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War of the League of Cambrai

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                       War of the League of Cambrai
   Part of the Italian Wars
   Northern Italy in 1494
   Northern Italy in 1494; by the start of the war in 1508, Louis XII had
   expelled the Sforza from the Duchy of Milan and added its territory to
   France.

     Date   1508–16
   Location Italy, France, England, and Spain
    Result  Franco-Venetian victory
                          War of the League of Cambrai
   Agnadello – Padua – Brescia – Ravenna – St. Mathieu – Novara –
   Guinegate – Flodden Field – La Motta – Marignano
   Italian Wars
   First – Second – League of Cambrai – Urbino – 1521 – League of Cognac –
   1535 – 1542 – 1551

   The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the
   Holy League and by several other names, was a major conflict in the
   Italian Wars. The principal participants of the war, which was fought
   from 1508 to 1516, were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of
   Venice; they were joined, at various times, by nearly every significant
   power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the
   Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Scotland, the Duchy of Milan,
   Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.

   Pope Julius II had intended that the war would curb Venetian influence
   in northern Italy, and had, to this end, created the League of Cambrai
   (named after Cambrai, where the negotiations took place), an alliance
   against the Republic that included, besides himself, Louis XII of
   France, Emperor Maximilian I, and Ferdinand I of Spain. Although the
   League was initially successful, friction between Julius and Louis
   caused it to collapse by 1510; Julius then allied himself with Venice
   against France.

   The Veneto-Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League,
   which drove the French from Italy in 1512; disagreements about the
   division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the alliance in
   favour of one with France. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had
   succeeded Louis to the throne, the French and Venetians would, through
   their victory at Marignano in 1515, regain the territory they had lost;
   the treaties of Noyon and Brussels, which ended the war the next year,
   would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.

Prelude

   In the aftermath of the First Italian War, Pope Alexander VI had moved
   to consolidate Papal control over central Italy by seizing the Romagna.
   Cesare Borgia, acting as gonfaloniere of the Papal armies, had expelled
   the Bentivoglio family from Bologna, which they had ruled as a fief,
   and was well on his way towards establishing a permanent Borgia state
   in the region when Alexander died on 18 August 1503. Although Cesare
   managed to seize the remnants of the Papal treasury for his own use, he
   was unable to secure Rome itself, as French and Spanish armies
   converged on the city in an attempt to influence the Papal conclave;
   the election of Pius III (who soon died, to be replaced by Julius II)
   stripped Cesare of his titles and relegated him to commanding a company
   of men-at-arms. Sensing Cesare's weakness, the dispossessed lords of
   the Romagna offered to submit to the Republic of Venice in exchange for
   aid in regaining their dominions; the Senate accepted and had taken
   possession of Rimini, Faenza, and a number of other cities by the end
   of 1503.

   Julius II, having secured his own control of the Papal armies by
   arresting and imprisoning Cesare, first in Rome and later in Madrid,
   quickly moved to re-establish Papal control over the Romagna by
   demanding that Venice return the cities she had seized; the Republic,
   although willing to acknowledge Papal sovereignty over them and pay
   Julius an annual tribute, refused to surrender the cities themselves.
   In response, Julius concluded an alliance with France and the Holy
   Roman Empire against Venice; the death of Isabella of Castile and the
   resulting collapse of relations between the parties soon dissolved the
   alliance, but not before Venice had been induced to abandon several of
   the cities. Julius, although unsatisfied with his gains, did not
   himself possess sufficient forces to fight the Republic; for the next
   two years he instead occupied himself with the reconquest of Bologna
   and Perugia, which, located between Papal and Venetian territory, had
   in the meantime assumed a state of quasi-independence.

   In 1507, Julius returned to the question of the cities in Venetian
   hands; once again rebuffed by the Senate, he encouraged the recently
   elected Emperor Maximilian I to attack the Republic. Maximilian, using
   his journey to Rome for the Imperial coronation as a pretext, entered
   Venetian territory with a large army in February 1508 and advanced on
   Vicenza, but was defeated by a Venetian army under Bartolomeo
   d'Alviano. A second assault by a Tyrolean force several weeks later was
   an even greater failure; Alviano not only routed the Imperial army but
   also proceeded to seize Trieste and Fiume, forcing Maximilian to
   conclude a truce with Venice.

