The Battle of Castagnaro was fought on 11 March 1387 at

Castagnaro Castagnaro is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about southwest of Venice and about southeast of Verona. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 4,091 and an area of .All demograp ...

(today's

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, northern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

) between

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

and

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of the ...

. It is one of the most famous battles of the Italian

condottieri ''Condottieri'' (; singular ''condottiero'' or ''condottiere'') were Italian captains in command of mercenary companies during the Middle Ages and of multinational armies during the early modern period. They notably served popes and other Europ ...

age. The army of Verona was led by Giovanni Ordelaffi and Ostasio II da Polenta, while the victorious

ns were commanded by

John Hawkwood Sir John Hawkwood ( 1323 – 17 March 1394) was an English soldier who served as a mercenary leader or ''condottiero'' in Italy. As his name was difficult to pronounce for non-English-speaking contemporaries, there are many variations of it i ...

(''Giovanni Acuto'') and

Francesco Novello da Carrara Francesco II da Carrara (19 May 1359 – 16 January 1406), known as Francesco il Novello ('Francesco the Younger'), was Lord of Padua after his father, Francesco I da Carrara, Francesco I il Vecchio, renounced the lordship on 29 June 1388; he was ...

, the son of Francesco I,

lord of Padua The Lords of Padua ruled the city from 1308 until 1405. The commune of Padua became a hereditary one-man lordship () with the election of Jacopo I da Carrara as ''capitano del popolo'' in 1308. His descendants, the Carraresi, ruled the city and i ...

. John Hawkwood brought 1,100 of his own condottiere (600 cavalry and 500 archers, or vice versa depending on the source) to supplement the Paduan forces of 8,000 men (Giuseppe Marcotti places the number of dismounted condottiere at 6,000 men, along with a reserve of 1,600 horse.
''Later republished:'' He also goes on to say that there were 1,000 native footmen of Padua, and 600 crossbowman guarding a river bank.) Castagnaro is hailed as

Sir ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

's greatest victory.

Geoffrey Trease (Robert) Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' ...

, '' The Condottieri'', 1971 Following a Fabian-like

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ...

, Hawkwood goaded the Veronese into attacking him on a field of his own choosing, by laying waste to the Veronese lands nearby. Drawing his forces up on the far side of a canal, and anchoring his right flank on a patch of woods, Hawkwood waited until the Veronese had committed to attacking across a

ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

fascines A fascine is a rough bundle of brushwood or other material used for strengthening an earthen structure, or making a path across uneven or wet terrain. Typical uses are protecting the banks of streams from erosion, covering marshy ground and so ...

piled up in the canal. Once so occupied, Hawkwood sprang his trap. Hawkwood had left a copy of his

standard Standard may refer to: Symbols * Colours, standards and guidons, kinds of military signs * Standard (emblem), a type of a large symbol or emblem used for identification Norms, conventions or requirements * Standard (metrology), an object th ...

behind his forces, then had led his cavalry into the woods to his right. At a given signal — supposedly, a flaming arrow — the copy of his standard dropped, and Hawkwood's cavalry burst from the woods on the Veronese left, with his real standard in front. At the point of impact, Hawkwood is said to have cast his commander's baton into the Veronese ranks and ordered his men to retrieve it for him. Per Trease, it is said that Hawkwood's battle cry that day was a grim play on the Paduan war-cry of ''Carro!'' ("Cart!", from the coat of arms of the House of

Da Carrara The House of Carrara or Carraresi (da Carrara) was an important family of northern Italy in the 12th to 15th centuries. The family held the title of Lords of Padua from 1318 to 1405. Under their rule, Padua conquered Verona, Vicenza, Trevi ...

) — in Hawkwood's rendition, it became ''Carne!'' ("Flesh!"). The Veronese tried to intervene with their reserve of 2,500 cavalry commanded by Captain General Giovanni degli Ordelaffi and Ostasio da Polenta. However, the road was blocked by Hawkwood's forces, and Giovanni degli Ordelaffi and Ostasio da Polenta were captured; 1,900 of the cavalry fled, but were pursued and many were captured. The corps of infantry and Veronese peasants commanded by Giovanni da Isola remained intact on the battlefield, but was destroyed after it refused to surrender.

References

Further reading