Chapter XXXVII: Part 37

The Venetians, taking advantage of the calamity of their ally,
the pope, seized Ravenna, and other places belonging to the
church, under pretext of keeping them in deposite." On the
other hand, Lannoy, Charles' viceroy at Naples, "marched to
Rome, together with Moncada and the Marquis del Guasto, at the
head of all the troops which they could assemble in the
kingdom of Naples. The arrival of this reinforcement brought
new calamities on the unhappy citizens of Rome; for the
soldiers, envying the wealth of their companions, imitated
their license, and with the utmost rapacity gathered the
gleanings which had escaped the avarice of the Spaniards and
Germans. There was not now any army in Italy capable of making
head against the imperialists." But the troops who had enjoyed
months of license and riotous pillage in Rome could not be
brought back to discipline, and refused to quit the perishing
city. They had chosen for their general the Prince of Orange,
who "was obliged to pay more attention to their humours than
they did to his commands. … This gave the king of France and
the Venetians leisure to form new schemes, and to enter into
new arrangements for delivering the pope, and preserving the
liberties of Italy. The newly-restored republic of Florence
very imprudently joined with them, and Lautrec … was …
appointed generalissimo of the league. … The best troops in
France marched under his command; and the king of England,
though he had not yet declared war against the emperor,
advanced a considerable sum towards carrying on the
expedition. Lautrec's first operations [1527] were prudent,
vigorous and successful. By the assistance of Andrew Doria,
the ablest sea-officer of that age, he rendered himself master
of Genoa, and reëstablished in that republic the faction of
the Fregosi, together with the dominion of France. He obliged
Alexandria to surrender after a short siege, and reduced all
the country on that side of the Tessino. He took Pavia, which
had so long resisted the arms of his sovereign, by assault,
and plundered it with … cruelty. … But Lautrec durst not
complete a conquest which would have been so honourable to
himself and of such advantage to the league. Francis … was
afraid that, if Sforza were once reëstablished in Milan, they
[his confederates] would second but coldly the attack which he
intended to make on the kingdom of Naples. … Happily the
importunities of the pope and the solicitations of the
Florentines, the one for relief, and the other for protection,
were so urgent as to furnish him with a decent pretext for
marching forward. … While Lautrec advanced slowly towards
Rome, the emperor" came to terms with the pope, and Clement
obtained his liberty at the cost of 350,000 crowns, a tenth of
the ecclesiastical revenues of Spain, and an agreement to take
no part in the war against Charles. The latter next made
overtures to the French king, offering some relaxation of the
treaty of Madrid; but they were received in a manner that
irritated even his cold temper. He, in turn, provoked his
antagonist, until a ridiculous exchange of defiances to
personal combat passed between them. Meantime "Lautrec
continued his operations, which promised to be more decisive.
His army, which was now increased to 35,000 men, advanced by
great marches towards Naples." The remains of the imperial
army retreated, as he advanced, from Rome, where it had held
riot for ten months, and took shelter behind the
fortifications of the Neapolitan capital. Lautrec undertook
(April, 1528) the siege of Naples, with the co-operation of
the Genoese admiral, Doria, who blockaded its port. But he was
neglected by his own frivolous king, and received little aid
from the Pope, the king of England, or other confederates of
the league. Moreover, Doria and the Genoese suffered treatment
so insolent, oppressive and threatening, from the French court
that the former opened negotiations with the emperor for a
transfer of his services. "Charles, fully sensible of the
importance of such an acquisition, granted him whatever terms
he required.
{1842}
Doria sent back his commission, together with the collar of
St. Michael, to Francis, and, hoisting the imperial colours,
sailed with all his galleys towards Naples, not to block up
the harbour of that unhappy city, as he had formerly engaged,
but to bring them protection and deliverance. His arrival
opened the communication with the sea, and restored plenty in
Naples, which was now reduced to the last extremity; and the
French … were soon reduced to great straits for want of
provisions." With the heat of summer came pestilence; Lautrec
died, and the wasted French army, attempting to retreat, was
forced to lay down its arms and march under guard to the
frontiers of France. "The loss of Genoa followed immediately
upon the ruin of the army in Naples." Doria took possession of
the town; the French garrison in the citadel capitulated
(September 12, 1528), and the citadel was destroyed. "It was
now in Doria's power to have rendered himself the sovereign of
his country, which he had so happily delivered from
oppression." But he magnanimously refused any preeminence
among his fellow citizens. "Twelve persons were elected to
new-model the constitution of the republic. The influence of
Doria's virtue and example communicated itself to his
countrymen; the factions which had long torn and ruined the
state seemed to be forgotten; prudent precautions were taken
to prevent their reviving; and the same form of government
which hath subsisted with little variation since that time in
Genoa, was established with universal applause." In Lombardy,
the French army, under St. Pol, was surprised, defeated and
ruined at Landriano (June, 1529), as completely as the army in
Naples had been a few months before. All parties were now
desirous of peace, but feared to seem too eager in making
overtures. Two women took the negotiations in hand and carried
them to a conclusion. "These were Margaret of Austria,
dutchess dowager of Savoy, the emperor's aunt, and Louise,
Francis's mother. They agreed on an interview at Cambray, and,
being lodged in two adjoining houses, between which a
communication was opened, met together without ceremony or
observation, and held daily conferences, to which no person
whatever was admitted." The result was a treaty signed August
5, 1529, known as the Peace of Cambray, or "the Ladies'
Peace," or "Peace of the Dames." By its terms, Francis was to
pay 2,000,000 crowns for the ransom of his sons; restore such
towns as he still held in the Milanese; resign and renounce
his pretensions to Naples, Milan, Genoa, and every other place
beyond the Alps, as well as to Flanders and Artois; and
consummate his marriage with the emperor's sister, Eleanora.
On the other hand, the emperor only agreed not to press his
claims on Burgundy, for the present, but reserved them, in
full force. Another treaty, that of Barcelona, had already, in
1529, been concluded between the emperor and the pope. The
former gave up the papal states which he occupied, and agreed
to reëstablish the dominion of the Medici in Florence; besides
giving his natural daughter in marriage to Alexander, the head
of that family. In return he received the investiture of
Naples, absolution for all concerned in the plundering of
Rome, and the grant to himself and his brother of a fourth of
the ecclesiastical revenues throughout their dominions.

