Brothers of Italy: an alternative timeline

Hi to everyone! After almost a year of absence, I finally returned quite motivated to conclude this TL (https://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=177322) I started time ago. However, instead to continue where I left I decided instead to start a V.2 revised and corrected, and even enriched with more notions and the insertion of images and maps (about those I'll try my best, but don't expect wonders from me...).

This project is supposed to develop through three acts, the first one which will be a retake of what I wrote the first time: however, I already want to announce that respect to the V.1 some of the events which didn't convince me completely will be revised if not changed. However, suggestions and comments are always welcomed as usual, and I hope not only to regain the old public but also conquer new readers as well. Finally, I'll try to update with regularity and to not remain too inactive like the last months of my previous try. So bombard me with request of updates!

Fine enough, it's time to start with the first chapter of the first act, every one marked with its proper marker. Here's the actual one for the moment (maybe later I will replace it with another better, who knows?) Enjoy!

Chapter one​

“Per il bene di Fiorenza, che la Repubblica moia e viva il Principato! ( For the good of Florence, the Republic must die and the Principate live!)” – Angelo Poliziano

From “History of modern Italy, volume one: the rise of the Principate of Tuscany”

Drawing of Florence said "della catena", by Francesco di Lorenzo Rosselli, around 1471-1482. It shows the Toscan city during the rule of Lorenzo de'Medici, in the years immediately next to the Pazzi conspiracy.
​

Despite the failure of the Pazzi conspiracy, in 1478 the situation looked very grim for the Florentine Republic and his de facto sovereign, Lorenzo de Medici. The main promoter of the failed coup, Pope Sixtus IV, decided to pursue at all costs the intention to claim the rich lands of Florence for his family by excommunicating Lorenzo and the high offices of the Republic for the assassination of the plotters, and launching a full-scale diplomatic offensive in order to isolate the Tuscan city.

The Pope managed to convince the city of Siena, main rival of Florence for the control of Tuscany, and Ferdinand I of Naples, interested to expand his influence in Central Italy in prevision of a future intervention in the North, to join arms with the Papacy against the excommunicated Republic; on the other side, Florence soon discovered to be alone, as her main allies were unable to intervene. In fact, Milan was engulfed in a civil war after the assassination of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Venice was fighting the Turks and the French were involved in Burgundian affairs. Other near states as Lucca and Urbino (where in recent times it was discovered a letter which confirmed the support to the attemped coup by Federico da Montefeltro, even if Lorenzo never suspected his involvement) remained neutral despite it was clear they hoped for the Florentine defeat as well.

The front situation at the start of the "Tuscan-Papal war" in early 1478. Florence (blue) was alone against the coalition (red) composed by the Papacy, Siena, and Aragonese Naples. Despite the apparent disparity of forces, the coalition was more weak than expected: the city of Siena wasn't too far from the Florentine frontier, the lords and the cities of Marche and Romagna remained neutral giving Florence the security in the northern and the eastern borders, while Ferdinand soon saw the risks of a war where the Papacy will become more stronger in case of victory...​

In a desperate situation like that, to Lorenzo came in help the wind of the new cultural ideas whose in these years from Italy are spreading all across Europe. The Medici lord was a man of great culture, and realized the philosophical concepts of the Renaissance Humanism could be used to renovate and revitalize the assets of the Republic not only for the imminent danger, but also for the years to come. However, Lorenzo realized soon that in order to take his reform plan, it was necessary to him to govern the country in first person, and not behind the shadows like his father and grandfather before him (and as he did until the conspiracy), even at cost to lose everything in case of failure; but he decided nevertheless to accept the challenge.

Already in the early May of 1478, Lorenzo presented at Palazzo Vecchio in front of the Republican organs the results of his reflections, developed with the help of his inner circle of intellectuals leaded by Angelo Poliziano, famous writer of the period; to the meeting were present also delegates from the major cities controlled by the Republic, as Pisa, Arezzo, Pistoia and Prato, and previously called by the same Lorenzo. To the surprise of many Florentines, Lorenzo claimed that the Republic, which controlled the majority of the Tuscan territory, couldn’t claim any more to be only “Florentine” but it had the right to bring the name “Tuscany” instead; as consequence, the Republic couldn’t have the presumption to be ruled only by Florence but it needed to share the power with the other cities under its control. The final result, in Lorenzo’s opinion, was to reform as soon as possible the medieval city assembly into a real legislative chamber where all the cities and the various counties of the Republic were present.

Palazzo Vecchio, or Palazzo del Principato in Florence, seat of the medieval council of the Tuscan city. In 1478 it hosted the works of the delegates arrived from all Florentine Tuscany, which results made the complex the seat of the first "parliament" of the modern age in Italy - and Europe as well. Today, it is the seat of the communal administration of the city, as in the past.​

It was soon clear the proposal encountered the immediate approval from the delegates of the other cities, and opposition in some parts of the Florentine noble and merchantile families, not willing to share part of their power with the rest of the Tuscans, but Lorenzo managed to convince them with personal donations and the reassurance the majority of the assembly will be composed by Florentines; also, he made them clearly understand the Florentines without the support of the other controlled cities they will be not a match against all of Central and Southern Italy.

To further legitimate the process of reform of the Republic in the eyes of the local population and in the international opinion, Lorenzo also proposed to recall in some way the ancient Roman traditions, by giving not only to the new assembly the name of “Senate” (the complete term was “Nobile Senato di Toscana” or “Noble Senate of Tuscany”), but also to make the head of state of the country the leader of the same Senate, the one that in Roman tradition was called the “Princeps”, “Principe” in Italian (“Prince” in English), which after Augustus became the legitimate charge for the Roman Emperors to rule; however Lorenzo immediately declared that the term Prince was to be intended in his original use during the Republican age, and assured that Tuscany will be and will remain a Republic.

Lastly, Lorenzo gained the support of the local clergy promising it will have a small but solid presence in the Senate, plus the confirmation of his traditional privileges, in exchange of full support for the reforms and a common stand against the Pope in the imminent war; in reason of that, the Archbishop of Florence Rinaldo Orsini, tied with the Medici because of the wedding of his parent Clarice with Lorenzo, soon declared the invalidity of the excommunication because first the plotters killed Giuliano de’Medici in the Dome of Florence, and second Lorenzo and the Florentine authorities didn’t give order to the people to assault them, and in any way the conjurors with that act became traitors and deserved that punition. Other bishops of the Republic supported that position, more in spite of Sixtus IV that hoping for a victory which at the time seemed impossible, receiving in exchange from Rome the excommunication; in reply, they declared the Pope decayed because of his corrupt and nepotistic policy. Anyway, the Tuscan clergy remained compact behind Lorenzo until the end of the war.

Gained the necessary support, and after a further discussion about the modification of the Republican offices and administration, the 24th May 1476 the old Florentine Council was dissolved and replaced by a Senate composed by 300 members, with about the 62% composed by Florentines but nevertheless still with a strong presence from the other cities and counties, Pisa, Pistoia and Arezzo in particular. It was decided that the term of a senator will be for life but not hereditary, and future replacements will be chosen from candidates promoted by the Prince, in charge of the internal and external affairs of the Republic. Naturally, Lorenzo de’Medici was elected first Prince of the new “Principate of Tuscany”, so starting a new course for the entire Italian peninsula…

Lorenzo de'Medici, first Prince of Tuscany. The danger of the imminent war with the Papacy and the new constitutional asset of the Republic forced him to directly assume the rule of Florence and his domains. Still de jure a Republic, Florence - now Tuscany - de facto became another Italian Signoria...​

RYU IS BACK!

Nice TL by the way

Chapter two​

"The Emperor looked to the tunic estatic, he kissed it, then we brought us in a great hall where other relics were gathered, quite in disorder: he personally ordered to his servant how to move a certain thing and to place another one, then he personally placed the relic on an altar after making enough space, he prayed for a moment, then he went away with the most indifferent expression on his face." - Comment of a Franciscan monk in a letter to his abbot regarding the donation of a relic of St. Francis to the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume one: the rise of the Principate of Tuscany"

The new Prince of Tuscany launched immediately a great diplomatic offensive in order to search new allies but also to seek an international recognition of the new regime in Florence. About the second objective, his main target was the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III of the Habsburg, as de jure overlord of the Republic; but despite the efforts of the diplomats, the Kaiser opted for a cautious neutrality, as he was more interested towards the German affairs and wasn’t interested to open an issue with the Papacy. However, Frederick also refused the requests from Rome to recognize the invasion of North Tuscany, because of doubts expressed by Imperial theologians regards the legitimacy of the excommunication over Florence; similar doubts were expressed also in the other major courts of Europe. Truth was, besides the mode how the plotters were punished, the Pope tried to legitimate a coup against a legal government: the various kings couldn’t approve an example which one day could be used to promote a conspiracy against them; so, in the end the issue of the excommunication became a boomerang for Sixtus IV with the consequence to isolate the Papacy instead of Tuscany.

As for the search of allies, Lorenzo looked around the boundaries of the Principate, starting from the tiny but strategic Republic of Lucca, which controlled the land routes between Tuscany from one side and Liguria and Western Emilia from another. Now, we must remember at the time of Lorenzo despite Florence gained the access to the sea after the conquest of Pisa in 1406, the merchants of the Republic still largely used land routes instead to use and open new sea routes; in fact, the potentiality to commerce through the sea was harshly limited by an naval interdict from the Holy Roman Empire shortly after the fall of Pisa, not wanting the rise of a third sea power in the Mediterranean after Venice and Genova. The interdict precisely prohibited the construction of any type of ship in the territory of the Republic, and to not buy ships from other countries; however, the commerce by sea was allowed, even if naturally it was controlled by the main sea Mediterranean powers, Genova in first line, followed by Aragon and in little measure by Venice. Also, because of the progressive advance of the Arno river, the Pisan Port started a process of natural landfill, which the Florentine authorizes replied with the construction of a new port in Livorno, which become soon the first port of Tuscany despite its commercial traffic remained small respect to the other ports of Italy, because of the limits imposed by the Imperial interdict. Besides Livorno, in Tuscany the other two main ports after the decline of Pisa were the small port of Viareggio controlled by Lucca and Piombino in the south, capital of a little duchy but culturally and commercially tied with Siena.

