White Company
Encyclopedia
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
mercenary
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...
Company of Adventure
Free company
A free company or free lance was a late medieval army of mercenaries acting independently of any government, and thus "free". They were not called "free" because their services were gratis, rather they sold their services to the highest bidder...
(It :compagnia di ventura), led from its arrival in Italy in 1361 to 1365 by the German Albert Sterz and later by the Englishman John Hawkwood
John Hawkwood
Sir John Hawkwood was an English mercenary or condottiero who was active in 14th century Italy. The French chronicler Jean Froissart knew him as Jean Haccoude and Italians as Giovanni Acuto...
. Although the White Company is the name by which it is popularly known, it was initially called the Great Company of English and Germans and would later often be referred to as the English Company (It: Compagnia degli Inglesi, L: Societas Angliciis).
Origins of the name
No medieval source explains the company's name. The traditional view is that it is a reference to the brightly polished armour of the men-at-arms. However, William Caferro has suggested that it was because the Company originally wore white surcoatSurcoat
A surcoat was an outer garment commonly worn in the Middle Ages by both men and women. It can either refer to a coat worn over other garments or the outer garment of a person...
s.
Make up of the company
Despite it being commonly referred to as the English Company, personnel were drawn from a wide range of nationalities, reflecting the international nature of Italian mercenary warfare in the 14th. century, including at various times Germans,Italians and Hungarians. The numbers of men in the Company varied over the years. In 1361, it is recorded as having 3,500 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. At its lowest ebb in 1388, it had a mere 250 men.The company was organised in lances of three men; a man-at-arms
Man-at-arms
Man-at-arms was a term used from the High Medieval to Renaissance periods to describe a soldier, almost always a professional warrior in the sense of being well-trained in the use of arms, who served as a fully armoured heavy cavalryman...
, a squire
Squire
The English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
and a page
Page
-Position or occupation:* Page , a traditionally young male servant* Page * Page of Honour, a ceremonial position in the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom* A participant in any of the following programs:...
. Of these, only the man-at-arms and squire were armed. These lances were organised into contingents, each under a corporal, who was often an independent sub-contractor. This structure gave the Company a certain democratic element and it is thought that John Hawkwood first gained command of the Company in 1365 by election.
The company contained numbers of infantry, particularly English longbowmen. These could be mounted on horses as were the 600 involved in the Battle of Castagnaro
Battle of Castagnaro
The Battle of Castagnaro was fought on March 11, 1387 at Castagnaro between Verona and Padua. It is one of the most famous battles of the Italian condottieri age....
in 1387.
In addition to its military structure, the Company had an administrative staff, usually Italian, of chancellors and notaries who managed the legal and contractual aspects of the Companies relationship with employers, and a treasurer to handle its financial affairs. The White Company's treasurer was an Englishman, William Thornton.
Tactics
The White Company is credited with introducing to Italy the practice of dismounting men-at-arms in battle, a practice already commonplace in the battles of the Hundred Years' WarHundred Years' War
The Hundred Years' War was a series of separate wars waged from 1337 to 1453 by the House of Valois and the House of Plantagenet, also known as the House of Anjou, for the French throne, which had become vacant upon the extinction of the senior Capetian line of French kings...
in France. Contemporary witnesses record that the Company fought dismounted and in close order, advancing with two men-at-arms holding the same lance at a slow pace while shouting loud battle cries. The longbowmen apparently drew up behind. This is not to suggest that they abandoned mounted combat altogether. The Battle of Castagnaro was won by a cavalry charge.
Battles
The White Company was involved in the following battles- Battle of CanturinoBattle of CanturinoThe Battle of Canturino was a clash of two condottiere companies, the long-established Great Company under Konrad von Landau and the newer White Company under Albert Sterz and John Hawkwood....
1363 - First Battle of CascinaBattle of CascinaThe Battle of Càscina was an engagement between Pisan and Florentine troops on 28 July 1364 near Càscina, Italy. Florence's victory followed a recent defeat to Pisan forces that had enabled mercenary John Hawkwood, who was in command of the Pisan army, to travel the Valdinievole, Prato en route to...
1364 - Second Battle of CascinaCascinaCascina is a comune in the Province of Pisa in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 60 km west of Florence and about 13 km southeast of Pisa....
1369 - Battle of MontichiariBattle of MontichiariThe Battle of Montichiari , is one of the most important episodes of the war waged by the papal league led by Gregory XI against the Visconti of Milan, preparing the return of the pope to Rome....
1373 - CastagnaroBattle of CastagnaroThe Battle of Castagnaro was fought on March 11, 1387 at Castagnaro between Verona and Padua. It is one of the most famous battles of the Italian condottieri age....
1387 - Tizzana 1391
The Company was also involved in a large number of skirmishes, sieges and attacks on towns. Less honourable was their participation in the Massacre at Cesena
Cesena
Cesena is a city and comune in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, south of Ravenna and west of Rimini, on the Savio River, co-chief of the Province of Forlì-Cesena. It is at the foot of the Apennines, and about 15 km from the Adriatic Sea.-History:Cesena was originally an Umbrian...
in 1377, when several thousand civilians were killed.
Popular culture
The White CompanyThe White Company
The White Company is a historical adventure by Arthur Conan Doyle set during the Hundred Years' War. The story is set in England, France, and Spain, in the years 1366 and 1367, against the background of the campaign of Edward, the Black Prince to restore Peter of Castile to the throne of the...
is the title of a novel by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle
Conan Doyle is a rugby player. His club is Garryowen. His usual position is inside centre, but he also plays out-half. He has made two appearances for Munster Rugby in the Magners League, but was released by Munster at the end of the 2008/2009 season. While at Munster he was selected for the...
which is very loosely based on the historical company. In fact, the main focus of the action is in Spain and the White Company led by Bertrand de Guesclin to Spain in 1366 was also an inspiration.
See also
- CondottieriCondottierithumb|Depiction of [[Farinata degli Uberti]] by [[Andrea del Castagno]], showing a 15th century condottiero's typical attire.Condottieri were the mercenary soldier leaders of the professional, military free companies contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages...
- Condottieri di Ventura database (In Italian)