The Spanish military structure, innovated by the Catholic Monarchs of Spain in the conquest of Granada and in their campaigns in Italy, was strongly influenced by the "Swiss model". The triumphs of the staunch Swiss infantry against the Burgundian heavy cavalry, in a series of pitched battles, revolutionized medieval methods of warfare based on mounted forces. In Spain, the lesson was learned that well-trained cadres of pikemen could defeat any force of mounted knights, however proud, as Machiavelli already noted in "On the Art of War".