In this Book
- John Hawkwood: An English Mercenary in Fourteenth-Century Italy
- Book
- 2006
- Published by: Johns Hopkins University Press
summary
Winner, 2008 Otto Gründler Book Prize, The Medieval InstituteWinner, 2008 Otto Gründler Book Prize, The Medieval InstituteNotorious for his cleverness and daring, John Hawkwood was the most feared mercenary in early Renaissance Italy. Born in England, Hawkwood began his career in France during the Hundred Years' War and crossed into Italy with the famed White Company in 1361. From that time until his death in 1394, Hawkwood fought throughout the peninsula as a captain of armies in times of war and as a commander of marauding bands during times of peace. He achieved international fame, and city-states constantly tried to outbid each other for his services, for which he received money, land, and, in the case of Florence, citizenship—a most unusual honor for an Englishman. When Hawkwood died, the Florentines buried him with great ceremony in their cathedral, an honor denied their greatest poet, Dante. William Caferro's ambitious account of Hawkwood is both a biography and a study of warfare and statecraft. Caferro has mined more than twenty archives in Britain and Italy, creating an authoritative portrait of Hawkwood as an extraordinary military leader, if not always an admirable human being.
Table of Contents
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- List of Figures and Maps
- p. vii
- Hawkwood Chronology
- pp. xiii-xv
- Introduction
- pp. 1-7
- PART I: MAKING OF A WARRIOR
- 3. Italy and the Profession of Arms
- pp. 62-94
- PART II: RISE OF A MERCENARY CAPTAIN
- PART III: THE MOST SOUGHT-AFTER CAPTAIN IN ITALY
- 8. Love and Diplomacy, 1377–1379
- pp. 191-208
- 9. At Home in the Romagna, 1379–1381
- pp. 209-225
- PART IV: VETERAN CAPTAIN AND FLORENTINE HERO
- 13. The War against Milan, 1390–1392
- pp. 289-309
- Conclusion
- pp. 332-346
- Appendixes
- pp. 347-352
- References
- pp. 417-447
Additional Information
ISBN
9780801888809
Related ISBN(s)
9780801883231, 9781421418414
MARC Record
OCLC
614506415
Pages
480
Launched on MUSE
2012-01-01
Language
English
Open Access
No