The Sack of Montopoli in Val D'Arno (1498)

Among the many wars and conflicts the raged through the Italian peninsula during the late fifteenth century was the War of Pisa (1494-1509), between Pisa and Florence, with various allies on each side.  In 1494 the Pisans rebelled against Florentine rule, and for the next fifteen years Florence tried to reconquer this city.  In June 1498 the Venetians sent Ferrante d'Este and his band of mercenaries to Pisa in support of their ally.  One of the men who came with this army was Vincenzo Valier, a young Venetian patrician who served as "ufficiale pagatore" or paymaster for the troops.  He took part in several forays until April of the following year, when he and the Venetian army left Tuscany.  In the following letter, written from Pisa on December 27th, 1498, Vincenzo describes the capture of the town of Montopoli.

He set off from Pisa on the 26^th of  December along with don Ferrante [d’Este], Filippo Albanese, Annibale da Doccia, some 140 men-at-arms lightly equipped with their sallets, Giovanni Greco and other commanders of 500 mounted crossbowmen and stradiotti. They rode the whole night in order to get to Montopoli; and so as to cross the river [the Arno] easily they waded across it near Pontedera, where many artillery shots were fired at them. One grazed the aforesaid provveditore’s arm, which blackened and became a little infected and swelled much, causing a strong pain for a long time, still he did not have serious injuries. If the bullet had hit the arm, that would have been cut off [...] They reached Montopoli two hours before daybreak; that place is rich and prosperous and forever Florentine, 20 miles away form Florence. At dawn they gave battle from two sides: from the first the infantry captain, Gorlino, and he [Valier] with mounted men, from the second the other captain; they fought for about two hours because those within the city defended themselves vigorously. In the meantime Count Ludovico della Mirandola with some 100 horse was seen in the distance and it seemed that he wanted to relieve the city; the provveditore himself went towards him with many stradiotti and other horses, and the other withdrew and could not be reached [...].Our men went in both through the gate after setting fire to it, and with ladders, while on the other side Captain Gorlino had entered. As infantrymen immediately begun looting, ours were driven back from there; afterwards they tried again and with this entrance repelled the enemies who withdrew into the rocca, many of them being wounded and dead. Seen that the rocca was strong because of its situation, and the men disbanded owing to longing of money, they decided to loot and burn the city, and did so as long as they could; they left with booty and captives, and between plundering and setting fire a great damage had been done.

From Marin Sanudo, I diarii, vol.1, edited by F. Stefani, Venice 1879, coll. 300-301.  This section was translated by Sergio Mantovani, with the assistance of Angela Ernani.  We thank Sergio Mantovani for his permission to publish this section.