official permits and such

[ghostwolf]

I'm working on a setting that is flavored heavily with Italian Renaissance. Looking for a name for a document that would be issued by the crown to give permission to a mercenary commander to legally form a mercenary unit.

 

All I've got so far is Writ of Merces which is based on the middle english word for mercenary.

[Shadowsoul]

Re: official permits and such

 

The nautical term would be a Letter of Marque, which acknowledges that the bearer is a privateer rather than a pirate.

[Kraven Kor]

Re: official permits and such

 

Writ of Conscripcion?

[Lord Liaden]

Re: official permits and such

 

A synonym for "mercenary" is condottiere; during the Renaissance it referred specifically to a leader of mercenary soldiers. It's derived from the Italian word condotto for "mercenary," from the Latin conductus meaning "hired."

[mhd]

Re: official permits and such

 

In German that would be a Bestallungsbrief.

 

Not sure about the etymology ("brief" is letter, "stall" is stable, so possibly it's a letter saying that the lord is adding you to his "stable" of retainers). If I remember correctly, when you're accredited as a physician or pharmacist by the state, that's still called a "Bestallung".

[Lawnmower Boy]

Re: official permits and such

 

If I weren't so groggy from working a swing shift, I might remember. But it is pretty much just a commission. Regiments were nominally raised this way right into the eighteenth century, with a sovereign commissioning a colonel-proprietor to raise a regiment for military service. The word "regiment" even comes from the commission, which delegates the royal right to regulate or exercise authority. (Hence Italian "esercito.") Condottiere is cognate to "conductor," in the same sense as "entrepeneur." The colonels undertake to raise an army. Bestallungsbrief has a pretty wide usage in German, but in my period and area, it's more common to find borrowings from Latin or Italian.

 

The artillery, however, does not normally work that way.

[Markdoc]

Re: official permits and such

 

A synonym for "mercenary" is condottiere; during the Renaissance it referred specifically to a leader of mercenary soldiers. It's derived from the Italian word condotto for "mercenary' date='" from the Latin [i']conductus[/i] meaning "hired."

 

Slight correction here - "condotto" meant "to lead" (via Italian "condurre" from the latin root "conducere" - also meaning to lead or guide). As you can see from the form, "Conductus" is a noun, and actually means a type of sacred medieval processional music

 

The Italian word "condottiero" meant a mercenary - it came after the word condotto, not the other way round.

Originally condottiero meant a mercenary captain or leader, because he had a contract to lead - a contratto di condotto. After a while, though it just meant any mercenary soldier.

 

So there's the word the OP wants - a contract to lead or contratto di condotto.

 

cheers, Mark

[Lord Liaden]

Re: official permits and such

 

Thanks, Mark -- my only reference was my thesaurus and dictionary.

[Markdoc]

Re: official permits and such

 

In German that would be a Bestallungsbrief.

 

Not sure about the etymology ("brief" is letter, "stall" is stable, so possibly it's a letter saying that the lord is adding you to his "stable" of retainers). If I remember correctly, when you're accredited as a physician or pharmacist by the state, that's still called a "Bestallung".

 

Another correction In this case "Bestall" is the old form of "bestell" as in "bestellen" (from old west scandinavian "Bestil" meaning an order or command) . So Bestallungsbrief means "Letter of Command/Letter of Orders" or in good English "Letters of Commission" - exactly what an English gentleman tasked with raising a troop would have gotten.

 

Note: in English English "Commission" used to mean primarily a task, so a "Commissioned Officer" was one who had a specific task - for example, raising a company of troops, being responsible for defence of a specific area, etc. These days, a commissioned officer is simply an officer.

 

It's funny, but I hadn't though until now how close the the various European names for this sort of thing were. Not surprising, when you think about it, but still.

 

Cheers, Mark

[ghostwolf]

Re: official permits and such

 

Holy heck, you guys are awesome! Thank you!!