Battle of Cerignola

The Battle of Cerignola was fought on 21 April 1503, between Spanish and French armies, in Cerignola, Apulia .
Spanish forces, under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, formed by 6,300 men, including 2,000 landsknechte, with more than 1,000 arquebusiers, and 20 cannons, defeated the French who had 9,000 men; mainly heavy gendarme cavalry and Swiss mercenary pikemen, with about 40 cannons, and led by Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, who was killed. It was one of the first European battles won by gunpowder weapons, as the assault by Swiss pikemen and French cavalry was shattered by the fire of Spanish arquebusiers behind a ditch.

The Second Italian War was re-kindled in late 1502, over disagreements on the Treaty of Granada of 11 November 1500. Although it was agreed that Louis XII should assume the throne of Naples, Louis and the monarchs of Spain soon quarreled over the division of the rest of the spoils. Soon war broke out again between France and Spain.
The Spanish forces, led by the "Great Captain" Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba avoided encounter with the enemy at first, hoping to lure the French into complacency.
After a series of skirmishes, the Battle of Cerignola was the first major engagement in this phase of the war, alongside the Battle of Seminara fought on the same day.

More information

Comments Statistics

| | Public | Catalan • Dutch • French • Italian • Spanish