Battle of Monsa (1614)

Battle of Monsa
Part of War of the Magpie and the Dragon
Date 14 July 1614 Location Monsa Result Exponential victory
Belligerents
Cadenza	Empire of Exponent
Commanders and leaders
Khaledro Pamma	Decimus Senecio Paullus Aluredes
Strength
c. 1250 men 37 ships
Casualties and losses
164 dead, 92 wounded 8 ships lost	3 ships burned at anchor, 1 ship stolen

The Battle of Monsa took place on 14 July 1614, early in the War of the Magpie and the Dragon. Led by Khaledro Pamma, Earl of Do'rediq, a Cadenzan force attempted to raid the port of Monsa, then a dominion of the Empire of Exponent. Pamma led three dozen ships to the prosperous port city intending to loot or capture it, hoping to emulate the resounding victory achieved by his rival, Earl Teodos Molatiri of Canve, at Portus Regalis in Scottopia.

Despite the size of his fleet, which included almost every ship in his earldom and possessed far more cannons than the harbour defences had, the battle went almost immediately awry for Pamma. It was the earl's first major battle, and he, inexperienced and headstrong, overrode and countermanded his captains' advice and orders and sailed directly into the bay to attempt a landing. A handful of imperial warships at anchor put up a stiff resistance, which was overcome through sheer weight of numbers. Dozens of Cadenzan troops were killed storming the quays, and Pamma's fleet remained under heavy fire from the city's defences which he had neglected to first disable. His men set fire to warehouses during their retreat, one of which was holding livestock awaiting slaughter. The animals stampeded, sowing further confusion, and Pamma himself was reportedly butted by a goat.

Although not a complete rout — many of his soldiers believed they were winning until ordered to withdraw — the battle was an almost unmitigated disaster. Only the refusal of some of his commanders to obey orders meant that Pamma abandoned the field with any plunder: during the battle, warehouses at the foot of the Montecarlo hill were plundered by crews of three ships that had changed course, and they carried off jugs of wine and olive oil. Additionally, in their retreat from the city, some of Pamma's men mistakenly boarded the wrong craft and, after killing its crew or driving them into the water, fled from Monsa in a stolen Exponential warship.

Aftermath

When word of Pamma's defeat reached Cadenza it was regarded as a sensational disgrace. Cadenzan commanders had not believed that Monsa would pose any threat, and there had previously been competition among the earls to see who would be the first to capture the city. Teodos Molatiri, the earl of Canve and a rival of Pamma, said of the incident, "Monsa could be overcome by two swords and a man on a goat; Khaledro Pamma needs only the goat to be overcome." The embarrassment is believed to have motivated other expeditions to restore the nation's honour. The most successful of these was that by Tariq Kimepra, which began with the Long March and concluded with the conquest of Imperial Kamalbia.

The escapade had more serious ramifications for Exponent's authority in Monsa. Whereas the city's ruling Giusti family owed allegiance and tribute to the imperial crown, the raid on the city of Monsa fed into their growing dissatisfaction with that arrangement, and it was a significant factor in their decision to stop paying tribute.