The Italian War of 1519-1525
1519 to 1525; Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England & Scotland
The death of Maximilian I and ascension of Philip to the mantle of the Holy Roman Empire precipitated a crisis in Europe. Crowned King of Germany in Frankfurt, Philip declared his intentions to travel to be Rome to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope himself. With the French occupying the Duchy of Milan, the declaration of Philip had the effect of pushing many Italian princes into the Imperial camp. Fearing French domination of the peninsula from Milan, and Spanish domination from Naples, Philip seemed the best choice, a neutral arbitrator in the matter with matter with no territories beyond the Alps. The Pope most especially supported Philip in this matter and agreed to crown him if the French were driven from Milan and Francesco Sforza was restored to his throne. Using the dowry of Isabella of Portugal, Philip built up an army composed of troops from his dominions in the Lowlands, but also hired Landsknecht mercenaries, with several German princes also promising troops to serve the Emperor. The young Archduke Charles was also granted control of Burgundian Army in which to defend Flanders from French aggression, although the Count of Nassau was granted oversight over the young Archduke. With the true colors of the French King shown, Philip also had little difficulty in convincing Henry VIII and Manuel I into signing an alliance against François.
Although François had been the first to declare war, he had found himself virtually isolated aside from the Republic of Venice, which reaffirmed it’s standing alliance with the French King since the League of Cambrai three years previously. Alfonso d’Este also stood by the French, hoping that François might strong-arm the Papacy into restoring him to the Duchies of Ferrara, Modena, and Reggio. François also found allies in Germany, amongst the Margraves of the House of Baden and Duke of Württemberg, chief of the pro-French princes in the Holy Roman Empire; as the ideas of Martin Luther began to spread beyond Wittenberg, those princes sympathetic to the ideas of Luther found an ally in France, who was willing to bankroll them in hopes of destabilizing Germany and preventing Philip from marching into Italy. Although Philip had hoped in theory to use his coronation in Rome to unify the cause of the German princes, in proved impractical. With the Turks continuing to encroach forward from the Balkans, many began to fear the newest Sultan, Suleiman the Magnificent, and believed resources would be better spent containing the Ottoman Empire, leaving Italy to the French, who were at least Christian. The problems introduced by Martin Luther also proved a thorn in the side of Philip, who was at least influenced by the ideas of Erasmus and favored some reform of the church. But those were both matters in the mind of Philip that would have to wait until his coronation: Philip ordered Martin Luther to appear before a Diet of the Empire, and promised military aid to King of Hungary, Louis II, but only after his coronation in Rome.
Both Henry VIII and Manuel had signed into the alliance against France enthusiastically, but only Henry VIII actively sought to aid Philip, raising an army and crossing the Channel to Calais, in hopes to aid the Imperial armies under the Count of Nassau and the Archduke Charles. Manuel on the other hand was reluctant to aid his allies, only bolstering his garrison in Naples and around Upper-Navarre and the Pyrenees. Towards the end of 1519, the first clashes had broken out, with the Anglo-Imperial forces under Henry of Nassau and Henry VIII (with the young Archduke Charles also in command) invading the north of France and seizing several cities, most notably Tournai, after a significant siege. These battles proved to be the Archduke Charles’ baptism of fire, although the Imperial forces and those of England found themselves facing stiff resistance from forces under Anne de Montmorency, giving François I time to gather troops to fight back. By March of 1520, the forces of François met the Anglo-Imperial force under the Count of Nassau and Henry VIII. Encouraged by the Constable of Bourbon to attack, the French forces scored a great victory over the English and Burgundians at Douai, forcing them to retreat. In the south the French attempted to seize the city of Fuenterrabia along the Bidasoa River, but encountered stiff resistance from the Spanish forces that prevented the French forces from gaining a strategic foothold in northern Spain beyond the Pyrenees.
In Italy the French position was desperate, the French Governor of Milan, the Viscount of Lautrec was hated for his severity, and the forces of Emperor Philip and Prospero Colonna, in the service of the Pope, outnumbered the French. Although Pope Leo X had been mildly pro-French following Marignano, he was willing to aid the Emperor in hopes of incorporating Parma and Ferrara into the Papal States. By June of 1520, the French had pushed out of Milan and had taken up positions around the Adda River. The position of the Viscount of Lautrec was difficult, but the arrival of Swiss mercenaries bolstered his force, but possessing no funds to pay them, was forced to agree to their demands to fight the Imperial-Papal forces immediately, engaging the Imperial-Papal forces under Philip and Colonna on 8 July 1520, at Lodi. Although Lautrec’s forces outnumbered those of the Emperor, the impatience of the Swiss mercenaries masked Lautrec’s guns and prevented him from using his artillery, charging against the entrenched Landsknecht forces under Georg von Frundsburg. Badly mauled, the Swiss troops were broken and abandoned the French to return to their cantons. This left Lautrec with too few troops, and abandoned Lombardy totally. Francesco Sforza was restored to his throne by August, and Philip proceeded with haste to Rome, although not before taking the Iron Crown of Lombardy from Pavia[1].
