White Compnay

Despite it being commonly referred to as the English Company, personnel were drawn from a wide range of nationalities, reflecting the international nature of Italian mercenary warfare in the 14th. century, including at various times Germans, Italians and Hungarians.^[6] The numbers of men in the Company varied over the years. In 1361, it is recorded as having 3,500 cavalry and 2,000 infantry. At its lowest ebb in 1388, it had a mere 250 men.^[7] The company was organised in lances of three men; a man-at-arms, a squire and a page. Of these, only the man-at-arms and squire were armed.^[8] These lances were organised into contingents, each under a corporal, who was often an independent sub-contractor.^[6] This structure gave the Company a certain democratic element and it is thought that John Hawkwood first gained command of the Company in 1365 by election.^[9] The company contained numbers of infantry, particularly English longbowmen.^[10] These could be mounted on horses as were the 600 involved in the Battle of Castagnaro in 1387. In addition to its military structure, the Company had an administrative staff, usually Italian, of chancellors and notaries who managed the legal and contractual aspects of the Companies relationship with employers, and a treasurer to handle its financial affairs. The White Company's treasurer was an Englishman, William Thornton.^[11]

Tactics

The White Company is credited with introducing to Italy the practice of dismounting men-at-arms in battle,^[12] a practice already commonplace in the battles of the Hundred Years' War in France. Contemporary witnesses record that the Company fought dismounted and in close order, advancing with two men-at-arms holding the same lance at a slow pace while shouting loud battle cries. The longbowmen apparently drew up behind.^[13][14] This is not to suggest that they abandoned mounted combat altogether. The Battle of Castagnaro was won by a cavalry charge.[15