The Spanish and French
The solemn intentions declared at the Peace of Lody
only lasted a short time. Scarcely ten years later the Sforzas took over Genoa
(1464), which had become a pale reflection of the once glorious republic and the
energetic rule of Simone Boccanegra (1339-63, with a gap between 1344 and 1356)
and now gravitated towards French influence. Plots and disagreements underlined
some of the best-established signorie, such as the Sforza and Medici, fostered
by papal interests that in this period were characterized by the most blatant
nepotism.
Also in the Kingdom of Naples
there occurred conspiracies among the barons, indicating a lack of capacity on
the part of various Italian States, despite their now solid economic
foundations, to provide a stable political and administrative structure.
However, there were already worrying signs of a financial crisis in the
bankruptcy of prestigious banking families, like the Bardi and Peruzzi, who were
ruined by the insolvency of the sovereigns and princes to whom they had made
loans. The whole system being threatened by seigneurial particularism.
Consequently, the great European powers of the period (France, Spain and the
German Empire) did not find it difficult to expand in Italy, often using
dynastic claims as justification.
Charles VIII of France descended into Italy to claim the throne of Naples
(1494-95); his successor Louis XII was a pretender to the Duchy of Milan
(1499); there was yet another Franco-Spanish contest over the division of the
Kingdom of Naples,
secretly agreed at Grenada (1500); cession of the Ticino to the Swiss
Confederation (1503); and, finally, there was the French reconquest of Milan
(1515) by the Valois Francis I and his subsequent agreement with the Spanish
ruler Charles V, at the Peace of Noyon 1516, whereby Italy was to be
divided into two spheres of influence, French in the north and Spanish in the
south and the islands.
But the conflict between the king of France and Charles V, who had meanwhile
also become emperor of Germany, was to last for some thirty years, until the
death of Francis I in 1547. During this period Rome was sacked by the Lansquenet
(1527) and Florence,
after a brief republican period (1527-30), once more accepted the Medici
dynasty. While in order to counteract the Protestant Reformation led by Martin
Luther (1517), vainly excommunicated in 1521, Pope Paul III was forced to summon
the Council of Trent
(1544-63) in order to organize the Catholic response.
With the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis 1559, between Henry II of France and Philip
II of Spain, the predominance of Spain over Italy was confirmed. This was
directly represented by the three kingdoms of Naples,
Sicily
and Sardinia
(1503-1734) governed by a viceroy, by the Stato dei Presidi in Tuscany
(1559-1714) and by the Duchy of Milan
(1535-1714). The independence of the other States was only an appearance. The
Duchy of Savoy, for example, was returned to Emanuele Filiberto, previously
commander of the Spanish army against the French at St. Quentin (1557), but he
had to accept the presence of Spanish and French garrisons. Only the Papal
States and the Republic of Venice
maintained full independence.
The consequences of this new alignment, also on the cultural and economic level,
were not slow to manifest themselves. Though the culture of the Italian Renaissance
was to continue for some considerable time to influence the rest of Europe,
nevertheless Italy gradually became marginal to the cultural, scientific and
political movements of modern Europe. The latter benefitted particularly, at
least in the Germanic countries, from an increased freedom of thought consequent
to the Protestant Reformation. States such as Portugal, Spain, England, the Low
Countries and France, with the advent of voyages of exploration and above all
the discovery of the Americas, saw a notable expansion in their economic
influence. While the Mediterranean, and with it Italy, was slowly but surely cut
out of the great international commercial trade routes. For the Italian economy
this situation signalled the beginning of an inwardlooking phase; however, it
did produce the advantage of greater interest in the utilization of its land,
with a consequent development in agriculture and an increase in rural
population. There were exceptions though such as Genoa,
which achieved a financial position of European importance, and Leghorn,
which became an active centre for English trade in the Mediterranean.
The French attempts to gain domination of Italy, so
tenaciously pursued by the unfortunate Francis I, were limited at the Peace of
Cateau-Cambrésis (1559) to only the Marquisate of Saluzzo and the traditional
influence on the Duchy of Savoy and the Republic of Genoa.
Besides, new dynasties were establishing themselves in the peninsula, like the
Farnese at Parma
and Piacenza
and the Gonzagas at Mantua
and in Monferrato. However, it is also true that when it was necessary internal
differences could be set aside in the common defence of European civilization:
as with the historic defeat of the Turks in the waters of Lepanto (1571) by the
Holy League, a coalition which included all the Italian States and Spain in
defence of the threat to Christianity.
The whole of the 17C saw little change in Italy's political and territorial
alignment: the Papal States once more acquired Ferrara
(1598) and Urbino
(1631); Saluzzo passed to Savoy (1601); and the Grey Leagues in the Grisons kept
the Valtellina (obtained in 1512) despite the bitter Catholic rebellion in 1620
against the local Protestants. Nevertheless, there were episodes such as the
brief civil war in the Duchy of Savoy (1637-42), provoked by a question of
inheritance, and the popular revolts in Naples
(Masaniello) and Palermo
(1647-49).
The opening of the 18C was marked by important differences among the European
powers, which increasingly involved, through rapidly changing alliances, the
Italian States. The War of the Spanish Succession (1701-14) was concluded by the
treaties of Utrecht (1713) and Rastatt (1714), resulting in Italian territorial
changes: the kingdoms of Naples
and Sardinia
were given to Austria, together with the duchies of Mantua
and Milan
and the Stato dei Presidi, while Sicily
went to Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy along with the title of king. A couple of
years after, in 1718, Sicily
was exchanged for Sardinia,
thus creating the new title of the state of Savoy.
The other two wars of succession fought in this period, the Polish (1733) and
Austrian (1740), also had new political and territorial consequences for Italy.
In 1734 Naples
and Sicily
were conquered by the Bourbon Charles III, who became king of Spain in 1759, and
made some useful political reforms.
In Florence,
the Medici were replaced by Francis of Lorraine in 1737, husband of the empress
Maria Teresa. At the same time the Savoys' Kingdom of Sardinia
followed a policy of expansion, Milan
being occupied by Carlo Emanuele III for a brief period (1733-38). The Bourbon
dynasty in its turn obtained Parma,
Piacenza
and Guastalla (1748), while Genoa
was forced to cede Corsica, which was constantly in revolt, to France in 1768. A
certain stability finally seemed to follow the agreement of Aranjuez (1745) by
which France, Spain and Naples
guaranteed Italian territorial alignments. This was completed with the later
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), ending the Austrian War of Succession, by
which the House of Savoy obtained Vigevano and the Pavese Oltrepò.