- Battle of Gamenario
Infobox Military Conflict
caption=
conflict=Battle of Gamenario
partof=
date=April 22 ,1345
place=Gamenario ,Montferrat , present-dayItaly
result=Decisive Lombard Victory
combatant1=
combatant2=
commander1=Reforza D'Agoult Jean de Cimiers Bestet
commander2=John II of Montferrat
(Giovanni II del Monferrato)
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=The Battle of Gamenario, fought on
22 April 1345 , was a decisive battle of the wars between theGuelfs (Angevins ) andGhibellines (Lombards). It took place in north-west Italy in what is now part of the commune ofSantena about 15 km southeast ofTurin .Reforza d'Agoult was sent in the spring of1345 by Joan of Anjou, viceroy to northern Italy in hopes of putting an end to the war with theMargravate of Montferrat .Reforza conquered
Alba and besiegedGamenario , a castle in the neighbourhood of Santena. Lombard Ghibellines formed an anti-Angevin alliance, headed byJohn II of Montferrat . On 22 April, he confronted Reforza d'Agoult and battle was joined. The meeting was brief and bloody. Initially uncertain, the outcome was a victory for the Ghibellines, who recovered the besieged fortress and dealt a sever blow toAngevin influence in Piedmont. To celebrate his victory, John built a new church inAsti in honour ofSaint George , near whose feast day the battle was won.In the aftermath,
Piedmont was partitioned between the victors. John received Alba,Acqui Terme ,Ivrea , andValenza . Luchino Visconti receivedAlessandria and theHouse of Savoy (related to thePalaiologos ofMontferrat ) receivedChieri . The Angevins lost almost complete control of the region and many formerly French cities declared themselves independent.The defeat of the Angevins was also a defeat for Angevin-supported
Manfred V of Saluzzo and the civil war in that margraviate was ended at Gamenario.ources
* [http://www.ilmonferrato.info/storia/storia2.htm Storia del Monferrato.]
*Giuseppe Cerrato: "In Atti della Società ligure di storia patria" — S. 2, vol. 17 (1885), p. 382–542
*"Studi Piemontesi": VII (1978), 2, pp. 341-51
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.