Italian mercenaries (condottieri)

Timeline

1. 1301–1305City-states of Lombardy and Tuscany · LombardyCity-states hired entire mercenary companies through written condotta contracts, stipulating terms of service, pay, and the division of spoils, replacing ad hoc levies of scattered armed bands.
2. 1306–1310Battlefields of central Italy · TuscanyMercenary commanders could be hired by different employers and switch sides within short periods, giving wars between pope, imperial factions, and local communes a highly mobile and politically calculating character.
3. 1310–1350Italian Peninsula · Italian PeninsulaBy around 1310, condottieri were no longer merely mercenary captains but independent political-military forces capable of influencing city-state diplomacy and territorial arrangements, laying the groundwork for larger-scale mercenary wars in later periods.