Stratioti

Stradioti
French painting of c. 1500 depicting stradioti of the Venetian Army at the Battle of Fornovo
Active	15th to 18th centuries
Type	Mercenary unit
Role	Light cavalry

The Stratioti or Stradioti (Italian: Stradioti, Stradiotti, Greek: Στρατιώτες/Stratiotes, Albanian: Stratiotët) were mercenary units from the Balkans recruited mainly by states of southern and central Europe from the 15th century until the middle of the 18th century.

The Greek term stratiotis/-ai (στρατιώτης/-αι) was in use since classical antiquity with the sense of "soldier" The same word was used continuously in the Roman and Byzantine period. The Italian term stradioti could therefore be a loan from the Greek word stratiotai (Greek: στρατιώται), i.e. soldiers Alternatively, it derives from the Italian word strada ('street'), meaning 'wayfarer'. The Albanian stradioti of Venice were also called cappelletti (sing. cappelletto) because of the small red caps they wore.

The stradioti were recruited in Albania, Greece, Dalmatia, Serbia and later Cyprus. Most of the names were Albanian, but a good number of the names were of Greek origin, such as Palaiologos, Spandounios, Laskaris, Rhalles, Comnenos, Psendakis, Maniatis, Spyliotis, Alexopoulos, Psaris, Zacharopoulos, Klirakopoulos, Kondomitis, etc. Others seemed to be of South Slavic origin, such Soimiris, Vlastimiris, and Voicha. Among their leaders there were also members of some old Byzantine noble families such as the Palaiologi and Comneni.

The Republic of Venice first used stratioti in their campaigns against the Ottoman Empire and, from c. 1475, as frontier troops in Friuli. Starting from that period, they began to almost entirely replace the Venetian light cavalry in the army. Apart from the Albanian stradioti, Greek and Italian ones were also deployed in the League of Venice at the Battle of Fornovo (1495). The mercenaries were recruited from the Balkans, mainly Christians but also some Muslims. In 1511, a group of stratioti petitioned for the construction of the Greek community's Eastern Catholic Church in Venice, the San Giorgio dei Greci, and the Scuola dei Greci (Confraternity of the Greeks), in a neighborhood where a Greek community still resides. Impressed by the unorthodox tactics of the stratioti, other European powers quickly began to hire mercenaries from the same region.