Mercenaries dominated the armies of Renaissance Europe, sometimes changing sides when the price was right or refusing to fight if they had not been paid. By the 16th century, these companies were supplemented by standing professional armies along with militia. During the 15th century, cavalry mercenaries such as the condottieri of italy were important elements of fighting in the open field. With the technological advancement of fired projectiles, skilled infantrymen became more strategically useful.
Although women did not fight as soldiers, they were ordered to the barricades and bulwarks in times of siege warfare. Tremendous amounts of dirt had to be moved to construct bulwarks, which often had to be erected on short notice. Women of all ranks and ages, from 12 to 50, shoveled dirt and carted it in wheelbarrows. Occasionally they were recognized and rewarded for their participation in defensive warfare. In 1472, for example, the sumptuary laws were relaxed in Beauvais (France) for the women who had helped prevent the duke of Burgundy from seizing control.
Warfare
1.3 Battle scene depictingpikemen and cavalrymen. Woodcut in Sebastian Franck, Germaniae Chronicon (Chronicle of Germany, 1538). (Photograph courtesy of Sotheby’s, Inc., © 2003)
World History
