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Y305: The Renaissance c.1400–c.1600

The Impact of War: the condottieri and the invasion of 1494

  • 3 things to know
  • Unit group 3

Overview

Recall questions on the condottieri and reliance on mercenaries, soldier-rulers such as Montefeltro, humanist criticism, Machiavelli’s militia, the French invasion of 1494, its effect on Florence and the damage war did to the Renaissance ideal.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Evaluation

Why did Italian states rely on mercenaries rather than citizen armies?

Key term

Name two condottieri who became rulers and patrons.

Key term

What happened in Italy in 1494?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Who were the condottieri?

    Model answer

    They were professional mercenary captains who contracted with Italian states to supply and command troops for a fixed period and fee.

  2. 2

    Why did Italian states rely on mercenaries rather than citizen armies?

    Model answer

    The cities were small, commercially minded and reluctant to take their men from profitable trades, they were rich enough to hire professionals, and rulers distrusted arming their own populations.

  3. 3

    Name two condottieri who became rulers and patrons.

    Model answer

    Federico da Montefeltro, who became Duke of Urbino, and Francesco Sforza, who seized Milan in 1450.

  4. 4

    How did Montefeltro embody the ideal of the soldier-scholar?

    Model answer

    He earned a fortune as a mercenary captain and spent it on the palace at Urbino, one of the finest libraries in Italy and a court of artists and humanists, presenting himself as equally at home in arms and letters.

  5. 5

    Why did humanists criticise mercenary armies?

    Model answer

    They argued that men who fought for pay had no loyalty or civic virtue, prolonged wars to keep their employment, avoided decisive battle, and could turn on the states that hired them.

  6. 6

    What alternative to mercenaries did Machiavelli propose and try to create?

    Model answer

    He argued that a state must be defended by its own citizens, and in 1506 he organised a Florentine militia recruited from the surrounding countryside.

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