The Sforza had been restored to Milan and Philip found himself heralded in Rome upon his arrival. He hoped for a splendid coronation attended by the Princes of the Empire, both German and Italian, but two deaths in 1521 radically altered the alliance against France. The death of Leo X brought about the election of Adrian VI as Pope in 1522, a native of Utrecht and former tutor of the Archduke Charles. Although many regarded him as a puppet of the Emperor, Adrian endeavored not to be influenced by the Emperor. The death of Manuel in 1521 also brought his son Miguel to the thrones of Spain and Portugal. Unlike his father he was guaranteed to honor the alliance with Philip, and began to build up an army to campaign in the south of France, which had the effect of scaring Henry of Navarre[2] into the French camp, who invited French troops into his kingdom and began negotiations with François for the hand of Renée, the second surviving daughter of Louis XII and Anne of Brittany. The sudden alliance of Navarre with France had the effect of breaking the fragile peace within the tiny Pyrennese kingdom that had existed since the Treaty of Bigorre. The pro-French Gramonts immediately began to feud once more with the pro-Spanish Beaumonts, the Beaumonts going so far as to declare Henry II incapable of ruling and that the throne of Navarre should pass the Infante João, son of Miguel and the Infanta Ana. With the French army in Milan defeated, François was desperate to raise money to pay for the war, finding an ally in the Constable of Bourbon, who had aided him in the defeat of the Anglo-Imperial army at Douai. With the death of his wife Suzanne of Bourbon in 1521, the Constable of Bourbon had inherited her estates, including the Duchies of Bourbon and Auvergne, and the Counties of Clermont-en-Beauvaisis, Forez, Gien and La Marche, which were claimed by the king’s mother, by right of proximity of blood. Aside from these lands, he also possessed substantial lands in his own right. In order to settle the issue, the Constable of Bourbon agreed to marry Louise of Savoy, with the agreement that upon the Constables death, the lands would unite with the crown. The Constable also agreed to give François a share of the revenue from the Bourbon inheritance, which would allow the French king to continue to wage war.
With the defeat of the Anglo-Imperial forces at Douai, the forces under Nassau and the Archduke Charles had retreated back into the Lowlands, with Henry taking the remainder of his forces to Calais, where he hoped to return to England to raise more troops. Yet the defeat at Douai had the effect of influencing Scotland, ruled by the Duke of Albany[3] (a man notorious for his pro-French policies) who served as Regent for the young James V to renew the Auld Alliance and declare war against England. This forced Henry VIII to retire from the continent, and although he would remain allied to Philip and Miguel, he would not return to the continent for the remainder of the war. The entrance of Scotland and Navarre to the French side bolstered François’ confidence, despite the loss of Milan, and he dispatched the Constable of Bourbon south to Pamplona, to bolster the Navarrese army south of the Pyrenees. While French forces were decisively defeated at the Battle of Fuenterrabia on 6 April 1521, the forces of the Constable of Bourbon successfully defended Upper Navarre from the Spanish, and repulsed a raid on Pamplona in the fall of 1521.
With Henry VIII concerned with the Scots and Imperial forces repulsed from northern France, François turned his attentions to regaining Milan. Although Philip was formally crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1522 by Adrian VI, his relations with the Italian princes were beginning to become strained, who wanted the Emperor (not to mention his army) out of Italy as soon as possible. Philip was also concerned with the problems of Germany, knowing that he needed to confront the problem of Martin Luther as soon as possible. Philip’s departure from Rome in early 1523 coincided with François crossing the alps with a sizable force who easily swept aside Prospero Colonna and forcing Francesco Sforza to flee his duchy for a third time. The mood of Italy was shown appropriately upon the death of Adrian VI after barely a year as Pope. Clement XII, a scion of the House of Medici, succeeded him. Even more apathetic than Adrian VI, he was eager to quit the war with France, much to the anger of the Emperor. Although at first victorious, François soon clashed with the forces of Philip in October of 1523 at the Battle of Malnate, which forced François to quit Italy for a second time. Combined with the defeat of the Constable of Bourbon in Navarre against the Spanish and a renewed invasion of Northern France, François was forced to rethink his priorities.
The war continued to drag into 1524. With the outbreak of armed rebellions in Germany against the Princes, and the continued growth of the reformation, the German Princes pressured Philip to cease fighting against France and call the Diet he had promised nearly five years previously. Henry VIII was the first to quit the war; becoming more concerned with the succession, or lack thereof following a close call in the north against the Scots, the King of England signed the Treaty of Dover in 1524, in hopes that he could focus more on his domestic situation, most especially regarding his lack of a legitimate son. Miguel and Philip, however, did not formally agree to peace with France until the Treaty of Bayonne in 1525. François recognized the loss of Milan and Francesco Sforza as the legitimate Duke of Milan, but little else. Miguel attempted to legitimate his claims to Upper Navarre, but Philip, eager to end the conflict so he might solve his issues in Germany, was unwilling to press the issue, forcing the young Spanish king to restore the provinces of Navarre south of the Pyrenees to Henry II, who despite this remained in Pau, formally designating it the new capital of Navarre in 1526, shortly after his marriage to Renée of France. Miguel left the first great war of his reign with a bitter taste in his mouth. He gained nothing out of it, and viewed his father-in-law Philip with distaste. A spineless man who cared only for himself, Miguel blamed him and only him for the humiliation of having to return Upper Navarre to Henry II, despite having seized it at overwhelming odds. Now more than ever Miguel wanted an ally who would not betray him. Miguel would be forced to reconsider his relations and alliances in regards to the other kingdoms of Europe.
[1] Philip was crowned King of Italy by the Pope as well. He never returned the crown to Pavia, taking it with him to Brussels.
[2] Very pro-French, the Spanish regarded it as a matter of time after Catherine’s death until Henry II tore up the Treaty of Bigorre.
[3] John Stewart. He had married Anne de la Tour d'Auvergne, and would be succeeded as Duke of Albany by his son Francis Stewart (François de Stuart d’Auvergne) in 1536, who was also Count of Auvergne through his mother.
