Battle of Legnano 1176
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Year | 1176 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
|---|---|---|
| Era | Medieval (500–1499) | derived from year |
| Location | Italy | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Europe | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | Guelphs and Ghibellines | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | Holy Roman Empire, Lombard League | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 45.6033, 8.9086 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of Legnano was fought on 29 May 1176 between the army of Frederick Barbarossa, Holy Roman Emperor, and the forces of the Lombard League near Legnano, between Milan and Como, in the Kingdom of Italy. It was the climactic field engagement of Frederick's fifth Italian campaign and one of the most consequential battles of the long conflict between the emperor, the northern Italian communes and Pope Alexander III. The encounter itself arose unexpectedly from manoeuvres by two armies that were aware of one another but did not possess precise information about the other's position. Frederick was attempting to move from Como towards the security of Pavia, where he could join additional imperial and Italian forces, while the League sought to intercept him before such a concentration could occur.
The imperial army consisted principally of about 3,000 heavily equipped cavalry, including German nobles, ministeriales, mounted retainers and allied Comaschi. Opposing it was a much larger communal army of approximately 12,000–15,000 men, most of them Milanese infantry but including a substantial body of cavalry from Milan and allied League cities.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Legnano (revision 1373346724), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
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- Combat of Turbigo 1800 · 16 km
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Other battles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines
- Siege of Tortona 1155
- Siege of Crema 1159
- Battle of Monte Porzio 1167
- Siege of Alessandria (1175) 1174
- Battle of Calcinato (1201) 1201
- Battle of Cortenuova 1237
- Siege of Brescia (1238) 1238
- Siege of Faenza 1240
- Battle of Giglio 1241
- Siege of Viterbo 1243
All 22 battles of the Guelphs and Ghibellines →
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