"Condottieri (Italian: [kondot\u02C8tj\u025B\u02D0ri]; singular condottiero and condottiere) were the leaders (or warlords) of the professional, military free companies (or mercenaries) contracted by the Italian city-states and the Papacy, from the late Middle Ages and throughout the Renaissance. In Renaissance Italian, condottiero meant \"contractor\", and was synonymous with the modern English title Mercenary Captain."@en . . .