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SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD (d. 1394)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 100 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:JOHN See also:HAWKWOOD (d. 1394)  , an See also:English adventurer who attained See also:great See also:wealth and renown as a See also:condottiere in the See also:Italian See also:wars of the 14th See also:century . His name is variously spelt as Haccoude, Aucud, Aguto, &c., by contemporaries . It is said that he was the son of a See also:tanner of Hedingham Sibil in See also:Essex, and was apprenticed in See also:London, whence he went, in the English See also:army, to See also:France under See also:Edward III. and the See also:Black See also:Prince . It is said also that he obtained the favour of the Black Prince, and received See also:knighthood from See also:King Edward III., but though it is certain that he was of knightly See also:rank, there is no See also:evidence as tothe See also:time or See also:place at which he won it . On the See also:peace of Bretigny in 136o, he collected a See also:band of men-at-arms, and moved See also:south-See also:ward to See also:Italy, where we find the See also:White See also:Company, as his men were called, assisting the See also:marquis of Monferrato against See also:Milan in 1362–63, and the Pisans against See also:Florence in 1364 . After several See also:campaigns in various parts of central Italy, See also:Hawkwood in 1368 entered the service of Bernabo See also:Visconti . In 1369 he fought for See also:Perugia against the See also:pope, and in 1370 for the Visconti against See also:Pisa, Florence and other enemies . In 1372 he defeated the marquis of Monferrato, but soon afterwards, resenting the interference of a See also:council of See also:war with his plans, Hawkwood resigned his command, and the White Company passed into the papal service, in which he fought against the Visconti in 1373-1375 . In 1375 the Florentines entered into an agreement with him, by which they were to pay him and his See also:companion 130,000 See also:gold florins in three months on See also:condition that he undertook no engagement against them; and in the same See also:year the priors of the arts and the gonfalonier decided to give him a See also:pension of 1200 florins per annum for as See also:long as he should remain in Italy . In 1377, under the orders of the See also:cardinal See also:Robert of See also:Geneva, See also:legate of See also:Bologna, he massacred the inhabitants of See also:Cesena, but in May of the same year, disliking the executioner's See also:work put upon him by the legate, he joined the See also:anti-papal See also:league, and married, at Milan, Donnina, an illegitimate daughter of Bernabo Visconti . In 1378 and 1379 Hawkwood was constantly in the See also:field; he quarrelled with Bernabo in 1378, and entered the service of Florence, receiving, as in 1375, 130,000 gold florins . He rendered See also:good service to the See also:republic up to 1382, when for a time he was one of the English ambassadors at the papal See also:court .

He engaged in a brief See also:

campaign in See also:Naples in 1383, fought for the marquis of See also:Padua against See also:Verona in 1386, and in 1388 made an unsuccessful effort against Gian Galeazzo Visconti, who had murdered Bernabo . In 1390 the Florentines took up the war against Gian Galeazzo in See also:earnest, and appointed Hawkwood See also:commander-in-See also:chief . His campaign against the Milanese army in the Veronese and the See also:Bergamask was reckoned a See also:triumph of generalship, and in 1392 Florence exacted a satisfactory peace from Gian Galeazzo . His latter years were spent in a See also:villa in the neighbourhood of Florence . On his See also:death in 1394 the republic gave him a public funeral of great magnificence, and decreed the erection of a See also:marble See also:monument in the See also:cathedral . This, however, was never executed; but See also:Paolo Uccelli painted his portrait in terre-verte on the inner See also:facade of the See also:building, where it still remains, though damaged by removal from the See also:plaster to See also:canvas . See also:Richard II. of See also:England, probably at the instigation of Hawkwood's sons, who returned to their native See also:country, requested the Florentines to let him remove the good See also:knight's bones, and the Florentine See also:government signified its consent . Of his See also:children by Donnina Visconti, who appears to have been his second wife, the eldest daughter married See also:Count Brezaglia of Porciglia, See also:podesta of See also:Ferrara, who succeeded him as Florentine commander-in-chief, and another a See also:German condottiere named See also:Conrad Prospergh . His son, See also:John, returned to England and settled at Hedingham Sibil, where, it is supposed, See also:Sir John Hawkwood was buried . The children of the first See also:marriage were two sons and three daughters, and of the latter the youngest married John See also:Shelley, an ancestor of the poet . Au''rnoRITIES.—See also:Muratori,Rerusnitalicarumscriptores,and supplement by Tartinius and Manni; See also:Arch.ivio storico italiano; See also:Temple-See also:Leader and 1Vlarcotti, Giovanni Acnto (Florence, 1889; Eng. transl., Leader See also:Scott, London, 1889) ; See also:Nichol, Bibliotheca topographiea Britannica, vol. vi.; J . G .

See also:

Alger in See also:Register and See also:Magazine of See also:Biography, v . 1.; and See also:article in Dict . Nat . Biog .

End of Article: SIR JOHN HAWKWOOD (d. 1394)
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