Swabian condottieri
In addition to mercenaries from France , Hungary and England were in Italy of the 14th century also Swabian Condottieri on. The number of German mercenaries during this period can be counted in thousands. Due to the geographical proximity, but also because in this region in particular the lower nobility did not have land-based fiefdoms , a large number of these mercenaries came from Swabia .
After King Henry VII moved to Italy in 1313, many German aristocrats from his army stayed in Italy and hired themselves as mercenaries. Nevertheless, as can be seen from the mercenary lists of the city of Pisa , there are clear trends in the occurrence of such mercenaries in Italy: 1316, 1322, 1328, between 1344 and 1363.
The lower aristocrats who returned from Italy are seen as an explanation for the increased occurrence of aristocratic societies, especially in southwest Germany in the 1360s.
Networks
Werner von Urslingen
One of the most famous German mercenary leaders was Duke Werner von Urslingen ( Irslingen near Rottweil). Whether family tradition played a role in his involvement in Italy - an ancestor brought the title of duke with him from Italy - is speculation. Since 1337 he was mostly in Italy. As a condottiere of the Magna Societas (large company of the Germans) he fought for Venice , for the Visconti in Milan , in 1347 with King Ludwig of Hungary against Johanna of Naples and shortly afterwards with Johanna against Ludwig. Around 1350 he had 1,150 horsemen under himself in the pay of the Pope and received a pay of 1,000 guilders per month. This was the highest wage ever paid to a German cavalry leader in Italy. In 1351 he lived again in southern Germany.
Werner von Urslingen was the model for entire networks of fathers and sons, siblings and friends who went to Italy together from Swabia. Banners of 16 to 40 riders were often put together in Swabia, which then united to form larger companies in Italy. These were recruited from the lower nobility, citizens of cities such as Ulm, Konstanz, Nuremberg or Strasbourg, but also from the villages of their leaders.
Konrad von Landau
Konrad von Landau may have been in the Magna Societas since 1338, but most certainly since 1349 . Friedrich von Wartenberg was in the Urslingen company in 1350. In 1357 his brother Oswald joined them. Oswald was married to Clara, one of Konrad von Landau's sisters. With the money earned in Italy, the Counts of Landau were able to buy back their family castle, which had been sold in 1323, as early as 1356. Konrad von Landau fell in the service of the Visconti in early 1363.
Count Rudolf and Hermann von Sulz joined the company in 1357. Rudolf found himself back home in 1360. He served as court judge there in Rottweil. In 1372 he acquired the Tuttlingen pledge from his former comrade in arms, Oswald von Wartenberg.
The brothers Berthold, Heinrich and Johann von Lupfen also belong to the circle of friends. Heinrich and Berthold fought in the large company in 1351 and 1364. Johann between 1351 and 1363 for the city of Perugia.
Count Burkhard von Hohenberg also came from the area . He was with the company in 1354. He was killed on July 25, 1358 during a raid on the company near Val di Lamone.
Hugo von Melchingen
Another network can be observed around the Ugo dell 'Ala (Hugo with the wing). It was Hugo von Melchingen . The name referred to the Melchinger's coat of arms. It is depicted on a battle painting by the painter Lippo Vanni about the Battle of Val di Chiana (1363) , which is depicted on the wall of the Sala del Mappamondo in the Palazzo Pubblico of Siena . Here he fought as an equestrian leader of the Compagnia del Fiore under the war captain Francesco Orsini.
Hugo von Melchingen's entourage was his neighbor Konrad von Burladingen and the brothers Benz and Hans von Salmendingen . The brothers Konrad and Werner Schenk von Stauffenberg and Anselm von Hölnstein also belonged to the Compagnia .
Pay to secure a livelihood
Count of Landau
The Counts of Landau make it clear how the service in Italy also ensured social security. Konrad's two younger brothers probably came from an unequal second marriage of their father. In any case, they are not referred to with the title Graf in German sources, but they are in Italian. Count Eberhard appeared in Italy from 1371. After he was still in the pay of Florence in 1381 and that of Perugia in 1382, the sources about him break off. It is not known whether he, like his brother Konrad, was killed in battle.
Count Ludwig von Landau (Lutz) was initially in the service of the city of Florence from 1369/70. In 1372 he fielded 1,200 lances for the Pope and Florence. Then he joined the Viscont in Milanese services. In 1376 he married one of the illegitimate daughters of Bernabò Visconti and thus became the brother-in-law of John Hawkwood . Since Bernabò Visconti married many of his illegitimate daughters to Condottiere, but married his legitimate daughters to ruling European families, he was also brother-in-law of Count Eberhard des Mild . In 1377 he fought with John Hawkwood before Gubbio, in 1379 he fought with his brother Eberhard and Hawkwood as captain in the service of Florence, Siena and other cities. Between 1379 and 1383 he stayed at the court of King Wenceslas in Prague. In 1379 he acquired the pledge on Blaubeuren and in 1390 fought with the city of Ulm over this pledge. In 1385 he was declared a traitor by Bologna for reasons that can no longer be determined, in 1386 he was suspected of being corruptible. He ended his career in the service of della Scala in Verona. He died in 1398 and is buried in the Heiligkreuztal monastery .
