They took the field at once, and marched on Florence, but failing to entice the Florentines into the open, shot into the town some arrows bearing the words ‘This Pisa sends you,’ struck some coins bearing the arms of Pisa above those of Florence, and retreated to Pisa. Returning in the autumn they took Figline, defeated the Florentine general, Ranucio Farnese, at Incisa (13 Oct.), and advancing on Florence burned the suburb of San Niccolò (22 Oct.), after which they retreated to Figline. In December Hawkwood was appointed to the command in chief at Pisa; in the following month the pay of the company was raised to twenty-five thousand florins of gold per month. In March the republic of Pisa hired a German company of three thousand horse, led by one Hans von Bongard (Anichino di Bongarden), who was also placed under Hawkwood's orders.
Hawkwood marched with his full strength, on 13 April 1364, into the plain of Pistoia; thence by Prato to Fiesole, which he sacked, and occupied Montughi. On 1 May he advanced on Florence. After several engagements, in which the Pisan force lost more than two thousand in killed and wounded, Hawkwood failed to enter Florence and withdrew to Incisa, where he found himself deserted by Hans von Bongard and all but eight hundred of the White Company, seduced by Florentine gold. With the remnant he retreated to Pisa. A Florentine army, four thousand strong, under Galeotto Malatesta, now invaded Pisan territory, burned Livorno, and at Cascina, within six miles of Pisa, formed, on 28 July, a camp defended by strong palisades. With the small force at his disposal Hawkwood's only chance of saving Pisa lay in carrying this camp by a coup de main; but, although he effected a breach, he was overpowered by numbers, and was compelled to retire with heavy loss. This defeat was followed by a revolution in Pisa, Giovanni dell' Agnello, a wealthy merchant, contriving with the help of Hawkwood to get himself elected doge of the city (28 Aug.). His first act was to make peace, which he purchased at the price of an annual tribute of ten thousand florins of gold for ten years.
In the following November Hawkwood, resuming his old profession of free-lance, invaded the Perugino. Perugia engaged Hans von Bongard to defend it, but the two companies being equally matched swore eternal friendship to each other and to the commune of Perugia, and dined together at its expense. Hawkwood remained at Perugia until the end of the month, and then marched into Lombardy. He reappeared at Perugia in July 1365. Attacked by Hans von Bongard he fought a pitched battle with him, and was defeated with great loss on the 25th. He made good his retreat into the Sienese; thence into the Maremma, closely followed by the German commander, and eventually took refuge in Genoa. He subsequently joined his forces to those of the Italian company of St. George, commanded by Ambrogio, one of the illegitimate sons of Bernabò Visconti, and the German company of Count John of Hapsburg, in concert with whom he ravaged the country between Genoa and Siena during the autumn of 1365 and the spring of the next year, when he parted company with them, and advanced into the Perugino. There he remained supporting himself by pillage, and levying contributions until the spring of 1367, when he returned to Pisa. At this time Pope Urban V was expected to touch at Livorno on his way from Avignon to Viterbo, and Giovanni dell' Agnello came thither from Pisa, escorted by Hawkwood and a large bodyguard, to receive him. The pope was so impressed by the formidable appearance of the English knights that he would not land.
The approaching marriage of Lionel, duke of Clarence, with Violante, daughter of Galeazzo Visconti, drew Hawkwood to Milan in the summer of 1368. Shortly after the ceremony (5 June) he, with four thousand men, entered the service of Bernabò Visconti. In 1369 there was an outbreak of hostilities between Perugia and the pope. Perugia appealed to Bernabò Visconti, who placed Hawkwood and his lances at the disposal of the republic. While marching to Perugia in June, Hawkwood was surprised by the pope's German mercenaries near Arezzo, defeated, and taken prisoner. He was at once ransomed by the Pisan republic, and, collecting his scattered forces, marched to Montefiascone, where the pope then was. The pope fled to Viterbo. Hawkwood pursued, burned the vineyards in the neighbourhood of the town, and retreated into the Pisano. About the same time Bernabò Visconti induced San Miniato to revolt from Florence, and placed a garrison in the town. Florence sent an army of four thousand men under Giovanni Malatacca of Reggio to reduce the place. On his way Malatacca was defeated at Cascina on 1 Dec. by Hawkwood, who had with him two thousand horse, mostly German, but only five hundred men on whom he could absolutely rely. But Hawkwood was too weak to relieve San Miniato. In May 1370 he returned with reinforcements to the Pisano, accompanied by Giovanni dell' Agnello, who had been expelled from Pisa in 1368, and whom the Visconti were determined to restore. On 20 May Hawkwood failed
