Quote Originally Posted by Galloglaich View Post
Communal skirmish in Bologna between Guelphs and Ghibellines, 1369 AD

It's hard to tell with the shields but the heavy infantry appear to be wearing heavy armor, certainly they all have helmets and some appear to have gauntlets. The crossbowmen are wearing lighter armor, possibly mail or just textile.
I can't really tell if they are wearing heavy army, but we need to be careful with period pictures, as often they are idealized or stylized -- not always, however.

This is interesting for something I just came across last night -- for most of the 14th century, the militia in Italian armies was called up first, and only if the war or campaign bogged down would they turn to hiring mercenary companies. (That's not to say however, that there were no mercenaries involved in the opening stages of campaigns, as small mercenary companies or individually hired mercenaries were still common, just that the bulk of the army remained militia).