League of Cambrai, War of the
Years: 1508 - 1516
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and by several other names, is a major conflict in the Italian Wars.
The principal participants of the war, which is fought from 1508 to 1516, are France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they are joined, at various times, by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, the Kingdom of England, the Kingdom of Scotland, the Duchy of Milan, Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, has created the League of Cambrai, an anti-Venetian alliance that included, besides himself, Louis XII of France, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I, and Ferdinand I of Spain.
Although the League is initially successful, friction between Julius and Louis causes it to collapse by 1510; Julius then allies himself with Venice against France.The Veneto-Papal alliance eventually expands into the Holy League, which drives the French from Italy in 1512; disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, lead Venice to abandon the alliance in favor of one with France.
Under the leadership of Francis I, who has succeeded Louis to the throne, the French and Venetians will, through their victory at Marignano in 1515, regain the territory they have lost; the treaties of Noyon and Brussels, which end the war the next year, will essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
