这句英文如何分析理解

这句英文如何分析理解
the Florentines gave him a state funeral and had a pictured with as dedicated to the memory of 'the most valiant soldier and most notable leader,Signor Giovanni Haukodue.'（从 ad a pictured with as dedicated to the memory of as 是什么用法）
Hawkwood used to hire his soldiers to princes who were willing to pay the high price he demanded（he demanded 这段 如何理解）
large sums of 何意？As long ago as the fourteenth century,an Englishman,Sir John Hawkwood,made the remarkable discovery that people would rather pay large sums of money than have their life work destroyed by gangsters.（这一句的开头 as 用法也不是很明白）