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105-652: Timeline The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula , but later expanding into Flanders , the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea . The primary belligerents were the Valois kings of France , on one side, and their opponents in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain on the other. At different points, various Italian states participated in

210-818: A French army commanded by Francis, Count of Enghien , defeated the Imperials at Ceresole , a victory of limited strategic value since they failed to make progress elsewhere in Lombardy. The Imperial position was further strengthened at Serravalle in June, when Alfonso d'Avalos defeated a mercenary force led by the Florentine exile Piero Strozzi on their way to meet Enghien. An English army captured Boulogne on 10 September, while Imperial forces advanced to within 100 kilometres (60 miles) of Paris. However, with his treasury exhausted and concerned by Ottoman naval strength in

315-805: A Milanese revolt in July against Francesco Sforza, who was once again forced into exile. In September, Charles financed an attack on Rome by the Colonna family , who competed with the rival Orsinis for control of the city, and Clement was forced to pay them to withdraw. Seeking to recapture Milan, Francis invaded Lombardy at the beginning of 1527, with an army financed by Henry VIII, who hoped thereby to win Papal support for divorcing his first wife, Katherine of Aragon . In May, Imperial troops, many of whom were followers of Martin Luther, sacked Rome and besieged Clement in

420-693: A Spanish army during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, and Charles, Duke of Parma , a younger son of King Philip V of Spain , the first member of the French House of Bourbon to rule in Spain, was installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. When Charles inherited the Spanish throne from his older half-brother in 1759, he left Naples and Sicily to his younger son, Ferdinand IV . Despite

525-681: A claim to Sicily, warring against the Aragonese until 1373, when Queen Joan I of Naples formally renounced the claim by the Treaty of Villeneuve . Joan's reign was contested by Louis the Great , the Angevin King of Hungary , who captured the kingdom several times (1348–1352) . Queen Joan I also played a part in the ultimate demise of the first Kingdom of Naples. As she was childless, she adopted Louis I, Duke of Anjou , as her heir, in spite of

630-519: A combined Franco-Florentine army appeared outside Pisa. Once again, the French artillery quickly opened a gap in the walls but several assaults were repulsed and the siege was abandoned on 11 July. With Milan firmly in his control, Louis returned to France and left the Florentines to blockade Pisa, which eventually surrendered in 1509. Anxious to begin the conquest of Naples, on 11 November he signed

735-460: A combined Franco-Ottoman fleet under Hayreddin Barbarossa captured Nice on 22 August and besieged the citadel, the onset of winter and presence of a Spanish fleet forced them to withdraw. A joint attack by Christian and Islamic troops on a Christian town was regarded as shocking, especially when Francis allowed Barbarossa to use the French port of Toulon as a winter base. On 14 April 1544,

840-790: A decisive advantage. On 1 January 1515, Louis XII died and was succeeded by his son-in-law, Francis I , who took up his predecessor's cause and routed the Swiss at Marignano on 13–14 September 1515. Combined with the unpopularity of Massiliano Sforza, victory allowed Francis to retake Milan and the Holy League collapsed as both Spain and Pope Leo X saw little benefit in fighting on. In the treaty of Noyon , signed on 13 August 1516, Charles I of Spain acknowledged Francis as Duke of Milan, while Francis "passed" his claim to Naples onto Charles. Left isolated, in December Maximilian signed

945-852: A disastrous attack on Ottoman port of Algiers , which severely weakened his military and led Suleiman to reactivate his French alliance. With Ottoman support, on 12 July 1542 Francis once again declared war on the Holy Roman Empire, initiating the Italian War of 1542–46 . In August, French armies attacked Perpignan on the Spanish border, as well as Artois, Flanders and Luxemburg , a Valois possession prior to 1477. Imperial resistance proved far more formidable than expected, with most of these attacks easily repulsed and in 1543 Henry VIII allied with Charles and agreed to support his offensive in Flanders. Neither side made much progress, and although

1050-435: A fruitless expedition that diverted resources from Italy, where the situation had become more serious. The 1536 Franco-Ottoman alliance , a comprehensive treaty covering a wide range of commercial and diplomatic issues, also agreed to a joint assault on Genoa, with French land forces supported by an Ottoman fleet. Finding the garrison of Genoa had recently been reinforced while a planned internal uprising failed to materialise,

1155-662: A non-aggression pact known as the Italic League , it led to a forty-year period of stability and economic expansion, marred only by the 1479 to 1481 Pazzi conspiracy and 1482 to 1484 War of Ferrara . The League's main supporter was the Florentine ruler Lorenzo de' Medici , who also pursued a policy of excluding France and the Holy Roman Empire from the Italian peninsula. Lorenzo's death in April 1492 severely weakened

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1260-573: A personal dimension to his rivalry with Charles that became one of the fundamental conflicts of the sixteenth century. Planning an offensive against Habsburg possessions in Navarre and Flanders , Francis first secured his position in Italy by agreeing a new alliance with Venice. As Leo X had backed his candidacy for Emperor, he also counted on Papal support but Leo sided with Charles in return for his help against Martin Luther and his proposed reforms to