The Duchy of Piombino was strategic as well, not only for his position, but also for its control of the island of Elba, fourth in size of Italy despite it extends only for 223 square kilometers (so few things respect to the three major sisters of Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica). Aside for the position, the island’s real value came from the rich mines of iron which made it the main, if not the only, site of extraction of that material in the entire pensinsula.

Aerial view of the island of Elba. Her position and rich iron deposits were desired by many, especially considering the economic situation of a country like Italy which was rich in farming and organic products but lacked about raw materials...​

Returning to the negotiations between Tuscany and Lucca, Lorenzo managed to drag the small Republic to his cause offering advantageous trade rights, concessions into the same city of Florence, but above all he offered a future support over a Lucchese expansion over the Duchy of Massa and Carrara and the valley of Garfagnana controlled by the Malaspina family. Lucca in fact had a secular interest to annex that region, in order to consolidate the control of the roads between Liguria, Emilia and Tuscany but above all to put her hands over the marble caves near Carrara. The marble of Carrara was and it is still today the most valued one in the world, but just in these years its price skyrocketed because of the commissions coming from the cities of Italy willing to enrich their monuments. Also, Lorenzo offered to members of the Lucchese major families, especially cadets, to make career in the Tuscan army in reorganization. In front of these proposals, the authorities of Lucca accepted to forge a pact of cooperation and a full alliance with Tuscany, even if probably also weighted a secret fear in the city: in the case Lorenzo win the war, and Lucca remains neutral or worse hostile to him, in future he can turn his armies towards the small Republic. The alliance with Lucca was soon reinforced with similar treaties with the cities of Papal Romagna, especially Bologna under the leadership of the Bentivoglio, hoping a victory of Tuscany could further erode their ties with the Papacy but also protect them in the future from a possible attack from Milan, Venice or Ferrara. Also Genova in the end offered support to Tuscany, fearing an Aragonese expansion in Central Italy.

Securing his positions in the north, Lorenzo decided to hold a defensive stance towards the enemy armies coming from the south. For over two years the Tuscans resisted with success, thanks also to the weapons (guns and cannons) the prince bought in Germany through the agents of the Medici Bank, which had many established points in that country, and smuggled in Tuscany thanks to Genoese and Venetian army: despite her temporary inability to intervene, however the Serenissima agreed to help the Principate in any way possible, fearing as well a further Aragonese expansion in North Italy.

One of the motives of the successful Tuscan resistance was the employment of local and motivated citizens, at cost to disband the mercenary companies present in the Principate, surely more competent but more difficult to handle; Lorenzo decided in fact to follow the French example after the Hundred Years War to form a national, and professional based army, posing the bases for the formation of the first Italian army of the Modern Age.

However, during the course of 1479 Tuscany faced some difficulties when a Papal army with Aragonese reinforcements, after obtaining the transit rights from Urbino, moved from the Marche into Romagna, attacking Bologna and forcing the Bentivoglio and their followers to escape to Florence, but the Tuscan reaction was quite fast managing to secure the Tosco-Emilian ridge and the Mugello valley, securing Florence in the north. Meanwhile Tuscan agents promoted small riots in the Bolognese riots, with scarce difficulties because the Papal forces imposed in Bologna an harsh control based on the sack of the local resources, causing further dissent in the local population, already enraged for the extension of the papal excommunication over them.

The front situation in late 1479. The Tuscans and their Lucchese allies (deep blue) were almost encircled after the fall of Bologna by the Papal coalition (red), now also backed by the Duchy of Urbino (orange) and the Duchy of Milan (yellow) where Ludovico Sforza gained the power thanks to the Aragonese support. However, Genova and Venice (light blue) continued to support the Tuscan war efforts as well...​

In the start of 1480, the Emperor finally recognized the Principate as a legitimate state of the Empire, thanks to the generous donations from Lorenzo who used also Frederick’s passion of relics (he believed the more relics he had, the less time will stay in Purgatory) to convince him of the good cause of Tuscany; the monks of Santa Croce agreed to donate some relics of Saint Francis to the Kaiser, much to his delight. Anyway, Frederick was now convinced, and many saw the influence of his son Maximilian behind this charge of heart, that having a strong country like Tuscany as an ally could be convenient for the interests of the Empire in Italy.

Tunic belonged to Saint Francis exposed in Santa Croce in Florence, donated to Frederick III in 1480. It returned in the Tuscan city few years later after the death of the Emperor behind concession of Maximilian, and above all behind a considerable sum of money from the Medici Bank...​

Strong of the Imperial support, and in the successive months backed by further reassurances from Venice (because in the meanwhile Ludovico Sforza managed to control Milano also thanks to the Aragonese help), in the spring 1480 Lorenzo launched a double offensive, one to liberate Bologna and another to conquer Siena. In the north, thanks to the cannons the Tuscans learned to use in the previous months, the Papal army was obliterated and the Dotta greeted the attackers as liberators, welcoming also the return of the Bentivoglio family; it was however soon clear their return was conditioned by the Principate's interests, as the creation of Tuscan garrisons into and around the city (officially to protect the area from further Papal attack) showed. In the south, Siena was put under siege while small battalions started the occupation of the rest of the Senese Republic; scared of the turn of the events, Sixtus IV sent a mercenary army, paid at high price so further depleting the Papal coffins, but the Tuscan army the 8th June of 1480 obtaining a resounding victory against them, showing that a well organized, well armed and motivated army, even if not large, could be equal to a more large, maybe even more skilled but hard to control mercenary corp. However, after the Tuscany victory, desperate the Senese people a couple of days later opened their doors to the attackers. The Republic of Siena ceased to exist, also in confirmation of the statement of Lorenzo that “to bring peace to entire Toscany, Siena must submit once and forever to Florence”.

The Senese capitulation was a blowing hit for the Papacy, because it started a chain of defections all over the Patrimony of Saint Peter: the cities of Romagna further reinforced their autonomies, Federico of Montefeltro declared null the transit treaty previously contracted with Rome, the Papal control previously reached in Umbria started to disintegrate and even in Latium the major Roman families enforced the power of their feuds. To turn the things worse, Ferdinand of Aragon started to diverge his fate with that of his ally, especially when he took advantage of the collapse of the Republic of Siena forcing the Duchy of Piombino to become his vassals; in the weeks following the Senese fall, Neapolitan troops occupy the Duchy and the island of Elba, giving him a strategic position in the Tyrrhenian sea and the control of the main iron deposit of Italy. Ferrante thought then to seize part of the crumbling Republic of Siena, but some skirmishes of frontier with the Tuscan soldiers won by the latter convinced him to not expand over Piombino, and to start peace talks with Lorenzo who immediately accept. In favor of the negotiation option also weighted the fact Venice planned an intervention against Milan to reduce the Aragonese influence.

The end of the war arrived in late summer, when the Tuscan army, reinforced with the soldiers returned from Bologna, crossed the Papal border and arrived to the outskirts of Viterbo. Realizing he remained alone, Sixtus IV begged for peace.

The front situation at the end of the Tuscan-Papal war. Siena and Papal Emilia-Romagna were in Tuscan hands (blue), although Romagna will be abandoned after the peace treaty, while the Papal authority (red) was drastically reduced into Latium, already invaded, while the Aragonese (purple) seized the Duchy of Piombino stopping further military operations.​

The 14th November 1480 the peace treaty was signed in Siena under request of Lorenzo. The reasons of the late agreement was caused by the expectation of the Imperial delegates to negotiate over the destiny of Siena, who was still a de jure domain of the HRE, but also to prepare the arrival of Ferrante and Sixtus IV. Two lavish celebration was made in their honor, despite in the case of the Pope it was prohibited to enter the city until he signed outside the main gate a declaration where he announced the lift of the excommunication over Lorenzo, Florence and their allies. While the Roman Pontifex was forced to that utter humiliation, a much cordial welcome was granted to the Aragonese king: in fact Lorenzo was intentioned, and Ferdinand was favorable as well, to mark the start of new positive relations between Tuscany and Naples.

In the agreements of the Treaty of Siena it was recognized the annexation of the southern Tuscan republic by the Principate, the de facto submission of the Duchy of Piombino to Ferrante (but nominally still a part of the Holy Roman Empire), and the nominal preservation of the integrity of the Patrimony of Saint Peter, even if was confirmed the autonomy of the counties out of Latium and the de facto independence of Urbino, while Bologna, under the Bentivoglio restoration, with the rest of Papal Emilia became a sort of Tuscan protectorate. Also, not officially declared in the treaty, a secret meeting between Lorenzo and the Imperial agents placed the basis for a future invasion of the Duchy of Massa and Carrara by Lucca. However, the Prince decided to not push the request to remove the naval interdict as part of his advisors suggested: in fact, the peace with Ferrante in some part left Genova and Venice somewhat umpleasant towards Tuscany, especially because of the Aragonese control of Piombino and Elba, and the rise of a Tuscan fleet will surely enraged even more the two merchant republic, still considered for the moment the major allies of the Principate in North Italy.

Anyway, in few years Lorenzo de’Medici passed from the brink of ruin to a complete triumph, fulfilling the long dream of Florence to unify (almost) all of Tuscany under a single banner, and founding the basis for a stable and prosperous country. However, the balance reached in 1454 with the Peace of Lodi was now compromised: the decline of the Papacy and the rise of the Moor in Milan, added with the Tuscan unification, opened the path to a new period of instability in Italy…

Chapter Three​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume one: the rise of the Principate of Tuscany"

After the war, Lorenzo stayed in Siena for the rest of 1480 in order to promote a reconciliation between the local populace and the rest of Tuscany. As a sign of good will, and despite the opposition coming from part of his entourage, he left under direct control of the Senese city council (naturally reshaped with elements who declared loyalty to the Prince) of the recently founded Mount of Piety (1472), soon called Monte dei Paschi (from the name of the statute which regulated the activities of the Senese campaign, the Maremma, and known as “de’Paschi”). The bank, created with the intention to promote the development of Maremma, soon expanded its revenues and its traffics thanks to the investments coming from the major Senese families, who refused to invest for pride into the Florentine ( and above all into the Medici’s) banks, becoming soon the second retail bank of Tuscany. The Medici didn’t oppose to the expansion of the Monte believing the competition will be beneficial for their bank as well; and later, with the formation of the Bank of Italy, the Senese bank became the first “private” one in the entire Italian peninsula, keeping the primate until the mid 19th century, when other credit institutes, on the wave of the industrial revolution and the expansion of the colonial empire, were founded. Also, Lorenzo allowed the Senese population to hold their annual horse race (the famous Palio) on the date of the 4th September, anniversary of the battle of Montaperti (1260) which saw the victory of Ghibelline Siena against Guelph Florence during the period of the Investiture controversy. However, despite these and other concessions in name of a policy of reconciliation, in Siena the grudge against the “Florentine occupation” remained strong in the successive years.


