781641893985 ISBN (paperback): 9781641894722 eISBN (PDF): 9781641893992 www.arc-humanities.org FOR PRIVATE AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY CONTENTS List of Illustrations .........................................................................vi Preface ......................................................................................ix Introduction .................................................................................1 Part One LANDSCAPES Chapter 1. Frontiers .......................................................................21 Chapter 2. ..................................................................59 Fortifications Part Two BIOTIC COMMUNITIES Chapter 3. Disturbances. .105 Chapter 4. Policing ....................................................................... 145 Part Three PATHOGENS Chapter 5. Army Health .................................................................. Conclusion. .227183 Appendix. ..... Overview of plants found in the fortifications of Maastricht in 1868 232 Biblio graphy .............................................................................. 238 Index ......................................................................................295 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Maps ................................. Map 1. Geographical overview of the Meuse Region. ............................ 8 Map 2. Political over view of the Meuse Region in 1250. ............................13 Map 3. Political over view of the Meuse Region in 1789. 14 Figures late eighteenth century. ........................................................2 Figure 1. Map of the SintPietersberg and Fort SintPieter, Figure 2. The Leo Belgicus prevents Spanish pigs from entering ............................. the “Garden of Holland,” late sixteenth century. .24 Figure 3. Itinerary from Luxemburg to Paris, 1544. 26 Figure 4. A knight errant enters a forest full of exotic animals, in Tournai or Hainaut, midfourteenth century. ............................. miniature from a Lancelot–Grail manu script made 28 ............................................ Figure 5. Detail of a map depicting fords in the Meuse River from SaintMihiel to Revin, 1640. 36 ............................ Figure 6. Map of the lordship of Montfort (detail), drawn by the engineer Philippe Taisne in 1625. 42 two fortresses, Hainaut, early fourteenth century. .......................... Figure 7. Medi eval tournament held in the open fields between 48 map of the Count de Ferraris, 1777........................................... Figure 8. Depiction of Namur and its immediate surroundings, Figure 9. Cavalry patrol in the dunes and drift sands near 53 the Camp of Beverlo, early twentieth century. ..............................55 Figure 10. A knight errant encounters a hedge made of shrubs and spiked heads, miniature from a Lancelot-Grail manu script ........................... FOR PRIVATE AND made in Verdun or Metz,NON-COMMERCIAL late thirteenth century. 63 USE ONLY vii List of iLLustrations Painting by Jan van Eyck. ..................................................... Figure 11. Madonna and chancellor Rolin, early fifteenth century (detail). Figure 12. Two foxes and a wolf assault a fortress built on top of 67 a rabbit warren, and defended by monkeys. Book of Hours .....................75 made in Liège or Maastricht, early fourteenth century. .......................79 Figure 13. Schematic depiction of the planting of trees and a hawthorn hedge on an earthen embankment, 1640. .................92 Figure 15.14. EtMilitaryching ofmap the depicting Dutch siege Mézièr of ’sesHert andogenbosch Charleville in 1753. in 1629 (detail), by Cornelis Danckerts, 1630. ..................10094 Figure 17.16. SevTheenteenth Hoge Frontencentury in Maastricht,pamphlet on now the a Thirty nature Y earsreserve. War.................. 104 depicting warfare disturbances............................................. Figure 18. Miniature from a fourteenthcentury French Bible Figure 19. Cavalrymen gather fascines and make gabions, 106 late seventeenth century. ........................................119108 Figure 21.20. ShepherdPlan of the killing village a ofw olfBiercée, and its 1699. young, midseventeenth century......... Figure 22. Print of a failed Dutch attempt to isolate Spanish troops 123 .................................................. on an island in the Meuse in December 1585, made by Frans Hogenberg in 1586. 133 for the house of the Crosiers (“Crutched Friars”) in Huy, Figure 23. Detail of the Shrine of St. Odilia, made in the Meuse valley late thirteenth century. ..................................................... 139 Sketch by captain August von Bonstetten. .................................152 Figure 24. Guard post on the fortifications of ’sHertogenbosch, 1820s. ..............................157 Figure 25. Discharge and passport for Gerard Vilansin...................................... Figure 26. Fifteenthcentury army on the march. 158 viii List of iLLustrations Figure 27. Overview of people prosecuted for foreign military service .......................... in the Meijerij of ’sHertogenbosch, 1393–1550. 162 ..................... Figure 28. Two Ardennes horses in the service of the French horse artillery, drawing by Hippolyte Lalaisse, 1850. 169 based on a painting by Horace Vernet......................................177 Figure 29. Arrest of a poacher (1813–1839), lithograph .......

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