He desired to make France the first Euro pean power; but the young Charles V, who was descended from Ferdinand, king of Spain, be came a formidable rival. The army of Charles regained Milan from the French and placed in power Francesco II, Sforza, last son of Ludo vico the Moor (1521). The French vainly at tempted to reconquer Lombardy. In the battle of Pavia (24 Feb. 1525) Francis I was taken prisoner. In order to regain his liberty he agreed to hard conditions of peace, but hardly had he touched French soil when he broke faith and entered into an alliance with Venice, Florence and with the new Pope, Clement VII, who also belonged to the House of Medici. During the war which ensued, 12,000 Germans, followers of the doctrine of Luther, descended on Italy, captured and pillaged Rome (1527). On hearing the news Florence overthrew the rule of the Medici and proclaimed anew the republic. Finally, the tide of war turned in favor of the emperor, more especially after the great Genoese admiral, Andrea Doria, went over into his service. The Pope and Francis I made terms with him; and then the other allied forces had to submit to the conditions imposed by the victors. Charles V went to Bologna, where he was solemnly crowned emperor, 24 Feb. 1530. In the diplomatic congress called together, it was determined to allow Fran cesco II, Sforza, to retain the duchy of Milan on condition that at his death it should pass into possession of Spain. Florence was to re instate the Medici, as Charles V had promised the Pope. Already, at the end of the autumn of 1529 a Spanish army had come to lay siege to Florence, which, however, showed itself pre pared to defend its liberty to the last. All the citizens, without regard to age, flew to battle on its walls. But this heroic resistance was in vain, owing to the treachery of Malatesta Baglioni, to whom Florence had entrusted the command of her troops. The decisive battle of Gavinana, near Pistoia, was fought 3 Aug. 1530, at which time was slain the Florentine, Francesco Ferrucci. A few days later, Florence surrendered to the imperial army, who ceded the rule to the Medici family.
Spanish Predominance (1530-1700).— In the midst of the wars which during the first 30 years of the 16th century convulsed Italy and ruined it economically, its political conditions also greatly changed. Of the five leading states, the Napoletano (Naples) had become a vice-royalty of Spain; Lombardy was occupied by the military forces of Charles V, the other two states — Rome and Florence — had lost almost all their political importance and were obliged to bow to the Spanish rule; and Venice, although proudly maintaining her independence, was no longer in a position to hold her own against the great powers of Europe.
France made another attempt to oppose the predominant power of Charles V in Europe and renewed the war on several occasions. Piedmont was the chief sufferer. The Duke of Savoy, Charles III, who had desired to remain neutral, ended by losing almost all his territory. Fortunately his son Emanuele Filiberto, who had entered the service of Spain, gained (10 Aug. 1557) the great victory of Saint Quentin, in Flanders, and decided at the conclusion of the war to revisit his own state. Peace was
concluded in 1559 at Cateau Cambresis. By the terms of this peace France was to restore almost all the territory occupied by her during the war, and thus the long rivalry between the two powers was definitely settled in favor of Spain.
The Spanish domination soon enervated the minds and corrupted the customs of the people; and they became an enfeebled race, weak, enervated, without enthusiasm and without ideals; and to make it worse, religious intoler ance prevailed, which induced the Italians to mask their incredulity by hypocrisy.
The richest and most fertile provinces, Milan, Naples, Sicily and Sardinia, were sub ject to Spain and the rest of the peninsula felt the reflex action of this subjection. Thus, the popes were on friendly terms with the Span iards, because the latter had supported their ecclesiastical policy, and this friendship was soon changed into servility. The Media were favorably disposed toward Spain in order that they might be let alone; the republic of Genoa from the time of Andrea Dona was an ally, or rather a ser(rant of Spain; and the dukedoms of Ferrara, Mantua and Parma were too weak to venture on an independent policy. Italy was indeed a Spanish province.
Two of the Italian states alone maintained their dignity and independence: the duchy of Savoy and the republic of Venice; and in these two regions were comprised all that was best in Italian life of the period.
Emanuele Filiberto was the second founder of the House of Savoy. With his sword he re gained the Inheritance of his family, and then devoted his attention to performing the duty of a restorer and legislator to his people. His son and successor, Charles Emanuele I (1580-1614), ambitious, bold, restless, endeavored by a con tinual series of wars to aggrandize his states. Through an agreement with France he obtained the ciarquisate of Saluzzo, ceding in exchange la Bressa and other territory on the Rhone. It was an advantageous exchange for him, for in this way the French were totally excluded from Italy. He then sought an alliance with France in order to wrest Lombardy from the domina tion of Spain, but the unexpected death of Henry IV prevented the execution of this great design. Spain demanded that he should dis arm; but instead of obeying, he invited the Italian states, and particularly Venice, to com bine against Spain in a war of independence. However, none of them accepted his invitation; but, unaided for many years he bore the assaults of the Spanish arms, showing that, in the midst of . the military decadence and the political enervation of the various states of the peninsula, there was one who knew how to maintain the dignity of the Italian name) His last war was for the succession to the duchies of Mantua and Monferrato, in which Spain also took part, as did the emperor and France. The whole upper Italy was traversed and devastated by various foreign armies, who also spread the plague. These were the sorrow ful years described by Alessandro Manzoni in his historical romance, 'I Promessi Sposi.' The war still continued when Carlo Emanuele died.