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The House of Sforza was a ruling family of Renaissance Italy, based in Milan. Sforza rule began with the family's acquisition of the Duchy of Milan following the extinction of the Visconti family in the mid-15th century and ended with the death of the last member of the family's main branch, Francesco II Sforza, in 1535.
Louis XII was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Marie of Cleves, he succeeded his second cousin once removed and brother-in-law, Charles VIII, who died childless in 1498.
The Italian Wars were a series of conflicts fought between 1494 and 1559, mostly in the Italian Peninsula, but later expanding into Flanders, the Rhineland and Mediterranean Sea. The primary belligerents were the Valois kings of France, on one side, and their opponents in the Holy Roman Empire and Spain on the other. At different points, various Italian states participated in the war, some on both sides, with limited involvement from England, Switzerland, and the Ottoman Empire.
Ludovico Maria Sforza, also known as Ludovico il Moro, and called the "arbiter of Italy" by historian Francesco Guicciardini, was an Italian nobleman who ruled as the Duke of Milan from 1494 to 1499.
Maximilian Maria Sforza was a Duke of Milan from the Sforza family, the son of Ludovico Sforza. When Maximilian was three his father tried to arrange a marriage between him and Mary Tudor, the younger daughter of King Henry VII of England. However, Henry VII rejected the proposal citing Mary's young age as the issue. He was installed as a ruler of Milan in 1512 after the capture of Milan by the Holy League, supported by a Swiss militia led by Jakob Meyer zum Hasen. He ruled from 1512 to 1515, between the occupations of Louis XII of France (1500–1512), and Francis I of France in 1515. Francis I claimed the title of Duke of Milan, as he was descended from Louis I of Orléans and Valentine Visconti who were his great-grandparents. His claims were twofold because he married Claude, the daughter of Louis XII, who was also the great-granddaughter of Louis of Orléans and Valentine. After the French victory at the Battle of Marignano the arrival of the Venetians, under the command of Bartolomeo d'Alviano, transformed these indecisive battles into a terrible defeat for Matthew Schiner and his Swiss troops who lost 14,000 men. The survivors returned home to Switzerland, taking the Duke's young brother, Francesco II Sforza, who went to reside in Innsbruck under the guard of Emperor Maximilian I. The French entered Milan on 17 September 1515 and Maximilian surrendered 17 days later on 4 October. Francis I entered his new duchy on 11 October, accompanied by the Duke of Savoy Charles III and the Marquis of Montferrat William IX who had pledged allegiance to him. The capitulation was complete and Maximilian was imprisoned by the returning French troops. and exiled to France with an annual annuity of 35,000 écus.
The Duchy of Milan was a state in Northern Italy, created in 1395 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, then the lord of Milan, and a member of the important Visconti family, which had been ruling the city since 1277.
The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names, was fought from February 1508 to December 1516 as part of the Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
Isabella of Aragon, also known as Isabella of Naples, was by marriage Duchess of Milan and suo jure Duchess of Bari.
Gian Giacomo Trivulzio was an Italian aristocrat and condottiero who held several military commands during the Italian Wars.
The First Italian War, or Charles VIII's Italian War, was the opening phase of the Italian Wars. The war pitted Charles VIII of France, who had initial Milanese aid, against the Holy Roman Empire, Spain and an alliance of Italian powers led by Pope Alexander VI, known as the League of Venice.
The Italian Wars of 1499–1504 are divided into two connected, but distinct phases: the Second Italian War (1499–1501), sometimes known as Louis XII's Italian War, and the Third Italian War (1502–1504) or War over Naples. The first phase was fought for control of the Duchy of Milan by an alliance of Louis XII of France and the Republic of Venice against Ludovico Sforza, the second between Louis and Ferdinand II of Aragon for possession of the Kingdom of Naples.
Francesco II Sforza was Duke of Milan from 1521 until his death. He was the last member of the Sforza family to rule Milan.
Bona of Savoy, Duchess of Milan was Duchess of Milan as the second spouse of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan. She served as regent of Milan during the minority of her son 1476–1481.
Francesco Maria Sforza, nicknamed il Duchetto after becoming titular Duke of Milan at the age of 8, was the only son of Gian Galeazzo Sforza, the sixth Duke of Milan, and his wife, Isabella of Naples. After the untimely death in 1494 of Francesco's father at the age of 25, his father's uncle, Ludovico Sforza, took over as Duke of Milan.
The Battle of Novara was fought on 8 April 1500 between the forces of King Louis XII of France and the forces of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.
Federico di Sanseverino was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal of the 16th century. Grandson of the Duke of Urbino, he spent most of his ecclesiastical career as a political operative, first for the Sforza in Milan, and then representing French interests. Most of his colleagues regarded him as a worldly man, more interested in pleasures, hunting and weapons, rather than prayer.
The Milanese War of Succession was a war of succession over the Duchy of Milan from the death of duke Filippo Maria Visconti on 13 August 1447 to the Treaty of Lodi on 9 April 1454.
The Treaty of Blois (1499), signed on 9 February 1499, was a secret military alliance between Louis XII of France and the Republic of Venice, in which they agreed to a joint attack on the Duchy of Milan. In return, the Venetians were to receive part of the Duchy, while France also undertook to provide military assistance if Venice was attacked by the Ottoman Empire.
The siege of Novara took place in the summer and autumn of 1495 during the Italian War of 1494–1495. While king Charles VIII of France was retreating to the north after facing rebellions in the recently conquered Kingdom of Naples, and managed to escape the destruction of his army at the Battle of Fornovo, his cousin and future king Louis d'Orleans opened a second front by attacking the Duchy of Milan and occupying the city of Novara. In an effort to retrieve it, the Milanese army and their League of Venice allies besieged Novara for three months and fourteen days. Suffering from severe starvation and disease, the French lost about 2000 soldiers before Louis had to surrender and withdraw.
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- ↑ Pettegree, pp. 59-60.[ full citation needed ]