War of the League of Cambrai

This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war.

Prelude (1506–1508)

• July 1506 – March 1507: A popular revolt in Genoa expelled the city's pro-French nobility to Savona. By late November 1506, king Louis XII of France was planning a military expedition to bring Genoa back under pro-French control.[2]
• 28 March 1507: The Genoese revolutionary council declared war on the king of France, who had already reached Piedmont with his army.[2]
• 22–29 April 1507: Siege of Genoa. French victory over the Genoese revolutionaries. Louis arranged a triumphal entry and forced the Genoese to swear loyalty to him.[3]
• April 1507: Imperial Diet of Konstanz. Maximilian I declared Louis XII of France an enemy of Christianity and a threat to Italy, and requested (and received) funding for an Italienzug. Louis XII denied seeking war with the Empire or the Papacy.
• 14 May 1507: Louis XII left Genoa and held a similar triumphal entry in Milan.[4]
• Late June 1507: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon met at Savona to lay the groundwork for the League of Cambrai against Venice, most likely intending to include Maximilian and the Pope into the coalition.[4]
• July 1507: The Imperial Diet promised Maximilian 12,000 troops for his Italienzug. Because this was not enough to challenge the French in Milan, as he originally intended, Maximilian later ended up deciding to attack Venice instead on the grounds of refusing to ally with him against France, and refusing him passage to Rome.[5]

Maximilian's Italienzug (1508)

• 24 January 1508: Maximilian requested permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but the Venetians suspected the ruse and prepared for war.
• 4 February 1508: Maximilian I proclaimed himself Holy Roman Emperor in Trento.
• Early February 1508: Maximilian declared war on Venice. Venice requested France, then still their ally, to send aid, which Chaumont did in the form of several thousand troops from Milan.[5]
• 20–21 February 1508: Imperial troops invaded Venice, sacking Ampezzo and besieging the Castello di Botestagno.
• 23 February 1508: Imperials captured Pieve di Cadore.
• 24 February 1508: Skirmish at Chiusa di Venas, Imperial victory over Venice.
• 27 February 1508: Imperials captured Castello di Botestagno.
• 2 March 1508: Battle of Cadore. Venetian victory over the Emperor.[5]
• March–May 1508: Successful Venetian counter-offensives into Imperial territory. The Venetians captured Trieste on 6 May.[6]
• Summer 1508: Venice agreed to a separate three-year truce with Maximilian without the knowledge or consent of Louis of France. Angered by this 'betrayal', Louis sought to punish the Venetians, and started contemplating a Franco-German alliance with Maximilian against Venice.[6]

War of the League of Cambrai proper (1508–1510)

• Late November – 10 December 1508: The League of Cambrai was formally concluded.[6]
• 14 May 1509: Battle of Agnadello. French (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
• 15–30 September 1509: Siege of Padua. Venetian victory over the League of Cambrai.
• 22 December 1509: Battle of Polesella. Ferrarese (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
• February 1510: Pope Julius II left the League of Cambrai, and signed peace with Venice.
• May 1510: French, Ferrarese, and Imperial troops invaded Venice.
• July 1510: The Pope and Venice formed an alliance and went on a counter-offensive. The League of Cambrai fell apart, leaving only France and Ferrara at war with Venice and the Pope.

Ferrarese War (1510–1511)

• August 1510: Failed Papal attack on Ferrara.
• 17 August 1510: Papal–Venetian troops captured Modena.
• October 1510: French troops were repulsed at Bologna.
• December 1510: Papal troops captured Concordia.
• 2–19 January 1511: Siege of Mirandola (1511). Papal victory over Ferrara.
• 23 May 1511: French troops captured Bologna after an anti-Papal revolt.
• Late May 1511: French troops recaptured Mirandola.