The Prince in the meanwhile decided to expand the Tuscan infrastructures, expanding and modernizing the local road network along three axis: 1) the route Florence – Lucca – Pisa – Livorno; 2) the route Florence – Bologna; 3) the route Florence – Arezzo – Siena. To these was added a relevant fourth, the route between Livorno and Siena, which in the long term allowed the development of a part otherwise scarcely populated of Tuscany; of that development was advantaged the town of Grosseto, which after the unification assumed great relevance due to his position near to Piombino and the Papal borders, so becoming an important military base of the Principate and becoming the main knot between Tuscany and Latium, also thanks to the growing instability in Umbria where without the strict Papal control bandit squads appeared while the various feuds often were engaged in skirmishes fatal to the economy of the region.

Of the Umbrian instability Assisi paid the highest price, because of the drastic reduction of the pilgrims towards Saint Francis’s Basilica and consequently the Franciscan monks of the city lost influence in the order at full advantage of the Florentine branch, where the cession of part of its relics to Frederick III was repaid with the constitution of a local mount of piety: it was a price Lorenzo agreed to concede them, but it was a good move because it reinforced the ties between the Medici and the Tuscan Franciscans, and it was already convenient in the first months of 1481.


In that period in fact Girolamo Savonarola started his predication in Florence against the Prince and the Medician “way of life”, but despite some successes between the Medici’s enemies, the Florentine populace remained favorable to Lorenzo, due also to the triumph against Siena, while the Franciscans, not wanting to accept poverty lessons from a Dominican, replied with vehemence to the friar’s accusation; lastly, the fact Savonarola came from Ferrara compromised in part the efficacy of his preachment, because of the political evolution in Italy in the months after the end of the Tuscan-Papal war.

Between 1480 and 1482 Lorenzo managed to extend his system of alliances reinforcing the ties with Venice in anti-Milanese function (with the protectorate over Bologna, Tuscany now shared a common border with Milan), and creating more friendly ties with the Aragonese; on the other side, the Papacy remained hostile to the Principate, but it was too weakened and isolated while Sixtus IV was discredited in the eyes of all Europe. Also Genova started to become more distant because of the Tuscan approval to the Aragonese vassalage of Piombino, while Ludovico Sforza saw in Lorenzo a rival and an obstacle to his personal ambitions. An evident hostility was showed from the Duchy of Ferrara, where Ercole I Estense started to develop a complex of encirclement by states with apparent jingoistic tendencies, and he was frustrated to see Bologna in Tuscan hands after hoping to annex it, waiting for a Papal weakness; other motives of contrasts with Florence came about the possible future of the Duchy of Massa and Carrara where the Estense had some valuable claims refused by Lucca, intentioned to annex the county at all costs.

In 1482, Venice made its move, asking the region of Polesine from Ferrara; Ercole I refused and war was inevitable. Tied by alliance obligations, Lorenzo joined the Venetians into the conflict, also hoping to extend his power in Emilia, while the Republic of Lucca took the occasion to invade unilaterally the Duchy of Massa and Carrara, strong of the Tuscan reinforcements. Sixtus IV, despite his initial support for Venice (hoping to reach a deal with the Serenissima in anti-Tuscan function), however kept soon a strict neutrality after the Tuscan intervention, and even Ludovico the Moor proclaimed initially the neutrality of Milan: in fact the Tuscan diplomats not only consolidated their ties with the Emperor, but also restored good relations with France as well, so many in the Ambrosian city feared an escalation of the conflict in case of intervention.

The two sides in the Polesine war of 1482-1483: Ferrara (blue) faced alone the coalition formed by Venice, Lucca, Tuscany and her Bolognese protectorate (red). Milan (light blue) intervened on the behalf of Ferrara only in 1483, when Massa Carrara already fell and the Estense domains were invaded from every front​

However, when it was clear after the invasion of Massa and Carrara the pleas of Imperial intervention from the Malaspina felt on deaf ears, while the French court showed disinterest for the war in North Italy, the Moor felt himself legitimated to intervene in the conflict in favor of Ferrara. The strategy of Ludovico was to beat first the Tuscans so he marched towards Emilia, but Lorenzo accepted the challenge and decided to test his army in a open fight, moving towards Parma. The two armies clashed in the September of 1483 and the fight resulted in a minor Tuscan victory; Ludovico cautiously retreated on the Tano river, reorganizing his forces and waiting for reinforcements which probably had the chance to smash the numerically inferior Tuscan army, when he heard news of a possible French intervention; in fact in Paris many started to discuss about the opportunity to join in a conflict where Milan wasn’t able to bring immediately the situation in her favor but was instead forced on the defensive.

Ludovico decided to not risk a war with France and asked for negotiations, which leaded to the treaty of Ferrara at the start of 1484: Venice gained the Polesine, Tuscany all of Emilia till the Tano river, Lucca annexed the Duchy of Massa and Carrara. The Polesine war reinforced the Tuscan-Venetian axis, while Milan and Ferrara continued their cooperation (strengthened by the marriage of Ludovico with Beatrice d’Este in 1491) in prevision of a future revenge. However, the outcome of the conflict opened the path for a new period of peace in Italy…...

Oh, joy, this TL is back...





... No, seriously: OH JOY THIS TL IS BACK!!!!

I like this new format very much, not to mention the accuracy you used detailing the birth of the Tuscan Principate, and I loved the hint about the monumental task that awaits the man who wishes to hold Tuscany as a single domain.

Errnge said:

RYU IS BACK!

Nice TL by the way

Click to expand...

TheBerlinguer said:

Oh, joy, this TL is back...





... No, seriously: OH JOY THIS TL IS BACK!!!!

I like this new format very much, not to mention the accuracy you used detailing the birth of the Tuscan Principate, and I loved the hint about the monumental task that awaits the man who wishes to hold Tuscany as a single domain.

Click to expand...

Thanks to both of you!

Well, it was for a while I wanted to make a better and improved version, and rewriting it will give me the possibility to insert things I previously left out, or to better explain events which in the V.1, especially in the first chapters, resulted too simple or reduced.

About the butterflies, I'll try to insert and control the more I can, even if generally I don't like when there will be too much, so surely there will be divergences but of the type "USA will exist but with a different outcome" etc. Honestly, I will always accept any type of suggestion until it doesn't diverge too much on the general idea I created on my mind.

I hope the experience gained previously will give more consistence to the project...

Bothers

Good to see it going again, viva Italia.

Chapter four​

“Quanto è bella giovinezza che si fugge tuttavia (How is beautiful the youth which however ran away)…" - Lorenzo de’Medici​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume one: the rise of the Principate of Tuscany"

Despite the Milanese defeat in the Polesine war wasn’t too heavy for the Duchy, and Ludovico Sforza managed to keep his power, however the Moor’s fears about a renewed French interest over Milan became more concrete because of the rise of Charles VIII of Anjou, intentioned to expand his domains where possible using the legitimacy of his dynastical claims. In reality, in the first part of his reign Charles was more interested to reintegrate into France the duchies of Brittany and Anjou (the latter relevant for the Italian balances because of its control of Provence), however the king wasn’t intentioned to renounce to his claims over Milan. Also, Charles had strong ties with the Duchy of Savoy because of his mother Charlotte, daughter of the Duke Ludovico of Savoia, so he had to his disposal a direct base to launch a future invasion of Milan.

The renewed French hungry reawaked also those Aragonese, so the Moor was forced to revisit his foreign policy in order to secure his rule. His main objective was to obtain an Imperial recognition, but he hadn’t strong relations with Frederick III, so he was forced already few months after the Polesine war to open a channel with Lorenzo de’Medici, because of his excellent offices with the Imperial court, and as consequence with Venice as well.

The Prince, whose priority was the consolidation of the Emilian holdings, offered a better proposal to Ludovico instead to simply intercede in his name to the Imperial court: a defensive alliance which included the Venetians as well. In fact, Lorenzo understood it was better to have a friendly and independent Milan instead of a French or Aragonese puppet capable to destroy the Italian balance and however he needed peace to allow him to continue the process of integration of Emilia and Siena as part of the Principate. In this process were allowed in some measure the cities of Lucca and Bologna, the first still independent and the second de jure Papal territory, with the use of the Florin as unified currency, the diffusion of Florentine as principal dialect, and the gradual and accepted integration of the two city-states battalions in the Florentine army as for the common use of local fortresses. However, while in Bologna the integration path was generally accepted in the local population, in Lucca a not so little opposition was present despite it was clear for the moment a rupture with Florence could result in a catastrophic result for the small Republic.

Anyway, the alliance proposal resulted favorable not only to Ludovico, because he will have his back secured (and in the meanwhile if things with France turned on a good side, he will gained time and forces to a future attack against the same Tuscany), but also to the Venetians which will have their behind secured too and will beneficiated of a period of stability in Italy. The alliance was signed already in the end of 1484 in the symbolic city of Lodi (place of the agreements signed thirty years before which brought a quite long age of peace in Italy) and was soon extended to Lucca, Ferrara and even Mantova: the last two duchies in fact feared their encirclement if they remained outside the agreement. In substance, almost all the North and the Center of Italy agreed (also the minor countries in a way or another supported the alliance) to the pact, which brought as result ten years of general peace, reinforced by the ulterior approval of the successor of Sixtus IV, Innocent VIII, willing to create new relations with Florence.

Outside the agreement were the Duchy of Savoy, under French influence at the time, and the Republic of Genova. The Ligurian city didn’t trust the Tuscan-Milanese-Venetian alliance, fearing it could turn towards her, so decided instead to search a more strong ally between France and Aragon; the choice was in favor of the second country, due to the increased pressure of the Berber states supported by the Turks which incursions became during the time more frequent and hard to control; and the Aragonese had a strong navy capable to defend the Eastern Mediterranean (while France’s navy was still inexistent at the time).


