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by Marco Merlo
To affirm his political regime, Pandolfo Petrucci (1452-1512) took advantage of the potentialities given by the Camera del Comune. It had been the arsenal of the city of Siena for a long time, but Pandolfo changed its organization and widened its assignments. The maintenance and production of weapons was still the principal purpose of this institution of the city. Under Pandolfo the production of artilleries, ammunitions and the fortification activity was increased, thanks to specialists like Francesco di Giorgio, Giacomo Cozzarelli and Vannoccio Biringucci, personalities who deeply influenced the technical and military culture of all Europe. The Camera del Comune also managed the military intelligence, useful tool to the dissembling politics of the Petrucci, and to the management of the army. The Army of Siena was composed by a Condotta in Aspetto, which Pandolfo used to create alliances. But the most important troops were the Provvisionati di Piazza, a professional infantry faithful to the political regime and depending, both economically and for the supply of weapons, on the Chamber of the town and the leadership of Pandolfo. The military politics of Pandolfo Petrucci brought Siena among the greatest European powers of that time but its purposes, mainly finalized to the maintenance of his own personal power, obstructed a true modernization of the war apparatus of Siena, which in the following years had been inferior than its adversaries.
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L’età dei Petrucci: cultura e tecnologia a Siena nel Rinascimento. Atti delle giornate di studio in memoria di Giuseppe Chironi (Siena, Archivio di Stato, 19-20 ottobre 2012 ), a cura di P. Pertici, Siena 2016
Rivista di Studi Militari, III, 2014
Mariano Taccola’s eques scoppiectarius: an armoured knight who uses a hand-cannonon horseback. This drawing was probably inspired by the vivacious construction of firearms in Siena, making this city one of the main centers for the best master craftsman of hand-cannons and casters. Taccola integrated his sketch with ample tag-lines which clarify mechanisms and inner workings of hand-firearms of the mid fifteenth century, and also the relationship between architects and military engineers. However, presently it is unknown whether this expedient was ever employed. The earliest evidence of firearms being used on horseback is of the 1510, but their use can be traced back to the years of Taccola idea.
2019, Archivio Storico per le Province Napoletane
The rediscovery of a unique «books of armaments» belonged to King Ferrante allows a thorough examination of the production of guns and the management of arsenals in Renaissance Naples. Through the one hundred and thirty-five drawings contained in the codex, the paper analyzes the features of the royal ordnance, focusing on the multiple innovations introduced by foreign gunmakers and promoted by local statesmen. The results of the research will underline the celebratory and the propagandistic use of both the artillery and the «book», according to a visual ideology of military power shared with all of the fifteenth-century Italian governments.
2021, Nuova Antologia Militare
Sifting through state documentation and contemporary treatises, the article will examine the development of light artillery in Renaissance Italy, focusing on the acquisition of transalpine military technology and its adaptation to local manufacturing traditions. The essay will evaluate the impact of new weapons, wheeled carts, and metal shot on the improvement of fifteenth-century defensive tactics, hence remarking the correlation between actual warfare and technical innovation through the analysis of several major battles, including the clashes at Anghiari, Riccardina, and Campomorto. Also considering the encounter at Fornovo, and briefly comparing the French ordnance to Italian guns, the research will demonstrate the existence of specific patterns of technological transfer, determined by political and military, cultural and economic factors.
2017, Archivio Storico Italiano
Developing from the historiography regarding medieval fortifications, this paper aims to examine lesser-known spaces of Renaissance warfare, as arsenals, foundries, and forges. The context of this analysis is the Florentine Republic of the fifteenth century, whose statesmen have been often blamed for their lack of interest in warfare. Nevertheless, a study of the primary sources produced by the military institutions of the Republic reveals the crucial importance of the role played by the public demand in the construction of new manufacturing facilities, in the introduction of technical innovations, in the trade of materiel, in the circulation of craftsmen, and in the formation of their practical skills
Rivista di Studi Militari, IV, 2015
Mariano Taccola’s eques scoppiectarius: an armoured knight who uses a hand-cannonon horseback. This drawing was probably inspired by the vivacious construction of firearms in Siena, making this city one of the main centers for the best master craftsman of hand-cannons and casters. Taccola integrated his sketch with ample tag-lines which clarify mechanisms and inner workings of hand-firearms of the mid fifteenth century, and also the relationship between architects and military engineers. However, presently it is unknown whether this expedient was ever employed. The earliest evidence of firearms being used on horseback is of the 1510, but their use can be traced back to the years of Taccola idea.
