Dark Luther
01-25-2007, 12:51 PM
Perhaps one of the first classical concepts of the mismatched, rambunctious, and rowdy mercenary calvary units, was the Stratioti...
Coming themselves from a combination of several ethnicities and nationalities - primarily Greek, Albanian, and Illyrian -
these calvary soldiers of fortune echoed the unorthodox tactics of the light calvary of El cid, another famous mercenary from much earlier in time...
The stratioti, or more commonly stradioti, were a major mercenary force employed by the Venetian Republic, along with other major Italian powers such as the Kingdom of Naples and the Florentine Republic ( they are cited commonly or inderectly by Machiovelli in his oppositions to mercenary ).
The men:
These men came from an area forgotten by the world...
At times long past, Greece and Illyria were pinnacles and centers of technology - but by the 14th century were nothing but ruins, with a long ignored people...
Massive powers were building up around them - the Venetians, the Ottomans, the Austrians, and the Holy Roman Empire...
At this time - there was also great conflict;
the Ottomans were encroachig into Europe and fighting the Venetians for control of the Mediterranean, Austria was checking the Ottoman's move into Europe while having their problems with the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy itself was in the middle of a massive internal war with every power in Europe bidding in for power..., meanwhile - men of the former Byzantine Empire were left in the middle of this...
The Greeks had a long history of fighting ability, the Albanians had for much of their existance needed to wage a guerrilla war to hold on to their enclave, and Illyrians were becoming known as a nation of mercenaries - consisting of the majority of Venetian bodyguards and shock marines in their navy...
The stradioti came from these conditions...
The Soldiers:
Stradioti would appear in a mix of all forms of manner in wear.., a combination of European, Byzantine, Ottoman, and native clothing - making their mismatched appearance their true uniform.
Unlike the Schiovani mercenary from the same area though, these men were anything but loyal or diciplined...
These men hired themselves out to the highest bidder, and often roamed around seeking another conflict rather than staying at one place to provide constant service...
This was probably not by choice anyway - as most nations did not enjoy keeping the undiciplined group around...
They employed most famously - their assegai.
A type of spear modified by them for calvary use by creating in many cases pointed heads on both ends. The spears were generally quite short, similar to Javelins - but in other cases could become quite large and be used for combat against other light calvary. Aside from such, they used a variety of weapons and weapon tactics from other calvary forces of the period - generally learning as they fought other forces...
This includes learning to carry and throw daggers at opponents - a common tactic of the Maraluke, or emplying crossbows much like Genoan mercenary would.
Their Tactics:
Perhaps their most valuable asset;
they employed a variety of complicated manuevers -
feints, feigned retreat, ambushes, hit and run, along with several guerrilla tactics that concentrated on nuissance raids, over-runs, and point striking...
These came from a variety of sources, mostly stemmed from expirience - meeting differant forces and seeing their tactics, and employing it themselves or with conjunction of their own...
Their style was quite similar to Marmalukes from Egypt, Ottoman Sipahis, and the calvary tactics of El Cid from Spain...
But on their own were quite original, and made their own meld of tactic and application that many of Europes greatest powers were willing to have at the expense of their lack of dicipline, loyalty, and plain old being rude mercenaries...
One must remember, these were the cast outs of Europe and the western world...
For further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradioti
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Stradioti.html
http://www.myarmoury.com/review_dt5152.html
Mind you there is a great wealth of info out there - and one may be confused as many say things apart from each other including my own...
many write about very particular stradioti groups - and others look towards Italian sources on the issue -
I'm not saying also that some of the things said are wrong...,
but......, I can think it very hard.
Most of the stuff out there is correct, and my sources mostly include info on them from European and Ottoman sources than Italian - who had a warped view of them in my opinion...
I also meshed it with what I knew of the period as well...
Take what I write as simply another view after taking many things into consideration.
If you wish to hear further about the stradioti, I will be glad to answer any questions...
I'm sorry it came a bit late - I've been incredibly busy the last few days - sometimes working 16 hours and doing gigs and other projects on the side..., but I'll catch everything else up - including the story for both stradioti and yamabushi...
Thank you for your time...
