Siege of Mirandola (1551)

Siege of Mirandola

Part of the Italian War of 1551–1559

Date	July 1551 - March 1552
Location	Mirandola, Emilia, Italy
Result	Decisive French victory

Belligerents

Mirandola,
France

Papal States,
Holy Roman Empire,
Spain

Commanders and leaders

Ludovico Pico,
Piero Strozzi

Camillo Orsini,
Alessandro Vitelleschi,
Giovanni Battista del Monte

Strength

400

4000

Casualties and losses

c. 200

c. 1800

Italian War of 1551–59

Tripoli Mirandola Metz Ponza Corsica Marciano Renty St. Quentin Calais Thionville Gravelines

Italian Wars

1494–98 1499–1504 League of Cambrai Urbino 1521–26 League of Cognac 1536–38 1542–46 1551–59

Full list of battles

The siege of Mirandola took part in 1551, carried on by Pope Julius III against the city, which had allied with France during the last of the Italian Wars.

As during the War of the League of Cambrai, the fortified city-state of Mirandola had again allied with France. Like his predecessor Julius II had made in 1510, pope Julius III in 1551 sent against it an army under generals Camillo Orsini and Alessandro Vitelleschi, along with his nephew, Giovanni Battista del Monte, who later proved an inept of military matters. Despite the alliance with the Spanish emperor Charles V and his imperial support, the siege dragged on for months due to rivalry between the papal commanders. Differently from the 1510 siege, the ditches did not get iced, and sallies from besieged knights hampered communications between the four forts built by the besiegers around the citadel.

In Spring, the siege continued with no result, waiting for a corps of Landsknechts to be sent by Charles from Germany. However, in March 1552, a Mirandolese raid surprised the pope's nephew while hunting and killed him. The pope wrote to the emperor that he would abandon the siege.

Sources

Saltini, Antonio (2003). L'assedio della Mirandola. Edizioni Diabasis. ISBN 978-88-8103-280-8.