Battle of Marignano

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Battle of Marignano
Image:Marignano.JPG Detail from a painting attributed to the Maître de la Ratière
Conflict: War of the League of Cambrai
Date: September 13–14, 1515
Place: Near Melegnano, southeast of Milan, Italy
Outcome: Decisive French victory
Combatants
France, Republic of Venice	Duchy of Milan
Commanders
Francis I, Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, Bartolomeo d'Alviano, Louis de la Trémoille	Maximilian Sforza
Strength
30,000	Unknown
Casualties
Unknown	Unknown
War of the League of Cambrai Agnadello – Padua – Ravenna – Novara – Guinegate – Flodden Field – La Motta – Marignano

The Battle of Marignano, in the phase of the Italian Wars (1494–1559) that is called the "War of the League of Cambrai", was a victory for French forces that took place on 13 and 14 September, 1515, at a location, today called Melegnano, 16 km south east of Milan.

On one side were the French forces of Francis I and some German landsknechts—and, eventually, his Venetian allies—and on the other the mercenaries of the Swiss Confederation, since 1512 in control of Milan, where the nominal Sforza duke, Massimiliano—son of Lodovico il Moro, whom the French had previously defeated for possession of Milan—was under Swiss control. The bloody battle of Marignano was fought to retake control of the duchy of Milan, the French gate to Italy.

The prologue to the battle was a remarkable Alpine passage, in which François hauled pieces of artillery (including 40 or 70 huge cannon) over new-made roads over the Col d'Argentière, an unexpected route. At Villafranca the French surprised and seized Prospero Colonna and most of the Swiss cavalry. The Swiss retreated to Milan, where French gold sent some cantons' contingents of disciplined pikemen home.

After a delay of some time, the Swiss marched out to meet Francis' forces at the little burnt-out village at a bridgehead over a small river. The battle lasted more than 24 hours, a brutal and bloody engagement quite unlike either the courteous feinting of the condottieri of the previous century, or the orderly and schematic presentation in the memorial painting (upper right). In the moonlight and confusion, the outcome hung in the balance. Only the early-morning arrival of fresh light cavalry commanded by the condottiere Bartolomeo d'Alviano, paid by the Venetian allies who had drawn Francis into Italy in the first place turned the tide against the Swiss. The previous day had seen a scandalous public auction of official places in Venice, described by the diarist Marcantonio Mihiel: "By the end of the day 47,000 ducats had been raised, though with the greatest shame and disrepute for the Great Council." Dispatch riders placed the sum in the hands of the condottiere overnight [1].

By the peace of Noyon (1516), Milan was returned to France. The Franco-Swiss treaty of peace after Marignano has never been broken. However France had a decisive intervention into Switzerland at the end of the 18th century.

Marignano established the superiority of French cast bronze artillery and cavalry over the until-then invincible phalanx tactics of the Swiss infantry. The victory of Francis at Marignano, however, eventually galvanized opposition in the divided peninsula, and turned the European balance of power against Francis I. In the meantime, however, Francis gained the city, and more importantly, the Castello Sforzesco within it, the strategic key to control of Lombardy. There Massimiliano Sforza and his Swiss mercenaries and the cardinal-bishop of Sion retreated, only submitting when French sappers had placed mines under the foundations. The French regained Milan, and Massimiliano went into luxurious exile with a French purse of 30,000 ducats [2].

Commemorating the event are a bas-relief of the battle of Marignano by Pierre Bontemps, which decorates Francis I's tomb at Saint-Denis; a painting by Antoine Caron for Fontainebleau (now at the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa); and the most famous musical composition of Clément Janequin, the chanson Le bataille.

External links

• Eric Niderost, "The Swiss defeat at the battle of Marignano: Ancient tactics tested"
• War of the Holy League
• La Battaglia dei Giganti (in Italian)
• W. McAllister Johnson, "The Monumental Style of Fontainebleau and its Consequences: Antoine Caron and 'The Submission of Milan'" from National Gallery of Canada Bulletin 26 (1975)