66914 m136
forms of oriental-style composite bows on such trading States as Venice and Genoa, madę the White Company’s longbows a short-lived if dramatic phenomenon in Italian warfare.
The White Company was also noted for its portable siege eąuipment, its light artillery, and its willingness to hght at night, all of which gave these mercenaries exceptional strategie flexibility.
Sir John Hawkwood was elected leader of the White Company in 1364, and from then on this Company’s character gradually changed. In-creasingly it became Sir John’s army rather than one of those free-ranging, self-sufficient forces seen earlier.
Hawkwood, described by Froissart as ‘a poor knight having earned nothing but his spurs’, came from Sible Hedingham in Essex and, after winning his knighthood on the field of Poitiers in 1345, served Edward III faithfully until the advent of peace. He followed his erstwhile comrades to Italy late in 1363 and, after the White Company broke up outside Florence the following year, Albert Sterz led a section renamed the Company of the Star southward while Hawkwood took over the remainder.
Building on the established reputation of the Inglesi and by imposing even firmer discipline, Sir John moulded the White Company into a personal army which, with his record of general-ship and loyalty, won very lucrative contracts. Neither he nor his soldiers were paragons of virtue, however. At Faenza in 1376, and to an even worse degree at Cesena the following year, they joined other Papai mercenaries in massacring the civilian population as part of Cardinal Robert ofGeneva’s reprisal campaign. Condottieri armies were also noted for the presence of numerous prostitutes in their baggage-train and, judging by their reputations in Pisa and Florence, the White Company was no exception.
Roving mercenary armies did not suddenly disappear, ofcourse, and the four major companies operating in Italy arouncl 1365 still had their own names. They were, however, generally better known by those of their commanders—Hawkwood, Sterz, Hannekin Bongarten and Ambrogio Visconti. Most also split up on the death or retirement of their captain. These latter were increasingly drawn into the ranks of the local feudal aristocracy, even including Hawkwood, who received the towns of Cotignola and Bag-nacavallo from the Pope.
One of the last foreign companies consisted of Bretons led by Bertrand de la Salle. A second Company of the Star emerged in 1379, while the last of them all, the smali Company of the Rosę, survived until 1410. Major reasons for the companies’ decline included a series of Leagues, or city alliances, aimed specifically against them; the growing power and decreasing numbers of independent Italian States; and the inereasing
The early i4th century fortified tower-houses on the north side of the Piazza del Duomo in San Gimignano acted as individual family castles in this strife-torn town. Such towers were once characteristic of many medieval Italian cities.
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