The Condottieri: The History of Italy's Elite Mercenaries during the Middle Ages and Renaissance

*Includes pictures
*Includes excerpts of contemporary accounts
*Includes a bibliography for further reading
In 1494, there were five sovereign regional powers in Italy: Milan, Venice, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. In 1536, only one remained: Venice. These decades of conflict precipitated great anxiety among Western thinkers, and Italians responded to the fragmentation, forevermore, of Latin Christendom, the end of self-governance for Italians, and the beginning of the early modern era...