Both France and Aragon accepted the new Italian status quo, which gave other ten years of general peace in the peninsula. The commerce bloomed all across the country, while Tuscany became the major cultural centre of all Europe, thanks to the patronage of Lorenzo and of the other great families of the Principate, while from the university of Bologna new cultural ideas were diffused everywhere, also thanks to the explosion of books coming from the printing technology, which Florence adopted soon from Germany. Great revenues came also by the enlargement of the Tuscan textile manufactory, and thanks to the skills of the local artisans the fabric produced in the Principate became soon one of the most valuable in Europe.

The court of Lorenzo was the heart of that prosperous state, and in those years was enriched with the presence of two characters which were determinant in the years to come in the political and cultural vision not only of Tuscany but of Italy as well. The first one was a young student, Niccolò Machiavelli, very informed about both the internal and the international situation; Lorenzo used him as ambassador in the Italian northern states and in France, and when he returned in 1490 in Florence he became secretary of the Prince and one of this later counselors. The second one was a boy from Aretine contrade, Michelangelo Buonarroti; he was a talented scultor and Lorenzo remained surprised to his skills, so he decided to allow him in his courts, giving the same education of his sons and nephews.


Soon Lorenzo had a relevant problem to solve: his succession. First, he didn't believe his son Piero was fit to rule the Principate; second, even in a Senate under Medician control, a certain dissent still existed and could reclaim the statement that proclaiming a new Prince from a same family only means that the Republic will become a de facto monarchy. Another problem came from the hostile predication of Savonarola, who slowly gained consensus even if not from the lower classes but instead in some sectors of the upper classes, unable to react properly to the augmented wealth result of the wise policy of the Prince which made them obscenely rich; and the Ferrarese preacher was able to insinuate senses of guilty. The Prince looked with some preoccupation to those noble Florentines which one day, opportunely instigated behind a false search of purification, could be one day a menace for the stability of the state…


To reinforce the state, Machiavelli suggested a constitutional reform to the actual system: to give the impression the Prince wasn't an absolute ruler, from now will be established a council of ministers leaded by a "Cancelliere" (chancellor) which helped the head of state to govern the country; however any decision taken from any member of the "Cancellierato" (Chancellorate) could only be approved by the Prince. Lorenzo was a bit reluctant to divide part of his power but in the end accepted and in the start of 1492 thanks of his intrigues Machiavelli become the first Chancellor.

Modern political historians argued a lot about the decision of Lorenzo to relinquish part to his powers to a another man, even if he remained the ruler; generally is accepting the claim he thought than if he came a weak prince, a more able Chancellor could be succeded to rule well the country: naturally he stated the point the Chancellor must remained loyal to the Prince who could only be a Medici.

In fact Lorenzo decided to give more legitimate claims to his successor: for example in 1491 in the Principate's banners were added the coat of arms of the Medici united with the red Florence's Lily, while he commissioned to Michelangelo a statue which represented the Principate, with the Medician symbol. The scuptor finished the work in late 1493, and the statue, which represent a young warrior in heroic pose with the face of Piero de Medici, was placed in Piazza del Principato under the Loggia dei Lanzi.

However those were the last acts of Lorenzo's rule; the 9th of April 1492 he died at age of 43. Without the “needle of the Italian scale”, winds of war soon menaced Italy...

Italy at 1492, at the time of the death of Lorenzo "il Magnifico". Modern Italian historians agreed to honor him as"the last man of the Middle ages and the first one of the Modern era".​

Chapter five​

"Florence is the center of all the disgraces of our poor Italy, a basin of empiety which soon will face the rightful wrath of our Lord by the hands of our devoted son Charles of France." - Alexander VI​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to Spanish hegemony"


1492 was a critical year not only for Europe, but for Italy as well. For Europe, because of the fall of Granada and the discovery of America; for Italy, because of the deaths of Lorenzo de’Medici and of Pope Innocent VIII. These men were the main promoters of the period of stability and internal balance reached with the pact of Lodi, and their disappearance reawakened soothed ambitions, first of all those of Ludovico the Moor, intentioned to become the new arbiter of the Italian balance; surely, he was advantaged by the inexperience of the new Prince of Tuscany Piero de’Medici, and the lack of prestige of the first appointed Chancellor Niccolò Machiavelli, caused by the recent institution of the charge. The new Tuscan government was internally stable but weighted on it the past rule of Lorenzo, and many doubted it was equally able.

The first breach on the Italian balance came from Rome in August with the election of the Spanish Rodrigo Borgia, proclaimed as Alexander VI. The new pope was ambitious (and his son Cesare as well) and determined to extend his power and that of his family not only over what remained of the Papacy at the time, but also over Italy as well, and intelligent as he was he realized to reach his objective was necessary to bring down the Tuscan Principate.


The first signs of hostility came with the decision of Machiavelli to welcome part of the expelled Jews of Spain since the March of that year, despite the Chancellor wasn’t interested to pursue a policy of religious freedom but to take the advantage from the wealth the expelled brought with themselves. Many exiled settled in the Tuscan capital, and with their determination soon prospered in the Principate, aided also by the fact Florence didn’t have a ghetto so they had liberty of movement. Despite the order of expulsion arrived during the last months of Innocent VIII’s pontificate, and the Jews arrived in Tuscany between June and July, Alexander VI took the occasion in his first days of his rule (he was elected in August) to attack the new Tuscan government, accused to be entangled with the enemies of the Catholic Church. However, the Borgia didn’t push the situation too far for the moment because his power was still far to be secure and he had clear in mind the outcome of the 1478 excommunication.

So, Alexander opted for a diplomatic offensive in order to encircle Tuscany; with the help of one of his most important supporter, the cardinal Ascanio Sforza (brother of the Moor), he managed to sign an alliance pact with the Duchy of Milan in the first half of 1493, in clear anti-Tuscan function, so declaring the end of the Pact of Lodi. Ludovico accepted the Papal offer because he believed to be secure from a French invasion because Charles VIII was determined to conquest the Kingdom of Naples.

In fact, the King of France took advantage from the financial weakness of the unified Spanish kingdoms after the long siege of Granada and the expulsion of the Jews, so it wasn’t difficult to convince Ferdinand of Aragon to open a table. The Spanish king was willing to cease any support to his Italian relatives, but he needed to “save the face” in some way: the return of Roussillon was the price paid by Charles to obtain not only the neutrality but also the recognition of his Neapolitan claim.


It was soon clear to all of Europe Charles was organizing an army to invade Naples by land, so crossing through the Italian peninsula; the diplomatic activity in Italy of consequence immediately became frenetic. In the successive months, the envoy for France Peron de’Baschi scouted the Italian courts to obtain support to the French invasion. The first move was made by Ludovico, who offered a full alliance with Charles and recognition of his Neapolitan claims in exchange of his renounce over Milan, and support for a possible invasion of Tuscany, where it was necessary in any way for the French army to pass (or through the coast or through Emilia), but in the end, much to the chagrin of the Moor, he didn’t obtain more than a benevolent neutrality. As for Alexander VI, he wasn’t so willing to see the rise of a French puppet south of the Papacy, but he agreed to concede the transit rights when from Florence arrived the news the Chancellorate showed hostility to the French adventure; the Pope believed the French will not stand for that refusal and will invade the Principate, weakening it and allow the possibility to be attacked by both Milan and Papacy.

He was fooled. Alexander IV based his suppositions over the relative isolation the Principate felt after the breakdown of the Pact of Lodi. Its long term ally, Venice, decided to not be involved in the issues between Rome, Milan and Florence, keeping for the moment a strict neutrality, while Ferrara sided immediately with the Duchy. To counter the Milanese-Papal axis, the Tuscans searched the Neapolitan support, but despite Ferrante accepted the proposal of a cooperation he was a aged and weakened man and his son Alfonso refused to send troops north deciding to spare his forces to the defence of the kingdom. Genova was on the Aragonese side as well but he declared a strict neutrality, so in substance Tuscany found herself alone both against a Milanese-Papal attack and the French arrival.

To make worse the situation, Savonarola raised further the tension stating the imminent French invasion will be destructive, but it will purify Florence from the Medician tyrants who put the entire country in a state of mortal sin in front of God; and the attempt to ask the Pope to excommunicate the Dominican friar felt on deaf ears, because despite Alexander VI hated Savonarola however he wanted him to create the more disorder possible in the Tuscan capital.

However, Machiavelli managed to control the situation, convincing a really worried Piero of the necessity to open a hidden negotiation with the French; and in that objective was aided by an unexpected ally: the cardinal Giuliano della Rovere, hostile to the Borgia, who escaped from Rome in search of allies to dethrone the Pope. Giuliano seek refuge in Florence, where he was well accepted by Machiavelli, and in his new haven he started to build a network against Alexander VI.

When Peron de’Baschi arrived in Florence in the autumn of 1493, Machiavelli offered to the French envoy a secret deal: a full alliance with transit rights, plus the recognition to all the French claims, not only over Naples but also over Milan as well, with the offer to launch an invasion from Emilia whenever Charles VIII was ready. The complete passage of Tuscany into the French sphere was in the opinion of the Chancellor the only way to save the country, even at cost to depend from Paris in the successive years and to see a French supremacy over Italy.

Giuliano della Rovere lead the Tuscan delegation in incognito (there was the concrete fear about the formation of a Milanese-Papal-Neapolitan block if the negotiations became public) and managed not only to convince Charles VIII, but also to obtain the destitution of Alexander VI, picturing him as a deviated and corrupted Pope; however, also the chests full of Florins donated as a gift of the Medici bank contributed to the final decision.

The negotiation managed to remain secret, because Giuliano was able to depict the Papal spies; in the meanwhile, false voices about the failure of the negotiations were diffused, so it was the official opinion Florence remained hostile to the French. The enemies of the Principate believed their hour was come…

The 3th September 1494, Charles VIII entered in Italy with an army strong of 30.000 soldiers, plus 8.000 Swiss mercenary and many pieces of artillery, following the Tyrrhenian coast. Genova refused to give the transit rights, so as reply the French King put under siege the Ligurian city and after the inevitable seizure (15th September) it was tremendously sacked, while the major part of the population was put in save thanks to the fleet, relocated in Corsica. In the successive days, the rest of Liguria was sacked as well.


