Battle of Maclodio | |||||||
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Part of The Wars in Lombardy | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Duchy of Mantua | Duchy of Milan | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Francesco Bussone da Carmagnola Gianfrancis Gonzaga |
Carlo Malatesta | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown | 8,000 Milanese taken prisoner including Malatesta |
The Battle of Maclodio was fought on 11 October 1427, resulting in a victory for the Venetians under Carmagnola over the Milanese under Carlo I Malatesta. The battle was fought at Maclodio (or Macalo) a small town near the River Oglio, fifteen kilometres (nine miles) south-west of Brescia. This battle, fought during the second campaign, was the only decisive victory for Venice in the Wars in Lombardy. This battle forced the Milanese into a treaty, conceding Brescia in 1428, though fighting of the wars in Lombardy was to resume later, continuing until the Treaty of Lodi in 1454.
The war began with a pact between Venice and Florence to oppose Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan, and his territorial ambitions. The Venetian commander for the battle, Carmagnola, had recently been under the employ of Milan but defected to Venice when Filippo Maria gave him governorship of Genoa rather than further military duty in an attempt to lessen his power. The doge of Venice, Francesco Foscari, was seriously considering helping Florence in their conflict against Milan, and Carmagnola spurred this on, persuading the doge to name him general in a new war against Milan.