Abstract: The emergence of powerful armies in the Europe of the seventeenth century contributed to the glorification of the warrior hero. The figure of the warrior established itself in emblem books. The iconography encouraged meditation on virtue, valiance, and courage. Political questions were not foreign to these collections, and there are reflections on the legitimacy of a just war and on the bad warrior. Yet the emblematists were not only interested in the warring soldier: the warrior of love also finds its place in their collections.