League of Cambrai (1508–10)

   Combatants in the War of the League of Cambrai
            League of Cambrai (1508–10)
   Papal States,
   France,
   Holy Roman Empire,
   Spain,
   Duchy of Ferrara   Republic of Venice
          Veneto-Papal alliance (1510–11)
   Papal States,
   Republic of Venice France,
                      Duchy of Ferrara
        Holy League against France (1511–13)
   Papal States,
   Republic of Venice,
   Spain,
   Holy Roman Empire,
   England,
   Swiss              France,
                      Duchy of Ferrara
         Franco-Venetian alliance (1513–16)
   Papal States,
   Spain,
   Holy Roman Empire,
   England,
   Duchy of Milan,
   Swiss              Republic of Venice,
                      France,
                      Scotland,
                      Duchy of Ferrara

   Julius, humiliated by the failure of the Imperial invasion, turned to
   Louis XII of France (who, having been left in possession of Milan after
   the Second Italian War, was interested in further expansion into Italy)
   with an offer of alliance. In mid-March, the Republic provided a
   pretext for an attack on itself by appointing her own candidate to the
   vacant bishopric of Vicenza (an act in keeping with prevailing custom,
   though Julius considered it a personal provocation); the Pope proceeded
   to call for all Christian nations to join him in an expedition to
   subdue Venice. On 10 December 1508, representatives of the Papacy,
   France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Ferdinand I of Spain concluded the
   League of Cambrai against the Republic. The agreement provided for the
   complete dismemberment of Venice's territory in Italy and for its
   partition among the signatories: Maximilian, in addition to regaining
   Istria, would receive Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and the Friuli; France
   would annex Brescia, Crema, Bergamo, and Cremona to its Milanese
   possessions; Ferdinand would seize Otranto; and the remainder,
   including Rimini and Ravenna, would be added to the Papal States.

   On 15 April 1509, Louis left Milan at the head of a French army and
   moved rapidly into Venetian territory. To oppose him, Venice had hired
   a condottiere army under the command of the Orsini cousins—Bartolomeo
   d'Alviano and Nicolo di Pitigliano—but had failed to account for the
   fact that the two disagreed on how best to stop the French advance.
   Consequently, when Louis crossed the Adda River in early May and
   Alviano advanced to meet him, Pitigliano, believing it best to avoid a
   pitched battle, moved away to the south. On 14 May, Alviano confronted
   the French at the Battle of Agnadello; outnumbered, he sent requests
   for reinforcements to his cousin, who replied with orders to break off
   the battle and continued on his way. Alviano, disregarding the new
   orders, continued the engagement; his army was eventually surrounded
   and destroyed. Pitigliano managed to avoid encountering Louis; but his
   mercenary troops, hearing of Alviano's defeat, had deserted in large
   numbers by the next morning, forcing him to retreat to Treviso with the
   remnants of the Venetian army.

   The Venetian collapse was complete; Louis proceeded to occupy Venetian
   territory as far east as Brescia without encountering any significant
   resistance. The major cities that had not been occupied by the
   French—Padua, Verona, and Vicenza—were left undefended by Pitigliano's
   withdrawal, and quickly surrendered to Maximilian when Imperial
   emissaries arrived in the Veneto. Julius, having in the meantime issued
   an interdict against Venice that excommunicated every citizen of the
   Republic, invaded the Romagna and seized Ravenna with the assistance of
   the Duke of Ferrara, who had joined the League and seized the Polesine
   for himself.

   The newly arrived Imperial governors, however, quickly proved to be
   unpopular. In mid-July, the citizens of Padua, aided by detachments of
   Venetian cavalry under the command of the proveditor Andrea Gritti,
   revolted; the landsknechts garrisoning the city were too few in number
   to mount effective resistance and Padua was restored to Venetian
   control on 17 July. The success of the revolt finally pushed Maximilian
   into action. In early August, a massive Imperial army, accompanied by
   bodies of French and Spanish troops, set out from Trento into the
   Veneto. Because of a lack of horses, as well as general
   disorganization, Maximilian's forces would not reach Padua until
   September, giving Pitigliano the time to concentrate such troops as
   were still available to him in the city. The Siege of Padua began on 15
   September; although French and Imperial artillery successfully breached
   Padua's walls, the defenders managed to hold the city until Maximilian,
   growing impatient, lifted the siege on 30 September and withdrew to
   Tyrol with the main part of his army.
   Pope Julius II, painted by Raphael (oil on wood, c. 1511). Julius
   attempted to secure Papal authority in Italy by creating the League of
   Cambrai, an alliance aimed at curbing Venetian power.
   Enlarge
   Pope Julius II, painted by Raphael (oil on wood, c. 1511). Julius
   attempted to secure Papal authority in Italy by creating the League of
   Cambrai, an alliance aimed at curbing Venetian power.

