Milites vs. Civitas: Analysis of the conflicts generated by the recruitment of volunteers soldiers in Castile during the second half of the 17th century

Abstract

The  soldiers have been generally accused of the violence executed against to the civilians during the recruitments and levies, when this is not completely certain, or if it happened it was in a  testimonial and minority way, something that seeks to demonstrate this study. to  try to discard this myth, we have chosen the study of all the conflicts generated in castile by the recruitment of volunteers during the second half of the 17th century. although the enlistment of troops was a habitual topic of this time —in war or peacetime— the conflicts and violence that we know only affect a minimum part of the companies recruited during the whole period. in this work we will analyze the causes and reasons of all the conflicts and violence, the lodging of the troops in the cities during their period of recruit, and the problems generated by them.