Le Rotelle Milanesi/Die Mailänder Rundschilde (Giornico 1478)

[Condottiere]

There have been many minor to middling sized engagements, with insignificant outcomes and a lack of a follow-up, resulted in a situation blown out of proportion - the so called Battle of Giornico 1478...   

Ignore the Luzerner Schilling's propaganda:



Never happened...

Almost 200 dirty Confederates and double that many Levantinese sympathizers ambushed a Milanese relief force of around 10,000, dumb enough to walk into an obvious ambush. The routed left plenty of gear and their loss is our gain...



Let's start with what this book is not:

1) The obvious being it's not in English, most continental niche subjects aren't...

Illiterate in German, so have had to rely on the Idiot's Guide to Learning Italian and a copy of Webster's Dictionary, along with my knowledge of French and the fact that I know what I'm looking for - would be doomed if it were a fashion or lifestyle title. On each page, the left column is in Italian and the right in German.

2) At almost 530 pages, despite being lavishly illustrated, it's not a coffee table book, due to the extensive footnotes...

3) A 1987 publication, it's no longer available in stores, if it was ever widely available: being a niche subject and only 1500 or 1650 copies - the first 150 having faux leather covers, if I understood correctly...

4) It's not cheap...

Thought I was getting a good deal for a "like new" at around $100, with shipping, but thanks to Swiss Post, ended up paying $40 more, so ~$80 for the book and ~$60 shipping. It was worth it...

5) Aside from slightly over a chapter, this isn't a book about the engagement: no blow by blow accounts nor an OOB...

What it is:

1) A detailed study of the surviving shields from the 1478 engagement of which 29 are presented unrestored in page sized color plates, along with captions. Almost all could be found online, along with some reproductions. Another section has color photos of surviving Milanese flags - AFAIK, not available online. 

2) Plenty of black and white photos and drawings of sculptures, coins and art tying the imagery on the shields with (North) Italian heraldry - some if not all of the fanciful images aren't fanciful, but derivatives of actual coats of arms.

3) Sections covering the shape of the shields - one page has a b&w photo of the backs, with the various carrying straps - and even coverage of the decorative borders...

Finding new things with each pass, but it's an enjoyable slog...


   

[painterman]

woo - very interesting find and thanks for starting the review.
Sounds like the Milanese flags etc are a good find and would be interested to know more about them (and any other insights from your translations; like you I'm very restricted by non-English publications, I should have tried harder at school!).
Thanks for posting.

[Condottiere]

woo - very interesting find and thanks for starting the review.
Sounds like the Milanese flags etc are a good find and would be interested to know more about them (and any other insights from your translations; like you I'm very restricted by non-English publications, I should have tried harder at school!).
Thanks for posting.

The chapter is titled Bandiere e Stendardi Lombardi Raccolti dai Confederati(Banners and Standards acquired/collected by the Confederates), not necessarily associated with engagement, as some of the flags are from the 16th Century and some are Venetian, but included in the work as heraldic comparisons to the Giornico shields, like the following chapters on coins and medallions and coats of arms.

The flags aren't photos, but a selection of color drawings from the codex compiled by a Pierre Crolot in 1647, and kept in the Fribourg archives - Le Livre des Drapeaux de Fribourg. Here's a PDF in French, with excerpts of the commentary from the 1943 facsimile edition: http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/pdf/descriptions/aef-0053.pdf

Flags appearing in the book are in this online reproduction: http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/thumbs/aef/0053/Sequence-7

What I like about Le Rotelle Milanesi/Die Mailänder Rundschilde is that Gastone Cambin organization of the material: have encountered many reference books in which information is all over the place, so have to rely on memory and hopefully a decent index, but here I haven't felt the need yet to rely on the latter. The title is divided into 5 parts/sections and several chapters/sub-sections - part V contains the glossary, bibliography, index and the names of people and institutions who subscribed for the numbered edition: I count 60...   

[painterman]

Many thanks for those links.
I was aware of the facsimiles online (from digging out Burgundian ones that the Swiss had captured in 1470s), but not of the publication which explains each one.
Very useful. Thanks.
Simon.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Very interesting find. Never heard of this before.
If you need help with the translation, I could offer German and a few semesters in Italian.

[Condottiere]

Many thanks for those links.
I was aware of the facsimiles online (from digging out Burgundian ones that the Swiss had captured in 1470s), but not of the publication which explains each one.
Very useful. Thanks.
Simon.

If you ever find an online version of the 1943 publication, please post a link, as my interest is whetted based on the excerpts, but the book is 600 Euros on Abebooks...    

[Condottiere]

Very interesting find. Never heard of this before.
If you need help with the translation, I could offer German and a few semesters in Italian.

Became aware of these shields after coming across Ugo Pozzati's website, though you'd have to use the Wayback Machine, as they're no longer there - can now be found on Pinterest. Googling Rotelle Milanesi led me to the book...

Thanks for the offer...

To speed things up, relied on Google translate and found the German - English translation sometimes came out clearer than the Italian - English. 

[Stecal]

This is a very cool find.  thanks for sharing.

[Malatesta]

There are a number of the Rotelle depicted on my Pinterest page:

https://www.pinterest.com/condottieri1023/pavises-shields-and-rotelle/

[Stecal]

There are a number of the Rotelle depicted on my Pinterest page:

https://www.pinterest.com/condottieri1023/pavises-shields-and-rotelle/

What museum are those photos from?

[painterman]

Luzern Natur Museum (I think)