The War of the League of Cambrai, also known by its second stage as the War of the Holy League, was fought from December 1508 to December 1516, as part of the wider Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The war was preceded by the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who crossed into Venetian territory in February 1508 with the imperial army on the way to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope in Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, brought together the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance consisting of him, Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon, which was formally concluded in December 1508. Although the League was initially successful, later frictions between Julius and Louis culminated in the pope abandoning the League in 1510 and allying himself with Venice against France.
The Veneto–Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League in 1511, that was also joined by Spain. The League drove the French from Italy in 1512. Later disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the coalition in favor of an alliance with France in 1513. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis on the throne of France, the French and Venetians would regain the territory they had lost in a campaign culminating in the Battle of Marignano in 1515; the treaties of Noyon (August 1516) and Brussels (December 1516), which were implemented by January 1517, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
The War of the League of Cambrai, also known by its second stage as the War of the Holy League, was fought from December 1508 to December 1516, as part of the wider Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The war was preceded by the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who crossed into Venetian territory in February 1508 with the imperial army on the way to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the pope in Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, brought together the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance consisting of him, Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon, which was formally concluded in December 1508. Although the League was initially successful, later frictions between Julius and Louis culminated in the pope abandoning the League in 1510 and allying himself with Venice against France.
The Veneto–Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League in 1511, that was also joined by Spain. The League drove the French from Italy in 1512. Later disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the coalition in favor of an alliance with France in 1513. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis on the throne of France, the French and Venetians would regain the territory they had lost in a campaign culminating in the Battle of Marignano in 1515; the treaties of Noyon (August 1516) and Brussels (December 1516), which were implemented by January 1517, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
Timeline
This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war.
Prelude (1506–1508)
July 1506 – March 1507: A popular revolt in Genoa expelled the city's pro-French nobility to Savona. By late November 1506, king Louis XII of France was planning a military expedition to bring Genoa back under pro-French control.
28 March 1507: The Genoese revolutionary council declared war on the king of France, who had already reached Piedmont with his army.
22–29 April 1507: Siege of Genoa. French victory over the Genoese revolutionaries. Louis arranged a triumphal entry and forced the Genoese to swear loyalty to him.
April 1507: The Imperial Diet of Konstanz and Maximilian I declared Louis XII of France an enemy of Christianity and a threat to Italy, and requested (and received) funding for an Italienzug. Louis XII denied seeking war with the Empire or the Papacy.
14 May 1507: Louis XII left Genoa and held a similar triumphal entry in Milan.
28 June 1507: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon met for six days at Savona to lay the groundwork for the League of Cambrai against Venice, most likely intending to include Maximilian and the Pope into the coalition. Ferdinand departed for Spain on 3 July.
July 1507: The Imperial Diet promised Maximilian 12,000 troops for his Italienzug. Because this was not enough to challenge the French in Milan, as he originally intended, Maximilian later ended up deciding to attack Venice instead on the grounds of refusing to ally with him against France, and refusing him passage to Rome.
Maximilian's Italienzug (1508)
24 January 1508: Maximilian requested permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but the Venetians suspected the ruse and prepared for war.
4 February 1508: Maximilian I proclaimed himself Holy Roman Emperor in Trento.
Early February 1508: Maximilian declared war on Venice. Venice requested France, then still their ally, to send aid, which Chaumont did in the form of several thousand troops from Milan.
24 February 1508: Skirmish at Chiusa di Venas, Imperial victory over Venice.
27 February 1508: Imperials captured Castello di Botestagno.
2 March 1508: Battle of Cadore. Venetian victory over the Emperor.
March–May 1508: Successful Venetian counter-offensives into Imperial territory. The Venetians captured Trieste on 6 May.
Summer 1508: Venice agreed to a separate three-year truce with Maximilian without the knowledge or consent of Louis of France. Angered by this 'betrayal', Louis sought to punish the Venetians, and started contemplating a Franco-German alliance with Maximilian against Venice.
War of the League of Cambrai proper (1508–1511)
10 December 1508: The League of Cambrai was formally concluded.
April 1509: France declares war on Venice.
27 April 1509: Pope Julius II imposes the interdict on the Venetians.
22 December 1509: Battle of Polesella. Ferrarese (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
15 February 1510: Pope Julius II concludes peace with Venice, and leaves the League of Cambrai.
24 February 1510: Pope Julius II revokes the interdict, imposed against the Venetians in 1509.
May 1510: French, Ferrarese, and Imperial troops invaded Venetian territory.
July 1510: The Pope and Venice formed an alliance and went on a counter-offensive. The League of Cambrai fell apart, leaving only France and Ferrara at war with Venice and the Pope.
August 1510: Failed Papal attack on Ferrara.
17 August 1510: Papal–Venetian troops captured Modena.
October 1510: French troops were repulsed at Bologna.
23 May 1511: French troops captured Bologna after an anti-Papal revolt.
Late May 1511: French troops recaptured Mirandola.
War of the Holy League proper (1511–1514)
4 October 1511: Pope Julius II proclaimed the new Holy League against France, including the Papal States, Venice and Spain, later also joined by England and the Swiss Confederacy.
18 February 1512: Sack of Brescia. French victory over Venice.
16 August 1513: Battle of the Spurs (Guinegate). Anglo-Imperial victory over France.
8–13 September 1513: Siege of Dijon. Swiss victory over France.
9 September 1513: Battle of Flodden (Flodden Field, Branxton). English victory over Scotland (allied with France). Scotland abandoned France and left the war.
