Glory for Us and Our Kingdom: Fornovo (The Italian Wars)

[Music] [Music] the year is 1494 in the kingdom of France is on the move King Charles the eighth dreamed of conquest and his eyes were set on the Holy Land Charles hoped to earn a name for himself by seizing Jerusalem in the name of the church and France if he were to achieve this glory he was going to need a base of operations to launch his long plan invasion Italy seemed to Charles to be perfect for his needs Italy was divided into different warring States and perceived as militarily inferior to the powerful French army this division could be used to split the powers from within and stake his claim King Charles the eighth was heir to the House of Anjou his grandmother was the famed maria von jew queen of france maria von jew was the eldest daughter of louis ii of Anjou King of Naples thus giving Charles the 8th a rather weak claim to the throne of Naples an Italian base of operations was just what Charles needed to stage his invasion of the Holy Land and run out the Ottoman Turks Charles II a skills in both combat and politics never did match his ambition Charles was born June 30th 1470 he was always seen as affable and had a friendly disposition he is sometimes referred to by the very kingly name Charles the affable he was prone to be a dreamer and to many he seems simple minded and shallow he became king at the young age of thirteen and fourteen eighty-three he was perceived as weak and is always feeling sick his sister Anne acted as regent until 1491 and of bow Jew was a formidable and a shrewd political operator who helped put the kingdom on a sound financial track Charles began to rule the kingdom in his own right in 1491 and would squander the work of his sister the first thing Charles needed to do was secure the borders of France so he would not be attacked while on his expedition to Italy Maximilian the first Holy Roman Emperor was given the regions of Artois and French Comte Ferdinand the second of Aragon was given Roussillon and Henry the seventh of England was simply paid off all of these deals were in exchange for an understanding that these powers would not attack France while Charles's expedition was in Italy these agreements showed that Charles the eighth was not much interested in the government of the state as much as he wanted to earn glory and fame on the battlefield with everything in place the invasion of Italy was launched August 14 94 France was allied to Milan in the Milanese encouraged this invasion Venice remained neutral but seemed to favor the invasion the papacy Florence and Naples were all opposed the papacy in the Neapolitan sent armies against Charles but they were swept aside the invasion was moving swiftly in the Italian seemed powerless to stop it the French artillery train was especially deadly and effective during the campaign defensive walls could not stop the French army many and Italy began to view the French victory as perhaps ordained by God the French army dealt with all opposition harshly they sacked towns and cities along the way massacring the inhabitants the French army was not held back from plundering the country this lack of control over the army was in complete contradiction to the goals of Charles he wanted to become King of Naples and use it for men and supplies not to destroy it another of Charles's blunders was on full display and resistance was beginning to materialize all around him nevertheless on February 13th 1495 Charles and his army entered Naples he conquered what he came to conquer and he began thinking of his next step Venice while at first seemed to favor the French began to turn against them Venice remained neutral but seeing the ease in which the French army moved through Italy and with reports of massacres the Venetians started preparing for war and an anti French coalition was forming Venice began by paying Francesco Gonzaga the Duke of Mantua a healthy sum to begin forming an army to fight the French Gonzaga was seen as the man for the job he was described as brave but level-headed and an exceptional knight Mantua was a small area and its people and leaders often sold themselves to larger kingdoms and military service Gonzaga was inexperienced so he was joined by his uncle Rodolfo Gonzaga Rodolfo had military experience fighting with the French in smaller Wars and had a good understanding of French tactics Rodolfo was not a pleasant person and was prone to stubbornness and insubordination Rodolfo even had his own wife put to death for adultery Charles meanwhile was winning the war but losing everything else Charles became unsatisfied with having just Naples and began making overtures at a possible seizure of Milan for the war effort the Milanese had allowed Charles safe passage to attack the kingdom of Naples and now came to regret that decision with Charles now alluding to the possibility of becoming ruler of Italy his power had to be checked Ludovico Sforza most famous first forays into the arts including commissioning Leonardo da Vinci's the Last Supper began sending out feelers to the other italian states to form an anti french alliance his work paid off the League of Venice officially formed on March 31st 1495 Venice Pope Alexander the sixth Milan Spain and even Maximilian the first the Holy Roman Emperor joined the league to expel the French from Italy Francesco Gonzaga the Duke of Mantua was given command of the coalition army Gonzaga wasted no time by May the first he was threatening the towns and Garrison's under French control around Naples Charles was beginning to see he was being surrounded seeing no other way out he began to march his army north up the peninsula in the direction of France Charles left some forces behind to garrison Naples likely in the hopes of holding his claim and to keep the Neapolitans from rising up and joining the league Charles and his commanders knew the league's army would oppose them but they assumed it would not be large enough to stop them from