Battle of Seminara

The Battle of Seminara, part of the First Italian War, was fought in Calabria on 28 June 1495 between a French garrison in recently conquered southern Italy and the allied forces of Spain and Naples which were attempting to reconquer these territories. Against the redoubtable combination of gendarmes and Swiss mercenary pikemen in the French force, the allies had only Neapolitan troops of indifferent quality and a small corps of lightly armed Spanish soldiers, accustomed to fighting the Moors of Spain. The result was a rout, and much of the fighting centered on delaying actions to permit the fleeing allied force to escape. However, although the battle was a decisive French victory from a tactical perspective, it did not prevent the allies from driving the French from southern Italy.

The battle is notable primarily because it is often cited as the prime reason for the reorganization of the Spanish army, which brought about widespread adoption of firearms in pike and shot formations, one of the milestones of the "Military Revolution."

Battle of Seminara (1503)

The Battle of Seminara of 1503 took place on 21 April 1503, near Seminara and Gioia Tauro, Calabria, between the French troops under the command of Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny and the Spanish troops commanded by Don Fernando de Andrade during the Second Italian War.

Background

In November 1500 both Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon signed the Treaty of Granada, still under Frederick IV of Naples´s rule, in which they agreed to share the Kingdom of Naples, equally.

In 1501 the French army under Bérault Stuart d'Aubigny penetrated into Naples from the North, while the Spanish army commanded by Don Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba occupied the southern part. Frederick IV was overthrown and his kingdom divided between the two occupying forces, as stipulated in the treaty. There were soon signs of dissent growing between the Spanish and the French for the possession for the area that divided their territories and by June, 1502, armed conflict broke out between them.

Seminara

Seminara is a comune (municipality) in the Province of Reggio Calabria in the Italian region Calabria, located about 90 kilometres (56 mi) southwest of Catanzaro and about 30 kilometres (19 mi) northeast of Reggio Calabria.

Seminara borders the following municipalities: Bagnara Calabra, Gioia Tauro, Melicuccà, Oppido Mamertina, Palmi, Rizziconi, San Procopio.

The Battle of Seminara in the First Italian War occurred near the town in 1495. Seminara was also the birthplace of Barlaam of Seminara and Leontius Pilatus, who were two of the most important Byzantine scholars of the Renaissance period.

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