Publisher's Synopsis
Focusing on the period of hostilities with Spain in the late-16th century and the following period of peace until the renewal of the war in 1625, this book analyzes the methods used for the procurement, storage and supply of arms and armaments for the English military establishment. It integrates social, political, financial, economic, administrative and military concerns, highlighting the importance and cost of the supply of war "materiel" to the English army in the tense years before the Civil War.;The Ordnance Office - with power based on individual prestige, riddled with inefficiency, and slow to change its procedures - provides a case study of an early-modern bureaucracy in a transitional period between the personal and household offices of the Crown, and the growth of modern concepts of civil service based on merit. The study also looks at the slow demise of the Armoury, and the still-important purchase and storage of arms by counties.
