Condotte D'Acqua

Condottieri (; singular: ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian military leaders active during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The term originally referred specifically to commanders of mercenary companies, derived from the Italian word ''condotta''—the contract under which they served a city-state or lord. The word ''condottiero'' thus meant 'contractor'. Over time, however, in Italian usage, ''condottiero'' came to mean any 'commander' or 'military leader'.

Mercenary captains

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 (officer and enlisted man), thus, the "contracted" leader, the mercenary captain commanding, was titled the "Condottiere".

From the eleventh to the thirteenth century, European soldiers led by professional officers fought against the Muslims in the Crusades (1095–1291). 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 the profession, some were less mercenaries than bandits and desperate men. These were not Italian, but (mostly) 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 in Italy in October 1282, and, post-war, remained there, 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. Niccolò Machiavelli even said that ''condottieri'' fought each other in grandiose, but often pointless and near-bloodless battles. However, later in the Renaissance the ''condottieri'' line of battle still deployed the grand armoured knight and medieval weapons and tactics after most European powers had begun employing professional standing armies of pikemen and musketeers; this helped to contribute to their eventual decline and destruction.

In 1347, Cola di Rienzo (Tribune and effective dictator of the city) had Werner von Urslingen executed in Rome, and Konrad von Landau assumed command of the Great Company. 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 (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 conlicts. 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

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 III 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 Padova
* 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 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

While the military service gradually disappeared, the term remained in use, denominating the great Italian generals fighting for European states, monarchs and Popes during the Italian wars and the European wars of religion.Lenman, B., Anderson, T. ''Chambers Dictionary of World History'', p. 200 Men referred to as 'condottieri' in this sense include the Marquis of Pescara (1489–1525), the Marquis of Vasto (1502–1546), Ferrante Gonzaga (1507–1557), Marcantonio II Colonna (1535–1584), Alexander Farnese (1545–1592), Torquato Conti (1591–1636), Ambrogio Spinola (1569–1630), Ottavio Piccolomini (1599–1656), Raimondo Montecuccoli (1609–1680) and many others. Therefore, in Italian, the term 'condottiero' eventually became synonymous with 'military leader' or 'commander'.

References

Sources

* Machiavelli, Niccolò. ''History of Florence''. book I, ch. vii.
on-line text

* Rendina, Claudio (1992). ''I Capitani di ventura''. Newton Compton.
* Ricotti, Ercole (1844–1845). ''Storia delle compagnie di ventura in Italia'', 4 vols.
* Lenman, B., Anderson, T., eds. (2000). ''Chambers Dictionary of World History'', Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd. .
*
* Димов, Г. Войната в италийските земи през късното Средновековие: кондотиерите – В: сп. Алманах, I, 2015, 30–43.
*

External links

Condottieri di ventura – a complete database about Condottieri operating in Italy between 1300–1550

{{Authority control

Mercenary units and formations of the Middle Ages
16th century in Italy
Medieval history of Italy