Second; 1567–1568 Saint-Denis ; Chartres
119-466: Third; 1568–1570 Jarnac ; La Roche-l'Abeille ; Poitiers ; Orthez ; Moncontour ; Saint-Jean d'Angély ; Arney-le-Duc Fourth; 1572–1573 Mons ; Sommières ; Sancerre ; La Rochelle Fifth; 1574–1576 Dormans Sixth; 1577 La Charité-sur-Loire ; Issoire ; Brouage Seventh; 1580 La Fère War of the Three Henrys (1585–1589) Coutras ; Vimory ; Auneau ; Day of
238-820: 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
357-640: A battle in French history is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Italian Wars 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
476-467: 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
595-462: 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,
714-574: A crossing further upstream. The Catholic infantry pushed the Huguenots back, forcing them retreat to the village of Bassac. To cover this movement, Huguenot cavalry were dispatched to aid them. However, the Royalist avant-garde cavalry had found a crossing and wheeled down against their left flank. The Huguenot horse were scattered towards Triac. Coligny launched fresh cavalry at Montpensier’s now somewhat disorganised units and drove them back to
833-511: 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
952-908: 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
1071-436: 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,
1190-491: A hole in the wall into the house of a friendly Protestant, de Bruegs. When the Protestant forces came to de Bruegs' house seeking the bishop, he negotiated a ransom for the bishop and several servants, of 60 écus and lesser amounts respectively, and they were dumped outside the town walls. L'Hermide went with a company of men to the house of de Gras and told him that they needed to have a conversation. He complied and came with
1309-639: 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 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
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#17327728842551428-1048: A policy of excluding France and the Holy Roman Empire from the Italian peninsula. Lorenzo's death in April 1492 severely weakened 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
1547-487: 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,
1666-427: 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
1785-571: A second rigged election with Damville given the choice of candidate he desired for first consul. Damville selected de Gras, another lawyer for the Cathedral chapter. The new consulate was more radical, desiring the reclamation of church property and the removal of Protestants from the Présidial court. The crown refused to pay for the expense of reimbursing all those Protestants who would lose their titular property and so nothing came of that. Still on
1904-493: A significant number of contemporary accounts, including those of Francesco Guicciardini , Niccolò Machiavelli , and Blaise de Montluc . After 1503, most of 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
2023-445: 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
2142-452: A wide jurisdiction by trying many cases. The town council was led by four consuls, with the first reserved for a lawyer, the second for a merchant, the third for an artisan and the fourth for a wealthy farmer. Each council term was for a year, but elections were not direct, with the council selecting a short list each year and the consuls then being chosen by lot from it. There were subsequently repeated accusations of rigging. In 1557 to 1560,
2261-529: Is the name given to the massacre of Catholics, including 18 Catholic priests and monks, by Protestant coup officials in Nîmes on Michaelmas (29 September) 1567, after the outbreak of the second French War of Religion after the failure of the Surprise of Meaux . The massacre represented one of the largest non-military massacres by Protestants during the civil wars. Nîmes was a small town of around 10,000 at
2380-402: 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
2499-620: 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
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#17327728842552618-558: 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
2737-518: 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,
2856-611: The Duchy of Milan , the long-running Wars in Lombardy had finally been ended by the 1454 Treaty of Lodi . Followed shortly thereafter by 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
2975-465: The Holy Roman Empire and Spain on the other. At different points, various Italian states participated in 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
3094-627: 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 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
3213-682: 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
3332-548: 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
3451-711: 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
3570-665: 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
3689-518: The Treaty of Cateau-Cambrésis , under which France was largely expelled from Italy, but in exchange gained Calais from England, and 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
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3808-774: 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
3927-550: 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,
4046-537: 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
