Part of the Italian War of 1521?1526
Italian campaign of 1524?1525
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Part of the
Italian War of 1521?1526
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![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fc/Pavia_campaign_%281524-25%29.png/300px-Pavia_campaign_%281524-25%29.png) The French advance into Lombardy and the Pavia campaign of 1524?1525. French movements are indicated in blue and Imperial movements in red.
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Date
| October 1524 ? February 1525
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Location
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Result
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Habsburg
victory
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Belligerents
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France
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Commanders and leaders
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The
Italian campaign of 1524?1525
was the final significant action of the
Italian War of 1521?1526
launched by the French into Northern Italy. Led by
Francis I of France
, the French attempted to dislodge the
Habsburgs
from Italy in an attempt to control Italy for themselves.
[1]
After the French invaded
Lombardy
, the campaign would then primarily consist of the French attempt to capture the city of
Milan
. However, after Francis's defeat at the
Siege of Pavia
,
[2]
the French were driven out of Italy and Francis was taken prisoner.
Prelude
[
edit
]
The French, in possession of
Lombardy
at the start of the
Italian War of 1521
, had been forced to abandon it after their defeat at the
Battle of Bicocca
in 1522. Determined to regain it, Francis ordered an invasion of the region in late 1523, under the command of
Guillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet
; but Bonnivet was defeated by Imperial troops at the
Battle of the Sesia
and forced to withdraw to France.
Charles de Lannoy
now launched an invasion of
Provence
under the command of
Fernando d'Avalos, Marquess of Pescara
, and
Charles III, Duke of Bourbon
(who had recently betrayed Francis and allied himself with the Emperor). While initially successful, the Imperial offensive lost valuable time during the
Siege of Marseille
and was forced to withdraw back to Italy by the arrival of Francis and the main French army at
Avignon
.
French invasion of Lombardy
[
edit
]
In mid-October, Francis himself crossed the Alps and advanced on Milan at the head of an army numbering more than 40,000. Bourbon and d'Avalos, their troops not yet recovered from the campaign in Provence, were in no position to offer serious resistance.
[3]
The French army moved in several columns, brushing aside Imperial attempts to hold its advance, but failed to bring the main body of Imperial troops to battle. Nevertheless, Charles de Lannoy, who had concentrated some 16,000 men to resist the 33,000 French troops closing on Milan, decided that the city could not be defended and withdrew to
Lodi
on 26 October.
[4]
Having entered Milan and installed
Louis II de la Tremoille
as the governor, Francis (at the urging of Bonnivet and against the advice of his other senior commanders, who favored a more vigorous pursuit of the retreating Lannoy) advanced on
Pavia
, where
Antonio de Leyva
remained with a sizable Imperial garrison.
[5]
Siege of Pavia
[
edit
]
The main mass of French troops arrived at Pavia in the last days of October. By 2 November, Montmorency had crossed the
Ticino
and invested the city from the south, completing its encirclement. Inside were about 9,000 men, mainly mercenaries whom Antonio de Leyva was able to pay only by melting the church plate.
[6]
A period of skirmishing and artillery bombardments followed, and several breaches had been made in the walls by mid-November. On 21 November, Francis attempted an assault on the city through two of the breaches, but was beaten back with heavy casualties; hampered by rainy weather and a lack of gunpowder, the French decided to wait for the defenders to starve.
[7]
French expeditions
[
edit
]
In early December, a Spanish force commanded by
Hugo of Moncada
landed near
Genoa
, intending to interfere in a conflict between pro-Valois and pro-Habsburg factions in the city. Francis dispatched a larger force under the
Marquis of Saluzzo
to intercept them. Confronted by the more numerous French and left without naval support by the arrival of a pro-Valois fleet commanded by
Andrea Doria
, the Spanish troops surrendered.
[8]
Francis then signed a secret agreement with Pope
Clement VII
, who pledged not to assist Charles in exchange for Francis's assistance with the conquest of Naples. Against the advice of his senior commanders, Francis detached a portion of his forces under the
Duke of Albany
and sent them south to aid the Pope.
[9]
Lannoy attempted to intercept the expedition near
Fiorenzuola
, but suffered heavy casualties and was forced to return to Lodi by the intervention of the infamous
Black Bands
of
Giovanni de' Medici
, which had just entered French service. Medici then returned to Pavia with a supply train of gunpowder and shot gathered by the
Duke of Ferrara
; but the French position was simultaneously weakened by the departure of nearly 5,000
Grisons
Swiss mercenaries
, who returned to their
cantons
in order to defend them against marauding
landsknechts
.
[10]
Lannoy's offensive
[
edit
]
In January 1525, Lannoy was reinforced by the arrival of
Georg Frundsberg
with 15,000 fresh landsknechts and renewed the offensive. D'Avalos captured the French outpost at
San Angelo
, cutting the lines of communication between Pavia and Milan, while a separate column of landsknechts advanced on
Belgiojoso
and, despite being briefly pushed back by a raid led by Medici and Bonnivet, occupied the town.
[11]
By 2 February, Lannoy was only a few miles from Pavia. Francis had encamped the majority of his forces in the great walled park of
Mirabello
outside the city walls, placing them between Leyva's garrison and the approaching relief army.
[12]
Skirmishing and sallies by the garrison continued through the month of February. Medici was seriously wounded and withdrew to
Piacenza
to recuperate, forcing Francis to recall much of the Milan garrison to offset the departure of the Black Band; but the fighting had little overall effect. On 21 February, the Imperial commanders, running low on supplies and mistakenly believing that the French forces were more numerous than their own, decided to launch an attack on Mirabello Castle in order to save face and demoralize the French sufficiently to ensure a safe withdrawal.