_W. Robertson,
History of the Reign of Charles V.,
books 4-5._

ALSO IN:
_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 28._

_C. Coignat,
Francis I. and his Times,
chapter 9._

_G. B. Malleson,
Studies from Genoese History,
chapter 1._

ITALY: (Southern): A. D. 1528-1570.
Naples under the Spanish Viceroys.
Ravages of the Turks along the coast.
Successful revolt against the Inquisition.
Unsuccessful French invasion under Guise.

"After the memorable and unfortunate expedition of Lautrec, in
1528, Philibert of Chalons, Prince of Orange, who commanded
the Imperial army, exercised the severest vengeance [in
Naples] on the persons and estates of all those nobles who had
joined the French, or who appeared to demonstrate any
attachment towards that nation. … These multiplied … acts
of oppression received no effectual redress during the short
administration [1529-1532] of Cardinal Colonna, who succeeded
to the Prince of Orange. … In the place of Cardinal Colonna
was substituted Don Pedro de Toledo, who governed Naples with
almost unlimited powers, during the space of near 21 years.
His viceroyalty, which forms a memorable Epocha in the annals
of the country, demands and fixes attention. We are impressed
with horror at finding, by his own confession, … that during
the progress of his administration, he put to death near
18,000 persons, by the hand of the executioner. Yet a fact
still more extraordinary is that Giannoné, himself a
Neapolitan, and one of the ablest as well as most impartial
historians whom the 18th century has produced, not only
acquits, but even commends Toledo's severity, as equally
wholesome and necessary," on account of the terrible
lawlessness and disorder which he found in the country. "The
inflexible and stern character of the viceroy speedily
redressed these grievances, and finally restored order in the
capital. … All the provinces experienced equal attention,
and became the objects of his personal inspection. The
unprotected coasts of Calabria and of Apulia, subject to the
continual devastation of the Turks, who landed from their
gallies, were fortified with towers and beacons to announce
the enemy's approach. … Repeated attempts were made by
Solyman II., Emperor of the Turks, either alone or in
conjunction with the fleets of France, to effect the conquest
of Naples, during this period: but the exertions of Toledo
were happily attended with success in repulsing the Turkish
invaders. … In no part of the middle ages … were the
coasts of Naples and Sicily so frequently plundered, ravaged,
and desolated, as at this period. Thousands of persons of both
sexes, and of all conditions, were carried off by Barbarossa,
Dragut, Sinan, and the other Bashaws, or admirals of the
Porte. Not content with landing on the shores and ravaging the
provinces, their squadrons perpetually appeared in sight of
Naples; laid waste the islands of Ischia and Procida, situate
in its immediate vicinity; attacked the towns of Pouzzoli and
Baiæ; and committed every outrage of wanton barbarity. … The
invasion of 1552, when Dragut blocked up the harbour of
Naples, with 150 large gallies, during near four weeks, spread
still greater consternation; and if the fleet of France had
arrived, as had been concerted, it is more than probable that
the city must have fallen into their hands. But the delays of
Henry II., Solyman's ally, proved its preservation. The
Turkish admiral, corrupted by a present of 200,000 ducats,
which the Viceroy found means of conveying to him, retired and
made sail for Constantinople. …
{1843}
The administration of Toledo … was … completely subverted
from the moment that he attempted [1546] to introduce the
Inquisition. … The Neapolitans, patient under every other
species of oppression, instantly revolted. … They even
forgot, in the general terror, the distinction of ranks; and
the Barons united with their fellow-citizens to oppose that
formidable tribunal. The Viceroy, returning to the capital,
reinforced by 3,000 veteran Spaniards, determined
nevertheless, to support the measure. Hostilities took place,
and the city, during near three months, was abandoned to
anarchy, while the inhabitants, having invested the castle,
besieged their governor. … The Emperor, convinced by
experience of the impracticability of success in his attempt,
at length desisted." Toledo died in 1553, and "was succeeded
by the Cardinal Pacheco, as Viceroy; and the abdication of
Charles V., in the following year, devolved on his son Philip
II. the sovereignty of Naples. Alarmed at the preparations
made by Henry II., King of France, in conjunction with Paul
IV., who had newly ascended the papal throne, Philip
dispatched Ferdinand, Duke of Alva, to the aid of his
Neapolitan subjects; and to the vigorous measures embraced by
him on his arrival was due the safety of the kingdom.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

… The administration of the Duke of Alcala, to whom Philip
delegated the supreme power soon after the recall of Alva
[1558], lasted near 12 years, and was marked by almost every
species of calamity."

_Sir N. W. Wraxall,
History of France, 1574-1610,
chapter 9 (volume 2)._

"The march of the Mareschal of Lautrec was the last important
attempt of the French to reconquer Naples. … Spain remained
in possession of this beautiful country for two centuries. …
Their [the Spaniards'] ascendancy was owing as well to an iron
discipline as to that inveterate character of their race, the
firmness of purpose which had gradually developed itself in
the long struggle for the country which they wrenched inch by
inch from their tenacious enemies. The Neapolitans found that
they had in the Spaniards different rulers from the French."

_A. de Reumont,
The Carafas of Maddaloni:
Naples under Spanish Dominion,
book 1._

ITALY: A. D. 1529.
Siege of Florence by the Imperial forces.
Reinstatement of the Medici.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1502-1569.

ITALY: A. D. 1530-1600.
Under the Spanish domination, and the Papacy of the
Counter-Reformation.
The Inquisition.
The Jesuits.
The Vice-regal rule.
Deplorable state of the country.

