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TIMESTAMPS
BALKAN MERCENARIESIN FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURY ITALY
By Nicholas C. J. Pappas
Thestradioti, mounted troops of Albanian and Greek origin whoinitially entered Venetian military service during the Republic's wars withthe Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century, were among pioneers of lightcavalry tactics in European armies in the early modern era. These warriors,who had previously served Byzantine and Albanian rulers, initially foundasylum and employment in the Venetian strongholds of Napoli di Romagna,Corone, Modone, and Malvasia in the Peloponnesus. Later they were also stationedin Venetian holdings at Trau, Sibenico, Castellonuovo, and Zara in Dalmatia,and the islands of Corfu, Zante, Cephalonia, Crete and Cyprus. They werealso introduced into Italy by the Venetians in the 1470's and participatedin wars in Italy through much of the 16th century, not only for Venice,but also for other employers. It was in these wars that thestratiotimade an impact on warfare in Italy and the west, chiefly by their styleof fighting and tactics. Thestradiotiwere armed and fought as lightcavalry in a manner that developed from warfare among Byzantine, Slavic,Albanian and Ottoman forces. They carried spear, a long saber, mace, anddagger, and were attired in a mixture of oriental, Byzantine and westernmilitary garb. Thestradioticontinued the Balkan traditions of cavalrywarfare, which used hit-and-run attacks, ambushes, feigned retreats, counterattacksand other tactics little known to western armies of the time.
A number of contemporary writers and later historians, notably CharlesOman,[1] Coriolano Cippico,[2] Marino Sanuto[3], Philip de Comines,[4] F.L. Taylor,[5] Konstantinos Sathas,[6] John Hale,[7] M. E. Mallett,[8] andothers, have recounted the activities ofstradioti in Italy and thewest. Some of these authorities even claimed that thestradioti wereinstrumental in the reintroduction of light cavalry tactics in western armies.In the sixteenth century, stradioti troops expanded their service to thearmies of Milan, Genoa, Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and England.Aside from their military activities, the stradioti were instrumental inthe establishment of Greek Orthodox communities in Venice and Dalmatia.
This paper will investigate the origins of thestradioti, theirethnic and regional composition, their role in the armies of the15th and16th centuries, and their participation in the founding of Greek OrthodoxCommunities in the Italy and elsewhere.
In the late fifteenth century, companies ofstradioti were broughtto Italy and served in Venice's armed conflicts on theterrafirma.They entered service in Italy at the crucial period in which the militarysystem of the Italian states, as well as their independence, were beingthreatened by transalpine armies in the late 15th century. One observer,Marino Sanuto, described the stradioti and their arrival in Venice thusly:[9]
According to most sources the stradiotiwore little or no armor.If they did, it was usually padded linen tunics or shirts of chain mail.Contemporary authors indicate that they were attired and armored like theTurks except that they wore no turban.[14]3 Since there was much interminglingof military styles, tactics, garb, and weaponry in the Balkans in the 14thand 15th centuries, it is difficult to say what aspects of weaponry; armorand attire were adopted from or lent to the Ottoman Turks. This writer believesit is safe to say that thestradiotiwere armed and attired in amixture of Balkan and Turkish styles. There is no doubt that they lateradopted some western arms and garb the longer they remained in service inWestern Europe and in the Venetian-held areas of the Balkans and the Levant.
