Italians III

1494-1559 CE

From 1494 to 1559 CE, the Italians learned what it meant to be a battlefield — Charles VIII's cannons breaching walls that had stood for centuries, French and Spanish armies marching and countermarching through the garden of Europe, city-states that had dominated commerce reduced to bargaining chips between foreign kings. From Milan to Naples, Italian genius bent to foreign masters until the Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis confirmed that the Renaissance would have no political sequel.