Background In the 13th and 14th centuries, the
Italian city-states of
Venice,
Florence, and
Genoa were very rich from their trade with the
Levant, yet possessed woefully small armies. In the event that foreign powers and envious neighbours attacked, the ruling nobles hired foreign mercenaries to fight for them. The military-service terms and conditions were stipulated in a (contract) between the city-state and the soldiers (officers and enlisted men), thus, the "contracted" leader, the mercenary captain commanding, was titled the "Condottiere". From the eleventh century to the thirteenth, in
the Crusades in the
Holy Land (1095–1291), European soldiers led by noble and professional officers fought against the
Muslims. These crusading officers provided large-scale warfare combat experience in the Holy Land. At the Crusades' conclusion, the first (bands of roving soldiers; : ) appeared in Italy. Given their profession, some were less mercenaries than bandits and desperate men. These were mostly not Italian, but
Flemings, from the
Duchy of Brabant (hence, ), and from
Aragon. The latter were Spanish soldiers who had followed King
Peter III of Aragon in the
War of the Sicilian Vespers into Italy in October 1282 and remained there after that war, seeking military employment. By 1333, other mercenaries had arrived in Italy to fight with
John of Bohemia as the (Company of the Dove) in
Perugia's war against
Arezzo. The first well-organised mercenaries in Italy were the Ventura Companies of
Duke Werner von Urslingen and
Count Konrad von Landau. Werner's company differed from other mercenary companies because its code of military justice imposed discipline and an equal division of the contract's income. The Ventura Company increased in number until becoming the fearsome "
Great Company" of some 3,000 (each comprised a knight and a sergeant).
Rise The first mercenary company with an Italian as its chief was the "Company of St. George" formed in 1339 and led by
Lodrisio Visconti. This company was defeated and destroyed by
Luchino Visconti of Milan (another
condottiero and uncle of Lodrisio) in April 1339. Later, in 1377, a second "Company of St. George" was formed under the leadership of
Alberico da Barbiano, also an Italian and the Count of Conio, who later taught
military science to
condottieri such as
Braccio da Montone and
Giacomuzzo Attendolo Sforza, who also served in the company. Once aware of their military power monopoly in Italy, the
condottieri bands became notorious for their capriciousness and soon dictated terms to their ostensible employers. In turn, many condottieri, such as Braccio da Montone and Muzio Sforza, became powerful politicians. As most were educated men acquainted with Roman military science manuals (e.g.
Vegetius's
Epitoma rei militarii), they began viewing warfare from the perspective of military science, rather than as a matter of valour or physical courage—a great, consequential departure from
chivalry, the traditional medieval model of soldiering. Consequently, the
condottieri fought by outmanoeuvring the opponent and fighting his ability to wage war, rather than risking uncertain fortune—defeat, capture, death—in battlefield combat. The earlier, medieval
condottieri developed the "art of war" (
military strategy and
tactics) into military science more than any of their historical military predecessors—fighting indirectly, not directly—thus, only reluctantly endangering themselves and their enlisted men, avoiding battle when possible, also avoiding hard work and winter campaigns, as these all reduced the total number of trained soldiers available, and were detrimental to their political and economic interest. On the conclusion (1360) of the
Peace of Bretigny between England and France, Sir
John Hawkwood led an army of English mercenaries, called the
White Company, into Italy, which took a prominent part in the confused wars of the next thirty years. Towards the end of the century, the Italians began to organize armies of the same description. This ended the reign of the purely mercenary company and began that of the semi-national mercenary army which endured in Europe till replaced by the national standing army system. In 1363, Count von Landau was betrayed by his Hungarian soldiers, and defeated in combat, by the White Company's more advanced tactics under commanders
Albert Sterz and John Hawkwood. Strategically, the was replaced with the three-soldier, mounted (a , a groom, and a boy); five composed a , five composed a (flag). By that time, the campaigning
condottieri companies were as much Italian as foreign: the
Astorre I Manfredi's (Company of the Star); a new (Company of St. George) under Ambrogio Visconti; Niccolò da Montefeltro's (Little Hat Company); and the (Company of the Rose), commanded by Giovanni da Buscareto and Bartolomeo Gonzaga. From the 15th century hence, most
condottieri were landless Italian nobles who had chosen the profession of arms as a livelihood; the most famous of such mercenary captains was the son of
Caterina Sforza,
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, from
Forlì, known as
The Last Condottiere; his son was
Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; besides noblemen,
princes also fought as condottieri, given the sizable income to their estates, notably
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Lord of
Rimini, and
Federico da Montefeltro, Duke of
Urbino; despite war-time
inflation, soldier's pay was high: • 1,900 monthly
florins in 1432:
Micheletto Attendolo (Florence) • 6,600 monthly florins in 1448:
William VIII of Montferrat, from
Francesco Sforza (Milan); the enlisted soldier's pay was 3,300 florins, half that of an officer's • 33,000 yearly
scudi for 250 men in 1505:
Francesco II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua (Florence) • 100,000 yearly scudi for 200 men in 1505:
Francesco Maria I della Rovere (Florence) The
condottieri company commanders selected the soldiers to enlist; the was a consolidated contract, and, when the (service period) elapsed, the company entered an (wait) period, wherein the contracting city-state considered its renewal. If the expired definitively, the
condottiere could not declare war against the contracting city-state for two years. This military–business custom was respected because professional reputation (business credibility) was everything to the condottieri; a deceived employer was a reputation ruined; likewise, for maritime mercenaries, whose () stipulated naval military-service terms and conditions; sea captains and sailors so-contracted were called . Their principal employers were
Genoa and the
Papal States, beginning in the fourteenth century, yet
Venice considered it humiliating to so employ military sailors, and did not use naval mercenaries, even during the greatest danger in the city's history. In 15th-century Italy, the
condottieri were masterful lords of war; during the
wars in Lombardy, Machiavelli observed: In 1487, at
Calliano, the
Venetians successfully met and acquitted themselves against the German
landsknechte and the Swiss infantry, the best soldiers in Europe at the time. In 1494, the French king
Charles VIII's royal army invaded the Italian Peninsula, initiating the
Italian Wars. The most renowned
condottieri fought in these conflicts. Since the mid-16th century, mercenary captains decline in importance. However, they continue to exist into the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. The political practice of hiring foreign mercenaries also did not end. For example, the
Vatican's Swiss Guard are the modern remnants of a historically effective mercenary army.
