Battle of Pavia (1525): Francis I Captured by Charles V's Army

The Battle of Pavia was fought on 24 February 1525 outside the city of Pavia in northern Italy, between the French army of King Francis I and the forces of Emperor Charles V. In a few hours of fighting in a walled hunting park, imperial pikemen and arquebusiers destroyed the French army and captured the French king himself. It was the most decisive battle of the Italian Wars and left Charles V the master of Italy.

Background

From 1494 the kings of France fought repeatedly for control of Italy, particularly the Kingdom of Naples and the rich Duchy of Milan. Francis I won Milan at the Battle of Marignano in 1515. His rivalry with the Habsburgs intensified after Charles of Spain, already ruler of Spain, the Netherlands and Naples, was chosen over him in the election of Charles V as emperor in 1519.

War broke out again in 1521, and by 1522, after their defeat at Bicocca, the French had lost Milan. They also lost one of their greatest nobles: Charles III, Duke of Bourbon and Constable of France, quarrelled with Francis over his inheritance and changed sides to serve the emperor.

In October 1524 Francis personally led a new army over the Alps and quickly retook the city of Milan. Instead of pursuing the retreating imperial forces, he laid siege to Pavia, a fortified city about 35 kilometres to the south.

The siege of Pavia

Pavia was held by a garrison usually estimated at 6,000–9,000 men, mainly German landsknechts (mercenary pikemen) and Spaniards, commanded by the veteran Spanish officer Antonio de Leyva. Despite shortages of food and pay, they resisted throughout the winter of 1524–1525.

Francis weakened his own army by sending part of it south under the Duke of Albany to threaten Naples. Meanwhile the imperial commanders, Charles de Lannoy, Viceroy of Naples, and Fernando d’Ávalos, Marquis of Pescara, gathered a relief army, reinforced by German landsknechts under Georg von Frundsberg and accompanied by Bourbon.

By February the two armies faced each other near Pavia. Each numbered roughly 20,000–26,000 men, though estimates vary. The French headquarters lay inside the Park of Mirabello, a large walled hunting reserve of the Dukes of Milan, north of the city.

The battle

During the night of 23–24 February, imperial engineers broke gaps in the park wall. At dawn on 24 February imperial troops entered the park and moved towards Mirabello, aiming to link up with Leyva’s garrison. Fog and broken woodland made the fighting confused.

The French artillery under Galiot de Genouillac at first inflicted heavy losses. Francis then led his heavy cavalry, the gendarmes, in a charge that scattered the imperial horsemen. But the charge carried the king in front of his own guns, which had to stop firing.

Pescara had placed perhaps 1,500 Spanish arquebusiers in the woods and broken ground. They poured fire into the French knights, whose horses became stuck among trees and ditches. One by one the leading French nobles fell or were captured.

Elsewhere the Black Bands, German mercenaries in French service led by Richard de la Pole and François of Lorraine, were destroyed by Frundsberg’s landsknechts in a bitter pike fight. Leyva’s garrison sallied from the city and attacked the French from behind. The Swiss pikemen in French service withdrew, and the rearguard under the Duke of Alençon retreated without engaging.

Francis fought on after his horse was killed under him. He was surrounded and surrendered to Lannoy. Within about four hours the French army had ceased to exist.

Key people

• Francis I (1494–1547): King of France, who led the army in person and was captured.
• Charles V (1500–1558): Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, absent in Spain at the time.
• Charles de Lannoy (c. 1487–1527): Viceroy of Naples and overall imperial commander.
• Fernando d’Ávalos, Marquis of Pescara (1489–1525): commander credited with the use of the arquebusiers; he died of illness later in 1525.
• Antonio de Leyva (c. 1480–1536): defender of Pavia during the siege.

Why the French lost

Contemporaries and later historians have pointed to several French mistakes. Francis divided his army by sending the Duke of Albany towards Naples, and shortly before the battle he lost several thousand Swiss mercenaries from the Grisons, who were recalled to defend their homeland. He also stayed inside the cramped and wooded park, where his cavalry could not manoeuvre freely.

The imperial commanders, by contrast, took a calculated risk. Their troops were unpaid and close to mutiny, so they could not wait for the French to withdraw. The night march, the breach in the park wall and the skilful use of arquebusiers in cover turned that desperate position into a victory. Leyva’s timely sortie from the city completed the encirclement of the French.

Losses

French losses were very heavy. Estimates of their dead, wounded and captured range from about 8,000 to more than 12,000. Among the dead were several of the leading commanders of France, including Louis de la Trémoille, Jacques de La Palice and Admiral Bonnivet, as well as Richard de la Pole, the last Yorkist claimant to the English throne. Imperial losses are usually estimated at no more than about 500–1,000.

Military historians often cite Pavia as a turning point in which firearms, used in combination with pikes, proved their superiority over the mounted knight. The armoured gendarmes remained in use, but the age when cavalry charges decided battles was ending.

Timeline

• 1524, October: Francis I crosses the Alps and retakes Milan.
• 1524, late October: The French begin the siege of Pavia.
• 1525, late January: The imperial relief army marches from Lodi towards Pavia.
• 1525, 24 February: Battle of Pavia; Francis I is captured.
• 1526, 14 January: Francis signs the Treaty of Madrid.
• 1526, 17 March: Francis is released at the Spanish border in exchange for his two eldest sons.
• 1526, 22 May: The League of Cognac is formed against Charles V.
• 1529, 3 August: The Peace of Cambrai ends this phase of the war.

Consequences

Francis was held first at Pizzighettone in Lombardy and then taken to Spain. In the Treaty of Madrid he renounced his claims to Italy, Flanders and Artois, and agreed to give Burgundy to Charles. His sons Francis and Henry, the future Henry II, became hostages in Spain.

Once free, Francis declared that the treaty had been signed under duress. Alarmed by imperial power, Pope Clement VII, Venice, Florence and Milan joined France in the League of Cognac in May 1526. The war that followed led directly to the Sack of Rome by Charles’s unpaid troops in 1527. The Peace of Cambrai of 1529, negotiated by Louise of Savoy and Margaret of Austria, confirmed Habsburg dominance in Italy.

Myths and facts

“All is lost save honour.” This famous phrase is a later shortening of a letter Francis wrote to his mother, Louise of Savoy, after the battle. The genuine letter is longer and says that nothing was left to him but his honour and his life.

Legacy

The battle was commemorated in a set of seven tapestries, designed by the circle of Bernard van Orley and woven in Brussels around 1528–1531, now in the Capodimonte Museum in Naples. They are among the most detailed images of a Renaissance battle.

Why it matters

Pavia captured a reigning king, shifted the balance of power in Italy decisively towards the Habsburgs and showed the new power of firearms on the battlefield. Its consequences, from the League of Cognac to the Sack of Rome, shaped European politics for the rest of the decade.