1365-535: A pretext the Angevin claim to the throne of Naples, which his father had inherited in 1481 on the will of Charles IV of Anjou , nephew and heir of King René who had no surviving son. This began the Italian Wars . Charles VIII expelled Alfonso II of Naples from Naples in 1495, but was soon forced to withdraw due to the support of Ferdinand II of Aragon for his cousin, Alfonso II's son Ferrantino . Ferrantino

1470-539: A pro-French government, Charles turned north and on 6 July was intercepted by the League outside Fornovo di Taro . In the resulting Battle of Fornovo , the French forced their opponents back across the Taro river and continued onto Asti , leaving most of their supplies behind. Both sides claimed victory but the general consensus favoured the French, since the League suffered heavier casualties and failed to halt their retreat,

1575-425: A request Louis was in no hurry to fulfil since they had refused to support his capture of Milan. He was also initially occupied in defeating efforts to regain his duchy by Ludovico, who was captured at Novaro in April 1500 and spent the rest of his life in a French prison. However, Louis needed to maintain good relations with Florence, whose territory he would have to cross in order to conquer Naples, and on 29 June 1500

1680-443: A ten-year halt in hostilities and left France in possession of most of Savoy , Piedmont and Artois. The 1538 truce failed to resolve underlying tensions between Francis, who still claimed Milan, and Charles, who insisted he comply with the treaties of Madrid and Cambrai. Their relationship collapsed in 1540 when Charles made his son Philip Duke of Milan, thus precluding any possibility it would revert to France. In 1541, Charles made

1785-504: A third of the military expenditures accruing to the Spanish controlled Duchy of Milan and paid for the Spanish garrisons in Tuscany. This cost the kingdom 800,000 ducats annually, or about a third of the kingdom's revenues; moreover, the public debt also had a military origin, and interest payments on it devoured 40 percent of all tax income. Naples was rich enough to redeem the debt and pay an attractive ten percent in full to lenders. While

1890-451: A turning point in the evolution from medieval to modern warfare, with the use of the arquebus or handgun becoming common, along with significant technological improvements in siege artillery. Literate commanders and modern printing methods also make them one of the first conflicts with a significant number of contemporary accounts, including those of Francesco Guicciardini , Niccolò Machiavelli , and Blaise de Montluc . After 1503, most of

1995-543: A villa. The siege and taking of a city became extremely rapid and achieved not in months but in days and hours". Timeline of Italian history Timeline This is a timeline of Italian history , comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Italy and its predecessor states, including Ancient Rome and Prehistoric Italy . Date of the prehistoric era are approximate. For further background, see history of Italy and list of prime ministers of Italy . Lucius Sicinius Vellutus ,

2100-691: Is in near-universal use among historians, but it was not used officially by the government. Since the Angevins remained in power on the Italian peninsula, they kept the original name of the Kingdom of Sicily ( Regnum Siciliae ). At the end of the War of the Vespers, the Peace of Caltabellotta (1302) provided that the name of the kingdom would be the Kingdom of Sicily Citra Farum had become known colloquially as

2205-486: The plebs abandoned Rome for the nearby Monte Sacro . Marius was elected consul for the first of three years in a row. Civil wars would follow with the first breaking out in 238, another in 249 followed by a third in 253. From 235 through 284 the average reign of a Roman Emperor was just 18 months, down from average just over 9 years during the first centuries of the Empire. Kingdom of Naples As part of

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2310-456: The Angevin claim to the throne of Naples as a pretext. This in turn was driven by the intense rivalry between Ludovico's wife, Beatrice d'Este , and that of his nephew Gian Galeazzo Sforza , husband of Isabella of Aragon . Despite being the hereditary Duke of Milan, Gian Galeazzo had been sidelined by his uncle in 1481 and exiled to Pavia . Both women wanted to ensure their children inherited

2415-618: The Castel Sant'Angelo , while Urbino and the League army sat outside and failed to intervene. Although the French marched south to relieve Rome, they were too late to prevent Clement making peace with Charles V in November. Meanwhile, Venice, the largest and most powerful of the Italian states and which also possessed the most effective army, now refused to contribute any more troops to the League. Weakened by its losses in 1509 to 1517 and with its maritime possessions increasingly threatened by

2520-516: The Council of Trent . The European balance of power changed significantly during the Italian Wars. The affirmation of French power in Italy around 1494 brought Austria and Spain to join an anti-French league that formed the "Habsburg ring" around France (Low Countries, Aragon, Castile, Empire) via dynastic marriages that eventually led to the large inheritance of Charles V. On the other hand,

2625-402: The Italian Wars , France briefly ruled the territory in 1494 and at the beginning of the 16th century; it then went to war with Spain over the kingdom in 1502, a conflict that ended in a victory for Ferdinand II , who was in full control of the kingdom by 1504. The Spanish held control of Naples throughout the 17th century where it remained an important source of economic and military power for

2730-679: The Mediterranean and thus the ability to pursue his territorial ambitions. In the run-up to the First Italian War , Charles sought to secure the neutrality of other European rulers through a series of treaties. These included the November 1492 Peace of Étaples with Henry VII of England and the March 1493 Treaty of Barcelona with Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor . The war began when Ludovico Sforza , then Regent of Milan , encouraged Charles VIII of France to invade Italy, using