War of the Holy League proper (1511–1514)

• October 1511: Pope Julius II proclaimed the new Holy League against France, including the Papal States, Venice, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, and the Swiss Confederacy.
• 18 February 1512: Sack of Brescia. French victory over Venice.
• 11 April 1512: Battle of Ravenna (1512). Franco-Ferrarese victory over the Pope.
• May 1512: Holy League troops drove French troops out of Milan.
• June 1512 – June 1515: Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. Spanish victory over France.
• 10 August 1512: Battle of Saint-Mathieu. English victory over France.
• August–December 1512: Holy League negotiations on territorial changes failed. Venice left the League, Milan joined the League.
• 29 December 1512: Swiss mercenaries installed Maximilian Sforza as Duke of Milan.
• 23 March 1513: Venice and France concluded an alliance to partition northern Italy between them.
• 6 June 1513: Battle of Novara (1513). Milanese–Swiss victory over France.
• 16 August 1513: Battle of the Spurs (Guinegate). Anglo-Imperial victory over France.
• 8–13 September 1513: Siege of Dijon. Swiss victory over France.
• 9 September 1513: Battle of Flodden (Flodden Field, Branxton). English victory over Scotland (allied with France). Scotland abandoned France and left the war.
• 7 October 1513: Battle of La Motta (1513). Spanish and Imperial victory over Venice (allied with France).

Francis I's First Italian War (1515–1516)

• 13–14 September 1515: Battle of Marignano (Melegnano). Decisive Franco-Venetian victory over Switzerland and Milan.
• 4 October 1515: French troops captured Milan and dethroned Sforza.
• December 1515: Peace negotiations began.
• August 1516: Treaty of Noyon.
• December 1516: Treaty of Brussels.

In the aftermath of the First Italian War (1494–1498), Pope Alexander VI had, with French assistance, moved to consolidate Papal control over central Italy by seizing the Romagna.[7] Cesare Borgia, acting as Gonfalonier 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.[8] 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.[9] 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 Venetian Senate accepted and had taken possession of Rimini, Faenza, and a number of other cities by the end of 1503.[10]

Julius II, having secured his own control of the Papal armies by arresting and imprisoning Cesare, first in Bologna and later in Ravenna, quickly moved to re-establish Papal control over the Romagna by demanding that Venice return the cities she had seized.[11] The Republic of Venice, although willing to acknowledge Papal sovereignty over these port cities along the Adriatic coast and willing to pay Julius II an annual tribute, refused to surrender the cities themselves.[12] In response, Julius concluded an alliance with France and the Holy Roman Empire against Venice; the death of Isabella I of Castile (26 November 1504) and the resulting collapse of relations between the parties soon dissolved the alliance (the Treaty of Blois (1504), which had ended the Italian Wars of 1499–1504, became a 'dead letter'), but not before Venice had been induced to abandon several of the cities, except for the three key towns of Rimini, Faenza and Cervia.[13] 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 status of quasi-independence.[14]

In 1507, Julius returned to the question of the cities in Venetian hands; once again rebuffed by the Senate, he encouraged Emperor Maximilian I to attack the Republic.[15] 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 (Battle of Cadore, 2 March 1508).[16] A second assault by a Tyrolean force several weeks later was an even greater failure; Alviano not only routed the Imperial army but also seized the entire County of Gorizia, Austrian Istria (county of Pazin), as well as Trieste, Fiume, and the westernmost portions of Carniola, forcing Maximilian to conclude a truce with Venice.[17]

In the spring of 1508, the Republic provoked Julius by appointing her own candidate to the vacant bishopric of Vicenza; in response, the Pope called for all Christian nations to join him in an expedition to subdue Venice.[18] 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.[19] 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 Gorizia, Trieste, Merania, and eastern 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.[20]

On 9 May 1509, Louis crossed the Adda River at the head of a French army and moved rapidly into Venetian territory.[21] To oppose him, Venice had hired a condottiere army under the command of the Orsini cousins—Bartolomeo d'Alviano and Niccolò di Pitigliano—but had failed to account for their disagreement on how best to stop the French advance.[22] 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.[23] Alviano, disregarding the new orders, continued the engagement; his army was eventually surrounded and destroyed.[24] 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.[25]

The Venetian collapse was complete.[26] Louis proceeded to occupy Venetian territory as far east as Brescia without encountering any significant resistance; the Venetians lost all the territory that they had accumulated in northern Italy during the previous century.[27] 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.[28] Julius, having in the meantime issued an interdict against Venice that excommunicated every citizen of the Republic, invaded the Romagna and captured Ravenna with the assistance of Alfonso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara.[29] D'Este, having joined the League and been appointed Gonfalonier on 19 April, seized the Polesine for himself.[30]

