War, diplomacy and intrigue. The Italian Wars of the sixteenth century
is one of the richest periods of European history and it thrust the Italian peninsula
into the grand European scene. What started as some dynastic claims between
the two greatest European dynasties of the time soon developed into a conflict that revolutionized
European warfare and the diplomatic system. Welcome to the first episode in our series
on the Italian Wars, in which we will cover the First Italian War and the Battle of Fornovo. This series is so dense, there is no surprise
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at MANSCAPED.com! The Italian peninsula of the Middle Ages was
divided between the fragmented north, split into numerous fiefs and city-states under
the nominal sovereignty of the Holy Roman Emperor, the Kingdoms of Sicily and Naples
in the south, and the Papal State that had jurisdiction over parts of central Italy. The fourteenth century was a period of consolidation
for the biggest powers of Italy, especially for Milan, Venice, Florence, and the Pope,
who expanded their dominions over the smaller cities. The friction that arose from these expansions
continued into the next century and culminated with the Lombard Wars between Milan and Venice. Following the signing of the Peace of Lodi
in 1454, a balance emerged between the five regional powers: the Duchy of Milan, the Republic
of Venice, the Papal State, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Republic of Florence. A mutual defence pact, the Italian League,
was formed between them and the four decades that followed were characterized by diplomatic
and military balance, overseen by Lorenzo de' Medici. Conflicts were kept small and regionalized,
while the Renaissance was flourishing in all Italian centers of culture. This balance was however broken in the last
decade of the century, following the death of the Florentine statesman. The spark for the First Italian War was the
dynastic succession of the duchy of Milan. In 1476 Gian Galeazzo Sforza succeeded his
father, Galeazzo Maria, as duke of Milan at the age of seven. His uncle Ludovico Sforza took over the regency
from his mother and introduced the young duke to a life of pleasures and games, tampering
with his education and making him ineffective and uninterested in the governance of the
Duchy. In 1489 Gian Galeazzo married Isabel of Aragon,
granddaughter of the King of Naples Ferrante. With all the power in the hands of Ludovico,
the energetic Isabel sought the support of her family in ousting the regent. With the looming threat of a Neapolese intervention
and Florence’s anti-Milanese stance, Ludovico worried that he would lose his grip on power. To defend his interests, he and his father-in-law,
Ercole d’Este solicited for years an old friend of the Sforza family, the King of France
Charles VIII, to come to Italy and take over the throne of Naples, a strategy already used
in the past to put pressure on the Aragonese house. The Kingdom of Naples, nominally vassal of
the Papal State, had originated from the Norman conquests in southern Italy and had later
been contested by the houses of Anjou-Capet and Anjou-Valois, and by the Crown of Aragon
since 1282. In 1442 Renè of Anjou had lost the throne
to King Alfonso the Fifth of Aragon, and conflicts between the two Mediterranean powers had followed
intermittently. After the extinction of the male line of the
house of Anjou-Valois in 1481, the kings of France inherited claims to the throne of Naples,
together with the duchy of Provence and other fiefs. The Kings of France of the Valois dynasty
had fought the English during the Hundred Years’ War, but by 1453 the gradual reconquest
of the French mainland was mostly completed. The centralization of authority into the hands
of the Crown continued in the following decade by limiting the power of the powerful nobles
and inheriting some of the lands of the Duke of Burgundy following his death, causing conflict
with the Holy Roman Emperor . By the last decade of the century, the Kingdom of France
had started to integrate the Duchy of Brittany and reformed its army from its old feudal
nature, giving the King the resources to partake in an expedition that would have been impossible
some years before. King Charles VIII was captivated by the opportunity
of expanding into Italy, which up to that point had been limited to the Angevine claims
and to influence in the Genoese Republic. So after a few years of preparation and having
secured peace treaties with his neighbours, he departed France in August 1494 at the head
of an army of around 30.000 men, including 8000 swiss mercenaries and a modern artillery
