Italian Wars, 1494–1559

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stella Fletcher
Keyword(s):  
Military History ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Art Of War ◽  
Kingdom Of Naples ◽  
Italian Wars ◽  
Francis I ◽  
Official Records ◽  
War Art

According to the Florentine historian Francesco Guicciardini, Italy enjoyed peace and plenty in the years around 1490. From 1494 it was plunged into what he and others regarded as a series of “calamities,” triggered by the French kings Charles VIII (r. 1483–1498) and Louis XII (r. 1498–1515), who claimed to rule the kingdom of Naples and the duchy of Milan, respectively. Francis I (r. 1515–1547) retained the claim to Milan, and the wars themselves continued through the reign of Henry II (r. 1547–1559). Rule over Naples was contested and secured by Ferdinand II of Aragon (r. 1479–1516) and maintained by his Iberian successors. Milan was an imperial fief, so was contested by Ferdinand’s grandson Charles V in his capacity as Holy Roman emperor (r. 1519–1556). The conflicts waged in Italy in the names of these various princes between 1494 and 1559 are collectively known as the Italian Wars. They include the War of the League of Cambrai (1508–1516), that of the League of Cognac (1526–1530), and the War of Siena (1552–1559). This article approaches the wars by means of Reference Works and Overviews specifically devoted to the Italian Wars, though it is also worth teasing information from histories of Renaissance Warfare. Contemporary Sources provide innumerable angles on a subject that can be difficult to define beyond events on the battlefield or the besieged city and are therefore subdivided into four types: Memoirs and Chronicles, Histories, Official Records, and cultural evidence, the last of which appears under the heading Art of War, Art and War. Some publications deal with individual episodes or short spans of time and therefore feature in a Chronology of War, itself subdivided at the death of Louis XII/accession of Francis I, 1494–1515 and 1515–1559. The biographical genre—Lives and Times—is the most obvious way of dealing with the leading protagonists, who tended to be Princes, but group studies are also relevant when one turns to Subjects and Citizens who contributed to the conflicts in some form or other. Some authors have confined their research to military history, including the recruitment of soldiers, their pay, and provisions, as well as their activities on the battlefield, but the Italian Wars witnessed so much overlap between the lives of Soldiers and Civilians that they are brought together in the penultimate section of the article, which then concludes with the miscellanies that are Collections of Papers.

A Brief History of the Italian Wars

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen D. Bowd
Keyword(s):  
Spanish Empire ◽  
Charles V ◽  
History Of ◽  
Italian Wars ◽  
Francis I

In 1494 King Charles VIII of France (1483–98) decided to extend French influence southwards and led a force of 30,000 men into Italy. The invasion was followed by interventions by his successors Louis XII (1498–1515) and Francis I (1515–47), as well as by the sporadic involvement of the Spanish King Ferdinand of Aragon (1479–1516) and by the emperor-elect Maximilian (1493–1519), and finally Emperor Charles V (1519–58), which drew parts of Italy into the Spanish empire. These monarchs clashed bloodily at battles such as Fornovo (1495), Agnadello (1509), Ravenna (1512), Novara (1513), Marignano (1515), La Biccoca (1522), and Pavia (1525). For these princes Italy offered a rich prize, for many Italian princes the alliances with the ultramontane powers provided opportunities to extend their power, but for many Italian civilians the wars were a disaster.

Pax et Concordia – Politics and Reform

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Cussen
Keyword(s):  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Francis I

The challenges to peace and concord throughout Christendom weighed heavily on Paul III throughout his reign and limited his focus on reform. The texts of curial sermons, once again, reveal how the pursuit of Pax et Concordia was viewed culturally as integral to the papal role and its honour. The conflict of 1535-1538 between the Holy Roman Emperor and the French King and a text of Pope Paul reflecting on those events illustrate how sorely tested Paul felt. A 1536 speech of the Emperor, Charles V, also indicates the depth of enmity between him and Francis I. This enmity was an ongoing obstacle to a Council and to reform.

The Prehistory of Innovations in The Russian Funeral Ceremony (Vasily M. Tyapkin at the Burial of Jan II Kazimierz and Michał Wiśniowiecki)

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
Arseniy Bogatyrev
Keyword(s):  
Sources Of Information ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Funeral Ritual ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Funeral Rite ◽  
Public Character ◽  
Funeral Ceremony

There is an opinion that the fi rst detailed description of certain aspects of the Western (royal) funeral rite appeared in Russia along with a description of the funeral procession in 1558-1559 of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. Much more information contain reports of the Russian diplomat Vasily M. Tyapkin, who visited the burial of Kings Jan II Kazimierz and Michał Wiśniowiecki in Rzeczpospolita (1674, 1676). A unique example in Russian diplomatic practice of the age, these recordings expanded the ideas of the anatomical aspects of the funeral ritual, its public character, the use of state symbols, military paraphernalia, music, etc. Many of the things listed by the resident were used later in the Western-style funerals of Peter the Great’s associate Franz Lefort, in the “sad ceremonies” as a whole of the eighteenth and partly nineteenth centuries. This Moscow diplomat’s information also complements sources, in particular, on some aspects of the action with the heart of King Michał. The thoroughness of fi xing all the procedures suggests that Tyapkin used some ready-made sources of information, which really existed. Tyapkin’s reports, which were abundant in details, anticipated many innovations of Peter I and his followers, showed that Peter’s reforms of the funeral ritual could have a Polish-Lithuanian source.

