Pedro Navarro

Pedro Navarro (born with Guard, Kingdom of Navarre in 1460 - died with Naples, the August 28th 1528), count d' Oliveto, is a sailor and a military engineer Spanish. It is one of the actors of the Mediterranean conflicts of the beginning of the Renaissance, in turn for its own account, that of king d' Espagne then that of king de France. It is famous to have strongly contributed to the improvement of the technique of the landmines.

One knows little element of the youth of Pedro Navarro. It is recognized that he is the son of a Spanish Hidalgo of the name of Pedro del Roncal.

Mercenary and pirate

He works for the account of merchants génois and enlists as mercenary in the troops florentines in war against Genoa for territorial conflicts. Under the command of the general Piero del Monte it takes part in the attack against the Forteresse of Sarzanello in 1487), with Sarzana (Spezia), on the occasion of which it uses for the first time the technique of the landmines. The technique consisted in for the besieging army digging tunnels to the foundations of the walls, to fill them of powder and to make collapse the walls thanks to the explosion. It should all the same be noted that this first attempt shows a failure.

After the war, it leaves for Naples and binds with noble a Valencian, Antonio Centelles, marquis of Crotona and Pirate. Starting from Crotona, they attack the vessels and the ports of the Greek coast and the north of Africa. The goods flights and the slaves are then sold in Italy.

In 1495, at the time of the first war of Italy, the belligerents enlist pirates and Centelles and Navarro are found at the sides of the French. After the war, they take again their activities of pirates in vain so much so that the République of Venice decides to finish some with them.

Little time afterwards, Centelles is captured by the Othoman and is carried out with Istanbul. Its goods return to its widow who places them at the disposal of Navarro to continue her activity of pirate.

Officer and military engineer of the Gran Capitán

After cure of the wounds caused by a shipwreck in 1499, it joined with its ship the troops of Gonzalve de Cordoue, said the Gran Capitán , sent to the conquest of the Céphalonie (1500). Paradoxically, it is balanced there by the République of Venice which had required the assistance of the Kings Catholiques for the resumption of its territories invaded by the Othoman . The objective in Céphalonie is the catch of the fortress of Saint-Georges, defended by Janissaire S under the orders of a captain Albanian of the name of Gisdar: Pedro Navarro used again her mine S to cut down the walls. He is a mitigated success but manages to open breaches which allow the attack. According to the accounts, the catch of the fortress takes between 40 days and several months.

Kingdom of Naples

Appointed captain, it continues under the orders of Gran Capitán during the second program of Naples and takes part in the modernization of the Infanterie, element-key of the new army of this general.

Pursuant to the terms of the Treated Grenade, the Spanish troops unload in July 1501 with Tropea to take possession of the Calabria and the Apulie and to eliminate local resistances. Navarro takes an active part in these operations and, in February 1502, it puts in rout a French Escadre which tries to supply, in violation of the treaty, besieged Tarente.

Once the hostilities openly started after the violations of the treaty, Navarro is charged to push back the first wave of the army sent by Louis XII. It pushes back, with 500 men only, three attacks on Canossa, in Apulie, in August 1502. It negotiates finally its capitulation with Robert Stuart d' Aubigny to evacuate surviving but fails in its objective to multiply the losses at the enemy but fulfills his mission of delaying it so that Gran Capitán organizes the defense of Barletta.

It takes part then, as captain of the infantry and the Artillerie, with the French defeat of Cerignola the April 28th 1503).

At the time of the catch of the Manor house Nuovo the June 12th 1503, one of the last tiny rooms of the French in the capital of the Kingdom, its mines function finally with its whole satisfaction: under the cover of artillery, the sappers can work with the foot of the wall and place powder barrels in the excavations carried out for this purpose (of which one precisely under the explosives magazine of the French) then to stop the holes completely. Gran Capitán deploys then its troops to simulate an attack, causing an surge of defenders on the walls. The explosion cuts down part of the wall, which involves its occupants in his fall, and the troops enter the Citadelle which goes.

Gonzalve de Cordoue then directs the essence of its troops towards Gaeta to expel the totality of the French of the kingdom, and entrusts to Navarro the catch of the other fortress of the city, the Manor house dell' Ovo, mission which it fills thanks to the same technique as previously.

