« With woodcut vignette on title, 15 full-page engraved plates of armies in battle
positions (10) and cavalry men and knights in armour on horseback (5), woodcut head-
and tail-pieces and initials.
First and only edition of this work in 5 books on cavalry tactics and the deployment
of horses in the army by the cavalry captain Flaminio della Croce. A second issue
of the book with a new title was published by Willem Lesteens in Antwerp in 1629.
After the title-page (verso blank) follows the dedication by the author to Emperor
Ferdinand II, dated Antwerp, 10 April 1625 on pp. (3)-(6). The preface is on pp. (4)-(12),
and the contents on pp. (13)-(22); the Approbation on p. (23), and the Privilege on
p. (24). Pp. (25-(28), often lacking in other copies, contain laudatory poems by Jeronymo
Mariani, Pietro Benedetti, Nicolo Schiattino and Hippolyto Caimo.
The first three books (pp. 1-398) concern the use of horses in war, the various soldiers
and officers, manoeuvring the cavalry, positions of the cavalry, fighting on horseback,
etc. Book IV (pp. 399-438) is concerned with the care and maintenance of horses and
horse medicine, including prescriptions for several diseases, the ‘Rimedi per li cavalli
raccolti dal capitano Flaminio Della Croce Gentill-huomo Milanese’, stressing the
importance of horses in warfare in general and the care for horses in particular;
book V lists many proverbs and discussions on moral issues concerning war and warfare,
frequently describing recent events to illustrate a particular recommendation or warning
(pp. 439-566). As his examples are very specific and refer especially to experiences
he had either heard of or, more often, had been through himself fighting for the Catholic
Spanish side in the Dutch wars, this book is also of interest for the history of warfare
in the Low Countries in the first half of the 17
th
century. The colophon is on p. (567). »
Dejager (2014)