"It will be useful, at this point, to recapitulate the net
results of Charles's administration of Italian affairs in
1530. The kingdom of the Two Sicilies, with the island of
Sardinia and the Duchy of Milan, became Spanish provinces, and
were ruled henceforth by viceroys. The House of Este was
confirmed in the Duchy of Ferrara, including Modena and
Reggio. The Duchies of Savoy and Mantua and the Marquisate of
Montferrat, which had espoused the Spanish cause, were
undisturbed. Genoa and Siena, both of them avowed allies of
Spain, the former under Spanish protection, the latter subject
to Spanish coercion, remained with the name and empty
privileges of republics. Venice had made her peace with Spain,
and though she was still strong enough to pursue an
independent policy, she showed as yet no inclination, and had,
indeed, no power, to stir up enemies against the Spanish
autocrat. The Duchy of Urbino, recognised by Rome and
subservient to Spanish influence, was permitted to exist. The
Papacy once more assumed a haughty tone, relying on the firm
alliance struck with Spain. This league, as years went by, was
destined to grow still closer, still more fruitful of results.
Florence alone had been excepted from the articles of peace.
It was still enduring the horrors of the memorable siege when
Clement left Bologna at the end of May. … Finally, on August
12, the town capitulated. Alessandro de' Medici, who had
received the title of Duke of Florence from Charles at
Bologna, took up his residence there in July 1531, and held
the State by help of Spanish mercenaries under the command of
Alessandro Vitelli. … Though the people endured far less
misery from foreign armies in the period between 1530 and 1600
than they had done in the period from 1494 to 1527, yet the
state of the country grew ever more and more deplorable. This
was due in the first instance to the insane methods of
taxation adopted by the Spanish viceroys, who held monopolies
of corn and other necessary commodities in their hands, and
who invented imposts for the meanest articles of consumption.
Their example was followed by the Pope and petty princes. …
The settlement made by Charles V. in 1530, and the various
changes which took place in the duchies between that date and
the end of the century, had then the effect of rendering the
Papacy and Spain omnipotent in Italy. … What they only
partially effected in Europe at large, by means of S.
Bartholomew massacres, exterminations of Jews in Toledo and of
Mussulmans in Granada, holocausts of victims in the Low
Countries, wars against French Huguenots and German Lutherans,
naval expeditions and plots against the state of England,
assassinations of heretic princes, and occasional burning of
free thinkers, they achieved with plenary success in Italy.
… It is the tragic history of the eldest and most beautiful,
the noblest and most venerable, the freest and most gifted of
Europe's daughters, delivered over to the devilry that issued
from the most incompetent and arrogantly stupid of the
European sisterhood, and to the cruelty, inspired by panic, of
an impious theocracy. When we use these terms to designate the
Papacy of the Counter-Reformation, it is not that we forget
how many of those Popes were men of blameless private life and
serious views for Catholic Christendom. When we use these
terms to designate the Spanish race in the sixteenth century,
it is not that we are ignorant of Spanish chivalry and
colonising enterprise, of Spanish romance, or of the fact that
Spain produced great painters, great dramatists, and one great
novelist in the brief period of her glory. We use them
deliberately, however, in both cases; because the Papacy at
this period committed itself to a policy of immoral,
retrograde, and cowardly repression of the most generous of
human impulses under the pressure of selfish terror; because
the Spaniards abandoned themselves to a dark fiend of
religious fanaticism; because they were merciless in their
conquests and unintelligent in their administration of
subjugated provinces; because they glutted their lusts of
avarice and hatred on industrious folk of other creeds within
their borders; because they cultivated barren pride and
self-conceit in social life; because at the great epoch of
Europe's reawakening they chose the wrong side and adhered to
it with fatal obstinacy. …
{1844}
After the year 1530 seven Spanish devils entered Italy. These
were the devil of the Inquisition, with stake and
torture-room, and war declared against the will and soul and
heart and intellect of man; the devil of Jesuitry, with its
sham learning, shameless lying, and casuistical economy of
sins; the devil of vice-royal rule, with its life-draining
monopolies and gross incapacity for government; the devil of
an insolent soldiery, quartered on the people, clamorous for
pay, outrageous in their lusts and violences; the devil of
fantastical taxation, levying tolls upon the bare necessities
of life, and drying up the founts of national well-being at
their sources; the devil of petty-princedom, wallowing in
sloth and cruelty upon a pinchbeck throne; the devil of
effeminate hidalgoism, ruinous in expenditure, mean and
grasping, corrupt in private life, in public ostentatious,
vain of titles, cringing to its masters, arrogant to its
inferiors. In their train these brought with them seven other
devils, their pernicious offspring: idleness, disease,
brigandage, destitution, ignorance, superstition,
hypocritically sanctioned vice. These fourteen devils were
welcomed, entertained, and voluptuously lodged in all the
fairest provinces of Italy. The Popes opened wide for them the
gates of outraged and depopulated Rome. … After a tranquil
sojourn of some years in Italy, these devils had every where
spread desolation and corruption. Broad regions, like the
Patrimony of S. Peter and Calabria, were given over to
marauding bandits; wide tracts of fertile country, like the
Sienese Maremma, were abandoned to malaria; wolves prowled
through empty villages round Milan; in every city the
pestilence swept off its hundreds daily; manufactures,
commerce, agriculture, the industries of town and rural
district, ceased; the Courts swarmed with petty nobles, who
vaunted paltry titles, and resigned their wives to cicisbei
and their sons to sloth; art and learning languished; there
was not a man who ventured to speak out his thought or write
the truth; and over the Dead Sea of social putrefaction
floated the sickening oil of Jesuitical hypocrisy."

_J. A. Symonds,
Renaissance in Italy: The Catholic Reaction,
part 1, chapter 1._

ITALY: A. D. 1536-1544.
French invasion of Piedmont.
French and Turkish siege of Nice.
Turkish ravages on the coast.
The Treaty of Crespy.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1532-1547.

