War of the League of Cambrai, 1508-1509



A.) Causes for the War

The Republic of Venice had expansive ambitions, eyed at the acquisition of cities of the Romagna and the Marches, theoretically belonging to the Papal State. Cardinal Guiliano della Rovere, elected Pope Julius II. with the support of the Republic of Venice, attempted to counteract these ambitions by founding the League of Cambrai, together with the King of France (Dec. 1508), which was joined by Spain, the Emperor, Hungary, Savoy, Mantua and Ferrara.


B.) The War

The Venetian mercenary army was crushed by the French in the Battle of Agnadello, May 1609. Imperial forces proceeded yo occupy Venice's mainland possessions. With a newly recruited force, Venice retook Padua (1509).
Venice signed a separate peace with Pope Julius II., giving up her claim on the cities in the Romagna and the Marches.


C.) The Legacy

For Venice, the war did not end in 1509; it continued until 1516. The League of Cambrai, however, fell apart, the Holy League formed in 1511 with the object of expelling the French from Italy.
In 1516, a peace treaty was signed which left Venice with her prewar mainland possessions. Venice from them on concentrated her ambitions on her seaborne Empire. Swiss mercenary forces became a dominant factor in Italian warfare. (Austrian) Tyrol acquired a few areas on the Venetian border (Cortina d'Ampezzo, Rovereto, Ala, Avio, Mori, Brentonico, Riva) in the Treaty of Brussels 1516.




EXTERNAL
FILES 		The League of Cambrai, from Virtual History of Venice
Article Battle of Agnadello, from Wikipedia
Louis XII of France, from History Learning Site
Florence and Venice in Renaissance, from Univ. of Warwick, has detailed bibliography
Biography of Julius II., from Catholic Encyclopedia
Die Zweite Periode der Italienkriege (1509-1515); die Schlacht von Agnadello (The second Phase of the Italian Wars, 1509-1515, the Battle of A.), from Die Entwicklung der Kriegskunst in den Italienkriegen (The Development of the Art of War in the Italian Wars), in German
DOCUMENTS
REFERENCE Josef Riedmann, Geschichte Tirols, München : Oldenbourg 2001, in German [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted on June 2nd 2003, last revised on February 18th 2006

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