The free companies, or companies of adventure, have been cited as a factor as strong as or famine in the reduction of Siena from a glorious rival of Florence to a second-rate power during the later fourteenth century; Siena spent 291,379 florins between 1342 and 1399 buying off the free companies. The White Company of John Hawkwood, probably the most famous free company, active in Italy in the latter half of the fourteenth century, was the worst offender among those that preyed upon Sienese factions.