2835-546: The Mediterranean Sea , on 14 September Charles agreed the Treaty of Crépy with Francis, which essentially restored the position to that prevailing in 1542. The agreement excluded Henry VIII, whose war with France continued until the two countries made peace in 1546 and confirmed his possession of Boulogne. Francis died on 31 March 1547 and was succeeded by his son, Henry II of France . He continued attempts to restore

2940-711: The Savoyard state to Emmanuel Philibert , who settled in Piedmont, and Corsica to the Republic of Genoa . For this reason, the conclusion of the Italian Wars for France is considered to be a mixed result. At the end of the wars, about half of Italy was ruled by the Spanish Habsburgs, including all of the south (Naples, Sicily, Sardinia) and the Duchy of Milan; the other half of Italy remained independent (although

3045-663: The Swiss Cantons to supply him with 6,000 mercenaries. After a year of fighting in which Louis XII occupied large parts of the Papal States, in October 1511 Julius formed the anti-French Holy League, which included Henry VIII of England , Maximilian and Spain. A French army defeated the Spanish at Ravenna on 11 April 1512, but their leader Gaston de Foix was killed, while the Swiss recaptured Milan and restored Ludovico's son Massimiliano Sforza as duke. The members of

3150-577: The Three Bishoprics from Lorraine . In turn, Spain acquired sovereignty over the Kingdom of Naples and Kingdom of Sicily in southern Italy, as well the Duchy of Milan in northern Italy. Largely driven by the rivalry between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan , the long-running Wars in Lombardy had finally been ended by the 1454 Treaty of Lodi . Followed shortly thereafter by

3255-719: The Treaty of Chambord with several Protestant princes within the Empire, which gave him control of the Three Bishoprics of Toul , Verdun , and Metz . Following the outbreak of the Second Schmalkaldic War in March 1552, French troops occupied the Three Bishoprics and invaded Lorraine . In 1553, a Franco-Ottoman force captured the Genoese island of Corsica , while supported by Henry's wife, Catherine de' Medici , French-backed Tuscan exiles seized control of Siena. This brought Henry into conflict with

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3360-548: The Treaty of Granada with Ferdinand II of Aragon, an agreement to divide the kingdom between the two. Since Ferdinand had supported the expulsion of the French from Naples in 1495, Louis hoped these concessions would allow him to acquire the bulk of the kingdom without an expensive war. His action was criticised by contemporaries like Niccolò Machiavelli and modern historians, who argue the 1499 Treaty of Marcoussis already gave Louis everything he needed, while inviting Spain into Naples could only work to his detriment. In July 1501,

3465-536: The "Peace of the Ladies" because it was negotiated by Francis's mother, Louise of Savoy , and Charles's aunt Margaret , Francis recognised Charles as ruler of Milan, Naples, Flanders and Artois. Venice also made peace, leaving only Florence, which had expelled their Medici rulers in 1527. At Bologna in the summer of 1529, Charles V was named King of Italy ; he agreed to restore the Medici on behalf of Pope Clement, who

3570-444: The Angevins formed part of the Kingdom of Sicily, which included the island of Sicily and Apulia . Following the rebellion in 1282, King Charles I of Sicily (Charles of Anjou) was forced to leave the island of Sicily by Peter III of Aragon 's troops. Charles, however, maintained his possessions on the mainland, customarily known as the "Kingdom of Naples ", after its capital city. Charles and his Angevin successors maintained

3675-630: The Austrians was short, ending with a decisive victory for the Austrian forces at the Battle of Tolentino . Murat was forced to flee, and Ferdinand IV was restored to the throne of Naples. Murat would attempt to regain his throne but was quickly captured and executed by firing squad in Pizzo, Calabria . The next year, 1816, finally saw the formal union of the Kingdom of Naples with the Kingdom of Sicily into

3780-644: The Catholic church. In November 1521, an Imperial-Papal army under Prospero Colonna and the Marquis of Pescara captured Milan and restored Francesco Sforza as duke. After Leo died in December, Adrian VI was elected Pope on 9 January 1522, while a French attempt to retake Milan was ended by defeat at Bicocca on 27 April. In May 1522, England joined the Imperial alliance and declared war on France. Venice left

3885-559: The Duchy and when Isabella's father became Alfonso II of Naples in January 1494, she asked for his help in securing their rights. In September Charles invaded the peninsula, which he justified by claiming he wanted to use Naples as a base for a crusade against the Ottoman Turks . In October, Ludovico formally became Duke of Milan following the death of Gian Galeazzo, who was popularly supposed to have been poisoned by his uncle, and

3990-668: The Duchy of Milan were left in personal union to the king of Spain while continuing to be part of the Holy Roman Empire. The division of the Empire of Charles V, along with the capture of the Pale of Calais and the Three Bishoprics , was a positive result for France. However, the Habsburgs had gained a position of primacy in Italy at the expense of the French Valois. In return, France was forced to end opposition to Habsburg power and abandon its claims in Italy. Henry II also restored

