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Condottieri di ventura
The companies of fortune were mercenary
troops used in the Middle Ages, formed by the so-called soldiers of
fortune, organized and led by a leader, generally called captain of
fortune. The main purpose of these companies was to enrich themselves as
much as possible, and to this end they sided in favour of one lord or
another, often rivals to each other, on the basis of a more advantageous
engagement.
They made their appearance in Italy in the wake of
some King or Emperor, between the end of the thirteenth century and the
beginning of the fourteenth century: they were the masnade, formed by
professional soldiers, mainly of very low social extraction, ready to
kill and be killed for money and booty.
During the fifteenth
century all Italian princes used these troops of war professionals, who
had a higher level of training and a greater ability to use the new
firearms. Mercenary companies declined following the birth and
strengthening of nation states. The last company of fortune worthy of
note was the one led by Giovanni delle Bande Nere in the early sixteenth
century.
To counter the forces fielded by the cities of Florence
and Venice in the Anti-Scaliger League, many mercenaries descended from
Germany in the wake of Henry VII of Luxembourg, Frederick I of Habsburg,
Ludovico il Bavaro or Giovanni I of Bohemia, who intervened to support
or fight Mastino II della Scala. At the end of the conflict, thousands
of German soldiers remained in Italy, living by looting and offering
themselves either to this or that city. It was these disbanded soldiers
who gave life to the first companies of fortune, in 1337, with the
company of Uguccione della Faggiola, the Compagnia del Ceruglio and the
Compagnia della Colomba, formed near Piacenza.
The first large
unit was the Compagnia di San Giorgio, reunited by Mastino II della
Scala and placed under the orders of Lodrisio Visconti, which was
launched to conquer Milan and was defeated in the battle of Parabiago.
The companies imposed discipline and organization on themselves, while
their ferocity did not diminish, moreover exalted to ideal. The
fourteenth century was the period in which the companies of fortune
spread in Italy: there were space and clients for everyone, as well as
riches to be plundered in abundance.
The companies of fortune
made the economic and political fortune of many leaders, such as
Alberico da Barbiano, Angelo Tartaglia, Anichino di Bongardo, Bartolomeo
Colleoni, Braccio da Montone, Carmagnola, Count Lando, Federico da
Montefeltro, Fra Moriale, Francesco Sforza, Gattamelata, Giovanni dalle
Bande Nere, Guarnieri d'Urslingen, Jacopo Caldora, Muzio Attendolo
Sforza, Niccolò Piccinino and many others who, thanks to their charisma
and the concession of free looting, managed to coagulate around them
these masnadieri. The term condottiero comes from the word "conduct",
which was the contract stipulated between the sovereign and the man of
arms.
Italy was, however, a mirage that sometimes disappointed
the hopes and illusions cultivated, as it was for Fra Moriale. He
improved the organization of the Great Company in whose command he had
succeeded Guarnieri d'Urslingen; with it he had great successes
militating sometimes for the Pope, sometimes against him, but he ended
his career executed by Cola di Rienzo.
These examples are the
most significant among the companies led by foreign leaders who traveled
through Italy devastating cities and countryside for the sole purpose of
enriching themselves. Alongside these were also highlighted those led by
Italian leaders who soon supplanted foreigners; equally ferocious in the
pursuit of wealth and power but with a greater focus on political ends.
Here, just by way of example, the companies led by Ambrogio Visconti,
Castruccio Castracani, Francesco Ordelaffi and Guidoriccio da Fogliano.
Very often the Italian leaders of these companies came from already
powerful families (60% of the captains of fortune were of noble
origins): sometimes they were holders of lordships, who put themselves
and their company at the service of other powerful to increase wealth
and power in an extremely volatile diplomatic plot, just think of the
Malatesta and the Ordelaffi. Sometimes they were men of humble origin,
if not low, who saw in mercenary military service the opportunity for
their social redemption and often rose to very high honors and the
conquest of their own lordship, even if sometimes ephemeral and
unrealistic.
Over the years some noble families showed a particular inclination for this activity, as in the case of the Caldora, the Colonna, the Dal Verme, the Orsini, the Sforza and the Visconti.
The Scotti Douglas families of Sarmato, Vigoleno, Fombio, Guardamiglio and probably more were much involved in these troubled times.
Some of those for whom we have records are:
• Carlo Scotti
•
Cesare
Scotti
• Niccolo Scotti, k1415
•
Niccolò Scotti, d1575
•
Onofrio Scotti
•
Paolo Antonio Scotti Douglas
•
Paolo Emilio Scotti
• Paride Scotti
•
Pietro Maria Scotti, known as Buso
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