ITALY: A. D. 1545-1556.
Creation of the duchy of Parma and Placentia,
under the rule of the House of Farnese.

See PARMA: A. D. 1545-1592.

ITALY: A. D. 1559-1580.
End of the French occupation of Savoy and Piedmont.
The notable reign of Emanuel Philibert.

See SAVOY AND PIEDMONT: A. D. 1559-1580;
and FRANCE: A. D. 1547-1559.

ITALY: A. D. 1559-1600.
Peace without Prosperity.
Foreign and domestic Despotism.
Exhaustion and helplessness of the country.

"From the epoch of the treaty of Château Cambresis [1559] to
the close of the 16th century, Italy remained, in one sense,
in profound and uninterrupted peace. During this long period
of 41 years, her provinces were neither troubled by a single
invasion of foreign armies, nor by any hostilities of
importance between her own feeble and nerveless powers. But
this half century presented, nevertheless, anything rather
than the aspect of public happiness and prosperity. Her
wretched people enjoyed none of the real blessings of peace.
Subject either to the oppressive yoke of their native despots,
or to the more general influence of the arch-tyrant of Spain,
they were abandoned to all the exactions of arbitrary
government, and compelled to lavish their blood in foreign
wars and in quarrels not their own. While France, torn by
religious and civil dissensions, sank for a time from her
political station among the powers of the continent, and was
no longer capable of affording protection or exciting
jealousy, Philip II. was left free to indulge in the peninsula
all the obdurate tyranny of his nature. … The popes were
interested in supporting his career of bigotry and religious
persecution; the other powers of Italy crouched before him in
abject submission. To feed the religious wars, in which he
embarked as a principal or an accessory, in the endeavour to
crush the protestant cause in France, in the Low Countries,
and in Germany, he drained Italy of her resources in money and
in men. … While the Italian soldiery fought with the courage
of freemen, they continued the slaves of a despot, and while
the Italian youth were consumed in transalpine warfare, their
suffering country groaned under an iron yoke, and was
abandoned a prey to the unresisted assaults of the infidels.
Her coasts, left without troops, or defences in fortifications
and shipping, were insulted and ravaged by the constant
descents of the corsairs of Turkey and Barbary. Her maritime
villages were burnt, her maritime population dragged off into
slavery; and her tyrants, while they denied the people the
power of defending themselves, were unable or careless also to
afford them protection and safety."

_G. Procter,
History of Italy,
chapter 9._

ITALY: A. D. 1569.
Creation of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.

See FLORENCE: A. D. 1502-1569.

ITALY: A. D. 1597.
Annexation of Ferrara to the States of the Church.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1597.

ITALY: A. D. 1605-1607.
Venice under the guidance of Fra Paolo Sarpi.
Successful contest of the Republic with the Papacy.

See VENICE: A. D. 1606-1607;
and PAPACY: A. D. 1605-1700.

ITALY: A. D. 1620-1626.
The Valtelline War.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1624-1626.

ITALY: A. D. 1627-1631.
Disputed succession to the Duchy of Mantua.
War of France with Spain, Savoy and the Emperor.

"About Christmas in the year 1627, Vincenzo II., Duke of
Mantua, of the house of Gonzaga, died without issue. His next
of kin, beyond all controversy, was Charles Gonzaga, Duke of
Nevers, whose family had settled in France some fifty years
before, and acquired by marriage the dukedoms of Nevers and
Rethel. Although there was a jealousy on the part both of
Austria and Spain that French influences should be introduced
into Upper Italy, there seems to have been no intention, in
the first instance, of depriving Charles of his Italian
inheritance. … But … when the old Duke Vincenzo's days
were evidently numbered, Charles's son, the young Duke of
Rethel, by collusion with the citizens, arrived at Mantua to
seize the throne which in a little while death would make
vacant."
{1845}
At the same time, he took from a convent in the city a young
girl who represented whatever claims might exist in the direct
native line, and married her, the pope granting a
dispensation. "Both the King of Spain and the Emperor … were
incensed by conduct which both must needs have regarded as
indicative of hostility, and the latter as an invasion of his
feudal rights. Spain flew to arms at once. The emperor
summoned the young duke before his tribunal, to answer the
charges of having seized the succession without his
investiture, and married his ward without his consent. …
Charles, supported by the promises of Richelieu, refused to
acknowledge the emperor's rights of superiority, or to submit
to his jurisdiction."

_B. Chapman,
History of Gustavus Adolphus,
chapter 8._

"The emperor … sequestered the disputed territory, and a
Spanish army invaded Montferrat [embraced in the dominions of
the Duke of Mantua] and besieged Casale, the capital. Such was
the paramount importance attached by Richelieu to his
principle of opposition to the house of Austria, that he
induced Louis to cross the Alps in person with 36,000 men, in
order to establish the Duke of Nevers in his new possessions.
The king and the cardinal forced the pass of Susa in March,
1629, in spite of the Duke of Savoy, who was another
competitor for Montferrat, and so decisive was the superiority
of the French arms that the duke immediately afterward signed
a treaty of peace and alliance with Louis, by which he
undertook to procure the abandonment of the siege of Casale
and the retreat of the Spaniards into their own territory.
This engagement was fulfilled, and the Duke of Nevers took
possession of his dominions without farther contest. But the
triumph was too rapid and easy to be durable."

