Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 11.djvu/64

* ITALY. 48 ITALY. cient, and now became mainly a judicial officer. His place as head of the city was taken by a 'captain of the )K>ople.' representing the dominant party. .Vs miliUiry skill was essential in thia position, it was held usually by a noble. The people desirous of peace, acquiesced in the estab- lislmicnl of a strong power. Hence there arose in almost every city a 'despot,' or absolute ruler, an ollice which in many eases came to be heredi- tary in some noble family — with the Scalas at Verona, the House of Este at Ferrara, the Mala- testas at Rimini, the Visconti and later the Sforzas at ililan. This period has been called fittingly 'the age of the despots.' Under their rule the arts prospered, literature flourished, life became more luxurious, wealth greater. But the people, who had fought so valiantly in the past, became iniwarlike, and the cities placed their re- liance in mercenary troops. (See Condottieri.) Gradually the smaller cities passed under the influence of the stronger States. By the middle of the fifteenth century Italy had reached a posi- tion of great prosperity and comparative tran- quillity. She was in the van of European coun- tries in all that pertained to culture, having led the way in the great revival of the arts and letters. (See Rexaissaxce.) Tuscany, which had produced Dante and Giotto, at the beginning of the fourteenth century, was preeminent in this revival. Amid all this splendor began a terrible period of foreign aggression in 14!)4. iloDEHN History. During the fifteenth, six- teenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries, as during the Middle Ages, there is no history of Hah- as such, only the culture history of the Renaissance and the individual histories of the different cities and States, their rivalries, and their combinations with foreign powers. Chief among these States were the Duchy of Milan (which came to an end in 1.535). and the repub- lics of Florence, Genoa, and Venice in the nortli: the States of the Cliurch, stretching, a bar to political unity, across the middle of the Penin- sula; and the Kingdom of Naples (soon to be- come a Spanish possession) in the south. In addition to these more important political divis- ions there were many minor courts distinguished throughout Europe for their lavish display and intellectual brilliance. Some families, of whom the Medici of Florence are the most notable example, having amassed great wealth in bank- ing or commerce, rose to the highest power in Church and State. At the close of the Middle Ages Italy became the great battle-ground of Christendom, the scene of fierce wars waged by France, Spain, Austria, and the Italian States and princes. The policy of the House of Haps- burg had always looked toward Italy, but in the last decade of the fifteenth century France, in- fluenced by its community of culture with Italy, and actuated by greed for new territory by the growing rivalry with the Hapsburgs. developed an Italian policy and sought to establish its polit- ical influence in the Peninsula. In 1494 Charles VIII. of France undertook to conquer the King- dom of Naples, then misruled by the House of Aragon. He was tempted by Lndovico Sforza, the Milanese usurper, and by the Florentines, who were ripe for rebellion against the tyranny of the Medici. He invaded Italy, made a treaty ■with Florence, which expelled the Medici, then brought the Pope to submission, and marched on Naples, which w^^s taken. Charles was. how- ever, forced by a league formed against him by Venice, Spain, Milan, the Emperor Maxi- milian, and the Pope, to retire from Naples and liglit his way out of Italy (U'Ju-ltlJ). This French invasion had an importance tran- scending its political results. Michelet has described it as "the revelation of Italy to the nations of the North." As Italy wa.s in the full tide of the Renaissance, this meant nuich in the spreading of its culture by the people who were b<st prepared to understand it, the French. I.ouis XIL, the successor of Charles VIII., as- sumed the titles of King of Naples and Duke of Jlilan, and entered upon a policy intended to support these pretensions. Allying himself with Venice, Louis invaded the .Milanese in 1499, and was soon master of it. In 1.501 a partition treaty was arranged between Louis an<l Fenli- nand of Spain, by which the latter was to have Calabria and Apulia, with the title of Duke, and the King of France was to have the remainder of the Neapolitan Kingdom, with the title of King of Naples and .Jerusalem. This treaty, which was on the i)art of Spain an act of the most cold-blooded treachery toward an ally, was immediately carried out by force of arms. Quar- rels soon arose between the two allies, and in 1.502 France and Spain were again at war on Italian soil. Through the genius of Gonsalvo de Cordova, the French ^ere driven out and made a disastrous retreat to France. (See Cerionola; Garigliaxo. ) But I'rancc was soon in the field again in Northern Italy. In 1508 the League of Cambria was formed against ^'enice, which was reduced to great straits by the victory of the French at Agnadello in 1509. But now the dip- lomatic kaleidosco]>e made another turn, and in 1511 the Holy League formed by the militant Pope, .Julius II., with Spain and Venice, was arrayed against France, whose forces were ilriven out of Italy in 1513. Two years later Francis I. (q.v. ). continuing the policy of his predecessors, reconciueied Milan, but it was lost again in 1521, immediately after the outbreak of the great struggle between that monarch and his rival, the Emperor Charles V. Francis I. was defeated and captured at Pavia in 1525. In 1527 the forces of the Constable de Bourbon (q.v.) took and sacked Rome, and Pope Clement VII. (Giulio de' !Medici) became the prisoner of Charles V. A new invasion of Italy by the French under Lautrec in the same year, with the Florentines, Genoese, and Venetians as allies, was at first at- tended with success, but in the end resulted dis- astrously, and in the Peace of Cambrai of 1.529 Francis renounced all claims to territory in Italy. He renewed the struggle with Charles V.. but the hold of the Hapsburgs on Italy could not be shaken. In 1535. on the extinction of the Sforza dvnasty. Charles V. took possession of Milan, which became part of the Spanish realm. Naples was governed by Spanish viceroys, and remained for over two hundred years in the hands of the Spanish Hapsburgs.' In Northern Italy the au- thority of the Hapsburgs (.Austria supplanting Spain) was not thrown off until after the middle of the nineteenth century. The reactionary bigotry of Spain fell heavily upon the whole Italian Peninsula. In pursuance of the energetic anti-Hapsburg policy of Richelieu (q.v.). France from 1635 to lfi59 waged war against Spain in Northern Italy, having for its allies Savoy, Parma, and Mantua. Under Maza-