4165-514: The Barricades Succession of Henry IV of France (1589–1594) Arques ; Ivry ; Paris ; Château-Laudran ; Rouen ; Caudebec ; Craon ; 1st Luxembourg ; Blaye ; Morlaix ; Fort Crozon Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598) 2nd Luxembourg ; Fontaine-Française ; Ham ; Le Catelet ; Doullens ; Cambrai ; Calais ; La Fère ; Ardres ; Amiens The Michelade ( French: [miʃ(ə)lad] ; Occitan : Michelada )
4284-512: The Catholic foot. The Catholic reiters managed to force their way past the infantry guarding the road that linked Brassac to Tirac. From this position, they were able to fall on Condé’s flank. Condé was dismounted, many Huguenot gentlemen falling around him. Despite being unarmed and under guard, the Prince was executed, possibly by a Gascon named Montesquiou, and his corpse was paraded in Jarnac to
4403-520: The Charente by the bridge at Châteauneuf on the night of 12 March. With him were 27000 men for this surprise attack on the rearguard of the Huguenot army. The Huguenot forces left by Admiral Coligny to defend the area where Tavannes crossed were negligent in their duties and did not detect the Catholic forces until the majority had passed over. Coligny now had to concentrate his dispersed forces in
4522-529: The Charente, was covered by a large pond and a narrow valley. It was covered by a force of Coligny’s arquebusiers. The difficulty of negotiating these obstacles temporarily deterred the Catholic advance. Having received the Admiral’s request for assistance, Condé marched towards the battle. He gathered up his cavalry as he did so and arrived by Tirac at 1:00 p.m By this time the Henry, Duke of Anjou had come up with
4641-562: 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
4760-668: 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
4879-406: 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
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4998-573: 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
5117-569: 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
5236-526: 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
5355-625: 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
5474-547: The Guirlande. Tavannes sensed that the forward elements of his army were becoming extended and brought forward 2,500 mercenary reiters to support them. They were able to halt Coligny’s cavalry, who were forced to retreat. When the Catholics resumed their attack on the village of Bassac, the defenders were likewise forced to fall back to the Huguenot position forming around Triac. The southern end of this position, next to
5593-547: 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
5712-424: The Huguenot and Royal armies both circled Loudun seeking to find good ground to attack the other, but terrible weather scuppered these attempts. The Royal army broke off towards Chinon to make camp, whilst the Huguenot forces tried and failed to take Saumur before likewise settling into camp. Hearing the Huguenot forces intended to break south towards Cognac, Marshal Gaspard de Tavannes, superior in cavalry, crossed
5831-408: 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
5950-426: 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
6069-471: The King failed, as he was spirited away by his Swiss guards, but the uprising at Nîmes would proceed as planned. The council became increasingly insecure about its situation in the preceding months and appealed to the local commander Guillaume de Joyeuse for aid but found none forthcoming. Further making the situation dangerous were a concurrent surge in the grain price and a dispute in the military command of
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#17327728842556188-472: 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
6307-486: 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
6426-441: 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 a Milanese revolt in July against Francesco Sforza, who was once again forced into exile. In September, Charles financed an attack on Rome by
6545-471: 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
6664-408: 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
6783-405: 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 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
6902-449: 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
7021-455: The Parlement of Toulouse, having conducted an investigation into what transpired with Catholic witnesses/survivors, condemned 100 Protestants to death, including many only tangentially related to the coup and some who had even sheltered Catholics in their home like de Bruegs. The order proved difficult to enforce. After most of the accused fled, only four were caught and killed, including one prominent coup leader, Rozel. On 15 November 1569 during
7140-428: 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
7259-439: The Protestant consistory would condemn the uprising. To start out, the Protestants marched the streets and intended to intimidate the Catholics into line and gain access to the keys of the gate, and so formed many companies, most lacking military experience. Witnesses record them crying "kill kill kill the papists." The keys were in the possession of Rochette, who fled to his stepfather's house. A company under de Passaco knocked on
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#17327728842557378-409: The Protestants' paranoia. The readmission of Charles, Cardinal of Lorraine onto the council in August and proposals to modify the Edict of Amboise were only further proof to them. As such, they began preparing a coup of their own, sending word out to Protestants across France to be ready to seize their towns and mustering cavalry to nearby Meaux, where they intended to seize the King. The assault on
