In 1554, Cosimo I de' Medici, with the support of Emperor Charles V, launched a grand campaign to conquer Florence's last remaining rival in Tuscany, the Republic of Siena. His army was under the command of Gian Giacomo Medici, Marquess of Marignano,[1] best known as "Medeghino" ("Small Medici"). The Florentine-Imperial troops were divided into three corps: Federico Barbolani di Montauto, with 800 men, landed in southern Tuscany to conquer the area of Grosseto; Rodolfo Baglioni, with 3,000 men, invaded the Val di Chiana to conquer Chiusi, Pienza, and Montalcino; and the main corps under Medeghino himself, consisting of 4,500 infantry, 20 cannons, and 1,200 sappers, was deployed at Poggibonsi for the main attack against Siena.[2]
The Sienese entrusted the defence to Piero Strozzi, a fierce rival of the Medici family and a general in French service. French troops, as well as some Florentine exiled by the Medici, took part in the war under the Sienese aegis.
The Florentine troops approached Siena on the night of January 26, 1554. After an initial failed assault, the Marquess of Marignano laid siege to the city, although his men were not numerous enough to totally cut it off from the countryside. Both Baglioni and Montauto failed to capture Pienza and Grosseto. French ships harassed the Florentine resupply lines at Piombino. Cosimo replied to the initial setbacks by hiring Ascanio della Cornia with 6,000 infantry and 300 cavalry, and waiting for further Imperial reinforcements.
On June 11, Strozzi attempted a sally to relieve the pressure on Siena, leaving some French units in the city. He moved towards Pontedera, forcing Medeghino to raise the siege to follow him. This did not prevent Strozzi from joining with a French contingent with 3,500 infantry, 700 horse, and 4 cannons in the territory of Lucca. On June 21, Strozzi conquered Montecatini, but did not feel confident enough to join in a pitched battle against Medeghino, waiting instead for further French reinforcements which were to arrive at Viareggio. He had, in total, 9,500 infantry and perhaps 1,200 cavalry, while Medici had 2,000 Spanish, 3,000 German, and 6,000 Italian infantry, as well as 600 cavalry, not to mention further troops from Spain and Corsica which had recently landed at Bocca d'Arno. His brother, Leone Strozzi, had been killed by an arquebus ball in the course of the struggle for Grosseto.
Strozzi therefore marched back to Siena, where the supply situation had become desperate. In July, he failed to capture Piombino, in southern Tuscany, the only port from which the French supplies could reach Siena. On July 17, conscious that only a victory in a pitched battle could save the city, he tried a third sally in the Val di Chiana, in the direction of Arezzo, leaving 1,000 infantry and 200 cavalry as a garrison under Blaise de Montluc. His field army included 14,000 infantry, about 1,000 cavalry, and five guns.
His force easily overwhelmed the small Florentine garrisons on his way, although the attempt, on July 20, to conquer Arezzo failed. He managed to capture Lucignano, Marciano della Chiana, Foiano, and other centres in the following days.
After some days of inactivity, Medeghino raised the siege of Siena and moved to meet Strozzi.
Battle
The Battle of Marciano in an early print.
After some initial skirmishes, the two large armies clashed when Strozzi, short of food, decided to retire towards Lucignano in the night of August 1. In the morning of the following day, it was clear that his manoeuver had not been successful, and he was forced to lay battle against the Florentine-Imperial troops that were stalking and harassing his moving troops.
The Sienese had: c. 1,000 French-Sienese horse on the right wing; then followed, in the centre, 3,000 Landsknechts, with 3,000 Grisons infantry behind them and another 3,000 French infantry on their left; the left wing was formed by 5,000 Italian infantry under Paolo Orsini. Strozzi's army occupied the slight slope of a hill that descended towards the Scannagallo creek. Il Medeghino deployed 1,200 light cavalry on his left wing, backed by 300 Uomini-d'Arme (heavy cavalry) under Marcantonio Colonna. The centre infantry corps was composed by 2,000 Spanish veterans and other Corsican recruits and 4,000 German Landsknechts under Niccolò Madruzzo. The right wing was formed by 4,000 Tuscan, 2,000 Spanish and 3,000 poorly trained Roman infantry, in three rows, with the few artillery pieces available behind. The reserve included 200 Spanish soldiers, veterans of the Ottoman–Habsburg wars, and a company of horse arquebusiers from Naples.
