The mercenaries?

[ingolifs]

I would like a bit of clarification on what the different mercenary types in this mod are, where they come from, why they are there, and what sort of weapons they carry with them.

So, we've got Germans, Normans (who i always intrinsically assume to be from normandy), ligurians (who someone said were genoese), tuscans and croatians. Have I missed any?

[phaedo]

The Norman mercenaries more typically came from the Duchy of Apulia in Southern Italy, and the Kingdom of Sicily. Norman emigrations to Italy in significant numbers stopped, to my knowledge, after the death of Robert Guiscard.

Liguria is the region of Italy in which Genoa is located. Genoese mercenaries were famed for their crossbowmen (a trait shared by the Venetians, who made crossbow practice compulsory sometime in the 12th century - I'll have to check my Norwich on that count; but the Venetians did not hire themselves out as mercenaries). Genoese crossbowmen were employed by France in the battle of Crecy, and the failure of the French to allow proper time for deployment prevented the Genoese from utilizing their pavise shields, which would have protected them from English arrows.

Tuscan mercenaries were usually a hodgepodge of infantry, and for the most part were relegated to campaigns within Tuscany proper. However, on occasion, they were led north into Lombardia; John Hawkwood's campaigns on behalf of Florence against ( I think) Filippo Maria Visconti being a prime example.

The Croatians were usually a Venetian commodity, being utilized by them for campaigns on terra firma - the infamous stradioti were simply one of many examples.

Oh, and hireable stradioti would make my century.

[ingolifs]

okay, a couple more questions: Where is liguria, and what are stradioti. Assume i'm unfamiliar with all italian terms. (because I am).

[phaedo]

This is Liguria.



The figure in the middle is a stradiot cavalryman.

And the following link is to a paper by Nicholas C.J. Pappas on the stradioti in Italy.

www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Stradioti.html

[ingolifs]

were there any mercenaries un lombardia who were essentially pikemen?

[Khalid ibn Walid]

ingolifs said:

were there any mercenaries un lombardia who were essentially pikemen?

Helvetians (Swiss), of course! The pikemen to end all pikemen.



(Although quite anachronistic. They're a Renaissance import.)

But you could have just have non-descript "Burgundian spearmen/pikemen".

[ingolifs]

in my edits to the mercs, i changes the croatian guards into mainly pikemen. I'll see how that goes.

[damien]

Norman emigrations to Italy in significant numbers stopped, to my knowledge, after the death of Robert Guiscard.


They did, indeed. Although Norman emigrations into Italy still did happen in certain numbers due to two factors; the prominent exploits of Roger II, and the Crusades which funnelled many of them through Italy, and some just never left. Of course, many of those that emigrated into Italy during the time after Guiscard would have gone South to fight for or against Roger II, and probably would not end up as mercenaries farther North.

At that point, though, it's all 'academic;' because there were just metric tonnes of Normans all over Italy by that time. I'm hoping the Mod includes some roving Norman mercenaries. They were pretty famous for being raiders when they didn't have anything better to do, and venturing into Northern Italy wasn't unknown to them.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

damien said:

Norman emigrations to Italy in significant numbers stopped, to my knowledge, after the death of Robert Guiscard.


They did, indeed. Although Norman emigrations into Italy still did happen in certain numbers due to two factors; the prominent exploits of Roger II, and the Crusades which funnelled many of them through Italy, and some just never left. Of course, many of those that emigrated into Italy during the time after Guiscard would have gone South to fight for or against Roger II, and probably would not end up as mercenaries farther North.

At that point, though, it's all 'academic;' because there were just metric tonnes of Normans all over Italy by that time. I'm hoping the Mod includes some roving Norman mercenaries. They were pretty famous for being raiders when they didn't have anything better to do, and venturing into Northern Italy wasn't unknown to them.

Oh, they're there, they're there....

Not only as roaming nuisance-makers on their own account, but also as the scary lapdogs of the pope.....

[damien]

Not only as roaming nuisance-makers on their own account, but also as the scary lapdogs of the pope.....

Score! The roaming nuisance-makers variety should definitely, if they aren't already, be hireable. Normans were famous for selling their loyalties. Plus, I want to buy them off and let them go attack someone else instead of stealing my grain and killing my peasants.

Bullies.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

damien said:

Not only as roaming nuisance-makers on their own account, but also as the scary lapdogs of the pope.....

Score! The roaming nuisance-makers variety should definitely, if they aren't already, be hireable. Normans were famous for selling their loyalties. Plus, I want to buy them off and let them go attack someone else instead of stealing my grain and killing my peasants.

Bullies.

Tough luck. The Pope pays them more than you ever could....

(No, they are not currently hireable by you, but I think I can make at least the smaller bands so. But the conrois are too high quality - not for sale.)

[ingolifs]

well done, we're over 1000 posts now.

[Khalid ibn Walid]

ingolifs said:

well done, we're over 1000 posts now.

Biscotti & cappuccini all around!

[ingolifs]

Half of the posts are yours, Mr "I'll just spam in this here 'history of lombardia' thread and make it look like important and useful information".

[Khalid ibn Walid]

ingolifs said:

Half of the posts are yours, Mr "I'll just spam in this here 'history of lombardia' thread and make it look like important and useful information".

You don't get to 1,000 posts by answering bug reports.