{{Short description|Late medieval army of independent mercenaries}} {{Confused|Free infantry}} [[File:Brigniais.jpg|thumb|French troops being attacked by the [[Tard-Venus]] free company during the 1362 [[Battle of Brignais]].]]
A '''free company''' (sometimes called a '''great company''' or, in French, ''grande compagnie'') was an army of [[mercenaries]] between the 12th and 14th centuries recruited by private employers during wars. They acted independently of any government, and were thus "free". They regularly made a living by [[plunder]] when they were not employed; in France they were called ''[[routiers]]'' and ''[[écorcheurs]]'' and operated outside the highly structured law of arms.<ref>M. H. Keen, ''The Laws of War in the Late Middle Ages'' (University of Toronto Press) 1965.</ref> The term "free company" is most often applied to those companies of soldiers which formed after the [[Peace of Brétigny]] during the [[Hundred Years' War]] and were active mainly in France, but it has been applied to other companies, such as the [[Catalan Company]] and companies that operated elsewhere, such as in Italy<ref>The free companies headed by ''[[condottiero|condottieri]]'' are discussed as a social rather than biographical phenomenon in Michael Mallett, ''Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy'' 1974.</ref> and the [[Holy Roman Empire]].
The free companies, or companies of adventure, have been cited as a factor as strong as [[Black Death|plague]] or famine in the reduction of [[Siena]] from a glorious rival of Florence to a second-rate power during the later 14th century; Siena spent 291,379 florins between 1342 and 1399 buying off the free companies.<ref>William Caferro, ''Mercenary Companies and the Decline of Siena'' (Johns Hopkins University Press) 1998.</ref> The [[White Company]] of [[John Hawkwood]] was active in Italy in the latter half of the 14th century.<ref>{{cite book|title=John Hawkwood: an English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century Italy|last=Caferro|first=William|publisher=The Johns Hopkins University Press|year=2006|isbn=0-8018-8323-7|location=Baltimore}}</ref>
==Early history== Mercenary groups first appeared in the 12th century, when they participated in [[the Anarchy]] (a conflict of succession between King [[Stephen, King of England|Stephen]] and Empress [[Empress Matilda|Matilda]] between 1137 and 1153).
In the 1180s, similar groups were integrated into the armies of the King of France under [[Philip II of France]]. These troops of seasoned mercenaries were organized and mobile, a valuable advantage during the battles of the time, and were important elements of the armies of [[Henry II of England]] and his son, [[Richard I of England|Richard I]]. King [[John, King of England|John]] used them at the beginning of his reign, when he was richer and more powerful than the King of France. However, in 1204, he did not pay the mercenaries. Philip II of France used them to overcome the [[House of Plantagenet|Plantagenets]].
[[File:Sack of the town.jpg|thumb|right|The Tard-Venus pillage Grammont in 1362, from [[Froissart's Chronicles]].]]
During the [[Hundred Years War]] between England and France there were intermittent hostilities punctuated by periods of truce, when soldiers would be laid off en masse. In the absence of civilian skills and opportunities many, especially the foreign soldiers, formed armed bands known as ''bandes de [[routiers]]'' or ''[[écorcheurs]]'' and made a living by pillaging the countryside of southern France until hostilities resumed. Similar events occurred in Spain and Germany. By the time of the [[Treaty of Brétigny]] (1360), which brought about a several years suspension of the Hundred Years War, the bands had grown in size to the point where they had evolved an internal structure and adopted romantic names. The [[Tard-Venus|Tards-Venus]] (''late-comers''), led by [[Seguin de Badefol]], ravaged [[Burgundy]] and [[Languedoc]] and even defeated the forces of the Kingdom of France at the [[Battle of Brignais]] in 1362.
The [[Catalan Company]], formed in Spain in the early 1300s, fought in the [[Byzantine Empire]] before ending up in what is now Greece, and the [[Navarrese Company]], also formed in Spain, followed them there.
By 1356, free companies, men at arms, and [[Brigandage|brigands]] had spread throughout the country from the [[Seine]] to the [[Loire]] engaging in unlawful activities. They had especially infested the roads from [[Paris]] to [[Orléans]], [[Chartres]], [[Vendôme]], and [[Montargis]].