Two versions of the namestradiotihave been cited by sources,while scholars have debated which of these versions is accurate. Accordingto some authorities, the termsstradiotto andstradioti (plural)are Italian variants of the Greekstratiotês orstratiotaiwhich generally means soldier, but in later Byzantine times meant cavalryman who held a military fief(pronoia).Other authors assert thatstradioticame from the Italian root strada(road) and thatthe termstradiottomeant a wanderer or wayfarer, thus denoting anerrant cavalrymen or warrior.[15] The question of the etymology of the appellationstradioti is further complicated by the various spellings and versionsof the term in the primary sources. The few Greek sources, such as theAndragathêmatatou Merkouriou Boua, usestratiotes/stratiotai,the Greek wordfor soldier.[16] Latin sources, such as the dispatches of Jacomo Barbarigo,use the variantstratiotos/stratiotorum orstrathiotos/strathiotorum[17]The bulk of primary sourcesin Italian, such as Coriolano Cippico,Marino Sanuto and Venetian state documents, usestradiotto/stradioti,adopted by this paper, orstrathiotto/strathioti.[18]Frenchsources, such as Philip de Comines, use the variationestradiot/estradiots.[19]Although arguments on the side of the wayfarer theory predominate, thefact that some of the older Latin sources from the early 15th century usea variation of the Greekstratiotestends to make this writer favorthe "soldier" theory. Be as it may, the term indicated light cavalryforces of Balkan origin, chiefly from Greece and Albania.
Most modern, as well as a good number of early authors have indicatedthat thestradioti were Albanian. This is true to a certain extentbut has to be qualified. A Greek author made a study of the names ofstradiotifound in the most extensive documentary collection of materials dealingwith thestradioti and found that some 80% of the names were of Albanianorigin, while the rest were of Greek origin.[20] This writer looked overlists ofstradiotiin the same source,Mnemeia Hellenikes Historias:Documents inedits a l'histoire de la Grece au Moyen Age,edited byKonstantinos Sathas, as well as the indices of the fifty-odd volumesofI Diarii di Marino Sanuto.This investigation found that indeedmany of the names were Albanian, but a good number of the names particularlythose of officers, were of Greek origin, such as Palaiologos, Spandounios,Laskaris, Rhalles, Comnenos, Psendakis, Maniatis, Spyliotis, Alexopoulos,Psaris, Zacharopoulos, Klirakopoulos, Kondomitis, etc. Others seemed tobe of South Slavic origin, such Soimiris, Vlastimiris, and Voicha.[21] Thestudy of names does not indicate that most of these troops came directlyfrom Albania proper, as has been asserted by some authors. Fernand Braudel,for example, in his classic study of the Mediterranean in the 16th centurysomewhat kaleidoscopically describes thestradioti's history in thefollowing manner:[22]
This description and others do not take into account that most of thestradioti did not come from Albania proper, but from the Venetianholdings in southern and central Greece, that is Malvasia (Monemvasia),Modone (Methone), Corone, Napoli di Romagna (Nauplion), the Mani, and Lepanto(Naupaktos). Most of thestradioti who entered Italy in the late15th and early 16th centuries, together with their families, had been bornin the Peloponnesus, their progenitors having immigrated there in the late14th and early 15th century. They had settled in southern Greece throughthe encouragement of the Byzantine Despots of the Morea, Theodore I Palaiologos(1384-1407) and Theodore II Palaiologos (1407-1443). The Albanians servedas military colonists in the Peloponnesus in the attempt of the Despotate,an appanage of the moribund Byzantine Empire, to survive the expansion ofthe Ottoman Empire in the Balkans.[23] In addition, the Venetians beganto settle Albanians in Napoli di Romagna (Nauplion) in the Argos region.[24]With the demise of the Byzantine state in 1453 and the dissolution of theDespotate of the Morea through civil war in the 1450's and 1460's, moreand more of the Albanian and Greekstradiotifound refuge and employmentwith the Venetians. The Venetians increasingly used them as troops in theirconflicts with the Ottomans in Greece and the Levant in the second halfof the 15th and throughout the 16th century.
