Editing Condottiero (section)

{{Short description|Mercenary soldier leader in medieval Italy}}
[[File:Bartolomeo Colleoni by Andrea del Verrocchio.jpg|thumb|The [[equestrian statue of Bartolomeo Colleoni]] in [[Venice]], Italy]]


'''Condottieri''' ({{IPA|it|kondotˈtjɛːri|lang}}; {{singular}}: condottiero or condottiere) were Italian military leaders during the [[Middle Ages]] and the [[early modern period]]. The definition initially applied only to commanders of [[mercenary]] companies, {{lang|it|condottiero}}  originally meaning 'contractor' and {{lang|it|condotta}} being the contract by which the condottieri put themselves in the service of a city or lord. In Italian, however, the term ''condottiero'' eventually became synonymous with 'commander' or 'military leader'.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-dVAAAAYAAJ&q=last+condottiere+Montecuccoli|title=Raimondo Montecuccoli: capitano e scrittore|last1=Tomassini|first1=Luciano|last2=storico|first2=Italy Esercito Corpo di stato maggiore Ufficio|date=1978|publisher=Stato Maggiore dell'esercito, Ufficio storico|language=it}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WLNJAQAAIAAJ&q=Condottiere+Alessandro+Farnese|title=Alessandro Farnese: condottiero e duca (1545–1592)|last1=Pronti|first1=Stefano|last2=civici|first2=Piacenza (Italy) Musei|date=1995|publisher=TipLeCo|language=it}}</ref><ref>Lenman, B., Anderson, T. ''Chambers Dictionary of World History'', p. 200</ref>