War of the League of Cambrai

War of the League of Cambrai
Part of the Italian Wars
Northern Italy in 1494; by the start of the war in 1508, Louis XII had expelled the Sforza from the Duchy of Milan and added its territory to France.
Date February 1508 – December 1516 Location Italy, France, England, and Spain Result Franco-Venetian victory Treaty of Noyon Treaty of Brussels
Belligerents
1508–1510: League of Cambrai:  Papal States  Kingdom of France  Holy Roman Empire  Spanish Empire  Duchy of Ferrara	1508–1510: Republic of Venice
1510–1511:  France  Ferrara	1510–1511:  Papal States Republic of Venice
1511–1513:  France  Ferrara  Scotland  Florence  Navarre	1511–1513: Holy League:  Papal States Republic of Venice  Spanish Empire  Holy Roman Empire  Kingdom of England  Swiss Confederacy
1513–1516:  France Republic of Venice  Ferrara	1513–1516:  Papal States  Spanish Empire  Holy Roman Empire  Kingdom of England  Duchy of Milan  Swiss Confederacy
Commanders and leaders
1508–1510: Pope Julius II Louis XII Gian Giacomo Trivulzio Louis de la Trémoille Charles II d'Amboise Maximilian I Alfonso I d'Este Cardinal d'Este Ferdinand II	1508–1510: Leonardo Loredan Niccolò di Pitigliano Andrea Gritti Bartolomeo d'Alviano (POW)
1510–1511: Louis XII Charles II d'Amboise Alfonso I d'Este	1510–1511: Pope Julius II
1511–1513: Louis XII Gaston de Foix † Jacques de La Palice (POW) Louis de la Trémoille André de Foix Alfonso I d'Este James IV † Earl of Montrose † John III Pedro de Navarra	1511–1513: Pope Julius II Ferdinand II Ramón de Cardona Duke of Alba Pedro Navarro Maximilian I Henry VIII Catherine of Aragon Duke of Norfolk Edward Howard Maximilian Sforza
1513–1516: Francis I Gian Giacomo Trivulzio Louis de la Trémoille Duke of Bourbon Bartolomeo d'Alviano	1513–1516: Ramón de Cardona Fernando d'Ávalos Georg von Frundsberg Maximilian Sforza Matthäus Schiner Marx Röist

The War of the League of Cambrai, sometimes known as the War of the Holy League and several other names,^[1] 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.

The war started with the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, crossing into Venetian territory in February 1508 with his army on the way to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor by the Pope in Rome. Meanwhile, Pope Julius II, intending to curb Venetian influence in northern Italy, brought together the League of Cambrai—an anti-Venetian alliance consisting of him, Maximilian I, Louis XII of France, and Ferdinand II of Aragon—which was formally concluded in December 1508. Although the League was initially successful, friction between Julius and Louis caused it to collapse by 1510; Julius then allied himself with Venice against France.

The Veneto–Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League, which drove the French from Italy in 1512; disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the coalition in favor of an alliance with France. Under the leadership of Francis I, who had succeeded Louis on the throne of France, the French and Venetians would regain the territory they had lost in a campaign culminating in the Battle of Marignano in 1515; the treaties of Noyon (August 1516) and Brussels (December 1516), which ended the war the next year, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.