2017, Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar
Riassunto: Si può in generale osservare che la storiografia militare italiana sull’età medievale abbia riservato pochissima attenzione alla storia delle armi: ed è in particolare possibile affermare che pochissimi – e per lo più invecchiati – sono gli studi disponibili sulla diffusione e l’uso, soprattutto per il Trecento, delle armi da fuoco in Italia. Eppure, analizzando in tal senso la documentazione disponibile per il dominio Visconteo, che fu senz’altro capace di mettere in campo eserciti imponenti, esse appaiono come una presenza prima crescente e poi costante tra le armi disponibili. Scopo del presente lavoro è quindi di colmare tale lacuna, proponendo una prima analisi sul problema, e mostrando la necessità di più ampi e organici lavori, per definire con maggior precisione gli ambiti, le tecniche, e i contesti in cui le armi da fuoco furono impiegate nell’Italia del XIV secolo. Parole chiave: Storia Medievale, Storia Militare, Visconti, Armi, Armi da fuoco. Resumen: La historiografía militar italiana sobre la Edad Media ha dedicado, en general, muy poca atención a la Historia del armamento y, en particular, a la difusión y el uso de las armas de fuego, especialmente durante el siglo XIV. Sin embargo, al analizar la documentación disponible para el dominio de los Visconti (ciudad y ducado de Milán), quienes fueron capaces de movilizar ejércitos imponentes, se observa que las armas de fuego fueron adquiriendo una importancia creciente entre los recursos armamentísticos empleados. Con este trabajo se pretende contribuir a completar la citada laguna historiográfica, proponiendo un primer análisis acerca de los ámbitos, las técnicas y los contextos en los que se emplearon armas de fuego en la Italia del siglo XIV y, en particular, en los territorios controlados por la Casa de los Visconti. Palabras clave: Historia Medieval, Historia Militar, Visconti, Armamento, Armas de fuego. Abstract: It may be generally observed that the military historiography about medieval Italy has been paying very little attention to the history of weapons; and it is in particular possible to say that the studies available on the diffusion and use of fire arms are very few –and mostly old– in Italy, especially related to the 14th century. Yet, analyzing the documentation available for the Visconti domain, which was certainly capable of fielding massive armies, they appear as an increasing presence and then constant, among the various available weapons. The purpose of this work is, therefore, to fill this gap by proposing an initial analysis of the problem, and showing the need for wider and organic work, to define more precisely the scope, techniques, and contexts in which firearms were used in Italy during the fourteenth century. Although it is true that there are reports of the use of this type of weapons in the Italic Peninsula from the earliest dates –specifically from 1326 in Florence and from 1327 in the Castle of Gassino– the exhaustive scrutiny of unpublished sources coming from the visconteo domain made by the authors, has allowed them to define the conditions in which the reception and diffusion of these important technical innovations took place in this territory. Among the results derived from their research, it is possible to verify the use of artillery machines in both offensive and defensive operations. Nevertheless, the use of artillery was concentrated mainly in the defense of cities and fortified places only from 1350 on, while the spread of portable firearms began later. Indeed, the first examples of this instruments actual use of these instruments are dated in the middle of the 1360s. However, the reception and effective use of these weapons are two phenomena synchronous to the expansion of the artillery detonated with gunpowder and, in fact, as in the first case, its expansion took place, in its initial phase, around the control and the defense of fortifications. On the other hand, and beyond the technical level, it should also be noted that the manufacture and the commercialization of firearms was strongly directed from power, as it was the lord who had the authority to grant licenses of production of this type of armament. Keywords: Medieval History, Military History, Visconti, Weapons, Firearms.
2017, Reti Medievali Rivista
This article aims to examine the technical innovations and the cultural exchanges carried out by the Italian gunmakers during the whole fifteenth century. The examination of the context will reveal a special interest of rulers in the institution of permanent military offices, in the experimentation of new weapons, and in the management of arms manufacture. The balance sheets and the correspondence of public authorities, as well as the account books and the products of artisans, will form the archival basis for the analysis. Figures and information will allow the reconstruction of the travels, the contracts, the competences, and the networks of numerous craftsmen. The results of the research will highlight both the role of the masters in the dissemination of original technologies and the policies pursued by Italian states for attracting and supporting their skilled labor.
