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A Medieval Cold War in Spain: the War of the Two Peters

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A Medieval Cold War in Spain: the War of the Two Peters IN THIS ISSUE: The Hundred Years War in Spain VOL lll, ISSUE 1 A medieval cold war in Spain: The War of the Two Peters With: • The Black Prince and the Battle of Nejara • Du Guesclin’s free companies Also: • The dark side of Blackheath: revolt in Britain • The Vikings in North America And much more! € 7,10 US/CN $ 9.99 www.medieval-warfare.com Karwansaray Publishers MW III-1.indd 1 11-01-13 17:32 MW III-1.indd 2 11-01-13 17:32 CONTENTS 4 NEWS AND LETTERS Publisher: Rolof van Hövell tot Westerflier 28 Face of a devil, Editor in chief: Jasper Oorthuys heart of a hero Editorial staff: Dirk van Gorp (editor Medieval Warfare), THEME Bertrand du Guesclin’s Iberian Duncan Campbell (copy-editor), Josho Brouwers (proof- campaigns’ reader) A medieval cold war in Spain Marketing & media manager: Christianne C. Beall The War of the Two Peters Contributors: Raffaele d’Amato, David Balfour, Stephen Historical introduction Bennett, Arnold Blumberg, Ian Brandt, Brian Burfield, 6 Ross Cowan, Filippo Donvito, Mike Ingram, Martin Miňo, The War of the Two Pedros Steve Pollington, Owen Rees, Alberto Raúl Esteban Ribas, Nils Visser, Gareth Williams. Illustrators: Giorgio Albertini, Carlos Garcia, Rocio Espin, Jason Juta, Jose Antonio Gutierrez Lopez, Pablo Outeiral, José Daniel Cabrera Peña, Johnny Shumate, Darren Tan. 36 The siege of Castle Special thanks goes to the British Library for allowing us Čabrad’ to use pictures of manuscripts in their collection. Inside a siege camp Design & layout: MeSa Design (www.mesadesign.nl) Print: PublisherPartners (www.publisherpartners.com) 9 Les Ordinacions sobre lo fat de la mar Editorial office Naval warfare in the Kingdom PO Box 4082, 7200 BB Zutphen, The Netherlands of Aragon Phone: +31-575-776076 (NL), +44-20-8816281 (Europe), The dark side of +1-740-994-0091 (US) 41 E-mail: [email protected] Blackheath Customer service: [email protected] England’s forgotten battles Website: www.medieval-warfare.com Contributions in the form of articles, letters, reviews, news and queries are welcomed. Please send to the above address or use the contact form on www.medieval- 13 By hook or by crook warfare.com. Siege warfare in the fourteenth century Subscriptions 47 Sagas, swords and Subscription price is €33,50 plus postage surcharge where Skraelings applicable. Subscriptions can be purchased at shop.kar- wansaraypublishers.com, via phone or by email. For the The Vikings in North America address, see above. Distribution Medieval Warfare is sold through retailers, the internet and by subscription. If you wish to become a sales out- let, please contact us at service@karwansaraypublishers. 18 The Jinetes com. Mounted warriors of medieval Spain Copyright Karwansaray B.V. All rights reserved. Nothing in this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written consent of the publishers. Any individual pro- 53 Reviews viding material for publication must ensure that the cor- Books and games rect permissions have been obtained before submission to us. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders, but in few cases this proves impossible. The editor and publishers apologize for any unwitting cases of copyright transgressions and would like to hear from any copyright 22 The Black Prince holders not acknowledged. Articles and the opinions in Spain expressed herein do not necessarily represent the views of the editor and/or publishers. Advertising in Medieval A calamitous victory for the Warfare does not necessarily imply endorsement. Plantagenet cause Medieval Warfare is published every two months by 58 On the cover Karwansaray B.V., Rotterdam, The Netherlands. PO Box 1110, 3000 BC Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ISSN: 2211-5129 Medieval Warfare III-1 3 Printed in the European Union. MW III-1.indd 3 11-01-13 17:32 NEWS & LETTERS Discussion according to all narratives. Again, to quote from Oman: “There was a stiff cavalry fight on the French left: the Spanish horse Dear editor, are given by all authorities a fine testimonial for their repeated First of all, I would like to congratulate all of you on an outstand- charges. The ‘Relacion’ tells how all their lances were broken ing magazine. However, I was a bit disappointed in the article by before the joust was over and they were sending more to the Filippo Donvito, on the Battle of Ravenna, in Medieval Warfare Viceroy [back with the infantry under Navarro, and not with the II-5. While very well written and generally agreeing with most horse] who could not supply them” (p. 141). At the end, reinforce- accounts that I have read, his account of the Spanish men- ments were called upon by the French, and the Spanish horse at-arms and