Condottiero

Condottieri (Italian: [kondotˈtjɛːri]; singular condottiero and condottiere) were the leaders of the professional military free companies (or mercenaries) contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy from the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance. In Renaissance Italian, condottiero meant "contractor". In contemporary Italian, "condottiero" acquired the broader meaning of "military leader", not restricted to mercenaries. In Italian historiography, Renaissance mercenary captains are usually called capitani di ventura (literally "venture captains").

These Italian words were standard usage in English writing of the Napoleonic times that remained current in written histories until the late 20th century; because formally employed, standing, professional armies were uncommon outside Italy until late in the Napoleonic Wars (1800–1815). Thus, the word Condottiere in the English language has come to denote, in the modern sense, any hired soldier.

In the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the Italian city-states of Venice, Florence, and Genoa were very rich from their trade with the Levant, yet possessed woefully small national armies. In the event that foreign powers and envious neighbors attacked, the ruling nobles hired foreign mercenaries to fight for them. The military-service terms and conditions were stipulated in a condotta (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. On the Crusades’ conclusion, the first masnada (bands of roving soldiers) appeared in Italy. Given the profession, some masnade were less mercenaries than bandits and desperate men. These masnada were not Italian, but (mostly) German, from the Duchy of Brabant (hence, Brabanzoni), and from Catalonia and 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 Compagnia della Colomba (Company of the Dove) in Perugia’s war against Arezzo.

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