Medieval Renegades:
Mercenary Companies and the Decline of Chivalry
Abstract:
In 1360, the Hundred Years War between England and France that had engulfed both nation for the preceding twenty years entered a ten year period of inactivity. For the thousands of English troops in France who had known nothing but combat for decades, a return to England meant a return to poverty and abandoning the life they had come to know. Thus, as peace was officially declared between the two nations the remaining troops formed themselves into mercenary companies, to make war in France on their own accord. Men-at-arms from many other nationalities joined these mercenary companies, as the opportunities for plunder they had were great. These mercenary companies were in open violation of many of the principles of chivalry, which was made all the worse considering many knights made up their ranks. The violence that the mercenary companies caused was not limited to France, as companies traveled into Italy to both seek employment with the city-states and continue their pillaging. The Italian companies were known as Condottieri, and their obedience to the principles of chivalry was no greater than the companies in France. The Condottieri companies would fight for the highest paying city-state and displayed virtually no loyalty towards their employers, as they were only concerned with their profits. The widespread defiance of chivalry that these companies in France and Italy maintained through the later fourteenth century had long-term implications for the predominance that chivalry possessed. The companies’ flagrant and widespread abandonment of the principles of chivalry signaled the end of the medieval reign of chivalry and the start of its slow decline.