7497-472: The Three Henrys (1585–1589) Coutras ; Vimory ; Auneau ; Day of the Barricades Succession of Henry IV of France (1589–1594) Arques ; Ivry ; Paris ; Château-Laudran ; Rouen ; Caudebec ; Craon ; 1st Luxembourg ; Blaye ; Morlaix ; Fort Crozon Franco-Spanish War (1595–1598) 2nd Luxembourg ; Fontaine-Française ; Ham ; Le Catelet ; Doullens ; Cambrai ; Calais ; La Fère ; Ardres ; Amiens The Battle of Jarnac on 13 March 1569
7616-424: 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, 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
7735-422: The ambition of Ludovico Sforza , its collapse allowed Charles VIII of France to invade Naples in 1494, which drew in Spain and 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
7854-421: The background of religious turmoil caused by the Reformation , particularly in France and the Holy Roman Empire. They are seen as 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
7973-409: 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
8092-448: 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
8211-424: The chateau, and thus losing any semblance of surprise they might have had. As such the chateau was able to hold out for six weeks, with la Garde commanding inside. With relief not forthcoming from Tarascon , the situation became dire, with Calviere overseeing Catholics digging trenches outside the Chateau for besieging. On Nov 10 with food too low, a surrender was negotiated. The captain and his 9 soldiers could depart
8330-453: The city under arms, the rest of the soldiers would be restricted to possession of daggers. All sheltering Catholics would be allowed to live in safety, or leave the town as they desired. While the siege was ongoing, the Messieurs who led the coup set about remaking the sacred geography of the town, all churches with the exception of Saint-Eugenie were destroyed, and the furniture in them burned. Extortionate taxes were levelled, both generally on
8449-428: The city, with the mass being recited outside the cathedral every day. He was not insensitive to the precarity of his minority leadership. His council supported the removal of royal troops from the city and felt them an infraction on traditional civic liberty. No attempt was made to compensate the sacked monastery or buy back church property. When Charles IX passed through on the grand tour of France in 1564 he oversaw
8568-420: The company. Of the 16 who had served as consuls from 1564-1567, eight would be targeted for arrest and of the nine Catholic Présidial judges, seven would be targeted similarly. The prisoners were kept in the town hall and Calviere and L'Hermite's house. Some of the prisoners were kept unfed for a day in an abattoir in an attempt to intimidate them. On the night of September 30, groups of soldiers removed some of
8687-517: 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
8806-573: 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
8925-460: The consistory, remained bourgeois as opposed to aristocratic. In mid-1563, Damville , second son of Anne de Montmorency was appointed governor of Languedoc . He arrived in Nîmes with troops on 16 November and soon engineered a coup in favour of the Catholic party. The new consulate would be led by des Georges, a lawyer for the cathedral chapter. He set about re-establishing the Catholic presence in
9044-508: The consulate of Nîmes and several other towns, from the Présidial court, which further weakened them. From 1565 to 1567, the national Protestant leadership began to grow increasingly discontent and suspicious of the intentions of the crown. That started with the secret meeting between Catherine de' Medici and the Duke of Alba in Bayonne to discuss marriage alliances, which they interpreted as
9163-419: The crown relented in 1562 and allowed a Protestant slate of candidates. By early 1562, 60% of the 26 Présidial judges had converted to Protestantism. Catholics still made up 40% of the Présidial judges but made up a smaller percentage of the towns bourgeois and artisans by 1562. In early 1563, the new Protestant consulate began selling off church property. Meanwhile, the Protestant religious leadership, embodied in
9282-557: The day. In early 1567, the Corpus Christi procession was re-established. The Protestants, eager for compromise, proposed giving the seneschal de Senaterre oversight on the elections and an equally-shared consular leadership, but the Catholics rejected that attempted negotiation. On April 10, conscious of the spiralling political situation in France generally and the south of France in particular, Charles transferred policing powers to
9401-438: The door, but his mother told it that he was absent. Not content with that, Rochette put on his finest robes and made his way to the bishop's palace. He broke down in front of the bishop and said that he did not know what to do. They decided to pray together, where they were discovered when Bolhargues arrived with up to 200 men to arrest them. Their arrest would not be a secure one, and the bishop and his servants would escape through
9520-519: 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,
9639-529: The elite and pushed more into the arms of Protestantism. In early 1561, the Protestants organised cahiers de doléances for the town's response to the Estates General and succeeded in pushing it through the council. In late 1561 the Protestants, now a majority, succeeded in taking over the town's churches, with much of the clergy either fleeing or converting. Seeing how rigged the election was,