_N. W. Jervis,
Students' History of France,
chapter 19._

"The Spaniards remained, however, in Milaness, ready to burst
again upon the Duke of Mantua. The king was in a hurry to
return to France, in order to finish the subjugation of the
Reformers in the south, commanded by the Duke of Rohan. The
cardinal placed little or no reliance upon the Duke of Savoy.
… A league … was formed between France, the republic of
Venice, the Duke of Mantua, and the Duke of Savoy, for the
defence of Italy in case of fresh aggression on the part of
the Spaniards; and the king, who had just concluded peace with
England, took the road back to France. Scarcely had the
cardinal joined him before Privas when an Imperialist army
advanced into the Grisons and, supported by the celebrated
Spanish general Spinola, laid siege to Mantua. Richelieu did
not hesitate: he entered Piedmont in the month of March, 1630,
to march before long on Pignerol, an important place
commanding the passage of the Alps; it, as well as the
citadel, was carried in a few days. … The Duke of Savoy was
furious, and had the soldiers who surrendered Pignerol cut in
pieces. The king [Louis XIII.] had put himself in motion to
join his army. … The inhabitants of Chambéry opened their
gates to him; Annecy and Montmélian succumbed after a few
days' siege; Maurienne in its entirety made its submission,
and the king fixed his quarters there, whilst the cardinal
pushed forward to Casale [the siege of which had been resumed
by Spinola] with the main body of the army. Rejoicings were
still going on for a success gained before Veillane over the
troops of the Duke of Savoy, when news arrived of the capture
of Mantua by the Imperialists. This was the finishing blow to
the ambitious and restless spirit of the Duke of Savoy. He saw
Mantua in the hands of the Spaniards, 'who never give back
aught of what falls into their power' … ; it was all hope
lost of an exchange which might have given him back Savoy; he
took to his bed and died on the 26th of July, 1630, telling
his son that peace must be made on any terms whatever." A
truce was arranged, followed by negotiations at Ratisbon, and
Casale was evacuated by both parties—the Spaniards having
had possession of the city, while the citadel was held by the
French. "It was only in the month of September, 1631, that the
states of Savoy and Mantua were finally evacuated by the
hostile troops. Pignerol had been given up to the new Duke of
Savoy, but a secret agreement had been entered into between
that prince and France: French soldiers remained concealed in
Pignerol; and they retook possession of the place in the name
of the king, who had purchased the town and its territory, to
secure himself a passage into Italy. … The affairs of the
emperor in Germany were in too bad a state for him to rekindle
war, and France kept Pignerol."

_F. P. Guizot,
Popular History of France,
chapter 41._

"The peace left all parties very nearly in the condition in
which they were when the war began; the chief loser was the
emperor, who was now compelled to acknowledge De Nevers as
Duke of Mantua and Montserrat; and the chief gainer was the
Duke of Savoy, whose territories were enlarged by the addition
of Alba, Trino, and some portions of the territory of
Montserrat which lay nearest to his Piedmontese dominions.
France; too, made some permanent acquisitions to compensate
her for the cost of the war. She eluded the stipulation which
bound her to evacuate Casal, and Victor Amedée subsequently
suffered her to retain both that fortress and Pignerol, such
permission, as was generally believed, … having furnished
the secret reason which influenced Richelieu to consent to the
duke's obtaining the portion of Montserrat already mentioned,
the cardinal thus making the Duke of Mantua furnish the
equivalent for the acquisitions made by Louis."

_C. D. Yonge,
History of France under the Bourbons,
chapter 7 (volume 1)._

ITALY: A. D. 1631.
Annexation of Urbino to the States of the Church.

See PAPACY: A. D. 1605-1700.

ITALY: A. D. 1635.
Italian alliances of Richelieu against the Spaniards in Milan.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1634-1639.

ITALY: A. D. 1635-1659.
Invasion of Milanese by French and Italian armies.
Civil war and foreign war in Savoy and Piedmont.
The extraordinary siege of Turin.
Treaty of the Pyrenees.
Restoration of territory to Savoy.

"Richelieu … having obtained the alliance of the Dukes of
Savoy, Parma, and Mantua, and having secured the neutrality of
the Republics of Venice and Genoa, now bent all his efforts to
expel the Spaniards from Milan, which was at that time but
weakly defended. … In 1635, a French army of 15,000 men was
accordingly assembled in Dauphiny, and placed under the
command of Mareschal Crequi. Having crossed the Alps, it
formed a junction with 8,000 troops under the Duke of Parma,
and 12,000 under the Duke of Savoy, to whom the supreme
command of this formidable army of 35,000 men was entrusted.
{1846}
Such a force, if properly employed, ought to have proved
sufficient to overwhelm the Dutchy of Milan, in its present
unprotected condition. … But the confederates were long
detained by idle disputes among themselves, their
licentiousness and love of plunder." When they did advance
into Milanese, their campaign was ineffective, and they
finally "separated with mutual disgust," but "kept the field,
ravaging the open and fertile plains of Milan. They likewise
took possession of several towns, particularly Bremi, on the
Po. … On hearing of the distress of Milan, the King of Spain
took immediate steps for the relief of that bulwark of his
Italian power. In 1636 he appointed to its government Diego
Guzman, Marques of Leganez, who was a near relative of
Olivarez. … He had not long entered on the government
intrusted to him when he succeeded in expelling the enemy from
every spot in Milan, with exception of Bremi, which they still
retained. Milan having been thus delivered, Leganez
transferred the theatre of war to the States of the Duke of
Parma, and completely desolated those fertile regions,"
compelling the Duke to renounce his French alliance (1637).
"The Duke of Savoy, Victor Amadeus, did not long survive these
events; and it was strongly suspected, both in Spain and
Italy, though probably on no just grounds, that he had been
poisoned. … The demise of the Duke of Mantua occurred nearly
about the same period; and on the decease of these two
princes, the Court of Spain used every exertion to detach
their successors from the French confederacy. Its efforts
succeeded, at least to a certain extent, with the
Dutchess-dowager of Mantua. … But the Dutchess of Savoy, …
being the sister of Louis XIII., could not easily be drawn off
from the French interests. Olivarez [the Spanish minister],
despairing to gain this princess, excited by his intrigues the
brothers of the late Duke [Cardinal Maurice and Prince Thomas]
to dispute with her the title to the regency." Leganez, now
(1638) laid siege to Bremi, and Marshal Crequi, in attempting
to relieve the place, was killed by a cannon shot. "By the
loss of Bremi, the French were deprived of the last receptacle
for their supplies or forces in the Dutchy of Milan; and in
consequence of the death of Crequi, they had now no longer any
chief of their own nation in Italy. The few French nobility
who were still in the army returned to their own country, and
the soldiery dispersed into Montferrat and Piedmont. Leganez,
availing himself of this favourable posture of affairs,
marched straightway into Piedmont, at the head of an army of
20,000 men. … He first laid siege to Vercelli, which, from
its vicinity to Milan, had always afforded easy access for the
invasion of that dutchy, by the French and Savoyards." A new
French army, of 13,000 men, under Cardinal La Valette, was
sent to the relief of the place, but did not save it from
surrender. "After the capture of Vercelli, the light troops of
Leganez ravaged the principality of Piedmont as far as the
gates of Turin."