In time the Venetians introduced some of thesestradioti intotheir forces in Italy. Three factors probably played a role in the extensiveuse of these troops by the Venetians. One important factor was that therewas an abundance of these troops. The small Venetian holdings in Greececould not employ the large number of refugeestradioti that soughtasylum and employment. By the end of the 15th century somestradioticompanies were transferred and reassigned to the Venetian-held Ionian Islandsof Corfu, Cephalonia, and Zante.[25] Soon afterwards, otherstradiotiwere sent to Italy, to the Venetian-Ottoman border in Friuli, and to theDalmatian holdings of Sebenico (Sibenik), Spalato (Split), Zara (Zadar),Trogir, and Bocca di Cattaro (Kotor).[26] As the Venetians lost one strongholdon the mainland Greece after the other in the Veneto-Turkish conflicts offirst half of the 16th century, more and more military colonists resettledon the Ionian Islands, Dalmatia and Italy.[27] One Greek writer has estimatedthat the number of Albanian and Greekstradioti that settled in Venetianterritories and in Italy reached 4500 men, together with their familiesthey numbered about 15,500. If one includes those settled in Southern Italyand Sicily, the numbers reach about 25,000.[28]
A second factor in the widespread employment ofstradioti by theVenetian Republic was economy. The pay of the stradioti was lower, at leastuntil 1519, than western mercenaries, be they Italians, Swiss, Germans orothers.[29] Thestradioti were not mercenaries in the strictest sense,they were refugees who maintained themselves and their families in exileby their skill at arms. Wherever they were garrisoned or deployed, theybrought their families and settled them at or near their place of duty.Indeed thestradioti seemed to appreciate honors and privileges overpay. Thestradioti actually sought out favors in the form of paradesand titles, and the frugal Venetian government was only too glad to obligethem. This is evidenced by the titles their leaders accumulated and thesentiments expressed in the poems, both in Greek and Italian, which dealtwith their exploits.[30] They also appreciated the right to practice theirreligion, the Greek rite, be it Orthodox or Uniate. Thestradiotiwere instrumental in the founding of Greek Churches in Venice, Naples andthe towns of Dalmatia, as will be elucidated later.
The third factor in the Venetian preference in employingstradiotiwas the troops' unorthodox tactics and methods of fighting, which couldbe utilized in different ways. Thestradioti's light cavalry tacticsmatched those of Ottomansipahi(feudal) andakinci(irregular)cavalry, which made them an asset to Venice in the garrisons of its Balkanand Levantine possessions, where they were maintained well after the 16thcentury. In Italy and elsewhere in Western Europe they proved to be usefulin scouting reconnaissance, and in raiding forces in disarray or retreat,as seen in the descriptions above. According to the most important studyof the Venetian army, "They may have been especially praised for raidingdeep into enemy-occupied country where opportunities for loot were freest…"[31]However the style and conduct of thestradioti was criticized, accordingto some Venetian officials, they were "Anti-Christian, perfidious,born thieves and potential traitors..." and "...so disobedientthat they can do us no good."[32]
The most notorious example of their reputed unreliability was in thecrucial battle of Fornovo of 1494 in which they wasted their tactical advantageby looting the French baggage train. According to one description of thebattle:[33]
The battle of Fornovo was not a victory for Venice and its allies butrather a serious turning point in Italian history, according to CharlesOman:[34]
Nevertheless in subsequent campaigns the stradioti impressed the Venetiansand their adversaries with their tactics, which included repeated attacksand disengagement, which enticed opposing forces to pursue. Enemy forceswould lose formation and become even more vulnerable to thestradiotiattacks. Opponents would have to deploy infantry armed with arquebus, orartillery in defense against thestradioti.[35]
Other states also discovered these tactical assets and began to weanawaystradioti from Venetian service by better pay or conditionsof service. According to Comines and others, France under Louis XII recruitedsome 2000stradioti in 1497; some two years after French forces inItaly encountered them at Fornovo. Among the French they were known asestradiotsandargoulets. The use of the two names has led some historiansto consider that there were two separate corps of light cavalry in serviceto the French king.[36] However it seems that the two terms were initiallyinterchangeable, and only later indicated separate forces. Some historianshave identified the termargoulet with the GreekargetesorArgive, because it seems that a significant number of troops who went overto the French service originally came from Napoli di Romagna (Nauplion)on the Argive plain near the ancient Greek city of Argos.[37] The Frenchmaintained a corps of light cavalry known asestradiots orargouletsuntil the reign of Henry III.[38]
