Frundsberg, Georg von (1473-1528)

German soldier. He was the leader of the Landsknechte (a group of mercenary soldiers) during the Italian wars of the Holy Roman Emperors Maximilian I and Charles V.

He fought for Maximilian against the Swiss in 1499, and in 1504 took part in the war against the Netherlands. In 1509 he won fame in the war against Venice, and in 1513 and 1514 was again occupied with the French and Venetians. He gained a victory at Bicocca in Italy in 1522, was partly responsible for the defeat of the French at the Battle of Pavia in 1525, and suppressed a peasant revolt in Germany the same year.