2022, NAM Fascicolo n. 9 Storia Militare Medievale
Despite the important studies on the armies of Italian cities and the numerous works on medieval weapons, weapons have rarely been analyzed in terms of military utility. The article aims to assess the material reality of the 13th century armaments in use by the Tuscan militias, through the analysis of written and iconographic sources.
in «Nuova Antologia Militare», n. 3, 2022, fasc. 9, gennaio 2022 (Storia militare medievale, numero monografico a cura di Marco Merlo, Antonio Musarra, Fabio Romanoni e Peter Sposato), ed. in formato digitale, pp. 165-184
Monteriggioniottocento 1214-2014, atti del convegno, Abbadia a Isola 17 ottobre 2014, a cura di D. Balestracci, Siena 2015
2008, Le leggi della comunità. Il governo e la terra di San Feliceattraverso i suoi statuti (1464). a cura di Pierpaolo Bonacini e Mauro Calzolari.
2020, Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Italie et Méditerranée modernes et contemporaines
Through the documentation of the military archives of the Florentine Republic, this article examines the careers of craftsmen who manufactured gunpowder, an essential commodity for conducting the fifteenth-century war. The analysis will focus on the different training paths and practical cultures of these "powder masters". The results will highlight the impact of war on employment prospects, emphasising the role of the state in increasing qualitative standards and output levels of gunpowder manufacture.
2010, Quaderni della Bassa Modenese. PER LA MIA FE, Castelli e arte militare in area estense tra Medioevo e Rinascimento. atti della Giornata di Studi. A cura di Massimiliano RighiniF
This is an essay for describe an inventory of weapons and objects of the Castellammare in Palermo. The inventory was written in 1478, for the death of Antonio Fuxa warden of the castle, and shows defensive power of the city. Can you look also common objects, like paintings, flags or bells.
2021, NAM 5108211 Fascicolo N. 5
In 2018, the Luigi Marzoli Museum in Brescia was renovated. The opportunity was also taken to refresh and reorder the exhibitions on display within. Among the most important changes made was the addition of an archaeological section which, together with the renovated Gothic section, greatly expanded the exhibition dedicated to medieval weapons. The following article offers an overview of the museum’s medieval collection from a purely museological point of view; beginning with a review on the history and concept of a medieval armoury, it focuses on the changes made during the renovation phase. These alterations were designed to expand upon Luigi Marzoli’s original vision for his collection and to offer the visitor a clear development of medieval armaments, from Late Antiquity to the dawn of the Modern Age.
2021, Società e Storia
Developing from the analysis of fifteenth-century correspondences, the essay discusses the complex diplomatic issues behind the market of saltpeter, that is, the primary, indispensable component of gunpowder. Highlighting the different approaches adopted by resident ambassadors and informal agents to the procurement of this rare mineral, the article will reconstruct the state intervention in its trade during the climax of the late medieval 'artillery revolution'. The result of the research will restate – from an economic perspective – the intimate connections between diplomatic activities and war preparations in the era of the 'balance of power'.
Baratonia. Dinastia e castello, a cura di G. Chiarle, Borgone Susa 2012
2017, Quaderni della Bassa Modenese. Storia, tradizione, ambiente. N° 72
Martedì 10 novembre 1556 una lunga teoria di carri pesanti, trainati da oltre quattrocento paia di buoi, esce lentamente da Parma prendendo la strada verso Sorbolo. Il convoglio, messo a disposizione dagli Anziani della città, trasportanove "cannoni grossi>", una <"longa colubrina", una "bastarda>", quattro cannoni "mezani" e quattro "falconetti" destinati al conte della Mirandola Ludovico II Pico.
Bullettino Senese di Storia Patria, CXX, 2013
2013, L’evoluzione strutturale nelle artiglierie di bronzo in Italia tra XV e XVII secolo
The Armory of the Museo Nazionale del Bargello of Florence preserves the remaining of the great Medici armory, founded by Cosimo I de’ Medici in 1540 and dispersed in 1770 by Peter Leopold of Lorraine, the future Emperor of Austria. In the State Archives of Florence are preserved the inventories of collections of the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, thanks to which it is possible to recognize the weapons still remaining today. Among these stands out a small group of combined weapons, of which today are preserved to the Bargello seven pieces and one coming from the Ressman collection, described in this article. These weapons are of great value and rarity, some of them are the only sample today known to the world.
