Stratioti
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The stratioti or stradioti (Greek: στρατιώτες, Italian: stradioti or stradiotti), were Greek, Albanian and Serbian[1][2] mercenaries [3] who formed military cavalry units of the Venetian Republic and the Kingdom of Naples in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to a Greek author who studied the documentary evidence, around 80% of the listed names attributed to the stradioti were of Albanian origin while most of the remaining ones, especially those of officers, were of Greek origin; a small minority were of South Slavic origin.[4]
The Venetians used them first in their campaigns against the Ottomans and, from c. 1475, as frontier troops in Friuli. Starting from that period, they began to replace most entirely the Venetian light cavalry in the Serenissima army. Impressed by the unorthodox tactics of the Stradioti, other European powers (such as France and Spain) quickly began to hire mercenaries from the same region. The Italian term stradioti is either a loan from the Greek word stratiotai (Greek: στρατιώται), or soldiers, or derives from the Italian word strada ('street'), meaning 'wayfarer'.[5] Stradioti were mercenaries and received wages only as long as their military services were needed.[6] They were recruited in Greece, Albania, Dalmatia and later Cyprus.[7] Among their leaders there were also members of some old Byzantine Greek noble families such as the Palaiologi and Comneni.[8]
They were pioneers of light cavalry tactics during this era. They employed hit-and-run tactics, ambushes, feigned retreats and other complex maneuvers. In some ways, these tactics echoed those of the Ottoman Sipahis and Akinci. The stradioti were famous for being rambunctious, rowdy and sometimes disloyal, but their abilities far outweighed any offense to European sensibilities. They had some notable successes also against French heavy cavalry during the Italian Wars.[9] They used spears called Assegai, as well as swords, maces, crossbows and daggers. They traditionally dressed in a mixture of Ottoman, Byzantine and European garb: the armor was initially a simply mail hauberk, but became heavier as years passed. By the 16th century, the stradioti were no longer widely used.
[edit] References
- ^ B. N. Floria, "Vykhodtsy iz Balkanakh stran na russkoi sluzhbe," Balkanskia issledovaniia. 3. Osloboditel'nye dvizheniia na Balkanakh (Moscow, 1978), pp. 57-63.
- ^ Hungary and the fall of Eastern Europe 1000-1568 by David Nicolle, Angus McBride: "John Comnenus [...] settled Serbs as stratioti around Izmir..."
- ^ Nicol, Donald M. (1988). Byzantium and Venice: A Study in Diplomatic and Cultural relations. Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 37. "Young men recruited from among Greeks and Albanians. They were known as stradioti from the Greek word for soldier."
- ^ Pappas. "Most modern, as well as a good number of early authors have indicated that the stradioti were Albanian. This is true to a certain extent but has to be qualified. A Greek author made a study of the names of stradioti found in the most extensive documentary collection of materials dealing with the stradioti and found that some 80% of the names were of Albanian origin, while the rest were of Greek origin. This writer looked over lists of stradioti in the same source, Mnemeia Hellenikes Historias: Documents inedits a l'histoire de la Grece au Moyen Age, edited by Konstantinos Sathas, as well as the indices of the fifty-odd volumes of I Diarii di Marino Sanuto. This investigation found that indeed many of the names were Albanian, but a good number of the names particularly those of officers, were of Greek origin, such as Palaiologos, Spandounios, Laskaris, Rhalles, Comnenos, Psendakis, Maniatis, Spyliotis, Alexopoulos, Psaris, Zacharopoulos, Klirakopoulos, Kondomitis, etc. Others seemed to be of South Slavic origin, such Soimiris, Vlastimiris, and Voicha."
- ^ Pappas, Nicholas.
- ^ Hoerder, p. 63. "Throughout Europe footmen replaced knights, that is, cavalry. They used new weapons and came with regionally varying skills: English archers and crossbowmen, Swiss pikemen, Flemish burgher forces, and, later, Italian gunfighters or exiled Albanian and Greek stradioti on light horse (from Italian strada: street). Mercenaries hired on for pay under "military enterprisers" received wages only as long as work was available."
- ^ Nicolle, 1989.
- ^ Nicol, 2002; Pappas.
- ^ Nicolle, 1989.
[edit] Sources
- Nicholas C. J. Pappas, "Stradioti: Balkan mercenaries in fifteenth and sixteenth century Italy" (Online Article).
- Κ. Ν. Sathas, Documents inédits relatifs à l' histoire de la Grèce au Moyen Âge, publiés sous les auspices de la Chambre des députés de Grèce. Tom. VI: Jacomo Barbarigo, Dispacci della guerra di Peloponneso (1465-6), Paris, 1880-90, σ. 1-116.
- R. Lopez, Il principio della guerra veneto-turca nel 1463. "Archivio Veneto", 5 serie, 15 (1934), σ. 47-131.
- Αντ. Χ. Χατζή, Οι Ραούλ, Ράλ, Ράλαι 1080-1800. Ιστορική Μονογραφία, Μόναχο, 1909, σ. 48-50.
- Αντ. Γ. Μομφερράτου, Σιγισμούνδος Πανδόλφος Μαλατέστας. Πόλεμος Ενετών και Τούρκων εν Πελοποννήσω κατά 1463-6. Αθήνα, 1914.
- David Nicolle, The Venetian Empire, 1200-1670, 1989 ISBN 0-85045-899-4.
- "Εξεγέρσεις Ελλήνων και Αλβανών στην Πελοπόννησο". Τα Νέα. August 10, 2000. p. N16. http://www.tanea.gr//Article.aspx?d=20000810&nid=4142764&sn=%CE%9A%CE%A5%CE%A1%CE%99%CE%9F%20%CE%A4%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A7%CE%9F%CE%A3&spid=366. (Greek)
- "Ήπειρος - Αλβανία: Το κίνημα του Κωνσταντίνου Αριανίτη". Τα Νέα. August 12, 2000. p. N54. http://www.tanea.gr//Article.aspx?d=20000812&nid=4143079&sn=%CE%9A%CE%A5%CE%A1%CE%99%CE%9F%20%CE%A4%CE%95%CE%A5%CE%A7%CE%9F%CE%A3&spid=366. (Greek)
- Donald M. Nicol, The Immortal Emperor: The Life and Legend of Constantine Palaiologos, Last Emperor of the Romans, 2002. ISBN 0-521-46717-9.
- Hoerder, Dirk. Cultures in Contact: World Migrations in the Second Millennium. Duke University Press, 2002. ISBN 0822328348
- Nasa Patapiou "Η κάθοδος των ελληνοαλβανών Stratioti στην Κύπρο (16αι)" ('The migration of the Greek-Albanian Stratioti to Cyprus, 16th century'). Επετηρίδα του Κέντρου Επιστημονικών Ερευνών 24 (1998) 161-209.
- Diana Gilliland Wright, Bartolomeo Minio: Venetian administration in 15th-Century Nauplion. Doctoral dissertation, The Catholic University of America, Washington DC, 1999. pp. 64-68 et passim (Online Chapter).
