Battle of Giornico
(Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi)
| date | December 28, 1478 |
|---|---|
| place | Giornico in Leventina |
| output | Federal victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 10,000 men | 600 men |
| losses | |
|
1400 men |
50 men |
The Battle of Giornico (also known as Battaglia dei Sassi Grossi ) was a military conflict in connection with the Ennetbirgischen campaigns and took place on December 28, 1478 in Giornico , in today's Swiss canton of Ticino .
prehistory
Duke Galeazzo Maria Sforza of Milan promised the Uri Valley in 1466 to cede the Leventina and promised freedom from customs duties for the residents of the Leventina. In 1467, Duke Sforza signed a friendship treaty with the Swiss Confederation , but hesitated to hand over the Leventina.
course
Even after the Duke's murder in 1476, there were repeated border disputes. Uri troops therefore advanced over the Gotthard into the Leventina, where they were received as liberators. The diary of November 16, 1478 stood before a fait accompli and, under the leadership of Hans Waldmann and Adrian von Bubenberg, sent auxiliary troops from the rest of the Confederation to Bellinzona. These 8,000 men in total were able to break through the wall ring around the city; a siege of the Bellinzona fortress bar started on November 30, 1478, but failed after two weeks. After the federal leaders could not agree on how to proceed, the Swiss troops withdrew via the Gotthard.
After the withdrawal of the federal army 175 men remained as a rear guard back into the Leventina, including 100 Urner and 25 per Lucerne , Schwyz and Zurich . They were joined by 400 locals.
On December 16, a 10,000-strong Milan relief army , which was supposed to relieve Bellinzona , reached the Magadino plain . The 575 defenders had holed up at Giornico . They left the villages of Bodio and Personico to the Milanese army without a fight and lured them into the interior of the valley. When the head of the army column reached Giornico, the Confederates and Leventines broke out of their defensive positions and pounced on the enemy. The Milanese army could not develop in the valley of the valley in wintry conditions: Favored by the bad weather conditions and the frozen Ticino and a ruse described in the legend "The day of Giornico", the small force succeeded, on December 28, 1478 the Milanese army To drive troops to flight.
The Leventina then fell permanently to Uri, but Bellinzona remained with the Duchy of Milan. In 1487, the cathedral chapter of Milan recognized the new rule and the Leventina (Livinen) became a Ennetbergische Vogtei Uris.
See also
literature
- Kuno Müller: Frischhans Teiling: The hero of Giornico . On behalf of the city council of Lucerne, published by the city council with the assistance of the city archive, Lucerne 1970
- Eligio Pometta : La guerra di Giornico e le sue conseguenze, 1478–1928 , Bellinzona 1928
- Theodor von Liebenau: La battaglia di Giornico (December 28, 1478) , Bellinzona 1879
Web links
- Thomas Schibler: Giornico, battle with. In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Castles of Bellinzona: The Murata ( Memento of the original from September 19, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 28, 2008
- ^ A b c Website of the Municipality of Giornico: History , accessed December 28, 2008
- ↑ Meinrad Lienert: Swiss legends and heroic stories . Stuttgart 1915.
- ↑ The day of Giornico on haben.at, accessed on December 28, 2008
