1500 The Milanese tire of the oppressive French. Lodovico returns with an army. Como, Milan, Parma, and Pavia open their gates. Novara taken after a siege. Lodovico is betrayed at Novara into the hands of Louis de la Trémouille, the French general, and sent to France in captivity. Milan again subject to the French. The French army marches to Naples.
THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY
1501 Cesare Borgia begins his conquest of the petty states of Romagna. He takes Pesaro, Rimini, Forlì, and Faenza.
1502 Cesare seizes the duchy of Urbino with the aid of Louis. He wars with the Orsini and plans to capture Pisa, and marries his sister Lucrezia to the son of the duke of Ferrara. The Florentines create the office of gonfalonier for life.
1503 At death of Pope Alexander VI the dominions of Cesare are taken from him by Julius II. Venice seizes Faenza and Rimini, which enrages the pope. The Venetians make peace with the Turks, renouncing their possessions in the Peloponnesus. Death of Piero de’ Medici with the French army in Naples. Pietro Soderini chosen gonfalonier of Florence.
1504 Louis signs treaty of Blois with Maximilian, in which they propose to divide the republic of Venice between them. Florence makes another attempt to take Pisa.
1506 Julius II attacks Perugia and Bologna.
1507 Unable to endure the yoke of the French and their own nobles, the Genoese drive out the French and restore the republic. Louis at once captures Genoa and puts the doge and other prominent citizens to death.
1508 Unsuccessful invasion of Italy by Maximilian. The Venetians defeat him and he is compelled to make truce, yielding them Trieste. The infamous League of Cambray formed by the pope, the emperor, Spain, and France against Venice. Savoy, Mantua, and Ferrara also join.