The First and Second Italian Wars 14941504
Harry Lime in The Third Man (1949 British motion picture, directed by Carol Reed)
In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed, but they produced Michael Angelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.
Movie script, page 178, line written-in by Orson Welles, playing Harry Lime who was also performing as Cesare Borgia in Prince of Foxes (1949 American motion picture made in Italy based on Samuel Shellabargers novel of the same name).
The First and Second Italian Wars 14941504
Fearless Knights, Ruthless Princes and the Coming of Gunpowder Armies
by
Julian Romane
First published in Great Britain in 2020 by
Pen & Sword Military
An imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Yorkshire Philadelphia
Copyright Julian Romane 2020
ISBN 978 1 52675 051 8
eISBN 978 1 52675 052 5
Mobi ISBN 978 1 52675 053 2
The right of Julian Romane to be identified as Author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
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Contents
Acknowledgements
Maps
Foreword
Chapter 1: Medieval Winter, Renaissance Spring
Chapter 2: King Charles VIIIs France
Chapter 3: The Collapse of Lorenzos Peace
Chapter 4: Charles VIII Invades Italy
Chapter 5: The March South to Rome
Chapter 6: The Holy League Arises to Fight King Charles
Chapter 7: The Battle of Fornovo
Chapter 8: King Charless Italian Adventure Ends
Chapter 9: King Louis XII
Chapter 10: King Louis XII takes Milan
Chapter 11: Lodovico Strikes Back and Fails
Chapter 12: Cesare Borgia: The Impresa Begins
Chapter 13: Cesare Borgia: The Second Impresa
Chapter 14: King Louis XII in Italy
Chapter 15: Cesare Borgia: The Third Impresa
Chapter 16: King Louis and his Campaign for Naples
Chapter 17: The Condottieri Conspire
Chapter 18: The Borgia Collapse
Chapter 19: War in Southern Italy
Chapter 20: on the Garigliano
Conclusion
Appendices
Italy in 1490
The World of Money
The Development of Gunpowder Weapons
Military Organization
Pope Alexander in Church History
Poison in the Renaissance
Bibliographic Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
M any hands take a manuscript and turn it into a book. I thank all those who made this book possible. I want to thank Phil Sidnell for his support and help. I offer profound thanks to editor Irene Moore. Her meticulous observations are most appreciated. Further, I am very grateful for the professional work of Matt Jones and the staff of Pen & Sword.
Internet Archive is a most remarkable site. There, I found old books for which I searched for literally decades suddenly becoming accessible and downloadable. Whereas once I handled fragile pages with only the greatest care now, I can enlarge and read texts printed hundreds of years ago without fear of damaging the book or missing meanings in the documents.
Above all, this book is possible because of the patience and support of my wife, Judith ODell.
North Italy.
South Italy.
Battle of Fornovo.
Foreword
A Tale of Arms and Men
F earless Knights, Ruthless Princes and the Coming of the Gunpowder Armies is a tale about fighting men and the transformation of society in Western Europe that shaped the world. We look at a mere decade, 14941504. In the swirl of events, our tale tracks the process of developments in the maelstrom of this time. In these ten years the nature of power and wealth changed: before 1494, the worlds high civilizations were about equal in power and wealth; after 1504, Western European states were set on their trajectory to dominate the planet. True, this process took centuries and involved the spread of Western European technology across the face of the world, but it was in Italy, during this decade, that the process reached the tipping point.
I wish to be clear: this book is not a discussion of intellectual concepts and fine points concerning the relationships of society, ideology and economics: not at all. War is not a game of chess; it is a drama of the human heart. This is a chronicle of violence and passion, of ambition, achievement and death, of defeat and victory.
What this Book is About
My narrative covers this decade, following the course of military operations with a description of political involvements. We see these events from the perspective of the Italian commentators of the time, as refined over generations of historians reinterpreting these events for their readers. We start with the Kingdom of France after the accession of King Charles VIII (1483) and follow the path to the Italian invasion (1494). The military operations of this French invasion lead to southern Italy and then north again, where the French and Italian forces fight the Battle of Fornovo (1495).
After Charles returns to France, his new Kingdom of Naples is over-thrown by the Great Captain, Gonzalo Fernndez de Crdoba, who found a way to defeat the French forces (149598). Before he can respond, King Charles dies unexpectedly, a most interesting occurrence (1498). Louis XII becomes King of France and invades Italy again (1499). He sweeps through Milan and supports Cesare Borgias efforts to centralize the States of the Church (1499).
