Italian Wars
gigatos | February 23, 2022
Summary
Italian Wars – a series of military conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, involving France, Spain, the German Habsburg dynasty, the Church State, Venice, Florence, Naples, Milan and numerous small Italian states; occasionally other countries – England, Scotland, Switzerland or even the Ottoman Empire – also became involved in the wars.
The immediate cause of the wars were French claims to the succession in the Kingdom of Naples and the Duchy of Milan. Andrzej Wyczański stated that two phases of the Italian wars could be distinguished: in the first one, lasting from 1494 to 1516, the aim of the wars was the subjugation of all or part of the Apennine Peninsula by the Western European powers. In the second phase, which lasted from 1521 to 1559, Italy was only one of the theaters of warfare, and the wars were caused primarily by the rivalry for hegemony in Western Europe between the Habsburgs, who, under Charles V, had consolidated the thrones of Spain, Naples, Sicily, the Netherlands, Austria, and the imperial crown of the Holy Roman Empire, and France, now encircled by the Habsburg possessions. The largest of the clashes is the Battle of Pavia in 1525, in Lombardy, in which Charles V”s army defeated the French army, taking captive King Francis I of France. The latter, however, breaking a later (capitulated) peace treaty, eluded the Spaniards. The Italian Wars ended, due to the bankruptcy of Spain and the onset of religious upheaval in France (Huguenots), with the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis in the Netherlands. A notable feature of these wars is the frequently shifting coalitions that were formed, often by recent enemies against recent allies.
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The Italian Wars were initiated by King Charles VIII of France”s 1494-1495 expedition to Italy to conquer the Kingdom of Naples. In the 15th century the Valois of the Anjou-Valois line laid claim to the kingdom and in 1435 even managed to conquer it, but were driven out by King Alfonso V of Aragon in 1442. When the Anjou-Valois dynasty died out in 1481, their claim to Naples was taken over by the French crown, but King Louis XI did not lay claim to the territory, and it was his son and successor Charles VIII who decided to take up the Angevin inheritance by force of arms as soon as he took the helm of government in France. The plans for war in Italy were also supported by a broad swath of the French aristocracy and nobility, eager to cash in on the great spoils and fame of war, while Italy, divided into many disunited states, seemed a potentially easy prey. The regent of the Duchy of Milan, Louis Sforza, also encouraged Charles VIII to invade, fearing an alliance between the Kingdom of Naples and Florence, and hoping that the French would help him destroy his enemies and assert his supremacy in Italy. Pope Alexander VI, in conflict with King Ferdinand I of Naples over Anguillara, Cervetri, and several other strongholds near Rome (which fell into the possession of Virginio Orsini, one of the commanders of the Neapolitan army, who was a friend of Peter II de Medici), entered into an alliance with Milan and the Republic of Venice in April 1493; he also initially approved Ludovico Sforza”s plan to summon Charles VIII to Italy. Ferdinand I, however, compromised with the pope by forcing Virginio Orsini to pay Alexander to leave him in possession of the disputed castles, and by marrying Sancia, the illegitimate daughter of Alfonso, son of Ferdinand I and heir to the Neapolitan throne, to the pope”s illegitimate son, Jofré Borgia, and granting Jofré the duchy of Squillace; in return, the pope recalled the Milanese and Venetian troops sent to him, and made an alliance with Ferdinand. Ferdinand I died on January 25, 1494; the throne was succeeded by his son Alfonso, who soon after his accession renewed his alliance with Alexander VI. Shortly thereafter, envoys of Charles VIII arrived in Rome in an attempt to obtain from the pope an investiture of the Kingdom of Naples for the French king. The pope stated that, as senior to the Kingdom of Naples, it was for him to decide who had the greater rights to his throne and that Charles should leave the matter to his judgment; he also warned Charles against starting a war to assert his rights to Naples.
The first French troops crossed the Alps in May 1494; hostilities had already begun in the summer. Expecting the French to strike Naples across the eastern part of the Italian peninsula, the new King Alfonso II of Naples decided to send troops under the command of his son Ferdinand. They reached Romagna in mid-July, but proved too weak to threaten the Duchy of Milan. Alfonso also sent his fleet north to threaten Genoa, which was subordinate to Milan. In July 1494 this fleet attempted unsuccessfully to land a landing on the Ligurian coast, but after failing, sailed for Livorno, only to return to Ligurian waters in late August. This time it succeeded in disembarking 4,000 troops on the coast and took Rapallo on September 5, but on September 8 the French fleet forced the Neapolitan fleet to retreat, and the Neapolitan troops disembarked at Rapallo were broken up by the French and the Swiss in their service.
A little earlier, at the end of August 1494, the main French force, numbering more than 30,000 men under the command of Charles VIII himself, crossed the Alps and entered the Duchy of Milan through the Duchy of Savoy and Louis Asti, belonging to the Duke of Orleans. Only in the second half of October did the French advance further south into Tuscany; meanwhile Ludovico Sforza, taking advantage of the death of the legitimate ruler of Milan, Gian Galeazzo, assumed the title of duke himself. The Neapolitan forces in Romagna, on the other hand, after the capture of Mordano by the Franco-Milanese forces operating in the area, retreated to Cesena at the end of October, from where they began a further retreat south a month later.
The main French forces crossed the Apennines and attacked Florentine territory; although the siege of Sarzana which they had begun was not successful, Piero di Lorenzo de” Medici, terrified by the French attack on his country, agreed to negotiate with Charles VIII and soon accepted all the terms of his adversary; according to the agreement signed, he agreed to let the French pass through Florentine territory, to pay them a ransom of 200,000 florins, and to surrender to them the fortresses in Sarzana, Pietrasanta, Pisa and Livorno. This capitulation of the ruler of Florence, however, angered the Florentine people, who in early November overthrew Medici and restored the republic. This did not stop the march of the French army; Charles VIII, after passing through Lucca and Pisa (which, taking advantage of the cover of the French army, declared independence) entered Florence on November 17, 1494. Here he once again had to negotiate a treaty with the Florentine authorities, as the new republic rejected the Medici agreement with France. In the end, Charles VIII agreed to reduce the ransom to be paid by Florence and promised to return the seized fortresses as soon as he managed to conquer Naples.
At the end of November the French left Florence and advanced on Rome via Siena. Pope Alexander VI initially tried to resist the French, but he could not count on the support of the Roman people or the powerful Roman factions, and his indecisive actions made matters worse. The papal commanders Prospero and Fabrizio Colonna sided with the French and occupied Ostia; the French took Civitavecchia; and finally some of the Orsini betrayed the pope by offering Charles VIII his fortress of Bracciano. Faced with these setbacks, Alexander VI decided to cease his resistance and allowed Charles VIII”s troops into Rome on December 31, 1494. Some of the anti-Pope opposition, including the Cardinal of France, who accompanied the king, decided to stop. Some of the anti-pope opposition, including Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere accompanying the French king, proposed to Charles VIII that he use this opportunity to call a council to remove Alexander VI from the throne; however, Valesius did not decide on this step and contented himself with concluding a treaty with the pope, under which he gained the right to march through the territory of the Church State, the fortress of Civitavecchia and two hostages, including the papal son of Cesare (who, incidentally, soon fled to Spoleto).
At the end of January 1495 Charles VIII left Rome and continued on towards Naples. French troops crossed the border of the Kingdom of Naples and entered Abruzzo, where they took L”Aquila. Alfonso II, horrified by the invasion, abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand (reigning as Ferdinand II) and fled the country. However, the new king failed to organize the defense of the country. After a few hours of artillery bombardment, the French took Monte San Giovanni, and then moved against the Neapolitans defending the Liri river line, but the Neapolitans retreated towards Capua, allowing the French to take Gaeta. Ferdinand II had to abandon his army to quell the unrest in Naples; in his absence Gian Giacomo Trivulzio was to command the Neapolitan army. Trivulzio, however, entered into negotiations with Charles VIII and went over to his side, surrendering Capua to him and opening the way to Naples. Ferdinand II fled to Ischia, and on 22 February 1495 Charles VIII entered Naples. The castles of Castel Nuovo and Castel dell”Ovo were still in the hands of Neapolitan troops at the time, but their crews surrendered by the end of March as well. In Naples, Charles VIII crowned himself king of Naples as well as emperor of Byzantium, a title he had purchased from Andreas Palaeologus, nephew of Emperor Constantine XI, since the fall of Constantinople in 1453, and began planning a crusade against the Turks to rebuild the Byzantine Empire under his rule.
