Cons of mercenary life?

>Be Sigismund the Lord
>Run out of money to pay mercenaries during the war
>Keep promising them that I'll pay them when the war ends
>When the war ends, tell them to go fuck themselves
>They turn right back around and rape and pillage my land
>All my towns are sacked and my income dwindles to nothing
>Appeal to the king to stop them
>He shrugs and tells me it's not really his problem
>Mfw I should've just paid the mercenaries

Consider the fact that a dead mercenary is a mercenary who doesn't need to be paid.
Consider the fact that any lord's own troops will have been trained and equipped personally by him, are bound to him, and represent a portion of the economy of his lands.

You are now aware that mercs are THE cannon fodder of warfare. It's only recently with extremely asymmetrical warfare that being a merc could be considered comfy:

>spend a while walking through the jungle
>hear voices, vehicles, etc
>sneak up on rebel camp
>"camp found at [GPS co ordinates]"
>IT AINT ME STARTS PLAYING
>HELICOPTERS APPEAR ON THE HORIZON
get_some.webm

Cannon fodder isn't a bad thing

>Albert again
>Form a defensive line in the army's vanguard
>Hold the enemy
>They rout
>Take the armor, clothes, weapons, horses of the dead
>Take the survivors prisoners
>Ransom prisoners and sell the dead's shit, get rich
OR
>Enemy fucks your defensive line
>Rout instantly
>Dude who paid you bitches about it, call it a tactical retreat and get away with it

You don't pay the individual mercenary, you pay the mercenary captain. His men are battle-hardened and endure campaign in whatever conflict they are hired for.
Also, the kings were usually personal acquaintances with mercenary captains and relied on them to quickly raise professional troops in addition to the levies raised by his lords. If you don't pay them, you are burning bridges and no one will work for you again.

>implying you get to ransom the prisoners

Fun and games.

And yet, historically, many mercenary actions went unpaid because guess what people don't think rationally, and kings aren't exempt.

You may or may not actually get paid, and you're usually far from home so you can't just go grow your own food to get by. Plus things can get scary when you realize you're potentially surrounded miles deep in enemy territory 24/7 if something goes wrong. You are legally just one step removed from an outlaw, someone who likely has no legal representation or rights the moment you're challenged by someone - including most of those alternative livelihoods.

this albert guy sounds like a fucking asshole

You missed the point. No matter who employs you, it's cheaper for them if you die before your first paycheck.

>Be Albert the mercenary
>Get camp fever and die

Wooooooooow

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Don't yet have a lot of armour, but will get some ASAP
> Get killed by an arrow in the first skirmish

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Comfy life, no drills, just hanging out in a line with the bros
> Suddenly get trampled into the mud by your own cavalry
> Turns out you weren't important enough to be told about that cavalry movement

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Comfy life, no drills, just hanging out in a line with the bros
> Suddenly get trampled into the mud by allied mercenaries
> Turns out battlefield communications are difficult

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> First battle, finally some sweet loot
> You and your bros manage to survive the first clash with the enemy cannon fodder
> A group of enemy veteran mercenaries takes about five seconds to kill you and all your friends

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Comfy life, no drills, just hanging out in a line with the bros
> Cannonballs dismember all of you
> Yep, you weren't really important enough to be moved from the line of fire

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Actually survive your first battle AND get some loot
> Get shiv'd in the night by Louis the novice mercenary, who takes all your loot

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Ship overseas to terrorise some traitor lord into renewing his allegiance
> The campaign goes to strategic shit and your lord and captain sail back home ASAP, leaving you stuck in enemy territory
> You don't even speak their language!
> A mob of enraged peasants clubs you to death.

> Be Albert the novice mercenary
> Fight through dozens of battles, survive, loot, learn, rise through the ranks, succeed!
> Your wife tells you to stop daydreaming and get back to working the fields for your landlord.

You guys make it sound like they weren't paid on a schedule/per diem. They weren't stupid enough to expend any effort for a person who might never pay them. If you stopped paying them during the campaign, they stopped fighting for you and went home or even joined the enemy sometimes, and you would be stuck with a giant hole in your lines and your dick in your hand. On some occasions, kings couldn't afford to pay them, and so they would ravage the local populace of wherever they are or simply move on to another conflict. No one wants a giant hostile army of professional soldiers in their territory. They don't have to go home but your levy soldiers do.

youtube.com/watch?v=0sjZHxEZnmE

Read enough sources on mercenaries and you'll realize the most common thing ever was irregular pay. We're not talking about modern professionals who live in a world with advanced finances and wouldn't buy any bullshit about not enough currency on hand to pay them for their work. In eras where taxation and credit were inefficient and sometimes haphazard a mercenary company would negotiate and renegotiate for weeks, even months, for back pay that was missed because of some real bullshit like the enemy literally stealing the silver meant to pay you, the silver suddenly becoming worthless because of a market crash, or something else.

A mercenary company that ravaged an employer who missed a payment is a mercenary company that never found work again, because other potential clients were no better at securing rock-solid funding than the last and would never risk hiring such a troublesome group. Plus, no one wants to become the next Ten Thousand and fight their way out of some deep shit.

Yes, mercenaries were paid on a regular schedule, but that schedule was as fickle as the weather.

On the opposite end of the spectrum
youtube.com/watch?v=ZFdm-JVIFRU

Except mercenaries had plenty of options, wheras lords didn't. As a lord who didn't pay his mercenaries, no one else will work for you, your history will be written in stone. It'l be a wonder if they'l work for your heir when he comes to rule.

