This is an interesting introduction to the life of one of the most notorious condottiere of renaissance Italy. Hawkwood is an important figure in the history of fourteenth century Firenze, his funerary portrait still dominating the city’s duomo.

This book couldn't decide what it wanted to be (or I couldn't decide what it was trying to be). Is it a biography of mercenary Sir John Hawkwood? A history of the use of mercenaries by the Italian City-States? A political history of Italy before unification? Now, any one of these could have been the main topic and yet included the others. But instead the book seemed to veer around. If it is a biography of Hawkwood, why so much about St. Catherine of Siena? If it is a history of mercenaries during the period why is so much of the focus on one particular mercenary? Etc. The back cover of the book says that it is a biography of Hawkwood. But if so, we lose him quite frequently in the narrative. With better organization, it could have been a “4.”

A fascinating look at the little known side of early Renaissance Italy. The 14th Century was a bad one for the Italians with wars between the city-states, a corrupt papacy, and mercenary armies overshadowing all. The book centers on an especially prominant, successful and duplicitous mercenary general -- one John Hawksworth of Essex, England -- who at one time was on the payroll of every major faction and turned coat as fast as the money could be counted out. Saunders makes one misstep: painting everyone, more or less, as an unsavory figure (even the sainted Catherine of Siena) she created doubt in my mind that she didn't play a little loose with the facts.

If there had been proper footnotes, this would have been a better book.

The book is more about late fourteenth century Italy than it is about Hawkwood and mercenaries. What's there is very interesting, but the diversions from Hawkwood's story make it hard to follow. It's also very easy to lose interest in some of the asides.

I feel that this book was far too focused on presenting the image of the Mercenary Captain John Hawkwood as one of the big players in Italian Politics in the third quarter of the 14th C, while the Italians themselves are presented as mere pawns of the mercenaries (though the author seems to want to gloss over most of them except Hawkwood). It tends to gloss over many other aspects of the political landscape and takes pains to emphasize tenuous political connections between parties (Catherine of Siena and Hawkwood, for example).

The author also unfortunately propagates some myths that are demonstratively untrue as well as misquotes some famous passages (the feats of Marshal Bouccicoult, in particular) to paint the English company of Hawkwood as a greater military force than its Italian counterparts.

That said, the writing style was enjoyable. If one was interested in a better discussion of the Condottieri, I would recommend Geoffry Trease's 'The Condottieri: Soldiers of Fortune', because even though it is a more dry read, at least he at least is willing to spend more than a few paragraphs on the other major mercenary company commanders in the late 14th and 15th C, and how they as well as the political leaders of the time shaped the political and military landscape of late medieval Italy.

Edition: illustrated edition

Just a quick note on this one; I may add more later. This was a good follow-up to Barbara Tuchman's book "A Distant Mirror." Saunders' book covers roughly the same period of time, focusing solely on Italy. In comparison, Tuchman's book examines events in France and England during this period. When read together, I got a richer sense of what was happening within Europe overall during the 14th century.

Thorough and very engaging bio of condottiere Sir John Hawkwood, the subject of Uccello's monumental Duomo painting and, if Terry Jones is right, the model for Chaucer's Knight. I read it to learn more about someone in whom I became interested while reading A Distant Mirror and, indeed, identical in form and contiguous in subject matter, the entire book is sort of an appendix to Tuchman's monumental popular history. Saunders isn't coy about acknowledging the debt.
My interest in the 14th century was sparked by reading Shakespeare's history plays this spring, and, I have to say, I've been a little astonished by the extent of my ignorance about some really basic developments in European history. Italy, for instance. My understanding of Italian history between, say, Rommulus Augustulus and Garibaldi could have been summed up by saying, as they do of relationships on Facebook, "It's complicated." I can't explain why I never wondered, with respect to the Renaissance, "Why Florence?." I guess I just assumed some sort of miraculous, fully-formed emergence of sophistication in this unaccountably blessed place. It never occurred to me to follow the money, as Deep Throat says. The florescence of Florentine art and culture was the ancillary fruit of the development of banking and modern warfare, and not due to a handful of oddballs reading Greek or some magical property of the Tuscan sun. That those two things (warcraft and finance) should have evolved hand-in-hand now, of course, seems obvious, but it struck me with the force of revelation.
Saunders' research is exhaustive and erudite, her analysis is sophisticated, and, apart from a few meandering paragraphs that could have used tighter edits, her prose is lucid.
Very impressed.

14th century Italy was a battleground torn apart and ravaged by foreign mercenaries. Unfortunately, the city-states of the time depended on the mercenaries for individual survival and instead of kicking them out, they made war more profitable by hiring them. I loved this book because it helps me to better understand the political climate that Leonardo da Vinci grew up in and why his 8-foot bronze horse was destroyed.

What I love about the Devil's Broker is how outside of telling you the story of John Hawkwood, it covers some fascinating European medieval history that is quite comical at times. For example, the reason they call doctors "Quacks" is because of the face masks that they war during the days of the plague. Not to mention, some of the "cures" were downright hilarious, and if the disease didn't kill you the doctor would. I was entertained all throughout this book, and the author does a great job of never letting up the pace for a minute.

This is a book that I would highly recommend to anyone who's looking to learn more about medieval history in an interesting way because it talks about John Hawkwood in a spectacular way while never losing sight of the big picture of this bloody chapter in Italy's history.

When you tell people you've just read a history of Italy in the 14th century and it was fascinating, you can see from their face they find this difficult to believe. But Stonor has the all too rare ability and the research to make this period come alive vividly, as well as the skill to use Hawkwood as the narrative thread to hold it all together and not have the book just become a collection of information. Fascinating story of a period I hadn't known so much about, and illuminates a number of places I've visited in Italy as well as places I want to. If all history was presented in such an interesting way, we'd have a lot more historians probably. I loved the details of life as a mercenary soldier, and in towns such as Siena and Florence. A wealth of insights into everyday life for people in various levels of society as well as some very interesting learnings about popish shenanigans and political intrigues.

So you thought the 21st century was bad? Try living in Italy in the 14th century. Of course you had plague, famine, poverty, and bloodshed, but don't forget the social injustice, backwards medicine, poor hygiene, living in filth, and religious mania. Although this book paints quite the picture of life in Europe of the Middle Ages, the most incredible thing isn't how bad it really was, but that we managed to actually survive as a species through it all. But that's not really what the book is supposed to be about (or is it?)--it's really just the story of one man, a knight and mercenary by the name of Sir John Hawkwood.

Forget all your childish and naive notions of knighthood--that's really just a codename for murderer, bully, bandit, and oppressor. And Hawkwood was one of the best. After the loot became scarce in France during the Hundred Years War, he made his way to Italy and commenced to plunder and pillage his way to fame and fortune at the expense of everybody in his way. Kings and queens and popes were powerless before him for three or four decades until he mercifully died of natural causes and the Italian city-states, the papacy, the peasants, and the merchants could finally all let out a deep sigh of relief.

The story of Hawkwood, though, is just the tip of the iceberg. There are interesting subplots dealing with other famous characters of the time, like Geoffrey Chaucer, Catherine of Sienna, and the fascinating stories of three popes (one who died halfway through the book, one who was elected his successor, and one who attempted to usurp the "rightful" pope). (Reading this book made me want to read some papal history.)

This is crazy, compelling stuff, and a vibrantly told story as well. The only downside was trying to keep all the names and political factions straight, but maybe that's just me. Thanks to Mike for recommending it, I enjoyed it immensely.

Simply wonderfully written account of the life of mercenary John Hawkwood amidst the backdrop of late 14th century Italy. Well written, the author evokes an vivid image of 14th century life.