4095-405: The French army reached Capua ; strongly defended by forces loyal to Frederick of Naples , it surrendered on 24 July after a short siege but was then sacked. In addition to the extensive material destruction, many women were subjected to mass rape and estimates of the dead ranged from 2,000 to 4,000, actions that caused consternation throughout Italy. Resistance crumbled as other towns tried to avoid

4200-489: The French army suffered a devastating defeat at Pavia , in which Francis was captured and imprisoned in Spain. This led to frantic diplomatic manoeuvres to secure his release, including a French mission to Suleiman the Magnificent , asking for Ottoman assistance. Although Suleiman avoided involvement on this occasion, it was the beginning of a long-standing, if often unacknowledged, Franco-Turkish relationship. Francis

4305-570: The French at St. Quentin on 10 August. Despite this, in January 1558 the French took Calais ; held by the English since 1347, its loss severely diminished their future ability to intervene directly in mainland Europe. They also captured Thionville in June but peace negotiations had already begun, with Henry absorbed by the internal conflict that led to the French Wars of Religion in 1562. The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis on 3 April 1559 brought

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4410-540: The French by the Treaty of Florence , which reinforced France's position as the dominant power in mainland Italy. Ferdinand's decision to ally with the Third Coalition against Napoleon in 1805 proved more damaging. In 1806, following decisive victories over the allied armies at Austerlitz and over the Neapolitans at Campo Tenese , Napoleon installed his brother, Joseph as King of Naples, he conferred

4515-568: The French instead occupied the towns of Pinerolo , Chieri and Carmagnola in Piedmont. Fighting continued in Flanders and northern Italy throughout 1537, while the Ottoman fleet raided the coastal areas around Naples, raising fears of invasion throughout Italy. Pope Paul III , who had replaced Clement in 1534, grew increasingly anxious to end the war and brought the two sides together at Nice in May 1538. The Truce of Nice, signed on 18 June, agreed to

4620-524: The French marched through Italy virtually unopposed, entering Pisa on 8 November, Florence on 17th, and Rome on 31 December. Charles was backed by Girolamo Savonarola , who used the opportunity to established a short-lived theocracy in Florence, while Pope Alexander VI allowed his army free passage through the Papal States . In February 1495, the French reached Monte San Giovanni Campano in

4725-623: The French position in Italy, encouraged by Italian exiles and his cousin Francis, Duke of Guise , who claimed the throne of Naples through his grandfather René II, Duke of Lorraine . Henry first strengthened his diplomatic position by reactivating the Franco-Ottoman alliance and supporting their capture of Tripoli in August 1551. Despite his devout personal Catholicism and persecution of Huguenot "heretics" at home, in January 1552 he signed

4830-546: The Holy Roman Empire went to his brother Ferdinand I , while Spain, its overseas territories and the Spanish Netherlands were assigned to Philip. Over the next century, Naples and Lombardy became a major source of men and money for the Spanish Army of Flanders during the 1568 to 1648 Eighty Years' War . England entered the war in June 1557 and the focus shifted to Flanders, where a Spanish army defeated

4935-421: The Holy Roman Empire. Although Charles was forced to withdraw in 1495, ongoing political divisions among the Italian states made them a battleground in the struggle for European domination between France and the Habsburgs. Fought with considerable brutality, the wars took place against the background of religious turmoil caused by the Reformation , particularly in France and the Holy Roman Empire. They are seen as

5040-407: The Italian Wars. The Italian Wars represented a revolution in military technology and tactics, some historians suggesting they form the dividing point between modern and medieval battlefields. Contemporary historian Francesco Guicciardini wrote of the initial 1494 French invasion that "...sudden and violent wars broke out, ending with the conquest of a state in less time than it used to take to occupy

5145-425: The Italian wars to an end. Corsica was returned to Genoa, while Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy , re-established the Savoyard state in northern Italy as an independent entity. France retained Calais and the Three Bishoprics, while other provisions essentially returned the position to that prevailing in 1551. Finally, Henry II and Philip II agreed to ask Pope Pius IV to recognise Ferdinand as Emperor, and reconvene

5250-461: The Kingdom of Naples ( Regnum Neapolitanum or Regno di Napoli ). In the late Middle Ages, it was common to distinguish the two Sicilies by noting its location relative to the rest of Italy and the Punta del Faro , i.e., the Strait of Messina . The peninsular kingdom was known as Sicily citra Farum or al di qua del Faro ('on this side of Faro'), and the island kingdom was known as Sicily ultra Farum or di la del Faro (on

5355-416: The Kingdom of Naples and despatched envoys to negotiate terms with its Neapolitan garrison, who murdered them and sent their mutilated bodies back to the French lines. On 9 February, the enraged besiegers breached the walls of the castle with artillery fire, then stormed it, killing everyone inside. Known as the "Sack of Naples", widespread outrage within Italy allied with concern over the power of France led to

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5460-422: The Kingdom of Naples. As the most populous holding of the Spanish Empire outside of Castile itself (with 3 million inhabitants in 1600), Naples remained an important source of economic and military power for the Spanish. Heavy taxation was levied upon the kingdom to pay for Spain's wars, especially after 1580. Beyond dispatching troops to fight the Eighty Years' War in the Low Countries, Naples also disbursed

