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ABOVE ‘Siena’s Chamberlain and clerk at work' on the cover of the Biccherna records for the year 1388. (Archivio di Stato, Siena)

tlie Aragonese rulcrs of Sicily had to desperately defend their cities against attack by their rieal Naples, an aria}’ of comilwi (private armies) had sprung up and taken over tliis role. The loyally of these coniilitii coitld also be bought by wealthy or powerful men who used them to control what was left of the rural interior or the surrounding eon lado.

Most rural militias were rabbles of unwilling peasantry, that were too poor to equip themsehes properly: however, in sonie places they were a morę effective fighting force. Those of the Florentine conlado, for example. were based upon the picve (a group of parishes), and eacli had its own uessilli (a detachment marching behind a banner carried bv a veteran from a leading local family). These and other rural militias were listed according to their leghe, or unit. of which there were around 53. li is possible that the nrban qnarters of Florence were given responsibilily for the military organisation of parts of the conlado in the mid-13th centurw The demand for troops led to an inerease in the quota of militiamen reeruited from the conlado, but tliis led to a drop in qualitv: tliis can be clearly seen in a report dated 1364 by Coppo de Medici. which paints a dismal picture.

The little citv of Lucca coiitinuecl to rele on both rural and nrban militias, and here the conlado was dieided into sections, eacli of which had to supple paresari, balesticri, and tabulacciari. One 1 4th-centnrv record of a mnster sliows that the smallest unit came from Montiscaroli (11 balesticri, 13 pcwesari, seven tabulacciari) and the largest from the Vicariate of Camporeggiane (100, 120, and 80 respectivelv). We know that in 1383, 36 skilled militiamen were to be procided bv eacli area: these men were dieided into tliree groups which senecl for one montli at a time. However, tliis proved to be both ttnpopular and expensive, so instead money was spent on improcing the for-tifications, and fewer men were employed. Thus the wages of the cerne rural militia were reduced.

The Information available regareling Siena highlights different problems. Here the rural areas included lordships which were not strictly part of the conlado. The military obligations of these lordships were definecł in their original treaties of submission to the city, or capituli, and mostly consisted of an agreement to supply a ftxed ntimber of infantrymen, at Siena’s expense. An example of tliis dates from 1302, when a special force of 2,000 contadini was reeruited from the nine eicariates of the conlado, on the basis that their dominant families had shown traditional loyalty to Siena and the Guelf cause. Their primary function was to defend the Sienese Popolo Grasso and Popolo Minuto against attack from their own grandi magnates or aristocracy. Although sucli obligations could be demanding, they were

RIGHT Detail from a 1338-39 allegorical wall-painting by Ambroglio Lorenzetti representing ‘Bad Government in the Country': here, soldiers are abducting a woman. (In situ, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena)

BELOW Fragment of a damaged early-14th-century wall-painting showing a hilltop castle and fortified village. (In situ, Palazzo Pubblico, Siena)

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