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During the later Middle Ages, Free Companies (or Free Lances) were formed, consisting of companies of mercenary troops. Nation-states lacked the funds needed to maintain standing forces, so they tended to hire free companies to serve in their armies during wartime. [50]
Routiers (French:) were mercenary soldiers of the Middle Ages. Their particular distinction from other paid soldiers of the time was that they were organised into bands ( rutta or routes ). [ 1 ] The term is first used in the 12th century but is particularly associated with free companies who terrorised the French countryside during the Hundred ...
Contamine, Philippe (1984) War in the Middle Ages, part I, sect. 4 "Free Companies, Gunpowder and Permanent Armies" The relevant section in the definitive book on medieval warfare. Mallett, Michael (1974), Mercenaries and their Masters. Warfare in Renaissance Italy
Greek Mercenaries: From the Late Archaic Period to Alexander. Routledge, 2004. [ISBN missing] Yalichev, Serge. Mercenaries of the Ancient World. Constable, 1997. [ISBN missing] Medieval. France, John, ed. "Mercenaries and Paid Men: The Mercenary Identity in the Middle Ages". Smithsonian History of Warfare. Vol. 47. Brill, 2008. ISBN 9004164472
Condottieri (Italian: [kondotˈtjɛːri]; sg.: condottiero or condottiere) were Italian military leaders during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The definition originally applied only to commanders of mercenary companies, condottiero in medieval Italian meaning 'contractor' and condotta being the contract by which the condottieri ...
Though in English the term man-at-arms is a fairly straightforward rendering of the French homme d'armes, [b] in the Middle Ages, there were numerous terms for this type of soldier, referring to the type of arms he would be expected to provide: In France, he might be known as a lance or glaive, while in Germany, Spieß, Helm or Gleve, and in various places, a bascinet. [2]
Mercenary units and formations of the Middle Ages (3 C, 25 P) N. Norman mercenaries (1 C, 10 P) Pages in category "Medieval mercenaries"
During the Late Middle Ages, mercenary forces grew in importance in Europe, as veterans from the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) and other conflicts came to see soldiering as a profession rather than a temporary activity, and commanders sought long-term professionals rather than temporary feudal levies to fight their wars.