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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 ...
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.
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 ...
Gallowglass. The Gallowglass (also spelled galloglass, gallowglas or galloglas; from Irish: gallóglaigh meaning "foreign warriors") were a class of elite mercenary warriors who were principally members of the Norse-Gaelic clans of Ireland and Scotland between the mid 13th century and late 16th century. It originally applied to Scots, who ...
Infantry in the Middle Ages. Infantrymen at the Battle of Aljubarrota, 1385. Despite the rise of knightly cavalry in the 11th century, infantry played an important role throughout the Middle Ages on both the battlefield and in sieges. From the 14th century onwards, it has been argued that there was a rise in the prominence of infantry forces ...
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 ...