The sack of Genova gave a golden opportunity to Machiavelli; the annexation of Lucca. The small Republic remained loyal to Florence, also for fear in case of defection the Tuscans will invade the country, or to be prey to the French if remained alone. Anyway, with the excuse to provide a better defense in the region, the Tuscan soldiers gradually integrated the small Lucchese garrisons into their forces, while the local officers were dispatched on other locations and replaced with more loyal ones to Florence. In the end of 1493, the Chancellor offered to Lucca the possibility to become “an autonomous state within the Principate”, with a self-government but with delegated decisions to the Senate, where the Lucchese will receive a representation like the other Tuscan cities. Despite the strong opposition, the fall of Genova was the necessary incentive to accept the Tuscan proposal. So, the 24th September the City council of Lucca dissolved itself after declaring submission to the Principate. So, aside from Piombino, the Tuscan archipelago, and some border areas in hand of the Papacy Tuscany was now united under a single banner.

Meanwhile, Charles spent the rest of September and part of October in Piedmont, under the greetings of the Savoia. At Asti, he met Ludovico Sforza, who offered an alliance against the Tuscans, but he refused under the excuse the conflict could escalate with a Venetian intervention. The Moor didn’t suspect nothing.

The 29th October, the Tuscan army, with Piero and Machiavelli at his command, was deployed around the frontier border at the city-fortress of Sarzana. In front of them was the French army, leaded by Charles VIII.


The silence was palpable. Suddenly, the two rulers left their respective armies and went towards each other... and hug themselves. Both French and Tuscan soldiers exploded into joy. So, it was celebrated the start of the friendship between Tuscany and France, and the consecration of the first country as a regional power in Italy.

"I will never allow to give the hand of my sister to a stonecutter!" - Piero de'Medici​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to the Spanish hegemony"

When the Tuscan-French alliance became of public domain, it caused a general shock all across Italy, especially in Milan and Rome. The most scared and enraged was the Moor, who predicted the fall of the Duchy if he kept an open hostile stance towards the Principate, giving to Charles VIII the opportunity to intervene. Ludovico was forced to visit in December the French King and the Tuscan Prince in Florence, taking advantage of the fact the French army stationed in Tuscany during the 1493-94 winter, and practically offered submission to Charles, so making of Milan another state under French influence.

With the Moor’s treachery, Alexander VI found himself isolated and surrounded by hostile countries; and any chance for a residual negotiation vanished when the Pope knew Giuliano della Rovere instigated Charles to invade Rome and remove him from his seat, so the Borgia was forced to ally with Naples and to prepare a desperate defence.

In the meanwhile, Charles VIII enjoyed the sweet Florentine life, passing from ceremonies and tournaments hosted personally by the Prince to show the manifest wealth of the Medici, while Savonarola screamed about the eternal damnation of Florence; but not so openly as in the past, because of the French soldiers in the city. The organization of these feasts was given to Michelangelo, recognized as the main artist of the Principate at the time, and one of the most influent advisors of the Prince. However, towards the end of 1493, the friendship between the two abruptly ended because of a scandal which consequences directly affected the future of Tuscany (and Italy) as well. In fact, growing in the Medici house, the Aretine had the occasion to frequent the Prince’s second youngest sister, Contessina, both falling in love. Their relationships remained hidden until the great feast of Christmas of 1943 in the Palazzo Medici, when it was presented officially the statue of the Principate. The masterpiece obtained universal approval into the presents and a delighted Piero declared to give Michelangelo everything he requested; emboldened, the artist asked the hand of Contessina! After a first hilarious moment, however it was soon clear Michelangelo wasn’t kidding, and Piero became furious; only the intervention of Machiavelli and the other two Prince’s brothers, Giovanni and Giuliano, settled for the moment the situation.

Incision showing a tournament held in honor of Charles VIII during the winter of 1494. That period of "Bengodi" abruptly ended after the clash between Piero and Michelangelo in the Christmas feasts. Even if Charles was entertained by the delicate situation, however he decided to shake himself from the state of numbness he fell during those Florentine vacations...​

It seemed that Michelangelo renounced to that impossible relation and along 1494 the hostility between the artist and the Prince seemed soothed, to the point the first one returned in grace with the assignation to prepare the series of ceremonies in honor of Charles VIII, until towards the end of the same year he escaped with Contessina from Florence, seeking refuge in Bologna. Here, they received protection from Giovanni Bentivoglio, lord of the city, who despite his oath to Lorenzo and then to Piero in the previous months diverged his positions from that of the Principate in an attempt to obtain more autonomy if not independence. In reason of that, he cautiously approached Alexander VI in search for a future alliance.

The Pope took advantage of the situation with a papal dispensation which allowed the two lovers to marry in Bologna; Alexander VI made that move to present himself as the protector of everyone was “oppressed” by the Medici, and in effect he managed to gain a certain support from the dissenters in Siena and Lucca, but even in Milan certain sectors approved, irritated by the coward turncoat of the Moor. Piero protested against the Papal intrusion in his family affairs, but in the end was convinced by Machiavelli to not force the situation, and to allow the return of the couple in Florence, where in 1496 procreated a son, Lorenzo. However, the Prince never forgiven Michelangelo, so posing the basis to the hostilities between the Medici and the Buonarroti lineages. In the meanwhile, he took his revenge towards Bentivoglio (who interceded with the Pope to obtain the dispensation) deposing him in 1495 with the procreation of a city governor, with the approval of the same Bolognese population who believed their overlord was too oppressive and tyrannical.

Actors Charlton Heston and Diane Cilento as Michelangelo and Contessina in the movie "The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1965), about the life of the two lovers to the infancy until the realization of the Sistine Chapel. The union between the two leaded to the birth to a collateral Medici branch which will be relevant in the successive events of the Italian history...​

Meanwhile, in the start of 1492 the French army restarted its march towards south. With general surprise, Alexander VI managed to convince Charles VIII to spare the Papacy and to respect his seat, granting him the transit rights, recognizing him as King of Naples and de facto integrating the Patrimony of Saint Peter in the French sphere; in front of that new turncoat, both Machiavelli and Della Rovere remained in an angered silence, but at least the French army left Tuscany unharmed. Charles VIII entered in triumph the 22th Febraury 1495, as the Papal defection convinced the successor of Ferrante I, Alphonse II the battle for the Neapolitan will be a lost cause and repaired in Sicily, where he abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand, not involved in the massacre followed to the Baronal revolts and surely more popular than him.


However, while Charles was in South Italy, Ludovico the Moor with a new act of treachery convinced the Pope to reconstruct their alliance, managing to bring Venice, scared of the imminent French hegemony in Italy, the new Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg, surely more interested in the Italian affairs than his father, and of Ferdinand of Spain who considered his country enough recovered after the long war of Granada. The 31st March an anti-French “Holy League” was formed.

Charles, seeing his supply routes abruptly interrupted by the closure of the Papal border and the naval embargo created by Venice and Spain, was forced to retreat from the Neapolitan: luckily for him, the North-West of Italy (Savoy, Genova, and naturally Tuscany) remained loyal to the French, so he decided to reorganize his forces in that region. The Tuscan government, after compromising so much with the French, didn’t have much choices, however Machiavelli evaluated possible the victory in the war, because the Papacy forces were practically inexistent, the Spanish will concentrate their efforts on Naples so there was to concentrate the efforts over Milan.

In fact, the Papacy was immediately knocked out from the conflict when the French army in their retreat passed over Latium ravaging the countryside: Rome was spared but Alexander VI cautiously fled to Perugia. The French army joined the Tuscans at Pontremoli, then invaded the Duchy of Milan from the Val di Magra; to worse the Milanese situation, another French army leaded by Philip of Orleans (another pretender to the Northern Italian duchy) coming in aid of the King from Savoy occupied Novara. A Milanese army with Venetian reinforcements fought the Tuscan-French one at Fornovo, but despite were inflicted considerable losses to the invaders, however it failed to impede their reunion with their reinforces at Novara.

Ludovico the Moor understood to have lost another time and offered peace, agreeing to a cease-fire behind a heavy ransom. Secured the northern front, French and Tuscans reorganized their forces for the successive moves…

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to the Spanish hegemony"

The Milanese retreat from the war convinced the Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I to intervene in Italy to not permit the consolidation of the French hegemony in the peninsula, so he started to gather forces in Austria in prevision of an imminent intervention; however, the difficulties coming by drafting an army in country so big and fractured as Germany, and above all the necessity to find funds necessary to finance the expedition delayed his tentative for months: however, about the second point Maximilian obtained a certain success in the diet of Worms in 1495 which saw the institution of an annual taxation ( the “Gemeiner Pfenning”) in exchange of the formation of a Imperial government with the objective to control the Imperial finances (“Reichsregiment”); however, Maximilian delayed the constitution of the Reichsregiment with the excuse of the imminent war in Italy which in his opinion was determinant for the Emperor to directly control the revenues of the Gemeiner Pfenning necessary to finance a strong army like that of the French and the Tuscans; the lords of the Empire bought the story, so Maximilian planned the intervention in Italy for 1496 after the first collection of the tax which, as predictable, faced a general dissent all across Germany.


Until 1494, the relationships between the Emperor and Tuscany were amiable, but the situation changed because of the Papal-Milanese alliance and the maneuvers of the Moor: to obtain the confirmation of the Ducal title from the Emperor, he offered him the hand of his nephew Bianca Maria with a consistent dowry; in the marriage pact there was a silent assent from Innsbruck to an invasion of Tuscany to retrieve back the lost territories. Ludovico hesitated a bit before making that move, because if Bianca Maria remained pregnant with a male child, Maximilian could have in the future a solid claim against Milan; luckily for the Moor, the Emperor, inconsolable for the death of the previous wife Mary of Burgundy, neglected the young spouse. It seemed however Maximilian was available to solve peacefully the issue between Milan, the Papacy and Tuscany, but the French intervention in Italy changed everything; because the South of Italy wasn’t part of the Empire the Habsburg remained for the moment cautiously neutral, even after the sack of Genova, but the Tuscan turncoat of 1494, followed by the pledge of oath from the Moor, convinced him of the necessity to intervene to impede the loss of North Italy to France.

In the meanwhile, Tuscany prepared herself against the Imperial menace with her only forces, because after Fornovo and the truce with Milan Charles VIII decided to return in France to reassert the internal affairs of his kingdom, leaving only a small detachment in the Principate. Machiavelli opted for a defensive stance, while he was forced to constantly negotiate with the major families of Lucca, where part of the population were against the forced annexation of 1494, believing it was in name of a common defence against the French invaders while it was a decision fruit of a treachery. So, in the city and her surroundings riots of crescent intensity started to flare, forcing the Chancellor to use part the army necessary elsewhere to keep calm the situation.

