Italian Wars
- Period
- 1494–1559
- Battles
- 41
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559 in the Italian Peninsula, with subsidiary theatres in Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. A product of the long-running French–Habsburg rivalry, its primary belligerents were France versus the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, supported by numerous Italian states at different stages, along with England, and the Ottoman Empire.
Sources: Wikipedia — Italian Wars · CC BY-SA 4.0
Battles 41
1495
Battle of Fornovo
The Battle of Fornovo took place 30 km southwest of the city of Parma on 6 July 1495. It was fought as King Charles VIII of France left Naples upon hearing the news of the grand coalition assembled against him. Despite the numerical advantage of their opponents, the French won the engagement and Charles was able to march his army out of Italy. It was nonetheless devoid of any strategic result as all of their conquests in the Italian Peninsula were abandoned. Fornovo was the first major pitched battle of the Italian Wars.
1495
Battle of Seminara
The Battle of Seminara, part of the First Italian War, was fought in Calabria on 28 June 1495 between a French garrison in recently conquered Southern Italy and the allied forces of Spain and Naples which were attempting to reconquer these territories. Against the redoubtable combination of gendarmes and Swiss mercenary pikemen in the French force, the allies had only Neapolitan troops of indifferent quality and a small corps of lightly armed Spanish soldiers, accustomed to fighting the Moors of Spain. The result was a rout, and much of the fighting centered on delaying actions to permit the fleeing allied force to escape.
1503
Battle of Cerignola
The Battle of Cerignola was fought on 28 April 1503 between Spanish and French armies outside the town of Cerignola, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples, approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Bari. The Spanish force under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba comprising around 9,000 men, including 2,000 Landsknecht pikemen, 1,000 arquebusiers and 20 cannons, defeated the French force of 9,000 men, mainly gendarme heavy cavalry and Swiss mercenary pikemen, with about 40 cannons, led by Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who was killed during the battle.
1503
Battle of Ruvo
The Battle of Ruvo was fought on 23 February 1503 between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a French army commanded by Jacques de la Palice. The battle was part of the Second Italian War and was fought at the city of Ruvo in the Province of Bari, modern-day Italy. The result was a Spanish victory.
1503
Battle of Seminara (1503)
The Battle of Seminara of 1503 was fought on 21 April 1503 between Seminara and Gioia Tauro, Calabria, between French troops under the command of Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny and a Spanish force commanded by Fernando de Andrade during the Third Italian War.
1504
Battle of Garigliano (1503)
The Battle of Garigliano was fought on 29 December 1503 between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a French army commanded by Ludovico II, Marquis of Saluzzo, resulting in a decisive Spanish victory.
1509
Battle of Agnadello
The Battle of Agnadello, also known as Vailà, was fought on 14 May 1509 between the army of King Louis XII of France and the Venetian rear-guard elements commanded by Bartolomeo d'Alviano. After a three hour struggle, and after Bartolomeo found himself abandoned by a part of his army, the Venetians were defeated with losses in excess of 4,000 men. Louis then occupied the rest of Lombardy.
1509
Siege of Padua
The siege of Padua was a major engagement early in the War of the League of Cambrai.
1510
Battle of Polesella
The Battle of Polesella, fought on 22 December 1509, by forces of the Duchy of Ferrara and the Republic of Venice, was a naval battle on the River Po in the War of the League of Cambrai in the Italian Wars. It was an overwhelming victory for Ferrara.
1510–1511
Siege of Mirandola (1511)
The siege of Mirandola took place from 2 January to 19 January 1511 as a part of Pope Julius II's campaign to keep France from dominating northern Italy during the War of the League of Cambrai. At that time Mirandola was the capital of the Duchy of Mirandola in the Italian region of Emilia. The fortress was defended by 400 French infantrymen commanded by Alessandro Trivulzio, 100 soldiers from Ferrara, and 70 Mirandola soldiers. The siege was conducted by Julius after he had broken away from the League of Cambrai and entered into a treaty with Venice.
