de oracion) was issued, a practice that was later adopted by most Western armies, when the Great Captain, upon seeing the fields full of French bodies (who, like the Spaniards, were Christian), ordered three long tones to be played and his troops to pray for all the fallen. After the battle the defeated French army retreated to the fortress of Gaeta north of Naples. De Córdoba's forces attempted to storm the fortress, but the attacks all failed. The besieged French were prepared for a long siege and were receiving supplies by sea. Thus unable to take Gaeta and fearing the arrival of possible French reinforcements, de Córdoba lifted the siege and retreated to Castellone, some 8 kilometers south of Gaeta. In retrospect, Cerignola marks the rise of pike and shot tactics and the beginning of 140 years of Spanish dominance on European battlefields until the defeat of Rocroi in 1643 . It is considered to be the first major battle won largely through the use of firearms, comparable to what was to occur in Japan seven decades later in the Battle of Nagashino in 1575. References Sources Batista González, Juan (2007). España Estratégica. Guerra y Diplomacia en la Historia de España. Sílex. Cassidy, Ben. "Machiavelli and the Ideology of the Offensive: Gunpowder Weapons in the Art of War." Journal of Military History 67#2 (2003): 381–404. online Losada, Juan Carlos (2006). Batallas Decisivas de la Historia de España. Punto de Lectura. Mallet, Michael and Shaw, Christine. The Italian Wars 1494–1559. Harlow: Pearson Educated Limited (2012) . Tafiłowski, Piotr (2007). Wojny włoskie 1494–1559. Zabrze: Inforteditions. 1503 in Italy Cerignola 1503 Cerignola 1503 Cerignola 1503 Cerignola Battle Cerignola