If the mercenaries burn your lands as payback and then sail or ride a thousand miles away, you think anyone would know what they did?

Not him but I think you really underestimate how fucking difficult travel was. Nobody who could help it just willy-nilly traveled for a thousand miles.

>you think anyone would know what they did?
If you want to be successful you would want everyone to know who you are.
>Oh those guys are bad-ass I'm hiring them
Or you can be ghetto gangsta with no rep just fucking shit but who the fuck is going to hire a buncha nobodys with a questionable record?
>a dirt poor noble with a questionable record

Mercenaries were first people on the chopping block when it came to loose ends and no one gave a shit about them

>Being an historical mercenary was not a cushy job.

Promises of pay are often not kept, the population hated you, you are put in really dangerous battle zones where the country you are employed wouldn't put it's own soldiers [you are expendable], often at the bottom of the list for food, billets, clothing, etc...

At least being a mercenary would ensure you wouldn't die a fucking virgin!

>Mfw I should've just paid the mercenaries.
Carthage also learnt that the hard way during the Mercenary War.

>Using mercenaries as cannon fodder.
Yeah, you'd tots throw away some of your better troops on the off chance they all die. Oh, and such a slaughter wouldn't at all risk a route in your own army. Oh, and it's not like the mercenary would ever understand what you were up to and abandon you in favour of the enemy.

Ofc you would. Atleast the ones worth anything. Noblemen are a done deal and if you are lucky the enemy might even have enough need for his ordinary troops that he'd agree to ransom them out of captivity. If he doesn't you can just sell them to some slave trader.

Albert the mercenary is a meme now

He reminds me of Lord Albrecht the Passionate Pedophile.

Critical as i am of this, I'd love being a merc. I greatly enjoyed my time in the army and would love to work globally for the highest bidder.

Bruh, let's take an example. Crécy.
The French sent the mercs in as the first wave. The mercs were inneffective. The mercs retreated. The French charged into and hacked down the mercs.

My point is not that a lord would necessarily be actively trying to kill off his mercs, just that it's better for him on the whole if a merc dies than if a loyal soldier with equivalent equipment dies. As a result, mercenaries were almost always placed in the vanguard. Which, naturally, is a dangerous place to be.

Also
>better troops
Sometimes, but often not. Besides, the Genoese at Crecy were considered highly professional. They're not the lord's troops. They're not "some of your better troops." They are some randoms who will desert you if the other guy offers more gold.

>everyone would know who you are
>only poor people need troops
RIP logic

>be Albert the mercenary
>just pillaged Sigismund's lands
>sail to Cairo
>Ahmed the Sultan wants to fight turks
>needs lots of good men
>get hired because there's no way Ahmed heard of your record
>eat kebab and fuck turkish girls

TIL /hist/ is not an expert on mercenaries.

In the medieval period (especially later) the mercenaries were the most respected soldiers often filling specialized roles, British Longbow men, Geonese Crossbowmen, cannon and gunmen who were shipped in specifically. Even the Varangian guard, early mercenaries, were the elite troops.

During English rebellions, especially Henry VIII's time mercs were brought in frequently from Italy (and elsewhere) to fight the rebels because they could be brought in faster than raising a suitable army of local troops.

Was payment often in arrears? Yes. Does that mean every Lord tried to get his own mercs slaughtered? It's hard not to imagine some thinking of it but it seems most didn't.

The French used the Swiss as valuable mercs too, despite their front line role they weren't cannon fodder.

Mercs often got a cut of the loot which was a main incentive. BUT their loyalty was fickle as shown in the Italian wars of the 14/15/16th centuries. Not all of them stuck around if things went bad (although the Swiss tended too, which gave them their reputation)

Finally I get a chance to post this.

I think you lack a complete and total understanding of the class differences that have existed for centuries.

>Implying the Lord who hired you would be in charge and take the prisoners for himself

I don't know about being a mercenary but going on any adventure through europe with your bros would be comfy.
>tfw you will never slay infidels

>be Albert the mercenary
>somehow manage to survive enough battles to be able to afford a suit of armor
>see hot girl
>can't jack off because of suit of armor
>take off armor to jack off
>Olaf the lumberjack hacks dick off for revenge

I dont know man, the pay seemed to be pretty shit for the common guy and its not like they provided you with food ar anything, you had to pay from your own pocket. But then again I guess some people didnt have many options, after all the Emperor isnt going to give you free money for staying at home scratching your ass because of some self diagnosed back problem..

forgot pic

And what's the comparable "salary" for common civil jobs in the cities and as a peasant?

>for common civil jobs

lol

>as a peasant

$0

Wages pay for food, the loot you got was the real deal

This to be honest.

what drives someone to draw this?

good example, but its worth noting that the french lost badly at crecy due to their own stupidity

>kill off your only archers
>charge uphill into an arrowstorm because knights>anything right?

>be Albert the mercenary
>somehow manage to survive enough battles to be able to afford a suit of armor
>be inna battle
>formations are taking all day
>really have to shit
>can't take armor off
>welp
>tfw I don't have a squire to clean my armor for me

Alberts had a hard life

>whole thread about mercenaries in medieval Europe
>only memes and history "theories" by 12 year olds
>no facts
>no insight
Another /k/ level thread
You guys are so disapointing

...

>lol
What's so lol-worthy about jobs such as barbers, chefs, day laborer, black smith, and all manner of other employments that a man might abandon in favour of becoming a mercenary?

>$0
Are you really saying that all peasant, in all times, broke even? Granted the majority probably did, or atleast didn't have much left to spare in most times.

He said, while offering no insight or facts of his own.