As the linchpin of Imperial Spain's strategy in Europe, and as the fighting force that at its height set the ‘gold standard’ for early modern European armies, the Army of Flanders left behind a profound cultural and documentary legacy. Still, research on the topic is nowadays sporadic and fragmented across national historiographical traditions and parameters established in the 19th century. There has never been an organic effort to study the Army as an entity in its own right.
Project ETAF seeks to address some of the historical and historiographical questions that remain unanswered.
➤ How did large-scale, long-term, and long-range service in a multinational force influence personal and group identities across early modern Europe?
➤ What mechanisms enabled the Army to maintain cohesion and become the monarquía's premier European army despite extraordinary linguistic, cultural, and social diversity over generations?
➤ How can we illuminate patterns of mobility, network formation, and identity negotiation invisible to traditional nation-centered approaches and tools?
