Sir John Hawkwood, a soldier of fortune…
1360 CE to 1371 CE
Sir John Hawkwood, a soldier of fortune taking advantage of the cessation of Anglo-French hostilities that begins in 1360, leads his mercenary White Company into Italy, fighting at different times for Milan, Florence, and the papacy.
Hawkwood's youth is shrouded in tales and legends and it is not exactly clear how he became a soldier.
According to the most accepted tales, he was a second son of a tanner in Sible Hedingham in Essex and was apprenticed in London.
Other tales also claim that he was a tailor before he became a soldier.
Hawkwood served in the English army in France in the first stages of the Hundred Years' War under Edward III.
According to different traditions, Hawkwood fought in the battles of Crécy and/or Poitiers in 1356, but there is no direct evidence of either.
Different traditions maintain that the King or Edward, the Black Prince knighted him.
It has also been speculated that he assumed the title with the support of his soldiers.
His service ends after the Treaty of Brétigny in 1360.
Hawkwood moves to Burgundy and joins the small mercenary companies, also known as Free Companies, that fight for money in France.
Later he is part of the self-named Great Company that fights against Papal troops near Avignon.
Hawkwood rises to be commander of the White Company in the beginning of the 1360s.
Hawkwood's men are part of the companies that the marquis of Montferrat hires in 1362 and leads over the Alps to fight first against the Green Count at Lanzo Torinese, then against Milan in the areas of Alessandria, Tortona and Novara.
Forced to leave Piedmont by the Visconti’s condottiere Luchino dal Verme, Hawkwood and his troops nevertheless remain in Italy.
The White Company will fight under many banners and switches sides many times in the following years, fighting for Pisa against Florence in 1364, and fighting for Perugia against the Papal forces in 1369.
He joins Bernabò Visconti in 1370 in his war against an alliance of cities including Pisa and Florence.