Condottieri (Italian: [kondotˈtjɛːri]; sg.: condottiero or condottiere) were Italian military leaders during the Middle Ages and the early modern period. The definition originally applied only to commanders of mercenary companies, condottiero in medieval Italian meaning ‘contractor’ and condotta being the contract by which the condottieri put themselves in the service of a city or lord. The term, however, came to refer to all the famed Italian military leaders of the Renaissance, Reformation and Counter-Reformation eras. Notable condottieri include Prospero Colonna, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, Cesare Borgia, the Marquis of Pescara, Andrea Doria, and the Duke of Parma. They served Popes and other European monarchs and states during the Italian Wars and the European wars of religion.[1][2][3]
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I looked this up bc of their reputation for showing up to a fight and not really fighting. This is a great example of how wikipedia articles differ in languages. The English version, in section titled “Decline” says:
In time, the financial and political interests of the condottieri proved serious drawbacks to decisive, bloody warfare: the mercenary captains often were treacherous, tending to avoid combat, and “resolve” fights with a bribe—either for the opponent or for themselves.[citation needed] Towards the end of the 15th century, when the large cities had gradually swallowed up the small states, and Italy itself was drawn into the general current of European politics, and became the battlefield of powerful armies—French, Spanish and German—the venture captains, who in the end proved quite unequal to the gendarmerie of France and the improved troops of the Italian states, gradually disappeared.
The soldiers of the condottieri were almost entirely heavy armoured cavalry (men-at-arms). Before 1400, they had little or nothing in common with the people among whom they fought, and their disorderly conduct and rapacity seem often to have exceeded that of medieval armies. They were always ready to change sides at the prospect of higher pay—the enemy of today might be the comrade-in-arms of tomorrow. Further, a prisoner was always more valuable than a dead enemy. As a consequence, their battles were often as bloodless as they were theatrical.
The age of firearms and weapons utilizing gunpowder further contributed to the decline of the condottieri. Although the mercenary forces were among the first to adapt to the emerging technologies on the battlefield,[citation needed] ultimately, the advent of firearms-governed warfare rendered their ceremonial fighting style obsolete. When battlefields shifted from chivalric confrontations characterized by ostentatious displays of power to an everyman’s war, they were ill-prepared to adjust.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condottiero#Decline
There were a lot of “citations needed” so I thought I’d compare the section to the Spanish version:
El declive de los condotieros llegó en 1494, cuando el rey francés Carlos VIII emprendió la primera invasión extranjera de Italia en más de un siglo. Sus tropas utilizaban masivamente la artillería, contra la que los condotieros no estaban preparados para combatir, además de estar basadas en un esquema militar donde jefes y oficiales dependían -para su paga y ascensos- directamente del monarca francés y no de señores feudales, lo cual hacía mucho más difícil que desertasen o cambiasen de bando. Aunque las tropas francesas utilizaban también mercenarios suizos, estos aspiraban a una buena paga antes que a influencia política sobre un señorío en un país desconocido, siendo así más confiables que los condotieros.
Para estas fechas, a fines del siglo XV, los condotieros italianos solían privilegiar sus intrigas políticas y el lucro antes que el “arte guerrero” donde lucían sus conocimientos en táctica militar: de hecho las campañas bélicas podían resultar incruentas si un bando lograba sobornar a la condotta enemiga, las batallas se tornaban en simples exhibiciones de fuerza donde los mercenarios evitaban riesgos mortales, y donde atrapar prisioneros (de preferencia, adinerados) resultaba más lucrativo para cobrar rescate, antes que matar soldados enemigos.
Los triunfos franceses de 1494 causaron pronto la intervención de España, reino que casi nunca utilizaba mercenarios, pero las tropas españolas aun así demostraron una valía militar que hacía innecesario recurrir a la costosa -y muy poco fiable- condotta. Muchos de los condotieros más famosos decidieron entonces ponerse al servicio de potencias extranjeras: Gian Giacomo Trivulzio por ejemplo, abandonó a Milán por Francia, Francisco II Gonzaga y Ludovico II de Saluzzo también se unieron a los franceses, y Andrea Doria se convirtió en almirante del emperador español Carlos V.
