Signed | 9 February 1499 |
---|---|
Location | Blois, France |
Mediators | Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara |
Original signatories | |
Parties | |
Languages | French |
The Treaty of Blois (1499), signed on 9 February 1499, was a secret military alliance between Louis XII of France and the Republic of Venice, in which they agreed to a joint attack on the Duchy of Milan. In return, the Venetians were to receive part of the Duchy, while France also undertook to provide military assistance if Venice was attacked by the Ottoman Empire.
The Italian War of 1494–1495 began when Charles VIII of France invaded Italy to pursue the Angevin claim to the Kingdom of Naples. He was initially supported by Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan since October 1494, but in March 1495 Ludovico joined the anti-French League of Venice. Charles' cousin Louis of Orleans took advantage of this change of sides to attack the Duchy of Milan, which he claimed through his grandmother, Valentina Visconti. He captured Novara, fifty kilometres from Milan, where he was besieged by Milanese forces and eventually surrendered in return for his freedom. [1]
After Charles died in April 1498, Louis succeeded him as Louis XII. To secure his borders prior to another attempt on Milan, in July 1498 he renewed the 1492 Peace of Étaples with England and signed a treaty confirming French borders with Burgundy. [2] In August, he signed the Treaty of Marcoussis with Ferdinand II of Aragon; although it left outstanding territorial disputes between France and Spain unresolved, the two countries agreed to "have all enemies in common, except the Pope". [3]
Louis now approached the Republic of Venice, then the leading military power in Northern Italy. Venice had been financing Pisa in its fight for independence from Florence, which was supported by Milan. Doing so had proved extremely expensive while Venice was also concerned by the Ottoman threat to their maritime possessions. [4] As a result, the Great Council was open to an alliance with France to remove Ludovico, although some members disagreed, including Agostino Barbarigo, the current Doge of Venice. [4]
The Venetians initially demanded lands on both sides of the Adda river, which Louis considered excessive, while rejecting his request for a subsidy of 100,000 Ducats. Under a deal brokered by Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Venice was granted Cremona along with lands on the eastern bank of the Adda, and agreed to pay part of Louis' expenses. They would also supply 1,500 cavalry and 4,000 infantry for an attack on Milan from the east and agreed not to interfere with French plans to capture Genoa. In return, Louis promised to provide military support if the Ottomans attacked Venice while they were at war with Milan. [5]
Louis assembled an army of around 20,000 under Gian Giacomo Trivulzio, who invaded Milan in August 1499 while he remained in Lyons; with the bulk of Milanese forces in the western part of the duchy, the Venetians quickly occupied the eastern territories assigned to them by the treaty and captured Cremona on 8 September. [6] Ludovico and his children took refuge in Germany with Emperor Maximilian, while Louis entered Milan on 6 October 1499. [7]
However, tensions soon developed within the Franco-Venetian alliance, since the Venetians backed an independent Pisa while Louis needed Florentine support for his attack on Naples. In addition, the Milanese deeply resented their new French and Venetian overlords, a situation worsened by the heavy taxes imposed by Louis to pay for his military campaign. [8] In April 1500, Ludovico retook Milan with the help of an army of mercenaries paid for by Emperor Maximilian but was later defeated and held in French captivity where in he died in 1508. [9] As the new Duke of Milan, Louis could not escape the reality that Venice was its chief rival in Northern Italy and in 1508 France joined the anti-Venetian League of Cambrai, set up by Pope Julius II. [10]
Francesco I Sforza was an Italian condottiero who founded the Sforza dynasty in the duchy of Milan, ruling as its (fourth) duke from 1450 until his death.
Louis XII, also known as Louis of Orléans, was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law, Charles VIII, who died childless in 1498.
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 the war, some on both sides, with limited involvement from England, Switzerland, and the Ottoman Empire.
Ludovico Maria Sforza, also known as Ludovico il Moro, and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini, was an Italian nobleman who ruled as the Duke of Milan from 1494 to 1499.
The Duchy of Milan was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277.
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The Battle of Novara was a battle of the War of the League of Cambrai fought on 6 June 1513, near Novara, in Northern Italy. A French attacking force was routed by allied Milanese–Swiss troops. As a consequence, France was forced to withdraw entirely from Italy.
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio was an Italian aristocrat and condottiero who held several military commands during the Italian Wars.
The First Italian War, or Charles VIII's Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Charles VIII of France, who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI, known as the League of Venice.
The Italian Wars of 1499–1504 are divided into two connected, but distinct phases: the Second Italian War (1499–1501), sometimes known as Louis XII's Italian War, and the Third Italian War (1502–1504) or War over Naples. The first phase was fought for control of the Duchy of Milan by an alliance of Louis XII of France and the Republic of Venice against Ludovico Sforza, the second between Louis and Ferdinand II of Aragon for possession of the Kingdom of Naples.
Agostino Barbarigo was Doge of Venice from 1486 until his death in 1501.
The Wars in Lombardy were a series of conflicts between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan and their respective allies, fought in four campaigns in a struggle for hegemony in Northern Italy that ravaged the economy of Lombardy. They lasted from 1423 until the signing of the Treaty of Lodi in 1454. During their course, the political structure of Italy was transformed: out of a competitive congeries of communes and city-states emerged the five major Italian territorial powers that would make up the map of Italy for the remainder of the 15th century and the beginning of the Italian Wars at the turn of the 16th century. They were Venice, Milan, Florence, the Papal States and Naples. Important cultural centers of Tuscany and Northern Italy—Siena, Pisa, Urbino, Mantua, Ferrara—became politically marginalized.
The Treaty of Granada (1500), signed on 11 November 1500, was a secret treaty between Ferdinand II of Aragon and Louis XII of France, in which they agreed to partition the Kingdom of Naples. Drawn up in the context of the wider Italian Wars, the disputes between the Hispanic Kingdoms and France led to the treaty's collapse in 1503.
Ludovico II del Vasto was marquess of Saluzzo from 1475 until his death. Before his accession as marquis he held the title of Count of Carmagnola.
Events from the year 1494 in France
This is an alphabetical index of people, places, things, and concepts related to or originating from the Republic of Venice. Feel free to add more, and create missing pages.
The siege of Novara took place in the summer and autumn of 1495 during the Italian War of 1494–1495. While king Charles VIII of France was retreating to the north after facing rebellions in the recently conquered Kingdom of Naples, and managed to escape the destruction of his army at the Battle of Fornovo, his cousin and future king Louis d'Orleans opened a second front by attacking the Duchy of Milan and occupying the city of Novara. In an effort to retrieve it, the Milanese army and their League of Venice allies besieged Novara for three months and fourteen days. Suffering from severe starvation and disease, the French lost about 2000 soldiers before Louis had to surrender and withdraw.
Ludovico Barbiano di Belgiojoso (1488–1530) was an Italian military leader who fought on both sides during the Italian Wars.