Bicocca, Battle of

The Battle of Bicocca or La Bicocca (Italian: Battaglia della Bicocca) is fought on April 27, 1522, during the Italian War of 1521–26.

A combined French and Venetian force under Odet de Foix, Vicomte de Lautrec, is decisively defeated by a Spanish-Imperial and Papal army under the overall command of Prospero Colonna.

Lautrec then withdrew from Lombardy, leaving the Duchy of Milan in Imperial hands.Having been driven from Milan by an Imperial advance in late 1521, Lautrec had regrouped, attempting to strike at Colonna's lines of communication.

When the Swiss mercenaries in French service do not receive their pay, however, they demand an immediate battle, and Lautrec is forced to attack Colonna's fortified position in the park of the Arcimboldi Villa Bicocca, north of Milan.

The Swiss pikemen advance over open fields under heavy artillery fire to assault the Imperial positions, but are halted at a sunken road backed by earthworks.

Having suffered massive casualties from the fire of Spanish arquebusiers, the Swiss retreat.

Meanwhile, an attempt by French cavalry to flank Colonna's position proves equally ineffective.

The Swiss, unwilling to fight further, march off to their cantons a few days later, and Lautrec retreats into Venetian territory with the remnants of his army.The battle is noted chiefly for marking the end of the Swiss dominance among the infantry of the Italian Wars, and of the Swiss method of assaults by massed columns of pikemen without support from other troops.

It is also one of the first engagements in which firearms play a decisive role on the battlefield.

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