park. The claimed goal was to take over Naples and
to obtain a foothold from where to stage a crusade against the Ottoman Turks, which was
largely propagandized as the final objective of the expedition. Charles led his army through the lands of
the infant Duke of Savoy, whose mother received the King and his large army cordially, and
then reached the Orleanese exclave of Asti on the 9th of September, while his cousin
Louis of Orleans led another army by sea and reached Genoa, at the time controlled by Milanese
governors. In the meantime, many French companies had
already arrived in Italy to secure strong points and Ludovico Sforza had started to
recruit soldiers for the expedition. The king of Naples Alfonso the Second, who
had succeeded his father the same year, had not sat idly while the French prepared. He allied himself with Pope Alexander the
Sixth, better known as Rodrigo de Borja, and made preparations to delay the French advance
by hiring condottieri from Lombardy and Lazio. He also sent his son Ferdinando, Duke of Calabria,
and the condottiero Gian Giacomo Trivulzio to Romagna with the objective of invading
Lombardy. At the same time, his brother Federico, 4000
men, and the Genoese exiled nobles Cardinal Pàolo Fregoso and Obietto Fieschi went to
Liguria with the objective of starting revolt to overthrow the Milanese and French garrisons
in Genoa, which supplied the French fleet . A failed attempt to take Pòrtovenere in
July was followed by the occupation of Rapallo on the 5th of September, but three days later
Louis of Orleans with 3000 Swiss mercenaries and Genoese-Milanese militias defeated the
force and destroyed the town, crushing any hopes the Neapolitans had to ignite revolts
in the region. Some French and Milanese contingents skirmished
in September and October with the joint Neapolitan, Florentine, and Papal army in Emilia, culminating
with the Sack of Mordan. The castle in the possession of Caterina Sforza,
Lady of Imola and Forlì, was devastated by the French troops, so she decided to drop
her support for Naples and instead sided with Charles, limiting Ferdinando’s support in
the area. The complete destruction of the surrendered
town and the slaughter of both the population and the defenders was a calculated strategy
by the French king. Not wanting to play by the Italian rules of
war which was characterized by defence, containment, manoeuvre, attrition, and backdoor diplomacy,
the King wanted to plough through the peninsula by making examples of what happened to resistance
and frightening his foes, a brutal tactic called “furia francese” by the Italians. On the 21st of October, the sick Duke Gian
Galeazzo Sforza died under suspicious circumstances and his uncle Ludovico left Charles to return
to Milan where he took the title of Duke of Milan, which was confirmed by the Holy Roman
Emperor. Charles, after having recovered from a month-long
illness, decided to move along the western side of the peninsula through Tuscany, to
pressure the Florentines into submission. The signore of Florence, Piero de’ Medici,
had allied himself with Alfonso, but the Florentine people were sympathetic to the French and
Piero’s grip on power was shaky. Charles traversed the Apennines and found
himself blocked by the formidable fortress of Sarzanello and the city of Sarzana, where
he was joined by his artillery and Swiss mercenaries by sea. The modern fortress could withstand both the
French army and their artillery for months. Looking for a more vulnerable objective, the
cannons were taken to the Florentine exclave of Fivizzano where they were effective and
the town was conquered and destroyed with the support of the local noble Malaspina,
killing the defenders and devastating other villages in the region that surrendered, with
the sole objective of terrorizing the Florentines in Sarzana. Piero de Medici went by himself to the French
king and surrendered the fortress together with the cities of Sarzana, Pietrasanta, Pisa,
and Livorno, saving the king much time he would have spent on investing the fortresses. This was not popular with the Florentine population,
who expelled the Medicis and installed a republican government influenced by the priest Savonarola. Charles traversed the territory of Lucca and
then entered Pisa hailed as a liberator from the Florentine subjugation. Here he promised Pisa freedoms, though it
is probable that the freedom that the Pisans had in mind was different from what Charles
had intended. By the fifteenth of November, Charles entered
with his army into Florence where he stipulated an agreement with the new government, keeping
the Tuscan cities until the end of the campaign while Florence would subsidy him 120.000 florins. After obtaining free passage through Siena,