2011, Quaderni della Bassa Modenese n°60. I Pico: 1311-1711. Quattrocento anni di potere alla Mirandola.
2008, Le scienze, in Il rinascimento italiano e l'Europa, a cura di Antonio Clericuzio e Germana Ernst
ARCHIVIO VENETO, VI serie, 20 (2020), pp. 71-84
Some documents from the Friuli area, dating back to 1336, attesting the use of firearms in Venzone and the preparation of black powder, were quickly forgotten immediately after their publication, not finding feedback, even today, even in local publications. Their rediscovery and contextualization, considered also the recent discoveries on the subject occurred for the neighboring Veneto area, confirms their importance for the history of the hoplology offering a more secure and documented datum of the famous quotation referring to the year 1331 reported in the Chronicle of Cividale («ballistabant cum sclopo versus terram») whose oldest specimens, as known, do not go beyond the XV century. //// Alcuni documenti di ambito friulano attestanti l’uso di armi da fuoco a Venzone e la preparazione della polvere nera risalenti al 1336, furono rapidamente dimenticati subito dopo la loro pubblicazione, non trovando, a tutt’oggi, riscontro neppure nelle pubblicazioni di argomento locale. La loro riscoperta e contestualizzazione, alla luce anche dei risultati avuti dalle recenti indagini sull’argomento avvenute per la confinante area veneta, conferma la loro importanza per la storia dell’oplologia offrendo un dato più sicuro e documentato della famosa citazione riferita all’anno 1331 riportata nella Cronaca di Cividale («ballistabant cum sclopo versus terram») che, come noto da tempo, è giunta solamente in copie del secolo XV.
2014
This paper examines a series of documents recently found in the State Archive of Milan. Two of these provide definitive evidence to solve the lost-standing problem of the localisation of the mint of the Trivulzio family. These documents always provide information concerning the organisation of the mint of Roveredo and de- monstrate that the mint of Mesocco never existed. Other documents relate to the mines and metallurgical ovens owned by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. These docu- ments contain previously unknown information regarding his entrepreneurial ac- tivity in the siderurgy sector in the areas of Grisons and and high Lake Como. La localisation de l’atelier des Trivulzio dans la Valle ´e Mesolcina a constitue ´ , depuis les premie `res de ´cennies du XIXe `me sie `cle, un conside ´rable proble `me histo- riographique pour la numismatique de la famille Trivulzio. La re ´cente de ´cou- verte de deux documents ine ´dits aux Archives d’E ´tat de Milan a permis a `l’auteur d’y apporter une contribution de ´cisive. En particulier, l’analyse des deux inven- taires a donne ´le moyen a `l’auteur de reconstruire le fonctionnement inte ´rieur de l’atelier de Roveredo et de montrer que, en re ´alite ´, l’atelier de Mesocco n’a jamais existe ´. L’activite ´d’entrepreneur, surtout dans le milieu side ´rurgique, de Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, jusqu’a `pre ´sent me ´connue par l’historiographie, a pu e ˆtre re- construite gra ˆce a `des documents ine ´dits des Archives milanais, concernent ses pos- sessions des mines et fours me ´tallurgiques dans la zone des Grisons et du Haut Lario.
Ordnance in the coastal fortifications of the Genoese Corsica in the 16th and 17th century
To large to upload, this book-catalogue has been divided in two parts. It is a work that illustrates the artillery of Italy's most important city-state, a Republic that lasted 1.000 years.
Armi Antiche, bollettino dell'Accademia di San Marciano (2014), pp. 49-60
The records of the Venetian Senate, kept in the State Archive in Venice, contain an act that is very considerable in the history of the introduction of firearms in the Serenissima Repubblica and, secondly, in the Italian scene. In a lot of weapons that Venice sold to the Da Camino brothers — representatives of one of the most important families in the Marca Trevigiana during XII–XV centuries — are mentioned some balliste a sclopis. The act is dated, remarkable for the subject matter, on 1335. Probably these are early firearms, that are intended, in the intentions of the Venetian government, for the defense of the frontier castels of Motta and Portobuffolè, and their curiae, that the two brothers were holding and defended on behalf of the Venetian Republic. This last concept is expressed very effectively using the classical latin formula "pro tuitione", that is quite rare in Medieval documents and thus makes the reported document more interesting.