The newly arrived Imperial governors, however, quickly proved to be unpopular.[31] In mid-July, the citizens of Padua, aided by detachments of Venetian cavalry under the command of the proveditor Andrea Gritti, revolted.[32] The landsknechts garrisoning the city were too few in number to mount effective resistance, and Padua was restored to Venetian control on 17 July.[33] The success of the revolt finally pushed Maximilian into action.[34] In early August, a massive Imperial army, accompanied by bodies of French and Spanish troops, set out from Trento into the Veneto.[35] Because of a lack of horses, as well as general disorganization, Maximilian's forces were slow to begin the siege of Padua, giving Pitigliano the time to concentrate such troops as were still available to him in the city.[36] 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 1 October and withdrew to Tyrol with the main part of his army.[37]

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, recapturing Vicenza, Este, Feltre, and Belluno; an attack on Verona failed, but Pitigliano destroyed a Papal army under Francesco II of Gonzaga in the process.[38] Angelo Trevisan organized a river attack on Ferrara by the Venetian galley fleet, but the resulting Battle of Polesella ended in another defeat for the Republic when the Venetian ships anchored in the Po River were sunk by Ferrarese artillery.[39]

Faced with a shortage of both funds and men, the Senate decided to send an embassy to Julius in order to negotiate a settlement.[40] 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.[41] The Senate argued over the terms for two months, but finally accepted them in February 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.[42]

This apparent reconciliation between Venice and the Pope did not stop multiple French, Ferrarese, and Imperial armies from invading Venetian territory in May 1510.[43] Gianpaolo Baglioni and Andrea Gritti, left in command of the Venetian forces by Pitigliano's death in January, withdrew to Padua; by 24 May, the League's armies had taken Vicenza and the Polesine, and were advancing on Legnago.[44] Gritti fortified Padua for an expected attack by a combined Franco-Imperial army, but Louis, frustrated by Maximilian's failure to appear in person and distracted by the death of his advisor, the Cardinal d'Amboise, abandoned his plans for a siege.[45]

Julius, meanwhile, had become increasingly concerned by the growing French presence in Italy; more significantly, alienated from Alfonso d'Este by friction over a licence for a salt monopoly in the Papal States and Alfonso's continued forays against Venetian forces to secure his recently reacquired Polesine, he had formulated plans to seize the Duchy of Ferrara, a French ally, and to add its territory to the Papal States.[46] 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.[47] The Republic, facing a renewed French onslaught, readily accepted the offer.[48]

Alfonso I d'Este, 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.[49] 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.[50] Julius now excommunicated Alfonso d'Este, thus justifying an attack on the Duchy of Ferrara itself; in anticipation of his coming victory, the Pope traveled to Bologna, so as to be nearby when Ferrara was taken.[51]

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.[52] In early October, Charles II d'Amboise advanced on Bologna, splitting the Papal forces; by 18 October, he was only a few miles from the city.[53] 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.[54]

Pope Julius II on the walls of the conquered city of Mirandola (oil on canvas by Raffaello Tancredi, 1890, City Hall of Mirandola)

In December 1510, a newly assembled Papal army conquered Concordia and besieged the fortress of Mirandola; d'Amboise, marching to relieve the latter, fell ill and died, briefly leaving the French in disarray; the pope took personal command of the siege, and Mirandola fell in January 1511.[55] 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.[56] Cardinal Francesco 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, in May 1511, a French army commanded by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio approached, the citizens of Bologna revolted, expelled Alidosi, and opened their gates to the French.[57] 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.[58]

In October 1511, Julius proclaimed a Holy League against France.[59] The new alliance included not only Spain and the Holy Roman Empire (which abandoned any pretense of adhering to the League of Cambrai in hopes of seizing Navarre from Queen Catherine 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 on 17 November.[60]

The death of Gaston de Foix during the Battle of Ravenna heralded a long period of defeats for France.