Las Guerras Italianas, en las cuales la península fue invadida por los modernos ejércitos de los Habsburgo y de Francia, marcaron el final de la edad dorada de los condotieros, incapaces de hacer frente a los piqueros suizos, los lansquenetes alemanes, la caballería francesa o los tercios españoles. Sobre todo, los condotieros carecían de experiencia en el uso de la artillería y los arcabuces o mosquetes que eran ya imprescindibles en los modernos ejércitos europeos, además que sus tácticas de riesgo mínimo eran poco útiles ante rivales cuya meta era inutilizar al enemigo. Así, la práctica de la condotta ya había desaparecido hacia 1550, pero la palabra condottiero, sin embargo, continuó utilizándose para denominar en Europa a los generales distinguidos de origen italiano, sobre todo cuando combatían al servicio de potencias extranjeras, tales como Marco Antonio Colonna, Ottavio Piccolomini y Raimondo Montecuccoli.
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condotiero#Decadencia_y_final
If you don’t read Spanish, just note the mention of “Carlos VIII” (Charles VIII of France) in the first paragraph, and “la intervención de España” (the intervention of Spain) in the third, which were absent in the English version.
So I figured I might as well check the Italian version:
Se da una parte è vero che talvolta i capitani di ventura ci tenevano soprattutto a risparmiare i loro uomini e i loro cavalli arrivando persino ai casi limite di combattimenti prolungati ma con scarsissimo spargimento di sangue, dall’altra si dimostrarono abili nel maneggio delle armi, introducendo per primi la tecnica dei combattimenti a cavallo con indosso pesanti armature. L’abitudine di far rivestire i propri uomini di ferro anziché di cuoio viene, per primo, attribuita al capitano Mostarda da Forlì.
Solamente con l’introduzione delle armi da fuoco e di agguerrite milizie nazionali, il periodo aureo dei capitani di ventura tese progressivamente ad esaurirsi.
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitano_di_ventura
Note that this entire article is much briefer by comparison (which was surprising) and the “decline” section was just those couple of paragraphs. However, this article did link to a separate article about “condottiero” throughout history (as opposed to just in the middle ages/early modern period) which had a section about how they’d be made fun of in movies and books:
Nella letteratura e successivamente nel cinema non è raro vedere messi in ridicolo soldati di ventura o capitani; l’intento è quello di ricalcare un’ironica e satirica, ma veritiera, rappresentazione della realtà attuale. Gli esempi più chiari sono la figura di Don Chisciotte della Mancia, capitano spagnolo errante e sfortunato che cerca nemici fittizi da sconfiggere, la nascita della maschera comica del capitano, uomo bello, robusto e pomposo, ma in realtà timoroso e imbelle, e infine il personaggio cinematografico di Brancaleone da Norcia nei film L’armata Brancaleone (1966) e Brancaleone alle crociate (1970), entrambi diretti dal regista Mario Monicelli.
While I was at it, I figured I’d look at the French page, even though I just barely read French:
Les guerres d’Italie qui débutent par l’arrivée des troupes françaises conduites par Charles VIII dans la Péninsule en 1494, marquent un tournant décisif qui défavorise les entreprises solitaires des capitaines d’aventures. L’arrivée à la fin du XVe siècle des stradiotes balkaniques, cavaliers légèrement équipés, armés d’arcs puis d’arbalètes, sujets de l’empire vénitien, bouleverse les méthodes de combat et met un terme à la brutalité exterminatrice. Quand Charles Quint domine l’Europe et engage des combattants professionnels pendant une longue durée qui ne se préoccupent pas des affaires politiques de leurs employeurs, la mentalité des gens de guerre évolue. Peu à peu, l’internationalisation des armées régionales met fin à la glorieuse époque des condottieri qui ne jouent plus les premiers rôles en Italie. Ils sont remplacés par des officiers prenant le commandement d’hommes de troupe salariés par les gouvernements. Les compagnies indépendantes sont marginalisées au profit d’armées de métier permanentes, celles des connétables à contrat. Déjà en 1467, Colleoni dispose de 15 000 fantassins sous les ordres de 36 connétables a provisione. En 1508, le sénat vénitien réorganise la défense de son territoire et installe une armée nationale composée, pour la première fois, de sujets vénitiens 4.
Les condottieres disparaissent dans les dernières décennies du XVIe siècle. Les historiens l’expliquent aussi par la domination espagnole sur la Péninsule, l’apparition d’Etats plus structurés ou bien encore la mise en place de la Contre-Réforme. Nicolas Machiavel, François Guichardin et Paolo Giovio ont multiplié les critiques face aux condottiere jugés responsables de cette mainmise étrangère sur l’Italie et de sa décadence4.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condottiere#Disparition
I’d have to look at it a lot more to really understand it, but note the increased emphasis on Charles VIII again. Wish I spoke more languages!