Naples under Spanish suzerainty also recruitedstradiotiin thelate 15th and early 16th century. The first entry ofstradioti intoNeapolitan or Spanish service occurred in the 1470's in the wake of a revoltin the Mani under one Korkodeilos Kladas. A Neapolitan ship picked up therebels and brought to them Neapolitan territory, where together with Albanianrefugees under the son of Scanderbeg, John Kastrioti, they participatedin fomenting a revolt in the Himara (Cheimarra) region of Epirus. Afterthe failure of this insurrection, most of Kladas' and Kastrioti's men, togetherwith other refugees from Himara, served the Spanish in Italy.[39] Laterin 1538, after the Venetians abandoned Corone, the Spanish government inNaples accepted many refugees from that Peloponnesian town and region, someof whom had served the Venetians asstradioti.These troops now tookon service with the Spanish in Naples. Spain continued to employ stradiotiin the 16th and 17th century, chiefly in Naples and elsewhere in Italy.The most important recruiting area for these troops was Cheimarra.[40]
Since Spain and Naples were connected with the Holy Roman Empire throughthe person of Charles V in the first half of the 16th century,stradiotiwere soon found serving the Habsburgs not only in Italy, but also in Germanyand the Netherlands. Among those who distinguished themselves in Habsburgservice and became knights of the Holy Roman Empire were the captains IakovosDiassorinos, Georgios Bastas, the Brothers Vasilikos, and the redoubtableMerkourios Bouas. Bouas was given titles by the Venetians and French aswell.[41]Henry VIII also employed Stradioti in France and England,notably under the captains Thomas Buas of Argos, Theodore Luchisi, and AntoniosStesinos. The former was named colonel and commander ofstradiotiin Henry's service at Calais.[42] There is also some evidence that Greeksserved as cavalrymen, together with Serbs, in the Muscovite armies in thelate 16th and early 17th century, during the notorious "Time of Troubles."[43]
By the end of the 16th century, however, the number ofstradioticompanies employed in Italian and other western armies dwindled. The creationof light cavalry formations, borrowing from the traditions of thestradioti,as well as those of the Spanishgenitours(genitaires) andthe Hungarianhussars,replaced thestradiotiin many Europeanarmies. These new units, made up of natives or various ethnic groups, alsoadded firearms to their panoply, and the mention ofstradioti,argoulets,estradiots,Albanese,Albains,Greci,Levantini,etc. become less and less frequent. Western armies had formed theirown light cavalry units and relied less and less upon thestradioti.
There are indications that thestradioti were called both Albaniansand Greeks in various sources for good reason. While the bulk ofstradiotirank and file were of Albanian origin from Greece, by the middle of the16th century there is evidence that many had become Hellenized or even Italianized.The most telling examples of this phenomenon are in the works of TzanesKoronaios and Manoli Blessi. The former work is a long epic poem in vernacularGreek on the exploits of one of the most famous ofstradioti, MerkouriosBouas, in the armies of Venice, France, and the Holy Roman Empire. The author,Koronaios, seems to have beenstradiotto-troubadour of Zantiote originthat was a companion of Merkourios Bouas. In his poem, which is a paeanto Merkourios Bouas, Koronaios gives Bouas' mythological pedigree, whichincludes Achilles, Alexander the Great and Pyrrhus. The language of thepoem, the pedigree and other allusions, give an indication of the processof Hellenization of the Albanianstradioti.[44] Manoli Blessi's poeticworks, songs of thestradioti, are in Italian with many words andphrases in Greek, very colloquial Greek. There are no Albanian words inhis poems.[45] Hellenization was perhaps well on its way prior to serviceabroad, since Albanianstradioti had settled in Greek lands for twogenerations prior to their emigration to Italy. Since many served underGreek commanders and served together with Greekstradioti, the processcontinued. Another factor in this assimilative process was thestradioti'sand their families' active involvement and affiliation with the Greek Orthodoxor Uniate Church communities in Naples, Venice and elsewhere. Hellenizationthus occurred as a result of common service and church affiliation.[46]
