[Jrroller.FTW]

Sir John Hawkwood (3)(785) (786) (717) was born about 1320. He
died on Mar 16 1394 in Florence, Italy.

"Do you not know that I live by war and that peace would be my
undoing?
--Sir John Hawkwood

Sir John Hawkwood was the outstanding condottiere of his time.
He was probably born in Essex, where his father was a
prosperous small landowner and tanner in Sible Hedingham. A
second son, his father left him only a legacy of twenty pounds
ten shillings.

The Earl of Oxford's prinicpal residence was in Sible Hedingham
and it was perhaps through him that Hawkwood became a
soldier in the French Wars by 1343. He was a knight and company
commander by 1360. Much of the French countryside
was in ruins because of the Hundred Years War and brigandage
was commonplace. When the Treaty of Bretigny was
signed that year, even many regular soldiers became highwaymen
and free-booters, including Hawkwood.

He accompanied the free companies that descended upon Avignon
and were bought off by the Pope, who diverted them to
Italy. Italy, divided into many small states that were nearly
always in a state of war with one another, was a perfect place
for
a mercenary soldier to make his way and by 1363, Hawkwood was
Captain-general of the army of Pisa against Florence.
He also served Florence, the Papacy, and Milan.

His reputation derived mostly from his superb generalship, not
his personal fighting ability, and even when his command was
destroyed, as his White Company was in 1365 and his Company of
St. George two years later, his reputation survived and
he was able to recruit new soldiers within a short time.
Machiavelli would dub him "Giovanni Acuto." And although he
necessarily served whoever would pay him, he had a reputation
for fair dealing and refusing bribes. Even his one great
atrocity, the massacre of as many as 5000 inhabitants of
Cesena, was done under the orders of the papal legate.

His White Company, so called for its white banners and highly
polished breastplates, was the model for Sir Arthur Conan
Doyle's novel of that name.

In 1375 Florence paid him 130,000 florins not to fight them for
five years and other towns added 95,000 florins more and
promised him an annuity of 1,200 florins for life. In 1377 he
signed a contract with Florence and thereafter was Captain
General of that city, although he continued to work for other
cities as well when not needed by Florence.

The Pope paid a debt to Hawkwood by giving him a castle and
lands in Romagna but he sold them after taking service with
Florence and bought a castle and land there. In the 1370's,
already in his fifties, he married one of the illegitimate
daughters
of Bernabo Visconti, ruler of Milan, who gave her a dowry of
10,000 florins, and he had a son and three daughters by her.

Florentine citizenship was conferred on him and his male
descendants in perpetuity in 1391, but he had never foresworn
his
allegiance to his native land. In 1394 he sold his holdings in
Flornece preparatory to returning to England, but he died
before
he could do so, on March 16th of that year. The following year,
at the personal request of King Richard II, his body was
returned to England and buried in Sible Hedingham.

In recognition of his services to Florence he received a state
funeral and a large equestrian portrait of him was painted in
the
Cathedral, (it was repainted, as a fresco, in 1436 by Paolo
Uccello) where it is still to be seen (a picture of it is to be
found in
Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror).

There is a biography of him, Sir John Hawkwood, by J.
Temple-Leader and G. Marcotti (translated by L. Scott),
published
in 1889. See also "The Condottiere John Hawkwood," by F. Gaupp,
in History, new series, vol xxiii (1938-39), "Sir John
Hawkwood 1320-94: The First Anglo-Florentine," by N. Ritchie in
History Today, vol. x, (1977), and his entry in the
Dictionary of National Biography. He is also extensively
discussed in Barbara Tuchman's A Distant Mirror. He was
married.
Children were:

714755 i. Mary Hawkwood.

John Hawkwood (d. 17 Mar 1393/4 Florence, Italy) of Essex, the
famous Anglo-Italian soldier, is one
who ought to meet your criteria. His first marriage produced
three daughters from whom there are
descendants. Daughter Florentina married and remained in
Italy, however her sisters Mary (Antiocha) and
Beatrice married English men. The former married William
Coggeshall of Codham Hall, Essex and the
latter married John Shelley and was ancestress to the famous
poet. The first wife of Hawkwood has not
been identified, but as these girls appear to have been born
in Italy, it is not unlikely that she was Italian.
Hawkwood's second wife was Donnina, natural daughter of
Barnabo Visconti. You might check the
archives as there was some discussion of this earlier in the
year.

Best regards,

Henry Sutliff sssbo@earthlink.net

John Hawkwood called Giovanni Acuto
Military leader and mercenary
Sible Hedingham 1320 ca. - Firenze 1394

He learnt the soldiers craft during the Hundred Years War in
France, where he fought first under Edward III
and then at the command of his own company, which
sacked Provence. When he came to Italy in 1360, he was
first employed by the city of Pisa, then by the
Viscontis of Milan, by Pope Gregory XI and lastly by Florence,
where his name was Italianized into Giovanni Acuto.
The Florentine forgave him for having led the Pisan troups
against them in 1364 and established such a good
relationship with him that he was honoured on his death with
the equestrian monument frescoed by Paolo Uccello in
Santa Maria del Fiore (1436).
Hawkwood is generally considered to have been one of
the first miltary leaders of modern times.

http://www.mega.it/eng/egui/pers/jhakw.htm

Sir John Hawkwood - Soldier of Fortune

Sir John Hawkwood was an English adventurer who attained great
wealth and renown as a condottieri (mercenary-captain)
in Italy during the 14th century. Along with his famous White
Company he was to dominate Italian warfare for thirty years
until his death in 1394.

