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| El Gran Capitán Gonzalo Fernandez de Córdoba |
I would rather choose to be buried instantly one foot forward, then by retreating a few yards backwards to prolong my life a hundred years. ~ Magnanimous resolution of Gonzalo de Córdoba at the Garigliano
On December 29, 1503, the Spanish army led by General Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, First Duke of Santángelo, defeated at the Battle of Garigliano a much larger French army under the command of Ludovico II del Vasto, Marquis of Saluzzo. The engagement proved to be the decisive battle in the Third Italian War and ultimately gave the Spanish Empire dominion over the Kingdom of Naples for the next two centuries.
Background
Following the first and second phases of the Italian Wars fought for the mastery of the peninsula by France, Spain, and their allies, the Treaty of Granada was signed on November 11, 1500, which secretly partitioned the Kingdom of Naples between the two belligerents. Pope Alexander VI not only ratified the iniquitous pact, but sent a Papal Army and 16 Roman prostitutes to support the French under the command of his illegitimate son Cesare Borgia, the butcher of Capua.[1]
Invading in 1501, the French and Spanish quickly deposed King Federigo of Naples, bringing the Aragonese Dynasty to an inglorious end.[2] Dividing up his Kingdom between themselves, the northern portion of the realm, including the city of Naples, was taken by Louis XII of France, while the southern half was seized by Federigo's cousin Ferdinand the Catholic.
Naturally, tensions flared as neither side were satisfied with their share of the spoils and open hostilities were soon renewed. Quickly escalating, skirmishes over disputed territories turned into pitched battles for control of the entire Kingdom. The French under Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours and First French Viceroy of Naples, laid siege to Barletta in Puglia, but failed to subjugate the port city before Spanish reinforcements arrived.
It was during this period that the famed Challenge of Barletta took place. Captured during a foray, a handful of French prisoners were invited to eat with their captors and brashly insulted the manhood of the Italian warriors during the meal. Challenging them to a duel, thirteen French knights faced off against thirteen Italian knights on the field of battle on February 13, 1503. To a man, the Italians defended their honor and the French were soundly beaten.
In the aftermath of Spanish victories at the Battles of Seminara and Cerignola in April 1503, and Naples in May, the French withdrew north to the fortress city of Gaeta. After the Duke of Nemours fell in battle at Cerignola, the Marquis of Saluzzo was now in command of the French army.
Unable to take Gaeta, the Spaniards gave their desperate foe a chance to recover and prolong the war. Reinforced from Genoa, the French garrison regrouped and drove the besiegers back over the Garigliano River, with each army taking defensive positions on opposite sides of a bridge.
The Battle of Garigliano
The Spanish in their trenches and redoubts were able to repulse the repeated attempts by the French to cross the swollen river, which lead to a temporary standoff. Hindered by the bad weather and muddy banks, it looked as if both armies were digging in for winter. However, the Spanish secretly built a pontoon bridge several miles upriver from the main French camp, allowing their forces to cross over undetected and overrun the smaller, unsuspecting French outposts at Suio and Castelforte.[3]
Hearing news of the breach, the French sounded a general retreat and attempted to dismantle the bridge. Barges laden with heavy canon and supplies capsized at the mouth of the river, with almost three hundred men drowning in the treacherous waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea.
On the morning of December 29, Córdoba set upon the withdrawing French in a brilliantly executed pincer movement. Outmaneuvered by the Spanish, several thousand Frenchmen and Swiss mercenaries died in the field.
Put to flight, the Marquis of Saluzzo’s army once again retreated to Gaeta. In their haste, the sick, wounded, and nine pieces of artillery were abandoned and fell into the hands of the Spanish.
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| Chevalier de Bayard defending the bridge during the Battle of Garigliano by Hénri Felix Emmanuel Philippoteaux (1505) |
Barricading themselves in at Mola, the French attempted to make a stand. At first they held firm and put up a good fight, they even beat back the Spanish at one point, but outmatched on the day they were eventually overwhelmed and routed. The rearguard under Lieutenant Bernardo Adorno temporarily impeded the Spanish advance with fifty brave lancers before being killed. This allowed the remnant of the French army to escape to Gaeta.
Aftermath
The Spanish laid siege to the fortress again, but the impregnable walls would not fall. This time, with no reinforcements forthcoming, the demoralized French eventually capitulated on January 1, 1504. According to the agreed upon terms, prisoners of war were exchanged and the French were given safe passage back to France. On January 31, 1504, King Louis XII finally acquiesced and officially abandoned his claim to Naples in the treaty of Lyon.
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| Spanish stamp honoring El Gran Capitán (1958) |
The Battle of Garigliano marked a watershed in the history of Naples, as the Kingdom was united with Imperial Spain and contributed mightily to the Empire’s glorious Golden Age. To be sure the internecine fighting between France and Spain continued around Europe until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis on April 3, 1559, and for better or worse Neapolitan Knights and levies were present in these theaters of war, but for all intents and purposes the conflict came to an end in Naples, allowing Córdoba to conduct the affairs of the viceroyalty until 1506.
~ Giovanni di Napoli, December 28, Feast of the Holy Innocents
Notes:
[1] On June 24, 1501, the French and Papal host under Cesare Borgia invaded the Kingdom of Naples and stormed the city of Capua, killing around 3,200 defenders. “As well this,” according to contemporary historian Francesco Guicciardini, “they slaughtered without mercy all priests and nuns they could find in churches and monasteries, as well as the women. Many young girls were viciously raped. The total dead eventually numbered over 6,000.”
[2] Advancing south to Naples, the French left a path of destruction in their wake. Fleeing to the isle of Ischia, King Federigo accepted the peace terms offered by General Bernard Stuart, 4th Seigneur d'Aubigny, and renounced all claims to the Neapolitan throne. In return, the cravenly King was granted the duchy of Anjou and a generous annuity.
His son, Don Fernando de Aragón, Duke of Calabria, proved to be more problematic, as well as honorable, and continued to defend the Kingdom at Taranto in Puglia. Ultimately falling to Córdoba on March 1, 1502, the Duke was taken hostage and exiled to Spain.
[3] The famed Umbrian condottiero Count Bartolomeo d'Alviano is believed to be the mastermind behind the pontoon bridge scheme.
Bibliography/Further reading:
• Between Salt Water and Holy Water: A History of Southern Italy, Tommaso Astarita, W.W. Norton & Company, 2005
• Politics and Culture in Renaissance Naples, Jerry H. Bentley, Princeton University Press, 1987
• The History of Italy from the year 1490 to 1592, Volume 3, Francesco Guicciardini, translated by Austin Parker Goddard, University of Michigan, 1753
• The historical, political, and diplomatic writings of Niccolo Machiavelli, Volume 3, Niccolò Machiavelli, translated by Christian E. Detmold, James R. Osgood and Company, 1882
• The Earlier Tudors, 1485-1558, John D. Mackie, Oxford University Press, 1952
• The court of don Fernando de Aragón, Duke of Calabria in Valencia, c.1526–c.1550: music, letters and the meeting of cultures, Bernadette Nelson, Early Music, Volume 32, Number 2, May 2004, pp. 195-222 (Article), Published by Oxford University Press
• The Borgias: Power and Fortune, Paul Strathern, Pegasus Books, 2019