5565-435: The Kingdom of Naples. Aware of the hostility caused by French ambitions in Italy, in July 1498 he renewed the 1492 Peace of Étaples with England and signed a treaty confirming French borders with Burgundy . This was followed in August by the Treaty of Marcoussis with Ferdinand II of Aragon ; although it did not address outstanding territorial disputes between the two countries, it agreed "have all enemies in common except

5670-412: The League at a time when France was seeking to expand in Italy. This originated when Louis XI of France inherited the County of Provence from his cousin Charles IV of Anjou in 1481, along with the Angevin claim to the Kingdom of Naples . His son Charles VIII succeeded him in 1483 and formally incorporated Provence into France in 1486; its ports of Marseille and Toulon provided direct access to

5775-469: The League of Venice, which he viewed as an essential barrier to French intervention, but Florence was convinced he favoured Pisa and refused to accept mediation. To enforce a settlement, in July 1496 Maximilian besieged the Florentine city of Livorno , but withdrew in September due to shortages of men and supplies. Following the death of Charles VIII in April 1498, Louis XII began planning another attempt on Milan, while also pursuing his predecessor's claim to

5880-407: The League then fell out over dividing the spoils and the death of Pope Julius on 20 February 1513 left it without effective leadership. In March, Venice and France formed an alliance, but from June to September 1513 the League won victories at Novara and La Motta in Lombardy, Guinegate in Flanders and Flodden in England. Despite this, fighting continued in Italy, with neither side able to gain

5985-448: The Ottomans, under Andrea Gritti the Republic tried to remain neutral and after 1529 avoided participation in the fighting. Supported by a Genoese fleet, in April 1528 a French expeditionary force besieged Naples before disease forced them to withdraw in August. Both sides were now anxious to end the war and after another French defeat at Landriano on 21 June 1529, Francis agreed the Treaty of Cambrai with Charles in August. Known as

6090-462: The Papal States, Venice, Florence and Milan. Many of the Imperial troops were close to mutiny having not been paid for months and the Duke of Urbino , commander of the League army, hoped to take advantage of this confusion. However, he delayed taking the offensive awaiting additional Swiss reinforcements. Although the League gained an easy victory on 24 June when the Venetians occupied Lodi , this delay allowed Charles to gather fresh troops and support

6195-424: The Pope." On 9 February 1499, Louis signed the Treaty of Blois , a military alliance with Venice against Ludovico. With these agreements finalised, a French army of 27,000 under the Milanese exile Gian Giacomo Trivulzio invaded Lombardy , and in August besieged Rocca d'Arazzo, a fortified town in the western part of the Duchy of Milan. The French siege artillery breached the walls in less than five hours and after

6300-476: The Spanish Crown. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, the possession of the kingdom again changed hands; the 1714 Treaty of Rastatt saw Naples given to Charles VI of the Austrian Habsburgs. However, Naples and Sicily were conquered by Charles, Duke of Parma (of the Spanish Bourbons) during the War of the Polish Succession in 1734, he was then installed as King of Naples and Sicily from 1735. In 1816, Naples formally unified with

6405-418: The Treaty of Brussels, which confirmed French possession of Milan. Following the death of Maximilian in January 1519, the German Princes elected Charles I of Spain as Emperor Charles V on 28 June. This brought Spain, the Low Countries and the Holy Roman Empire under one ruler, and meant France was surrounded by the so-called "Habsburg ring". Francis I had also been a candidate for the Imperial throne, adding

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6510-408: The case of France, the Habsburg result is also variously interpreted. Many historians in the 20th century, including Garrett Mattingly , Eric Cochrane and Manuel F. Alvarez, identified the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis as the beginning of a Spanish hegemony in Italy. However, this view has been contested and abandoned in 21st-century historiography. Christine Shaw, Micheal J. Levin, and William Reger reject

6615-448: The change of dynasties in Austria and Spain. Following the War of the Spanish Succession and other wars of succession, the Habsburg-Lorraine of Austria largely replaced Spain and gained direct or indirect control of the fiefs of Imperial Italy, whereas the south eventually passed to an independent branch of the Spanish Bourbons. France would return in Italy to confront Habsburg power, first under Louis XIV, and later under Napoleon, but only

6720-450: The claims of her cousin, the Prince of Durazzo, effectively setting up a junior Angevin line in competition with the senior line. This led to Joan I's murder at the hands of the Prince of Durazzo in 1382, and his seizing of the throne as Charles III of Naples . The two competing Angevin lines contested each other for the possession of the Kingdom of Naples over the following decades. In 1389 Louis II of Anjou son of Louis I managed to seize

6825-453: The claims of junior and senior Angevin lines. In 1442, Alfonso V conquered the Kingdom of Naples and unified Sicily and Naples once again as dependencies of Aragon . At his death in 1458, the War of the Neapolitan Succession (1458–1462) erupted, after which the kingdom was again separated and Naples was inherited by Ferdinand I , Alfonso's illegitimate son. When Ferdinand I died in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy, using as

6930-409: The concept of a Spanish hegemony on the ground that too many limits prevented Spain's dominance in the peninsula, and maintain that other powers also held major influence in Italy after 1559. Although Spain gained control of about half of the Italian states, the other half remained independent; among them, the Papacy in particular emerged strengthened by the conclusion of the Council of Trent according to