The battle began with the attack of the Medeghino's cavalry wing, whose impetus easily routed its French-Sienese counterpart, which fled towards Foiano. It has been reported that the French commanders of that unit, Valleron and Fourquevaux, had been bribed by the Medeghino with 12 tin flasks filled with golden coins.[3]
To counter this first setback, Strozzi decided to launch down from the hill with the German infantry in his center. A chaotic melee ensued but soon the momentum of the Sienese attack began to wane under the fire of the Imperial artillery which also disorganized the Swiss attempting to relieve the first line. When Il Medeghino then ordered his men to launch themselves against the enemy the German and Swiss began to panic. This turned into a rout when Colonna's heavy cavalry, who had pursued for a while the French-Sienese cavalry, attacked the Germans, fighting across the Scannagallo, from behind. The French infantry on the right wing maintained its battle order and, surrounded on every side, defended desperately until the end.
Strozzi himself was wounded three times and was carried away by his guards. His lieutenant Clemente della Cervara died shortly after the battle from wounds received.
The battle lasted for only two hours, from 11 a.m to 1 p.m. The Sienese army suffered 4,000 dead and 4,000 wounded or prisoners. Strozzi escaped capture.
Aftermath
Il Medeghino easily subdued the neighbouring castles in the days following the battle, and was subsequently able to lay a tighter siege to Siena. Cruel measures were adopted to prevent the peasants taking supplies into the city. In March 1555 he destroyed a corps of 1,300 mercenaries trying to escape to collect food.
Unable to receive substantial supplies and reinforcements from the French, the city surrendered on April 17, 1555 while the remaining Sienese forces withdrew to Montalcino.
The Republic of Siena finally disappeared in 1559 and was thenceforth incorporated into the Duchy of Florence. The Duke ordered that a large fortress be constructed as a precaution against the risk of further rebellion by the Sienese, and this has presided over the city, from its north (Florentine) side, since its completion in 1563.
Notes
↑ Only a homonymous of the ruling dynasty of Florence.
Cosimo I de' Medici was the second Duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death.
Tuscany is named after its pre-Roman inhabitants, the Etruscans. It was ruled by Rome for many centuries. In the Middle Ages, it saw many invasions, but in the Renaissance period it helped lead Europe back to civilization. Later, it settled down as a grand duchy. It was conquered by Napoleonic France in the late 18th century and became part of the Italian Republic in the 19th century.
The Battle of Campaldino was a battle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines on 11 June 1289. Mixed bands of pro-papal Guelf forces of Florence and allies, Pistoia, Lucca, Siena, and Prato, all loosely commanded by the paid condottiero Amerigo di Narbona with his own professional following, met a Ghibelline force from Arezzo including the perhaps reluctant bishop, Guglielmino degli Ubertini, in the plain of Campaldino, which leads from Pratovecchio to Poppi, part of the Tuscan countryside along the upper Arno called the Casentino. One of the combatants on the Guelph side was Dante Alighieri, twenty-four years old at the time.
The Battle of Montaperti was fought on 4 September 1260 between Florence and Siena in Tuscany as part of the conflict between the Guelphs and Ghibellines. The Florentines were routed. It was the bloodiest battle fought in Medieval Italy, with more than 10,000 fatalities. An act of treachery during the battle is recorded by Dante Alighieri in the Inferno section of the Divine Comedy.
The House of Strozzi is the name of an ancient Florentine family, who like their great rivals the Medici family, began in banking before moving into politics. Until its exile from Florence in 1434, the Strozzi family was by far the richest in the city, and was rivaled only by the Medici family, who ultimately took control of the government and ruined the Strozzi both financially and politically. This political and financial competition was the origin of the Strozzi-Medici rivalry. Later, while the Medici ruled Florence, the Strozzi family ruled Siena, which Florence attacked, causing great animosity between the two families. Soon afterward, the Strozzi married into the Medici family, essentially giving the Medici superiority.
