Galeas per montes
With Galeas per montes the Republic of Venice called a military enterprise with which in 1439 some galleys and several other boats were transported from the Adige Valley over the mountains to Lake Garda .
background
At the beginning of the 15th century, the Republic of Venice began to expand its sphere of influence on the Terraferma in order to supply the lagoon city with sufficient goods on the one hand and to secure important trade routes on the other. In the process, an unstable balance of power politics developed between three small states in northern Italy, the Duchy of Milan under the Viscontis and the republics of Florence and Venice.
When Filippo Maria Visconti turned his attention to Romagna in 1423 , which was under the influence of the Republic of Florence, the Fiorentines called Venice for help.
This was followed by a period of thirty years of war, interrupted again and again by not long lasting peace agreements, which only ended with the Peace of Lodi in 1454 between the Republic of Venice and the Duke of Milan and successor to Filippo Maria Visconti, Francesco Sforza .
prehistory
In these so-called Lombard wars, Venice managed to establish itself in Lombardy with the occupation of Brescia (1426) and Bergamo (1428).
In 1438 the Milanese stood at the gates of Brescia and tried to take the city. The Venetian condottiere Gattamelata , who held the city with his troops, was able to escape with about 2000 men and 600 horsemen in September 1438 from the enclosure of the troops led by Niccolò Piccinino and move north through the mountains. However, the city's residents continued to resist the besiegers.
With armed force and after paying tolls, Gattamelata finally managed to move from Val Sabbia via the Outer and Inner Judiciaries to the northern hinterland of Lake Garda, which, however, was also under the control of the Milanese. The attempt of the Count of Arco, who was allied with the Visconti, to block his way across the Sarca failed and the Venetians managed to cross the river and via Nago to reach the Passo San Giovanni , the Adige Valley and finally Verona, which was held by Venice .
In November 1438 Gattamelata was appointed commander in chief of the Venetian troops for his successful retreat. At the same time, the city's senate thought about how to provide relief for the besieged in Brescia. As a suitable way to bring troops and supplies, Lake Garda was considered, which represented a direct connection to Brescia via the Provenetian-minded valleys Ledro , Chiese and Sabbia . The south bank was controlled by the Milanese troops Niccolò Piccinino .
In order to be able to use the small Ponale harbor on Lake Garda, via which a mule track led into the Val di Ledro, Lake Garda first had to be brought under control.
course
The west and south shores of Lake Garda were in the hands of the Viscontis, as was Riva del Garda . Venice controlled the mouth of the Sarca and Torbole as well as the east bank of the lake, but, unlike Milan, had no navy on the lake.
The only navigable access, the Mincio, via which a fleet could have reached the lake from the Adriatic Sea and the Po , was also under the control of Milan, which also blocked this access with the Ponte Visconteo at Valeggio sul Mincio .
According to documents, on December 1, 1438, the Venetian Senate commissioned a certain Nicolò Sorbolo, a Venetian naval officer from Candia, now Crete , and Blasio de Arboribus for the project they presented, with which a fleet would cross the Adige upstream should be led to Mori and by land to Torbole. The project was placed under the supervision of Gattamelata.
In the same month the first ships set out from the Adriatic Sea and on January 3, 1439 the first galley reached Verona , which was followed by other ships until February. At the urging of the defenders trapped in Brescia, who lacked everything, the Senate ordered the construction of an additional galley in Verona. The fleet finally reached Mori between February and March.
There are no consistent figures on the size of the fleet and the exact number of ships. There must have been several galleys and a large number of smaller boats. The information varies between a maximum of six galleys and 25 boats and at least two large and three smaller galleys and 25 boats.
For the subsequent transport of the fleet by land from Mori via the Valle del Cameras to Torbole, 2000 draft animals , mostly cattle, and several hundred men, including farmers from the area, were used. The way there first had to be cleared, trees felled, bushes removed and the ground leveled. While the smaller boats were loaded directly onto carts and pulled with carts, logs were laid out on which to move the galleys to transport the galleys. In the first slightly uphill section to Loppiosee 224 m slm , 70 meters in altitude had to be covered over about seven kilometers. Once at the lake, the galleys and boats were put back into the water, the small boats were spun in front of the galleys and pulled to the other bank below the Passo San Giovanni 287 m slm The difficult and steep climb to the pass, partly embedded between large boulders, some of which had to be knocked away, was overcome with the help of winches and by hoisting the sails. In this way it was possible to get three galleys onto the pass in two days.