Meanwhile, the rapid advance of the French army terrified the Italian states, including previously neutral Venice and even Ludovico Sforza, who was allied with the French (they realized that the success of Charles VIII could mean French domination of Italy and a threat to the independence of all Italian states). Also, the rulers of the Western European powers – King Ferdinand of Aragon of Spain and King Maximilian I of Habsburg of Rome – did not want to watch idly as France”s power grew. Ferdinand of Aragon sent an army and fleet under the command of Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba to Sicily, which belonged to Spain, and the Republic of Venice began to arm itself, officially against the Turks. On March 31, 1495, the Anti-French League was finally concluded in Venice with the participation of the Pope, Milan, the Republic of Venice, Maximilian Habsburg, and Spain. Of the more important Italian states, only Florence did not join the League. The threat of being cut off from France hung over the French troops in Naples.
Fortunately for Charles VIII, the Duke of Orléans Louis, who remained in Asti, quickly received reinforcements from France, allowing him not only to defend Asti against the League”s forces, but even to enter Milanese territory in June 1495 and capture Novara (thus tying down the League”s forces, mostly Milanese, and giving Charles VIII time to retreat north. Charles VIII left Naples at the end of May, incidentally leaving some troops in the Kingdom of Naples to fight Ferdinand II, who had landed in Calabria with Spanish troops, in order to retake his state. Passing through Rome (from where Alexander VI fled to Orvieto on hearing that the French were approaching), Siena and Pisa, the French king reached northern Italy. Here he divided his forces, sending part of his army to operate against Genoa, which was opposing the French. Another of his troops took and sacked Pontremoli, opening the way for the main army to Asti. The French, however, were prevented from going further by the army of the League. On 6 July 1495 at Fornovo di Taro a French force of about 10 thousand men clashed with an army of the League three times as numerous. The Italians, however, were unable to exploit their numerical superiority and a large portion of their army did not enter the battle; although they managed to seize most of the French wagons (with much of the booty captured by the French during the campaign), they failed to destroy or disable the French army. This allowed Charles VIII to continue his march north after the battle and finally reach Asti in mid-July.
Here the French monarch learned how serious was the situation of his troops in northern Italy. Even before the Battle of Fornovo, a small French fleet carrying booty from Naples had been smashed at Rapallo by the Genoese fleet; the campaign against Genoa had failed; and finally Novara was besieged by the main Milanese force, joined after the Battle of Fornovo by the rest of the League army. Charles decided not to move to Novara”s aid, believing that he did not have sufficient forces to do so; he enlisted the Swiss to strengthen his army, but at the same time he entered into peace negotiations with the League. At the end of September, his French garrison left Novara on honorable terms; shortly thereafter, however, some 20,000 Swiss mercenaries arrived in the French camp. Both sides were no longer interested in prolonging hostilities; in October Charles VIII made peace with Milan at Vercelli, after which he returned to France with his army.
Hostilities ceased in northern Italy, but continued in the Kingdom of Naples. At the end of June 1495, the French (with the help of Swiss mercenaries) defeated the Spanish-Napolitan army there at the Battle of Semina. However, this did not significantly improve their situation in that theater of warfare; at the beginning of July Ferdinand II, with the help of his fleet and the support of the townspeople, captured the city of Naples. The French viceroy of Naples, Gilbert de Bourbon-Montpensier, withdrew his troops to the Neapolitan castles; after a siege of several months, however, he and part of his army left Naples and fled to Salerno. By February 1496 the French garrisons of the castles of Castel Nuovo and Castel dell”Ovo had surrendered to Ferdinand II. Neapolitan and Spanish forces gradually reduced the area controlled by the French. In July 1496 the main French forces in the Kingdom of Naples capitulated at Atella; shortly thereafter King Ferdinand II of Naples died and his uncle, Frederick IV, took over the kingdom. It was during his reign that the last French point of resistance in his kingdom, Gaeta, fell (November 19, 1496). In March 1497 the Spanish army of Córdoba helped Pope Alexander VI regain Ostia.
In 1496, hostilities also took place on the French-Spanish border in the Pyrenees. The Spanish organized raids into the Languedoc, ravaging areas from the border as far as Carcassonne and Narbonne. In retaliation, the French attacked Spanish Roussillon, capturing the fortress of Salses; however, in October 1496 a truce stopped hostilities in the Pyrenees. A final peace between France and Spain was not made, however, until after the death of Charles VIII, on August 5, 1498.
The war brought only minor territorial changes to Italy; Venice seized several ports in Apulia in exchange for aid to Ferdinand II, Florence”s neighbors took advantage of Florence”s weakness to seize several strongholds, and Pisa declared independence, which became the cause of its long war with Florence. Charles VIII”s Italian expedition to France brought only losses; however, this did not discourage the French king, who soon began planning a new expedition to Italy. In preparation for it he concluded an agreement with the Swiss cantons in 1496, and in 1497 he began negotiations with Spain on the matter, hoping to conquer Naples in concert with her. The sudden death of Charles VIII in 1498 interrupted these plans. Earlier, however, terrified by the threat of a new invasion, the Italian states tried to communicate with Maximilian Habsburg, urging him to come to Italy and take Asti from the French. In the autumn of 1496, Maximilian even entered Italy at the head of a small army; he attacked the territory of Florence, still favorable to France, besieging Livorno. However, the French fleet was supplying Livorno, and the rains and cold made things worse for the besiegers; eventually Maximilian began to retreat, and in December he reached Pavia in Milan with his army, after which he retreated beyond the Alps.
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Charles VIII left no male heir, so his distant cousin, the Duke of Orleans Louis, who would reign as Louis XII, assumed the throne of France. The new monarch inherited his predecessor”s claim to Naples, but soon he also raised his own claim to another Italian territory: The Duchy of Milan. Louis was the grandson of Valentina of the Visconti, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan; the Valesseys of the Orleans line claimed that after the extinction of the Visconti dynasty in Milan in 1447, they had inherited the duchy and claimed it as their own. Added to this was the fresh memory of Ludovico Sforza”s treachery during Charles VIII”s Italian War; so when Louis could already wield all the military power of France, he immediately turned against Sforza.
In preparing for war, Louis XII sought to secure the most favorable international situation possible. He made treaties with England, Spain, and the Dutch ruler Philip to protect himself from attack; he reached an agreement with the Swiss cantons, ensuring that he could enlist mercenaries; and finally, he pulled the Republic of Venice and the pope over to his side. He promised the Republic of Cremona and the Milanese lands east of the Adige River, Alexander VI the marriage of Caesar Borgia to Charlotte d”Albert, sister of King John III of Navarre, the granting to Caesar of the Duchy of Valentinois in the Dauphinate, and the assistance of French troops in bringing under papal authority numerous states in Romagna, formally under papal authority but in practice almost completely independent. In return, the pope not only supported Louis XII”s war plans, but also annulled his marriage to Joan of Valois, allowing the French king to marry Anne, Duchess of Brittany.
During the spring and summer of 1499 Ludovico Sforza tried to prepare his country for defense against a hostile invasion; he also tried to secure the military assistance of Maximilian of Habsburg, who, however, was too involved in the war with the Swiss to support the Duke of Milan. The King of Naples was also unable to help Ludovico; desperate Sforza went so far as to call on the Turks for assistance. Bayezid II in 1499 even started a war with Venice; this war lasted until 1503 and brought territorial gains to Turkey at the expense of the Republic, but did not improve the situation of the Duke of Milan. In July 1499 French troops crossed the Alps, and in early August they concentrated around Asti. Under the command of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, the French moved west, took Valenza and Tortona, and approached Alessandria on August 25. Galeazzo San Severino, who was defending the city, had to face a numerically superior enemy, unsure of his soldiers” loyalty; after a few days he fled, leaving his troops to the mercy of the French. The French, having taken Alessandria, moved further east. In addition, when Francis II Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, commanded the Milanese army defending the eastern border of the duchy against the Venetians, offered Louis XII his services, further defence of Milan became impossible. On September 2, Ludovico Sforza left Milan and fled to the Tyrol. He left only a garrison in the castle of Milan under the command of Bernardino da Corte; this, however, he soon betrayed, selling the castle to the French. In the end the French occupied the whole area of the Duchy of Milan west of the Adige, while the areas east of that river were occupied by Venice; Genoa also recognized the sovereignty of the French king. On October 6, 1499 Louis XII made a triumphal entry into Milan.
