Battle of Motta (1412)

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The Battle of Motta was fought in late August 1412, when an invading Hungarian army led by Pipo of Ozora and Voivode Miklós Marczali [1] attacked the Venetian positions at Motta[2] and suffered a heavy defeat.[3]

Prelude

The Republic of Venice subjugated Verona and Vicenza after the death of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, and took control of Padova by having its count, Francesco Carrara, executed in Venice.[4] This, and the Republics refusal to pay the annual fee of 7,000 ducats to the Crown of Hungary drove Sigismund, king of Hungary to declare war upon Venice.[4]
On April 20, 1411, 12,000 Hungarian cavalry and 8,000 foot crossed the Tagliamento under Pipo of Ozora.[5] The initial Hungarian success[6] and the heavy losses that the Venetians sustained[7] forced the Republic into a peace negotiation (March 24, 1412)[5] in which King Sigismund demanded the city of Zadar, reinstatement of the Scaliger and Carraresi to their fiefdoms and a reparation of 600,000 ducats.[7][8] This proposition was not accepted by the Republic of Venice [5] and the war was resumed by both sides with great passion.[4]

Battle

The Venetians increased their army[7] and at the head of 35,000 men, Carlo Malatesta reenters the field in Friuli and conquers the castles of Polcenigo and Aviano.[9] Pandolfo Malatesta, brother of Carlo Malatesta, joins the Venetian force with 1,000 lances[2] and by late August, the Venetians have an army of 12,000 men assembled along the Livenza river,[2] with Carlo Malatesta laying siege to Motta.[7]
On April 24, 3,000 Hungarians (incl. Germans, Friulians & Bohemians) [10] under Pipo of Ozora[7][8] assaulted the Venetian camp from three sides.[10] The Venetian camp was taken by surprise and the Hungarians created a slaughter[11] and started to plunder what they could.[10] Only Carlo Malatesta and the other Venetian generals together with Ruggero Cane Ranieri and his company of 600 horse held off the Hungarians.[11][12] The Venetian fortunes completely changed when Pietro Loredano burnd down the bridges so that the fleeing Venetian troops could not escape,[9] and thus rallied them back into combat.[5] In the fierce encounter the Hungarians were driven off,[2] with the loss of over 1,300 men and their general killed, several standards and 400 men captured.[9][13][12]
The Venetians won a hard fought victory,[9][5] having lost a lot of men killed.[12]

Aftermath

After being severely wounded, Carlo Malatesta, was forced to surrender his command over the Venetian troops to his brother Pandolfo Malatesta.[14] Motta was forced to surrender[9] after Pietro Loredano and Martino da Faenza bombarded it, killing 60 and capturing 200 Hungarians.[12] In October, King Sigismund arrived in person with a force of 40,000 men,[13][8] but continued the war with little success.[6] After the failed siege of Vicenza, which decimated the Hungarian force,[4] a truce for five years with exchange of prisoners was finally concluded on April 17, 1413.[5]

Sources

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named MEM
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named SZA
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WCH
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FRD
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named IAF
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named CWS
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FDM
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named RIS
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named PFD
  14. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named BNF

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