Top 10 Religious Mercenaries

Robert Guiscard

This is the man who fought the battle against the Byzantines. He was quite courageous and intelligent who supported Roman Catholicism against Greek equivalents by leading an army of thousands against the Greek kingdom. Finally, he succeeded taking over Corfu, Durazzo, and Rome.

Roger de Flor

Once an Italian galley captain, he became a mercenary after being disreputed for a charge of robbery from the pope. During the Byzantine Empire, he created his own leading force for Frederick III after which he fought against the Ottoman enemies. In the battle with Ottoman, he was a successful hero. Later, he was killed after being charged for performing for his selfish means in the 14th century.

The Saika

The Saika people were originally farmers. So, now the question arises how they became mercenaries. The answer is that they were actually trained in Ninja fighting techniques for safeguarding their land and so used their same skills to here too. The group was the strong follower of the Ikko Buddhism and they fought against the forces of Oda Nobunaga at the Siege of Ishiyama Hongan-ji in the 16th century.

Ernst von Mansfeld

He was a Roman Catholic from Germany and supported the most attractive party regardless of what they support. This was because he always wanted to earn limitless money. In his early times, he rolled from the Archduke Leopold’s force and rival forces followed by being with the Protestants in the Thirty Years’ combat. He was famous for capturing properties and causing fear.

Enno Tronds

He started his career as a young soldier in the battle of Sievershausen between Habsburgs and Turks. Later, he became a mercenary for the battle of St. Quentin and then supported Frederick II of Denmark in the Seven Years combat. When the king rejected to publicize him, Enno became a fraud man, a persistent traitor, and a prisoner until 1572 when he was terminated. He was called as Brandrok for his mercenary activities.

Rodrigo de Villandrando

First fought in the France’s Hundred Years’ war, his position became strong some twenty years later after the war when he led some 10,000 forces for quite frequent looting and murders. Due to the fear he stroke into the hearts of the inhabitants, the villagers called him as the Emperor of Pillagers. However, he was loyal to the Castilian Church and left his all illegal activities in 1450s.

The Lisowczycy

This was a group of Polish mercenaries led by Aleksander Jozef Lisowski in the 17th century who aimed at destroying randomly rather than earning money. After the death of Lisowski, they supported Ferdinand II against the Protestants in the Thirty Years’ war. They were nicknamed as the Riders of the Apocalypse. The group was finally disbanded by the emperor in 1621 marking the end of their horror.

Peter I

Originally from Portugal, he started his mercenary activities in Morocco while supporting the Christian missionaries in overtaking the Muslim regions for spreading their own religious values. The aim of enraging the rulers was fulfilled at the cost of the extermination of the missionaries. But, Peter continued many such missions and was so called the Lord of the Balearic Islands and Count of Urgell.

Thomas Stukley

He was probably thought to be the child of Henry VIII and always took the side of Roman Catholicism. He was popular for double-crossing especially leaking the plans of the French army for invading England. Alas! The end result of this cheating was imprisonment.

Osman Pazvantoglu

The mercenary relationship of this mercenary with Prince Nicholas Mavrogenes is a famous one for its partly truths. For his own rule, he fought against the Ottomans and invaded many Balkan colonies in the late early 18th century. He was so brutal that he put his won raided towns on fire. His governing place was Vidin.