The Italian mercenaries who turned the art of war into a profitable business venture

History · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Between the 14th and 16th centuries, Italian city-states outsourced their survival to condottieri—contracted military leaders who treated warfare as a calculated economic pursuit. These commanders, who often prioritized personal gain over victory, transformed the battlefield into a theater of strategic maneuvering, political ambition, and, occasionally, spectacular betrayal.

The term condottiere originates from the condotta, the formal contract binding these mercenary leaders to a city or lord. Initially, Italy’s mercenary landscape was dominated by foreigners, such as the Catalan troops active in 1303 or the Grand Company of Germans and Hungarians. These early groups, notably organized by the Provençal adventurer Montréal d’Albarno, introduced strict codes of discipline that defined their operations. By the 1360s, figures like the Englishman Sir John Hawkwood became legendary, leading the White Company through three decades of northern Italian conflict.

By the end of the 14th century, the industry shifted as Italians began forming their own mercenary forces. This evolution reached its peak in the early 1400s under leaders like Muzio Attendolo Sforza and Braccio da Montone, who refined company organization into a sophisticated military science. For these commanders, war was an indirect art. They often avoided direct confrontation, winter campaigns, and hard labor to preserve their human capital and protect their economic interests. This cautious approach meant that battles were frequently bloodless, serving as tools of political leverage rather than total destruction.

The condottieri were not merely soldiers; they were kingmakers. Many, like Francesco Sforza, who seized control of Milan in 1450, used their military power to establish their own princely regimes. However, the profession was inherently precarious. Employers were often suspicious of their commanders' loyalties, leading to dramatic falls from grace, such as the execution of the condottiere Carmagnola by the Venetian oligarchy in 1432. By the late 15th century, the rise of powerful, professional national armies from France, Spain, and Germany rendered the condottieri obsolete, as these smaller, profit-driven companies could no longer compete with the scale and intensity of modern European warfare.

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