A European walk through Bordeaux 4
4 - Fornoue’s
“Victory”. Porte Cailhau –
6 July 1495
Porte Cailhau.
Porte Cailhau
is not only a gate, embedded deep in the city wall and replacing the older gate of the same name located to the west. It is also
and above all an arc de triomphe, a triumphal arch, that once stood opposite Palais
de l’Ombrière. Erected in
the late 15th century
(1493-1496), it commemorates
the victory of Charles VIII over the Italians at the Battle of Fornovo, during
the Italian Wars of 1495.
Having travelled through Italy to Naples unopposed, the young King Charles
VIII, aged 24, was compelled to abandon Naples and had
to use force to open the way back. The battle took place on Monday 6 July 1495, near Fornovo
di Taro, at the foot of the Apennines on the shores
of the Taro, a tributary of the Po. He met the Holy League’s army
of confederates led by the
Marquis of Mantua. According
to Commynes, who witnessed
the battle, the fighting lasted an hour in total; a
quarter of an hour was spent on the battle itself, and three-quarters of an hour were spent
pursuing the retreating soldiers: “...no sooner had they broken
or threw down their spears, than they
all fled.” Three thousand five hundred men died. The battle enabled Charles VIII to cross back over the Alps in November. By the end of October 1495, he had returned to France. Although he had
not been successful in his recent conquests, it is said
that a single convoy of the
works of art brought back from Italy “weighed
87,000 pounds.”
Both sides shouted victory. For the French, it was the “victory”
of Fornovo, because they had killed twice
as many soldiers as they had lost.
For the Italians, it was the Vittoria di Fornovo, because
by adopting a turning movement they had
managed to plunder the
French baggage and treasure,
and because the Marquis of Mantua
was able to display, triumphantly,
all the trophies he had won. For Anglo-Saxon historians,
it is instead
considered a French defeat that put an end to Charles VIII’s
Italian dream.
The Marquis of Mantua
commissioned a commemorative
painting of his triumph from Mantegna for the Santa Maria della
Vittoria chapel in Mantua,
in which, dressed in the armour he wore
at Fornovo, he gives thanks for his success, kneeling at the feet of the Virgin, who is sitting under
a triumphal canopy and extending an open hand to him in
a gesture of blessing. The Mantegna painting was unveiled in the chapel on the first anniversary
of the battle.
In Bordeaux, construction of the gate was already
underway. However, the mayor, Jean Blanchefort, and his Jurats decided that instead of a gate, they would
erect on the city’s port “a
triumphal arch, on which would be
placed the statue of King Charles VIII,” to
immortalise this day of 5
July 1495 “as one of the most glorious
in our history.” And so, for the first time, a statue
of a king of France appeared
in Bordeaux, placed in … …
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Mantegna, Le marquis de Mantoue, rendant grâce à la Vierge pour sa victoire, revêtu
de son armure de Fornoue. (détail). Musée du Louvre.
Le Roi Charles VIII, vainqueur de Fornoue. Bordeaux, Porte Cailhau.
Turn right after the gate and cross Cours
d’Alsace-Lorraine to reach the corner of
Cours d’Alsace-Lorraine and
Rue Ausone.
© Bertrand Favreau
and Tyché Editions 2014
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