Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Routiers (French: [ʁutje]) were mercenary soldiers of the Middle Ages. Their particular distinction from other paid soldiers of the time was that they were organised into bands (rutta or routes). [1] The term is first used in the 12th century but is particularly associated with free companies who terrorised the French countryside during the ...
Free company. French troops being attacked by the Tard-Venus free company during the 1362 Battle of Brignais. A free company (sometimes called a great company or, in French, grande compagnie) was an army of mercenaries between the 12th and 14th centuries recruited by private employers during wars. They acted independently of any government, and ...
Lance fournie. The lance fournie (French: "equipped lance") was a medieval equivalent to the modern army squad that would have accompanied and supported a man-at-arms (a heavily armoured horseman popularly known as a "knight") in battle. These units formed companies under a captain either as mercenary bands or in the retinue of wealthy nobles ...
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 ...
The White Company (Italian: Compagnia Bianca del Falco) was a 14th-century English mercenary Free company (Italian: Compagnia di ventura), led from its arrival in Italy in 1361 to 1363 by the German Albert Sterz and later by the Englishman John Hawkwood. Although the White Company is the name by which it is popularly known, it was initially ...
The Third Lateran Council of 1179 forbade Christians the use Brabantiones, Aragonenses, Navarii, Bascoli, Coterelli and Triaverdini, referring to these same bands of mercenaries. [3] [6] They stood accused of disrespecting churches, killing women, children, the elderly, and waging war for the sake of loot. The bands were excommunicated.
The main armament of the Genoese crossbowmen was the crossbow, made in Genoa by the Balistrai Corporation. As well, the mercenaries were equipped with a dagger, a light metal helmet, a gorget, a hauberk and a large shield, called a pavese , which was used while reloading the crossbow. The usual team consisted of a crossbowman and two assistants ...
Crusades against Christians were Christian religious wars dating from the 11th century First Crusade when papal reformers began equating the universal church with the papacy. Later in the 12th century focus changed onto heretics and schismatics rather than infidels. Holy wars were fought in northern France, against King Roger II of Sicily ...