h a state
that all the minor despots were increasing their forces and preparing to
defend by arms the fragments they had seized from the Visconti heritage.
Bartolommeo therefore had no difficulty in recommending himself to
Filippo d'Arcello, sometime general in the pay of the Milanese, but now
the new lord of Piacenza. With this master he remained as page for two
or three years, learning the use of arms, riding, and training himself
in the physical exercises which were indispensable to a young Italian
soldier. Meanwhile Filippo Maria Visconti reacquired his hereditary
dominions; and at the age of twenty, Bartolommeo found it prudent to
seek a patron stronger than D'Arcello. The two great Condottieri, Sforza
Attendolo and Braccio, divided the military glories of Italy at this
period; and any youth who sought to rise in his profession had to enroll
himself under the banners of the one or the other. Bartolommeo chose
Braccio for his master, and was enrolled among his men as a simple
trooper, or _ragazzo_, with no better prospects than he could make for
himself by the help of his talents and his borrowed horse and armor.
Braccio at this time was in Apulia, prosecuting the war of the
Neapolitan Succession disputed between Alfonso of Aragon and Louis of
Anjou under the weak sovereignty of Queen Joan. On which side of a
quarrel a condottiere fought mattered but little, so great was the
confusion of Italian politics, and so complete was the egotism of these
fraudful, violent, and treacherous party leaders. Yet it may be
mentioned that Braccio had espoused Alfonso's cause. Bartolommeo
Colleoni early distinguished himself among the ranks of the Bracceschi.
But he soon perceived that he could better his position by deserting to
another camp. Accordingly he offered his services to Jacopo Caldora, one
of Joan's generals, and received from him a commission of twenty
men-at-arms. It may here be parenthetically said that the rank and pay
of an Italian captain varied with the number of the men he brought into
the field. His title "Condottiere" was derived from the circumstance
that he was said to have received a _Condotta di venti cavalli_, and so
forth. Each _cavallo_ was equal to one mounted man-at-arms and two
attendants, who were also called _ragazzi_. It was his business to
provide the stipulated number of men, to keep them in good discipline,
and to satisfy their just demands. Therefore an Italian army at this
epoch consisted of nu