Battle of Agnadello
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| Battle of Agnadello | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the War of the League of Cambrai | |||||||||
 Battle of Agnadel, 14th May 1509, painting by Pierre-Jules Jollivet | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Kingdom of France | Republic of Venice | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Bartolomeo d'Alviano (POW)[2] Niccolò di Pitigliano | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| 30,000[2] | 15,000[2] | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 500 | 10,000+[2] | ||||||||
The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was one of the most significant battles of the War of the League of Cambrai and one of the major battles of the Italian Wars.
Background
On 15 April 1509, a French army under the command of
By 9 May, however, Louis had crossed the
Battle
On 14 May, as the Venetian army moved south, Alviano's rearguard, commanded by
Pitigliano had been moving ahead of Alviano, and was several miles away when the French began their attack. In reply to Alviano's request for help, he sent a note suggesting that a pitched battle should be avoided, and continued his march south.
Meanwhile, Louis, with the remainder of the French army, had reached Agnadello. The French surrounded Alviano on three sides and proceeded to destroy his forces over the next three hours. The Venetian cavalry charged the center of the French Army to relieve the pressure on the infantry. Despite being initially successful, the Venetian cavalry was soon outnumbered and surrounded; when Alviano himself was wounded and captured the formation collapsed and the surviving knights fled from the battlefield. Of Alviano's command, more than four thousand were killed, including his commanders Spoleto and del Monte, and 30 pieces of artillery were captured.[3]
Although Pitigliano had avoided engaging the French directly, news of the battle reached him by that evening, and the majority of his forces had deserted by morning. Faced with the continued advance of the French army, he hurriedly retreated towards Treviso and Venice. Louis then proceeded to occupy the remainder of Lombardy.
The battle is mentioned in
Aftermath
The economic historian, Niall Ferguson suggests that the collapse in Venetian monte nuovo bonds from 102 percent of their face value to 40 percent was a direct consequence of the Venetians' defeat at Agnadello.[5]
Notes
- ^ André Thevet, Portraits from the French Renaissance and the Wars of Religion, transl. Edward Benson, ed. Roger Schlesinger, (Truman University Press, 2010), 62.
- ^ a b c d A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, Vol. II, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, (ABC-CLIO, 2010), 479.
- ^ a b c Michael Mallett and Christine Shaw, The Italian Wars: 1494–1559, (Pearson, 2012), 89.
- ^ Machiavelli, The Prince, transl. Rufus Goodwin, (Dante University Press, 2003), 77.
- ^ Ferguson, Niall. The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World. (Penguin Books, 2009), 74
References
- Machiavelli, Niccolò (1514) The Prince Translated by Rufus Goodwin, 2003, Boston: Dante University Press. ISBN 0-937832-38-3.
- A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, Vol. II, ed. Spencer C. Tucker, ABC-CLIO, 2010.