t important change in the Condottiere system, which took place
during the lifetime of Gian Galeazzo Visconti. Alberico da Barbiano, a
noble of Romagna, and the ancestor of the Milanese house of Belgiojoso,
adopted the career of Condottiere, and formed a Company, called the
Company of S. George, into which he admitted none but Italians. The
consequence of this rule was that he Italianized the profession of
mercenary arms for the future. All the great captains of the period were
formed in his ranks, during the course of those wars which he conducted
for the Duke of Milan. Two rose to paramount importance--Braccio da
Montone, who varied his master's system by substituting the tactics of
detached bodies of cavalry for the solid phalanx in which Barbiano had
moved his troops; and Sforza Attendolo, who adhered to the old method.
Sforza got his name from his great physical strength. He was a peasant
of the village of Cotignola, who, being invited to quit the mattock for
a sword, threw his pickax into an oak, and cried, 'If it stays there, it
is a sign that I shall make my fortune.' The ax stuck in the tree, and
Sforza went forth to found a line of dukes.[2] After the death of
Barbiano in 1409, Sforza and Braccio separated and formed two distinct
companies, known as the Sforzeschi and Bracceschi, who carried on
between them, sometimes in combination, but usually in opposition, all
the wars of Italy for the next twenty years. These old comrades, who had
parted in pursuit of their several advantage, found that they had more
to lose than to gain by defeating each other in any bloody or
inconveniently decisive engagement. Therefore they adopted systems of
campaigning which should cost them as little as possible, but which
enabled them to exhibit a chess-player's capacity for designing clever
checkmates.[3] Both Braccio and Sforza died in 1424, and were succeeded
respectively by Nicolo Piccinino and Francesco Sforza. These two men
became in their turn the chief champions of Italy. At the same time
other Condottieri rose into notice. The Malatesta family at Rimini, the
ducal house of Urbino, the Orsini and the Vitelli of the Roman States,
the Varani of Camerino, the Baglioni of Perugia, and the younger
Gonzaghi furnished republics and princes with professional leaders of
tried skill and independent resources. The vassals of these noble houses
were turned into men-at-arms, and the chiefs acquired more importance in
their roving military