War of the League of Cognac

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War of the League of Cognac
Part of the
Siege of Florence
, 1530, fought during the War of the League of Cognac
Date1526–1530
Location
Italy
Result

Habsburg victory

Belligerents
Pro-Habsburg:
 League of Cognac:
Commanders and leaders

The War of the League of Cognac (1526–30) was fought between the

Habsburg dominions of Charles V—primarily the Holy Roman Empire and Spain—and the League of Cognac, an alliance including the Kingdom of France, Pope Clement VII, the Republic of Venice, the Kingdom of England, the Duchy of Milan, and the Republic of Florence
.

Prelude

Shocked by the defeat of the

Henry VIII of England, thwarted in his requests to have the treaty signed in England, refused to join.[1]

Initial moves

The League quickly seized

Colonna, meanwhile, organized an attack on Rome, defeating the Papal forces and briefly seizing control of the city in September 1526; they were soon paid off and departed, however.[3]

Sack of Rome

Further information: Sack of Rome (1527)

Charles V now gathered a force of 14,000 German

last stand
.

Siege of Naples

Further information:
Siege of Naples (1527)

The looting of Rome, and the consequent removal of Clement from any real role in the war, prompted frantic action on the part of the French. On 30 April 1527, Henry VIII and Francis signed the Treaty of Westminster, pledging to combine their forces against Charles. Francis, having finally drawn Henry VIII into the League, sent an army under

siege.[5]

Siege of Genoa

Doria, however, soon deserted the French for Charles. The siege collapsed as plague broke out in the French camp, killing most of the army along with Foix and Navarro. Andrea Doria's offensive in Genoa (where he soon broke the blockade of the city and forced the surrender of the French at Savona), together with the decisive defeat of a French relief force under Francis de Bourbon, Comte de St. Pol at the Battle of Landriano, ended Francis's hopes of regaining his hold on Italy.[6]

Barcelona, Cambrai, and Bologna

See also: Treaty of Cambrai
Pope Clement VII
Louise of Savoy

Following the defeat of his armies, Francis sought peace with Charles. The negotiations began in July 1529 in the border city of

Margaret of Austria for her nephew the Emperor (leading to its being known as the Paix des Dames, Peace of the Ladies), Charles himself having sailed from Barcelona to Italy shortly before. The final terms largely mirrored those of the Treaty of Madrid three years earlier; Francis surrendered his rights to Artois, Flanders, and Tournai, and was obliged to pay a ransom of two million golden écus before his sons were to be released.[7] Removed, however, were both the humiliating surrender of Burgundy itself and the various points dealing with Charles de Bourbon, who, having been killed two years prior, was no longer a candidate for leading an independent Kingdom of Provence.[8] The final Treaty of Cambrai
, signed on 3 August, removed France from the war, leaving Venice, Florence, and the Pope alone against Charles.

Charles, having arrived in Genoa, proceeded to

scudi.[10]

Fall of the Florentine Republic

Further information: Siege of Florence (1529–1530)
Alessandro de' Medici was installed as ruler of Florence
by the victorious Imperial troops.

The

Alessandro de' Medici was then installed as Duke of Florence by Pope Clement VII
, and from then on Florence became a hereditary realm of the powerful Medici dynasty, ending centuries of republican rule.

Notes

  1. ^ Guicciardini, History of Italy, 369.
  2. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 60.
  3. ^ Guicciardini, History of Italy, 372–375.
  4. ^ Guicciardini, History of Italy, 376.
  5. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 61.
  6. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 63.
  7. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 68; Hackett, Francis the First, 356.
  8. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 67.
  9. ^ Norwich, History of Venice, 443–444.
  10. ^ Blockmans, Emperor Charles V, 64.

References

  • Arfaioli, Maurizio. The Black Bands of Giovanni: Infantry and Diplomacy During the Italian Wars (1526–1528). Pisa: Pisa University Press, Edizioni Plus, 2005.
    ISBN 88-8492-231-3
    .
  • Baumgartner, Frederic J. Louis XII. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994.
    ISBN 0-312-12072-9
    .
  • ISSN 1040-5992
    .
  • ISBN 0-340-73110-9
    .
  • ISBN 0-691-00800-0
    .
  • Hackett, Francis. Francis the First. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1937.
  • Hall, Bert. Weapons and Warfare in Renaissance Europe: Gunpowder, Technology, and Tactics. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.
    ISBN 0-8018-5531-4
    .
  • Hibbert, Christopher. Florence: The Biography of a City. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1993.
    ISBN 0-393-03563-8
    .
  • Konstam, Angus. Pavia 1525: The Climax of the Italian Wars. Oxford:
    ISBN 1-85532-504-7
    .
  • ISBN 0-679-72197-5
    .
  • Oman, Charles. A History of the Art of War in the Sixteenth Century. London: Methuen & Co., 1937.
  • Phillips, Charles and Alan Axelrod. Encyclopedia of Wars. 3 vols. New York: Facts on File, 2005.
    ISBN 0-8160-2851-6
    .
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