==Brigands== [[Brigandage|Brigands]] were recruited from all nations, but mainly from troops dismissed from the army of [[Edward III of England]] after the peace treaty of Brétigny. On October 24, 1360, after the Treaty of Calais ratified the ceasefire of 8 May, Edward III had ordered the evacuation of English troops from fortresses in many parts of France.
One of the main brigand leaders was a [[Welsh people|Welshman]] named Ruffin, who was enriched by robberies and became a [[knight]]{{citation needed|date=June 2019|reason=Unable to verify}}. These bands of brigands occupied and ransomed towns such as [[Saint-Arnoult-des-Bois|Saint-Arnoult]], [[Gallardon]], [[Bonneval, Eure-et-Loir|Bonneval]], [[Cloyes-sur-le-Loir|Cloyes]], [[Étampes]], [[Arpajon|Châtres]], [[Montlhéry]], Pithiviers-en-Gatinais, [[Larchant]], [[Milly-la-Forêt]], [[Château-Landon]], and [[Montargis]]. Meanwhile, [[Robert Knolles]] headed an Anglo-[[Navarre]]se band of brigands near the borders of [[Normandy]], where he earned 100,000 [[écu]]s.
Eventually the King of France sent his [[Constable of France|constable]] to escort these bands to [[Spain]] in order to rid France of them. There they could assist [[Henry II of Castile|Henry of Trastamara]] in his ongoing feud with his half-brother [[Peter of Castile]]. However, after placing [[Henry II of Castile|Henry]] of [[House of Trastámara|Trastamara]] on the throne of [[Castile (historical region)|Castile]], the companies returned to [[France]]. One company plundered [[Vire]] in 1368<ref>Yves Buffetaut, «La prise de Vire par les grandes compagnies», Itinéraires de Normandie, no 15, septembre 2009, p. 60-64.</ref> and another, conducted by John Cresswell and Folquin Lallemant, seized [[Château-Gontier]].
The [[Tard-Venus]] were mercenaries who had been demobilized after the [[Treaty of Brétigny]] of 8 May 1360. Under the orders of [[Seguin de Badefol]], they raged from [[Burgundy]] to [[Languedoc]]. In 1362, in [[Brignais]], they defeated [[James I, Count of La Marche|Jacques de Bourbon]], [[Count of La Marche]].
The [[White Company]] (Compagnia Bianca) was also formed after the Treaty of Brétigny and was under the command of [[John Hawkwood]].
The [[Bretons]] and the [[English people|English]] in [[Dauphiné]] were companies which operated from 1374 to 1411, and accompanied the Counts of [[Count of Armagnac|Armagnac]], [[Turenne]], and [[Duguesclin]] during their conflicts in [[Provence]] and [[Italy]], which brought about the [[Western Schism|Great Schism]] between the [[Avignon Papacy|popes of Avignon]] and [[Rome]]. One of their achievements was taking the Château de Soyons in 1381, from which they were later dislodged by Bouville, governor of Dauphine and Marshal [[Olivier V de Clisson]]. Their leaders were Guilhem Camisard, [[Amaury de Sévérac]] (the Bastard of Bertusan) and John Broquiers.
The [[Écorcheurs]] were demobilized mercenaries who desolated France in the 15th century after the [[Congress of Arras#Treaty of Arras|Treaty of Arras]] in 1435.
==Italy== The structure of 12th-century Italy, where a patchwork of rich city states were in a state of perpetual dispute with their neighbours, provided an ideal base for the later and larger mercenary groups with their complements of cavalry, infantry and archers and complex internal structure. Predominantly made up of Italian and German troops, they included the [[Great Company (German)|Great Company]] formed by the German knight [[Werner von Urslingen]] (1342), the [[Compagnia di San Giorgio]] formed by the Italian nobleman [[Lodrisio Visconti]] in 1339, the [[White Company]] formed by Albert Sterz (1360) and the [[Compagnia della Stella]] of Anichino di Bongardo (Hannekin Baumgarten) (1364).
