Battle of Cerignola

Battle of Cerignola
Part of the Third Italian War

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba finds the corpse of Louis d'Armagnac. Federico de Madrazo, 1835. Museo del Prado.
Date28 April 1503
Location
Cerignola, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples (present-day Italy)
Result Spanish victory
Belligerents
Spain Kingdom of France
Commanders and leaders
Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba
Prospero Colonna
Fabrizio Colonna
Pedro Navarro
Diego García de Paredes		 Duke of Nemours †
Chandieu †
Yves d'Alègre
Roberto II Sanseverino
Pierre du Terrail
Strength

~6,300[1]

20 guns

~9,000[1]

  • 650 French gendarmes
  • 1,100 light horse
  • 3,500 Swiss infantry
  • 2,500–3,500 French infantry
40 guns (arrived too late)
Casualties and losses
500 total casualties 4,000 killed

The Battle of Cerignola was fought on 28 April 1503 between Spanish and French armies outside the town of Cerignola, Apulia, Kingdom of Naples (now in modern-day Italy), approximately 80 kilometres (50 mi) west of Bari.[2] The Spanish force under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (El Gran Capitán) comprising 6,300 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.

Cerignola was probably the first European battle to be won by small firearms, as the attacks by the French cavalry and Swiss pikemen were shattered by the fire of Spanish arquebusiers.[3][4] It also demonstrated the renewed value of fortifications, with Córdoba employing a defensive ditch to maximize the effect of his battleplan.[5] Military historian Bernard Montgomery described it as the turning point where infantry finally displaced cavalry on the battlefield: "Gonzalo de Córdoba had raised the infantry soldier armed with a handgun to the status of the most important fighting man on the battlefield - a status he was to retain for over 400 years".[6]

  1. ^ a b Mallet, p. 64 – combined strength deducted from contingents
  2. ^ Spencer C. Tucker, A Global Chronology of Conflict: From the Ancient World to the Modern Middle East, vol. 1, ABC-CLIO, (2009), p. 477.
  3. ^ Fletcher (2020), p. 81.
  4. ^ Lanning (2005), p. 230.
  5. ^ Black (1996), p. 49-50.
  6. ^ Montgomery (1983), p. 139.