Italy looked on with disdain at those wandering hordes of mercenaries—disheveled, savage, driven by nothing but greed, and accustomed to every kind of audacity. [...] It awaited a genius who would show those disordered troops where glory resides, and where disgrace; who would lead them into open fields, form them into proper military order, and drive them forward—firm, compact, and better trained—to change the fate of cities and scatter foreign infantry and cavalry in chaotic retreat. That long-awaited genius came to Italy: he was Alberico da Barbiano. —
Ariodante Fabretti, Biografie dei capitani venturieri dell'Umbria, vol. 1, Montepulciano, 1842, p. 109. Born in
Barbiano di Cotignola, a commune of what is now eastern
Emilia-Romagna, Alberico was the son of Aldisio. The family were nobles of
Romagna of long-standing, claiming descent from
Carolingian times. They were hereditary lords of Barbiano, Cunio, and
Lugo di Romagna and claimed as kin the lords of
Ravenna,
Forlì and
Carrara. He married Beatrice da Polenta of Ravenna, and they had two sons, Manfredo and Ludovico. Alberico gained his first military experience in the
compagnia of the English captain
John Hawkwood, taking part in the famous slaughter at
Faenza and the "
Cesena Bloodbath" in the 1370s. Allegedly touched by these excesses, Alberico left the foreign
compagnia, deciding to form a military corps constituted only by Italian mercenaries. Barbiano's
Compagnia di San Giorgio ("St. George Company") renovated the military style of the mercenary companies of the period, with sharply improved cavalry armour and tactics, and with strong attention paid to the training aspect. Famous condottieri like
Facino Cane,
Jacopo dal Verme,
Braccio da Montone and
Muzio Attendolo began their military career in the St. George Company. Starting with 200 men, Alberico could soon boast 4,000 soldiers under his command, prompting a quick decline of the foreign companies that had dominated the Italian grounds till that moment. The first
condotta ("contract") for Alberico's force was in 1378, at the service of
Barnabò Visconti of
Milan, against the
Scaliger and the
Carraresi. The following year Alberico was called by
Pope Urban VI to fight against
Antipope Clement VII, the slaughterer at Cesena. The latter's infamous
Breton troops were crushed in the neighbourhood of Rome on 29 June 1379, after five hours of battles. Alberico was later involved in the war for the
Crown of Naples between Queen
Joan I (and her husband Otto of Brunswick) and
Charles of Durazzo, backed by Urban VI. On 18 June 1381, Alberico defeated Otto and subsequently besieged Joan in the
Castel Nuovo of
Naples. After the Queen was captured and imprisoned in the
Abruzzi, Barbiano was named
gran conestabile ("chief of staff") by the new king Charles III, and in his new role he had to face
Louis I of Anjou, Joan's heir, who had arrived in Italy with an army of 40,000 men. Alberico managed to protect
Forlì and Cesena. However, Louis defeated Charles III at
Campobasso and was declared king of Naples. Louis eventually died after a pestilence, while Urban VI changed sides declaring Alberico, who was besieging him in
Nocera, to be an enemy of the church. Charles was assassinated on 24 February 1386, but Barbiano declared his loyalty to the latter's son
Ladislaus. The latter had to face a new French invasion, this time led by
Louis II. Alberico for the first time in his career was defeated, at
Ascoli Piceno, in 1392.
Gian Galeazzo Visconti paid 3,000
florins for his freedom, engaging him for the
war against
Florence,
Bologna and
Mantua. Alberico won a series of battles in 1397 and was ready for the final siege of Mantua. However, a treaty of peace signed by Visconti with
Francesco I of Gonzaga stopped him. During his campaign in 1399, his brother
Giovanni, was captured and beheaded by the enemy condottiero
Astorre I Manfredi. On 26 June 1402, he defeated a combined Bolognese-Florentine army at the
Battle of Casalecchio, leading to the Milanese conquest of Bologna. The following year he left Milan to re-enter service to Ladislaus of Naples. Alberico da Barbiano died in the spring of 1409, on the way to meet his king at
Città della Pieve (
Umbria). ==Legacy==