1512
Battle of Ravenna (1512)
The Battle of Ravenna, fought on 11 April 1512, was a major battle of the War of the League of Cambrai. It saw a Spanish-Papal army under Viceroy of Naples Ramón de Cardona defeated by France and their Ferrarese allies under Gaston of Foix, who was killed during the battle.
1513
Battle of Novara (1513)
The Battle of Novara was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on 6 June 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy. A French attacking force was routed by allied Swiss-Milanese troops. As a consequence, France was forced to withdraw entirely from Italy.
1513
Battle of the Spurs
The Battle of the Spurs or (Second) Battle of Guinegate took place on 16 August 1513. It formed a part of the War of the League of Cambrai of 1508 to 1516, during the Italian Wars. King Henry VIII of England and Emperor Maximilian I were besieging the French town of Thérouanne in Artois. Henry's camp was at Guinegate. A large body of French heavy cavalry under Jacques de La Palice was covering an attempt by light cavalry to bring supplies to the besieged garrison. English and Imperial troops surprised and routed the French cavalry. The battle resulted in the precipitate flight and extensive pursuit of the French. During the pursuit, a number of notable French leaders and knights were captured. After the fall of Thérouanne, Henry VIII besieged and took Tournai.
1513
Battle of La Motta (1513)
The Battle of La Motta, also known as the Battle of Schio, Battle of Vicenza or Battle of Creazzo, took place at Schio, in the Italian region of Veneto, Republic of Venice, on 7 October 1513, between the forces of the Republic of Venice and a combined force of Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, and was a significant battle of the War of the League of Cambrai. A Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano was decisively defeated by the Spanish/Imperial army commanded by Ramón de Cardona and Fernando d'Ávalos.
1513
Siege of Dijon
The Siege of Dijon between 8 and 13 September 1513 was a successful campaign of the Swiss army against the French city of Dijon during the War of the League of Cambrai.
1515
Battle of Marignano
The Battle of Marignano, which took place on 13–14 September 1515, near the town now called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan, was the last major engagement of the War of the League of Cambrai. It pitted the French army, led by Francis I, newly crowned King of France, against the Old Swiss Confederacy. With the French were German landsknechts, and their late-arriving Venetian allies.
1521
Battle of Pampeluna
The Battle of Pampluna or Battle of Pamplona was a battle fought during the Italian War of 1521–1526 on 20 May 1521 during which forces led by the Kingdom of Navarre with support from France conquered the Fortress of Pamplona from Spain. The battle coincided with an uprising by a part of the Navarrese population and the swift reconquest of all of Navarre from the Spanish.
1521
Battle of Noáin
The Battle of Noáin or the Battle of Esquiroz, fought on 30 June 1521 was the only open field battle in the Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. It was a decisive victory for the Spanish against the Franco-Navarrese army.
1521
Siege of Mézières
The siege of Mézières took place in 1521, during the Italian War of 1521–1526. The town was besieged by an army of the Holy Roman Empire. Mézières was defended by French troops under the command of Pierre Terrail, seigneur de Bayard and Anne de Montmorency.
1522
Battle of Bicocca
The Battle of Bicocca or La Bicocca was fought on 27 April 1522, during the Italian War of 1521–26. A combined French and Venetian force under Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, was decisively defeated by an Imperial–Spanish and Papal army under the overall command of Prospero Colonna. Lautrec then withdrew from Lombardy, leaving the Duchy of Milan in Imperial hands.
1522
Siege of Genoa (1522)
The Siege of Genoa (1522) took place in May 1522 as part of a larger conflict known as the Italian War of 1521–1526. Between 20 and 30 May 1522, the city of Genoa, defended by a French garrison, was besieged by imperial troops commanded by condottieri Prospero Colonna and Fernando Francesco d'Avalos. The siege ended with an Imperial victory, and since the city had not surrendered but rather been taken by assault, the Imperial troops were allowed to sack the city after its conquest..
