Stratioti

The stratioti or stradioti , were Albanian,Greek and Serbian mercenaries who formed military cavalry units of the Venetian Republic and the Kingdom of Naples in the 15th and 16th centuries. According to a Greek author who studied the documentary evidence, around 80% of the listed names attributed to the stradioti were of Albanian origin while most of the remaining ones,were of Greek origin; a small minority were of South Slavic origin.The Venetians used them first in their campaigns against the Ottomans and, from c. 1475, as frontier troops in Friuli. Starting from that period, they began to replace most entirely the Venetian light cavalry in the Serenissima army. Impressed by the unorthodox tactics of the Stradioti, other European powers (such as France and Spain) quickly began to hire mercenaries from the same region.In 1514, Henry VIII of England, employed units of Albanian and Greek stradioti during the battles with the Kingdom of Scotland. In the 1540s Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset used Albanian stradioti in his campaign against Scotland.In the early 16th century heavy cavalry in the European armies was principally remodeled after Albanian stradioti of the Venetian army, Hungarian hussars and German mercenary cavalry units.In 1587 the Duchy of Lorraine recruited 500 Albanian stradioti, while from 1588 to 1591 5 Albanian stradioti captains were also recruited.In the middle 18th century Albanian stratioti were employed by Empress Maria Theresa during the War of the Austrian Succession against Prussian and French troops. .The Italian term stradioti is either a loan from the Greek word stratiotai (Greek: στρατιώται), or soldiers, or derives from the Italian word strada ('street'), meaning 'wayfarer'.The Albanian stradioti of Venice were also called capelletti because of the small red caps they wore.Stradioti were mercenaries and received wages only as long as their military services were needed.They were recruited in , Albania,Greece, Dalmatia and later Cyprus.Among their leaders there were also members of some old Byzantine noble families such as the Palaiologi and Comneni.They were pioneers of light cavalry tactics during this era. They employed hit-and-run tactics, ambushes, feigned retreats and other complex maneuvers. In some ways, these tactics echoed those of the Ottoman Sipahis and Akinci. The stradioti were famous for being rambunctious, rowdy and sometimes disloyal, but their abilities far outweighed any offense to European sensibilities. They had some notable successes also against French heavy cavalry during the Italian Wars.They used spears called Assegai, as well as swords, maces, crossbows and daggers. They traditionally dressed in a mixture of Ottoman, Byzantine and European garb: the armor was initially a simply mail hauberk, but became heavier as years passed. By the 16th century, the stradioti were no longer widely used.


Notable Stratioti
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Ferrante Kastrioti
Adriano Musacchi
Teodor Bokali
Murrik-Mërkur Bua
Manuel Bokali
Georgo Bokali
Nikolo Bokali
Manolo Bokali
Kostandin Bokali
Leonida Maria
Françesko Maria
Teodor Bischietto
Giovani Zucchero
Nikolo Masi -Mëzi
Lazaro Mathes
Giovani Mathes
Angelo Mathes
Demetrio Capuzzimadi
Giorgo Basta
Pietro Basta
Demetrio Basta
etc.