by Zachary Grant, 14 May 2025
Background
This all boils down to a lot of groups unhappy with the powerful Venetians during the early 1500s. The French wanted to expand their power in northern Italy at the expense of the Venetians. The Austrians wanted a chunk of Venetian territory. Pope Julius II was also looking to reclaim old Papal lands, which the Venetians now controlled. These groups formed the League of Cambrai in order to work together against the Venetians. For an excellent explanation of why this battle occurred and how the battle was fought, please watch The Battle of Agnadello by the Pike & Shot Channel over at YouTube.
click images to enlarge
The Battle
In April of 1509, The French moved their army into northern Italy to take the land they wanted. The French, commanded by Louis XII, was approximately 22,000 strong, with 20,000 infantry and 2,300 lances (Shaw & Mallett, 2019).
The Venetians countered the French army with a force of about the same size. It consisted of 22,000 infantry and 1,650 men-at-arms (Shaw & Mallett, 2019). The main difference was the Venetian army was commanded by two people: Bartolomeo d’Alviano and Niccolò di Pitigliano. d’Alviano wanted to be aggressive and attack the French, while Pitigliano wanted to be cautious and fight a more defensive battle.
On May 9th, the French army crossed the Adda river with zero opposition from the Venetians, which is seen by many historians as a mistake (Shaw & Mallett, 2019). Once across the Adda river, the French army made its way south. The Venetians decided to pursue the French. Unfortunately, the Venetian army split into two columns, with d’Avliano’s column being much closer to the French and Pitigliano, being further away.
On May 14, while d’Avliano’s forces were moving from Agnadello to Pandino, they were caught by the French army. The Venetians were strung out over a four mile road and the French attacked the rear guard of the Venetian forces near Agnadello (Shaw & Mallett, 2019). d’Alviano’s forces quickly were able to regroup and defend themselves from the French. d’Alviano sent a message to Pitigliano, telling him to get into the fight. Cautious Pitigliano replied d’Alviano needed to fall back and join him; however, by this point in the battle, falling back to join Pitigliano was impossible.
Because Pitigliano didn’t reinforce d’Alviano’s column, d’Alviano’s forces were overwhelmed and defeated. Louis XII gave specific orders that only high ranking commanders should be spared, (d’Alviano was captured), so thousands of Venetian soldiers were killed on the battlefield instead of being taken prisoners (Shaw & Mallett, 2019). Pitigliano retreated with his force toward Venice; however, much of his army deserted when the reality of the situation became clear that the Venetian army lost and was in serious trouble.
Other sources to learn more about the battle.
- La bataille oubliée: Agnadel, 1509 : Louis XII contre les Vénitiens by Florence Alazard
- How’s your French? This book, entirely in French, published in 2017, examines in detail the events that led up to the battle, the battle itself, and the ramifications of the French victory. Break out your French to English dictionary, or get your favorite digital translator warmed up if you want to read it.
- The illustrations in the book are very interesting and worth your time, even if you don’t read the book.
- The Italian Wars 1494-1559: War, state and society in early modern Europe (2nd ed.) by Christine Shaw and Michael Mallett
- Tired of translating La bataille oubliée? Fear not! This book by Shaw and Mallett is in English and delves into many aspects of the Italian Wars. There is a section about the battle of Agnadello and how the Venetian loss impacted the power balance in Europe.
- The Pike & Shot Channel on YouTube
- As I recommended above, the video about the battle of Agnadello is excellent and well worth 8 minutes of your time.
- “Storie di Venezia”: Agnadello 1509 (III lezione) – Corso di Storia Veneta 2022 – Ateneo Veneto
- How’s your Italian? This presentation, by Professor Luciano Pezzolo, is about the history of this battle. Lots of interesting images and maps are used during his presentation.
- Louis XII of France: Scene, Battle against Venetians – Colorful image of Louis XII from the Renaissance manuscript Les abus du monde published circa 1510. Not specifically about the battle of Agnadello and still super cool.
Interested in gaming the battle? Try one of these games
There are many blog posts by people and gaming clubs who have refought this battle in miniature. Use your favorite search engine to discover the colorful images and battle reports.
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Arquebus: Men of Iron Volume IV – The Battles for Northern Italy 1495-1544 (2017) – published by GMT. The game contains 8 battles, one of which is Agnadello. |
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The Battle of Agnadello 1509 (2024) – published by Historical Games Studio. I couldn’t find much about this game, other than it is about Agnadello. |
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All is lost save Honour: Campaigns of the Italian Wars 1494-1530 – Vol.1 (2006) – published by Europa Simulazioni. This game is an operational level wargame of the Italian Wars between 1494 – 1530. Agnadello is one of the campaigns included in the game. |
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Pike and Shot: Campaigns – (last updated version 2016) published by Matrix Games. This is a tactical level, turn based game which covers warfare from 1494-1698. The game did not include Agnadello; however, a community scenario created by Odenathus for this battle is available to download from within the game. Pike and Shot (2016) plays like a miniatures game and is not as complex as some other games. The Agnadello scenario tries to reflect the historical battle; however, I think the game’s built-in editor limits how closely the battle can be represented. Pike and Shot: Campaigns (2016) can be played solo or multiplayer
Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of what to expect: 
click images to enlarge |
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Musket and Pike – Renaissance – (latest updated version 2025) published by Wargame Design Studio. This is another turn based, tactical level game. This game includes 126 scenarios, some of which are variations on the same battle. There are three scenarios for the Battle of Agnadello by Rich White. Although not as visually appealing as the Pike and Shot: Campaigns (2016), this game is more complex and is able to historically represent the battle well. Musket and Pike – Renaissance, (2025) can be played solo or multiplayer.
Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of what to expect: 
click images to enlarge |
Sources
Shaw, C. & Mallett, M. E. (2019). The Italian Wars, 1494-1559: War, state and society in early modern Europe (2nd ed.). Routledge.
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