Giovanni delle Bande Nere
Ludovico de' Medici, also known as Giovanni delle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero. He is known for leading the Black Bands and serving valiantly in military combat under his third cousins, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII, in the War of Urbino and the War of the League of Cognac, respectively.
Portrait of Giovanni by Carlo Portelli
Statue at the Uffizi
Condottieri were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other European monarchs during the Italian Wars of the Renaissance and the European Wars of Religion. Notable condottieri include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma.
The equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni in Venice, Italy
Luchino Visconti defeated the Company of Saint George of Werner von Urslingen at the Battle of Parabiago in Lombardy in 1339.
Alberico da Barbiano, a mercenary alongside John Hawkwood, founded his own (all Italian) condotta, the Company of St. George, and reached acclaim by defeating the Breton company of anti-pope Clement VII at Marino [fr] in 1379 as well as fostering notable other condottiere such as Facino Cane and Braccio da Montone.
Detail of the frescoes, with soldiers
