The Middle Ages ended as it began, in a state of political turmoil and uncertainty. During the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Europe's most powerful states, England and France, were engaged in a century-long conflict appropriately called the Hundred Years' War. The new monarchies were not hesitant to call on the newly formed armies they now had at their command. In areas like Italy and Germany, where feudalism was weak and national unification was not achieved until the late nineteenth century, wars continued to be fought. However, the makeup of the armies in these areas had changed. In place of the feudal levies of the earlier period, mercenary armies were being used. An undisciplined and sometimes uncontrollable lot, mercenary soldiers were described by many of their contemporaries as human wolves. Once the engagement for which they were contracted was behind them, they would usually...