War, Expansion and Consolidation
Despite their joint success in the Italian Wars, tensions between the French and the Empire never remained buried under the surface. The two nations were divided over who should take the throne of the newly conquered Duchy of Milan, with Louis eventually triumphing in having it ceded to his cousin, Charles, Count of Anglouême [1], much to the anger of Maximilian.
The two nations soon found themselves at war, with Pope Julius II declaring a new Holy League, consisting of Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and England [2] who immediately invaded Northern France. [3] The Papal forces consisting of Swiss troops under the command of the recently ousted Massimiliano Sforza, who returned to reconquer the Duchy [4]. The appointment of Gaston de Foix as French Commander in Italy, resulted in the French utterly crushing local resistance in the north of the peninsula. The crushing defeat inflicted upon the Papal forces at Ravenna, ensured Foix's elevation to Louis' most trusted commander. [5]
France forced the league onto the defensive: an attempted Swiss invasion of Milan failed catastrophically, with the Papal forces comprehensively crushed by Foix at the Battle of Novara. The league met at Mantua in the summer of that year to discuss how to counterract the French threat. The League agreed to invite the Anglo-Spanish alliance into the conflict in exchange for territorial gains in Northern and Southwest France, while also outlining the plan for Italy. The result was the Holy League of Mantua, which established Massimiliano Sforza as Duke of Milan, an independent Duchy of Ferrara and the overthrow of the anti-Papal leadership of the Florentine Republic. [6]
However the attitude of the Holy Roman Empire to Venice, was deeply problematic: Maximilian simply viewed the majority of Veneto as his territory and was loath to return it; despite the protestations of the Pope the Venetians were excluded, and soon allied themselves with the French. [7]
The Franco-Venetian alliance was soon on the attack: Venetian troops invaded Lombardy from the east, while the French swiftly captured Milan: Foix's period of success however was about to end in humiliation, as Swiss and Milanese troops loyal to Duke Maximilian I of Milan, routed the French forced them to retreat, eventually capturing the city of Dijon.
The Anglo-Spanish alliance also advanced: Spain quickly conquered Navarre and advanced into Guyenne, while English forces under the joint command of Arthur, the Duke of York and the Earl of Essex routed the French and quickly captured Thérouanne and Tournai in Flanders, while the 10,000 strong English force in Guyenne supported the Spanish assualt. Arthur was also helped by the non-aggression pact between him and James IV of Scotland, with the Scots refusing numerous requests to invade England on behalf of the French. [8] The disaster that was hitting the French soon hit the Venetians as well: Spanish troops quickly routed the main Venetian army at Padua, before bombarding and then capturing Venice in late 1513, whch forced the Venetians to sue for peace [9]. The only bright spark in this dark period for the French was Queen Mary's birth of a healthy son, Charles [10], who was promptly proclaimed Dauphin, as well as the death of Julius II who was succeeded by Raffaele Riario as Pope Julius III. [11]
Louis along with Foix, laucnehd a new offensive, driving the Swiss out of Dijon, and advancing rapidly into Milan, where they were eventually halted by a Swiss-Milanese force a few miles west of the city. Following the stalemate, and the realisation that both sides were spent, France and the League sued for peace, though on seperate terms. England, who had managed to capture the cities of Boulogne and Lille gained both along with the Walloon city of Tournai, and the northeastern strip of land connecting all to the English port of Calais. [12] The Spanish gained Navarre, but ceded all claims to Guyenne, Venice lost half of its Veneto territory to the Germans, and the French agreed to allow the Papacy's conquest of Urbino, and recognised Maximilian I Sforza as the legitimate ruler of Milan, as well as paying the Swiss 700,000 ducats as compensation. [13] The war appeared to have ended French ambition within Italy for most observers. Italy however as going to be sore that would keep erupting for the forseeable future...
[1] Father of Francis I IOTL, his reign as Milanese overlord is short and bloody. And yes he lives about twenty years longer ITTL.
[2] England basically does a much more successful version of Henry's policy during this war, and actually gains some territory.
[3] As IOTL
[4] The Sforza's do quite a bit better here, thanks to mostly to powerful benefactors and blind luck.
[5] Foix survives to become the leading French military figure for the first half of the century, though he does suffer some knocks to his reputation during this war.
[6] Replaced by the House of Medici, same as OTL.
[7] Venice have fought on both sides so many times, largely due to being seen as an inconvenient roadblock to full dominance of Northern Italy.
[8] Scotland and England under the strong personal relationship between Arthur I and James IV are very close economically: simply put war with England is not in Scotland's interests.
[9] Venice does very badly out of its French alliance in the latter half of the war, and the Republic spends the bulk of the remainder of the decade repairing the city.
[10] Mary Tudor is married by proxy to Louis in 1507 as a ploy to keep England out of continental affairs. She gives birth to four healthy children during her time as French queen. Though her marriage makes Louis XII, Arthur's brother-in-law, the two nations are not friendly in the least.
[11] No Medici Pope! Italy's going to have an interesting time in the next few decades.
[12] England's rapid conquest of the northeast of France places it in a very strong bargaining position, and following the Treaty of Bruges in 1515, it annexes all of its occupied territory in exchange for a large undisclosed payment (believed to be close to a million ducats, an absolutely astounding figure.)
[13] Milan remains under native, if unpopular Sforza rule, while the Swiss, have pretty much guaranteed virtual independence from the French or the Empire.