The French king spent a month in Milan; in early November 1499 he set off back to France, taking with him Gian Galeazzo Sforza”s first-born son, Francesco, and leaving Gian Giacomo Trivulzio as commander-in-chief of the French troops in Milan. Part of Louis XII”s army, in accordance with his agreement with Alexander VI, now moved into Romagna to help Cesare Borgia break the resistance of the states there. With the help of the French king, the pope planned to carve out a state in Romagna for his son, which could become the basis of the power of the Borgia family. The forces of Caesar and the French still captured Imola at the end of 1499, and on January 12, 1500 – Forlì. Caesar now planned to attack Pesaro, but the French troops supporting him abandoned his camp and moved towards Lombardy, forcing the Borgia to temporarily halt their campaign.
The reason for the French march north was unexpectedly a threat to their rule in the Duchy of Milan. The people of the duchy quickly became resentful of the invaders, who impeded the development of trade and imposed heavy taxes to maintain the occupying army, which in turn unscrupulously pillaged the civilian population. Ludovico Sforza decided to take advantage of the discontent of his former subjects by deciding to try to recapture his duchy. This time he enlisted the help of Maximilian Habsburg, who had already ended his war with the Swiss; Sforza also enlisted a large number of Swiss mercenaries. Eventually, with an army of 20,000 men, Sforza invaded the duchy in January 1500, but when uprisings against the French began in the duchy on news of Ludovic”s approach, the French were forced to retreat. On February 3, 1500 Trivulzio evacuated Milan, leaving only the garrison in the Milan castle; 2 days later Ludovico Sforza himself entered the city. However, he did not succeed in preventing Trivulzio”s army from retreating to Novara and Mortara, or from joining up with French troops coming from Romagna; attempts to recapture the Milan castle from the French also failed. Ludovico therefore moved west with his army; he reached Vigevano via Pavia, which he captured, then besieged the French at Novara; the latter surrendered to him at the end of March. At Mortara, however, the French gradually prepared for a counterattack; reinforcements from France soon arrived, and in early April Swiss mercenaries also arrived. Then the French decided to move against the Milanese army. Sforza called for help from Francis Gonzaga, who had returned to his service – but the latter, foreseeing the imminent demise of the Duke of Milan and not wishing to incur the wrath of France and the Venetians, confined himself to sending a small detachment of troops to his aid. On April 8, 1500, Ludovico decided to fight a battle with French troops at Novara; but when the Swiss in his service refused to fight against his compatriots fighting on the French side, further resistance became impossible. On April 10 Sforza was taken prisoner; soon afterwards he was conveyed to the castle of Loches, where he died in 1508. Louis XII”s power in the Duchy of Milan was restored. The Swiss, as payment for their help in defeating Sforza, occupied Bellinzona in 1500.
Now that French rule in the Duchy of Milan was not threatened, Louis XII could begin to plan the conquest of the Kingdom of Naples. He returned to the idea of attacking the country in concert with Spain, and in November 1500 he concluded the Treaty of Granada with Ferdinand of Aragon, which provided for the division of Naples; the southern part of the country, with Apulia and Calabria, was to be occupied by Ferdinand of Aragon, while the northern part, with Campania, Abruzzo and the city of Naples itself, was to be taken by Louis XII. The King of France was supported by Alexander VI; King Frederick of Naples tried in vain to convince the Pope to his side, even threatening to call the Turks to his aid – he only gave the invaders a propaganda pretext to attack his kingdom. Unaware of the terms of the Treaty of Granada, Frederick counted on Spanish troops under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba arriving in Sicily to help him repel the French invasion; Ferdinand of Aragon did not dissuade him. In May 1501 the French army concentrated in the Duchy of Milan and then moved south, reaching Capua in July. The Neapolitans tried to organize defenses here, but the French quickly managed to break their resistance and capture the city. The Spaniards landed in Calabria; Frederick, thinking they were coming to relieve him, let them into the fortresses himself. When he realized that France and Spain had allied against him, further defense of the kingdom was no longer possible. On August 2 Frederick fled to Ischia; 2 days later the French garrisoned the castles of Naples. In the south Córdoba, without encountering much resistance, occupied the part of the Kingdom of Naples belonging to Ferdinand of Aragon. Only Tarent put up fierce resistance to the Spanish; it did not fall until March 1502. King Frederick finally decided to make a deal with Louis XII, relinquishing the Neapolitan crown in his favor and going into exile in France.
Very soon, however, disputes began to erupt between France and Spain over the exact division of the Kingdom of Naples. The Treaty of Granada explicitly assigned certain parts of the kingdom to the various invaders, but made no mention of the membership of other provinces, such as Basilicata and Capitanata. The question of the latter in particular proved difficult to resolve; it had strong economic ties with French-controlled Abruzzo, while on the other hand the Spanish considered it part of their own Apulia. Border disputes escalated and in July 1502 led to an open war between France and Spain. In the first phase of the war the French, reinforced by newly arrived reinforcements, gained advantage over the Spaniards commanded by Córdoba; still in the summer they captured Cerignola and Canosa. Córdoba retreated to Barletta, also holding Tarent; fortunately for him, the French commanders were unable to seize the opportunity to destroy a weaker opponent. Although the Spanish troops coming to Córdoba”s relief were defeated by the French at the Battle of Terranova in Calabria in late 1502, in early 1503 the Spanish fleet surprised the weaker French fleet in the port of Otranto, forcing the French to sink their ships to prevent them from falling into enemy hands; this success ensured the supply of supplies to Barletta by sea. Córdoba, taking advantage of the passivity of the French, led frequent raids against them; in February 1503 during one such raid he even managed to capture Ruvo. In March reinforcements from Spain arrived in Reggio, tying up part of the French forces in Calabria; in April soldiers from Germany arrived in Barletta sent to help by Maximilian Habsburg. By the end of April, Córdoba was able to decide on a major offensive; he left Barletta with his army and took Cerignola. The French, under the command of the Duke de Nemours, moved against him. On April 28, 1503, the Battle of Cerignola took place; the attack of the French and the Swiss fighting on their side against the Spanish fortifications ended in their total defeat, de Nemours himself was killed in the course of the battle. Since earlier, on April 21, 1503, another French army had suffered a defeat at Semina in Calabria, Córdoba could now move directly on Naples; he entered it in mid-May. The French held only the castles in the capital of the kingdom, which, by the way, thanks to the actions of the Spanish engineer Pedro Navarro, soon also fell into the hands of Córdoba; the Italian condottieri in Spanish service, Prospero Colonna, occupied Abruzzo. The French, however, managed to hold Gaeta and even sent reinforcements to it from Genoa by sea; further south, French troops surviving from the Battle of Cerignola held Venosa.
After the loss of Naples, Louis XII sent three new armies against the Spanish; two of them took up positions on the Spanish border in the Pyrenees. One of them, under the command of Alain d”Albret, was to strike in the western Pyrenees against Spanish Fuenterrabía. However, Ferdinand of Aragon secured friendly relations with Alain d”Albret”s son, King John III of Navarre, whose estates were adjacent to the planned route of d”Albret”s army; as a result, the latter did not attack Spanish territory at all. A second army attacked Roussillon in September, besieging Salses on September 16. The French, however, failed to take the fortress, and to make matters worse for them, Spanish troops under the command of Ferdinand of Aragon himself moved to relieve it in October. When Ferdinand reached Perpignan on October 19, the French began to retreat; Ferdinand followed them into French territory, garrisoning several border towns and reaching Narbonne before turning back with the spoils, abandoning the captured cities.
