According to globalsciencellc.com, the relations between these Italian states are the most uncertain, changeable, restless and turbid one can imagine. Unable to overwhelm themselves and therefore having come to a peace that had certain characteristics of a stable quasi-federal arrangement, supervised by the pontiff, they soon returned to compete and undermine each other, to create particular groups and ultimately to fight each other. The links between dynasties and governments of the peninsula have multiplied. Almost permanent diplomatic relations by now, among the largest of them. Multiple relatives. Italy is a bundle of states, and there is no interest of one that the other considers alien to itself. But it is rarely concordant action, even if the words are all an invocation of concord. The Aragonese undeniably prevailed in this time, for royal titles and for the breadth of territories. And Alfonso never takes his eyes off the near and always enemy state of the Church; he did not renounce to settle on the Tuscan coast, useful for the protection of the kingdom from fleets that have their base in Genoa, he would gladly take Genoa with Corsica on which the Aragonese camp straight. But in 1458 Alfonso died. And since Sicily and Sardinia go to the branch of Spain, so the kingdom of Naples remains alone. Italian balance more and more perfect. But there is now a revival of papal claims to the kingdom. Callisto III Borgia does not recognize the new king, Ferdinand, an illegitimate son. He considers the dynasty extinct, the kingdom devolved to him, the subjects released from the oath of fidelity, those who swear excommunicated. The kingdom is intended to be reserved for Pier Luigi Borgia, the pope’s nephew. And then Francesco Sforza encourages and helps the king’s resistance;
After 1463, Venice was engaged for 15 years against Mohammed II who invaded the Morea: but in vain Pope Pius II waited for those ships and warriors in 1464 that everyone said they were ready to send on the crusade. New appeal of Paul II after the fall of the island of Euboea: and he combines a league with Milan, Florence, Naples. But only Ferdinand of Aragon supplied ten ships to the Venetian admiral Mocenigo. Between 1474 and ’75, Venice negotiated to renew the league with Florence and Milan, under the same conditions as in 1454. But it came to nothing: and continued to lose the Levantine possessions, until the peace of ’79, which was considered and said almost shameful. Meanwhile Bartolomeo Colleoni, former leader of Venice, who had seen his colleague and rival Francesco Sforza climb so high, gathered people and in the autumn of 1467 marched on Florence. Near Molinella (Imola) it was defeated and dispersed: but it was said by Medici, Sforza, Aragonese, that the hand of Venice was involved in this expedition. Sforza, Medici, Aragona, had been very united until then. But here in 1478 the conspiracy of the Pazzi and the Riario in Florence, to which Sixtus IV was no stranger: since he is little friend of the Florentines and the Medici who threaten Romagna with him; on the other hand, he is very close to the Pazzi family, rivals of the Medici in lordship and bank affairs and very close to the Riario, partners in the conspiracy, in view of a princely accommodation, with the help of the pope of their family. And after the conspiracy, here is Sixtus IV at war with Florence; here is her alliance with Naples and her intrigues in Milan to prevent her from sending aid to Florence. And so the triple Sforza-Medici-Aragona, which gave certain firmness to the peninsula, it is messed up, while Venice, which previously threatened the Medici, is now helping them. The Papalines have successes, against Medici and Venice. But the Aragonese fears these successes of his ally pontiff. Lorenzo, then, distrusts Venice’s friendship. Lust for domination over all of Italy attributed to Venice the Florentines who had now become the greatest enemies of the republic. The contrast between Milan-Venice and Milan-Florence has been replaced by that of Florence-Venice, which is essentially economic and commercial. And then Lorenzo the Magnificent enters into secret negotiations with Naples and goes to Naples himself; the Aragonese detaches himself from the pontiff. Sforza favors. The Sforza-Medici-Aragona group is reconstituted, which wants to be a guarantee of Italian peace, despite having a secret point towards Venice. Which then approaches the pope; and the pope, indignant of those agreements that crossed him some of his nepotistic designs in Romagna, he approaches Venice. But Venice, even when she is a friend, keeps others on the alert. It certainly has many ambitions. She keeps her eyes everywhere, she creeps in everywhere. The mastery of the sea allows her to circumvent the whole peninsula and try all the ports, while the wide belt of the lagoons gives her safety from the land. But other people’s fantasies work. And there is no obscure design that is not attributed to Venice. So, when shortly afterwards war broke out between Venice and the Este family for Ferrara, the object of ancient greed by the republic, Venice had allies the pope and the Riario, in the intention of dividing the Este dominion, already an ancient bone of contention between them, to the rights that the Roman curia and republic equally boasted over Ferrara. It was also a question of procuring a state for Count Girolamo Riario, the Pope’s nephew. And in front of them, Sforza, Aragonesi, Fiorentini, Mantua, Bentivoglio lord of Bologna. General War of Italy. There were initial successes of the two allies Rome and Venice (to which Monferrato and Genoa joined). Ferrara, hit by land and the Po, was close to yielding. But then the pope, fearing that the Venetians would benefit too much or only from the common victory, broke away from Venice, made an agreement with the king of Naples, a treacherous friend but also a dangerous enemy, because among other things he stirred up against the Roman baronage, also dependent on that crown for fiefs he owned in the kingdom; and, not having been able to get it to suspend the war for Ferrara, he turned against it, joined the others, committed himself to arms and the interdict. Another almost general war. A Milanese and Neapolitan army entered that of Bergamo, Brescia and Verona. A Neapolitan and papal fleet, moving from Ancona, threatened Dalmatia. But Venice resisted, recovered part of the lost lands, took Gallipoli and other Apulian cities with the fleet, received the favorable sentence of its legists against the papal interdict, managed to attract some members of the coalition. In short, she coped well with “the most holy league”, as it was called, she was able to get back all of her, but she had to give back the Apulian cities, she couldn’t get her hands on Ferrara. Only Polesine held, which moreover he already had in temporary possession (peace of Bagnolo, 7 August 1484). he was able to get back all his, but he had to give back the Apulian cities, he could not get his hands on Ferrara. He alone held the Polesine, which he already had in temporary possession (peace of Bagnolo, 7 August 1484).
