Read Online The Serpent and the Moon: Two Rivals for the Love of a Renaissance King by HRH Princess Michael of Kent - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: HRH Princess Michael of Kent
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There were other compensations: country life revolved around the thrill of the chase, at which Diane excelled. Anet had magnificent stables and a vast, wonderful library. When Brézé was away traveling with the king or in Normandy on business, Diane would remain content at Anet, reading her husband’s books and riding his horses. There is a legend that while out hunting one day, young Diane, a strong swimmer since early childhood, heard a woman shouting in a swollen river.Quickly, Diane rode to the bank and removed her heavy skirts and velvet mask. Wearing just her hose and shirt, she swam to the rescue, pulling the half-drowned woman to safety. Diane’s groom arrived on the scene and helped avert a tragedy, covering the frozen woman while Diane’s companions helped her. In gratitude, the woman gave Diane a small medallion, which she swore would preserve her forever from growing old.
T O understand the Valois passion for Italy, and especially Milan, is to understand their reigns. François I considered it his mission in life to retrieve the lost conquests of his predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII. They, like him, believed they had a legitimate right to northern Italy through their ancestor, the heiress to Milan, Valentina Visconti.
The city-states of Italy in the sixteenth century were prizes worth winning. Arguably the most powerful and important was the republic of Venice, successfully governed by an elected oligarchy. When the Visconti family of Milan died out, the rich duchy was ruled successfully by the Sforzas. The republic of Florence was weaker militarily than Milan or Venice, but it was influential on the peninsula, due to the banking and diplomatic skills of the Medici family. The kingdoms of Naples and the Two Sicilies were controlled by various branches of the Spanish house of Aragon. The Papal States stretched across Italy coast to coast, with Rome as their capital, and the expansion of territory and power was the aim of every pontiff. These various autonomous units within the Italian peninsula all had their own agendas and made their alliances accordingly, often against one another.
French claims, conquests, and reversals in Italy during the late fifteenth century and the first quarter of the sixteenth are complicated, and require some study in order to understand the seesaw of French and Habsburg rivalries, which dominated the entire reign of François I and spilled over into that of his son. When Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494, he was following an established pattern of French claims to Milan and Naples. Four years later, it was the turn of his successor Louis XII toinvade, accompanied by the pope’s son Cesare Borgia and Giuliano de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
As a result of this French military initiative into various states on the Italian peninsula, Florence took advantage of the general chaos and rebelled against the ruling Medici, who were chased out, Giuliano among them. In the north, Louis XII met with almost no opposition and the Milanese grandees rushed to join his victorious cavalcade into the city, just as they had joined Charles VIII five years earlier. When Naples also fell to France, the peninsula was in French hands and the dream had been realized.
Foolishly, Louis XII had agreed to a coalition with the pope in an expedition against Venice. This succeeded, and the republic was brought to heel. However, in a curious twist, the pope then had the French expelled from the peninsula with the help of the Swiss, whose pikemen formed the strongest mercenary force in Europe at the time. By 1515, the year of the coronation of François I, France no longer had any territory left in Italy. As a very young man, François had traveled to the northern Italian states and visited the studios of some of the great masters. His passion for the art and culture he experienced there made him mourn the loss of Milan more than any other French possession.
There were other compensations: country life revolved around the thrill of the chase, at which Diane excelled. Anet had magnificent stables and a vast, wonderful library. When Brézé was away traveling with the king or in Normandy on business, Diane would remain content at Anet, reading her husband’s books and riding his horses. There is a legend that while out hunting one day, young Diane, a strong swimmer since early childhood, heard a woman shouting in a swollen river.Quickly, Diane rode to the bank and removed her heavy skirts and velvet mask. Wearing just her hose and shirt, she swam to the rescue, pulling the half-drowned woman to safety. Diane’s groom arrived on the scene and helped avert a tragedy, covering the frozen woman while Diane’s companions helped her. In gratitude, the woman gave Diane a small medallion, which she swore would preserve her forever from growing old.
T O understand the Valois passion for Italy, and especially Milan, is to understand their reigns. François I considered it his mission in life to retrieve the lost conquests of his predecessors, Charles VIII and Louis XII. They, like him, believed they had a legitimate right to northern Italy through their ancestor, the heiress to Milan, Valentina Visconti.
The city-states of Italy in the sixteenth century were prizes worth winning. Arguably the most powerful and important was the republic of Venice, successfully governed by an elected oligarchy. When the Visconti family of Milan died out, the rich duchy was ruled successfully by the Sforzas. The republic of Florence was weaker militarily than Milan or Venice, but it was influential on the peninsula, due to the banking and diplomatic skills of the Medici family. The kingdoms of Naples and the Two Sicilies were controlled by various branches of the Spanish house of Aragon. The Papal States stretched across Italy coast to coast, with Rome as their capital, and the expansion of territory and power was the aim of every pontiff. These various autonomous units within the Italian peninsula all had their own agendas and made their alliances accordingly, often against one another.
French claims, conquests, and reversals in Italy during the late fifteenth century and the first quarter of the sixteenth are complicated, and require some study in order to understand the seesaw of French and Habsburg rivalries, which dominated the entire reign of François I and spilled over into that of his son. When Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1494, he was following an established pattern of French claims to Milan and Naples. Four years later, it was the turn of his successor Louis XII toinvade, accompanied by the pope’s son Cesare Borgia and Giuliano de’ Medici, son of Lorenzo the Magnificent.
As a result of this French military initiative into various states on the Italian peninsula, Florence took advantage of the general chaos and rebelled against the ruling Medici, who were chased out, Giuliano among them. In the north, Louis XII met with almost no opposition and the Milanese grandees rushed to join his victorious cavalcade into the city, just as they had joined Charles VIII five years earlier. When Naples also fell to France, the peninsula was in French hands and the dream had been realized.
Foolishly, Louis XII had agreed to a coalition with the pope in an expedition against Venice. This succeeded, and the republic was brought to heel. However, in a curious twist, the pope then had the French expelled from the peninsula with the help of the Swiss, whose pikemen formed the strongest mercenary force in Europe at the time. By 1515, the year of the coronation of François I, France no longer had any territory left in Italy. As a very young man, François had traveled to the northern Italian states and visited the studios of some of the great masters. His passion for the art and culture he experienced there made him mourn the loss of Milan more than any other French possession.
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