Historical Overview Section
From 1305 to 1378 the Pope lived in the papal enclave of Avignon, surrounded by Provence, and were under the influence of the French kings in the 'Babylonian Captivity'. During this Avignon Papacy, local despots took advantage of the absence of the popes, to establish themselves in nominally papal cities. In Rome itself the Orsini and the Colonna struggled for supremacy, dividing the city's rioni between them.
In the 1350's there were renewed attempts from the absentee papacy to re-establish order in the troubled Papal States, resulting in the military primacy of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, who was appointed papal legate, and his condottieri heading a small mercenary army. Having received the support of the archbishop of Milan he defeated Giovanni di Vico, Lord of Viterbo, moving against Rimini, Forlì, Urbino, Ravenna, Senigallia and Ancona. The last holdouts against full papal control were Giovanni Manfredi of Faenza and Francesco II Ordelaffi of Forlì. Pope Urban V ventured a return to Italy in 1367 that proved premature; he returned to Avignon in 1370. During this time Charles IV was again crowned in the city (October 1368) and the Byzantine emperor John V Palaeologus came to Rome to request a crusade against the Ottoman Empire, but in vain. His successor, Gregory XI, officially set the date of his return to Rome at May 1372, but again the French cardinals and the King stopped him until January 17 1377, when Gregory XI finally reinstated the Holy See in Rome.
Throughout the 15th Century loads of Italian Nobles played power games in and around Rome, and basically it was a bit of a dogs breakfast until the latter half of the 15th century when the seat of the Italian Renaissance moved to Rome from Florence. The Papacy build loads of increasingly extravagant churches, bridges, town squares and public spaces, including a new Saint Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel, Ponte Sisto (the first bridge to be built across the Tiber since antiquity), and Piazza Navona. The Popes were also patrons of the arts engaging such artists as Michelangelo, Perugino, Raphael, Ghirlandaio, Luca Signorelli, Botticelli, and Cosimo Rosselli. The Popes increasingly became king-like and by the end of the C15 they were basically kings with differently styled hats. Chaos, corruption and nepotism followed until under the reign of Innocent VIII and Pope Alexander VI Charles VIII of France invaded Italy in 1494 and entered Rome on December 31 of that year.
Using the army in FoG
- It;s pretty pants really - hard to see why anyone would use this except for historical novelty
- It looks neater if you do it with bullet points. Just put each new suggestion on a new line, starting with an "*"
Tournament Results with this army
Have a look for them on the Official FoG Database on the FoG site
Useful Links
User-contributed links about this army:
- Italian Armies Link to an article by George Gush
- Register and you can put you own link in here and then write some brief detail about the link here
- put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here
Allies
Put information on allied contingents here - including recommendations on which to use, and why.
Painting and Collecting the Army
- Paint schemes, insignia, shield designs? Put it here.
15mm Manufacturers supplying figures suitable for Late Medieval Armies
You can see some of the figures in the Ancients Photo Gallery also on this site
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- Vexilia Extensive Mirliton & Venexia Papal Italian ranges for C15 armies
- Essex Miniatures - vast range of generic medieval figures
- Donnington C15 Europe Range,
- Museum Miniatures nice generic mounted and dismounted knights
- Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat) 40+ Medievals, plus Feudal/Crusade ranges
- Corvus Belli 30 or so figures in a well-regarded 100YW range
- Old Glory 15's, large number of medieval figures
- Minifigs large medieval ranges
- Irregular Miniatures 60 medievals in a range spanning East/West Europe from Late Feudal to C15
- Lancashire Games Around 30 generic & English medievals
- QRF Models Specific figures in the Friekorps LAN range (e.g. Italian pavisers, pikes, crossbows and handgunners, plus medieval WOTR figures codes in the Feudal Castings range.
- Tin Soldier 40+ C14 & C15 medievals
- Battle Line Miniatures (NZ) 60 generic Medievals
- Isarus - sold by 15mm.co.uk 70 codes in their C11-C15 Medus ranges
- AlainTouller Figurines A dedicated Spanish late medieval range and some more generic mediievals
- Gallia 21 Late Medievals (a little small)
- Roundway as sold by Naismith & Roundway - extensive range for this era.
Army Lists
Sample army lists for this army
Name of Army / Date
- Using asterisks inthe edit mode creates a bulleted list in the actual site
- This is a lot easier to do than easier than setting up tables
- For FoG I suggest listing your army in order or march
- with troop desctiptions on each line, for example
- 4 HF Armoured Average Drilled Impact Foot Swordsmen
- 8 LG Undrilled Unarmoured Poor Bowen
- Dont forget to include your Generals !!!
Include any notes you want here, including comments on how to use - or play against - the army.
Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list
eBay Listings
UK Bookstore