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In the three decades of the Italian Wars that preceded the Battle of Sesia, small-arms had become increasingly prominent in the Spanish army, having won the battles of Cerignola in 1503, Garellano in 1504 and Bicocca in 1522. On all three occasions, however, it had been necessary for their own protection for the arquebusiers to fight from behind trenches or ditches; these were not so much to protect them from enemy fire as to protect them from the onslaught of enemy shock troops. The Battle of Sesia, by contrast, featured no constructed defences: the arquebusiers operated in open country, thus proving just as effective in such circumstances.