«Notta delli homini atti alle armi». La mobilitazione dei cittadini di Pavia e il loro armamento in occasione dell’assedio del 1655

In July 1655 the armies of the Dukes of Modena, Savoy and the King of France besieged Pavia, the fortress city of the Duchy of Milan, then under the control of the King of Spain. The allied army was very substantial (more than 20,000 men) while the garrison of Pavia numbered a few thousand soldiers. The civil and military authorities of the city were therefore forced to mobilize all the men present inside the walls for defense and started an investigation, parish by parish, thanks to which all adult males were registered, with information on their age, profession and whether or not they had personal weapons. The analysis of this documentation is the subject of this article.