m136

Some Italian helmets from the time of the condottieri a Bar-buta with attachment for a visor, ni id-15th century (Museum fur Deutsche Geschichte, Berlin), b Barbuta-sallet, probably inspired by an ancient Greek ‘Corinthian’ helmet and probably madę in the Missaglia workshops, Milan, 1430 1445 (Wallace Coli., London), c Venetian sallet, possibly madę in Milan around 1455 (Wallace Coli., London). r> Great bascinet, part of a complete armour madę in Milan by Tomaso Negroni da Ello, called Missaglia, probably in 1450, for the Elector Palatine Frederick I (Waffensammlung, Vienna). e Visored sallet, probably Milanese, from around 1500 (Armoury of the Knights of St. John, Valetta)

names dominated Italian tactics won their reputations.

Musio Attendolo, better known as Sforza, came from a wealthy but non-noble family in the Romagna. He was destined for a military career from childhood and was soon serving Alberigo da Barbiano as a squadron commander. His rise was rapid, and he was rewarded by being madę count of his native town of Cotignola in 1411. Braccio da Montone, though nobly born, worked his way up the condottiere ladder morę slowly. Like Sforza he had been a follower and pupil of Barbiano, but this Perugian soldier also had a reputation, not only for courage, but also for impetuosity. Freąuently captured and almost as often wounded, Braccio was nevertheless generally successful.

It was Sforza who really inherited Barbiano’s tactical concepts. He both inspired loyalty and emphasised discipline, and this enabled him to control his troops to an exceptional degree. This in turn permitted morę than the usual amount of forward planning. On the other hand Sforza was a very cautious generał who relied on massed units and, unlike his teacher, large numbers ofinfantry. Braccio was far from being cautious, though he similarly inspired loyalty and thus controlled his troops. By emphasising cavalry and dividing them into distinct sąuadrons, he could commit his men to battle in short bursts, ‘rotating’ units to bring fresh troops up at intervals.

These men inspired two schools of tactical thought which long outlived their founders. Though their dilferences were clearer in theory than on the battlefield, the Sforzeschi and Bracceschi became ‘teams’ behind which Italian factionalism could rally, much as it had behind the labels Guelph and Ghibelline in a previous century.

Real changes were seen in military organisation and recruitment during the early 15th century. Prolonged warfare had already inflated the armies of Naples and the Papai States. Thirty years of conflict, from 1424 onwards, would similarly alter the armies of Milan, Florence and Venice. The days of the Great Captains were passing, as had those of the Free Companies. Condottieri still led the way but behind them marched state-administered, almost national, armies.

The Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, begun in 1298 but constantly added to in the following centuries, is perhaps the best-known Italian fortified civic building from the time of the Communes.

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