_J. Dunlop,
Memoirs of Spain, from 1621 to 1700,
volume 1, chapter 4._

Fabert and Turenne were now sent from France to the assistance
of La Valette, "and soon changed the aspect of affairs.
Turenne aided powerfully in driving back Leganez and Prince
Thomas from Turin, in seizing Chivasso and in organizing a
decisive success." In November, 1639, the French, through want
of provisions, were forced to retreat to Carignano, repelling
an attack made upon them in the course of the retreat. The
command was now handed over to Turenne, "with instructions to
revictual the citadel of Turin, which was defended by French
troops against Prince Thomas, who had gained most of the town.
Turenne succeeded … in conveying food and munitions into the
citadel. In the following spring d'Harcourt [resuming command]
undertook to relieve Casale, which belonged to the Duke of
Mantua. … The place was besieged by Leganez." The attempt
succeeded, the besieging army was beaten, and the siege
raised. "After the relief of Casale d'Harcourt resolved, on
the advice of Turenne, to besiege Turin. The investment was
made on the 10th May, 1640. This siege offered a curious
spectacle; the citadel which the French held was besieged by
Prince Thomas, who held the town. He himself was besieged by
the French army, which in its turn was besieged in its lines
of circumvallation by the Spanish army of Leganez. The place
capitulated on the 17th September. … Prince Thomas
surrendered; Leganez recrossed the Po; Marie Christine [the
Dowager-Duchess] re-entered Turin; and d'Harcourt, being
recalled to France by the cardinal, left the command of the
army to Turenne."

_H. M. Hozier,
Turenne,
chapter 2._

"The fall of Turin did not put an end to the civil war, but
its main exploits were limited to the taking of Cuneo by
Harcourt (September 15th, 1641), … and of Revel, which was
reduced by the Piedmontese troops who fought on the French
side. … In the meantime the Regent, no less than her
opponents, began to grow weary of the burdensome protection of
their respective allies. … Under such circumstances, a
reconciliation between the hostile parties became practicable,
and was indeed effected on the 24th of July, 1642. The Princes
were admitted to a share of the Regent's power, and from that
time they joined the French standard, and took from the
Spaniards most of the places they had themselves placed in
their hands. … In the meanwhile the great agitator of
Europe, Richelieu, had died (1642), and had been followed by
the King, Louis XIII., five months later. … The struggle
between the two great rival powers, France and Spain, scarcely
interrupted by the celebrated peace of Westphalia, which put
an end to the Thirty Years' War in the North, in 1648,
continued throughout the greatest part of this period; but the
rapid decline of Spain, the factions of Alessio in Sicily and
of Massaniello in Naples, as much paralysed the efforts of the
Court of Madrid as the disorders of the Fronde weakened that
of Paris. The warlike operations in North Italy were languid
and dull. The taking of Valenza by the French (September 3rd,
1656) is the greatest event on record, and even that [was]
void of results. By the treaty of the Pyrenees (November 17th,
1059) Savoy was restored to her possessions, and Vercelli was
evacuated by the Spaniards. The citadel of Turin had been
given up by the French two years before, owing to the
influence of Mazarin, who married on that occasion his niece
Olimpia Mancini to Eugene Maurice, son of Thomas, Prince of
Carignano, and first cousin to Charles Emanuel II. From that
union, it is well known, was born in Paris, in 1663, Prince
Eugene of Savoy.
{1847}
The French nation were highly displeased at the loss of the
Turin citadel, and never forgave the Cardinal this mere act of
just and tardy restitution. Pinerola and Perosa, however,
still remained in their hands, and placed the Court of Turin
entirely at their discretion. During all this lapse of years,
and until the latter end of the century, the history of
Piedmont presents but a melancholy blank."

_A. Gallenga,
History of Piedmont,
volume 3, chapter 2._

ITALY: A. D. 1646-1654.
French hostility to the Pope.
Siege of Orbitello.
Masaniello's revolt at Naples.
French intrigue and failures.