[13]
Part of
The Pavia Tapestry
by
Barnaert van Orley
(c. 1531).
Battle of Pavia
[
edit
]
In the early morning of 24 February 1525, Imperial engineers opened breaches in the walls of Mirabello, allowing Lannoy's forces to enter the park. At the same time, Leyva sortied from Pavia with what remained of the garrison. In the ensuing four-hour
battle
, the French heavy cavalry, which had proven so effective against the Swiss at
Marignano
ten years prior, masked its own artillery by a rapid advance and was surrounded and cut apart by landsknechts and d'Avalos's massed Spanish arquebusiers. Meanwhile, a series of protracted infantry engagements resulted in the rout of the Swiss and French infantry. The French suffered massive casualties, losing the majority of their army. Bonnivet,
Jacques de la Palice
,
La Tremoille
, and
Richard de la Pole
were killed, while
Anne de Montmorency
,
Robert de la Marck
, and Francis himself were taken prisoner along with a host of lesser nobles.
[14]
The night following the battle, Francis gave Lannoy a letter to be delivered to his mother in Paris, in which he related what had befallen him: "To inform you of how the rest of my ill-fortune is proceeding, all is lost to me save honour and life, which is safe."
[15]
Soon afterwards, he finally learned that the Duke of Albany had lost the larger part of his army to attrition and desertion, and had returned to France without ever having reached Naples.
[16]
The broken remnants of the French forces, aside from a small garrison left to hold the
Castel Sforzesco
in Milan, retreated across the Alps under the nominal command of
Charles IV of Alencon
, reaching
Lyon
by March.
[17]
Aftermath
[
edit
]
After Pavia, the fate of the French king, and of France herself, became the subject of furious diplomatic maneuvering. Charles V, lacking funds to pay for the war, decided to forgo the marriage into the
House of Tudor
which he had promised Henry VIII and sought instead to marry
Isabella of Portugal
, who would bring with her a more substantial dowry. Bourbon, meanwhile, plotted with Henry to invade and partition France, and at the same time encouraged d'Avalos to seize Naples and declare himself King of Italy.
[18]
Louise of Savoy
, who had remained as
regent
in France during her son's absence, attempted to gather troops and funds to defend against an expected invasion of Artois by English troops.
[19]
Francis, convinced that he would regain his freedom if he could obtain a personal audience with Charles, pressed d'Avalos and Lannoy, who had intended to transport the king to the
Castelnuovo
in Naples, to send him to Spain instead. Concerned by Bourbon's scheming, they agreed and Francis arrived in
Barcelona
on 12 June.
[20]
Notes
[
edit
]
- ^
"What was the Italian War of 1521-1526? - Boot Camp & Military Fitness Institute"
.
bootcampmilitaryfitnessinstitute.com
. 27 October 2020
. Retrieved
1 February
2024
.
- ^
"Battle of Pavia | Summary | Britannica"
.
www.britannica.com
. Retrieved
1 February
2024
.
- ^
Hackett,
Francis the First
, 281; Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 89.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 30?33.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 34.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 34?35.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 36?39.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 40?41.
- ^
Blockmans,
Emperor Charles V
, 57; Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 42?43.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 43?45.
- ^
Blockmans,
Emperor Charles V
, 59; Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 46?50.
- ^
Hackett,
Francis the First
, 286; Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 50.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 52?53.
- ^
Hackett,
Francis the First
, 288?293; Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 56?74; Taylor,
Art of War in Italy
, 126?127.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 76. Hackett gives a similar translation and notes that contemporary sources shortened this to "all lost save honour" (
Francis the First
, 298).
- ^
Guicciardini,
History of Italy
, 348.
- ^
Konstam,
Pavia 1525
, 76.
- ^
Guicciardini,
History of Italy
, 358?359; Hackett,
Francis the First
, 308?311. D'Avalos, his loyalty to Spain outweighing his own ambition, refused and reported the offers to Charles.
- ^
Guicciardini,
History of Italy
, 357?358.
- ^
Guicciardini,
History of Italy
, 358; Hackett,
Francis the First
, 311. Guicciardini notes that he did not "know whether [Francis believed this] because he measured men by his own nature; or because men easily delude themselves when their own desires are involved."
References
[
edit
]
- Black, Jeremy
. "Dynasty Forged by Fire."
MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History
18, no. 3 (Spring 2006): 34?43.
ISSN
1040-5992
.
- Blockmans, Wim
.
Emperor Charles V, 1500?1558
. Translated by Isola van den Hoven-Vardon. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
ISBN
0-340-73110-9
.
- Guicciardini, Francesco
.
The History of Italy
. Translated by Sydney Alexander. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
ISBN
0-691-00800-0
.
- Hackett, Francis.
Francis the First
. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937.
- Knecht, Robert J.
Renaissance Warrior and Patron: The Reign of Francis I.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994.
ISBN
0-521-57885-X
.
- Konstam, Angus.
Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars
. Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 1996.
ISBN
1-85532-504-7
.
- Oman, Charles
.
A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century
. London: Methuen & Co., 1937.
- Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod.
Encyclopedia of Wars
. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, 2005.
ISBN
0-8160-2851-6
.
- Taylor, Frederick Lewis.
The Art of War in Italy, 1494?1529
. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1973. First published 1921 by Cambridge University Press.
ISBN
0-8371-5025-6
.