Gaston de Foix
Encyclopedia
War of the League of Cambrai
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and by several other names, was a major conflict in the Italian Wars...
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Family
Gaston de Foix was born on 10 December 1489 in MazèresMazères, Ariège
Mazères is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France.-Population:-References:*...
, County of Foix
County of Foix
The County of Foix was an independent medieval fief in southern France, and later a province of France, whose territory corresponded roughly the eastern part of the modern département of Ariège ....
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He was a son of John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne
John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne
John of Foix was a younger son of Gaston IV of Foix and Queen Eleanor of Navarre. His elder brother was Gaston, Prince of Viana.-Life:...
and Marie d'Orléans
Marie of Orléans (1457-1493)
Marie of Orléans was the elder sister of King Louis XII of France. Due to her marriage to John of Foix, she was Countess of Étampes and Viscountess of Narbonne....
. His paternal grandparents were Gaston IV of Foix-Grailly and Queen regnant
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
Eleanor of Navarre
Eleanor of Navarre
Eleanor of Aragon , Regent and the queen regnant of Navarre in 1479...
. His maternal grandparents were Charles, Duke of Orléans and Marie of Cleves
Marie of Cleves
Maria of Cleves was the third wife of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and the mother of his only son, King Louis XII of France...
. His only maternal uncle was Louis XII of France
Louis XII of France
Louis proved to be a popular king. At the end of his reign the crown deficit was no greater than it had been when he succeeded Charles VIII in 1498, despite several expensive military campaigns in Italy. His fiscal reforms of 1504 and 1508 tightened and improved procedures for the collection of taxes...
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Gaston's campaigns
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
as a new commander at the age of 21. His presence and energy shifted the conflict into much higher levels of activity.
French forces had captured Bologna
Bologna
Bologna is the capital city of Emilia-Romagna, in the Po Valley of Northern Italy. The city lies between the Po River and the Apennine Mountains, more specifically, between the Reno River and the Savena River. Bologna is a lively and cosmopolitan Italian college city, with spectacular history,...
on 13 May 1511 and were under siege from a combined Papal-Spanish army commanded by Ramón de Cardona
Ramón de Cardona
thumb|250px|Tomb of Ramon de Cardona, by [[Giovanni da Nola]].Ramón Folc de Cardona y Anglesola was a Spanish general and politician, who served as the viceroy of Naples during the Italian Wars and commanded the Spanish forces in Italy during the War of the League of Cambrai...
, the Viceroy of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
. Gaston marched his army to Bologna and scattered the armies of the Holy League. He then went north and defeated the Venetians
Republic of Venice
The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...
at Brescia
Brescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, which the French later captured (February 1512) after a furious assault.
Gaston had established firm control over northern Italy by March 1512. He then force marched his troops south, intending to besiege Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
and dupe the Spanish into battle. Cardona led the Papal-Spanish forces cautiously near the French lines in order to form a strong defensive position. Gaston had about 23,000 soldiers, 8,500 of which were German landsknecht
Landsknecht
Landsknechte were European, predominantly German mercenary pikemen and supporting foot soldiers from the late 15th to the late 16th century, and achieved the reputation for being the universal mercenary of Early modern Europe.-Etymology:The term is from German, Land "land, country" + Knecht...
e, and 54 artillery pieces. Cardona had roughly 16,000 troops and 30 artillery pieces; the garrison of Ravenna could count about 5,000 men. Gaston sent a formal invitation for battle to Cardona, who readily accepted.
The decisive Battle of Ravenna
Battle of Ravenna (1512)
The Battle of Ravenna, fought on 11 April 1512, by forces of the Holy League and France, was a major battle of the War of the League of Cambrai in the Italian Wars...
would be fought on 11 April 1512. The Spanish had their backs to the Ronco River and maintained a relatively secure front thanks to the strong entrenchments and obstacles prepared by the famous engineer Pedro Navarro
Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto
Don Pedro Navarro, Count of Oliveto was a Spanish military engineer and general who participated in the War of the League of Cambrai. At the Battle of Ravenna in 1512 he commanded the Spanish and Papal infantry, but was captured by the French...
. Gaston left 2,000 men to watch Ravenna and moved the rest of his force against Cardona. The French army crossed the stream between Ravenna and the Spanish camp without interference, formed in a semicircle around the enemy entrenchments, and started firing from the flanks into the Spanish position. The heavy bombardment did not trouble the well-protected Spanish infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...
, but the cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
could take no more and assaulted the French without orders. These charges were easily beaten back and the French counter-attacked. A bloody one-hour struggle ensued between the landsknechts and the Spanish in the entrenchments. At this moment, two cannons that Gaston had sent behind the Spanish lines opened fire and wrought havoc on the enemy rear. The Spanish withdrew and suffered tremendous casualties. During the pursuit, Gaston led a cavalry charge against a recalcitrant Spanish infantry unit. He was shot and killed. French casualties ran up to 9,000 while the Spanish lost nearly their entire army, as well as Pedro Navarro, who was captured.
The death of Gaston de Foix was a huge blow to the French. The young and impetuous warrior had displayed an incredible talent for high command in the recent series of French victories. It is possible that the Italian Wars
Italian Wars
The Italian Wars, often referred to as the Great Italian Wars or the Great Wars of Italy and sometimes as the Habsburg–Valois Wars, were a series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 that involved, at various times, most of the city-states of Italy, the Papal States, most of the major states of Western...
would have taken a very different course had he lived.
Tomb
A very elaborate tomb was commissioned for Gaston in Milan from the workshop of Agostino BustiAgostino Busti
Agostino Busti was a High Renaissance Italian sculptor.Busti was born in Busto Arsizio in northern Italy. Busti probably began his training with the sculptor and architect Benedetto Briosco. He and his brother's applications in 1512 for sculptural work at the workshop of the Milan Cathedral are...
, which despite never being completed and assembled remains a key work in art history, and especially French Renaissance art, with (as planned) classicising relief
Relief
Relief is a sculptural technique. The term relief is from the Latin verb levo, to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is thus to give the impression that the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane...
panels of his campaigns around the base of the sarcophagus
Sarcophagus
A sarcophagus is a funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved or cut from stone. The word "sarcophagus" comes from the Greek σαρξ sarx meaning "flesh", and φαγειν phagein meaning "to eat", hence sarkophagus means "flesh-eating"; from the phrase lithos sarkophagos...
, surmounted by a more traditional recumbent effigy. Most of the pieces are on display in the Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco
Castello Sforzesco is a castle in Milan, Italy, that used to be the seat and residence of the Duchy of Milan and one of the biggest citadels in Europe and now houses several of the city's museums and art collections.-History:...
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