1523–1524
Siege of Fuenterrabía (1523–1524)
The siege of Fuenterrabía took place in 1523-24 by a Spanish army, after a Franco-Navarrese army had taken it in 1521 in a new incursion to reconquer the Kingdom of Navarre, which had been occupied since 1512 by troops from the unified Crown of Castile and Crown of Aragon.
1524
Siege of Marseille (1524)
The Siege of Marseille (1524) was conducted in August and September 1524 as part of a larger conflict known as the Italian War of 1521–1526 by a Habsburg army, commanded by the Frenchman Charles de Bourbon and the Spaniard Fernando de Avalos. The operation was a failure for the besiegers, who withdrew under the threat of a French relief army commanded by King Francis I in person.
1525
Battle of Pavia
The Battle of Pavia, fought on the morning of 24 February 1525, was the decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1521–1526 between the Kingdom of France and the Habsburg Empire of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as well as ruler of Spain, Austria, the Low Countries, and the Two Sicilies.
1527
Sack of Rome (1527)
The Sack of Rome, then part of the Papal States, followed the capture of Rome on 6 May 1527 by the mutinous troops of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, during the War of the League of Cognac. Charles V only intended to threaten military action to make Pope Clement VII accept his terms. However, the Imperial army were largely unpaid and mutinied. Despite being ordered not to storm Rome, they broke into the scarcely defended city and began looting, killing, and holding citizens for ransom without any restraint. Clement VII took refuge in Castel Sant'Angelo after the Swiss Guard were annihilated in a delaying rear guard action; he remained there until a ransom was paid to the pillagers.
1528
Siege of Naples (1528)
The siege of Naples was a siege of the Italian city of Naples in 1528 during the War of the League of Cognac.
1529–1530
Siege of Florence (1529–1530)
The siege of Florence took place from 24 October 1529 to 10 August 1530, at the end of the War of the League of Cognac. At the Congress of Bologna, the Medici Pope Clement VII and Emperor Charles V agreed to restore the Medici family in Florence. A large Imperial and Spanish army under Philibert of Châlon, Prince of Orange and Pier Maria III de' Rossi surrounded the city and after a siege of nearly ten months, captured it. They overthrew the Republic of Florence and installed Alessandro de' Medici as the ruler of the city.
1529
Battle of Landriano
The Battle of Landriano took place on 21 June 1529, between the French army under Comte de Saint-Pol and the Imperial–Spanish army commanded by Don Antonio de Leyva, Duke of Terranova in the context of the War of the League of Cognac. The French army was destroyed and the battle's strategic result was that the struggle between Francis I of France and Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor for control of northern Italy was temporarily at an end.
1530
Battle of Gavinana
The Battle of Gavinana took place during the War of the League of Cognac. It was fought on 3 August 1530 between the city of Florence and the army of the Holy Roman Empire.
1542
Siege of Perpignan (1542)
The siege of Perpignan took place in 1542, at Perpignan, between a larger French army commanded by Henry, Dauphin of France and the Spanish garrison at Perpignan. The Spaniards resisted until the arrival of the Spanish army under Don Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba, causing the withdrawal of the French army. The siege was one of the costliest defeats of Francis I of France in the French offensive of 1542.
1543
Siege of Nice
The siege of Nice occurred in 1543 and was part of the Italian War of 1542–46 in which Francis I and Suleiman the Magnificent collaborated as part of the Franco-Ottoman alliance against the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, and Henry VIII of England. At that time, Nice was under the control of Charles III, Duke of Savoy, an ally of Charles V.
1543
Siege of Landrecies (1543)
The siege of Landrecies (1543) took place during the Italian War of 1542–46. Landrecies was besieged by Imperial and English forces under the command of Ferrante Gonzaga. They were repulsed by the French defenders under the command of Martin du Bellay.