   In mid-November, Pitigliano returned to the offensive; Venetian troops
   easily defeated the remaining Imperial forces, capturing Vicenza, Este,
   Feltre, and Belluno. Although a subsequent attack on Verona failed,
   Pitigliano managed to destroy a Papal army under Francesco II of
   Gonzaga in the process. A river attack on Ferrara by the Venetian
   galley fleet under Angelo Trevisan failed, however, when the Venetian
   ships, anchored in the Po River, were sunk by Ferrarese artillery; and
   a new French advance soon forced Pitigliano to withdraw to Padua once
   again.

   Faced with a shortage of both funds and men, the Senate decided to send
   an embassy to Julius in order to negotiate a settlement. The terms
   insisted on by the Pope were harsh: the Republic lost her traditional
   power to appoint clergy in her territory, as well as all jurisdiction
   over Papal subjects in Venice, the Romagnan cities that had prompted
   the war were to be returned to Julius, and reparations were to be paid
   to cover his expenses in capturing them. The Senate argued over the
   terms for two months, but finally accepted them on February 24, 1510.
   Even before the Venetian ambassadors had presented themselves to Julius
   for absolution, however, the Council of Ten had privately resolved that
   the terms had been accepted under duress and were therefore invalid;
   and that Venice should violate them at the earliest opportunity.

   This reconciliation between Venice and the Pope did not stop the French
   from again invading the Veneto in March. Pitigliano's death in January
   had left Andrea Gritti in command of the Venetian forces; although
   Maximilian failed to reinforce Louis, the French army was nonetheless
   sufficient to drive the Venetians from Vicenza by May. Gritti
   garrisoned Padua for an expected attack by a combined Franco-Imperial
   army; but Louis, more concerned by the death of his advisor, the
   Cardinal d'Amboise, abandoned his plans for a siege.

Veneto-Papal alliance (1510–11)

   Julius, meanwhile, had become increasingly concerned by the growing
   French presence in Italy; more significantly, he had formulated plans
   to seize the Duchy of Ferrara, a French ally, and to add its territory
   to the Papal States. His own forces being inadequate for the venture,
   the Pope hired an army of Swiss mercenaries, ordering them to attack
   the French in Milan; he also invited Venice to ally with him against
   Louis. The Republic, facing a renewed French onslaught, readily
   accepted the offer.
   Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara; excommunicated by Julius, he
   inflicted a number of defeats on the Papal forces.
   Enlarge
   Alfonso d'Este, the Duke of Ferrara; excommunicated by Julius, he
   inflicted a number of defeats on the Papal forces.

   By July 1510, the new Veneto-Papal alliance was on the offensive. An
   initial attack on French-occupied Genoa failed, but Venetian troops
   under Lucio Malvezzo finally drove the French from Vicenza in early
   August; and a joint force commanded by Francesco Maria della Rovere,
   the Duke of Urbino, captured Modena on 17 August. Julius now
   excommunicated Alfonso d'Este, thus justifying an attack on the Duchy
   itself; in anticipation of his coming victory, the Pope traveled to
   Bologna, so as to be nearby when Ferrara was taken.

   The French army, however, had been left unopposed by the Swiss (who,
   having arrived in Lombardy, had been bribed into leaving by Louis) and
   was free to march south into the heart of Italy. In early October,
   Charles d'Amboise advanced on Bologna, splitting the Papal forces; by
   18 October, he was only a few miles from the city. Julius now realized
   that the Bolognese were openly hostile to the Papacy and would not
   offer any resistance to the French; left with only a detachment of
   Venetian cavalry, he resorted to excommunicating d'Amboise, who had in
   the meantime been convinced by the English ambassador to avoid
   attacking the person of the Pope and had thus withdrawn to Ferrara.

   In December, a newly assembled Papal army besieged the fortress of
   Mirandola; d'Amboise, marching to relieve it, fell ill and died,
   briefly leaving the French in disarray. Alfonso d'Este, meanwhile,
   confronted and destroyed the Venetian forces on the Po River, leaving
   Bologna isolated once more. Julius, afraid of being trapped by the
   French, departed the city for Ravenna. Cardinal Alidosi, whom he left
   behind to command the defense of the city, was no better liked by the
   Bolognese than Julius himself had been; and when, on 23 May 1511, a
   French army commanded by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio arrived at the gates,
   they quickly surrendered. Julius blamed this defeat on the Duke of
   Urbino, who, finding this quite unfair, proceeded to murder Alidosi in
   full view of the Papal guard.

