FYI June 30, 2020

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On This Day

1422 – Battle of Arbedo between the duke of Milan and the Swiss cantons.[3]
The Battle of Arbedo was fought on June 30, 1422, between the Duchy of Milan and the Swiss Confederation.

In 1419, Uri and Unterwalden bought the Bellinzona stronghold from the Sacco barons, but were unable to defend it adequately. When, in 1422, they rejected the Milanese proposal to buy back the fortified town, their troops stationed in Bellinzona were put to rout by the Visconti army under the command of Francesco Bussone, Count of Carmagnola. An attempt to reconquer the fortified area with the support of other confederates led to the battle at Arbedo, a village 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Bellinzona. The Count of Carmagnola led the forces of the Duchy of Milan against the Swiss and was victorious.
The shooting thaler of the 1867 federal Schützenfest depicts Hans Landwing saving the cantonal banner.

The Swiss were mainly equipped with halberds and had an initial success against the cavalry charge. Then Carmagnola brought his crossbowmen forward, while dismounting his cavalry. The dismounted men-at-arms used pikes which outreached the halberds. The Swiss were further under pressure by the crossbow fire on the flanks.

The Milanese force began to push back the Swiss, who were only saved from total disaster by the appearance of a band of foragers, whom the Milanese were convinced represented a major new force. When the Milanese force pulled back to reform, the Swiss fled the battlefield, having taken heavy casualties.

In a historiographical tradition of Zug, the bearer of the cantonal banner, Peter Kälin, was slain, and the banner was taken up by his son, who was slain in his turn. The banner was saved by one Hans Landwing, and was later lost against the French.[8]

The victory secured Bellinzona and the Leventina to the Duchy. In addition the Duchy gained the Val d’Ossola, thus the Swiss lost all the territorial gains they had made. The defeat discouraged the Swiss expansionist intentions towards Lake Maggiore for a long time. It was the defeat at Arbedo that made the Swiss increase the number of pikemen.

 
 

Born On This Day

1912 – María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías, Mexican architect (d. 2009)
María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías (30 June 1912 – 11 March 2009) was a Mexican architect who worked for close to 50 years in the Federal District of Mexico City, primarily designing single-family homes and apartment buildings.[1] She was the first Mexican woman to graduate with a degree in architecture.
Biography

María Luisa Dehesa Gómez Farías was born on 30 June 1912[2] in Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico to Ramón Dehesa[3] and María Luisa Gómez Farías y Canedo, daughter of the Mexican Minister in London, Benito Gómez Farías [es]. She was the granddaughter of Teodoro A. Dehesa Méndez on her paternal side and great-granddaughter of Valentín Gómez Farías on her maternal side.[2]

In 1933 she enrolled at the Academia de San Carlos (the National School of Architecture) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.[3] In her class of 113 students, only five were women[1] and they were required to study in a separate workshop from the men.[3] She graduated in 1937, the first Mexican woman to graduate with a degree in architecture. Her thesis, which won honorable mention from the jurors,[3] was entitled Artillery Barracks Type. It was accepted in 1939 and she attained her professional designation.[4]

After she finished school, Dehesa married Manuel Millán and they subsequently had four children.[2] She joined the Public Works Department in Mexico City and served for nearly 50 years in various divisions,[1] primarily designing single-family homes and apartment buildings.[2] In 1974, she was announced as a joint winner of the Ruth Rivera Prize, together with the first Mexican female civil engineer, Concepción Mendizábal Mendoza.[5] In 2006, the College of Architects of Mexico City, honored her for her contributions.[3]

Notimex published Dehesa’s memoirs, entitled Los Años Valientes, with illustrations by her daughter Elizabeth Millán de Guerra, a graphic designer.[2] Dehesa died in Mexico City in 2009.[6]

 
 

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