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| 1564-1618 |
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1648-1706 |
| The Duchy of Milan, 1618-1648 |
For the Spanish Empire, the foremost importance of Milan was strategic; the Spanish Road, connecting Genoa, Naples, the Alpine passes in Graubünden (Grisons), the Alsace and the Spanish Netherlands, was a vital supply route. The war against the Dutch Republic was to resume in 1621 (Dutch-Spanish War 1621-1648; from 1635 onward, in the Spanish Netherlands, Spain faced another foe, the French (Franco-Spanish War, 1635-1659) and in the victorious Battle of Nördlingen 1634, the Swedish Army.
Apart from these, Spain was engaged in minor conflicts, the occupation of the Kurpfalz (Palatinate) 1620/1622-1631 (part of the 30 Years' War), the War over control of the Valtellino 1620-1626, and the Mantuan War of Succession. The last two were fought in the vicinity of Spanish Lombardy.
To pay for the vast expenses caused by the many wars, the administration, anywhere in the Spanish domains, resorted to a double strategy - additional taxation, with papal consent even on the clergy, and in taking on loans, thus increasing state debt. Excessive taxation would cause rebellions in Portugal (since 1640), in Catalonia (1640) and Naples (1647-1648)
In 1630 Lombardy was struck by the plague and, in addition, by inundations of extraordinary scale. In 1645 an anti-Spanish conspiracy among Lombard nobles was uncovered, in 1647 conspirator Giuseppe Piantanida executed.
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EXTERNAL FILES |
1601-1625,
1626-1650 from Storia di Milano Storia di Milano : I governatori della Milano spagnola (The Spanish Governors of Milan), in Italian History of Milan, from Milanoweb, from Ciao Milano |
| DOCUMENTS |
| REFERENCE | Alessandro Visconti, Storia di Milano, Milano : Ceschina 1937 |
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