Battle of Anghiari (1440)

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The Battle of Anghiari was fought on June 29, 1440, between Milan and the Italian League led by Republic of Florence in the course of the Wars in Lombardy.

The League's army concentrated on Anghiari, a small centre of Tuscany, and comprised: 4000 Papal troops, under Cardinal Lodovico Trevisan; a Florentine contingent of around the same size, and a company of 300 men-at-arms (knights) from Venice, led by Micheletto Attendolo. Other men joined for the occasion from the Anghiari itself.

The numerically superior Milanese force was led by the famous condottiero Niccolò Piccinino in the name of Duke Filippo Maria Visconti and reached the area on the night of June 28. Some 2,000 men from the nearby town of Sansepolcro joined the Milanese. Confident in his superior manpower, and on the element of surprise Piccinino ordered an attack in the afternoon of the following day. However the dust lifted by the Milanese on the Sansepolcro-Anghiari road was noticed by Micheletto and the League's forces were made ready for battle.

Micheletto's Venetian knights blocked the Milanese vanguard on the only bridge over the channel protecting the League's camp. Micheletto and the Venetians held the bridge allowing the greater part of the League's army to form for battle but were eventually pushed back by Milanese reinforcements led by the two captains Francesco Piccinino and Astorre II Manfredi. The Milanese advanced but their right flank was soon ferociously engaged by the Papal troops and were obliged to retreat to the bridge. The battle continued for four hours, until a surrounding manoeuvre managed to cut off a third of the Milanese on the League side of the channel.

The battle continued into the night but ended with a victory for the League army.