Holy League (1511)

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The Holy League of October 1, 1511 was closed after Pope Julius II left the League of Cambrai (1508/09) and rallied with the Confederates , the Kingdom of Aragon and the Republic of Venice against Louis XII. allied by France. From November 1511, Henry VIII of England, who was married to a daughter of the Aragonese king, also belonged to the alliance . The Habsburg Emperor Maximilian I actually left his alliance with France in April 1512. The league was directed against the expansionary policy of Louis XII. and should serve the liberation of Italy, namely the liberation of the Duchy of Milan , which he had conquered in 1499/1500 (see Italian Wars ).

Course and development

Expulsion of the French from Milan and Italy - by summer 1512

At first things turned out to be detrimental to the League as their army was crushed at the Battle of Ravenna in April 1512. Since the French general, Gaston de Foix, had died, the disordered French power collapsed, so that it left the Duchy of Milan and all of Italy in the summer. A congress in Mantua in August decided to return the Sforza to Milan and the Medici to Florence, in the latter case the overthrow of Piero Soderini's rule, which was bound to France . The change of power in Florence was implemented by force until September 1st.

New Venetian alliance of Louis XII. - spring 1513

A turning point for the League arose in February 1513 due to the death of Julius II: The new pontiff Leo X revoked the alliance obligations of his predecessor in the chair of Peter and opened up - if not only - the alliance option with France because it was a reconquest Milan was in prospect. Born Giovanni de 'Medici, he pursued an interest in ensuring his family's rule over Florence. On March 23, 1513, Venice changed sides and joined France, which further complicated the situation of the league and led to the embrace of Milan. The occasion was disputes over property against Maximilian, which originated before April 1512, were now allowed to revive and had been nourished by Julius II's expulsion of the Venetians from the League, a papal decision of February 1513. Spain, the Habsburgs, the restored Sforza-Milan and the Swiss, on the other hand, continued the league or signed successor agreements. Henry VIII attacked France temporarily in Flanders in 1513, while the Swiss, after an invasion of Dijon , the stronghold, by a fraudulent, later by Louis XII. unratified agreement could be induced to withdraw.

With a view to the Duchy of Milan, the Swiss defeated an army of Louis XII on June 6, 1513. at the Battle of Novara , so that the French initially failed a revision in Italy.

Francis I conquered Milan and Leo X changed alliance - 1515

Two years later, on 13/14 September 1515, Francis I of France was able to defeat the Swiss in the remainder of the league at Marignano and win back Milan. Leo X, who had used his papal office to act as a mediator, had concluded contracts with both parties in the course of 1514 and was finally able to join the victor. The end of the league can therefore be seen in October 1515 with the papal-French preliminary treaty of Viterbo, but at the latest the meeting of Pope and King in Bologna at the beginning of December of that year. The alliance of Leo X and Francis I became the new main coordinate of Italy until the spring of 1521.

General historical classification

Looking back on the Italian Wars, the Holy League of 1511 can be seen as the renewal of the Holy League of Venice of 1495 , as it was also an alliance of large parts of Christianity against France, Italy was in focus and the great allies represented very similarly were.

In the overview of the European early modern period , the league can also be seen as a model for the later major European alliances against France, especially since with the Spanish inheritance of Charles of Burgundy and Charles V in 1516, the so-called embrace of France as a constitutive one that continued into the 18th century Motive of European politics was added.

literature

• Maurizio Gattoni : Leone X e la geo-politica dello Stato Pontificio, Vatican 2000, pp. 23-132.
• Christine Shaw : Julius II. The Warrior Pope, Oxford 1993, starting point.