Battle of Ruvo

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Battle of Ruvo
Part of the Second Italian War
Date February 23, 1503 Location Ruvo, Italy Result Spanish victory
Combatants
France	Spain
Commanders
Jacques de la Palice	Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba Diego de Mendoza
Strength
300 lances 300 foot-soldiers[1]	400 foot-soldiers 600 horsemen 1,300 soldiers[2]
Casualties
600 captured 1,000 horses captured

Italian War of 1499–1504
Novara – Cerignola – Garigliano – Ruvo

Italian Wars
1494–98 – 1499–1504 – League of Cambrai – Urbino – 1521–26 – League of Cognac – 1535–38 – 1542–46 – 1551–59

The Battle of Ruvo was fought on February 23, 1503 between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba (known as the Gran Capitan, meaning the Great Captain) and Diego de Mendoza and a French army commanded by Jacques de la Palice. The battle was part of the Second Italian War and was fought at the town of Ruvo in the Province of Bari, modern-day Italy. The result was a Spanish victory.

Contents 1 Overview 2 The battle 3 References 4 Footnotes

[edit] Overview

Following the Treaty of Granada signed on November 11, 1500, Spanish monarch Ferdinand the Catholic and Louis XII of France agreed that each power takes a partition of the Kingdom of Naples. The deal soon fell through, however, and Spain and France resumed their war over the kingdom. This resulted in the Second Italian War.

[edit] The battle

During the end of 1502 and the early part of 1503 the Spanish stood at bay in the entrenched camp at Barletta near the Ofanto river on the shores of the Adriatic sea. The Gran Capitan once hearing about the retreat and departure of Louis d'Armagnac, Duke of Nemours, decided to launch an offensive in a Moorish guerrilla style on the town of Ruvo which was defended by Jacques de la Palice.^{[1] [3]}

Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba stormed the town at early morning launching a cannonade offensive. Soon after, he faced a resolute resistance by the French. However, within four hours the Gran Capitan could open a breach from where the Spanish soldiers could enter and launch the assault. Fighting with swords lasted for seven hours and reached houses and streets until Jacques de la Palice was wounded and held prisoner.^[4]

The Spanish army soon decided to get back to Barletta while Louis d'Armagnac tried to return to Ruvo to help the French army. Once there he found the Spanish flag already waving in the walls of the city and understood that he arrived behind schedule and stopped to follow ahead.^[4]

[edit] References

• Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Encyclopedia of Wars. New York: Facts on File, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-2851-6.

[edit] Footnotes