The Battle of Cascina
Michelangelo and his naked Florentines – depiction of a historic Victory against the attacking Pisans led by British Mercenary John Hawkwood.
Copy of Michelangelo’s cartoon of the battle of the Battle of Cascina by Michelangelo’s pupil Aristotele da Sangallo
Michelangelo might well have chosen this subject because it suited his personal taste but I always thought it was strange that so many men had gone into battle without any clothes at all !
But of course, there was a reason – (well, maybe an excuse?) for selecting this sequence because a large number of the Florentine forces were indeed bathing naked in the Arno when the Pisan Mercenaries, led by non-other than our famous Essex Mercenary Man John Hawkwood, made their surprise attack.
The painting was originally commissioned by Piero Soderini, a statesman of the Republic of Florence and intended to be a companion piece to the Battle of Anghiari by Leonardo da Vinci, for the Salone dei Cinquecento in Palazzo Vecchio.
Leonardo , as they are beginning to uncover, at least made a start on his fresco – whilst it seems Michelangelo, who didn’t much enjoy painting anyway – never got further than drawing out a cartoon before Pope Julius summoned him to Rome. Fortunately for posterity, the work was much copied before the original was lost.
Some preliminary sketches are available to view such as the ones below in the British Museum in London.
The two battles were chosen because they were notable medieval Florentine victories – and frankly, there weren’t too many to chose from – the Florentine’s preferred to “pay” their way out of trouble.
The Battle of Cascina was fought on 28 July 1364 and the Florentine’s did have luck and another Mercenary General Galeotto Malatesta with 400 crossbowmen under the command of Ranieri Grimaldi on their side! The British Mercenary Army , known as the White Company, were in the pay of the Pisans and had tracked down their opposition and thought they had luck on their side when they found them, on a blazing hot summer day, with their horses unsaddled and seemingly no look-out, trying to cool off naked in the waters of the Arno. Their General, Malatesta, was actually asleep in his tent, recovering from an attack of flu – and had told his staff not to wake him under any circumstances – it must have seemed too good to be true – and of course, it was!
The Crossbowmen were in fact deployed as lookouts and their lethal arrows attacked Hawkwood’s already heat exhausted army from the rear.
In order to avoid capture and lose any of their ill-gotten gains a large number of mercenaries under his command simply fled with as much of their plunder as they could carry – and seeing the professional paid soldiers depart the amateur Pisan army promptly followed their lead!
Hawkwood was left with no choice but to communicate “Monte!” – “to Horse!” and get his remaining White Company members away from the field of battle as fast as possible.
Stories of the losses sustained in this battle vary wildly – one source claims Hawkwood company had 30 men killed and 300 wounded – the Wikipedia entry shows “A thousand Pisans were killed and two thousand more were captured” ….. I guess it depends on whose side you were on?
What was true was that between 1000 to 2000 men at arms were captured – and hugely significantly for the Florentine’s, whilst they were rounding them up they also caught an eagle, attracted by easy plunder, and netted whilst eating!
As the Eagle is the symbol of Pisa – this trophy, in particular, was carried home to Florence in triumph!
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