War: A History in 100 Battles. Richard Overy

Irish liberty.

       21. BATTLE OF LEGNANO

       29 May 1176

      Traditional Italian accounts of the battle between a group of northern Italian communes and the famous German emperor-soldier Frederick Barbarossa amidst the woods and vineyards near the town of Legnano in northern Lombardy always held that the Italians were greatly outnumbered by their German enemy and achieved victory only because they were spurred on by a profound Italian patriotism. Recent research now shows the reverse case: an estimated 3,000 German heavy cavalry against 10–12,000 infantry and an unknown number of horsemen. In truth, even with these odds, the two sides were unevenly matched. In late medieval warfare, it was assumed that any disciplined body of professional knights-at-arms would sweep aside a mass of citizen infantry; led by the fearsome Barbarossa, a commander of prodigious reputation, the odds would have seemed more loaded still. The victory did, indeed, defy those odds to demonstrate that motivated foot soldiers could defeat even the most heavily armed and experienced cavalry.

      Italy was nominally part of the Holy Roman Empire, ruled in the late twelfth century by the German emperor Frederick I, known as ‘Barbarossa’ or ‘Kaiser Rotbart’ after his large red beard. The northern Italian city-communes sought their independence from imperial domination following the sacking of Milan by the emperor in 1161. The cities of Piedmont, Lombardy and Venetia formed the Lombard League in 1167 to give each other mutual support in the contest with Frederick. It was to disrupt and defeat this league that Barbarossa summoned an army of knights from Germany in the spring of 1176. Organized by the Archbishops of Cologne and Magdeburg, around 1,500 heavy cavalry rode with their baggage and servants south over the Alps, where they joined Frederick and his 2,000 knights at Como.

      The League had been preparing to defend the town of Alessandria, further to the south, but seeing the threat from Frederick, the Italians moved north past Milan to try to force the Germans back by blocking Barbarossa’s only path south between the Olona and Ticino rivers. Reinforcements arrived from Brescia and the towns of Venetia and a camp was set up just in time at Legnano, since the German cavalry, unencumbered by infantry, could move rapidly and had already reached the town of Cairate, only 14 kilometres (9 miles) distant.

      The German army consisted almost entirely of heavy cavalry – knights with lance, shield and a considerable weight of armour. Their battlefield tactic was simple: they would charge in close order to form an irresistible weight of metal and animal designed to smash through the enemy line, exposing the broken infantry to encirclement and annihilation – a medieval version of Blitzkrieg. Frederick was unlikely to be deterred by the sheer size of the infantry units opposed to him because 3,000 knights represented a formidable force of nature. On 29 May, he set out from Cairate towards the League army with a vanguard of 300 of his horsemen riding ahead to spot any dangers.

      The League prepared its defences near the village of Borsano, a little to the north of Legnano itself. A site was chosen that gave the defenders considerable advantages: there were natural obstacles to the enemy on either side to prevent encirclement, and a mix of trees and canals in front which made it difficult for Frederick’s cavalry to manoeuvre. The army was drawn up in a number of ranks – four is usually suggested – each armed with long spears, the front rank probably kneeling to maximize the damage inflicted on the oncoming horses. There are few precise descriptions of the battle, but it seems likely that the infantry were spread in the shape of a broad and shallow arc around the most important piece of equipment they had brought with them. On a heavy cart (carroccio