Konrad von Aichelberg
Konrad von Aichelberg was Lutzen von Landau's nephew. His mother Guta was his sister. He joined his company in 1385 and was captured two years later, after which he fought for the Visconti against Verona. He also fought for Florence, the Pope and in 1389 at the side of John Hawkwood, with whom he fell out soon after, against Sienna. He supported the Estonians against the Visconti and helped the Visconti against the Estonians . The Visconti were his last employer. From 1399 to 1402 he was General Marshal of Milan in Pisa. He died there in 1403 or 1406.
Lords of Reischach
Another family that provided several condottieri were those of Reischach . In 1364 there are four brothers in Italy: Johann, Eberhard, Albrecht and Konrad. Johann Flach von Reischach is proven as a condottiere in the service of the Papal States as early as 1356. In 1364 he was Marshal of the Great Company, where he worked with Captain Johann von Rietheim. In 1369 he moved against Perugia on behalf of the Pope and defeated the English Company. But Reischach and Rietheim switched fronts and fought with John Hawkwood against the Pope, whereupon they were banned. In 1371 Johann Flach von Reischach was in the service of the Visconti, in 1373 again in that of Perugia. In 1379 he succeeded, possibly with the support of his brother, who had entered the papal service, to break the ban, for which he even made a pilgrimage to Avignon. In the meantime he also stayed in southern Germany, for example in 1367 when he acquired Jungnau. In 1382 he finally returned to Swabia, where he became Vogt of Schelklingen in 1383.
Johann von Rietheim
Johann von Rietheim , Reischach's companion, had returned earlier. In 1356 and 1371 he is again mentioned in Kaltenburg on the Ostalb. Shortly before his death in 1371 he acquired the Achalm and Hohenstaufen pledges for 12,000 ducats .
Lords of Wartstein
Heinrich, Konrad, Otto and Hartmann von Wartstein have been recorded in Italy since 1354 . Hartmann stood out in particular. He was initially in the Great Company, but then went into business for himself with his own troops and entered the service of Venice in 1356. After a defeat by Hungarian mercenaries, he went to Verona and fought from there for years about his payment through Venice. This took place in 1362 through a solemn payment at the altar of St. Jacob in St. Mark's Basilica . In 1357 he returned to the Great Company from papal service and fought for Milan under a Count von Landau. In 1362 he led a group of rebel captains who founded their own Campagnia del Cappelletto (with the hat). It was this group that was defeated by Francesco Orsini and Hugo von Melchingen in the Battle of Torrita. Then he returned home.
Lords of Weitingen
The brothers Volz and Konrad von Weitingen must have acquired a small fortune in Italy, which they invested in the acquisition of the Mülheim estate, which they acquired from the Counts of Zollern-Schalksburg .
Heinrich von Killer
Heinrich von Killer zu Ringelstein earned the nickname Affenschmalz in Italy. It is documented in a papal letter from 1375. In 1393 he assigned his wife a relatively high dowry of 750 pounds heller . In 1390 he is mentioned at Hohenringingen Castle . In 1404 he acquired Hölnstein Castle . But as early as 1404 he began to sell out the rule. He ended his life as the Württemberg bailiff of the city of Ebingen . His impressive epitaph can be found in the local Martinskirche .
literature
- Casimir Bumiller: History of the Swabian Alb. From the ice age to the present . Casimir Katz Verlag, Gernsbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-938047-41-5 .
- Sönke Lorenz: The Counts of Grüningen-Landau (middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 15th century) . In: Sönke Lorenz… In collaboration with Christoph Eberlein… and the Institute for Historical Regional Studies and Historical Auxiliary Sciences of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Ed.): The House of Württemberg - a biographical lexicon . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 .
Web links
- Werner von Urslingen - The Enemy of God, Compassion and Mercy on kriegsreisen.de
Individual evidence
- Casimir Bumiller: History of the Swabian Alb. From the ice age to the present . Casimir Katz Verlag, Gernsbach 2008, ISBN 978-3-938047-41-5 .
- Sönke Lorenz: The Counts of Grüningen-Landau (middle of the 13th to the beginning of the 15th century) . In: Sönke Lorenz… In collaboration with Christoph Eberlein… and the Institute for Historical Regional Studies and Historical Auxiliary Sciences of the Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen (Ed.): The House of Württemberg - a biographical lexicon . Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne 1997, ISBN 3-17-013605-4 .
- Others
- ^ K. Ruser: On the history of the societies of lords, knights and servants in southern Germany during the 14th century . In: Journal for Württemberg State History . tape 34/35 (1975/76) , pp. 1-100 .