Italian Wars of 1499–1504
Second and Third Italian Wars | |||||||
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Part of the Italian Wars | |||||||
![]() The Battle of Cerignola, the first battle in history won by gunpowder small arms.[1] | |||||||
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Second Italian War
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Second Italian War | ||||||
Third Italian War: War over Naples |
Third Italian War: War over Naples | ||||||
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1499:![]() |
The Italian Wars of 1499–1504 are divided into two connected, but distinct phases: the Second Italian War (1499–1501), sometimes known as Louis XII's Italian War, and the Third Italian War (1502–1504) or War over Naples. The first phase was fought for control of the
In the aftermath of the
Timeline
This is an overview of notable events including battles during the wars.
- Prelude (1498–1499)
- 7 April 1498: Charles VIII of France died and was succeeded by his cousin Louis, Duke of Orléans as Louis XII. Louis had participated in the previous war, primarily in the Siege of Novara (1495).
- 9 February 1499: Treaty of Blois (1499), secret alliance between France and Venice to partition the Duchy of Milan.
- Second Italian War (1499–1501)
- 1 September 1499: Ludovico Sforza and his family fled Milan to Innsbruck.
- September 1499: Venetian invasion of the Duchy of Milan and anti-Sforza revolt inside the city of Milan; the rebels opened the gates to the Venetian army commanded by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio.
- 6 October 1499: The French army entered the city of Milan.
- 19 December 1499 – 12 January 1500: Siege of Forlì . Franco-Papal victory by Cesare Borgia over Caterina Sforza.
- 5 February 1500: Ludovico Sforza's Swiss mercenary army retook the city of Milan from the French.
- 21 March 1500: The Sforzescan army retook Novara from the French.
- 8–10 April 1500: Battle of Novara (1500). French victory over Ludovico Sforza.
- 11 November 1500: Treaty of Granada (1500), secret plan between Ferdinand II of Aragon and Louis XII of France to partition the Kingdom of Naples.
- 24 July 1501: Sack of Capua.[3]
- 25 July 1501: Frederick of Naples abdicated the Neapolitan throne after Franco-Aragonese forces occupied Naples.
- Third Italian War (1502–1504)
- 25 December 1502: Battle of Seminara (1502) . French victory over Spain.
- 13 February 1503: Challenge of Barletta. Italian knights in Spanish service won a duel against French knights.
- 23 February 1503: Battle of Ruvo. Spanish victory over France.
- 21 April 1503: Battle of Seminara (1503). Spanish victory over France.
- 28 April 1503: Battle of Cerignola. Spanish victory over France.
- 29 December 1503: Battle of Garigliano (1503). Spanish victory over France and Saluzzo.
- 31 January 1504: Treaty of Lyon. Louis XII of France ceded the entire territory of Naples and Sicily to Ferdinand II of Aragon, while Ferdinand acknowledged Louis' ownership of Milan.
- 22 September 1504: Treaty of Blois (1504) between Louis XII of France and Maximilian I of Habsburg and Philip of Austria.
Second Italian War
Background
The
Although Charles conquered Naples with relative ease, after his return to France, Ferdinand II of Naples quickly regained his kingdom. He did so with support from his distant Trastamaran relative Ferdinand II of Aragon, who as ruler of the neighbouring Kingdom of Sicily viewed French expansion in Southern Italy as a threat. In September 1496, Ferdinand of Naples was succeeded by his uncle Frederick.[6]
War for Milan
Charles VIII died on 7 April 1498
Louis now approached the Republic of Venice, then the leading military power in Northern Italy. Venice had been financing Pisa in its fight for independence from Florence, which was supported by Milan. Doing so had proved extremely expensive while Venice was also concerned by the Ottoman threat to their maritime possessions.[10] As a result, the Great Council was open to an alliance with France to remove Ludovico, although some members disagreed, including Agostino Barbarigo, the current Doge of Venice.[10]
In their initial talks, the Venetians demanded lands on both sides of the
The Treaty of Blois was signed on 9 February 1499, while Pope Alexander VI approved the invasion of Milan in exchange for the French backing Cesare Borgia's campaign in Romagna. Louis hired a strong force of Swiss mercenaries and led by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, his troops quickly over-ran the duchy. Ludovico and his children took refuge in Germany with Emperor Maximilian, while the French entered Milan on 6 October 1499.[12] Following his victory, Louis' Franco-Visconti heraldry and name were painted over the Sforza arms at the Castello Sforzesco, while portraits of French kings replaced those of the Sforza family in the library at Pavia.[13]
