Fornovocating

Over at Jonathan's blog https://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/ he has been playing remote games of Fornovo, based on the new scenario book by Rodolfo Maria Verginella. The title of this post comes from there.

The posts created an interesting discussion on the armament of the Italian infantry, their quality and a valuable online link by the esteemed Anthony Clipsom (as an aside I was gratified to have someone as knowledgeable as Anthony agree with my views). The link was:

https://deremilitari.org/2013/04/alessandro-beneditti-the-battle-of-fornovo-1495/

A primary source on the battle and well worth a read.

As I'm painting Zinnfiguren for the Italian Wars and contemplating an Italian army next, after the French, this has lead to looking at Fornovo, the first major battle of the wars. I was looking at this primarily as a wargames scenario but have ended up going back to the primary sources to make some sense of numbers. I have NOT consulted every book I have, nor have I been able to digout the old P&S Society articles on the battle which no doubt covered much of what I have been wrestling with.

Suffice to say there is much uncertainty about numbers and troop types and few modern authors agree, hence looking at primary sources which is where they derive the information with much interpretation.

Another useful source is here:

https://balagan.info/battle-of-fornovo-6-july-1495

Having looked at all these, the Helion Italian Wars volume 1 title (Predonzani) is the most useful. Not only does it rely and summarise Beneditti and Commines but also other sources.

Here follows my version of the OoBs with my notes. Please note the interpretation is mine and any errors are attributable to me alone.

French

Beneditti:

He selected thirteen hundred very brave armed horsemen, two thousand seven hundred arrow-bearing horsemen, six thousand Swabian and German foot sol­diers armed with axes, hatchets, spears, and small missiles, four hundred arrow-bearing foot soldiers, two hundred light-armed soldiers, and forty-two artillery pieces constructed with incredible skill which hurl forth iron and lead balls of immense weight

Gensdarmes 1300+ (max 2600?) distributed 300 to 350 in Van, 600 in Main and 400 in rear #1

2700 mounted archers #2 2500 in Main Battle

6000 "Swabian" and Swiss distributed 2-3000 to Van and (?) 1000 to Rear #3

400 "Archers" #4 Van or Main Battle

200 light-armed Van #5

42 cannon

#1 Predonzani points out Beneditti refers to MAA by which he means "Lance". French Ordinance Lances contained up to 6 or 8 members besides the MAA. From this he estimates there could be 7800 MAA. I disagree, not least because not all the members of a Lance were fighting men, such as pages and squires. At most there were 2 or 3 fighting men giving at most 3900. However, Beneditti gives a separate figure for archers, normally counted as part of a Lance. In addition, there were only 100 Lances, giving at most 800 MAA. Charles left part of his army in Naples with several hundred MAA reported in later battles in the South. It's unlikely France was stripped of MAA as well. Hence I would allow at most 2600 to include lesser members of the Lance.

#2 It's unclear what these are - I have taken them to represent "Archers" which were part of the Lance and at this stage mounted longbowmen, but who could fight mounted with sword. Later they were lesser armoured lancers. If they ARE part of the Lance, this gives 4000 for the Gensdarmes which is a respectable amount. Note they are not enumerated in the breakdown of Van, Main and Rear Battles. There are references to the Scots Archers and Guard being instructed to dismount to fight.

#3 Despite references to Germans, these are what we would call Swiss mercenaries. 6000 seems an awfully high number, especially as some were left in Naples? It is equal to the total contract with the Swiss Cantons a few years earlier. Only 3-4000 are enumerated in the Battles. Perhaps 6000 represents total infantry? 

#4 Dismounted. Commines gives 300 + 100 Scottish archers in Van with higher numbers of MAA and Swiss (350 + 3000). Could be crossbow but numbers low. Are they simply dismounted archers and should mounted total be decreased?

#5 Commines gives these as mounted crossbow and the King detatched 200 from those available to him, so there may be more -  500?

Van

300-350 MAA; 200 mtd crossbow, 400 dismounted archers, 2-3000 Swiss

Main

600 MAA; 2500 Archers; ? Swiss

Rear

400 MAA; 1000 infantry

Total 4000 mounted, 6000 foot? for total 10,000? Estimates up to 15,000 but swollen by servants and camp followers.

Note absence of French infantry. Predonzani reports Franc archers disbanded, Picard Old Bands (pike) not taken on expedition and only 5000 Gascon adventurers accompanied Charles VIII. However, some must have been left in Naples as they appear later. I'd estimate between 1000 (as recorded in Rear) and 3000 (total inf?) Gascon crossbow, 2000 if 1000 in Rear are Swiss.

Italian

Beneditti enumerates 3460 mounted and 7000 foot but the total is estimated at 15,000 so he obviously omits some contingents. 2205 to 2460 are MAA and 1000 light cavalry. Predonzani adds some details from other sources.

9 mixed squadrons

Duodo 600 Stradiots + 900 other cavalry inc mtd crossbow (600?)

510 MAA #6 Or 600 MAA + 6000 infantry Sforza militia and mercenaries (see below and notes)

4000 infantry "in phalanx" #7 Or 500 MAA + 500 archers #8 + 4000 infantry

370 MAA Or unknown?

570 MAA Or unknown?

255 "soldiers" Or unknown ?

465 MAA

280 cavalry and 1000 infantry to guard fortified camp

400 light cavalry and crossbow

68 "punt guns on wheels"

Predonzani also mentions 500 Burgundian cavalry from Maximilian, lightly equipped without horse armour. The alternative source gives 2400 MAA, 2000 light cavalry and 12,000 infantry for a total of 16,500.

A discussion on Jonathan 's blog was around the armament of the Italian infantry. Note how the numbers are not broken down in the sources, which indicates the low esteem they were held in. Predonzani reports they were either long spear held in one hand (with shields?), various types of halberd, glaive or polearm with round shield, crossbow or hand gun arranged in that order. Sword and buckler were also present. The long spear or "pike" of the Italian was more of a defensive function v cavalry. The Swiss sent out two handed swordsmen who chopped through the pike and put them to flight.

The Landesknecht are not mentioned in the fighting; surely if they had crossed pikes with the Swiss it would have been reported? Beneditti reports 4000 in a phalanx and 6000 Germans in an earlier parade:

3240 + MAA; 1600 light cavalry; 9000 infantry; 17 Serpentine and Spingarde (Punt) guns

+ 500 Burgundian cavalry and 6000 German infantry. Total 19,840.

#6 Predonzani does not apply the same logic of Lance and additional fighting men to Beneditti's numbers but does give another near contemporary chronicle with different numbers.

#7 I think these are the German Landesknechts given to Sforza by Maximilian reported by Predonzani. The "6000" could be 4000 Germans and 2000 Sforza militia

#8 mounted crossbow?

So there we have it, from this I'd estimate:

3460 MAA; 1000 Italian light cav (lancers + crossbow); 600 Stradiots; 500 Burgundian cavalry (lighter than MAA included in LC total?)

8,000 to 9,000 Italian infantry (spear, halberd, sword or crossbow)

4,000 to 6,000 German pike halberd and crossbow.