Battle of Arbedo
Battle of Arbedo | |
---|---|
Part of Ticino, Switzerland 46°13′N 9°02′E / 46.21°N 9.04°E | |
Result |
Decisive Milanese victory
|
- Uri
- Unterwalden
- Luzern
- Zug
Angelo della Pergola[nb 1]
Johannes Rodt †
Peter Kolin †
Bartholome Zinderist †
Zelger Obwalden †[nb 2]
4,000 cavalry[nb 3]
~900 killed [2][7][nb 5]
400 horses killed [1]
~400 killed [5][nb 6]
all baggage and 1,200 sumpters lost [4][6]
The Battle of Arbedo was fought on 30 June 1422 between the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss Confederation, and ended with a Milanese victory.
In 1419, the
The Swiss were mainly equipped with
The Milanese forced the Swiss back onto a nearby hill, but the appearance of a band of foragers, whom the Milanese mistakenly thought were reinforcements, saved the Swiss from total defeat. When the Milanese force pulled back to reform, the Swiss withdrew from the battlefield, both sides having taken heavy casualties.
In a historiographical tradition of Zug, the bearer of the cantonal banner, Peter Kälin, was slain, and the banner was taken up by his son, who was slain in his turn. The banner was saved by one Hans Landwing, and was later lost against the French.[9]
The victory secured Bellinzona and the
See also
- Battles of the Old Swiss Confederacy
Sources
- P. Pieri: Il Rinascimento e la crisi militare italiana
- M. Mallett: Mercenaries and their Masters: Warfare in Renaissance Italy
- E. Pometta: Come il Ticino venne in potere degli Svizzeri. Bellinzona
- A. Battistella: Il conte di Carmagnola
References
- ^ a b c Oechsli, Wilhelm (1918). Quellenbuch zur Schweizergeschichte. Zürich. p. 142.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d Bullinger, Heinrich (1573). Tigurinerchronik. p. Book 9, Ch. 6.
- ^ Meyer, Karl (1915). Schweizer Kriegsgeschichte. Bern. p. 54.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ a b c d White Book of Sarnen. Obwalden. 1470–1472.
- ^ a b Chronik der Stadt Zürich. Zürich. 1420–1477.
- ^ a b c Rötteler Chronik. Rötteln Castle. 1376–1428.
- ^ a b Brennwald, Heinrich (1508–1516). Schweizerchronik.
- ^ a b Luzerner Bürgerbuch. Lucerne. 1191–1489. p. f.49r.
- ^ Illustrirte Zeitung No. 1360, 24 July 1869, pp. 72f.
Footnotes
- ^ Andreas Billius 1402–1431 (+1435) cites Carmagnola and Angelo [della Pergola] as commanders of the cavalry and Zenone [di Capo d'Istria] and [Piacentino] Brescia as commanders of the infantry [1] link text p. 142
- ^ Heinrich Bullinger (1573) [2] maintains that Lucerne had to impose a tax to ransom its prisoners, among whom was Ulrich Walker, Schultheiss and Hauptmann of Lucerne, who faced a trial after his release link text p. 101. The Landammann of Uri Johannes Rodt link text p. 257, the Landammann and knight banneret of Zug Peter Kolin [2] and the Landammann and knight banneret of Unterwalden Bartholome Zinderist link text pp. 112–113 were all killed in the battle.
- ^ Bartolomeo Morone (1392–1461) maintains that Carmagnola and Angelo della Pergola moved to Bellinzona with 16,000 men (might include campfollowers) including 4–5,000 cavalry. An account of the fortress-governor of Bellinzona, from 27. November 1478, however maintains that the total strength of Carmagnola and Angelo della Pergola was 4,000 cavalry and 4,000 infantry, including 500 Genoese crossbowmen.[3] link text p. 54
- ^ Both Andreas Billius (+1435) [1] https://archive.org/details/quellenbuchzursc00oech/mode/2up/ text link] p. 142 and Flavius Blondus (1392–1463) text link p. 400 maintain that the Swiss mustered 8,000 men (might include campfollowers) but that around half rushed ahead by a day to plunder the valleys, and what is known from the White Book of Sarnen[4] text link pp. 69–71 together with the Chronik der Stadt Zürich 1420–1477 [5] link text p. 189 and the Rötteler Chronik [6] link text pp. 179–180 is that indeed on the day of battle the continingent of Zug arrived later on the battlefield while that of Schwyz was still behind and never arrived. The Rötteler Chronik does however describe the mobilisation of Uri, Lucerne, Unterwalden and Zug as "very strong".
- ^ The Luzerner Bürgerbuch, Anno domini mccccxxii,[8] link text describes the Milanese killed in the battle as ...ob nunhundert... around 900
- ^ The Chronik of Zürich mentions ~400 Swiss killed in the battle. The Luzerner Bürgerbuch, Anno domini mccccxxii,[8] link text lists 368 killed while Brennwald [7] link text p. 499 and Bullinger [2] list 375 killed