War of the Eight Saints
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The War of the Eight Saints was a war between Pope Gregory XI and a coalition of Italian city-states led by Florence that contributed to the end of the Avignon Papacy.
John Hawkwood, papal condottiere in Gregory XI's wars against Milan
Coluccio Salutati, Chancellor of Florence during the war
Robert of Geneva, future Avignon Pope Clement VII, the commander of papal forces after 1377
Pope Gregory XI's bull of excommunication referred to the "Eight Saints" as the "Eight of Priests".
John Hawkwood
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Sir John Hawkwood was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or condottiero in Italy. His exploits made him a man shrouded in myth in both England and Italy. Much of his enduring fame res
War of the Eight Saints
…feared that the pope would turn his military attention toward Tuscany; thus, Florence arranged a nonaggression pact with the English condottiere John Hawkwood, who was Gregory XI's main military commander, at a cost of 130,000 florins, extracted from local clergy, bishops, abbots, monasteries and ecclesiastical…
Fresco of Sir John Hawkwood by Paolo Uccello, Florence Cathedral, 1436. Frame by Lorenzo di Credi, 1524.