However, tensions soon emerged within the Franco-Venetian alliance over Pisa; while the Venetians preferred an independent Pisa as a way to weaken Florence, Louis needed Florentine support for his attack on Naples. With help from Emperor Maximilian, Ludovico recruited an army of 20,000 mercenaries and retook Milan on 5 February 1500; his army then moved north and captured Novara from the French on 21 March. However, his inability to pay his troops meant this success proved short-lived and on April 10 Ludovico's army was annihilated at the Battle of Novara. Despite disguising himself as a Swiss pikeman to evade imprisonment by the French, Sforza was betrayed by his own men and turned over to the French on April 15 and sent into captivity at Lys-Saint-Georges, remaining in French dungeons until his death in 1508.[14] For the next thirteen years, French possession of Milan gave them a base form which to intervene directly in Italy.[15] Despite defeating Ludovico, Louis XII viewed his brief but violent restoration as inspired by Pope Alexander VI and led him to deeply distrust the Holy See end up with France openly hostile and attempting to depose the next pope, Julius II.[16]
Franco-Spanish efforts
As the summer campaign season of the year 1500 neared, Louis XII became worried about the intentions of newly unified Spain as he moved further into Italy, drawing his forces eastward. The Spanish monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were known to be fearful of a new rapprochement between Louis XII and the Italian powers. They might invade France from the west, while Louis XII had his armies in Italy, and thus involve Louis in a war on two fronts. In the Treaty of Granada, signed by Louis and Ferdinand on 11 November 1500, the two agreed Louis would become King of Naples and gain control of Naples, Terra di Lavoro, and Abruzzi while Ferdinand was made Duke of Calabria and Apulia; the territories between were to be shared along with their revenue.[17]
On 25 June 1500, these terms were approved by Pope
Third Italian War
War for Naples
When the conflict broke out again in the second half of 1502, Spanish General
Later, the conflict became characterized by short skirmishes. During this campaign, a French knight, Charles de la Motte, was captured by Spanish forces and later used as a hostage after declaring his famous
Conclusion
The Treaty of Lyon was signed on 31 January 1504 between Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon. Based on the terms of the treaty, France ceded Naples to the Hispanic Monarchy. Moreover, France and Spain defined their respective control of Italian territories. France controlled northern Italy from Milan and Spain controlled Sicily and southern Italy.[26]
The
Conflict would not leave Italy for long; the next phase of the Italian Wars, the War of the League of Cambrai would erupt in 1508 over grievances between Venice and the many other regional powers.[27]
References
- ^ Clodfelter 2017, p. 10.
- ^ Lynn 1994, p. 887.
- ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 60.
- ^ Corio 1565, p. 1029.
- ^ Konstam 2004, p. 64.
- ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 32.
- ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 42–44.
- ^ Guérard 1959, p. 128.
- ^ Gagné 2021, pp. 28–29.
- ^ a b Romane 2020, p. 120.
- ^ Romane 2020, p. 123.
- ^ Gagné 2021, p. 27.
- ^ Gagné 2021, p. 35.
- ^ Gagné 2021, pp. 82–86.
- ^ "The Italian War (1521–1526) - Four Years War - About History". Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- ^ Gagné 2021, p. 23.
- ^ Romane 2020, p. 177.
- ^ a b Pellegrini 2009, pp. 63–65.
- ^ Boone 2007, p. 107.
- ^ Mallett & Shaw 2012, p. 61.
- ^ a b Pellegrini 2009, pp. 67–68.
- ^ a b Mallett & Shaw 2012, pp. 64–65.
- ^ a b Mallett & Shaw 2012, pp. 68–69.
- ^ Romane 2020, p. 242.
- ^ "Heritage History - Products". www.heritage-history.com. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
- ^ a b Romane 2020, p. 249.
- ^ "League of Cambrai | European history". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 2021-06-07.
Sources
- Boone, Rebecca Ard (2007). War, domination, and the Monarchy of France: Claude de Seyssel and the language of politics in the Renaissance. Brill. ISBN 978-9004162143.
- Clodfelter, Micheal (2017). Warfare and Armed Conflicts: A Statistical Encyclopedia of Casualty and Other Figures, 1492-2015. McFarland. ISBN 978-0786474707.
- Corio, Bernardino (1565). L'Historia di Milano (in Italian). Giorgio de' Cavalli.
- Gagné, John (2021). Milan Undone: Contested Sovereignties in the Italian Wars. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0674248724.
- Guérard, Albert (1959). France: A Modern History. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-582-05758-6.
- Konstam, Angus (2004). Historical Atlas of the Renaissance. Facts on File. ISBN 978-0816057313.
- Lynn, John A (1994). "Recalculating French Army Growth during the Grand Siecle, 1610-1715". French Historical Studies. 18 (4): 881–906. JSTOR 286722.
- Mallett, Michael; Shaw, Christine (2012). The Italian Wars: 1494–1559. Pearson Education. ISBN 978-0-582-05758-6.
- Pellegrini, Marco (2009). Le guerre d'Italia. Bologna: Il Mulino.
- Phillips, Charles; Axelrod, Alan (2005). Encyclopedia of Wars. New York: Facts on File. ISBN 0-8160-2851-6.
- Romane, Julian (2020). The First and Second Italian Wars, 1494-1504. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Books. ISBN 9781526750518.
Further reading
- Batista González, Juan (2007). España Estratégica. Guerra y Diplomacia en la Historia de España. Sílex. ISBN 978-84-7737-183-0
- Losada, Juan Carlos (2006). Batallas Decisivas de la Historia de España. Punto de Lectura. ISBN 978-84-663-1484-8
- ISBN 0-688-01645-6
- Bernardino Corio (1565). L'Historia di Milano. presso Giorgio de' Caualli.
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