9758-525: The face of this unexpected thrust. He brought as many of these as he could find to the villages of Bassac and Triac, which lay to the west of the marshy Guirlande stream. Around 11:00 a.m., the Catholic vanguard under Louis, Duke of Montpensier , consisting in total of 4,000 horse and 7,000 foot, attacked Coligny’s position along the Guirlande. This was defended by Huguenot arquebusiers . Montpensier engaged these with 1,200 arquebusiers drawn from his own veteran infantry regiments while 500 of his cavalry sought
9877-574: The formation of a plot to kill them. In 1567, Alba again came north via the Spanish Road on his way to quell a Protestant revolt which had broken out in the Spanish Netherlands . The Huguenots took that as the proof of their fears and began preparing a response. Louis, Prince of Condé and Gaspard II de Coligny then left court, which left it dominated by Catholics. The crown was concerned by that movement itself and hired several thousand Swiss mercenaries to watch over it, which only further escalated
9996-597: 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
10115-444: 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
10234-460: The harvest failed every year. The town leadership tried to navigate this through buying grain to cover the shortfalls, but the task was made more difficult by the crown's imposition of forced loans and taxes during the final years of the Italian Wars . In that environment, Protestantism found many converts, with the first permanent pastor sent over from Geneva in 1559. The Protestants proposed
10353-498: The heavy guns necessary to reduce the town; the guns had not yet arrived from Paris. Thus the pursuit was broken off to turn instead to besieging Mussidan and Aubeterre-sur-Dronne . On 25 June, the two armies met again at the Battle of La Roche-l'Abeille , resulting in a victory for Coligny. The Battle of Moncontour in October of the same year would provide the Catholics with a more definitive victory . This article about
10472-1349: The historiography concerning the nature of popular violence during the French Wars of Religion. In Natalie Zemon-Davis' thesis, popular Protestant violence was largely directed against profane objects and places, and popular Catholic violence was directed against pollutant heretics. Tulchin argues that the examples of La Rochelle and Nîmes suggest it was more of a numbers game and that in the rare towns in which Protestants held overwhelming numbers, they were just as likely to do mass killings as Catholics. The murders in La Rochelle and Nîmes were conducted by officials and largely targeted priests and high political officials, in contrast to massacres such as that at Sens or on St. Bartholomew's Day , which were more indiscriminate and spontaneous. Battle of Jarnac Sieur de Tavannes Henry, Duke of Anjou Second; 1567–1568 Saint-Denis ; Chartres Third; 1568–1570 Jarnac ; La Roche-l'Abeille ; Poitiers ; Orthez ; Moncontour ; Saint-Jean d'Angély ; Arney-le-Duc Fourth; 1572–1573 Mons ; Sommières ; Sancerre ; La Rochelle Fifth; 1574–1576 Dormans Sixth; 1577 La Charité-sur-Loire ; Issoire ; Brouage Seventh; 1580 La Fère War of
10591-487: The jeers of the local populace. Minor participants on the Huguenot side were the English volunteer Walter Raleigh and Louis of Nassau . Under the leadership of Gaspard de Coligny , most of the Huguenot army managed to escape the attack unscathed, regrouping at Cognac and Saintes. There it swore allegiance to Henry of Navarre and Louis' son Henri, Prince of Condé while waiting for news of their German allies. The Royal army could pursue no further than Cognac, lacking
10710-616: 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
10829-404: The left and right wings of cavalry, but these jaded horsemen gave way before Montpensier’s more numerous cavalry. At this point the Prince threw himself and his followers into the midst of the Catholic forces, turning back the vanguard cavalry and driving into Anjou’s own horsemen. But gallant though the charge was, it was doomed to failure. The scattered Huguenot horsemen could make no impression on
10948-444: The main battle and Tavannes realised that the ground north of the pond was suitable to resume the advance. Montpensier’s vanguard cavalry moved first. They were followed by the battle. The southern end of this formation, nearest the Charente, consisted of the Catholic reiters. The Catholic guns fired a couple of salvoes before the cavalry moved forward to attack at about 2:00 p.m. The Huguenots countered by attacking with both
11067-425: The mass appears to have been the act most likely to result in death, as was in line with Protestant killings elsewhere, which tended to target priests. Despite the confidence of the coup plotters that the people would obey them, they were keen to avoid putting their deeds in writing and performed the massacre secretly in the night. The killing was ultimately counterproductive to their goals by delaying their assault on
11186-409: The more militant Catholics vent their frustration by selecting as their candidate the radical young de Rochette, a church lawyer, with the leadership of des Georges and de Gras, who, in their old age, had too many ties to the Protestant leadership to clamp down on them, being rejected. Mass was re-established in the Cathedral, but many of the canons hired to perform it were still too fearful to turn up on
11305-618: 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
11424-407: The numbers that the violence was in large part this violence was within the elite, which made it likely that all of the victims had names that would have been recollected by witnesses later and notable enough to receive attention from the investigators. Also notable was the fact that only adult men were targeted for execution although several prominent women were arrested during the coup. Performance of