The Third Army, commanded by Louis de la Trémoille and reinforced by contingents from Florence, Ferrara, Bologna, and Mantua, moved into southern Italy in August to retake Naples. Pope Alexander VI and Cesare Borgia attempted during this period to manoeuvre between the warring powers; their efforts were interrupted by the death of the pope on 18 August. French troops, instead of Naples, now moved near Rome, stopping only at Nepi; their presence was intended to influence the cardinals to elect a French candidate, Cardinal d”Amboise, as the new pope. Also, Córdoba sent some troops under Mendoza and Fabrizio Colonna to the vicinity of Rome to observe the movements of the French. Under such pressure, the cardinals decided on a temporary solution, choosing the old and ailing Francesco Todeschini-Piccolomini. It was realized that this would not be a long pontificate; indeed, Piccolomini, as Pius III, had been pope for only a month. After his election, the French army – under the command of Francis Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua, again in the service of Louis XII and replacing the ailing Trémoille – moved further south. With the death of Pius III, the cardinals had more freedom at the next conclave; this time they elected Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, who took the name Julius II.
While the French troops remained near Rome, the Spaniards under the command of Córdoba besieged Gaeta; however, the losses suffered and the ineffectiveness of the siege finally forced them to retreat to Castellone (now part of Formia), a few kilometers away. At first Córdoba prepared to return to Gaeta, but when he learned that after the election of Pius III the French had crossed the Tiber and moved south, on October 6 he and his army left Castellone and retreated to the easier to defend Garigliano River line. The French initially marched south along the Via Latina, but here they soon encountered Córdoba”s army, controlling San Germano, Aquino and Roccasecca; the French attack on Roccasecca was repulsed, and the incessant rain and problems in obtaining food made it difficult to continue the march. Francisco Gonzaga therefore decided to change his route and marched along the right bank of the Garigliano River towards the Via Appia. In early November the French attempted to cross the Garigliano, but were repulsed by the Spanish army; both armies now took up positions on opposite sides of the river, remaining there for almost two months. Both armies were short of food and money, and had to contend with rain and cold. However, while Córdoba managed to maintain discipline in his army, the Marquis of Mantua and the Marquis of Saluzzo who assisted him did not; they did not enjoy the respect of the French officers and soldiers under them. The French also began to disperse in search of food. Córdoba took advantage of this dispersion; in the last days of December he prepared his army for battle and on December 29 crossed Garigliano, attacking the unsuspecting French. The battle of Garigliano ended with the total defeat of the French army; their remnants retreated to Gaeta, where they capitulated on January 1, 1504. Then the garrison of Venosa under the command of Louis d”Ars, unable to count on any more relief, abandoned this fortress and crossed over to France. Ferdinand of Aragon, now lord of the entire Kingdom of Naples (not counting a few ports on the Adriatic Sea that Venice had occupied since the invasion of Charles VIII), appointed Córdoba the first Viceroy of Naples; he also gave him the honorary title El Gran Capitán – “The Great Captain”.
These defeats induced Louis XII to cease hostilities; in early 1504 the French king concluded a truce with Ferdinand of Aragon at Lyon, under which Spain retained the Kingdom of Naples and France the Duchy of Milan (without relinquishing its rights to Naples). Relations between France and Spain improved in 1505 when Ferdinand of Aragon, after the death of his wife, Queen Isabella I of Castile, married Louis XII”s cousin, Germaine de Foix. The French king then transferred his rights to the Kingdom of Naples to Germaine, recognizing it as her dowry. In return, Ferdinand of Aragon pledged to return the Kingdom of Naples to France should his marriage to Germaine prove childless, but he had no intention of keeping this promise. In June 1507 the two monarchs even met in Savona.
In the shadow of this war was the downfall of Cesare Borgia. From the autumn of 1500 he resumed hostilities, expanding his own state in Romagna and the Marche. He quickly took Pesaro, Rimini, and Faenza, then also Piombino, Camerino, the duchy of Urbino, and Senigallia; Pisa, still fighting Florence, surrendered to him. Borgia now began to plan a crackdown on Bologna and Florence; but the death of Alexander VI, depriving him of support from Rome, interrupted these plans. To make matters worse, Cardinal Giuliano della Rovere was a fierce enemy of the Borgias, and after becoming pope he turned against Caesar in no time. The Borgias quickly lost all of their possessions; some, such as Imola and Forli, were incorporated directly into papal possessions, while others, such as Pesaro, Piombino and the Duchy of Urbino, were returned to their former rulers. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Venetian troops entered Romagna, occupying Rimini and Faenza. Together with Ravenna, which had already been occupied for decades, this gave the Venetian Republic a strong position in Romagna, but at the same time brought it into inevitable conflict with Julius II.
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Territorial implications for individual countries
After the French were driven out of the Kingdom of Naples, peace reigned between the Western European powers for several years. There were no large-scale wars in Italy at that time, but there were a few minor military conflicts. Pisa was still fighting for its independence against Florence, which was trying to regain control of the city. During this war, the Italian condottiero Bartolomeo d”Alviano, then in Spanish service, attacked Florentine territory in an attempt not only to help Pisa but also to restore Medici power in Florence; however, on August 17, 1505, a Florentine army led by Ercole Bentivoglio and Antonio Giacomini defeated him at the Battle of San Vincenzo. Finally, the Florentine army captured Pisa in 1509.
Pope Julius II also led the war effort. A fierce enemy of Alexander VI and the entire Borgia family, he largely continued Alexander VI”s policy of subjugating the quasi-independent states within the Church State to papal authority. After the liquidation of Cesare Borgia”s state, he began to prepare for a crackdown on Perugia and Bologna. He even succeeded in gaining the cooperation of Louis XII, although Bologna had hitherto been under the protection of the French king; the pope accomplished this by promising Louis” associate, Cardinal d”Amboise, that he would appoint his relatives as cardinals. In August the pope, at the head of his troops, left Rome and marched on Baglioni-ruled Perugia; the Baglioni did not even try to resist, and on September 13 they opened the city gates to the pope. Having put the city”s affairs in order, Julius II moved further north to capture Bologna, on the way (7 October) excommunicating Giovanni Bentivoglio who ruled it. Bentivoglio initially counted on the help of the French king; but when he learned that the latter had allied himself with the pope and sent troops to help him capture Bologna, he could no longer defend himself. So he fled the city and surrendered to the French, while Bologna opened its gates to the army of Julius II.
With Perugia and Bologna under his control, Julius II was able to concentrate on preparing for war with Venice. The pope”s goal was to bring all of Romagna under his control, and this required taking back the Venetians” holdings in the area – Faenza, Rimini, Ravenna, and Cervia. His demands for the return of these cities were rejected by the Venetian Senate, prompting the Pope to begin preparations for war with Venice. However, Julius II was too weak to go to war with the Republic of St. Mark alone; hence, during this period papal diplomacy worked to form a coalition against the Republic with the participation of Western European powers.
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The opportunity for an armed showdown with Venice was provided by the Pope”s conflict between the Republic and Maximilian of Habsburg. Maximilian, who until then had borne only the title of King of Rome, began preparations in 1507 for an expedition at the head of his army to Rome, where he could be crowned Holy Roman Emperor. Reaching Rome, however, required passage through Venetian territory, and the Republic authorities refused Maximilian”s troops the right to march through their lands. For the Habsburg, who dreamed of expanding his access to the Adriatic Sea and taking back from Venice the lands that had once been part of the Empire, this refusal was the perfect pretext for war. In February 1508 Maximilian, assuming the title of “Elected Roman Emperor,” attacked Venetian territory. However, the war did not go as planned; France (for the time being) failed to act against its Venetian ally, and the Imperial troops were pushed beyond the borders of the Republic. To make matters worse for Maximilian, the Venetian army, led by Bartolomeo d”Alviano (who had managed to transfer from Spanish to Venetian service) went on the counteroffensive, capturing Pordenone, Gorizia, and Trieste, which were part of Maximilian”s hereditary possessions. In June 1508, the defeated Maximilian concluded a three-year truce with Venice, leaving the cities seized during the war in Venetian hands; the emperor was thus cut off from the Adriatic Sea.
