The wars in Italy: The Holy League against France
Pope Julius II, frightened by the idea that the collapse of Venice would too much strengthen the foreign presence in Italy, created a new alliance - the Holy League (1511), supported by Spain, England, Venice and Switzerland - to reduce French power.
The Battle of the Ravens (11 April 1512) saw a clash of armies. The result of the battle was favorable for the French, but the death of General Gastone di Fua did not allow them to take advantage of it. France was forced to abandon Milan and the duchy was handed over to Ludovico Il Moro's son, Massimiliano Sforza; the allied Republic of Florence with France was torn down by the Spanish, who restored the power of the Medici.
France and Spain are fighting for conquest and dominance on the Italian peninsula.
Louis XII died in 1515, the new King Francis I set himself the goal of conquering Milan, which protected the Swiss. The battle that won for the French took place at the Battle of Marignano (1515); peace was restored by the Treaty of Noyon (1516): Spain was attributed to the Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, and the French Duchy of Milan to Milan.
This treaty came into crisis when Charles V of Hapsburg was elected emperor in 1519 after the death of his grandfather Maximilian I of Hapsburg. Between 1521 and 1559, a series of wars broke out in France and Spain for the conquest of Italy.
The war in Italy between Charles V and Francis I.
In 1521 Charles V went to Italy to return Milan: he defeated the French in Pavia (1525) and took King Francis I hostage. In 1521 Charles V returned to Milan. The French king was deported to Spain and forced to sign the Treaty of Madrid (1526), with which he pledged to grant Milan and Burgundy to Charles V in exchange for his freedom.
However, after his release, Francis I did not respect the agreement; he said that the Treaty of Madrid had been withdrawn from him. He then established an anti-Hasburg alliance, the League of Cognacs (1526), which was joined by England's Henry VIII, Pope Clement VII (of the Medici family), Florence, Milan and Venice.
The emperor and his army reached Rome and plundered him (for more information, read I Lanzichenecchi and il Sacco di Rome 1527).
Meanwhile, the protest against the fate of the pope grew, who was forced to take refuge in the castle of San Angelo, almost as hostages of the imperial forces. This led to the Treaty of Barcelona (1529). With this treaty, Charles V:
- undertook to return all the lands taken away from the Pope;
- undertook to restore the Medici government in Florence;
- received in exchange for recognition of his property in Italy and coronation by the emperor from the hands of the Pope (1530), which will finally sanctify his role and prestige.
Resumption of the war and the final rejection of the Italian territories by France.
In 1535 Francisco II Sforza died and Milan passed on to the Spanish. The struggle against France was renewed, and France was defeated also thanks to the intervention, together with the Emperor, of King Henry VIII of England.
However, in 1544 the king of France managed to sign a peace treaty in favor of Crépy: Milan-Spain, Savoy and part of Piedmont to France.
In 1547, King Francis I of France died. His successor Henry II resumed the war against Charles V. The war was suspended in 1556, when Charles V abdicated, entrusting the Austrian crown to his brother Ferdinand I, and the crown of Spain with all its possessions to his son Philip II.
TOTALS OF WARM
1. The Cato-Cambresian world ended the Italian wars of 1494-1959.
2. Approval of Spanish hegemony in Italy. Spain, a leading power in Europe
3. France was ceded to small territories, and the outbreak of the Huguenots (Huguenots) wars, a series of protracted civil wars between Catholics and Protestants (Huguenots) that torn France apart under the last kings of the Valois dynasty, from 1562 to 1598, weakened the country.
4. Italy's economy, the country's devastation and feudal fragmentation have been severely affected
5. The fall of the importance of Italian states in European politics and the shift of Italy to the periphery of the historical development of Europe
6. French and German soldiers have brought the ideas of Renaissance and Humanism to their countries - this is the impetus for the development of the Renaissance culture north of the Alps.