Challenge of Barletta
Encyclopedia
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
: Disfida di Barletta) was a battle
Battle
Generally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
fought in the country of Trani
Trani
Trani is a seaport of Apulia, southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, in the new Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani , and 40 km by railway West-Northwest of Bari.- History :...
near Barletta
Barletta
Barletta is a city and comune located in the north of Apulia in south eastern Italy. Its current population is 94,140.It is famous for the Colossus of Barletta, a bronze statue, representing a Roman Emperor...
, southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, on 13 February 1503, on the plains between Corato
Corato
Corato is a town and comune in Italy. It is located in Bari province, Puglia region, southeastern Italy. Founded by the Normans, it became subject to Alfonso V, king of Aragon, at the end of the 15th century, and later to the Carafa family. The chief features of the ancient centre of the town,...
and Andria
Andria
-Places:Italy*Andria, a city in the Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani*Roman Catholic Diocese of Andria, a Roman Catholic diocese...
.
The battle was provoked by a French knight Charles de la Motte who, after drinking too much of the local wine
Rosso Barletta DOC
Rosso Barletta is a red Italian wine produced in the Denominazione di origine controllata region of Barletta, located in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani of north-central Apulia. The DOC is permitted to produce red wine only, made primarily from Uva di Troia, and is one of the few wine...
, made disparaging remarks about the Italians. It consisted in a mounted tournament between 13 Italians (the most famous being Ettore Fieramosca
Ettore Fieramosca
Ettore Fieramosca or Ferramosca was an Italian condottiero and nobleman during the Italian Wars. His father was Rainaldo, baron of Rocca d'Evandro, and it is thought that his mother was a noble woman from the Gaetani family of Aragon.Ettore served as a page to Ferdinand I of Naples and later...
), based in Barletta, and 13 French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
s who were based in Canosa di Puglia. Charles de la Motte accused Italians of cowardice. The Italian knights won the battle, and the French then left the area. Barletta has since acquired the moniker Città della Disfida (City of the Challenge), as a result.
The event inspired a historical novel by the Italian writer Massimo D'Azeglio, Ettore Fieramosca, or La disfida di Barletta, written in 1833.
Italiani Cavalieri Francesi
Ettore Fieramosca Charles de Torgues
Francesco Salamone Marc de Frigne
Marco Corollario Girout de Forses
Riccio da Parma Claude Grajan d'Aste
Guglielmo Albimonte Martellin de Lambris
Mariano Abignente Pierre de Liaye
Giovanni Capoccio Jacques de la Fontaine
Giovanni Brancaleone Eliot de Baraut
Ludovico Abenavolo Jean de Landes
Ettore Giovenale Sacet de Sacet
Fanfulla da Lodi François de Pise
Romanello da Forlì Jacques de Guignes
Miale da Troia Naute de la Fraise
Giudici
Francesco Zurlo Lionnet Du Breuil[10]
Diego Vela Monsieur de Murtibrach
Francesco Spinola Monsieur de Bruet
Alonzo Lopez Etum Sutte
Ostaggi
Angelo Galeotta Monsieur de Musnai
Albernuccio Valga Monsieur de Dumoble