The following route down to Lake Garda also turned out to be a challenge. Only the small valley of Santa Lucia below Castel Penede came into question as a continuous route, the only way from Nago 220 m slm to Torbole 68 m slm . When the ships were then lowered, they were braked by ropes that were attached to old olive trees. Three months after setting out from Venice and 18 days after the fleet had reached the Adige near Mori, the first boats were launched again at Torbole in March 1439. During the overland transport, riders constantly patrolled the area so as not to be surprised by enemy attacks.
consequences
Immediately after reaching the lake, the fleet, which had been dragged so laboriously over the mountains, was involved in a first battle off Riva del Garda, which was controlled by the Milanese, but without a decision being reached. On September 26, 1439, the two fleets met again at Maderno . Most of the Venetian ships were lost in the subsequent naval battle.
This defeat did not lead Venice to abandon the original plan. However, they failed to create a second fleet to the lake and instead built it directly in Torbole. For this purpose, the partially prefabricated material was brought back from the Adige to Torbole with the help of 600 draft animals.
In April 1440, the Venetian fleet, again consisting of several galleys and boats, struck the Milanese fleet with devastation off Riva del Garda. In this way, the Venetians not only succeeded in bringing the hoped-for relief for Brescia on the way and finally ending the siege, but also the entire Lake Garda was consequently brought under Venetian control.
reception
The first written description of the company comes from Marcantonio Sabellico , written around 40 years after the company. He looked around on site and probably also spoke to eyewitnesses. In the Doge's Palace , a work by Tintoretto in the hall of the great council (Sala del Maggior Consiglio) does not remind of the transport of the fleet over the mountains to Lake Garda, but of the victorious sea battle at Riva in April 1440. The company is presented in the museum Scaliger Castle in Malcesine .
literature
- Frederic C. Lane : Storia di Venezia , Einaudi, Turin 1991 ISBN 978-880612788-6
- F. Lupinacci: Un trasporto di navi dall'Adriatico al Lago di Garda . Excerpt from the journal Rivista Marittima ed. by Ministero della Difesa - Marina, Tipo-Litografia di Marisegrege, o.O. 1953
- Paolo D. Malvinni: La magnifica intrapresa. Galeas per montes conducendo , Curcu & Genovese, Trento 2010 ISBN 978-889673717-0 (German The glorious undertaking. Galleys on the ascent to Lake Garda. Story in twenty pictures , Curcu & Genovese, 2015 - translation by Ferdinand Heller ISBN 978-88-6876 -073-1 )
- Ferdinando Martinelli (Ed.): Saluti dal Garda. Conoscere Torbole e Nago , Tipografia Piave, Belluno o. J.
- Paolo Renier: Testimonianze sul trasporto delle navi da Venezia al Garda eseguito dai veneziani nel 1439 , Venezia 1967
- Barbara Schäfer: The ascent of a sea power in: Mare. The Journal of the Seas No. 62 June / July 2007 accessed online March 27, 2019
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Frederic C. Lane Storia di Venezia pp. 265-269
- ↑ Paolo Domenici Malvinni: La magnifica intrapresa. Galeas per montes conducendo p. 57
- ^ Ferdinando Martinelli (Ed.) Saluti dal Garda. Conoscere Torbole e Nago o. S.
- ↑ Paolo Domenici Malvinni La magnifica intrapresa. Galeas per montes conducendo pp. 63-65
- ↑ Paolo Domenici Malvinni La magnifica intrapresa. Galeas per montes conducendo p. 58
- ↑ F. Lupinacci Un trasporto di navi dall'Adriatico al Lago di Garda p. 4
- ↑ Paolo Renier Testimonianze sul trasporto delle navi da Venezia al Garda eseguito dai veneziani nel 1439 o. P.
- ↑ F. Lupinacci Un trasporto di navi dall'Adriatico al Lago di Garda p. 4–7
- ↑ Paolo D. Malvinni La magnifica intrapresa. Galeas per montes conducendo p. 59
- ↑ Barbara Schäfer The ascent of a sea power, pp. 50–51