France tried to seize the opportunity and include its ally and fierce enemy Maximilian, Duke Charles of Gelderland, in the truce; however, Venice did not support this proposal. This led to a cooling of Franco-Venetian relations and made Louis XII more sympathetic to the papal proposals for an anti-Venetian alliance. In fact, this was not just one diplomatic affront; the growing power of Venice, whose previous wars in Italy had brought territorial gains in Apulia, Lombardy, Romagna, and on the border with Austria, was causing concern and jealousy among other states. Maximilian I and Julius II had territorial claims to Venice; Ferdinand of Aragon also wanted to take back the ports in Apulia controlled by the Republic. Louis XII was beginning to hope that territorial gains at the expense of Venice would compensate him for the loss of Naples. Finally, after long negotiations, on December 10, 1508, representatives of Louis XII and Maximilian I formed a league against Venice in the city of Cambrai; later Ferdinand of Aragon, Savoy, Ferrara, and Mantua also joined the league. The League”s goal was the partition of Venetian possessions in Italy. Ferdinand of Aragon was to occupy the Venetian-occupied ports in Apulia; Maximilian of Habsburg was to regain the lands lost in 1508, and on top of that occupy the areas that had once been part of the Empire – Friuli, Padua, Verona, Vicenza, and Treviso; and finally, Louis XII was to occupy those areas of the Duchy of Milan that Venice had captured in 1499, and on top of that also Brescia, Crema, and Bergamo.
The Venetian Republic prepared to repel the attack, while negotiating with Julius II in an effort to prevent him from joining the League of Cambrai. However, the pope was already determined to attack Venice; in March 1509 he formally joined the League. On April 7 France declared war on the Republic; on April 27 Julius II excommunicated Venice and entered the war; Francesco Maria della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, Julius II”s nephew, entered Romagna at the head of papal troops. Ferdinand of Aragon and Maximilian I had not yet joined the war for the time being.
In this situation, the settlement took place in Lombardy. The first French troops crossed the Adda in mid-April, taking the French-friendly town of Treviglio. However, the French were still too weak for a major offensive, and soon the main Venetian force, led by Bartolomeo d”Alviano and Niccolò di Pitigliano, arrived on the Adda. The Venetian commanders, however, did not agree on how the war should be conducted; d”Alviano wanted to cross the Adda and attack the French in the Duchy of Milan; the more cautious Pitigliano wanted to limit himself to holding the Adda line and recapturing Treviglio from the French. His opinion prevailed; in early May Venetian troops recaptured Treviglio, then ravaged and burned the town to punish them for their treachery. While the Venetians were occupied at Treviglio, the main French force, commanded by Louis XII himself, crossed the Adda at Cassano. The Venetian commanders were bound by orders from the Senate of the Republic to avoid a pitched battle; the French, taking advantage of their passivity, captured Rivolta. Then Louis XII”s army moved towards Pandino with the intention of cutting off the Venetians from Crema and Cremona; they were unable to carry out this plan as the Venetians also moved south. However, on May 14 near Agnadello the French troops encountered the rear guard of the Venetian army, commanded by Bartolomeo d”Alviano. Bartolomeo d”Alviano, occupying a convenient defensive position on the hills, repulsed the first French attacks, while calling for help from Niccolò di Pitigliano. The latter, however, decided to stick to the instructions of the Senate and avoid battle; so he continued his march, leaving d”Alviano to his fate; meanwhile the Venetian rearguard, having repulsed the first attacks, had to face the main French force, which joined the battle. The battle against a much stronger opponent ended in total defeat for the Venetians; d”Alviano himself was taken prisoner. To make matters worse, although Pitigliano avoided a clash with the French and was able to retreat in peace, the news of the defeat at Agnadello reached his soldiers and caused their morale to plummet; soon most of them deserted.
Now the French were able to seize the cities controlled by the Venetians unhindered. They quickly conquered the area west of the Mincio River; Cremona, Bergamo, Brescia and Crema fell into their hands. The Venetians evacuated their now untenable possessions in Romagna, which the Pope took over. After the Battle of Agnadello, the allies of France and Julius II also became active; Ferdinand of Aragon seized the Venetian-controlled ports in Apulia, Maximilian I seized the lands lost in the 1508 war with Venice, Mantua seized Lonato, and Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, captured Polesine (the area corresponding to today”s Rovigo Province). Retreating east with the remnants of his army, Pitigliano left Padua, Vicenza and Verona to their fate; when envoys of Maximilian I arrived in these cities, they agreed to recognize the supremacy of the emperor.
Meanwhile, the Venetians gradually rebuilt their land army; at the same time, they attempted to break up the League by signing a separate peace treaty with the pope. So they proposed to Julius II a formal transfer of the disputed cities in Romagna. However, the pope saw the Venetian peace proposals, combined with the evacuation of Romagna, as signs of the Republic”s weakness. As a result, he began to impose additional conditions: he demanded not only the cities in Romagna, but also freedom of trade and navigation in the Adriatic Sea (which Venice considered “its” internal sea) and privileges for the Church within the Republic. To this Venice refused to agree for the time being and the war continued.
Meanwhile, in the areas of the Venetian Republic occupied by Louis XII and Maximilian I, discontent was beginning to grow over the presence of the occupying troops and their prevention of trade with Venice, with which these areas had strong economic ties. Maximilian, realizing that his new acquisitions in the Veneto were under threat, began to concentrate his army in the Tyrol in June; however, the concentration of his troops was slow, which the Venetians took advantage of. During the summer, having fielded a new land army, they went on the offensive and captured Padua on July 17. At the beginning of August, the Venetians achieved another success: the Marquis of Mantua, Francisco Gonzaga, who had accidentally ventured into the territory controlled by the Republic, was taken prisoner by the Venetians. Also in August, Maximilian I finally gathered a strong army, with which he entered the Veneto and, joined by reinforcements sent by Louis XII and Julius II, moved towards Padua. The Venetian garrison of the city, commanded by Niccolò di Pitigliano who wanted to make amends for his actions at Agnadello, withstood the siege; at the beginning of October the army of the League withdrew from the city walls. The Venetian army, exploiting this success, attacked and captured Vicenza; of the more important cities in the Veneto, only Verona still remained in the hands of Maximilian I. The Venetians also regained Friuli and Polesine. The Venetian fleet, intending to attack Ferrara itself, entered the waters of the Po; here, however, the Duke of Ferrara”s troops, using artillery, destroyed the Venetian fleet at Polesella on December 22. After this victory, the Duke of Ferrara once again occupied Polesine; the Venetians, on the other hand, concentrated on defending their newly recovered towns in the Veneto, evacuating even Friuli.
In early 1510, Venetian diplomacy finally succeeded in excluding Julius II from the League of Cambrai. The Pope realized how dangerous the rise to power of Louis XII and Maximilian I could be for the independence of the Italian states, especially if it came at the expense of weakening the Republic. He decided to end the war with Venice and turn against its enemies; this came all the more easily to him because in the course of negotiations the Venetians finally agreed not only to cede to him the coveted towns in Romagna, but also to grant his papal subjects freedom of trade and navigation in the Adriatic and to guarantee the privileges of the Church in the Republic. Having obtained all that he demanded, Julius II made peace with Venice on February 24, 1510. In doing so he solemnly removed excommunication from the Republic and even allowed the recruitment of papal subjects into the Venetian army; he also ordered all participants in the League of Cambrai to cease hostilities. The ecclesiastical state did not openly side with Venice for the time being; the Republic was still fighting with Louis XII, Maximilian I, and Alfonso d”Este. However, the peace between the Pope and Venice set in motion a sequence of events that led to the dissolution of the League of Cambrai and the formation of a coalition against Louis XII.
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Territorial implications for individual countries
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When Julius II ordered the members of the League of Cambrai to end their war with Venice, Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, anxious to retain Polesine (lost by his father Ercole d”Este as a result of the 1482-1484 war with Venice), outright declared that he would continue the war with the Republic despite the papal order. Such a declaration was particularly significant in his case, as he was formally a vassal of the pope. Julius II, long hostile to the d”Estes and anxious to seize the salinas of Comacchio which belonged to them, now had an excellent pretext for dealing with them; but as the Duke of Ferrara was allied with Louis XII, an attack on him would inevitably lead to a confrontation with France. Hence papal diplomacy worked to draw Spain, England, and the emperor into the new coalition. However, Maximilian did not want to give up his cities in the Veneto, and Ferdinand of Aragon, although he had obtained an investiture from the Pope for the Kingdom of Naples, did not yet want to openly stand against Louis XII. Julius II”s diplomacy was instead successful in Switzerland. France”s alliance with the Confederation, which provided Louis XII with the ability to recruit Swiss mercenaries, had expired in 1509, and the French king had failed to renew it; and the Swiss, whose country had strong economic ties with the Duchy of Milan, were beginning to resent French rule in the area. At the Diet of Union in 1510, the bishop of Sion, Matthias Schiner, representing the interests of Julius II, succeeded in securing a defensive alliance between the Confederation and the Church State.
