# League of Cambrai

The League of Cambrai was a military coalition against the Republic of Venice formed on 10 December 1508, by the main European powers (Holy Roman Empire, France, Aragon and their allies), to maintain their hegemony over the Italian Peninsula. The League was formalized by two treaties, both signed on 10 December 1508 in Cambrai, first being a dynastic treaty between Habsburg and Valois rulers, and the second being a wider treaty of military alliance against the Venetians. It gave name to the War of the League of Cambrai. In 1510, the League started to dissolve, and it finally collapsed in 1511.

## Treaties of Cambrai

In the autumn of 1508, imperial and French delegations met at Cambrai. Rulers were not present in person. The emperor was represented by his daughter, archduchess Margaret of Austria (governess of the Habsburg Netherlands), who was accompanied by Mercurino di Gattinara (president of the Burgundian parliament) and Matthäus Lang von Wellenburg (at that time bishop of Gurk). The French king and his allies were represented by cardinal Georges d'Amboise (the archbishop of Rouen), Étienne de Poncher (the bishop of Paris), and Alberto III Pio, Prince of Carpi. Negotiations resulted in the conclusion of two treaties, that were both signed by the archduchess and the cardinal.

### The Dynastic Treaty of Cambrai

The first (dynastic) treaty was concluded on 10 December 1508 in Cambrai, on behalf of the emperor Maximilian I and king Louis XII, with participation of the young prince Charles (future emperor Charles V), and also including the French ally Charles II, Duke of Guelders. The treaty thus established an alliance between Habsburg and Valois courts, and also resolved various territorial questions, regarding the Kingdom of Navarre, the Duchy of Milan, the Duchy of Guelders, the County of Flanders, the County of Artois, the County of Charolais and several minor domains, related mainly to previous settlements, such as the Treaty of Arras (1482) and the Treaty of Senlis (1493), that were concluded in order to resolve initial disputes over the Burgundian inheritance.

### The Military Treaty of Cambrai

The second (military) treaty, that was concluded on the same day, created a wider league, that was officially defined as an anti-Ottoman alliance, while in fact was established (by secret clauses) as an anti-Venetian league. The following were members of the League: Maximilian I (Holy Roman Emperor), Louis XII (King of France), Ferdinand II of Aragon (King of Naples and Sicily), Julius II (Sovereign of the Ecclesiastical State), Alfonso I d'Este (Duke of Ferrara), Carlo III (Duke of Savoy), Francesco II Gonzaga (Marquess of Mantua) and (invited to join the League) Vladislaus II (King of Hungary).
In its preamble, a stated pretext for the treaty is peace between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Duke of Guelders, mediated by Papal and Spanish ambassadors. The following was also remarked against the Venetian Republic:
   [...] to stop the losses, the abuses, the robberies, the harms which the Venetians have caused not only to the Holy Apostolic See, but also to the Holy Roman Empire, to the House of Austria, to the Dukes of Milan, to the Kings of Naples and to many others principles occupying and usurping tyrannically their goods, their lands, their cities and their castles, as if they had conspired to the ill of everyone [...] So we found not only useful and honorable, but also necessary to call everyone to a right revenge to turn off, like a common fire, the Venetians' insatiable greed and their thirst for domination.
The Treaty of Cambrai stipulated the following partition of Venice's mainland and overseas territories:
* to the Holy Roman Empire: Treviso, Padua, Vicenza, Verona, Friuli, and Istria
* to the Kingdom of France: Brescia, Bergamo, Crema, Cremona, and Gera d'Adda
* to the Kingdom of Aragon: Trani, Brindisi, Otranto and Gallipoli
* to the Papal States: Ravenna, Cervia, Rimini, Faenza and its castles, and also some possessions near Cesena and Imola
* to the Duchy of Ferrara: Polesine, Este, and Scodosia di Montagna
* to the Marquisate of Mantua: Peschiera, Asola, and Lonato
* to the Duchy of Savoy, if it joined the alliance: Cyprus
* to the Kingdom of Hungary, if it joined the alliance: Dalmatia

## Conflict

For some time, Venice had developed suspicions of an emerging alliance against them, in some part due to hostile speeches by the French ambassador.
The League fought against Venetian forces between 1508 and 1511. After they routed the Venetian army in Battle of Agnadello, they invaded Veneto and marched on Venice; however, they were defeated by Bartolomeo d'Alviano at the Siege of Padua. The Venetians began a counter-offensive campaign, retaking a large part of Veneto but suffering defeat at the naval battle of Polesella.
In 1510, Pope Julius II left the League and allied with the Venetians against France, having grown suspicious of French ambitions in Italy. The League of Cambrai was effectively dissolved the following year, when Spain and the Holy Roman Empire also abandoned the League to join Venetian and Papal forces in a new multi-nation alliance called the Holy League, designed to check French power.