of the princes of the Empire), Philip of Alsace (one of the empress's grandchildren) and Gosvino of Heinsberg (the brother of the Archbishop of Cologne). Losses There are no precise data on the losses suffered by the two armies that faced each other in the battle of Legnano; from the descriptions in our possession, however, it can be affirmed that the imperial ones were heavy, while the losses attributable to the municipal army were quite slight. According to some studies conducted by Guido Sutermeister, part of the dead of the battle of Legnano were buried around the little church of San Giorgio, now no longer in existence, which once stood on the top of the hill of San Martino along the modern via Dandolo, in the near the church of San Martino in Legnano. Analysis of battle From the military point of view, the battle of Legnano was a significant battle that involved a considerable number of men. Other important battles fought in the same period in fact employed a comparable number of soldiers: for example, 1,400 Aragonese knights and 800 French were involved in the battle of Muret. At the strategic level, the clash between the two armies was carefully prepared by both factions. Barbarossa meticulously chose the place to cross the Alps, deciding to wait for reinforcements and to cross the Alpine arch again centrally in place of the usual Brenner, to easily reach Pavia. In fact, the second choice would have involved a much longer journey in enemy territory. Moreover, shortening the journey to Alexandria, his real goal, he focused on the surprise effect, which he partly obtained. Even the leaders of the Lombard League acted with foresight: to beat the emperor on time, they anticipated the times and moved towards Legnano to block the way towards the rest of his army, forcing him to fight in a territory known to them and therefore favorable. One of the most important phases of the battle was the strong resistance of the infantry around the Carroccio after the temporary retreat of the cavalry; under the emblem of the autonomy of their municipalities, the municipal infantry resisted against a militarily superior army and moreover on horseback. The Carroccio also had a tactical function: being a very important symbol, in case of folding, the municipal army would have been obliged to protect it at all costs, and so it happened that,