"12th century mercenaries faced greater condemnation ..." Topic

…than today.

"Mercenaries in the 12th century faced widespread condemnation—some of it well-deserved, said Dr. Steven Isaac, a specialist in medieval military culture.

Some, but not all, of those who fought for pay in the 1100s were outcasts from society, scorned for their cruelty and extortion, condemned by the Catholic Church and often called wolves, said Isaac. "This comparison rested on stereotypes—often exaggerated—that were accepted about how both wolves and mercenaries supposedly behaved," he said.

"Mercenaries in the 12th century were hated for their wanton violence, for breaking things for the sake of breaking things," he added. "Some of them reveled in wanton violence, extorted from towns, and attacked and desecrated churches in between paychecks and employers."…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Which is yet another reason we should not be using them now.

Are you sure?….(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

And yet other reason we shouldn't be using them now: spears and bows are no match for, and mail is inadequate protection from, high-power automatic weapons.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

>Mercenaries in the 12th century were hated …

I am quite confident that I will find similar sentiments in any age, especially when these mercenaries went around the landscape without employment. Sometimes they banded together up to armysize to blackmail heads of state, sometimes they split into small groups that raided the countryside as bandids – and where slaughtered by peasants when these got the chance. Stories of famous or infamous robber bands often come in the wake of an army disbanded…

Mercenaries have been around forever.
If everyone hated them, they wouldn't get hired.

The church condemned them?
Only the ones that raided their churches.
Not the ones they hired to go crusading.

The populous has always disliked them when they loot and pillage their towns.
That seems reasonable. But they seemed to be ok with them if they were raiding their enemy's towns.

I think its all in the eye of the beholder.

Pan Marek particularly domestically.

I quite like mercenaries. But I couldn't eat a whole one.