Talk:Battle of Ravenna (1512)

Military history: European / French / Italian / Spanish / Early Modern

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List of states and condottieri

This page lists the states and condottieri fighiting in the battle. Chiesa is Papal States. At least 2,000 infantry Italian troops were presents under the "Spanish" army, 5,000 in the "French" one.

Here is a table of the losses listed on the page:

Source	Spanish losses	French losses
Guicciardini	7,000	3,000
Giovio	20,000
Sanudo	18,000
Prato	8,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry	6,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry

Working from primary sources is somewhat dangerous; Guicciardini's numbers, for example, are famously unreliable. The numbers currently there are from one of the secondary works (Taylor, if I recall correctly) that does a comparison of the various available statistics (including the French & German sources).

(And it need not be said, I think, that random websites are not exactly the kind of source appropriate for this sort of article, regardless of whether or not they're accurate.)

It should be pointed out, though, that the article is in a fairly rudimentary state, having been something I threw together, mainly from Taylor, when I first started editing. I've been meaning to rewrite it using all the sources I have (and with exhaustive footnoting, this time) for quite a while now; I'll try to do so in the near future, since these questions have come up. Kirill Lokshin 02:06, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Combatants

Looking through the sources I have, I can't find any mention of an official Florentine or Venetian presence at the battle. There were plenty of Italians in both armies, of course, but they seem to be described as simply mercenary soldiers (in French and Papal employ, mainly) rather than forces organized by Florence or Venice. (There's also mention of a Venetian force operating between Ravenna and Ferarra, but it obviously didn't make it to this battle.)

Do you have any (published) sources for the presence of Venetian and Florentine forces (as opposed to Italian mercenaries in another state's employ) here? Kirill Lokshin 02:14, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've written up a halfway-decent summary of the troop breakdowns and dispositions, taken from several quite reputable sources. There's a lot of "Italian" troops mentioned, but I can't find anything specific referring to a Florentine or Venetian presence here. Any assistance with finding a reputable source for such would be appreciated; as it is, I'm uncomfortable with using details that seem to only appear on websites, rather than in published historical works. ;-) Kirill Lokshin 05:34, 28 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]