The condottieri were leaders of Italian mercenary companies (compagnie di ventura) from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century. The term is derived from condotta, the temporary contract by which the company entered the service of a state, city or dukedom. The banco di condotta was the name for the exact register of soldiers, retainers and horses of a mercenary company, used for accounting with employers.

The condottieri, unlike other mercenary leaders, were absolute masters of their companies, and gathered their soldiers for their own interests, profit, power and glory. The first in Italy were foreigners: the German knight von Urslingen, the Provencal Franciscan Fra Moriale, the former London tailor Sir Hawkwood. The era of the condottieri was opened by the victory at Mariano (1380) of Alberico da Barbiano, in service of the pope, over Gascoigne and Breton mercenaries.

They were often feudal lords, like Barbiano, Malatesta, Borgia, F. Colonna and P. Colonna, and in such cases the nucleus of their forces consisted of their serfs. However, some were plebeians – outstanding warriors like Sforza and Carmagnola, who gathered professional soldiers eager to profit from their reputations. In either case, the condottieri chose, trained, disciplined and paid their soldiers, the contracts being between them and the employers. They were exclusively responsible for the actions of their men, and had unlimited power over them, but also the responsibility of looking after them. Contracts usually defined the term of service, the pay and the strength of the company. For example, in 1448 an eighth-month contract was made between the Duke of Milan and the Marquis of Monferrato, calling for a force of 700 lances and 500 infantry, and providing for a sum of 6,000 forints a month. The marquis was also given 40 gold coins for the equipment (prestanza) of each of the lances. Unlike earlier foreign mercenary companies which had ravaged Italy, the condottieri, who were closely tied to some areas, had no interest in destroying the population physically or economically.

At this time Milan was the largest European centre of armour production. The characteristic product of the city’s workshops was called the Italian Armour, or Lombard- or Milan-style. Most of the sets worn by the soldiers of the condottieri and sold throughout Europe bore the identification marks of the Missaglia family, which owned most of the armoury workshops in Milan in the fifteenth century. The first manufactured homogeneous (or full) set of cavalry armour, now housed in Chuburg, was made in one of these in 1420, owned by the Matsch family of Milan. A few years later, a similar set was made in Landshut, in Germany, the most important rival centre. By the mid-fifteenth century, full armour had spread throughout Europe.