Condottieri

Condottieri (Lat. conducti, 'hired'), the name given in the 14th and 15th centuries to the leaders of certain bands of 'free lances' or military adventurers who, for booty, offered their services to any party in any contest, and often practised warfare on their own account purely for the sake of plunder. These mercenaries were called into action by the endless feuds of the Italian states during the middle ages. Among the most celebrated of their leaders were Sir John Hawkwood at Florence (1390, originally an Essex tailor); Francis of Carmagnola (about 1412); and Francis Sforza, who in 1450 became Duke of Milan. The Compagnies Grandes in France, during the 14th century, resembled the bands led by the Italian condottieri. They originated in the long bloody wars between France and England, did enormous mischief, and became powerful enough to rout the king's forces in 1361; but ultimately Du Guesclin persuaded them to seek their fortune in the Spanish service. See O. Browning, The Age of the Condottieri (1895).