Pequeña nobleza y guerra en el Reino de Valencia durante la Baja Edad Media. Actitudes y comportamientos en el servicio militar

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to explore the different purposes of military service of nobility. In the middle ages, war became one of the main ways to obtain honour, wealth and to take part in the staff of the new states. However, these aims were accessible only for the noble families more important while lesser nobility barely obtained the royal favour and fiscal grants. In the kingdom of Valencia, this scenario was actually perceptible in the Alfonso the Magnanimous’s reign when this king started a process of professionalization of the army. Therefore, this article tries to define the attitude of nobility in its relationship with the crown focusing our attention in two members of this lesser nobility, Ausias Marc and Hug de Cardona.