7 October 1513: Battle of La Motta (1513). Spanish and Imperial victory over Venice (allied with France).
November 1513: The Pope proposes peace negotiations between the emperor and the Venetians.
March 1514: One-year truce signed between the French and the Habsburgs.
August 1514: Peace signed between the French and the English.
Francis I's First Italian War (1515–1516)
June 1515: The French renew their alliance with the Venetians.
13–14 September 1515: Battle of Marignano (Melegnano). Decisive Franco-Venetian victory over Switzerland and Milan.
4 October 1515: French troops captured Milan and dethroned Sforza.
December 1515: Peace negotiations began.
August 1516: Treaty of Noyon, concluded between kings of France and Spain.
December 1516: Treaty of Brussels; emperor Maximilian agrees to end hostilities against Venice.
January 1517: Truce enacted; Verona surrendered to the Venetians; peace celebrated in Venice.
Prelude
In the aftermath of the First Italian War (1494–1498), Pope Alexander VI had, with French assistance, moved to consolidate Papal control over central Italy by seizing the Romagna. The illegitimate son of the Pope, Cesare Borgia, acting as Gonfalonier of the Papal armies, had expelled the Bentivoglio family from Bologna, which they had ruled as a fief, and was well on his way towards establishing a permanent Borgia state in the region when Alexander died on 18 August 1503. Although Cesare managed to seize the remnants of the Papal treasury for his own use, he was unable to secure Rome itself, as French and Spanish armies converged on the city in an attempt to influence the Papal conclave; the election of Pius III (who soon died, to be replaced by Julius II) stripped Cesare of his titles and relegated him to commanding a company of men-at-arms. Sensing Cesare's weakness, the dispossessed lords of the Romagna offered to submit to the Republic of Venice in exchange for aid in regaining their dominions; the Venetian Senate accepted and had taken possession of Rimini, Faenza, and a number of other cities by the end of 1503.
Julius II, having secured his own control of the Papal armies by arresting and imprisoning Cesare, first in Bologna and later in Ravenna, quickly moved to re-establish Papal control over the Romagna by demanding that Venice return the cities she had seized. The Republic of Venice, although willing to acknowledge Papal sovereignty over these port cities along the Adriatic coast and willing to pay Julius II an annual tribute, refused to surrender the cities themselves. In response, Julius concluded an alliance with France and the Holy Roman Empire against Venice; the death of Isabella I of Castile (26 November 1504) and the resulting collapse of relations between the parties soon dissolved the alliance (the Treaty of Blois (1504), which had ended the Italian Wars of 1499–1504, became a 'dead letter'), but not before Venice had been induced to abandon several of the cities, except for the three key towns of Rimini, Faenza and Cervia. Julius, although unsatisfied with his gains, did not himself possess sufficient forces to fight the Republic; for the next two years he instead occupied himself with the reconquest of Bologna and Perugia, which, located between Papal and Venetian territory, had in the meantime assumed a status of quasi-independence.
In 1507, Julius returned to the question of the cities in Venetian hands; once again rebuffed by the Senate, he encouraged Emperor Maximilian I to attack the Republic. Maximilian, using his journey to Rome for the Imperial coronation as a pretext, entered Venetian territory with a large army in February 1508 and advanced on Vicenza, but was defeated by a Venetian army under Bartolomeo d'Alviano (Battle of Cadore, 2 March 1508). A second assault by a Tyrolean force several weeks later was an even greater failure; Alviano not only routed the Imperial army but also seized the entire County of Gorizia, Austrian Istria (county of Pazin), as well as Trieste, Fiume, and the westernmost portions of Carniola, forcing Maximilian to conclude a truce with Venice.
League of Cambrai
In the spring of 1508, the Republic provoked Julius by appointing her own candidate to the vacant bishopric of Vicenza; in response, the Pope called for all Christian nations to join him in an expedition to subdue Venice. On 10 December 1508, representatives of the Papacy, France, the Holy Roman Empire, and Ferdinand II of Aragon concluded the League of Cambrai against the Republic. The agreement provided for the complete dismemberment of Venice's territory in Italy and for its partition among the signatories: Maximilian, in addition to regaining Gorizia, Trieste, and eastern Istria, would receive Verona, Vicenza, Padua, and the Friuli; France would annex Brescia, Crema, Bergamo, and Cremona to its Milanese possessions; Ferdinand would seize Otranto; and the remainder, including Rimini and Ravenna, would be added to the Papal States.
War of the League of Cambrai
After the creation of the League of Cambrai, the danger to the Republic of Venice became imminent. Already in January 1509, the French ambassador left Venice, and by April the French king formally declared war to the Republic. On 27 April, pope Julius II issued the interdict against the Venetians.
In the same time, the Venetian Senate assembled an army of about 50,000 soldiers in Pontevico, along the Oglio river, while the main Venetian generals assembled in its Castle. On 9 May 1509, Louis crossed the Adda River at the head of a French army of about 40,000 soldiers and moved rapidly into Venetian territory. To oppose him, Venice had hired a condottiere army under the command of the Orsini cousins—Bartolomeo d'Alviano and Niccolò di Pitigliano—but had failed to account for their disagreement on how best to stop the French advance. On 14 May, Alviano confronted the French at the Battle of Agnadello; outnumbered, he sent requests for reinforcements to his cousin, who replied with orders to break off the battle and continued on his way. Alviano, disregarding the new orders, continued the engagement; his army was eventually surrounded and destroyed. Pitigliano managed to avoid encountering Louis; but his mercenary troops, hearing of Alviano's defeat, had deserted in large numbers by the next morning, forcing him to retreat to Treviso with the remnants of the Venetian army.