Learning the entry in Italy from a new French Army, Gran Capitán gives the catch of Gaeta to later and goes to its meeting on bank of the Garigliano. During this length confrontation, of mid-October with the Spanish final attack of the December 28th 1503, Navarro is with the head of the units of infantry and sappers and sets fire to the bridge to cut the road to the French. It continues to take an active part in military operations until the full pacification of the kingdom.

By the Treated of Lyon, in 1504, Louis XII recognizes the sovereignty of Ferdinand the catholic on the kingdom of Naples. Gonzalve de Cordoue is named viceroy and distributes titles and properties to its officers more deserving. Navarro obtains the city and the county of Oliveto.

When are born the dissensions between Ferdinand and the viceroy, Navarro is sent in Spain by this last to try there, without success, a reconciliation. In September 1506, the king moves in person in Naples, relieves Gonzalve de Cordoue and its captains and withdraws their strongholds to them, except notable for Navarro. This last, named Admiral of the Neapolitan Fleet, regains Spain with the sovereign and Gran Capitán the June 4th 1507.

Campaigns of Africa

Starting from 1508, the king charges Navarro with the important mission of fighting barbaresque piracy, become a serious problem for the maritime trade. Navarro is with the head of a fleet and captures pirate boats or corsairs.

The July 23rd, it arrives at the Rocher of Vélez of Gomera, with some thousand S of the coastal town of the same name. The two places are important dens of pirates. Navarro arranges its fleet with range of shooting of the island and the whole of the occupants takes refuge in the city. Once the rock taken, Navarro there made install artillery and destroyed all the city and its port. Regarding the rock as a strategic point, it makes it strengthen and leaves there a Garnison of 32 men under the command of the governor Juan de Villalobos.

Little time afterwards, it helps the detachment Portuguese of Asilah, in hillock with the attacks of the king of Fez, and obtains the withdrawal of this last after their bombardment since the ships.

Oran

In Spain, the cardinal Cisneros convinces king Ferdinand of opportunity of carrying out military incursions in North Africa and even offers to finance them on its own sums of money. The sovereign names Cisneros general captain of forwarding and Navarro is in charge of the operations on the ground. Navarro accepts bad grace the nomination of Cisneros.

The forces gather with Carthagène: 90 boats (80 ships of transport and 10 Galère S) and 22.000 soldiers. The tensions between the cardinal and Navarro appear quickly. The first dissension relates to the spoils obtained of the capture of several pirate boats, before the departure, that Navarro divides between the participants in the battle instead of intending of it half for the financing of forwarding as that had been agreed.

The fleet installs the May 16th 1509 and arrives the day following to Mers el Kébir, head of bridge (controlled by Spain since 1505) from where the departure is given, two days later, for the conquest of the primary goal, Oran, close coastal town, of 10.000 inhabitants, strengthened well and armed.

Cisneros expresses the intention to go to the head of the army but Navarro convinces it to remain in Mers el Kébir and plans an attack by ground and sea. Whereas the fleet bombards the walls, the terrestrial troops, that Navarro divided into 4 bodies, face the enemy outside the city. The Spanish artillery and the cavalry oblige the defenders to be folded up in the city. The Siège is put in front of Oran and the attack starts, with scales, under the cover of artillery and the assistance of mines. The attackers enter easily the city and put it at bag.

The Spaniards suffer from light losses, approximately 300 men, whereas the number of died among the defenders is estimated at 4.000 to 5.000. The attackers make control on spoils of 500.000 ecus in cash, goods, slaves and hostages. Navarro takes the city in the name of the king. The place thus passes to the hands of the crown of Spain and is not thus any more under the authority of Cisneros, which must turn over to Spain.

Béjaïa and Tripoli

In spite of the recriminations of Cisneros, the king confirms Navarro with the head of African forwarding and equips it even with reinforcements to continue it. Navarro takes its winter quarters to Formentera then moves towards the quoted rich person of Béjaïa.

It there arrives the January 5th 1510 with 5.000 men and at dawn attacks following. The local kinglet, Abderrahmane, can oppose 10.000 soldiers to him, whom it immediately launches on the Spaniards in the course of unloading, at the same time as it bombards them from the city. The attack nevertheless is pushed back, grace in particular to marine artillery. The Spanish attack starts immediately, with maritime and terrestrial bombardments. The essence of the battle proceeds in the city, which goes finally in the middle of the day with the escape of Abderrahmane and its continuation, as well as the death of many inhabitants.