11543-409: The population and specifically on the Catholics alongside looting of several Catholic residences. In the days following the massacre many of the rest of the prisoners, suitably intimidated, were released back to their homes, due to a lack of interest in killing them, and a desire to have them as taxable subjects. In June 1568, royal troops re-entered the town as the second civil war ended. In March 1569
11662-472: The prisoners from their various holding places, in accordance with lists that had been drawn by the leadership of the committee. Among those to be executed were de Gras and de Rochette. The assorted prisoners were taken to the courtyard of the bishop's palace in which a well was situated and were killed there with swords, daggers and pistols, with some of their bloodied bodies dumped in the well. Witnesses claimed that d'Estenet and L'Hermite were among those who did
11781-456: 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
11900-510: The redirection of money intended for the Mass to poor relief to solve the harvest problem. The elite of Nîmes began to convert in 1560 to 1561, with the town's lawyers in particular joining the ranks of the new religion. That troubled the crown, as the town appeared to lose any zeal in fighting heresy. As a result, royal troops were sent into the town, and they arranged a Catholic-only council election. This unconstitutional power grab further alienated
12019-590: 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;
12138-529: 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
12257-474: 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
12376-536: 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
12495-619: The third French War of Religion, the Protestants of Nîmes would again execute a coup followed by a massacre, with this time perhaps 100-150 killed. The much larger massacre is, however, much more poorly recorded and less known, as it would not be followed by a reconquest and investigation since the Protestants would instead control Nîmes for the next 100 years, until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes . Thus they had little need or desire to publicise their own crimes. The Michelade in Nimes has fed into
12614-405: The time of the massacre. The occupations of the majority were largely in the wool trade or in agriculture. In 1552, King Henry II granted the town a presidial court increasing its prominence in the area. Présidial judges were the wealthiest and most prestigious citizens in the town and served on the court for life but could resign if they wished to pass the office to their children. The court held
12733-510: The tour in Toulouse , Charles IX decreed in March that benefices should be seized from churches that refused to celebrate the mass but also that Protestants should not be excluded from political office. That had little effect in Nîmes, where the Catholics lacked the ability to compel the Protestants to hand over the benefices, and the Protestants lacked the ability to make the council let them participate. In late 1565, another rigged election saw
12852-565: The town between Captain Bolhargues and Captain La Garde. The council sought to win Bolhargues' favour, courted him at the expense of La Garde and tried to get the latter to quit, a decision they would come to regret. Bolhargues, despite being Catholic, had worked with the Protestants during their leadership in 1562-3. On September 27, D'Acier passed through the town to spread word of the upcoming planned national uprising and met with Pavée in
12971-428: 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,
13090-534: The town. He in turn reached out to Leblanc, a longtime friend of Bolhargues, and tasked Leblanc with bringing Bolhargues over into their camp. With his defection, only the troops of the Chateau would be available to the consuls. Beginning the uprising on 29 September, Michelade Day, the Protestant leadership of the town formed a provisional governing committee in which almost all Protestant Présidial judges featured but very little religious Protestant leadership. Indeed,
13209-567: 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 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,
13328-416: 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
13447-414: The work of killing and that men of lower class than the aristocratic judicial leadership that had drawn up the kill orders. The majority of the 37 known victims would be priests, at 18 executions, with only 2 of the 8 arrested consuls executed, and 1 of the 7 arrested Présidial judges, after he had tried to flee prior. Six artisans would be executed, and 6 lesser lawyers. It can be fairly confident stated by
13566-465: 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
13685-618: Was an encounter during the French Wars of Religion between the Catholic forces of Marshal Gaspard de Saulx, sieur de Tavannes , and the Huguenots led by Louis I de Bourbon, prince de Condé . The two forces met outside Jarnac between the right bank of the Charente and the high road between Angoulême and Cognac . The Huguenots were routed and Condé was killed after his surrender and his body paraded on an ass in Jarnac. In late 1568
13804-566: 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 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
13923-428: 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
14042-556: 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
14161-426: 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, 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
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