Origin History of Freelance

Origin History of Freelance

We all know Freelancing is the future of Self Employment. At now What comes to your mind when you hear the word “freelancing”? Maybe you think internet, laptop, or even smartphone. These are the tools of 21st-century Freelancer. At Present time freelancing is a connecting road to all over the world. Day by day freelancing is making our work much easier. What is the original history of freelancing? You may be surprised to hear that freelancing has existed before the Internet.

The Origin and Evolution of Freelancing 

“Freelancing.” Okay, so it’s a ancient old word, Actually, as we dug into the origin of this little word, we found it goes back even further. Freelancing was an old existing concept from middle age. The history of freelance can be divided into two ways. these are described below-

Early 19th century freelance

The word first appeared in The Life and Times of Hugh Miller by Thomas N. Brown (1809). Later in 1820, Sir Walter Scott mentioned it in his book, Ivanhoe, written in 1819. Here is how it was used in the book: “I offered Richard the service of my Free Lances, and he refused them, I will lead them to Hull, seize on shipping, and embark for Flanders; thanks to the bustling times, a man of action will always find employment.” To explain what Walter Scott implied by this word, we should give a short historical background. there were 2 types of soldiers, those working for a king and those working for whomever paid. Thus, free lancers were independent mercenary soldiers who sold their skills. 

Middle Age Freelance History

In the middle ages, the freelancers were the soldiers who offered their services to the kings who paid them. They were mainly such soldiers who had already lost their kings in wars and now fought for whoever they wanted to. These hired soldiers were common after 1000 A.D. These soldiers in English were more commonly known as condottiere. The term basically refers to the leader of a band of mercenary soldiers. Latin records indicate that these soldiers were initially called stipendiaries. Again as the name suggests, these are soldiers who worked on stipends provided. At this point of discussion, it’s important to mention about Wallenstein who was a well known mercenary leader and had actively participated in the 30 years of war that took place in Medieval Europe. He offered his services to the emperor Ferdinand II and possessed an army of 125000 soldiers. He was a Protestant by birth but provided his services to the Catholic making it even worse for the Protestants. Strongly backed by the Hapsburg family, he continued to become the supreme commander of their army. He even converted to Catholicism in 1606. Wallenstein was married to a rich widow who died shortly after the marriage. Her early death gave Wallenstein an access to her riches which he started using to build an army; being himself the leader. Three years later he fought a war against Venice, won it and increased his army further. He started working as a contractor. He fought in the Bohemian revolt against the Protestants. This was the first time Wallenstein worked under Ferdinand II and ended up with flying colours (other than Ferdinand II, there were other leaders acing the war, e.g. Johann Tserclaes). He continued with a series of further wins over the Protestants, however; the defeat of the Protestants at Dessau bridge needs a special acknowledgement here.

Things were going fine but with every battle, Wallenstein was turning more and more fierce. In order to increase the army, he not only started plundering villages but also ruthlessly raping the women. As he was a man who represented the Catholics and the king, this was not at all good for their reputation. Also, with his ever-growing power, the king felt that he had lost his control over Wallenstein. Consequently, the king had to dismiss Wallenstein. Moreover, several Protestant victories over the Catholics forced the king to call him back. He helped him with the battles and even won them. Although, all along Wallenstein was little pissed off at the king. This was mainly because of the king’s obscure behaviour. He decided to create his own empire. On the other hand, the king continued to grow more and more suspicious of Wallenstein. He had already sensed his intentions and before he could create one, he was killed by his soldiers.

This is just one tale of a mercenary, nevertheless, there are many more. This one I personally feel is of utmost importance because it includes a very substantial real example explaining in a very detailed way the concept of contractors or calls it freelancers. I know, that the end meets a tragedy but had Wallenstein not misused is rising powers, he could have continued flourishing. This also gives an intense message that freedom should always be complemented with responsibility, else it can be self-destructive.

This is how freelancing or contract working or remote working or condottiere was perceived ages before. Now the story of the emergence of freelance in modern time is even more fascinating.