Navarro benefits then from the dissensions between Abderrahmane, which is actually a usurper, and its nephew, young king Mouley Abdallah. This last the guide in the mountain where the fugitive ones took refuge. Navarro the attack of night with 500 soldiers. Abderhamane succeeds in fleeing once again but loses 300 of its men. 600 of its soldiers are made to prisoners, like his first wife, her daughter and the dignitaries of the city. The treasures which it gives up in its escape come to enlarge the spoils of the attackers, who have to deplore only one loss in the forwarding of the mountain.

The fame of Navarro and the account of its military exploits encourage the kings of the city-states of Algiers, Tunis and Tlemcen to lend the Hommage to king d' Espagne and to release all their Christian prisoners .

Once the well controlled area, Navarro gathers the fleet close to the sicilian small island of Favignana and embarks with 14.000 men for Tripoli where waits an equivalent number defenders, protected by bastions and thick walls.

The batille is held the July 25th as of the unloading of the troops. It starts with an battle artillery and the walls are taken by storm, successfully. The continuation of the battle will consist of a harassing fight house by house, which is prolonged late in the night. The Spanish victory shows 200 to 300 dead whereas approximately 5.000 soldiers perish in the defense of the city, with as many prisoners intended for the Esclavage. The spoils are once more bulky, of which a good part comes from the boats anchored in the port, among which five ships of helps sent (tardily) by the Turkish sultan, as well as Turkish boats, Albanian, Venetian and génoises, been able to discharge in Tripoli in ignorance events.

The failure of Jerba and the Kerkennah

In the tread of these victories, Navarro informs the king of his ambition to continue with the head of the company for new conquests. Its condition of minor nobility plays against him and it is replaced by García de Tolède, the young person and inexperienced oldest son of the pile cluster Fadrique Àlvarez de Tolède, that the sovereign names general captain of Africa, based with Bejaïa.

At the beginning of August, under the command of García de Tolède, a fleet of 15 grosses Caraque S, taking along 7.000 men on their board, prepare to set sail towards Africa at the beginning of Malaga. An epidemic of Peste in North Africa delays their departure. During this time, Navarro studies the possibility of attacking the island of Jerba, famous as being a den of Barbaresque S, vis-a-vis the west coast of Tunisia. It organizes from Tripoli a forwarding of recognition with 8 galères and a fuste and tries, in vain, to convince the main leaders of the island to lend the homage to its king to avoid the confrontation. It then decides to await the arrival of the reinforcements to launch the invasion.

García de Tolède ends up leaving Malaga, takes possession of Bejaïa, leaves there 3.000 of its men and joined Navarro in Tripoli the August 23rd 1510 to prepare forwarding. August 29th, 8.000 soldiers unload on the island and are divided into seven squadrons. García de Tolède decides to go itself to the head of the first squadron, in company of a hundred noble young people Castilian.

The objective is to attack a fortress where the pirates are installed. The troop there moves and crosses a sandy zone, under a choking heat. The officers, persuaded that the victory would be fast and easy, did not plan to bring water and vivres. The soldiers, who draw artillery, are victims of thirst, of heat and of tiredness and much disappear. Seeing vegetation, they move and there discover a well there. With this news, the men precipitate and break any formation. A few hundreds the barbaresque ones embusqués benefit to attack with foot and horse and kill from it all those which cannot escape. Half of the Spaniards, approximately 4.000 men, died on the sand, of which García de Tolède and several of his/her companions. The remainder flees towards the coast.

Outside the palm plantation, the enemy is much more numerous (to 4.000 men) and Navarro, with the assistance of Pedro de Luján, tries to reorganize the rear-guard to face them friends the rout is total. By chance for the Spaniards, the riding and enemy infantrymen do not continue them, whereas the 3.000 survivors must await all the night the boats to embark.

To crown the disaster, a strong storm makes run several ships and disperses the Voilier S. the caraque one which takes along Navarro derives towards the coasts from Turkey and misses running with their proximity. The crew is saved thanks to the experiment of sailor of Navarro, which succeeds in inclining the boat and thus joining Tripoli. Once gathered the thirty sailing ships and the 5.000 survivors of forwarding, the winter quarters are taken with Lampedusa.

