Cesare Borgia's Tuscan Campaign

hey, all. i was reminded recently that, when Cesare Borgia was ousted from control, he had been planning to conquer Tuscany. a quick search doesn't turn up much about this, so i thought i'd ask around. does anyone know anything about this planned campaign, or have any ideas as to how it might develop?
 
Cesare's position was too much based on support from Rome and after his father died, he had to focus on having at least a non-hostile pontiff there, in order to be able to deal with the unavoidable disorder in Romagna.

At this point, leaving Romagna even once dealth with and assuming it doesn't revolt while he goes away, and assuming a longer-living Pius III...

Eventually, his political agresivness would owe him a lot of issues : he faced a general hostility, including within his own troops, but critically in Roma(as neutral between Borgia and Della Rovere Pius III may have been, plundering pontifical finances to conquer Tuscany for Cesare's own benefit was definitely not a good thing on his favor).

And going against Sienna and Pisa, as he wanted, was certain to raise Valois against him, meaning his last ally (or, rather, the closest thing Cesare had from an ally at this point) : Louis XII didn't want Cesare chasing again Pandolfo Petrucci out of his city when he just re-instated him after Cesare's successful ousting of the dictator.

Taking on the newly re-established Republic of Pisa wouldn't be a good idea either on this regard, but it would be more due entering in a real wasp nest : Firenze, Lucca, Roma, France, etc. were all interested on this point, less for strategic importance (altough it counted), but rather for political matters as it was the hotpoint for local states.
Without real support, I doubt Cesare Borgia would have the ressources then to deal with it without political harm and without guarantee managing to establish his domination.
 
i'd been asking more for what his projected objectives in the campaign were :p the main reason i'm asking is for something else entirely and i thought i'd try to build parallels to the planned Tuscan conquest
 
As pointed above, his objectives were probably to take back Siena from Pandolfo Petrucci, that he chased but returned trough French support and to advance on Pisa (that was the political focus point in Tuscany, an element of instablility in the region).

Then, maybe, he would have been able to act in Firenze, probably trying to set up a friendly rule.

That said, all of that wasn't really to happen at this point.
 
You need to butterfly his father's death. If Alexander VI is still alive Cesare will try to take Tuscany, without his father (but with a friendly Pope) I think he will try to solidify his control on his new lands in Romagna and not try to take more lands.
 
You need to butterfly his father's death. If Alexander VI is still alive Cesare will try to take Tuscany, without his father (but with a friendly Pope) I think he will try to solidify his control on his new lands in Romagna and not try to take more lands.

Even with Alexander still kicking in, the situation in Romagna was quite problematic already, which required a constant watch to avoid the region boiling up against Borgia's dominance.

Assuming it's somehow resolved for some undeterminated time, going against the wises of his Valois allies for what matter Tuscany would have been a spectacularly bad idea : it means less ressources (20 000 livres of rent due to his holdings in Valentinois) and probably the refusal of Alexander that needed time to really balance the French and Spanish offers (roughly, he proposed to supported one or the other side against territorial compensations for his son : Sicily or parts of Tuscany for respectively an alliance with France or Spain).

Going against Tuscany would definitely means going against France, without a real support from Spain, and Louis XII would probably brining an expedition in Tuscany with the support of the (many) foes of Borgia. The War of the League of Cambrai points that it wasn't something to shrug about.

If Alexander eventually allied with Spain, with an actually coherent policy on Italian Wars, then...it gets more doable. But it would be less Cesare's campaign, than a part of another Italian War on which Borgia could attempt to grab more before switching alliances once more eventually.
 
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