The Challenge of Barletta (La Disfida di Barletta). In 1503 , during the Franco-Aragonese war for the kingdom of Naples, Charles de Torgues was taken prisoner along with many other noble knights by the Spanish forces. During a feast in honor of the prisoners (the war was far from a brutish one, and oftentimes the “battles” would be settled by knightly duels) De Torgues questioned the value of the Italians knights, openly calling them cowards.

Inigo Lopez de Ayala was quick to instead praise his allies, saying they were as fine as the best French knight, but Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna did not let the insult go, and asked De Torgues to back his words.

The challenge would see 13 French knights against 13 Italian ones, to be settled in the plain before Barletta. Famous adventurer and prized knight Ettore Fieramosca lead the Italian team to victory, a decisive one, as less than half of the Italian knights were incapacitated before the last French was.

The French were so sure of their victory they had not even brought the previously agreed upon ransom, which meant they had to be brought in Barletta in chains, mocked by the people, to await the money they owed.

There are three movies about the event, all titled “Ettore Fieramosca”. They do belong to the earlier half of the previous century though.