List , one of the
condottieri who took part in the
Battle of Garigliano defeated the French at
Bosco Marengo (1447). , one of the last examples of the condottieri tradition by
Andrea del Castagno, showing a 15th-century condottiero's typical attire The following is a list of famous Italian mercenary captains: •
Roger de Flor () •
Malatesta da Verucchio (1212–1312) •
Castruccio Castracani, Lord of
Lucca (1281–1328) •
Cangrande della Scala (1291–1329) •
Montréal d'Albarno () •
Walter VI of Brienne () •
Konrad von Landau (died 22 April 1363) •
Albert Sterz (executed 1366) •
John Hawkwood (Giovanni Acuto, ) •
Giovanni Ordelaffi from
Forlì (1355–1399) •
Astorre I Manfredi (1345–1405) •
Alberico da Barbiano (1344–1409) •
Johann II (Habsburg-Laufenburg) () •
Facino Cane de Casale () •
Angelo Broglio da Lavello, also known as
Tartaglia (1350 or 1370–1421) • Andrea Fortebracci, better known as
Braccio da Montone (1368–1424) •
Muzio Attendolo, also called
Sforza (Strong) (1369–1424) •
Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola (1390–1432) •
Giovanni Vitelleschi (died 1440) •
Erasmo da Narni, also known as
Gattamelata (1370–1443) •
Niccolò Piccinino (1380–1444) •
Micheletto Attendolo (Muzio Attendolo's cousin or nephew, – ) •
Francesco Sforza (1401–1466) •
Onorata Rodiani (1403–1452) •
Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (1417–1468) •
Bartolomeo Colleoni () •
Roberto Sanseverino d'Aragona (1418–1487) •
Federico da Montefeltro (1422–1482) •
Francesco Alidosi (1455–1511) •
Vitellozzo Vitelli (1458–1502) •
Oliverotto Euffreducci (1475–1502) •
Niccolò di Pitigliano (died 1510) •
Ettore Fieramosca (1479–1515) •
Cesare Borgia (1475–1507) •
Prospero Colonna (1452–1523) •
Bartolomeo d'Alviano (1455–1515) •
Mercurio Bua (1478–1542) •
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio () •
Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (1498–1526) •
Piero Strozzi (c. 1510–1558) Some of the most famous battles in which they were involved are: •
Battle of Montecatini (1315) •
Battle of Parabiago (1339) –
Lodrisio Visconti's "Company of St. George", for
Verona, against
Luchino Visconti and Ettore da Panigo for
Milan •
Battle of Cascina (1364) •
War of the Eight Saints (1375–1378) • Cesena Bloodbath (1377) –
Papal and
Breton mercenaries under
John Hawkwood slaughtered more than 2,000 citizens of
Cesena • Battle of Marino (1379) – Papal mercenaries under Alberico da Barbiano defeat Breton and French mercenaries under the anti-Pope •
Battle of Castagnaro (1387) –
Giovanni Ordelaffi for Verona, against John Hawkwood for
Padua •
Battle of Casalecchio (1402) –
Alberico da Barbiano for Milan against
Muzio Attendolo and others for the Bolognese-Florentine League •
Battle of Motta (1412) •
Battle of Sant'Egidio (1416) –
Braccio da Montone for himself against
Carlo I Malatesta for
Perugia •
Battle of Maclodio (1427) –
Count of Carmagnola for
Venice against Carlo I Malatesta for Milan •
Battle of San Romano (1432) –
Niccolò da Tolentino for
Florence against
Francesco Piccinino for
Siena •
Battle of Anghiari (1440) –
Niccolò Piccinino for Milan against Florence, the Papal States, and Venice under
Micheletto Attendolo •
Battle of Bosco Marengo (1447) •
Battle of Troia (1462) •
Battle of Molinella (1467) •
Battle of Crevola (1487) •
Battle of Calliano (1487) •
Battle of Agnadello (1509) –
Bartolomeo d'Alviano for Venice against
France and the Italian League •
Battle of Marciano (1554) –
Gian Giacomo Medici for Florence and the Holy Roman Empire against
Piero Strozzi for Siena and France •
Wars of Castro (1641–1649) – between Pope
Urban VIII and his successor
Innocent X, and the
Parma ==Evolution of the term==