Italian Mercenary Company System

Timeline

1. c. 1300–1340Italian peninsula · ItalyBefore the Black Death, city-states had already begun hiring foreign and native armed companies; early condottieri excelled at cavalry raiding and sieges, with short contracts and frequent changes of master, paving the way for the larger-scale condotta contract system that followed.
2. 1381–1390Tuscany and Lombardy · LombardyIn the 1380s famous condottieri such as John Hawkwood served Florence, Milan, and others; mercenary companies were organized under condotta contracts and paid monthly, forming standardized tactics and logistics; city-states substituted mercenaries for citizen levies, and warfare took on the character of "limited objectives and negotiable truces."
3. c. 1420–1490Italian peninsula · ItalyIn the 15th century mercenary companies grew in size and introduced more firearms and engineers, with new-generation captains such as the Braccio family rising to prominence; the system remained the peninsula's dominant form of warfare until the foreign invasion of 1494 triggered a military revolution.