In spite of these reverses and rigors of the winter, Navarro to the force to undertake a new Moslem ground incursion. Its objectives are the Kerkennah islands, rich in fresh water and pastures. He thinks of being able to supply the army out of water and meat. After several failures due to the bad weather, it ends up making unload a troop of 400 men under the command of the Venetian Girolamo Vianello. The inhabitants, refugees with the other end of the island, surprise the troop thanks to the treason of a warrant officer and cut the throat of all the Spaniards. Navarro must again beat a retreat and takes refuge with Capri.

Return in Italy

The failure of Jerba brings to Navarro many enmities to the court. However, the king persists in employing it, although again under the orders of nobler than him. He must bring his fleet to Naples and place himself at the disposal of the viceroy Raimond de Cardona, general captain of the forces of the Sainte League which fight against the army of Alphonse I {{er}}, duke of Ferrare, and that of the king de France Louis XII.

Bologna and Ravenne

Cardona and Navarro, this last as general of the infantry, leave Naples the November 2nd 1511 with the intention to dislodge the French of the town of Bologna. The strategy employed is the characteristic of Pedro Navarro: the artillery rams the besieged city while the sappers dig galleries to explode the walls. The cold and wet atmosphere prevents the mines from functioning. Gaston de Foix-Nemours, commander-in-chief of the French Armies in Italy, reinforces the defense of the city with 10.000 additional men and Cardona, considering impossible the town of Bologna, orders to raise the seat.

A second confrontation between Cardona and Foix-Nemours takes place at the time of the battles of Ravenne, the April 11th 1512. The French commander makes carry out with his troops an operation of envelopment which enables him to start artillery with bearing end on the Spanish heavy cavalry, causing damage enormously, and bringing his chief, Fabrizio Colonna, to order a load despaired against the enemy knighthood. The troops of Colonna, supported by the light cavalry of the marquis of Pescara, are rolled by the French cavalry, tested and higher in flat ground. Cardona considers the battle lost and flees with the rear-guard.

The Spanish infantry, in first line, maintains her position and resists the attacks of the enemy infantry, that of the Lansquenet S of king de France, then that of the troops of the duke of Ferrare. Foix-Nemours gathers its troops and launches a new attack, which cannot be pushed back, and which leads Navarro to order the retirement. Foix-Nemours is killed at the time of a load against the men who protect the retirement from Navarro and that, wounded, is made prisoner.

Cardona tries to reject the responsibility for the rout on Navarro, which did not give the order to attack as of the beginning. Navarro is prisoner of the duke Louis II of Longueville, which claims a ransom of 20.000 ecus gold and holds it locked up in its castle of Loches. Ferdinand the catholic in vain tries to obtain his release without paying, initially by the force - it is prevented by it by the guard of the castle - then by the diplomacy, within the framework of the Trêve S signed with France.

With the service of king de France

François I {{er}}, successor of Louis XII, is conscious of the military value of Pedro Navarro, pays the ransom and convinces it to enter to its service, with the' general' rank of `'. Navarro is let convince all the more easily as the king of Spain refuses to pay his ransom and that he is basco-Navarrese and nonCastilian. It means its decision with Ferdinand the catholic and restores its stronghold of Oliveto to him.

Navarro starts by recruiting twenty companies Gascons, of Basque S and Navarrese for a new French incursion in Italy. Thanks to its assistance, during the summer 1515, an large army of more than 40.000 men passes the the Alps and is made easily main of Novara, Vigevano and Pavia, and prepares to take the control of the Milanais.

At the time of the Battle of Marignan, in September 1515, the French infantry, under her orders, is essential on the Swiss army thanks to its formations of arquebusiers and principal rafters. The October 4th, in spite of a wound, it makes jump the walls of the castle Sforza of Milan in which the duke Maximilien resists.

After the Bataille of the Shack, in which it takes part in the side of the marshal Odet de Foix, it plans to bring reinforcements to Genoa. The city falls to the hands from the Spaniards and Navarro is made prisoner. It is released in 1526 thanks to the treated of Madrid.

Again captured when the French withdraw themselves from Naples, it turns over to the Nuovo Manor house. Charles Quint gives the order to treat it as a traitor and rebel and to slice the head to him. The governor of the castle decides to avoid dishonor with the old soldier and the fact of choking in his cell.

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