Holy League (1511–13)

   By June 1511, most of the Romagna was in French hands; the Papal army,
   disorganized and underpaid, was in no condition to prevent Trivulzio
   from advancing on Ravenna. In response to this debacle, Julius
   proclaimed a Holy League against France. The new alliance rapidly grew
   to include not only Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, who abandoned any
   pretense of adhering to the League of Cambrai in hopes of seizing
   Navarre and Lombardy from Louis, but also Henry VIII of England (who,
   having decided to use the occasion as an excuse to expand his holdings
   in northern France, concluded the Treaty of Westminster—a pledge of
   mutual aid against the French—with Ferdinand in November 1511).
   The death of Gaston de Foix during the Battle of Ravenna heralded a
   long period of defeats for France.
   Enlarge
   The death of Gaston de Foix during the Battle of Ravenna heralded a
   long period of defeats for France.

   In February 1512, Louis appointed his nephew, Gaston de Foix, to
   command the French forces in Italy. Foix proved more energetic than
   Amboise had been; having checked the advance of Ramón de Cardona's
   Spanish troops on Bologna, he returned to Lombardy to sack Brescia,
   which had rebelled against the French and garrisoned itself with
   Venetian troops. Aware that much of the French army would be diverted
   to deal with the impending English invasion, Foix and Alfonso d'Este
   besieged Ravenna, the last Papal stronghold in the Romagna, in hopes of
   forcing the Holy League into a decisive engagement. Cardona marched to
   relieve the city in early April, and was decisively beaten in the
   resulting Battle of Ravenna; the death of Foix during the fighting,
   however, left the French under the command of Jacques de la Palice,
   who, unwilling to continue the campaign without direct orders from
   Louis, contented himself with thoroughly sacking Ravenna.

   By May 1512, the French position had deteriorated considerably. Julius
   had hired another army of Swiss mercenaries; they descended on Milan,
   bringing with them Maximilian Sforza, who was determined to regain
   control of the Duchy for his family. La Palice abandoned the Romagna
   (where the Duke of Urbino quickly captured Bologna and Parma) and
   retreated to Lombardy, attempting to intercept the invasion. By August,
   the Swiss had combined with the Venetian army and forced Triviulzio out
   of Milan, allowing Sforza to be proclaimed Duke with their support; La
   Palice was then forced to withdraw across the Alps.

   In late August, the members of the League met at Mantua to discuss the
   situation in Italy (particularly the partition of territory acquired
   from the French). They quickly came to an agreement regarding Florence,
   which had angered Julius by allowing Louis to convene the Council of
   Pisa in its territory. At the Pope's request, Ramon de Cardona marched
   into Tuscany, smashed Florentine resistance, overthrew the Republic,
   and installed Cardinal Giuliano de' Medici as ruler of the city.

   On the subject of territory, however, fundamental disagreements quickly
   arose. Julius and the Venetians insisted that Maximilian Sforza be
   permitted to keep the Duchy of Milan; Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinand
   conspired instead to have one of their cousins installed as duke. The
   Pope demanded the immediate annexation of Ferrara to the Papal States;
   Ferdinand objected to this arrangement, desiring the existence of an
   independent Ferrara to counter growing Papal power. Most problematic,
   however, was the attitude of Maximilian towards Venice. The Emperor
   refused to surrender any Imperial territory, which in his eyes included
   most of the Veneto, to the Republic; to this end, he signed an
   agreement with the Pope to exclude Venice entirely from the final
   partition. When the Republic objected, Julius threatened to reform the
   League of Cambrai against her. In response, Venice turned to Louis; on
   23 March 1513, a treaty pledging to divide all of northern Italy
   between France and the Republic was signed at Blois.

Franco-Venetian alliance (1513–16)

   In late May 1513, a French army commanded by Louis de la Trémoille
   crossed the Alps and advanced on Milan; at the same time, Bartolomeo
   d'Alviano and the Venetian army marched west from Padua. The
   unpopularity of Maximilian Sforza, who was seen by the Milanese as a
   puppet of his Swiss mercenaries, enabled the French to move through
   Lombardy with little resitance; Trémoille, having seized Milan,
   besieged the remaining Swiss in Novara. On 6 June, the French were
   attacked by a Swiss relief army at the Battle of Novara, and were
   routed despite having superior numbers. Detachments of the Swiss army
   pursued the fleeing French over the Alps and had reached Dijon before
   being bribed into withdrawing.