"The war [of France and Spain] in Italy had for some years
languished, but hostility to the Pope [on the election of
Innocent X., which Cardinal Mazarin, then supreme in France,
had opposed] stirred it again into life. New vessels were
fitted out for the navy, and large preparations were made for
the invasion of Italy. … On April 26, 1646, the expedition
set sail, and on the 9th of May it cast anchor off the
important city of Orbitello. The fleet consisted of 156 sail,
and was expected to land 10,000 men, and Mazarin wrote that
all Italy was in terror. The ships were commanded by the Duke
of Brézé, and no more skilful or gallant leader could have
been found. … The command of the land forces was, however,
entrusted to a leader whose deficiencies more than
counterbalanced Brézé's skill. Mazarin desired an Italian
prince to lead his expedition, and Prince Thomas of Savoy had
been chosen for the command. … Fearing that disease would
come with the hot weather, Mazarin urged Prince Thomas to
press forward with the siege. But the most simple advances
seemed beyond his skill. … A severe misfortune to the navy
made the situation worse. In a sharp and successful engagement
with the Spanish fleet, a cannon ball struck and killed the
Duke of Brézé. His death was more disastrous than would have
been the loss of 20 sail. The French fleet retired to Provence
and left the sea open to the Spanish. Sickness was fast
reducing the army on land, and on July 18th Prince Thomas
raised the siege, which was no further advanced than when it
was begun, and led back the remains of his command to
Piedmont. … So mortifying an end to this expensive venture
only strengthened Mazarin's resolution to make his power felt
in Italy. The battered ships and fever-wasted soldiers were
scarcely back in Provence, when the minister began to prepare
a second expedition for the same end. … By September a fleet
of 200 sail, with an army of 8,000 men commanded by the
Marshals of La Meilleraie and Du Plessis, was under way. The
expedition was conducted with skill and success. Orbitello was
not again attacked, but Porto Longone, on the island of Elba,
and Piombino, on the mainland, both places of much strategic
importance, were captured after brief sieges. With this result
came at once the change in the feelings of Innocent X. for
which Mazarin had hoped," and certain objects of the latter's
desire—including a cardinal's hat for his brother
Michael—were brought within his reach. His attention was now
turned to the more southerly portion of the peninsula. "During
the expedition to Orbitello in 1646, Mazarin had closely
watched Naples, whose coming revolution he foresaw. The
ill-suppressed discontents of the city now showed themselves
in disturbances, sudden and erratic as the eruptions of
Vesuvius, and they offered to France an opportunity for
seizing the richest of the remaining possessions of Spain.
After the vicissitudes of centuries, Naples and Sicily were
now subject to the Spanish crown. They were governed by a
viceroy, and were subjected to the drain of men and money
which was the result of Spain's necessities and the
characteristic of her rule. Burdened with taxation, they
complained that their viceroy, the Duke of Arcos, was sending
to Spain money raised solely for their own defence. The
imposition of a duty on fruits, in a country where fruit
formed a cheap article of diet for the poor, and where almost
all were poor, kindled the long smouldering discontent. Under
the leadership of a fisherman [Tommaso Aniello], nicknamed
Masaniello, the people of Naples in 1647 rose in revolt.
Springing from utter obscurity, this young man of
twenty-seven, poor and illiterate, became powerful almost in a
day. While the Duke of Arcos hid himself away from the revolt,
Masaniello was made Captain-General of Naples. So sudden a
change turned his head. At first he had been bold, popular,
and judicious. He sought only, he said, to deliver the people
from their taxes, and when that was done, he would return
again to selling soles and red mullets. But political delirium
seized him when he reached an elevation which, for him, was as
dizzy as the throne of the Roman emperors, and like some who
reached that terrible eminence, his brain was crazed by the
bewilderment and ecstasy of power. He made wild and incoherent
speeches. He tore his garments, crying out against popular
ingratitude, attacking groups of passers-by, riding his horse
wildly through the multitude, and striking with his lance to
the right and left. The populace wearied of its darling.
Exalted to power on July 7th, he was murdered on the 16th,
with the approval of those who had worshipped him a week
before. But the revolution did not perish with him. Successive
chiefs were chosen and deposed by a fickle people. When the
insurrection was active, the representatives of Spain promised
untaxed fruits and the privileges allowed by Charles V., and
they revoked their promises when it appeared to subside. In
the meantime, Mazarin watched the movement, uncertain as to
the course he should pursue. … While the minister hesitated,
the chance was seized by one who was never accused of too
great caution." This was the Duke of Guise—the fifth Henry of
that Dukedom—a wild, madcap young nobleman, who accepted an
invitation from the Neapolitan insurgents to become their
chief. Guise landed at Naples on the 15th of November, 1647,
with half a dozen attendants, and a month later he was
followed by a French fleet. But the latter did nothing, and
Guise was helplessly without means. "The truth was that
Mazarin, even if desirous of crippling the Spaniards, was very
averse to assisting Guise. He believed that the duke either
desired to form a republic, of which he should be chief, or a
monarchy, of which he should be king, and neither plan was
agreeable to the cardinal." At the end of a fortnight the
fleet sailed away. Guise held his ground as the leader of the
revolt until the following April, when certain of the
Neapolitan patriots, corrupted by the enemy, betrayed the city
into the hands of the Spaniards.
{1848}
"Guise endeavored, with a handful of followers, to escape
towards Capua, but they were captured by a detachment of
Spaniards. … By the petition of powerful friends, and by the
avowal of France, Guise was saved from the public execution
which some of his enemies demanded, but he was presently taken
to Spain, and there was kept a prisoner during four years."
Meantime, Mazarin had prepared another expedition, which
appeared before Naples in the summer of 1648, but only to
discover that the opportunity for deriving any advantage from
the popular discontent in that city was past. "Receiving no
popular aid, the expedition, after some ineffective endeavors,
was abandoned." Six years afterwards, in 1654, Mazarin sent a
third expedition to Naples, and entrusted it to the command of
the Duke of Guise, who had lately been released from his
captivity in Spain. "Guise hoped that the Neapolitans would
rise in revolt when it was known that their former leader was
so near, but not a person in the city showed any desire to
start a movement in behalf of the Duke of Guise. The Spanish
met him with superior forces." After some slight encounters
the expedition sailed back to France.

_J. B. Perkins,
France under Mazarin,
chapter 8 (volume 1),
and chapter 16 (volume 2)._

ALSO IN:
_A. De Reumont,
The Carafas of Maddaloni:
Naples under Spanish Dominion,
book 3._

_F. Midon,
Rise and Fall of Masaniello._

_Mrs. H. R. St. John,
Masaniello of Naples._

_H. G. Smith,
Romance of History,
chapter 1._

ITALY: A. D. 1648.
The Peace of Westphalia.

See GERMANY: A. D. 1648.

ITALY: A. D. 1701-1713.
Savoy and Piedmont.
The War of the Spanish Succession.
The Peace of Utrecht.

