Pope's nominee were blent in Cesare Borgia. This is therefore
the proper moment for glancing at the rise and influence of mercenary
generals in Italy, before proceeding to sketch the history of the Sforza
family.

After the wars in Sicily, carried on by the Angevine princes, had ceased
(1302), a body of disbanded soldiers, chiefly foreigners, was formed
under Fra Ruggieri, a Templar, and swept the South of Italy. Giovanni
Villani marks this as the first sign of the scourge which was destined
to prove so fatal to the peace of Italy.[1] But it was not any merely
accidental outbreak of Banditti, such as this, which established the
Condottiere system. The causes were far more deeply seated, in the
nature of Italian despotism and in the peculiar requirements of the
republics. We have already seen how Frederick II. found it convenient to
employ Saracens in his warfare with the Holy See. The same desire to
procure troops incapable of sympathizing with the native population
induced the Scala and Visconti tyrants to hire German, Breton, Swiss,
English, and even Hungarian guards. These foreign troops remained at
the disposal of the tyrants and superseded the national militia. The
people of Italy were reserved for taxation; the foreigners carried on
the wars of the princes. Nor was this policy otherwise than popular. It
relieved all classes from the conscription, leaving the burgher free to
ply his trade, the peasant to till his fields, and disarming the nobles
who were still rebellious and turbulent within the city walls. The same
custom gained ground among the Republics. Rich Florentine citizens
preferred to stay at home at ease, or to travel abroad for commerce,
while they intrusted their military operations to paid generals.[2]
Venice, jealous of her own citizens, raised no levies in her immediate
territory, and made a rule of never confiding her armies to Venetians.
Her admirals, indeed, were selected from the great families of the
Lagoons. But her troops were placed beneath the discipline of
foreigners. The warfare of the Church, again, had of necessity to be
conducted on the same principles; for it did not often happen that a
Pope arose like Julius II., rejoicing in the sound of cannon and the
life of camps. In this way principalities and republics gradually
denationalized their armies, and came to carrying on campaigns by the
aid of foreign mercenaries under paid commanders. The generals, wishing
as far as possible to rend