- Italian campaign of 1524–1525
Infobox Military Conflict
conflict= Italian campaign of 1524–25
partof= theItalian War of 1521–26
caption= The French advance into Lombardy and the Pavia campaign of 1524–25. French movements are indicated in blue and Imperial movements in red.
date= October 1524–February 1525
place= NorthernItaly
result= DecisiveHabsburg victory
combatant1=France
combatant2=Holy Roman Empire ,Spain
commander1=Francis I of France POW, Seigneur de BonnivetKIA,Anne de Montmorency POW
commander2=Charles de Lannoy ,Fernando d'Avalos , Charles de Bourbon,Antonio de Leyva
strength1=
strength2=
casualties1=
casualties2=The Italian campaign of 1524–25 was the final significant action of the
Italian War of 1521–26 .Prelude
The French, in possession of
Lombardy at the start of theItalian War of 1521 , had been forced to abandon it after their defeat at theBattle of Bicocca in 1522. Determined to regain it, Francis ordered an invasion of the region in late 1523, under the command ofGuillaume Gouffier, Seigneur de Bonnivet ; but Bonnivet was defeated by Imperial troops at theBattle of the Sesia and forced to withdraw to France.Charles de Lannoy now launched an invasion ofProvence under the command ofFernando d'Avalos, Marquess of Pescara , andCharles 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 atAvignon .French invasion of Lombardy
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. [Hackett, "Francis the First", 281; Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 89.] 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
October 26 . [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 30—33.] Having entered Milan and installedLouis II de la Trémoille 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 onPavia , whereAntonio de Leyva remained with a sizable Imperial garrison. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 34.]Siege of Pavia
The main mass of French troops arrived at Pavia in the last days of October. By
November 2 , Montmorency had crossed theTicino River 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. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 34–35.] A period of skirmishing and artillery bombardments followed, and several breaches had been made in the walls by mid-November. OnNovember 21 , 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. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 36–39.]French expeditions
In early December, a Spanish force commanded by
Hugo de Moncada landed nearGenoa , intending to interfere in a conflict between pro-Valois and pro-Habsburg factions in the city. Francis dispatched a larger force under theMarquis 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 byAndrea Doria , the Spanish troops surrendered. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 40–41.] Francis then signed a secret agreement with PopeClement 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. [Blockmans, "Emperor Charles V", 57; Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 42–43.] Lannoy attempted to intercept the expedition nearFiorenzuola , but suffered heavy casualties and was forced to return to Lodi by the intervention of the infamousBlack 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 theDuke of Ferrara ; but the French position was simultaneously weakened by the departure of nearly 5,000Grisons Swiss mercenaries , who returned to their cantons in order to defend them against maraudinglandsknechts . [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 43–45.]Lannoy's offensive
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 atSan Angelo , cutting the lines of communication between Pavia and Milan, while a separate column of landsknechts advanced onBelgiojoso and, despite being briefly pushed back by a raid led by Medici and Bonnivet, occupied the town. [Blockmans, "Emperor Charles V", 59; Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 46–50.] ByFebruary 2 , Lannoy was only a few miles from Pavia. Francis had encamped the majority of his forces in the great walled park ofMirabello outside the city walls, placing them between Leyva's garrison and the approaching relief army. [Hackett, "Francis the First", 286; Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 50.] Skirmishing and sallies by the garrison continued through the month of February. Medici was seriously wounded and withdrew toPiacenza 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. OnFebruary 21 , 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. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 52–53.]Battle of Pavia
In the early morning of
February 24 ,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 Trémoille, andRichard de la Pole were killed, whileAnne de Montmorency ,Robert de la Marck , and Francis himself were taken prisoner along with a host of lesser nobles. [Hackett, "Francis the First", 288–293; Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 56–74; Taylor, "Art of War in Italy", 126–127.] 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." [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).] 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. [Guicciardini, "History of Italy", 348.] The broken remnants of the French forces, aside from a small garrison left to hold theCastel Sforzesco in Milan, retreated across the Alps under the nominal command ofCharles IV of Alençon , reachingLyon by March. [Konstam, "Pavia 1525", 76.]Aftermath
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. [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.]Louise of Savoy , who had remained asregent in France during her son's absence, attempted to gather troops and funds to defend against an expected invasion of Artois by English troops. [Guicciardini, "History of Italy", 357–358.] 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 theCastelnuovo in Naples, to send him to Spain instead. Concerned by Bourbon's scheming, they agreed and Francis arrived inBarcelona onJune 12 . [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."]Notes
References
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* 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.
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