Skip to main content Skip to Search Box

Italian Wars

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous rival states, most of which sought foreign alliances to increase their individual power. It thus became prey to the national states that had begun to emerge in Europe. Foremost among those were France and Spain, whose prolonged struggle for supremacy in Italy was to curtail Italian liberties for more than three centuries. The wars began when, in 1494, Charles VIII of France invaded Italy and seized (1495) Naples without effort, only to be forced to retreat by a coalition of Spain, the Holy Roman emperor, the pope, Venice, and Milan. His successor, Louis XII , occupied (1499) Milan and Genoa. Louis gained his next objective, Naples, by agreeing to its conquest and partition with Ferdinand V of Spain and by securing the consent of Pope Alexander VI . Disagreement over division of the spoils between the…
12,334 results

Full text Article Italian Wars

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(1494–1559) Series of violent wars for control of Italy. Fought largely by France and Spain but involving much of Europe, they resulted in the Spanish Habsburgs dominating Italy and shifted power from Italy to northwestern Europe and its Atlantic world. The wars began with the invasion of Italy by…
| 253 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Italian Wars

From The Hutchinson Unabridged Encyclopedia with Atlas and Weather Guide
A series of conflicts from 1494 to 1559 between the leading European powers for control of the Italian states. The wars involved most of the Italian states, the papacy, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, France, and Switzerland. Principally, the conflict was between France and Spain, with the changing…
| 401 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Italian Wars

From The Columbia Encyclopedia
1494–1559, series of regional wars brought on by the efforts of the great European powers to control the small independent states of Italy. Renaissance Italy was split into numerous rival states, most of which sought foreign alliances to increase their individual power. It thus became prey to the…
| 589 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Italian Wars

From Chambers Dictionary of World History
A long series of conflicts often described in terms of the rivalry between the French Valois Dynasty and the Habsburg Dynasty , but which in many ways form a continuity between the struggles of popes and emperors in the Middle Ages and the religious wars of the Reformation era. The first war was…
| 207 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Cateau-Cambrésis, Treaty of

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(April 3, 1559) Agreement marking the end of the 65-year struggle (1494–1559) between France and Spain for the control of Italy. France gave up its claims to Italian territory, leaving Habsburg Spain the dominant power there. France returned Savoy and Piedmont to Spain’s ally Emmanuel-Philibert of…
| 160 words
Key concepts:
Ludovico il Moro captured by the French in April 1500 (vellum)
Artist: Italian School, (16th century) Location: Private Collection Credit: Ludovico il Moro captured by the French in April 1500 (vellum) , Italian School, (16th century) / Private Collection / De Agostini Picture Library / The Bridgeman Art Library Medium: vellum Description: Ludovico Sforza (also…
| 175 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Francis I

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
King Francis I of France, portrait by Pierre...
(born Sept. 12, 1494, Cognac, France—died March 31, 1547, Rambouillet) King of France (1515–47). The cousin and son-in-law of Louis XII , Francis succeeded to the throne in 1515. Soon after his coronation he rode off to the Italian Wars (1515–16) and recovered the Duchy of Milan. He was a…
| 273 words , 1 image
Key concepts:

Full text Article Charles V

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born Feb. 24, 1500, Ghent—died Sept. 21, 1558, San Jerónimo de Yuste, Spain) Holy Roman emperor (1519–56) and king of Spain (as Charles I, 1516–56). Son of Philip I of Castile and grandson of Ferdinand V and Isabella I and of Emperor Maximilian I , he succeeded to his grandfathers’ kingdoms on…
| 251 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Louis XII

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(born June 27, 1462, Blois, France—died Jan. 1, 1515, Paris) King of France (1498–1515). He became king on the death of his cousin Charles VIII . He annulled his marriage to marry Charles’s widow, Anne of Brittany , and to reinforce the union of her duchy with France. He continued France’s part in…
| 197 words
Key concepts:

Full text Article Cambrai, Treaty of

From Britannica Concise Encyclopedia
(French: “Peace of the Ladies”) (August 3, 1529) Agreement ending one phase of the wars between Francis I of France and Emperor Charles V , temporarily confirming Spanish (Habsburg) control in Italy. It was called the Paix des Dames because it was negotiated by Louise of Savoy (1476–1531), mother of…
| 148 words
Key concepts:
Mind Map

Stack overflow
More Library Resources