The companies made a good living by extortion (Siena paid the companies 37 times not to attack them) or by contracting to fight on behalf of one city state against another. They came to be known, in particular their leaders, as ''[[condottieri]]'', from the Italian word for contractor. On several occasions the companies were contracted by different states to fight each other.
By the mid-1400s, the power of the free companies had come to an end with the rise in centralised state power and military force.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://deremilitari.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/caferro.pdf|title=Italy and the Companies of Adventure - William Caffero|access-date=28 March 2017}}</ref>
==List of Free Companies== {|class="wikitable" |- !Company !! Founded !! Leaders !! Notes |- | [[Catalan Company]] || 1302 || [[Roger de Flor]]; [[Bernat de Rocafort]] ||Disbanded, 1390 |- | [[Navarrese Company]]|| c.1360 || Mahiot of Coquerel; [[Pedro de San Superano]] ||Disbanded, c.1390? |- | [[Great Company (German)|Great Company]] || 1342 ||[[Werner von Urslingen]]; [[Fra' Moriale]]; [[Konrad von Landau]]||Disbanded, 1363 |- | [[Compagnia di San Giorgio]] (I) || 1339 || [[Lodrisio Visconti]] ||Disbanded, 1339 |- | [[Compagnia di San Giorgio]] (II) || 1365 || Ambrogio Visconti ||Disbanded, 1374 |- | [[Compagnia di San Giorgio]] (III) || 1377 || [[Alberico da Barbiano]] ||Italians only |- | [[White Company]] || c.1360 || [[Albert Sterz]]; [[John Hawkwood]] ||Disbanded c.1390 |- | [[Company of the Hat]] || 1362 || Niccolò da Montefeltro || Disbanded, 1365 |- | [[Compagnia della Stella]] (I) || 1364 || Anichino di Bongardo; [[Albert Sterz]] ||Disbanded, 1366 |- | [[Compagnia della Stella]] (II) || 1379 ||[[Astorre I Manfredi]] ||Disbanded, 1379 |- | Company of Bretons || c.1375 || Jean Malastroit<ref>{{cite book|last=Caferro|first=William|title=Mercenary Companies and the Decline of Siena|date=29 May 1998|publisher=JHU Press|isbn=978-0-8018-5788-1|page=11|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xLOqkNqcKUUC|access-date=16 January 2023|language=en}}</ref> || |- | Company of the Hook || 1380 ||Villanozzo of Brumfort; [[Alberico da Barbiano]] || |- | [[Company of the Rose]] || 1398 || Giovanni da Buscareto; Bartolomeo Gonzaga || Disbanded, 1410 |}
== See also == * [[Compagnie d'ordonnance]] * [[Routiers]] * [[Condottiero]] * [[Freikorps]] * [[Tard-Venus]] * [[Écorcheurs]] * [[Military order (religious society)|Religious military orders]] - [[Chivalric order]]s of knights associated with the [[Catholic Church]], but not necessarily any particular feudal state or kingdom. ** [[Knights Templar]] ** [[Knights Hospitaller]] ** [[Teutonic Knights]] ** [[Spanish military orders]], who were associated with various Christian states of the [[Reconquista]]
==References== {{reflist|30em}}
==Further reading== * Carr, A. D. (1968/9), ''Welshmen and the Hundred Years' War'', ''[[Welsh History Review/Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru]]'', '''4''', pp. 21–46. * 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'' * Severus, Alexander (1941), "The Fetish of Military Rank", ''Military Affairs'', '''5''', pp. 171–176. * Showalter, Dennis E. (1993), ''Caste, Skill, and Training: The Evolution of Cohesion in European Armies from the Middle Ages to the sixteenth century'', ''[[Journal of Military History]]'', '''57'''(3), pp. 407–430. * Rowe, B. J. H. (1932). John Duke of Bedford and the Norman 'Brigands'.''[[The English Historical Review]]'', '''47'''(188), pp. 583–600.
{{Mercenary companies}}
[[Category:Mercenary units and formations of the Middle Ages]] [[Category:Military terminology]]