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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 ...
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 ...
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 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 ...
This agreement was designed to keep the mercenaries out of France while leaving Frederick free to use them in Germany east of the Rhine or in Italy. [6] Frederick I brought them into Italy a second time in 1175. [3] King Henry II of England recruited Brabançons to crush the revolt of 1173–74. [6] Roger of Howden estimated their strength at ...
The Landsknechte (singular: Landsknecht, pronounced [ˈlantsknɛçt]), also rendered as Landsknechts or Lansquenets, were German mercenaries used in pike and shot formations during the early modern period. Consisting predominantly of pikemen and supporting foot soldiers, their front line was formed by Doppelsöldner ("double-pay men") renowned ...
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 ...
Genoese crossbowmen. The Genoese crossbowmen (Italian: Balestrieri genovesi) were a famous military corps of the Middle Ages, which acted both in defense of the Republic of Genoa and as a mercenary force for other Italian or European powers. Armed with crossbows, they fought both on land and in naval battles; notable cases of the latter are the ...