He was born in 1320, the son of a tanner, and at a very young
age he joined the English army where he would later fight
alongside the Black Prince during the Anglo-French 100 years
war. He distinguished himself during the battles of CrËcy and
Poitiers for which, it is said, he received his knighthood. He
had found his true vocation - that of a professional soldier,
however, along with many other men-at-arms, and rank and file,
he would soon find himself unemployed when the war came
to a temporary halt in 1360.

Hawkwood, and many other knights - English, French, German and
Spanish sought employment elsewhere. Luckily for them
the rich cities of Northern Italy were fighting amongst
themselves and sought mercenary armies to assist in their
feuding.
Hawkwood gathered together a small army of men which he named
The White Company and travelled to Italy in the
anticipation of earning large sums of gold and their share of
any plunder. The company consisted of mainly English and
German knights, foot soldiers, with a large contingent of
English longbow.

The English soon proved themselves to be very effective, they
were also reasonably priced - they represented a good
investment and were greatly sought after. Also, unlike the
other condottieri, Hawkwood respected and honoured the
contracts he entered into. Almost all the other condottieri
changed sides with frequent regularity and prospective
employers
found it hard to trust any of the mercenary generals.
Hawkwoods first few employers, including the church, were
particularly
hard, vicious and sometimes cruel and it is difficult to
understand why such an honourable soldier fought for such men.
But if
we look at it as a solicitor and client relationship - the
solicitor does not have to like his client to defend him hes
just doing
the job hes paid to do. Hawkwood was a professional soldier
and he had a large company of men to support, so he went
where the money was.

The reason his men were so effective was because they fought
unlike any army of the day; they wore minimal armour, relying
more on speed and manoeuvrability. They fought mostly defensive
battles in the open - the men-at-arms would dismount and
hold a two man lance which was dug into the ground. Behind them
would be the blades, and even further behind, or to the
side, would be the longbows. The heavily armoured enemy knights
would come charging in on horseback with the foot
soldiers far behind trying to catch up. The knights would at
first be hit by the destructive longbows, which could easily
kill a
knight or his mount. Their attack would then be blunted further
by the lances. At which point the blades easily cut down the
isolated figures, well before the enemy foot soldiers arrived.
Surprisingly these tactics worked time and time again.
Hawkwood was also famous for his forced marches. All his
soldiers were mounted including his longbow so they could
quickly intercept enemy forces. The Englishman became known as
Acuto which in Italian means - sharp, piercing, acute.

Hawkwood would fight numerous battles under different
contracts, mainly fighting for the papal side. However after he
was
ordered to assist in the massacre of the villagers of Cesena he
began to detest the executioners work. On the pretence of a
late payment he ceased his contract and changed sides. He now
fought for the anti-papal league under the city of Florence,
with whom he was to remain in service for the rest of his life.

Hawkwood would occasionally be lent out to the allies of
Florence and it was when he was loaned out to Padua that he
fought his greatest battle - Castagnaro. Hawkwood had been
given complete control over the army of Padua, and began by
besieging the enemy city of Verona. After a few months he
feigned a withdrawal which drew the enemy from behind its city
walls. Hawkwood continued his tactical withdrawal until he came
to the village of Castagnaro.

He had previously surveyed this area and it was chosen
specifically because of its terrain. The armys right flank
was
protected by a canal, their left by marshland. To their front
was a small water filled drainage ditch, and behind them was a
river - if they lost the battle there would be no where to go.
Hawkwood deployed the majority of his force on foot in front of
the ditch, armed with long spears to the front. When the
Veronese arrived they found the ground to be muddy and
unsuitable
for mounted troops, so like their foe they dismounted and went
into battle on foot. The battle began later that afternoon as
the Veronese had been making a large amount of fascines which
they used to ford the ditch. However crossing it proved
extremely difficult as the Paduans would poke them back with
their bristling lance-points. The Paduans managed to hold their
ground until the Veronese commander threw more men into the
fray. Hawkwood could see his troops were being pushed
back but still waited. Soon the Veronese commander, Ordellaffi,
became impatient and threw all his reserves at Hawkwoods
army. With superb timing Hawkwood gave the signal to a large
force of mounted men to cross the canal at previously
discovered fords and hit the enemy in the flank and rear. At
the same time the mounted Hawkwood charged into the
Veronese soldiers rallying his own troops around him. The
flanking force was comprised of longbow men and mounted
men-at-arms. The bowmen began by shooting the enemy in the
back, but when it became impossible to identify friend from
foe they charged in accompanied by their knights. It was a
slaughter, the Veronese ranks disintegrated. Ordellaffi tried
to
rescue the situation using his cavalry bodyguard but all was
lost and he was later captured. It had been a complete victory
for
Padua and Hawkwood.

Soon after the battle he returned to Florence to defend them
against the Milanese under Gian Galeazzo. The next few years
showed Hawkwoods flair for warfare. His campaign was long and
hard but was seen by all to be a triumph of generalship. In
1392 Galeazzo was forced to negotiate for peace.

Aged 74 Sir John Hawkwood was to die of natural causes (heart
attack). He was greatly honoured by the Florentines who
built an elaborate marble tomb in the city cathedral. However
at the personal request of Richard II his body would be
returned home and he was laid to rest in the family vault in
Essex.

http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/drive/gdo75/war.htm