Why could the wars of religion not be won on the battlefield?

'Urban warfare was more characteristic of the wars than pitched battles'. Discuss.

General reading

• Robert J. Knecht, The French Civil Wars, 1562-1598 (2000), esp. chaps. 5, 7, 9-12
• James B. Wood, The King's Army: warfare, soldiers and society during the Wars of Religion in France, 1562-1576 (1996)
• 'The Royal Army during the Early Wars of Religion, 1559-1576', in Mack P. Holt (ed.), Society and Institutions in Early Modern France (1991), pp. 1-35
• J.A. Lynn, 'Tactical Evolution in the French Army, 1560-1660', French Historical Studies, 14 (1985), 176-91

Further reading

• Mark Greengrass, 'Financing the Cause: Protestant Mobilization and Accountability in France (1562-1598)', in P. Benedict et al (eds), Reformation, Revolt and Civil War in France and the Netherlands, 1555-1585 (1999), pp. 233-54
• Alan James, 'Between "Huguenot" and "Royal": Defining French Naval Authority during the Wars of Religion', in K. Cameron et al (eds), The Adventure of Religious Pluralism in Early Modern France (2000)
• I. Roy (ed.), Blaise de Monluc: The Habsburg-Valois Wars and the French Wars of Religion (1971)
• R.J. Knecht, 'The Sword and the Pen: Blaise de Monluc and his Commentaries', Renaissance Studies, 9 (1995), 104-18
• 'Military Autobiographies in Sixteenth-Century France', in R. Mulryne & M. Shewring (eds), War, Literature and the Arts in Sixteenth-Century Europe (1989), pp. 3-21
• Howell A. Lloyd, The Rouen Campaign, 1590-92: Politics, Warfare and the Early Modern state ( 1973)
• Ronald S. Love, '"All the King's Horsemen": The Equestrian Army of Henri IV, 1585-1598', Sixteenth Century Journal, 22 (1991), 345-53
• Mark Greengrass, 'The Anatomy of a Religious Riot in Toulouse in May 1562', Journal of Ecclesiastical History, 34 (1983), 367-91
• Barbara Diefendorf, Beneath the Cross: Catholics and Huguenots in Sixteenth-Century Paris (1991), chaps. 4, 5 & 10
• Philip Benedict, Rouen during the Wars of Religion (1981), chaps. 4 & 9
• Penny Roberts, A City in Conflict (1996), chaps. 5 & 8
• Kristen Neuschel, 'Noblewomen and War in Sixteenth-Century France', in Michael Wolfe (ed.), Changing Identities in Early Modern France (1996), pp. 124-44

Documents: Potter, Chap. 2, docs. 24-26; Chap. 3, docs. 1-12; Chap. 4, docs. 4-5, 12-16, 18
Documents: 32
36 - Montaigne, 'On the Battle of Dreux', 'Observations on Julius Caesar's Methods of Waging War', 'On Practice'
37 - Bodin, 'Whether it is Expedient to Arm Subjects…'
Plan - Siege of La Rochelle, 1573