the French army reached the northern border of Lazio, throwing Rome into chaos. The two biggest rivals of Pope Alexander,
the cardinals Ascanio Sforza and Giuliano Della Rovere sided with the French and pushed
for a Council to reform the Church and to depose the corrupt Pope. The defensive line set up by the Orsini quickly
crumbled and the left vanguard advanced into Umbria, and from there entering Abruzzo which
revolted from Neapolitan control. A number of nobles and condottieri defected
to the French, the Roman population rioted, while the Colonna family, allies of Della
Rovere, had occupied Ostia in September making the defence of the city untenable. Ferdinando was allowed to return to Naples,
while Charles entered Rome on the 31st of December. After a few days, Charles managed to meet
the Pope, who had barricaded himself in Castel Sant’Angelo, and obtained free passage through
the papal state with provisions for his army, but he did not obtain the investiture for
the Kingdom that he had hoped for. After a month in Rome, Charles left for Naples,
where he expected a stiffer resistance than he had experienced until then. However, Naples was in complete confusion. Alfonso the Second had abdicated in favour
of his son and left for Sicily with the royal treasury. The historically pro-Angevine Neapolitan barons
flocked to the French army, and the local population greeted the French as saviors. The few cases of local resistance were brutally
bombarded and executed, such as the castle at Monte San Giovanni. Ferdinando with his last 10000 men set up
camp first at San Germano and then at Capua, but while the King was in Naples, Capua rebelled
and the condottiero Gian Giacomo Trivulzio delivered it to the French, entering their
service, and causing the scattering of the army. Ferdinando, having been outmaneuvered and
lost support from everyone, escaped with his court to Ischia and, at the same time, Charles
entered Naples on the 22nd of February 1495, with little resistance from the defenders
left behind. In just five months, the French king had traversed
the Italian peninsula nearly unopposed, and any resistance against him had been pulverized. It was a political earthquake for the region,
which shocked the contemporaries, scared the Italian states, and would have lasting effects
on the Italian peninsula. Ludovico il Moro, who had not expected France
to put so many resources into the expedition, found himself in a worrisome situation as
Louis of Orleans pressed claims for his title. In the spring of 1495, the League of Venice
was formed to contrast the hegemony of France in Italy, which was formed by Spain, Milan,
Venice, the Emperor, the Pope, and other minor Italian states, although Maximilian von Habsburg
and Alexander the Sixth did not contribute. Worried about being blocked in Southern Italy,
Charles decided to return to France and left the Kingdom on the 20th of May, leaving behind
half of his force with the task of defending Naples. He reached Rome, which the Pope had left,
and continued north passing Siena and Pisa, keeping the Tuscan fortresses to the dismay
of the Florentine. He sent part of his army to Liguria, accompanied
by the same Genoese exiles the Neapolitans had sent the prior year, with the hopes of
starting a rebellion there. At the same time, Louis of Orleans defeated
a small force sent to screen him and conquered Novara with a force of 10000 men and then
attempted to take Vigevano, but was besieged at Novara by a Milanese force of 40000 men. Charles continued his march and after sacking
Pontremoli he crossed the Apennines, where he was blocked at the village of Fornovo by
the assembled army of the League of Venice. The Italian army was composed mostly of condottieri
hired by Venice, with only a quarter of those being Milanese as their main force was preoccupied
at Novara. They were led by the Marquise of Mantova,
Gianfrancesco the Second Gonzaga. Sources conflict around the exact number of
troops, but it seems that the army was composed of around 8600 heavy knights, 1500 Italian
light cavalry and mounted crossbowmen, 800 stradioti, light cavalrymen originating from
the Balkans, 8000 infantry armed both with ranged and melee weapons and a few artillery
pieces, for a total of around 20.000 men. Many nobles from Romagna, such as the leaders
of Bologna, Rimini, Ferrara, and Urbino participated as well. Charles army at Fornovo was composed of 5500
mounted men, distributed into a mix of heavily armoured knights, light cavalry, and mounted
crossbowmen of which 400 were Italian; 4000 infantry, including 3000 Swiss mercenaries