7035-570: The conflict originated in the long-standing rivalry between Florence and the Republic of Pisa , which had been annexed by Florence in 1406 but took advantage of the French invasion to regain its independence in 1494. Despite Charles' retreat in 1495, Pisa continued to receive support from Genoa , Venice and Milan, all of whom were suspicious of Florentine power. In order to strengthen his own position, Ludovico once again invited an external power to settle an internal Italian affair, in this case Emperor Maximilian I . In doing so, Maximilian hoped to bolster

7140-465: The duchy on his death, which occurred on 1 November 1535. Francis refused to accept this, arguing Milan was rightfully his along with Genoa and Asti , and once again prepared for war. In April 1536, pro-Valois elements in Asti expelled the Imperial garrison and a French army under Philippe de Chabot occupied Turin , although they failed to take Milan. In response, a Spanish army invaded Provence and captured Aix on 13 August 1536, before withdrawing,

7245-467: The fighting was initiated by French invasions of Lombardy and Piedmont , but although able to hold territory for periods of time, they could not do so permanently. By 1557, the growth of Protestantism meant the major belligerents faced internal conflict over religion, forcing them to refocus on domestic affairs. This led to the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis , under which France was largely expelled from Italy, but in exchange gained Calais from England, and

7350-544: The formation of the League of Venice on 31 March 1495, an anti-French alliance composed of Republic of Venice , Milan, Spain , and the Holy Roman Empire . Later joined by Florence, following the overthrow of Savonarola, the Papal States and Mantua , this coalition cut off Charles and his army from their bases in France. Charles' cousin, Louis d'Orleans , now tried to take advantage of Ludovico's change of sides to conquer Milan, which he claimed through his grandmother, Valentina Visconti . On 11 June, he captured Novara when

7455-442: The garrison defected, and reached Vigevano , forty kilometres from Milan. At this crucial point, Ludovico was incapacitated either by a stroke or nervous breakdown, while his unpaid soldiers were on the verge of mutiny. In his absence, his wife Beatrice d'Este took personal control of the Duchy and the siege of Novara, with Louis eventually forced to surrender in return for his freedom. Having replaced Ferdinand II of Naples with

7560-467: The island of Sicily to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . The Kingdom of Naples was one of the largest and most important Italian states throughout all its history. Its territory corresponded to the current Italian regions of Campania , Calabria , Apulia , Basilicata , Abruzzo , Molise , and also included some areas of today's southern and eastern Lazio . The term "Kingdom of Naples"

7665-460: The kingdom in 1502. The Spanish troops occupying Calabria and Apulia , led by Gonzalo Fernandez de Cordova , invaded and expelled all Frenchmen from the area. The resulting Aragonese victory left Ferdinand in full control of the kingdom by 1504 and Naples became a constituent kingdom of the Crown of Aragon . The peace treaties that continued were never definitive, but they established at least that

7770-564: The last Italian war ended with the division of the Habsburg empire between the Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs following the abdication of Charles V. Philip II of Spain was heir of the kingdoms held by Charles V in Spain, southern Italy, and South America. Ferdinand I was the successor of Charles V in the Holy Roman Empire extending from Germany to northern Italy and became suo jure king of the Habsburg monarchy . The Habsburg Netherlands and

7875-508: The next several decades, but French efforts to gain control of it became feebler as Habsburg power grew, and never genuinely endangered Spanish control. The French finally abandoned their claims to Naples by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis in 1559. In the Treaty of London (1557), five cities on the coast of Tuscany were designated the Stato dei Presidi ( State of the Presidi ), and part of

7980-617: The north was largely formed by formal fiefs of the Austrian Habsburgs as part of the Holy Roman Empire). The most significant Italian power left was the papacy in central Italy , as it maintained major cultural and political influence during the Catholic Reformation . The Council of Trent, suspended during the war, was reconvened by the terms of the peace treaties and came to an end in 1563. As in

8085-612: The other powers, particularly Britain, hostile towards him and dependent on the uncertain support of Austria, Murat's position became less and less secure. Therefore, when Napoleon returned to France for the Hundred Days in 1815, Murat once again sided with him. Realising the Austrians would soon attempt to remove him, Murat gave the Rimini Proclamation hoping to save his kingdom by allying himself with Italian nationalists. The ensuing Neapolitan War between Murat and

8190-524: The other side of Faro). When both kingdoms came under the rule of Alfonso the Magnanimous in 1442, this usage became official, although Ferdinand I (1458–94) preferred the simple title King of Sicily ( Rex Sicilie ). In the 18th century, the Neapolitan intellectual Giuseppe Maria Galanti argued that Apulia was the true "national" name of the kingdom. By the time of Alfonso the Magnanimous,

8295-724: The people of Naples rose in revolt in 1647, forming the Neapolitan Republic with French assistance. The revolt was suppressed later that year by Spanish troops. After the War of the Spanish Succession in the early 18th century, possession of the kingdom again changed hands. Under the terms of the Treaty of Rastatt in 1714, Naples was given to Charles VI , the Holy Roman Emperor . He also gained control of Sicily in 1720, but Austrian rule did not last long. Both Naples and Sicily were conquered by