But also in Florence the situation was quite tense, because of the continued hostility of Piero towards Michelangelo which effectively divided the city in two sides between who was favorable to the Prince and who to the artist; the Medician lord refused to give new commissions to his brother-in-law and banned the Buonarroti family from his court; however Michelangelo’s financial quite good thanks to the revenue for the statue of the Principate (ten thousand florins and some valuable properties in the Florentine campaign, a quite high price which was paid in an attempt to force the artist to renounce to Contessina), plus other incomes from commissions during the exile in Bologna, another sources from religious and private commissions after his return in Florence, and secret savings coming from Giuliano de’Medici, more understanding of his brother. Machiavelli managed to keep the situation under control, until in early 1496 the artist called his male son Lorenzo, making the Prince utterly furious (because his son received the name of his father as well), and suspicious about a possible attempt of Michelangelo to pose his legacy over the seat of the overlords of Tuscany. To further worsening the problem, since the return in Florence the Aretine hosted Savonarola in his house some times, interested to certain aspects of his religious doctrine. In the end, Machiavelli suggested to Michelangelo to leave Florence until the waters will be calmed down, so the Buonarroti family emigrated in Rome where were well received by Alexander VI.

Between 1495 and 1496 things started to went better for the Borgia pope and his family, as their refuge in Perugia allowed them to gradually recover the control of the region; however, the administration of Umbria was granted to Cesare Borgia, who convinced his father to allow his abandonment of the ecclesiastic career and to start that military. The new “General Liutenant of the Church” was charged of the task to recover the rebel regions of Marche and Romagna, but soon realized it was necessary restore the order in Rome first and to stop the Tuscan raids in the border, so he asked for a white peace Machiavelli immediately accepted, securing the south borders and allowing him the possibility to concentrate more troops in the north.


However the general situation of the war wasn’t still in favor of the Tuscans and the French, because the Spanish troops completed the liberation of the war but above all France was shocked by the marriage between Philip of Habsburg and Johanna of Castille in the October of 1496, marking the alliance and the merging of common interests between the unified Spanish kingdoms and Austria, destined to hold indefinitely the Holy Roman Empire. The marriage was destined for years for its consequences to weight politically and psychologically over the French, and posing the basis for a “complex of encirclement” in the Kingdom destined to hold for almost 60 years. The issue of the encirclement had direct consequence also for Italy, because for the French strategy the hegemony over or at least the independence of the peninsula was determinant to keep out Austrians and Spanish from the richest region of Europe at the time, and as consequence the French were forced to invade Italy various times; but despite the strategy wasn’t wrong in itself and despite some partial successes, in the long term the French failed because of wrong diplomatic actions. To be relieved from the complex of the encirclement, it was necessary to wait a series of foreign events where France had little part on them.

Anyway, the prospective of a Spanish-Austrian hegemony was already considered dangerous for Alexander VI and Cesare’s long terms projects, so they soon ceased their support to the Spanish and restarted diplomatic channels with the French, even at cost to realign with the Tuscans as well. Machiavelli was favorable to a distension of the relationship with the Papacy, and the negotiations were aided by the new utterances of Savonarola that time against the corruption of the Borgia; the Pope grew so irritated towards the friar that he ceased any type of “unilateral” support towards him, preparing an excommunication bull.

The momentary “state of grace” with the Papacy utterly reinforced Machiavelli, now free to concentrate his preparations against the Imperial intervention, started in the late autumn of 1496. Maximilian entered in Milan where he was greeted as liberator by the Moor, who again turned the tables towards the strongest party of the moment, then moved into Liguria provoking the defection of Genova from the French sphere of influence (the sack of 1494 was still strong in the minds of the Genovese population). Maximilian then showed to be cunning by declaring the freedom of the Republic of Lucca from the Tuscan tyranny, causing a massive revolt in the city and forcing the garrison to defend itself from two sides.

The Emperor however underestimated the Tuscan forces and their reaction, and at the doors of Lucca received a blowing defeat from a numerically and better equipped Tuscan army the 8th of November 1496; the battle showed to the Tuscan they could be able to defeat an (apparent) strong foe such as the Empire. In serious numerical difficulty, with the winter near and the risk to be pursued and captured, Maximilian agreed to a truce offered by Machiavelli and returned in Germany, while Lucca was punished with a sack committed by the Tuscan forces. The defeat forced the Empire to remain outside the Italian affairs for at least a quarter of century.


Only Venice and Spain remained in arms, the first making great war profits by selling weapons to any neutral and active country of Italy, the second consolidating her grip over South Italy, however both the sides started to show war weariness. At the start of 1497, Charles tried to bring again Genova into the fold with the force, but with a more small army as many soldiers were dispatched along the Pyrenees and the Burgundian frontier, but he wasn’t even able to siege properly the Ligurian city; so he decided to offer a truce with Ferdinand of Aragon, who accepted. In three years the political Italian landscape was drastically changed: Spain and Venice resulted the real winners of the war, Milan was in a really precarious situation (after the defeat of Maximilian, Ludovico was completely without allies), the Papacy from the verge of disaster was recovering despite the Borgia grip became more strong by the days, and Tuscany proved to be a solid regional power…

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to the Spanish hegemony"

The conclusion of the “Holy League war” or “First war for Italy” allowed for the peninsula the restoration of the normal trade routes three years of conflict and the continue turncoats from one side to another distrupted. However, while countries as Genova and Naples fatigued to return to the antebellum economical situation due to the local devastation, others as the Principate and Venice not only normalized their assets quickly but even saw their commerce increased, with a general growth of the life rating of the population.

The favor towards Piero and Machiavelli was so high that Savonarola, desperate to ever convert the Florentine population, tried to overthrow the government with the help of Medician dissenters, but despite he was in contact with similar groups working in Lucca and Florence, those refused to lend a hand not wanting to see the rise of a theocratic Tuscany. In fact, the concept of a united Tuscan region was starting to be accepted almost everywhere, despite the Senese were still the more reluctant to accept that state of fact; and the overthrown of the Medician rule was the only thing which united those dissenters, divided however by the possible direction to take in case of victory: for example, Savonarola wanted an united Tuscany completely regulated on the Christian laws and concepts, as a sort of isolationistic “New Jerusalem”, in the north a clear majority wanted a united Tuscany modeled as a merchant republic like Venice, and in Siena the main objective remained the independence. So, those groups failed to reach a common ground, so the government in Florence was able to destroy them one by one with the time.

Savonarola didn’t make an exception. The Principate’s spies discovered the plot and in the late winter of 1498, behind Machiavelli’s order, arrested the conjurors leaded by the friar and brought them in the Bargello, the prison of Florence. To avoid troubles like at the time of the failed coup of the Pazzi, it was organized an elaborated process whose verdict however was already decided till the start; and after the arrival of the excommunication bull from Alexander VI ( in a spirit of “good policy” necessary to give Cesare the necessary time to consolidate his power avoiding interference from Florence) the 23th May of the same year Savonarola was hanged and burned.


In 1498 died also Charles VIII. His successor Louis XII of Orleans was determined to recover the lost ground and to recreate the French sphere of influence in Italy, by launching a diplomatic offensive. For first, he reinforced the ties with Alexander VI through a mutual agreement (the recognition of the divorce between the King and his wife in order to marry Anne of Brittany, widow of Charles VIII in exchange of the concession of the title of Duke of Valentinois to Cesare Borgia); then, he searched the confirmation of Tuscany’s support and an alliance with Venice, and finally an agreement with Ferdinand of Spain.

His objective was, obviously, Milan. The Duchy remained practically isolated, but the King was willing to everything to achieve that objective, even to divide the country. Under that prospective, the 2th February 1499 Tuscan and Venetian envoys agreed at Blois to a division of the Duchy: the Serenissima will took all the lands East to the Adda river, the Principate Piacenza with what remained of Milanese Emilia, fixing the new border at the Tidone, and France all the rest. It was an advantageous agreement for all three the parties.

Ludovico the Moor that time was desperate: he searched any possible help, but the Pope ( who obtained green light for Tuscany to retake Romagna and Marche) refused any involvement, Ferdinand agreed to recognize the French conquest in exchange of the recognition of the Spanish sphere of influence in South Italy, Maximilian after the defeat of Lucca was forced to face the Swiss rebellion because of the refusal to pay the Gemeiner Pfenner, and even his father-in-law, the Duke of Ferrara, decided to remain neutral. Milan was alone.

In June of 1499 the Duchy of Milan was invaded from three fronts. The invaders didn't find any valuable resistance, instead they were greeted as liberators in many cases; in fact, the local populace of the Duchy was tired of the sufferance caused by the bad policy of the Moor, and hoped the French will be a more fair ruler. The Prince in person was in charge of the Tuscan army seeking the military glory, leaving Florence in relative calm after the execution of Savonarola; at the start of August Piacenza opened its doors to the new ruler. Surrounded everywhere, Ludovico renounced to any attempt of extreme resistance and fled away from Milan seeking asylum from Maximilian.

However the French, who used Swiss mercenaries to invade the Duchy, imposed high taxes over the Milanese to paid them, and soon the country, at least in the French controlled part, revolted allowing in the January of 1500 the triumphal return of the Moor. Ludovico focused his efforts to free the French-held lands, because the territories now controlled by Venice and Tuscany remained loyal to their new lords (the two Italian states had a more stable economy and more national-focused armies than France, so they not only could permit themselves to impose a low taxation, but in some cases even allowed a temporary exemption to win the hearts of their new subjects).Anyway, neither the Tuscan and the Venetian intervened (also behind the request of the same Louis who feared to cede other lands to them in case of intervention). Soon remained only Novara to be liberated, but in April new French reinforcements arrived and definitely defeat the Moor who fell as prisoner. Milan was now effectively under French control.


