Battle of Castione
Map of the municipality of Arbedo-Castione, site of the battle
| date | July 6, 1449 |
|---|---|
| place | Castione in the canton of Ticino |
| output | Victory of the Ambrosian Republic |
| Parties to the conflict | |
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| Commander | |
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Giovanni della Noce
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The Battle of Castione was a military conflict between the Ambrosian Republic ( Duchy of Milan 1447–1450) and the federal town of Uri during the Ennetbirgischen campaigns . It took place on July 6th, 1449 near Castione in today's Canton of Ticino ( Switzerland ).
prehistory
The trigger of the hostilities was the city of Bellinzona , which was the focus of the Urnerischen Südpolitik, since the control of this place for the control of the adjacent valleys (valley of the Ticino , Misox ) as well as the Gotthard pass was of immense importance. Uri tried several times to seize the place. They succeeded in acquiring Bellinzona in 1419 from the barons of Sax-Misox , but they had to accept a reconquest of the Milanese after the unfortunate battle of Arbedo in 1422 (→ Ennetbirgische Feldzüge ). The robbery of federal dealers gave Uri a new pretext for intervention.
The Uri invaded the southern valleys again in 1439, threatened Bellinzona and forced Milan, which was weakened at the time, to give them the Livinental , which they had acquired for the first time in 1403, as pledge to the town of Pollegio . They allied themselves with Heinrich II. Von Sax , the count of Misox and Franchino Rusca, the lord of Locarno . The uncertain situation of Milan after the death of Filippo Maria Visconti in 1447 (founding of the short-lived Ambrosian Republic ) still favored their situation and in the first months of 1449 they again occupied the Livinental and the Riviera and advanced as far as Bellinzona.
Events and consequences
The army of Condottiere Giovanni della Noce received from Milan the order to subjugate the Sottoceneri again for the duchy. It defeated the Urnerian army at Castione and in the course of the battle, which lasted for a good part of the day, the place was burned down. The people of Uri were forced to withdraw to the Misox . After Bellinzona was relieved, the Milanese conquered the Riviera .
In 1450 a formal peace followed with Visconti's successor, Francesco Sforza , and the Livinental was permanently awarded to Uri in 1466. The defeat brought the Urnerische expansion policy to a halt for a few decades. The entire federal campaign to Bellinzona in 1478 and the victory in the Battle of Giornico in 1487 finally brought the recognition of the Uri rule in the Livinental by the Milan Cathedral Chapter . Bellinzona initially remained in the possession of Milan. After various changes of ownership, the French King Ludwig XII. Bellinzona finally transferred to Uri, Schwyz and Nidwalden in the Treaty of Arona in 1503 .
Others
For a long time there was uncertainty about the event because the Lucerne historian Theodor von Liebenau and the subsequent historiography had confused the battle with that of Castiglione Olona in the vicinity of Varese ( Lombardy ). The battle of Castiglione Olona was of greater importance as it was part of the overthrow and dissolution of the Ambrosian Republic by Francesco Sforza. Its rule and good neighborly relations with the confederates brought security and stability for two decades.