Slitherine

Sometime back Richard Bodley-Scott recommended the Pen and Sword republished version of Mercenaries and Their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy by Michael Mallett as a good source for information on Italian Condotta armies. It is expensive at nearly twenty pounds but it is clearly written and presents a very different view to the others I have read. It is covers mainly before our period but does have a lot of good stuff on the begining of the Italian Wars. I am now on my second read through.

I am glad I followed Richard's recommendation and would commend this volume to anyone looking for information on the Italian Condotta and Italian Wars period.

timmy1 wrote:... Warfare in Renaissance Italy by Michael Mallett...

On my list. Thanks

Have you (or anybody else) read

Arfaioli, Maurizio. The Black Bands of Giovanni: Infantry and Diplomacy During the Italian Wars (1526–1528). Pisa: Pisa University Press, Edizioni Plus, 2005. ISBN 88-8492-231-3

yet? I got my hands on a review (in German) and found it very interesting, though it covers mostly the years between Giovannis death and the disbanding, especially the siege of Florence, based on contemporary documents. I am tempted to order that one from Italy.

Two of my favorites are "At of War in the Sixteenth Century" by Sir Charles Oman, and "The Art of War in Italy, 1494 - 1529" by Frederick Taylor. Another really interesting read is "The Sack of Rome, 1527" by Judith Hook.

Cheers,
Dave Lynch