A Dictionary of Military History and the Art of War.

1996 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Brian Bond ◽  
Andre Corvisier
Keyword(s):  
Military History ◽  
Art Of War ◽  
The Art Of War

On Whether the Venetians Should Ally with the Emperor or Stick to the Alliance with the King of France

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Steady Pressure ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
King Of France ◽  
The One ◽  
Two Sides ◽  
Francis I

This chapter considers how, once again, the Venetians had found themselves under steady pressure from two sides — this time between the new king of France, Francis I, and Charles of Habsburg, the king of Spain as well as the Holy Roman Emperor. Although they had not come to a clear rupture with the Emperor, the Venetians had dutifully performed their role in the war on the French side, and were now rather at sea as to what they should do next. On the one hand, Francis incited them to hold on, for he would soon send another army into Italy; on the other hand, Charles was trying to detach them from the French alliance with various reassurances and offers.

Introduction: The Reformed Augustinians of Lower Germany

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Christman
Keyword(s):  
Martin Luther ◽  
Protestant Reformation ◽  
Roman Emperor ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Personal Connections ◽  
Key Events

The burnings of the Reformed Augustinian friars Hendrik Vos and Johann van den Esschen in Brussels on 1 July 1523 were the first executions of the Protestant Reformation. This chapter challenges the notion that they were peripheral to the key events of the early Reformation. Personal connections and frequent interactions existed between the Reformed Augustinians in the Low Countries (=Lower Germany) and those in Wittenberg, where Martin Luther was a member; the individuals responsible for the executions were intimates of the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V, and Popes Leo X and Adrian VI. An awareness of these connections raises questions about the importance of this event in the early Reformation and about how that movement functioned in its earliest stages.

Artists and War Art

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret George ◽  
Victoria Young
Keyword(s):  
20Th Century ◽  
Late 19Th Century ◽  
Artistic Style ◽  
Art Of War ◽  
News Reports ◽  
Artistic Production ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Entire World ◽  
Visual Record ◽  
War Art

A war artist is one who captures the subject of war in some type of artistic form. Since the beginning of time, artists have recorded scenes of war as a visual record of a culture’s existence and tribulations. Images of battles, ship portraits, leaders, and soldiers made up the bulk of war images until the late 19th century. The creators of the majority of these works are unknown, but when the entire world first went to war in 1914, nations hired official war artists to depict the action, including warplanes, tanks, and other newly developed technologies, among other aspects, as subject matter. These artists were mostly men, who were on the front lines sketching, painting, and photographing the action, collecting the visuals of war that they might then collate into an official work for a nation. As the 20th century progressed into our current era, images became immediately accessible on television and film, in news reports, and in live streams, as reporters embedded themselves with soldiers. Official war artists still exist in several nations, as do official collections of artwork created by them. We also have vibrant unofficial images of war produced by soldiers and prisoners for their own purposes, or by people protesting war itself. In compiling this bibliography, we sought to convey the breadth of war art mainly in 2-D media in chronology, type, artistic style, and maker, including voices of artists whenever possible. We also considered how artists from differing sides in battle impact each other’s artistic production. Being an artist who depicts war is a challenge. How do you convey honor and brutality, tradition and modernity, glory and defeat? How do you watch devastation around you and provide witness as you record the intensity and sadness of death? Combat artists of a particular country create art that reveals their experience of war. Is it personal? Or should it only be a documentary? The complexities found in creating the art of war are many, yet without these works there are centuries of battle we would not understand from social, political, or technological viewpoints.

VIII. Ordnance and the King's Fortifications in 1547–48: Society of Antiquaries MS. 129, Folios 250–374r

Archaeologia ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 107 ◽  
pp. 165-213 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Kenyon
Keyword(s):  
Henry Viii ◽  
Large Section ◽  
Tower Of London ◽  
Charles V ◽  
Francis I

The value of MS. 129 in the library of the Society of Antiquaries of London, bought by the Society in 17902 has already been brought to the attention of scholars and students by H. A. Dillon, who published in an earlier volume of Archaeologia the inventories of the ordnance, arms and armour at the Tower of London, Westminster and Greenwich (Dillon, 1888). The manuscript is an inventory of the effects of Henry VIII compiled in the reign of his successor, Edward VI. A large section (ff. 250–374r) is concerned with details of the ordnance and other munitions in castles and towns, and the artillery fortifications built by Henry VIII in response to the threat of an invasion by Emperor Charles V and Francis I of France in 1538–39. The English possessions in France are also included. It was originally planned to omit the inventory of the Tower of London from this article, but for the sake of completeness and as there are a few errors in Dillon's transcription it seemed fit to include it.

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