Meanwhile, during the Milanese war, Cesare Borgia launched his Central Italian adventure: in November 1499 he conquered Pesaro and Imola; in 1500 almost all of Romagna fallen into his control, proclamating himself the next year "Duke of Romagna"; in 1501 the marriage between his sister Lucrezia and the future Duke of Ferrara Alphonse of Este, son of the Duke of Ferrara, consolidated his power in these regions; and in July of 1502 he completed his expansion with the fall of Urbino. All of former Papal lands outside Latium were in hands of the Valentine. To be more precise, Latium was largely under control of Alexander VI, who managed to reduce the power of the major Roman families; the Pope was aided by the fact his main adversary, Giuliano della Rovere, was still in Florence fatiguing to keep active and efficient his network due to a less initiative from Machiavelli, determined to keep the South-East frontier calm for the moment and not wanting to risk to deteriorate the ties with Louis XII who was allied both with Tuscany and the Papacy.

The last victories of Cesare were fruit of the prosecution of a benevolent neutrality from Tuscany (which however permitted to the lords of the countries fallen to the Valentine to stay into its lands), while the Venetian involvement into a war with the Turks, and France and Spain despite the agreements for Milan soon battled again for the control of South Italy. However the Borgia's methods were brutal and authoritarian even for his liutenants who planned to kill him, but Cesare discovered the plot and in January of 1503 he killed all the traitors in Senigallia. Even Machiavelli recognized the ability of the "Duke of Romagna" (self-proclaimed title recognized only by his father).

It seemed that the power of the Borgia was invincible: Cesare, who surely was more talented than Piero de Medici, but fallen inebriated by his success, decided to plan an invasion of Tuscany. But that power in reality was more fragile respect to the solidity of the Principate, and the successive events opened a breach in the Central Italy's balance...

... A breach which gave a golden opportunity to Tuscany.

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to the Spanish hegemony"

Cesare Borgia was planning the invasion of Tuscany with the help of Ercole I Ferrara, interested to retake its lost territories after the Polesine war, and however in search of allies after the fall of the Moor; the alliance was reached with the wedding of Alfonso son of the Ferrarese Duke and Lucrezia Borgia in 1502. From the notes released from some of his collaborators, modern historians agreed Cesare had the ambition to reunite all of Italy and become king, realizing an old ambition never realized since the split after the Lombard invasions. However he will never march over the Principate, because of an double unforeseen event which demonstrated how mutable could be the luck of a single man or an entire state.

In August of 1503 malicious fevers stroke both Alexander VI and his son in Rome, leaving the first dead and the second without forces for many weeks. Someone talked about the possibility they were poisoned by Tuscan agents, but there aren't proofs to support that theory.

However, without its two founders and leaders, the Duchy of Romagna started to collapse because of the Tuscan intervention, as both Machiavelli and Della Rovere were determined to destroy the Borgia threat once and for all. In fact the lords banned by the Valentine reunited in Florence and asked the help of the Principate to regain their states; Machiavelli caught the occasion and agreed to invade the Duchy in request for the lords to completely submit to the Prince's rule; in exchange they will have seats in the Senate and a series of exterioral privileges. All the lords accepted. In the meanwhile, Della Rovere returned in secret in Rome ( He was still officially an enemy of the Papacy) to rig the papal elections with the help of the money of the Medici bank, managing to elect the Senese Francesco Piccolomini (Pious III), one of his supporters.

So at the start of September the Principate invaded the Duchy of Romagna "to restore under the protection of Tuscany the rightful rulers of Romagna, Marche and Umbria", as Machiavelli declared; two armies departed from Bologna and Arezzo to invade Romagna and Umbria and then joining in Marche. The Chancellor was sure nobody will help Cesare: these lands weren’t Imperial demesnes, France and Spain were still involved in their fight over South Italy, and the situation in Rome was instable. In fact Pious III, despite focused his forces to combat the last Borgia supporters scattered all over Latium, died after an only month of pontificate.

Anyway the Tuscan advance was faster, the people supported their liberators against the tyrannical rule of Cesare, the ducal armies melted without opposed any resistance, and when the Borgia recovered from his illness it was too late: in the first days of October also Perugia, the main Borgian stronghold, surrendered to the invasors. Desperate to hold in Marche a last defense, the Valentine's only choice at that point was the escape towards South Italy, but he was captured to the Spanish because of his ties with the French and for his involvement for the assassination of Alphonse of Aragon in 1500.

While the star of the Borgia fallen miserably, that of the Medici risen even more in Central Italy also thanks to a gamble made to the Duke of Ferrara Ercole I of Este, who resolved in a disaster for the Emilian country. In the preparation of the invasion of the Principate, the Valentine managed to smuggle weapons and supplies in favor of Ferrara, so reinforcing considerably its armies. But when the Valentine's domain was attacked and started to crumble, the Duke refused to help his ally despite the prayers of Lucrezia, and decided instead to push his ambitions North in the efforts to retake the Polesine from Venezia, thinking the Republic was unable to react after the blows received after the defeat in the second Turk-Venetian war (1499-1503) while Tuscany was still involved in the Romagna campaign, and without declaration of war he invaded the Po Delta.

However Ercole understimated the Venetian reaction, and above all he didn't expected the Tuscan intervention. The Prince and the Chancellor both claimed the treachery of Ferrara against their Venetian allies, and declared war over the Duchy. Local Emilian militias crossed the border ravaging the Ferrarese lands, while part of the armies located in Romagna instead to sneak into Marche turned behind and marched to the Duchy's capital, while the Venetians crossed the Adige on many points and started to siege Rovigo. Meanwhile the operations didn't go very well for the Ferrarese in the Polesine, the Venetian forts still resisted, and in the end Ercole decided to call-off the invasion and tried to defend his lands. In mid-October he managed to defeat the Tuscan militias but when he know the bulk of the Principate's armies was coming, the Duke decided to retreat into Ferrara to resist to a desperate siege, hoping for a Spanish or an Imperial invasion, or at least for a French mediation.

Meanwhile the 1st November Giuliano della Rovere was elected Pope with the name of Julius II. At the intronization was present Machiavelli, who wanted to open a negotiation about the future of Central Italy and to settle once and for all the situation between the Papacy and Tuscany. Julius II was ambitious, he wanted a strong Papal State, and above all a strong Church, but he was also smart and understood the Principate will not renounce to its new conquests, while even if Latium stood united it will never had a chance in a conflict except in case of French or Spanish intervention; also he known the Chancellor also started to have relations with two of the most powerful Roman families, the Orsini and the Colonna, so in the end agreed to open a table with Machiavelli to solve the delicate question.


The diplomatic talks were temporally stopped at the news the 28th of December Piero the Medici died of illness during the siege of Ferrara, so Machiavelli returned to Florence to follow the succession issue. Piero as said before had a son, Lorenzo, who hovewer was still under age, and two brothers, Giovanni and Giuliano. Giovanni was the older member of the family but was a cardinal, so Giuliano become the new Prince at the start of 1504; however, because he didn't had sons yet, he adopted Lorenzo. It is said at the news of the adoption Michelangelo was a bit upset because he was in good terms with Giuliano and he secretly hoped the new Prince chose his son (also because Contessina was older than Giuliano), and after finished the fresco of the battle of Lucca in the Senate hall in the Palace of the Principate, he returned again to Rome where Giulio II called him to realize his tomb.


Giuliano went to Ferrara to continue the siege while Machiavelli returned to Rome to reopen the talks with Giulio II. the capital of the Duchy was on his last legs, and Ercole I the 2nd of February received the news Rovigo fallen in Venetian hands. The duke understood all was lost and the 4th of Febraury opened to Giuliano the doors of Ferrara begging for submission. The 14th of the same month, the treaty of Ferrara was signed: Venice obtained the lands North of the Po, while the rest of the Duchy (who renounced to the lands lost in the previous wars) become a semi-autonomous country into the Principate, with the same rights and the duties of the other Tuscan vassals. Ercole abdicated in favor of his son Alphonse and spent the rest of his life in Florence, where he obtained thanks to the Prince's generosity a senatorial seat. Ferrara thanks to Alphonse and Lucrezia remained a vivid cultural center, but it lost forever its indipendence.

The 18th of February Giuliano left Ferrara for Florence, but he soon reached by a letter of Machiavelli who asked him to come to Rome; the negotiations were ended, reached a result which soon shocked all of Europe...

Intermission one​

Extract from "Art of Italy, volume three: the Renaissance"

Between the fall of Milan and that of both the Duchy of Romagna and Ferrara, many Italian artists seeked refuge in the two only stable peninsular country in that period: the Principate of Tuscany, and the Republic of Venice. And indeed for Florence and the main cities of the Republic (Siena, Bologna, Pavia, Lucca and Piacenza) was a golden age, rich of new pieces of arts and buildings. Also the Serenissima and her “Stato da tera” (the Italian territories) enjoyed of that age of splendor as well, considering the Venetians halted their naval expansionism because of the rise of the Ottoman navy.

The conquest of Milan, the definitive loss of the Neapolitan independence and the crisis of the Papacy made of Tuscany and Venice the two main independent countries of Italy, and the only one which in a long term prospective could finally unite the peninsula, and the artistic augmentation of the two countries was to be considered as a instrument to legitimate their supremacy, despite at the start of the XVI century it was more Venice to try the path for the unification while the Principate, because of his recent formation, opted to consolidate her status of controller of Central Italy.

Anyway in that period the capital of Tuscany was the main focus of attraction thanks of the patronage of the Medici and the main Florentine families; from Botticelli to Raffaello, all the major artists left in the city trace of their activity. However no one could eclipse the star of Michelangelo, who returned in the city in 1501 when the relation between the Papacy and Tuscany returned, or pretended to be, amiable. His most important commission of that period came from the Chancellorate, wanting a statue of king David; the scultor succeeded in his task using a massive and only marble block of Carrara. Legends say the face of the David was that of Giuliano de’Medici but the historians aren't too sure as for the previous example of the Principate statue with the face of Piero de'Medici.

Michelangelo was the main but not the only artist to use the marble of Carrara in that period: the production of the caves in the region constantly risen given high profits. The historical peak of the production was reached during the half of XVI century during the consulate of Michelangelo, because of the commissions for St. Peter's Church and the ambitious plans of the Aretine over Rome ("I want to see again a city of marble" the artist often said); but the marble price reached proibitive heights and the Chancellorate ordered Michelangelo to stop any further project except for St. Peter. A new rise of the marble prices happened about a century later during the consulate of Bernini, because also for the works at the Colonnate of St. Peter he tried to resume the plans of Michelangelo for a complete renovation of the Roman monuments, forcing the Chancellorate to intervene again.