1544
Battle of Ceresole
The Battle of Ceresole took place on 14 April 1544, during the Italian War of 1542–1546, outside the village of Ceresole d'Alba in the Piedmont region of Italy. A French army, commanded by François de Bourbon, Count of Enghien, defeated the combined forces of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, commanded by Alfonso d'Avalos d'Aquino, Marquis del Vasto. Despite having inflicted substantial casualties on the Imperial troops, the French subsequently failed to exploit their victory by taking Milan.
1544
Sieges of Boulogne (1544–1546)
The sieges of Boulogne were two sieges which took place between England and France during the Rough Wooing and Italian War of 1542–1546. The first took place from 19 July to 14 September 1544 and the second from September 1544 to 16 May 1550. An earlier siege of Boulogne had taken place in 1492 when the English Tudor King Henry VII laid siege to the lightly defended lower town of Boulogne in the Pas-de-Calais, France. Fifty years later as allies of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, during the war against the French, the English returned led by Henry VII's son and heir, Henry VIII. Boulogne was fortified and defended as an English possession on the French mainland between 14 September 1544 and March 1550.
1544
Battle of Serravalle (1544)
The Battle of Serravalle took place on 2–4 June 1544 in Serravalle Scrivia, in the Apennine Mountains, between the Imperial-Spanish army commanded by Don Alfonso d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, and a force of freshly raised Italian mercenaries in French service, led by Pietro Strozzi, member of the rich and famous Florentine family of the Strozzi, and Giovan Francesco Orsini, Count of Pitigliano, during the Italian War of 1542–1546.
1545
Battle of the Solent
The naval Battle of the Solent took place on 18 and 19 July 1545 during the Italian Wars, between the fleets of Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England, in the Solent, between Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. This was one of only two full-fledged naval battles fought by King Henry VIII's Tudor navy, along with the earlier Battle of Saint-Mathieu.
1552–1553
Siege of Metz (1552)
The siege of Metz during the Italian War of 1551–59 lasted from 19 October 1552 to 2 January 1553.
1554
Battle of Marciano
The Battle of Marciano occurred in the countryside of Marciano della Chiana, near Arezzo, Tuscany, on August 2, 1554, during the Italian War of 1551. The battle pitted an army of the Duchy of Florence and the Empire of Charles V, commanded by Gian Giacomo Medici, and an army of the Republic of Siena and France, led by Piero Strozzi. The Imperial-Florentine army inflicted a crushing victory, marking the defeat of the Republic of Siena and leading to its absorption into the Duchy of Florence.
1557
Battle of St. Quentin (1557)
The Battle of Saint-Quentin of 1557 was a decisive engagement of the Italian War of 1551–1559 between the Kingdom of France and the Spanish Empire, at Saint-Quentin in Picardy. A Habsburg Spanish force under Duke Emmanuel Philibert of Savoy defeated a French army under the command of Louis de Gonzague, and Anne de Montmorency, Duke of Montmorency.
1558
Siege of Calais (1558)
The French siege of Calais in early 1558 was part of the Italian War of 1551–1559 between France and England and their respective allies. It resulted in the seizure of the town and its dependencies by France.
1558
Battle of Gravelines (1558)
The Battle of Gravelines was fought on 13 July 1558 at Gravelines, near Calais, France. It occurred during the twelve-year war between France and Spain (1547–1559).
Earlier and later events nearby
- AD 476Fall of the Western Roman Empire
- AD 800Coronation of Charlemagne
- 1346–1353Black Death
- 1494–1559Italian WarsThis page
- 1543De revolutionibus orbium coelestium
- 1610Galileo's telescopic discoveries
- 1886Berne Convention
Who ruled this land
States that held this place in the historical borders data (Cliopatria). Years are approximate, as fine as the data's snapshots (every few years to a century). Tap to open the map for that year.
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