Stradioti were still employed by some Italian states, notablyVenice and Spanish Naples. The hiring and maintenance ofstradiotitroops was continued in Naples until the early 18th century. Most of thesetroops were later recruited from Epirus and Southern Albania, in particularfrom the Greco-Albanian region of Cheimarra. According to histories of theReggimento Real Macedone,a Balkan light infantry force which servedthe Kingdom of the Two Sicilies between 1735 and 1820, its first commanderand organizer was one Count Strates Gkikas, who is described as a veteranstradiotto.This may be further indication ofstradioti inNeapolitan service into the eighteenth century.[47]
Likewisestradioti continued to be employed by Venice ascapelatti(rural gendarmes) in theTerra Firmawell into the seventeenth century.Stradioti companies also continued to be garrisoned in some of thetowns of Dalmatia (Sibenik, Trogir, Zadar, Split, and Kotor), and on theIonian Islands of Cephalonia, Corfu and Zante.[48] On the Ionian Islandsthestradioti continued their service through the 18th century. Thisstradioti were descendents of refugees from the lost Venetian holdingson the mainland who had settled on the islands in the 15th and 16th centuries.They received land and privileges, and served as cavalry and participatedin Venice's conflicts with the Turks throughout the 17th century. Eventuallythese units became anachronisms, their ranks virtually a hereditary caste.Some of thestradioti or their descendents became in time membersof the Ionian nobility, while others took to farming and other pursuits.By the late 17th and early 18th centuries, Venetian authorities found itnecessary to reorganize thestradioti companies. On Zante, for example,they reduced their numbers and privileges because of absenteeism and disciplineproblems in the rank and file. Nevertheless thestradioti formationsremained in nominal service through the 18th century. The CorfioteStradiotiCompany existed until the end of Venetian rule and the French occupationin 1797.[49]
One can say that thestradiotiin time were assimilated into thelocal Italian, South Slavic and Greek populations of the areas in whichthey were settled. But nonetheless they did leave their impact upon theareas in which they sojourned. As mentioned earlier, thestradiotiwere instrumental in the founding of Greek churches, Uniate or Orthodox(or both in some cases) in Venice and Naples in Italy, as well as Pola,Trogir, Zadar, Split, and Sibenik, in Northern Dalmatia. In all of theseregions, thestradioti and their families melted into the milieuof the church communities and eventually into the society at large. In northernDalmatia, there was, as one authors calls it in German, akirchensymbiose;a slow acculturation of Greek (stradioti) and South Slav elementsin the Orthodox Church communities in predominantly Catholic Dalmatia untilmost of the oldstradioti families eventually identified themselvesas Serbs by the 19th century. Similar processes may have occurred in theGreek Church communities in Italy as well. Thestradioti were firstintegrated into the Greek church community and then assimilated into thegeneral society of the Italian towns.[50]
As we have seen in this brief study, companies ofstradioti werebrought to Italy in the late fifteenth century and served in Venice's armedconflicts on theterrafirma. It was in these wars that thestratiotimade an impact on warfare in Italy and the west, chiefly by their styleof fighting and tactics. Thestradiotiwere armed and fought as lightcavalry in a manner that developed from warfare among Byzantine, Slavic,Albanian and Ottoman forces. They carried spear, a long saber, mace, anddagger, and were attired in a mixture of oriental and Byzantine militarygarb. Thestradioti introduced the Near Eastern methods of cavalrywarfare, which used hit-and-attacks, ambushes, feigned retreats, counterattacksand other tactics little known to western armies of the era. The activitiesof thestradioti has been noted by a number of historians, notablyCharles Oman, Mario Sanuto, Coriolano Cippico, Erculi Riccoti, Daniel Hardy,Konstantinos Sathas, John Hale, Franz Babinger and others, some even claimingthat thestradioti were instrumental in the reintroduction of lightcavalry tactics in western armies. In the sixteenth century, stradioti troopsalso served the armies of Milan, Genoa, Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire,and England. Aside from their military activities, the stradioti were instrumentalin the establishment of Greek Orthodox communities in Venice and Dalmatia.