French, imperial, and Spanish forces continued their warfare against Venice; in May 1510 French and imperial forces captured Vicenza, where they slaughtered the civilian population, and Legnago. These successes of the League prompted the Republic to accept Julius II”s proposal for an alliance; Venice, with the support of the Pope, could think of going on the offensive, especially since Julius II had enlisted Swiss mercenaries to attack French-occupied Milan and then link up with papal troops at Ferrara. In August, Julius II excommunicated Alfonso d”Este and sent an army under the Duke of Urbino against him, which captured Alfonso”s Modena; in the same month, the Venetian army once again went on the offensive in the Veneto, capturing Vicenza. The Venetian fleet”s attack on French-occupied Genoa was unsuccessful, as was the Republic”s attempt to capture Verona. Julius II arrived in Bologna to be closer to the theater of war. The Swiss entered the Duchy of Milan; however, they conducted hostilities very slowly, reaching only the area between Lakes Como and Maggiore. Eventually the French managed to bribe the Swiss mercenaries, who returned home in September, having achieved nothing. The Marquis of Mantua also disappointed the Pope. Francis Gonzaga, who had regained his freedom in July 1510, accepted the post of commander-in-chief of the Venetian-Pope army in September, but secretly continued to favor the French and did not join the troops he was to command, citing illness. His wife Isabella, sister of Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, had a great influence on his attitude; Isabella went even further, secretly communicating with the French and allowing them to march to Ferrara through the Mantuan estates.
With the Swiss gone and the Duchy of Milan unthreatened, the French commander Charles d”Amboise de Chaumont was able to attack the territories of the Church State; taking advantage of the fact that part of the papal forces were in Modena, he moved towards poorly defended Bologna, where Julius II was immobilized by illness. The pope was in danger of falling into French captivity; fortunately for him, his diplomats were able to establish negotiations with Chaumont and drag them out until the Venetian army came to his relief. Chaumont withdrew from Bologna; the French, however, managed to enter the Duchy of Ferrara, thus strengthening its defenses. Having recovered, Julius II sent troops to capture Concordia and Mirandola, strategic points on the road to Ferrara. The siege of Mirandola dragged on, however; exasperated, the pope personally took command and captured the city in January of 1511. After this success he returned to Bologna and then to Imola; in Bologna he left the unpopular Cardinal Alidosi as his legate. His rule in that city contributed to the growing hostility to papal rule.
Meanwhile, Chaumont died in February 1511; he was replaced as commander by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio. The new commander of the French forces recaptured Mirandola and Concordia from the papacy, then entered the Church State; in May he unexpectedly attacked Bologna, which was defended by a weak crew and from which Cardinal Alidosi had already fled, and captured it, restoring there the rule of the Bentivogli family, who favored France. Prince Alfonso d”Este also succeeded in recapturing Modena. Cardinal Alidosi was killed by the Duke of Urbino; Julius II returned to Rome from the threatened French invasion of Romagna.
Louis XII, meanwhile, was not content with military action in Italy, but also began to seek the overthrow of Julius II. In September 1510, taking advantage of the king”s traditionally strong influence over the clergy in France, he convened a synod at Tours; the French clergy gathered there declared that the king had the right to wage war against the pope in defense of himself and his allies, and also proposed that a universal council be convened. Louis XII hoped that this council would decide to remove Julius II from power and appoint a new pope in his place; supported by Maximilian I, he launched an intensive propaganda campaign throughout Italy to this end. In fact, in September 1511, a council supported by the French king and the emperor was held in Pisa, which was controlled by Florence, a supporter of Louis XII, but it was attended by only a small group of cardinals and French clergy opposed to Julius II. The Council soon moved further north, to the French-controlled city of Milan. Julius II eventually deprived the Council of Pisa of its importance by convening a rival Council of Lateran V in 1512, and he exacted revenge on Florence for allowing the Council of Pisa to meet by imposing an interdict on both Florence and Pisa.
In 1511, shortly after the French occupation of Bologna, the international situation of the pope and Venice paradoxically improved. Other Western European powers, concerned about French advances in northern Italy, came to believe that even the combined forces of the Republic of Venice and Julius II might not be enough to stop Louis XII. Ferdinand of Aragon, in particular, feared that after subjugating northern and central Italy, the French king might want to claim the Kingdom of Naples. King Henry VIII of England was also concerned about the success of the French, and hoped to take advantage of the French involvement in Italy to regain at least some of the English possessions on the European continent that had been lost in the Hundred Years” War. The King of Spain had been gradually shifting his support to the Pope and Venice since 1510. At the end of 1510, without yet officially breaking his alliance with Louis XII and the Emperor, he recalled his troops fighting in northern Italy alongside French and Imperial troops against Venice, officially explaining that he needed these troops to defend the Kingdom of Naples from the Turks. He then placed a Spanish troop of 300 copies at the disposal of the Pope; he declared to Louis XII and Maximilian that he was obliged to do so as a vassal of the Pope by virtue of ruling the Kingdom of Naples, and that these troops were to be used only for the defense of the Church State. In June 1511 Ferdinand proposed to the pope that a league be formed to stop the advance of Louis XII”s troops. The negotiations lasted several months and culminated in the creation of the Holy League in October 1511, involving the Pope, Spain, and Venice. The League was intended to protect the Church and fight the “barbarians” (fuori and barbari). (fuori and barbari), which in practice meant the complete expulsion of the French from Italy. Henry VIII also joined the League in November, promising to begin hostilities against France beginning the following spring. The diplomacy of the League states also worked to break up the alliance linking Louis XII and Maximilian I.
Having obtained support from Spain and once again enlisted Swiss mercenaries, Julius II was able to launch another attack in the winter of 1511. The Swiss once again entered the Duchy of Milan in November; at the same time, papal forces threatened Bologna and Parma. Fortunately for the French, the Swiss forces were not joined by papal and Venetian forces; the Swiss were unable to besiege Milan without allied support, and before the end of the year they withdrew from Lombardy. Nevertheless, at the beginning of 1512 France”s international situation was difficult. Louis XII attempted to draw the Swiss to his side; however, he found that their conditions were impossible to meet. In April 1512, the Holy League achieved another diplomatic success: the unstable Maximilian I of Habsburg finally concluded a truce with the pope and Venice. The League was now able to turn all of its forces against France, which was left with virtually no allies save a few weak Italian states.
By early 1512, the League”s armies were enjoying success. In January, the Venetians finally recaptured Bergamo and Brescia from the French (papal and Spanish troops were threatening Bologna and Ferrara. Fortunately for the French, the new commander of their troops in Italy, Gaston de Foix duc de Nemours (nephew of Louis XII), proved more capable and energetic than his predecessors in the position. He successfully repulsed the attacks of the League”s armies on Bologna; when he learned of the fall of Brescia, he gathered all the troops not necessary for the defense of Bologna and moved north through the Mantuan territories. In February he defeated the Venetian army under Giampaolo Baglioni at Isola della Scala, and then besieged Brescia, broke the resistance of the Venetians defending it, and captured the city. Brescia was subsequently ravaged by French troops; the citizens of Bergamo, to avoid a similar fate, opened the city gates to the French. After this success, Gaston de Foix returned to Romagna. He realized, however, that time was working against France; during the summer France could be attacked by the English and Spanish, and the German mercenaries fighting on the French side could return home after the Emperor”s withdrawal from the war. De Foix therefore decided to settle the fate of the war in Italy in a single decisive battle; the Spanish army under the Viceroy of Naples Ramón de Cardona, however, avoided a pitched battle. In early April de Foix, supported by the troops of the Duke of Ferrara, began the siege of Ravenna; de Cardona, unwilling to allow the loss of such an important city, moved against the French and on April 10 set up a well-fortified camp on the right bank of the Ronco River, a few kilometers from the French army positions. During the night, however, the French built a bridge over the Ronco River; on the morning of April 11, the French troops crossed the river on this bridge and then attacked the camp of the Papal and Spanish troops. On the same day a battle ensued in which the French won an excellent victory; but after the battle, Gaston de Foix was killed while in pursuit of the retreating Spanish infantry in order.
