Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe write by Hunt Janin. This book was released on 2014-01-10. Mercenaries in Medieval and Renaissance Europe available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. In medieval and Renaissance Europe, mercenaries--professional soldiers who fought for money or other rewards--played violent, colorful, international roles in warfare, but they have received relatively little scholarly attention. In this book a large number of vignettes portray their activities in Western Europe over a period of nearly 900 years, from the Merovingian mercenaries of 752 through the Thirty Years' War, which ended in 1648. Intended as an introduction to the subject and drawing heavily on contemporary first-person accounts, the book creates a vivid but balanced mosaic of the many thousands of mercenaries who were hired to fight for various employers.
Mercenaries and Their Masters
Mercenaries and Their Masters - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Mercenaries and Their Masters write by Michael Mallett. This book was released on 2009-08-19. Mercenaries and Their Masters available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The eminent Renaissance historian’s classic study of warfare between Italian city-states between the 13th and 16th centuries. Michael Mallett’s lucid account of the age of the condottieri—or mercenary captains of fortune—and of the soldiers who fought under them is set in the wider context of the Italian society of the time and of the warring city-states who employed them. Mallett presents a colorful portrait of the mercenaries themselves, as well as their commanders and their campaigns, while also exploring how war was practiced in the Renaissance world. Mallett puts special focus on the 15th century, a confused period of turbulence and transition when standing armies were formed in Italy and more modern types of military organization took hold across Europe. But it also looks back to the middle ages, and forward to the Italian wars of the sixteenth century when foreign armies disputed the European balance of power on Italian soil. First published I 1974, Mallett’s pioneering study remains an essential text on the subject of warfare in the late medieval period and the Renaissance.
Condottiere 1300–1500
Condottiere 1300–1500 - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Condottiere 1300–1500 write by David Murphy. This book was released on 2021-12-23. Condottiere 1300–1500 available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Originally contracted by wealthy Italian city states to protect their assets during a time of ceaseless warring, many condottieri of the Italian peninsula became famous for their wealth, venality and amorality during the 14th and 15th centuries. Some even came to rule cities themselves. Lavishly illustrated with contemporary depictions and original artwork, this title examines the complex military organization, recruitment, training and weaponry of the Condottieri. With insight into their origins and motivations, the author, Dr David Murphy, brings together the social, political and military history of these powerful and unscrupulous men who managed to influence Italian society and warfare for over two centuries.
Medieval Mercenaries
Medieval Mercenaries - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook Medieval Mercenaries write by William Urban. This book was released on 2015-11-30. Medieval Mercenaries available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. The Middle Ages were a turbulent and violent time, when the fate of nations was most often decided on the battlefield, and strength of arms was key to acquiring and maintaining power. Feudal oaths and local militias were more often than not incapable of providing the skilled and disciplined warriors necessary to keep the enemy at bay. It was the mercenary who stepped in to fill the ranks. A mercenary was a professional soldier who took employment with no concern for the morals or cause of the paymaster. But within these confines we discover a surprising array of men, from the lowest-born foot soldier to the wealthiest aristocrat the occasional clergyman, even. What united them all was a willingness, and often the desire, to fight for their supper.In this benchmark work, William Urban explores the vital importance of the mercenary to the medieval power-broker, from the Byzantine Varangian Guard to fifteenth-century soldiers of fortune in the Baltic. Through contemporary chronicles and the most up-to-date scholarship, he presents an in-depth portrait of the mercenary across the Middle Ages.
The Reisläufer
The Reisläufer - read free eBook in online reader or directly download on the web page. Select files or add your book in reader. Download and read online ebook The Reisläufer write by Charles River. This book was released on 2020-11-23. The Reisläufer available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading The Middle Ages witnessed almost constant warfare in Europe, so mercenaries were a constant on the battlefield, but the 15th century also saw the rise of mercenary usage by the increasingly wealthy aristocracy. At the time, England and France existed in smaller versions than in the modern age, while the Spanish had unified into a few large kingdoms and were slowly pushing the Moors off the Iberian Peninsula. Norway and Hungary were larger than they are now, but otherwise, most of Europe was a patchwork quilt of small, constantly warring states. This was especially true in Germany and Italy, where innumerable city-states and little fiefdoms struggled to gain more territory and defend themselves against their neighbors.Switzerland, ringed by the Alps, was divided into numerous small statelets called cantons, with some in the valleys and some further up in the mountains. There was a great deal of local infighting like elsewhere in Europe, but by the Late Middle Ages, unification seemed possible for a few reasons. Most notably, the Swiss felt threatened by larger outside states such as the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Milan, which were poised to take advantage of Swiss division and relative weakness to invade. The Holy Roman Empire was an especially great threat because it had some political claim over the Swiss cantons, although the Swiss had always enjoyed a great deal of independence from Hapsburg rule. Furthermore, some important trade routes ran through the region, and all the cantons would benefit if these routes were kept open and secure. In 1291, three cantons around Lake Lucerne-Schwyz, Uri, and Unterwalden-formed the so-called "Everlasting League" to counter outside aggression. This became the nucleus of what would develop into the Swiss Confederacy, and eventually the nation of Switzerland. Gradually, more and more cantons would join, ending their constant, low-level infighting and making the land more secure for trade. By the beginning of the 16th century, the Swiss Confederacy was comprised of 13 cantons, and this voluntary unification, without threats or conquest, was remarkable for the time. It was helped by the fact that the Swiss had a roughly similar culture, and that the region, with its ring of protective mountains, made the advantages of unification against a hostile outer world obvious to all. Few powers dared try to enter Swiss territory, and they generally met with disaster when they did, but ironically, this led to a new problem. The Swiss villages had always been prone to fighting and raiding one another, maintaining a constant low-level warfare that made the Swiss good fighters, and hotheaded young men wanted a chance to fight. At the same time, other areas, especially Italy, saw a growing need for mercenaries. Constantly trying to take land from their neighbors, Italian city-states were hampered by the fact that most of their men were busy tilling fields, engaging in trade and crafts, or building the cities and monuments that would become the wonders of the Renaissance. Moreover, the cutthroat politics of the city-states were such that rulers could not trust their own officers, who might murder them and take over their positions, something that happened on numerous occasions. The obvious solution was to hire mercenary armies, units of foreign men who had no connections or loyalty to any of the local factions and who would fight for money. The Swiss were perfectly poised to fill this need, given that they were geographically close and many already spoke Italian. They were also well trained thanks to a well-organized system of local and canton militias. With mercenary units being organized on the canton level, it was often possible to hire an entire, ready-made army with a single contract, and not only did these armies come already armed and trained, but they came from the same local area.