8400-570: The public debt quintupled, and 57 percent of the kingdom's revenue was devoted to interest payments. Spain's wars crushed the Neapolitan economy. Furthermore, 90 percent of taxes were collected by state creditors, meaning the state paid an effective interest rate of 70 percent annually on the money it borrowed to fight the war. The kingdom started selling state assets to anyone willing to buy them, which usually ended up being barons; these assets included prisons, forests, buildings, and even royal fortresses, as well as titles. Due to this excessive taxation

8505-453: The reason for fighting in the first place. In the south, despite some initial reverses , by September 1495 Ferdinand II had regained control of his kingdom. Although the French invasion achieved little, it showed the Italian states were rich and comparatively weak, making future intervention attractive to outside powers. Charles himself died on 7 April 1498, and was succeeded by the former Duke of Orleans, who became Louis XII. The next phase of

8610-555: The remainder of the war but despite the Kingdom of Sicily nominally being part of the Fourth , Fifth and Sixth Coalitions against Napoleon, Ferdinand and the British were unable to ever challenge French control of the Italian mainland. After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Murat reached an agreement with Austria and was allowed to retain the throne of Naples, despite the lobbying efforts of Ferdinand and his supporters. However, with most of

8715-597: The royal titles over the State had been assigned to the Normans by Innocent II, the popes, in particular Pope Innocent III and Pope Innocent IV , claimed the feudal rights of the Church State over the Kingdom. After Constance, Queen of Sicily married Henry VI, Holy Roman Emperor , the region was inherited by their son Frederick II , as King of Sicily. The region that later became the separate Kingdom of Naples under

8820-588: The ruler of Florence, Cosimo de' Medici , who defeated a French army at Marciano on 2 August 1554; although Siena held out until April 1555, it was absorbed by Florence and in 1569 became part of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany . In July 1554, Philip II of Spain became king of England through his marriage to Mary I , and in November he also received the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily from his father, who reconfirmed him as Duke of Milan. In January 1556, Charles formally abdicated as Emperor and split his possessions;

8925-576: The same fate and on 12 October Louis appointed the Duke of Nemours his viceroy in Naples. However, the Treaty of Granada had left the ownership of key Neapolitan territories undecided and disputes over these quickly poisoned relationships between the two powers. This led to war in late 1502, which ended with the French being expelled from Naples once again after defeats at Cerignola on 28 April 1503, and Garigliano on 29 December. On 18 October 1503, Pius III

9030-466: The same time by Castile , which had a population twice the size. Naples provided and paid for 10,000 troops and 1,000 horses annually from 1630 to 1643, on top of a 1 million ducat annual subsidy for the war effort and more funds and soldiers for the kingdom's garrisons and navy. The kingdom was increasingly forced to revert to borrowing to finance the war as it went on, which it could do due to its good credit. From 1612 to 1646, Neapolitan taxes tripled and

9135-472: The scholars Antelantonio Spagnoletti and Benedetto Croce. Furthermore, according to the historians Christine Shaw and Salvatore Puglisi, the Holy Roman Empire continued to play a role in Italian politics. Peter J. Wilson writes that three overlapping and competing feudal networks, Imperial, Spanish, and Papal, were affirmed in Italy as a result of the end of the wars. In the long-term, Habsburg primacy in Italy continued to exist, but it varied significantly due to

9240-479: The soldiers of Naples were under the command of the Spanish viceroy, Neapolitan nobles enjoyed ascendancy in the assemblies and committees that financed and administered the army. The kingdom suffered a heavy burden from the Franco-Spanish War (1635–1659) . From 1631 to 1636 alone, Naples sent 53,500 soldiers and 3.5 million scudi to support the Spanish king. This was actually more than was raised in

9345-531: The southern Adriatic coast. Along with the Duchy of Ferrara , Julius united these disparate interests into the anti-Venetian League of Cambrai , signed on 10 December 1508. Although the French largely destroyed a Venetian army at Agnadello on 14 May 1509, Maximilian failed to capture Padua and withdrew from Italy. Now seeing the power of Louis XII as the greater threat, in February 1510 Pope Julius made peace with Venice, followed in March by an agreement with

9450-404: The throne from Ladislas of Naples son of Charles III, but was expelled by Ladislas in 1399. Charles III's daughter Joanna II (r. 1414–1435) adopted Alfonso V of Aragon (whom she later repudiated) and Louis III of Anjou as heirs alternately, finally settling succession on Louis' brother René of Anjou of the junior Angevin line, and he succeeded her in 1435. René of Anjou temporarily united

9555-428: The title "Prince of Naples" to be hereditary on his children and grandchildren. When Joseph was sent off to Spain two years later, he was replaced by Napoleon's sister Caroline and his brother-in-law Marshal Joachim Murat , as King of the Two Sicilies . Meanwhile, Ferdinand had fled to Sicily, where he retained his throne, despite successive attempts by Murat to invade the island. The British would defend Sicily for

9660-409: The title of King of Naples was reserved for Ferdinand's grandson, the future Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor . Ferdinand nevertheless continued in possession of the kingdom, being considered the legitimate heir of his uncle Alfonso I of Naples (Alfonso V of Aragon) and also to the former Kingdom of Sicily ( Regnum Utriusque Siciliae ). The kingdom continued to be disputed between France and Spain for