The French victory at Ravenna initially terrified the pope and Ferdinand of Aragon; the latter even hesitated to send de Córdoba, who had been recalled from Naples several years before and had been in royal disfavor ever since, to Italy. Fortunately for the League, however, Gaston de Foix”s successor, Jacques de Chabannes de La Palice, lacked his predecessor”s military flair; nor was he able to capitalize on his predecessor”s victory, limiting himself to capturing and sacking Ravenna. The French now controlled most of Romagna; but this was only a temporary success.
The Swiss Diet in April 1512 decided to support the Holy League. Julius II succeeded in preventing the truce between Venice and the emperor from being broken; moreover, the emperor soon joined the Holy League. Maximilian allowed the Swiss to march into Italy through the territory of Tyrol in his possession; in June he went even further, ordering German mercenaries serving in the French army to return home immediately. Meanwhile, French forces in Italy were dwindling; some troops were sent back to France to defend against attack from the English and Spanish.
In May 1512 the Swiss once again entered Italy, but this time they were joined by the Venetians at Villafranca near Verona. Papal and Spanish troops entered Romagna once more, quickly recapturing Rimini, Cesena, and Ravenna from French hands. The Bentivogli family fled Bologna, which returned to papal rule. La Palice still hoped that, as in previous years, the allies would not coordinate their actions, so that their attack could be repelled; this time, however, their enemies did not stop their advance. To make matters worse, the French army, obeying Maximilian I”s order, abandoned 4,000 German landsknechts. In this situation La Palice withdrew from Cremona to Pavia; in mid-June the troops of the League arrived at Pavia, which a few days later forced La Palice to withdraw further west. Gian Giacomo Trivulzio evacuated the city of Milan; the main French forces retreated beyond the Alps, losing even Asti, the hereditary estate of the Dukes of Orleans, since Louis XII”s accession to the French throne taken over by the French crown. Papal troops garrisoned Modena, Reggio, Parma and Piacenza; most of the Duchy of Milan fell into Swiss hands. By the end of June 1512, the French controlled in Italy only Brescia, Crema, Legnago, Peschiera, the castles of Milan and Cremona, and the lighthouse and Castelletto in Genoa. The antipope council, which had begun its deliberations in Pisa, moved beyond the Alps to Lyons, where, however, it no longer undertook any significant activity. Alfonso I, Duke of Ferrara, attempted to reconcile with the pope: he came to Rome, where on July 9 he appeared before the pope. He obtained a solemn pardon and the removal of excommunication; however, Julius II demanded that the duke cede to him not only Modena, but also Ferrara itself, in exchange for which he would receive Asti captured from the French. Alfonso refused to accept this and fled Rome, taking refuge in the fortress of Marino, which belonged to the Colonnas who were in his favour.
In 1512 France”s opponents also succeeded in the French-Spanish borderlands in the Pyrenees. Henry VIII planned with Ferdinand of Aragon to invade Guiana, the former English possession on the continent; in early June ships carrying English troops under Thomas Grey, second Marquis of Dorset, arrived at Guiana to join with Ferdinand of Aragon”s army and attack France. However, Ferdinand of Aragon actually had other plans – he was preparing to conquer the Kingdom of Navarre. The Kingdom of Navarre had so far remained neutral, but Ferdinand feared that Navarre, due to its strong ties with France, might side with Louis XII, which would make it easier for Louis XII to attack Spain, while at the same time, having Navarre would provide Spain with a defensible border with France along the Pyrenees line. He therefore demanded that the rulers of Navarre, John III and Catherine de Foix, allow his armies to march through their kingdom and also give him the six most important strongholds in Navarre for the duration of the war as a guarantee that they would not turn against Spain until the end of the war. John and Catherine, however, recognized that this would be a prelude to Ferdinand seizing their kingdom; so in mid-July they concluded an alliance with Louis XII. Ferdinand, explaining to the English that without first capturing Navarre, an attack on Guayenne would be impossible, ordered the Duke of Alba, Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo (grandfather of the famous Fernando Álvarez de Toledo), to command Spanish troops to attack Navarre. The Duke of Alba crossed the border of the Kingdom of Navarre on July 21; already on July 24 he entered Pamplona, abandoned by the royal couple of Navarre. The French did not help their new allies – they feared that if they moved to their aid, the English remaining in Gipuzkoi would seize the opportunity and attack Bayonne. Taking advantage of this, the Duke of Alba quickly captured all the properties of the rulers of Navarre lying south of the Pyrenees. However, the English did not like being stuck idly at the Pyrenees, merely covering the actions of the Spaniards in the Kingdom of Navarre; discipline was failing in the English army and disease was spreading. So when the Duke of Alba crossed the Pyrenees to conquer that part of the Kingdom of Navarre which lay to the north of those mountains, and called upon Dorset to help him complete the conquest, the latter refused; finally the English commanders, without waiting for orders from Henry VIII. who remained in England, loaded the troops on ships and returned to their country. Now the French were able to move against the Duke of Alba, who quickly retreated back behind the Pyrenees. The French, reinforced by La Palice”s army from Italy, followed them in an effort to restore John III”s power in his kingdom, and besieged Pamplona, which was defended by the Duke of Alba; however, the assaults they made in late November were repulsed by the city”s defenders, and when news of the coming Spanish relief reached the French after several weeks of siege, they retreated beyond the Pyrenees.
In Italy, the armies of the member states of the Holy League besieged the last strongholds remaining in French hands and divided the spoils between them. In August 1512, the representatives of the League met in Mantua; the main purpose of the meeting was to decide the fate of the Duchy of Milan. Maximilian I and Ferdinand of Aragon wanted the Duchy to be given to their grandson Charles, ruler of the Netherlands and Franche-Comté; however, this was fiercely opposed by: Julius II and the Swiss. As the latter countered with the Duchy, their opinion prevailed – and the throne of Milan was given to Maximilian Sforza, son of Ludovico Sforza. Throughout his reign in Milan, Sforza was entirely dependent on the Swiss mercenaries who had elevated him to the throne; as a token of gratitude, he even gave the Swiss cantons possession of Valtellina, the area of today”s Ticino canton, Domodossola with its adjacencies (Genoa had regained its independence. The League now decided to deal with one of the last bastions of French influence on the Apennine Peninsula, and the former host of the Council of Pisa hated by Julius II – the Republic of Florence. The attack on Florence was to be led by the Spanish viceroy of Naples, Ramón de Cardona; so he set off from Romagna into Tuscany, soon reaching Barberino north of Florence. He then presented his demands to the authorities of the Republic: they were to remove the gonfalonier Pier Soderini from power and allow the Medici to return to Florence as ordinary citizens. The Florentines, however, refused to accede to Soderini”s removal from power. In response, de Cardona attacked Prato; the city fell on August 30, and Spanish troops brutally sacked it. The fall of the city broke the resistance of the Florentine Republic – Soderini fled Florence and the Medici returned to the city; Giuliano di Lorenzo de” Medici took power.
The single points of French resistance in Italy were gradually eliminated. While the Spaniards were restoring Medici power in Florence, farther north the League troops had captured Genoa”s Castelletto; but the French still held the lighthouse at Genoa, as well as the castles at Milan and Cremona. Meanwhile, a dispute was growing between the Republic of Venice and the other states in the Holy League. The Venetians wanted to reclaim the part of the Duchy of Milan east of Adda that they had occupied in 1499, but the Swiss, who controlled the Duchy, claimed that these territories belonged to Maximilian Sforza. The Emperor still had only a truce with Venice and did not want to relinquish his claim to Friuli and the towns in the Veneto, let alone return to the Republic the towns in those areas currently in his possession (Verona was still under his control, and in 1512 the French garrisons at Legnago and Peschiera surrendered not to the Venetians but to an envoy of Maximilian I); in addition, Julius II (who was anxious that the emperor, formerly supporting the Council of Pisa, should now recognize the Lateran Council) supported the emperor in this dispute. Finally, in November 1512, Spanish troops drove the French out of Brescia. The Venetians, who at the same time had driven the French from Crema, demanded that Brescia be ceded to them as belonging to them before the war; but the Spaniards refused, leaving their garrison in the city. The Venetian Republic felt threatened again, which prompted it to enter into negotiations with Louis XII.
