The War of the League of Cambrai, also known by its second stage as the War of the Holy League, was fought from December 1508 to December 1516, as part of the wider Italian Wars of 1494–1559. The main participants of the war, who fought for its entire duration, were France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Papal States, and the Republic of Venice; they were joined at various times by nearly every significant power in Western Europe, including Spain, England, the Duchy of Milan, the Republic of Florence, the Duchy of Ferrara, and the Swiss.
The war was preceded by the Italienzug of Maximilian I, King of the Romans, who crossed into Venetian territory in February 1508 with the imperial 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, later frictions between Julius and Louis culminated in the pope abandoning the League in 1510 and allying himself with Venice against France.
The Veneto–Papal alliance eventually expanded into the Holy League in 1511, that was also joined by Spain. The League drove the French from Italy in 1512. Later disagreements about the division of the spoils, however, led Venice to abandon the coalition in favor of an alliance with France in 1513. 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 were implemented by January 1517, would essentially return the map of Italy to the status quo of 1508.
Timeline
This is an overview of notable events including battles during the war.
Prelude (1506–1508)
July 1506 – March 1507: A popular revolt in Genoa expelled the city's pro-French nobility to Savona. By late November 1506, king Louis XII of France was planning a military expedition to bring Genoa back under pro-French control.
28 March 1507: The Genoese revolutionary council declared war on the king of France, who had already reached Piedmont with his army.
22–29 April 1507: Siege of Genoa. French victory over the Genoese revolutionaries. Louis arranged a triumphal entry and forced the Genoese to swear loyalty to him.
April 1507: The Imperial Diet of Konstanz and Maximilian I declared Louis XII of France an enemy of Christianity and a threat to Italy, and requested (and received) funding for an Italienzug. Louis XII denied seeking war with the Empire or the Papacy.
14 May 1507: Louis XII left Genoa and held a similar triumphal entry in Milan.
28 June 1507: Louis XII of France and Ferdinand II of Aragon met for six days at Savona to lay the groundwork for the League of Cambrai against Venice, most likely intending to include Maximilian and the Pope into the coalition. Ferdinand departed for Spain on 3 July.
July 1507: The Imperial Diet promised Maximilian 12,000 troops for his Italienzug. Because this was not enough to challenge the French in Milan, as he originally intended, Maximilian later ended up deciding to attack Venice instead on the grounds of refusing to ally with him against France, and refusing him passage to Rome.
Maximilian's Italienzug (1508)
24 January 1508: Maximilian requested permission to march to Rome through Venetian territory, but the Venetians suspected the ruse and prepared for war.
4 February 1508: Maximilian I proclaimed himself Holy Roman Emperor in Trento.
Early February 1508: Maximilian declared war on Venice. Venice requested France, then still their ally, to send aid, which Chaumont did in the form of several thousand troops from Milan.
20–21 February 1508: Imperial troops invaded Venice, sacking Ampezzo and besieging the Castello di Botestagno.
23 February 1508: Imperials captured Pieve di Cadore.
24 February 1508: Skirmish at Chiusa di Venas, Imperial victory over Venice.
27 February 1508: Imperials captured Castello di Botestagno.
2 March 1508: Battle of Cadore. Venetian victory over the Emperor.
March–May 1508: Successful Venetian counter-offensives into Imperial territory. The Venetians captured Trieste on 6 May.
Summer 1508: Venice agreed to a separate three-year truce with Maximilian without the knowledge or consent of Louis of France. Angered by this 'betrayal', Louis sought to punish the Venetians, and started contemplating a Franco-German alliance with Maximilian against Venice.
War of the League of Cambrai proper (1508–1511)
10 December 1508: The League of Cambrai was formally concluded.
April 1509: France declares war on Venice.
27 April 1509: Pope Julius II imposes the interdict on the Venetians.
10 May 1509: Battle of Casaloldo: Venetian victory over Mantua (Cambrai).
14 May 1509: Battle of Agnadello. French (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
15–30 September 1509: Siege of Padua. Venetian victory over the League of Cambrai.
26–29 November 1509: Battle of the citadel of Vicenza. Venetian victory over the Imperials (Cambrai).
22 December 1509: Battle of Polesella. Ferrarese (Cambrai) victory over Venice.
15 February 1510: Pope Julius II concludes peace with Venice, and leaves the League of Cambrai.
24 February 1510: Pope Julius II revokes the interdict, imposed against the Venetians in 1509.
May 1510: French, Ferrarese, and Imperial troops invaded Venetian territory.
July 1510: The Pope and Venice formed an alliance and went on a counter-offensive. The League of Cambrai fell apart, leaving only France and Ferrara at war with Venice and the Pope.
August 1510: Failed Papal attack on Ferrara.
17 August 1510: Papal–Venetian troops captured Modena.
October 1510: French troops were repulsed at Bologna.
December 1510: Papal troops captured Concordia.
2–19 January 1511: Siege of Mirandola (1511). Papal victory over Ferrara.
23 May 1511: French troops captured Bologna after an anti-Papal revolt.
Late May 1511: French troops recaptured Mirandola.
War of the Holy League proper (1511–1514)
4 October 1511: Pope Julius II proclaimed the new Holy League against France, including the Papal States, Venice and Spain, later also joined by England and the Swiss Confederacy.
18 February 1512: Sack of Brescia. French victory over Venice.
11 April 1512: Battle of Ravenna (1512). Franco-Ferrarese victory over the Pope.
May 1512: Holy League troops drove French troops out of Milan.
June 1512 – June 1515: Spanish conquest of Iberian Navarre. Spanish victory over France.
10 August 1512: Battle of Saint-Mathieu. English victory over France.
August–December 1512: Holy League negotiations on territorial changes failed. Venice left the League, Milan joined the League.
29 December 1512: Swiss mercenaries installed Maximilian Sforza as Duke of Milan.
23 March 1513: Venice and France concluded an alliance to partition northern Italy between them.
6 June 1513: Battle of Novara (1513). Milanese–Swiss victory over France.
16 August 1513: Battle of the Spurs (Guinegate). Anglo-Imperial victory over France.
8–13 September 1513: Siege of Dijon. Swiss victory over France.
9 September 1513: Battle of Flodden (Flodden Field, Branxton). English victory over Scotland (allied with France). Scotland abandoned France and left the war.
7 October 1513: Battle of La Motta (1513). Spanish and Imperial victory over Venice (allied with France).
November 1513: The Pope proposes peace negotiations between the emperor and the Venetians.