the cavalry combat is very different from other broke. I find this narrative in complete contrast to Donvito‘s treatments. In his article, Donvito states that the Spanish heavy implication that the Spanish heavy horse did not fully participate cavalry did not ‘support’ Fabrizio Colonna’s charge, and that he in the fight and that Fabrizio fought the French men-at-arms fought the French men-at-arms alone. Everything I have read on alone. the battle says otherwise. Oman’s version of the battle mirrors F.L. Taylor in his Art of Firstly, the main battle of the Spanish men-at-arms was War in Italy, 1484-1529 (first published 1921), including the opin- not commanded by the Viceroy Ramon de Cardona, as Donvito ion that Carvajal was the first to charge. Hans Delbrück in his states, but by the Marquis de la Palude. Cardona rode with the book The Dawn of Modern Warfare (first published 1920) writes, main battle of men-at-arms, as this was the traditional place “As a result of the forward movement of the Spanish knights of honour for the overall commander in medieval and early (…)”, that the battle was essentially lost, not specifying who led Renaissance armies. It is true, as stated in the article, that the first charge but implying that it was Carvajal or La Palude, by Cardona retreated with this body when they fled the field after saying that it was “the Spanish knights”. Francesco Guicciardini their fight with the French. However, during the battle, Cardona in The History of Italy (1540), while claiming that Colonna was first remained on foot with Pedro Navarro and the Spanish-Papal to charge, writes, “Since these men [Colonna’s] were followed infantry, while the Marquis de la Palude had tactical command by all the cavalry (…)”, clearly saying that Colonna (if he charged of the main battle of Spanish men-at-arms. first) was supported. Guicciardini goes on to write, “Also taken Secondly, most accounts have Cavajal’s battle of men-at- captive was the Marquis della Palude who had led the second arms being the first to charge, charging the guns of the Duke of squadron into the battle (…).” So even those authors who dis- Ferrara, which had caught them in devastating enfilading fire. To agree with Oman, Taylor and Colonna himself, that Carvajal led quote from the book The History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth the first charge, agree that all the cavalry on the Spanish-Papal Century (first published 1937) by Sir Charles Oman (in my view, side were engaged in the battle. None of the authors claim that the top authority on the Italian Wars), from the chapter on the Colonna was unsupported by the Spanish men-at-arms. Battle of Ravenna: “For both Fabrizio (Colonna) and the long Lastly, the Spanish cavalry casualty list tells a different story ‘Relacion’ of the Spanish friar which is one of our most reliable from Donvito’s article. Oman writes that between 300 and 400 sources, agree that it was Carvajal’s corps, with Pescara’s ‘gine- Spanish men-at-arms fell during the battle. Clearly, these are not tes’ which made the first sally.” (1989 reprint, p. 140). results that come from troops that “were not fully engaged”. In addition, Colonna himself states that he was not the first The Spanish heavy cavalry did leave the battlefield (with to charge: “Fabrizio Colonna, according to his own narrative (...) Cardona) after they were beaten by the French. And it is true did not move until he saw the main body of the Spanish horse that Fabrizio Colonna deserves the most credit. But I feel that already in action at the other end of the line” (Oman, pp. 140- Donvito‘s article does injustice to the other commanders and 141). I am assuming that the “main body of Spanish Horse” refers troops that also fought very bravely during this bloody and dif- to the main battle of men-at-arms under La Palude, and not ficult battle. Pescara’s Jinetes, as light cavalry would rarely be termed a “main body of horse” in a late medieval/early Renaissance army. Sincerely, Thirdly, the Spanish men-at-arms put up a very hard fight, Carlos Ortiz Dear reader, F. Taylor has counted as many as 50 different sources for the P. Pieri’s Il Rinascimento e la crisi militare italiana (Turin 1952) is Battle of Ravenna. He said that “The cavalry action is the most “The fundamental work” on the Italian Wars (p. 283) and, some difficult part of the Battle of Ravenna to unravel from the pages earlier, defines this work as “a seminal re-appraisal of the accounts of the authorities”, and, in his 35-page narrative of military scene in Italy and is equipped with excellent bibliogra- the battle, he has admirably tried to reconcile all the available phies.” (p.264). accounts. But, in my opinion, the overall result is too long and Oman, Taylor, Mallet and Pieri deserve the utmost respect, complicated to be followed to the letter.
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