9765-426: The town capitulated, Louis ordered the execution of its garrison and senior members of the civil administration. Other Milanese strongholds surrendered rather than face the same fate, while Ludovico, whose wife Beatrice had died in 1497, fled the duchy with his children and took refuge with Maximilian. On 6 October 1499, Louis made a triumphant entry into Milan. Florence now asked for French assistance in retaking Pisa,

9870-603: The two Kingdoms being in a personal union under the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, they remained constitutionally separate. Being a member of the House of Bourbon , Ferdinand IV was a natural opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleon . On 29 November 1798, he effectively started the War of the Second Coalition by briefly occupying Rome, but was expelled from it by French Revolutionary forces within

9975-408: The two kingdoms were sufficiently distinct that they were no longer seen as divisions of a single kingdom. Despite being repeatedly in personal union , they remained administratively separate. In 1816, the two kingdoms finally merged to form the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Naples, which was the capital of the Duchy of Naples since the 7th century , surrendered to Roger II of Sicily in 1137, and

10080-415: The unification of Italy would permanently remove foreign powers from the peninsula. Charles Tilly has characterized the Italian Wars as a key part in his theory of state formation , as the wars demonstrated the value of large armies and superior military technology. In Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990–1992 , Tilly argues that a "comprehensive European state system" can be reasonably dated to

10185-557: The war in July 1523, while Adrian died in November and was succeeded by Clement VII , who tried to negotiate an end to the fighting without success. Although France had lost ground in Lombardy and been invaded by English, Imperial and Spanish armies, her opponents had differing objectives and failed to co-ordinate their attacks. Since Papal policy was to prevent either France or the Empire from becoming too powerful, in late 1524 Clement secretly allied himself with Francis, enabling him to mount another offensive against Milan. On 24 February 1525,

10290-486: The war, some on both sides, with limited involvement from England , Switzerland, and the Ottoman Empire . The Italic League established in 1454 achieved a balance of power in Italy, but fell apart after the death of its chief architect, Lorenzo de' Medici , in 1492. Combined with the ambition of Ludovico Sforza , its collapse allowed Charles VIII of France to invade Naples in 1494, which drew in Spain and

10395-413: The year and safely returned home. Soon afterwards, on 23 December 1798, Ferdinand fled Naples to Palermo as a French army closed in. In January 1799, the French armies installed a Parthenopaean Republic , but this proved short-lived, and a peasant counter-revolution inspired by the clergy allowed Ferdinand to return to his capital. However, in 1801 Ferdinand was compelled to make important concessions to

10500-464: Was an Italian power. Many assumed the primacy established at Bologna by Charles V in Italy would also soon pass but instead it was the start of a long period of Imperial dominance. One factor was Venice's withdrawal from Italian affairs after 1530 in favour of protecting its maritime empire from Ottoman expansion. Under the Treaty of Cambrai, Francesco Sforza was reinstated as Duke of Milan; since he had no children, it also stated Charles V would inherit

10605-618: Was annexed to the Kingdom of Sicily . The Normans were the first to bring political unity to southern Italy in the centuries after the failure of the Byzantine effort to reconquer Italy. The Normans established a kingdom that included southern mainland Italy and the island of Sicily, which was primarily ruled from Palermo. The title of King of Sicily was established by the Antipope Anacletus II as early as 1130 and subsequently legitimized, in 1139, by Pope Innocent II . Since

10710-503: Was eventually released in March 1526 after signing the Treaty of Madrid , in which he renounced French claims to Artois , Milan and Burgundy . Once Francis was free, his Council renounced the Treaty of Madrid, claiming conditions extorted under duress could not be considered binding. Concerned that Imperial power now posed a threat to Papal independence, on 22 May 1526 Clement VII formed the League of Cognac , whose members included France,

10815-427: Was himself a Medici, and after a lengthy siege , Florence surrendered in August 1530. Prior to 1530, interference by foreign powers in Italy was viewed as a short-term problem, since they could not sustain it over time; for example, French conquests of Naples in 1494 and 1501 and Milan in 1499 and 1515 were quickly reversed. On the other hand, Venice was generally viewed by other states as the greatest threat because it

10920-556: Was replaced by Pope Julius II , who as ruler of the Papal States was concerned by Venetian power in northern Italy. This fear was shared by his home town of Genoa , which also resented its expulsion from the Po Valley , and Maximilian, whose acquisition of Gorizia in 1500 was threatened by Venetian possession of neighbouring Friuli . Milan, controlled by Louis XII, was a long-standing opponent of Venice, while Ferdinand II, now king of Naples, wished to regain control of Venetian ports on

11025-493: Was restored to the throne but died in 1496 and was succeeded by his uncle, Frederick IV . Charles VIII's successor, Louis XII reiterated the French claim. In 1501, he occupied Naples and partitioned the kingdom with Ferdinand of Aragon, who abandoned his cousin King Frederick. However, disputes over ownership of key Neapolitan territories made the deal quickly fall through, and Aragon and France resumed their war over

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