In 1503 also Leonardo da Vinci returned to Florence, but he was seen with suspect because he worked as military advisor for Cesare Borgia, and before for Ludovico the Moor. Machiavelli then had another of his ideas to settle any question and to give another motive of pride for the country: he committed both Leonardo and Miheangelo two frescos in the walls of the Senate Hall in the Palace of the Principate, with as subjects two of the most important victories of the Tuscan army: Fornovo (Leonardo) and Lucca (Michelangelo).

The preparatory sketches for the battle of Fornovo (left) and the battle of Lucca (right), today exposed at the Uffizi gallery.​

While Leonardo accepted with joy, Michelangelo was more restless and his work went slow (also because he was still and more involved in the realization of the David). To avoid the structural problems having for the "Cenacolo", Leonardo tried to used a new method to fix the painting with the use of great torches, but Michelangelo, more expert with technical issues, realized the rival was destined to fail because the torches didn't reach the upper part of the fresco, so in the end melting the paint in that area. The Aretine was tempted to remain silent, but he decided to reveal his discovery to Leonardo "for the Good of the Principate" ; the mistake was fixed and the fresco was saved. In exchange for the help, Leonardo offered to share his knowledge over on that technique with Michelangelo who, after a little indecision, accepted.

When later Vasari enlarged and enriched the Senate Hall, he keep the frescos where they stayed ("the School of the World", as he called them) and still today are visible with their brilliant colours and renowed for their inestimable artistic valor: after Michelangelo and Leonardo, no more used that technique. Today the Senate Hall of the Palace of the Principate is one of the most important touristic attraction of all Italy, forcing the Florentine curators to unite the Uffizi complex and the Palace in a only cultural hub with an unique ticket.

Despite the success of the frescos, soon both Leonardo and Michelangelo left Florence, the first bringing with himself the famous painting of the "Monna Lisa", the second because he was quite upset for the decision of Giuliano de Medici to adopt Piero's son instead of his heir...

I think the Medici should get Abruzzi first back since it was a part of Tuscany before.

kasumigenx said:

I think the Medici should get Abruzzi first back since it was a part of Tuscany before.

Click to expand...

Honestly, I never heard of this. It was during the period of the Duchy of Spoleto?

RyuDrago said:

Honestly, I never heard of this. It was during the period of the Duchy of Spoleto?

Click to expand...

I meant it was a part of the lands of Matilda of Canossa.

kasumigenx said:

I meant it was a part of the lands of Matilda of Canossa.

Click to expand...

Can you tell me where exactly you found this news, please?

Anyway, if we should talk about claims related to the Canossa, then Mantova should be a more legitimate target for Tuscany...

Chapter ten​

Extract from "History of modern Italy, volume two: from the three-way balance to the Spanish hegemony"

Instead to reach immediately Rome, Giuliano spent the early spring of 1504 in a triumphal tour across the acquired regions of Romagna, Marche, and Umbria, visiting many places of relevant interest and receiving the oaths of his new vassals: in Ferrara, the new Duke Alfonso I and Lucrezia Borgia bowed at the city gates, obtaining promises of clemency for the Este dynasty, while the deposed Ercole obtained the title of senator of the Principate (even if the charge was granted only to keep him under strict control in Florence), but refusing to intercede with the Spanish in favor of the liberation of Cesare. In Ravenna, he prayed over the tomb of Dante, but he decided for the moment to not translate the rests of the great poet towards Florence seeing the evident hostility of the Ravennate population over the matter; in Urbino, Guidobaldo da Montefeltro offered him various pieces of art; in Assisi, the Franciscan order proclaimed him “protector of the tomb of Saint Francis”, which was an attempt to convince the Prince to favor the Umbrian branch of the order respect to that Florentine in Santa Croce.

The retard of Giuliano wasn’t seen with particular displeasure by Machiavelli and Julius II, who used the additional time to solve the remaining pending issues about the future ties between Papacy and Principate. The 10th April of 1504 Giuliano arrived in Rome; after the feasts of circumstances, he was informed of the deal reached between the Pope and the Chancellor…

Julius II agreed to recognize the passage of the almost all the territories of the Patrimony of Saint Peter under the authority of the Principate of Tuscany, even included the region of Latium and the majority of the city of Rome, save for the Roman area between the Vatican hill and Castle S.Angelo (in substance, the quarter called “Borgo”) which will be considered part of an autonomous state within the walls of the Eternal city in order to safeguarding the temporal power of the Church. Also, remained part of that state the four other main Basilica of Rome ( Saint John in Lateran, Santa Maria Maggiore, Saint Paul outside the walls, Saint Lorenzo outside the walls), incorporated as seats of the former Pentarchy Patriarchates, plus other palaces and churches within the Principate declared “extraterritorial land”, and naturally the Avignonese county surrounded by the Kingdom of France. In exchange, the Church kept rights and privileges such as the confirmation of the Church tithes (and tax exemptions) in the territory of the Principate, Senatorial seats to cardinals and bishops, and the most controversial right to open all across Tuscany ecclesiastic tribunals of the Holy Inquisition, whose effects will affect the cultural panorama of Italy for the entire XVI century.


Julius II agreed to the cession of the Papal lands for many reasons. The most important was surely the fact the regions outside Latium definitively refused to stay under Papal control and the integration into the Principate gave them the possibility to keep their autonomy and for the ruling classes the possibility to make career in a country surely more meritocratic than the Patrimony of Saint Peter, where dominated the Roman families. But also the same Latium was proved by years of invasions and devastation, while the control of the local feuds resulted difficult to hold as usual; with the cession instead the Church liberated energies, manpower and money in favor of other and more great projects while the same Papal authority, not anymore entangled in the disputes of the noble families, already trying to obtain in a way or another the favor of the Principate to aid them in future schemes to obtain one day the seat of Saint Peter, will become more independent and stronger.

On the other side, it resulted impossible for the Papacy at that point to search the support of the two major powers of the period, France and Spain, to get rid of the Tuscans without renouncing to part of the independence of the Church. Also, in some way the Pope both disliked the two kingdoms, the first because of the betrayal of Charles VIII and the second in part of the Spanish heritage of the Borgia and in part because he feared the power of Ferdinand of Spain who assumed the title of King of Naples and was forced to recognize him as the “most Catholic ruler” of the world to keep him quiet.

Also, the insane Borgia adventure and its outcome reopened the issue of a possible unification of the Italian peninsula, as said before; and with the signing of the “Lateran Concordato”, Tuscany suddenly became the most probable candidate to achieve that objective, also because of two ulterior motives of legitimacy: the control of Rome and the Papal support. It seems in effect Machiavelli started to think possible that possibility immediately after the fall of Ferrara and the Duchy of Romagna, but he understood it was necessary to handle a long and deadly game between Spain, France and the Holy Roman Empire and the support of the Pope was necessary if not vital; in that vision he gave numerous concessions to the Church.

Lastly, it is generally assumed that to Julius II liked the idea to be one of the possible “founding father” of an united Italy, while the association with the Principate offered him the possibility, in case of the Medician failure, to maneuver behind the curtains in order to become himself the next Prince and then to launch a campaign for the reunification of the Peninsula becoming the only ruler.

Anyway the 15th April 1504 the Concordato was officially signed, while Julius II proclaimed Giuliano de’Medici “Lord Protector of the Holy Church”, and the Tuscan banners were raised all across Rome in a general state of euphoria in the Roman populace, who finally saw in the integration with Tuscany the end of an age of instability for the Eternal City, now second center of Tuscany. In the debates for the Concordato, Julius II asked if Rome could become the new capital (option not really favorable for the Pope who preferred to not divide the Roman theatre with the Prince and the Chancellor), but Machiavelli said: “It is not the right time…yet”. In fact, the Florentine feared the transfer of the capital at Rome could be seen as a hostile step for the conquest of Italy, and however he wanted to remain at Florence to be better able to intervene in the north, where the situation was more fluid respect to a south where there was a consolidated status in favor of Spain.

The historians agreed the concordato was advantageous for both the sides, except for the issue of the Holy Inquisition. After seeing the nefarious consequences of the Inquisition in Spain, the Italian humanists condemned the tribunals as too repressive and violent in their uses, but Julius II wanted to recalibrate the power of the Church into the Principate in some way; anyway, the Holy Inquisition in Tuscany in her first years was almost quiet, until the Protestant wind coming from Germany released a mood of general suspicion which had as outcome a period of persecutions born by the fear of the Church to see the main catholic region corrupted by the German heresy, which accelerated the end of the Renaissance.

Because of the sudden increase of the Tuscan domains, Machiavelli reorganized the country in six administrative regions, essentially based to the geographical regions of Central Italy, under the rule of governors elected by the Senate, albeit chosen previously by the Prince and the Chancellor: Tuscany proper (capital Florence), Emilia (Bologna), Romagna (Ferrara, in order to control the Este), Marche (Urbino), Umbria (Perugia), and Lazio. About this last region, with the general surprise, it was proclaimed capital Viterbo, because Rome and her surroundings was proclaimed part of a separate governorate, due of her particular condition with a state into a city.


In honor of Roman tradition, the governor of the city (role late merged with that of mayor) was called “Consul”; however, with general surprise of the Roman nobles, the as first Consul was chosen a singular character, the Senese banker Agostino Chigi, who had developed controversial economical ties with the Borgia, but was an excellent merchant and administrator and had the admiration of the population for his self-man made origins; also, Machiavelli chose him to show the Senese were considered Tuscans at all effects, hoping to lower the still consistent dissent in the Tuscan city.


The news of the Concordato naturally changed the diplomatic assets in Europe, making of Tuscany an international player of first category and in the same time starting the period of the “three-way balance” in Italy, with France in control of the North, the Principate of the Center, and Spain of the South. The two kingdoms anyway recognized the Concordato but contested the status of the enclaves in their states, so they unilaterally annexed Avignone (France), Benevento and Pontecorvo (Spain). Despite the initial protests, Julius II however accepted to close the issue behind heavy financial compensations: as Machiavelli told him in a letter, “Someday revenge will come”…

RyuDrago said:

Can you tell me where exactly you found this news, please?

Anyway, if we should talk about claims related to the Canossa, then Mantova should be a more legitimate target for Tuscany...

Click to expand...

Yes, Mantua too is a part of the lands of Canossa, I think the Tuscans should also get both Spoleto(Abruzzi and Ancona) but that would be a second priority and aside from that Spoleto is a part of the Medieval Kingdom of Italy.