which were the spearhead of the army, and 42 cannons armed by 1000 men, for a total
of a little over 10.000 men. The vanguards of the two armies arrived in
the vicinity of Fornovo on the 1st of July, where a squadron of Italian light cavalry
attacked the enemies and took some prisoners, while the French fortified their camp on the
high ground. The following days the stradioti continued
to harass the French camp while the complete armies arrived in the area. On the 6th of July, Charles sent an envoy
to ask for free passage back to France. While the Italians argued on what to do, as
the Venitian representatives did not wish to attack head-on and bickering between the
many members of the League made the command of the force difficult, Charles waded the
river and marched along the northern bank, dividing his army into three battlegroups,
and assigning most of the army, the artillery and the Swiss mercenaries to the vanguard
led by Gian Giacomo Trivulzio and the Marshal of Giè, as they expected that they would
have to cut through the enemies. Seeing the army advance, Francesco Gonzaga
decided to attack. He formed his army up into 3 columns, with
half of the cavalry in the front and the second half in reserve, with a considerable force
left to protect the fortified camp. Gonzaga's strategy was to attack the three
groups simultaneously, while two squadrons of stradioti and mounted crossbowmen would
circle around and harass the French left flank. The battle started with an artillery duel
which was swiftly won by the French but led to few casualties. During the night it had rained heavily, making
the river Taro, usually a stream in the summer, a considerable obstacle, and the storm continued
in the morning. This slowed down Gonzaga’s main force in
the center, as it was forced to cross the river after the left flank and delayed the
attack against the center. In the meantime, the right wing composed of
the Milanese knights led by the Count of Caiazzo attacked the vanguard, but after a single
attack against the Swiss formation, they retreated back to camp. At the same time, the stradioti which should
have harassed the flank soon started to loot the baggage train instead. The left and center managed to cross the river,
though some drowned or refused to cross. Reorganized, they charged the French rearguard,
but the terrain was unsuited for a cavalry charge and at the same time Charles had moved
the center of the army back to support the rearguard. The clash against the compact French line
was devastating for the Italian, who opted for a wave assault. Many of Gonzaga’s soldiers deserted the
clash, joining instead the looting of the baggage train and leaving the Italian main
assault outnumbered. Even then, the King was extremely close to
being captured and would have been if not for the sacrifice of the Count of Vendôme. Many Italian commanders died or were injured,
including the second in command Rodolfo Gonzaga, who should have signaled the reserve to advance,
something that did not happen. On the Italian right, the infantry was cut
down by the Swiss, while the reserve attempted to attack the artillery but was also repelled. Outnumbered, Gonzaga sounded the retreat and
crossed the river, where many more drowned or were killed by the French. Charles, having opened up a route back to
France decided to not chase the enemy. In just an hour, the French army lost around
1000 men and the baggage train, which had around 300.000 ducats of valuables in it,
while the Italians lost around 3000 to 4000 men including many commanders. The high death toll on the Italian side was
attributed to the French not taking prisoners but killing the wounded. Both sides claimed victory, as the Italian
had taken the higher number of casualties and failed to block Charles, while the French
lost their baggage and left the field, although modern historians give the victory to the
French. Charles continued to Asti, while the League
army followed and then deviated to Novara, as both sides did not wish a second engagement. Charles stayed in Piedmont waiting for reinforcements
and was rejoined by the failed expedition in Liguria. At Rapallo, part of the French fleet had been
captured, while Louis of Orleans left Novara in September with the rest of his frazzled
army. By October the 9th, the Peace of Vercelli
was signed between France and Milan, with Ludovico turning on his Venitian allies and
granting Charles the right to use Genoa as a supply base to defend Naples, and so the
King returned to France. The war continued in Southern Italy, and we
will cover that conflict in the next video, so make sure you are subscribed and have pressed
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