Louis now appointed his nephew, Gaston de Foix, to command the French forces in Italy.[61] Foix proved more energetic than d'Amboise and Trivulzio 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.[62] 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.[63] Cardona marched to relieve the city in early April 1512, and was decisively beaten in the resulting Battle of Ravenna, fought on Easter Sunday; 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.[64]

By May 1512, the French position had deteriorated considerably.[65] 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.[66] The French garrisons abandoned the Romagna (where the Duke of Urbino quickly captured Bologna and Parma) and retreated to Lombardy, attempting to intercept the invasion.[67] By August, the Swiss had combined with the Venetian army and forced Trivulzio out of Milan, allowing Sforza to be proclaimed Duke with their support; La Palice was then forced to withdraw across the Alps.[68]

In 1512 Thomas Grey, 2nd Marquess of Dorset led an unsuccessful English military expedition to France to reconquer Aquitaine, which England had lost during the Hundred Years' War. Ferdinand of Aragon gave none of the support he had promised. While Ferdinand delayed and tried to persuade Dorset to help him to attack Navarre instead of Aquitaine, the English army's food, beer, and pay ran out, many took to wine and became ill, and the army mutinied. Back in England, Dorset had to face a trial.[69]

In late August, the members of the League met at Mantua to discuss the situation in Italy and the partition of territory acquired from the French.[70] 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 Florentine Republic, and installed Giuliano de' Medici as ruler of the city.[71] On the subject of territory, however, fundamental disagreements quickly arose.[72] Julius and the Venetians insisted that Maximilian Sforza be permitted to keep the Duchy of Milan, while Emperor Maximilian and Ferdinand maneuvered to have one of their relatives installed as duke.[73] The Pope demanded the annexation of Ferrara to the Papal States; Ferdinand objected to this arrangement, desiring the existence of an independent Ferrara to counter growing Papal power.[74] The Emperor refused to relinquish any Imperial territory, which in his eyes included most of the Veneto, and 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.[75] 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.[76] Pope Julius II, meanwhile, had died in February, and Cardinal Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and elder brother of the new ruler of Florence, was elected Pope Leo X.

In 1515, the Franco-Venetian alliance decisively defeated the Holy League at the Battle of Marignano.

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.[77] 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 resistance; Trémoille, having seized Milan, besieged the remaining Swiss in Novara.[78] On 6 June, the French were attacked by a Swiss relief army at the Battle of Novara, and were routed despite having superior numbers.[79] Detachments of the Swiss army pursued the fleeing French over the Alps and had reached Dijon before being bribed into withdrawing.[80]

The rout at Novara inaugurated a period of defeats for the French alliance. English troops under Henry VIII besieged Thérouanne, defeated La Palice at the Battle of the Spurs, and captured Tournai.[81] 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.[82] James IV of Scotland invaded England at the behest of Louis;[83] but he failed to draw Henry's attention from France, and his death—and the Scots' catastrophic defeat—at the Battle of Flodden on 9 September 1513, ended Scotland's brief involvement in the war.[84]

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.[85] Cardona attempted a bombardment of the city that proved largely ineffective; then, having no boats with which to cross the Venetian Lagoon, turned back for Lombardy.[86] 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.[87] Cardona and Alviano continued to skirmish in the Friuli for the remainder of 1513 and through 1514.[88]

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.[89] 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.[90] The French vanguard surprised the Milanese cavalry at Villafranca, capturing Prospero Colonna;[91] meanwhile, Francis and the main body of the French confronted the Swiss at the Battle of Marignano on 13 September.[92] The Swiss advance initially made headway; however, Francis's 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 decisive victory for Francis and the Venetians.[93]

The Triumph of Venice (oil on canvas by Pompeo Batoni, 1737) depicts Leonardo Loredan, Doge of Venice during the war.

After the victory at Marignano, Francis advanced on Milan, capturing the city on 4 October and removing Sforza from the throne.[94] 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.[95] In return, Leo received guarantees of French noninterference in his proposed attack on the Duchy of Urbino.[96] 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.[97]

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.[98] 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.[99] The peace, however, would last only four years; the growing rivalry between the House of Valois and the House of Habsburg, and the election of Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor in 1519, would soon lead to the Italian War of 1521–26.[100]