Quantitative Research and the Military History of the Jagiellonian Era: A Quantitative Approach to the Longue Durée of the Dynasty

Abstract

Quantitative research, often conducted within the framework of economic history, has also found its application in military history. At the same time, it is often criticised as unreliable, because its effect is to count certain values, not to measure the studied reality (J. Barzun). However, a comparison of certain phenomena in a longer perspective is possible only and exclusively by introducing indicators reflecting the compared phenomena. The comparative method was often used within the framework of research on the so-called long term history (longue durée), initiated by Fernand Braudel. Braudel distinguished three levels of description. The first – the most superficial – concerned typical idiographic – history of events. The second – deeper – referred to the so-called conjunctures, i.e. longer, internally coherent periods or problems. The third – the deepest – referring to phenomena lasting for generations and often unconscious to their participants, Braudel called as the structure. The reign of the Jagiellonians on the Polish throne (1386–1572) can be considered a longue durée both in terms of duration and complex structure. However, it is military history in the classical sense that should be placed here on the first level. It is usually a simple description of the sequence of events. In order to treat them as an element of the situation or even structure, it seems necessary to link them with social and economic history; only then will they fulfill the research criteria of the longue durée. Such a reorientation of historical and military research can become the basis for breaking the stagnation observed for many years in studies on the history of warfare.