Sack of Garlasco

The Sack of Garlasco was a minor military episode of the Italian War of 1521-1526 , which occurred between March 3 and 4, 1524 , against the town of the same name . Imperial forces carried out a brief siege, followed by an assault and sacking of the fortified town and castle.^[1]

After unsuccessfully besieging Milan between September and November 1523, the French army, led by Guillaume Gouffier de Bonnivet, retreated to Abbiategrasso , where they camped for the winter while awaiting Francis I's arrival in Italy with reinforcements to continue the ongoing military campaign. During the night between January 27 and 28, the imperial forces marched out of Milan and made a surprise attack on a secondary French camp in the Battle of Robecco sul Naviglio, successfully routing the enemy.^[2] Lannoy, however, did not want to take advantage of the victory to risk a siege of Abbiategrasso and preferred to remain camped between Rosate and Casorate, ensuring that Milan had a garrison large enough to dissuade the French from attempting a new siege and waiting for the approximately 6,000 Venetian infantry and 800 Venetian knights led by Francesco Maria I Della Rovere who joined the imperial army on 10 February. In the following three weeks the commanders of the imperial forces consulted several times on what to do, continually changing their decision regarding the opportunity of crossing the Ticino to besiege Vigevano and cut off the French supply routes. Finally, on 2 March the imperial army crossed the river via two bridges built between Bereguardo and Pavia and then camped that same evening between Tromello and Gambolò.^[3]

On the morning of February 3, approximately 60-70 infantrymen and 50 mounted crossbowmen from the Garlasco garrison emerged from that village and attacked Giovanni Naldi 's 150 light cavalrymen camped in Alagna . Although taken by surprise, about twenty of them managed to mount their horses and fight the outlaws until, having reorganized, they managed to push them back and capture the majority. Then about a hundred riflemen arrived and, after forming two lines, fired at the light cavalrymen, causing only light casualties before being themselves overwhelmed by the enemy horses; approximately thirty of them fell and the rest were captured. After this skirmish, Della Rovere, at Lannoy's urging, assumed command of the 2,000 infantrymen and cavalry who were to besiege the village and castle of Garlasco. The fortress was defended by 600 infantry and 200 light cavalry under the command of Battistino Corso, had high bastions, a deep flooded moat and was equipped with some cannons. If it had not been conquered it would have been a thorn in the side in the event of a siege of Vigevano as it could have intercepted the wagons full of provisions coming from Pavia. That same evening a trumpeter was sent to ask for the surrender of the village which was rejected, at which point the imperial forces planted four cannons and four sagri.^[4]

At dawn on March 4, artillery began to pound against the castle gate, which, however, managed to withstand the shells. Once the bombardment ended, around 300 Venetian gunners approached the walls of Garlasco, firing at anyone who appeared. A first assault followed, during which the Venetian and Sforza infantry were repelled.^[5] The bombardment then resumed, aimed at eliminating the defenses on the castle's flanks, followed by a second assault, which was also repelled. Before the third assault, the garrison raised the white flag, whereupon the imperial troops launched a third assault. Around 40 of Della Rovere's heavy cavalrymen managed to place ladders and climb the walls, followed by a multitude of infantrymen who crowded near the castle's narrow drawbridge.^[6] Due to the crush, around 90 of them fell into the moat and drowned under the weight of their armor. Others were injured by stone-throwing and the garrison's fire. Eventually the imperial forces, having entered the castle, massacred the garrison. By explicit order of Della Rovere, who intended to avenge the death of his nephew Carlo da Gubbio, who had fallen shortly before, they then dedicated themselves to the sack of the town during which they killed many civilians and finally set it on fire.^[7] The Venetian superintendent Pietro Pesaro managed to save some of the women, children and nuns by ordering his men to guard the monasteries and prevent any violence from being committed against them.^[8]

During the operations, many leaders were killed, including Baldassarre Signorelli, Oberto Pallavicino, Alberto Beccaria, and Roberto da Martinengo. Giulio Manfrone fell into the castle moat after being hit by a battlement thrown from the walls but was saved; Camillo Orsini , Aloisio Gonzaga, and Antonio della Riva were also wounded by stones. Almost all the men of the garrison were massacred, including those who had surrendered, a rather unusual occurrence in the so-called "Italian-style war." Battistino Corso, commander of the garrison, was taken prisoner.^[9]

On March 6, the main body of the French army crossed the Boffalora bridge and camped around Vigevano after leaving 800 infantrymen as garrison of Abbiategrasso and another 2,000 infantrymen to guard the said bridge.^[10]

• Sanudo, Marin (1893). Fulin, Rinaldo (ed.). Diarii. Vol. 36. Venezia: Tipografia del Senato.