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LEFT A page from the mid-14th-century Choir Books of Verona cathedral, showing a light-infantry tabulaccio. (Mss. LLIX & MLVIII, c.22V, Biblioteca del Duofflo, Verona)

RIGHT Another page from Verona cathedraTs Choir Books, this time showing a heavy infantry pavesare.

rounding eon lado inereased. Unlike urban militiamen, however, the latter were ‘pressed men’ who served unwillingly and for little reward. It is interesting to notę too that there was often one crossbowman for every ten infantrymen in these units. By the mid-14th century there were signs of discontent even amongst elite urban crossbowmen and, although this was temporarily solved by forming them into separate units while the rest of the militia fell into decline, by the late-14th century even wealthy Florence could no longer pay its crossbow elite properly. Men began to avoid training and garrison duty, insubordination was rife and the well-off paid others to take their places. Other cities faced similar problems. The threat posed by roving armies of predatory mercenaries forced Onieto to revive its militias but they proved ineffective. In 1366 a league of central Italian cities was formed to deal with the menace of unem-ployed mercenary companies: each city provided an equal number of infantry militia, half of them crossbowmen, and cavalry largely reeruited from the mercenary companies themsehes. Meanwhile smaller States like Lucca, which lacked the money to hire sufficient mercenaries, con-tinued to rely on Citizen militias long after they were dissolved elsewhere.

Professional infantry often came from the same backgrounds as the militias and many may even have served as militiamen. During the 13th century the most famous units were ‘Saracens’ from Lucera, crossbowmen from Pisa, Corsica, Genoa and Liguria, and other foot soldiers from the hills of Romagna. Some served outside Italy, most notably Genoese crossbowmen in French senice during the 14th century. Surviving condotta contracts provide details of how they were reeruited, equipped and paid. Most were enlisted as groups rather than individuals, and the standardisation of arms and armour was quite surprising:

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