Military leader and mercenary
Sible Hedingham 1320 ca. - Firenze 1394

He learnt the soldier¹s craft during the Hundred Years¹ War in France, where he fought first under Edward III and then at the command of his own company, which sacked Provence. When he came to Italy in 1360, he was first employed by the city of Pisa, then by the Viscontis of Milan, by Pope Gregory XI and lastly by Florence, where his name was Italianized into Giovanni Acuto. The Florentine forgave him for having led the Pisan troups against them in 1364 and established such a good relationship with him that he was honoured on his death with the equestrian monument frescoed by Paolo Uccello in Santa Maria del Fiore (1436).
Hawkwood is generally considered to have been one of the first miltary leaders of modern times.