"Compelled to take part, with one of the contending parties
[in the War of the Spanish Succession—see SPAIN: A. D.
1698-1700, and 1701-1702], Victor [Duke of Savoy] would have
been prompted by his interest to an alliance with Austria; but
he was beset on all sides by the combined forces of France and
Spain, and was all the more at their mercy as Louis XIV. had
(April 5th, 1701) obtained from Ferdinand Gonzaga of Mantua
permission to garrison his capital, in those days already one
of the strongest places in Italy. The Duke of Savoy had
already, in 1697, married his daughter, Adelaide, to one of
Louis's grandsons, the Duke of Burgundy; he now gave his
younger daughter, Mary Louise, to Burgundy's brother, the new
King of Spain (September 11th, 1701), and took the field as
French commander-in-chief. He was opposed by his own cousin,
Prince Eugene, at the head of the Imperial armies. The war in
Lombardy was carried on with some remissness, partly owing to
the natural repugnance or irresolution of the Duke of Savoy,
partly to the suspicion with which, on that very account, he
was looked upon by Catinat and Vaudemont, the French and
Spanish commanders under him. The King, in an evil hour,
removed his able marshal, Catinat, and substituted for him
Villeroi, a carpet knight and court warrior, who committed one
fault after another, allowed himself to be beaten by Eugene at
Chiari (September 1st), and to be surprised and taken prisoner
at Cremona (1702, January 21st), to the infinite relief of his
troops. Vendôme restored the fortunes of the French, and a
very brilliant but undecisive action was fought at Luzzara
(August 15th), after which Prince Eugene was driven from the
neighbourhood of Mantua, and fell back towards the mountains
of Tyrol. With the success of the French their arrogance
increased, and with their arrogance the disgust and ill-will
of Victor Amadeus." The Duke withdrew from the camp and began
to listen to overtures from the Powers in the Grand Alliance.
"Report of the secret intercourse of the Duke with Austrian
agents reached Louis XIV., who sent immediate orders to
Vendôme to secure and disarm the Piedmontese soldiers (3,800
to 6,000 in number) who were fighting under French standards
at Mantua. This was achieved by treachery, at San Benedetto,
on the 29th of September, 1703. An attempt to seize the Duke
himself, whilst hunting near Turin, miscarried. Savoy
retaliated by the arrest of the French and Spanish
ambassadors, and war was declared (October 5th). The moment
was ill-chosen. Victor had barely 4,000 men under his orders.
The whole of Savoy was instantly overrun; and in Piedmont
Vercelli, Ivrea, Verrua, as well as Susa, Bard, and Pinerolo,
and even Chivasso, fell into the enemy's hands during the
campaigns of 1704 and 1705. In the ensuing year the tide of
invasion reached Nice and Villafranca; nothing was left to
Victor Amadeus but Cuneo and Turin, and the victorious French
armies appeared at last under the very walls of the capital
(March, 1706). The war had, however, been waged with different
results beyond the Alps, where the allies had crushed the
French at Blenheim (1704) and at Ramillies (1705). One of the
heroes of those great achievements, Prince Eugene, now
hastened to the rescue of his cousin. He met with a severe
check at Cassano (August 16th, 1705), and again at Calcinato
(April 19th, 1706); but his skilful antagonist, Vendôme, was
called away to Flanders, and Prince Eugene so out-manœuvred
his successors as to be able to join Victor at Turin. The
French had begun the siege of this place on the 13th of May,
1706. They had between 50,000 and 60,000 men, and 170 pieces
of artillery with them." When Prince Eugene, early in
September, reached the neighborhood of Turin, he concerted
with Victor Amadeus an attack on the investing army which
destroyed it completely. "Its relics withdrew in awful
disorder towards Pinerolo, pursued not only by the victorious
troops but also by the peasantry, who, besides attachment to
their princes, obeyed in this instance an instinct of revenge
against the French, who had barbarously used them. Out of
50,000 or 60,000 men who had sat down before Turin in March,
hardly 20,000 recrossed the Alps in September. Three of the
French generals lay dead on the field; … 6,000 prisoners
were marched through the streets of the liberated town, and 55
French banners graced the main altar of the cathedral. In the
following year, Victor and Eugene, greatly against their
inclination, were induced by the allies to undertake an
expedition against Toulon, which, like all previous invasions
of Provence, led to utter discomfiture, and the loss of 10,000
combatants (1707, July 1st to September 1st). An attack upon
Briançon, equally undertaken against the sound judgment of the
Duke of Savoy, in 1708, led to no better results; but Savoy
won back Exilles, Perosa, Fenestrelles, and, one by one, all
the redoubts with which during those wars the Alps were
bristling.
{1849}
The war slackened in Italy, and the fates of Europe were
decided in the Netherlands. … By the Peace of Utrecht [A. D.
1713] France renounced to Savoy all the invaded territories,
and, besides, the valleys of Oulx, Cesanne, Bardonneche, and
Castel Delfino, ancient possessions of Dauphiny, east of the
Alps, from the 12th century, whilst, for her own part, Savoy
gave up the western valley of Barcellonette; thus the limits
between the two nations (with the exception of Savoy and Nice)
were at last fixed on the mountain-crest, at 'the parting of
the waters.' By virtue of an agreement signed with Austria,
November 8th, 1703, the whole of Montferrat, as well as
Alessandria, Valenza, Lomellina, and Val Sesia, dependencies
of the duchy of Milan, and the imperial fiefs in the Langhe
(province of Alba), were ceded to Savoy."

_A. Gallenga,
History of Piedmont,
volume 3, chapter 2._

ALSO IN:
_Colonel G. B. Malleson,
Prince Eugene of Savoy,
chapters 5, and 7-9._

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 2, chapters 5-6._

_W. Coxe,
History of the House of Austria,
chapters 68, 69, 73-75, 77 (volume 2-3)._

See, also,
UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

ITALY: A. D. 1713-1714.
Milan, Naples and Sardinia ceded to the House of Austria and
Sicily to the Duke of Savoy.

See UTRECHT: A. D. 1712-1714.

ITALY: A. D. 1715-1735.
Ambitions of Elizabeth Farnese, the Spanish queen.
The Austro-Spanish conflict.
The Quadruple Alliance.
Acquisition of Naples by the Spanish Bourbons.