2006, Il castello di Mirandola. Inventari di arredi, quadri e armi (1460-1714) a cura di Mauro Calzolari
2021, Il castello di Agropoli & l'artiglieria castellana e navale tra il periodo aragonese e il decennio napoleonico ) (1806-1815)
2019, Massimiliano I e il suo maniero illustrato Roncoloo
2020, San Gimignano e le sue Mura - Seconda parte - la decadenza
Con la perdita di ogni funzione militare il sistema difensivo creato in trecento anni di storia perde importanza e si avvia ad un progressivo decadimento, fino a diventare una miniera di materiali da costruzione
2010, FORUM IULII Annuario del Museo Nazionale di Cividale del Friuli XXXIV
Studio bullets medieval age for thrown weapons
2021, Annali dell’Istituto Italiano per gli Studi Storici
By the end of the fourteenth century, in a decisive phase of the formation of regional states, Italian governments attempted to find a solution to the major problems of military organization, as the steady increase of war related expenditures and the bargaining power of mercenary companies. It was the beginning of a long process of rationalizing the military apparatus, developed through the implementation of new offices – more or less formalized, more or less permanent – entrusted with the management of armed forces and the control of larger territories. The article aims at reconstructing the rapid progression of these military magistracies, comparing the variety of both political premises and institutional answers in the entire Italian peninsula and during the whole fifteenth century: thus, the main purpose of the research is to bring back military matter into institutional history, showing the impact of military organization on the rise of the so-called Italian Renaissance State. Drawing methodologically from social and economic, political and documentary history, the analysis will then cover all aspects of the military administration, underlining the crucial role played by different groups in helping rulers access the resources necessary for the creation of standing armies, the recruitment of ranking officers, and the technological innovations in weaponry.
2022, Nuova Antologia Militare
During the years of the government of Luchino and Giovanni Visconti (1339-1354), Europe was raged by rampant natural disasters such as the plague epidemic, nevertheless for the lords of Milan were decades of technological innovations, great achievements, and territorial expansion. This paper focuses on armies, with particular attention to the composition of armies and the areas where the recruitment was to take place. Gli anni di governo di Luchino e Giovanni Visconti (1339-1354), pur attraversati da grandi calamità che colpirono l’intero continente europeo, pensiamo solo alla grande epidemia di peste, per i signori di Milano furono decenni di innovazioni tecnologiche e di grandi conquiste ed espansione territoriale. Nel presente lavoro prenderemo in esame gli eserciti che permisero tali risultanti, indagando in particolar modo la loro composizione e le aree di reclutamento degli uomini.
2017, Technology and Culture
This article examines the technological development of artillery production in Florence during the last two decades of the fifteenth century, before and after the assimilation of the most efficient French ordnance into Italian warfare. The study starts from the notes, drawings, accounts, and guns produced by Bonaccorso di Vettorio Ghiberti (1451–1516), the heir of the foundry of his illustrious ancestor Lorenzo di Cione (1378–1455). Data have been collected from the historical archives of the Istituto degli Innocenti, from the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence, and from the Florentine State Archive. This article demonstrates the existence of a lively and reactive war-related industry in Renaissance Italy, which was aware of new ideas and new techniques. The article highlights, moreover, the leading role of public demand in fostering military innovations.
2022, NUOVA ANTOLOGIA MILITARE
Beyond the undoubted propensity to defend and consolidate acquired positions by force with the value of arms, the ‘Norman Conquest’ represents an extremely significant moment for the study of war strategies and the armaments adopted. Courage and audacity, combined with the value of arms, celebrated the identity of the Normans, profoundly marking the history and civilisation of Western Europe between the 11th and 12th centuries. The reasons for this success are multiple, some related to favorable circumstances, others to the political and military prowess of the commanders. The essay highlights some original war devices employed by the Norman armies against the Byzantines and the Arabs to achieve their goals of conquest.