Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading - George Park Fisher

EFFECT OF ABSOLUTE MONARCHY.—The establishment of absolute monarchy in Western Europe placed the resources of the nations at the service of their respective kings. The desire of national aggrandizement led to great European wars, which took the place of the feudal conflicts of a former day. These wars began with the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII., king of France.

MOTIVES OF THE INVASION.—To this unwise enterprise Charles VIII. was impelled by a romantic dream of conquest, which was not to be limited to the Italian peninsula. He intended to attack the Turks afterward, and to establish once more, under his protection, a Latin kingdom at Jerusalem. His counselors could not dissuade him from the hazardous undertaking. In order to set his hands free, he made treaties that were disadvantageous to France with Henry VII., Maximilian, and Ferdinand the Catholic. He was invited to cross the Alps by Ludovico il Moro (p. 374), by the Neapolitan barons, by all the enemies of Pope Alexander VI. The special ground of the invasion was the claim of the French king, through the house of Anjou, to the throne of Naples. In 1494 Charles crossed the Alps with a large army, and, with the support of Ludovico, advanced from Milan, through Florence and Rome to Naples. When he was crowned he wore the imperial insignia as if pretending to the Empire of the East also. The rapid progress of the French power alarmed the Pope and the other princes, including Ludovico himself, who was afraid that the king might cast a covetous eye on his own principality. A formidable league was formed against Charles, including, besides the Italian princes, Ferdinand, Maximilian, and Henry VII. of England. It was the first European combination against France. Charles left eleven thousand men under Gilbert de Montpensier, at Naples; and after being exposed to much peril, although he won a victory at Fornovo (1495), he made his way back to France. Ferdinand II., aided by Spanish troops, expelled the French from Naples; and the remnant of their garrisons, after the death of Montpensier, was led back to France. The conquests of Charles were lost as speedily as they were gained. His great expedition proved a failure.

DEATH OF SAVONAROLA.—Civil strife continued in the Italian states. Savonarola had been excommunicated by Alexander VI. The combination of parties against him was too strong to be overcome by his supporters, and he was put to death in 1498.

LOUIS XII. (1498-1515): HIS FIRST ITALIAN WAR.—On the death of Charles VIII., who left no male children, the crown reverted to his nearest relative, Louis of Orleans. He entered once more on the aggressive enterprise begun by his predecessor. He laid claim not only to the rights of Charles VIII. at Naples, but also claimed Milan through his grandmother Valentine Visconti. In alliance with Venice, and with Florence to which he promised Pisa, then in revolt against the detested Florentine supremacy, and with the support of Cæsar Borgia, he entered Italy, and defeated Ludovico il Moro at Novara (1500). Ludovico had before been driven out of Milan by the French, but had regained the city. He was imprisoned in France; and on his release twelve years afterward, he died from joy. Louis bargained with Ferdinand the Catholic to divide with him the Neapolitan kingdom. Ferdinand, the king of Naples, was thus dethroned. But Ferdinand of Spain was as treacherous in his dealing with Louis as he had been in relation to his Neapolitan namesake; and the kingdom fell into the hands of Gonsalvo de Cordova, the Spanish general.

THE SECOND ITALIAN WAR OF LOUIS.—Anxious for revenge, Louis sent two armies over the Pyrenees, which failed of success, and a third army into Italy under La Trémoille, which was defeated by Gonsalvo, notwithstanding the gallantry of Bayard, the pattern of chivalry, the French knight "without fear and without reproach."

THE THIRD ITALIAN WAR OF LOUIS.—The third Italian war of Louis began in 1507, and lasted eight years. It includes the history of the League of Cambray, and also of the anti-French League subsequently formed. France was barely saved from great calamities in consequence of foolish treaties, three in number, made at Blois in 1504. The party of the queen, Anne of Brittany, secured the betrothal of Claude, the child of Louis XII., to Charles of Austria, afterwards Charles V., the son of Philip, with the promise of Burgundy and Brittany as her dowry. The arrangement was repudiated by the estates of France (1506). Claude was betrothed to Francis of Angoulême, the king's nearest male relative, and the heir of the French crown. On the marriage of Ferdinand to Germaine of Foix, Louis agreed to give up his claims on Naples. The sufferings of Italy had redounded to the advantage of Venice. Among her other gains, she had annexed certain towns in the Romagna which fell into anarchy at the expulsion of Cæsar Borgia. The energetic Pope, Julius II., organized a combination, the celebrated League of Cambray (1508), between himself, the Emperor Maximilian, the kings of France and of Aragon: its object was the humbling of Venice, and the division of her mainland possessions among the partners in the League.

ENGLAND.—THE TUDORS AND STUARTS.

A fine army of Louis, composed of French, Lombards, and Swiss, crossed the Adda, and routed the Venetians, who abandoned all their towns outside of Venice. Each of the other confederate powers now seized the places which it desired. France, mistress of Milan, was at the height of her power. The Venetians, however, retook Padua from the emperor. The Pope made peace with them, and, fired with the spirit of Italian patriotism, organized a new league for the expulsion of the French—"the barbarians," as he called them—from the country. Old man as he was, he took the field himself in the dead of winter. He was defeated, and went to Rome. Louis convoked a council at Pisa, which was to depose Julius. A Holy League was formed between the Pope, Venice, Ferdinand of Aragon, and Henry VIII. of England. The arms of the French under Gaston of Foix, the young duke of Nemours, were for a while successful. Ravenna was in their hands. But Gaston fell at the moment of victory. The Swiss came down, and established Maximilian Sforza at Milan. Leo X., of the house of Medici, and hostile to France, was chosen Pope (1513). The French troops were defeated by the Swiss near Novara, and driven beyond the Alps. France was attacked on the north by the English, with Maximilian, who had joined the League in 1513: and Bayard was taken captive. James IV. of Scotland, who had made a diversion in favor of France, was beaten and slain at Flodden Field (1513). The eastern borders of France were attacked by the Swiss Leagues, who, aided by Austrians, penetrated as far as Dijon. They were bought off by La Trémoille the French commander, by a large payment of money, and by still more lavish promises. France concluded peace with the Pope, the emperor, and the king of Aragon (1514), and in the next year with Henry VIII., whose sister, Mary, Louis XII. married, a few months after the death of Anne of Brittany. He abandoned his pretensions to the Milanese, in favor of his younger daughter Renée, the wife of Hercules II., the duke of Ferrara. Louis died (1515), shortly after his marriage. The policy of the belligerent pontiff, Julius II., had triumphed. The French were expelled from Italy, but the Spaniards were left all the stronger.

The events just narrated bring us into the midst of the struggles and ambitions of ruling houses, diplomatic intercourse among states, and international wars. These are distinguishing features of modern times.