moving the French planned to cross the river taro at the town of 4 novo gonzaga moved his army from the taro valley to block this advance the only way back to france now was through the coalition forces who seining into the holy land had to be the last thing on Charles's mine Charles the eighth's invasion force into Italy was the largest army France had assembled in almost six centuries according to different reports French army consisted of around 3,500 mounted knights 4,800 mercenaries Swiss infantry 200 Scottish infantry 4000 crossbowmen 6,000 infantry and 1200 men tending to various artillery guns this army reflected the French fighting tradition of mounted Knights and men and arms finding the enemy and taking the fight to them mounted soldiers were designed to be a main thrust of the French army to deliver the decisive blow to an enemy and break their will to fight by the time of the invasion French Calvary were widely regarded as the best in Europe by the 15th century infantry tactics were improving infantry fought in very close quarters in what was called the zealot --an which consisted of a front rank of pikemen then a second rank of halberdiers a third rank of shields and finally a fourth rank of crossbowmen her hand Gunners depending on which an army had on hand tactically this gave the unit flexibility in combat and allowed the unit to respond to any threat especially a Calvary charge and also allowed them to protect valuable assets like missile troops this formation required intense discipline and constant drilling it was therefore mostly done by professional soldiers like the Swiss Guard the artillery core of the army consisted mostly of professional Gunners engineers loaders and guards the French made good use of smaller more mobile guns in battle and they would often be fired in support of the infantry and men-at-arms where needed larger guns were used mostly for sieges and to destroy enemy defensive works and walls the Italian army assembled at four novo was large and had assembled very quickly the army was believed to have numbered around 30,000 men which meant they outnumbered the French the Venetians had around 10,000 mounted men at arms 150 like Calvary 800 stray DoD light Calvary mercenaries 15,000 foot soldiers in the Milanese who brought around 2,000 soldiers Italian tactics in the 15th century feel almost modern Italian armies were usually relatively small and did not fight protracted Wars of attrition Italian armies typically tried to strike at the enemy's supply lines and make use of the mountains and surrounding terrain to their advantage in an almost guerrilla style of warfare build fortifications were in wide use to not only protect these smaller armies from destruction but also as operational bases to conduct war similar to the French they had a combined arms approach Italian Calvary mostly nobles felt an obligation to win their glory in battle so often were undisciplined and charged without orders Italian artillery numbers are hard to pinpoint but the League artillery or novo would hold its own Italian infantry were trained to fight in tandem with like Calvary and men-at-arms infantry blocks were supported by crossbowmen never drilled to attack enemy Calvary like Calvary and support could then hit the flanks of those Calvary while engaged and with the enemy Calvary suppressed Italian commanders were free to order their heavily armoured Nobles into the fray to scatter the enemy infantry Italian armies were built for fast and small battles Charles awoke in the morning of July 6 1495 and considered his plans a dispatch was sent on July 4th across the river taro to ask the League for safe passage to Parma the League refused the request unless Charles gave back everything he had taken Charles decided running low on provisions and having no room to negotiate that it was time to fight their way across the river Charles had the left bank and Francesco Gonzaga had the right word traveled quickly that battle was breaking out and a small artillery duel began with little effect this artillery fire signaled the beginning of the fight the Calvary forces protecting the Italian artillery crossed the river north of the French and attempt to harass the French and cut off a possible line of retreat and perhaps get a strike at the baggage train at the same time elements of the French army began to cross the river and take the league army completely by surprise the French marched in column and Charles ordered a crossing in force in the hopes of bullying his way across the rearguard of the French army marched to the side of the main force the baggage train was protected by the rearguard and progress was slow the March was showing no sense of urgency and the league surprised to see the French on the move convened a council of war to form a new battle plan they decided to use Italian speed and flexibility to its fullest advantage gonzaga decided to break the army up into nine individual sections and attack the French the plan was to distract the French Center with faint attacks while working the flanks with Calvary once confusion set in the main force was to hit the head of the column with everything and break the lines this was the quickest way to get to the king his treasure and the rear baggage train the plan was bold and very creative Gonzaga perceived ahead of Charles's column to be the weak point and the plan was to exploited estradiol II overtook the rear of the French column and seized the slow-moving baggage train Charles diverted infantry from the center to drive off this rear attack and opened up the middle of his lines the overwhelmed baggage train was being looted and he attacked by the French to relieve it moves slowly huge quantities of treasure and supplies were captured that a virgin area attack turned into a huge success the head of the French column was now ready to be attacked Italian men-at-arms attacked the French Vanguard the Swiss phalanx the best infantry in the French army who had been