Foiano della Chiana is a small agricultural town in eastern Tuscany, in the province of Arezzo, between the cities of Sinalunga and Cortona. It is well known for its annual carnival.
The Duchy of Florence was an Italian principality that was centred on the city of Florence, in Tuscany, Italy. The duchy was founded after Emperor Charles V restored Medici rule to Florence in 1530. Pope Clement VII, himself a Medici, appointed his relative Alessandro de' Medici as Duke of the Florentine Republic, thereby transforming the Republic of Florence into a hereditary monarchy.
The Republic of Siena was a historic state consisting of the city of Siena and its surrounding territory in Tuscany, central Italy. It existed for over 400 years, from 1125 to 1555. During its existence, it gradually expanded throughout southern Tuscany becoming one of the major economic powers of the Middle Ages, and one of the most important commercial, financial and artistic centers in Europe.
Lucignano is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Florence and about 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of Arezzo.
Marciano della Chiana is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Arezzo in the Italian region Tuscany, located about 70 kilometres (43 mi) southeast of Florence and about 20 kilometres (12 mi) southwest of Arezzo.
PieroStrozzi was an Italian military leader. He was a member of the rich Florentine family of the Strozzi.
Leone Strozzi was an Italian condottiero belonging to the famous Strozzi family of Florence.
Tuscan wine is Italian wine from the Tuscany region. Located in central Italy along the Tyrrhenian coast, Tuscany is home to some of the world's most notable wine regions. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano. Tuscany is also known for the dessert wine Vin Santo, made from a variety of the region's grapes. Tuscany has forty-one Denominazioni di origine controllata (DOC) and eleven Denominazioni di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG). In the 1970s a new class of wines known in the trade as "Super Tuscans" emerged. These wines were made outside DOC/DOCG regulations but were considered of high quality and commanded high prices. Many of these wines became cult wines. In the reformation of the Italian classification system many of the original Super Tuscans now qualify as DOC or DOCG wines but some producers still prefer the declassified rankings or to use the Indicazione Geografica Tipica (IGT) classification of Toscana. Tuscany has six sub-categories of IGT wines today.
The Val di Chiana, Valdichiana, or Chiana Valley is an alluvial valley of central Italy, lying on the territories of the provinces of Arezzo and Siena in Tuscany and the provinces of Perugia and Terni in Umbria.
Tuscany is a region in central Italy with an area of about 23,000 square kilometres and a population of about 3.8 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).
Siena’s Fortezza Medicea is a fort built in the city between 1561 and 1563 on the orders of Duke Cosimo, a few years before he became the first Grand Duke of Tuscany.
Column of Justice is an ancient Roman marble Doric column re-erected by the Florentine Medici dynasty in the Renaissance as a free-standing victory monument with a porphyry statue of Justice at the top. It stands in the Piazza Santa Trinita, in central Florence, region of Tuscany, Italy.
The Temple of Santo Stefano della Vittoria is a small chapel-church located in Pozzo della Chiana, a small hamlet near Foiano della Chiana in the province of Arezzo. The octagonal domed structure looms over the plain of Scannagallo, and was commissioned by Cosimo I de Medici to commemorate his victory in 1554 over the forces of Siena.
The Republic of Siena in its progressive territorial growth saw its borders expanding especially in the territories of southern Tuscany in the current province of Grosseto. The possession of an "access to the sea" by Siena was therefore a natural continuation of its expansionary and commercial policy in the Maremma with the conquest of the ports of Talamone, Porto Ercole and Porto Santo Stefano.
Marciano is both a given name and a surname.
References
Rendina, Claudio (1994). I capitani di ventura. Rome: Newton Compton.
Page about il Medeghino(in Italian)Santo Stefano alla Vittoria temple by Giorgio VasariView of the Scannagallo battlefield from Santa Luce hill to Poggio delle Donne, after the battle name Santa Vittoria (the holy victory), where's today is still possible to see part of the old buildings including an historical winery. The battlefield is still probably as 500 years ago surrounded by fields, olive trees and vineyards and with a small river in the place of the old one.
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