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Free Company Names
Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2004 11:31 pm
by Jehan de Pelham
What are all the names of all the free companies known in the Hundred Years' War?
Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus
Posted: Sun Sep 12, 2004 6:03 am
by Egfroth
I'm on an academic list which might have access to this information. I'll ask them if there's a source available.
In the meantime, you might try Trial by Fire
The Hundred Years War (Vols I & II)
Jonathan Sumption
Publisher: Faber & Faber, 1999, 2001
and
Contamine, Philippe. Guerre, état et société àla fin du moyen âge . Paris: Mouton, 1971.
Favier, Jean. La Guerre de cent ans . Paris: Fayard, 1980.
Perroy, Edouard. The Hundred Years War , trans. W. B. Wells. London: Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1951.
I have no idea whether these books have the information you need. I did a google search on routier hundred war
Good luck with it.
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:06 am
by Egfroth
Well, I got a reply - as follows:
Your best starting point would be Kenneth Fowler's "Medieval
Mercenaries" (2001).
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:49 am
by Jehan de Pelham
Very good, I thank you.
Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 2:08 pm
by jester
In Italy -
The Great Company (more than one)
The Company of the Dove
The Company of St. George (more than one)
The White Company (more than one)
According to what I have read the men of the companies tended to refer to themselves as routes (travelling groups) identified by a leader. Ruffin's Route, for instance. The routes claimed membership in the Great Company. It appears, though I cannot substantiate this, that they considered themselves members of a sort of brotherhood of professional warriors rather than members of a cohesive military organizaton. This apparent trend can also be seen in the names the companies took for themselves which ape the secular knightly orders (the Garter, the Star, etc...)
Other known company names out of your selected time period:
The Company of the Hat
The Company of Death
The Grand Catalan Company
Sorry, that's all I've got off the top of my head. I'll dig out my research notes when I get home tonight.
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 3:19 pm
by Jehan de Pelham
Jester, I should have just asked you direct. You are, after all, the mercenary subject matter expert here. Thanks!
Jehan, squire of Sir Vitus
Posted: Mon Sep 13, 2004 6:02 pm
by Egfroth
And another reply with some sources -
Try Jonathan Sumption's Trial by Fire (London 1999), Chapter 10:
Unfinished business 1360-1364, p. 455-503, which discusses the rise of
the companies after the peace of Bretigny 1360. Very clarifying.