Database: Mercenaries (Revelations)

Mercenaries were highly mobile in the sixteenth century, moving from one contract to the next with ease, irrespective of who they were fighting and what they were fighting for. Often, when a state bankrolling a band of mercenaries ran out of money the group would disband, only to be immediately hired by the opposing side. This ironic practice reached its most poignant heights in the beginning of the fourteenth century when the Byzantine Empire, beset on all sides by hostile tribes, paid a small but fierce group of warriors to fight for their cause. Who were these much sought after soldiers-for-hire? Ottomans.

Some mercenaries were honorable, of course, fighting for causes they believed in. But in times of hardship and perpetual strife, such men as these were few and far between. Where they existed, however, they were much sought after.