After his conquest of Naples in 1442, Alfonso ruled by his mercenary soldiers and mercenary men of letters.

Most of the Teutonic army, under the command of Fritz Raweneck and Kaspar Nostyc, were mercenary soldiers gathered from the nearby castles Mewe ( Gniew ), Stargard ( Starogard Gdański ), Nowe, Skarszewy and Kiszewy.

Fife-and-drum corps of Swiss mercenary foot soldiers also used drums.

A second wave was driven by British recruitment of mercenary soldiers beginning around 1815 and resettlement after retirement in the British Isles and southeast Asia.

A team of American paramilitary soldiers working for a United States-based genetics research company called Bio-Major attempts to escape with a sample, but is overcome by a lone mercenary and the samples are stolen.

They were often hired as mercenary soldiers, sometimes fighting on both sides in the great battles of the times.

The knightly classes found their monopoly on arms and military skill undermined by the introduction of mercenary armies and foot soldiers.

On 17 April 1797, Abercromby, with a force of 7, 000-13, 000 men, which included German mercenary soldiers and Royal Marines and a 60 to 64 ship armada, invaded the island of Puerto Rico.

While the regiments within each army were not strictly mercenary, in that they were not guns for hire that changed sides from battle to battle, the individual soldiers that made up the regiments often were.

Much of the destruction of civilian lives and property was caused by the cruelty and greed of mercenary soldiers.

Also, the destruction caused by mercenary soldiers defied description ( see Schwedentrunk ).

Little is heard of these Caucasian Alans for many centuries, except occasionally as mercenary soldiers of the Byzantine emperors or the 316 Persian kings.

With the hand-over of power to the Iraqi government, if one does not consider the coalition forces to be continuing parties to the conflict in Iraq, but that their soldiers are sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces ( APGC77 Art 47. f ), then, unless U. S. citizens working as armed guards are lawfully certified residents of Iraq, i. e., a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict ( APGC77 Art 47. d ), and they are involved with a fire-fight in the continuing conflict, they are mercenary soldiers.

This means that as members of the armed forces of Britain, India, and France these soldiers are not mercenary soldiers per APGC77 Art 47. e and APGC77 Art 47. f.

The private military company ( PMC ) is the contemporary strand of the mercenary trade, providing logistics, soldiers, military training, and other services.

Muammar Gaddafi in Libya was alleged to have been using mercenary soldiers during the 2011 Libyan civil war, including Tuaregs from various nations in Africa.

Although the Serbian government has denied that any of their nationals are currently serving as mercenary soldiers in North Africa, five such men have been captured by anti-Gaddafi rebels in Tripoli and several others have also allegedly fought during the Second Battle of Benghazi.

Contingents of mercenary Flemish soldiers were to form significant forces in England throughout the time of the Norman and early Plantagenet dynasties ( 11th and 12th centuries ).

During the American Revolution, King George III of England, hired German mercenary soldiers from some of the German principalities to supplement his Royal Army.

The cessation of war in France left vast numbers of French, English, Gascon and Navarrese soldiers and freebooters in search of mercenary employment, and many of these soon became involved in the wars of Castille and Aragon, both of which bordered Navarre.

Besides the usual Roman troops and auxiliary units that would appear in any Roman army Flamininus's forces also included soldiers from the allied Aetolian League, light infantry from Athamania, mercenary archers from Crete, and elephants and Numidian cavalry from King Masinissa of Numidia.

This account now is thought by some historians to be mostly legendary, although essentially the underlying story of a rebelling mercenary force may be accurate, and the date for the founding of the kingdom of Kent is thought to be approximately the middle of the fifth-century, in agreement with the legend.

That tribunal, using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law, may decide that the soldier is a mercenary.

If, after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution.

He also noted that a mercenary who failed was obviously no good, but one who succeeded may be even more dangerous.

Whether commissioned officer, mercenary, or both, Standish apparently came to Holland around 1603 and may, according to historian Tudor Jenks, have seen service during the Siege of Ostend in which Vere's English troops were involved.

Auxiliary forces are more dangerous than mercenary forces because they are united and controlled by capable leaders who may turn against the employer.

Article 2 makes it an offence to employ a mercenary and Article 3. 1 states that " A mercenary, as defined in article 1 of the present Convention, who participates directly in hostilities or in a concerted act of violence, as the case may be, commits an offence for the purposes of the Convention.

A mercenary may well be motivated by a sense of professionalism, or a belief in the sanctity of contracts.

Ellington may have taken advantage of him, but not in the mercenary way that others had taken advantage of Ellington ; instead, he used Strayhorn to complete his thoughts, while giving Strayhorn the freedom to write on his own and enjoy at least some of the credit he deserved.

Set in the border regions of Confederation space, the player takes control of a privateer ( in Wing Commander, a " privateer " is a mercenary spacer ) who may profit by trading, performing various missions, or pirating.

In 1211-12, the Earl of Winchester commanded an imposing retinue of a hundred knights and a hundred serjeants in William the Lion's campaign against the Mac William rebels, a force which some historians have suggested may have been the mercenary force from Brabant lent to the campaign by John.

The Abbasid army ( 200, 000 Muslim troops according to Chinese estimates, though these numbers may be greatly exaggerated ) which included contingents from their Tibetan and Uyghur allies met the combined army of 10, 000 Tang Chinese and 20, 000 Karluks mercenary ( Arab records put the Chinese forces at 100, 000 which also may be greatly exaggerated ).

The player's empire is expanded by training armies in friendly cities and using them to assault and occupy enemy cities ( native mercenary units may also be hired by a family member outside a city ).

" The parting may be cruel and mercenary -- but regrets -- well, hardly any.

Later references to peltasts may not in fact refer to their style of equipment as the word peltast became a synonym for mercenary.

The battlefield of Marignano, drawing by Urs Graf, himself a Swiss mercenary who may have fought there.

All mercenaries may be rehired, with the exception of a single mercenary tied to a story event.

She also suggested that " every one may read his book and see what a mind might have been stifled in bondage-what a man may be subjected to the insults of spendthrift dandies, or the blows of mercenary brutes, in whom there is no whiteness except of the skin, no humanity in the outward form.

Part C is probably the oldest, dating to the mid-15th century, the illustrations possibly by a professional draftsman of playing-cards, while parts A and B may date to the 1470s, possibly by one Michael Baumann, listed as a mercenary by profession in the tax registers of Augsburg between 1471 and 1495.

The forces on either side may also be modified by various event, mercenary, and treasure cards.

In the more recent Super Street Fighter IV, the prologue of the fighter Abel hints that his character may be homosexual due to " settling down " with a fellow French mercenary.