held back up until now were unleashed on the attackers the bolognese forces spearheading this attack fled after a brief struggle with the Swiss and fled to Parma Milanese infantry attacked the French though outnumbered in an attempt to sustain the effort and suffered terrible casualties just like the Bolognese they too were routed the attacks on the rear guard and vanguard were diversions but were contrasts in success the rearguard attack led to a route of the sparsely protected baggage train but the Vanguard attack yielded little results Gonzaga then ordered his grand assault the plan was to break the head of the column with the armored Knights and then use the mounted crossbowmen to exploit the gaps and then infantry would pour into these secured gaps to destroy the fleeing army Gonzaga needed the French army to rout in chaos if he had any chance of destroying them and capturing Charles the eighth Gonzaga's advance stalled the rising water of the river made it very difficult to cross the river quickly the French Center realigned to face the oncoming assault the French column after losing the baggage train was now moving with greater speed as a result Gonzaga's attack came right in the center instead of at the head of the column where it was intended the fighting became fierce and brutal everyone involved was fighting for their lives Charles the eighth himself got into combat one of the king's bodyguards matthew bourbon was captured Rodolfo Gonzaga was also killed in the fighting this was disastrous for the league army the chain of command was breaking down Francesco Gonzaga was right in the thick of the fighting at this point no one was directing the league's battle plan discipline of the league's army began to fracture units intended to support the men in arms and Knights fighting in the center broke off to loot the French baggage-train the Italians in the middle had no support the Knights had no choice but to retreat with the death of Rodolfo Gonzaga no one gave any orders to the infantry to support the Knights and thus a retreat was their only hope to survive the catastrophe the French Center had triumphed as was the case in the beginning of the campaign the French army had no qualms with killing soldiers who surrendered there is no record if any Italian prisoners being taken after for nuovo many of the Italian men-at-arms were simply massacred the Italian inventory began to march on the enemy no orders had reached him to do so but they could not just sit and wait any more their late march took them into the teeth of the French Knights and they were outnumbered and routed Charles and his battered army continued to retreat and eventually made it back to safety in France the expedition was a disaster [Music] Charles had won the battle but did not destroy the Italian army nor did he break its will to fight the league's army continued to spy his movements and shadow his army all the way back to France Gonzaga had also failed to destroy the French army despite getting the upper hand and having the French nearly surrounded Francesco Gonzaga himself suffered greatly at for Nova he lost twelve of his relatives the worse of all the loss of Rodolfo Gonzaga the looting of the baggage train and the failure of the mounted crossbowmen to follow up the Calvary charge turned which should have been a victory into a defeat however with the French abandoning Italy and leaving no discernible gains on the peninsula the Italians claimed victory to this day historians debate the outcome of four nuovo many have concluded as a draw the league failed to win a great victory but did ultimately drive out Charles and his army Charles on the other hand won tactically but still had to abandon his plans for the future the league's elation over the French retreat would soon turn bitter the eyes of Europe began to turn in their direction fallout from the aftermath of for Nova was felt for generations ferdinand ii king of naples arrived on the southern coast of italy and reclaimed all the territory taken by charles the eighth nothing was gained by Charles except crippling debt to his country and threats of excommunication from the Pope he avoided this by laying down his arms Charles attempted a short while later to rebuild the army but the debt stood in his way just short of three years after four nuovo Charles was on his way to a tennis court for a friendly game and struck his head on a doorframe he fell into a coma and died of a brain aneurism his legacy was clear France squandered its wealth prestige and land on a fruitless foreign adventure it would take another generation to recover the prestige and hundreds of years to regain the land Charles had given away veterans of for nuovo spread the word of Italy's weakness around Europe Italy was ripe for exploitation with his political division untrustworthy mercenary armies and complex rivalries begins a series of almost never-ending Wars that will last well into the sixteenth century where the likes of France England Spain the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottomans use Italy is an almost never-ending battleground this state of affairs put Italy into a constant state of turmoil and war Charles invasion helped lead to generations of death and destruction on the peninsula famed Italian painter aundrea Montaigne was commissioned to do a painting commemorating for nuovo by Francesco Gonzaga and his wife Isabella to stay the painting hung in the Church of the santa maria della Vittoria in Mantua for all those to see and depicts Gonzaga receiving the blessing of saints like John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary Lou Gonzaga claims saved his life at for ANOVA also depicted as Gonzaga receiving the blessing of st. Michael and st. George who are shown to be armed the painting is named the Madonna della Vittoria or the Madonna of victory in 1797 Napoleon's troops plundered Italy and took the Madonna to Paris it hangs in the Louvre to this day [Music] you [Music]