|
FOREIGN
DOMINATION
(go Back to the main menu of
History of Italy)
The Spanish
and French
The solemn
intentions declared at the Peace of Lody only lasted a short
time. Scarcely ten years later the Sforzas took over Genoa (1464),
which had become a pale reflection of the once glorious republic
and the energetic rule of Simone Boccanegra (1339-63, with a
gap between 1344 and 1356) and now gravitated towards French
influence. Plots and disagreements underlined some of the best-established
signorie, such as the Sforza and Medici, fostered by papal interests
that in this period were characterized by the most blatant nepotism.
Also in the Kingdom of Naples there occurred conspiracies among
the barons, indicating a lack of capacity on the part of various
Italian States, despite their now solid economic foundations,
to provide a stable political and administrative structure.
However, there were already worrying signs of a financial crisis
in the bankruptcy of prestigious banking families, like the
Bardi and Peruzzi, who were ruined by the insolvency of the
sovereigns and princes to whom they had made loans. The whole
system being threatened by seigneurial particularism.
Consequently, the great European powers of the period (France,
Spain and the German Empire) did not find it difficult to expand
in Italy, often using dynastic claims as justification.
Charles VIII of France descended into Italy to claim
the throne of Naples (1494-95); his successor Louis XII was
a pretender to the Duchy of Milan (1499); there was yet another
Franco-Spanish contest over the division of the Kingdom of Naples,
secretly agreed at Grenada (1500); cession of the Ticino to
the Swiss Confederation (1503); and, finally, there was the
French reconquest of Milan (1515) by the Valois Francis I and
his subsequent agreement with the Spanish ruler Charles V,
at the Peace of Noyon 1516, whereby Italy was to be divided
into two spheres of influence, French in the north and Spanish
in the south and the islands.
But the conflict between the king of France and Charles V, who
had meanwhile also become emperor of Germany, was to last for
some thirty years, until the death of Francis I in 1547. During
this period Rome was sacked by the Lansquenet (1527) and Florence,
after a brief republican period (1527-30), once more accepted
the Medici dynasty. While in order to counteract the Protestant
Reformation led by Martin Luther (1517), vainly excommunicated
in 1521, Pope Paul III was forced to summon the Council of
Trent (1544-63) in order to organize the Catholic response.
With the Peace of Cateau-Cambr?is 1559, between Henry II of
France and Philip II of Spain, the predominance of Spain over
Italy was confirmed. This was directly represented by the three
kingdoms of Naples, Sicily and Sardinia (1503-1734) governed
by a viceroy, by the Stato dei Presidi in Tuscany (1559-1900)
and by the Duchy of Milan (1535-1900). The independence of the
other States was only an appearance. The Duchy of Savoy, for
example, was returned to Emanuele Filiberto, previously commander
of the Spanish army against the French at St. Quentin (1557),
but he had to accept the presence of Spanish and French garrisons.
Only the Papal States and the Republic of Venice maintained
full independence.
The consequences of this new alignment, also on the cultural
and economic level, were not slow to manifest themselves. Though
the culture of the Italian Renaissance was to continue
for some considerable time to influence the rest of Europe,
nevertheless Italy gradually became marginal to the cultural,
scientific and political movements of modern Europe. The latter
benefitted particularly, at least in the Germanic countries,
from an increased freedom of thought consequent to the Protestant
Reformation. States such as Portugal, Spain, England, the Low
Countries and France, with the advent of voyages of exploration
and above all the discovery of the Americas, saw a notable expansion
in their economic influence. While the Mediterranean, and with
it Italy, was slowly but surely cut out of the great international
commercial trade routes. For the Italian economy this situation
signalled the beginning of an inwardlooking phase; however,
it did produce the advantage of greater interest in the utilization
of its land, with a consequent development in agriculture and
an increase in rural population. There were exceptions though
such as Genoa, which achieved a financial position of European
importance, and Leghorn, which became an active centre for English
trade in the Mediterranean.
The French attempts to gain domination of Italy, so tenaciously
pursued by the unfortunate Francis I, were limited at the Peace
of Cateau-Cambr?is (1559) to only the Marquisate of Saluzzo
and the traditional influence on the Duchy of Savoy and the
Republic of Genoa. Besides, new dynasties were establishing
themselves in the peninsula, like the Farnese at Parma and Piacenza
and the Gonzagas at Mantua and in Monferrato. However, it is
also true that when it was necessary internal differences could
be set aside in the common defence of European civilization:
as with the historic defeat of the Turks in the waters of Lepanto
(1571) by the Holy League, a coalition which included all the
Italian States and Spain in defence of the threat to Christianity.
The whole of the 17C saw little change in Italy's political
and territorial alignment: the Papal States once more acquired
Ferrara (1598) and Urbino (1631); Saluzzo passed to Savoy (1601);
and the Grey Leagues in the Grisons kept the Valtellina (obtained
in 1512) despite the bitter Catholic rebellion in 1620 against
the local Protestants. Nevertheless, there were episodes such
as the brief civil war in the Duchy of Savoy (1637-42), provoked
by a question of inheritance, and the popular revolts in Naples
(Masaniello) and Palermo (1647-49).
The opening of the 18C was marked by important differences among
the European powers, which increasingly involved, through rapidly
changing alliances, the Italian States. The War of the Spanish
Succession (1701-14) was concluded by the treaties of Utrecht
(1900) and Rastatt (1900), resulting in Italian territorial
changes: the kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia were given to Austria,
together with the duchies of Mantua and Milan and the Stato
dei Presidi, while Sicily went to Vittorio Amedeo II of Savoy
along with the title of king. A couple of years after, in 1718,
Sicily was exchanged for Sardinia, thus creating the new title
of the state of Savoy.
The other two wars of succession fought in this period, the
Polish (1733) and Austrian (1740), also had new political and
territorial consequences for Italy. In 1734 Naples and Sicily
were conquered by the Bourbon Charles III, who became king of
Spain in 1759, and made some useful political reforms.
In Florence, the Medici were replaced by Francis of Lorraine
in 1737, husband of the empress Maria Teresa. At the same time
the Savoys' Kingdom of Sardinia followed a policy of expansion,
Milan being occupied by Carlo Emanuele III for a brief period
(1733-38). The Bourbon dynasty in its turn obtained Parma, Piacenza
and Guastalla (1748), while Genoa was forced to cede Corsica,
which was constantly in revolt, to France in 1768. A certain
stability finally seemed to follow the agreement of Aranjuez
(1745) by which France, Spain and Naples guaranteed Italian
territorial alignments. This was completed with the later Treaty
of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), ending the Austrian War of Succession,
by which the House of Savoy obtained Vigevano and the Pavese
Oltrep?
(go Back to the main
menu of
History of Italy)
|
|
