Gualtieri Orsini de Florenzia (14 October, 1355 - 22 May, 1422) was an Italian condittieri, governor and eventually Despot of Trebizond. Gualtieri served for, at various times: the White Company, the Republics of Florence and Venice, the Duchy of Milan, the Despotate of Epirus and the Latin Empire. Through his various campaigns for the latter, Gualtieri garnered a great deal of influence at court in Constantinople, leading to him being appointed Despot of Trebizond.
Gualtieri was amongst the first European commanders to make largescale use of gunpowder, with almost a third of his foot soldiers wielding hand cannons. He also employed innovative light cavalry tactics, modelling his forces after the Stradiots of the Balkans rather than the typical style of western Europe. This combination of highly manoeuvrable cavalry and strong ranged firepower proved very efficient against the more static armies of Europe, as well as the cavalry-based armies of Anatolia.
Most famously Gualtieri defeated the Empire of Nicaea at the battle of Badirga by using a feigned retreat with his light cavalry to draw the Nicaean heavy cavalry into an ambush. Meanwhile, at the battle of Gökçedam he defeated a large Qasimid army by utilising field artillery to force the Qasimid cavalry to attempt an engagement which was then easily repulsed by a defensive combination of pikes and hand cannons.
Following his appointment as the Despot of Trebizond, Gualtieri spent large sums of his amassed fortune to expand the harbour and civic places of the city itself. He also constantly maintained amiable relations with the neighbouring Karamanids, Ottomans, Georgians and Timurids, the latter of which he also paid tribute to in return for access to the Silk Road.
Gualtieri’s son, Niccolo would succeed him in 1416 as Despot of Trebizond. Nonetheless, Gualtieri maintained his prestige and continued to advise for Niccolo until his death six years later.
History[]
Early Life[]
Gualtieri was born in the town of Pistoia, 35 kilometres to the north-west of the city of Florence. His family, the Orsinis claimed descent from the Julio-Claudian Dynasty of Rome and four members had become Pope. However, Gualtieri's father, Fabiano was from a newer and far less prestigious branch of the family, but nonetheless the name was enough to grant them considerable landholdings.
Fabiano was a prominent merchant within the city and a member of the Signoria of Florence, although based upon his lack of involvement in any major administrative matters, the title was probably one granted purely based on his lineage. Gualtieri was educated at the Studium Generale in Florence, specifically in mercantilism indicating his father's wish for Gualtieri to follow in his steps. Gualtieri's correspondence with his father, as incomplete as it is, shows that Fabiano perhaps wished his son to pursue politics instead as he would often divulge ostensibly confidential information from the Signoria to him. However, these letters also hinted at a deeply strained relationship, likely spurred on by Gualtieri's apparent disinterest in his father's expectations.
Nonetheless, Gualtieri would graduate and return to Pistoia to work with his father, mostly assisting with the transportation of cloth and linen. However, he was to be caught up in the Ciompi Revolt in 1378. As opposed to his father, who sought to ensure the Ciompi's non-participation in the Signoria, Gualtieri supported the Ciompi. Thus, when on July 21 the Ciompi Government was forcibly installed, Gualtieri was appointed as a Difensore delle Gilde ("Defender of the Guilds"), a position that granted him command of a militia and required him to suppress counter-revolutionaries.
Gualtieri used his influence at court to prevent the arrest of his father, but the installation of the Ciompi Government had stripped Fabiano of his position in the Signoria. Thus, the rift between father and son continued to widen.