The Italian Renaissance | The Crisis - The French Invasion of 1494 (Lecture 25)

Lecture 25: The Italian Renaissance had flourished so richly in part because of the protected space of the peninsula. Surrounded on three sides by water and the Alps to the north, Italy had not suffered from foreign invasion on a large scale since the barbarian incursions after the collapse of Rome. However, at the end of the 15th century, the situation changed. The creation of dynastic territorial monarchies in the north, such as France, permitted the concentration of huge resources for foreign adventures.

Also, the competing state system and the ambition of many of the ruling houses of Italy resulted in northern monarchies, such as France, Spain, and the Holy Roman Empire, having dynastic or sovereign claims on various states. In 1494, King Charles VIII of France decided to invade Italy with the largest army then amassed and with sophisticated materiel, such as mobile artillery, in order to assert his claim to the Kingdom of Naples. Initially aided by the Milanese, who thought to manipulate the French into destroying the threat posed to Lodovico il Moro’s rule by the Neapolitans, the French army was virtually unopposed and the conquest of Naples was an easy victory. Although the Milanese realized their error and joined with the other Italian states to hurry the French out of Italy, Charles had shown that the rich cities of the peninsula were vulnerable and that the peninsula would never again enjoy its unmolested independence.

Primary Source Texts:
Alessandro Benedetti, Diaria de Bello Carolino (Diary of the Caroline War).
Francesco Guicciardini, The History of Italy.

Secondary Sources:
Denys Hay and John Law, Italy in the Age of the Renaissance, 1380−1530.

Lecture 26: https://rumble.com/v4yk3ax-the-italian-renaissance-florence-in-turmoil-lecture-26.html