   The rout at Novara inaugurated a period of continuous defeats for the
   French alliance. English troops under Henry VIII attacked La Palice at
   the Battle of Guinegate, scattered the French forces, and proceeded to
   sack Therouanne. In Navarre, resistance to Ferdinand's invasion
   collapsed; he rapidly consolidated his hold over the entire region and
   moved to support another English offensive in the Guyenne. James IV of
   Scotland invaded England at the behest of Louis; he failed to draw
   Henry's attention from France, and his disastrous defeat at the Battle
   of Flodden Field on 9 September 1513, ended Scotland's brief
   involvement in the war.
   In 1515, the Franco-Venetian alliance decisively defeated the Holy
   League at the Battle of Marignano.
   Enlarge
   In 1515, the Franco-Venetian alliance decisively defeated the Holy
   League at the Battle of Marignano.

   Meanwhile, Alviano, unexpectedly left without French support, retreated
   into the Veneto, pursued closely by the Spanish army under Cardona.
   While the Spanish were unable to capture Padua in the face of
   determined Venetian resistance, they penetrated deep into Venetian
   territory and by late September were in sight of Venice itself. Cardona
   attempted a bombardment of the city that proved largely ineffective;
   then, having no boats with which to cross the lagoon, turned back for
   Lombardy. Alviano, having been reinforced by hundreds of volunteers
   from the Venetian nobility, pursued Cardona and confronted him outside
   Vicenza on 7 October. In the resulting Battle of La Motta, the Venetian
   army was decisively defeated, with many prominent noblemen cut down
   outside the city walls as they attempted to flee.

   However, the Holy League failed to follow up on these victories.
   Cardona and Alviano continued to skirmish in the Friuli for the rest of
   1513 and through 1514, fighting several inconclusive battles, but
   Cardona was unable to make any real progress. Henry VIII, having failed
   to gain any significant territory, concluded a separate peace with
   France. Finally, the death of Julius left the League without a leader;
   Julius' successor to the Papacy, Leo X, was rather less concerned with
   military matters.

   The death of Louis XII on 1 January 1515, brought Francis I to the
   throne. Having assumed the title of Duke of Milan at his coronation,
   Francis immediately moved to reclaim his holdings in Italy. By July,
   Francis had assembled an army in the Dauphiné. A combined Swiss and
   Papal force moved north from Milan to block the Alpine passes against
   him, but Francis, following the advice of Gian Giacomo Trivulzio,
   avoided the main passes and marched instead through the valley of the
   Stura. The French vanguard surprised the Milanese cavalry at
   Villafranca, capturing Prospero Colonna; meanwhile, Francis and the
   main body of the French confronted the Swiss at the Battle of Marignano
   on 13 September. The Swiss advance initially made headway; however,
   Francis' superiority in cavalry and artillery, together with the timely
   arrival of Alviano (who had successfully avoided Cardona's army at
   Verona) on the morning of 14 September, led to a strategically decisive
   victory for Francis and the Venetians.

Aftermath

   After the defeat at Marignano, the League no longer possessed the
   ability or the will to continue the war. Francis advanced on Milan,
   capturing the city on 4 October and removing Sforza from the throne. In
   December, he met with Leo at Bologna; the pope, who had in the meantime
   been deserted by the remainder of his Swiss mercenaries, surrendered
   Parma and Piacenza to Francis and Modena to the Duke of Ferrara. In
   return, Leo received guarantees of French noninterference in his
   proposed attack on the Duchy of Urbino. Finally, the Treaty of Noyon,
   signed by Francis and Charles V in August 1516, recognized French
   claims to Milan and Spanish claims to Naples, removing Spain from the
   war.

   Maximilian held out, making another attempt to invade Lombardy; his
   army failed to reach Milan before turning back, and by December 1516,
   he had entered into negotiations with Francis. The resulting Treaty of
   Brussels not only accepted French occupation of Milan, but also
   confirmed Venetian claims to the remainder of the Imperial possessions
   in Lombardy (except for Cremona), effectively ending the war with a
   return to the status quo of 1508. The peace, however, would last only
   four years; the election of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519
   caused Francis, who had desired the position for himself, to begin the
   Italian War of 1521. The Italian Wars, thus reignited, would then
   continue until 1530 without significant interruption.
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