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This paper is about the fighting experience of soldiers who took part in the siege and battle of Pavia from October 1524 to February 1525. The hopes and suffering of soldiers, as well as forms of warfare are examined. For German and Swiss mercenaries, the money to be paid and the forthcoming spoils of war were of great importance. For the Imperial army, lack of money meant risks of plunder, indiscipline, and desertions. In any case, mercenaries who fought on both sides shared a common sense of the reputation of their nation. They intended to stay faithful to those who hired and paid them. Those who were not mercenaries and who waged war on credit went into action for the king’s service, loyalty to the captains, patriotism (in the case of the Spanish), fidelity to the Emperor, and for the town’s people, loyalty to the emperor was more important than the freedom of the city. Battles took the form of murderous attacks, a siege full of skirmishes for honor but also in order to find food and the spoils of war, to take prisoners to get information and ransom, and finally to try to escape encirclement. Nevertheless, the Battle of Pavia was not an unforeseen attack but a real battle that the Imperial army intended less for rescuing the town of Pavia than for preventing the scattering of the army as a consequence of the lack of money. The battle finally ended months of suffering endured less from hunger or sickness than from cold, lack of wood and wine, exhaustion because of the buildings made during the siege, and last but not least, from psychological exhaustion caused by bombings, daily harassments, and waiting. This study of soldiers’ experiences, based on spies’ reports or contemporary letters, changes the ordinary and simplistic interpretation of the Battle of Pavia as the defeat of chivalry.