( keep a watch out in EF's History forum for another story from warrior of the week )
Coming themselves from a combination of several ethnicities and nationalities - primarily Greek, Albanian, and Illyrian -
these calvary soldiers of fortune echoed the unorthodox tactics of the light calvary of El cid, another famous mercenary from much earlier in time...
The stratioti, or more commonly stradioti, were a major mercenary force employed by the Venetian Republic, along with other major Italian powers such as the Kingdom of Naples and the Florentine Republic ( they are cited commonly or inderectly by Machiovelli in his oppositions to mercenary ).
The men:
These men came from an area forgotten by the world...
At times long past, Greece and Illyria were pinnacles and centers of technology - but by the 14th century were nothing but ruins, with a long ignored people...
Massive powers were building up around them - the Venetians, the Ottomans, the Austrians, and the Holy Roman Empire...
At this time - there was also great conflict;
the Ottomans were encroachig into Europe and fighting the Venetians for control of the Mediterranean, Austria was checking the Ottoman's move into Europe while having their problems with the Holy Roman Empire, and Italy itself was in the middle of a massive internal war with every power in Europe bidding in for power..., meanwhile - men of the former Byzantine Empire were left in the middle of this...
The Greeks had a long history of fighting ability, the Albanians had for much of their existance needed to wage a guerrilla war to hold on to their enclave, and Illyrians were becoming known as a nation of mercenaries - consisting of the majority of Venetian bodyguards and shock marines in their navy...
The stradioti came from these conditions...
The Soldiers:
Stradioti would appear in a mix of all forms of manner in wear.., a combination of European, Byzantine, Ottoman, and native clothing - making their mismatched appearance their true uniform.
Unlike the Schiovani mercenary from the same area though, these men were anything but loyal or diciplined...
These men hired themselves out to the highest bidder, and often roamed around seeking another conflict rather than staying at one place to provide constant service...
This was probably not by choice anyway - as most nations did not enjoy keeping the undiciplined group around...
They employed most famously - their assegai.
A type of spear modified by them for calvary use by creating in many cases pointed heads on both ends. The spears were generally quite short, similar to Javelins - but in other cases could become quite large and be used for combat against other light calvary. Aside from such, they used a variety of weapons and weapon tactics from other calvary forces of the period - generally learning as they fought other forces...
This includes learning to carry and throw daggers at opponents - a common tactic of the Maraluke, or emplying crossbows much like Genoan mercenary would.
Their Tactics:
Perhaps their most valuable asset;
they employed a variety of complicated manuevers -
feints, feigned retreat, ambushes, hit and run, along with several guerrilla tactics that concentrated on nuissance raids, over-runs, and point striking...
These came from a variety of sources, mostly stemmed from expirience - meeting differant forces and seeing their tactics, and employing it themselves or with conjunction of their own...
Their style was quite similar to Marmalukes from Egypt, Ottoman Sipahis, and the calvary tactics of El Cid from Spain...
But on their own were quite original, and made their own meld of tactic and application that many of Europes greatest powers were willing to have at the expense of their lack of dicipline, loyalty, and plain old being rude mercenaries...
One must remember, these were the cast outs of Europe and the western world...
For further reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradioti
http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Stradioti.html
http://www.myarmoury.com/review_dt5152.html
Mind you there is a great wealth of info out there - and one may be confused as many say things apart from each other including my own...
many write about very particular stradioti groups - and others look towards Italian sources on the issue -
I'm not saying also that some of the things said are wrong...,
but......, I can think it very hard.
Most of the stuff out there is correct, and my sources mostly include info on them from European and Ottoman sources than Italian - who had a warped view of them in my opinion...
I also meshed it with what I knew of the period as well...
Take what I write as simply another view after taking many things into consideration.
If you wish to hear further about the stradioti, I will be glad to answer any questions...
I'm sorry it came a bit late - I've been incredibly busy the last few days - sometimes working 16 hours and doing gigs and other projects on the side..., but I'll catch everything else up - including the story for both stradioti and yamabushi...
Thank you for your time...
( keep a watch out in EF's History forum for another story from warrior of the week )