The first months of 1513 brought an improvement in France”s international situation. In February, in preparation for the conquest of the Duchy of Ferrara, Pope Julius II died. In March a conclave elevated Giovanni di Lorenzo de” Medici, brother of Giuliano de” Medici, who ruled in Florence, to the papal throne; Giovanni took the name Leo X. On March 23, the Venetian Republic concluded an alliance with France at Blois; in turn, on April 1, Louis XII concluded a truce with Ferdinand of Aragon, at the price of leaving the areas of the Kingdom of Navarre south of the Pyrenees under Spanish rule. Having gained an ally in Italy and secured himself on the side of the Pyrenees, Louis XII could once again attempt to capture Milan. In the spring, a strong French army (supported by contingents of German landsknechts who, despite the emperor”s objections, had entered French service) under the command of Louis de la Trémoille and Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, attacked the Duchy of Milan; at the same time, the Venetians attacked the Duchy from the east. Ramón de Cardona”s Spanish troops stood idly by at Piacenza, not helping Sforza; the Duke of Milan could not even count on the loyalty of his own subjects, unwilling Swiss mercenaries who actually ruled the Duchy. Hence the French rapidly captured most of the Duchy, with Milan itself, and also subjugated Genoa. To the east, the Venetians reached Cremona, capturing Brescia as well (but failed to recapture Verona. In the Duchy of Milan, by the end of May, only Novara and Como remained in Swiss hands. At the beginning of June, the main French forces, led by Louis de la Trémoille himself, laid siege to Novara; however, a new Swiss army came to the relief of the city. On June 6, even before dawn, it attacked the French; a battle ensued in which the Swiss were completely victorious. The French suffered such heavy losses that they were forced not only to abandon the siege of Novara, but to retreat beyond the Alps. Maximilian Sforza returned to Milan; however, he had to pay the Swiss cantons for their help with the cession of further territories – including Cuvio and Luino – and accept the de facto rule of Swiss mercenaries in Milan. In early September, the Swiss entered Burgundy, reaching Dijon on September 8 and besieging that city. Louis de la Trémoille, defending the Burgundian capital, had to enter into negotiations with the Swiss and after a few days concluded an agreement with them; in exchange for a high ransom and the relinquishment by France of its rights to Milan and Asti, the Swiss agreed to withdraw from Burgundy. Taking hostages, the Swiss lifted the siege and returned home; Louis XII took advantage of this and refused to ratify the Treaty of Dijon.
In May, while the French were still fighting in Lombardy, English troops began landing in Calais; King Henry VIII himself also arrived in the city on June 30. Even before his arrival, the English had entered France and besieged Thérouanne on June 22; however, by early August, when Henry joined his army, the city was still defending itself. On August 16, however, the English were victorious over the advancing French army at the Battle of Guinegatte. (On August 23, Thérouanne capitulated. However, Henry VIII could not afford to leave a large garrison in the city, so he soon abandoned the city, having first demolished its fortifications, and marched with his army into the Habsburg Netherlands, where he overran the French enclave of Tournai. Although King James IV of Scotland attacked England in August to relieve his ally Louis XII, on September 9 the English army remaining on the island inflicted defeat on the Scots at the Battle of Flodden Field; James IV himself was killed in the battle, and Scotland withdrew from the war. The French decided to avoid a major battle with the English; Tournai, having received no relief, surrendered at the end of September. The fall of this city ended hostilities in the Netherlands in 1513 In October, Henry VIII, Maximilian I, and representatives of Ferdinand of Aragon signed a treaty at Lille committing the three monarchs to jointly continue the war against France; Henry VIII returned to England shortly thereafter.
In Italy, after the French withdrew from the Duchy of Milan, Ramón de Cardona became active against the Venetian Republic; Maximilian I also sent his troops to Italy to fight the Republic. Spanish and Imperial troops took Brescia, Bergamo, Peschiera, Legnago, Este, and Monselice; their siege of Padua failed. Cardona therefore advanced deep into Venetian territory, reaching Mestre in late September. His artillery even shelled the island of San Secondo in the Venetian Lagoon; without a strong fleet, however, he was unable to threaten the capital of the Republic and began his retreat. The Venetian army, commanded by Bartolomeo d”Alviano, followed him. On October 7, a battle took place between Venetian and Spanish troops near Vicenza, known as the Battle of Schio, La Motta or Creazzo; the Spanish were victorious in this battle. However, they were unable to capitalize on this victory – the Venetians were still not going to make peace on the terms of the League. In Lombardy, the French crews of the castles at Milan and Cremona capitulated at the end of 1513; in Italy, the French now controlled only the lighthouse at Genoa.
There was no large-scale warfare in 1514. The Venetians fought Spanish, Imperial, and Milanese troops in Veneto and Friuli, but neither side in the conflict won a decisive victory. The Venetians managed to recapture Bergamo, Rovigo, and Legnago; Spanish and Milanese troops, however, quickly retook Bergamo. In Liguria, the French defending themselves at the lighthouse at Genoa surrendered. Across the Channel, a small French detachment landed in England, where they burned the fishing village of Brighthelmstone. (The English made a similar raid on the Normandy coast in retaliation. Louis XII was active in the field of diplomacy. In 1513 he improved his relations with Pope Leo X by recognizing the Lateran Council. In early 1514 he renewed the truce with Ferdinand of Aragon; soon afterwards Emperor Maximilian I joined the truce. Henry VIII, preparing for a new invasion of France, recognized that the Emperor and the King of Spain, who had previously promised to continue the war against France, had deceived him. He began negotiations with Louis XII; in August 1514, he made not only peace but also an alliance with the French king, at the same time marrying his sister Marie to him. However, Louis XII had to relinquish the city of Tournai to Henry VIII in return. In the new situation, the French king began to prepare another expedition to Milan; however, he died before the end of the preparations, on January 1, 1515.
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Course
In 1515 there was a change in the French throne, with Francis I on the throne. He did not change the direction of his predecessor”s policy and continued his expansion into Italy. Allied with Venice, he beat the forces of the Holy League at Marigano (1515) and occupied Milan. Emperor Maximilian I tried to recapture the duchy, but he was unsuccessful and in 1517 he concluded a truce at Cambrai. Other countries also decided to sign treaties. Already in 1516, the Swiss signed a treaty at Freiburg, and the Spanish, after Charles Habsburg took the throne, at Noyon.
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Francis I of Valois and Charles V of Habsburg
A new phase of the Italian Wars began when Charles of Habsburg, grandson of Emperor Maximilian I, became in succession to his parents (Philip the Beautiful and Joan of Arc) ruler of the Netherlands and Franche-Comte (1515) and king of Spain (1516). Then, after the death of Maximilian I, he was elected king of the Romano-German Empire in 1519, thus surrounding France on all sides. Francis I recognizing this danger attacked Spain in 1521 and then launched an offensive into Italy itself. Despite initial victories, Francis was defeated at the Battle of La Bicocca in 1522, forcing his retreat beyond the Alps. The following year the French king launched another offensive, which ended even worse for him. In 1525 one of the biggest and bloodiest battles of the 16th century took place near Pavia. The French army lost nearly 12,000 men in the battle, and Francis de Valais was taken prisoner by Charles V. At Madrid he was forced to surrender. In Madrid he was forced to sign a peace treaty in which he renounced his claims to Italian possessions and Burgundy. After signing the treaty, he was released from captivity in 1526, after which Francis immediately stated that he would not abide by a treaty signed under duress.
In 1526 Francis I formed an alliance with Charles”s former allies, terrified by the rise of his power. The Holy League, formed by France, was joined by the Doge of Venice, Pope Clement VII, and the rulers of Milan and Florence. Charles V reacted with lightning speed. By 1527 he had already conquered and sacked Rome to the ground. Fighting continued until 1529, when the two exhausted parties made peace. The Peace of Cambrai in 1529 was kinder to Francis, even though he had to relinquish his claim to Italy, and he was able to retain Burgundy. Charles V was crowned Roman Emperor the following year by Clement VII.
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